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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/29266-8.txt b/29266-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4048af2 --- /dev/null +++ b/29266-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11333 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Thurston of Orchard Valley, by Harold Bindloss + +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: Thurston of Orchard Valley + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: W. Herbert Dunton + +Release Date: June 28, 2009 [EBook #29266] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THURSTON OF ORCHARD VALLEY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "The Slight Figure that Swayed to the Stride of a +Galloping Horse"--_Chapter XXIX_] + + + + + +Thurston of + +Orchard Valley + + +_By_ Harold Bindloss + + + +Author of "By Right of Purchase," "Lorimer of the Northwest," "Alton of +Somasco," etc. + + + + +with Frontispiece + +By W. HERBERT DUNTON + + + + +A. L. BURT COMPANY + +Publishers ------ New York + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY + +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + + +_All rights reserved_ + + + +_February, 1910_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. "THURSTON'S FOLLY" + II. A DISILLUSION + III. GEOFFREY'S FIRST CONTRACT + IV. GEOFFREY MAKES PROGRESS + V. THE LEGENDS OF CROSBIE GHYLL + VI. MILLICENT'S REWARD + VII. THE BREAKING OF THE JAM + VIII. A REST BY THE WAY + IX. GEOFFREY STANDS FIRM + X. SAVINE'S CONFIDENCE + XI. AN INSPIRATION + XII. GEOFFREY TESTS HIS FATE + XIII. A TEST OF LOYALTY + XIV. THE WORK OF AN ENEMY + XV. A GREAT UNDERTAKING + XVI. MILLICENT TURNS TRAITRESS + XVII. THE INFATUATION OF ENGLISH JIM + XVIII. THE BURSTING OF THE SLUICE + XIX. THE ABDUCTION OF BLACK CHRISTY + XX. UNDER THE STANLEY PINES + XXI. REPARATION + XXII. A REPRIEVE + XXIII. THE ULTIMATUM + XXIV. AN UNEXPECTED ALLY + XXV. MILLICENT'S REVOLT + XXVI. A RECKLESS JOURNEY + XXVII. MRS. SAVINE SPEAKS HER MIND + XXVIII. LESLIE STEPS OUT + XXIX. A REVELATION + + + + +Thurston of Orchard Valley + + +CHAPTER I + +"THURSTON'S FOLLY" + +It was a pity that Geoffrey Thurston was following in his grandfather's +footsteps, the sturdy dalefolk said, and several of them shook their +heads solemnly as they repeated the observation when one morning the +young man came striding down the steep street of a village in the North +Country. The cluster of gray stone houses nestled beneath the scarred +face of a crag, and, because mining operations had lately been +suspended and work was scarce just then, pale-faced men in moleskin +lounged about the slate-slab doorsteps. Above the village, and beyond +the summit of the crag, the mouth of a tunnel formed a black blot on +the sunlit slopes of sheep-cropped grass stretching up to the heather, +which gave place in turn to rock out-crop on the shoulders of the fell. +The loungers glanced at the tunnel regretfully, for that mine had +furnished most of them with their daily bread. + +"It's in t' blood," said one, nodding toward the young man. "Ay, +headstrong folly's bred in t' bone of them, an' it's safer to counter +an angry bull than a Thurston of Crosbie Ghyll. It's like his +grandfather--roughed out of the old hard whinstane he is." + +A murmur of approval followed, for the listeners knew there was a +measure of truth in this; but it ceased when the pedestrian passed +close to them with long, vigorous strides. Though several raised their +hands half-way to their caps in grudging salute, Geoffrey Thurston, who +appeared preoccupied, looked at none of them. Notwithstanding his +youth, there were lines on his forehead and his brows were wrinkled +over his eyes, while his carriage suggested strength of limb and +energy. Tall in stature his frame looked wiry rather than heavily +built. His face was resolute, for both square jaw and steady brown +eyes suggested tenacity of purpose. The hands that swung at his sides +had been roughened by labor with pick and drill. Yet in spite of the +old clay-stained shooting suit and shapeless slouch hat with the grease +on the front of it, where a candle had been set, there was a stamp of +command, and even refinement, about him. He was a Thurston of Crosbie, +one of a family the members of which had long worked their own +diminishing lands among the rugged fells that stretch between the West +Riding and the Solway. + +The Thurstons had been a reckless, hard-living race, with a stubborn, +combative disposition. Most of them had found scope for their energies +in wresting a few more barren acres from the grasp of moss and moor; +but several times an eccentric genius had scattered to the winds what +the rest had won, and Geoffrey seemed bent on playing the traditional +_rôle_ of spendthrift. There were, however, excuses for him. He was +an ambitious man, and had studied mechanical science under a famous +engineer. Perhaps, because the surface of the earth yielded a +sustenance so grudgingly, a love of burrowing was born in the family. +Copper was dear and the speculative public well disposed towards +British mines. When current prices permitted it, a little copper had +been worked from time immemorial in the depths of Crosbie Fell, so +Geoffrey, continuing where his grandfather had ceased, drove the +ancient adit deeper into the hill, mortgaging field by field to pay for +tools and men, until, when the little property had well-nigh gone, he +came upon a fault or break in the strata, which made further progress +almost impossible. + +When Thurston reached the mouth of the adit, he turned and looked down +upon the poor climbing meadows under the great shoulder of the Fell. +Beyond these, a few weatherbeaten buildings, forming a rude quadrangle +pierced by one tall archway, stood beside a tarn that winked like +polished steel. He sighed as his glance rested upon them. For many +generations they had sheltered the Thurstons of Crosbie; but, unless he +could stoop to soil his hands in a fashion revolting to his pride, a +strange master would own them before many months had gone. An angry +glitter came into his eyes, and his face grew set, as, placing a +lighted candle in his hat, he moved forward into the black adit. + +Twenty minutes had passed when Thurston stood on the brink of a chasm +where some movement of the earth's crust had rent the rocks asunder. +Beside him was a mining engineer, whose fame for skill was greater than +his reputation for integrity. Both men had donned coarse overalls, and +Melhuish, the mining expert, held his candle so that its light fell +upon his companion as well as upon the dripping surface of the rock. +Moisture fell from the wet stone into the gloomy rift, and a faint +monotonous splashing rose up from far below. Melhuish, however, was +watching Thurston too intently to notice anything else. He was a +middle-aged man, with a pale, puffy face and avaricious eyes. He was +well-known to speculative financiers, who made much more than the +shareholders of certain new mining companies. + +"It's interesting geologically--wholly abnormal considering the +stratification, though very unfortunate for you," said Melhuish. "I +give you my word of honor that when I advised you to push on the +heading I never expected this. However, there it is, and unless you're +willing to consider certain suggestions already made, I can't see much +use in wasting any more money. As I said, my friends would, under the +circumstances, treat you fairly." + +Thurston's face was impassive, and Melhuish, who thought that his +companion bore himself with a curious equanimity for a ruined man, did +not see that Thurston's hard fingers were clenched savagely on the +handle of a pick. + +"I fancied you understood my opinions, and I haven't changed them," +said Geoffrey. "I asked you to meet me here to-day to consider whether +the ore already in sight would be worth reduction, and you say, 'No.' +You can advise your friends, when you see them, that I'm not inclined +to assist them in a deliberate fraud upon the public." + +Melhuish laughed. "You are exaggerating, and people seem perfectly +willing to pay for their experience, whether they acquire it over +copper, lead or tin. Besides, there's an average commercial +probability that somebody will find good ore after going down far +enough, and your part would be easy. You take a moderate price as +vendor, we advancing enough to settle the mortgage. Sign the papers my +friends will send you, and keep your mouth shut." + +"And their expert wouldn't see that fault?" asked Geoffrey. Melhuish +smiled pityingly before he answered: + +"The gentlemen I speak of keep an expert who certainly wouldn't see any +more than was necessary. The indications that deceived me are good +enough for anybody. Human judgment is always liable to error, and +there are ways of framing a report without committing the person who +makes it. May I repeat that it's a fair business risk, and whoever +takes this mine should strike the lead if sufficient capital is poured +in. It would be desirable for you to act judiciously. My financial +friends, I understand, have been in communication with the people who +hold your mortgages." + +Geoffrey Thurston's temper, always fiery, had been sorely tried. +Dropping his pick, he gripped the tempter by the shoulder with fingers +that held him like a vice. He pressed Melhuish backward until they +stood within a foot of the verge of the black rift. Melhuish's face +was gray in the candle-light as he heard the dislodged pebbles splash +sullenly into the water, fathoms beneath. He had heard stories of the +vagaries of the Thurstons of Crosbie, and it was most unpleasant to +stand on the brink of eternity, in the grasp of one of them. + +Suddenly Geoffrey dropped his hands. "You need better nerves in your +business, Melhuish," he said quietly. "One would hardly have fancied +you would be so startled at a harmless joke intended to test them for +you. There have been several spendthrifts and highly successful +drunkards in my family, but, with the exception of my namesake, who was +hanged like a Jacobite gentleman for taking, sword in hand, their +despatches from two of Cumberland's dragoons, we have hitherto drawn +the line at stealing." + +"I'm not interested in genealogy, and I don't appreciate jests of the +sort you have just tried," Melhuish answered somewhat shakily. "I'll +take your word that you meant no harm, and I request further and +careful consideration before you return a definite answer to my +friends' suggestions." + +"You shall have it in a few days," Geoffrey promised; and Melhuish, who +determined to receive the answer under the open sunlight, and, if +possible, with assistance near at hand, turned toward the mouth of the +adit. Because he thought it wiser, he walked behind Geoffrey. + +The afternoon was not yet past when Thurston stood leaning on the back +of a stone seat outside a quaint old hall, which had once been a feudal +fortalice and was now attached to an unprofitable farm. Because the +impoverished gentleman, who held a long lease on the ancient building, +had let one wing to certain sportsmen, several of Geoffrey's neighbors +had gathered on the indifferently-kept lawn to enjoy a tennis match. +Miss Millicent Austin sat in an angle of the stone seat. Her little +feet, encased in white shoes, reposed upon a cushion that one of the +sportsmen had insisted on bringing to her. Her hands lay idly folded +in her lap. The delicate hands were characteristic, for Millicent +Austin was slight and dainty. With pale gold hair and pink and white +complexion, she was a perfect type of Saxon beauty, though some of her +rivals said the color of her eyes was too light a blue. They also +added that the blue eyes were very quick to notice where their owner's +interests lay. + +An indefinite engagement had long existed between the girl and the man +beside her, and at one time they had cherished a degree of affection +for each other; but when the merry, high-spirited girl returned from +London changed into a calculating woman, Geoffrey was bound up, mind +and body, in his mine, and Millicent began to wonder whether, with her +advantages, she might not do better than to marry a dalesman burdened +by heavy debts. They formed a curious contrast, the man brown-haired, +brown-eyed, hard-handed, rugged of feature, and sometimes rugged of +speech; and the dainty woman who appeared born for a life of ease and +luxury. + +"Beauty and the beast!" said one young woman to her companion as she +laid by her racquet. "I suppose he has the money?" + +"Unless his mine proves successful I don't think either will have much; +but if Miss Austin is a beauty in a mild way, he's a noble beast, one +very likely to turn the tables upon a rash hunter," was the answer. +"And yet he's stalking blindly into the snare. Alas, poor lion!" + +"You seem interested in him. I'm not partial to wild beasts myself," +remarked her companion, and the other smiled as she answered: + +"Hardly that, but I know the family history, and they are a curious +race with great capabilities for good or evil. It all depends upon how +they are led, because nobody could drive a Thurston. It is rather, I +must confess, an instinctive prejudice against the woman beside him. I +do not like, and would not trust, Miss Austin, though, of course, +except to you, my dear, I would not say so." + +The young speaker glanced a moment towards the pair, and then passed on +with a slight frown upon her honest face, for Thurston bent over his +companion with something that suggested deadly earnestness in his +attitude, and the spectator assumed that Millicent Austin's head was +turned away from him, because she possessed a fine profile and not +because of excessive diffidence. Nor was the observer wrong, for +Millicent did little without a purpose, and was just then thinking +keenly as she said: + +"I am very sorry to hear about your misfortune, Geoffrey, but there is +a way of escape from most disasters if one will look for it, you know, +and if you came to terms with them I understand those London people +would, at least, recoup you for your expenditure." + +"You have heard of that!" exclaimed Geoffrey sharply, displeased that +his _fiancée_, who had been away, should betray so accurate a knowledge +of all that concerned his business affairs. + +"Of course I did. I made Tom tell me. You will agree with them, will +you not?" the girl replied. + +"So," said Geoffrey, with a slight huskiness. "I wish I could, but it +is impossible, and I am not pleased that Tom should tell you what I was +waiting to confide to you myself. Let that pass, for I want you to +listen to me. The old holding will have to go, and there is little +room for a poor man in this overcrowded country. As you know, certain +property will revert to me eventually, but, remembering what is in our +blood, I dare not trust myself to drag out a life of idleness or +monotonous drudgery, waiting for the future here. The curse is a very +real thing--and it would not be fair to you. Now I can save enough +from the wreck to start us without positive hardship over seas, and +George has written offering me a small share in his Australian +cattle-run. You shall want for nothing, Millicent, that toil can win +you, and I know that, with you to help me, I shall achieve at least a +competence." + +Millicent, who glanced up at him as if she were carefully studying him, +could see that the man spoke with conviction. She knew that his power +of effort and dogged obstinacy would carry him far toward obtaining +whatever his heart desired. She dropped her long lashes as he +continued: + +"Hitherto, I have overcome the taint I spoke of--you knew what it was +when you gave me your promise--and working hard, with you to cheer me, +in a new land under the open sun, I shall crush it utterly. +Semi-poverty, with an ill-paid task that demanded but half my energies, +would try you, Millicent, and be dangerous to me. What I say sounds +very selfish, doesn't it--but you will come?" + +There was an appeal in his voice which touched the listener. It was +seldom a Thurston of Crosbie asked help from anyone; but she had no +wish to encourage Geoffrey in what she considered his folly, and shook +her head with a pretty assumption of petulance. + +"Don't be sensational," she said with a wave of her hand. "You are +prone to exaggeration, and, of course, I will not go with you. How +could I help you to chase wild cattle? Now, try to be sensible! Come +to terms with these company people, and then you need not go." + +"Would you have me a thief?" asked Geoffrey, gazing down upon her with +a fierce resentment in his look of reproach, and the girl shrank from +him a little. + +"No, but, so far as I understand it, this is an ordinary business +transaction, and if these people are willing to buy the mine, why +should you refuse?" she returned in a temporizing tone. + +If Thurston was less in love with Millicent Austin than he had been, he +hardly realized it then. He was disappointed, and his forehead +contracted as he struggled with as heavy a temptation as could have +assailed the honor of any man. Millicent was very fair to look upon, +as she turned to him with entreaty and anxiety in her face. + +Nevertheless, he answered wearily: "It is not an ordinary business +transaction. These people would pay me with the general public's +money, and when the mine proves profitless, as it certainly will, they +would turn the deluded shareholders loose on me." + +"There are always risks in mining," Millicent observed significantly. +"The investing public understands that, doesn't it? Of course, I would +not have you dishonest, but, Geoffrey----" + +Thurston was patient in action, but seldom in speech, and he broke out +hotly: + +"Many a woman has sent a man to his damnation for a little luxury, but +I expected help from you. Millicent, if I assist those swindlers and +stay here dragging out the life of a gentleman pauper on a dole of +stolen money, I shall go down and down, dragging you with me. If you +will come out to a new country with me, I know you will never regret +it. Whatever is best worth winning over there, I will win for you. +Can't you see that we stand at the crossroads, and whichever way we +choose there can be no turning back! Think, and for God's sake think +well! The decision means everything to you and me." + +Again Millicent was aware of an unwilling admiration for the speaker, +even though she had little for his sentiments. He stood erect, with a +grim look on his face, his nostrils quivering, and his lips firmly +set--stubborn, vindictive, powerful. Though his strength was +untrained, she knew that he was a man to trust--great in his very +failings, with no meanness in his composition, and clearly born for +risky enterprise and hazardous toil. She was a little afraid of him, a +fact which was not in itself unpleasant; but she dreaded poverty and +hardship! With a shrug of the shoulder upon which he had laid his +hand, she said: + +"I think you are absurd to-day; you are hurting me. This melodramatic +pose approaches the ludicrous, and I have really no patience with your +folly. A little period of calm reflection may prove beneficial, and I +will leave you to it. Clara is beckoning me." + +She turned away, and Thurston, after vainly looking around for Clara, +stalked sullenly into the hall, where he flung himself down in a chair +beside an open window. It did not please him to see Millicent take her +place before the net in the tennis court and to hear her laugh ring +lightly across the lawn. A certain sportsman named Leslie, who had +devoted himself to Miss Austin's service, watched him narrowly from a +corner of the big hall. + +"You look badly hipped over something, Thurston," commented the +sportsman presently. "I suppose it's the mine, and would like to offer +my sympathy. Might I recommend a brandy-and-soda, one of those +Cubanos, and confidence? Tom left the bottle handy for you." + +In spite of the family failing, or, perhaps, because it was the only +thing he feared, Thurston had been an abstemious man. Now, however, he +emptied one stiff tumbler at a gulp, and the soda frothed in the +second, when he noticed a curious smile, for just a moment, in the eyes +of his companion. The smile vanished immediately, but Thurston had +seen and remembered. It was characteristic of him that, before two +more seconds had passed, the glass crashed into splinters in the grate. + +"Quite right!" exclaimed Leslie, nodding. "When one feels as you +evidently do, a little of that sort of consolation is considerably +better than too much. You don't, however, appear to be in a +companionable humor, and perhaps I had better not intrude on you." + +During the rest of the afternoon, Thurston saw little of Millicent and +Leslie was much with her. + +The weather changed suddenly when at dusk Geoffrey rode home. In +forecast of winter, a bitter breeze sighed across the heather and set +the harsh grasses moaning eerily. The sky was somber overhead; scarred +fell and towering pike had faded to blurs of dingy gray, and the +ghostly whistling of curlew emphasized the emptiness of the darkening +moor. The evening's mood suited Geoffrey's, and he rode slowly with +loose bridle. The bouquet of the brandy had awakened within him a +longing that he dreaded, and though, hitherto, he had been too intent +upon his task to trouble about his character, it was borne in upon him +that he must stand fast now or never. But it was not the thought of +his own future which first appealed to him. Those who had gone before +him had rarely counted consequences when tempted by either wine or +women, and he would have risked that freely. Geoffrey was, however, in +his own eccentric fashion, a just man, and he dared not risk bringing +disaster upon Millicent. So he rode slowly, thinking hard, until the +horse, which seemed affected by its master's restlessness, plunged as a +dark figure rose out of the heather. + +"Hallo, is it you, Evans?" asked the rider, with a forced laugh. "I +thought it was the devil. He's abroad to-night." + +"Thou'rt wrang, Mr. Geoffrey," answered the gamekeeper. "It's Thursday +night he comes. Black Jim as broke thy head for thee is coming with t' +quarrymen to poach t' covers. Got the office from yan with a grudge +against t' gang, an' Captain Franklin, who's layin' for him, sends his +compliments, thinkin' as maybe thee would like t' fun." + +Thurston rarely forgot either an injury or a friend, and, the preceding +October, when tripping, he fell helpless, Black Jim twice, with +murderous intent, had brought a gun-butt down upon his unprotected +skull. Excitement was at all times as wine to him, so, promising to be +at the rendezvous, he rode homeward faster than before, with a sense of +anticipation which helped to dull the edge of his care. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A DISILLUSION + +It was a clear cold night when Geoffrey Thurston met Captain Franklin, +who held certain sporting rights in the vicinity, at the place agreed +upon. The captain had brought with him several amateur assistants and +stablehands besides two stalwart keepers. Greeting Thurston he said: + +"Very good of you to help me! Our local constable is either afraid or +powerless, and I must accordingly allow Black Jim's rascals to sweep my +covers or take the law into my own hands. It is the pheasants he is +after now, and he'll start early so as to get his plunder off from the +junction by the night mail, and because the moon rises soon. We had +better divide, and you might come with Evans and me to the beeches +while the others search the fir spinney." + +Geoffrey, assenting, followed the officer across a dew-damped meadow +and up a winding lane hung with gossamer-decked briars, until the party +halted, ankle-deep among withered leaves, in a dry ditch just outside +the wood. There were reasons why each detail of all that happened on +that eventful night should impress itself upon Geoffrey's memory, and, +long afterwards, when wandering far out in the shadow of limitless +forests or the chill of eternal snow, he could recall every incident. +Leaves that made crimson glories by day still clung low down about the +wide-girthed trunks beyond the straggling hedge of ancient thorns, but +the higher branches rose nakedly against faintly luminous sky. Spruce +firs formed clumps of solid blackness, and here and there a delicate +tracery of birch boughs filled gaps against the sky-line between. The +meadows behind him were silent and empty, streaked with belts of +spectral mist, and, because it was not very late, he could see a red +glimmer of light in the windows of Barrow Hall. + +But if the grass told no story it was otherwise with the wood, for +Geoffrey could hear the rabbits thumping in their burrows among the +roots of the thorn. Twice a cock-pheasant uttered a drowsy, raucous +crow, and there was a blundering of unseen feathery bodies among the +spruce, while, when this ceased, he heard a water-hen flutter with feet +splashing across a hidden pool. Then heavy stillness followed, +intensified by the clamor of a beck which came foaming down the side of +a fell until, clattering loudly, wood-pigeons, neither asleep nor +wholly awake, drove out against the sky, wheeled and fell clumsily into +the wood again. All this was a plain warning, and keeper Evans nodded +agreement when Captain Franklin said: + +"There's somebody here, and, in order not to miss him, we'll divide our +forces once more. If you'll go in by the Hall footpath, Thurston, and +whistle on sight of anything suspicious, I'd be much obliged to you." + +A few minutes later Thurston halted on the topmost step of the lofty +stile by which a footpath from the Hall entered the wood. Looking back +across misty grass land and swelling ridges of heather, he could see a +faint brightness behind the eastern rim of the moor; but, when he +stepped down, it was very dark among the serried tree-trunks. The +slender birches had faded utterly, the stately beeches resembled dim +ghosts of trees and only the spruces retained, imperfectly, their shape +and form. Thurston was country bred, and, lifting high his feet to +clear bramble trailer and fallen twig, he walked by feeling instead of +sight. The beck moaned a little more loudly, and there was a heavy +astringent odor of damp earth and decaying leaves. When beast and bird +were still again it seemed as if Nature, worn out by the productive +effort of summer, were sinking under solemn silence into her winter +sleep. + +The watcher knew the wood was a large one and unlawful visitants might +well be hidden towards its farther end. He stood still at intervals, +concentrating all his powers to listen, but his ears told him nothing +until at last there was a rustle somewhere ahead. Puzzled by the +sound, which reminded him of something curiously out of place in the +lonely wood, he instantly sank down behind an ash tree. + +The sound certainly was not made by withered bracken or bramble leaves, +and had nothing to do with the stealthy fall of a poacher's heavy boot. +It came again more clearly, and Thurston was almost sure that it was +the rustle of a woven fabric, such as a woman's dress. To confirm this +opinion a soft laugh followed. He rose, deciding it could only be some +assignation with a maid from the Hall, and no business of his. He had +turned to retreat when he noticed the eastern side of a silver fir +reflect a faint shimmer. Glancing along the beam of light that +filtered through a fantastic fretwork of delicate birch twigs arching a +drive, he saw a broad, bright disk hanging low above the edge of the +moor. It struck him that perhaps the poachers had used the girl to +coax information out of a young groom or keeper, and that she was now +warning them. So he waited, debating, because he was a rudely +chivalrous person, how he might secure the girl's companion without +involving the girl's disgrace. Again a laugh rose from beyond a +thicket. Then he heard the voice of a man. + +Geoffrey was puzzled, for the laugh was musical, unlike a rustic +giggle; and, though the calling of the beck partly drowned it, the +man's voice did not resemble that of a laborer. Thurston moved again, +wondering whether it was not some affair of Leslie's from the Hall, and +whether he ought not to slip away after all. The birch boughs sighed a +little, there was a fluttering down of withered leaves, and he remained +undecided, gripping his stout oak cudgel by the middle. Then the hot +blood pulsed fiercely through every artery, for the voice rose once +more, harsh and clear this time, with almost a threat in the tone, and +there was no possibility of doubting that the speaker was Leslie. + +"This cannot continue, Millicent," the voice said. "It has gone on too +long, and I will not be trifled with. You cannot have both of us, and +my patience is exhausted. Leave the fool to his folly." + +Geoffrey raised the cudgel and dropped it to his side. Turning +suddenly cold, he remained for a second or two almost without power of +thought or motion. The disillusion was cruel. The woman's light +answer filled him with returning fury and he hurled himself at a +thicket from which, amid a crash of branches, he reeled out into the +sight of the speakers. The moon was well clear of the moor now, and +silver light and inky shadow checkered the mosses of the drive. + +With a little scream of terror Millicent sprang apart from her +companion's side and stood for a space staring at the man who had +appeared out of the rent-down undergrowth. The pale light beat upon +Geoffrey's face, showing it was white with anger. Looking from +Geoffrey, the girl glanced towards Leslie, who waited in the partial +shadow of a hazel bush. Even had he desired to escape, which was +possible, the bush would have cut off his retreat. + +Geoffrey turned fiercely from one to the other. The woman, who stood +with one hand on a birch branch, was evidently struggling to regain her +courage. Her lips were twitching and her pale blue eyes were very wide +open. The man was shrinking back as far as possible in a manner which +suggested physical fear; he had heard the dalesfolk say a savage devil, +easily aroused, lurked in all the Thurstons, and the one before him +looked distinctly dangerous just then. Leslie was weak in limb as well +as moral fiber, and it was Geoffrey who broke the painful silence. + +"What are you doing here at such an hour with this man, Millicent?" he +asked sternly. "No answer! It appears that some explanation is +certainly due to me--and I mean to force it out of one of you." + +Millicent, saying nothing, gazed at her companion, as if conjuring him +to speak plainly and to end an intolerable position. Geoffrey read her +meaning, even though Leslie, who glanced longingly over his shoulder +down the drive, refused to do so. Because there was spirit in her, and +she had recovered from the first shock of surprise, Millicent ground +one little heel into the mosses with a gesture of disgust and anger +when the man made answer: + +"I resent your attitude and question. We came out to see the moon rise +on the moor, and found the night breeze nipping." + +Geoffrey laughed harshly before he repeated: "You found the breeze +nipping! There is scarcely an air astir. And you understand the +relations existing between Miss Austin and me? I want a better reason. +Millicent, you, at least, are not a coward--dare you give it me?" + +"I challenge your right to demand an account of my actions," said the +girl. With an evident effort to defy Thurston, she added, after a +pause, "But the explanation must have come sooner or later, and you +shall have it now. I have grown--perhaps the brutal truth is +best--tired of you and your folly. You would sacrifice my future to +your fantastic pride--and this man would give up everything for me." + +The first heat of Geoffrey's passion was past, and he was now coldly +savage because of the woman's treachery. + +"Including his conscience and honor, but not his personal safety!" he +supplemented contemptuously. "Millicent, one could almost admire you." +Turning to Leslie he asked: "But are you struck dumb that you let the +woman speak? This was my promised wife to whom you have been making +love, though, for delicacy would be superfluous, it is evident that she +has not discouraged you. Until three days ago I could have trusted my +life to her. Now, I presume, she has pledged herself to you?" + +"Yes," answered Leslie, recovering his equanimity as his fears grew +less oppressive. He began to excuse himself but Geoffrey cut him short +with a gesture. + +"Then, even if I desired to make them, my protests would be useless," +said Geoffrey. "I am at least grateful for your frankness, Millicent; +it prevented me from wringing the truth from your somewhat abject +lover. Had you told me honestly, when this man first spoke to you, +that you had grown tired of me, I would have released you, and I would +have tried to wish you well. Now I can only say, that at least you +know the worst of each other--and there will be less disappointment +when, stripped of either mutual or self respect, you begin life +together. But I was forgetting that Franklin's keepers are searching +the wood. Some of them might talk. Go at once by the Hall path, as +softly as you can." + +The man and the girl were plainly glad to hurry away, and Geoffrey +waited until the sound of their footsteps became scarcely audible +before he heeded a faint rustling which indicated that somebody with a +knowledge of woodcraft was forcing a passage through the undergrowth. +He broke a dry twig at intervals as he walked slowly for a little +distance. Then he dropped on hands and knees to cross a strip of open +sward at an angle to his previous course, and lay still in the black +shadow of a spruce. It was evident that somebody was following his +trail, and the pursuer, passing his hiding-place, followed it straight +on. Geoffrey's was a curious character, and the very original cure for +a disappointment in love, that of baffling a game watcher while his +faithless mistress escaped, brought him relief; it left no time for +reflection. + +Presently he dashed across a bare strip of velvet mosses and +rabbit-cropped turf, slipped between the roots of the hedge, and, +running silently beneath it, halted several score yards away face to +face with the astonished keeper. "Weel, I'm clanged; this clean beats +me," gasped that worthy. "Hello, behind there. It's only Mr. +Geoffrey, sir. Didst see Black Jim slip out this way, or hear a scream +a laal while gone by?" + +"I saw no one," answered Geoffrey, "but I heard the scream. It was not +unlike a hare squealing in a snare. You and I must have been stalking +each other, Evans, and Black Jim can't be here." + +The rest came up as they spoke, and Captain Franklin said, "You seem +badly disappointed at missing your old enemy, Thurston. I never saw +you look so savage. I expect Black Jim has tricked us, after all." + +"I've had several troubles lately, and don't find much amusement in +hunting poachers who aren't there," said Geoffrey. "You will excuse me +from going back with you." + +He departed across the meadows, at a swinging pace, and the keeper, who +stared after him, commented: + +"Something gradely wrang with Mr. Geoffrey to-night. They're an ill +folk to counter yon, and it's maybe as well for Black Jim as Mr. +Geoffrey didn't get hold on him." + +Geoffrey saw no more of Millicent, but once he visited her younger +sister, a gentle invalid, who, because of the friendship which had long +existed between them, said: "You must try to believe I mean it in +kindness when I say that I am not wholly sorry, Geoffrey. You and +Millicent would never have gotten on well together, and while I wish +the awakening could have happened in a more creditable way, you will +realize--when somebody else makes you happy--that all has been for the +best." + +"That day will be long in coming," declared the man, grimly, and the +sick girl laid a thin white hand on his hard one as she answered him. + +"It is not a flattering speech, and you must not lose faith in all of +us," the invalid went on. "Lying still here, helpless, I have often +thought about both of you, and I feel that you have done well in +choosing a new life in a new country. When you go out, Geoffrey, you +will take my fervent wishes for your welfare with you." + +Janet Austin was frail and worn by pain. Her pale face flushed a +little as the man suddenly stooped and touched her forehead with his +lips. + +"God bless you for your kindly heart," he said. "A ruined man has very +few friends, and many acquaintances are waiting to convince him that +his downfall is the result of his own folly, but"--and he straightened +his wiry frame, while his eyes glinted--"they have not seen the end, +and even if beaten, there is satisfaction in a stubborn, single-handed +struggle." + +Janet Austin, perhaps thinking of her own helplessness, sighed as she +answered: + +"I do not think you will be beaten, Geoffrey, but if you will take +advice from me, remember that over-confidence in your powers and the +pride that goes with it may cost you many a minor victory. Good-by, +and good luck, Geoffrey. You will remember me." + +That afternoon, while Thurston was in the midst of preparations to +leave his native land, the mining engineer called upon him with a +provincial newspaper in his hand. "I suppose this is your answer," he +remarked, laying his finger on a paragraph. + + +"Mr. G. Thurston, who has, in the face of many difficulties, attempted +to exploit the copper vein in Crosbie Fell, has been compelled to close +the mine," the printed lines ran. "We understand he came upon an +unexpected break in the strata, coupled with a subsidence which +practically precludes the possibility of following the lost lead with +any hope of commercial success. He has, therefore, placed his affairs +in the hands of Messrs. Lonsdale & Routh, solicitors, and, we +understand, intends emigrating. His many friends and former employees +wish him success." + + +"Yes," Geoffrey answered dryly, "I sent them the information, also a +copy to London financial papers. Considering the interest displayed +just now in British mines, they should insert a paragraph. I've staked +down your backers' game in return for your threats, and you may be +thankful you have come off so easily. Your check is ready. It is the +last you will ever get from me." + +The expert smiled almost good-naturedly. "You needn't have taken so +much trouble, Thurston," he said. "The exploitation of your rabbit +burrow would only have been another drop in the bucket to my +correspondents, and it's almost a pity we can't be friends, for, with +some training, your sledge-hammer style would make its mark in the +ring." + +"Thanks!" replied Geoffrey. "I'm not fishing for compliments, and it's +probably no use explaining my motives--you wouldn't understand them. +Still, in future, don't set down every man commonly honest as an +uncommon fool. If I ever had much money, which is hardly likely, I +should fight extremely shy of any investments recommended by your +friends!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GEOFFREY'S FIRST CONTRACT + +It was springtime among the mountains which, glistening coldly white +with mantles of eternal snow, towered above the deep-sunk valley, when, +one morning, Geoffrey Thurston limped painfully out of a redwood forest +of British Columbia. The boom of a hidden river set the pine sprays +quivering. A blue grouse was drumming deliriously on the top of a +stately fir, and the morning sun drew clean, healing odors from balsam +and cedar. + +The scene was characteristic of what is now the grandest and wildest, +as it will some day be the richest, province of the Canadian Dominion. +The serene majesty of snow-clad heights and the grandeur of vast +shadowy aisles, with groined roofs of red branches and mighty +colonnades of living trunks, were partly lost upon the traveler who, +most of the preceding night, had trudged wearily over rough railroad +ballast. He had acquired Colonial experience of the hardest kind by +working through the winter in an Ontario logging camp, which is a rough +school. + +An hour earlier the man, to visit whom Thurston had undertaken an +eight-league journey, had laughed in his face when he offered to drain +a lake which flooded his ranch. Saying nothing, but looking grimmer +than ever, Geoffrey had continued his weary journey in search of +sustenance. He frowned as he flung himself down beneath a fir, for, +shimmering like polished steel between the giant trees, the glint of +water caught his eye, and the blue wood smoke curling over the house on +a distant slope suggested the usual plentiful Colonial breakfast. + +Although Geoffrey's male forbears had been reckless men, his mother had +transmitted him a strain of north-country canniness. The remnant of +his poor possessions, converted into currency, lay in a Canadian bank +to provide working capital and, finding no scope for his mental +abilities, he had wandered here and there endeavoring to sell the +strength of his body for daily bread. Sometimes he had been +successful, more often he had failed, but always, when he would accept +it, the kindly bush settlers gave him freely of their best. As he +basked in the warmth and brightness, he took from his pocket a few +cents' worth of crackers. When he had eaten, his face relaxed, for the +love of wild nature was born in him, and the glorious freshness of the +spring was free to the poorest as well as to the richest. He stooped +to drink at a glacier-fed rill, and then producing a corn-cob pipe, +sighed on finding that only the tin label remained of his cake of +tobacco. + +Through the shadow of the firs two young women watched him with +curiosity. The man looked worn and weary, his jean jacket was old and +torn, and an essential portion of one boot was missing. The stranger's +face had been almost blackened by the snow-reflected glare of the clear +winter sun, and yet both girls decided that he was hardly a +representative specimen of the wandering fraternity of tramps. + +Helen Savine was slender, tall, and dark. Though arrayed in a plain +dress of light fabric, she carried herself with a dignity befitting the +daughter of the famous engineering contractor, Julius Savine, and a +descendant, through her mother, from Seigneurs of ancient French +descent who had ruled in patriarchal fashion in old-world Quebec. Jean +Graham, whose father owned the ranch on the slope behind them, was +ruddy in face, with a solidity of frame that betokened Caledonian +extraction, and true trans-Atlantic directness of speech. + +"He must be hungry," whispered Jean. "Quite good-looking, too, and +it's queer he sits there munching those crackers, instead of walking +straight up and striking us for a meal. I don't like to see a +good-looking man hungry," she added, reflectively. + +"We will go down and speak to him," said Helen, and the suggestion that +she should interview a wandering vagrant did not seem out of place in +that country where men from many different walks of life turned their +often ill-fitted hands to the rudest labor that promised them a +livelihood. In any case, Helen possessed a somewhat imperious will, +which was supplemented by a grace of manner which made whatever she did +appear right. + +Geoffrey, looking round at the sound of approaching steps, stood +suddenly upright, thrusting the more dilapidated boot behind the other, +and wondering with what purpose the two girls had sought him. One he +recognized as a type common enough throughout the Dominion--kindly, +shrewd, somewhat hard-featured and caustic in speech; but the other, +who looked down on him with thinly-veiled pity, more resembled the +women of birth and education whom he had seen in England. + +"You are a stranger to this district. Looking for work, perhaps?" said +Helen Savine. Geoffrey lifted his wide and battered felt hat as he +answered, "I am." + +"There is work here," announced Helen. "I can offer you a dollar +now--if you would care to earn it. Yonder rock, which I believe is a +loose boulder, obstructs our wagon trail. If you are willing to remove +it and will follow us to the ranch, you will find suitable tools." + +Geoffrey flushed a little under his tan. When seeking work he had +grown used to being sworn at by foremen with Protectionist tendencies, +but it galled him to be offered a woman's charity, and the words "If +you would care to earn it," left a sting. Nevertheless, he reflected +that any superfluous sensitiveness would be distinctly out of place in +one of his position, and, considering the wages paid in that country, +the man who rolled the boulder clear would well earn his dollar. +Accordingly he answered: "I should be glad to remove the rock, if I +can." + +The two young women turned back towards the ranch, and Thurston +followed respectfully, as far as possible in the rear, that they might +not observe the condition of his attire. This was an entirely +superfluous precaution, for Helen's keen eyes had noticed. + +Reaching the ranch, Geoffrey possessed himself of a grub-hoe, which is +a pick with an adz-shaped blade with an ax and shovel; also he returned +with the girls to the boulder. For an hour or two he toiled hard, +grubbing out hundredweights of soil and gravel from round about the +rock. Then cutting a young fir he inserted the butt of it as a lever, +and spent another thirty minutes focusing his full strength on the +opposite end. The rock, however, refused to move an inch, and, because +a few crackers are not much for a hungry man to work on after an +all-night march, Thurston became conscious that he had a headache and a +distressful stitch in his side. Still, being obstinate and filled with +an unreasoning desire to prove his trustworthiness to his fair +employer, he continued doggedly, and after another hour's digging found +the stone still immovable. Then it happened that while, with the +perspiration dripping from him, he tugged at the lever, the rancher who +had rebuffed him that morning, drew rein close beside. + +"Hello! What are you after now? You're messing all this trail up if +you're doing nothing else," he declared in a tone of challenge. + +"If you have come here to amuse yourself at my expense, take care. I'm +not in the mood for baiting," answered Thurston, who still smarted +under the recollection of the summary manner in which the speaker had +rejected his proffered services. "There are, however, folks in this +country more willing to give a stranger a chance than you, and I've +taken a contract to remove that rock for a dollar. Now, if you are +satisfied, ride on your way." + +"Then you've made a blame bad bargain," commented the rancher, with +unruffled good humor. "I was figuring that I might help you. I +thought you were a hobo after my chickens, or trying to bluff me into a +free meal this morning. If you'd asked straight for it, I'd have given +it you." + +Geoffrey hesitated, divided between an inclination to laugh or to +assault the rancher, who perhaps guessed his thoughts, for, +dismounting, he said: + +"If you're so mighty thin-skinned what are you doing here? Why don't +you British dukes stop right back in your own country where folks touch +their hats to you? Let me on to that lever." + +For at least twenty minutes, the two men tugged and panted. Then +Bransome, the rancher, said: + +"The blame thing's either part of the out-crop or wedged fast there +forever, and I've no more time to spare. Say, Graham's a hard man, and +has been playing it low on you. What's the matter with turning his +contract up and going over to fill oat bags for me?" + +"Thank, but having given my word to move that rock, I'm going to stay +here until I do it," answered Geoffrey; and Bransome, nodding to him, +rode on towards the ranch. + +When he reached it Bransome said to Jean Graham in the hearing of Miss +Savine: + +"The old man has taken in yonder guileless stranger who has put two +good dollars' worth of work into that job already, and the rock's +rather faster than it was before." + +"Did he say Mr. Graham hired him?" asked Helen, and she drew her own +inference when Bransome answered: + +"Why, no! I put it that way, and he didn't contradict me." + +It was afternoon when Thurston realized at last that even considerable +faith in one's self is not sufficient, unaided, to move huge boulders. +He felt faint and hungry, but the pride of the Insular Briton +restrained him from begging for a meal. His own dislike to acknowledge +defeat also prompted him to decide that where weary muscles failed, +mechanical power might succeed, and he determined to tramp back a +league to the settlement in the hope of perhaps obtaining a drill and +some giant powder on credit. He had not studied mining theoretically +as well as in a costly practical school for nothing. + +It was a rough trail to the settlement. The red dust lay thick upon it +and the afternoon sun was hot. When at last, powdered all over with +dust and very weary, Thurston came in sight of the little wooden store, +he noticed Bransome's horse fastened outside it. He did not see the +rancher, who sat on an empty box behind a sugar hogshead inside the +counter. + +"I want two sticks of giant powder, a fathom or two of fuse, and +several detonators," said Geoffrey as indifferently as he could. "I +have only two bits at present to pay for them, but if they don't come +to more than a dollar you shall have the rest to-morrow. I also want +to borrow a drill." + +The storekeeper was used to giving much longer credit than Geoffrey +wanted, but the glance he cast at the applicant was not reassuring, and +it is possible he might have refused his request, but that, unseen by +Thurston, Bransome signaled to him from behind the barrel. + +"We don't trade that way with strangers generally," the storekeeper +answered. "Still, if you want them special, and will pay me what +they're worth to-morrow, I'll oblige you, and even lend you a set of +drills. But you'll come back sure, and not lose any of them drills?" +he added dubiously. + +"I haven't come here to rob you. It's a business deal, and not a favor +I'm asking," asserted Geoffrey grimly, and when he withdrew the +storekeeper observed: + +"Why can't you do your own charity, Bransome, instead of taxing me? +That's the crank who wanted to run your lake down, isn't he? I guess +I'll never see either him or them drills again." + +"You will," the rancher assured him. "If that man's alive to-morrow +you'll get your money; I'll go bail for him. He's just the man you +mention, but I'm considerably less sure about the crankiness than I was +this morning. There's a quantity of fine clean sand in him." + +Meanwhile, and soon after Geoffrey had set out for the store, the two +girls strolled down the trail to ascertain how he was progressing. +They looked at each other significantly when they came upon the litter +of débris and tools. + +"Lit out!" announced Jean Graham. "The sight of all that work was too +much for him. He'll be lying on his back now by the river thinking +poetry. This country's just thick with reposeful Britishers nobody at +home has any use for, and their kind friends ship off onto us. In a +way I'm sorry. He lit out hungry, and he didn't look like a loafer." + +"I'm afraid we were a little hard upon him," said Helen, smiling. +"Still, I am somewhat surprised he did not carry out his bargain." + +"You can never trust those gilt-edge Britishers," said Jean Graham with +authority. "There was old man Peters who took one of them in, and he'd +sit in the store nights making little songs to his banjo, and talking +just wonderful. Said he was a baronet or something, if he had his +rights, and made love to Sally. Old fool Peters believed him, and lent +him three hundred dollars to start a lawsuit over his English property +with. Dessay Peters thought red-haired Sally would look well trailing +round as a countess in a gold-hemmed dress. The baronet took the +money, but wanted some more, and lit out the same night with Lou of the +Sapin Rouge saloon." + +"I should hardly expect all that from our acquaintance of this morning, +but I am disappointed, though I'm sure I don't know why I should be," +said Helen Savine. + +The sunlight had faded from the valley, though the peaks still +shimmered orange and red, and the broken edge of a glacier flashed like +a great rose diamond, when the two girls sat on the veranda encircling +Graham's ranch-house. The rancher and his stalwart sons were away +rounding up his cattle, but Jean was expecting both them and her mother +and the delayed supper was ready. The evening was very still and cool. +The life-giving air was heavy with the breath of dew-touched cedars, +while the hoarse clamor of the river accentuated the hush of the +mountain solitude. Strange to say, both of the girls were thinking +about the vagrant, and Helen Savine, who considered herself a judge of +character, had been more impressed by him than she would have cared to +admit. There was no doubt, she reflected, that the man was tolerably +good-looking and had enjoyed some training, though perhaps not the +best, in England. He had also known adversity, she deduced from the +gauntness of his face and a certain grimness of expression. She had +noticed that his chin indicated a masterful expression and she was, +therefore, the more surprised that he had allowed himself to be +vanquished by the boulder. + +Suddenly a heavy crash broke through the musical jangle of cow bells +that drew nearer up the valley, and a cloud of yellow smoke curling +above the dark branches spread itself across the fir tops in filmy +folds. + +"I guess that's our hobo blowing the rock up!" cried Jean. "I wonder +where he stole the giant powder from. Well, daddy's found his cattle, +and the swearing will have made him hungry. I'll start Kate on to the +supper, and we'll bring the man in when he comes round for his dollar." + +Presently Thurston knocked at the door, and strode in at a summons to +enter. Slightly abashed, he halted inside the threshold. Jean, +looking ruddy and winsome in light print dress, with sleeves rolled +clear of each plump fore-arm, was spreading great platefuls of hot +cakes and desiccated fruits among the more solid viands on the snowy +tablecloth. Geoffrey found it difficult to refrain from glancing +wolfishly at the good things until his eyes rested upon Miss Savine, +and then it cost him an effort to turn them away. Helen reclined on an +ox-hide lounge. An early rose rested among the glossy clusters of her +thick, dark hair. A faint tinge of crimson showed through the pale +olive in her cheek, and he caught the glimmer of pearly teeth between +the ripe red lips. In her presence he grew painfully conscious that he +was ragged, toil-stained and dusty, though he had made the best toilet +he could beside a stream. + +"I have removed the rock, and have brought the tools back," he said. + +"How much did the explosives cost you?" asked Helen, and Geoffrey +smiled. + +"If you will excuse me, is not that beside the question? I engaged to +remove the boulder, and I have done it," he answered. + +Ever since her mother's death, Helen Savine had ruled her father and +most of the men with whom she came in contact. She had come to the +ranch with Mr. Savine, who was interested in many enterprises in the +neighborhood and she was prepared to be interested in whatever +occurred. Few of her wishes ever had been thwarted, so, naturally, she +was conscious of a faint displeasure that a disheveled wanderer should +even respectfully slight her question. Placing two silver coins on the +table, the said coldly: + +"Then here are your covenanted wages, and we are obliged to you." + +Geoffrey handed one of the coins back with a slight inclination of his +head. "Our bargain was one dollar, madam, and I cannot take more. +Perhaps you have forgotten," he replied. + +Helen was distinctly annoyed now. The color grew a little warmer in +her cheek and her eyes brighter, but she uttered only a "Thank you," +and took up the piece of silver. + +Jean Graham, prompted by the Westerner's generous hospitality, and a +feeling that she had been overlooked, spoke: + +"You have earned a square meal any way, and you're going to get it," +she declared. "Sit right down there and we'll have supper when the +boys come in." + +Uneasily conscious that Helen was watching him, Thurston cast a swift +hungry glance at the food. Then, remembering his frayed and tattered +garments and the hole in his boot, he answered: "I thank you, but as I +must be well on my way to-morrow I cannot stay." + +"Then you'll take these along, and eat them when it suits you," said +the girl, deftly thrusting a plateful of hot cakes upon him. Divided +between gratitude and annoyance, Geoffrey stood still, stupidly holding +out the dainties at arm's length, while flavored syrup dripped from +them. It was equally impossible to return them without flagrant +discourtesy or to retire with any dignity. Finally, he moved out +backwards still clutching the plate of cakes, and when he had +disappeared Helen laughed softly, while Jean's merriment rang out in +rippling tones. + +"You saved the situation," said Helen. "It was really getting +embarrassing, and he made me ashamed. I ought to have known better +than to play that trick with the dollar, but the poor man looked as if +he needed it. He is certainly not a hobo, and I could wonder who he +is, but that it does not matter, as we shall never see him again." + +Meanwhile, Geoffrey Thurston walked savagely down the trail. He felt +greatly tempted to hurl the cakes away, but, on second thoughts, ate +them instead. It was a trifling decision, but it led to important +results, as trifles often do, because, if he had not satisfied his +hunger, he would have limped back through the settlement towards the +railroad and probably never would have re-entered the valley. As it +was, when the edge of his hunger was blunted he felt drowsy, and, +curling himself up among the roots of hemlock, sank into slumber under +the open sky. Early next morning Bransome stopped him on the trail. + +"I've been thinking over what you told me about making a rock cutting +to run the water clear of my meadows," said the rancher, "and if you're +still keen on business I'm open to talk to you." + +"Why didn't you talk yesterday morning?" inquired Thurston, and +Bransome answered frankly: "Well, just then I had my doubts about you; +now I figure that if you say you can do a thing, you can. Come over to +the ranch, and, if we can't make a deal, I'll give you a week's work, +any way." + +"Thanks!" replied Thurston. "I should be glad to, but I have some +business at the settlement first. Will you advance me a dollar, on +account of wages, so that I can discharge a debt to the storekeeper?" + +"Why, yes!" agreed the rancher. "But didn't you get a dollar from +Graham yesterday? Do you want two?" + +"Yes!" said Thurston. "I want two," and Bransome laughed. + +"You're in a greater hurry to pay your debts than other folks from your +country I've met over here," he observed with a smile. "But come on to +the ranch and breakfast; I'll square the storekeeper for you." + +Thurston accepted the chance that offered him a sustaining meal, but he +did not explain that, owing to some faint trace of superstition in his +nature, he intended to keep Helen Savine's dollar. It was the first +coin that he had earned as his own master, in the Dominion, and he felt +that the successfully-executed contract marked a turning point in his +career. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GEOFFREY MAKES PROGRESS + +Thurston did justice to his breakfast at Bransome's ranch, and he +frankly informed his host that he had found it difficult to exist on +two handfuls of crackers and one of hot corn cakes. When the meal was +finished and pipes were lighted, the two men surveyed each other with +mutual interest. They were not unlike in physique, for the Colonial, +was, as is usual with his kind, lean and wiry. His quick, restless +movements suggested nervous energy, but when advisable, he could assume +the bovine stolidity which, though foreign to his real nature, the +Canadian bushman occasionally adopts for diplomatic purposes. +Thurston, however, still retained certain traits of the Insular Briton, +including a curtness of speech and a judicious reserve. + +"That blame lake backs up on my meadows each time the creek rises," +Bransome observed at length. "The snow melts fast in hay-time, and, +more often than I like, a freshet harvests my timothy grass for me. +Now cutting down three-hundred-foot redwoods is good as exercise, but +it gets monotonous, and a big strip of natural prairie would be +considerably more useful than a beaver's swimming bath. You said you +could blow a channel through the rocks that hold up the outlet, didn't +you?" + +"I can!" Geoffrey asserted confidently. "From some knowledge of mining +I am inclined to think that a series of heavy charges fired +simultaneously along the natural cleavage would reduce the lake's level +at least a fathom. Have you got a pencil?" + +Here it was that the national idiosyncrasies of the men became +apparent; for Thurston, leaning on one elbow, made an elaborate sketch +and many calculations with Bransome's pencil. A humming-bird, +resplendent in gold and purple, blundered in between the roses +shrouding the open window, and hovered for a moment above him on +invisible wings. Thurston did not notice the bird, but Bransome flung +a crust at it as he smiled on his companion. + +"We'll take the figures for granted. Life is too short to worry over +them," the rancher said. "Let's get down to business. How much are +you asking, no cure no pay, I finding tools and material? I want your +bottom price straight away." + +Thurston had never done business in so summary a fashion before, but he +could adapt himself to circumstances, and he mentioned a moderate sum +forthwith. + +"Can't come down?--then it's a deal!" Bransome announced. +"Contract--this is the Pacific slope, and we've no time for such +foolery. I'm figuring that I can trust you, and my word's good enough +in this locality. Run that pond down a fathom and you'll get your +money. Any particular reason why you shouldn't start in to-day? Don't +know of any? Then put that pipe in your pocket, and we'll strike out +for the store at the settlement now." + +So it came about that at sunset Geoffrey was deposited with several +bags of provisions, a blanket, and a litter of tools, outside a ruined +shack on the edge of the natural prairie surrounding Bransome's lake. +He had elected to live beside his work. + +A tall forest of tremendous growth walled the lake, and then for a +space rotting trees and willow swale showed where the intermittent rise +of waters had set a limit to the all-encroaching bush. The wail of a +loon rang eerily out of the shadow, and was answered by the howl of a +distant wolf. A thin silver crescent sailed clear of the fretted +minarets of towering firs clear cut against a pale pearl of the sky. + +"Carlton's prairie, we call it," said Bransome, leaning against his +light wagon, which stood, near the deserted dwelling. "Land which +isn't all rock or forest is mighty scarce, and Carlton figured he'd +done great things when he bought this place. Five years he tried to +drain it, working night and day, and pouring good money into it, and +five times the freshets washed out his crops for him. The creek just +laughed at his ditches. Then when he'd no more money he went out to +help track-laying, and a big tree flattened him. The boys said he +didn't seem very sorry. This prairie had broken his heart for him, and +I've heard the Siwash say he still comes back and digs at nights when +the moon is full." + +"Carlton made a mistake," said Geoffrey, who had been examining the +surroundings rather than listening to the tale. "He began in what +looked the easiest and was the hardest way. He should have cut the +mother rock instead of trenching the forest." When Bransome drove away +Thurston rolled himself in the thick brown blanket, and sank into +slumber under the lee of the dead man's dwelling, through which a maple +tree had grown from the inside, wrenching off the shingle roof. + +An owl that circled about the crumbling house, stooped now and then on +muffled wing to inspect the sleeper. Once a stealthy panther, slipping +through the willows, bared its fangs and passed the other way, and the +pale green points of luminescence that twinkled in the surrounding +bush, and were the eyes of timber wolves, faded again. Neither did the +deer that panther and wolves sought, come down to feed on the swamp +that night, for a man, holding dominion over the beasts of the forest, +lay slumbering in the desolate clearing. + +Geoffrey began work early next day, and afterwards week by week toiled +from dawn until nearly sunset, blasting clear minor reefs and ledges +until he attacked the mother rock under the lip of a clashing fall. +The fee promised was by no means large, and, because current wages +prohibited assistance, he did all the work himself. So he shoveled +débris and drilled holes in the hard blue grit; and drilling, +single-handed, is a difficult operation, damaging to the knuckles of +the man attempting it. He waded waist-deep in water, learned to carry +heavy burdens on his shoulder, and found his interest in the task +growing upon him. He felt that much depended upon the successful +completion of his contract. It was not, however, all monotonous labor, +and there were compensations, for, after each day's toil was done, he +lay prone on scented pine twigs, and heard the voices of the bush break +softly through the solemn hush as, through gradations of fading glories +along the lofty snows, night closed in. He would watch the black bear +grubbing hog-fashion among the tall wild cabbage, while the little +butter duck, paddling before its brood, set divergent lines creeping +across the steely lake until the shadows of the whitened driftwood +broke and quivered. + +Sometimes he would call the chipmunks, which scurried up and down +behind him, or tap on a rotten log until a crested woodpecker cried in +answer, and by degrees the spell of the mountains gained upon him, +until he forgot his troubles and became no more subject to fits of +berserk rage. He was growing quiet and more patient, learning to wait, +but his energy and determination still remained. But he was not wholly +cut off from human intercourse, for at times some of the scattered +ranchers would ride over to offer impracticable advice or to predict +his failure, and Geoffrey listened quietly, answering that in time it +would be proved which was right. Sometimes, he tramped through scented +shadow to Graham's homestead and discussed crops and cattle with the +rancher. On these occasions, he had long conversations with Helen +Savine, who, finding no person of liberal education thereabouts, was +pleased to talk to him. There was nothing incongruous in this, for +petty class distinctions vanish in the bush, where, when his daily task +is done, the hired man meets his master on terms of equality. + +At last the day on which Thurston's work was to be practically tested +arrived, and most of the ranchers drove over to witness what they +regarded as a reckless experiment. + +Jean Graham and Helen Savine stood a little apart from the rest on the +edge of the forest looking down on the glancing water and talking with +the experimenter. The rich wet meadows were heavy with flag and +blossom to the edge of the driftwood frieze, and the splash of rising +trout alone disturbed the reflection of the mighty trunks and branches +crowning a promontory on the farther side. + +"It is very beautiful, and now you are going to spoil it all, Mr. +Bransome," said Helen. + +The rancher glanced at her with admiration in his eyes. Helen was +worthy of inspection. Her thin summer dress, with the cluster of +crimson roses tucked into the waist of it, brought out her rich beauty +which betokened a Latin ancestry. + +"Yes, it's mighty pretty; a picture worth looking at--all of it," he +said, and there was a faint smile on Helen's lips as she recognized +that the general tribute to the picturesque was as far as Bransome +dared venture in the direction of a compliment. He was not a diffident +person, but he felt a wholesome respect for Helen Savine. + +"Mighty pretty, but what's the good of it, and I'm not farming for my +health," he continued. "It's just a beautiful wilderness, and what has +a man brains given him for, unless it's to turn the wilderness into +cheese and butter. It has broken one man's heart, and my thick-headed +neighbors said a swamp it would remain forever, but a stranger with +ideas came along, and I told him, 'Sail ahead.'" + +"I did hear you told him not to be a--perhaps I had better say--a +simple fool," Helen answered mischievously; and Bransome coughed before +he made reply. + +"Maybe!" he acknowledged. "I didn't know him then, but to-day I'm +ready to back that man to put through just whatever he sets his mind +upon." + +As Bransome spoke, the subject of this encomium came up from the little +gorge by the lake outlet, and it struck Helen Savine that the rock +worker had changed to advantage since she first saw him. His keen +eyes, which she had noticed were quick to flash with anger, had grown +more kindly and the bronzed face was more reposeful. The thin jean +garments and great knee boots, which had no longer any rents in them, +suited the well-proportioned frame. + +"I was disappointed about the electric firing gear ordered from +Vancouver, but I think the coupled time-fuses should serve almost as +well," said Thurston, acknowledging Helen's presence with a bow that +was significant. "You appear interested, Miss Savine. We are trusting +to the shock of a number of charges fired simultaneously, and perhaps +you had better retire nearer the bush, for the blast will be powerful. +I should like your good wishes, since you are in a measure responsible +for this venture. You will remember you gave me my first commission." + +"You have them!" said Helen, with a frank sincerity, for though the man +was a mere enterprising laborer, she was too proud to assume any air of +condescension. She was Helen Savine, and considered that she had no +need to maintain her dignity. + +Geoffrey returned a conventional answer, and there was a buzz of voices +as he and Bransome walked back together towards the gorge. The rancher +halted discreetly when his companion, taking a brand from a fire near +it, clambered over the boulders. Geoffrey disappeared among the rocks, +and the voices grew louder when he came into view again walking +hurriedly. + +Several trails of thin blue vapor began to crawl in and out among the +rocks. Bransome joined Thurston, and both men broke into a smart trot. +They were heading for the bush until Geoffrey, halting near it, ran +back at full speed towards the gorge. All who watched him were +astonished, for they were already bracing themselves to face the heavy +shock. + +"He's mad--stark mad!" roared Graham. "Come back for your life, +Bransome. It's smashed into small pieces both of you will be," and the +eyes of the spectators grew wide as they watched the two running +figures, for the rancher also had turned, and the lines of vapor were +creeping with ominous swiftness across the face of the stone. + +There was a roar as the behind man clutched at the other, missed him, +and staggered several paces, leaving his hat behind him before he took +up the chase again. Single cries sharper than the rest rose out of the +clamor, "Blown to glory both of them! Two sticks of giant powder in +most of the holes. All that's left of the Britisher won't be worth +picking up!" + +The two men disappeared among the boulders almost under the white foam +of the fall, and for a brief space there was heavy silence emphasized +by the song of hurrying water and the drumming of a blue-grouse on the +summit of a fir. Helen Savine fancied she could hear the assembly +breathing unevenly, and felt a pricking among the roots of her hair, +while she struggled with an impulse which prompted her to cry aloud or +in any wild fashion to break the torturing suspense. Jean Graham, +whose eyes were wide with apprehension, noted that her face was +bloodless to the lips. Neither had as yet been rudely confronted with +tragedy, and both felt held fast, spellbound, without the power to move. + +"The Lord have mercy on them," said the hoarse voice of a man somewhere +behind the girls. + +Once more a murmur swelled into a roar, and Jean, twining her brown +fingers together, cried, "There! They're coming. They may be in time!" + +A figure, apparently Bransome's, leaped down from a boulder close in +front of one that climbed over the stone, and there followed harsh, +breathless cries of encouragement as the two headed at mad speed for +the sheltering forest, the rear runner, who came up with hands clenched +and long swinging strides, gaining steadily on the one before him. +They were near enough for those who watched to see that the fear of +sudden death was stamped upon their perspiring faces. Then, as they +passed a spur of rock out-crop, Thurston leaped upon the leader, hurled +him forward so that he lost his balance and the pair went down out of +sight among the rocks, while a shaft of radiance pale in the sunlight +blazed aloft beside the outlet of the lake. Thick yellow-tinted vapor +followed it, and hillside and forest rang to the shock of a stunning +detonation. + +The smoke curling in filmy wreaths spread itself across the quaggy +meadows, while the patter of falling fragments filled the quivering +bush, and was mingled with a loud splashing, or a heavy crash as some +piece of greater weight drove hurtling through the trees or plunged +into the lake. Then for the last time the assembly gave voice, raising +a tumultuous cheer of relief as the two men came forth uninjured out of +the eddying smoke. + +Geoffrey, shaking the dust from his garments, turned to his companion +with a somewhat nervous laugh: + +"We cut it rather fine," he said, "but I felt reasonably sure there +would be just sufficient time, and it might have spoiled the whole +blast if the two bad fuses had failed to fire their shots. Of course, +I'm grateful for your company, but as it was my particular business I +don't quite see why you turned back after me." + +Bransome, who mopped his forehead, stared at the speaker with some +wonder and more admiration before he answered: + +"There's a good deal of cast iron about you, and I guess I'd a long way +sooner have trusted the rest than have gone back to stir up those two +charges. What took me?--well, I figured you had turned suddenly crazy, +and I was in a way responsible for you. Made the best bargain for your +time I could, but I didn't buy you up bones and body--see?" + +"I think I do," answered Geoffrey, and that was all, but it meant the +recognition of a bond between them. Bransome, as if glad to change the +subject, asked: + +"Say, after you had fired the fuse what did you waste precious seconds +looking for? If I wasn't too scared to notice anything clearly I'd +swear you found something and picked it up." + +"I did!" declared Geoffrey, smiling. "It was something I must have +dropped before. Only a trifle, but I would not like to lose it, and--I +had one eye on the fuses--there seemed a second or two to spare. +However, for some reason my throat feels all stuck together. Have you +any cider in your wagon?" + +Half-an-hour later, when most of the spectators stood watching the +released waters thunder down the gorge, for the blast had been +successful, Helen Savine said: + +"I don't quite understand what happened, Mr. Bransome." + +"It was this way!" answered the rancher, glad to profit by any +opportunity of interesting the girl. "That Thurston is a hard, tough +man. Two fuses that were to fire small charges petered out, and sooner +than risk anything he must light them again. I don't quite understand +all the rest of it, either, for he's not a mean man, and why he should +stay fooling on top of a powder mine looking for one dollar when I've a +hatful to pay him is away beyond me. Yet I'm sure he picked up a piece +of silver just before we ran. Curious kind of creature, isn't he?" + +Helen thought the incident distinctly odd. She could not comprehend +why a man should risk his life for the sake of a silver coin. She +could not find a solution of the mystery until it was explained that +evening. + +Geoffrey Thurston, attired in white shirt, black sash, and new store +clothes, had tramped over to Graham's ranch and by degrees he and Miss +Savine gravitated away from the others. They were interested in +subjects that did not appeal to the rest, and, though Jean smiled +mischievously at times, this excited no comment. + +Clear moonlight sparkled upon the untrodden snows above them, snows +that had remained stainless since the giant peaks were framed when the +world was young. The pines were black on their lower slopes, and white +mists filled the valley, out of which the song of the river rose in +long reverberations. Geoffrey and Helen leaned on the veranda +balustrade, both silent, for the solemnity of the mountains impressed +them, and speech seemed superfluous. + +After a while, the girl told Geoffrey that he ought to be glad to live +after his narrow escape from death. "There was really no great risk, +and, if there had been, the results would have justified it," Geoffrey +replied. "The failure of two charges might have spoiled all my work +for me. Since I left you the Roads and Trails Surveyor voluntarily +offered me a rock work contract he had refused before, and I at once +accepted it." + +"You have not been used to this laborious life. Have you no further +ambition, and do you like it?" asked Helen, flashing a quick glance at +him. + +"It is not exactly what I expected, but as there appears to be no great +demand in this country for mental abilities, one is glad to earn a +living as one can," he said. "I am afraid I am a somewhat ambitious +person. I consider this only the beginning, and Miss Savine +responsible for it. You will remember who it was offered me my first +contract." + +"Don't!" commanded Helen, averting her eyes. "That is hardly fair or +civil. You really looked so--and how was I to know?" + +Geoffrey's pulse beat faster, and the smile faded out of his eyes as he +noticed, for the moon was high, the trace of faintly heightened color +in the speaker's face. + +"I doubtless looked the hungry, worn-out tramp I was," he interposed +gravely. "And out of gentle compassion, you offered me a dollar. +Well, I earned that dollar, and I have it still. It has brought me +good luck, and I will keep it as a talisman." + +Instinctively his fingers slid to one end of a thin gold chain, and for +a moment a look of consternation came into his face, for the links hung +loose; then as the hard hand dropped to his pocket, he looked relieved +and Helen found it judicious to watch a gray blur of shadow moving +across the snow. She had sometimes wondered what he wore at one end of +that cross-pattern chain, for rock cutters do not usually adorn +themselves with such trinkets, but, remembering Bransome's comments, +she now understood what had happened just before the explosion. +Geoffrey's quick eyes had noticed something unusual in her air, and his +old reckless spirit, breaking through all restraint, prompted him to +say: + +"It will, I fancy, still bring me good fortune. I come of a +superstitious race, and nothing would tempt me to part with it. This, +as I said, is only the beginning. It appeared impossible to move the +boulder from your wagon trail, and I did it. The neighbors declared +nobody could drain Bransome's prairie, and a number of goodly acres are +drying now, while to-night I feel it may be possible to go on and on, +until----" + +"Does not that sound somewhat egotistical?" interposed Helen. + +"Horribly," said Thurston, with a curious smile. "But you see I am +trusting in the talisman, and some day I may ask you to admit that I +have made it good. I'm not avaricious, and desire money only as means +to an end. Dollars! If all goes well, the contract for the wagon road +rock work should bring me in a good many of them." + +"You are refreshingly certain," averred Helen. "But will the end or +dominant purpose justify all this?" + +Thurston answered quietly: + +"I may ask you to judge that, also, some day!" + +Helen was conscious of a chagrin quite unusual to her. Hitherto, she +had experienced little difficulty in making the men she knew regret +anything that resembled presumption, but with this man it was +different. What he meant she would not at the moment ask herself, but, +though she rather admired his quietly confident tone, it nettled her, +and yet, without begging an awkward question she could not resent it. +Geoffrey's reckless frankness was often more unassailable than wiser +men's diplomacy--and she was certainly pleased that he had recovered +the dollar. + +"The dew is getting heavy, and I promised Jean some instruction in +netting," she told him rather unsteadily. She paused a second, and, +with an assumed carelessness, added, "isn't it useless to forecast the +future?" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LEGENDS OF CROSBIE GHYLL + +Helen Savine had passed two years in England, and, because her father +was a prosperous man who humored her slightest wishes, she occasionally +returned to take her pleasure in what she called the Old Country. It +is a far cry from the snowy heights of the Pacific slope to the +pleasant valleys of the North Country, but in these days of +quadruple-expansion engines, distance counts but little when one has +sufficient money. + +The Atlantic express had brought Helen and her aunt by marriage, Mrs. +Thomas P. Savine, into Montreal, whence a fast train had conveyed them +to New York in time to catch a big Southampton liner, but Mrs. Savine +was a restless lady, and had grown tired of London within six weeks +from the day she left Vancouver. She was an American, and took pains +to impress the fact upon anybody who mistook her for a Canadian, and, +finding a party of her countrymen and women, whom she had hoped to +overtake in the metropolis, had departed northwards, she determined to +follow them to the English lakes. + +"It's a big, hot, dusty wilderness, Tom, and we've seen all they've got +to show us here before," she said to her long-suffering husband, as she +stood in the vestibule of a fashionable hotel. "Say, we'll pull out +to-day and catch the Schroeders' party meditating around Wordsworth's +tomb. Young man, will you kindly get us a railroad schedule?" + +The silver-buttoned official, who watched the big plate-glass door, +started at a smart rap on his shoulder, and blinked at the angular lady +in a startling costume and a blue veil. Thomas Savine interposed +meekly: + +"A time-table; and that's evidently not the man to ask, my dear." + +"Then he can tell the right one," Mrs. Savine answered airily, and +presently halted before a row of resplendently-gilded books adorning +one portion of the vestibule. She thereupon explained for the benefit +of all listeners that it was hard to see the necessity for so many +railways in so small a country, and finally, with a clerk's assistance, +selected a train which would deposit her at Oxenholme, from which place +the official suggested that she might find means of transport into the +district in which, to the best of his belief, Coleridge and Wordsworth, +or one of them, wrote what Mrs. Savine entitled charming little pieces. +It proved good counsel, and two of the party passed a delightful week +at Ambleside, where their sojourn was marred only by Mrs. Savine's +laments that potatoes were not served at supper and breakfast. + +"I want some potatoes with my ham," she said, and when the attendant +explained that the vegetables were never eaten in England at that meal, +she inquired, "Don't you grow potatoes anywhere in this country?" + +The attendant said that very fine ones were produced in the immediate +vicinity, and Mrs. Savine waved a jeweled hand majestically. + +"Then away you go and buy some. I'll sit right here until they're +boiled," she said. + +"It really isn't the custom, and you know you never got them in London, +and hardly ate them at home," said Thomas Savine, but Mrs. Savine +remained superior to such reasoning. + +"That's quite outside the question. I want those potatoes, and I'm +going to have them," she insisted. + +There was a whispering at the end of the breakfast hall, somebody +whistled up a tube, and the hotel manager appeared to announce, with +regrets, that it was unfortunately impossible in the busy season to +upset the culinary arrangements for the benefit of a single guest. + +"Then we'll start again and follow the Schroeders' trail to that place +in Cumberland," Mrs. Savine decided. "Tom, you go out and buy one of +those twenty five cent guide-books which tell you all about everything. +Hire some ponies and a man, and we'll drive a straight line across the +mountains." + +The manager respectfully suggested it would be better to take the +train, even though the railway went round, because the mountains were +lofty, and the roads were indifferent in the region traversed. To this +the lady answered with some truth that the highest peak in Britain was +a pigmy to the lowest of the Selkirks, and that she had spent two +summers camping among the fastnesses of the snow-clad Olympians. + +"Your aunt is a smart woman, but she can't help upsetting things," said +Thomas Savine, when his niece went out with him to make arrangements +for the trip. Helen smiled pleasantly, for she knew her aunt's good +qualities, and also she was fond of adventurous wanderings. + +It was perfect weather, and the three tourists enjoyed their journey +among the less frequented fells, during which they camped, so Thomas +Savine termed it, each night in some high-perched hostelry or +trout-fisher's haunt. Helen realized that never before had she fully +appreciated the beauty of England. Quite apart from its wonders of +industrial enterprise, tide of world-wide commerce, and treasury of +literature and art, the old country was to be loved for its quiet, +green restfulness, she thought. + +Suddenly there came a change. A south-wester drove thick rain-clouds +scudding across peak and valley, and filled the passes with dank, white +mists from the Irish Sea, and so, towards the close of a threatening +day, Mrs. Savine's party came winding down in a hurry from a bare hill +shoulder and under the gray crags of Crosbie Fell. The hollows beneath +them were lost in a woolly vapor, low-flying scud raked the bare ridges +above, and even as they passed a black rift in the hillside the first +heavy drops of rain fell pattering. Helen Savine had seen many a +mining adit in British Columbia, and, turning to glance at the mouth of +the tunnel, she read, scratched on the rock beside it, "Thurston's +Folly." That careless glance over her shoulder was to lead to +important results. + +"There's wild weather brewing," said Thomas Savine. "Make those ponies +rustle, and we'll get in somewhere before it comes along." + +When they reached the little wind-swept village, it became evident that +no shelter for the night could be found there, for it was seldom that +even an enterprising pedestrian tourist came down from the high moors +behind Crosbie Fell. Still, one inhabitant informed their guide, in a +tongue none of the others could comprehend, that if he was in an +unusually good humor old Musker, the keeper, might take them in at +Crosbie Ghyll. Thus it happened that just as the rain began in +earnest, such a cavalcade as had probably never before passed its +gloomy portals rode up to the gate of the dilapidated edifice. Some of +the iron-bound barriers still lay moldering in the hollow of the arch, +and Helen noticed slits for muskets in the stout walls above, for the +owners had been a fighting race, and several times in bygone centuries +the tide of battle had rolled about and then had ebbed away from the +stubbornly-held stronghold. The observer had gathered so much from a +paragraph in her guide-book. + +The romance of English history appealed to Helen as it does to the +citizens of the wider Britain over seas, and she turned in her saddle +to look about her. Framed by the weather-worn archway she could see +the black rampart of the fells fading into the rain, and the bare sweep +of moss and moor, which had once stretched unbroken to the feet of the +great ranges above the Solway shore. Inside the quadrangle, for the +place had during the past century served as farm instead of hall, barn, +cart-shed and shippon were ruinous and empty, but she could fill the +space in fancy with sturdy archer, man-at-arms, and corsleted rider, +for that the present venerable edifice had been built into an older one +the stump of a square tower remained to testify. + +Thomas Savine pounded on the oaken door at one end of the courtyard +until it was opened by a bent-shouldered man with frosted hair and +wrinkled visage. + +"We are unfortunate strangers with a guide who has lost his way, and it +would be a favor if you could take us in to-night out of the storm," he +said. The older man glanced at the party suspiciously. + +"If you ride straight on across the moor you'll find a road, and a +brand new hotel in twelve miles, where you'll get whatever you have +been used to," he said. "I once took some London folks in, and after +the thanks they gave me I never will again." + +"We're not Londoners, only forlorn Canadians," explained Thomas Savine. +"Never mind, Matilda; he'll find out that you're an American in due +time. We have all learned to rough it in our own country, and would +trouble you very little." + +"What part of Canada?" asked the forbidding figure in the doorway, and +when Savine answered, "British Columbia," called "Margery!" A little +weazened woman, with cheeks still ruddy from much lashing of the wind, +appeared in the portal. + +"Strangers from British Columbia! Perhaps they know the master," said +the man, and there was a whispering until the woman vanished, saying, +"I'll ask Miss Gracie." + +She returned promptly, and, with a reserved courtesy, bade the party +enter. Then she sent her husband and the guide to stable the ponies, +and fifteen minutes later the travelers reassembled beside the +deep-seated window of a great stone-flagged room, darkly wainscoted, +which apparently once had been the hall, and was now kitchen. There +were a spotless cloth and neat cutlery on the table by the window; +trout and bacon, hacked from the sides hanging beneath the +smoke-blackened beams, frizzled upon a peat fire; and, though she found +neither wine nor potatoes, Mrs. Savine said that she had not enjoyed +such a meal since she left Vancouver. + +"We can't give you a sitting-room to yourselves," apologized the +withered dame as the removed the cloth. "What furniture there is above +is covered up, and it will be ill finding you sleeping quarters even. +Nobody lives here beside ourselves, except when Mr. Forsyth comes down +for a few weeks' shooting. His wife was a Thurston, and he bought the +old place to please her sooner than let it go out of the family." + +"A Thurston!" said Helen Savine. "We saw 'Thurston's Folly' written +beside a mining tunnel on the fell. Was that one of the former owners? +Being Colonials we are interested in all ancient buildings and their +traditions." + +"Oh, yes!" broke in Mrs. Savine. "We just love to hear about wicked +barons and witches and all those quaint folk of the olden time." + +Musker had drawn nearer meanwhile, and Thomas Savine held out the cigar +case that lay upon his knee. "If we may smoke in the great hearth +there, just help yourself," said he. "My wife is fond of antiquities, +and if you have any to talk of, we should be glad of your company." + +Musker glanced keenly at his guests. Though, having lived elsewhere, +he spoke easy colloquial English, he was a son of the North Country +dogged and slow, intensely self-respecting, and, while loyal with +feudal fealty to superiors he knew, quick to resent a stranger's +assumption of authority. Thomas Savine, brown-faced, vigorous, a +pleasant Colonial gentleman, smiled upon him good-naturedly, and Musker +took a cigar awkwardly. Mrs. Savine surveyed the great bare hall with +respectful curiosity and evident interest, while Helen, visibly +interested, leaned back in her chair. + +"Maybe you met the master in British Columbia?" Musker hazarded with an +eager look in his dim eyes. + +"What is his full name, and what is he like?" asked Helen, bending +forward a little. The old woman, reaching over, lifted a faded +photograph from the window seat. + +"Geoffrey Thurston!" she answered. "That was him when he was young. +My husband yonder broke the pony in." + +Helen started as she gazed at the picture of the boy and the pony. The +face was like, and yet unlike, that of the gaunt and hungry man whom +she had first seen sitting upon the fallen fir. "Yes," she answered +gravely; "I know him. I met Mr. Thurston in British Columbia." + +"We would take it very kindly if you would tell us how and where you +found him, miss," said Musker in haste. + +"I found him in a great Canadian forest. He was looking very worn and +tired," Helen answered, with a trace of color in her face. "I--I hired +him to do some work for me, and it was hard work--much harder than I +fancied--but he did it, and, as we afterwards discovered, spent all I +paid him on the powder he found was necessary." + +"Ay," said the old man. "That was Mr. Geoffrey. They were all hard +and ill to beat, the Thurstons of Crosbie. And you'll kindly tell us, +miss, you saw him again?" + +"Yes," repeated Helen, "I saw him again. By good fortune the work he +did for me procured him a contract he carried out daringly, and when I +last saw him he was no longer hungry or ragged, but, I fancy, on the +way to win success as an engineer." + +Musker straightened his bent shoulders and smiled a slow, almost +reluctant smile of pride, while his wife's eyes were grateful as she +fixed them on the speaker. "Ay! What Mr. Geoffrey sets his heart on +he'll win or ruin himself over. It was the way of all of them; and +this is gradely news," he told her. + +"Now," said Helen, nodding towards him graciously, "we don't wish to be +unduly inquisitive, but--if you may tell us--why did Mr. Thurston +emigrate to Canada?" + +Musker was evidently tempted to embark upon a favorite topic, and his +wife went out hurriedly. But he hesitated, sitting silent for a minute +or two. Savine, rising under the arch of the great hearth, flung his +cigar into the fire, as a young woman, wearing what Helen noticed was a +decidedly antiquated riding habit, came forward out of the shadows. + +"I hope we are not intruding here," said the Canadian. "We were tired +out before the rain came down, and almost afraid to cross the moor." + +"You are very welcome," said the stranger. "I am not, however, +mistress, only a relative of the old place's owner, and, therefore, a +kinswoman of Geoffrey Thurston. I heard that you had shown him a +passing kindness, and should like to thank you." + +There was no apparent reason why the two young women should scrutinize +each other, and yet both did so by the fading daylight and red blaze of +the fire. Helen saw that the stranger was ruddy and blonde--frank by +nature and impulsive, she imagined. The stranger noted only that the +Colonial was pale and dark and comely, with a slightly imperious +presence, and a face that it was not easy to read. + +"I am Marian Thwaite of Barrow Hall, and regret I cannot stay any +longer, having three miles to ride in the rain," she said. "Still, I +may return to-morrow before you set out. Mrs. Forsyth will be pleased +if she hears you have made these Canadian strangers comfortable, +Musker, and I think you may tell them why Mr. Geoffrey left England. +May I ask your names?" + +Helen told her, and after Miss Thwaite departed, Musker began the story +of Thurston's Folly. It had grown quite dark. Driving rain lashed the +windows. The ancient building was filled with strange rumblings and +the wailing of the blast when the old man concluded: "Mr. Geoffrey was +too proud to turn a swindler, and that was why he shook off his +sweetheart, who tried to persuade him, though he knew old Anthony +Thurston would have left him his money, if they married." + +"Some said it was the opposite," interposed his wife; but Musker +answered angrily, "Then they didn't tell it right. No woman born could +twist Geoffrey Thurston from his path, and when she gave him bad +counsel he turned his back on her. A fool these dolts called him. He +was a leal, hard man, and what was a light woman's greediness to him?" + +"And what became of the lady?" asked Helen, with a curious flash in her +eyes. + +"She married a London man, who came here shooting, married him out of +spite, and has rued it many times if the tales are true. She was down +with him fishing, looking sour and pale, and the Hall maids were +say----" + +"Just gossip and lies!" broke in his spouse; and Helen, who apparently +had lapsed into a disdainful indifference, asked no further questions. +Mrs. Savine, however, made many inquiries, and Musker, who became +unusually communicative, presently offered to show the strangers what +he called the armory. + +They followed him down a draughty corridor to the black-wainscoted +gun-room at the base of the crumbling tower, and when he had lighted a +lamp its glow revealed a modern collection of costly guns. There were +also trout-rods hung upon the wall, and a few good sporting etchings, +at all of which Musker glanced somewhat contemptuously. "These are Mr. +Forsyth's, and I take care of them, but he only belongs to the place by +purchase and marriage. Those belonged to the Thurstons--the old, dead +Thurstons--and they hunted men," he said. + +He ran the lamp up higher by a tarnished brass chain, and pointed first +to a big moldering bow. "A Thurston drew that in France long ago, and +it has splitted many an Annandale cattle thief in the Solway mosses +since. Red Geoffrey carried this long spear, and, so the story goes, +won his wife with it, and brought her home on the crupper from beside +the Nith. She pined away and died just above where we stand now in +this very tower. That was another Geoffrey's sword; they hanged him +high outside Lancaster jail. He was for Prince Charlie, and cut down +single-handed two of King George's dragoons carrying a warrant for a +friend's arrest when the Prince's cause was lost. His wife, she +poisoned herself. Those are the spurs Mad Harry rode Hellfire on a +wager down Crosbie Ghyll with, and broke his neck doing it, besides his +young wife's heart. The women who married the Thurstons had an ill lot +to grapple with. Even when they settled down to farming, the Thurstons +were men who would walk unflinchingly into ruin sooner than lose their +grip on their purpose, and Mr. Geoffrey favors them." + +"They must have been just lovely," sighed Mrs. Savine. "Say, I've +taken a fancy to some of those old things. That rusty iron lamp can't +be much use to anybody, but it's quaint, and I'd give it's weight in +dollars for it. Can't you tell me where Mr. Forsyth lives?" + +Musker stared at her horrified, Thomas Savine laughed, and even Helen, +who had appeared unusually thoughtful, smiled. Musker answered: + +"No money could buy one of them out of the family, and if any but a +Thurston moves that lamp from where it hangs the dead men rise and come +for it when midnight strikes. It is falling to pieces, but once when +they took it to Kendal to be mended, the smith sent a man back with it +on horseback before the day had broken." + +There was a few moments' silence when Musker concluded, and the ancient +weapons glinted strangely as the lamp's flame wavered in the chilling +draughts. A gale from the Irish Sea boomed about the crumbling tower, +and all the lonely mosses seemed to swell it with their moaning. Helen +shivered as she listened, for those clamorous voices of wind and rain +carried her back in fancy to the old unhappy days of bloodshed and +foray. The associations of the place oppressed her. She had acquired +a horror of those grim dead men whose mementos hung above her, and +whose spirits might well wander on such a night vainly seeking rest. +Even Mrs. Savine became subdued, and her husband said: + +"We can't tell tales like these in our country, and I'm thankful we +can't. Still, I daresay it was such men as these who bred in us the +grit to chase the whales in the Arctic, build our railroads through the +snow-barred passes, and master the primeval forest. Now we'll try to +forget them, and go back out of this creepy place to the fire again." + +An hour later Mrs. Musker escorted Helen to her quarters. A bright +fire glowed in the rusty grate, and two candles burned on the +dressing-table. "It's Mrs. Forsyth's own room, and the best in the +house," the old caretaker assured the girl. "Musker has been telling +you about the old Thurstons. He's main proud of them, but you needn't +fear them--it's long since the last one walked. You have a kind heart, +and nothing evil dare hurt you. See! I've tried to make you +comfortable. You were kind to the old place's real master--many a time +I've nursed him--God bless you!" + +Helen was not in the least afraid of the dead Thurstons. She was +filled with the common-sense courage which characterizes the +inhabitants of her new country, but she had been affected by the +stories, and she sat for a time with her feet on the hearth irons, +gazing thoughtfully into the blaze. She had met a modern Thurston, and +found the instincts of his forbears strong within him. She considered +that strength, courage, and resolution well became a man, but that +gentleness and chivalrous respect for women were desirable attributes, +too. The Thurstons, however, had taken to bloodshed as a pastime, and +broken most of their wives' hearts until it seemed that they had +brought a curse upon their race. She suspected there was a measure of +their brutality in the one she knew. Remembering something Geoffrey +once had said, her face grew flushed and she clenched a little hand +with an angry gesture, saying, "No man shall ever make a slave of me, +and my husband, if I have one, must be my servant before he is my +master." + +Thereupon she dismissed the subject, tried to blot the stories from her +memory, and presently buried her ears in the pillow to shut out the +clamor of the storm. After a sound night's slumber, and an interview +with Miss Thwaite she resumed her journey next morning. + +Musker stood in the gate to watch the party ride away, and glancing at +the coins in his hand said to Margery, "I wish they'd come often. Main +interested in my stories they were all of them, and it's double what +any of the shooting folks ever gave me. This one came from the young +lady, and there's a way about her that puzzles me after seeing her." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MILLICENT'S REWARD + +The late Autumn evening was closing in. Millicent Leslie stood out on +the terrace of the old North Country hall, where, the year before, she +had first met her husband. A pale moon had climbed above the high +black ridge of moor, which shut in one end of the valley, and the big +beech wood that rolled down the lower hillside had faded to a shadowy +blur, but she could still see the dim, white road running straight +between the hedgerows, and could catch the faint gleam of a winding +river. Twilight and night were meeting and melting into each other, +the dew lay heavy upon the last of the dahlias beneath the terrace +wall, and there was a chill of frost in the air. It was very still, +though now and then the harsh call of a pheasant came up faintly +through the murmur of the river from the depths of the wood. Millicent +could hear no other sound, though she strained her ears to listen and +it seemed to her that the rattle of wheels should carry far down the +silent valley. + +She was waiting somewhat anxiously for the return of her husband, who +had set off that morning with three or four other men to walk certain +distant stubble and turnip fields for partridges. They had passed a +week at the hall, for, although Millicent would have preferred to avoid +that particular place, Leslie had said he did not know of any other +place where one could obtain rough shooting, as well as a more or less +congenial company, in return for what was little more than a +first-class hotel bill. He had also added that he needed a holiday, in +which Millicent had agreed with him. There was no doubt that he had +looked jaded and harassed. + +Millicent knew little about her husband's business, except that it was +connected with stocks and shares, and the flotation of companies; but +she was quite aware that he had met with a serious reverse soon after +he married her, since it had been necessary for them to give up their +town house and install themselves temporarily in a London flat. Leslie +had informed her that reverses were not uncommon in his profession, and +he had appeared quite convinced of his ability to recover his losses in +a new venture which had something to do with South African gold or +diamonds. Of late, however, he had grown dejected and moody. On the +previous evening she had seen his face set hard, as he read a letter +which bore the London postmark. He had not given her any information +about the contents of the letter, for there had been no great measure +of confidence between them; but there were one or two telegrams for him +among those a groom had brought over from the nearest station during +the day, and she felt a little uneasy as she thought of them. + +By and by, with a little shiver and a suppressed sigh, she glanced up +at the highest part of the climbing wood. It was there she had had her +last memorable interview with Geoffrey, almost a year ago. Though she +had not cared to face the fact, she was troubled by a suspicion that +she had made an unwise choice then. Leslie had changed since their +marriage. He was harsh at times, and though he had, even in their more +humble quarters, surrounded her with a certain amount of luxury, there +was a laxity in his manners and conversation that jarred upon her. +Geoffrey, she remembered, had not been addicted to mincing words, but, +at least, he had lived in accordance with a Spartan moral code. +Millicent was not a scrupulous woman, and her ideas of ethical justice +were rudimentary, but she possessed in place of a conscience a delicate +sense of refinement which her husband frequently offended. + +Feeling chilly at length, and seeing no sign of the shooter's return, +Millicent went back into the house. She stopped when she reached the +square entrance hall which served the purpose of a lounging-room. The +hall had been rudely ceiled and paneled at a time when skilled +craftsmen were scarce in the North Country, and in the daylight it was +more or less dim and forbidding, but with the lamps lighted and a fire +blazing in the wide, old-fashioned hearth, the place looked invitingly +comfortable. When she entered, Millicent was not altogether pleased to +see another woman there. Marian Thwaite, whom she knew but had not +expected to meet, lay in a big chair near the fire. The glow of health +which the keen air of the moors had brought there was in her face. She +wore heavy boots and severely simple walking attire. Her features +suggested a decided character, and she had unwavering blue eyes. + +"Mrs. Boone won't be down for some minutes, and I believe the rest are +dressing," Marian said. "I haven't seen you since your marriage, and +to tell the truth, you're not looking by any means as fresh as you did +before you left us. I suppose it's one effect of living in London?" + +She studied Millicent with a steady contemplative gaze, and there was +no doubt that her comment was justified. Millicent's face was pallid, +there was a certain weariness in her eyes, and on the whole, her +expression was languidly querulous. + +"I didn't know you were coming to-night," said Millicent, as she sank +into a chair. + +"I didn't know it myself," Marian explained. "I was out on the fells, +and I met Boone as I came down this way. He said somebody would drive +me home, if I'd stay. You have been here a week, haven't you? How is +it you haven't come over to see us yet?" + +"As a matter of fact, I didn't intend to call, and it was rather +against my wishes that we came up here," said Millicent with the candor +of an old acquaintance. "You were not very cordial when I last saw +you, and I can't help a feeling that you are all of you prejudiced +against me." + +Quite unembarrassed Marian looked at her with a reflective air. "Yes," +she admitted, "to some extent that's true. We're closely connected +with the Thurstons, and I've no doubt we make rather intolerant +partisans. After all, it's only natural that we sympathize with +Geoffrey. Besides--you can make what you like of it--he was always a +favorite of mine. I suppose you haven't heard from him since he went +to Canada?" + +"Would you have expected him to write?" + +Marian smiled. "Perhaps it would have been unreasonable, but taking it +for granted that he hasn't been communicative, I've a piece of news for +you. Some Canadian tourists stayed a night at the Ghyll, two or three +months ago, and it seems they met him in British Columbia. I +understand he is by no means prosperous, but at least getting a footing +in the country, and the people apparently have rather a high opinion of +him. Did I mention that one of the party was a girl?" + +She saw the quickened interest in Millicent's eyes. With assumed +indifference in her voice Millicent asked: "What kind of people were +they?" + +"The girl was handsome--well-finished, too. In fact, she struck me as +rather an imperious young person of some consequence in the place she +came from. She would pass in any circle that you or I are likely to +get an entry to. I don't know whether it's significant, but I +understand from Margery that she took some interest in Musker's stories +of the Thurstons." + +There was nothing to show whether Millicent was pleased with this or +not. She did not speak for a moment or two. + +"Did they mention what Geoffrey had been doing?" she inquired presently. + +"Chopping down trees for sawmills, or something of the kind. The man +said Geoffrey had evidently been what they call 'up against it' until +lately when he seems to have got upon his feet. It will probably +convince you that you were perfectly right in not marrying him." + +This time Millicent laughed. "It wouldn't have counted for much with +you?" + +Marian looked at her with unwavering eyes. "No," she replied, "if I'd +had any particular tenderness for Geoffrey it certainly wouldn't have +had the least effect beyond making me more sorry for him, but, as it +happens, he never did anything to encourage vain ideas of the kind in +me." She changed the subject with the abruptness which usually +characterized her. "I suppose you haven't seen old Anthony Thurston +since you married Leslie? He, at least, is openly bitter against you." + +"I haven't. In a way, I suppose he is right. Of course, he would take +the stereotyped view that it was all my fault--that is to say, that I +had discarded Geoffrey?" + +"I believe he did, but it struck me once or twice that Geoffrey +proclaimed that view a little too loudly. Of course, with his rather +primitive notions of delicacy and what is due to us, it's very much +what one would have anticipated in his case. He naturally wouldn't +want to leave room for any suspicion that he--wasn't altogether +satisfied with you." + +Millicent's face clouded. "That is a point which concerns nobody +except Geoffrey and myself," she declared. + +"And Anthony Thurston," Marian broke in. "Of course, it's an open +secret that if you had married Geoffrey you would both have benefited +by his will. As things have turned out, my own opinion is that the +question whether either of you ever gets a penny of the property +depends a great deal on the view he continues to take of the matter. +Any way, that's not the least concern of mine, except that I'm sorry +for Geoffrey. I wonder if I'm going too far in asking what it was you +and he actually split upon. I'm referring to the immediate cause of +the trouble." + +"I can tell you that," Millicent answered quickly, for she was glad to +remove the ground for one suspicion, which was evidently in Marian's +mind. "Geoffrey insisted on giving up the mine when he could have sold +it, and going out to Australia or Canada. I wouldn't go with him. I +think nobody could have reasonably expected me to." + +Marian smiled. "Well," she said, "I wonder if you know that your +husband was one of the men who were willing to take the mine over. +There are reasons for believing it was what brought him here in the +first place." + +Millicent's start betrayed the fact that this was news to her, but just +then there was a rattle of wheels outside, and Marian rose. A murmur +of voices and laughter grew clearer when the outer door was opened, and +the two could hear the returning shooters talking with their host, who +had gone out another way to meet them. + +"The birds were scarce and very wild," announced one of them. "We had +only two or three brace all morning, though we were a little more +fortunate when we got up onto the higher land. It's my candid opinion +that we should have done better there, but Leslie had all the luck in +the turnips, and he made a shocking bad use of it." + +"That's a fact," assented Leslie with what struck Millicent as a rather +strained laugh. "I was right off the mark. There are some days when +you simply can't shoot." + +Several of the women guests now entered the hall, but the men did not +come in. Judging from the sounds outside they seemed to be waiting +while coats or cartridge bags were handed down to them from the +dog-cart, and they were evidently bantering one another in the +meanwhile. + +"It depends upon how long you sit up in the smoking-room on the +previous night," said one of them, and another observed: + +"If you happen to be in business, the state of the markets has its +effect." + +Millicent started again at this, for she remembered her husband's +expression when he had read his letter on the preceding evening. A +third speaker took up the conversation. + +"I don't think any variation in the price of Colonials or Kaffirs, or +of wheat and cotton, for that matter, should prevent a man from telling +the difference between a hare and a dog. I've a suspicion that if Tom +cares to look he'll find one or two number six pellets in the +hindquarters of the setter. It's a good thing our friend wasn't quite +up to his usual form that time." + +A burst of laughter followed, and Leslie's voice broke through it +rather sharply as he replied: "He should have kept the brute in hand. +The difference isn't a big one when you can only see a liver-colored +patch through a clump of bracken. Besides, there was a hare." + +"Undoubtedly," cried somebody. "Lawson got it." + +Then they came in one after another, and while some of them spoke to +their hostess and the other women Leslie walked up to the little table +where several letters were spread out. Millicent watched him as he did +it, and there was no doubt that the very way he moved was suggestive of +restrained eagerness. She saw him tear open a telegram and crumple it +in his hand, after which he seized a second one and ripped it across +the fold in his clumsy haste. Then as he put the pieces together his +face grew suddenly pale and haggard. Nobody else, however, appeared to +notice him, and he leaned with one hand upon the table for a moment or +two with his head turned away from her. She felt her heart beat +painfully fast, for it was clear that a disaster of some kind had +befallen him, though a large part of her anxiety sprang from the +question how far the fact was likely to affect herself. He moved away +from the table, and went towards the stairway at the further end of the +hall, and she followed him a few minutes later. He was sitting by an +open window when she reached their room. A candle flickered beside him +and a little bundle of papers was clenched in one hand. + +"What is it, Harry?" she asked. + +He looked up at her, and his voice sounded hoarse. "I'll try to tell +you later," he answered. "There's a dinner to be got through, and it +will be a big enough effort to sit it out. Slip away as soon as you +can afterward without attracting attention. You'll find me on the +terrace." + +He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and she turned towards the +little dressing-room. When she came out again he had gone, leaving his +outdoor clothing scattered on the floor. + +The dinner that followed was an ordeal to Millicent, but she took her +part in the conversation, and glanced towards her husband only now and +then. He did not eat a great deal, and though he spoke when it seemed +necessary, she noticed the trace of unsteadiness in his voice. At +last, however, the meal, which seemed to drag on interminably, was +finished and as soon as possible she slipped out upon the terrace where +she found Leslie leaning against a seat. The moon which had risen +higher was brighter now, and she could see his face. It showed set and +somber in the pale silvery light. + +"Well?" she said impatiently. "Can't you speak?" + +"I'll try," he answered. "Winkleheim Reef Explorations went down to +four and six pence to-day, and as there's 5 shillings a share not paid +up, it's very probable that one wouldn't be able to give the stock away +before the market closes to-morrow." + +"Ah," replied Millicent sharply, "didn't you tell me that they were +worth sixteen shillings not very long ago? Why didn't you sell them +then?" + +"Because, as it seems to me now, my greediness was greater than my +judgment. I wanted twenty shillings, and I thought I saw how I could +get it." He paused with a little jarring laugh. "As a matter of +fact--strange as it may seem--I believed in the thing. That is why I +let them send out their independent expert, and held on when the stock +began to drop. At the worst, I'd good reasons for believing Walmer +would let me see the cipher report in time to sell. As it happened, he +and the other traitor sold their own stock instead and that must have +started the panic. Now they've got their report. There's no ore that +will pay for milling in the reef." + +It was not all clear to Millicent, but she understood from his manner +that her husband was ruined. "Then what are we to do?" she asked. "Is +there nobody who will give you a start again? You must be known in the +business." + +"That is the precise trouble. I'm too well known. So long as a man is +a winner at this particular game and can make it worth while for +interested folks to applaud him, or, at least, to keep their mouths +shut, he can find a field for his talents when he wants it, but once he +makes a false move or comes down with a bang, they get their claws in +him and keep him from getting up again. Nobody has any sympathy with a +broken company exploiter, especially when he has for once been crazy +enough to believe in his own venture." + +Leslie found it a small relief to run on with ironical bitterness, but +Millicent, who was severely practical in some respects, checked him. + +"You haven't answered my other question." + +"Then I won't keep you waiting. In a few weeks we'll go out to the +Pacific Slope of North America. I may save enough from the wreck to +start me in the land-agency business somewhere in British Columbia." + +Millicent turned from him, and gazed down the moon-lit valley. +Troubled as she was, its rugged beauty and its stillness appealed to +her, and she knew it would be a wrench to leave the land which had +hitherto safely sheltered her. She had known only the smoother side of +life in it, and nobody could appreciate the ease and luxury it could +offer some of its inhabitants better than she did. Now, it seemed, she +must leave it, and go out to struggle for a mere living in some +unlovely town in what she supposed must be a wild and semi-barbarous +country. She felt bitter against the man who, as she thought of it, +had dragged her down, but she hid her resentment. + +"But you know nothing about the land-agency business," she pointed out. + +Leslie laughed ironically. "I have a few ideas. Milligan--we had him +over at dinner once--made a good deal of money that way, and from what +he told me it doesn't seem very different from the business I have been +engaged in. Success evidently depends upon one's ability to sell the +confiding investor what he thinks he'd like to get. Somehow I fancy +that, with moderately good luck, two or three years of it should set us +on our feet." + +"But those two or three years. It's unthinkable!" Millicent broke out. + +"I'm afraid you will have to face them," said Leslie dryly. He turned +and looked hard at her. "You can't reasonably rue your bargain. You +knew when I married you that while I had the command of money my +business was a risky one." + +Again Millicent stood silent a moment or two. She recognized that it +was largely because Leslie enjoyed that command of money that she had +discarded Geoffrey. Now his riches had apparently taken wings and +vanished, but the man was bound to her still. One could fancy that +there was something like retribution in the thing. + +"It's rather dreadful, but I suppose I shall not make it any better by +complaining," she remarked after a long silence. + +Her husband's manner became embarrassed. "I understand that Anthony +Thurston is well off and you were a favorite of his," he said. "Would +it be of any use if you explained the trouble to him?" + +"No," was the answer, "it would be perfectly useless, and for other +reasons that course is impossible. He meant me to marry Geoffrey and +I've mortally offended him. He's a hard, determined man." + +Leslie made a sign of assent, though there was a suggestion of grim +amusement in his manner. "I suppose you couldn't very well explain +that it was Geoffrey who threw you over? That would, no doubt, be too +much to expect of you, and, after all, when you get to the bottom of +the matter it wouldn't be true. In reality you finished with Geoffrey +when he decided to emigrate instead of selling the mine, didn't you?" + +Millicent flashed a swift glance at him, but he met it half-mockingly, +and she turned her head away. "Why should you make yourself +intolerable?" she returned. "I'm sorry for you--that is, I want to be, +if you will let me." + +Leslie shrugged his shoulders as he lit a cigar. "Well," he said, "it +can't be helped. We must face the thing! And now I don't want to set +the others wondering why we have slipped away; we had better go in +again." They walked back info the house. + +Leslie, with one or two of the other men, sat up late in the +smoking-room. Leslie told a number of stories with force and point, +and when at length two of his companions went up the stairway together, +one of them looked at the other with a lifting of the eyebrows. + +"After what Leslie has got through to-night, I'll take the farthest +place in the line from him to-morrow," he said. "If his nerves aren't +unusually good it seems quite possible that there'll be more than a +setter peppered." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BREAKING OF THE JAM + +It was late one moonlight night when Geoffrey Thurston sat inside his +double-skinned tent which was pitched above a river of British +Columbia. A few good furs checkered the spruce twigs which served as a +carpet, and the canvas dwelling was both commodious and comfortable. A +bright brass lamp hung from the ridge pole, a nickeled clock ticked +cheerily upon a hanging shelf behind the neat camp cot, while the rest +of the well-made furniture betokened a degree of prosperity. One of +Savine's junior assistants, sent up there in an emergency to replace an +older man, sat close by, and, because he dwelt in a bark shanty, envied +Thurston his tent. + +Geoffrey was studying a bridge-work tracing that lay unrolled upon his +knees. + +"I can only repeat what I said months ago. The wing slide of the log +pass is too short and the angle over sharp," he said, glancing at the +jam. "An extra big log will jam there some day and imperil the whole +bridge. Did you send a man down to keep watch to-night?" + +"The slide is in accordance with the Roads and Trails specification," +answered the young man, airily. "There was no reason why we should do +more work than they asked for. You're an uneasy man, Thurston, always +looking for trouble, and I've had enough of late over the rascally +hoboes who, when they feel inclined, condescend to work for me. Oh, +yes! I posted the lookout as soon as I heard Davies was running his +saw logs down." + +Thurston hitched his chair forward and threw the door-flap back so that +he could look out into the night. The tent stood perched on the +hillside. Long ranks of climbing pines stretched upwards from it to +the scarped rocks which held up the snow-fields on the shoulders of the +mighty peaks above. Thin white mist and the roar of water rose up from +the shadowy gorge below, but in one place, where the rock walls which +hemmed it in sloped down, a gossamer-like structure spanned the chasm. +This was a wagon-road bridge Julius Savine, the contractor of large +interests and well-known name, was building for the Provincial +authorities, and on their surveyor's recommendation he had sub-let to +Thurston the construction of a pass through which saw-logs and +driftwood might slide without jamming between the piers. Savine, being +pressed for time, had brought in a motley collection of workmen, picked +up haphazard in the seaboard cities. After bargaining to work for +certain wages, these workmen had demanded twenty per cent. more. +Thurston, who had picked his own assistants carefully, among the sturdy +ranchers, and had aided Savine's representative in resisting this +demand, now surmised that the malcontents were meditating mischief. +There were some mighty mean rascals among them, his foreman said. + +"You're looking worried again," observed his companion, presently, and +Thurston answered, "Perhaps I am. I wish Davies would run his logs +down by daylight, but presumably the stream is too fast for him when +the waters rise. It might give some of your friends yonder an +opportunity, Summers." + +"You don't figure they're capable of wrecking the bridge?" replied +Summers, showing sudden uneasiness. + +"One or two among them, including the man I had to thrash, are capable +of anything. Perhaps you had better hail your watchman," Thurston said. + +Summers blew a whistle, and an answer came back faintly through the +fret of the river: "Plenty saw logs coming down. All of them handy +sizes and sliding safely through." + +"That's good enough," declared Summers. "I'm not made of cast-iron, +and need a little sleep at times, so good-night to you!" + +He departed with the cheerful confidence of the salaried man, and +Thurston, who fought for his own interests, flung himself down on his +trestle cot with all his clothes on. Neither the timber slide nor the +bridge was quite finished, but because rivers in that region shrink at +night when the frost checks the drainage from the feeding glaciers on +the peaks above, the saw-miller had insisted on driving down his logs +when there was less chance of their stranding on the shoals that +cumbered the high-water channel. Thurston lay awake for some time, +listening to the fret of the river, which vibrated far across the +silence of the hills, and to the occasional crash of a mighty log +smiting the slide. Hardly had his eyelids closed when he was aroused +by a sound of hurried footsteps approaching the tent. He stood wide +awake in the entrance before the newcomer reached it. + +"There's a mighty big pine caught its butt on one slide and jammed its +thin end across the pier," said the man. "Logs piling up behind it +already!" + +As he spoke somebody beat upon a suspended iron sheet down in the +valley and drowsy voices rose up from among the clustered tents. +Summers went by shouting, "Get a move on, before we lose the bridge!" + +Five minutes later Thurston, running across a bending plank, halted on +the rock which served as foundation for the main bridge pier. Beside +him Summers shouted confused orders to a group of struggling men. The +moonlight beat down mistily through the haze that rose from the river, +and Geoffrey could see the long wedge-headed timber framing that he had +built, beside the wing on the shore-side, so that any trunk floating +down would cannon off at an angle and shoot safely between the piers. +But one huge fir had proved too long for the pass, and when its butt +canted, the other end had driven athwart the point of the wedge, after +which, because the river was black with drifting logs, other heavy +trunks drove against it and jammed it fast. Panting men were hard at +work with levers and pike-poles striving to wrench the massive trunk +clear, and one lighted an air-blast flare, whose red glare flickered +athwart the strip of water foaming between the piers. It showed that +some of the logs forced up by the pressure were sliding out above the +others, while, amid a horrible grinding, some sank. One side of the +river was blocked by a mass of timber that was increasing every moment. +Thurston feared that the unfinished piers could not long withstand the +pressure, and he remembered that his own work would be paid for only on +completion. Nevertheless, he passed several minutes in a critical +survey, and then glanced towards certain groups of dark figures +watching for the approaching ruin. + +"She'll go down inside an hour--that is certain, and Savine will lose +thousands of dollars," said Summers, whose eyes were wide with +apprehension. "I'm rattled completely. Can't you think of anything +that might be done?" + +"Yes!" answered Thurston, coolly. "It is, however, almost too late +now. It could have been done readily, if the man who should have seen +to it had not turned traitor. Hello! Where's Mattawa Tom?" + +A big sinewy ax-man from the forests of Northern Ontario sprang up +beside him, and Thurston said: + +"I'm going to try to chop through the king log that's keying them. +It's rather more than you bargained for, but will you stand by me, Tom?" + +"Looks mighty like suicide!" was the dry answer. "But if you're ready +to chance it, I'm coming right along." + +The workmen had divided into two hostile camps, but there was a growl +of admiring wonder from friends and foes alike when two figures, +balancing bright axes, stood high up on the pier slides ready to leap +down upon the working logs. Then disjointed cries went up: "Too late!" +"You'll be smashed flatter than a flapjack when the jam breaks up!" +"Get hold of the fools, somebody!" "Take their axes away!" + +"I'll brain the first man who touches mine," threatened Thurston, +turning savagely upon those who approached him with remonstrances, and +there was a simultaneous murmur from all the assembly when the two +adventurous men dropped upon the timber. The logs rolled, groaned, and +heaved beneath them and Thurston, trusting to the creeper spikes upon +his heels, sprang from one great tree trunk to another behind his +companion, who had a longer experience of the perilous work of +log-driving. Here a gap, filled with spouting foam, opened up before +him; there a trunk upon which he was about to step rolled over and +sank. But he worked his way forward towards the center of the fir +which keyed the growing mass. This log was many feet in girth. +Pressed down level with the water, it was already bending like a +slackly-strung bow. + +The example proved inspiring. Thurston's assistants were sturdy, +fearless men, who often risked their lives in wresting a living from +the forest, so several among them prepared to follow. Two seamen +deserters sprang out from the ranks of the mutineers. One stalwart +forest rancher, however, tripped his comrade up, and sat upon his +prostrate form shouting, "You'll stop just where you are, you blame +idiot! You couldn't do nothing if you got there. Hardly room for them +two fellows already where they can get at the log!" + +The remaining volunteers saw the force of this argument and when +somebody increased the blast of the lamp so that the roaring column of +flame leapt up higher, the men stood very still, staring at the two who +had now gained the center of the partly submerged log. + +It requires considerable practice to acquire full mastery of the +long-hafted ax, but Thurston, who was stout of arm and keen of eye, had +managed to earn his bread with it one winter in an Ontario logging +camp. When he swung aloft the heavy wedge of steel, it reflected the +blast lamp's radiance, making red flashes as it circled round his head. +It came down hissing close past his knee. Mattawa Tom's blade crossed +it when it rose, and the first white chip leapt up. More chips +followed in quick succession until they whirled in one continuous +shower, and the razor-edged steel losing definite form became a +confused circling brightness, in the center of which two supple figures +swayed and heaved. The red light smiting the faces of the two showed +great drops of sweat, the swell of toil-hardened muscles on the corded +arms, and the rise of each straining chest. There was not a clash nor +a falter, but, flash after flash, the blades came down chunking into +the ever-widening notch. Summers had seen sword play in Montreal +armories, and had heard the ax clang often on the side of Western firs, +but--for Thurston was fighting to stave off ruin--this grim struggle in +the face of a desperate risk surpassed any remembered exhibition of +fencers' skill with the steel. The trunk was bending visibly beneath +the hewers, the river frothed more at their feet, and the giant logs +were rolling, creeping, shocking close behind, ready to plunge forward +when the partly severed trunk should yield. + +Thurston felt as if his lungs were bursting, his heart throbbed +painfully, and something drummed deafeningly inside his head. His +vision grew hazy, and he could scarcely see the widening gap in the +rough bark into which the trenchant steel cut. It was evident that the +steadily increasing jam would rub the bridge piers out of existence +long before any two men could hew half way through the great trunk, +but, fortunately, the log was now bending like a fully-drawn bow, and +the pressure would burst it asunder when a little more of its +circumference had been chopped into. So, choking and blinded with +perspiration, Geoffrey smote on mechanically, until the man from +Mattawa said, "She's about busted." + +Just then there was a clamor from the watchers on the piers. Men +shouted, "Come back." "Whole jam's starting!" "King log's yielding +now!" "Jump for your lives before the wreckage breaks away with you!" + +Mattawa Tom leapt shorewards from moving log to log, but for a few +moments Thurston, who scarcely noticed his absence, chopped on alone. +Filled with the lust of conflict, he remembered only that it was +necessary to make sure of victory before he relaxed an effort. Thrice +more in succession he whirled the heavy ax above his head, while, with +a sharp snapping of fibers, the fir trunk yielded beneath his feet. +Flinging his ax into the river he stood erect, breathless, a moment too +late. The logs behind the one which perilously supported him were +creeping forward ready for the mad rush that must follow a few seconds +later. + +There remained now but one poor chance of escape and he seized it +instinctively. Springing along the sinking trunk, he threw himself +clear of it into the river, while running men jostled each other as +they surged toward the side of the timber when he sank. A wet head +broke the surface, a swinging left hand followed it. The swimmer +clutched the edge of a loosely-fitted beam, and held it until strong +hands reached down to him. Some gripped his wet fingers, some the back +of his coat, one even clutched his hair. There was a heave, then a +scramble, and, amid hoarse cheers, the rescued man fell over backwards +among his rescuers. + +Thurston, who stood up dripping, said, somewhat shakily: "Ah, you were +only just in time! I'm vastly grateful to you all." + +The last words were lost in a deafening crash as the jam broke up, and +the giant logs drove through the opening, thrashing the river into +foam. The tree-trunks ground against one another, or smote the slide +casing with a thunderous shock; but the stone-backed timber stood the +strain, and when the clamor of the passage of the logs ceased, a heavy +stillness brooded over the camp as the river grew empty again. + +Thurston sought out the man from Mattawa. Laying a wet hand upon his +shoulder he said: "Thank you, Tom. I won't forget the assistance you +rendered me." + +"That's all right," answered the brawny ax-man, awkwardly. "I get my +wages safe and regular, and I've tackled as tough a contract for a +worse master before." + +There was no chance for further speech. Davies, who owned the saw-mill +lower down stream, reined in a lathered horse, close by. "Where have +all my logs gone to?" he asked. "My foreman roused me to say only a +few dozen had brought up in the boom, and as the boys were running them +down by scores I figured they'd piled up against your bridge. I don't +see any special chaos about here, though you look as if you had been in +swimming; but what in the name of thunder have you done with the logs?" + +"They're on their way down river," Thurston replied, dryly. "We had +some trouble with them which necessitated my taking a bath. But see +here, what made you turn a two-hundred-foot red fir loose among them?" + +"I didn't," answered Davies, with a puzzled air. "The boys saw every +log into standard lengths. We have no use for a two-hundred-footer and +couldn't get her into the mill. Are you sure it wasn't a wind-blown +log?" + +"I saw the butt had been freshly cross-cut," declared Thurston with an +ominous glitter in his eyes. "I understand you are pretty slack just +now. As a favor, would you hire your chopping gang to me for a few +days? I'll tell you why I want them later." + +"I'll decide in a few minutes," he added, when Davies had told him what +the cost would be. Turning towards Summers he said: "There may be +several more big red firs growing handy beside the river, and I mean to +prevent any more accidents of this kind in future. If your employer +will not reimburse me, I will bear the cost myself. I would sooner +spend my last dollar than allow any of these loafers to coerce me." + +The workmen stood still, all of them curious, and a few uneasy. +Raising one hand to demand attention, Thurston said: "A red fir was +felled by two or three among you to-day, and launched down stream after +darkness fell. I want the men who did it to step forward and explain +their reasons to me." + +"You're a mighty bold man," remarked Summers--who knew that, although +few were actually dangerous, the malcontents outnumbered Thurston's +loyal assistants. + +Among the listeners nobody moved, but there was a murmuring, and all +eyes were fixed upon the speaker, who, either by design or accident, +leaned upon the haft of a big ax. + +"I hardly expected an answer," he went on. "Accordingly, I'll proceed +to name the men who I believe must know about this contemptible action, +and notify them that they will be paid off to-morrow." + +A tumult of mingled wrath and applause started when Thurston coolly +called aloud a dozen names. One voice broke through the others: "We're +working for Julius Savine, an' don't count a bad two-bits on you," it +declared defiantly. "We'll all fling our tools into the river before +we let one of them fellows go." + +"In that case the value of the tools will be deducted from the wages +due you," Thurston announced calmly. "After this notice, Julius +Savine's representative won't pay any of the men I mention, whether +they work or not; and nobody, who does not earn it, will get a single +meal out of the cook shanty. I'll give you until to-morrow to make up +your minds concerning what you will do." Aside to Davies he said: +"I'll take your lumber gang in any case. Go back and send them in as +soon as you can." + +The assembly broke up in a divided state of mind. Although it was very +late, little groups lingered outside the tents, and at intervals angry +voices were heard. Summers set out for the railroad to communicate by +telegraph with his employer, and Thurston retired to his tent, where he +went peacefully to sleep. Awakening later than usual, he listened with +apparent unconcern to Mattawa Tom, who aroused him, with the warning: + +"It's time you were out. Them fellows are coming along for their +money. The boys called up a big roll, as soon as the lumber gang +marched in, and, though there was considerable wild talking, the +sensible ones allowed it was no more use kicking." + +"That's all right," averred Thurston, who paid the departing +malcontents and was glad to get rid of them, knowing that the +lumbermen, who were mostly poor settlers, had small sympathy with the +mutineers and that he would have at least a balance of power. He set +the men to work immediately lengthening the wing of the log slide and +the wedge guards of the piers. He himself toiled as hard as any two +among them, and, to the astonishment of all, completed the big task +before the week was past. + +"I hardly like to say what it has cost me, but no log of any length +could jam itself in the new pass," he said to Summers. + +"You're an enterprising man," was the answer. "Savine is a bit of a +rustler, too, and you'll have a chance of explaining things to him +to-morrow. I have had word from him that he's coming through." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A REST BY THE WAY + +It was afternoon when Julius Savine, accompanied by Summers, had +entered Thurston's tent. On the way from the railroad, Summers had +explained to the contractor all that had happened. Geoffrey rose to +greet Savine, glancing at his employer with some curiosity, for he had +not met him before. Savine was a man of quick, restless movements and +nervous disposition. The gray that tinged his long mustache, lightly +sprinkled his hair, gave evidence of his fifty years of intense living. +He was known to be not only a daring engineer, but a generally +successful speculator in mining and industrial enterprises. +Nevertheless, Geoffrey fancied that something in his face gave a hint +of physical weakness. + +"I have heard one or two creditable things about you, and thought of +asking you to run up to my offices, but I'm glad to meet you now," said +Savine with a smile, adding when Thurston made a solemn bow, "There, +I've been sufficiently civil, and I see you would rather I talked +business. I'm considerably indebted to you for the way you tackled the +late crisis, and approve of the log-guard's extension. How much did +the extra work cost you?" + +"Here is the wages bill and a list of the iron work charged at cost," +Thurston answered. "As I did the work without any orders you would be +justified in declining to pay for it, and I have included no profit." + +"Ah!" said Savine, who glanced over the paper and scribbled across it. +Looking up with a twinkle in his eye, he asked: "Have you been +acquiring riches latterly? My cashier will pay that note whenever you +hand it in at Vancouver. I'll also endorse your contract for payment +if you will give it me. Further, I want to say that I've been to look +at your work, and it pleases me. There are plenty of men in this +province who would have done it as solidly, but it's the general design +and ingenious fixings that take my fancy. May I ask where you got the +ideas?" + +"In England," answered Geoffrey. "I spent some time in the drawing +office of a man of some note." He mentioned a name, and Savine, who +looked at him critically, nodded as if in recognition. The older man +smiled when Thurston showed signs of resenting his inspection. + +"In that case I should say you ought to do," Savine observed, +cheerfully. + +"I don't understand," said Thurston, and Savine answered: + +"No? Well, if you'll wait a few moments I'll try to make things plain +to you. I want a live man with brains of his own, and some knowledge +of mechanical science. There is no trouble about getting them by the +car load from the East or the Old Country, but the man for me must know +how to use his muscles, if necessary, and handle ax and drill as well. +In short, I want one who has been right through the mill as you seem to +have been, and, so long as he earns it, I'm not going to worry over his +salary." + +"I'm afraid I would not suit you," said Geoffrey. "I'm rather too fond +of my own way to make a good servant, and of late I have not done badly +fighting for my own hand. Therefore, while I thank you, and should be +glad to undertake any minor contracts you can give me, I prefer to +continue as at present." + +"I should not fancy that you would be particularly easy to get on +with," Savine observed with another shrewd glance, but with unabated +good humor. "Still, what you suggest might suit me. I have rather +more work at present than I can hold on to with both hands, and have +tolerably good accounts of you. Come West with me and spend the week +end at my house, where we could talk things over quietly." + +Geoffrey was gratified--for the speaker was famous in his +profession--and he showed his feeling as he answered: "I consider +myself fortunate that you should ask me." + +"I figured you were not fond of compliments, and I'm a plain man +myself," declared Savine, with the humor apparent in his keen eyes +again. "I will, however, give you one piece of advice before I forget +it. My sister-in-law might be there, and if she wants to doctor you, +don't let her. She has a weakness for physicking strangers, and the +results are occasionally embarrassing." + +It happened accordingly that Thurston, who had overhauled his wardrobe +in Vancouver, duly arrived at a pretty wooden villa which looked down +upon a deep inlet. He knew the mountain valleys of the Cumberland, and +had wandered, sometimes footsore and hungry, under the giant ramparts +of the Selkirks and the Rockies, but he had never seen a fairer spot +than the reft in the hills which sheltered Savine's villa, and was +known by its Indian name, "The Place of the Hundred Springs." + +For a background somber cedars lifted their fretted spires against the +skyline on the southern hand. Beneath the trees the hillsides closed +in and the emerald green of maples and tawny tufts of oak rolled down +to a breadth of milk-white pebbles and a stretch of silver sand, past +which clear green water shoaling from shade to shade wound inland. +Threads of glancing spray quivered in and out among the foliage, and +high above, beyond a strip of sparkling sea and set apart by filmy +cloud from all the earth below, stretched the giant saw-edge of the +Coast Range's snow. + +The white-painted, red-roofed dwelling, with its green-latticed +shutters, tasteful scroll work and ample, if indifferently swarded, +lawns, was pleasant to look upon, but Thurston found more pleasure in +the sight of its young mistress, who awaited him in a great cool room +that was hung with deer-head trophies and floored with parquetry of +native timber. + +Helen Savine wore a white dress and her favorite crimson roses nestled +in the belt. Though she greeted Geoffrey with indifferent cordiality, +the girl was surprised when her eyes rested upon him. Thurston was not +a man of the conventional type one meets and straightway forgets, and +she had often thought about him; but, since the night at Crosbie Ghyll, +his image had presented itself as she first saw him--ragged, hungry, +and grim, a worthy descendant of the wild Thurstons about whom Musker +had discoursed. Now, in spite of his weather-beaten face and hardened +hands, he appeared what he was, a man of education and some refinement, +and his resolute expression, erect carriage, and muscular frame, +rendered lithe and almost statuesque by much swinging of the ax, gave +him an indefinite air of distinction. Again she decided that Geoffrey +Thurston was a well-favored man, but remembering Musker's stories, she +set herself to watch for some trace of inherent barbarity. This was +unfortunate for Geoffrey, because in such cases observers generally +discover what they search for. + +Geoffrey was placed beside Helen at dinner, and having roughed it since +he left England, and even before that time, it seemed strange to him to +be deftly waited upon at a table glittering with silver and gay with +flowers. Mrs. Thomas Savine sat opposite him, between her husband and +the host, and Helen found certain suspicions confirmed when Savine +referred to the crushing of the strike. Previously, he had given his +daughter a brief account of it. + +"It was daringly done," said Helen, "but I wonder, Mr. Thurston, if you +and others who hold the power ever consider the opposite side of the +question. It may be that those men, whose task is evidently highly +dangerous, have wives and children depending upon them, and a few extra +dollars, earned hardly enough, no doubt, might mean so much to them." + +"I am afraid I don't always do so," answered Geoffrey. "I have toiled +tolerably hard as a workman myself. If any employé should consider +that he was underpaid for the risk he ran, and should say so civilly, I +should listen to him. On the other hand, if any combination strove by +unfair means to coerce me, I should spare no effort to crush it!" + +Thurston generally was too much in earnest to make a pleasant +dinner-table conversationalist. As he spoke, he shut one big brown +hand. It was a trifling action, and he was, perhaps, unconscious of +it, but Helen, who noticed the flicker in his eyes and the vindictive +tightening of the hard fingers, shrank from him instinctively. + +"Is that not a cruel plan of action, and is there no room for a gentler +policy in your profession? Must the weak always be trampled out of +existence?" she replied, with a slight trace of indignation. + +Thurston turned towards her with a puzzled expression. Julius Savine +smiled, but his sister-in-law, who had remained silent, but not +unobservant, broke in: "You believe in the hereditary transmission of +character, Mr. Thurston?" + +"I think most people do to some extent," answered Geoffrey. "But why +do you ask me?" + +"It's quite simple," said Mrs. Savine, smiling. "Did my husband tell +you that when we were in England, we were held up by a storm there one +night in your ancestral home? There was a man there who ought to +belong to the feudal ages. He was called Musker, and he told us quaint +stories about some of you. I fancy Geoffrey, who robbed the king's +dragoons, must have looked just like you when you shut your fingers so, +a few minutes ago." + +"I am a little surprised," Geoffrey returned with a flush rising in his +cheeks. "Musker used to talk a great deal of romantic nonsense. +Crosbie Ghyll is no longer mine. I hope you passed a pleasant night +there." Mrs. Savine became eloquent concerning the historic interest +of the ancient house and her brother-in-law, who appeared interested, +observed. + +"So far, you have not told me about that particular adventure." + +Again the incident was unfortunate for Geoffrey, because Helen, who had +no great respect for her aunt's perceptions, decided that if the +similitude had struck even that lady, she was right in her own +estimation of Thurston's character. + +"We heard of several instances of reckless daring, and we Colonials +consider all the historic romance of the land we sprang from belongs to +us as well as you," Mrs. Savine said. "So, if it is not an intrusion, +may I ask if any of those border warriors were remarkable for deeds of +self-abnegation or charity?" + +"I am afraid not," admitted Geoffrey, rather grimly. "Neither did any +of them ever do much towards the making of history. All of them were +generally too busy protecting their property or seizing that of their +neighbors! But, at least, when they fought, they seem to have fought +for the losing side, and, according to tradition, paid for it dearly. +However, to change the subject, is it fair to hold any man responsible +for his ancestors' shortcomings? They have gone back to the dust long +ago, and it is the present that concerns us." + +"Still, can anybody avoid the results of those shortcomings or +virtues?" persisted Helen, and her father said: + +"I hardly think so. There is an instance beside you, Mr. Thurston. +Miss Savine's grandfather ruled in paternally feudal fashion over a few +dozen superstitious habitants way back in old-world Quebec, as his +folks had done since the first French colonization. That explains my +daughter's views on social matters and her weakness for playing the +somewhat autocratic Lady Bountiful. The Seigneurs were benevolent +village despots with very quaint ways." + +Savine spoke lightly, and one person only noticed that the face of his +daughter was slightly less pale in coloring than before, but that one +afterwards remembered her father's words and took them as a clue to the +woman's character. He discovered also that Helen Savine was both +generous and benevolent, but that she loved to rule, and to rule +somewhat autocratically. + +The first day at the Savine villa passed like a pleasant dream to the +man who had toiled for a bare living in the shadowy forests or knelt +all day among hot rocks to hold the weary drill with bleeding fingers. +Mr. Savine grew more and more interested in Geoffrey, who, during the +second day, made great advances in the estimation of Mrs. Thomas +Savine. Bicycles were not so common a woman's possession in Canada, or +elsewhere, then. In fact, there were few roads in British Columbia fit +to propel one on. An American friend had sent Miss Savine a wheel +which, after a few journeys over a corduroy road, groaned most +distressfully whenever she mounted it. Helen desired to ride in to the +railroad, but the gaudy machine complained even more than usual, and +when at last one of its wheels declined to revolve, Julius Savine +called Geoffrey's attention to it. + +"If you are anxious for mild excitement, and want to earn my daughter's +gratitude, you might tackle that confounded thing, Mr. Thurston," he +said. "The local blacksmith shakes his head over it, and sent it back +the last time worse than ever, with several necessary portions missing. +After running many kinds of machines in my time, I'm willing to own +that this particular specimen defies me." + +Thurston had stripped and fitted various intricate mining appliances, +but he had never struggled with a bicycle. So, when Helen accepted his +offer of assistance, he wheeled the machine out upon the lawn and +proceeded light-heartedly to dismantle it, while the Savine brothers +lounged in cane chairs, encouraging him over their cigars. The +dismantling was comparatively simple, but when the time for +reassembling came, Thurston, who found that certain cups could not by +any legitimate means be induced to screw home into their places, was +perforce obliged to rest the machine upon two chairs and wriggle +underneath it, where he reclined upon his back with grimy oil dripping +upon his forehead. Red in the face, he crawled out to breathe at +intervals, and Helen made stern efforts to conceal her mingled alarm +and merriment, when Thomas Savine said: + +"Will you take long odds, Thurston, that you never make that invention +of his Satanic Majesty run straight again?" + +Mrs. Savine cautioned the operator about sunstroke and apoplexy. When +Thomas Savine caught Helen's eye, both laughed outright, and Geoffrey, +mistaking the reason, felt hurt; he determined to conquer the bicycle +or remain beneath it all night. When at last he succeeded in putting +the various parts together and straightened his aching back, he hoped +that he did not look so disgusted, grimy and savage as he undoubtedly +felt. + +"You must really let it alone," said Helen. "The sun is very hot, and +perhaps, you might be more successful after luncheon. I have noticed +that when mending bicycles a rest and refreshment sometimes prove +beneficial." + +"That's so!" agreed Thomas Savine. "Young Harry was wont to tackle it +on just those lines. He used up several of my best Cubanos and a +bottle of claret each time, before he had finished; and then I was +never convinced that the thing went any better." + +"You must beware of ruining your health," interposed Mrs. Savine. +"Mending bicycles frequently leads to an accumulation of malevolent +humors. Did I interrupt you, Mr. Thurston?" + +"I was only going to say that it is nearly finished, and that I should +not like to be vanquished by an affair of this kind," said Geoffrey +with emphasis. "Would it hurt the machine if I stood it upon its head, +Miss Savine?" + +"Oh, no, and I am so grateful," Helen answered assuringly, noticing +guiltily that there were oil and red dust, besides many somber smears, +upon the operator's face and jacket, while the skin was missing from +several of his knuckles. + +It was done at last, and Geoffrey sighed, while the rest of the party +expressed surprise as well as admiration when the wheels revolved +freely without click or groan. Julius Savine nodded, with more than +casual approval, and Helen was gracious with her thanks. + +"You look quite faint," observed Mrs. Savine. "It was the hot sun on +your forehead, and the mental excitement. Such things are often +followed by dangerous consequences, and you must take a dose of my +elixir. Helen, dear, you know where to find the bottle." + +Julius Savine was guilty of a slight gesture of impatience. His +brother laughed, while Helen seemed anxious to slip away. Geoffrey +answered: + +"I hardly think one should get very mentally excited over a bicycle. I +feel perfectly well, and only somewhat greasy." + +"That is just one of the symptoms. Yes, you have hit it--greasy +feeling!" broke in the amateur dispenser, who rarely relaxed her +efforts until she had run down her victim. "Helen, why don't you hunt +round for that bottle?" + +"I mean greasy externally," explained Geoffrey in desperation, and +again Thomas Savine chuckled, while Helen, who ground one little +boot-heel into the grasses, deliberately turned away. Mrs. Savine, +however, cheerfully departed to find the bottle, and soon returned with +it and a wine glass. She filled the glass with an inky fluid which +smelt unpleasant, and said to Geoffrey: + +"You will be distinctly better the moment you have taken this!" + +Geoffrey took the goblet, walked apart a few paces, and, making a wry +face, heroically swallowed the bitter draught, after which Mrs. Savine, +who beamed upon him, said: + +"You feel quite differently, don't you?" + +"Yes!" asserted Geoffrey, truthfully, longing to add that he had felt +perfectly well before and had now to make violent efforts to overcome +his nausea. + +His heroism had its reward, however, for when Helen returned from her +wheel ride, she said: "I was really ashamed when my aunt insisted on +doctoring you, but you must take it as a compliment, because she only +prescribes for the people she takes a fancy to. I hope the dose was +not particularly nasty?" + +"Sorry for you, Thurston, from experience!" cried Thomas Savine. "When +I see that bottle, I just vacate the locality. The taste isn't the +worst of it by a long way." + +That night Julius Savine called Geoffrey into his study, and, spreading +a roll of plans before him, offered terms, which were gladly accepted, +for the construction of portions of several works. Savine said: "I +won't worry much about references. Your work speaks for itself, and +the Roads and Trails surveyor has been talking about you. I'll take +you, as you'll have to take me, on trust. I keep my eye on rising +young men, and I have been watching you. Besides, the man who could +master an obstinate bicycle the first time he wrestled with one must +have some sense of his own, and it isn't everybody who would have +swallowed that physic." + +"I could not well avoid doing so," said Geoffrey, with a rueful smile. + +"I feel I owe you an apology, but it's my sister-in-law's one weakness, +and you have won her favor for the rest of your natural life," Savine +returned. "You have had several distinguished fellow-sufferers, +including provincial representatives and railroad directors, for to my +horror she physicked a very famous one the last time he came. He did +not suffer with your equanimity. In fact, he was almost uncivil, and +said to me, 'If the secretary hadn't sent off your trestle contract, I +should urge the board to reconsider it. Did you ask me here that your +relatives might poison me, Savine?'" + +Geoffrey laughed, and his host added: + +"I want to talk over a good many details with you, and dare say you +deserve a holiday--I know I do--so I shall retain you here for a week, +at least. I take your consent for granted; it's really necessary." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +GEOFFREY STANDS FIRM + +Geoffrey Thurston possessed a fine constitution, and, in spite of Mrs. +Savine's treatment and her husband's predictions, rose refreshed and +vigorous on the morning that followed his struggle with the bicycle. +It was a glorious morning, and when breakfast was over he enjoyed the +unusual luxury of lounging under the shadow of a cedar on the lawn, +where he breathed in the cool breeze which rippled the sparkling +straits. Hitherto, he had risen with the sun to begin a day of toil +and anxiety and this brief glimpse of a life of ease, with the +pleasures of congenial companionship, was as an oasis in the desert to +him. + +"A few days will be as much as is good for me," he told himself with a +sigh. "In the meantime hard work and short commons are considerably +more appropriate, but I shall win the right to all these things some +day, if my strength holds out." + +His forehead wrinkled, his eyes contracted, and he stared straight +before him, seeing neither the luminous green of the maples nor the +whispering cedars, but far off in the misty future a golden +possibility, which, if well worth winning, must be painfully earned. +His reverie was broken suddenly. + +"Are your thoughts very serious this morning, Mr. Thurston?" a clear +voice inquired, and the most alluring of the visions he had conjured up +stood before him, losing nothing by the translation into material +flesh. Helen Savine had halted under the cedar. In soft clinging +draperies of white and cream, she was a charming reality. + +"I'm afraid they were," Geoffrey answered, and Helen laughed musically. + +"One would fancy that you took life too much in earnest," she said. +"It is fortunately impossible either to work or to pile up money +forever, and a holiday is good for everybody. I am going down to White +Rock Cove to see if my marine garden is as beautiful as it used to be. +Would you care to inspect it and carry this basket for me?" + +Thurston showed his pleasure almost too openly. They chatted lightly +on many subjects as they walked together, knee-deep, at times, among +scarlet wine-berries, and the delicate green and ebony of maidenhair +fern. The scents and essence of summer hung heavy in the air. Shafts +of golden sunlight, piercing the somber canopy of the forest isles, +touched, and, it seemed to Geoffrey, etherealized, his companion. The +completeness of his enjoyment troubled the man, and presently he lapsed +into silence. All this appeared too good, too pleasant, he feared, to +last. + +"Do you know that you have not answered my last question, nor spoken a +word for the last ten minutes?" inquired Helen with a smile, at length. +"Have these woods no charm for you, or are you regretting the cigarbox +beneath the cedar?" + +Geoffrey turned towards her, and there was a momentary flash in his +eyes as he answered: + +"You must forgive me. Keen enjoyment often blunts the edge of speech, +and I was wishing that this walk through the cool, green stillness +might last forever." + +Afraid that he might have said too much, he ceased speaking abruptly, +and then, after the fashion of one unskilled in tricks of speech, +proceeded to remedy one blunder by committing another. + +"It reminds me of the evenings at Graham's ranch. There can surely be +no sunsets in the world to equal those that flame along the snows of +British Columbia, and you will remember how, together, we watched them +burn and fade." + +It was an unfortunate reference, for now and then Helen had recalled +that period with misgivings. Cut off from all association with persons +of congenial tastes, she had not only found the man's society +interesting, but she had allowed herself to sink into an indefinite +state of companionship with him. In the mountain solitude, such +camaraderie had seemed perfectly natural, but it was impossible under +different circumstances. It was only on the last occasion that he had +ever hinted at a continuance of this intimacy, but she had not +forgotten the rash speech. Had the recollections been all upon her own +side she might have permitted a partial renewal of the companionship, +but she became forbidding at once when Geoffrey ventured to remind her +of it. + +"Yes," she said reflectively. "The sunsets were often impressive, but +we are all of us unstable, and what pleases us at one time may well +prove tiresome at another. If that experience were repeated I should +very possibly grow sadly discontented at Graham's ranch." + +Geoffrey was not only shrewd enough to comprehend that, if Miss Savine +unbent during a summer holiday in the wilderness, it did not follow +that she would always do so, but he felt that he deserved the rebuke. +He had, however, learned patience in Canada, and was content to bide +his time, so he answered good-humoredly that such a result might well +be possible. They were silent until they halted where the hillside +fell sharply to the verge of a cliff. Far down below Thurston could +see the white pebbles shine through translucent water, and with +professional instincts aroused, he dubiously surveyed the slope to the +head of the crag. + +Julius Savine, or somebody under his orders, had constructed a zig-zag +pathway which wound down between small maples and clusters of +wine-berries shimmering like blood-drops among their glossy leaves. In +places the pathway was underpinned with timber against the side of an +almost sheer descent, and he noticed that one could have dropped a +vertical line from the fish-hawk, which hung poised a few feet outside +one angle, into the water. They descended cautiously to the first +sharp bend, and here Geoffrey turned around in advance of his +companion. "Do you mind telling me how long it is since you or anybody +else has used this path, Miss Savine?" he inquired. + +"I came up this way last autumn, and think hardly any other person has +used it since. But why do you ask?" was the reply. + +"I fancied so!" Geoffrey lapsed instinctively into his brusque, +professional style of comment. "Poor system of underpinning, badly +fixed yonder. I am afraid you must find some other way down to the +beach this morning." + +It was long since Helen had heard anybody apply the word "must" to +herself. As Julius Savine's only daughter, most of her wishes had been +immediately gratified, while the men she met vied with one another in +paying her homage. In addition to this, her father, in whose +mechanical abilities she had supreme faith, had constructed that +pathway especially for her pleasure. So for several reasons her pride +took fire, and she answered coldly: "The path is perfectly safe. My +father himself watched the greater portion of its building." + +"It was safe once, no doubt," answered Geoffrey, slightly puzzled as to +how he had offended her, but still resolute. "The rains of last +winter, however, have washed out much of the surface soil, leaving bare +parts of the rock beneath, and the next angle yonder is positively +dangerous. Can we not go around?" + +"Only by the head of the valley, two miles away at least," Helen's tone +remained the reverse of cordial. "I have climbed both in the Selkirks +and the Coast Range, and to anyone with a clear head, even in the most +slippery places, there cannot be any real danger!" + +"I regret that I cannot agree with you. I devoutly wish I could," said +Geoffrey, uneasily. "No! you must please go no further, Miss Savine." + +The girl's eyes glittered resentfully. A flush crept into the center +of either cheek as she walked towards him. Though he did not intend +it, there was perhaps too strong a suggestion of command in his +attitude, and when Helen came abreast of him, he laid a hand +restrainingly upon her arm. She shook it off, not with ill-humored +petulance, for Helen was never ungraceful nor undignified, but with a +disdain that hurt the man far more than anger. Nevertheless, knowing +that he was right, he was determined that she should run no risk. +Letting his hand swing at his side, he walked a few paces before her, +and then turned in a narrow portion of the path where two people could +not pass abreast. + +"Please listen to me, Miss Savine," he began. "I am an engineer, and I +can see that the bend yonder is dangerous. I cannot, therefore, +consent to allow you to venture upon it. How should I face your father +if anything unfortunate happened?" + +"My father saw the path built," repeated Helen. "He also is an +engineer, and is said to be one of the most skillful in the Dominion. +I am not used to being thwarted for inadequate reasons. Let me pass." + +Geoffrey stood erect and immovable. "I am very sorry, Miss Savine, +that, in this one instance, I cannot obey you," he said. + +There was an awkward silence, and while they looked at each other, +Helen felt her breath come faster. Retreating a few paces she seated +herself upon a boulder, thus leaving the task of terminating an +unpleasant position to Geoffrey, who was puzzled for a time. Finally, +an inspiration dawned upon Thurston, who said: + +"Perhaps you would feel the disappointment less if I convinced you by +ocular demonstration." + +Walking cautiously forward to the dangerous angle, he grasped a broken +edge of the rock outcrop about which the path twisted, and pressed hard +with both feet upon the edge of the narrow causeway. It was a +hazardous experiment, and the result of it startling, for there was a +crash and a rattle, and Geoffrey remained clinging to the rock, with +one foot in a cranny, while a mass of earth and timber slid down the +steep-pitched slope and disappeared over the face of the crag. A +hollow splashing rose suggestively from far beneath the rock. Helen, +who had been too angry to notice the consideration for herself implied +in the man's last speech, turned her eyes upon the ground and did not +raise them until, after swinging himself carefully onto firmer soil, +Geoffrey approached her. "I hope, after what you have seen, you will +forgive me for preventing your descent," he said. + +"You used considerable violence, and I am still unconvinced," Helen +declared, rising as she spoke. "In any case, you have at least made +further progress impossible, and we may as well retrace our steps. No; +I do not wish to hear any more upon the subject. It is really not +worth further discussion." + +They turned back together. When the ascent grew steeper, Geoffrey held +out his hand. Instead of accepting the proffered assistance as she had +done when they descended, Helen apparently failed to notice the hand, +and the homeward journey was not pleasant to either of them. Helen did +not parade her displeasure, but Geoffrey was sensible of it, and, never +being a fluent speaker upon casual subjects, he was not successful in +his conversational efforts. When at last they reached the villa, he +shook his shoulders disgustedly as he recalled some of his inane +remarks. + +"It was hardly a wonder she was silent. Heavens, what prompted me to +drivel in that style?" he reflected. "It was cruelly unfortunate, but +I could not let her risk her precious safety over that confounded path!" + +At luncheon it happened that Mrs. Savine said: "I saw you going towards +the White Rock Cove, Helen. Very interesting place, isn't it, Mr. +Thurston? But you brought none of that lovely weed back with you." + +"Did you notice how I had the path graded as you went down?" asked +Savine, and Thurston saw that Helen's eyes were fixed upon him. The +expression of the eyes aroused his indignation because the glance was +not a challenge, but a warning that whatever his answer might be, the +result would be indifferent to her. He was hurt that she should +suppose for a moment that he would profit by this opportunity. + +"We were not able to descend the whole way," he replied. "Last +winter's rains have loosened the surface soil, and one angle of the +path slipped bodily away. Very fortunately I was some distance in +advance of Miss Savine, and there was not the slightest danger. Might +I suggest socketed timbers? The occurrence reminds me of a curious +accident to the railroad track in the Rockies." + +Helen did not glance at the speaker again, for Savine asked no awkward +questions. But Thurston saw no more of her during the afternoon. That +evening he sought Savine in his study. + +"You have all been very kind to me," he said. "In fact, so much so +that I feel, if I stay any longer among you, I shall never be content +to rough it when I go back to the bush. This is only too pleasant, +but, being a poor man with a living to earn, it would be more +consistent if I recommenced my work. Which of the operations should I +undertake first?" + +Savine smiled on him whimsically, and answered with Western directness: + +"I don't know whether the Roads Surveyor was right or wrong when he +said that you were not always over-civil. See here, Thurston, leaving +all personal amenities out of the question, I'm inclined to figure that +you will be of use to me, aid the connection also will help you +considerably. My paid representatives are not always so energetic as +they might be. So if you are tired of High Maples you can start in +with the rock-cutting on the new wagon road. It is only a detail, but +I want it finished, and, as the cars would bring you down in two hours' +time, I'll expect you to put in the week-end here, talking over more +important things with me." + +Thurston left the house next morning. He did not see Helen to say +good-by to her, for she had ridden out into the forest before he +departed from High Maples. Helen admitted to herself that she was +interested in Thurston, the more so because he alone, of all the men +whom she had met, had successfully resisted her will. But she shrank +from him, and though convinced that his action in preventing her from +going down the pathway had been justified, she could not quite forgive +him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SAVINE'S CONFIDENCE + +Despite his employer's invitation Thurston did not return to High +Maples at the end of the week. The rock-cutting engrossed all his +attention, and he was conscious that it might be desirable to allow +Miss Savine's indignation to cool. He had thought of her often since +the day that she gave him the dollar, and, at first still smarting +under the memory of another woman's treachery, had tried to analyze his +feelings regarding her. The result was not very definite, though he +decided that he had never really loved Millicent, and was very certain +now that she had wasted little affection upon him. One evening at +Graham's ranch when they had stood silently together under the early +stars, he had become suddenly conscious of the all-important fact, that +his life would be empty without Helen Savine, and that of all the women +whom he had met she alone could guide and raise him towards a higher +plane. + +It was characteristic of Geoffrey Thurston that the determination to +win her in spite of every barrier of wealth and rank came with the +revelation, and that, at the same time counting the cost, he realized +that he must first bid boldly for a name and station, and with all +patience bide his time. A more cold-blooded man might have abandoned +the quest as hopeless at the first, and one more impulsive might have +ruined his chances by rashness, but Geoffrey united the characteristics +of the reckless Thurstons with his mother's cool North Country +canniness. + +It therefore happened that Savine, irritated by a journalistic +reference to the tardiness of that season's road-making, went down to +see how the work entrusted to Geoffrey was progressing. He was +accompanied by his daughter, who desired to visit the wife of a +prosperous rancher. It was towards noon of a hot day when they +alighted from their horses in the mouth of a gorge that wound inland +from the margin of a lake. No breath of wind ruffled the steely +surface of the lake. White boulder and somber fir branch slept +motionless, reflected in the crystal depths of the water, and lines of +great black cedars, that kept watch from the ridge above, stood mute +beneath the sun. + +As they picked their path carefully through the débris littering an +ugly rent in the rock, where perspiring men were toiling hard with pick +and drill, they came upon Thurston before he was aware of them. +Geoffrey stood with a heavy hammer in his hand critically surveying a +somewhat seedy man who was just then offering his services. Savine, +who had a sense of humor, was interested in the scene, and said to his +daughter: "Thurston's busy. We'll just wait until he's through with +that fellow." + +Geoffrey, being ignorant of their presence, decided that the applicant, +who said that he was an Englishman, and used to estimating quantities, +would be of little service; but he seldom refused to assist a stranger +in distress. + +"I do all the draughting and figuring work myself," he said. "However, +if you are hard up you can earn two dollars a day wheeling broken rock +until you find something better." + +The man turned away, apparently not delighted at the prospect of +wheeling rock, and Geoffrey faced about to greet the spectators. + +"I don't fancy you'll get much work out of that fellow," observed +Savine. + +"I did not expect to see you so soon, and am pleasantly surprised," +said Geoffrey, who, warned by something in Helen's face, restrained the +answer he was about to make. "You will be tired after your rough ride, +and it is very hot out here. If you will come into my office tent I +can offer you some slight refreshment." + +Helen noticed every appointment of the double tent which was singularly +neat and trim. Its flooring of packed twigs gave out a pleasant +aromatic odor. The instruments scattered among the papers on the maple +desk were silver-mounted. The tall, dusty man in toil-stained jean +produced thin glasses, into which he poured mineral waters and +California wine. A tin of English biscuits was passed with the cooling +drinks. Thurston was a curious combination, she fancied, for, having +seen him covered with the grime of hard toil she now beheld him in a +new _rôle_--that of host. + +They chatted for half-an-hour, and then there was an interruption, for +the young Englishman, who had grown tired of wheeling the barrow, stood +outside the tent demanding to see his employer. Geoffrey strode out +into the sunshine. + +The stranger said that he had a backache, besides blisters on his +hands, and that wheeling a heavy barrow did not agree with him. He +added, with an easy assurance that drew a frown to the contractor's +face, "It's a considerable come-down for me to have to work hard at +all, and I was told you were generally good to a distressed countryman. +Can't you really give me anything easier?" + +"I try to be helpful to my countrymen when they're worth it," answered +Geoffrey, dryly. "Would you care to hold a rock drill, or swing a +sledge instead?" + +"I hardly think so," he returned dubiously. "You see, I haven't been +trained to manual labor, and I'm not so strong as you might think by +looking at me." Geoffrey lost his temper. + +"The drill might blister your fingers, I dare say," he admitted. "I'm +afraid you are too good for this rude country, and I have no use for +you. I could afford to be decent? Perhaps so, but I earn my money +with considerably more effort than you seem willing to make. The cook +will give you dinner with the other men to-day; then you can resume +your search for an easy billet. We have no room in this camp for +idlers." + +Savine chuckled, but Helen, who had a weakness for philanthropy, and +small practical experience of its economic aspect, flushed with +indignation, pitying the stranger and resenting what she considered +Thurston's brutality. Her father rose, when the contractor came in, to +say that he wanted to look around the workings. He suggested that +Helen should remain somewhere in the shade. When Thurston had placed a +canvas lounge for her, outside the tent, the girl turned towards him a +look of severe disapproval. "Why did you speak to that poor man so +cruelly?" she asked. "Perhaps I am transgressing, but it seems to me +that one living here in comfort, even comparative luxury, might be a +little more considerate towards those less fortunate." + +"Please remember that I was once what you term 'less fortunate' +myself," Geoffrey reminded Helen, who answered quickly, "One would +almost fancy it was you who had forgotten." + +"On the contrary, I am not likely to forget how hard it was for me to +earn my first fee here in this new country," he declared, looking +straight at her. "I was glad to work up to my waist in ice-water to +make, at first, scarcely a dollar and a half a day. One must exercise +discretion, Miss Savine, and that man, so far as I could see, had no +desire to work." + +It was a pity that Geoffrey did not explain that he meant Bransome's +payment by the words "my first fee," for Helen had never forgotten how +she had failed in the attempt to double the amount for which he had +bargained. She had considered him destitute of all the gentler graces, +but now she was surprised that he should apparently attempt to wound +her. + +"Is it right to judge so hastily?" she inquired, mastering her +indignation with difficulty. "The poor man may not be fit for hard +work--I think he said so--and I cannot help growing wrathful at times +when I hear the stories which reach me of commercial avarice and +tyranny." + +Geoffrey blew a silver whistle, which summoned the foreman to whom he +gave an order. + +"Your _protégé_ shall have an opportunity of proving his willingness to +be useful by helping the cook," Thurston said with a smile at Helen. + +"Why did you do that--now?" she asked, uncertain whether to be +gratified or angry, and Geoffrey answered, "Because I fancied it would +meet with your approval." + +"Then," declared Helen looking past him, "if that was your only motive, +you were mistaken." + +The conversation dragged after that, and they were glad when Savine +returned to escort his daughter part of the way to the ranch. When he +rode back into camp alone an hour later, he dismounted with difficulty, +and his face was gray as he reeled into the tent. + +"Give me some wine, Thurston--brandy if you have it, and don't ask +questions. I shall be better in five minutes--I hope," he gasped. + +Geoffrey had no brandy, but he broke the neck off a bottle of his best +substitute, and Savine lay very still on a canvas lounge, gripping one +of its rails hard for long, anxious minutes before he said, "It is +over, and I am myself again. Hope I didn't scare you!" + +"I was uneasy," Thurston replied. "Dare I ask, sir, what the trouble +was?" Savine, who evidently had not quite recovered, looked steadily +at the speaker. "I'll tell you in confidence, but neither my daughter +nor my rivals must hear of this," he said at length. "It is part of +the price I paid for success. I have an affection of the heart, which +may snuff me out at any moment, or leave me years of carefully-guarded +life." + +"I don't quite understand you, but perhaps I ought to suggest that you +sit still and keep quiet for a time," Geoffrey replied and Savine +answered, "No. Save for a slight faintness I am as well as--I usually +am. When one gets more than his due share of this world's good things, +he must generally pay for it--see? If you don't, remember as an axiom +that one can buy success too dearly. Meantime, and to come back to +this question's every-day aspect, I want your promise to say nothing of +what you have seen. Helen must be spared anxiety, and I must still +pose as a man without a weakness, whatever it costs me." + +"You have my word, sir!" said Geoffrey, and Savine, who nodded, +appeared satisfied. + +"As I said before, I can trust you, Thurston, and though I've many +interested friends I'm a somewhat lonely man. I don't know why I +should tell you this, it isn't quite like me, but the seizure shook me, +and I just feel that way. Besides, in return for your promise, I owe +you the confidence. Give me some more wine, and I'll try to tell you +how I spent my strength in gaining what is called success." + +"I won by hard work; started life as a bridge carpenter, and starved +myself to buy the best text-books," Savine began presently. "Bid +always for something better than what I had, and generally got it; ran +through a big bridge-building contract at twenty-five, and fell in love +with my daughter's mother when I'd finished it. I had risen at a bound +from working foreman--she was the daughter of one of the proudest +poverty-stricken Frenchmen in old Quebec. Well, it would make a long +story, but I married her, and she taught me much worth knowing, besides +helping me on until, when I had all my savings locked up in apparently +profitless schemes, I tried for a great bridge contract. I also got +it, but there was political jobbery, and the opposition, learning from +my rival how I was fixed, required a big deposit before the agreement +was signed." + +Savine paused a full minute, and helped himself to more wine before he +proceeded. "The deposit was to be paid in fourteen days from the time +I got the notice, or the tender would be advertised for again, and I +hadn't half the amount handy. I couldn't realize on my possessions +without an appalling loss, but I swore I would hold on to that +contract, and I did it. It was always my way to pick up any odd +information I could, and I learned that a certain mining shaft was +likely to strike high-pay ore. I got the information from a workman +who left the mine to serve me, so I caught the first train, made a long +journey, and rode over a bad pass to reach the shaft. How I dealt with +the manager doesn't greatly matter, but though I neither bribed nor +threatened him he showed me what I wanted to see. I rode back over +pass and down moraine through blinding snow, went on without rest or +sleep to the city, borrowed what I could--I wasn't so well known then, +and it was mighty little--and bought up as much of that mine's stock on +margins as the money would cover. The news was being held back, but +other men were buying quietly. Still--well, they had to sleep and get +their dinners, and I, who could do without either, came out ahead of +them. Market went mad in a day or two over the news of the crushing. +I sold out at a tremendous premium, and started to pay my deposit. I +did it in person, came back with the sealed contract--hadn't eaten +decently or slept more than a few hours in two anxious weeks--went home +triumphant, and collapsed--as I did not long ago--while I told my wife." + +There was silence for several minutes inside the tent. Then Geoffrey +said, "I thank you for your confidence, sir, and will respect it, but +even yet I am not quite certain why, considering that you held my +unconditional promise, you gave it me." + +"As I said before, I felt like it," answered Savine. "Still, there's +generally a common-sense reason somewhere for what I do, and it may +help you to understand me. I heard of you at your first beginning. I +figured that you were taking hold as I had done before you and thought +I might have some use for a man like you. Perhaps I'll tell you more, +if we both live long enough, some day." + +It was in the cool of the evening that Savine and his daughter, who had +been waiting at a house far down the trail, rode back towards the +railroad, leaving Geoffrey puzzled at the uncertain ways of women. + +"What do you think of my new assistant, Helen?" asked Savine. "You +generally have a quick judgment, and you haven't told me yet." + +"I hardly know," was the answer. "He is certainly a man of strong +character, but there is something about him which repels one--something +harsh, almost sinister, though this would, of course, in no way affect +his business relations with you. For instance, you saw how he lives, +and yet he turned away a countryman who appeared destitute and hungry." + +Savine laughed. "You did not see how he lived. The good things in his +tent were part of his business property, handy when some mining +manager, who may want work done, comes along--or perhaps brought in by +mounted messenger for Miss Savine's special benefit. Thurston lives on +pork and potatoes, and eats them with his men. The fellow you pitied +was a lazy tramp. It mayn't greatly matter to you or me, but Thurston +will do great things some day." + +"It is perhaps possible," assented Helen. "The men who are hard and +cruel are usually successful. You have rather a weakness, father, for +growing enthusiastic over what you call a live assistant. You have +sometimes been mistaken, remember." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AN INSPIRATION + +More than twelve months had passed since Thurston's first visit to High +Maples, when he stood one morning gazing abstractedly down a misty +valley. Below him a small army of men toiled upon the huge earth +embankments, which, half-hidden by thin haze, divided the river from +the broad swamps behind it. But Geoffrey scarcely saw the men. He was +looking back upon the events of the past year, and was oblivious to the +present. He had made rapid progress in his profession and had won the +esteem of Julius Savine; but he felt uncertain as to how far he had +succeeded in placating Miss Savine. On some of his brief visits to +High Maples, Helen had treated him with a kindliness which sent him +away exultant. At other times, however, she appeared to avoid his +company. Presently dismissing the recollection of the girl with a +sigh, Geoffrey glanced at the strip of paper in his hand. It was a +telegraphic message from Savine, and ran: + + +"Want you and all the ideas you can bring along at the chalet +to-morrow. Expect deputation and interesting evening." + + +Savine had undertaken the drainage of the wide valley, which the rising +waters periodically turned into a morass, and had sublet to Geoffrey a +part of the work. Each of the neighboring ranchers who would benefit +by the undertaking had promised a pro-rata payment, and the Crown +authorities had conditionally granted to Savine a percentage of all the +unoccupied land he could reclaim. Previous operations had not, +however, proved successful, for the snow-fed river breached the dykes, +and the leaders of a syndicate with an opposition scheme were not only +sowing distrust among Savine's supporters, but striving to stir up +political controversy over the concession. + +Geoffrey did not agree with the contractor on several important points, +but deferred to the older man's judgment. He had, however, already +made his mark, and could have obtained profitable commissions from both +mining companies and the smaller municipalities, had he desired them. + +While Geoffrey was meditating, the mists began to melt before a warm +breeze from the Pacific. Sliding in filmy wisps athwart the climbing +pines, they rolled clear of the river, leaving bare two huge parallel +mounds, between which the turbid waters ran. Geoffrey, surveying the +waste of tall marsh grasses stretching back to the forest, knew that a +rich reward awaited the man who could reclaim the swamp. He was +reminded of his first venture, which was insignificant compared to this +greater one, and as suddenly as the mists had melted, the uncertainty +in his own mind concerning Savine's plan vanished too, and he saw that +the contractor was wrong. What he had done for Bransome on a minute +scale must be done here on a gigantic one. A bold man, backed with +capital, might blast a pathway for the waters through the converging +rocks of the cañon, and, without the need of costly dykes, both swamp +and the wide blue lake at the end of the valley would be left dry land. +He stood rigidly still for ten minutes while his heart beat fast. Then +he strode hurriedly towards the gap in the ranges. There was much to +do before he could obey Savine's summons. + +It was towards the close of that afternoon when Julius Savine lounged +on the veranda of a wooden hotel for tourists, which was built in a +gorge of savage beauty. In spite of all that modern art could do, the +building looked raw and new, out of place among the immemorial pines +climbing towards snowy heights unsullied by the presence of man. +Helen, who sat near her father, glanced at him keenly before she said: + +"You have not looked well all day. Is it the hot weather, or are you +troubled about the conference to-night?" + +Savine at first made no reply. The furrows deepened on his forehead, +and Helen felt a thrill of anxiety as she watched him. She had noticed +that his shoulders were losing their squareness, and that his face had +grown thin. + +"I must look worse than I feel," he declared after a little while, +"but, though there is nothing to worry about, the reclamation scheme is +a big one, and some of my rancher friends seem to have grown lukewarm +latterly. If they went over to the opposition, the plea that my +workings might damage their property, if encouraged by meddlesome +politicians, would seriously hamper me. Still, I shall certainly +convince them, and that is why I am receiving the deputation to-night. +I wish Thurston had come in earlier; I want to consult with him." + +"What has happened to you?" asked Helen, laying her hand affectionately +upon his arm. "You never used to listen to anybody's opinions, and now +you are always consulting Thurston. Sometimes I fancy you ought to +give up your business before it wears you out. After all, you have not +known Thurston long." + +"Perhaps so," Savine admitted, and when he looked at her Helen became +interested in an eagle, which hung poised on broad wings above the +valley. "I feel older than I used to, and may quit business when I put +this contract through. It is big enough to wind up with. If I'd known +Thurston for ages I couldn't be more sure of him. I am a little +disappointed that you don't like him." + +"You go too far." Helen still concentrated her attention upon the +dusky speck against the blue. "I have no reason for disliking Mr. +Thurston; indeed, I do not dislike him and my feeling may be mere +jealousy. You give--him--most of your confidences now, and I should +hate anybody who divided you from me." + +Savine lifted her little hand into his own, and patted it playfully as +he answered: + +"You need never fear that. Helen, you are very like your mother as she +was thirty years ago." + +There was a sparkle of indignation in Helen's eyes, and a suspicion of +tell-tale color in her face. She remembered that, when he first met +her mother, her father's position much resembled Thurston's, and the +girl wondered if he desired to remind her of it. + +"The cars are in sight. Perhaps I had better see whether the hotel +people are ready for your guests," she remarked with indifference. + +The hotel was famous for its cuisine, and the dinner which followed +was, for various reasons, a memorable one, though some of the guests +appeared distinctly puzzled by the sequence of viands and liquors. +Still, even those who, appreciating the change from leathery venison +and grindstone bread, had eaten too much at the first course, struggled +manfully with the succeeding, and good fellowship reigned until the +cloth was removed, and the party prepared to discuss business. + +Savine sat at the head of the table, the gray now showing thickly in +his hair. His expression was, perhaps, too languid, for one of his +guests whispered that the daring engineer was not what he used to be. +The man glanced at Thurston, who sat, stalwart, keen, and determined of +face, beside his chief, and added, "I know which I'd sooner run up +against now; and it wouldn't be his deputy, sub-contractor, or whatever +the fellow is." + +"Finding that our correspondence was using up no end of time and ink, I +figured it would be better for us to talk things over together +comfortably, and as some of you come from Vancouver, and some from +round the lake, this place appeared a convenient center," began Savine. +"Now, gentlemen, I'm ready to discuss either business or anything else +you like." + +There was a murmur, and the guests looked at one another. They were a +somewhat mixed company--several speculators from the cities, two +credited with political influence; well-educated Englishmen, who had +purchased land in the hope of combining sport with cattle raising; and +wiry axemen, who lived in rough surroundings while they drove their +clearings further into the forest, field by field. + +"Then I'll start right off with business," said a city man. "I bought +land up yonder and signed papers backing you. I thought there would be +a boom in the valley when you got through, but I've heard some talk +lately to the effect that the river is going to beat you, and, in any +case, you're making slow headway. What I, what we all, want to know +is, when you're going to have the undertaking completed." + +Applause and a whispering followed, and another man said, "Our +sentiments exactly! Guess you've seen _The Freespeaker's_ article!" + +"I have," Savine acknowledged coolly. "It suggested that I have no +intention of carrying out my agreement, that I am hoodwinking the +authorities for some indefinite purpose mysteriously connected with +maintaining our present provincial rulers in power. The thing's absurd +on the face of it, when I'm spending my money like water, and you ought +to know me better. I won't even get the comparatively insignificant +bonus until the work is finished." + +Several of the listeners rapped upon the table, one or two growled +suspiciously, and a big sunburnt Englishman stood up. "We'll let the +article in question pass," he said. "It is clearly written with +personal animus. As you say, we know you better; but see here, Savine, +this is going to be a serious business for us if you fail. We've +helped you with free labor, hauled your timber in, lent you oxen, and, +in fact, done almost everything, besides giving you our bonds for a +good many dollars and signing full approval of your scheme. By doing +this we have barred ourselves from encouraging the other fellows' +plans." + +After similar but less complimentary speeches had been made, Thurston, +who had been whispering to Savine, claimed attention. He cast a +searching glance round the assembly. "Any sensible man could see that +the opposition scheme is impracticable," he declared. "I am afraid +some of you have been sent here well primed." + +His last remark was perhaps combatant rashness, or possibly a +premeditated attempt to force the listeners to reveal their actual +sentiments. If he wished to get at the truth, he was successful, for +several men began to speak at once, and while disjointed words +interloped his remarks, the loudest of them said: + +"You can't fool us, Savine. We're poor men with a living to earn, but +we're mighty tough, and nobody walks over us with nails in their boots. +If you can't hold up that river, where are we going to be? I'd sooner +shove in the giant powder to blow them up, than stand by and see my +crops and cattle washed out when your big dykes bust." + +"So would I," cried several voices, and there was a rapid cross-fire of +question and comment. "Not the men to be fooled with." "Stand by our +rights; appeal to legislation, and choke this thing right up!" "Can +you make your dykes stand water at all?" "Give the man--a fair show." +"How many years do you figure on keeping us waiting?" + +Savine rose somewhat stiffly from his chair, and Thurston noted an +ominous grayness in either cheek. + +"There are just two things you can do," Savine said; "appeal to your +legislators to get my grants canceled, or sit tight and trust me. For +thirty-five years I've done my share in the development of the +Dominion, and I never took a contract I didn't put through. This has +proved a tough one, but if it costs me my last dollar----" + +The honest persons among the malcontents were mostly struggling men, +who, having expected the operations would bring them swift prosperity, +had been the more disappointed. Still, the speaker's sincerity +inspired returning confidence, and, when he paused, there was a measure +of sympathy for him, for he seemed haggard and ill, and was one against +many. His guests began to wonder whether they had not been too +impatient and suspicious, and one broke in apologetically, "That's +good! We're not unreasonable. But we like straight talking--what if +the dykes keep on bursting?" + +Then there was consternation, for Savine collapsed into his chair, +after he had said, "Mr. Thurston will tell you. Remember he acts for +me." To Geoffrey he whispered, "I don't feel well. Help me out, and +then go back to them." + +"Sit still. Stand back! You have done rather too much already," +Geoffrey declared, turning fiercely upon the men, who hurried forward, +one with a water decanter, and another with a wine glass. + +The guests fell back before Thurston, as he led Savine, who leaned +heavily upon him, from the banquet room. As they entered a broad hall +Helen and her aunt passed along the veranda upon which it opened. + +"They must not know; keep them out!" gasped the contractor. "Get me +some brandy and ring for the steward--quick. You have got to go back +and convince those fellows, Thurston. Good Lord!--this is agony." + +Savine sank into a chair. His twitching face was livid, and great +beads of moisture gathered upon his forehead. Thurston pressed a +button, then strode swiftly towards the door hoping that Helen, who +passed outside with a laugh upon her lips, might be spared the sight of +her father's suffering. But Mrs. Savine, gazing in through a long +window, started as she exclaimed, "Helen, your father's very sick! Run +along and bring me the elixir out of my valise." + +Helen turned towards the window, and Geoffrey, who groaned inwardly, +placed himself so that she could not see. There was a rustle of +skirts, and swift, light footsteps approached. + +"What is the matter? Why do you stand there? Let me pass at once!" +cried Helen in a voice trembling with fear. + +"Please wait a few moments," answered Geoffrey, standing between the +suffering man and his daughter. "Your father will be better directly, +and you must not excite him." + +There was no mistaking the color in Helen's face now. If her eyes were +anxious the crimson in her cheeks and on her forehead was that of +anger. Geoffrey felt compassionate, but he was still determined to +spare her. + +"For your father's sake and your own, don't go to him just yet, Miss +Savine," he pleaded, but, with little fingers whose grip felt steely, +the girl wrenched away his detaining arm. + +"Is there no limit to your interference or presumption?" she asked, +sweeping past him to fall with a low cry beside the big chair upon +which her father was reclining. The cry pierced to Thurston's heart. + +Helen had seen little of either sickness or tragedy. Savine sat still +as if he did not see her, his face contracted into a ghastly grin of +pain. The attendant who came to them deftly aided Geoffrey to force a +little cordial between the sufferer's teeth. Savine made no sign. +Forgetting her indignation in her terror Helen glanced at Geoffrey in +vague question, but he merely raised his hand with a restraining +gesture. + +"We had better get him onto a sofa, sir," whispered the attendant, +presently. "Not very heavy. Perhaps you and I could manage." It was +when he was being lifted that Savine first showed signs of +intelligence. He glanced at Geoffrey and attempted to beckon towards +the room they had left. When he seemed slightly better, Thurston said: + +"I am going, sir. Stay here a few minutes, and then call somebody, +waiter. I cannot stay any longer." + +Savine made an approving gesture, but Helen said with fear and evident +surprise, "You will not leave us now, Mr. Thurston?" + +"I must," answered Geoffrey, restraining an intense longing to stay +since she desired it, but loyal to his master's charge. "I believe +your father is recovering, and it is his especial wish. I can do +nothing, and he needs only quiet." + +Helen said nothing further. She began to chafe her father's hand, +while Thurston went back, pale and grim, to the head of the long table. + +"Mr. Savine was seized by a passing faintness, but is recovering," he +said. "Nevertheless, he may not be able to return, and, as I am +interested with him in the drainage scheme he has appointed me his +deputy. Therefore, in brief answer to your questions, I would say that +if either of us lives you shall have good oat fields instead of swamp +grass and muskeg. It is a solemn promise--we intend to redeem it." + +"I want to ask just two questions," announced a sun-bronzed man, in +picturesque jacket of fringed deerskin. "Who are the--we; and how are +you going to build dykes strong enough to stand the river when the +lake's full of melting snow and sends the water down roaring under a +twenty-foot head?" + +The speaker had touched the one weak spot in Savine's scheme, but +Geoffrey rose to the occasion, and there was a wondering hush when he +said, "In answer to the first question--Julius Savine and I are the +'we.' Secondly, we will, if necessary, obliterate the lake. It can be +done." + +The boldness of the answer from a comparatively unknown man held the +listeners still, until there were further questions and finally, amid +acclamation, one of the party said: + +"Then it's a bargain, and we'll back you solid through thick and thin. +Isn't that so, gentlemen? If the opposition try to make legal trouble, +as the holders of the cleared land likely to be affected we've got the +strongest pull. We came here doubting; you have convinced us." + +"I hardly think you will regret it," Geoffrey assured them. "Now, as I +must see to Mr. Savine, you will excuse me." + +Savine lay breathing heavily when Geoffrey rejoined him, but he +demanded what had happened, and nodded approval when told. Then +Geoffrey withdrew, beckoning to Helen, who rose and followed him. + +"This is no time for useless recrimination, or I would ask how you +could leave one who has been a generous friend, helpless and +suffering," the girl said reproachfully. "My father is evidently +seriously ill, and you are the only person I can turn to, for the hotel +manager tells me there is no doctor within miles of us. So in my +distress I must stoop to ask you, for his sake, what I can do?" + +"Will you believe not only that I sympathize, but that I would gladly +have given all I possess to save you from this shock?" Thurston began, +but Helen cut him short by an impatient wave of the hand, and stood +close beside him with distress and displeasure in her eyes. + +"All that is outside the question--what can we do?" she asked +imploringly. + +"Only one thing," answered Geoffrey. "Bring up the best doctor in +Vancouver by special train. I'm going now to hold up the fast freight. +Gather your courage. I will be back soon after daylight with skilled +assistance." + +He went out before the girl could answer, and, comforted, Helen hurried +back to her father's side. Whatever his failings might be, Thurston +was at least a man to depend upon when there was need of action. + +There was a little platform near the hotel where trains might be +flagged for the benefit of passengers, but the office was locked. +Thurston, who knew that shortly a freight train would pass, broke in +the window, borrowed a lantern, lighted it, and hurried up the track +which here wound round a curve through the forest and over a trestle. +It is not pleasant to cross a lofty trestle bridge on foot in broad +daylight, for one must step from sleeper to sleeper over wide spaces +with empty air beneath, and, as the ties are just wide enough to carry +the single pair of rails, it would mean death to meet a train. +Geoffrey nevertheless pressed on fast, the light of the blinking +lantern dazzling his eyes and rendering it more difficult to judge the +distances between the ties--until he halted for breath a moment in the +center of the bridge. White mist and the roar of hurrying water rose +out of the chasm beneath, but another sound broke through the noise of +the swift stream. Geoffrey hear the vibratory rattle of freight cars +racing down the valley, and he went on again at a reckless run, leaping +across black gulfs of shadow. + +The sound had gained in volume when he reached firm earth and ran +swiftly towards the end of the curve, from which, down a long +declivity, the engineer could see his lantern. Panting, he held the +light aloft as a great fan-shaped blaze of radiance came flaming like a +comet down the track. + +Soon he could dimly discern the shape of two huge mountain engines, +while the rails trembled beside him, and a wall of rock flung back the +din of whirring wheels. The fast freight had started from the head of +Atlantic navigation at Montreal, and would not stop until the huge cars +rolled alongside the Empress liner at Vancouver, for part of their +burden was being hurried West from England around half the world to +China and the East again. The track led down-grade, and the engineers, +who had nursed the great machines up the long climb to the summit, were +now racing them down hill. + +Waving the lantern Geoffrey stood with a foot on one of the rails and +every sense intent, until the first engine's cow-catcher was almost +upon him. Then he leaped for his life and stood half-blinded amid +whirling ballast and a rushing wind, as, veiled in thick dust, the +great box cars clanged by. He was savage with dismay, for it seemed +that the engineer had not seen his signal; then his heart bounded, a +shrill hoot from two whistles was followed by the screaming of brakes. +When he came up with the standing train at the end of the trestle, one +engineer, leaning down from the rail of the cab, said: + +"I saw your light away back, but was too busy trying to stop without +smashing something to answer. Say, has the trestle caved in, or what +in the name of thunder is holding us up?" + +"The trestle is all right," answered Geoffrey, climbing into the cab. +"I held you up, and I'm going on with you to bring out a doctor to my +partner, who is dangerously ill." + +The engineer's comments were indignant and sulphurous, while the big +fireman turned back his shirt sleeves as if preparing to chastise the +man rash enough to interfere with express freight traffic. Geoffrey, +reaching for a shovel, said: + +"When we get there, I'll go with you to your superintendent at +Vancouver; but, if either of you try to put me off or to call +assistance, I'll make good use of this. I tell you it's a question of +life and death, and two at least of your directors are good friends of +the man I want to help. They wouldn't thank you for destroying his +last chance. Meantime you're wasting precious moments. Start the +train." + +"Hold fast!" commanded the grizzled engineer, opening the throttle. +"When she's under way, I'll talk to you, and unless you satisfy me, by +the time we reach Vancouver there won't be much of you left for the +police to take charge of." + +Then the two locomotives started the long cars on their inter-ocean +race again. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +GEOFFREY TESTS HIS FATE + +It was a lowering afternoon in the Fall, when Thurston and Julius +Savine stood talking together upon a spray-drenched ledge in the depths +of a British Columbian cañon. On the crest of the smooth-scarped +hillside, which stretched back from the sheer face of rock far +overhead, stood what looked like a tiny fretwork in ebony, and +consisted of two-hundred-foot conifers. Here and there a clamorous +torrent had worn out a gully, and, with Thurston's assistance, Savine +had accomplished the descent of one of the less precipitous. Elsewhere +the rocks had been rubbed into smooth walls, between which the river +had fretted out its channel during countless ages. The water was +coming down in a mad green flood, for the higher snows had melted fast +under the autumn sun, and the clay beneath the glaciers had stained it. +Foam licked the ledges, a roaring white wake streamed behind each +boulder's ugly head, and the whole gloomy cañon rang with the thunder +of a rapid, whose filmy stream whirled in the chilly breeze. + +Savine gazed at the rapid and the whirlpool that fed it, distinguishing +the roar of scoring gravel and grind of broken rock from its vibratory +booming, and though he was a daring man, his heart almost failed him. + +"It looks ugly, horribly ugly, and I doubt if another man in the +Dominion would have suggested tackling the river here, but you are +right," he admitted. "Human judgment has its limits, and the constant +bursts have proved that no dykes which wouldn't ruin me in the building +could stand high-water pressure long. If you don't mind, Thurston, +we'll move farther from the edge. I've been a little shaky since that +last attack." + +"The climb down was awkward, but you have looked better lately," +declared Geoffrey and Savine sighed. + +"I guess my best days are done, and that is one reason why I wish to +end up with a big success," he said. "I got a plain warning from the +Vancouver doctor you brought me in that morning. You managed it +smartly." + +"I was lucky," said Thurston, laughing. "At first, I expected to be +ignominiously locked up after the engineer and fireman had torn my +clothes off me. But we did not climb down here to talk of that." + +"No!" and Savine looked straight at his companion. "This is a great +scheme, Thurston, the biggest I have ever undertaken. There will be +room for scores of ranches, herds of cattle, wheat fields and orchards, +if we can put it through--and we have just got to put it through. +Those confounded dykes have drained me heavily, and they'll keep right +on costing money. Still, even to me, it looks almost beyond the power +of mortal man to deepen the channel here. The risk will figure high in +money, but higher in human life. You feel quite certain you can do it?" + +"Yes!" asserted Geoffrey. "I believe I can--in winter, when the frost +binds the glaciers and the waters shrink. Once it is done, and the +only hard rock barrier that holds the water up removed, the river will +scour its own way through the alluvial deposits. I have asked a long +price, but the work will be difficult." + +Savine nodded. He knew that it would be a task almost fit for +demi-gods or giants to cut down the bed of what was a furious torrent, +thick with grinding débris and scoring ice, and that only very strong +bold men could grapple with the angry waters, amid blinding snow or +under the bitter frost of the inland ranges in winter time. + +"The price is not too heavy, but I don't accept your terms," Savine +said. "Hold on until I have finished and then begin your talking. +I'll offer you a minor partnership in my business instead. Take time, +and keep your answer until I explain things in my offices, in case you +find the terms onerous; but there are many men in this country who +would be glad of the chance you're getting." + +Geoffrey stood up, his lean brown face twitching. He walked twice +along the slippery ledge, and then halted before Savine. "I will +accept them whatever they are on one condition, which I hardly dare +hope you will approve," he replied. "That is, regarding the +partnership, for in any case, holding to my first suggestion, you can +count on my best help down here. I don't forget that I owe you a heavy +debt of gratitude, sir, though, as you know, I have had several good +offers latterly." + +Savine, who had been abstractedly watching the mad rush of the stream, +looked up as he inquired: + +"What is the condition? You seem unusually diffident to-day, Thurston." + +"It is a great thing I am going to ask." Geoffrey, standing on the +treacherous ledge above the thundering river, scarcely looked like a +suppliant as he put his fate to the test. "It is your permission to +ask Miss Savine to marry me when the time seems opportune. It would +not be surprising if you laughed at me, but even then I should only +wait the more patiently. This is not a new ambition, for one day when +I first came, a poor man, into this country I set my heart upon it, and +working ever since to realize it, I have, so far at least as worldly +prospects go, lessened the distance between us." + +Savine, who betrayed no surprise, was silent for a little while. Then +he answered quietly: + +"I am, according to popular opinion, anything but a poor man, and +though those dykes have bled me, such a match would, as you suggest, be +unequal from a financial point of view, unless Helen marries against my +wishes. Then she should marry without a dollar. Does that influence +you?" + +Thurston spread out his hands with a contemptuous gesture, which his +quiet earnestness redeemed from being theatrical. + +"For my own sake I should prefer it so. Dollars! How far would anyone +count dollars in comparison with Miss Savine? But I do not fear being +able to earn all she needs. When the time seems opportune the +inequality may be less." + +"It is possible," continued Savine. "One notices that the man who +knows exactly what he wants and doesn't fool his time away over other +things not infrequently gets it. You have not really surprised me. +Now--and I want a straight answer--why did you leave the Old Country?" + +"For several reasons. I lost my money mining. The lady whom I should +have married, according to arrangements made for us, tired of me. It +is a somewhat painful story, but I was bound up in the mine, and there +were, no doubt, ample excuses for her. We were both of us almost too +young to know our own minds when we fell in with our relatives' wishes, +and, though I hardly care to say so, it was perhaps well we found out +our mistake in time." + +"All!" said Savine. "Were there no openings for a live man in the Old +Country, and have you told me all?" + +"I could not find any place for a man in my position," Geoffrey let the +words fall slowly. "I come of a reckless, hard-living family, and I +feared that some of their failings might repeat themselves in me. I +had my warnings. Had I stayed over there, a disappointed man, they +might have mastered me, and so, when there was nothing to keep me, I +turned my back--and ran. Out here any man who hungers for it can find +quite sufficient healthful excitement for his needs, and excitement is +as wine to me. These, I know, seem very curious qualifications for a +son-in-law, but it seemed just to tell you. Need I explain further?" + +"No," answered Savine, whose face had grown serious. "Thanks for your +honesty. I guess I know the weaknesses you mean--the greatest of them +is whiskey. I've had scores of brilliant men it has driven out from +Europe to shovel dirt for me. It's not good news, Thurston. How long +have you made head against your inherited failings?" + +"Since I could understand things clearly," was the steady answer. "I +feared only what might happen, and would never have spoken had I not +felt that this country had helped me to break the entail, and set me +free. You know all, sir, and to my disadvantage I have put it before +you tersely, but there is another aspect." + +Thurston's tone carried conviction with it, but Savine cut him short. +"It is the practical aspect that appeals to me," he said. He stared +down at the river for several minutes before he asked: + +"Have you any reason to believe that Helen reciprocates the attachment?" + +"No." Geoffrey's face fell. "Once or twice I ventured almost to hope +so; more often I feared the opposite. All I ask is the right to wait +until the time seems ripe, and know that I shall have your good will if +it ever does. I could accept no further benefits from your hands until +I had told you." + +"You have it now," Savine declared very gravely. "As you know, my life +is uncertain, and I believe you faithful and strong enough to take care +of Helen. After all, what more could I look for? Still, if she does +not like you, there will be an end of the matter. It may be many would +blame me for yielding, but I believe I could trust you, Thurston--and +there are things they do not know." + +Savine sighed after the last words. His face clouded. Then he added +abruptly: "Speak when it suits you, Thurston, and good luck to you. +There are reasons besides the fact that I'm an old man why I should +envy you." + +Had Geoffrey been less exultant he might have noticed something curious +in Savine's expression, but he was too full of his heart's desire to be +conscious of more than the one all-important fact that Helen's father +wished him well. It was in a mood of high hopefulness he assisted Mr. +Savine during the arduous scramble up out of the cañon. Later his +elation was diminished by the recollection that he had yet to win the +good will of Miss Savine. + + * * * * * + +Some time had passed after the interview in the cañon, when one +afternoon Geoffrey walked out on the veranda at High Maples in search +of Helen Savine. It was winter time, but the climate near the +southwestern coast is mild. High Maples was sheltered, and the sun was +faintly warm. There were a few hardy flowers in the borders fringing +the smooth green lawn, a striking contrast to the snow-sheeted pines of +the ice-bound wilderness in which Thurston toiled. Helen was not on +the veranda, and not knowing where to search further, the young man +sank somewhat heavily into a chair. Geoffrey had ridden all night +through powdery snow-drifts which rose at times to the stirrup, and at +others so high that his horse could scarcely flounder through them. He +had made out lists of necessary stores as the jolting train sped on to +Vancouver, and had been busy every moment until it was time to start +for High Maples. Though he would have had it otherwise, he dare not +neglect one item when time was very precious. He had not spared +himself much leisure for either food or sleep of late, for by the short +northern daylight, and flame of the roaring lucigen, through the long +black nights, he and his company of carefully picked men had fought +stubbornly with the icy river. + +The suns rays grew brighter, there was still no sign of Helen. Tired +in mind and body Geoffrey sat still, lost in a reverie. He had left +the camp in a state of nervous suspense, but overtaxed nature had +conquered, and now he waited not less anxious than he had been, but +with a physical languidness due to the reaction. + +When Helen Savine finally came out softly through a long window +Geoffrey did not at first see her, and she had time to cast more than a +passing glance at him as he sat with head resting gratefully on the +back of the basket chair. His face, deeply tanned by the snow, had +grown once more worn and thin. There were lines upon the forehead and +wrinkles about his eyes; one bronzed hand lay above the other on his +knee, as the complement of a pose that suggested the exhaustion of +over-fatigue. The sight roused her pity, and she felt unusually +sympathetic towards the tired man. + +Then Geoffrey started and rose quickly. Helen noticed how he seemed to +fling off his weariness as he came towards her, hat in hand. + +"I have made a hurried journey to see you, Miss Savine," he said. "I +have something to tell you, something concerning which I cannot keep +silence any longer. If I am abrupt you will forgive me, but will you +listen a few moments, and then answer me a question?" + +The man's tone was humble if his eyes were eager, and Helen, who was +sensible of a tremor of emotion, leaned against the rails of the +veranda. The winter sunlight shone full upon her, and either that or +the cold breeze that she had met on the headland accounted for the +color in her cheeks. She made a dainty picture in her fur cap and +close-fitting jacket, whose rich fur trimming set off the curves of a +shapely figure. The man's longing must have shown itself in his eyes, +for Helen suddenly turned her glance away from him. Again she felt a +curious thrill, almost of pleasure, and wondered at it. If she had +guessed his meaning correctly she would have felt merely sorry for him, +and yet there was no mistaking an indefinite sense of satisfaction. + +"Do you remember what I once told you at Graham's ranch?" he asked. "I +was a needy adventurer then, and guilty of horrible presumption, but +though the words came without my definite will I meant every one of +them. I knew there could be only one woman in the world for me, and I +solemnly determined to win her. It seemed madness--I was a poor, +unknown man--but the thought of you drove me resistlessly on until at +last the gulf between us has been narrowed, and may be narrower still. +That is, I have striven to lessen it in the one way I can--in all +others without your help it must remain impassable. Heaven knows how +far I am beneath you, and the daring hope has but one excuse--I love +you, and shall always do so. Is what I hope for quite impossible?" + +While Helen would have told herself ten minutes earlier that she almost +disliked the pleader, she was conscious of a new emotion. She had +regarded other suitors with something like contempt, but it was not so +with Thurston. Even if he occasionally repelled her, it was impossible +to despise him. + +"I am sorry," she said slowly. "Sorry that you should have told me +this, because I can only answer that it is impossible." + +Geoffrey evinced no great surprise. His face became stern instead of +expectant; his toil-hardened frame was more erect, as he answered with +unusual gentleness: + +"I have endeavored to prepare myself for your reply. How could I hope +to win you--as it were for the asking--easily? Still, though I am +painfully conscious of many possible reasons, may I venture to ask why +it is impossible, Miss Savine?" + +Helen answered: "I am sorry it is so--but why should I pain you? Can +you not take my answer without the reasons?" + +"No; not if you will give them," persisted Geoffrey. "I have grown +accustomed to unpleasant things, and it is to be hoped there is truth +in the belief that they are good for one. The truth from your lips +would hurt me less. Will you not tell me?" + +"I will try if you demand it." Helen, who could not help noticing how +unflinchingly he had received what was really a needlessly cold rebuff, +hoped she was lucid as she began: + +"I have a respect for you, Mr. Thurston, but--how shall I express +it?--also a shrinking. You--please remember, you insisted--seem so +hard and overbearing, and while power is a desirable attribute in a +man---- But will you force me to go on?" + +"I beg you to go on," said Geoffrey, with a certain grimness. + +"In spite of a popular fallacy, I could not esteem a--a husband I was +afraid of. A man should be gentle, pitiful and considerate to all +women. Without mutual forbearance there could be no true +companionship--and----" + +"You are right." Geoffrey's voice was humble without bitterness. "I +have lived a hard life, and perhaps it has made me, compared with your +standard, brutal. Still, I would ask again, are these all your +reasons? Is the other difference between us too great--the distance +dividing the man you gave the dollar to from the daughter of Julius +Savine?" + +"No," answered Helen. "That difference is, after all, imaginary. We +do not think over here quite as you do in England, and if we did, are +you not a Thurston of Crosbie? But please believe that I am sorry, +and--you insisted on the explanation--forgive me if I have said too +much. There is a long future before you--and men change their minds." + +Geoffrey's face darkened, and Helen, who regretted the last hasty words +which escaped her without reflection, watched him intently until he +said: + +"Musker must have told you about something in my life. But I was not +inconstant though the fault was doubtless mine. That is a story which +cannot be mentioned again, Miss Savine." + +"I had never meant to refer to it," Helen apologized with some +confusion, "but since you have mistaken me, I must add that another +friend of yours--a lady--gave me a version that bore truth stamped upon +the face of it. One could imagine that you would not take kindly to +the fate others arranged for you. But how do you know you are not +repeating the same mistake? The fancy which deceived you then may do +the same again." + +"How do I know?" Geoffrey's voice rang convincingly as he turned upon +the questioner, stretched out an arm towards her, and then dropped it +swiftly. "I know what love is now, because you have taught me. +Listen, Miss Savine, I am as the Almighty made me, a plain--and +sometimes an ill-tempered man, who would gladly lay down his life to +save you sorrow; but if what you say divides us is all there is, then, +as long as you remain Helen Savine, I shall cling fast to my purpose +and strive to prove myself worthy. Again, you were right--how could +you be otherwise?--but I shall yet convince you that you need not +shrink from me." + +"It would be wiser to take a definite 'no' for answer," said Helen. +"Why should this fancy spoil your life for you?" + +"You cannot take all hope from me," Geoffrey declared. "Would you +suspect me of exaggerated sentiment, if I said my life has been yours +for a long time and is yours now, for it is true. I will go back to +the work that is best for me, merely adding that, if ever there is +either trouble or adversity in which I can aid you--though God forbid, +for your sake, that should ever be so--you have only to send for me." + +"I can at least sincerely wish you success in your great undertaking." +Helen offered him her hand, and was conscious of a faint +disappointment, when, barely touching it, he turned hurriedly away. +She watched him cross the lawn towards the stables, and then waited +until a rapid thud of hoofs broke the silence of the woods. + +"Gone, and I let him carry that hope away!" she said, still looking +towards the forest with troubled eyes. "Yesterday I could never have +done so, but yesterday he was gone, and now----" + +Helen did not finish her sentence, but as the beat of hoofs died away, +glanced at the hand which for a moment had rested in Geoffrey's. "What +has happened to me, and is he learning quickly or growing strangely +timid?" she asked herself. + +Thurston almost rode over Julius Savine near the railroad depot, and +reined in his horse to say: + +"I have my answer, sir, but do not feel beaten yet. Some unholy luck +insists that all my affairs must be mixed with my daily business, and, +because of what was said in the cañon, I must ask you, now of all +times, to let me hold the option of that partnership or acceptance of +the offer I made you until we vanquish the river." + +He went off at a gallop as the cars rolled in, leaving Savine smiling +dryly as he looked after him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A TEST OF LOYALTY + +It was during a brief respite from his task, which had been suspended, +waiting the arrival of certain tools and material, that Thurston +accompanied Savine and Helen to a semi-public gathering at the house of +a man who was a power in the Mountain Province just outside Vancouver. +Politicians, land-speculators, railroad and shipping magnates were +present with their wives and daughters, and most of them had a word for +Savine or a glance of admiration for Helen. + +Savine moved among guests chatting with the brilliancy which +occasionally characterized him, and always puzzled Thurston. + +Thurston was rarely troubled by petty jealousies, but the homage all +men paid to Helen awoke an unpleasant apprehension within him. He did +not know many of the men and women who laughed and talked in animated +groups; and at length found himself seated alone in a quiet corner. +The ground floor of the rambling house consisted of various rooms, some +of which opened with archways into one another. He could see into the +one most crowded, where Helen formed the center of an admiring circle. +There was no doubt that Miss Savine owed much to the race from which +she sprang on her mother's side. Dark beauty, grace of movement, and, +when she chose to indulge in it, vivacious speech, all betokened a +Latin extraction, while the slight haughtiness, which Thurston thought +wonderfully became her, was the dowry of a line of autocratic +landowners. That she was pleasant to look upon was proved by the +convincing testimony of other men's admiration as well as by his own +senses. Now, when the distance between them was in some respects +diminishing, she seemed even further away from him. In her presence he +felt himself a plain, unpolished man, and knew he would never shine in +the light play of wit and satire which characterized the society for +which she was fitted. He decided, also, that she had probably remained +unmarried because she could find no one who came up to her standard, +and feared that he himself would come very far beneath it. It appeared +doubtful that he could ever acquire the gentler virtues Helen had +described. Nevertheless, his face grew set as he determined that he +could prove his loyalty in the manner that best suited him--by serving +her father faithfully. + +A capitalist, for whom Geoffrey had undertaken several commissions, +halted before him. + +"Hello! Quite alone, Thurston, and worrying over something as usual," +he began, with Western brusqueness. "What has gone wrong? Have more +of your dams burst, up yonder? One would fancy that floundering around +through the ice and snow up there would be more congenial than these +frivolities. I'm not great on them either, but it's a matter of +dollars and cents with me. You perhaps know a little about this +self-made--that's your British term, I think--company." + +"Not so much as you do," answered Geoffrey. "Still, I have been +wondering how some of the men earned their money. I understand that +they have sense enough to be proud of their small beginnings, but they +do not furnish instructive details as to the precise manner in which +they achieved their success." + +The capitalist, who was one of the class described, laughed +good-humoredly, as he seated himself beside Thurston. + +"Well, how are you getting on up in the valley?" he inquired, and +Geoffrey's eyes expressed faint amusement as he answered: + +"As well as we expected, and, if we had our difficulties, you would +hardly expect me to tell them to a director of the Industrial +Enterprise Company." + +"Perhaps not!" the capitalist smiled, for the Industrial Enterprise was +the corporation which had opposed Savine's reclamation scheme. +"Anyway, the company is a speculation with me; my colleagues manage it +without much of my assistance. But say, what's the matter with your +respected chief? He has come right out of his shell to-night." + +The speaker glanced towards Savine, who was surrounded by a group of +well-known men. + +"I tell you, Thurston, there's something uncanny about that man of +late," he continued. "However, knowing there's no use trying to fool +you, I'll give you a fair warning and come straight to something I may +as well say now as later. Savine will go down like a house of cards +some day, and those who lean upon him will find it, in our language, +frosty weather. Now, suppose we made you a fair offer, would you join +us?" + +A curt refusal trembled upon Geoffrey's lips, when he reflected that, +as soon as the work was finished, his relations with Savine would be +drawn closer still. In the meantime, it was not advisable to give any +hint to a possible enemy. + +"I couldn't say until I heard what the offer is," he answered +cautiously. + +"You're a typical cold-blooded Britisher," asserted the other man. "I +don't know either. I leave all details to the members of the company; +but we've a secretary, who understands all about it, in this house +to-night. We're half of us here on business, directly or indirectly, +and not for pleasure, so it's possible he may talk to you. But I see +our hostess eying us, and it's time we walked along." + +They moved forward together, and the woman whom they approached, +beckoning Geoffrey, whom she had for some reason taken under her +patronage, said: + +"There's a countrywoman of yours present, who doesn't know many of our +people yet. I should like to present you to her. She comes, I +understand, from the same wilds which sheltered you. Mrs. Leslie, this +is a special _protégé_ of mine, Mr. Thurston, who could give you all +information about the mountains in which your husband talks of +banishing you." + +A handsome, tastefully-dressed woman turned more fully towards them, +and for a moment Geoffrey stood still in blank astonishment. The +average man would find it disconcerting to be brought, without warning, +suddenly face to face in a strange country with a woman who had +discarded him, and Thurston showed slight embarrassment. + +"Mrs. Henry Leslie! But you evidently know each other!" exclaimed the +hostess, whose quick eyes had noticed his startled expression. + +Millicent had changed since the last time Geoffrey saw her. She had +lost her fresh cream and rose prettiness, but had gained something in +place of it, and though her pale blue eyes were too deeply sunk, her +face had acquired strength and dignity. She was, as he had always +found her, perfectly self-possessed. With a quick glance, which +expressed appeal and warning, she said: + +"We are not quite strangers. I knew Mr. Thurston in England." + +The young Englishman and his countrywoman moved away together, and +Geoffrey presently found himself standing in a broad corridor with +Millicent's hand upon his arm. Through a long window which opened into +a balcony the clear moonlight shone. A wide vista of forest and +sparkling sea lured them out of doors. + +"A breath of fresh air would be delightful. It would be quiet out +there, and I expect you have much to tell me." It was Millicent who +spoke, with quiet composure, and her companion wondered at his own lack +of feeling. After the first shock of the surprise he was sensible of +no particular indignation or emotion. It seemed as if any tenderness +that he had once felt for her had long since disappeared. There was +little that he cared to tell her; but, prompted by some impulse which +may have been mere curiosity, he drew the window open and they passed +out upon the balcony. + +"This reminds one of other days," said the woman, with a sigh. "Had I +known you were here, I should have dreaded to meet you, but it is very +pleasant to see you again. You have surely altered, Geoffrey. I +should hardly have expected to find you so friendly." + +"I am not in the least inclined to reproach you for the past," was the +sober answer. Geoffrey was distinctly perplexed, for he had acquired a +clearer perception of Millicent's character since he left England, and +now he felt almost indignant with himself for wondering what she +wanted. Glancing at her face he was conscious of a certain pity as +well as a vague distrust, for it was evident that her life had not been +altogether smooth or her health really robust. But the fact that she +should recall the far-off days in England jarred upon him. + +"It is a relief to learn that you are not angry, at least. What are +you doing over here, Geoffrey?" she asked. + +"Reclaiming a valley from a river. Living up among the mountains in +the snow," was the answer. + +"And you like it? You can find happiness in the hard life?" + +"Better than anything I ever undertook before. Happiness is a somewhat +indefinite term, and, perhaps because I have seldom found leisure to +consider whether I am happy or not, the presumption is that I am at +least contented." + +Millicent sighed and her face grew sad, while Thurston rebelled against +an instinctive conviction that she knew a wistful expression was +becoming to her and was calculated to appeal to a male observer. + +"One could envy you!" she said softly, and Geoffrey, rising superior to +all critical thoughts, felt only sincere pity. + +"Have you not been happy in--Canada, Millicent?" he inquired, and if +the woman noticed how nearly he had avoided a blunder, which is +distinctly probable, she at least made no sign. + +"I can't resist the temptation to answer you frankly, Geoffrey," she +replied. "I have had severe trials, and some, I fear, have left their +mark on me. There are experiences after which one is never quite the +same. You heard of the financial disaster which overtook us? Yes? +Black days followed it, but Mr. Leslie has hopes of succeeding in this +country, and that will brighten the future--indirectly even--for me." + +"Ah!" Geoffrey spoke with a peculiar inflection of the voice, for +though he could forgive the woman now, he could not forget his +resentment towards the man who had supplanted him. "For your sake, I +hope he will." + +Millicent glanced at him sideways, and, as if anxious to change the +subject, asked: + +"Is it the Orchard Valley you are endeavoring to reclaim? Yes. I +might have guessed it. I have heard people say that the scheme of Mr. +Savine, if that is his name, is impracticable. It is characteristic of +you, Geoffrey, to play out a losing game, but, with one's future at +stake, is it wise?" + +"I do not know that I was ever particularly remarkable for wisdom," +Geoffrey answered with a shake of the head. "The scheme in question +is, however, by no means so impracticable as some persons imagine it to +be." + +"Then you still hope for success. Have you not failed in one or two of +your efforts?" + +Millicent's voice was politely indifferent, but a certain keenness in +her eyes, which did not escape Geoffrey's notice, betrayed more than a +casual interest. Thurston afterwards decided that the shock of the +unexpected meeting had the effect of rendering his perceptions +unusually quick. + +"I have not been often successful," he admitted, with a laugh, "but my +employer is, as you may have heard, a sanguine person, and has not +hitherto been beaten." + +"I hope he will not be in this instance," said Millicent, and it +occurred to Geoffrey that she was concealing a sense of disappointment. +They talked a little longer and then she remarked: "I am afraid we have +been shamefully neglecting our social duties, but as we shall, in all +probability, meet now and then, I hope--in spite of all that has +happened--it will be as good friends." + +Again the man felt that the meeting had not been brought about wholly +by accident, but he bent his head as he answered: + +"If ever you should need a friend, you can, for the sake of old times, +count on me." + +"One of the finest views in the province," said a voice behind them. +"We are proud of the prospect from this balcony. If you stand here, +Miss Helen, you can enjoy it, and tell me if you have anything better +at High Maples. Most romantic spot on such a night for a quiet chat, +and if I was only twenty years younger, my dear young lady----" Then +the speaker evidently retired with some precipitation from the window, +as he added, "No, never mind drawing the curtain, Savine. If she is +not over tired I can show your daughter something interesting in the +conservatory instead." + +"Romantic spot occupied already!" The laugh which accompanied the +sound of retreating footsteps and the rustle of drapery, was +unmistakably that of Julius Savine. + +Geoffrey, who fumed inwardly at the reflection that his attitude was +distinctly liable to misconception, straightened himself with perhaps +too great a suddenness, while the faint amusement in his companion's +face heightened his displeasure. Millicent had managed to obtain a +survey of the intruders, and when sure that they had moved away, she +rose, saying, "So that is the beautiful Miss Savine! No doubt you have +seen her, and, like all the rest, admire her?" + +"Yes," confessed Geoffrey. "I can honestly say I do." Millicent +regarded him curiously. + +"You have heard that we women seldom praise one another, and therefore, +while admitting that she is coldly handsome, I should imagine Miss +Savine to be a trying person," she commented. "Now we must return to +our social duties--in my case, at least, no one could call them +pleasures." + +Some little time later Helen, whose eyes had kindled for a moment when +her gray-haired escort led her towards the balcony, heard the bluff +Canadian answer the question that had been in her mind. + +"Who was the lady? Can't exactly say. Her husband's Leslie, the +Britisher, who started the land-agency offices, you will remember there +was trouble about, and is now, I believe, secretary to the Industrial +Enterprise. Frankly, I don't like the man--strikes me as a smart +adventurer, and my wife does not take to Mrs. Leslie. The man on the +balcony was Thurston, Savine's assistant, and a good fellow. He +generally follows humbly in Miss Savine's train, and, considering +Leslie's connection with the rival company, I don't quite see what he +could be doing in that gallery." + +Helen was piqued. She was too proud to admit to herself that she was +jealous, but she had not risen superior to all the characteristics of +her sex; and, knowing something of her father's business affairs, she +was also puzzled. Thurston's attitude towards his companion had not +been that of a casual acquaintance, to say the least, and Helen could +not help wondering what could be his connection with the wife of one +whose interests, she gathered, must be diametrically opposed to her +father's. Then, though endeavoring to decide that it did not matter, +she determined to put Thurston to the test at the first opportunity. + +Meantime Geoffrey stood alone for a few minutes looking out into the +moonlit night. "I am growing brutally suspicious, and poor Millicent +has suffered--she can't well hide it," he told himself. "Well, we were +fond of each other once, and, whether it's her husband or adversity, +whenever I can help her, I must try to do so." It was the revolt of an +open nature against the evidence of his senses, but even while Geoffrey +framed this resolution something seemed to whisper, "Was she ever fond +of you? There is that in the woman's voice which does not ring true." + +He had hardly turned back to rejoin the other members of his party when +a business acquaintance met him. + +"I want you to spare a few minutes for a countryman who has been +inquiring about you," said the man. "Mr. Leslie, this is Mr. +Thurston--the secretary of the Industrial Enterprise!" + +The business acquaintance withdrew, and Geoffrey's lips set tight as he +turned towards Leslie who betrayed a certain uneasiness in spite of his +nonchalant manner. He was a dark-haired man with a pale face, which +had grown more heavy and sensual than it was as Geoffrey remembered it. + +"I don't know whether I should say this is a pleasure," Leslie remarked +lightly. "There is no use disguising the fact that we last met under +somewhat unfortunate circumstances, but I give you my word that it was +too late to suggest that my employers should choose another emissary +when I discovered your identity. Where commercial interests are +concerned, surely we can both rise superior to mere sentiment." + +"There are things which it is uncommonly hard to forget," Geoffrey +replied coldly. "The question is, however-- What do you want with +me?" He meant his tone and pose to be anything but conciliatory. + +"I want the favor of a business interview before you return," said +Leslie, trying to hide his discomfiture, and Geoffrey answered: + +"That is hardly possible. I return early to-morrow." + +"Can you drive over to my quarters now?" + +"No. I desire to see my chief before I go." + +"It is confoundedly unfortunate," Leslie commented, apparently glad of +some excuse for expressing his disgust. "Well, perhaps nobody will +disturb us for a few minutes in yonder corridor. You can regard me as +a servant of the Industrial Enterprise. Will you listen to what I have +to say?" + +"I'm ready to listen to the great Company's secretary," said Geoffrey, +with a bluntness under which the other winced, as he turned towards the +corridor. + +"I'll be brief," began Leslie. "The fact is that we want a capable man +accustomed to the planning and construction of irrigation works, and +two of our directors rather fancy you. The right man would have full +control of practical operations, and I have a tolerably free hand in +respect to financial conditions. The main thing we wish to discover +is, are you willing to consider an offer of the position?" + +It was on the surface a simple business proposition, but Thurston's +nostrils dilated and his brows contracted, for he guessed what lay +behind it. + +"I've heard Savine is a liberal man," continued Leslie, who mistook +Thurston's hesitation. "Still, considering your valuable experience in +the Orchard Valley, I have power to outbid him. You certainly will not +lose financially by throwing in your lot with us." + +Then Thurston's anger mastered him, and he flung prudence to the winds. + +"Your employers have chosen a worthy messenger," he declared, so +fiercely that Leslie recoiled. "Did you suppose that I would sell my +benefactor, for that is what it amounts to? Confusion to you and the +rogues behind you! There's another score between us, and I feel +greatly tempted to----" + +He looked ready to yield to the unmentioned temptation. Leslie, +glancing around anxiously, backed away from him, but restrained himself +with an effort. Thurston stood panting with rage. There was a sound +of approaching footsteps, and the secretary slipped away, leaving the +irate engineer face to face with an amused elderly gentleman and Helen +Savine. Geoffrey did not know how much or how little they had seen. +Helen beckoned to him. + +"My father has looked tired during the last hour," she said aside. "I +have been warned that excitement may prove dangerous, but hardly care +to remind him of it. Would you, as a favor to me, persuade him to +return home with you?" + +There was no doubt of Thurston's devotion, for Helen had eyes to see, +and she sighed a little, but contentedly, when he hurried away. +Nevertheless, she was still perplexed, for she had seen Mrs. Leslie +looking at him pleadingly, and now Mr. Leslie shrank away from him. +Mrs. Leslie was certainly attractive, and yet Helen thought that she +knew Thurston's character. + +Geoffrey found Savine, who appeared to have suddenly collapsed as if +the fire of brilliancy had burned itself out. With more tact than he +usually possessed, Thurston persuaded the older man to take his leave. + +As they all stood on the broad wooden steps Helen stretched out her +hand to Thurston. + +"Thank you, Geoffrey," she said softly. "Believe me, I am grateful." + +Standing bareheaded beside a pillar, Thurston looked after them as they +drove away. It was the first time Helen had called him "Geoffrey," and +he fancied that he had seen even more than kindness in her eyes. + +"And it is her father whom they tempted me to betray! Damn them!" he +growled. "The only honest man among them included me among those who +lean upon Savine! Savine will need a stay himself presently, and one, +at least, will not fail him. Ah, again!--what the devil are you +wanting?" + +The last words were spoken clearly, but Leslie, to whom they were +addressed, smiled malevolently. + +"It would pay you to be civil," he threatened. "I have no particular +reason to love you, and might prove a troublesome enemy. However, +because my financial interests, which are bound up with my employers', +come first, I warn you that you are foolish to hold on to an associate, +who has strong men against him, a speculator whose best days are over. +I'll give you time to cool down and think over my suggestion." + +"You and I can have no dealings," declared Geoffrey. "What's done +cannot be undone--but keep clear of me. As sure as there's a justice, +which will bring you to book, even without my help, we'll crush you, if +you get in Savine's way, or mine." + +"I think this is hardly becoming to either of us, and the next time the +Company wants your views it can send another envoy," asserted Leslie. + +"In the expressive Western idiom, it would save trouble if you keep on +thinking in just that way," Geoffrey rejoined. + +The two men parted, Leslie to go back to where Millicent was holding a +group of men interested by her forced gayety and Geoffrey to walk +slowly out into the moonlight where he could think of Helen and wonder +how confidently he might hope to win her love. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WORK OF AN ENEMY + +It was a bitter morning when a weary man, sprinkled white with powdery +snow, came limping into Thurston's camp, which was then pitched in the +cañon. A pitiless wind swept down from the range side across the +thrashing pines, and filled the deep rift with its shrill moaning which +sounded above the diapason of the shrunken river. A haze of +frost-dried snow infinitesimally fine, which stung the unprotected skin +like the prick of hot needles, whirled before the wind and then +thinned, leaving bare the higher shoulders of the hills, though a rush +of dingy vapor hid the ice-ribbed peaks above. The cañon was a scene +of appalling desolation, but few of the long-booted men who hurried +among the boulders had leisure to contemplate it. The men were working +for Geoffrey Thurston, who did not encourage idleness. + +So the stranger came almost unnoticed into the center of the camp where +Thurston saw him, and asked sharply, "Where do you come from, and what +do you want?" + +"I'm a frame-carpenter," answered the new arrival. "Got fired from the +Hastings saw-mill when work slacked down. Couldn't find anybody who +wanted me at Vancouver, so I struck out for the mountains and mines. +Found worse luck up here; spent all my money and wore my clothes out, +but the boss of the Orchard Mill, who took me for a few days, said I +might tell you he recommended me. I'm about played out with getting +here, and I'm mighty hungry." + +Geoffrey looked the man over, and decided there was truth in the latter +part of his story. "Take this spanner and wade across to the reef +yonder," he said. "You can begin by giving aid to those men who are +bolting the beams down." + +The stranger glanced dubiously at the rush of icy water, thick with +jagged cakes of frozen snow, then at his dilapidated foot gear, and +hesitated. "I'm not great at swimming. It looks deep," he objected. + +"You can walk, I suppose," Geoffrey answered. "If you do, it won't +drown you." + +The man prepared to obey. He had reached the edge of the water when +Geoffrey called him. "I see you're willing, and I'll take you for a +few weeks any way," he said. "In the meantime a rest wouldn't do you +much harm, and the cook might find you something to keep you from +starving until supper, if you asked him civilly." + +"Thanks!" the man answered, with a curious expression in his face. "I +am a bit used up, and I guess I'll see the cook." + +Work proceeded until the winter's dusk fell, when a bountiful supper +was served. The stranger, who did full justice to the meal, showed +himself a capable hand when work was resumed under the flaring light of +several huge lamps. That night two of his new comrades sat in the +cook-shed discussing the stranger. One was James Gillow, whom Geoffrey +had first employed at Helen's suggestion, and now replaced the man he +formerly assisted. He was apparently without ambition, and chiefly +remarkable for an antipathy to physical effort. Although he had a good +education, he found that cooking suited him. He sat upon an overturned +bucket discoursing whimsically, while Mattawa Tom, who acted as +Thurston's foreman, peeled potatoes for him. The cook-shanty was warm +and snug, and Gillow made those to whom he granted the right of entry +work for the privilege. + +"Strikes me as queer," said the big axeman, with a grin, when the cook +halted to refill his pipe. "Strikes me as queer, it does, that some of +you fellows who know so much kin do so little. Knowledge ain't worth a +cent unless you've got the rustle. Now there's the boss. You talk the +same talk, an' he can't well know more than you seem to do, but look +where he is, while you stop right down at the bottom running a +cook-shanty. Guess you were born tired, English Jim." + +"I dare say you're right," answered Gillow. "Other folks in the Old +Country have said the same thing, though they didn't put it so neatly. +The fact is, some men, like Thurston, are born to wear themselves out +trying to manage things, while I was intended for philosophic +contemplation. He's occasionally hard to get on with, but since I came +here, I'm willing to acknowledge that men of his species are useful, +and I have struck harder masters in this great Dominion." + +Mattawa Tom laughed hoarsely as he responded: "I should say! You found +him hard the day you ran black lines all over his drawings and nearly +burnt his shanty up, trying to prove he didn't know his business, when +you was brim-full of Red Pine whiskey." + +"It was poison," said Gillow, with unruffled good humor. "Several +bottles of genuine whiskey would not confuse me, but I have sworn off +since the day you mention, partly to oblige Thurston, who seemed to +desire it, and because I can't get any decent liquor. But what do you +think of our latest acquisition?" + +"He kin work, which is more than you could, before the boss taught +you," was the dry answer. "But there's something odd about him. You +saw the outfit he came in with? Couldn't have swapped it with a Siwash +Indian--well, the man has better clothes than you or I on underneath, +and if he was so blame hard up, what did he offer Jake five dollars for +his old gum boots for?" + +"Afraid of wetting his feet. Most sensible person, considering the +weather," remarked Gillow, indifferently. + +"'Fraid of wetting his feet! This is just where horse sense beats +knowledge. That fellow is scared of nothing around this camp. Hasn't +it struck you the boss is going to put through a big contract in a way +that's not been tried before, and that there are some folks who would +put up a good many dollars to see him let down nicely?" + +"Well?" Gillow questioned with a show of interest, and the foreman +nodded sagaciously as he answered: + +"Whoever busts the boss up will have to get both feet on the neck of +Mattawa Tom first, and that's not going to be easy. I'll keep my eyes +right on to that fellow." + +Tom went out, and Gillow, awakening at midnight, saw that his blankets +were still empty. The same thing happened several times, and it was +well for Thurston that he had the true leader's gift of inspiring his +followers with loyalty, for one night a week later the foreman, who had +kept his own counsel, shook Gillow out of his slumber. The sleepy man, +who groped for a boot to fling at the disturber of his peace, abandoned +the benevolent intention when he saw his comrade's face under the +hanging lamp. + +"Don't ask no fool questions, but get your things on and come with me," +Tom commanded. + +Five minutes later Gillow, shivering and reluctant, turned out into the +frost. It was a bitter night, and his breath froze upon his mustache. +The snow and froth of the river glimmered spectrally, and when they had +left the camp some distance behind, there was light enough to see a +black figure crawl up a ladder leading to a wire rope stretched tight +in mid-air above the torrent. A trolley hung beneath it by means of +which men and material were hauled across the chasm. + +"Get down here!" whispered Tom. "We'll watch him. If we should fall +over any more of these blame rocks he'd see us certain." + +Gillow was glad to obey, for, though there was faint moonlight, he had +already cut one knee cruelly. It was bitterly cold beneath the boulder +where he crouched in the snow, and when the black object, which worked +its way along the bending cable, had disappeared in the gloom of +overhanging rocks on the opposite shore, there was nothing to see but +the tossing spray of the river. The stream was still a formidable +torrent, though now that the feeding snows were frozen fast, it was +shrunken far below its summer level. A good many minutes had passed +with painful slowness when Gillow, who regretted that he had left the +snug cook-shed, said: + +"This is distinctly monotonous, and it's about time we struck back to +camp. Guess that fellow has tackled too much Red Pine whiskey, and is +just walking round to cool himself." + +In answer the foreman grasped the speaker's shoulder, and stretched out +a pointing hand. The moonlight touched one angle of the rock upon the +opposite shore which encroached upon the frothing water, and the dark +figure showed sharply against it. The figure vanished, reappeared, and +sank from sight again. When this had happened several times Gillow +remarked: "Perhaps we had better go over. The man's clean gone mad." + +"No, sir!" objected Mattawa Tom. "No more mad than you. See what he's +after? No! You don't remember, either, how mighty hard it was to +wedge in the holdfasts for the chain guys stiffening the front of the +dam, or how the keys work loose? There wouldn't be much of the boring +machines or dam framing left if the chains pulled those wedges out. +Catch on to the idee?" + +Gillow gasped. The huge timber framing, which held back the river so +that the costly boring machines could work upon the reef, cumbering +part of its bed, had been built only with the greatest difficulty, and +when finished Thurston had found it necessary to strengthen it by heavy +chains made fast in the rock above. The sockets to which these were +secured had been wedged into deep-sunk holes, but more than once some +of the hard wood keys had worked loose, and Gillow could guess what +would happen if many were partially set free at the same time. + +"If he hammered three or four of those wedges clear it would only need +a bang on another one to give the river its way," Gillow said +excitedly. "Then it would take Thurston six months to fix up the +damage, if he ever did, and nobody would know how it happened. The +cold-blooded brute's in the maintenance gang?" + +"Just so. A blame smart man, too!" asserted Mattawa Tom. "I guess the +boss wouldn't want everybody to know. Rustle back your hardest and +bring him along." + +Fifteen minutes later Thurston took his place behind the boulder, and, +because the light was clearer now, he could dimly see the man swinging +a heavy hammer, against the rock. He knew that the miscreant, whose +business was to prevent the possibility of such accidents, need only +start a few more keys, which he would probably do when the dam was +clear of men, and many thousand dollars' worth of property and the +result of months of labor would be swallowed by the river. His face +paled with fierce anger when he recognized this fact. + +"I want that man," he declared with shut teeth. "I want him so badly +that I'd forfeit five hundred dollars sooner than miss him. Slip +forward, Gillow, as much out of sight as you can, and hide yourself on +the other side of the ladder. Mattawa and I will wait for him here, +and among us three we ought to make sure of him." + +Gillow, who stole forward stooping, swore softly as he fell over many +obstacles on the way. The man they wanted became visible, ascending +another ladder across the river. Then, hanging in the suspended +trolley, he moved, a black shape clear against the snow--along the wire +which stretched high across the gulf. While the others watched him, +his progress grew slower on reaching the hollow, where the cable bent +slightly under the weight at its center. Suddenly the car's progress +was checked altogether, and it began to move in the opposite direction +more rapidly than before, while Thurston sprang to his feet. + +"Slack the setting up tackles, Gillow. Hurry for your life," he +shouted. "He'll cast the cable loose and be off by the Indian trail +into the ranges, if he once gets across." + +Gillow ran his best, where running of any kind was barely possible even +by daylight. He knew that his master was slow to forgive those whose +carelessness thwarted any plan, and that, while taking the easier way +over instead of crawling round a ledge, he had probably alarmed the +fugitive. He reached the foot of the ladder. Climbing up in a +desperate hurry, he cast loose the end of the tackle by means of which +the cable was set up taut, but neglected in his haste to take a turn +with the hemp rope about a post, which would have eased him of most of +the strain. + +"Got him safe!" cried Tom from Mattawa, scrambling to the top of the +boulder, as the curve of the wire rope high above their heads +increased. In spite of the fugitive's efforts, the trolley from which +he was suspended ran back to the slackest part of the loop that sagged +down nearer the river. Thurston, who watched him, nodded with a sense +of savage satisfaction. He did not for a moment believe that, of his +own initiative, any workman would have made a long journey or would +have run considerable personal risk to do him an injury. That was why +he was so anxious to secure the offender. + +The curve grew rapidly deeper, until the rope stretched into two +diagonals between its fastenings on either shore. Then the trolley +descended with a run towards the river, and Geoffrey ran forward, +shouting, "The weight's too much for Gillow. Bring along the coil of +line from the tool locker, Tom. Hurry, I don't want to drown the +rascal." + +What had happened was simple. The cook, endeavoring to take a turn of +the line too late, had failed, and the hemp ran through his half-frozen +fingers, chafing the skin from them. Seeing Thurston floundering in +his direction over the boulders, he valiantly strove to check it, +regardless of the pain until it was whipped clear of his slackening +grasp and the trolley rushed downwards towards the torrent. Thurston +was abreast of it before it splashed in, and had just time to see its +occupant, still clutching the rope, drawn under by the sinking wire, +before he plunged recklessly into the foam. + +The water was horribly cold, and the first shock left him gasping and +almost paralyzed. The stream was running fast, and rebounding in white +foam from great stones and uneven ledges below. But the distance was +short, and Thurston was a strong swimmer, so almost before the man had +risen, he was within a few yards of the struggling figure. Hardly had +Geoffrey clutched the man before Mattawa Tom, who had, meantime, run +down stream, whirling a coil of line, loosed it, and the folds, well +directed, shot through the air towards Geoffrey, uncoiling as they +came. By good fortune Thurston was able to seize the end and to pass +it around them both, when--for Gillow had by this time joined his +companion--the two men blundered backwards up the contracted beach, and +Thurston and the fugitive were drawn shorewards together, until their +feet struck bottom. + +Breathless and dripping, they staggered out, and, because Geoffrey +still clutched the stranger's jacket, the man said: + +"Mightily obliged to you! But you can let up now there's no more +swimming. I couldn't run very far, if it was worth while trying to." + +"You needn't trouble to thank me," was the answer. "It wasn't because +I thought the world would miss you that I went into the water; but I +can't expect much sense from a half-drowned man. Do you think the rest +of the boys have heard us, Tom?" + +The foreman glanced towards the tents clustered in the mouth of a +ravine above, and seeing no sign of life there, shook his head, +whereupon Geoffrey directed: + +"Take him quietly to the cook-shed, and give him some whiskey. I've no +doubt that in spite of my orders you have some. Lend him dry clothes, +and bring him along to my shanty as soon as he's ready. Meantime, +rouse the maintenance foreman, and, if any wedges have worked loose, +let him drive them home." + +"You're a nice man," commented Mattawa Tom, surveying the stranger +disgustedly as the man stood with the water draining from him in the +cook-shed. "Here, get into these things and keep them as a present. I +wouldn't like the feel of them after they'd been on to you." + +"That's all right!" was the cool answer. "I expect the game's up, and +I'm quite ready to buy them of you. By the way, partner, you helped +your boss to pull me out, didn't you? As I said before, I'm not great +on swimming." + +"I'm almost sorry I had to," said Mattawa Tom, who was a loyal +partisan. "But don't call me 'partner,' or there'll be trouble." + +The stranger laughed, as, after a glass of hot liquor, he arrayed +himself beside the banked-up stove, and presently marched under escort +towards Thurston's wood and bark winter dwelling. Mattawa Tom followed +close behind him with a big ax on his shoulder. + +"I might be a panther you'd corralled. How do you know I haven't a +pistol in my pocket, if it was any use turning ugly?" the prisoner +inquired. + +"I'm quite certain about you, because your pistol is in my pocket," was +the dry answer, and Tom chuckled. "You weren't quite smart enough when +you slipped off your jacket." + +From the door of his shanty, Thurston called them, and Mattawa, +thrusting his prisoner in, proceeded to mount guard close outside until +Thurston reappeared to ask angrily: + +"What are you doing there?" + +"I figured you might want me, sir. That man's not to be trusted," +answered Tom, and Thurston laughed as he said: + +"Go back, see that the maintenance man has made a good job of the +wedges, and if any of the boys should ask questions you'll tell +them--nothing," Geoffrey commanded. "You don't suppose I've suddenly +grown helpless, do you?" + +Mattawa Tom withdrew with much reluctance, and it was long before any +person knew exactly what Geoffrey and the stranger said to each other, +though Gillow informed his comrade that the captured man said to him, +by way of explanation before sleeping: + +"Your boss is considerably too smart a man for me to bluff, and I've +kind of decided to help him. Shouldn't wonder if he didn't beat my +last one, who would have seen me roasted before he'd have gone into a +river for me. I'm not fond of being left out in the rain with the +losing side, either, see? It's not my tip to talk too much, and I +guess that's about good enough for you." + +"You're going to help him!" commented Gillow, ironically. "All things +considered, that's very kind of you." + +Next morning Thurston, who summoned the cook and foreman before him, +said: "I want you two to keep what happened last night a close secret, +and while I cannot tell you much, I may say that the man who will +remain in camp was, as you have no doubt guessed, only the cat's paw of +several speculators, whom it wouldn't suit to see our employer, Savine, +successful." + +"But mightn't he try the same game again?" asked Mattawa, and Thurston +answered: + +"He might, but I hardly think he will. I intend to keep him here under +my own eyes until I want him. There's no particular reason why you +shouldn't see that he earns his wages, Tom. Gillow, it's perhaps not +wholly unfortunate you dropped him into the river." + +"Kind of trump ace up your sleeve!" suggested Mattawa, and his master +answered with a smile: + +"Not exactly. The other side is quite smart enough to know who holds +the aces; but I fancy the complete disappearance of this few-spot card +will puzzle them. Now, forget all about it. I wouldn't have said so +much, but that I know I can trust you two!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A GREAT UNDERTAKING + +Except for the wail of a wet breeze from the Pacific and the moaning of +the pines outside, there was unusual quietness in the wood-built villa +looking down upon the valley of the Hundred Springs on the night that +the American specialist came up to consult with Savine's doctor from +Vancouver. The master of High Maples had been brought home +unconscious, some days earlier, and had lain for hours apparently on +the point of death. During this time it was Thurston who took control +of the panic-stricken household. It was he who telegraphed Thomas +Savine to bring his wife. He had sent for the famous American +physician and had allayed Helen's fears. When the girl's aunt arrived +he had prevented that lady from undertaking the cure of the patient by +her own prescription. Geoffrey's temper was never very patient, but he +held it well in hand for Helen's sake. + +On the night in question, Geoffrey anxiously awaited the physician's +verdict. He was in the library with Thomas Savine, and had made +spasmodic attempts to divert the attention of the kindly, gray-haired +gentleman from the illness of his brother. At last, when the tension +grew almost unbearable, Thomas Savine said: + +"They cannot be much longer, and we'll hear their verdict soon. I'm +trying to hope for the best, Thurston, knowing it can't be good all the +time. This has been a blow to me. You see we were a one-man family, +and it was Julius who started off all the rest of us. He must have +been mighty sick of us several times after he married, but he never +showed a sign of impatience. What a man he was--tireless, +indefatigable, nothing too big for him--until his wife died. Then all +the grit seemed to melt right out of him, and during the last few years +I knew, what mighty few people besides yourself know now, that Julius +was just a shadow of what he had been. He held all the wires in his +own hands too long, and, as he hadn't an understudy with the grit to +act by himself, I was glad when he took hold of you." + +"He has always been a generous and considerate employer," interposed +Geoffrey. "But I had better leave you. I hear the doctors coming." + +Savine laid a detaining grasp upon his arm with the words: "I want you +right here. It's your concern as well as mine." + +The two doctors entered, and the one from Vancouver said: + +"I will let my colleague express his opinion, and may say that our +patient admitted to him a complicating weakness which I had suspected. +I wish we had better news to give you, but while it was your brother's +wish that Mr. Thurston should know, I should almost prefer first to +communicate with his own family." + +"You can both speak right out; only be quick about it," Thomas Savine +told him. + +"It is tolerably simple, and while I sympathize with you, I must not +disguise the truth," said the keen-eyed, lean-faced American. "Though +Mr. Savine will partly recover from this attack, his career as an +active man is closed. His heart may hold out a few years longer, if +you follow my instructions, or it may at any time fail him--if he +worries over anything, it certainly will. In any case, he will never +be strong again. Mental powers and physical vigor have been reduced to +the lowest level by over-work and excessive, if intermittent, +indulgence in what I may call a very devilish drug--a particular +Chinese preparation of opium, not generally known even on this +opium-consuming coast. Under its influence he may still be capable of +spasmodic fits of energy, but while each dose will assist towards his +dissolution, I dare not--at this stage--recommend complete deprivation. +I have arranged with your own adviser as to the best treatment known to +modern science, but fear it cannot prove very efficacious. That's +about all I can tell you in general terms, gentlemen." + +"It is worse than I feared," said Thomas Savine, leaning forward in his +chair, with his elbows on the table, and his chin in his hands. Before +the two doctors withdrew, the Canadian said: + +"He is anxious to see Mr. Thurston, and in an hour or so it could do no +harm. I will rejoin you shortly, Mr. Savine." + +The door closed behind them, and Thomas Savine looked straight at +Thurston as he observed: "I know little about his business, but shall +have to look into it for his daughter's sake. You will help me?" + +"Yes," replied Geoffrey. "It seems out of place now, but I cannot +honestly co-operate with you without mentioning a conditional promise +your brother made to me. Perhaps you can guess it." + +"I can," said Savine, stretching out his hand. "I won't say that I +hadn't thought Helen might have chosen among the highest in the +Dominion just because it wouldn't be true, but you'll have my good +wishes if you will see my poor brother through his immediate +difficulties at least. You had Mrs. Savine's approval long ago." +After a pause, he added, "There is one part of Julius's trouble Helen +must never know." + +The two men's fingers met in a grip that was more eloquent than many +protestations, and Geoffrey went out into the moaning wind and, +bareheaded, paced to and fro until he was summoned to the sick man's +room. The few days that had passed since he had seen his employer had +set their mark upon Savine. The sick man lay in his plainly-furnished +room. With bloodless lips, drawn face, and curiously-glazed eyes, he +was strangely different from his usual self, but he looked up with an +attempt at his characteristic smile as Geoffrey approached. At a +signal, the nurse slipped away. + +"I asked them to tell you, so you might know the kind of man I am," +said Savine. "You have got to exercise that partnership option one way +or another right now. It is not too late to back out, and I wouldn't +blame you." + +"I should blame myself to my last day if I did, sir," answered +Geoffrey, trying to hide the shock he felt, and Savine beckoned him +nearer. + +"It's a big thing you are going into, but you'll do it with both eyes +wide open," he declared. "For the past few years Julius Savine has +been a shadow, and an empty name, and his affairs are mixed +considerably. Reckless contracts taken with a muddled brain and +speculation to make up the losses, have, between them, resulted in +chaos. I'm too sick to value what I own, and no accountant can. I ran +things myself too long, and no one was fit to take hold when I +slackened my grip. But there's still the business, and there's still +the name, and the one man in this province I can trust them to is you. +I should have let go before, but I was greedy--greedy for my daughter's +sake." + +"It is comprehensible." Geoffrey spoke with conviction. "So far as I +can serve you, you can command me." + +"I know it," was the answer. "What's more, I feel it in me that you +will not lose by it. Lord, how hard it is, but there's no use whining +when brought up sharp by one's own folly. But see here, Geoffrey +Thurston, if Helen will take you willingly I can trust her to you; but +if, when I go under, she looks beyond you, and you attempt to trade +upon her gratitude or her aunt's favor, my curse will follow you. +Besides, if I know Helen Savine, she will be able to repay you full +measure should you win her so." + +For just a moment the old flame of quick anger burned in Geoffrey's +eyes. Then he responded. + +"I regret you even imagine I could take an dishonorable advantage of +your daughter. God forbid that I should ever bring sorrow upon Miss +Savine. All I ask is a fair field and the right to help her according +to her need." + +"Forgive me!" returned Savine. "Of late I have grown scared about her +future. I believe you, Thurston; I can't say more. I felt the more +sure of you when you told me straight out about what was born in you. +Lord, how I envied you! The man who can stand those devils off can do +most anything. It was when my wife died they got their claws on me. I +was trying to forget my troubles by doing three men's work, but you +can't fool with nature, and I'd done it too long already. Anyway, when +I couldn't eat or sleep, they had their opportunity. At first they +made my brain work quicker, but soon after I fell in with you I knew +that, unless he had a good man beside him, Savine's game was over. But +I wouldn't be beaten. I was holding on for Helen's sake to leave her a +fortune and a name. + +"All this is getting monotonous to you but let me finish when I can." +Savine waited a moment to regain his breath. "I cheated the nurse and +doctor to-day, and I'll be very like a dead man to-morrow. You must go +down to my offices and overhaul everything; then come right back and +we'll see if we can make a deal. I'll have my proposition fixed up +straight and square, but this is the gist of it. While doing your best +for your own advantage, hold Julius Savine's name clean before the +world, win the most possible for Helen out of the wreck, and rush +through the reclamation scheme--which is the key to all." + +"As you said--it's a big undertaking, but I'll do my best," began +Geoffrey, but Savine checked him. + +"Go down and see what you make of things. Maybe the sight of them will +choke you off. I'll take no other answer. Send Tom to me," he +commanded. + +It was the next day when Geoffrey had an interview with Helen, who sent +for him. She was standing beside a window when he came in. She looked +tall in a long somber-tinted dress which emphasized the whiteness of +her full round throat and the pallor of her face. The faint, olive +coloring of her skin had faded; there were shadows about her eyes. At +the first glance Geoffrey's heart went out towards her. It was evident +the verdict of the physicians had been a heavy shock, but he fancied +that she was ready to meet the inevitable with undiminished courage. +Still, her fingers were cold when, for a moment, they touched his own. + +"Sit down, Geoffrey. I have a great deal to say to you, and don't know +how to begin," she said. "But first I am sincerely grateful for all +you have done." + +"We will not mention that. Neither, I hope, need I say that Miss +Savine of all people could never be indebted to me. You must know it +already." + +Helen thanked him with her eyes as she sank into the chair he wheeled +out so that the light left her face in shadow. Geoffrey stood near the +window framing and he did not look directly towards her. Helen +appreciated the consideration which prompted the action and the respect +implied by his attitude. + +"I am going to ask a great deal of you, and remind you of a promise you +once made." There was a little tremor in her voice. "You will not +think it ungracious if I say there is no one else who can do what seems +so necessary, and ask you if you do not consider that you owe something +to my father. It is hard for me, not because I doubt you, but +because----" + +Geoffrey checked her with a half-raised hand. "Please don't, Miss +Savine--I can understand. You find it difficult to receive, when, as +yet, you have, you think, but little to give. Would that make any +difference? The little--just to know that I had helped you--would be +so much to me." + +Again Helen was grateful. The look of anxiety and distress returned as +she went on. + +"I dare spare no effort for my father's sake. He has always been +kindness itself to me, and it is only now that I know how much I love +him. Hitherto I have taken life too easily, forgetting that sorrow and +tragedy could overtake me. I have heard the physician's verdict, and +know my father cannot be spared very long to me. I also know how his +mind is set upon the completion of his last great scheme. That is why, +and because of your promise, I have dared ask help of--you." + +"Will it make it easier if I say that, quite apart from his daughter's +wishes, I am bound in honor to protect the interests of Julius Savine +so far as I can?" interposed Geoffrey. "Your father found me much as +you did, a struggling adventurer, and with unusual kindness helped me +on the way to prosperity. All I have I owe to him, and perhaps, the +more so because we have cunning enemies, my own mind is bent on the +completion of the scheme. I believe that we shall triumph, Miss +Savine, and I use the word advisedly, still expecting much from your +father's skill." + +Helen gravely shook her head. "I recognize your kind intentions, but +you must expect nothing. It is a hard thing for me to say, but the +truth is always best, and again it is no small favor I ask from +you,--to do the work for the credit of another's name--taking his task +upon your shoulders, to make a broken man's last days easier. I want +you to sign the new partnership agreement, and am glad you recognize +that my father was a good friend to you." + +The girl's courage nearly deserted her, for Helen was young still, and +had been severely tried. While Geoffrey, who felt that he would give +his life for the right to comfort her, could only discreetly turn his +face away. + +"I will do it all, Miss Savine," he said gravely. "I had already +determined on as much, but you must try to believe that the future is +not so hopeless as it looks. You will consider that I have given you a +solemn pledge." + +"Then I can only say God speed you, for my thanks would be inadequate," +Helen's voice trembled as she spoke. "But I must also ask your +forgiveness for my presumption in judging you that day. I now know how +far I was mistaken." + +Geoffrey knew to what she referred. The day had been a memorable one +for him, and, with pulses throbbing, he moved forward a pace, his eyes +fixed upon the speaker's face. For a moment, forgetting everything, +his resolutions were flung to the winds, and he trembled with passion +and hope. Then he remembered his promise to the sick man, and Helen's +own warning, and recovered a partial mastery of himself. It was a mere +sense of justice which prompted the girl's words, his reason warned +him, but he felt, instinctively, that they implied more than this, +though he did not know how much. He stood irresolute until Helen +looked up, and, if it had ever existed, the time for speech was past. + +"I fear I have kept you too long, but there is still a question I must +ask. You have seen my father in many of his moods, and there is +something in the state of limp apathy he occasionally falls into which +puzzles me. I cannot help thinking there is another danger of which I +do not know. Can you not enlighten me?" + +Helen leaned forward, a strange fear stamped upon her face. Fresh from +the previous struggle, Geoffrey, whose heart yearned to comfort her, +felt his powers of resistance strained to the utmost. Still, it was a +question that he could not answer. Remembering Savine's injunction--to +hold her father's name clean--he said quickly: "There is nothing I can +tell you. You must remember only that the physician admitted a +cheering possibility." + +"I will try to believe in it." The trouble deepened in Helen's face, +while her voice expressed bitter disappointment. "You have been very +kind and I must not tax you too heavily." + +Geoffrey turned away, distressed, for her and inwardly anathematized +his evil fortune in being asked that particular question. He had, he +felt, faltered when almost within sight of victory, neglecting to press +home an advantage which might have won success. "It is, perhaps, the +first time I have willfully thrown away my chances--the man who wins is +the one who sees nothing but the prize," he told himself. "But I could +not have taken advantage of her anxiety for her father and gratitude to +me, while, if I had, and won, there would be always between us the +knowledge that I had not played the game fairly." + +Thomas Savine came into the room. "I was looking for you, and want to +know when you'll go down to Vancouver with me to puzzle through +everything before finally deciding just what you're going to do," he +said. They talked a few moments. After the older man left him, +Geoffrey found himself confronted by Mrs. Savine. + +"I have been worried about you," she asserted. "You're carrying too +heavy a load, and it's wearing you thin. You look a very sick man +to-day, and ought to remember that the main way to preserve one's +health is to take life easily." + +"I have no doubt of it, madam," Thurston fidgeted, fearing what might +follow; "but, unfortunately, one cannot always do so." + +Mrs. Savine held out a little phial as she explained: "A simple +restorative is the next best thing, and you will find yourself braced +in mind and body by a few doses of this. It is what I desired to fix +up my poor brother-in-law with when you prevented me." + +"Then the least I can do is to take it myself," said Geoffrey, smiling +to hide his uneasiness. "I presume you do not wish me to swallow it +immediately?" + +Mrs. Savine beamed upon him. "You might hold out an hour or two +longer, but delays are dangerous," she warned him. "Kindness! Well, +there's a tolerable reason why we should be good to you, and, for I +guess you're not a clever man all round, Geoffrey Thurston, you have +piled up a considerable obligation in your favor in one direction." + +"May I ask you to speak more plainly, Mrs. Savine?" Geoffrey requested +and she answered: + +"You may, but I can't do it. Still, what you did, because you thought +it the fair thing, won't be lost to you. Now, don't ask any more fool +questions, but go right away, take ten drops of the elixir, and don't +worry. It will all come right some day." + +The speaker's meaning was discernible, and Geoffrey, having a higher +opinion than many people of Mrs. Savine's sagacity, went out into the +sunlight, satisfied. He held up the phial and was about to hurl it +among the firs, but, either grateful for the donor's words, or softened +by what he had heard and seen, he actually drank a little of it +instead. Then came a revulsion from the strain of the last few days, +and he burst into a laugh. + +"It would have been mean, and I dare say I haven't absorbed sufficient +of the stuff to quite poison me," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MILLICENT TURNS TRAITRESS + +It was with a heavy sense of responsibility that Geoffrey returned from +a visit to Savine's offices in Vancouver, and yet there was +satisfaction mingled with his anxiety. Thomas Savine, who knew little +of engineering, was no fool at finance, and the week they spent +together made the situation comparatively plain. It was fraught with +peril and would have daunted many a man, but the very uncertainty and +prospect of a struggle which would tax every energy appealed to +Thurston. He felt also that here was an opportunity of proving his +devotion to Helen in the way he could do it best. + +"I'm uncommonly thankful we didn't send for an accountant; the fewer +folks who handle those books the better," declared Thomas Savine. "I +was prepared for a surprise, Thurston, but never expected this. I +suppose things can be straightened out, but when I'd fixed up that +balance, it just took my breath away. More than half the assets are +unmarketable stock and ventures no man could value, while whether they +will ever realize anything goodness only knows. It's mighty certain +Julius doesn't know himself what he has been doing the last two years. +I can let my partners run our business down in Oregon and stay right +here for a time, counting on you to do the outside work, if what you +have seen hasn't clicked you off. You haven't signed the agreement +yet. How does the whole thing strike you?" + +"As chaos that can and must be reduced to order," answered Geoffrey +with a reckless laugh. "I intend to sign the agreement, and, +foreseeing that you may have trouble about the money which I propose to +spend freely, I am adding all my private savings to the working +capital. It is, therefore, neck or nothing with me now, as I fear it +is with the rest of you, and, in my opinion, we should let everything +but the reclamation scheme go. It will either ruin us or pay us +five-fold if we can put it through." + +"Just so!" and Savine nodded. "I leave that end to you, but I've got +to explain things to Helen, and I don't like the thought of it. My +niece has talents. As her future lies at stake, she has a right to +know, but it will be another shock to her. Poor Julius brought her up +in luxury, and I expect has been far too mixed of late to know that he +was tottering towards the verge of bankruptcy. A smart outside +accountant would have soon scented trouble, but I don't quite blame my +brother's cashier, who is a clerk and nothing more, for taking +everything at its book value." + +That afternoon Helen sat with the two men in the library at High +Maples. A roll of papers was on the table before her. When Thomas +Savine had made the condition of things as plain as possible, she +leaned back in her chair with crossed hands for a time. + +"I thank you for telling me so much, and I can grasp the main issues," +she said at length. "If my opinion is of value I would say I agree +with you that the bold course is best. But you will need much money, +and as it is evident money will not be plentiful, so I must do my part +in helping you. Because this establishment and our mode of life here +is expensive, while it will please my father to be near the scene of +operations, we will let High Maples and retire to a mountain ranch. I +fear we have maintained a style circumstances hardly justified too +long." + +"It's a sensible plan all through. I must tell you Mr. Thurston +has----" began Savine, and ceased abruptly, when Geoffrey, who frowned +at him, broke in: + +"We have troubled Miss Savine with sufficient details, and I fancy the +arrangement suggested would help to keep her father tranquil, +especially as our progress will be slow. Spring is near, and, in spite +of our efforts, we shall not be able to deepen the pass in the cañon +before the waters rise. That means we can do nothing there until next +winter, and must continue the dyking all summer. It is very brave of +you, Miss Savine." + +Helen smiled upon him as she answered: + +"The compliment is doubtful. Did you suppose I could do nothing? But +we must march out with banners flying, or, more prosaically, paragraphs +in the papers, stating that Julius Savine will settle near the scene of +his most important operations. While you are here you should show +yourself in public as much as possible, Mr. Thurston. Whenever I can +help you, you must tell me, and I shall demand a strict account of your +stewardship from both of you." + +The two men went away satisfied. Savine said: + +"I guess some folks are mighty stupid when they consider that only the +ugly women are clever. There's my niece--well, nobody could call her +plain, and you can see how she's taking hold instead of weakening. +Some women never show the grit that's in them until they're fighting +for their children; but you can look out for trouble, Thurston, if you +fool away any chances, while Helen Savine's behind you fighting for her +father." + +A few days later Henry Leslie, confidential secretary to the Industrial +Enterprise Company, sat, with a frown upon his puffy face, in his +handsome office. He wore a silk-bound frock coat, a garment not then +common in Vancouver, and a floral spray from Mexico in his button-hole; +but he was evidently far from happy, and glanced with ill-concealed +dismay at the irate specimen of muscular manhood standing before him. +The man, who was a sturdy British agriculturalist, had forced his way +in, defying the clerks specially instructed to intercept him. Leslie +had first set up in business as a land agent, a calling which affords a +promising field for talents of his particular description, and having +taken the new arrival's money, had, by a little manipulation of the +survey lines, transferred to him mostly barren rock and giant trees +instead of land for hop culture. It was a game which had been often +played before, but the particular rancher was a determined man and had +announced his firm intention of obtaining his money back or wreaking +summary vengeance on his betrayer. + +"Danged if thee hadn't more hiding holes than a rotten, but I've hunted +thee from one to one, and now I've found thee I want my brass," shouted +the brawny, loud-voiced Briton. Leslie answered truthfully: + +"I tell you I haven't got it, even if you had any claim on me, and it's +not my fault you're disappointed, if you foolishly bought land before +you could understand a Canadian survey plan." + +"Then thou'lt better get it," was the uncompromising answer. +"Understand a plan! I've stuck to the marked one I got from thee, and +there's lawyers in this country as can. It was good soil and maples I +went up to see, and how the ---- can anybody raise crops off the big +stones thou sold me? I'm going to have my rights, and, meantime, I'm +trapesing round all the bars in this city talking about thee. There's +a good many already as believe me." + +"Then you had better look out. Confound you!" threatened Leslie, +taking a bold course in desperation. "There's a law which can stop +that game in this country, and I'll set it in motion. Anyway, I can't +have you making this noise in my private office. Go away before I call +my clerks to throw you out." + +The effort at intimidation was a distinct failure, for the aggrieved +agriculturalist, who was not quite sober, laughed uproariously as he +seized a heavy ruler. "That's a good yan," he roared. "Thou darsen't +for thy life go near a court with me, and the first clerk who tries to +put me out, danged if I don't pound half the life out of him and thee. +I'm stayin' here comf'able until I get my money." + +He pulled out a filthy pipe, and filled it with what, when he struck a +match, turned out to be particularly vile tobacco, and Leslie, who +fumed in his chair, said presently: + +"You are only wasting your time and mine--and for heaven's sake take a +cigar and fling that pipe away. I haven't got the money by me, and +it's the former owner's business, not mine, but if you'll call round, +say the day after to-morrow, I'll see what we can do." + +He named the day, knowing that he would be absent then, and the +stranger, heaving his heavy limbs out of an easy chair, helped himself +to a handful of choice cigars before he prepared to depart, saying +dubiously: + +"I'll be back on Wednesday bright and early, bringing several friends +as will see fair play with me. One of them will be a lawyer, and if +he's no good either, look out, mister, for I'll find another way of +settling thee!" + +There are in Canada, as well as other British Colonies, capitalists, +dealing in lands and financing mines, whose efforts make for the +progress of civilization and the good of the community. There are also +others, described by their victims as a curse to any country. +Representatives of both descriptions were interested in the Industrial +Enterprise. Therefore, the unfortunate secretary groaned when one of +the latter class, who passed his visitor in the doorway, came in +smiling in a curious manner. Leslie, who hoped he had not heard much, +was rudely undeceived. + +"I'm hardly surprised at certain words I heard in the corridor," he +commenced. "Your English friend was telling an interesting tale about +you to all the loungers in the Rideau bar to-day. They seemed to +believe him--he told it very creditably. When are you going to stop +it, Leslie?" + +"When I can pay him the equivalent of five hundred sterling in +blackmail. I am afraid it will be a long time," answered the +secretary, ruefully. + +"Then I would advise you to beg, borrow or steal the money. A man of +your abilities and practical experience oughtn't to find much +difficulty in this part of the world," said the newcomer. "The tale +may have been a fabrication, but it sounded true, and while I don't set +up as a reformer I am a director of this Company, and can't have those +rumors set going about its secretary. No, I don't want to hear your +side of the case--it's probably highly creditable to you--but I know +all about the kind of business you were running, and a good many other +folks in this province do, too." + +"Who, in the name of perdition, would lend me the money? And it takes +every cent I've got to live up to my post. You don't pay too +liberally," sneered the unfortunate man, stung into brief fury by the +reference to his character. + +"I will," was the answer. "That is to say, I'll fix things up with the +plain-spoken Britisher, and take your acknowledgment in return for his +written statement that he has no claim on you. I know how to handle +that breed of cattle, and mayn't press you for the money until you can +pay it comfortably." + +"What are you doing it for?" asked Leslie, dubiously. + +"For several reasons; I don't mind mentioning a few. I want more say +in the running of this Company, and I could get at useful facts my +colleagues didn't know through its secretary. I could also give him +instructions without the authority of a board meeting, see? And I +fancy I could put a spoke in Savine's wheel best by doing it quietly my +own way. One live man can often get through more than a squabbling +dozen, and the money is really nothing much to me." + +"I had better sue the Englishman for defamation, and prove my +innocence, even if the legal expenses ruin me," said Leslie, and the +other, who laughed aloud, checked him. + +"Pshaw! It is really useless trying that tone with me, especially as I +have heard about another dispute of the kind you once had at +Westminster. You're between the devil and the deep sea, but if you +don't start kicking you'll get no hurt from me. Call it a deal--and, +to change the subject, where's the man you sent up to worry Thurston?" + +"I don't know," said Leslie. "I gave him a round sum, part of it out +of my own pocket, for I couldn't in the meantime think of a suitable +entry--all the directors don't agree with you. I know he started, but +he has never come back again." + +"Then you have got to find him," was the dry answer. "We'll have +law-suits and land commissions before we're through, and if Thurston +has corralled or bought that man over, and plays him at the right +moment, it would certainly cost you your salary." + +"I can't find him; I've tried," asserted Leslie. + +"Then you had better try again and keep right on trying. Get at +Thurston through his friends if you can't do it any other way. Your +wife is already a figure in local society." + +That night Leslie leaned against the mantelpiece in his quarters +talking to his wife. They had just returned from some entertainment +and Millicent, in beautiful evening dress, lay in a lounge chair +watching him keenly. + +"You would not like to be poor again, Millicent?" he said, fixing his +glance, not upon her face but on her jeweled hands, and the woman +smiled somewhat bitterly as she answered: + +"Poor again! That would seem to infer that we are prosperous now. Do +you know how much I owe half the stores in this city, Harry?" + +"I don't want to!" said Leslie, with a gesture of impatience. "Your +tastes were always extravagant, and I mean the kind of poverty which is +always refused credit." + +"My tastes!" and Millicent's tone was indignant. "I suppose I am fond +of money, or the things that it can buy, and you may remember you once +promised me plenty. But why can't you be honest and own that the +display we make is part of your programme? I have grown tired of this +scheming and endeavoring to thrust ourselves upon people who don't want +us, and if you will be content to stay at home and progress slowly, +Harry, I will gladly do my share to help you." + +Millicent Leslie was ambitious, but the woman who endeavors to assist +an impecunious husband's schemes by becoming a social influence usually +suffers, even if successful, in the process, and Millicent had not been +particularly successful. She was also subject to morbid fits of +reflection, accompanied by the framing of good resolutions, which, for +the moment at least, she meant to keep. It is possible that night +might have marked a turning-point in her career had her husband +listened to her, but before she could continue, his thin lips curled as +he said: + +"Isn't it a little too late for either of us to practice the somewhat +monotonous domestic virtues? You need not be afraid of hurting my +feelings, Millicent, by veiling your meaning. But, in the first place, +at the time you transferred your affections to me I had the money, and, +in the second, I must either carry out what you call my programme or go +down with a crash shortly. If luck favors me the prize I am striving +for is, however, worth winning, but things are going most confoundedly +badly just now. In fact, I shall be driven into a corner unless you +can help me." + +Mrs. Leslie possessed no exalted code of honor, but, in her present +frame of mind, her husband's words excited fear and suspicion, and she +asked sharply, "What is it you want me to do?" + +"I will try to explain. You know something of my business. I sent up +a clever rascal to--well, to pass as a workman seeking employment, and +so enable us to forestall some of Savine's mechanical improvements. He +took the money I gave him and started, but we have never seen him +since, and it is particularly desirable that I should know whether he +tried and failed or what has become of him. If the man made his exact +commission known it would cost me my place. The very people who would +applaud me if successful would be the first to make a scapegoat of me +otherwise." + +"Your explanation is not quite lucid, but how could I get at the truth?" + +"Ingratiate yourself with Miss Savine, or get that crack-brained aunt +of hers to cure your neuralgia. There are also two young premium +pupils, sons of leading Montreal citizens, in Mr. Savine's service, who +dance attendance upon the fair Helen continually. It shouldn't be +difficult to flatter them a little and set them talking." + +"Do you think women are utterly foolish, or that they converse about +dams and earthworks?" asked Millicent, trying to check her rising +indignation. + +"No, but I know a good many of you have the devil's own cunning, and +there can be but few much keener than you. Women in this country know +a great deal more about their lawful protectors' affairs than they +generally do at home, and Miss Savine is sufficiently proud not to care +whose wife you were if she took a fancy to you." + +"It would be utterly useless!" Leslie looked his wife over with coolly +critical approval, noting how the soft lamplight sparkled in the pale +gold clusters of her hair, the beauty that still hung to her somewhat +careworn face, and how the costly dress enhanced the symmetry of a +finely-moulded frame. + +"Then why can't you confine your efforts to the men? You are pretty +and clever enough to wheedle secrets out of Thurston's self even, now +you have apparently become reconciled to him." + +For the first time since the revelations that followed Leslie's +downfall a red brand of shame and anger flamed in Millicent's cheeks. +She rose, facing the speaker with an almost breathless "How dare you? +Is there no limit to the price I must pay for my folly? Thurston +was----. But how could any woman compare him with you?" + +"Sit down again, Millicent," suggested Leslie with an uneasy laugh. +"These heroics hardly become you--and nobody can extort a great deal in +return for--nothing better than you. In any case, it's no use now +debating whether one or both of us were foolish. I'm speaking no more +than the painful truth when I say that if I can't get the man back into +my hands I shall have to make a break without a dollar from British +Columbia. Since you have offended your English friends past +forgiveness, God knows what would become of you if that happened, while +Thurston would marry Miss Savine and sail on to riches--confusion to +him!" + +Millicent was never afterwards certain why she accepted the quest from +which she shrank with loathing, at first. While her husband proceeded +to substantiate the truth of his statement, she was conscious of rage +and shame, as well as a profound contempt for him; and, because of it, +she felt an illogical desire to inflict suffering upon the man whom she +now considered had too readily accepted his rejection. Naturally, she +disliked Miss Savine. She was possessed by an abject fear of poverty, +and so, turning a troubled face towards the man, she said: + +"I don't know that I shall ever forgive you, and I feel that you will +live to regret this night's work bitterly. However, as you say, it is +over late for us to fear losing the self-respect we parted with long +ago. Rest contented--I will try." + +"That is better. We are what ill-luck or the devil made us," replied +Leslie, laying his hand on his wife's white shoulder, but in spite of +her recent declaration Millicent shrank from his touch. + +"Your fingers burn me. Take them away. As I said, I will help you, +but if there was any faint hope of happiness or better things left us, +you have killed it," she declared in a decided tone. + +"I should say the chance was hardly worth counting on," answered +Leslie, as he withdrew to soothe himself with a brandy-and-soda. +Millicent sat still in her chair, with her hands clenched hard on the +arms of it, staring straight before her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE INFATUATION OF ENGLISH JIM + +It was perhaps hardly wise of Geoffrey Thurston to suddenly promote +English Jim from the position of camp cook to that of amanuensis. +Geoffrey, however, found himself hard pressed when it became necessary +to divide his time between Vancouver and the scene of practical +operations, and he remembered that the man he had promoted had been +Helen's _protégé_. James Gillow was a fair draughtsman, also, and, if +not remarkable otherwise for mental capacity, wielded a facile pen, and +Geoffrey found it a relief to turn his rapidly-increasing +correspondence over to him. It was for this reason Gillow accompanied +him on a business trip to Victoria. + +English Jim enjoyed the visit, the more so because he found one or two +acquaintances who had achieved some degree of prosperity in that fair +city. He was entertained so well that on the morning of Geoffrey's +return he boarded the steamer contented with himself and the world in +general. He was perfectly sober, so he afterwards decided, or on board +a rolling vessel he could never have succeeded in working out +quantities from rough sketches Thurston gave him. But he had +breakfasted with his friends, just before sailing, and the valedictory +potations had increased, instead of assuaging, his thirst. + +The steamer was a fast one. The day was pleasant with the first warmth +of Spring, and Geoffrey sat under the lee of a deckhouse languidly +enjoying a cigar and looking out across the sparkling sea. Gillow, who +came up now and then for a breath of air, envied him each time he +returned to pore over papers that rose and fell perplexingly on one end +of the saloon table. It was hard to get his scale exactly on the lines +of the drawings; the sunrays that beat in through the skylights dazzled +his eyes, and his sight did not become much keener after each visit to +the bar. Nevertheless, few persons would have suspected English Jim of +alcoholic indulgence as he jotted down weights and quantities in his +pocket-book. + +Meantime, Thurston began to find the view of the snow-clad Olympians +grow monotonous. It is true that every pinnacle was silhouetted, a +spire of unsullied whiteness, against softest azure. The peaks +towered, a sight to entrance the vision--ethereally majestic above a +cerulean sea--but Geoffrey had seen rather too much snow unpleasantly +close at hand within the last few months. Therefore, he opened the +newspaper beside him, and frowned to see certain rumors he had heard in +Victoria embodied in an article on the Crown lands policy. Anyone with +sufficient knowledge to read between the lines could identify the +writer's instances of how gross injustice might be done the community +with certain conditional grants made to Savine. + +"That man has been well posted. He may have been influenced by a +mistaken public spirit or quite possibly by a less praiseworthy motive; +but if we have any more bad breakdowns I can foresee trouble," Geoffrey +said to himself. + +Then he turned his eyes towards the groups of passengers, and presently +started at the sight of a lady carrying a camp chair, a book, and a +bundle of wrappings along the heaving deck. It was Millicent Leslie, +and there was no doubt that she had recognized him, for she had set +down her burden and was waiting for his assistance. Geoffrey was at +her side in a moment and presently ensconced her snugly under the lee +of the deckhouse, where he waited, by no means wholly pleased at the +meeting. He had spent most of the previous night with certain men +interested in finance and provincial politics, and being new to the +gentle art of wire-pulling had not quite recovered his serenity. He +regretted the good cigar he had thrown away, and scarcely felt equal to +sustaining the semi-sentimental trend of conversation Millicent had +affected whenever he met her, but she was alone, and cut off all hope +of escape by saying: + +"You will not desert me. One never feels solitude so much as when left +to one's own resources among a crowd of strangers." + +"Certainly not, if you can put up with my company; but where is your +husband?" Geoffrey responded. Millicent looked up at him with a +chastened expression. + +"Enjoying himself. Some gentlemen, whose good-will is worth gaining, +asked him to go inland for a few days' fishing, and he said it was +necessary he should accept the invitation. Accordingly, I am as usual +left to my own company while I make a solitary journey down the Sound. +It is hardly pleasant, but I suppose all men are much the same, and we +poor women must not complain." + +Millicent managed to convey a great deal more than she said, and her +sigh suggested that she often suffered keenly from loneliness; but +while Geoffrey felt sorry for her, he was occupied by another thought +just then, and did not at first answer. + +"What are you puzzling over, Geoffrey?" she asked, and the man smiled +as he answered: + +"I was wondering if the same errand which took your husband to +Victoria, was the same that sent me there." + +"I cannot say." Millicent's gesture betokened weariness. "I know +nothing of my husband's business, and must do him the justice to say +that he seldom troubles me about it. I have little taste for details +of intricate financial scheming, but practical operations, like your +task among the mountains, would appeal to me. It must be both romantic +and inspiring to pit one's self against the rude forces of Nature; but +one grows tired of the prosaic struggle which is fought by eating one's +enemies' dinners and patiently bearing the slights of lukewarm allies' +wives. However, since the fear of poverty is always before me, I try +to play my part in it." + +Helen Savine had erred strangely when she concluded that Geoffrey +Thurston was without sympathy. Hard and painfully blunt as he could +be, he was nevertheless compassionate towards women, though not always +happy in expressing his feelings, and when Millicent folded her slender +hands with a pathetic sigh, he was moved to sincere pity and +indignation. He knew that some of the worthy Colonials' wives and +daughters could be, on occasion, almost brutally frank, and that, in +spite of his efforts, Leslie was not wholly popular. + +"I can quite understand! It must be a trying life for you, but there +are always chances for an enterprising man in this country, and you +must hope that your husband will shortly raise you above the necessity +of enduring uncongenial social relations." + +"Please don't think I am complaining." Millicent read his sympathy in +his eyes. "It was only because you looked so kind that I spoke so +frankly. I fear that I have grown morbid and said too much. But +one-sided confidence is hardly fair, and, to change the subject, tell +me how fortune favors you." + +"Where shall I begin?" + +Millicent smiled, as most men would have fancied, bewitchingly. + +"You need not be bashful. Tell me about your adventures in the +mountains, with all the hairbreadth escapes, fantastic coloring, and +romantic medley of incidents that must be crowded into the life of +anyone engaged in such work as yours." + +"I am afraid the romance wears thin, leaving only a monotonous, not to +say sordid, reality, while details of cubic quantities would hardly +interest you. Still, and remember you have brought it upon yourself, I +will do my best." + +Geoffrey reluctantly began an account of his experiences, speaking in +an indifferent manner at first, but warming to his subject, until he +spoke eloquently at length. He was not a vain man, but Millicent had +set the right chord vibrating when she chose the topic of his new-world +experiences. He stopped at last abruptly, with an uneasy laugh. + +"There! I must have tired you, but you must blame yourself," he said. + +"No!" Millicent assured him. "I have rarely heard anything more +interesting. It must be a very hard battle, well worth winning, but +you are fortunate in one respect--having only the rock and river to +contend against instead of human enemies." + +"I am afraid we have both," was the incautious answer, and Millicent +looked out across the white-flecked waters as she commented +indifferently, "But there can be nobody but simple cattle-raisers and +forest-clearers in that region, and what could your enemies gain by +following you there?" + +"They might interfere with my plans or thwart them. One of them nearly +did so!" and Geoffrey, hesitating, glanced down at his companion just a +second too late to notice the look of suspiciously-eager interest in +her face, for Millicent had put on the mask again. She was a clever +actress, quick to press into her service smile or sigh, where words +might have been injudicious, and with feminine curiosity and love of +unearthing a secret, was bent on drawing out the whole story. It did +not necessarily follow that she should impart the secret to her +husband, she said to herself. Geoffrey was, for the moment, off his +guard, and victory seemed certain for the woman. + +"How did that happen?" she asked, outwardly with languid indifference, +inwardly quivering with suspense, but, as luck would have it, the +steamer, entering one of the tide races which sweep those narrow +waters, rolled wildly just then, and Geoffrey held her chair fast while +the book fell from her knee and went sliding down the slanted deck. +Vexed and nervously anxious, Millicent bit one red lip while Thurston +pursued the volume, and she could hardy conceal her chagrin when he +returned with it. + +"It flew open and a page or two got wet in the scuppers. Still, it +will soon dry in the sun, and because I did my best, you will excuse me +being a few seconds too slow to save it," Geoffrey apologized. + +Millicent was willing to allow him to deceive himself as to the cause +of her annoyance. + +"It was a borrowed book, and I can hardly return it in this condition. +It is really vexatious," she replied, wondering how to lead the +conversation back to the place where it was interrupted. She might +have succeeded, but fate seemed against her. A passenger, who knew +them both, strolled by and nodded to Geoffrey. + +"I have been looking for you, Thurston, and if Mrs. Leslie, accepting +my excuses, can spare you for a few minutes, I have something important +to tell you," said the man. "I wouldn't have disturbed you, but we'll +be alongside Vancouver wharf very shortly." + +Millicent could only bow in answer, and after an apologetic glance in +her direction, Geoffrey followed the passenger. + +"Mrs. Leslie's a handsome woman, though one would guess she had a +temper of her own. Perhaps you didn't notice it, but she just looked +daggers at you when you let that book get away," observed the +companion, who smiled when Geoffrey answered: + +"Presumably, you didn't take all this trouble to acquaint me with that +fact?" + +"No," admitted the man, with a whimsical gesture. "It was something +much more interesting--about the agitation some folks are trying to +whoop up against your partner." + +Geoffrey found the information of so much interest that the steamer was +sweeping through the pine-shrouded Narrows which forms the gateway of +Vancouver's land-locked harbor when he returned to Millicent, with +English Jim following discreetly behind him. + +"I am sorry that, as we are half-an-hour late, I shall barely have time +to keep an important business appointment," said Thurston. "However, +as the Sound boat does not sail immediately, my assistant, Mr. Gillow, +will be able to look after your baggage, and secure a good berth for +you. You will get hold of the purser, and see Mrs. Leslie is made +comfortable in every way before you follow me, Gillow. I shall not +want you for an hour or two." + +Millicent smiled on the assistant, who took his place beside her, as +the steamer ran alongside the wharf, and his employer hurried away. +English Jim was a young, good-looking man of some education, and, since +his promotion from the cook-shed, had indulged himself in a former +weakness for tasteful apparel. He had also, though Thurston did not +notice it, absorbed just sufficient alcoholic stimulant to render him +vivacious in speech without betraying the reason for it, and Millicent, +who found him considerably more amusing than Geoffrey, wondered +whether, since she had failed with the one, she might not succeed with +the other. English Jim no more connected her with the servant of the +corporation whose interests were opposed to Savine's than he remembered +the brass baggage checks in his pocket. His gratified vanity blinded +him to everything besides the pleasure of being seen in his stylish +companion's company. + +He found a sunny corner for her beside one of the big Sound steamer's +paddle casings, from which she could look across the blue waters of the +forest-girt inlet, brought up a chair and some English papers, and +after Millicent had chatted with him graciously, was willing to satisfy +her curiosity to the utmost when she said with a smile: + +"You are a confidential assistant of Mr. Thurston's? He is an old +friend of mine, and knowing his energy, I dare say he works you very +hard." + +"Hard is scarcely an adequate term, madam," answered English Jim. +"Nothing can tire my respected chief, and unfortunately, he expects us +all to equal him. He found me occupation--writing his letters--until 1 +A.M. this morning; and, I believe, must have remained awake himself +until it was almost light, making drawings which I have had the +pleasure of poring over, all the way across. Don't you think, madam, +that it is a mistake to work so hard, that one has never leisure for +the serene contemplation which is one of the--one of the best things in +life. Besides, people who do so, are also apt to deprive others of +their opportunities." + +"Perhaps so, though I hardly think Mr. Thurston would agree with you. +For instance?" asked Millicent, finding his humor infectious, for +English Jim could gather all the men in camp about him, when half in +jest and half in earnest he began one of his discourses. + +"These!" was the answer, and the speaker thrust his hand into his +jacket pocket. "If Mr. Thurston had not been of such tireless nature, +I might have found leisure to admire the beauty of this most entrancing +coast scenery, instead of puzzling over weary figures in a particularly +stuffy saloon." + +He held up a large handful of papers as he spoke, glanced at them +disdainfully, and, pointing vaguely across the inlet, continued, "Is +not an hour's contemplation of such a prospect better than many days' +labor?" + +Millicent laughed outright, and, because, though English Jim's voice +was even, and his accent crisp and clean, his fingers were not quite so +steady as they might have been, one of the papers fluttered, unnoticed +by either of them, to her feet. + +"I feel tempted to agree with you," Millicent rejoined, wishing that +she need not press on to the main point, for English Jim promised to +afford the sort of entertainment which she enjoyed. "But a man of your +frame of mind must find scanty opportunity for considering such +questions among the mountains." + +"That is so," was the rueful answer. "We commence our toil at +daybreak, and too often continue until midnight. There are times when +the monotony jars upon a sensitive mind, as the camp cooking does upon +a sensitive palate. But our chief never expects more from us than he +will do himself, and is generous in rewarding meritorious service." + +"So I should suppose," commented Millicent. "Knowing this, you will +all be very loyal to him?" + +"Every one of us!" The loyalty of English Jim, who gracefully ignored +the inference and fell into the trap, was evident enough. "Of course, +we do not always approve of being tired to death, but where our chief +considers it necessary, we are content to obey him. In fact, it would +not make much difference if we were not," he added whimsically. "There +was, however, one instance of a black sheep, or rather wolf of the +contemptible coyote species in sheep's clothing, whom I played a minor +part in catching. But, naturally, you will not care to hear about +this?" + +"I should, exceedingly. Did I not say that I am one of Mr. Thurston's +oldest friends? I should very much like to hear about the disguised +coyote. I presume you do not mean a real one, and are speaking +figuratively?" + +Gillow was flattered by the glance she cast upon him, and, remembering +only that this gracious lady was one of his employer's friends, +proceeded to gratify her by launching into a vivid description of what +happened on the night when he dropped the prowler into the river. He +had, however, sense enough to conclude with the capture of the man. + +"But you have not told me the sequel," said Millicent. "Did you lynch +the miscreant in accordance with the traditional customs of the West, +or how did Mr. Thurston punish him? He is not a man who lightly +forgives an injury." + +"No," replied Gillow, rashly. "Against my advice, though my respected +employer is difficult to reason with, he kept the rascal in camp, both +feeding and paying him well." + +"You surprise me. I should have expected a more dramatic finale." +Millicent's tone might have deceived a much more clever man who did not +know her husband's position. "Why did he do so?" + +There were, however, limits to English Jim's communicativeness, and he +answered: "Mr. Thurston did not explain his motives, and it is not +always wise to ask him injudicious questions." + +Millicent, having learned what she desired to know, rested content with +this, and chatted on other subjects until the big bell clanged, and the +whistle shrieked out its warning. Then the dismissed Gillow with her +thanks, and the last she saw of him he was being held back by a +policeman as he struggled to scale a lofty railing while the steamer +slid clear of the wharf. He waved an arm in the air shouting +frantically, and through the thud of paddles she caught the disjointed +sentences, "Very sorry. Forgot baggage checks--all your boxes here. +Leave first steamer--sending checks by mail!" + +"It is impossible for us to turn back, madam," said the purser to whom +Millicent appealed. "The baggage will, no doubt, follow the day after +to-morrow." + +"But that gentleman has my ticket, and doesn't know my address!" +protested the unfortunate passenger, and the purser answered: + +"I really cannot help it, but I will telegraph to any of your friends +from the first way-port we call at, madam." + +When the steamer had vanished behind the stately pines shrouding the +Narrows, English Jim sat down upon a timber-head and swore a little at +what he called his luck, before he uneasily recounted the folded papers +in his wallet. + +"A pretty mess I've made of it all, and there'll be no end of trouble +if Thurston hears of this," he said aloud, so that a loafing porter +heard and grinned. "I'll write a humble letter--but, confound it, I +don't know where she's going to, and now here is one of those +distressful tracings missing. It must have been that old sketch of +Savine's, and Thurston will never want it, while nobody but a +draughtsman could make head or tail of the thing. Anyway, I'll get +some dinner before I decide what is best to be done." + +While Gillow endeavored to enjoy his dinner, and, being an easy-going +man, partially succeeded, Millicent, who had picked up a folded paper, +leaned upon the steamer's rail with it open in her hand. + +"This is Greek to me, but I suppose it is of value. I will keep it, +and perhaps give it back to Geoffrey," she ruminated. "The game was +amusing, but I feel horribly mean, and whether I shall tell Harry or +not depends very much upon his behavior." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE BURSTING OF THE SLUICE + +One morning of early summer, Geoffrey Thurston lay neither asleep, nor +wholly awake, inside his double tent. The canvas was partly drawn +open, and from his camp-cot he could see a streak of golden sunlight +grow broader across the valley, while rising in fantastic columns the +night mists rolled away. The smell of dew-damped cedars mingled with +the faint aromatic odors of wood smoke. The clamor of frothing water +vibrated through the sweet cool air, for the river was swollen by +melted snow. Geoffrey lay still, breathing in the glorious freshness, +drowsily content. All had gone smoothly with the works, at least, +during the last month or two. Each time that she rode down to camp +with her father from the mountain ranch, Helen had spoken to him with +unusual kindness. Savine would, when well enough, spend an hour in +Geoffrey's tent. While some of the contractor's suggestions were +characterized by his former genius, most betrayed a serious weakening +of his mental powers, and it was apparent that he grew rapidly frailer, +physically. + +On this particular morning Geoffrey found something very soothing in +the river's song, and, yielding to temptation, he turned his head from +the growing light to indulge in another half-hour's slumber. Suddenly, +a discordant note, jarring through the deep-toned harmonies, struck his +ears, which were quick to distinguish between the bass roar of the +cañon and the higher-pitched calling of the rapid at its entrance. +What had caused it he could not tell. He dressed with greatest haste +and was striding down into the camp when Mattawa Tom and Gillow came +running towards him. + +"Sluice number six has busted, and the water's going in over Hudson's +ranch," shouted Tom. "I've started all the men there's room for +heaving dirt in, but the river's going through in spite of them." + +Geoffrey asked no questions, but ran at full speed through the camp, +shouting orders as he went, and presently stood breathless upon a tall +bank of raw red earth. On one side the green-stained river went +frothing past; on the other a muddy flood spouted through a breach, and +already a shallow lake was spreading fast across the cleared land, +licking up long rows of potato haulm and timothy grass. Men swarmed +like bees about the sloping side of the bank, hurling down earth and +shingle into the aperture, but a few moments' inspection convinced +Geoffrey that more heroic measures were needed and that they labored in +vain. Raising his hand, he called to the men to stop work and, when +the clatter of shovels ceased, he quietly surveyed the few poor fields +rancher Hudson had won from the swamp. His lips were pressed tight +together, and his expression showed his deep concern. + +"There's only one thing to be done. Open two more sluice gates, Tom," +he commanded. + +"You'll drown out the whole clearing," ventured the foreman, and +Geoffrey nodded. + +"Exactly! Can't you see the river will tear all this part of the dyke +away unless we equalize the pressure on both sides of it? Go ahead at +once and get it done." + +The man from Mattawa wondered at the bold order, but his master +demanded swift obedience and he proceeded to execute it, while Geoffrey +stood fast watching two more huge sheets of froth leap out. He knew +that very shortly rancher Hudson's low-level possessions would be +buried under several feet of water. + +"It's done, sir, and a blamed bad job it is!" said the foreman, +returning; and Geoffrey asked: "How did it happen?" + +"The sluice gate wasn't strong enough, river rose a foot yesterday, and +she just busted. I was around bright and early and found her +splitting. Got a line round the pieces--they're floating beneath you." + +"Heave them up!" ordered Geoffrey. + +He was obeyed, and for a few minutes glanced at the timber frame with a +puzzled expression, then turning to Gillow, he said: "You know I +condemned that mode of scarting, and the whole thing's too light. What +carpenters made it?" + +"It's one of Mr. Savine's gates, sir. I've got the drawing for it +somewhere," was the answer, and Geoffrey frowned. + +"Then you will keep that fact carefully to yourself," he replied. "It +is particularly unfortunate. This is about the only gate I have not +overhauled personally, but one cannot see to quite everything, and +naturally the breakage takes place at that especial point." + +"Very good, sir," remarked Gillow. "Things generally do happen in just +that way. Here's rancher Hudson coming, and he looks tolerably angry." + +The man who strode along the dyke was evidently infuriated, a fact +which was hardly surprising, considering that he owned the flooded +property. The workmen, who now leaned upon their shovels, waited for +the meeting between him and their master in the expectation of +amusement. + +"What in the name of thunder do you mean by turning your infernal river +loose on my ranch?" inquired the newcomer. Thurston rejoined: + +"May I suggest that you try to master your temper and consider the case +coolly before you ask any further questions." + +"Consider it coolly!" shouted Hudson. "Coolly! when the blame water's +washing out my good potatoes by the hundred bushel, and slooshing mud +and shingle all over my hay. Great Columbus! I'll make things red hot +for you." + +"See here!" and there were signs that Thurston was losing his temper. +"What we have done was most unfortunately necessary, but, while I +regret it at least as much as you do, you will not be a loser +financially. As soon as the river falls, we'll run off the water, +measure up the flooded land, and pay you current price? for the crop +at average acre yield. As you will thus sell it without gathering or +hauling to market, it's a fair offer." + +Most of the forest ranchers in that region would have closed with the +offer forthwith, but there were reasons why the one in question, who +was, moreover, an obstinate, cantankerous man, should seize the +opportunity to harass Thurston. + +"It's not half good enough for me," he said. "How'm I going to make +sure you won't play the same trick again, while it's tolerably certain +you can't keep on paying up for damage done forever. Then when you're +cleaned out where'll I be? This scheme which you'll never put +through's a menace to the whole valley, and----" + +"You'll be rich, I hope, by that time, but if you'll confine yourself +to your legitimate grievance or come along to my tent I'll talk to +you," said Geoffrey. "If, on the other hand, you cast doubt upon my +financial position or predict my failure before my men, I'll take +decided measures to stop you. You have my word that you will be repaid +every cent's worth of damage done, and that should be enough for any +reasonable person." + +"It's not--not enough for me by a long way," shouted the rancher. +"I'll demand a Government inspection, I'll--I'll break you." + +"Will you show Mr. Hudson the quickest and safest way off this +embankment, Tom," requested Geoffrey, coolly, and there was laughter +mingled with growls of approval from the men, as the irate rancher, +hurling threats over his shoulder, was solemnly escorted along the dyke +by the stalwart foreman. He turned before descending, and shook his +fist at those who watched him. + +"I think you can close the sluices," said Geoffrey, when the foreman +returned. "Then set all hands filling in this hole. I want you, +Gillow." + +"We are going to have trouble," he predicted, when English Jim stood +before him in his tent. "Hudson unfortunately is either connected with +our enemies, or in their clutches, and he'll try to persuade his +neighbors to join him in an appeal to the authorities. Send a +messenger off at once with this telegram to Vancouver, but stay--first +find me the drawing of the defective gate." + +English Jim spent several minutes searching before he answered: "I'm +sorry I can't quite lay my hands upon it. It may be in Vancouver, and +I'll write a note to the folks down there." + +He did so, and when he went out shook his head ruefully. "That +confounded sketch must have been the one I lost on board the steamer," +he decided with a qualm of misgiving. "However, there is no use +meeting trouble half-way by telling Thurston so, until I'm sure beyond +a doubt." + +Some time had passed, and the greater portion of Hudson's ranch still +lay under water when, in consequence of representations made by its +owner and some of his friends, a Government official armed with full +powers to investigate held an informal court of inquiry in the big +store shed, at which most of the neighboring ranchers were present. +Geoffrey and Thomas Savine, who brought a lawyer with him, awaited the +proceedings with some impatience. + +"I have nothing to do with any claim for damages. If necessary, the +sufferers can appeal to the civil courts," announced the official. "My +business is to ascertain whether, as alleged, the way these operations +are conducted endangers the occupied, and unappropriated Crown lands in +this vicinity. I am willing to hear your opinions, gentlemen, +beginning with the complainants." + +Rancher Hudson was the first to speak, and he said: + +"No sensible man would need much convincing that it's mighty bad for +growing crops to have a full-bore flood turned loose on them. What's +the use of raising hay and potatoes for the river to wash away? And +it's plain that what has just happened is going to happen again. +Before Savine began these dykes the river spread itself all over the +lower swamp; now the walls hold it up, and each time it makes a hole in +them, our property's most turned into a lake. I'm neither farming for +pleasure nor running a salmon hatchery." + +There was a hum of approval from the speaker's supporters, whose +possessions lay near the higher end of the valley, and dissenting +growls from those whose boundaries lay below. After several of the +ranchers from the lower valley had spoken the official said: + +"I hardly think you have cited sufficient to convince an unprejudiced +person that the works are a public danger. You have certainly proved +that two holdings have been temporarily flooded, but the first speaker +pointed out that this was because the river was prevented from +spreading all over the lower end of the valley, as it formerly did. +Now a portion of the district is already under cultivation, and even +the area under crop exceeds that of the damaged plots by at least five +acres to one." + +There was applause from the men whose possessions had been converted +into dry land, and Hudson rose, red-faced and indignant, to his feet +again. + +"Has Savine bought up the whole province, Government and all? That's +what I'm wanting to know," he rejoined indignantly. "What is it we pay +taxes to keep you fellows for? To look the other way when the rich man +winks, and stand by seeing nothing while he ruins poor settlers' +hard-won holdings? I'm a law-abiding man, I am, but I'm going to let +nobody tramp on me." + +A burst of laughter filled the rear of the building when one of +Hudson's supporters pulled him down by main force, and held him fast, +observing, "You just sit right there, and look wise instead of talking +too much. I guess you've said enough already to mix everything up." + +The official raised his hand. "I am here to ask questions and not +answer them," he said. "Any more speeches resembling the last would be +likely to get the inquirer into trouble. I must also remind Mr. Hudson +that, after one inundation, he signed a document signifying his +approval of the scheme, and I desire to ask him what has caused the +change in his opinions." + +Again there was laughter followed by a few derisive comments from the +party favoring Thurston's cause, while one voice was audible above the +rest, "Hudson's been buying horses. Some Vancouver speculator's check!" + +The rancher, shaking off his follower's grasp, bounded to his feet, and +glared at the men behind him. "I'll get square with some of you +fellows later on," he threatened. Turning towards the officer, he went +on: "Just because I'm getting tired of being washed out I've changed my +mind. When he's had two crops ruined, a man begins to get uneasy about +the third one--see?" + +"It is a sufficient reason," answered the official. "Now, gentlemen, I +gather that some of you have benefited by this scheme. If you have any +information to give me, I shall be pleased to hear it." + +Several men told how they had added to their holdings many acres of +fertile soil, which had once been swamp, and the Crown official said: + +"I am convinced that two small ranches have been temporarily inundated, +and six or seven benefited. So much for that side of the question. I +must now ascertain whether the work is carried out in the most +efficient manner, and how many have suffered in minor ways by the +contractors' willful neglect, as the petitioners allege." + +Hudson and his comrades testified at length, but each in turn, after +making the most of the accidental upset of a barrow-load of earth among +their crops, or the blundering of a steer into a trench, harked back to +the broken sluice. When amid some laughter they concluded, others who +favored Savine described the precautions Thurston had taken. Then the +inquirer turned over his papers, and Thomas Savine whispered to +Geoffrey: "It's all in our favor so far, but I'm anxious about that +broken sluice. It's our weak point, and he's sure to tackle it." + +"Yes," agreed Geoffrey, whose face was strangely set. "I am anxious +about it, too. Can you suggest anything I should do, Mr. Gray?" + +The Vancouver lawyer, who had a long experience in somewhat similar +disputes, hitched forward his chair. "Not at present," he answered. +"I think with Mr. Savine that the question of the sluice gate may be +serious. Allowances are made for unpreventable accidents and force of +circumstances, but a definite instance of a wholly inefficient +appliance or defective workmanship might be most damaging. It is +particularly unfortunate it was framed timber of insufficient strength +that failed." + +Geoffrey made no answer, but Thomas Savine, who glanced at him keenly, +fancied he set his teeth while the lawyer, turning to the official +inquirer, said: + +"These gentlemen have given you all the information in their power, and +if you have finished with them, I would venture to suggest that any +technical details of the work concern only Mr. Thurston and yourself." + +There was a protest from the assembly, and the officer beckoned for +silence before he answered: + +"You gentlemen seem determined between you to conduct the whole case +your own way. I was about to dismiss with thanks the neighboring +landholders who have assisted me to the best of their ability." + +With some commotion the store-shed was emptied of all but the official, +his assistant, and Thurston's party. Beckoning to Geoffrey, the +official held up before his astonished eyes a plan of the defective +gate. "Do you consider the timbering specified here sufficient for the +strain?" he asked. "I cannot press the question, but it would be +judicious of you to answer it." + +"No!" replied Geoffrey, divided between surprise and dismay. + +The drawing was Savine's. He could recognize the figures upon it, but +it had evidently been made when the contractor was suffering from a +badly-clouded brain. The broken gate itself was damaging evidence, but +this was worse, for a glance at the design showed him that the +artificers who worked from it had, without orders even, slightly +increased the dimensions. Any man with a knowledge of mechanical +science would condemn it, but, while he had often seen Savine incapable +of mental effort of late, this was the first serious blunder that he +had discovered. The mistake, he knew, would be taken as evidence of +sheer incapacity; if further inquiry followed, perhaps it would be +published broadcast in the papers, and Geoffrey was above all things +proud of his professional skill. Still, he had pledged his word to +both his partner and his daughter, and there was only one course open +to him, if the questions which would follow made it possible. + +The lawyer, leaning forward, whispered to Thomas Savine, and then said +aloud, "If that drawing is what it purports to be, it must have been +purloined. May we ask accordingly how it came into your possession?" + +"One of the complainants forwarded it to me. He said +he--obtained--it," was the dry answer. "Under the circumstances, I +hesitate to make direct use of it, but by the firm's stamp it appears +genuine." + +"That Mr. Savine could personally be capable of such a mistake as this +is impossible on the face of it," said the inquirer's professional +assistant. "It is the work of a half-trained man, and suggests two +questions, Do you repudiate the plan, and, if you do not, was it made +by a responsible person? I presume you have a draughtsman?" + +"There is no use repudiating anything that bears our stamp," said +Geoffrey, disregarding the lawyer's frown, and looking steadily into +the bewildered face of Thomas Savine. "I work out all such +calculations and make the sketches myself. My assistant sometimes +checks them." + +The official, who had heard of the young contractor's reputation for +daring skill, looked puzzled as he commented: + +"From what you say the only two persons who could have made the blunder +are Mr. Savine and yourself. I am advised, and agree with the +suggestion, that Mr. Savine could never have done so. From what I have +heard, I should have concluded it would have been equally impossible +with you; but I can't help saying that the inference is plain." + +"Is not all this beside the question?" interposed the lawyer. "The +junior partner admits the plan was made in the firm's offices, and that +should be sufficient." + +Geoffrey held himself stubbornly in hand while the officer answered +that he desired to ascertain if it was the work of a responsible +person. He knew that this blunder would be recorded against him, and +would necessitate several brilliant successes before it could be +obliterated, but his resolution never faltered, and when the legal +adviser, laying a hand upon his arm, whispered something softly, he +shook off the lawyer's grasp. + +"The only two persons responsible are Mr. Savine and myself--and you +suggested the inference was plain," he asserted. + +Here Gillow, who had been fidgeting nervously, opened his lips as if +about to say something, but closed them again when his employer, moving +one foot beneath the table, trod hard upon his toe. + +"I am afraid I should hardly mend matters by saying I am sorry it is," +said the official, dryly. "However, a mistake by a junior partner does +not prove your firm incapable of high-class work, and I hardly think +you will be troubled by further interference after my report is made. +My superiors may warn you--but I must not anticipate. It is as well +you answered frankly, as, otherwise, I should have concluded you were +endeavoring to make your profits at the risk of the community; but I +cannot help saying that the admission may be prejudicial to you, Mr. +Thurston, if you ever apply individually for a Government contract. +Here is the drawing. It is your property." + +Geoffrey stretched out his hand for it, but Savine was too quick for +him, and when he thrust it into his pocket, the contractor, rising +abruptly, stalked out of the room. Gillow, who followed and overtook +him, said: + +"I can't understand this at all, sir. Mr. Savine made that drawing. I +know his arrows on the measurement lines, and I was just going to say +so when you stopped me. I have a confession to make. I believe I +dropped that paper out of my wallet on board the steamer." + +"You have a very poor memory, Gillow," and Thurston stared the speaker +out of countenance. "I fear your eyes deceive you at times as well. +You must have lost it somewhere else. In any case, if you mention the +fact to anybody else, or repeat that you recognise Mr. Savine's +handiwork, I shall have to look for an assistant who does not lose the +documents with which he is entrusted." + +Gillow went away growling to himself, but perfectly satisfied with both +his eyesight and memory. Thurston had hardly dismissed him than Thomas +Savine approached, holding out the sketch. + +"See here, Geoffrey," began the contractor's brother, and one glance at +the speaker was sufficient for Thurston, who stopped him. + +"Are you coming to torment me about that confounded thing? Give it to +me at once," he said. + +He snatched the drawing from Savine's hand, tore it into fragments, and +stamped them into the mould. "Now that's done with at last!" he said. + +"No," was the answer. "There's no saying where a thing like this will +end, if public mischief-makers get hold of it. You have your future, +which means your professional reputation, to think of. In all human +probability my poor brother can't last very long, and this may handicap +you for years. I cannot----" + +"Damn my professional reputation! Can't you believe your ears?" +Geoffrey broke in. + +"I'm not blind yet, and would sooner trust my eyes," was the dry +answer. "Nobody shall persuade me that I don't know my own brother's +figures. There are limits, Geoffrey, and neither Helen nor I would +hold our peace about this." + +"Listen to me!" Geoffrey's face was as hard as flint. "I see I can't +bluff you as easily as the Government man, but I give you fair warning +that if you attempt to make use of your suspicions I'll find means of +checkmating you. Just supposing you're not mistaken, a young man with +any grit in him could live down a dozen similar blunders, and, if he +couldn't, what is my confounded personal credit in comparison with what +your brother has done for me and my promise to Miss Savine? So far as +I can accomplish it, Julius Savine shall honorably wind up a successful +career, and if you either reopen the subject or tell his daughter about +the drawing, there will be war between you and me. That is the last +word I have to say." + +"I wonder if Helen knows the grit there is in that man," pondered +Savine, when, seeing all protests were useless, he turned away, divided +between compunction and gratitude. Neither he nor the lawyer succeeded +in finding out how the drawing fell into hostile hands, while, if +Geoffrey had his suspicions, he decided that it might be better not to +follow them up. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE ABDUCTION OF BLACK CHRISTY + +These were weighty reasons why Christy Black, whose comrades reversed +his name and called him Black Christy instead, remained in Thurston's +camp as long as he did. Although a good mechanic, he was by no means +fond of manual labor, and he had discovered that profitable occupations +were open to an enterprising and not over-scrupulous man. On the +memorable night when Thurston fished him out of the river, his rescuer +had made it plain that he must earn the liberal wages that were +promised to him. As a matter of fact, Black had made the most of his +opportunities, and in doing so had brought himself under the ban of the +law during an altercation over a disputed mineral claim. + +Black, who then called himself by another name, disappeared before an +inquiry as to how the body of one of the owners of the claim came into +a neighboring river. Only one comrade, and a mine-floating speculator, +who stood behind the humbler disputants, knew or guessed at the events +which led up the fatality. The comrade shortly afterwards vanished, +too, but the richer man, who had connived at Black's disappearance, +kept a close hand on him, forcing him as the price of freedom to act as +cat's-paw in risky operations, until Black, tired of tyranny, had been +glad to tell Thurston part of the truth and to accept his protection. +The man from whose grip he hoped he had escaped was the one who had +helped Leslie out of a difficulty. + +Black Christy found, however, that a life of virtuous toil grew +distinctly monotonous, and one morning, when Mattawa Tom's vigilance +was slack, he departed in search of diversion in the settlement of Red +Pine, which lay beyond the range. He found congenial society there, +and, unfortunately for himself, went on with a boon companion next +morning to a larger settlement beside the railroad track. He intended +to complete the orgie there, and then to return to camp. Accordingly +it happened that, when afternoon was drawing towards a close, he sat +under the veranda of a rickety wooden saloon, hurling drowsy +encouragement at the freighter who was loading rock-boring tools into a +big wagon. He wondered how far his remaining dollar would go towards +assuaging a thirst which steadily increased, and two men, who leaned +against the wagon, chuckled as they watched him. The hands of one of +the men were busy about the brass cap which decorated the hub of the +wheel, but neither Black nor the teamster noticed this fact. Black had +seen one of the men before, for the two had loafed about the district, +ostensibly prospecting for minerals, and had twice visited Thurston's +camp. + +It was a pity Black had absorbed sufficient alcohol to confuse his +memory, for when the men strolled towards him he might have recognized +the one whose hat was drawn well down. As it was, he greeted them +affably. + +"Nice weather for picnicking in the woods. Not found that galena yet? +I guess somebody in the city is paying you by the week," he observed +jocosely. + +"That's about the size of it!" The speaker laughed. "But we've pretty +well found what we wanted, and we're pulling out with the Pacific +express. There don't seem very much left in your glass. Anything the +matter with filling it up with me?" + +"I'm not proud," was the answer. "I'm open to drink with any man +who'll set them up for me." When the prospector called the bar-tender, +Black proceeded to prove his willingness to be "treated." + +Nothing moved in the unpaved street of the sleepy settlement, when the +slow-footed oxen and lurching wagon had lumbered away. The sun beat +down upon it pitilessly, and the drowsy scent of cedars mingled with +the odors of baking dust which eddied in little spirals and got into +the loungers' throats. The bar-tender was liberal with his ice, +however, and Black became confidential. When he had assured them of +his undying friendship, one of the prospectors asked: + +"What's a smart man like you muling rocks around in a river-bed for, +anyway? Can't you strike nothing better down to the cities?" + +"No," declared Black, thickly. "Couldn't strike a job nohow when I +left them. British Columbia played out--and I had no money to take me +to California." + +"Well," said the prospector, winking at his comrade, "there is +something we might put you on to. The first question is, what kin you +do?" + +According to Black's not over-coherent answer, there was little he +could not do excellently. After he had enumerated his capabilities, +the other man said: + +"I guess that's sufficient. Come right back with us to 'Frisco and +we'll have a few off days before we start you. This is no country for +a live man, anyway." + +Black nodded sagaciously and tried hard to think. He was afraid of +Thurston, but more so of the other man connected with the Enterprise +Company. In San Francisco he would be beyond the reach of either, and +the city offered many delights to a person of his tastes with somebody +else willing to pay expenses. + +"I'll come," he promised thickly. "So long as you've got the dollars +I'll go right round the earth with either of you." + +"Good man!" commended the prospector. "Bring along another jugful, +bar-tender." + +The attendant glanced at the three men admiringly, for the speaker was +plainly sober, and he knew how much money Black had paid him. He went +back to his bottles, and there was nobody to see the other prospector, +who had kept himself in the background, pour something from a little +phial beneath his hand, into Black's liquor. + +"Not quite so good as last one. I know 'Frisco. Great time at China +Joe's, you an' me," murmured Black as he collapsed with his head upon +the table. He was soon snoring heavily. + +"Your climate has been too much for him," one of the men declared, when +the saloon-keeper came in. "Say, hadn't you better help us heave him +in some place where he can sleep, unless you'd prefer to keep him as an +advertisement?" + +Black was stored away with some difficulty, and two hours later he was +wheeled on a baggage-truck into the station, where half the inhabitants +of the settlement assembled to see him off. The big cars were already +clanging down the track, when a tall man riding a lathered horse +appeared among the scattered pines on the shoulder of the hill above +the settlement. A bystander commented: + +"Thurston's foreman coming round for some of his packages. As usual +he's in an almighty hurry. That place is 'most as steep as a roof, and +he's coming down it at a gallop." + +The prospectors glanced at each other, and one of them said, "Lend me a +hand, somebody, to heave our sick partner aboard." + +Black was unceremoniously deposited upon the platform of the nearest +car, where he sat blinking vacantly at the assembly, while the +conductor, leaning out from the door of the baggage-car, looked back +towards the rider who was clattering through a dust cloud down the +street, as he asked: "Anybody else besides the tired man? Is that +fellow yonder coming?" + +"No," answered the prospector. "He's only wanting one of those cases +you've just dumped out. Likes to fancy his time's precious. I know +him." + +The conductor waved his hand, the big bell clanged, and the train had +just rolled with a rattle over a trestle ahead, when Mattawa Tom, +grimed with thick red dust, flung himself down beside the agent's +office. + +"Has a dark-faced thief in a plug hat with two holes in the top of it, +gone out on the cars?" he shouted, and the spectators admitted that +such a person boarded the train. + +"Why didn't you come in two minutes earlier, Tom?" one of them +inquired. "He lit out with two strangers. Has he been stealing +something?" + +"He's been doing worse, and I'd have been in on time, but that I +stopped ten minutes to help freighter Louis cut loose the two live oxen +left him," said the foreman, breathlessly. "One wheel came off his +wagon going down the Clearwater Trail, and the whole blame outfit +pitched over into a ravine. There's several thousand dollars' worth of +our boring machines smashed up, and Louis, who has pretty well split +his head, is cussing the man who took the cotter out of his wheel hub." + +The two prospectors were heartily tired of their charge by the time +they passed him off as the sick employé of an American firm, at the +nearest station to the Washington border. When Black showed signs of +waking up he was soothed with medicated liquor, and his guardians, who +several times had high words with the conductor, at last unloaded him +in a station hewn out of the forests encircling Puget Sound, where they +managed to hoist him into a spring wagon. Black leaned against one of +the men, for he was feeling distressfully ill. His head throbbed, his +vision was hazy and his throat was dry. Blinking down at the rows of +wooden houses among the firs, and the tall spars of vessels behind +them, he said: "This isn't 'Frisco--not half big enough. Somebody made +mistake somewhere. Say! Lemme out; I'm going back to the depot." + +"You're coming along with us," was the decided answer. "Sit down at +once before we make you." + +Black slowly doubled up a still formidable fist, and grasping a rail, +lurched to and fro unsteadily. "Lemme out 'fore I kill somebody. +Claim rightsh of British citizensh," he said. + +"You'll get them if you're not careful," was the threat, and the +speaker jerked Black's feet from under him. "I was told to remind you +if you made trouble that a sheriff on this side of the frontier had +some papers describing you. There's one or two patrolmen yonder handy." + +"It was an accident," temporized Black, endeavoring to pull his +scattered wits together. + +"Juss so!" was the answer, given with a gesture of indifference. "I +was only told a name for the patrolmen, and to remind you that a man, +who knows all about it, has got his eye on you." + +Black leered upon him with drunken cunning, then his face grew stolid, +and he said nothing further until the wagon drew up in a by-street, +before a door, hung across with quaint signboards of Chinese +characters. The door opened and closed behind him when his companions +knocked, and Black, who recognized a curious sour smell, choked out, +"Gimme long drink of ice watah!" + +He drained the cool draught that was brought him, then flinging himself +on a pile of matting in a corner of a dim room, sank forthwith into +slumber. He had intended to pretend to sleep, but to lie awake and +think. His custodians, however, had arranged things differently, and +Black's wits were not working up to their usual power. + +Whenever railroad extension or mining enterprise provided high wages +for all strong enough to earn them and crews deserted wholesale, seamen +were occasionally shipped in a very irregular fashion from the ports of +the Pacific slope. At the time Black was brought into one of the +seaboard cities, the purveying of drugged and kidnaped mariners had +risen to be almost a recognized profession. + +It accordingly happened that when the unfortunate Black first became +clearly conscious of anything again, he heard the gurgle of sliding +water close beside his head, and, opening his eyes, caught sight of a +smoky lamp that reeled to and fro, in very erratic fashion. Moisture +dripped from the beams above him, and there was a sickly smell which +seemed familiar. Black, who had been to sea before, decided that he +caught the aroma of bilge water. Rows of wooden shelves tenanted by +recumbent figures, became discernible, and he started with dismay to +the full recognition of the fact that he was in a vessel's forecastle. + +Somebody or something was pounding upon the scuttle overhead. A black +gap opened above him, a rush of cold night wind swept down, followed by +a gruff order: + +"Turn out, watch below, and help get sail upon her. Stir round before +I put a move on to you!" + +Men scrambled from the wooden shelves growling as they did so. Two +lost their balance on the heaving floor, went down headlong, and lay +where they fell. When a man in long boots floundered down the ladder, +Black sat up in his bunk. + +"Now there's going to be trouble. Some blame rascals have run me off +aboard a lumber ship," he said. + +"Correct!" observed a man who was struggling into an oilskin jacket. +"You're blame well shanghaied like the rest of us, and as the mate's a +rustler, you've got to make the best of it." + +"Hello! What's the matter with you? Not feeling spry this morning, or +is it hot water you're waiting for?" the mate said, jerking Black out +of his bunk as he spoke. "Great Columbus! What kind of a stiff do you +call yourself? Up you go!" + +Black went, with all the expedition he was capable of, and, blundering +out through the scuttle, stood shivering on a slant of wet and slippery +deck. A brief survey showed him that he was on board a full-rigged +ship, timber laden, about to be cast off by a tug. There was a fresh +breeze abeam. Looking forward he could see dark figures hanging from +the high-pointed bowsprit that rose and dipped, and beyond them the +lights of a tug reeling athwart a strip of white-streaked sea. +Mountains dimly discernible towered in the distance, and he fancied it +was a little before daybreak. Bursts of spray came hurtling in through +the foremast shrouds, and the whine and rattle of running wire and +chain fell from the windy blackness overhead whence the banging of +loosened canvas came to his ears. Glancing aloft he watched the great +arches of the half-sheeted topsails swell blackly out and then collapse +again with a thunderous flap. Somebody was shouting from the slanted +top-gallant-yard that swung in a wide arc above them, but Black had no +time for further inspection. + +"Lay aloft and loose maintopsails! Are you figuring we brought you +here to admire the scenery?" a hoarse voice challenged. + +Half-dazed and sullenly savage Black had still sense enough to reflect +that it would be little use to expect that the harassed mate would +listen to reason then. Clawing his way up the ratlines he laid his +chest upon the main-topsail-yard and worked his way out to the lower +end of the long inclined spar. Here, still faint and dizzy, he hung +with the footrope jammed against his heel, as he felt for the gasket +that held the canvas to the yard. Swinging through the blackness +across a space of tumbling foam he felt a horrible unsteadiness. There +were other men behind him, for he could hear them swearing and coughing +until a black wall of banging canvas sank beneath him when somebody +roared: "Sheet her home!" + +Then a hail came down across the waters from the tug. There was a loud +splash beneath the bows, while shadowy figures that howled a weird +ditty as they hove the hawser in, rose and fell black against the +foam-flecked sea on the dripping forecastle. Nobody had missed Black, +who now sat astride the yard watching the tug, as the ship, listing +over further and commencing to hurl the spray in clouds about her +plunging bows, gathered way. The steamboat would slide past very close +alongside, and he saw a last chance of escape. Moving out to the very +yard-arm he clutched the lee-brace, which rope led diagonally downwards +to the vessel's depressed rail. He looked below a moment, bracing +himself for the perilous attempt. + +The tug was close abreast of the ship's forecastle now, evidently +waiting with engines stopped until the vessel should pass her. The +crew was still heaving in the cable or loosing the top-gallants, and +froth boiled almost level with the depressed rail. Black was a poor +swimmer, but he could keep his head above water for a considerable +time. If the tug did not start her engines within the next few seconds +she must drive close down on him. Otherwise--but filled with the hope +of escape and the lust for revenge Black was willing to take the risk. + +He hooked one knee around the brace, gripped it between his ankles and +slackened the grip of his hands. The topsails slid away from him, the +spray rushed up below, his feet struck the rail, and the next moment he +was down in utter blackness and conscious of a shock of icy cold water. +He rose gasping and swung around, buffeted in the vessel's eddying +wake. There was no shouting on board her, and, with a choking cry, he +struck out for the black shape of the tug, now only a short distance +away. Somebody heard and flung down a line. He clutched at it and, by +good fortune, grasped it. Head downward he was drawn on board by the +aid of a long boathook, and hauled, dripping, before the skipper. + +"Did you fall or jump in?" asked the skipper. + +"I jumped," confessed Black, putting a bold face on it, and the master +of the towboat laughed. + +"Shanghaied, I guess!" he said. "Well, I don't blame you for showing +your grit. The master of that lumber wagon is a blame avaricious +insect! He beat us down until all we got out of him will hardly pay +for the coal we used--that's what he did. So if you slip ashore +quietly when we tie up, he'll think you pitched over making sail, and +I'll keep my mouth shut." + +Accordingly it happened that next morning Black, who had left the +wooden city before daylight to tramp back to the bush, sat down to +consider his next move. + +"There's one thing tolerably certain, Black Christy's drowned, and +he'll just stop drowned until it suits him," he decided. "Next, though +he's not over fond of it, there's lots of work for a good carpenter in +this country and newspapers are cheap. So when it's worth his while to +strike in with the Thurston Company and get even with the other side +he'll probably hear of it." + +He laughed a little as he once more read the message on a strip of +pulpy paper somebody had slipped into his pocket. + + +"You are going to China for your health, and you had better stop there +if you want to keep clear of trouble." + + +Black Christy got upon his feet again and departed into the bush, where +he wandered for several weeks, building fences and splitting shingles +for the ranchers in return for food and shelter, until he found work +and wages at a saw-mill. + +Shortly after he was employed at the mill, the director who held +Leslie's receipt sat in his handsome offices with the Englishman. A +newspaper lay open on the table before him, and the director smiled as +he read, "Ship, _Maria Carmony_, timber laden for China, meeting +continuous headwinds after sailing from this port, put into Cosechas, +Cal., for shelter, and her master reported the loss of a seaman when +making sail in the Straits of San Juan. The man's name was T. Slater, +and must have been a stranger, as nobody appears to have known him in +this city." + +"Those fellows haven't managed it badly," he commented. "Anyway, +there's an end of him." + +"They told me they had some trouble over it, and I gave them fifty +dollars extra," said Leslie. "They used the hint you mentioned--said +it worked well. But the two men are always likely to turn up, +unfortunately." + +"It wouldn't count," the other answered confidently. "You will have to +bluff them off if they do. Deny the whole thing--nobody would believe +them--it's quite easy. It would have been different with that +confounded Black, for he would have had Thurston's testimony. The joke +of the whole thing is, that although he knew I held evidence which +would likely hang him with a jury of miners, it's tolerably certain +Black never did the thing he was wanted for." + +Thus, the two parties interested remained contented, and only Thurston +was left bewildered and furious at the loss of a witness who might be +valuable to him. Moreover, the destruction of machinery which, having +been made specially for Thurston, in England, could not be replaced for +months. And not once did it ever occur to his subordinate, English +Jim, that he himself had furnished the clue which led to the abduction +of the missing man. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +UNDER THE STANLEY PINES + +It was a pleasant afternoon when Millicent Leslie stood in the portico +of her villa, which looked upon the inlet from a sunny ridge just +outside Vancouver. Like the other residences scattered about, the +dwelling quaintly suggested a doll's house--it was so diminutively +pretty with its carved veranda, bright green lattices, and spotless +white paint picked out with shades of paler green and yellow. Flowers +filled tiny borders, and behind the house small firs, spared by the ax, +stood rigid and somber. With clear sunshine heating upon it and the +blue waters sparkling close below, the tiny villa was so daintily +attractive that one might almost suppose its inhabitants could carry +neither care nor evil humor across its threshold, but there was disgust +and weariness in Millicent's eyes as she glanced from the little +pony-carriage waiting at the gate to her husband leaning against a +pillar. + +Leslie was evidently in a complacent frame of mind, and he did not +notice his wife's expression. There was a smile upon his puffy face +which suggested pride of possession. It was justifiable, for Mrs. +Leslie was still a distinctly handsome woman, and she knew how to dress +herself. + +"You will meet very few women who excel you, and the team is unique," +he remarked exultantly. "Drive around by some of the big stores and +let folks see you before you turn into the park. Since that affair of +Thurston's I am almost beginning to grow proud of you." + +"Isn't it somewhat late in the day?" was the answer, and Millicent's +tone was chilly. "If you had wished to pay me a compliment that was +not intended ironically, it would have been wiser to omit all reference +to the subject you mentioned. It is done now--and heaven knows why I +told you--but I can't thank you for reminding me of a deed I am ashamed +of. Further, I understood the ponies were for my pleasure, and I have +stooped far enough in your interest without displaying myself as an +advertisement of a prosperity which does not exist." + +Leslie laughed unpleasantly, noticing the flash in the speaker's eyes +before he rejoined: "Perhaps it is tardy praise I give you, but +regarding your last remark, to pretend you have achieved prosperity is, +so far as I can see, the one way to attain it, and I have a promising +scheme in view. It is not a particularly pleasant part to play, and +there was a time when it appeared very improbable that either of us +would be forced, as you say, to stoop to it. Neither was it my +ambition which brought about the necessity. As to the ponies--I had +fancied they might do their part, too, but they are a reward for +services rendered in finding me a clue to the missing-man mystery. +Nobody need know that they're not quite our own. Now you have got +them, isn't it slightly unfair to blame me because you were willing to +earn them?" + +"I suppose so," admitted Millicent. "Still, I can't help remarking +that you take the man's usual part of blaming the woman for whatever +happens. To-day I will not drive through the city, but straight into +the park." + +Leslie said nothing further, but followed his wife to the gate. On his +way to his office, he turned and looked after her with a frown as she +rattled her team along the uneven road. She was a vain and covetous +woman with a bias towards intrigue, but there had been times since her +marriage when she despised herself, and as a natural consequence blamed +her husband. Sometimes she hated Thurston, also, though more often she +was sensible of vague regrets, and grew morbid thinking of what might +have been. Now she flushed a little as she glanced at the ponies and +remembered that they were the price of treachery. The animals were +innocent, but she found satisfaction in making them feel the sting of +the whip. + +She looked back at the city. + +It rose in terraces above the broad inlet--a maze of wooden buildings, +giving place to stone. Over its streets hung a wire network, raised +high on lofty poles, which would have destroyed the beauty of a much +fairer city. Back of the city rose the somber forest over which at +intervals towered the blasted skeleton of some gigantic pine. + +Millicent felt that she detested both the city, with its crude mingling +of primitive simplicity and Western luxury, and the life she lived in +it. It was a life of pretense and struggle, in which she suffered +bitter mortifications daily. Presently she reined the team in to a +walk as she drove under the cool shade of the primeval forest which, +with a wisdom not common in the West, the inhabitants of Vancouver have +left unspoiled as Nature. A few drives have been cut through the trees +and between the long rows of giant trunks she could catch at intervals +the silver shimmer of the Straits. In this park there was only restful +shadow. Its silence was intensified by the soft thud of hoofs. A dim +perspective of tremendous trees whose great branches interlocked, +forming arches for the roof of somber green very far above, lured her +on. + +Millicent felt the spell of the silence and sighed remembering how the +lover whom she had discarded once pleaded that she would help him in a +life of healthful labor. She regretted that she had not consented to +flee with him to the new country. Now she was tied to a man she +despised, and who had put her, so she considered, to open shame. She +could not help comparing his weak, greedy, yet venomous nature, with +the other's courage, clean purpose and transparent honesty. + +"I was a fool, ten times a fool; but it is too late," she told herself, +and then tightening her grip on the reins she started with surprise. +The man to whom her thoughts had strayed was leaning against a hemlock +with his eyes fixed on her face. It was the first time they had met +since she played the part of Delilah, and, in spite of her customary +self-command, Millicent betrayed her agitation. A softer mood was upon +her and she had the grace to be ashamed. Still, it appeared desirable +to discover whether he suspected her. + +"I was quite startled to see you, Geoffrey, but I am very glad. It is +almost too hot for walking. Won't you let me drive you?" she said with +flurried haste. + +If Geoffrey hesitated Millicent noticed no sign of it beyond that he +was slow in answering. He was conscious that Mrs. Leslie looked just +then a singularly attractive companion, but she was the wife of another +man, and, of late, he had felt a vague alarm at the confidences she +seemed inclined to exchange with him. Nevertheless, he could find no +excuse at the moment which would not suggest a desire to avoid her, and +with a word of thanks he took his place at her side. + +"I came down to consult my friend, Mr. Thomas Savine, on business," he +explained. "I had one or two other matters to attend to, and promised +to overtake him and his wife during their stroll. I must have missed +them. What a pretty team! Have you had the ponies long?" + +Millicent's well-gloved fingers closed somewhat viciously upon the +whip, for the casual question was unfortunate, but she smiled as she +answered and she chatted gayly until, in an interlude, Thurston felt +prompted to say: + +"Coincidences are sometimes striking, are they not? You remember, the +last time we met, suggesting that I was fortunate in having no enemies +among the mountains?" + +"Yes," she replied, shrinking a little, "I do--but do you know that it +makes one shiver to talk about glaciers and snow on such a perfect day." + +A man of keener perceptions, reading the speaker's face, would have +changed the subject at once, and Millicent had earned his tactful +consideration. It was a good impulse which prompted her to place +herself beyond the reach of further temptation. Geoffrey, however, was +unobservant that afternoon. + +"I am certainly tired of glaciers and snow and other unpleasant things +myself, and was merely going to say that, shortly after I last talked +with you, I discovered another instance of an unknown enemy's +ingenuity," he went on. "A wagon we had chartered upset down a steep +ravine, and several costly pieces of machinery I had brought out from +England, and can hardly replace, were smashed to pieces." + +"Ah!" responded Millicent, staring straight before her. "What a pity! +Still accidents of that description must be fairly common where the +mountain roads are bad?" + +"They are; but this was not an accident. We found that somebody had +pulled out the cotter or iron pin which held the wagon wheel on." + +"Did any of your own men do it?" Millicent inquired, concealing her +eagerness, and Thurston answered with pride in his tone: + +"My own men risk their lives almost every day in my service. There is +not one among them capable of treachery--now. We made tolerably +certain it was the work of two strangers, who hung about the +neighboring settlement and disappeared immediately after the accident." + +Millicent's eyes flashed, her white teeth were set together, and, +filled with hot indignation against her husband, she lashed the ponies +viciously. There were several reasons for what she had done, including +a dislike to Miss Savine, but perhaps the greatest was the sordid fear +of poverty. Now she saw that her husband had tricked her. She had +stooped to save his position and not to enable him to work further +injury for Thurston. The innocent ponies were Leslie's gift, and the +smart of the lash she drew across their sleek backs appeared vicarious +punishment. + +"Have I displeased you?" Geoffrey asked. + +"No," replied Millicent. "Displeased me! How could I resent anything +you might either say or do? Have I not heaped injury upon you?" + +She turned to gaze straight at him with a curious glitter in her eyes. +Thurston, bewildered by it and by the traces of ill-suppressed passion +in her voice, grew distinctly uneasy. He was glad that one of the +ponies showed signs of growing restive under its punishment. + +"Steady, Millicent! They're a handsome pair, but not far off bolting, +and there's no parapet to yonder bridge," he cautioned. + +In place of an answer the woman again flicked one of the beasts +viciously with the whip, and, next moment, the light vehicle lurched +forward with a whir of gravel hurled up by the wheels. The team had +certainly shied, and the road curved sharply to the unguarded bridge +over a little creek. + +"This is my business," declared Geoffrey, wrenching the reins from her +grasp. "Sit well back, throw the whip down and clutch the rail fast." +Then he stood upright grasping the lines in his hard hands. It was, +however, evident that he could not steer the ponies around the bend, +and the fall to the rocks beneath the bridge might mean death. + +"Hold fast for your life," he shouted, and let the team run straight +on. There was a heavy shock as the light wheels struck a fallen branch +on leaving the graded road. The vehicle lurched, and Millicent, whose +eyes were wide with terror, screamed faintly. Geoffrey still stood +upright driving the team straight ahead down a more open glade of the +forest. He knew that the stems of the fern and the soft ground beneath +would soon bring them to a standstill if they did not strike a +tree-trunk first. + +The going was heavy, and with a plunge or two, the ponies stopped on +the edge of a thicket. Geoffrey, alighting, soothed the trembling +creatures with some difficulty, led them back to the road, and, taking +his place again, turned towards Millicent. It appeared necessary that +he should soothe her, too, for, though generally a self-possessed +person, the emotions of the last few minutes had proved too much for +her. She had suffered from remorse, disgust with herself, rage against +her husband, and to these there had also been added the fear of sudden +death. + +"It ended better than it might have done," said Geoffrey, awkwardly. +"Very sorry, but you must really be careful in using the whip to the +ponies. Shall I get down and bring you some water, Millicent? You +look faint. The fright has made you ill." + +"No," Millicent denied. "I am not ill; only startled a little--and +very grateful." Instinctively, she moved a little nearer him when +Geoffrey handed her the reins again. He bent his head and smiled +reassuringly. Millicent was white in the face, and shivered a +little--she was also very pretty, and it would have been unkind not to +try to comfort her. Whether it was love of power, dislike to her +husband, or perhaps something more than this, even the woman was not +then sure, but she took full advantage of the position, and the ponies +walked undirected, while Geoffrey essayed to chase away her fears. He +bent his head lower towards her, and Millicent smiled at him with +apparently shy gratitude. + +Lifting his eyes a moment, Geoffrey set his teeth as he met the coldly +indifferent gaze of Helen, who came towards them in company with Mr. +and Mrs. Thomas Savine. Millicent also saw the three Savines, and, +either tempted by jealousy of the girl or by mere vanity, managed to +convey a subtle expression of triumph in her smile of greeting. +Possibly neither Thomas Savine nor Geoffrey would have understood the +meaning of the smile had they seen it, but Helen read it, and it was +with the very faintest bend of her head that she acknowledged +Thurston's salutation. + +Geoffrey was silent after they had driven by, but Millicent, who seemed +to recover her spirits, chatted gayly and even said flattering things +of Miss Savine. + +Meantime Helen felt confused, hurt and angry. It was true that she had +rejected Thurston's suit, but she had found his loyalty pleasant, and +had believed implicitly in his rectitude. Now a hot color rose to her +temples as she remembered that it was the second time she had seen him +under circumstances which suggested that he had transferred the homage +offered her to a married woman. She felt the insult as keenly as if he +had struck her. The Dominion had not progressed so far in one +direction as the great republic to the south of it, neither are +friendships or flirtations of the kind looked upon as leniently as they +are in tropical colonies, and there was a good deal of the Puritan in +Helen Savine. + +"Well, I'm--just rattled. That's Mrs. Leslie!" remarked Thomas Savine. +"Thurston goes straight and steady, but what in the name of----" + +Mrs. Savine, whose one weakness was medicine, flashed a warning glance +at him, and hastened to answer, perhaps for the benefit of Helen who +came up just then. + +"There is not a straighter man in the Dominion, and one could stake +their last cent on the honor of Geoffrey Thurston," she declared. +"From several things I've heard, I've settled that's just a dangerous +woman." + +Helen heard, and, knowing her friendship for the young engineer, +guessed her aunt's motive. The explanation, in any case, would not +have improved the position much, for if the woman were utterly +unprincipled, which she could well believe, why should the man who had, +of his own will, pledged himself to her?--but she flushed again as she +refused to follow that line of thought further. Nevertheless, she +clenched a little hand in a manner that boded ill for Thurston when +next he sought speech with her. Afterwards she endeavored to treat the +incident with complete indifference, and succeeded in deceiving her +uncle only, for in spite of her efforts, her face and carriage +expressed outraged dignity. Her aunt was not in the least deceived, +and her eyes twinkled now and then as she chattered on diverse topics, +while the party drove leisurely towards the city. + +When Leslie returned home from his office he found his wife awaiting +him with the disdainful look upon her face which he had learned to hate. + +"What's the matter now, Millicent? Has something upset your usually +pacific temper?" he asked with a sneer. + +"Yes," was the direct answer. "When you last asked my assistance you, +as usual, lied to me. I helped you to trace your--your confederate, +because you told me it was the only way to escape ruin. For once I +believed you, which was blindly foolish of me. I met Mr. Thurston and +learned from him how somebody had plotted to destroy his machinery. He +did not know it was you, and I very nearly told him." + +"Don't be a fool, Millicent," Leslie admonished. "I'm sick of these +displays of temper--they don't become you. I tell you I plotted +nothing except to get my man into my own hands again. The other +rascals exceeded their orders on their own responsibility. Oh, you +would wear out any poor man's patience! Folks in my position don't do +such childish things as hire people to upset wagons loaded with +machinery." + +"I do not believe you," replied Millicent, and Leslie laughed +ironically. + +"I don't know that it greatly matters whether you do or not. Have you +any more such dutiful things to say?" + +"Just this. One hears of honor among thieves, and it is evident you +cannot rise even to that. You have once more tricked me, and +henceforward I warn you that you must carry on your work in your own +way. Further, if I hear of any more plotting to do Thurston injury, I +shall at once inform him." + +"Then," Leslie gripped her arm until his fingers left their mark on the +soft white flesh, "I warn you that it will be so much the worse for +you. Good heavens, why don't you--but go, and don't tempt me to say +what I feel greatly tempted to." + +Millicent shook off his grasp, moved slowly away, turning to fling back +a bitter answer from the half-opened door. + +"Confound her!" said Leslie, refilling the glass upon the table. "Now, +what the devil tempted me to ruin all my prospects by marrying that +woman?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +REPARATION + +"You will have to go," said Henry Leslie, glancing sharply at his wife +across the breakfast-table as he returned her an open letter which had +lately arrived by the English mail. "I hardly know where to find the +money for your passage out and home just now, and you will want new +dresses--women always seem to. Still, we can't afford to miss an +opportunity, and it may prove a good investment," he added, +reflectively. + +Millicent sighed as she took the letter, and, ignoring her husband's +words, read it through again. It had been written by a relative, a +member of the legal profession, and requested her to return at once to +England. The stern old man, who had reared her, was slowly dying, and +had expressed an urgent wish to see her. + +"Isn't that the man who wanted you to marry Thurston, and when you +disappointed him washed his hands of both of you?" Leslie inquired. +"There were reasons why I hadn't the pleasure of duly making the +acquaintance of your relatives, but I think you said he was tolerably +wealthy, and, as he evidently desires a reconciliation, you must do +your best to please him. Let me see. You might catch the next New +York Cunarder or the Allan boat from Quebec." + +Millicent looked up at him angrily. She was not wholly heartless, and +her kinsman had not only provided for her after her parents died in +financial difficulties, but in his own austere fashion he had been kind +to her. Accordingly, her husband's comments jarred upon her. + +"I should certainly go, even if I had to travel by Colonist car and +steerage," she declared. "I should do so if there were no hope of +financial benefit, which is, after all, very uncertain, for Anthony +Thurston is not the man to change his mind when he has once come to a +determination. The fact that he is dying and asks for me is +sufficient--though it is perhaps useless to expect you to believe it." + +"We must all die some day," was the abstracted answer. "Hardly an +original observation, is it? But it would be folly to let such a +chance pass, and I must try to spare you. If you really feel it, I +sympathize with you, and had no intention of wounding your +sensibilities, but as, unfortunately, circumstances force us to +consider these questions practically, you will--well, you will do your +best with the old man, Millicent. To put it so, you owe a duty to me." + +Leslie and his wife had by this time learned to see each other's real +self, naked and stripped of all disguise, and the sight was not +calculated to inspire either with superfluous delicacy. The man, +however, overlooked the fact that his partner in life still clung to a +last grace of sentiment, and could, on occasion, deceive herself. + +"I owe you a duty! How have you discharged yours to me?" she said, +reproachfully. "Do not force me to oppose you, Harry, but if you are +wise, go around to the depot and find out when the steamers sail." + +"Yes, my dear," Leslie acquiesced with a smile, which he did not mean +to be wholly ironical. "Would it be any use for me to say that I shall +miss you?" + +"No," answered Millicent, though she returned his smile. "You really +would not expect me to believe you. Still, if only because of the +rareness of such civility, I rather like to hear you say so." + +Mrs. Leslie sailed in the first Cunarder, and duly arrived at a little +station in the North of England where a dogcart was waiting to drive +her to Crosbie Ghyll. She had known the man, who drove it long before, +and he told her, with full details, how Anthony Thurston, having come +down from an iron-working town to visit the owner of the dilapidated +mansion had been wounded by a gun accident while shooting. The wound +was not of itself serious, but the old man's health was failing, and he +had not vitality enough to recover from the shock. + +Meantime, while Millicent Leslie was driven across the bleak brown +moorlands, Anthony Thurston lay in the great bare guest-chamber at +Crosbie Ghyll. He had been a hard, determined man, a younger son who +had made money in business, while his brothers died poor, clinging to +the land, and it was with characteristic grimness that he was quietly +awaiting his end. The narrow, deep-sunk window in front of him was +open wide, though the evening breeze blew chilly from the fells, which +rose blackly against an orange glow. Though he manifested no +impatience, the sunset light beating in showed an expectant look in his +eyes. A much younger man sat at a table close by and laid down the pen +he held, when the other said: + +"That will do, Halliday. Is there any sign of the dog-cart yet? You +are sure she will come to-night?" + +"There is a vehicle of some kind behind the larches, but I cannot see +it clearly," was the answer. "You can rest satisfied, sir, for if Mrs. +Leslie has missed the train, she will arrive early to-morrow." + +"To-morrow may be too late," said the old man. "I do not feel well +to-night. Yes, she will come. Millicent is like her father, and, +though he ruined himself, it was not because he hadn't a keen eye for +the main chance. Because I was a lonely man and because, in my +struggling days her mother was kind to me, I was fond of her. You +needn't be jealous, Halliday. You will have the winding up of my +estate, and it won't affect your share." + +There was a vein of misanthropic irony in most of what Anthony Thurston +said, but the other man had the same blood in him, and answered quickly: + +"My own business is flourishing, and I have tried to serve you hitherto +because of the relationship. I have no other reason, sir." + +"No," assented Thurston, with something approaching a laugh. "There is +no doubt you are genuine. Millicent took after her father and, in +spite of it, I was fond of her. Tell me again. Did you consider her +happy when you saw her in Canada?" + +"As I said before, it is a delicate question, but I did not think so. +Her husband struck me as a particularly poor sample, sir." + +"Ah! She married the rascal suddenly out of pique, perhaps, when +Geoffrey left her. I could never quite get at the truth of that story, +which, of course, was framed in the conventional way, but even now, +though he's nearer of kin than Millicent, I can't quite forgive +Geoffrey. You saw him, you said, on your last visit to those mines." + +The speaker's tone was indifferent, but his eyes shoved keen interest, +and Halliday answered: + +"If ever the whole truth came out I don't think you would blame +Geoffrey, sir. Individually, I would take his word against--well, +against any woman's solemn declaration. Yes, I saw him. He was making +a pretty fight single-handed against almost overwhelming natural +difficulties." + +"Why?" asked Anthony Thurston. "A woman out there, eh? Are you +pleading his cause, Halliday? Remember, if you convince me, he may be +another participant in the property." + +"He did not explain all his motives to me, and nobody ever gained much +by attempting to force a Thurston's confidence. If you were not my +kinsman and were in better health I should feel tempted to recommend +you to place your affairs in other hands. Confound the property!" + +There was a curious cackle in the sick man's throat, and the flicker of +a smile in his sunken eyes. + +"I can believe it. You are tarred with the same brush as Geoffrey. +The obstinate fool must go out there with a couple of hundred pounds or +so, when he knew he had only to humor me by marrying Millicent and wait +for prosperity. And yet, in one way, I'm glad he did. He never wrote +me to apologize or explain--still, that's hardly surprising either. I +don't know that any of us ever troubled much about other folks' +opinions or listened to advice. Here am I, who might have lived +another ten years, dying, because, when an officious keeper warned me, +I went the opposite way. I hear wheels, Halliday." + +"It is the dogcart," Halliday announced. "Yes--I see Mrs. Leslie." + +"Thank God!" said the sick man. "Bring her here as soon as she's +ready. Meantime, send in the doctor. I feel worse to-night." + +The light was dying fast when Millicent Leslie came softly into the +great bare room, and, for Anthony Thurston had paid for overtaxing his +waning strength, her heart smote her as she looked upon him. She could +recognize the stamp of fast approaching death. There was an unusual +gentleness in his eyes, which brightened at her approach, and with the +exception of Geoffrey, whose sympathy filled her with shame, it was +long since anyone had looked upon her with genuine kindliness. So it +was with real sorrow she knelt beside the bed and kissed him. + +"I was shocked to hear of your accident, but it was some time ago, and +you are recovering," she remarked, trying to speak hopefully, but with +a catch in her breath. + +"I am dying," was the answer, and Millicent sobbed when the withered +fingers rested on her hair. + +"I wanted to see you before I went. I was fond of you, Milly, and +you--you and Geoffrey angered me. It was not your fault," the somewhat +strained voice added wistfully. "He--I don't wish to hurt you, or hear +the stereotyped version he of course endorsed. He left you?" + +Millicent Leslie was not wholly evil. She had a softer side, and, in +the moment of reconciliation, dreaded to inflict further pain upon one +to whom she owed much. If the truth was not in her, there was one +thing in her favor, so at least the afterwards tried to convince +herself. Prompted by a desire to soothe a dying man's last hours, she +voluntarily accepted a very unpleasant part. She was thankful her head +was bent as she said: "It was perhaps my fault. I would not--I could +not consent to humor him in what appeared a senseless project--and so +Geoffrey went to Canada." + +She felt the old man's hand move caressingly across her hair. "Poor +Millicent," he sympathized. "And you chose another husband. Are you +happy with him out there? But stay, it is twilight and the old place +is gloomy. If you would like them, ask for candles. +Geoffrey--Geoffrey left you!" + +Millicent did not desire candles, but gently drew herself away. +Anthony Thurston's tenderness had touched her, and, with sudden +compunction, she remembered that she had deceived a dying man. He +believed her, but she did not wish him to see her face. She drew a +chair towards the bed, and for a moment looked about her, striving to +collect her scattered thoughts. Framed by the stone-ribbed window, the +afterglow still shimmered, a pale luminous green, and one star twinkled +over the black shoulder of Crosbie Fell. Curlews called mournfully +down in the misty mosses, and when she turned her head the sick man's +face showed faintly livid against the darker coverings of the bed. For +a moment she felt tempted to make full confession, or at least excuses +for Geoffrey, but Anthony Thurston spoke again just then and the moment +was lost. + +"I asked are you happy in Canada, Millicent," he repeated, and there +was command as well as kindness in his tone. Anthony Thurston, mine +owner and iron works director, was dying, but he had long been a ruler +of stiff-necked men, and the habit of authority still remained with +him. It struck Millicent that he was in many ways very like Geoffrey. + +"I am not," she admitted. "I would not have told you if you had not +insisted. It is the result of my own folly, and there is no use +complaining." + +Anthony Thurston stretched out a thin, claw-like hand and laid it on +one of her own. "Tell me," he said. + +"We are poor. That is, my husband's position is precarious, and it is +a constant struggle to live up to it." + +"Then why do you try?" + +Millicent sighed as she answered: + +"It is, I believe, necessary or he would lose it, while he aims at +obtaining sufficient influence to win him a connection, if he resumed +his former land business." + +"From what I know it is a rascally business; but there is more than +this. My time is very short, Millicent, but it seems such a very +little while since a bright-haired girl who atoned for another's injury +sat upon my knee, and for the sake of those days I can still protect +you. Your husband treats you ill?" + +There was a vibration in the strained voice which more strongly +reminded the listener of Geoffrey's, and awoke her bitterness against +the man she had married. It was so long since she had taken a living +soul into her confidence, that she answered impulsively: "There is no +use hiding the truth from you. He does not treat me well." + +Then she related the story of her married life, and Anthony Thurston +listened gravely, comprehending more than she meant to tell him, for +when she had finished he commented: "You have neither been over loyal +nor over wise--too quick to see the present gain, blind to the greater +one behind--but it is my part to help, not blame you, and I will try to +do so. It is dark now. Please ask for my draught and the candles. +Then I want you to tell me about Geoffrey. You have met him in Canada." + +Millicent, retiring, stood for a few minutes looking down from a narrow +window in the bare stone corridor on to the moor. There was no moon, +but the night was luminous, for the stars twinkled with a windy glitter +that was flung back by a neighboring tarn. The call of the curlew +seemed more mournful, the crying of lapwing rose from the meadow land, +and she started at a hollow hoot as an owl swept by on muffled wing. +The night voices filled her with an eerie sensation--there was, she +recollected, always something creepy about Crosbie Ghyll, and, for +Millicent was superstitious, she shivered again at the reflection that +she had cheated a dying man. But she could make partial reparation to +the living at least, and when she came back with the candles there was +resolve in her face. + +"You asked me about Geoffrey. He has no reason to be ashamed of his +record in Canada," she said. "I will tell you what I know from the +beginning--and I hope I shall tell it well." + +It was a relief to do so, and the story of Geoffrey's struggle and +prospective triumph was a stirring one as it fell from the lips of the +woman who had thrice wronged him. She guessed how her husband's +employers had plotted, having gathered much from the talk of his +guests, and the old man listened eagerly, until he struck the coverlet +when she concluded. Grim satisfaction was stamped upon his twitching +face. + +"It is a brave story. I thank you, Millicent; you told it very well. +Ay, the old blood tells--and I was proud of the lad. Went his own way +in spite of me--he is my kinsman, what should I expect of him? +Standing alone for a broken master, with cunning and wealth against him +and his last dollar in the scheme! Quite in keeping with traditions, +and there'll be broken crowns before they beat him down." + +The dying man, who had fought perhaps as stubbornly all his life long, +gasped once or twice before he added, "You must go now, Millicent. +Send Halliday to me." + +Millicent went out with a throbbing pulse and downcast eyes, and when +the lawyer came in Thurston said: "Read over that partly completed +will." + +"Had you not better rest until to-morrow, sir?" was the answer. "Dr. +Maltby warned you----" + +"You ought to know by this time that I seldom take a warning, and +to-morrow may be too late. Write, and write quickly. After payment of +all bequests above, balance of real estate to yourself and Forsyth as +trustees, to apply and use for the individual benefit of Millicent +Leslie. If her husband lays hands upon it, I'll haunt you. You have +power to nominate Geoffrey Thurston as your co-trustee. God knows what +may happen, and her rascally husband may get himself shot by somebody +he has swindled some day. What I wished for mightn't follow then? I'm +paying you to make my will and not dictate to me. Repeat it as many +times as may appear necessary to let my meaning show clearly through +your legal phraseology." + +"I have got it down, sir," the writer told him presently. + +"Now, after deductions enumerated, all my floating investments in +mines, stocks and shares to Geoffrey Thurston, to hold or sell as +pleases him, unconditionally. Bequeathed in the hope that this will +help him to confound his enemies." + +It was written, signed and witnessed by Musker and the surgeon, then +Anthony Thurston asked once more and very faintly for Millicent. He +drew her down beside him and took her hand in his thin, gnarled one +before he said: + +"I have done my best for you, Milly--and again thank you for the story. +After what Halliday said, it has helped to conquer an old bitterness, +and--for my work is finished--I can die contented. I may be gone +to-morrow, and my strength is spent. Good-by, Milly. God bless you!" + +Millicent stooped and kissed him with a sense of shame. Before morning +all power of speech or volition left Anthony Thurston, and twelve hours +later he was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A REPRIEVE + +It was with a heavy heart that Geoffrey Thurston turned over the papers +Thomas Savine spread out before him in the Vancouver offices. + +"I'm almost scared to do any more figuring," said Savine. "Money is +going to be uncommonly tight with us, and, to make things worse, I can +neither realize nor borrow. My brother's investments are way below par +now, and the first sign of any weakness would raise up an opposition +that would finish us. I can't stay here forever, and poor Julius is +steadily getting worse instead of better. Are you still certain you +can get the work done before the winter's through?" + +"Yes," asserted Geoffrey. "If I can get the machinery and sufficient +men--which means money. There's a moderate fortune waiting us once we +can run the water out of the valley, and it's worth a desperate effort +to secure it." + +"We have made a good many daring moves since my brother gave me his +power of attorney, and I have sunk more of my own money than my +partners, who have backed me pluckily, care about. Still, I can't see +how I'm going to meet your estimate, nohow." + +"You have just got to do it," Geoffrey insisted. "It is the part you +chose. At my end, I'll stop for nothing short of manslaughter. We +simply can't afford to be beaten, and we're not going to be." + +"I hope not," and Thomas Savine sighed dubiously. "Your assurance is +refreshing, Geoffrey, but I own up I can't see--well, we've done enough +for one day. Come round and spend the evening with me. Mrs. Savine is +anxious to see you." + +Geoffrey hesitated for a few seconds, and Thomas Savine smiled at +something which faintly amused him. Remembering Helen's freezing look +and his occupation when she last saw him, Geoffrey felt that it might +not be pleasant to meet her so soon. Then, because he was a proud man, +he endeavored to accept the invitation with cordiality. + +"I am glad you will come," said Thomas Savine, with a trace of the dry +humor which occasionally characterized him. + +Geoffrey, who felt that in this instance the pleasure was hardly +mutual, and that Helen might not share it with her uncle, said nothing +further on that subject, until Mrs. Savine met him in the hotel +corridor. A friendship had grown up between them since the day +Geoffrey endured the elixir, after mending the bicycle, and there was a +mischievous amusement in the lady's eyes as she said; "My compliments, +Geoffrey. You are a brave man." + +"I don't deserve them, madam. Wherein lies the bravery? Being at +present in perfect health, I have no cause to fear you." + +Mrs. Savine laughed good-naturedly, then laid her hand upon his arm +with a friendly gesture. "Sober earnest, I am glad you came. I +believe in you, Geoffrey, and like to see a man show the grit that's in +him." + +"I am honored," returned Geoffrey, with a little bow. There was a +grateful look in his brown eyes, which did not quail in the slightest +under the lady's scrutiny. + +In spite of her good-will, he, however, derived little pleasure from +that evening of relaxation. Helen showed no open displeasure, but he +was painfully conscious that what she had seen had been a shock to her. +It was impossible for him to volunteer an explanation. He was glad to +retire with Savine and a cigar-box to the veranda, and trying to +console himself with the reflection that he had at least shown no +weakness--he took his leave early. Helen was not present when he bade +Mrs. Savine farewell, but she saw him stride away over the gravel. +Though she would not ask herself why, she felt gratified that he had +not stayed away. + +It was some time later when, one day of early winter, he sat in his +wooden shanty, which at that season replaced the tent above the cañon. +Close by English Jim was busy writing, and Geoffrey, gnawing an +unlighted pipe, glanced alternately through the open door at his +hurrying workmen and at the letter from Thomas Savine which he held in +his hand. + +The letter expressed a fear that a financial crisis was imminent. +"Tell him he must settle all local bills up to the minute," said +Thurston, throwing it across to his amanuensis. "I daresay the English +makers will wait a little for payment due on machinery. Did you find +that the amount I mentioned would cover the wages through the winter?" + +"Only just," was the answer. "That is, unless you could cut some of +them a little." + +"Not a cent," Geoffrey replied. "The poor devils who risk their lives +daily fully earn their money." + +"Do you know their wages equal the figure the strikers demanded and you +refused to pay? Summers told me about that dispute, sir," ventured +English Jim. + +"The strikers were not prepared to earn higher pay--and that one word, +'demanded,' makes a big difference. Hello! who is the stranger?" + +Mattawa Tom was directing a horseman towards the shanty, and Geoffrey, +who watched the newcomer with growing interest, found something +familiar in his face and figure, until he rose up in astonishment when +the man rode nearer. + +"Halliday, by all that's wonderful!" he cried. "Uncommonly glad to see +you; but whatever brought you back to this far-off land again?" + +"Several things," was the answer, as Halliday, shaking the snow from +his furs, dismounted stiffly. "Strain of overwork necessitated a +change, my doctor told me. Trust estate I'm winding up comprised +doubtful British Columbian mining interests, and last, but not least, +to see you, Geoffrey." + +The man's fur coat was open now, and Geoffrey, who glanced at the black +coat beneath it, said: + +"I'm glad you wanted to see me, anyway, but come in. Here, Jake, take +the horse to the stable. Are my sympathies needed, Halliday--any of my +new friends over yonder dead?" + +Halliday stared at him blankly. "Haven't you read the letter I sent +you? Do you get no English papers?" he questioned. + +"No, to both. I fancy very few people over yonder trouble themselves +as to whether I'm living. How did you address your letter?" + +"Orchard City, or was it Orchardville? Mrs. Leslie told me the name of +the postoffice, and I looked it up on a map." + +Geoffrey thrust his guest into a chair. + +"That explains it. This is Orchard Valley; the other place is away +across the province, a forlorn hamlet, and some ox-driving postmaster +has no doubt returned your letter. Do you bring bad news? Don't keep +me in suspense." + +"Anthony Thurston's dead. Died in your old place, partly the result of +a gun accident," answered Halliday, and Geoffrey sat silent for a +moment. + +"I'm sorry--yes, sincerely," he said at last. "I can say it freely, +because, as I daresay you know, I disappointed him, and can in no way +benefit by his death. In fact, he had the power to refuse me what was +morally my right, and no doubt he exercised it. Still, now it's too +late, I feel ashamed that I never tried to patch up the quarrel. Poor +old Anthony!" + +Halliday smiled. "You are a better fellow than you often lead folks to +suppose, Geoffrey--and I quite believe you. Such regrets are, however, +generally useless, are they not? In this case especially so, for +Anthony Thurston forgot the quarrel before he died, and sent you his +very good wishes. I see I have a surprise in store. You are a +beneficiary. He has bequeathed you considerably more than your moral +share in the property." + +Thurston strode up and down the shanty before he halted. + +"I'm glad that, though perhaps I deserved it, he didn't carry the +bitterness into the grave with him," he declared with earnestness. "We +were too much like each other to get on well, but there was a time when +he was a good friend to me. It's no use pretending I'm not pleased at +what you tell me--it means a great deal to me. But you must be tired +and hungry, and I want to talk by the hour to you." + +Halliday did full justice to the meal which the camp cook produced, and +afterwards the two men sat talking until the short winter afternoon had +drawn to a close and the first stars were blinking down on untrodden +snows. Answering a question Halliday said: + +"Your share--I'll show you a complete list when I unpack my +things--will, if left invested, provide you with a moderate income for +a single man. Indeed, with your Spartan tastes, you might live in what +you would consider luxury. As usual, however, in such cases, the +securities are not readily marketable, and your interest in some +ventures could hardly be summarily realized at any sacrifice. The +whole is left to you unconditionally, but my advice is decidedly that +you hold on." + +"I am sorry," Geoffrey replied, "because even at a sacrifice I intend +to sell. If you're not too tired to listen a little longer, I'll try +to explain why." + +Halliday listened gravely. Then he commented: + +"As Anthony Thurston said, it is characteristic of you, and it's +possible that he would have approved of what on the surface looks like +folly. He stated that he hoped the bequest would help you to confound +your enemies. But you must act as a business man. You say that, if +you go deeper, your firm might still wind up just solvent; then why not +abandon the apparently hopeless project, and withdraw? Follow your +profession if you must work, or live upon your income. This drainage +scheme looks tolerably desperate on your own showing, and if, selling +at a sacrifice you sink all your new possessions in it, you may be left +utterly cleaned out, a beggar. You have no other relatives likely to +leave you another competence, Geoffrey." + +"It can't be helped--or rather I don't want to help it. I've pledged +my word and honor to see this undertaking through, and I mean to redeem +it if it ruins me. Now what were you telling me about Mrs. Leslie?" + +Halliday explained for some minutes before he said: + +"You are on the spot, and it's your duty to join us. Anthony Thurston +was always eccentric, and has left us a very troublesome charge. Her +husband is not to get at the money, and this discrimination between man +and wife is going to be confoundedly awkward. However, as I'm going to +stay some little time, and if possible shoot a mountain sheep, we can +discuss it at leisure." + +Thomas Savine, who came up in a day or two, speedily became good +friends with Halliday. Geoffrey had his work to superintend, and was +suspicious that Halliday seized the opportunity his absence afforded to +explain what appeared to him a sacrifice of Anthony Thurston's legacy. +One evening when Halliday was down in the cañon watching the workmen +toiling in the river, under the lurid blaze of the lucigen, Thomas +Savine said: + +"I'm going to talk straight, Geoffrey. Your friend told me the whole +thing, and I agree with his opinion. See here, you are safe for life +if you hold fast to what you have got now--and the Lord knows whether +we will ever be successful in the cañon. Of course the money would +help us, but it isn't sufficient to make victory dead certain, and it +would be a drop in the bucket if we came down with a bang, as we may +very well do. Even considering what's at stake, I couldn't let you +make the plunge without protesting." + +"If I had ten times as much, or ten times as little, it would all go +after the rest," replied Geoffrey. "I appreciate your good intentions, +but you can't, and never will, convince me, so there's no use talking. +You will, in the meantime, say not a word to Miss Savine on the +subject." + +Next morning Geoffrey said to his guest: + +"I want you to write out a telegram to your partner in England. +Yonder's a mounted messenger waiting for it. He's to sell everything +bequeathed to me at the best price he can. You have done your best, +Halliday, and I suppose I ought to be more grateful than I am, but you +see I'm rather fond than otherwise of a big risk. We'll ride over with +Mr. Savine and call upon my partner to-day." + +It was late in the afternoon when the two arrived at the ranch which +Savine had rented. It was the nearest dwelling to the camp that could +be rendered comfortable, but lay some distance from it, over a very bad +trail. Helen was not cordial towards Geoffrey, who left her to +entertain Halliday, and slipped away to the room looking down the +valley, where his partner sat with a fur robe wrapped about his bent +shoulders. Savine's face had grown very hollow and his eyes were +curiously dim. + +"It was good of you to come, Geoffrey," he said; "How are you getting +on in the cañon?" + +"Famously, sir. We are certainly going to beat the river," was the +prompt answer, and remembering the accession of capital, Geoffrey's +cheerfulness was real. "I'm hoping to ask Miss Savine to fire the +final shot some time before the snows melt." + +Savine looked at him with a trace of his old keenness, and appeared +satisfied that the speaker believed in his own prediction. Then he +smiled as he answered: + +"You do me good, Geoffrey. Good news is better than gallons of +medicine, and when you make such a promise I feel I can trust you. I'm +grateful, but it's mighty trying to lie here helpless while another man +plays out my last and boldest game for me. Lord! what wouldn't I give +for just three months of my old vigor! Still, I'll never be fit again, +and as I must lean on somebody, I'm glad it should be you." + +"Lean on me! You have given me the chance of my life, sir. You don't +look quite comfortable there. Let me settle that rug for you," said +Geoffrey, and as with clumsy gentleness he rearranged the sick man's +wrappings, Helen came unobserved into the room. She read the pity +beneath the smile on the younger man's bronze face and noticed how +willingly his hard fingers did their unaccustomed work. Her heart grew +soft towards Geoffrey as she heard her father's sigh of content. The +sight touched, though, for a reason she was ashamed of, it also +troubled her. Unwilling to disturb them, she merely smiled when +Thurston saw her, and found herself a seat in a corner. + +"My brain's not so clear as it used to be. No use hiding things. +Why," began Savine, and Geoffrey, who surmised that he had not seen his +daughter, knocked over a medicine bottle with his elbow and spent some +time noisily groping under the table for it. The action might have +deceived one of his own sex, but Helen, who wondered what his motive +was, grew piqued as well as curious. + +"I've been worrying over things lately," continued Savine. "There was +one of the rancher's hired men in and he told our folks a mixed story +about a sluice gate bursting. You never mentioned it to me. Now I +have a hazy notion that I made a drawing for a gate one day, when I +was--sick, we'll say. I looked for it afterwards and couldn't find it. +I've been thinking over it considerable lately." + +"Then you are very foolish, sir," declared Geoffrey. "Of course, we +have had one or two minor breakages, but nothing we were unable to +remedy. Just now everything is going ahead in the most satisfactory +manner." + +Helen, who watched the speaker, decided that he was concealing +something, and also fancied her father did not seem quite satisfied. + +"I've been wondering whether it was that gate which burst. See here, +Geoffrey, I feel you have had bad trouble; isn't it a little mean not +to tell me? You will remember I'm still Julius Savine--and only a +little while ago there was no man in the province who dared to try to +fool me." + +A measure of the speaker's former spirit revealed itself in a clearer +vibration of his voice, and, raising himself in his chair, Savine +became for a moment almost the man he had been. + +Thurston had determined to hold his fallen leader's credit safe, not +only before the eyes of others but even in his own, and was doing it to +the best of his ability. + +"Of course, we have had trouble--lots of it, but nothing we could not +overcome," he repeated. "If everything went smoothly it would grow +monotonous. Still, you can rest perfectly contented, sir, and assist +us with your judgment in the difficult cases. For instance, would you +let me know what you think of these specifications?" + +Savine, who seemed to find a childish pleasure in being consulted, +forgot his former anxiety, and Geoffrey, leaving him contented, slipped +out of the ranch, and, finding a sheltered path among the redwoods, +paced to and fro. He was presently surprised to see Helen move out +from among the trees. She had a fur about her shoulders which set off +the finely-chiselled face above it. Nevertheless, for once at least, +he was by no means pleased to see her. + +"I wish to ask you a question," she said. "Of course, I have heard +there was an inquiry into the breaking of the sluice, but neither you +nor my uncle thought fit to give me any definite information on the +subject. Unfortunately, my father heard distorted rumors of the +accident, and has been fretting ever since. As you know, this is most +detrimental to his failing health, and, so that I may be the better +able to soothe him I want you to tell me all that happened." + +"There is absolutely no cause for uneasiness. As I said, we had one or +two difficulties which may have been vanquished. Your uncle will bear +me out in this," answered Geoffrey, who would have spoken more freely +had he not feared the girl's keenness. Helen's face, which was at +first scornful, grew anxious as she responded: + +"I have no doubt he would! In fact, when I asked him he explained with +such readiness that I cannot help concluding you have both conspired to +keep me in the dark. Can you not see that, situated as I am in caring +for an invalid who will not let his mind rest, uncertainty is almost +worse than the knowledge of disaster to me. Will you not tell me +frankly what you fear?" + +"I would do anything to drive your fears away." Geoffrey, who felt +helpless beneath the listener's searching eyes, spoke with sympathy in +his voice. "But I can only say again there is very slight cause for +anxiety." + +Helen turned half from him, angrily, then she faced round again. "You +are not a good dissembler. If quick at making statements you are not +prepared to substantiate them," she declared. "You would do anything +to dispel my fears--but the one most necessary thing I ask. You have +passed through, or are now facing, a crisis, and though some knowledge +of it would be of great help to me you do not consider me worthy of +your confidence." + +"Heaven forbid that I should think so. There is no one more +worthy--but----" Helen checked him with a gesture. + +"I desire the simple truth and not indifferent compliments," she said. +"You will not tell it to me, and I will plead with you no further, even +for my father's sake. When will you men learn that a woman's +discretion is at least equal to your own?" With a flash in her eyes, +she added: "How dare you once offer what you did to a woman you had no +trust in?" + +"You are almost cruel," Geoffrey answered, clenching his hand as he +mastered his own anger. "Some day, perhaps, you will yet believe I +tried to do what was best. Meantime, since I dare not presume to +resent it, I must try to bear your displeasure patiently." + +He might have said more, but that Helen left him abruptly. + +"It is confoundedly hard. Once strike a certain vein of bad luck and +you can neither get around nor under it, but there's no use +groaning--and what on earth could I have done?" he said to the +whispering firs. + +He went back presently to the ranch, and found Helen, who apparently +did not notice his return, chatting with Halliday. When the two men +bade their host farewell, Halliday, who lingered a few minutes, +observed to Thomas Savine: + +"I always knew my friend was reckless, but when I spoke as I did I +failed to comprehend what was at once his incentive and justification. +I must thank you for your attempt to aid me, but even against the +dictates of my judgment I can't help sympathizing with him now. If you +don't mind my saying so--because I see you know--I think what he hopes +to win is very well worth the risk." + +"I certainly know, and perhaps I am prejudiced in favor of my niece, +but I feel tempted to agree with you," answered Savine. "There are few +better women in the Dominion, but she is wayward, and whether Geoffrey +will ever win her only Heaven knows. Meantime, though we depend so +much upon him, I am often ashamed to let him take his chances with us. +Believe me, I have endeavored to dissuade him." + +Halliday smiled. "I am a kinsman of his and know him well," he said. +"It is quite in keeping with traditions that he should be perfectly +willing to ruin himself for a woman, and I am at least thankful that +the woman proves worthy. In this case, however, I venture to hope the +end may be the achievement of prosperity. I generally speak my mind +and hope I have not offended you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE ULTIMATUM + +Winter creeping down from the high peaks held the whole valley fast in +its icy grip when Mrs. Thomas Savine, who was seldom daunted by the +elements, went up from Vancouver to persuade her niece to seek +sheltered quarters on the sunny coast until spring. Her visit was, +however, in this respect a failure, for Julius Savine insisted upon +remaining within touch of the reclamation works. Though seldom able to +reach them, he looked eagerly forward to Geoffrey's brief visits, which +alone seemed to arouse him from his lethargy. + +Mrs. Savine and Helen sat in the general living-room at the ranch one +day when her brother-in-law came in leaning heavily upon his partner's +arm. Geoffrey had set his carpenters to build a sleigh, and from one +hill shoulder bare of timber it was possible, with good glasses, to see +what went on in the cañon. Savine was listening with evident +satisfaction to the tall, frost-bronzed man who led him towards the +room that he delighted to call his office, and Mrs. Savine, noticing +it, smiled gratefully upon Geoffrey. Worn by anxious watching, Helen +was possibly a little out of humor that afternoon, and the sight awoke +within her a certain jealousy. She had done her best, and had done it +very patiently, but she had failed to arouse her father to the +animation he showed in Geoffrey's presence. + +"I haven't felt so well since I saw you last," observed Savine, +oblivious for the moment of his daughter. "You won't fail to come back +as soon as ever you can--say the day after to-morrow?" + +Geoffrey glanced towards Helen, who made no sign, and Mrs. Savine +noticed that for a moment his face clouded. Then, as he turned towards +his partner, he seemed to make an effort, and his expression was +confident again. + +"I am afraid I cannot leave the works quite so often. Yes--we are +progressing at least as well as anyone could expect," he said. "I will +come and consult you whenever I can. In fact, there are several points +I want your advice upon." + +"Come soon," urged Savine, with a sigh. "It does me good to talk to +you--after the life I've lived, this everlasting loafing comes mighty +hard to me. I believe once I knew we were victorious I could let go +everything and die happy." + +Helen heard, and, overwrought as she was by nights of assiduous care, +the speech both pained and angered her. Geoffrey's answer was not +audible, as they passed on. He came back alone, off his guard for a +moment, looking worn and weary, and Mrs. Savine said: + +"You are tired, Geoffrey, and if you don't appear more lively next time +I will attend to you. No--don't get scared. It is not physic I'm +going to prescribe now. Take this lounge and just sit here where it's +cosy. Talk to Helen and me until supper's ready." + +Thurston had been crawling over ice-crusted rocks and wading knee-deep +in water most of the preceding night. The chair stood temptingly +between the two ladies and near the stove. He glanced towards it and +Helen longingly. Some impulse tempted the girl to say: + +"Mr. Thurston has usually so little time to spare that it would be +almost too much to hope that he could devote an hour to us." + +The tone was ironical, and Geoffrey, excusing himself, went out. He +sighed as he floundered down the snow-cumbered trail. There was +indignation in the elder lady's voice as she declared: + +"I am ashamed of you, Helen. The poor man came in too late, for +dinner, and he must be starving. If you had just seen how he looked at +you! You'd feel mean and sorry if they found him to-morrow frozen hard +in the snow." + +Helen could not fancy Geoffrey overcome by such a journey because he +had missed two meals, and she smiled at her aunt's dismal picture, +answering her with a flippancy which increased the elder lady's +indignation, "Mr. Thurston is not a cannibal, auntie." + +"I can't figure why you are fooling with that man if you don't want +him," said Mrs. Savine. "Oh, yes; you're going to sit here and listen +to some straight talking. Isn't he good enough for you?" + +Helen's face was flushed with angry color. "You speak with unpleasant +frankness, but I will endeavor to answer you," she responded. "I have +told Mr. Thurston--that is, I have tried to warn him that he was +expecting the impossible, and what more could I do? He is my father's +partner, and I cannot refuse to see him. I----" + +Mrs. Savine, leaning forward, took her niece's hands in her own, saying +gravely, "Are you certain it is quite impossible?" + +For a moment Helen looked startled, and her eyes fell. Then, raising +her head, she answered: "Have I not told you so? I have been anxious +about my father lately and do not feel myself to-day. Surely you have +no wish further to torment me." + +"No, but I mean to finish what I have to say. Do you know all that man +is doing for you? He has----" But Mrs. Savine ceased abruptly, +remembering she had in return for her husband's confidence promised +secrecy. + +"Yes. I think I know everything," replied Helen, with something +suspiciously like a sob, while her aunt broke her pledge to the extent +of shaking her head with a gesture of negation. "It--it makes it worse +for me. I dare not bid him go away, and I grow horribly ashamed +because--because it hurts one to be conscious of so heavy a debt. +Besides, he is consoling himself with Mrs. Leslie!" + +"Geoffrey Thurston would be the last man to consider you owed him +anything, and as to Mrs. Leslie--pshaw! It's as sure as death, +Geoffrey doesn't care two bits for her. He would never let you feel +that debt, my dear, but the debt is there. From what Tom has told me +he has declined offer after offer, and you know that, if he carries +this last scheme through, the credit and most of the money will fall to +your father." + +"I know." The moisture gathered in Helen's eyes. "I am grateful, very +grateful--as I said, ashamed, too; but my father comes first. I tried +to warn Geoffrey, but he would not take no. I feel almost frightened +sometimes lest he will force me to yield against my will, but you know +that would be a wrong to him--and what can I do?" + +Helen, unclasping her hands from her aunt's, looked straight before +her, and Mrs. Savine answered gently: "Not that. No--if you can't like +him it would not be fair to him. Only try to be kind, and make quite +sure it is impossible. It might have been better for poor Geoffrey if +he had never mixed himself up with us. You, with all your good points, +are mighty proud, my dear, but I have seen proud women find out their +mistake when it was too late to set things straight. Wait, and without +the help of a meddlesome old woman, it will perhaps all come right some +day." + +"Auntie," said Helen, looking down, some minutes later. "Though you +meant it in kindness, I am almost vexed with you. I have never spoken +of these things to anyone before, and though it has comforted me, you +won't remind me--will you?" + +"No." The older woman smiled upon the girl. "Of course not! But you +are pale and worried, and I believe that there is nothing that would +fix you better than a few drops of the elixir. I think I sent you a +new bottle." + +Then, though her eyes were misty, Helen laughed outright, as she +replied: + +"It was very kind of you, but I fear I lost the bottle, and have wasted +too much time over my troubles. What can I tempt my father with for +supper?" + + +When Geoffrey returned to camp, Halliday, who had arrived that day from +Vancouver, had much to tell him. + +"I've sold your English property, and the value lies to your credit in +the B. O. M. agency. All you have to do is to draw upon your account," +he said. "As you intend to sink the money in these works I can only +wish you the best of good luck. Now, I'm starting for home to-morrow, +and there's the other question--how to protect the interests of Mrs. +Leslie. Anthony Thurston made a just will, and her share, while enough +to maintain her, is not a large one, but I don't see yet just how it's +to be handled. It was the testator's special wish that you should join +the trustees, and that her husband should not lay his hands upon a +dollar. From careful inquiries made in Vancouver, I judge he's a +distinctly bad lot. Anyway, you'll have to help us in the meantime, +Geoffrey, and in opening a small bank account I made your signature +necessary on every check." + +"It's a confoundedly unpleasant position under the circumstances. What +on earth could my kinsman have been thinking of when he forced it upon +me of all men?" Geoffrey responded with a rueful face. "Still, I owe +him a good deal, and suppose that I must cheerfully acquiesce to his +wishes." + +"I cannot take upon myself to determine what the testator thought," was +the dry answer. "He said the estimable Mr. Leslie might either shoot +or drink himself to death some day. The late Anthony Thurston was a +tenacious person, and you must draw your own conclusions." + +"If there was one thing which more than another tempted me to refuse +you every scrap of assistance it was the conclusion I arrived at," said +Geoffrey. "However, I'll try to keep faith with the dead man, and +Heaven send me sense sufficient to steer clear of difficulties." + +"I can trust your honesty any way," remarked Halliday. "There's a +heavy load off my mind at last. You are a good fellow, Geoffrey, and, +excuse the frankness, even in questions beyond your usual scope not so +simple as you sometimes look." + +A day or two before this conversation took place, Henry Leslie, sitting +at his writing-table in the villa above the inlet, laid down his pen +and looked up gratefully at his wife, who placed a strip of stamped +paper before him. Millicent both smiled and frowned as she noticed how +greedily his fingers fastened upon it. + +"It is really very good of you. You don't know how much this draft +means to me," he said. "I wish I needn't take it, but I am forced to. +It's practically the whole of the first dole your skinflint trustee +made you, isn't it?" + +"It is a large share," was the answer. "Almost a year's allowance, and +I'm going to pay off our most pressing debts with the rest. But I am +glad to give it to you, Harry, and we must try to be better friends, +and keep on the safe side after this." + +"I hope we shall," replied the man, who was touched for once. "It's +tolerably hard for folks like us, who must go when the devil drives, to +be virtuous, but I got hold of a few mining shares, which promise to +pay well now, for almost nothing; and if they turn up trumps, I'd feel +greatly tempted to throw over the Company and start afresh." + +He hurriedly scribbled a little note, and Millicent turned away with a +smile that was not far from a sigh. She had returned from England in a +repentant mood, and her husband, whose affairs had gone smoothly, was +almost considerate, so that, following a reconciliation, there were +times when she cherished an uncertain hope that they might struggle +back to their former level. It was on one of the occasions when their +relations were not altogether inharmonious that she had promised to +give him a draft to redeem the loan Director Shackleby held like a whip +lash over him. Had Leslie been a bolder man, it is possible that his +wife's aspirations might have been realized, for Millicent was not +impervious to good influences. + +Unfortunately for her, however, a free-spoken man called Shackleby, who +said that he had been sent by his colleagues who managed the Industrial +Enterprise Company, called upon Thurston and Savine together in their +city offices. He came straight to the point after the fashion of +Western business men. + +"Julius Savine has rather too big a stake in the Orchard Valley for any +one man," he said. "It's ancient history that if, as usual with such +concerns as ours, we hadn't been a day or two too slow, we would have +held the concessions instead of him. Neither need I tell you about the +mineral indications in both the reefs and alluvial. Now we saw our way +to rake a good many dollars out of that valley, but when Savine got in +ahead we just sat tight and watched him, ready to act if he found the +undertaking too big for him. It seems to me that has happened, which +explains my visit to-day. We might be open to buy some of those +conditional lands from you." + +"They may never be ours to sell, though I hope for the contrary," +Geoffrey replied. + +"Exactly," said the other. "That is why we're only ready to offer you +out-district virgin forest value for the portions colored blue in this +plan. In other words, we speculate by advancing you money on very +uncertain security." + +Geoffrey laughed after a glance at the plan. "You have a pretty taste! +After giving you all the best for a tithe of its future value, where do +we come in?" + +"On the rest," declared Shackleby, coolly. "We would pay down the +money now, and advance you enough on interest to place you beyond all +risks in completing operations. Though you might get more for the +land, without this assistance, you might get nothing, and it will be a +pretty heavy check. I suppose I needn't say it was not until lately +that we decided to meet you this way." + +"By your leave!" broke in Thomas Savine, who had been scribbling +figures on a scrap of paper, which he passed to Geoffrey. It bore a +few lines scrawled across the foot of it: "Value absurdly low, but it +might be a good way to hedge against total loss, and we could level up +the average on the rest. What do you think?" + +Geoffrey grasped a pen, and the paper went back with the brief answer, +"That it would be a willful sacrifice of Miss Savine's future." + +"Suppose we refuse?" he asked, and Shackleby stroked his mustache +meditatively before he made answer: + +"Don't you think that would be foolish? You see, we were not unanimous +by a long way on this policy, and several of our leaders agree with me +that we had better stick to our former one. It's a big scheme, and +accidents will happen, however careful one may be. Then there's the +risk of new conditions being imposed upon you by the authorities. +Besides, you have a time limit to finish in, and mightn't do it, +especially without the assistance we could in several ways render you. +You can't have a great many dollars left either--see?" + +"I do," said Geoffrey, with an ominous glitter in his eyes. "You +needn't speak more plainly. Accidents, no doubt of the kind you refer +to, have happened already. They have not, however, stopped us yet, and +are not going to. I, of course, appreciate your delicate reference to +your former policy; I conclude it was your policy individually. I +don't like threats, even veiled ones, and nobody ever succeeded in +coercing me. Accordingly, when we have drained it, we'll sell you all +the land you want at its market value. You can't have an acre at +anything like the price you offer now." + +"That's your ultimatum. Yes? Then I'm only wasting time, and hope you +won't be sorry," returned Shackleby. When he went out Geoffrey turned +to Thomas Savine. + +"A declared enemy is preferable to a treacherous ally," he observed +dryly. "That man would never have kept faith with us." + +"I don't know," was the answer. "Of course, he's crooked, but he has +his qualities. Anyway, I'd sooner trust him than the invertebrate +crawler, Leslie." + +A day or two later Shackleby called upon Leslie in his offices and with +evident surprise received the check Millicent had given to her husband. + +"I wasn't in any hurry. Have some of your titled relatives in the old +country left you a fortune?" he inquired ironically. + +"No," was the answer. "My folks are mostly distinctly poor commoners. +I, well--I have been rather fortunate lately." + +"Here's your receipt," said Shackleby, with an embarrassing stare, +adding when Leslie, after examining it carefully, thrust the paper into +the glowing stove, "Careful man! Nobody is going to get ahead of you, +but can't you see that blame paper couldn't have made a cent's worth of +difference between you and me. Well, if you still value your +connection with the Company, I have something to tell you. That +infernal idiot Thurston won't hear of making terms, and, as you know, +there's a fortune waiting if we can corral the valley." + +"I can see the desirability, but not the means of accomplishing it," +replied Leslie. + +"No!" and the speaker glanced at him scornfully. "Well, Thurston must +finish by next summer, or his conditional grants are subject to +revision, while it's quite plain he can only work in the cañon in +winter. Something in the accident line has got to happen." + +"It failed before." Shackleby laughed. + +"What's the matter with trying again, and keeping on trying? I've got +influence enough to double your salary if Thurston doesn't get through. +It will be tolerably easy, for this time I don't count on trusting too +much to you. I'll send you along a man and you'll just make a bet with +him--we'll fix the odds presently and they'll be heavy against us--that +Thurston successfully completes the job in the cañon. The other man +bets he doesn't. When it appears judicious we'll contrive something to +draw Thurston away for a night or two." + +"But if you know the man, and it's so easy, why not make the bet +yourself?" Shackleby smiled pleasantly. + +"Because I'm not secretary hoping to get my salary doubled and a land +bonus. There are other reasons, but I don't want to hurt your feelings +any more than I wish to lacerate those of my worthy colleagues. +They'll ask no questions and only pass a resolution thanking you for +your zealous services. Nothing is going to slip up the wrong way, but +if it did you could only lose your salary, and I'd see you safe on the +way to Mexico with say enough to start a store, and you would be no +worse off than before, because I figure you'd lose the berth unless you +chip in with me." + +Leslie realized that this might well be so, but he made a last attempt. +"Suppose in desperation I turned round on you?" + +"I'd strike you for defamation and conspiracy, publish certain facts in +your previous record, and nobody would believe you, or dare to say so. +Besides, you haven't got grit enough in you by a long way, and that's +why I'm taking your consent for granted. By the way, I forgot to +mention that confounded Britisher raked an extra hundred dollars out of +me. Said I'd got to pay for his traveling and hotel expenses. I'm not +charging you, Leslie, and you ought to feel grateful to me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AN UNEXPECTED ALLY + +Winter was drawing towards its close at last, when, on the evening of a +day in which the result of a heavy blasting charge had exceeded his +utmost expectations, Geoffrey Thurston stood beside his foreman in his +workmen's mess shanty. Tin lamps hung from the beams blackened with +smoke, and sturdy men were finishing their six o'clock supper beneath +them. The men were the pick of the province, for, until tempted by the +contractor's high wages, most of them had been engaged in laying the +foundations of its future greatness by wresting new spaces for corn and +cattle from the forest. They ate, as they worked, heroically. The +supper was varied and bountiful, for Geoffrey, who was conscious of a +thrill of pride as he glanced down the long rows of weather-beaten +faces, fed his workmen well. They had served him faithfully through +howling gale and long black night, under scorching sun and bitter +frost, and now that the result of that day's operations had brought the +end of the work in sight, there was satisfaction in the knowledge that +he had led such men. + +"They're a fine crowd, Tom, and I'll be sorry to part with them," he +said. "It's hard to believe, after all we have struggled with, that +less than three weeks will see us through, but I'd give many dollars +for every hour we can reduce the time by. Send for a keg of the +hardest cider and I'll tell them so." + +There was applause when the keg was lifted to the table with its head +knocked in. Geoffrey, who had filled a tin dipper, said: "Here's my +best thanks for the way you have backed me, boys. Since they carried +the railroad across Beaver Creek, few men in the province have grappled +as you have with a task like this; but it's sometimes just possible to +go a little better than what looks like one's best, and I'm asking as a +favor from all of you that you will redouble your efforts. I estimate +that we'll finish this tough section in eighteen days from now, but I +want the work done in less time, and accordingly I'll promise a bonus +to every man if we can fire the last big shot a fortnight from to-day." + +"Stan' by!" shouted a big section foreman, as he hove himself upright. +"Fill every can up an' wait until I've finished. Now, Mr. Thurston, +I'm talking for the rest. You've paid us good wages, an' we've earned +them, every cent, though that wasn't much to our credit, for Tom from +Mattawa saw we did. Still, even dollars won't buy everything, and what +you can't pay us for we're ready to give. If flesh an' blood can do +it, a fortnight will see us through, an' the next contract you take, if +it's to wipe out the coast range or run off the Pacific, we're coming +along with you. I've nailed you to the bargain, boys, an' here's--The +Boss, victorious, an' to ---- with his bonus!" + +The long shanty rang to the roar that followed, and, when it died away, +Geoffrey, who set down his can, turned to his foreman. + +"Who is the little man next to Walla Jake?" he asked. + +"An old partner of his from Oregon. Came in one day when you were +away, and, as Jake allowed he was a square man, I took him on. Found +him worth his money, and fancied I'd told you." + +"You did not," said Geoffrey. "Jake's quite trustworthy, but watch the +stranger well. No doubt he's honest, but I'm getting nervous now we're +so near the end." + +The foreman answered reassuringly, and Geoffrey, who turned away, rode +beneath the snow-sprinkled firs to Savine's ranch. It was late when he +reached it, but his partner and Helen were expecting him. Savine +sighed with satisfaction when Geoffrey said: + +"In all probability we shall fire the decisive shot a fortnight from +to-day." + +"It is great news," replied Julius Savine. "As I have said already, it +was a lucky day for me--and mine--when I first fell in with you. Two +more anxious weeks and then the suspense will be over and I can +contentedly close my career. Lord! it will be well worth the living +for--the consummation of the most daring scheme ever carried out in the +Mountain Province. I won't see your next triumph, Geoffrey, but it can +hardly be greater than this you have won for me." + +"You exaggerate, sir," said Geoffrey. "It was you who won the +concession and overcame all the initial difficulties, while we would +never have gone so far without your assistance. Such a task would have +been far beyond me alone." + +"No--though it is good of you to say so. There were times when I tried +to fancy I was running the contract, but that was just a sick man's +craze. You have played out the game well and bravely, Geoffrey, as +only a true man could. Perhaps Helen will thank you--just now I don't +feel quite equal to it." + +Savine's voice broke a little, and he glanced at Helen, who sat very +still with downcast eyes. Geoffrey also looked at her for a second, +and his elation was tinged with bitterness. He could see that she was +troubled, and, with a pang of sudden misgiving, he watched her +anxiously. Without the one prize he had striven for, the victory would +be barren to him. Still, he desired to save her embarrassment, and +when she raised her head to obey her father, he broke in: + +"Miss Savine can place me under an obligation by firing the fateful +charge instead. It was her first commission which brought good luck to +me, and it is only fitting she should complete the result of it by +turning the firing key." + +Helen's eyes expressed her gratitude, as, consenting, she turned them +upon the speaker. Geoffrey rising to the occasion, said: + +"Did you ever hear the story of the first contract I undertook in +British Columbia, sir? May I tell it to your father, Miss Savine?" + +Helen was quick to appreciate his motive, and allowed him to see it. +While, seizing the opportunity to change the subject, Geoffrey told the +story whimsically. Humor was not his strong point, but he was capable +of brilliancy just then. Julius Savine laughed heartily, and when the +tale was finished all had settled down to their normal manner. When +Geoffrey took his leave, however, Helen followed him to the veranda, +and held out her hand. She stood close to him with the moonlight full +upon her, and it was only by an effort that the man who gripped the +slender fingers, conquered his desire to draw her towards him. Helen +never had looked so desirable. Then he dropped her hand, and stood +impassively still, waiting for what she had to say. + +"I could not thank you before my father, but neither could I let you go +without a word," she said, with a quiet composure which, because she +must have guessed at the struggle within him, was the badge of courage. +"You have won my undying gratitude, and----" + +"That is a great deal, very well worth the winning," he responded. "It +will be one pleasant memory to carry away with me." + +"To carry with you! You are not going away?" asked Helen, with an +illogical sense of dismay, which was not, however, in the least +apparent. She knew that any sign of feeling would provoke the crisis +from which she shrank. + +"Yes," declared Geoffrey. "Once this work is completed, I shall seek +another field." + +"You must not!" Though her voice was strained, Helen, who dared not do +otherwise, looked him steadily in the eyes. "You must not go. Now, +when, if you stay in the Province, fame and prosperity lie within your +grasp you will not overwhelm me by adding to the knowledge of all I +have robbed you of. It is hard for me to express myself plainly--but I +dare not take this from you, too." + +"Can you not guess how hard it all is for me?" He strode a few paces +apart from her while the words fell from his lips. Then he halted +again and turned towards her. + +"I had not meant to distress you--but how can I go on seeing you so +near me, hearing your voice, when every word and smile stir up a +longing that at times almost maddens me? What I have done I did for +you, and did it gladly, but this new command I cannot obey. Fame and +prosperity! What are either worth to me when the one thing I would +sell my life for is, you have told me, not to be attained?" + +"I am sorry," faltered Helen, whose breath came faster. "More sorry +than I can well express. I dare not ruin a bright future for you. Is +there nothing I can say that will prevent you?" + +"Only one thing," Geoffrey moving nearer looked down upon her until his +gaze impelled Helen to lift her eyes. There was no longer any trace of +passion in his face, which in spite of its firm lines had grown gentle. + +"Only one thing," he repeated. "Please listen--it is necessary, even +if it hurts you. I cannot blame you for my own folly, but my love is +incurable. You are a dutiful daughter, with an almost exaggerated idea +of justice, and I know the power circumstances give me. Still, I am so +covetous that I must have all or nothing; I love you so that I dare not +use the advantage chance has given me. Nevertheless, I will not +despair even yet, and some day when, perhaps, absence has hidden some +of my many shortcomings, I will come back and beg speech with you." + +"You are very generous." The words vibrated with sincerity. +"Once--always--I have cruelly wronged you----" but here Geoffrey raised +his hand and looked at the girl with a wry smile that had no mirth in +it. + +"You have never wronged me, Miss Savine. Once you spoke with a +marvelous accuracy, and I am not generous, only so unusually wise that +you must have inspired me. I cannot be content with less than the +best, and what that is--again, if I am brutal you must remember I +cannot help my nature--I will tell you." + +He stooped, and, before she realized his intentions, deftly caught +Helen's hands in each of his own, tightening his grip on them +masterfully, until he forced her to look up at him. Helen trembled as +she met his eyes. The man had spoken no more than the truth when he +said he could not help his nature, and, suddenly transformed, it was +the former Geoffrey Thurston she had shrunk from who held her fast. + +"Yes, I am wise. I know I could bend you to my will now, and that +afterwards you would hate me for it," he told her. "I--I would not +take you so, not if you came to me. Further, for we have dropped all +disguises, and face the naked truth, I have striven, and starved, and +suffered for you, risked my life often--and you shall not cheat me of +my due, which alone is why, because my time is not come yet, I shall go +away. The one reward that will satisfy me is this, that of your own +will you will once more hold my hands and say, 'I love you, Geoffrey +Thurston,' and I can wait with patience--for you will come to me thus +some day." + +He bent his head; and Helen felt her heart leap; but it was only her +fingers upon which his lips burned hot. The next moment he had gone, +while leaning breathless against the balustrade she gazed after him. + +Geoffrey did not glance behind him until, when some distance from the +ranch, he reined his horse in, and wiped his forehead. He had yielded +at last to an uncontrollable impulse which was perhaps part of his +inheritance from the old moss troopers, who had carried off their +brides on the crupper. As he walked his horse, a muffled beat of hoofs +came up the trail, and he fancied he heard a voice say: "The +twentieth--I'll be ready." + +Then a mounted figure appearing for a moment, vanished among the firs. +Geoffrey, turning back to camp, noticed that beside the hollows the +hoofs had made, there was the print of human feet in the powdery snow. + +"There is nothing to bring any rancher down this way, and a man must +have walked beside the rider," he speculated. "Who on earth could it +be?" Dismissing the incident from his mind, he went on his way. It +was only afterwards that the significance of the footprints became +apparent. + +There was a light in Geoffrey's quarters when at last he approached +them, and the foreman met him at the door. "That blame waster, Black, +has come back. Rode in quietly after dark, and none of the boys have +set eyes on him," he said; and, noting his master's surprise, he added +with a chuckle, "I put him in there for safety, and waited right here +to take care of him." + +Geoffrey went into the shanty, carefully closed the door, and turned +somewhat sternly upon the visitor. Black's outer appearance suggested +a degree of prosperity, but his face was anxious as he said, "I guess +you're surprised to see me?" + +"I am," was the answer. "In view of the fact that it is my duty to +hand you over to the nearest magistrate, my surprise is hardly +astonishing." + +"No," agreed Black, "it is not. Still, I don't think you'll surrender +me. Anyway, you've got to listen to a little story first. You didn't +hear the whole of it last time. I figure I can trust you to do the +square thing." + +"Be quick, then." Geoffrey leaned against the table while his visitor +began: + +"You've heard of the Blue Bird mine, and how one of the men who +relocated the lapsed claim was found in the river with a gash, which a +rock might have made, in the back of his head? Of course you have. +Well, it was me and Bob Morgan who located the Blue Bird. Morgan was a +good prospector, but the indications were hazy, and he got drunk when +he could. I knew mighty little of minerals, and we done nothing with +it until the time to put in our legal improvements was nearly up. Then +Morgan struck rich pay ore, and we worked night and day. But we +weren't quite quick enough--one night two jumpers pulled our stakes up. +Oh, yes, they had the law behind them, for says the Crown, 'Unless +you've developed your claim within the legal limit, it lapses; and any +free miner can relocate.'" + +"Come to the point," said Thurston. "I'm sleepy." + +"I'm coming," Black continued; "Morgan had no grit. He got on to the +whiskey, and talked about shooting himself. I swore I'd shoot the +first of the other crowd who set foot on the claim instead, and half +the boys who started driving pegs all round us heard me. There was a +doubt as to whether the jumpers had hit the time putting their stakes +in, and the boys were most for me, but as usual the thieves had a man +with money behind them. His name was Shackleby." + +"Ah! I begin to understand things now," said Geoffrey. + +"I was sitting alone in my tent at night when one of them jumpers came +in," Black went on, unheeding. "All the rest were sleeping, and the +bush was very still. He'd a roll of dollar bills to give me if I'd +light out quietly. Said I'd nothing to stand on, but the man behind +him didn't want to figure in the papers if it went to court. Well, I +wouldn't take the money, and ran him out of my tent. When he touched +his pistol, I had an ax in my hand, and it was a poor man's luck that +one of the boys must come along. When he'd slouched off, I began to +hanker for the money, went after the jumper to see if I could raise his +price, missed him and came back again, but I struck his tracks in the +mud beside a creek, with another man's hoof-marks behind them. Well, +next morning that jumper was found in the river with no money in his +wallet, and the boys looked black at me until I had an interview with +Mr. Shackleby. He'd fixed the whole thing up good enough to hang me, +and nailed me down to blame hard terms as the price of my liberty. +You're getting tired--no? Shackleby got the Blue Bird, and kept his +claws on me until his man, Leslie, sent me up to bust your machines; +but Shackleby has worn me thin, until I'm ready to stand my trial +sooner than run any more of his mean jobs for him; and now, to cut the +long end off, do you believe me?" + +"I think I do," replied Geoffrey. "What made you bolt from here, and +what do you want from me? Is it the same promise as before?" + +Black related the incidents of his abduction. He raised his right hand +with a dramatic gesture as he concluded: + +"As I have been a liar, this is gospel truth, s'help me. Whoever +killed that jumper--and I figure Shackleby knows--it wasn't me. The +night you fished me out of the river I said, 'Here's a man with sand +enough to stand right up to Shackleby,' and I'll make a deal with you." + +"The terms?" said Geoffrey. + +"Rather better than before. On your part, a smart lawyer to take my +case if Shackleby sets the police on me. On mine--with you behind me, +I can tell a story that will bring two Companies down on Shackleby. +What brought me to the scratch now was, that I read in _The Colonist_ +that you'd be through shortly, and I guessed Shackleby's insect, +Leslie, would have another shot at you. I'm open to take my chances of +hanging to get even with them." + +The mingled fear and hatred in the speaker's face was certainly +genuine, and Geoffrey said briefly: "If I thought you guilty, I'd slip +irons on to you. As it is, I'm willing to close that deal. You'll +have to take my word and lie quiet, until you're wanted, where I hide +you." + +"I guess that is good enough for me," Black declared exultantly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +MILLICENT'S REVOLT + +"I really feel mean over it, and, of course, I will pay you back, but +unless I get the money to meet the call, I shall have to sacrifice the +stock," said Henry Leslie, glancing furtively at his wife across the +breakfast-table. + +Leslie was seldom at his best in the morning, but he seemed unusually +nervous, and the coffee-cup shook in his fingers as he raised it. + +"It's the last I'll ask you for," he continued, "and if you press him, +Thurston will sign the check. He said he was coming, did he not?" + +"Yes," was the answer. "Here is his note. It must be the last, Harry, +for I have overdrawn my allowance already. You will notice that +Geoffrey hesitates, and will not sign the check without seeing me. He +will be here on Thursday." + +Leslie took the letter with an eagerness which did not escape his wife, +while, as the sum in question was small, she could not quite understand +the satisfaction in his face. It had grown soddened and coarse of +late, and there were times when she looked upon her husband with +positive disgust. Still, she had, in spite of occasional disputes, +resumed her efforts to play the part of a dutiful wife, and it was +easier to pay her husband money than respect, the more so because he +had usually some specious excuse, which appealed both to her ambition +and her gambling instinct. At times he handed her small amounts of +money, said to be her share of the profits on speculations, for which +he required the loans. + +"'Pressure of work, but must make an effort to see you as you +suggest,'" Leslie read aloud. "H'm! 'Limit exceeded already. Will be +in town, and try to call upon you on Thursday.'" + + +"It is very good of him," remarked Millicent. "He evidently finds +every minute precious, and I am very reluctant to bring him here. I +gather that, except for my request, he would have deferred his other +business. Still, I suppose you must have the money, Harry?" + +"I must," was the answer, and Leslie, who did not look up, busied +himself with his plate. "Better write that you expect him, and I will +post the note. By the way, I must remind you that we take the Eastern +Fishery delegates on their steamer trip the day after to-morrow, and +though there may be rather a mixed company, I want you to turn out +smartly, and get hold of the best people. It would be well to see a +mention of the handsome Mrs. Leslie in the newspaper report." + +Millicent frowned. She was a vain woman, but she had some genuine +pride, and there were limits to her forbearance. By the time her +husband had induced her to withdraw her refusal to accompany him, it +was too late further to discuss Thurston's visit, which was exactly +what Leslie desired. Accordingly, well pleased with himself, he set +out for his office, with a letter in his hand. + +Mrs. Leslie had reason to remember the steamer excursion. A party of +prominent persons had been invited to accompany the Fishery delegates +on the maritime picnic, organized for the purpose of displaying the +facilities that coast afforded for the prosecution of a new industry. +It was difficult for the committee to draw a rigid line, and the +company was decidedly mixed, more so than even Millicent at first +surmised. Her husband, who acted as marshal, was kept busy most of the +time, but she noticed a swift look of annoyance on his face when, +before the steamer sailed, a tastefully-dressed young woman ascended +the gangway, where he was receiving the guests. There was nothing +dubious in the appearance of the lady or her elderly companion, and yet +Millicent felt that Leslie was troubled by their presence, and +hesitated to let them pass. The younger lady, however, smiled upon him +in a manner that suggested they had met before, and Leslie stood aside +when Shackleby beckoned him with what looked like an ironical grin. +Then the gangway was run in, and the engines started. + +It was a mild day for the season, and Millicent, who found friends, +dismissed the subject from her thoughts, when she saw her husband +exchange no word with his latest guests. She was sitting with a young +married lady, where the sun shone pleasantly in the shelter of the +great white deck-house, when a sound of voices came out, with the odor +of cigar smoke, from an open window. + +"You fixed it all right?" observed one voice which sounded familiar, +and there was a laugh which, though muffled, was more familiar still. +While, with curiosity excited, Millicent listened, a companion broke in: + +"Where's Mr. Leslie? I have scarcely seen him all morning." + +"Making himself useful as usual. Discoursing on fisheries and harbors, +of which he knows nothing, to men who know a good deal, and no doubt +doing it very neatly," said Millicent, smiling. + +"Why do you let him?" asked the other, with a little gesture of pride, +which became her. "Now, my husband knows better than to stay away from +me, even if he wanted to. Ah, here he is, bringing good things from +the sunny South piled up on a tray." + +Perhaps it was the contrast, for Millicent felt both resentful and +neglected when a young man approached carrying choice fruits and cakes +upon a nickeled tray; but before he reached them a voice came through +the window again: + +"You're quite certain? That man has eyes all over him, and it won't do +to take any chances with him. He must be kept right here in Vancouver +all night, and the game will be in our own hands before he gets back +again." + +"I've done my best," was the answer, and Millicent fancied, but was not +certain, that it was her husband who spoke. "I have fixed things so +that he will come to Vancouver. The only worry is, can we depend upon +the fellow I laid the odds with?" + +"Oh, yes," responded the second voice. "I guess he knows better than +fail me. By the way, you nearly made a fool of yourself over Coralie." + +"Somebody inside there talking secrets," observed the younger lady. "I +think it is Mr. Shackleby, and I don't like that man. Charley, set +down that tray and carry my chair and Mrs. Leslie's at least a dozen +yards away." + +Millicent, at the risk of being guilty of eavesdropping, would have +greatly preferred to stay where she was; but when the man did his +wife's bidding, she could only follow and thank him. Lifting a cluster +of fruit from the tray, she asked one question. + +"Can you tell me, Mr. Nelson, who is Coralie?" + +Nelson looked startled for a moment, and found it necessary to place +another folding chair under the tray. He did not answer until his wife +said: + +"Didn't you hear Mrs. Leslie's question, Charley? Who is Coralie?" + +"Sounds like the name of a variety actress," answered the man, by no +means glibly. "Why should you ask me? I really don't know. I'm not +good at conundrums. Isn't this a beautiful view? I fancied you'd have +a better appetite up here than amid the crowd below." + +Millicent's curiosity was further excited by the speaker's manner, but +she could only possess her soul in patience, until presently it was +satisfied on one point at least. She sat alone for a few minutes on +the steamer's highest deck against the colored glass dome of the great +white and gold saloon. Several of the brass-guarded lights were open +wide, and, hearing a burst of laughter, she looked down. The young +woman, who had spoken to Leslie at the gangway, sat at a corner table, +partly hidden by two carved pillars below. She held a champagne glass +in a lavishly jeweled hand, and there was no doubt that she was pretty, +but there was that in her suggestive laugh and mocking curve of the +full red lips, something which set Millicent's teeth on edge. If more +were needed to increase the unpleasant impression, a rich mine promoter +sat near the young woman, trying to whisper confidentially, and another +man, whose name was notorious in the city, laughed as he watched them. +But Millicent had seen sufficient, and turning her head, looked out to +sea. There were, however, several men smoking on the opposite side of +the dome, and one of them also must have looked down, for his comment +was audible. + +"They're having what you call a good time down there! Who and what is +she?" + +"Ma'mselle Coralie. Ostensibly a _clairvoyante_," was the dry reply. + +"_Clairvoyante_!" repeated the first unseen speaker, who, by his clean +intonation, Millicent set down as a newly-arrived Englishman. "Do you +mean a professional soothsayer?" + +"Something of the kind," said the other with a laugh. "We're a curious +people marching in the forefront of progress, so we like to think, and +yet we consult hypnotists and all kinds of fakirs, even about our +business. Walk down ---- Street and you'll see half-a-dozen of their +name-plates. When they're young and handsome they get plenty of +customers, and it's suspected that Coralie, with assistance, runs a +select gambling bank of evenings. The charlatan is not tied to one +profession." + +"I catch on--correct phrase, isn't it?" rejoined the Englishman. "Of +course, you're liberal minded and free from effete prejudice, but I +hardly fancied the wives of your best citizens would care to meet such +ladies." + +"They wouldn't if they knew it!" was the answer. "Coralie's a +newcomer; such women are birds of passage, and before she grows too +famous the police will move her on. In fact, I've been wondering how +she got on board to-day." + +"Leslie passed her up the gangway," said another man, adding, with a +suggestive laugh as he answered another question: "Why did he do it? +Well, perhaps he's had his fortune told, or you can ask him. Anyway, +although I think he wanted to, he dared not turn her back." + +Millicent, rising, slipped away. Trembling with rage, she was glad to +lean upon the steamer's rail. She had discovered long ago that her +husband was not a model of virtue, but the knowledge that his +shortcomings were common property was particularly bitter to her. Of +late she had dutifully endeavored to live on good terms with him, and +it was galling to discover that he had only, it seemed, worked upon her +softer mood for the purpose of extorting money to lavish upon illicit +pleasures. She felt no man could sink lower than that, and determined +there should be a reckoning that very night. + +"My dear Mrs. Leslie," said a voice beside her. "Why, you look quite +ill. My husband brought a bottle of stuff guaranteed to cure steamboat +malady. Run and get it, Charley," and Millicent turned to meet her +young married friend. + +"Please don't trouble, Mr. Nelson. I am not in the least sea-sick," +Millicent replied. "You might, however, spread out that deck chair for +me. It is a passing faintness which will leave me directly." + +She remembered nothing about the rest of the voyage, except that, when +the steamer reached the wharf, her husband, who helped her down the +gangway, said: + +"I have promised to go to the conference and afterwards dine with the +delegates, Millicent, so I dare say you will excuse me. I shall not be +late if I can help it, and you might wait up for me." + +Millicent, who had intended to wait for him, in any case, merely +nodded, and went home alone. She sat beside the English hearth all +evening with an open book upside down upon her knee, and her eyes +turned towards the clock, which very slowly ticked away the last hours +she would spend beneath her husband's roof. There was spirit in her, +and though she hardly knew why, she dressed herself for the interview +carefully. When Leslie entered, his eyes expressed admiration as she +rose with cold dignity and stood before him. Leslie was sober, but +unfortunately for himself barely so, for the delegates had been treated +with lavish Western hospitality, and there had been many toasts to +honor during the dinner. He leaned against the wall with one hand on a +carved bracket, looking down upon her with what seemed to be a leer of +brutal pride upon his slightly-flushed face. + +"You excelled yourself to-day, Millicent. I saw no end of folks +admiring you," he said. "Most satisfactory day! Everything went off +famously! Enjoyed yourself, eh?" + +"I can hardly say I did, but that is not what you asked me to wait +for," was the cold answer, and Millicent with native caution waited to +hear what the man wanted before committing herself. + +"No. I meant it, but it wasn't. I couldn't help saying I was proud of +you." Leslie paused, doubtless satisfied, his wife thought, that he +had smoothed the way sufficiently by a clumsy compliment. His +abilities were not at their best just then. Millicent's thin lips +curled scornfully as she listened. + +"Thurston will be here on Thursday," he continued. "Never liked the +man, but he has behaved decently as your trustee, and I want to be fair +to him. Besides, he's a rising genius, and it's as well to be on good +terms with him. Couldn't you get him to stay to dinner and talk over +the way they've invested your legacy?" + +"Do you think he would care to meet you?" asked Millicent, cuttingly. + +"Perhaps he mightn't. You could have the Nelsons over, and press of +business might detain me. Anyway, you'll have no time to settle all +about that money and your English property if he goes out on the +Atlantic train. You two seem to have got quite friendly again, and I'm +tolerably sure he'd stay if you asked him." + +Millicent's anger was rising all the time; but, because her suspicions +increased every moment, she kept herself in hand. Feeling certain this +was part of some plot, and that her husband was not steady enough to +carry out his _rôle_ cleverly, she desired to discover his exact +intentions before denouncing him. + +"Why should I press him?" + +Had it been before the dinner Leslie might have acted more discreetly. +As it was, he looked at the speaker somewhat blankly. "Why? Because I +want you to. Now don't ask troublesome questions or put on your +tragedy air, Millicent, but just promise to keep him here until after +the east-bound train starts, anyway. I'm not asking for caprice--I--I +particularly want a man to see him who will not be in the city until +the following day." + +Then, remembering what she had heard outside the steamer's deck house, +a light suddenly broke in upon the woman. The man whose keen eyes +would interfere with Shackleby's plans must be Thurston, and it was +evident there was a scheme on hand to wreck his work in his absence. +Once she had half-willingly assisted her husband to Thurston's +detriment; but much had changed since then, and remembering that she +had already, without knowing it, played into the confederate's hands by +writing to him, her indignation mastered her. + +"I could not persuade him against his wishes, and would not do so if I +could," she declared, turning full upon her husband. + +"You can and must," replied Leslie, whose passion blazed up. "I'm +about sick of your obstinacy and fondness for dramatic situations. You +could do anything with any man you laid yourself out to inveigle, as I +know to my cost, and in this case--by the Lord, I'll make you!" + +"I will not!" Millicent's face was white with anger as she fixed her +eyes on him. "For a few moments you shall listen to me. What you and +Shackleby are planning does not concern me; but I will not move a +finger to help you. Once before you said--what you have done--and if I +have never forgotten it I tried to do so. This time I shall do +neither. I have borne very much from you already, but, sunk almost to +your level as I am, there are things I cannot stoop to countenance. +For instance, the draft I am to cajole from Thurston is not intended +for a speculation in mining shares, but--for Coralie." + +The little carved bracket came down from the wall with a crash, and +Leslie, whose face was swollen with fury, gripped the speaker's arm +savagely. "After to-morrow you can do just what pleases you and go +where you will," he responded in a voice shaking with rage and fear. +"But in this I will make you obey me. As to Coralie, somebody has +slandered me. The money is for what I told you, and nothing else." + +Millicent with an effort wrenched herself free. "It is useless to +protest, for I would not believe your oath," she said, looking at him +steadily with contempt showing in every line of her pose. "Obey--you! +As the man I, with blind folly, abandoned for you warned me, you are +too abject a thing. Liar, thief, have I not said +sufficient?--adulterer!" + +"Quite!" cried Leslie, who yielded to the murderous fury which had been +growing upon him, and leaning down struck her brutally upon the mouth. +"What I am you have made me--and, by Heaven, it is time I repaid you in +part." + +Millicent staggered a little under the blow, which had been a heavy +one, but her wits were clear, and, moving swiftly to a bell button, the +pressure of her finger was answered by a tinkle below. + +"I presume you do not wish to make a public scandal," she said thickly, +for the lace handkerchief she removed from her smarting lips was +stained with blood. Then, as their Chinese servant appeared in the +doorway, "Your master wants you, John." + +Before Leslie could grasp her intentions she had vanished, there was a +rustle of drapery on the stairway, followed by the jar of a lock, and +he was left face to face was the stolid Asiatic. + +"Wantee someling, sah?" the Chinaman asked. + +Leslie glared at him speechless until, with a humble little nod, the +servant said: + +"Linga linga bell; too much hullee, John quick come. Wantee someling. +Linga linga bell." + +"Go the devil. Oh, get out before I throw you," roared Leslie, and +John vanished with the waft of a blue gown, while Millicent's book +crashed against the door close behind his head. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A RECKLESS JOURNEY + +The rising moon hung low above the lofty pines behind the city, when +Millicent sank shivering into a chair beside the window of her bedroom. +Under the impact of the blow her teeth had gashed her upper lip, but +she did not feel the pain as she sat with hands clenched, looking down +on the blaze of silver that grew broader across the inlet. She was +faint and dizzy, incapable as yet of definite thought; but confused +memories flashed through her brain, one among them more clearly than +the rest. Instead of land-locked water shimmering beneath the Western +pines, she saw dim English beeches with the coppery disk of the rising +moon behind, and she heard a tall man speak with stinging scorn to one +who cowered before him among the shadows. + +"I was mad that night, and have paid for the madness ever since. Now +when it is too late I know what I have lost!" she gasped with a catch +of the breath that was a sob repressed. + +There was a heavy step on the stairway, and Millicent shrank with the +nausea of disgust as somebody tried the door. She drew a deep breath +of relief, when the steps passed on unevenly. + +The memories returned. They led her through a long succession of +mistakes, falsehoods, slights and wrongs up to the present, and she +shivered again, while a heavy drop of blood splashed warm upon her +hand. Then she was mistress of herself once more, and a hazy purpose +grew into definite shape. She could at least warn the man whom she had +wronged, and so make partial reparation. It was not a wish for revenge +upon her husband which prompted her to desire that amends might be made +for her past treachery. Smarting with shame, she longed only to escape +from him. After the day's revelations she could never forgive that +blow. + +Millicent was a woman of action, and it was a relief to consider +practical details. She decided that a telegram might lie for days at +the station nearest the cañon, while what distance divided one from the +other she did not know. There was no train before noon the next day, +and she feared that the plot might be put into execution as soon as +Geoffrey left his camp. Therefore, she must reach it before he did so. +Afterwards--but she would not consider the future then, and, if she +could but warn him, nothing mattered greatly, neither physical peril +nor the risk of her good name. + +It was long before Millicent Leslie had thought all this out, but when +once her way seemed clear, exhausted by conflicting emotions, she sank +into heavy slumber, and the sun was high before she awakened. Leslie +had gone to his office, and she ate a little, chose her thickest furs, +and waited for noon in feverish suspense. Her husband might return and +prevent her departure by force. She feared that, should he guess her +intention, a special locomotive might be hired, even after the train +had started. It was, therefore, necessary to slip away without word or +sign, unless, indeed, she could mislead him, and, smiling mirthlessly, +she laid an open letter inside her writing-case. + +At last the time came, and she went out carrying only a little +hand-bag, passed along the unfrequented water side to the station by +the wharf, and ensconced herself in the corner of the car nearest the +locomotive, counting the seconds until it should start. Once she +trembled when she saw Shackleby hurry along the platform, but she +breathed again when he hailed a man leaning out from the vestibule of a +car. At last, the big bell clanged, and the Atlantic express, rolling +out of the station, began its race across the continent. + +It was nearly dusk when, with a scream of brakes, the cars lurched into +a desolate mountain station, and Millicent shivered as she alighted in +the frost-dried dust of snow. A nipping wind sighed down the valley. +The tall firs on the hillside were fading into phantom battalions of +climbing trees, and above them towered a dim chaos of giant peaks, +weirdly awe-inspiring under the last faint glimmer of the dying day. A +few lights blinked among the lower firs, and Millicent, hurrying +towards them at the station agent's direction, was greeted by the odors +of coarse tobacco as she pushed open the door of the New Eldorado +saloon. + +A group of bronze-faced men, some in jackets of fringed deerskin and +some in coarse blue jean, sat about the stove, and, though Millicent +involuntarily shrank from them, there was no reason why she should feel +any fear in their presence. They were rude of aspect--on occasion more +rude of speech--but, in all the essentials that become a man, she would +have found few to surpass them in either English or Western cities. +There was dead silence as she entered, and the others copied him when +one of the loungers, rising, took off his shapeless hat, not +ungracefully. + +"I want a guide and good horse to take me to Thurston's camp in the +Orchard River Cañon to-night," she said. + +The men looked at one another, and the one who rose first replied: +"Sorry to disappoint you, ma'am, but it's clean impossible. We'll have +snow by morning, and it's steep chances a man couldn't get through in +the dark now the shelf on the wagon trail's down." + +"I must go. It is a matter of life and death, and I'm willing to pay +whoever will guide me proportionate to the risk," insisted Millicent, +shaking out on the table a roll of bills. Then, because she was a +woman of quick perceptions, and noticed something in the big axeman's +honest face, she added quickly, "I am in great distress, and disaster +may follow every moment lost. Is there nobody in this settlement with +courage enough to help me?" + +This time the listeners whispered as they glanced sympathetically at +the speaker. The big man said: + +"If you're willing to face the risk I'll go with you. You can put back +most of your money; but, because we're poor men you'll be responsible +for the horses." + +Millicent felt the cold strike through her with the keenness of steel +when the went out into the night. Somebody lifted her to the back of a +snorting horse, and a man already mounted seized its bridle. There was +a shout of "Good luck!" and they had started on their adventurous +journey. Loose floury snow muffled the beat of hoofs, the lights of +the settlement faded behind and the two were alone in a wilderness of +awful white beauty, wherein it seemed no living thing had broken the +frozen silence since the world was made. Staring vacantly before her +Millicent saw the shoulders of the mighty peaks looming far above her +through a haze of driving snow, which did not reach the lower slopes, +where even the wind was still. The steam of the horses hung in white +clouds about them as they climbed, apparently for hours, past scattered +vedettes of dwindling pines. After a long pull on a steep trail the +man checked the horses on the brink of a chasm filled with eddying mist. + +"That should have been our way, but the whole blame trail slipped down +into the valley," the man said. "Let me take hold of your bridle and +trust to me. We're going straight over the spur yonder until we strike +the trail again." + +It was no longer a ride but a scramble. Even those sure-footed horses +stumbled continually, and where the wind had swept the thin snow away, +the iron on the sliding hoofs clanged on ice-streaked rock, or +hundredweights of loose gravel rattled down the incline. Then there +was juniper to be struggled through. They came to slopes almost +precipitous up which the panting guide somehow dragged the horses, but, +one strong with muscular vigor and the other sustained by sheer force +of will, the two riders held stubbornly on. Millicent had risen +superior to physical weakness that night. + +"Four hours to the big divide! We've pretty well equaled Thurston's +record," said the guide, striking a match inside his hollowed palm to +consult his watch. "It's all down grade now, but we'll meet the wind +in the long pass and maybe the snow." + +Millicent's heart almost failed her when, as the match went out, she +gazed down into the gulf of darkness that opened at her feet, but she +answered steadily: "Press on. I must reach the camp by daylight, +whatever happens." + +They went on. The pace, instead of a scramble, became in places a wild +glissade, and no beast of burden but a mountain pack-horse could have +kept its footing ten minutes. Dark pines rose up from beneath them and +faded back of them, here and there a scarred rock or whitened boulder +flitted by, and then Millicent's sight was dimmed by a whirling haze of +snow. How long the descent lasted she did not know. She could see +nothing through the maze of eddying flakes but that a figure, magnified +by them to gigantic proportions, rode close beside her, until they left +the cloud behind and wound along the face of a declivity, which dipped +into empty blackness close beneath. + +Suddenly her horse stumbled; there was a flounder and a shock, and +Millicent felt herself sliding very swiftly down a long slope of +crusted snow. Hoarse with terror, she screamed once, then something +seized and held her fast, and she rose, shaking in every limb, to cling +breathless to the guide. + +"Hurt bad?" he gasped. "No!--I'm mighty glad. Snow slide must have +gouged part of the trail out. Can you hold up a minute while I 'tend +to the horse?" + +"I don't think I am much hurt," stammered Millicent, whose teeth were +chattering, and the man floundering back a few paces, stooped over a +dark object that struggled in the snow. She fancied that he fumbled at +his belt, after which there was a horrible gurgle, and he returned +rubbing his fingers suggestively with a handful of snow. + +"Poor brute's done for--I had to settle him," he explained. "It will +cost you--but we can fix that when we get through. I'll have to change +your saddle, and the sooner we get on the better. Won't keep you five +minutes, ma'am." + +Millicent felt very cold and sick, for the unfortunate horse still +struggled feebly, while the gurgle continued, and she was devoutly +thankful when they continued their journey. The traveling was, if +possible, more arduous than before. At times they forced a passage +through climbing forest, and again over slopes of treacherous shale +where a snow slide had plowed a great hollow in the breast of the hill. +The puffs of snow which once more met them grew thicker until Millicent +was sheeted white all over. At last the man said: + +"It can't be far off daylight and I'm mighty thankful. I've lost my +bearings, but we're on a trail, which must lead to somewhere, at last. +Stick tight to your saddle and I'll bring you through all right, ma'am." + +Millicent was too cold to answer. A blast that whirled the drifts up +met her in the face, numbing all her faculties and rendering breathing +difficult. The hand that held the bridle was stiffened into +uselessness. Still, while life pulsed within her, she was going on, +and swaying in the saddle, she fixed her eyes ahead. + +At last the trail grew level, the snow thinner. In the growing light +of day a cluster of roofs loomed up before her, and she made some +incoherent answer when her guide confessed: + +"I struck the wrong way at the forking of the trail. Here's a ranch, +however, and the camp can't be far away. Horse is used up and so am I, +but you could get somebody to take Thurston a message." + +Some minutes later he lifted Millicent from the saddle, and she leaned +against him almost powerless as he pounded on the door. The loud +knocking was answered by voices within, the door swung open, and +Millicent reeled into a long hall. Two women rose from beside the +stove, and, for it was broad daylight now, stared in bewilderment at +the strangers. + +The guide leaned wearily against the wall, while Millicent, overcome by +the change of temperature, stood clutching at the table and swaying to +and fro. Then her failing strength deserted her. Somebody who helped +her into a chair presently held a cup of warm liquid to her lips. She +gulped down a little, and, recovering command of her senses, found +herself confronted by Helen Savine. It was a curious meeting, and even +then Millicent remembered under what circumstances they had last seen +each other. It appeared probable that Helen remembered, too, for she +showed no sign of welcome, and Mrs. Thomas Savine, who picked up the +fallen cup, watched them intently. + +"I see you are surprised to find me here," said Millicent, with a gasp. +"I left the railroad last night for Geoffrey Thurston's camp. We lost +the trail and one of the horses in the snow, and just managed to reach +this ranch. We can drag ourselves no further. I did not know the +ranch belonged to you." + +"That's about it!" the guide broke in. "This lady has made a journey +that would have killed some men--it has pretty well used me up, anyway. +I'll sit down in the corner if you don't mind. Can't keep myself right +end up much longer." + +"Please make yourself comfortable!" said Helen, with a compassionate +glance in his direction. "I will tell our Chinaman to see to your +horse." She turned towards Millicent, and her face was coldly +impassive. "Anyone in distress is welcome to shelter here. You were +going to Mr. Thurston's camp?" + +Even Mrs. Savine had started at Millicent's first statement, and now +she read contemptuous indignation in Helen's eyes. It was certain her +niece's voice, though even, was curiously strained. + +"Yes!" answered Millicent, rapidly. "I was going to Geoffrey +Thurston's camp. It is only failing strength that hinders me from +completing the journey. Somebody must warn him at once that he is on +no account to leave for Vancouver as he promised me that he would. +There is a plot to ruin him during his absence--a traitor among his +workmen, I think. At any moment the warning may be too late. He was +starting west to-day to call on me." + +Millicent was half-dazed and perhaps did not reflect that it was +possible to draw a damaging inference from her words. Nevertheless, +there was that in Helen's expression which awoke a desire for +retaliation. + +Helen asked but one question, "You risked your life to tell him this?" +and when Millicent bent her head the guide interposed, "You can bet she +did, and nearly lost it." + +"Then," said the girl, "the warning must not be thrown away. +Unfortunately, we have nobody I could send just now. Auntie, you must +see to Mrs. Leslie; I will go myself." + +"I'm very sorry, miss. If you like I'll do my best, but can hardly +promise that I won't fall over on the way," apologized the guide; but +Helen hastened out of the room, and now that the strain was over, +Millicent lay helpless in her chair. Still, she was conscious of a +keen disappointment. After all she had dared and suffered, it was +Helen who would deliver the warning. + +Thurston was standing knee-deep in ground-up stone and mire, inside a +coffer dam about which the river frothed and roared, when a man brought +him word that Miss Savine waited for him. He hurried to meet her, and +presently halted beside her horse--a burly figure in shapeless slouch +hat, with a muddy oilskin hanging from his shoulders above the stained +overalls and long boots. + +Helen sat still in the saddle, a strange contrast to him, for she was +neat and dainty down to the little foot in Indian dressed deerskin +against the horse's flank. She showed no sign of pleasure as she +returned his greeting, but watched him keenly as she said: + +"Mrs. Leslie arrived this morning almost frozen at the ranch. She left +the railroad last night to reach your camp, but her guide lost the +trail." + +The man was certainly startled, but his face betrayed no satisfaction. +It's most visible expression was more akin to annoyance. + +"Could she not have waited?" he asked impatiently, adding somewhat +awkwardly, "Did Mrs. Leslie explain why she wanted to see me so +particularly?" + +"Yes," was the quick answer. "She has reason to believe that while you +journeyed to Vancouver to visit her, an attempt would be made to wreck +these workings. She bade me warn you that there is a traitor in your +camp." + +"Ah," replied Geoffrey, a flush showing through the bronze on his +forehead. He thought hastily of all his men and came back to the +consciousness of Helen's presence with a start. "It was very good of +you to face the rough cold journey, but you cannot return without rest +and refreshment," he said with a look that spoke of something more than +gratitude. "I will warn my foremen, and when it seems safe will ride +back with you." + +If Helen had been gifted with a wider knowledge of life she might +perhaps have noticed several circumstances that proved Thurston +blameless. As it was she had a quick temper, and at first glance facts +spoke eloquently against him. + +"You cannot," was the cold answer. "The warning was very plain, and +considering all that is at stake you must not leave the workings a +moment. Neither are any thanks due to me. I am an interested party, +and the person who has earned your gratitude is Mrs. Leslie. The day +is clear and fine, and I can dispense with an escort." + +"You shall not go alone," declared Thurston, doggedly. "You can choose +between my company and that of my assistant. And you shall not go +until you rest. Further, I must ask you a favor. Will you receive +Mrs. Leslie until I have seen her and arranged for her return? There +is no married rancher within some distance, and I cannot well bring her +here." + +"You cannot," agreed Helen averting her eyes. "If only on account of +the service she has rendered, Mrs. Leslie is entitled to such shelter +as we can offer her, as long as it appears necessary." + +"Thanks!" said Thurston, gravely. "You relieve me of a difficulty." +Then, stung by the girl's ill-concealed disdain into one of his former +outbreaks, he gripped the horse's bridle, and backed the beast so that +he and its rider were more fully face to face. + +"Am I not harassed sufficiently? Good Lord! do you think----" he began. + +"I have neither the right nor desire to inquire into your motives," +responded Helen distantly. "We will, as I say, shelter Mrs. Leslie, +and, since you insist, will you ask your assistant to accompany me?" + +Geoffrey, raising his hat a moment, swung round upon his heel, and blew +a silver whistle. + +"Tom," he said to the man who came running up, "tell John to get some +coffee and the nicest things he can in a hurry for Miss Savine. +Straighten up my office room, and lay them out there. English Jim is +to ride back with Miss Savine when she is ready. Send a mounted man to +Allerton's to bring Black in, see that no man you wouldn't trust your +last dollar to lay's hand on a machine. That would stop half the work +in camp? It wouldn't--confound you--you know what I mean. Call in all +explosives from the shot-firing gang. Nobody's to slip for a moment +out of sight of his section foreman." + +Helen heard the crisp sharp orders as she rode up the hill, and glanced +once over her shoulder. She had often noticed how the whole strength +of Geoffrey's character could rise to face a crisis. Still, +appearances were terribly against him. + +Geoffrey, taking breath for a moment, scowled savagely at the river. + +"If ever there was an unfortunate devil--but I suppose it can't be +helped. Damn the luck that dogs me!" he ejaculated as he turned to +issue more specific commands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MRS. SAVINE SPEAKS HER MIND + +Millicent slept brokenly while Helen carried her message, and awakening +feverish, felt relieved to discover that the girl was still absent. +Miss Savine was younger than herself, and of much less varied +experience, but the look in the girl's eyes hurt her, nevertheless. + +"I am ashamed to force myself upon you," she said to Mrs. Savine, who +had shown her many small courtesies, "but I am afraid I cannot manage +the journey back to the railroad to-day. I must also see Mr. Thurston +before I leave for England, and it would be a great favor if I could +have the interview here." + +"We are glad to have you with us," said Mrs. Savine, who was of kindly +nature and fancied she saw her opportunity. "Yes, I just mean it. The +journey has tried you so much that you are not fit for another now. +Besides, I have heard so much about you, that I want a talk with you." + +"You have probably heard nothing that makes this visit particularly +welcome," answered Millicent, bitterly, and the elder lady smiled. + +"I guess folks are apt to make the most of the worst points in all of +us," she observed. "But that is not what we are going to talk about. +You are an old friend of a man we are indebted to, and, just because I +believe there's no meanness in Geoffrey Thurston, you are very welcome +to the best that we can do for you. I will ask him over to meet you." + +Millicent flushed. Under the circumstances she was touched by the +speaker's sincerity, and grateful for the way she expressed herself. +Perhaps it was this which prompted her to an almost involuntary +outpouring of confidence. + +"I am the woman who should have married him," she said simply. + +Mrs. Savine merely nodded, and dipped her needle somewhat blindly into +the embroidery on her knee before she replied: "I had guessed it +already. You missed a very good husband, my dear. I don't want to +force your confidence, but I imagine that you have some distress to +bear, and I might help you. I have seen a good deal of trouble in my +time." + +Millicent was unstable by nature. She was also excited and feverish. +Afterwards she wondered why a kindly word from a woman she knew so +slightly should excite in her such a desire for advice and sympathy. +In spite of her occasional brusqueries, it was hard for anyone to say +no to Mrs. Savine. So Millicent answered, with a sigh: + +"I know it now when it is too late--no one knows it better. You do +well to believe in Geoffrey Thurston." + +Mrs. Savine looked at her very keenly, then nodded. "I believe in you, +too. There! I guess you can trust me." + +Millicent bent her head, and her eyes were misty. A raw wound, which +the frost had irritated, marred the delicate curve of her upper lip. +It became painfully visible. + +"It is only fit that I should tell you, since I am your guest," she +said, touching the scar with one finger. "That is the mark of my +husband's hand, and I am leaving him forever because I would not +connive at Geoffrey's ruin. Geoffrey is acting as trustee for my +property, and I cannot leave for England without consulting him. So +much is perhaps due to you, and--because of your kindness I should not +like you to think too ill of me--I will tell you the rest. To begin +with, Geoffrey has never shown me anything but kindness." + +Mrs. Savine gently patted the speaker's arm, and Millicent related what +had led up to her journey, or part of it. When she had finished, the +elder lady commented: + +"You are doing a risky thing; but I can't quite blame you, and if I +could, I would not do it now. You will stay right here until Geoffrey +has fixed up all plans for your journey, and you can trust me to be +kind to you. Still, there's one favor I'm going to ask. I want you to +let me tell my niece as much of what you have told me as I think +desirable. Remember, Geoffrey has been good to you." + +For a moment Millicent's face grew hard, and her eyes defiant. She +smiled sadly as she answered: "It is his due, and can make no +difference now. Tell her what seems best." + +Meanwhile, Geoffrey was busy in the cañon camp. With Black and Mattawa +Tom beside him, he stood holding as symbol, both of equality and +authority, a bright ax in his hand, while driller, laborer, and +machine-tender, wondering greatly, were passed in review before him. +Black had been boarded with a trust rancher some distance from the +camp. At last a certain rock driller passed in turn, and Tom from +Mattawa explained: "He's a friend of Walla Jake, and as I told you, the +last man we put on." + +"That's the blame reptile who backed up Shackleby's story at the Blue +Bird mine," cried Black, excitedly. "If there's anyone up to mischief, +you can bet all you've got he's the man." + +"Stop there, you!" Geoffrey's voice was sharp and stern. "Cut him +down if he feels for a revolver or tries to make a break of it, section +foreman. Come here, close in behind him, you two." + +After a swift glance over his shoulder the man who was summoned +advanced, scowling darkly. He sullenly obeyed Geoffrey's second +command, "Stand there--now a few steps aside," leaving his footprints +clearly outlined in a patch of otherwise untrodden snow. + +"Good!" observed Geoffrey. "Lay your template [Transcriber's note: +corrected from "templet"] on those marks, Tom." After the foreman had +produced a paper pattern which fitted them, Thurston added: + +"We're going to make a prisoner of you, and jail you ourselves, until +we can get a formal warrant. What for? Well, you're going to be tried +for conspiracy among the other things. You see that pattern? It fits +the foot of a man who went out one night with a spy Shackleby sent over +to see how and when you would play the devil with our work in the +cañon. It even shows the stump of the filed-off creeper-spike on your +right boot. There's no use protesting--a friend of yours here will +help us to trace your career back to the finding of the Blue Bird mine. +Take him along and lock him into the galvanized store shed." + +The prisoner was taken away, and Geoffrey turned to his foreman. + +"He was in the drilling gang, Tom?" + +"Juss so! Working under the wall bed of the cañon." + +"That lets some light on to the subject. You can dismiss the others. +Come with me, Tom." + +Twenty minutes later Geoffrey stood among the boulders that the +shrunken river had left exposed near the foot of a giant cliff which, +instead of overhanging, thrust forward a slanting spur into the rush of +water, and so formed a bend. It was one of the main obstacles +Geoffrey, who wondered at the formation, had determined to remove by +the simultaneous shock of several heavy blasting charges. To that end +a gang of men had long been drilling deep holes into the projecting +spur, and on the preceding day charges of high explosives had been sunk +in most of them with detonators and fuses ready coupled for connection +to the igniting gear. Geoffrey stood upon a boulder and looked up at +the tremendous face of rock which, rising above the spur, held up the +hill slope above. The stratification was looser than usual, and +several mighty masses had fallen from it into the river. There were +also crannies at its feet. + +"You've seen all the drilled holes. Anything strike you yet?" inquired +Mattawa Tom. + +"Yes," was the answer. "It occurs to me that French Louis said he +couldn't tally out all the sticks of giant powder that he'd stowed away +a week or two ago. I think you foolishly told him he couldn't count +straight." + +"I did," admitted Tom from Mattawa. "Louis ain't great at counting, +and he allowed he'd never let go of the key to the powder magazine." + +"I fancy a smart mechanic could make a key that would do as well," +remarked Geoffrey. "It strikes me, also, after considering the strata +yonder, that, if sufficient shots were fired in those crannies, they +would bring the whole cliff and the hillside above it down on top of +us--you'll remember I cautioned you to drill well clear of the rock +face itself? Now, if coupled fuses were led from the shot holes we +filled to those we didn't, so that both would fire simultaneously, +nobody afterwards would find anything suspicious under several thousand +tons of debris. I'm inclined to think there are such fuses. Take your +shovel, and we'll look for them." + +They worked hard for half an hour, and then Geoffrey chuckled. Lifting +what looked like a stout black cord from among the rubble where it was +carefully hidden, Mattawa Tom said: "This time I guess you've struck it +dead." + +"Follow the thing up," Geoffrey commanded. + +This was done, and further searching revealed the charges for which +they were searching, skillfully concealed in the crannies. Geoffrey's +face was grim as he said: + +"It was planned well. They would have piled half yonder shoulder of +the range into the cañon if they had got their devilish will. Pull up +every fuse, and fix fresh detonators to all the charges. Change every +man in that gang, and never leave this spot except when the section +boss replaces you, until we're ready for firing. Thank Heaven that +will be in a few more days, and my nerves may hold out that long. I've +hardly had an hour's sleep in the last week, Tom." + +While Geoffrey was acting in accordance with the warning she had +delivered, Helen was on her way back to the ranch with his assistant as +her escort. Helen had not forgotten that it was her remonstrance which +had originally obtained a humble appointment for English Jim. He had +several times visited the ranch with messages, and was accordingly +invited to enter when they reached the house. He recognized Mrs. +Leslie at once, but he could be discreet, and, warned by something in +her manner, addressed no word to her until he found opportunity for a +few moments' private speech before leaving. + +"You remember me, I see," Millicent said, and English Jim bowed. + +"I do; perhaps because I have reason to. Though most reluctant to say +so, I lost a valuable paper the last time I was in your presence, and +that paper was afterwards used against my employer. Pardon me for +speaking so plainly; you said you were a friend of Mr. Thurston's." + +"You need not be diffident," replied Millicent, checking him with a +wave of her hand. "Suppose it was I who found the drawing? You would +be willing to keep silence in return for----" + +It was English Jim who interrupted now. "In return for your solemn +promise to render no more assistance to our enemies. I do not forget +your kindness, and hate the painful necessity of speaking so to you, +but I am Thurston's man, soul and body." + +"I ask your pardon," said Millicent. "Will you believe me if I say +that I lately ran some risk to bring Mr. Thurston a much-needed +warning? I am going to England in a day or two, and shall never come +back again. Therefore, you can rely upon my promise." + +"Implicitly," returned English Jim. "You must have had some reason I +cannot guess for what you did. That sounds like presumption, doesn't +it? But you can count upon my silence, madam." + +"You are a good man." Millicent impulsively held out her hand to him. +"I have met very few so loyal or so charitable. May I wish you all +prosperity in your career?" + +English Jim merely bowed as he went out, and Millicent's eyes grew dim +as she thought of her treachery to Geoffrey. + +"There are good men in the world after all, though it has been my +misfortune to chiefly come across the bad," she admitted to herself. + +Darkness had fallen when Thurston rode up to the ranch. He passed half +an hour alone with Millicent and went away without speaking to anyone +else. After he had gone Millicent said to Mrs. Savine: + +"I start for England as soon as possible, and Mr. Thurston is going to +the railroad with me. I shall never return to Canada." + +Pleading fatigue, she retired early, and for a time Mrs. Savine and +Helen sat silently in the glow of the great hearth upon which immense +logs were burning. There was no other light in the room, and each +flicker of the fire showed that Helen's face was more than usually +serious. + +"Did you know that it was Mrs. Leslie Geoffrey should have married?" +asked Mrs. Savine at length. + +"No," answered Helen, flushing. With feeling she added. "Perhaps I +ought to have guessed it. She leaves shortly, does the not? It will +be a relief. She must be a wicked woman, but please don't talk of her." + +"That is just what I'm going to do," declared her aunt, gravely. "I +wouldn't guarantee that she is wholly good, but I blame her poison-mean +husband more than her. Anyway, she is better than you suppose her." + +"I made no charge against her, and am only glad she is going," said +Helen Savine. Mrs. Savine smiled shrewdly. + +"Well, I am going to show you there is nothing in that charge. Not +quite logical, is it, but sit still there and listen to me." + +Helen listened, at first very much against her will, presently she grew +half-convinced, and at last wholly so. She blushed crimson as she said: + +"May I be forgiven for thinking evil--but such things do happen, and +though I several times made myself believe, even against, the evidence +of my eyes, that I was wrong, appearances were horribly against her. I +am tired and will say good-night, auntie." + +"Not yet," interposed Mrs. Savine, laying a detaining grasp upon her. +"Sit still, my dear, I'm only beginning. Appearances don't always +count for much. Now, there's Mrs. Christopher who started in to copy +my elixir. Oh, yes, it was like it in smell and color, but she nearly +killed poor Christopher with it." + +"She said it cured him completely," commented Helen, hoping to effect a +diversion; but Mrs. Savine would not be put off. + +"We won't argue about that, though there'll be a coroner called in the +next time she makes a foolish experiment. Now I'm going to give my +husband's confidences away. Hardly fair to Tom, but I'll do it, +because it seems necessary, and the last time I didn't go quite far +enough. To begin with. Did you know the opposition wanted to buy +Geoffrey over, paying him two dollars for every one he could have made +out of your father?" + +"No," answered Helen, starting. "It was very loyal of him to refuse. +Why did he do so?" + +Mrs. Savine smiled good-humoredly. "I guess you think that's due to +your dignity, but you don't fool me. Look into your mirror, Helen, if +you really want to know. Did you hear that he put every dollar he'd +made in Canada into the scheme? Of course you didn't; he made Tom +promise he would never tell you. Besides--but I forgot, I must not +mention that." + +"Please spare me any more, auntie," pleaded Helen, who was overcome by +a sudden realization of her own injustice and absolute selfishness. + +"No mercy this time," was the answer, given almost genially. "Like the +elixir which doesn't taste pleasant, it's good for you. You didn't +know, either, for the same reason, that not long ago Tom was badly +scared for fear he'd have to let the whole thing go for lack of money. +It would have been the end of Julius Savine if he had been forced to +give up this great enterprise." + +"I never thought things were so bad, but how does it concern Mr. +Thurston?" Helen questioned her aunt in a voice that was trembling. + +"Geoffrey straightened out all the financial affairs in just this way. +A relative in England left an estate to be divided between him and Mrs. +Leslie. There was enough to keep him safe for life, if he'd let it lie +just where it was, but he didn't. No, he sold out all that would have +earned him a life income for any price he could, and turned over every +cent of it to help your father. Now I've about got through, but I've +one question to ask you. Would the man who did all that--you can see +why--be likely to fool with another man's wife, even if it was the +handsome Mrs. Leslie?" + +"No," said Helen, whose cheeks, which had grown pallid, flushed like a +blush rose. "I am glad you told me, auntie, but I feel I shall never +have the courage to look that man in the face again." + +Mrs. Savine smiled, though her eyes glistened in the firelight as she +laid a thin hand on one of Helen's, which felt burning hot as the +fingers quivered within her grasp. + +"You will, or that will hurt him more than all," she replied. "It +wasn't easy to tell you this, but I've seen too many lives ruined for +the want of a little common-sense talking--and I figure Jacob wouldn't +come near beating Geoffrey Thurston." + +Helen rose abruptly. "Auntie, you will see to father--he has been +better lately--for just a little while, will not you?" she asked. +"Mrs. Crighton has invited me so often to visit her, and I really need +a change. This valley has grown oppressive, and I must have time to +think." + +"Yes," assented Mrs. Savine. "But you must stand by your promise to +fire the final shot." + +The door closed, and Mrs. Savine, removing her spectacles, wiped both +them and her eyes as she remarked: "I hope the Almighty will forgive a +meddlesome old woman for interfering, knowing she means well." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +LESLIE STEPS OUT + +Henry Leslie did not return home at noon on the day following the +altercation with his wife. Millicent had an ugly temper, but she would +cool down if he gave her time, he said to himself. In the evening he +fell in with two business acquaintances from a mining district, who +were visiting the city for the purpose of finding diversion and they +invited him to assist them in their search for amusement. Leslie, +though unprincipled, lacked several qualities necessary for a +successful rascal, and, oppressed by the fear of Shackleby's +displeasure should Thurston return to the mountains prematurely, and +uncertain what to do, was willing to try to forget his perplexities for +an hour or two. + +The attempt was so far successful that he went home at midnight, +somewhat unsteadily, a good many dollars poorer than when he set out. +Trying the door of his wife's room, he found it locked. He did not +suspect that it had been locked on the outside and that Millicent had +thrown the key away. He was, however, rather relieved than otherwise +by the discovery of the locked door, and, sleeping soundly, wakened +later than usual next morning. Millicent, however, was neither at the +breakfast-table nor in her own room when he pried the door open. He +saw that some garments and a valise were missing, and decided that she +had favored certain friends with her company, and, returning mollified, +would make peace again, as had happened before. Still, he was uneasy +until he espied her writing-case with the end of a letter protruding. +Reading the letter, he discovered it to be an invitation to Victoria. +He noticed on the blotter the reversed impression of an addressed +envelope, which showed that she had answered the invitation. Two days +passed, and, hearing nothing, he grew dissatisfied again, and drafted a +diplomatic telegram to the friends in Victoria. It happened that +Shackleby was in his office when the answer arrived. + +"Has Thurston come into town yet? You told me you saw your way to keep +him here," said Shackleby. "Didn't you mention he had the handling of +a small legacy left Mrs. Leslie?" + +"It is strange, but he has not arrived," was the answer. "My wife is +an old friend of his, and I had counted on her help in detaining him, +but, unfortunately, she considered it necessary to accept an invitation +to Victoria somewhat suddenly." + +"I should hardly have fancied Thurston was an old friend of--yours," +Shackleby remarked with a carelessness which almost blunted the sneer. +"I'm also a little surprised at what you tell me, because I saw Mrs. +Leslie hurrying along to the Atlantic express. She couldn't book that +way to Victoria." + +"You must have been mistaken," said Leslie, who turned towards a clerk +holding out a telegraphic envelope. He ripped it open and read the +enclosure with a smothered ejaculation. + + +"Can't understand your wire. Mrs. Leslie not here. Wrote saying she +could not come." + + +"Excuse the liberty. I believe I have a right to inspect all +correspondence," observed Shackleby, coolly leaning over and picking up +the message. Then he looked straight at Leslie, and there was a +moment's silence before he asked, "How much does Mrs. Leslie know about +your business?" + +"I don't know," answered the anxious man in desperation. "I had to +tell her a little so that she could help me." + +"So I guessed!" commented Shackleby. "Now, I don't want to hurt your +feelings, but you can't afford to quarrel with me if I do. You're +coming straight with me to the depot to find out where Mrs. Leslie +bought a ticket to." + +"I'll see you hanged first," broke out Leslie. "Isn't it enough that +you presume to read my private correspondence? I'll suffer no +interference with my domestic affairs." + +Shackleby laughed contemptuously. "You'll just come along instead of +blustering--there's not an ounce of real grit in you. This is no time +for sentiment, and you have admitted that Mrs. Leslie was on good terms +with Thurston. If she has warned him, one of us at least will have to +make a record break out of this country. If he doesn't it won't be the +divorce court he'll figure in." + +Leslie went without further protest, and Shackleby looked at him +significantly when the booking-clerk said, "If I remember right, Mrs. +Leslie bought a ticket for Thompson's. It's a flag station at the head +of the new road that's to be driven into the Orchard Valley." + +"I guess that's enough," remarked Shackleby. "You and I are going +there by the first train too. Oh, yes, I'm coming with you whether you +like it or not, for it strikes me our one chance is to bluff Thurston +into a bargain for the cessation of hostilities. It's lucky he's +supposed to be uncommonly short of money." + +Geoffrey Thurston, Mrs. Leslie, and Thomas Savine of course, could not +know of this conversation, but the woman was anxious as they rode +together into sight of the little flag station shortly before the +Atlantic express was due. When the others dismounted, Thomas Savine, +who had been summoned by telegram from Vancouver, remained discreetly +behind. It was very cold, darkness was closing down on the deep hollow +among the hills, and some little distance up the ascending line, a huge +freight locomotive was waiting with a string of cars behind it in a +side track. Thurston pointed to the fan-shaped blaze of the great head +lamp. + +"We have timed it well. They're expecting your train now," he said. + +"I am glad," was Millicent's answer. "I shall feel easier when I am +once upon the way, for all day I have been nervously afraid that Harry +might arrive or something unexpected might happen to detain me. There +will be only time to catch the Allan boat, you say, and once the train +leaves this station nobody could overtake me?" + +"Of course not!" answered Geoffrey, reassuringly. "It is perhaps +natural that you should be apprehensive, but there is no reason for it. +Whether you are doing right or wrong I dare not presume to judge, and, +under the circumstances, I wish there had been somebody else to counsel +you; but if your husband has treated you cruelly and you are in fear of +him, I cannot venture to dissuade you. You will write to me when you +have settled your plans?" + +"Yes," she promised. After a moment's pause, she went on: "I have +hardly been able to consider the position yet, but I will never go back +to Harry. My trustees must either help me to fight him or bribe him +not to molest me. It is a hateful position, but though I have suffered +a great deal there are things I cannot countenance." + +The hoot of a whistle came ringing up the valley, the light of another +head lamp, growing brighter, flickered among the firs, and Millicent +looked up at her companion as she said: + +"I may never see you again, Geoffrey, but I cannot go without asking +you to forgive me. You do not know, and I dare not tell you, in how +many ways I have injured you. I would like to think that you do not +cherish any ill-will against me." + +"You may be quite sure of it," was the answer, and Geoffrey smiled upon +her. "What I shall remember most clearly is how much you risked to +warn me, and that the safe completion of the work I have set my heart +on is due to you. We will forget all the unpleasant things that have +happened in the past and meet as good friends next time, Millicent." + +The woman's voice trembled a little as she replied: "I hope when one by +one you hear of the unpleasant things you will be charitable. But a +last favor--you will not tell Harry where I have gone until I am safely +on my way to England?" + +"No," promised Geoffrey. "You can depend upon that. I have not +forgiven your husband, but the train is coming in and it will only stop +a few seconds." + +With couplings clashing the long cars lurched in. Geoffrey hurried +Millicent into one of them. He felt his hand grasped fervently, and +fancied he saw a tear glisten in Millicent's eyes by the light of the +flashing lamps. Then the great engine snorted, and he sprang down from +the vestibule footboard as the train rolled out. Turning back towards +the station to join Thomas Savine, he found himself confronted by two +men who had just alighted. + +Their surprise was mutual, but Thomas Savine, who stood beside a box +just hurled out of the baggage car, had his wits about him. "Here's +one case, Geoffrey. The conductor thinks that some fool must have +labelled the others wrong, and they'll come on by first freight," he +said. + +This was an accurate statement, and for Millicent's sake Geoffrey was +grateful that his comrade should make it so opportunely. It accounted +for his presence at the station. + +"It can't be helped," he said, and then turned stiffly towards +Shackleby and Henry Leslie, who waited between him and the roadway. + +"We want a few words with you, but didn't expect to find you here," +abruptly remarked Shackleby. "Is there any place fit to sit in at the +saloon yonder?" + +"I really don't know," Geoffrey replied. "Having no time to waste in +conversation, neither do I care. If you have anything to say to me you +can say it--very briefly--here." + +Shackleby pinched the cigar he was smoking. Laying his hand on +Leslie's shoulder warningly, he whispered, "Keep still, you fool." + +"I don't know that I can condense what I have to say," he answered +airily, addressing Thurston. "Fact is, in the first place, and before +Mr. Leslie asks a question, I want to know whether we--that is I--can +still come to terms with you. It's tolerably well-known that my +colleagues are, so to speak, men of straw, and individually I figure it +might be better for both of us if we patched up a compromise. I can't +sketch out the rest of my programme in the open air, but, as a general +idea, what do you think, Mr. Savine?" + +"That your suggestion comes rather late in the day," was the answer. + +Shackleby was silent for a moment, though, for it was quite dark now +that the train had gone. Savine could not be quite certain whether he +moved against Leslie by accident or deliberately hustled him a few +paces away. Geoffrey, however, felt certain that neither had seen +Millicent, nor, thanks to Savine, suspected that she was on board the +departing cars. Just then a deep-toned whistle vibrated across the +pines, somebody waved a lantern between the rails, and the panting of +the freight locomotive's pump became silent. The track led down grade +past the station towards the coast. + +"Better late than never," said Shackleby. "My hand's a good one still. +I'm not sure I won't call you." + +"To save time I'll show you mine a little sooner than I meant to do, +and you'll see the game's up," replied Geoffrey, grimly. "It may +prevent you from worrying me during the next week or two, and you can't +well profit by it. I've got Black, who is quite ready to go into court +at any time, where you can't get at him. I've got the nearest +magistrate's warrant executed on the person of your other rascal, and +Black will testify as to his record, which implies the throwing of a +sidelight upon your own. No doubt, to save himself, the other man will +turn against you. In addition, if it's necessary, which I hardly think +possible, I have even more damaging testimony. I have sworn a +statement before the said magistrate for the Crown-lands authorities, +and purpose sending a copy to each of your directors individually. +That ought to be sufficient, and I have no more time to waste with you." + +"But you have me to settle with, or I'll blast your name throughout the +province if I drag my own in the mud. Where's my wife?" snarled +Leslie, wrenching himself free from his confederate's restraining grasp. + +"If you're bent on making a fool of yourself, and I guess you can't +help it, go on your own way," interposed Shackleby, with ironical +contempt. + +"I have no intention of telling you where Mrs. Leslie is," asserted +Geoffrey. "You will hear from her when she considers it advisable to +write." + +A whir of driver wheels slipping on the rails came down the track, +followed by a shock of couplings tightening and the snorting of a heavy +locomotive, but none of the party noticed it. + +"She was here; you can't deny it," shouted Leslie, who had yielded to a +fit of rabid fury. He was not a courageous man, and had been held in +check by fear of Shackleby, but there was some spirit in him, and, +perhaps because he had injured Thurston, had always hated him. Now +when his case seemed desperate, with the boldness of a rat driven into +a corner, he determined to tear the hand that crushed him. + +"I'll take action against you. I'll blazon it in the press. I'll +close every decent house in the province against you," he continued, +working himself up into a frenzy. "Where have you hidden my wife? By +Heaven, I'll make you tell me." + +"Take care!" warned Geoffrey, straightening himself and thrusting one +big hand behind his back. "It is desperately hard for me to keep my +fingers off you now, but if you say another word against Mrs. Leslie, +look to yourself. Shackleby, you have heard him; now for the woman's +sake listen to me. I have never wronged your wife by thought or word, +Leslie, and the greatest indiscretion she was ever guilty of was +marrying you." + +"You have hidden her!" almost screamed the desperate man. "I'll have +satisfaction one way if you're too strong for me another. Liar, +traitor, sed----" + +Geoffrey strode forward before the last word was completed, Leslie +flung up one hand, but Shackleby struck it aside in time, and something +that fell from it clinked with a metallic sound. Exactly how what +followed really happened was never quite certain. Leslie, blind with +rage, either tripped over his confederate's outstretched foot, or lost +his balance, for just as a blaze of light beat upon the group, he +staggered, clutched at Thurston, and missing him, stepped over the edge +of the platform and fell full length between the rails. + +There was a yell from a man with a lantern and a sudden hoot from the +whistle of the big locomotive. Savine's face turned white under the +glare of the headlight. With a reckless leap Geoffrey followed his +enemy. Only conscious of the man's peril, he acted upon impulse +without reflection. + +"Good God! They'll both be killed!" exclaimed Shackleby. + +Thurston was strong of limb and every muscle in him had been toughened +by strenuous toil, but Leslie had struck his head on the rails and lay +still, stunned and helpless. The lift was heavy for the man who strove +to raise him, and though the brakes screamed along the line of cars the +locomotive was almost upon them. Standing horrified, and, without +power to move, the two spectators saw Geoffrey still gripping his +enemy's shoulders, heave himself erect in a supreme effort, then the +cow-catcher on the engine's front struck them both, and Savine felt, +rather than heard, a sickening sound as the huge machine swept +resistlessly on. Afterward he declared that the suspense which +followed while the long box-cars rolled by was horrible, for nothing +could be seen, and the two men shivered with the uncertainty as to what +might be happening beneath the grinding wheels. + +When the last car passed both leapt down upon the track, and a man +joined them holding a lantern aloft. Savine stooped over Thurston, who +lay just clear of the rails, looking strangely limp. + +"Another second would have done it--did I heave him clear?" he gasped. +He tried to raise himself by one hand but fell back with a groan. + +"I guess not," answered a railroad employé, holding the lantern higher, +and while two others ran up the tracks, the light fell upon a +shapeless, huddled heap. "That one has passed his checks in, certain," +the holder of the lantern announced. + +Within ten minutes willing assistants from the tiny settlement were on +the spot and stretchers were improvised. Savine had bidden the agent +telegraph for a doctor, and the two victims were slowly carried towards +the New Eldorado saloon. When they were gently laid down an elderly +miner, familiar with accidents, pointing to Thurston after making a +hasty examination said: + +"This one has got his arm broken, collar-bone gone, too, but if there's +nothing busted inside he'll come round. The other one has been stone +dead since the engine hit him." + +There were further proffers of help from several of his comrades, who, +as usual with their kind, possessed some knowledge of rude surgery. +When all that was possible had been done for the living, Savine was +drawn aside by Shackleby. + +"This is what he dropped on the platform--I picked it up quietly," he +said, holding out an ivory-handled revolver. "No use letting any ugly +tales get round or raking up that other story, is it? I don't know +whether Thurston induced Leslie's wife to run off or not--from what I +have heard of him I hardly think he did--but one may as well let things +simmer down gracefully." + +"I am grateful for your thoughtfulness," replied Savine. "Probably it +is more than he would have done for you. This is hardly the time to +discuss such questions, but what has happened can't affect our +position. Still, personally, I may not feel inclined to push merely +vindictive measures against you." + +"I didn't think it would change matters," said Shackleby, with a shrug. +"If I should be wanted I'm open to describe the--accident--and let +other details slide. The railroad fellows suspect nothing. Thurston +has made your side a strong one, and in a way I don't blame him. If he +had stood in with me, we'd have smashed up your brother completely." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A REVELATION + +Two persons were strangely affected and stirred to unexpected action by +the news of Thurston's injury, and the first of these was Julius +Savine. It was late next night when his brother's messenger arrived at +the ranch, for Thomas had thought of nothing but the sufferer's welfare +at first, and Savine lay, a very frail, wasted figure, dozing by the +stove. His sister-in-law sat busy over some netting close at hand. +Both were startled when a man, who held out a soiled envelope, came in +abruptly. Savine read the message and tossed the paper across to Mrs. +Savine before he rose shakily to his feet. + +"I would sooner have heard anything than that Geoffrey was badly hurt," +he exclaimed with a quaver in his voice. To the Chinaman, who brought +the stranger in, he gave the order, "Get him some supper and tell +Fontaine I want him at once." + +"Poor Geoffrey! We must hope it is not serious," cried Mrs. Savine +with visible distress. "But sit down. You can't help him, and may +bring on a seizure by exciting yourself, Julius." + +Savine, who did not answer her, remained standing until the hired hand +whom he had summoned, entered. "Ride your hardest to the camp and tell +Foreman Tom I'm coming over to take charge until Mr. Thurston, who has +met with an accident, recovers," he said. "He's to send a spare horse +and a couple of men to help the sleigh over the washed-out trail. Come +back at your best pace. I must reach the cañon before morning." + +"Are you mad, Julius?" asked his sister-in-law when the men retired. +"It's even chances the excitement or the journey will kill you." + +"Then I must take the chances," declared Savine. "While there was a +man I could trust to handle things, I let this weakness master me. Now +the poor fellow's helpless, somebody must take hold before chaos +ensues, and I haven't quite forgotten everything. You'll have to nurse +Geoffrey, and it's no use trying to scare me. Fill my big flask with +the old brandy and get my furs out." + +Mrs. Savine saw further remonstrance would be useless. She considered +her brother-in-law more fit for his grave than to complete a great +undertaking, but he was clearly bent on having his way. When she +hinted something of her thoughts, he answered that even so he would +rather die at work in the cañon than tamely in his bed. So shivering +under a load of furs he departed in the sleigh, and after several +narrow escapes of an upset, reached the camp in the dusk of a nipping +morning. + +"Help me out. Mr. Thurston, I am sorry to say, has met with a bad +accident, and you and I have got to finish this work without him," he +said to the anxious foreman. "From what he told me I can count upon +your doing the best that's in you, Tom." + +"I won't go back on nothing Mr. Thurston said," was the quiet answer; +but when Tom from Mattawa left Savine, whose nerveless fingers spilled +half the contents of the silver cup he strove to fill, gasping beside +the stove in Thurston's quarters, he gravely shook his head. + +Several days elapsed after Helen's departure for Vancouver before Mrs. +Savine, who had gone at once to the scene of the accident, considered +it judicious to inform her of Geoffrey's condition, and so it happened +that one evening Helen accompanied her hostess to witness the +performance of a Western dramatic company. Despite second-rate acting +the play was a pretty one, and each time the curtain went down Helen +found the combination of bright light, pretty dresses, laughter and +merry voices strangely pleasant after her isolation. At times her +thoughts would wander back to the ice-bound cañon and the man who had +pitted himself against the thundering river in its gloomy depths. +Perhaps the very contrast between this scene of brightness and luxury +and the savage wilderness emphasized the self-abnegation he had shown. +She knew now that he had toiled beyond most men's strength, when he +might have rested, and casting away what would have insured him a life +of ease, had voluntarily chosen an almost hopeless struggle for her +sake. Few women had been wooed so, she reflected, and then she +endeavored to confine her attention to the play, for as yet, though +both proud and grateful, she could not admit that she had been won. + +Presently the son of her hostess, who joined the party between the +acts, handed her a note. "I am sorry I could not get here before, but +found this waiting, and thought I'd better bring it along. I hope it's +not a summons of recall," he said. + +Helen opened the envelope, and the hurriedly-written lines grew blurred +before her eyes as she read, "I am grieved to say that Geoffrey has +been seriously injured by an accident. The doctor has, however, some +hopes of his recovery, though he won't speak definitely yet. If you +can find an intelligent woman in Vancouver you could trust to help me +nurse him, send her along. Didn't write before because----" + +"What is it? No bad news of your father, I hope," her hostess asked, +and the son, a fine type of the young Western citizen, noticed the +dismay in Helen's face as she answered: + +"Nothing has happened to my father. His partner has been badly hurt. +I must return to-morrow, and, as it is a tiresome journey, if you will +excuse me, I would rather not sit out the play." + +The young man noticed that Helen seemed to shiver, while her voice was +strained. He discreetly turned away his head, though he had seen +sufficient to show him that certain lately-renewed hopes were vain. + +"Miss Savine has not been used to gayety of late, and I warned her she +must take it quietly, especially with that ride through the ranges +before her. This place is unsufferably hot, and you can trust me to +see her safe home, mother," he said. + +Helen's grateful, "Thank you!" was reward enough, but it was in an +unenviable humor that the young man returned to the theater when she +sought refuge in her own room. + +Solitude appeared a vital necessity, for at last Helen understood. +Ever since Thurston first limped, footsore and hungry, into her life +she had been alternately attracted and repelled by him. His steadfast +patience and generosity had almost melted her at times, but from the +beginning, circumstances had seemed to conspire against the man, +shadowing him with suspicion, and forcing him into opposition to her +will. Mrs. Savine's story had made his unswerving loyalty plain, and +Helen had begun to see that she would with all confidence trust her +life to him; but she was proud, and knowing how she had misjudged him, +hesitated still. As long as a word or a smile could bring him to her +feet she could postpone the day of reckoning at least until his task +was finished, and thus allow him to prove his devotion to the uttermost +test. + +Now, however, fate had intervened, tearing away all disguise, and her +eyes were opened. She knew that without him the future would be empty, +and the revelation stirred every fiber of her being. Growing suddenly +cold with a shock of fear she remembered that she had perhaps already +lost him forever. It might be that another more solemn summons had +preceded her own, and that she might call and Geoffrey Thurston would +not hear! He had won his right to rest by work well done, but she--it +now seemed that a lifetime would be too short to mourn him. Helen +shivered at the thought, then she felt as if she were suffocating. +Turning the light low, she flung the long window open. Beyond the +electric glare of the city, with its shapeless pile of roofs and +towering poles, the mountains rose, serenely majestic, in robes of +awful purity. They were beckoning her she felt. The man whom she had +learned to love too late lay among them, perhaps with the strong hands +that had toiled for her folded in peace at last, and, living or dead, +she must go to him. She remembered that the message said,--"Hire a +capable woman in Vancouver," and it brought her a ray of comfort. If +the time was not already past she would ask nothing better than to wait +on him herself. Presently, when there was a hum of voices below, +Helen, white of face but steady in nerves, descended to meet her +hostess. + +"I must go back to-morrow, and as it is a fatiguing journey you will +not mind my retiring early," she said to excuse her absence from the +supper party that was assembled after the play. + +On reaching the railroad settlement Helen found the doctor in charge of +Thurston willing to avail himself of her assistance. The physician had +barely held his own in several encounters with her aunt, whom he +suspected of endeavoring to administer unauthorized preparations to his +patient, while on her part Mrs. Savine freely admitted that at her age +she could not sit up all night forever. So Helen was installed, and it +was midnight when she commenced her first watch. + +"You will call me at once if the patient wakes complaining of any +pain," said the surgeon. "Do I think he is out of danger? Well, he is +very weak yet, my dear young lady, but if you will carry out my orders, +I fancy we may hope for the best. But you must remember that a nurse's +chief qualifications are presence of mind and a perfect serenity." + +"I will not fail you," promised Helen, choking back a sob of relief; +and, trusting that the doctor did not see her quivering face, she added +softly, "Heaven is merciful!" + +She had been prepared for a change, but she was startled at the sight +of Thurston. He lay with blanched patches in the paling bronze on his +face, which had grown hollow and lined by pain. Still he was sleeping +soundly, and did not move when she bent over him. She stooped further +and touched his forehead with her lips, rose with the hot blood pulsing +upwards from her neck, and stood trembling, while, either dreaming or +stirred by some influence beyond man's knowledge, the sleeper smiled, +murmuring, "Helen!" + +It was daylight when Thurston awakened, and stared as if doubtful of +his senses at his new nurse, until, approaching the frame of canvas +whereon he lay, Helen, with a gentle touch, caressingly brushed the +hair from his forehead. + +"I have come to help you to get better. We cannot spare you, +Geoffrey," she said simply. + +The sick man asked no question nor betrayed further astonishment. He +looked up gratefully into the eyes which met his own for a moment and +grew downcast again. "Then I shall certainly cheat the doctors yet," +he declared. + +Under the circumstances his words were distinctly commonplace, but +speech is not the sole means of communion between mind and mind, and +for the present both were satisfied. Helen laughed and blushed happily +when, as by an after thought, Geoffrey added, "It is really very kind +of you." + +"You must not talk," she admonished with a half-shy assumption of +authority, strangely at variance with her former demeanor. "I shall +call in my aunt with the elixir if you do." + +Geoffrey smiled, but the brightness of his countenance was not +accounted for by his answer: "I believe she has treated me with it once +or twice already, and I still survive. In fact, I am inclined to think +the doctor caught her red-handed on one occasion, and there was +trouble." + +After that Geoffrey recovered vigor rapidly, and the days passed +quickly for Helen as she watched over him in the dilapidated frame +house to which he had been removed after the accident. No word of love +passed between them, nor was any word necessary. The man, still weak +and languid, appeared blissfully contented to enjoy the present, and +Helen, who was glad to see him do so, abided her time. + +Meanwhile, supported by sheer force of will and a nervous exaltation, +that would vanish utterly when the need for it ceased, Julius Savine, +leaning on his foreman's arm, or sitting propped up in a rude jumper +sleigh, directed operations in the cañon. He knew he was consuming the +vitality that might purchase another few years' life in as many weeks +of effort, but he desired only to see the work finished, and was +satisfied to pay the price. He slept little and scarcely ate, holding +on to his work with desperate purpose and living on cordials. Though +progress was much slower than it would have been under Geoffrey's +direction, he accomplished that purpose. + +One afternoon Thomas Savine entered the sick man's room in a state of +complacent satisfaction. + +"Glad to see you getting ahead so fast, and you must hurry, for we'll +want you soon," he said. "The great charge is to be fired the day +after to-morrow. Shackleby, who was at the bottom of the whole +opposition, has cleared out with considerable expedition. Sold all his +stock in the Company, and if his colleagues knew much about his doings, +which is quite possible, they emphatically disown them. As a result +I've made one or two good provisional deals with them, and expect no +more trouble. In short, everything points to a great success." + +When Savine went out Geoffrey beckoned Helen to him. + +"I am getting so well that you must leave me to your aunt to-morrow," +he said. "You remember your promise to fire the decisive charge for +me, and I hope when you see it you will approve of the electric firing +key. Tell your father I owe more to him than the doctor, for I should +have worried myself beyond the reach of physic if he had not been there +to take charge instead of me--that is to say, before you came to cure +me." + +"I will go," agreed Helen, with signs of suppressed agitation that +puzzled Geoffrey. She knew that after that charge had been fired their +present relations, pleasant as they were, could not continue. It +appeared to her the climax to which all he had dared and suffered, and +with a humility that was yet akin to pride she had determined, in +reparation, voluntarily to offer him that which, whether victorious or +defeated otherwise, he had with infinite patience and loyal service won. + +It was early one clear cold morning when Helen Savine stood on a little +plank platform perched high in a hollow of the rock walls overhanging +the river opposite Thurston's camp. Each detail of the scene burned +itself into her memory as she gazed about her under a tense +expectancy--the rift of blue sky between the filigree of dark pines +high above, the rush of white-streaked water thundering down the gorge +below and frothing high about the massive boulders, and one huge fang +of promontory which a touch of her finger would, if all went well, +reduce to chaotic débris. Groups of workmen waited on the opposite +side of the flood, all staring towards her expectantly, and Thomas +Savine stood close by holding an insignificant box with wires attached +to it, in a hand that was not quite steady. Tom from Mattawa sat +perched upon a spire of rock holding up a furled flag, and her father +leaned heavily upon the rails of the staging. No one spoke or stirred, +and in spite of the roar of hurrying water a deep oppressive silence +seemed to brood over cañon and camp. + +"This is the key," said Thomas Savine. "It is some notion of +Geoffrey's, and he had it made especially in Toronto. You fit it in +here." + +Helen glanced at the diminutive object before she took the box. The +finger grip had been fashioned out of a dollar cut clean across bearing +two dates engraved upon it. The first, it flashed upon her, was the +one on which she had given the worn-out man that very coin, while the +other had evidently been added more recently, with less skill, by some +camp artificer. + +"It's to-day," said Thomas Savine following her eyes, and Helen noticed +that his voice was strained. "Geoffrey told me to get it done. Quaint +idea; don't know what it means. But put us out of suspense. We're all +waiting." + +Helen knew what the dates meant, and appreciated the delicate +compliment. It was she who had started the daring contractor on his +career who was to complete his triumph, and she drew a deep breath as +she looked down into the thundering gorge realizing it was a great +fight he had won. Human courage and dogged endurance, inspired by him, +had mocked at the might of the river, and, blasting a new pathway for +it through the adamantine heart of the hills, would roll back the +barren waters from a good land that the stout of heart and arm might +enter in. Swamps would give place to wheat fields, orchards blossom +where willow swale had been, herds of cattle fatten on the levels of +the lake, and the smoke of prosperous homesteads drift across dark +forests where, for centuries, the wolf and deer had roamed undisturbed. +That was one aspect only, but she knew the man who loved her had won a +greater triumph over his own nature and others' passions and +infirmities. + +It was with a thrill of pride that the girl realized all that he had +done for her, and yet for a few seconds she almost shrank from the +responsibility as high above the waiting men the stood with slender +fingers tightening upon the key. The issues of what must follow its +turning would be momentous, for it flashed upon her that the tiny +combination of copper and silver might, with equal chance, open the way +to a golden future or let in overwhelming disaster upon all she loved. +Then the doubt appeared an injustice to Geoffrey Thurston and those who +had followed him through frost and flood and whirling snow, and, with a +color on her forehead, and a light in her eyes, she pressed home the +key. + +Then there was bustle and hurry. Julius Savine raised his hand, and +Tom from Mattawa whirled high the unfurled flag. Somebody beat upon an +iron sheet invisible below and the strip of beach in the depths of the +cañon became alive with running men. Next followed a deep stillness +intensified by the clamor of the river which would never raise the same +wild harmonies again, for the slender hand of a woman had bound it fast +henceforward under man's dominion. The hush was ended suddenly. For a +second the great hollow seemed filled with tongues of flame; then, +while thick smoke quenched them and crag and boulder crumbled to +fragments, a stunning detonation rang from rock to rock and rolled +upwards into the frozen silence of untrodden hills. Huge masses which +eddied and whirled, filling the gorge with the crash of their descent +leaped out of the vapor; there was a ceaseless shock and patter of +smaller fragments, and then, while long reverberations rolled among the +hills, the roar of the tortured river drowned the mingled din. Rising, +tremendous in its last revolt, its majestic diapason was deepened by +the boom of grinding rock and the detonation of boulders reduced to +powder. The draught caused by the water's passage fanned the smoke +away, and the blue vapor, curling higher, drifted past the staging, so +that Helen could only dimly see a great muddy wave foam down the cañon, +bursting here and there into gigantic upheavals of spray. She watched +it, held silent, awe-stricken, by the sound and sight. + +At last Mattawa Tom appeared again, and his voice was faintly audible +through the dying clamors as he waved his hands: "Juss gorgeous. Gone +way better than the best we hoped," he hailed. + +His comrades heard and answered. They were not mere hirelings toiling +for a daily wage, but men who had a stake in that region's future, and +would share its prosperity, and, had it been otherwise, they were human +still. Toiling long with stubborn patience, often in imminent peril of +life and limb; winning ground as it were by inches, and sometimes +barely holding what they had won; fulfilling their race's destiny to +subdue and people the waste places of the earth with the faith which, +when aided by modern science, is greater than the mountains' +immobility, they too rejoiced fervently over the consummation of the +struggle. Twice a roar that was scarcely articulate filled the cañon, +and then, growing into the expression of definite thought, it flung +upward their leader's name. + +Helen listened, breathless, intoxicated as by wine. Julius Savine +stood upright with no trace of weakness in his attitude. Then suddenly +he seemed to shrink together, and, with the power gone out of him, +caught at the rails as he turned to his daughter. + +"We have won! It is Geoffrey's doing, and my last task is done," he +spoke in a voice that sounded faint and far-away. "Fast horses and +bold riders I can trust you, too, are waiting. Tell him!" + +Helen noticed a strange wistfulness in her father's glance, but she +asked no question and turned to Thomas Savine. "I leave him in your +charge. I will go," she said. + +That afternoon passed very slowly for Geoffrey. He lay near a window, +which he insisted should be opened, glancing alternately at his watch +and the trail that wound down the hillside as the minutes crept by. He +was hardly civil to the doctor, and almost abrupt with Mrs. Savine, +who, knowing his anxiety, straightway forgave him. + +"You tell me I must avoid excitement and await the news with composure. +For heaven's sake, man, be reasonable. You might as well recommend +your next moribund victim to get up and take exercise," he grumbled to +the physician. + +But the longest afternoon passes at length, and when the sunset glories +flamed in the western sky, and the great peaks put on fading splendors +of saffron and crimson, three black moving objects became visible on a +hill-crest bare of the climbing firs. Geoffrey watched them with +straining eyes, and it was a wonderful picture that he looked +upon--black gorge, darkening forest, drifting haze in the hollows, and +unearthly splendors above; but he regarded it only as a fit setting for +the slight figure in the foreground that swayed to the stride of a +galloping horse. He was not surprised--it seemed perfectly appropriate +that Helen should bring him the news--though his fingers trembled and +his lips twitched. + +"We shall know the best or worst in five minutes. You have done your +utmost, doctor, but I'll get up and annihilate you with your own +bottles if you give me good advice now," he said, and the surgeon, +seeing protests were useless, laughed. + +Mrs. Savine said nothing. She was in a state of nervous tension, too, +and merely laid her hand on the patient, restrainingly, as he strove +with small success to raise himself a little. Meantime the horse came +nearer, its bridle dripping with flakes of spume. Its rider was +sprinkled with snow and her skirt was besmeared with lather, but she +came on at a gallop until she reined in the panting horse beneath the +window, and flinging one arm aloft sat in the saddle with her flushed +face turned towards the watchers. No bearer of good tidings ever +appeared more beautiful to an anxious man. + +"It is triumph!" she cried. + +"Thank God!" answered Mrs. Savine, who slipped quietly from the room. + +Little time elapsed before Helen entered the room where Geoffrey +impatiently waited for her, but brief as it was, there was no sign of +hurried travel about her. Her apparel was fresh and dainty, and there +was even a flower from Mexico at her belt. She went straight to +Geoffrey and bent over him. + +"All has gone well--better, I understand, than you even hoped for, and +you have done a great thing, Geoffrey," she said. "You have saved me +my inheritance--which is of small importance--and--I know all now--my +father's honor. You have repaid him tenfold, and gratified his heart's +desire." + +"Then I am thankful," answered Geoffrey very quietly. He lay still a +moment looking at her with a great longing in his eyes. Helen was very +beautiful, more beautiful even than usual, it seemed to him. He did +not guess that she had an offering to make, and for the sake of the man +at whose feet she would lay it, would not even so far as trifles went, +depreciate the gift, hence her careful attire. + +Helen's eyes fell beneath his gaze. She discerned what he was +thinking, and, though the words "heart's desire" were accidental, there +was no mistaking the suggestion. She said slowly: + +"I have been unjust, proud and willful--and I am going to do full +penance. You have surely the gift of prophecy. Do you remember your +last bold prediction?" + +Geoffrey's lip twitched. He strove to raise himself that he might see +the speaker more clearly, and, still almost helpless in his bandages, +slipped back again. Helen slipped her hand into his. + +"I have come to beg you not to go away." + +"There is one thing that would prevent me." Geoffrey, bewildered, +seemed to lose his usual crispness of speech, but Helen checked him. + +"Therefore," and Helen's voice was very low, while surging upwards from +her neck a swift wave of color flushed cheek and brow. "I have come of +my own will to say what you asked of me. You have loved and served me +faithfully, and it is not gratitude--only--which prompts me now." + +There was a space in which Helen caught her breath. Then she lifted +her head, and said proudly: + +"Geoffrey Thurston--I love you." + + + + + Popular Copyright Books + + AT MODERATE PRICES + + Any of the following titles can be bought of your + bookseller at the price you paid for this volume + + + Alternative, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Angel of Forgiveness, The. By Rosa N. Carey. + Angel of Pain, The. By E. F. Benson. + Annals of Ann, The. By Kate Trimble Sharber. + Battle Ground, The. By Ellen Glasgow. + Beau Brocade. By Baroness Orczy. + Beechy. By Bettina Von Hutten. + Bella Donna. By Robert Hichens. + Betrayal, The. By E. Phillips Oppenheim, + Bill Toppers, The. By Andre Castaigne. + Butterfly Man, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Cab No. 44. By R. F. Foster. + Calling of Dan Matthews, The. By Harold Bell Wright. + Cape Cod Stories. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + Challoners, The. By E. F. Benson. + City of Six, The. By C. L. Canfield. + Conspirators, The. By Robert W. Chambers. + Dan Merrithew. By Lawrence Perry. + Day of the Dog, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Depot Master, The. By Joseph C. Lincoln. + Derelicts. By William J. Locke. + Diamonds Cut Paste. By Agnes & Egerton Castle. + Early Bird, The. By George Randolph Chester. + Eleventh Hour, The. By David Potter. + Elizabeth in Rugen. By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden. + Flying Mercury, The. By Eleanor M. Ingram. + Gentleman, The. By Alfred Ollivant. + Girl Who Won, The. By Beth Ellis. + Going Some. By Rex Beach. + Hidden Water. By Dane Coolidge. + Honor of the Big Snows, The. By James Oliver Curwood. + Hopalong Cassidy. By Clarence E. Mulford. + House of the Whispering Pines, The. By Anna Katherine Green. + Imprudence of Prue, The. By Sophie Fisher. + In the Service of the Princess. By Henry C. Rowland. + Island of Regeneration, The. By Cyrus Townsend Brady. + Lady of Big Shanty, The. By Berkeley F. Smith. + Lady Merton, Colonist. By Mrs. Humphrey Ward. + Lord Loveland Discovers America. By C. N. & A. M. Williamson. + Love the Judge. By Wymond Carey. + Man Outside, The. By Wyndham Martyn. + Marriage of Theodora, The. By Molly Elliott Seawell. + My Brother's Keeper. By Charles Tenny Jackson. + My Lady of the South. By Randall Parrish. + Paternoster Ruby, The. By Charles Edmonds Walk. + Politician, The. By Edith Huntington Mason. + Pool of Flame, The. By Louis Joseph Vance. + Poppy. By Cynthia Stockley. + Redemption of Kenneth Galt, The. By Will N. Harben. + Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary, The. By Anna Warner. + Road to Providence, The. 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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: Thurston of Orchard Valley + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: W. Herbert Dunton + +Release Date: June 28, 2009 [EBook #29266] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THURSTON OF ORCHARD VALLEY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="2" WIDTH="446" HEIGHT="678"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""The Slight Figure that Swayed to the Stride of a Galloping Horse"--<I>Chapter XXIX</I>" BORDER="2" WIDTH="409" HEIGHT="634"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 409px"> +"The Slight Figure that Swayed to the Stride of a Galloping Horse"—<I>Chapter XXIX</I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Thurston of +<BR> +Orchard Valley +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +<I>By</I> Harold Bindloss +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Author of "By Right of Purchase," "Lorimer of the Northwest," <BR> +"Alton of Somasco," etc. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +with Frontispiece +<BR> +By W. HERBERT DUNTON +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A. L. BURT COMPANY +<BR> +Publishers ——— New York +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY +<BR> +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +<BR><BR> +<I>All rights reserved</I> +<BR><BR> +<I>February, 1910</I> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + + + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">"THURSTON'S FOLLY"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">A DISILLUSION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">GEOFFREY'S FIRST CONTRACT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">GEOFFREY MAKES PROGRESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE LEGENDS OF CROSBIE GHYLL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">MILLICENT'S REWARD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">THE BREAKING OF THE JAM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">A REST BY THE WAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">GEOFFREY STANDS FIRM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">SAVINE'S CONFIDENCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">AN INSPIRATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">GEOFFREY TESTS HIS FATE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">A TEST OF LOYALTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE WORK OF AN ENEMY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">A GREAT UNDERTAKING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">MILLICENT TURNS TRAITRESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">THE INFATUATION OF ENGLISH JIM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">THE BURSTING OF THE SLUICE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">THE ABDUCTION OF BLACK CHRISTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">UNDER THE STANLEY PINES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">REPARATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">A REPRIEVE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">THE ULTIMATUM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">AN UNEXPECTED ALLY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">MILLICENT'S REVOLT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">A RECKLESS JOURNEY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">MRS. SAVINE SPEAKS HER MIND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap28">LESLIE STEPS OUT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap29">A REVELATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Thurston of Orchard Valley +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +"THURSTON'S FOLLY" +</H4> + +<P> +It was a pity that Geoffrey Thurston was following in his grandfather's +footsteps, the sturdy dalefolk said, and several of them shook their +heads solemnly as they repeated the observation when one morning the +young man came striding down the steep street of a village in the North +Country. The cluster of gray stone houses nestled beneath the scarred +face of a crag, and, because mining operations had lately been +suspended and work was scarce just then, pale-faced men in moleskin +lounged about the slate-slab doorsteps. Above the village, and beyond +the summit of the crag, the mouth of a tunnel formed a black blot on +the sunlit slopes of sheep-cropped grass stretching up to the heather, +which gave place in turn to rock out-crop on the shoulders of the fell. +The loungers glanced at the tunnel regretfully, for that mine had +furnished most of them with their daily bread. +</P> + +<P> +"It's in t' blood," said one, nodding toward the young man. "Ay, +headstrong folly's bred in t' bone of them, an' it's safer to counter +an angry bull than a Thurston of Crosbie Ghyll. It's like his +grandfather—roughed out of the old hard whinstane he is." +</P> + +<P> +A murmur of approval followed, for the listeners knew there was a +measure of truth in this; but it ceased when the pedestrian passed +close to them with long, vigorous strides. Though several raised their +hands half-way to their caps in grudging salute, Geoffrey Thurston, who +appeared preoccupied, looked at none of them. Notwithstanding his +youth, there were lines on his forehead and his brows were wrinkled +over his eyes, while his carriage suggested strength of limb and +energy. Tall in stature his frame looked wiry rather than heavily +built. His face was resolute, for both square jaw and steady brown +eyes suggested tenacity of purpose. The hands that swung at his sides +had been roughened by labor with pick and drill. Yet in spite of the +old clay-stained shooting suit and shapeless slouch hat with the grease +on the front of it, where a candle had been set, there was a stamp of +command, and even refinement, about him. He was a Thurston of Crosbie, +one of a family the members of which had long worked their own +diminishing lands among the rugged fells that stretch between the West +Riding and the Solway. +</P> + +<P> +The Thurstons had been a reckless, hard-living race, with a stubborn, +combative disposition. Most of them had found scope for their energies +in wresting a few more barren acres from the grasp of moss and moor; +but several times an eccentric genius had scattered to the winds what +the rest had won, and Geoffrey seemed bent on playing the traditional +<I>rôle</I> of spendthrift. There were, however, excuses for him. He was +an ambitious man, and had studied mechanical science under a famous +engineer. Perhaps, because the surface of the earth yielded a +sustenance so grudgingly, a love of burrowing was born in the family. +Copper was dear and the speculative public well disposed towards +British mines. When current prices permitted it, a little copper had +been worked from time immemorial in the depths of Crosbie Fell, so +Geoffrey, continuing where his grandfather had ceased, drove the +ancient adit deeper into the hill, mortgaging field by field to pay for +tools and men, until, when the little property had well-nigh gone, he +came upon a fault or break in the strata, which made further progress +almost impossible. +</P> + +<P> +When Thurston reached the mouth of the adit, he turned and looked down +upon the poor climbing meadows under the great shoulder of the Fell. +Beyond these, a few weatherbeaten buildings, forming a rude quadrangle +pierced by one tall archway, stood beside a tarn that winked like +polished steel. He sighed as his glance rested upon them. For many +generations they had sheltered the Thurstons of Crosbie; but, unless he +could stoop to soil his hands in a fashion revolting to his pride, a +strange master would own them before many months had gone. An angry +glitter came into his eyes, and his face grew set, as, placing a +lighted candle in his hat, he moved forward into the black adit. +</P> + +<P> +Twenty minutes had passed when Thurston stood on the brink of a chasm +where some movement of the earth's crust had rent the rocks asunder. +Beside him was a mining engineer, whose fame for skill was greater than +his reputation for integrity. Both men had donned coarse overalls, and +Melhuish, the mining expert, held his candle so that its light fell +upon his companion as well as upon the dripping surface of the rock. +Moisture fell from the wet stone into the gloomy rift, and a faint +monotonous splashing rose up from far below. Melhuish, however, was +watching Thurston too intently to notice anything else. He was a +middle-aged man, with a pale, puffy face and avaricious eyes. He was +well-known to speculative financiers, who made much more than the +shareholders of certain new mining companies. +</P> + +<P> +"It's interesting geologically—wholly abnormal considering the +stratification, though very unfortunate for you," said Melhuish. "I +give you my word of honor that when I advised you to push on the +heading I never expected this. However, there it is, and unless you're +willing to consider certain suggestions already made, I can't see much +use in wasting any more money. As I said, my friends would, under the +circumstances, treat you fairly." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston's face was impassive, and Melhuish, who thought that his +companion bore himself with a curious equanimity for a ruined man, did +not see that Thurston's hard fingers were clenched savagely on the +handle of a pick. +</P> + +<P> +"I fancied you understood my opinions, and I haven't changed them," +said Geoffrey. "I asked you to meet me here to-day to consider whether +the ore already in sight would be worth reduction, and you say, 'No.' +You can advise your friends, when you see them, that I'm not inclined +to assist them in a deliberate fraud upon the public." +</P> + +<P> +Melhuish laughed. "You are exaggerating, and people seem perfectly +willing to pay for their experience, whether they acquire it over +copper, lead or tin. Besides, there's an average commercial +probability that somebody will find good ore after going down far +enough, and your part would be easy. You take a moderate price as +vendor, we advancing enough to settle the mortgage. Sign the papers my +friends will send you, and keep your mouth shut." +</P> + +<P> +"And their expert wouldn't see that fault?" asked Geoffrey. Melhuish +smiled pityingly before he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"The gentlemen I speak of keep an expert who certainly wouldn't see any +more than was necessary. The indications that deceived me are good +enough for anybody. Human judgment is always liable to error, and +there are ways of framing a report without committing the person who +makes it. May I repeat that it's a fair business risk, and whoever +takes this mine should strike the lead if sufficient capital is poured +in. It would be desirable for you to act judiciously. My financial +friends, I understand, have been in communication with the people who +hold your mortgages." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey Thurston's temper, always fiery, had been sorely tried. +Dropping his pick, he gripped the tempter by the shoulder with fingers +that held him like a vice. He pressed Melhuish backward until they +stood within a foot of the verge of the black rift. Melhuish's face +was gray in the candle-light as he heard the dislodged pebbles splash +sullenly into the water, fathoms beneath. He had heard stories of the +vagaries of the Thurstons of Crosbie, and it was most unpleasant to +stand on the brink of eternity, in the grasp of one of them. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Geoffrey dropped his hands. "You need better nerves in your +business, Melhuish," he said quietly. "One would hardly have fancied +you would be so startled at a harmless joke intended to test them for +you. There have been several spendthrifts and highly successful +drunkards in my family, but, with the exception of my namesake, who was +hanged like a Jacobite gentleman for taking, sword in hand, their +despatches from two of Cumberland's dragoons, we have hitherto drawn +the line at stealing." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not interested in genealogy, and I don't appreciate jests of the +sort you have just tried," Melhuish answered somewhat shakily. "I'll +take your word that you meant no harm, and I request further and +careful consideration before you return a definite answer to my +friends' suggestions." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall have it in a few days," Geoffrey promised; and Melhuish, who +determined to receive the answer under the open sunlight, and, if +possible, with assistance near at hand, turned toward the mouth of the +adit. Because he thought it wiser, he walked behind Geoffrey. +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon was not yet past when Thurston stood leaning on the back +of a stone seat outside a quaint old hall, which had once been a feudal +fortalice and was now attached to an unprofitable farm. Because the +impoverished gentleman, who held a long lease on the ancient building, +had let one wing to certain sportsmen, several of Geoffrey's neighbors +had gathered on the indifferently-kept lawn to enjoy a tennis match. +Miss Millicent Austin sat in an angle of the stone seat. Her little +feet, encased in white shoes, reposed upon a cushion that one of the +sportsmen had insisted on bringing to her. Her hands lay idly folded +in her lap. The delicate hands were characteristic, for Millicent +Austin was slight and dainty. With pale gold hair and pink and white +complexion, she was a perfect type of Saxon beauty, though some of her +rivals said the color of her eyes was too light a blue. They also +added that the blue eyes were very quick to notice where their owner's +interests lay. +</P> + +<P> +An indefinite engagement had long existed between the girl and the man +beside her, and at one time they had cherished a degree of affection +for each other; but when the merry, high-spirited girl returned from +London changed into a calculating woman, Geoffrey was bound up, mind +and body, in his mine, and Millicent began to wonder whether, with her +advantages, she might not do better than to marry a dalesman burdened +by heavy debts. They formed a curious contrast, the man brown-haired, +brown-eyed, hard-handed, rugged of feature, and sometimes rugged of +speech; and the dainty woman who appeared born for a life of ease and +luxury. +</P> + +<P> +"Beauty and the beast!" said one young woman to her companion as she +laid by her racquet. "I suppose he has the money?" +</P> + +<P> +"Unless his mine proves successful I don't think either will have much; +but if Miss Austin is a beauty in a mild way, he's a noble beast, one +very likely to turn the tables upon a rash hunter," was the answer. +"And yet he's stalking blindly into the snare. Alas, poor lion!" +</P> + +<P> +"You seem interested in him. I'm not partial to wild beasts myself," +remarked her companion, and the other smiled as she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly that, but I know the family history, and they are a curious +race with great capabilities for good or evil. It all depends upon how +they are led, because nobody could drive a Thurston. It is rather, I +must confess, an instinctive prejudice against the woman beside him. I +do not like, and would not trust, Miss Austin, though, of course, +except to you, my dear, I would not say so." +</P> + +<P> +The young speaker glanced a moment towards the pair, and then passed on +with a slight frown upon her honest face, for Thurston bent over his +companion with something that suggested deadly earnestness in his +attitude, and the spectator assumed that Millicent Austin's head was +turned away from him, because she possessed a fine profile and not +because of excessive diffidence. Nor was the observer wrong, for +Millicent did little without a purpose, and was just then thinking +keenly as she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I am very sorry to hear about your misfortune, Geoffrey, but there is +a way of escape from most disasters if one will look for it, you know, +and if you came to terms with them I understand those London people +would, at least, recoup you for your expenditure." +</P> + +<P> +"You have heard of that!" exclaimed Geoffrey sharply, displeased that +his <I>fiancée</I>, who had been away, should betray so accurate a knowledge +of all that concerned his business affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I did. I made Tom tell me. You will agree with them, will +you not?" the girl replied. +</P> + +<P> +"So," said Geoffrey, with a slight huskiness. "I wish I could, but it +is impossible, and I am not pleased that Tom should tell you what I was +waiting to confide to you myself. Let that pass, for I want you to +listen to me. The old holding will have to go, and there is little +room for a poor man in this overcrowded country. As you know, certain +property will revert to me eventually, but, remembering what is in our +blood, I dare not trust myself to drag out a life of idleness or +monotonous drudgery, waiting for the future here. The curse is a very +real thing—and it would not be fair to you. Now I can save enough +from the wreck to start us without positive hardship over seas, and +George has written offering me a small share in his Australian +cattle-run. You shall want for nothing, Millicent, that toil can win +you, and I know that, with you to help me, I shall achieve at least a +competence." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent, who glanced up at him as if she were carefully studying him, +could see that the man spoke with conviction. She knew that his power +of effort and dogged obstinacy would carry him far toward obtaining +whatever his heart desired. She dropped her long lashes as he +continued: +</P> + +<P> +"Hitherto, I have overcome the taint I spoke of—you knew what it was +when you gave me your promise—and working hard, with you to cheer me, +in a new land under the open sun, I shall crush it utterly. +Semi-poverty, with an ill-paid task that demanded but half my energies, +would try you, Millicent, and be dangerous to me. What I say sounds +very selfish, doesn't it—but you will come?" +</P> + +<P> +There was an appeal in his voice which touched the listener. It was +seldom a Thurston of Crosbie asked help from anyone; but she had no +wish to encourage Geoffrey in what she considered his folly, and shook +her head with a pretty assumption of petulance. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be sensational," she said with a wave of her hand. "You are +prone to exaggeration, and, of course, I will not go with you. How +could I help you to chase wild cattle? Now, try to be sensible! Come +to terms with these company people, and then you need not go." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you have me a thief?" asked Geoffrey, gazing down upon her with +a fierce resentment in his look of reproach, and the girl shrank from +him a little. +</P> + +<P> +"No, but, so far as I understand it, this is an ordinary business +transaction, and if these people are willing to buy the mine, why +should you refuse?" she returned in a temporizing tone. +</P> + +<P> +If Thurston was less in love with Millicent Austin than he had been, he +hardly realized it then. He was disappointed, and his forehead +contracted as he struggled with as heavy a temptation as could have +assailed the honor of any man. Millicent was very fair to look upon, +as she turned to him with entreaty and anxiety in her face. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, he answered wearily: "It is not an ordinary business +transaction. These people would pay me with the general public's +money, and when the mine proves profitless, as it certainly will, they +would turn the deluded shareholders loose on me." +</P> + +<P> +"There are always risks in mining," Millicent observed significantly. +"The investing public understands that, doesn't it? Of course, I would +not have you dishonest, but, Geoffrey——" +</P> + +<P> +Thurston was patient in action, but seldom in speech, and he broke out +hotly: +</P> + +<P> +"Many a woman has sent a man to his damnation for a little luxury, but +I expected help from you. Millicent, if I assist those swindlers and +stay here dragging out the life of a gentleman pauper on a dole of +stolen money, I shall go down and down, dragging you with me. If you +will come out to a new country with me, I know you will never regret +it. Whatever is best worth winning over there, I will win for you. +Can't you see that we stand at the crossroads, and whichever way we +choose there can be no turning back! Think, and for God's sake think +well! The decision means everything to you and me." +</P> + +<P> +Again Millicent was aware of an unwilling admiration for the speaker, +even though she had little for his sentiments. He stood erect, with a +grim look on his face, his nostrils quivering, and his lips firmly +set—stubborn, vindictive, powerful. Though his strength was +untrained, she knew that he was a man to trust—great in his very +failings, with no meanness in his composition, and clearly born for +risky enterprise and hazardous toil. She was a little afraid of him, a +fact which was not in itself unpleasant; but she dreaded poverty and +hardship! With a shrug of the shoulder upon which he had laid his +hand, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I think you are absurd to-day; you are hurting me. This melodramatic +pose approaches the ludicrous, and I have really no patience with your +folly. A little period of calm reflection may prove beneficial, and I +will leave you to it. Clara is beckoning me." +</P> + +<P> +She turned away, and Thurston, after vainly looking around for Clara, +stalked sullenly into the hall, where he flung himself down in a chair +beside an open window. It did not please him to see Millicent take her +place before the net in the tennis court and to hear her laugh ring +lightly across the lawn. A certain sportsman named Leslie, who had +devoted himself to Miss Austin's service, watched him narrowly from a +corner of the big hall. +</P> + +<P> +"You look badly hipped over something, Thurston," commented the +sportsman presently. "I suppose it's the mine, and would like to offer +my sympathy. Might I recommend a brandy-and-soda, one of those +Cubanos, and confidence? Tom left the bottle handy for you." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the family failing, or, perhaps, because it was the only +thing he feared, Thurston had been an abstemious man. Now, however, he +emptied one stiff tumbler at a gulp, and the soda frothed in the +second, when he noticed a curious smile, for just a moment, in the eyes +of his companion. The smile vanished immediately, but Thurston had +seen and remembered. It was characteristic of him that, before two +more seconds had passed, the glass crashed into splinters in the grate. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite right!" exclaimed Leslie, nodding. "When one feels as you +evidently do, a little of that sort of consolation is considerably +better than too much. You don't, however, appear to be in a +companionable humor, and perhaps I had better not intrude on you." +</P> + +<P> +During the rest of the afternoon, Thurston saw little of Millicent and +Leslie was much with her. +</P> + +<P> +The weather changed suddenly when at dusk Geoffrey rode home. In +forecast of winter, a bitter breeze sighed across the heather and set +the harsh grasses moaning eerily. The sky was somber overhead; scarred +fell and towering pike had faded to blurs of dingy gray, and the +ghostly whistling of curlew emphasized the emptiness of the darkening +moor. The evening's mood suited Geoffrey's, and he rode slowly with +loose bridle. The bouquet of the brandy had awakened within him a +longing that he dreaded, and though, hitherto, he had been too intent +upon his task to trouble about his character, it was borne in upon him +that he must stand fast now or never. But it was not the thought of +his own future which first appealed to him. Those who had gone before +him had rarely counted consequences when tempted by either wine or +women, and he would have risked that freely. Geoffrey was, however, in +his own eccentric fashion, a just man, and he dared not risk bringing +disaster upon Millicent. So he rode slowly, thinking hard, until the +horse, which seemed affected by its master's restlessness, plunged as a +dark figure rose out of the heather. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, is it you, Evans?" asked the rider, with a forced laugh. "I +thought it was the devil. He's abroad to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Thou'rt wrang, Mr. Geoffrey," answered the gamekeeper. "It's Thursday +night he comes. Black Jim as broke thy head for thee is coming with t' +quarrymen to poach t' covers. Got the office from yan with a grudge +against t' gang, an' Captain Franklin, who's layin' for him, sends his +compliments, thinkin' as maybe thee would like t' fun." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston rarely forgot either an injury or a friend, and, the preceding +October, when tripping, he fell helpless, Black Jim twice, with +murderous intent, had brought a gun-butt down upon his unprotected +skull. Excitement was at all times as wine to him, so, promising to be +at the rendezvous, he rode homeward faster than before, with a sense of +anticipation which helped to dull the edge of his care. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A DISILLUSION +</H4> + +<P> +It was a clear cold night when Geoffrey Thurston met Captain Franklin, +who held certain sporting rights in the vicinity, at the place agreed +upon. The captain had brought with him several amateur assistants and +stablehands besides two stalwart keepers. Greeting Thurston he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Very good of you to help me! Our local constable is either afraid or +powerless, and I must accordingly allow Black Jim's rascals to sweep my +covers or take the law into my own hands. It is the pheasants he is +after now, and he'll start early so as to get his plunder off from the +junction by the night mail, and because the moon rises soon. We had +better divide, and you might come with Evans and me to the beeches +while the others search the fir spinney." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey, assenting, followed the officer across a dew-damped meadow +and up a winding lane hung with gossamer-decked briars, until the party +halted, ankle-deep among withered leaves, in a dry ditch just outside +the wood. There were reasons why each detail of all that happened on +that eventful night should impress itself upon Geoffrey's memory, and, +long afterwards, when wandering far out in the shadow of limitless +forests or the chill of eternal snow, he could recall every incident. +Leaves that made crimson glories by day still clung low down about the +wide-girthed trunks beyond the straggling hedge of ancient thorns, but +the higher branches rose nakedly against faintly luminous sky. Spruce +firs formed clumps of solid blackness, and here and there a delicate +tracery of birch boughs filled gaps against the sky-line between. The +meadows behind him were silent and empty, streaked with belts of +spectral mist, and, because it was not very late, he could see a red +glimmer of light in the windows of Barrow Hall. +</P> + +<P> +But if the grass told no story it was otherwise with the wood, for +Geoffrey could hear the rabbits thumping in their burrows among the +roots of the thorn. Twice a cock-pheasant uttered a drowsy, raucous +crow, and there was a blundering of unseen feathery bodies among the +spruce, while, when this ceased, he heard a water-hen flutter with feet +splashing across a hidden pool. Then heavy stillness followed, +intensified by the clamor of a beck which came foaming down the side of +a fell until, clattering loudly, wood-pigeons, neither asleep nor +wholly awake, drove out against the sky, wheeled and fell clumsily into +the wood again. All this was a plain warning, and keeper Evans nodded +agreement when Captain Franklin said: +</P> + +<P> +"There's somebody here, and, in order not to miss him, we'll divide our +forces once more. If you'll go in by the Hall footpath, Thurston, and +whistle on sight of anything suspicious, I'd be much obliged to you." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later Thurston halted on the topmost step of the lofty +stile by which a footpath from the Hall entered the wood. Looking back +across misty grass land and swelling ridges of heather, he could see a +faint brightness behind the eastern rim of the moor; but, when he +stepped down, it was very dark among the serried tree-trunks. The +slender birches had faded utterly, the stately beeches resembled dim +ghosts of trees and only the spruces retained, imperfectly, their shape +and form. Thurston was country bred, and, lifting high his feet to +clear bramble trailer and fallen twig, he walked by feeling instead of +sight. The beck moaned a little more loudly, and there was a heavy +astringent odor of damp earth and decaying leaves. When beast and bird +were still again it seemed as if Nature, worn out by the productive +effort of summer, were sinking under solemn silence into her winter +sleep. +</P> + +<P> +The watcher knew the wood was a large one and unlawful visitants might +well be hidden towards its farther end. He stood still at intervals, +concentrating all his powers to listen, but his ears told him nothing +until at last there was a rustle somewhere ahead. Puzzled by the +sound, which reminded him of something curiously out of place in the +lonely wood, he instantly sank down behind an ash tree. +</P> + +<P> +The sound certainly was not made by withered bracken or bramble leaves, +and had nothing to do with the stealthy fall of a poacher's heavy boot. +It came again more clearly, and Thurston was almost sure that it was +the rustle of a woven fabric, such as a woman's dress. To confirm this +opinion a soft laugh followed. He rose, deciding it could only be some +assignation with a maid from the Hall, and no business of his. He had +turned to retreat when he noticed the eastern side of a silver fir +reflect a faint shimmer. Glancing along the beam of light that +filtered through a fantastic fretwork of delicate birch twigs arching a +drive, he saw a broad, bright disk hanging low above the edge of the +moor. It struck him that perhaps the poachers had used the girl to +coax information out of a young groom or keeper, and that she was now +warning them. So he waited, debating, because he was a rudely +chivalrous person, how he might secure the girl's companion without +involving the girl's disgrace. Again a laugh rose from beyond a +thicket. Then he heard the voice of a man. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey was puzzled, for the laugh was musical, unlike a rustic +giggle; and, though the calling of the beck partly drowned it, the +man's voice did not resemble that of a laborer. Thurston moved again, +wondering whether it was not some affair of Leslie's from the Hall, and +whether he ought not to slip away after all. The birch boughs sighed a +little, there was a fluttering down of withered leaves, and he remained +undecided, gripping his stout oak cudgel by the middle. Then the hot +blood pulsed fiercely through every artery, for the voice rose once +more, harsh and clear this time, with almost a threat in the tone, and +there was no possibility of doubting that the speaker was Leslie. +</P> + +<P> +"This cannot continue, Millicent," the voice said. "It has gone on too +long, and I will not be trifled with. You cannot have both of us, and +my patience is exhausted. Leave the fool to his folly." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey raised the cudgel and dropped it to his side. Turning +suddenly cold, he remained for a second or two almost without power of +thought or motion. The disillusion was cruel. The woman's light +answer filled him with returning fury and he hurled himself at a +thicket from which, amid a crash of branches, he reeled out into the +sight of the speakers. The moon was well clear of the moor now, and +silver light and inky shadow checkered the mosses of the drive. +</P> + +<P> +With a little scream of terror Millicent sprang apart from her +companion's side and stood for a space staring at the man who had +appeared out of the rent-down undergrowth. The pale light beat upon +Geoffrey's face, showing it was white with anger. Looking from +Geoffrey, the girl glanced towards Leslie, who waited in the partial +shadow of a hazel bush. Even had he desired to escape, which was +possible, the bush would have cut off his retreat. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey turned fiercely from one to the other. The woman, who stood +with one hand on a birch branch, was evidently struggling to regain her +courage. Her lips were twitching and her pale blue eyes were very wide +open. The man was shrinking back as far as possible in a manner which +suggested physical fear; he had heard the dalesfolk say a savage devil, +easily aroused, lurked in all the Thurstons, and the one before him +looked distinctly dangerous just then. Leslie was weak in limb as well +as moral fiber, and it was Geoffrey who broke the painful silence. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing here at such an hour with this man, Millicent?" he +asked sternly. "No answer! It appears that some explanation is +certainly due to me—and I mean to force it out of one of you." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent, saying nothing, gazed at her companion, as if conjuring him +to speak plainly and to end an intolerable position. Geoffrey read her +meaning, even though Leslie, who glanced longingly over his shoulder +down the drive, refused to do so. Because there was spirit in her, and +she had recovered from the first shock of surprise, Millicent ground +one little heel into the mosses with a gesture of disgust and anger +when the man made answer: +</P> + +<P> +"I resent your attitude and question. We came out to see the moon rise +on the moor, and found the night breeze nipping." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey laughed harshly before he repeated: "You found the breeze +nipping! There is scarcely an air astir. And you understand the +relations existing between Miss Austin and me? I want a better reason. +Millicent, you, at least, are not a coward—dare you give it me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I challenge your right to demand an account of my actions," said the +girl. With an evident effort to defy Thurston, she added, after a +pause, "But the explanation must have come sooner or later, and you +shall have it now. I have grown—perhaps the brutal truth is +best—tired of you and your folly. You would sacrifice my future to +your fantastic pride—and this man would give up everything for me." +</P> + +<P> +The first heat of Geoffrey's passion was past, and he was now coldly +savage because of the woman's treachery. +</P> + +<P> +"Including his conscience and honor, but not his personal safety!" he +supplemented contemptuously. "Millicent, one could almost admire you." +Turning to Leslie he asked: "But are you struck dumb that you let the +woman speak? This was my promised wife to whom you have been making +love, though, for delicacy would be superfluous, it is evident that she +has not discouraged you. Until three days ago I could have trusted my +life to her. Now, I presume, she has pledged herself to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered Leslie, recovering his equanimity as his fears grew +less oppressive. He began to excuse himself but Geoffrey cut him short +with a gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, even if I desired to make them, my protests would be useless," +said Geoffrey. "I am at least grateful for your frankness, Millicent; +it prevented me from wringing the truth from your somewhat abject +lover. Had you told me honestly, when this man first spoke to you, +that you had grown tired of me, I would have released you, and I would +have tried to wish you well. Now I can only say, that at least you +know the worst of each other—and there will be less disappointment +when, stripped of either mutual or self respect, you begin life +together. But I was forgetting that Franklin's keepers are searching +the wood. Some of them might talk. Go at once by the Hall path, as +softly as you can." +</P> + +<P> +The man and the girl were plainly glad to hurry away, and Geoffrey +waited until the sound of their footsteps became scarcely audible +before he heeded a faint rustling which indicated that somebody with a +knowledge of woodcraft was forcing a passage through the undergrowth. +He broke a dry twig at intervals as he walked slowly for a little +distance. Then he dropped on hands and knees to cross a strip of open +sward at an angle to his previous course, and lay still in the black +shadow of a spruce. It was evident that somebody was following his +trail, and the pursuer, passing his hiding-place, followed it straight +on. Geoffrey's was a curious character, and the very original cure for +a disappointment in love, that of baffling a game watcher while his +faithless mistress escaped, brought him relief; it left no time for +reflection. +</P> + +<P> +Presently he dashed across a bare strip of velvet mosses and +rabbit-cropped turf, slipped between the roots of the hedge, and, +running silently beneath it, halted several score yards away face to +face with the astonished keeper. "Weel, I'm clanged; this clean beats +me," gasped that worthy. "Hello, behind there. It's only Mr. +Geoffrey, sir. Didst see Black Jim slip out this way, or hear a scream +a laal while gone by?" +</P> + +<P> +"I saw no one," answered Geoffrey, "but I heard the scream. It was not +unlike a hare squealing in a snare. You and I must have been stalking +each other, Evans, and Black Jim can't be here." +</P> + +<P> +The rest came up as they spoke, and Captain Franklin said, "You seem +badly disappointed at missing your old enemy, Thurston. I never saw +you look so savage. I expect Black Jim has tricked us, after all." +</P> + +<P> +"I've had several troubles lately, and don't find much amusement in +hunting poachers who aren't there," said Geoffrey. "You will excuse me +from going back with you." +</P> + +<P> +He departed across the meadows, at a swinging pace, and the keeper, who +stared after him, commented: +</P> + +<P> +"Something gradely wrang with Mr. Geoffrey to-night. They're an ill +folk to counter yon, and it's maybe as well for Black Jim as Mr. +Geoffrey didn't get hold on him." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey saw no more of Millicent, but once he visited her younger +sister, a gentle invalid, who, because of the friendship which had long +existed between them, said: "You must try to believe I mean it in +kindness when I say that I am not wholly sorry, Geoffrey. You and +Millicent would never have gotten on well together, and while I wish +the awakening could have happened in a more creditable way, you will +realize—when somebody else makes you happy—that all has been for the +best." +</P> + +<P> +"That day will be long in coming," declared the man, grimly, and the +sick girl laid a thin white hand on his hard one as she answered him. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not a flattering speech, and you must not lose faith in all of +us," the invalid went on. "Lying still here, helpless, I have often +thought about both of you, and I feel that you have done well in +choosing a new life in a new country. When you go out, Geoffrey, you +will take my fervent wishes for your welfare with you." +</P> + +<P> +Janet Austin was frail and worn by pain. Her pale face flushed a +little as the man suddenly stooped and touched her forehead with his +lips. +</P> + +<P> +"God bless you for your kindly heart," he said. "A ruined man has very +few friends, and many acquaintances are waiting to convince him that +his downfall is the result of his own folly, but"—and he straightened +his wiry frame, while his eyes glinted—"they have not seen the end, +and even if beaten, there is satisfaction in a stubborn, single-handed +struggle." +</P> + +<P> +Janet Austin, perhaps thinking of her own helplessness, sighed as she +answered: +</P> + +<P> +"I do not think you will be beaten, Geoffrey, but if you will take +advice from me, remember that over-confidence in your powers and the +pride that goes with it may cost you many a minor victory. Good-by, +and good luck, Geoffrey. You will remember me." +</P> + +<P> +That afternoon, while Thurston was in the midst of preparations to +leave his native land, the mining engineer called upon him with a +provincial newspaper in his hand. "I suppose this is your answer," he +remarked, laying his finger on a paragraph. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Mr. G. Thurston, who has, in the face of many difficulties, attempted +to exploit the copper vein in Crosbie Fell, has been compelled to close +the mine," the printed lines ran. "We understand he came upon an +unexpected break in the strata, coupled with a subsidence which +practically precludes the possibility of following the lost lead with +any hope of commercial success. He has, therefore, placed his affairs +in the hands of Messrs. Lonsdale & Routh, solicitors, and, we +understand, intends emigrating. His many friends and former employees +wish him success." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Yes," Geoffrey answered dryly, "I sent them the information, also a +copy to London financial papers. Considering the interest displayed +just now in British mines, they should insert a paragraph. I've staked +down your backers' game in return for your threats, and you may be +thankful you have come off so easily. Your check is ready. It is the +last you will ever get from me." +</P> + +<P> +The expert smiled almost good-naturedly. "You needn't have taken so +much trouble, Thurston," he said. "The exploitation of your rabbit +burrow would only have been another drop in the bucket to my +correspondents, and it's almost a pity we can't be friends, for, with +some training, your sledge-hammer style would make its mark in the +ring." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks!" replied Geoffrey. "I'm not fishing for compliments, and it's +probably no use explaining my motives—you wouldn't understand them. +Still, in future, don't set down every man commonly honest as an +uncommon fool. If I ever had much money, which is hardly likely, I +should fight extremely shy of any investments recommended by your +friends!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GEOFFREY'S FIRST CONTRACT +</H4> + +<P> +It was springtime among the mountains which, glistening coldly white +with mantles of eternal snow, towered above the deep-sunk valley, when, +one morning, Geoffrey Thurston limped painfully out of a redwood forest +of British Columbia. The boom of a hidden river set the pine sprays +quivering. A blue grouse was drumming deliriously on the top of a +stately fir, and the morning sun drew clean, healing odors from balsam +and cedar. +</P> + +<P> +The scene was characteristic of what is now the grandest and wildest, +as it will some day be the richest, province of the Canadian Dominion. +The serene majesty of snow-clad heights and the grandeur of vast +shadowy aisles, with groined roofs of red branches and mighty +colonnades of living trunks, were partly lost upon the traveler who, +most of the preceding night, had trudged wearily over rough railroad +ballast. He had acquired Colonial experience of the hardest kind by +working through the winter in an Ontario logging camp, which is a rough +school. +</P> + +<P> +An hour earlier the man, to visit whom Thurston had undertaken an +eight-league journey, had laughed in his face when he offered to drain +a lake which flooded his ranch. Saying nothing, but looking grimmer +than ever, Geoffrey had continued his weary journey in search of +sustenance. He frowned as he flung himself down beneath a fir, for, +shimmering like polished steel between the giant trees, the glint of +water caught his eye, and the blue wood smoke curling over the house on +a distant slope suggested the usual plentiful Colonial breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +Although Geoffrey's male forbears had been reckless men, his mother had +transmitted him a strain of north-country canniness. The remnant of +his poor possessions, converted into currency, lay in a Canadian bank +to provide working capital and, finding no scope for his mental +abilities, he had wandered here and there endeavoring to sell the +strength of his body for daily bread. Sometimes he had been +successful, more often he had failed, but always, when he would accept +it, the kindly bush settlers gave him freely of their best. As he +basked in the warmth and brightness, he took from his pocket a few +cents' worth of crackers. When he had eaten, his face relaxed, for the +love of wild nature was born in him, and the glorious freshness of the +spring was free to the poorest as well as to the richest. He stooped +to drink at a glacier-fed rill, and then producing a corn-cob pipe, +sighed on finding that only the tin label remained of his cake of +tobacco. +</P> + +<P> +Through the shadow of the firs two young women watched him with +curiosity. The man looked worn and weary, his jean jacket was old and +torn, and an essential portion of one boot was missing. The stranger's +face had been almost blackened by the snow-reflected glare of the clear +winter sun, and yet both girls decided that he was hardly a +representative specimen of the wandering fraternity of tramps. +</P> + +<P> +Helen Savine was slender, tall, and dark. Though arrayed in a plain +dress of light fabric, she carried herself with a dignity befitting the +daughter of the famous engineering contractor, Julius Savine, and a +descendant, through her mother, from Seigneurs of ancient French +descent who had ruled in patriarchal fashion in old-world Quebec. Jean +Graham, whose father owned the ranch on the slope behind them, was +ruddy in face, with a solidity of frame that betokened Caledonian +extraction, and true trans-Atlantic directness of speech. +</P> + +<P> +"He must be hungry," whispered Jean. "Quite good-looking, too, and +it's queer he sits there munching those crackers, instead of walking +straight up and striking us for a meal. I don't like to see a +good-looking man hungry," she added, reflectively. +</P> + +<P> +"We will go down and speak to him," said Helen, and the suggestion that +she should interview a wandering vagrant did not seem out of place in +that country where men from many different walks of life turned their +often ill-fitted hands to the rudest labor that promised them a +livelihood. In any case, Helen possessed a somewhat imperious will, +which was supplemented by a grace of manner which made whatever she did +appear right. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey, looking round at the sound of approaching steps, stood +suddenly upright, thrusting the more dilapidated boot behind the other, +and wondering with what purpose the two girls had sought him. One he +recognized as a type common enough throughout the Dominion—kindly, +shrewd, somewhat hard-featured and caustic in speech; but the other, +who looked down on him with thinly-veiled pity, more resembled the +women of birth and education whom he had seen in England. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a stranger to this district. Looking for work, perhaps?" said +Helen Savine. Geoffrey lifted his wide and battered felt hat as he +answered, "I am." +</P> + +<P> +"There is work here," announced Helen. "I can offer you a dollar +now—if you would care to earn it. Yonder rock, which I believe is a +loose boulder, obstructs our wagon trail. If you are willing to remove +it and will follow us to the ranch, you will find suitable tools." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey flushed a little under his tan. When seeking work he had +grown used to being sworn at by foremen with Protectionist tendencies, +but it galled him to be offered a woman's charity, and the words "If +you would care to earn it," left a sting. Nevertheless, he reflected +that any superfluous sensitiveness would be distinctly out of place in +one of his position, and, considering the wages paid in that country, +the man who rolled the boulder clear would well earn his dollar. +Accordingly he answered: "I should be glad to remove the rock, if I +can." +</P> + +<P> +The two young women turned back towards the ranch, and Thurston +followed respectfully, as far as possible in the rear, that they might +not observe the condition of his attire. This was an entirely +superfluous precaution, for Helen's keen eyes had noticed. +</P> + +<P> +Reaching the ranch, Geoffrey possessed himself of a grub-hoe, which is +a pick with an adz-shaped blade with an ax and shovel; also he returned +with the girls to the boulder. For an hour or two he toiled hard, +grubbing out hundredweights of soil and gravel from round about the +rock. Then cutting a young fir he inserted the butt of it as a lever, +and spent another thirty minutes focusing his full strength on the +opposite end. The rock, however, refused to move an inch, and, because +a few crackers are not much for a hungry man to work on after an +all-night march, Thurston became conscious that he had a headache and a +distressful stitch in his side. Still, being obstinate and filled with +an unreasoning desire to prove his trustworthiness to his fair +employer, he continued doggedly, and after another hour's digging found +the stone still immovable. Then it happened that while, with the +perspiration dripping from him, he tugged at the lever, the rancher who +had rebuffed him that morning, drew rein close beside. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! What are you after now? You're messing all this trail up if +you're doing nothing else," he declared in a tone of challenge. +</P> + +<P> +"If you have come here to amuse yourself at my expense, take care. I'm +not in the mood for baiting," answered Thurston, who still smarted +under the recollection of the summary manner in which the speaker had +rejected his proffered services. "There are, however, folks in this +country more willing to give a stranger a chance than you, and I've +taken a contract to remove that rock for a dollar. Now, if you are +satisfied, ride on your way." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you've made a blame bad bargain," commented the rancher, with +unruffled good humor. "I was figuring that I might help you. I +thought you were a hobo after my chickens, or trying to bluff me into a +free meal this morning. If you'd asked straight for it, I'd have given +it you." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey hesitated, divided between an inclination to laugh or to +assault the rancher, who perhaps guessed his thoughts, for, +dismounting, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"If you're so mighty thin-skinned what are you doing here? Why don't +you British dukes stop right back in your own country where folks touch +their hats to you? Let me on to that lever." +</P> + +<P> +For at least twenty minutes, the two men tugged and panted. Then +Bransome, the rancher, said: +</P> + +<P> +"The blame thing's either part of the out-crop or wedged fast there +forever, and I've no more time to spare. Say, Graham's a hard man, and +has been playing it low on you. What's the matter with turning his +contract up and going over to fill oat bags for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank, but having given my word to move that rock, I'm going to stay +here until I do it," answered Geoffrey; and Bransome, nodding to him, +rode on towards the ranch. +</P> + +<P> +When he reached it Bransome said to Jean Graham in the hearing of Miss +Savine: +</P> + +<P> +"The old man has taken in yonder guileless stranger who has put two +good dollars' worth of work into that job already, and the rock's +rather faster than it was before." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he say Mr. Graham hired him?" asked Helen, and she drew her own +inference when Bransome answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no! I put it that way, and he didn't contradict me." +</P> + +<P> +It was afternoon when Thurston realized at last that even considerable +faith in one's self is not sufficient, unaided, to move huge boulders. +He felt faint and hungry, but the pride of the Insular Briton +restrained him from begging for a meal. His own dislike to acknowledge +defeat also prompted him to decide that where weary muscles failed, +mechanical power might succeed, and he determined to tramp back a +league to the settlement in the hope of perhaps obtaining a drill and +some giant powder on credit. He had not studied mining theoretically +as well as in a costly practical school for nothing. +</P> + +<P> +It was a rough trail to the settlement. The red dust lay thick upon it +and the afternoon sun was hot. When at last, powdered all over with +dust and very weary, Thurston came in sight of the little wooden store, +he noticed Bransome's horse fastened outside it. He did not see the +rancher, who sat on an empty box behind a sugar hogshead inside the +counter. +</P> + +<P> +"I want two sticks of giant powder, a fathom or two of fuse, and +several detonators," said Geoffrey as indifferently as he could. "I +have only two bits at present to pay for them, but if they don't come +to more than a dollar you shall have the rest to-morrow. I also want +to borrow a drill." +</P> + +<P> +The storekeeper was used to giving much longer credit than Geoffrey +wanted, but the glance he cast at the applicant was not reassuring, and +it is possible he might have refused his request, but that, unseen by +Thurston, Bransome signaled to him from behind the barrel. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't trade that way with strangers generally," the storekeeper +answered. "Still, if you want them special, and will pay me what +they're worth to-morrow, I'll oblige you, and even lend you a set of +drills. But you'll come back sure, and not lose any of them drills?" +he added dubiously. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't come here to rob you. It's a business deal, and not a favor +I'm asking," asserted Geoffrey grimly, and when he withdrew the +storekeeper observed: +</P> + +<P> +"Why can't you do your own charity, Bransome, instead of taxing me? +That's the crank who wanted to run your lake down, isn't he? I guess +I'll never see either him or them drills again." +</P> + +<P> +"You will," the rancher assured him. "If that man's alive to-morrow +you'll get your money; I'll go bail for him. He's just the man you +mention, but I'm considerably less sure about the crankiness than I was +this morning. There's a quantity of fine clean sand in him." +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, and soon after Geoffrey had set out for the store, the two +girls strolled down the trail to ascertain how he was progressing. +They looked at each other significantly when they came upon the litter +of débris and tools. +</P> + +<P> +"Lit out!" announced Jean Graham. "The sight of all that work was too +much for him. He'll be lying on his back now by the river thinking +poetry. This country's just thick with reposeful Britishers nobody at +home has any use for, and their kind friends ship off onto us. In a +way I'm sorry. He lit out hungry, and he didn't look like a loafer." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid we were a little hard upon him," said Helen, smiling. +"Still, I am somewhat surprised he did not carry out his bargain." +</P> + +<P> +"You can never trust those gilt-edge Britishers," said Jean Graham with +authority. "There was old man Peters who took one of them in, and he'd +sit in the store nights making little songs to his banjo, and talking +just wonderful. Said he was a baronet or something, if he had his +rights, and made love to Sally. Old fool Peters believed him, and lent +him three hundred dollars to start a lawsuit over his English property +with. Dessay Peters thought red-haired Sally would look well trailing +round as a countess in a gold-hemmed dress. The baronet took the +money, but wanted some more, and lit out the same night with Lou of the +Sapin Rouge saloon." +</P> + +<P> +"I should hardly expect all that from our acquaintance of this morning, +but I am disappointed, though I'm sure I don't know why I should be," +said Helen Savine. +</P> + +<P> +The sunlight had faded from the valley, though the peaks still +shimmered orange and red, and the broken edge of a glacier flashed like +a great rose diamond, when the two girls sat on the veranda encircling +Graham's ranch-house. The rancher and his stalwart sons were away +rounding up his cattle, but Jean was expecting both them and her mother +and the delayed supper was ready. The evening was very still and cool. +The life-giving air was heavy with the breath of dew-touched cedars, +while the hoarse clamor of the river accentuated the hush of the +mountain solitude. Strange to say, both of the girls were thinking +about the vagrant, and Helen Savine, who considered herself a judge of +character, had been more impressed by him than she would have cared to +admit. There was no doubt, she reflected, that the man was tolerably +good-looking and had enjoyed some training, though perhaps not the +best, in England. He had also known adversity, she deduced from the +gauntness of his face and a certain grimness of expression. She had +noticed that his chin indicated a masterful expression and she was, +therefore, the more surprised that he had allowed himself to be +vanquished by the boulder. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a heavy crash broke through the musical jangle of cow bells +that drew nearer up the valley, and a cloud of yellow smoke curling +above the dark branches spread itself across the fir tops in filmy +folds. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that's our hobo blowing the rock up!" cried Jean. "I wonder +where he stole the giant powder from. Well, daddy's found his cattle, +and the swearing will have made him hungry. I'll start Kate on to the +supper, and we'll bring the man in when he comes round for his dollar." +</P> + +<P> +Presently Thurston knocked at the door, and strode in at a summons to +enter. Slightly abashed, he halted inside the threshold. Jean, +looking ruddy and winsome in light print dress, with sleeves rolled +clear of each plump fore-arm, was spreading great platefuls of hot +cakes and desiccated fruits among the more solid viands on the snowy +tablecloth. Geoffrey found it difficult to refrain from glancing +wolfishly at the good things until his eyes rested upon Miss Savine, +and then it cost him an effort to turn them away. Helen reclined on an +ox-hide lounge. An early rose rested among the glossy clusters of her +thick, dark hair. A faint tinge of crimson showed through the pale +olive in her cheek, and he caught the glimmer of pearly teeth between +the ripe red lips. In her presence he grew painfully conscious that he +was ragged, toil-stained and dusty, though he had made the best toilet +he could beside a stream. +</P> + +<P> +"I have removed the rock, and have brought the tools back," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"How much did the explosives cost you?" asked Helen, and Geoffrey +smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"If you will excuse me, is not that beside the question? I engaged to +remove the boulder, and I have done it," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +Ever since her mother's death, Helen Savine had ruled her father and +most of the men with whom she came in contact. She had come to the +ranch with Mr. Savine, who was interested in many enterprises in the +neighborhood and she was prepared to be interested in whatever +occurred. Few of her wishes ever had been thwarted, so, naturally, she +was conscious of a faint displeasure that a disheveled wanderer should +even respectfully slight her question. Placing two silver coins on the +table, the said coldly: +</P> + +<P> +"Then here are your covenanted wages, and we are obliged to you." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey handed one of the coins back with a slight inclination of his +head. "Our bargain was one dollar, madam, and I cannot take more. +Perhaps you have forgotten," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +Helen was distinctly annoyed now. The color grew a little warmer in +her cheek and her eyes brighter, but she uttered only a "Thank you," +and took up the piece of silver. +</P> + +<P> +Jean Graham, prompted by the Westerner's generous hospitality, and a +feeling that she had been overlooked, spoke: +</P> + +<P> +"You have earned a square meal any way, and you're going to get it," +she declared. "Sit right down there and we'll have supper when the +boys come in." +</P> + +<P> +Uneasily conscious that Helen was watching him, Thurston cast a swift +hungry glance at the food. Then, remembering his frayed and tattered +garments and the hole in his boot, he answered: "I thank you, but as I +must be well on my way to-morrow I cannot stay." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'll take these along, and eat them when it suits you," said +the girl, deftly thrusting a plateful of hot cakes upon him. Divided +between gratitude and annoyance, Geoffrey stood still, stupidly holding +out the dainties at arm's length, while flavored syrup dripped from +them. It was equally impossible to return them without flagrant +discourtesy or to retire with any dignity. Finally, he moved out +backwards still clutching the plate of cakes, and when he had +disappeared Helen laughed softly, while Jean's merriment rang out in +rippling tones. +</P> + +<P> +"You saved the situation," said Helen. "It was really getting +embarrassing, and he made me ashamed. I ought to have known better +than to play that trick with the dollar, but the poor man looked as if +he needed it. He is certainly not a hobo, and I could wonder who he +is, but that it does not matter, as we shall never see him again." +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Geoffrey Thurston walked savagely down the trail. He felt +greatly tempted to hurl the cakes away, but, on second thoughts, ate +them instead. It was a trifling decision, but it led to important +results, as trifles often do, because, if he had not satisfied his +hunger, he would have limped back through the settlement towards the +railroad and probably never would have re-entered the valley. As it +was, when the edge of his hunger was blunted he felt drowsy, and, +curling himself up among the roots of hemlock, sank into slumber under +the open sky. Early next morning Bransome stopped him on the trail. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been thinking over what you told me about making a rock cutting +to run the water clear of my meadows," said the rancher, "and if you're +still keen on business I'm open to talk to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you talk yesterday morning?" inquired Thurston, and +Bransome answered frankly: "Well, just then I had my doubts about you; +now I figure that if you say you can do a thing, you can. Come over to +the ranch, and, if we can't make a deal, I'll give you a week's work, +any way." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks!" replied Thurston. "I should be glad to, but I have some +business at the settlement first. Will you advance me a dollar, on +account of wages, so that I can discharge a debt to the storekeeper?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes!" agreed the rancher. "But didn't you get a dollar from +Graham yesterday? Do you want two?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes!" said Thurston. "I want two," and Bransome laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"You're in a greater hurry to pay your debts than other folks from your +country I've met over here," he observed with a smile. "But come on to +the ranch and breakfast; I'll square the storekeeper for you." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston accepted the chance that offered him a sustaining meal, but he +did not explain that, owing to some faint trace of superstition in his +nature, he intended to keep Helen Savine's dollar. It was the first +coin that he had earned as his own master, in the Dominion, and he felt +that the successfully-executed contract marked a turning point in his +career. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GEOFFREY MAKES PROGRESS +</H4> + +<P> +Thurston did justice to his breakfast at Bransome's ranch, and he +frankly informed his host that he had found it difficult to exist on +two handfuls of crackers and one of hot corn cakes. When the meal was +finished and pipes were lighted, the two men surveyed each other with +mutual interest. They were not unlike in physique, for the Colonial, +was, as is usual with his kind, lean and wiry. His quick, restless +movements suggested nervous energy, but when advisable, he could assume +the bovine stolidity which, though foreign to his real nature, the +Canadian bushman occasionally adopts for diplomatic purposes. +Thurston, however, still retained certain traits of the Insular Briton, +including a curtness of speech and a judicious reserve. +</P> + +<P> +"That blame lake backs up on my meadows each time the creek rises," +Bransome observed at length. "The snow melts fast in hay-time, and, +more often than I like, a freshet harvests my timothy grass for me. +Now cutting down three-hundred-foot redwoods is good as exercise, but +it gets monotonous, and a big strip of natural prairie would be +considerably more useful than a beaver's swimming bath. You said you +could blow a channel through the rocks that hold up the outlet, didn't +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can!" Geoffrey asserted confidently. "From some knowledge of mining +I am inclined to think that a series of heavy charges fired +simultaneously along the natural cleavage would reduce the lake's level +at least a fathom. Have you got a pencil?" +</P> + +<P> +Here it was that the national idiosyncrasies of the men became +apparent; for Thurston, leaning on one elbow, made an elaborate sketch +and many calculations with Bransome's pencil. A humming-bird, +resplendent in gold and purple, blundered in between the roses +shrouding the open window, and hovered for a moment above him on +invisible wings. Thurston did not notice the bird, but Bransome flung +a crust at it as he smiled on his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll take the figures for granted. Life is too short to worry over +them," the rancher said. "Let's get down to business. How much are +you asking, no cure no pay, I finding tools and material? I want your +bottom price straight away." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston had never done business in so summary a fashion before, but he +could adapt himself to circumstances, and he mentioned a moderate sum +forthwith. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't come down?—then it's a deal!" Bransome announced. +"Contract—this is the Pacific slope, and we've no time for such +foolery. I'm figuring that I can trust you, and my word's good enough +in this locality. Run that pond down a fathom and you'll get your +money. Any particular reason why you shouldn't start in to-day? Don't +know of any? Then put that pipe in your pocket, and we'll strike out +for the store at the settlement now." +</P> + +<P> +So it came about that at sunset Geoffrey was deposited with several +bags of provisions, a blanket, and a litter of tools, outside a ruined +shack on the edge of the natural prairie surrounding Bransome's lake. +He had elected to live beside his work. +</P> + +<P> +A tall forest of tremendous growth walled the lake, and then for a +space rotting trees and willow swale showed where the intermittent rise +of waters had set a limit to the all-encroaching bush. The wail of a +loon rang eerily out of the shadow, and was answered by the howl of a +distant wolf. A thin silver crescent sailed clear of the fretted +minarets of towering firs clear cut against a pale pearl of the sky. +</P> + +<P> +"Carlton's prairie, we call it," said Bransome, leaning against his +light wagon, which stood, near the deserted dwelling. "Land which +isn't all rock or forest is mighty scarce, and Carlton figured he'd +done great things when he bought this place. Five years he tried to +drain it, working night and day, and pouring good money into it, and +five times the freshets washed out his crops for him. The creek just +laughed at his ditches. Then when he'd no more money he went out to +help track-laying, and a big tree flattened him. The boys said he +didn't seem very sorry. This prairie had broken his heart for him, and +I've heard the Siwash say he still comes back and digs at nights when +the moon is full." +</P> + +<P> +"Carlton made a mistake," said Geoffrey, who had been examining the +surroundings rather than listening to the tale. "He began in what +looked the easiest and was the hardest way. He should have cut the +mother rock instead of trenching the forest." When Bransome drove away +Thurston rolled himself in the thick brown blanket, and sank into +slumber under the lee of the dead man's dwelling, through which a maple +tree had grown from the inside, wrenching off the shingle roof. +</P> + +<P> +An owl that circled about the crumbling house, stooped now and then on +muffled wing to inspect the sleeper. Once a stealthy panther, slipping +through the willows, bared its fangs and passed the other way, and the +pale green points of luminescence that twinkled in the surrounding +bush, and were the eyes of timber wolves, faded again. Neither did the +deer that panther and wolves sought, come down to feed on the swamp +that night, for a man, holding dominion over the beasts of the forest, +lay slumbering in the desolate clearing. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey began work early next day, and afterwards week by week toiled +from dawn until nearly sunset, blasting clear minor reefs and ledges +until he attacked the mother rock under the lip of a clashing fall. +The fee promised was by no means large, and, because current wages +prohibited assistance, he did all the work himself. So he shoveled +débris and drilled holes in the hard blue grit; and drilling, +single-handed, is a difficult operation, damaging to the knuckles of +the man attempting it. He waded waist-deep in water, learned to carry +heavy burdens on his shoulder, and found his interest in the task +growing upon him. He felt that much depended upon the successful +completion of his contract. It was not, however, all monotonous labor, +and there were compensations, for, after each day's toil was done, he +lay prone on scented pine twigs, and heard the voices of the bush break +softly through the solemn hush as, through gradations of fading glories +along the lofty snows, night closed in. He would watch the black bear +grubbing hog-fashion among the tall wild cabbage, while the little +butter duck, paddling before its brood, set divergent lines creeping +across the steely lake until the shadows of the whitened driftwood +broke and quivered. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes he would call the chipmunks, which scurried up and down +behind him, or tap on a rotten log until a crested woodpecker cried in +answer, and by degrees the spell of the mountains gained upon him, +until he forgot his troubles and became no more subject to fits of +berserk rage. He was growing quiet and more patient, learning to wait, +but his energy and determination still remained. But he was not wholly +cut off from human intercourse, for at times some of the scattered +ranchers would ride over to offer impracticable advice or to predict +his failure, and Geoffrey listened quietly, answering that in time it +would be proved which was right. Sometimes, he tramped through scented +shadow to Graham's homestead and discussed crops and cattle with the +rancher. On these occasions, he had long conversations with Helen +Savine, who, finding no person of liberal education thereabouts, was +pleased to talk to him. There was nothing incongruous in this, for +petty class distinctions vanish in the bush, where, when his daily task +is done, the hired man meets his master on terms of equality. +</P> + +<P> +At last the day on which Thurston's work was to be practically tested +arrived, and most of the ranchers drove over to witness what they +regarded as a reckless experiment. +</P> + +<P> +Jean Graham and Helen Savine stood a little apart from the rest on the +edge of the forest looking down on the glancing water and talking with +the experimenter. The rich wet meadows were heavy with flag and +blossom to the edge of the driftwood frieze, and the splash of rising +trout alone disturbed the reflection of the mighty trunks and branches +crowning a promontory on the farther side. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very beautiful, and now you are going to spoil it all, Mr. +Bransome," said Helen. +</P> + +<P> +The rancher glanced at her with admiration in his eyes. Helen was +worthy of inspection. Her thin summer dress, with the cluster of +crimson roses tucked into the waist of it, brought out her rich beauty +which betokened a Latin ancestry. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's mighty pretty; a picture worth looking at—all of it," he +said, and there was a faint smile on Helen's lips as she recognized +that the general tribute to the picturesque was as far as Bransome +dared venture in the direction of a compliment. He was not a diffident +person, but he felt a wholesome respect for Helen Savine. +</P> + +<P> +"Mighty pretty, but what's the good of it, and I'm not farming for my +health," he continued. "It's just a beautiful wilderness, and what has +a man brains given him for, unless it's to turn the wilderness into +cheese and butter. It has broken one man's heart, and my thick-headed +neighbors said a swamp it would remain forever, but a stranger with +ideas came along, and I told him, 'Sail ahead.'" +</P> + +<P> +"I did hear you told him not to be a—perhaps I had better say—a +simple fool," Helen answered mischievously; and Bransome coughed before +he made reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe!" he acknowledged. "I didn't know him then, but to-day I'm +ready to back that man to put through just whatever he sets his mind +upon." +</P> + +<P> +As Bransome spoke, the subject of this encomium came up from the little +gorge by the lake outlet, and it struck Helen Savine that the rock +worker had changed to advantage since she first saw him. His keen +eyes, which she had noticed were quick to flash with anger, had grown +more kindly and the bronzed face was more reposeful. The thin jean +garments and great knee boots, which had no longer any rents in them, +suited the well-proportioned frame. +</P> + +<P> +"I was disappointed about the electric firing gear ordered from +Vancouver, but I think the coupled time-fuses should serve almost as +well," said Thurston, acknowledging Helen's presence with a bow that +was significant. "You appear interested, Miss Savine. We are trusting +to the shock of a number of charges fired simultaneously, and perhaps +you had better retire nearer the bush, for the blast will be powerful. +I should like your good wishes, since you are in a measure responsible +for this venture. You will remember you gave me my first commission." +</P> + +<P> +"You have them!" said Helen, with a frank sincerity, for though the man +was a mere enterprising laborer, she was too proud to assume any air of +condescension. She was Helen Savine, and considered that she had no +need to maintain her dignity. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey returned a conventional answer, and there was a buzz of voices +as he and Bransome walked back together towards the gorge. The rancher +halted discreetly when his companion, taking a brand from a fire near +it, clambered over the boulders. Geoffrey disappeared among the rocks, +and the voices grew louder when he came into view again walking +hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +Several trails of thin blue vapor began to crawl in and out among the +rocks. Bransome joined Thurston, and both men broke into a smart trot. +They were heading for the bush until Geoffrey, halting near it, ran +back at full speed towards the gorge. All who watched him were +astonished, for they were already bracing themselves to face the heavy +shock. +</P> + +<P> +"He's mad—stark mad!" roared Graham. "Come back for your life, +Bransome. It's smashed into small pieces both of you will be," and the +eyes of the spectators grew wide as they watched the two running +figures, for the rancher also had turned, and the lines of vapor were +creeping with ominous swiftness across the face of the stone. +</P> + +<P> +There was a roar as the behind man clutched at the other, missed him, +and staggered several paces, leaving his hat behind him before he took +up the chase again. Single cries sharper than the rest rose out of the +clamor, "Blown to glory both of them! Two sticks of giant powder in +most of the holes. All that's left of the Britisher won't be worth +picking up!" +</P> + +<P> +The two men disappeared among the boulders almost under the white foam +of the fall, and for a brief space there was heavy silence emphasized +by the song of hurrying water and the drumming of a blue-grouse on the +summit of a fir. Helen Savine fancied she could hear the assembly +breathing unevenly, and felt a pricking among the roots of her hair, +while she struggled with an impulse which prompted her to cry aloud or +in any wild fashion to break the torturing suspense. Jean Graham, +whose eyes were wide with apprehension, noted that her face was +bloodless to the lips. Neither had as yet been rudely confronted with +tragedy, and both felt held fast, spellbound, without the power to move. +</P> + +<P> +"The Lord have mercy on them," said the hoarse voice of a man somewhere +behind the girls. +</P> + +<P> +Once more a murmur swelled into a roar, and Jean, twining her brown +fingers together, cried, "There! They're coming. They may be in time!" +</P> + +<P> +A figure, apparently Bransome's, leaped down from a boulder close in +front of one that climbed over the stone, and there followed harsh, +breathless cries of encouragement as the two headed at mad speed for +the sheltering forest, the rear runner, who came up with hands clenched +and long swinging strides, gaining steadily on the one before him. +They were near enough for those who watched to see that the fear of +sudden death was stamped upon their perspiring faces. Then, as they +passed a spur of rock out-crop, Thurston leaped upon the leader, hurled +him forward so that he lost his balance and the pair went down out of +sight among the rocks, while a shaft of radiance pale in the sunlight +blazed aloft beside the outlet of the lake. Thick yellow-tinted vapor +followed it, and hillside and forest rang to the shock of a stunning +detonation. +</P> + +<P> +The smoke curling in filmy wreaths spread itself across the quaggy +meadows, while the patter of falling fragments filled the quivering +bush, and was mingled with a loud splashing, or a heavy crash as some +piece of greater weight drove hurtling through the trees or plunged +into the lake. Then for the last time the assembly gave voice, raising +a tumultuous cheer of relief as the two men came forth uninjured out of +the eddying smoke. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey, shaking the dust from his garments, turned to his companion +with a somewhat nervous laugh: +</P> + +<P> +"We cut it rather fine," he said, "but I felt reasonably sure there +would be just sufficient time, and it might have spoiled the whole +blast if the two bad fuses had failed to fire their shots. Of course, +I'm grateful for your company, but as it was my particular business I +don't quite see why you turned back after me." +</P> + +<P> +Bransome, who mopped his forehead, stared at the speaker with some +wonder and more admiration before he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"There's a good deal of cast iron about you, and I guess I'd a long way +sooner have trusted the rest than have gone back to stir up those two +charges. What took me?—well, I figured you had turned suddenly crazy, +and I was in a way responsible for you. Made the best bargain for your +time I could, but I didn't buy you up bones and body—see?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think I do," answered Geoffrey, and that was all, but it meant the +recognition of a bond between them. Bransome, as if glad to change the +subject, asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Say, after you had fired the fuse what did you waste precious seconds +looking for? If I wasn't too scared to notice anything clearly I'd +swear you found something and picked it up." +</P> + +<P> +"I did!" declared Geoffrey, smiling. "It was something I must have +dropped before. Only a trifle, but I would not like to lose it, and—I +had one eye on the fuses—there seemed a second or two to spare. +However, for some reason my throat feels all stuck together. Have you +any cider in your wagon?" +</P> + +<P> +Half-an-hour later, when most of the spectators stood watching the +released waters thunder down the gorge, for the blast had been +successful, Helen Savine said: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't quite understand what happened, Mr. Bransome." +</P> + +<P> +"It was this way!" answered the rancher, glad to profit by any +opportunity of interesting the girl. "That Thurston is a hard, tough +man. Two fuses that were to fire small charges petered out, and sooner +than risk anything he must light them again. I don't quite understand +all the rest of it, either, for he's not a mean man, and why he should +stay fooling on top of a powder mine looking for one dollar when I've a +hatful to pay him is away beyond me. Yet I'm sure he picked up a piece +of silver just before we ran. Curious kind of creature, isn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen thought the incident distinctly odd. She could not comprehend +why a man should risk his life for the sake of a silver coin. She +could not find a solution of the mystery until it was explained that +evening. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey Thurston, attired in white shirt, black sash, and new store +clothes, had tramped over to Graham's ranch and by degrees he and Miss +Savine gravitated away from the others. They were interested in +subjects that did not appeal to the rest, and, though Jean smiled +mischievously at times, this excited no comment. +</P> + +<P> +Clear moonlight sparkled upon the untrodden snows above them, snows +that had remained stainless since the giant peaks were framed when the +world was young. The pines were black on their lower slopes, and white +mists filled the valley, out of which the song of the river rose in +long reverberations. Geoffrey and Helen leaned on the veranda +balustrade, both silent, for the solemnity of the mountains impressed +them, and speech seemed superfluous. +</P> + +<P> +After a while, the girl told Geoffrey that he ought to be glad to live +after his narrow escape from death. "There was really no great risk, +and, if there had been, the results would have justified it," Geoffrey +replied. "The failure of two charges might have spoiled all my work +for me. Since I left you the Roads and Trails Surveyor voluntarily +offered me a rock work contract he had refused before, and I at once +accepted it." +</P> + +<P> +"You have not been used to this laborious life. Have you no further +ambition, and do you like it?" asked Helen, flashing a quick glance at +him. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not exactly what I expected, but as there appears to be no great +demand in this country for mental abilities, one is glad to earn a +living as one can," he said. "I am afraid I am a somewhat ambitious +person. I consider this only the beginning, and Miss Savine +responsible for it. You will remember who it was offered me my first +contract." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't!" commanded Helen, averting her eyes. "That is hardly fair or +civil. You really looked so—and how was I to know?" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey's pulse beat faster, and the smile faded out of his eyes as he +noticed, for the moon was high, the trace of faintly heightened color +in the speaker's face. +</P> + +<P> +"I doubtless looked the hungry, worn-out tramp I was," he interposed +gravely. "And out of gentle compassion, you offered me a dollar. +Well, I earned that dollar, and I have it still. It has brought me +good luck, and I will keep it as a talisman." +</P> + +<P> +Instinctively his fingers slid to one end of a thin gold chain, and for +a moment a look of consternation came into his face, for the links hung +loose; then as the hard hand dropped to his pocket, he looked relieved +and Helen found it judicious to watch a gray blur of shadow moving +across the snow. She had sometimes wondered what he wore at one end of +that cross-pattern chain, for rock cutters do not usually adorn +themselves with such trinkets, but, remembering Bransome's comments, +she now understood what had happened just before the explosion. +Geoffrey's quick eyes had noticed something unusual in her air, and his +old reckless spirit, breaking through all restraint, prompted him to +say: +</P> + +<P> +"It will, I fancy, still bring me good fortune. I come of a +superstitious race, and nothing would tempt me to part with it. This, +as I said, is only the beginning. It appeared impossible to move the +boulder from your wagon trail, and I did it. The neighbors declared +nobody could drain Bransome's prairie, and a number of goodly acres are +drying now, while to-night I feel it may be possible to go on and on, +until——" +</P> + +<P> +"Does not that sound somewhat egotistical?" interposed Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"Horribly," said Thurston, with a curious smile. "But you see I am +trusting in the talisman, and some day I may ask you to admit that I +have made it good. I'm not avaricious, and desire money only as means +to an end. Dollars! If all goes well, the contract for the wagon road +rock work should bring me in a good many of them." +</P> + +<P> +"You are refreshingly certain," averred Helen. "But will the end or +dominant purpose justify all this?" +</P> + +<P> +Thurston answered quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"I may ask you to judge that, also, some day!" +</P> + +<P> +Helen was conscious of a chagrin quite unusual to her. Hitherto, she +had experienced little difficulty in making the men she knew regret +anything that resembled presumption, but with this man it was +different. What he meant she would not at the moment ask herself, but, +though she rather admired his quietly confident tone, it nettled her, +and yet, without begging an awkward question she could not resent it. +Geoffrey's reckless frankness was often more unassailable than wiser +men's diplomacy—and she was certainly pleased that he had recovered +the dollar. +</P> + +<P> +"The dew is getting heavy, and I promised Jean some instruction in +netting," she told him rather unsteadily. She paused a second, and, +with an assumed carelessness, added, "isn't it useless to forecast the +future?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE LEGENDS OF CROSBIE GHYLL +</H4> + +<P> +Helen Savine had passed two years in England, and, because her father +was a prosperous man who humored her slightest wishes, she occasionally +returned to take her pleasure in what she called the Old Country. It +is a far cry from the snowy heights of the Pacific slope to the +pleasant valleys of the North Country, but in these days of +quadruple-expansion engines, distance counts but little when one has +sufficient money. +</P> + +<P> +The Atlantic express had brought Helen and her aunt by marriage, Mrs. +Thomas P. Savine, into Montreal, whence a fast train had conveyed them +to New York in time to catch a big Southampton liner, but Mrs. Savine +was a restless lady, and had grown tired of London within six weeks +from the day she left Vancouver. She was an American, and took pains +to impress the fact upon anybody who mistook her for a Canadian, and, +finding a party of her countrymen and women, whom she had hoped to +overtake in the metropolis, had departed northwards, she determined to +follow them to the English lakes. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a big, hot, dusty wilderness, Tom, and we've seen all they've got +to show us here before," she said to her long-suffering husband, as she +stood in the vestibule of a fashionable hotel. "Say, we'll pull out +to-day and catch the Schroeders' party meditating around Wordsworth's +tomb. Young man, will you kindly get us a railroad schedule?" +</P> + +<P> +The silver-buttoned official, who watched the big plate-glass door, +started at a smart rap on his shoulder, and blinked at the angular lady +in a startling costume and a blue veil. Thomas Savine interposed +meekly: +</P> + +<P> +"A time-table; and that's evidently not the man to ask, my dear." +</P> + +<P> +"Then he can tell the right one," Mrs. Savine answered airily, and +presently halted before a row of resplendently-gilded books adorning +one portion of the vestibule. She thereupon explained for the benefit +of all listeners that it was hard to see the necessity for so many +railways in so small a country, and finally, with a clerk's assistance, +selected a train which would deposit her at Oxenholme, from which place +the official suggested that she might find means of transport into the +district in which, to the best of his belief, Coleridge and Wordsworth, +or one of them, wrote what Mrs. Savine entitled charming little pieces. +It proved good counsel, and two of the party passed a delightful week +at Ambleside, where their sojourn was marred only by Mrs. Savine's +laments that potatoes were not served at supper and breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"I want some potatoes with my ham," she said, and when the attendant +explained that the vegetables were never eaten in England at that meal, +she inquired, "Don't you grow potatoes anywhere in this country?" +</P> + +<P> +The attendant said that very fine ones were produced in the immediate +vicinity, and Mrs. Savine waved a jeweled hand majestically. +</P> + +<P> +"Then away you go and buy some. I'll sit right here until they're +boiled," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"It really isn't the custom, and you know you never got them in London, +and hardly ate them at home," said Thomas Savine, but Mrs. Savine +remained superior to such reasoning. +</P> + +<P> +"That's quite outside the question. I want those potatoes, and I'm +going to have them," she insisted. +</P> + +<P> +There was a whispering at the end of the breakfast hall, somebody +whistled up a tube, and the hotel manager appeared to announce, with +regrets, that it was unfortunately impossible in the busy season to +upset the culinary arrangements for the benefit of a single guest. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll start again and follow the Schroeders' trail to that place +in Cumberland," Mrs. Savine decided. "Tom, you go out and buy one of +those twenty five cent guide-books which tell you all about everything. +Hire some ponies and a man, and we'll drive a straight line across the +mountains." +</P> + +<P> +The manager respectfully suggested it would be better to take the +train, even though the railway went round, because the mountains were +lofty, and the roads were indifferent in the region traversed. To this +the lady answered with some truth that the highest peak in Britain was +a pigmy to the lowest of the Selkirks, and that she had spent two +summers camping among the fastnesses of the snow-clad Olympians. +</P> + +<P> +"Your aunt is a smart woman, but she can't help upsetting things," said +Thomas Savine, when his niece went out with him to make arrangements +for the trip. Helen smiled pleasantly, for she knew her aunt's good +qualities, and also she was fond of adventurous wanderings. +</P> + +<P> +It was perfect weather, and the three tourists enjoyed their journey +among the less frequented fells, during which they camped, so Thomas +Savine termed it, each night in some high-perched hostelry or +trout-fisher's haunt. Helen realized that never before had she fully +appreciated the beauty of England. Quite apart from its wonders of +industrial enterprise, tide of world-wide commerce, and treasury of +literature and art, the old country was to be loved for its quiet, +green restfulness, she thought. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly there came a change. A south-wester drove thick rain-clouds +scudding across peak and valley, and filled the passes with dank, white +mists from the Irish Sea, and so, towards the close of a threatening +day, Mrs. Savine's party came winding down in a hurry from a bare hill +shoulder and under the gray crags of Crosbie Fell. The hollows beneath +them were lost in a woolly vapor, low-flying scud raked the bare ridges +above, and even as they passed a black rift in the hillside the first +heavy drops of rain fell pattering. Helen Savine had seen many a +mining adit in British Columbia, and, turning to glance at the mouth of +the tunnel, she read, scratched on the rock beside it, "Thurston's +Folly." That careless glance over her shoulder was to lead to +important results. +</P> + +<P> +"There's wild weather brewing," said Thomas Savine. "Make those ponies +rustle, and we'll get in somewhere before it comes along." +</P> + +<P> +When they reached the little wind-swept village, it became evident that +no shelter for the night could be found there, for it was seldom that +even an enterprising pedestrian tourist came down from the high moors +behind Crosbie Fell. Still, one inhabitant informed their guide, in a +tongue none of the others could comprehend, that if he was in an +unusually good humor old Musker, the keeper, might take them in at +Crosbie Ghyll. Thus it happened that just as the rain began in +earnest, such a cavalcade as had probably never before passed its +gloomy portals rode up to the gate of the dilapidated edifice. Some of +the iron-bound barriers still lay moldering in the hollow of the arch, +and Helen noticed slits for muskets in the stout walls above, for the +owners had been a fighting race, and several times in bygone centuries +the tide of battle had rolled about and then had ebbed away from the +stubbornly-held stronghold. The observer had gathered so much from a +paragraph in her guide-book. +</P> + +<P> +The romance of English history appealed to Helen as it does to the +citizens of the wider Britain over seas, and she turned in her saddle +to look about her. Framed by the weather-worn archway she could see +the black rampart of the fells fading into the rain, and the bare sweep +of moss and moor, which had once stretched unbroken to the feet of the +great ranges above the Solway shore. Inside the quadrangle, for the +place had during the past century served as farm instead of hall, barn, +cart-shed and shippon were ruinous and empty, but she could fill the +space in fancy with sturdy archer, man-at-arms, and corsleted rider, +for that the present venerable edifice had been built into an older one +the stump of a square tower remained to testify. +</P> + +<P> +Thomas Savine pounded on the oaken door at one end of the courtyard +until it was opened by a bent-shouldered man with frosted hair and +wrinkled visage. +</P> + +<P> +"We are unfortunate strangers with a guide who has lost his way, and it +would be a favor if you could take us in to-night out of the storm," he +said. The older man glanced at the party suspiciously. +</P> + +<P> +"If you ride straight on across the moor you'll find a road, and a +brand new hotel in twelve miles, where you'll get whatever you have +been used to," he said. "I once took some London folks in, and after +the thanks they gave me I never will again." +</P> + +<P> +"We're not Londoners, only forlorn Canadians," explained Thomas Savine. +"Never mind, Matilda; he'll find out that you're an American in due +time. We have all learned to rough it in our own country, and would +trouble you very little." +</P> + +<P> +"What part of Canada?" asked the forbidding figure in the doorway, and +when Savine answered, "British Columbia," called "Margery!" A little +weazened woman, with cheeks still ruddy from much lashing of the wind, +appeared in the portal. +</P> + +<P> +"Strangers from British Columbia! Perhaps they know the master," said +the man, and there was a whispering until the woman vanished, saying, +"I'll ask Miss Gracie." +</P> + +<P> +She returned promptly, and, with a reserved courtesy, bade the party +enter. Then she sent her husband and the guide to stable the ponies, +and fifteen minutes later the travelers reassembled beside the +deep-seated window of a great stone-flagged room, darkly wainscoted, +which apparently once had been the hall, and was now kitchen. There +were a spotless cloth and neat cutlery on the table by the window; +trout and bacon, hacked from the sides hanging beneath the +smoke-blackened beams, frizzled upon a peat fire; and, though she found +neither wine nor potatoes, Mrs. Savine said that she had not enjoyed +such a meal since she left Vancouver. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't give you a sitting-room to yourselves," apologized the +withered dame as the removed the cloth. "What furniture there is above +is covered up, and it will be ill finding you sleeping quarters even. +Nobody lives here beside ourselves, except when Mr. Forsyth comes down +for a few weeks' shooting. His wife was a Thurston, and he bought the +old place to please her sooner than let it go out of the family." +</P> + +<P> +"A Thurston!" said Helen Savine. "We saw 'Thurston's Folly' written +beside a mining tunnel on the fell. Was that one of the former owners? +Being Colonials we are interested in all ancient buildings and their +traditions." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes!" broke in Mrs. Savine. "We just love to hear about wicked +barons and witches and all those quaint folk of the olden time." +</P> + +<P> +Musker had drawn nearer meanwhile, and Thomas Savine held out the cigar +case that lay upon his knee. "If we may smoke in the great hearth +there, just help yourself," said he. "My wife is fond of antiquities, +and if you have any to talk of, we should be glad of your company." +</P> + +<P> +Musker glanced keenly at his guests. Though, having lived elsewhere, +he spoke easy colloquial English, he was a son of the North Country +dogged and slow, intensely self-respecting, and, while loyal with +feudal fealty to superiors he knew, quick to resent a stranger's +assumption of authority. Thomas Savine, brown-faced, vigorous, a +pleasant Colonial gentleman, smiled upon him good-naturedly, and Musker +took a cigar awkwardly. Mrs. Savine surveyed the great bare hall with +respectful curiosity and evident interest, while Helen, visibly +interested, leaned back in her chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe you met the master in British Columbia?" Musker hazarded with an +eager look in his dim eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"What is his full name, and what is he like?" asked Helen, bending +forward a little. The old woman, reaching over, lifted a faded +photograph from the window seat. +</P> + +<P> +"Geoffrey Thurston!" she answered. "That was him when he was young. +My husband yonder broke the pony in." +</P> + +<P> +Helen started as she gazed at the picture of the boy and the pony. The +face was like, and yet unlike, that of the gaunt and hungry man whom +she had first seen sitting upon the fallen fir. "Yes," she answered +gravely; "I know him. I met Mr. Thurston in British Columbia." +</P> + +<P> +"We would take it very kindly if you would tell us how and where you +found him, miss," said Musker in haste. +</P> + +<P> +"I found him in a great Canadian forest. He was looking very worn and +tired," Helen answered, with a trace of color in her face. "I—I hired +him to do some work for me, and it was hard work—much harder than I +fancied—but he did it, and, as we afterwards discovered, spent all I +paid him on the powder he found was necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"Ay," said the old man. "That was Mr. Geoffrey. They were all hard +and ill to beat, the Thurstons of Crosbie. And you'll kindly tell us, +miss, you saw him again?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," repeated Helen, "I saw him again. By good fortune the work he +did for me procured him a contract he carried out daringly, and when I +last saw him he was no longer hungry or ragged, but, I fancy, on the +way to win success as an engineer." +</P> + +<P> +Musker straightened his bent shoulders and smiled a slow, almost +reluctant smile of pride, while his wife's eyes were grateful as she +fixed them on the speaker. "Ay! What Mr. Geoffrey sets his heart on +he'll win or ruin himself over. It was the way of all of them; and +this is gradely news," he told her. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said Helen, nodding towards him graciously, "we don't wish to be +unduly inquisitive, but—if you may tell us—why did Mr. Thurston +emigrate to Canada?" +</P> + +<P> +Musker was evidently tempted to embark upon a favorite topic, and his +wife went out hurriedly. But he hesitated, sitting silent for a minute +or two. Savine, rising under the arch of the great hearth, flung his +cigar into the fire, as a young woman, wearing what Helen noticed was a +decidedly antiquated riding habit, came forward out of the shadows. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope we are not intruding here," said the Canadian. "We were tired +out before the rain came down, and almost afraid to cross the moor." +</P> + +<P> +"You are very welcome," said the stranger. "I am not, however, +mistress, only a relative of the old place's owner, and, therefore, a +kinswoman of Geoffrey Thurston. I heard that you had shown him a +passing kindness, and should like to thank you." +</P> + +<P> +There was no apparent reason why the two young women should scrutinize +each other, and yet both did so by the fading daylight and red blaze of +the fire. Helen saw that the stranger was ruddy and blonde—frank by +nature and impulsive, she imagined. The stranger noted only that the +Colonial was pale and dark and comely, with a slightly imperious +presence, and a face that it was not easy to read. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Marian Thwaite of Barrow Hall, and regret I cannot stay any +longer, having three miles to ride in the rain," she said. "Still, I +may return to-morrow before you set out. Mrs. Forsyth will be pleased +if she hears you have made these Canadian strangers comfortable, +Musker, and I think you may tell them why Mr. Geoffrey left England. +May I ask your names?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen told her, and after Miss Thwaite departed, Musker began the story +of Thurston's Folly. It had grown quite dark. Driving rain lashed the +windows. The ancient building was filled with strange rumblings and +the wailing of the blast when the old man concluded: "Mr. Geoffrey was +too proud to turn a swindler, and that was why he shook off his +sweetheart, who tried to persuade him, though he knew old Anthony +Thurston would have left him his money, if they married." +</P> + +<P> +"Some said it was the opposite," interposed his wife; but Musker +answered angrily, "Then they didn't tell it right. No woman born could +twist Geoffrey Thurston from his path, and when she gave him bad +counsel he turned his back on her. A fool these dolts called him. He +was a leal, hard man, and what was a light woman's greediness to him?" +</P> + +<P> +"And what became of the lady?" asked Helen, with a curious flash in her +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"She married a London man, who came here shooting, married him out of +spite, and has rued it many times if the tales are true. She was down +with him fishing, looking sour and pale, and the Hall maids were +say——" +</P> + +<P> +"Just gossip and lies!" broke in his spouse; and Helen, who apparently +had lapsed into a disdainful indifference, asked no further questions. +Mrs. Savine, however, made many inquiries, and Musker, who became +unusually communicative, presently offered to show the strangers what +he called the armory. +</P> + +<P> +They followed him down a draughty corridor to the black-wainscoted +gun-room at the base of the crumbling tower, and when he had lighted a +lamp its glow revealed a modern collection of costly guns. There were +also trout-rods hung upon the wall, and a few good sporting etchings, +at all of which Musker glanced somewhat contemptuously. "These are Mr. +Forsyth's, and I take care of them, but he only belongs to the place by +purchase and marriage. Those belonged to the Thurstons—the old, dead +Thurstons—and they hunted men," he said. +</P> + +<P> +He ran the lamp up higher by a tarnished brass chain, and pointed first +to a big moldering bow. "A Thurston drew that in France long ago, and +it has splitted many an Annandale cattle thief in the Solway mosses +since. Red Geoffrey carried this long spear, and, so the story goes, +won his wife with it, and brought her home on the crupper from beside +the Nith. She pined away and died just above where we stand now in +this very tower. That was another Geoffrey's sword; they hanged him +high outside Lancaster jail. He was for Prince Charlie, and cut down +single-handed two of King George's dragoons carrying a warrant for a +friend's arrest when the Prince's cause was lost. His wife, she +poisoned herself. Those are the spurs Mad Harry rode Hellfire on a +wager down Crosbie Ghyll with, and broke his neck doing it, besides his +young wife's heart. The women who married the Thurstons had an ill lot +to grapple with. Even when they settled down to farming, the Thurstons +were men who would walk unflinchingly into ruin sooner than lose their +grip on their purpose, and Mr. Geoffrey favors them." +</P> + +<P> +"They must have been just lovely," sighed Mrs. Savine. "Say, I've +taken a fancy to some of those old things. That rusty iron lamp can't +be much use to anybody, but it's quaint, and I'd give it's weight in +dollars for it. Can't you tell me where Mr. Forsyth lives?" +</P> + +<P> +Musker stared at her horrified, Thomas Savine laughed, and even Helen, +who had appeared unusually thoughtful, smiled. Musker answered: +</P> + +<P> +"No money could buy one of them out of the family, and if any but a +Thurston moves that lamp from where it hangs the dead men rise and come +for it when midnight strikes. It is falling to pieces, but once when +they took it to Kendal to be mended, the smith sent a man back with it +on horseback before the day had broken." +</P> + +<P> +There was a few moments' silence when Musker concluded, and the ancient +weapons glinted strangely as the lamp's flame wavered in the chilling +draughts. A gale from the Irish Sea boomed about the crumbling tower, +and all the lonely mosses seemed to swell it with their moaning. Helen +shivered as she listened, for those clamorous voices of wind and rain +carried her back in fancy to the old unhappy days of bloodshed and +foray. The associations of the place oppressed her. She had acquired +a horror of those grim dead men whose mementos hung above her, and +whose spirits might well wander on such a night vainly seeking rest. +Even Mrs. Savine became subdued, and her husband said: +</P> + +<P> +"We can't tell tales like these in our country, and I'm thankful we +can't. Still, I daresay it was such men as these who bred in us the +grit to chase the whales in the Arctic, build our railroads through the +snow-barred passes, and master the primeval forest. Now we'll try to +forget them, and go back out of this creepy place to the fire again." +</P> + +<P> +An hour later Mrs. Musker escorted Helen to her quarters. A bright +fire glowed in the rusty grate, and two candles burned on the +dressing-table. "It's Mrs. Forsyth's own room, and the best in the +house," the old caretaker assured the girl. "Musker has been telling +you about the old Thurstons. He's main proud of them, but you needn't +fear them—it's long since the last one walked. You have a kind heart, +and nothing evil dare hurt you. See! I've tried to make you +comfortable. You were kind to the old place's real master—many a time +I've nursed him—God bless you!" +</P> + +<P> +Helen was not in the least afraid of the dead Thurstons. She was +filled with the common-sense courage which characterizes the +inhabitants of her new country, but she had been affected by the +stories, and she sat for a time with her feet on the hearth irons, +gazing thoughtfully into the blaze. She had met a modern Thurston, and +found the instincts of his forbears strong within him. She considered +that strength, courage, and resolution well became a man, but that +gentleness and chivalrous respect for women were desirable attributes, +too. The Thurstons, however, had taken to bloodshed as a pastime, and +broken most of their wives' hearts until it seemed that they had +brought a curse upon their race. She suspected there was a measure of +their brutality in the one she knew. Remembering something Geoffrey +once had said, her face grew flushed and she clenched a little hand +with an angry gesture, saying, "No man shall ever make a slave of me, +and my husband, if I have one, must be my servant before he is my +master." +</P> + +<P> +Thereupon she dismissed the subject, tried to blot the stories from her +memory, and presently buried her ears in the pillow to shut out the +clamor of the storm. After a sound night's slumber, and an interview +with Miss Thwaite she resumed her journey next morning. +</P> + +<P> +Musker stood in the gate to watch the party ride away, and glancing at +the coins in his hand said to Margery, "I wish they'd come often. Main +interested in my stories they were all of them, and it's double what +any of the shooting folks ever gave me. This one came from the young +lady, and there's a way about her that puzzles me after seeing her." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MILLICENT'S REWARD +</H4> + +<P> +The late Autumn evening was closing in. Millicent Leslie stood out on +the terrace of the old North Country hall, where, the year before, she +had first met her husband. A pale moon had climbed above the high +black ridge of moor, which shut in one end of the valley, and the big +beech wood that rolled down the lower hillside had faded to a shadowy +blur, but she could still see the dim, white road running straight +between the hedgerows, and could catch the faint gleam of a winding +river. Twilight and night were meeting and melting into each other, +the dew lay heavy upon the last of the dahlias beneath the terrace +wall, and there was a chill of frost in the air. It was very still, +though now and then the harsh call of a pheasant came up faintly +through the murmur of the river from the depths of the wood. Millicent +could hear no other sound, though she strained her ears to listen and +it seemed to her that the rattle of wheels should carry far down the +silent valley. +</P> + +<P> +She was waiting somewhat anxiously for the return of her husband, who +had set off that morning with three or four other men to walk certain +distant stubble and turnip fields for partridges. They had passed a +week at the hall, for, although Millicent would have preferred to avoid +that particular place, Leslie had said he did not know of any other +place where one could obtain rough shooting, as well as a more or less +congenial company, in return for what was little more than a +first-class hotel bill. He had also added that he needed a holiday, in +which Millicent had agreed with him. There was no doubt that he had +looked jaded and harassed. +</P> + +<P> +Millicent knew little about her husband's business, except that it was +connected with stocks and shares, and the flotation of companies; but +she was quite aware that he had met with a serious reverse soon after +he married her, since it had been necessary for them to give up their +town house and install themselves temporarily in a London flat. Leslie +had informed her that reverses were not uncommon in his profession, and +he had appeared quite convinced of his ability to recover his losses in +a new venture which had something to do with South African gold or +diamonds. Of late, however, he had grown dejected and moody. On the +previous evening she had seen his face set hard, as he read a letter +which bore the London postmark. He had not given her any information +about the contents of the letter, for there had been no great measure +of confidence between them; but there were one or two telegrams for him +among those a groom had brought over from the nearest station during +the day, and she felt a little uneasy as she thought of them. +</P> + +<P> +By and by, with a little shiver and a suppressed sigh, she glanced up +at the highest part of the climbing wood. It was there she had had her +last memorable interview with Geoffrey, almost a year ago. Though she +had not cared to face the fact, she was troubled by a suspicion that +she had made an unwise choice then. Leslie had changed since their +marriage. He was harsh at times, and though he had, even in their more +humble quarters, surrounded her with a certain amount of luxury, there +was a laxity in his manners and conversation that jarred upon her. +Geoffrey, she remembered, had not been addicted to mincing words, but, +at least, he had lived in accordance with a Spartan moral code. +Millicent was not a scrupulous woman, and her ideas of ethical justice +were rudimentary, but she possessed in place of a conscience a delicate +sense of refinement which her husband frequently offended. +</P> + +<P> +Feeling chilly at length, and seeing no sign of the shooter's return, +Millicent went back into the house. She stopped when she reached the +square entrance hall which served the purpose of a lounging-room. The +hall had been rudely ceiled and paneled at a time when skilled +craftsmen were scarce in the North Country, and in the daylight it was +more or less dim and forbidding, but with the lamps lighted and a fire +blazing in the wide, old-fashioned hearth, the place looked invitingly +comfortable. When she entered, Millicent was not altogether pleased to +see another woman there. Marian Thwaite, whom she knew but had not +expected to meet, lay in a big chair near the fire. The glow of health +which the keen air of the moors had brought there was in her face. She +wore heavy boots and severely simple walking attire. Her features +suggested a decided character, and she had unwavering blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Boone won't be down for some minutes, and I believe the rest are +dressing," Marian said. "I haven't seen you since your marriage, and +to tell the truth, you're not looking by any means as fresh as you did +before you left us. I suppose it's one effect of living in London?" +</P> + +<P> +She studied Millicent with a steady contemplative gaze, and there was +no doubt that her comment was justified. Millicent's face was pallid, +there was a certain weariness in her eyes, and on the whole, her +expression was languidly querulous. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know you were coming to-night," said Millicent, as she sank +into a chair. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know it myself," Marian explained. "I was out on the fells, +and I met Boone as I came down this way. He said somebody would drive +me home, if I'd stay. You have been here a week, haven't you? How is +it you haven't come over to see us yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"As a matter of fact, I didn't intend to call, and it was rather +against my wishes that we came up here," said Millicent with the candor +of an old acquaintance. "You were not very cordial when I last saw +you, and I can't help a feeling that you are all of you prejudiced +against me." +</P> + +<P> +Quite unembarrassed Marian looked at her with a reflective air. "Yes," +she admitted, "to some extent that's true. We're closely connected +with the Thurstons, and I've no doubt we make rather intolerant +partisans. After all, it's only natural that we sympathize with +Geoffrey. Besides—you can make what you like of it—he was always a +favorite of mine. I suppose you haven't heard from him since he went +to Canada?" +</P> + +<P> +"Would you have expected him to write?" +</P> + +<P> +Marian smiled. "Perhaps it would have been unreasonable, but taking it +for granted that he hasn't been communicative, I've a piece of news for +you. Some Canadian tourists stayed a night at the Ghyll, two or three +months ago, and it seems they met him in British Columbia. I +understand he is by no means prosperous, but at least getting a footing +in the country, and the people apparently have rather a high opinion of +him. Did I mention that one of the party was a girl?" +</P> + +<P> +She saw the quickened interest in Millicent's eyes. With assumed +indifference in her voice Millicent asked: "What kind of people were +they?" +</P> + +<P> +"The girl was handsome—well-finished, too. In fact, she struck me as +rather an imperious young person of some consequence in the place she +came from. She would pass in any circle that you or I are likely to +get an entry to. I don't know whether it's significant, but I +understand from Margery that she took some interest in Musker's stories +of the Thurstons." +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing to show whether Millicent was pleased with this or +not. She did not speak for a moment or two. +</P> + +<P> +"Did they mention what Geoffrey had been doing?" she inquired presently. +</P> + +<P> +"Chopping down trees for sawmills, or something of the kind. The man +said Geoffrey had evidently been what they call 'up against it' until +lately when he seems to have got upon his feet. It will probably +convince you that you were perfectly right in not marrying him." +</P> + +<P> +This time Millicent laughed. "It wouldn't have counted for much with +you?" +</P> + +<P> +Marian looked at her with unwavering eyes. "No," she replied, "if I'd +had any particular tenderness for Geoffrey it certainly wouldn't have +had the least effect beyond making me more sorry for him, but, as it +happens, he never did anything to encourage vain ideas of the kind in +me." She changed the subject with the abruptness which usually +characterized her. "I suppose you haven't seen old Anthony Thurston +since you married Leslie? He, at least, is openly bitter against you." +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't. In a way, I suppose he is right. Of course, he would take +the stereotyped view that it was all my fault—that is to say, that I +had discarded Geoffrey?" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe he did, but it struck me once or twice that Geoffrey +proclaimed that view a little too loudly. Of course, with his rather +primitive notions of delicacy and what is due to us, it's very much +what one would have anticipated in his case. He naturally wouldn't +want to leave room for any suspicion that he—wasn't altogether +satisfied with you." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent's face clouded. "That is a point which concerns nobody +except Geoffrey and myself," she declared. +</P> + +<P> +"And Anthony Thurston," Marian broke in. "Of course, it's an open +secret that if you had married Geoffrey you would both have benefited +by his will. As things have turned out, my own opinion is that the +question whether either of you ever gets a penny of the property +depends a great deal on the view he continues to take of the matter. +Any way, that's not the least concern of mine, except that I'm sorry +for Geoffrey. I wonder if I'm going too far in asking what it was you +and he actually split upon. I'm referring to the immediate cause of +the trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"I can tell you that," Millicent answered quickly, for she was glad to +remove the ground for one suspicion, which was evidently in Marian's +mind. "Geoffrey insisted on giving up the mine when he could have sold +it, and going out to Australia or Canada. I wouldn't go with him. I +think nobody could have reasonably expected me to." +</P> + +<P> +Marian smiled. "Well," she said, "I wonder if you know that your +husband was one of the men who were willing to take the mine over. +There are reasons for believing it was what brought him here in the +first place." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent's start betrayed the fact that this was news to her, but just +then there was a rattle of wheels outside, and Marian rose. A murmur +of voices and laughter grew clearer when the outer door was opened, and +the two could hear the returning shooters talking with their host, who +had gone out another way to meet them. +</P> + +<P> +"The birds were scarce and very wild," announced one of them. "We had +only two or three brace all morning, though we were a little more +fortunate when we got up onto the higher land. It's my candid opinion +that we should have done better there, but Leslie had all the luck in +the turnips, and he made a shocking bad use of it." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a fact," assented Leslie with what struck Millicent as a rather +strained laugh. "I was right off the mark. There are some days when +you simply can't shoot." +</P> + +<P> +Several of the women guests now entered the hall, but the men did not +come in. Judging from the sounds outside they seemed to be waiting +while coats or cartridge bags were handed down to them from the +dog-cart, and they were evidently bantering one another in the +meanwhile. +</P> + +<P> +"It depends upon how long you sit up in the smoking-room on the +previous night," said one of them, and another observed: +</P> + +<P> +"If you happen to be in business, the state of the markets has its +effect." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent started again at this, for she remembered her husband's +expression when he had read his letter on the preceding evening. A +third speaker took up the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think any variation in the price of Colonials or Kaffirs, or +of wheat and cotton, for that matter, should prevent a man from telling +the difference between a hare and a dog. I've a suspicion that if Tom +cares to look he'll find one or two number six pellets in the +hindquarters of the setter. It's a good thing our friend wasn't quite +up to his usual form that time." +</P> + +<P> +A burst of laughter followed, and Leslie's voice broke through it +rather sharply as he replied: "He should have kept the brute in hand. +The difference isn't a big one when you can only see a liver-colored +patch through a clump of bracken. Besides, there was a hare." +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly," cried somebody. "Lawson got it." +</P> + +<P> +Then they came in one after another, and while some of them spoke to +their hostess and the other women Leslie walked up to the little table +where several letters were spread out. Millicent watched him as he did +it, and there was no doubt that the very way he moved was suggestive of +restrained eagerness. She saw him tear open a telegram and crumple it +in his hand, after which he seized a second one and ripped it across +the fold in his clumsy haste. Then as he put the pieces together his +face grew suddenly pale and haggard. Nobody else, however, appeared to +notice him, and he leaned with one hand upon the table for a moment or +two with his head turned away from her. She felt her heart beat +painfully fast, for it was clear that a disaster of some kind had +befallen him, though a large part of her anxiety sprang from the +question how far the fact was likely to affect herself. He moved away +from the table, and went towards the stairway at the further end of the +hall, and she followed him a few minutes later. He was sitting by an +open window when she reached their room. A candle flickered beside him +and a little bundle of papers was clenched in one hand. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Harry?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +He looked up at her, and his voice sounded hoarse. "I'll try to tell +you later," he answered. "There's a dinner to be got through, and it +will be a big enough effort to sit it out. Slip away as soon as you +can afterward without attracting attention. You'll find me on the +terrace." +</P> + +<P> +He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and she turned towards the +little dressing-room. When she came out again he had gone, leaving his +outdoor clothing scattered on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +The dinner that followed was an ordeal to Millicent, but she took her +part in the conversation, and glanced towards her husband only now and +then. He did not eat a great deal, and though he spoke when it seemed +necessary, she noticed the trace of unsteadiness in his voice. At +last, however, the meal, which seemed to drag on interminably, was +finished and as soon as possible she slipped out upon the terrace where +she found Leslie leaning against a seat. The moon which had risen +higher was brighter now, and she could see his face. It showed set and +somber in the pale silvery light. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" she said impatiently. "Can't you speak?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll try," he answered. "Winkleheim Reef Explorations went down to +four and six pence to-day, and as there's 5 shillings a share not paid +up, it's very probable that one wouldn't be able to give the stock away +before the market closes to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," replied Millicent sharply, "didn't you tell me that they were +worth sixteen shillings not very long ago? Why didn't you sell them +then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because, as it seems to me now, my greediness was greater than my +judgment. I wanted twenty shillings, and I thought I saw how I could +get it." He paused with a little jarring laugh. "As a matter of +fact—strange as it may seem—I believed in the thing. That is why I +let them send out their independent expert, and held on when the stock +began to drop. At the worst, I'd good reasons for believing Walmer +would let me see the cipher report in time to sell. As it happened, he +and the other traitor sold their own stock instead and that must have +started the panic. Now they've got their report. There's no ore that +will pay for milling in the reef." +</P> + +<P> +It was not all clear to Millicent, but she understood from his manner +that her husband was ruined. "Then what are we to do?" she asked. "Is +there nobody who will give you a start again? You must be known in the +business." +</P> + +<P> +"That is the precise trouble. I'm too well known. So long as a man is +a winner at this particular game and can make it worth while for +interested folks to applaud him, or, at least, to keep their mouths +shut, he can find a field for his talents when he wants it, but once he +makes a false move or comes down with a bang, they get their claws in +him and keep him from getting up again. Nobody has any sympathy with a +broken company exploiter, especially when he has for once been crazy +enough to believe in his own venture." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie found it a small relief to run on with ironical bitterness, but +Millicent, who was severely practical in some respects, checked him. +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't answered my other question." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I won't keep you waiting. In a few weeks we'll go out to the +Pacific Slope of North America. I may save enough from the wreck to +start me in the land-agency business somewhere in British Columbia." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent turned from him, and gazed down the moon-lit valley. +Troubled as she was, its rugged beauty and its stillness appealed to +her, and she knew it would be a wrench to leave the land which had +hitherto safely sheltered her. She had known only the smoother side of +life in it, and nobody could appreciate the ease and luxury it could +offer some of its inhabitants better than she did. Now, it seemed, she +must leave it, and go out to struggle for a mere living in some +unlovely town in what she supposed must be a wild and semi-barbarous +country. She felt bitter against the man who, as she thought of it, +had dragged her down, but she hid her resentment. +</P> + +<P> +"But you know nothing about the land-agency business," she pointed out. +</P> + +<P> +Leslie laughed ironically. "I have a few ideas. Milligan—we had him +over at dinner once—made a good deal of money that way, and from what +he told me it doesn't seem very different from the business I have been +engaged in. Success evidently depends upon one's ability to sell the +confiding investor what he thinks he'd like to get. Somehow I fancy +that, with moderately good luck, two or three years of it should set us +on our feet." +</P> + +<P> +"But those two or three years. It's unthinkable!" Millicent broke out. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid you will have to face them," said Leslie dryly. He turned +and looked hard at her. "You can't reasonably rue your bargain. You +knew when I married you that while I had the command of money my +business was a risky one." +</P> + +<P> +Again Millicent stood silent a moment or two. She recognized that it +was largely because Leslie enjoyed that command of money that she had +discarded Geoffrey. Now his riches had apparently taken wings and +vanished, but the man was bound to her still. One could fancy that +there was something like retribution in the thing. +</P> + +<P> +"It's rather dreadful, but I suppose I shall not make it any better by +complaining," she remarked after a long silence. +</P> + +<P> +Her husband's manner became embarrassed. "I understand that Anthony +Thurston is well off and you were a favorite of his," he said. "Would +it be of any use if you explained the trouble to him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," was the answer, "it would be perfectly useless, and for other +reasons that course is impossible. He meant me to marry Geoffrey and +I've mortally offended him. He's a hard, determined man." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie made a sign of assent, though there was a suggestion of grim +amusement in his manner. "I suppose you couldn't very well explain +that it was Geoffrey who threw you over? That would, no doubt, be too +much to expect of you, and, after all, when you get to the bottom of +the matter it wouldn't be true. In reality you finished with Geoffrey +when he decided to emigrate instead of selling the mine, didn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent flashed a swift glance at him, but he met it half-mockingly, +and she turned her head away. "Why should you make yourself +intolerable?" she returned. "I'm sorry for you—that is, I want to be, +if you will let me." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie shrugged his shoulders as he lit a cigar. "Well," he said, "it +can't be helped. We must face the thing! And now I don't want to set +the others wondering why we have slipped away; we had better go in +again." They walked back info the house. +</P> + +<P> +Leslie, with one or two of the other men, sat up late in the +smoking-room. Leslie told a number of stories with force and point, +and when at length two of his companions went up the stairway together, +one of them looked at the other with a lifting of the eyebrows. +</P> + +<P> +"After what Leslie has got through to-night, I'll take the farthest +place in the line from him to-morrow," he said. "If his nerves aren't +unusually good it seems quite possible that there'll be more than a +setter peppered." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BREAKING OF THE JAM +</H4> + +<P> +It was late one moonlight night when Geoffrey Thurston sat inside his +double-skinned tent which was pitched above a river of British +Columbia. A few good furs checkered the spruce twigs which served as a +carpet, and the canvas dwelling was both commodious and comfortable. A +bright brass lamp hung from the ridge pole, a nickeled clock ticked +cheerily upon a hanging shelf behind the neat camp cot, while the rest +of the well-made furniture betokened a degree of prosperity. One of +Savine's junior assistants, sent up there in an emergency to replace an +older man, sat close by, and, because he dwelt in a bark shanty, envied +Thurston his tent. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey was studying a bridge-work tracing that lay unrolled upon his +knees. +</P> + +<P> +"I can only repeat what I said months ago. The wing slide of the log +pass is too short and the angle over sharp," he said, glancing at the +jam. "An extra big log will jam there some day and imperil the whole +bridge. Did you send a man down to keep watch to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"The slide is in accordance with the Roads and Trails specification," +answered the young man, airily. "There was no reason why we should do +more work than they asked for. You're an uneasy man, Thurston, always +looking for trouble, and I've had enough of late over the rascally +hoboes who, when they feel inclined, condescend to work for me. Oh, +yes! I posted the lookout as soon as I heard Davies was running his +saw logs down." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston hitched his chair forward and threw the door-flap back so that +he could look out into the night. The tent stood perched on the +hillside. Long ranks of climbing pines stretched upwards from it to +the scarped rocks which held up the snow-fields on the shoulders of the +mighty peaks above. Thin white mist and the roar of water rose up from +the shadowy gorge below, but in one place, where the rock walls which +hemmed it in sloped down, a gossamer-like structure spanned the chasm. +This was a wagon-road bridge Julius Savine, the contractor of large +interests and well-known name, was building for the Provincial +authorities, and on their surveyor's recommendation he had sub-let to +Thurston the construction of a pass through which saw-logs and +driftwood might slide without jamming between the piers. Savine, being +pressed for time, had brought in a motley collection of workmen, picked +up haphazard in the seaboard cities. After bargaining to work for +certain wages, these workmen had demanded twenty per cent. more. +Thurston, who had picked his own assistants carefully, among the sturdy +ranchers, and had aided Savine's representative in resisting this +demand, now surmised that the malcontents were meditating mischief. +There were some mighty mean rascals among them, his foreman said. +</P> + +<P> +"You're looking worried again," observed his companion, presently, and +Thurston answered, "Perhaps I am. I wish Davies would run his logs +down by daylight, but presumably the stream is too fast for him when +the waters rise. It might give some of your friends yonder an +opportunity, Summers." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't figure they're capable of wrecking the bridge?" replied +Summers, showing sudden uneasiness. +</P> + +<P> +"One or two among them, including the man I had to thrash, are capable +of anything. Perhaps you had better hail your watchman," Thurston said. +</P> + +<P> +Summers blew a whistle, and an answer came back faintly through the +fret of the river: "Plenty saw logs coming down. All of them handy +sizes and sliding safely through." +</P> + +<P> +"That's good enough," declared Summers. "I'm not made of cast-iron, +and need a little sleep at times, so good-night to you!" +</P> + +<P> +He departed with the cheerful confidence of the salaried man, and +Thurston, who fought for his own interests, flung himself down on his +trestle cot with all his clothes on. Neither the timber slide nor the +bridge was quite finished, but because rivers in that region shrink at +night when the frost checks the drainage from the feeding glaciers on +the peaks above, the saw-miller had insisted on driving down his logs +when there was less chance of their stranding on the shoals that +cumbered the high-water channel. Thurston lay awake for some time, +listening to the fret of the river, which vibrated far across the +silence of the hills, and to the occasional crash of a mighty log +smiting the slide. Hardly had his eyelids closed when he was aroused +by a sound of hurried footsteps approaching the tent. He stood wide +awake in the entrance before the newcomer reached it. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a mighty big pine caught its butt on one slide and jammed its +thin end across the pier," said the man. "Logs piling up behind it +already!" +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke somebody beat upon a suspended iron sheet down in the +valley and drowsy voices rose up from among the clustered tents. +Summers went by shouting, "Get a move on, before we lose the bridge!" +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later Thurston, running across a bending plank, halted on +the rock which served as foundation for the main bridge pier. Beside +him Summers shouted confused orders to a group of struggling men. The +moonlight beat down mistily through the haze that rose from the river, +and Geoffrey could see the long wedge-headed timber framing that he had +built, beside the wing on the shore-side, so that any trunk floating +down would cannon off at an angle and shoot safely between the piers. +But one huge fir had proved too long for the pass, and when its butt +canted, the other end had driven athwart the point of the wedge, after +which, because the river was black with drifting logs, other heavy +trunks drove against it and jammed it fast. Panting men were hard at +work with levers and pike-poles striving to wrench the massive trunk +clear, and one lighted an air-blast flare, whose red glare flickered +athwart the strip of water foaming between the piers. It showed that +some of the logs forced up by the pressure were sliding out above the +others, while, amid a horrible grinding, some sank. One side of the +river was blocked by a mass of timber that was increasing every moment. +Thurston feared that the unfinished piers could not long withstand the +pressure, and he remembered that his own work would be paid for only on +completion. Nevertheless, he passed several minutes in a critical +survey, and then glanced towards certain groups of dark figures +watching for the approaching ruin. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll go down inside an hour—that is certain, and Savine will lose +thousands of dollars," said Summers, whose eyes were wide with +apprehension. "I'm rattled completely. Can't you think of anything +that might be done?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes!" answered Thurston, coolly. "It is, however, almost too late +now. It could have been done readily, if the man who should have seen +to it had not turned traitor. Hello! Where's Mattawa Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +A big sinewy ax-man from the forests of Northern Ontario sprang up +beside him, and Thurston said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to try to chop through the king log that's keying them. +It's rather more than you bargained for, but will you stand by me, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Looks mighty like suicide!" was the dry answer. "But if you're ready +to chance it, I'm coming right along." +</P> + +<P> +The workmen had divided into two hostile camps, but there was a growl +of admiring wonder from friends and foes alike when two figures, +balancing bright axes, stood high up on the pier slides ready to leap +down upon the working logs. Then disjointed cries went up: "Too late!" +"You'll be smashed flatter than a flapjack when the jam breaks up!" +"Get hold of the fools, somebody!" "Take their axes away!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll brain the first man who touches mine," threatened Thurston, +turning savagely upon those who approached him with remonstrances, and +there was a simultaneous murmur from all the assembly when the two +adventurous men dropped upon the timber. The logs rolled, groaned, and +heaved beneath them and Thurston, trusting to the creeper spikes upon +his heels, sprang from one great tree trunk to another behind his +companion, who had a longer experience of the perilous work of +log-driving. Here a gap, filled with spouting foam, opened up before +him; there a trunk upon which he was about to step rolled over and +sank. But he worked his way forward towards the center of the fir +which keyed the growing mass. This log was many feet in girth. +Pressed down level with the water, it was already bending like a +slackly-strung bow. +</P> + +<P> +The example proved inspiring. Thurston's assistants were sturdy, +fearless men, who often risked their lives in wresting a living from +the forest, so several among them prepared to follow. Two seamen +deserters sprang out from the ranks of the mutineers. One stalwart +forest rancher, however, tripped his comrade up, and sat upon his +prostrate form shouting, "You'll stop just where you are, you blame +idiot! You couldn't do nothing if you got there. Hardly room for them +two fellows already where they can get at the log!" +</P> + +<P> +The remaining volunteers saw the force of this argument and when +somebody increased the blast of the lamp so that the roaring column of +flame leapt up higher, the men stood very still, staring at the two who +had now gained the center of the partly submerged log. +</P> + +<P> +It requires considerable practice to acquire full mastery of the +long-hafted ax, but Thurston, who was stout of arm and keen of eye, had +managed to earn his bread with it one winter in an Ontario logging +camp. When he swung aloft the heavy wedge of steel, it reflected the +blast lamp's radiance, making red flashes as it circled round his head. +It came down hissing close past his knee. Mattawa Tom's blade crossed +it when it rose, and the first white chip leapt up. More chips +followed in quick succession until they whirled in one continuous +shower, and the razor-edged steel losing definite form became a +confused circling brightness, in the center of which two supple figures +swayed and heaved. The red light smiting the faces of the two showed +great drops of sweat, the swell of toil-hardened muscles on the corded +arms, and the rise of each straining chest. There was not a clash nor +a falter, but, flash after flash, the blades came down chunking into +the ever-widening notch. Summers had seen sword play in Montreal +armories, and had heard the ax clang often on the side of Western firs, +but—for Thurston was fighting to stave off ruin—this grim struggle in +the face of a desperate risk surpassed any remembered exhibition of +fencers' skill with the steel. The trunk was bending visibly beneath +the hewers, the river frothed more at their feet, and the giant logs +were rolling, creeping, shocking close behind, ready to plunge forward +when the partly severed trunk should yield. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston felt as if his lungs were bursting, his heart throbbed +painfully, and something drummed deafeningly inside his head. His +vision grew hazy, and he could scarcely see the widening gap in the +rough bark into which the trenchant steel cut. It was evident that the +steadily increasing jam would rub the bridge piers out of existence +long before any two men could hew half way through the great trunk, +but, fortunately, the log was now bending like a fully-drawn bow, and +the pressure would burst it asunder when a little more of its +circumference had been chopped into. So, choking and blinded with +perspiration, Geoffrey smote on mechanically, until the man from +Mattawa said, "She's about busted." +</P> + +<P> +Just then there was a clamor from the watchers on the piers. Men +shouted, "Come back." "Whole jam's starting!" "King log's yielding +now!" "Jump for your lives before the wreckage breaks away with you!" +</P> + +<P> +Mattawa Tom leapt shorewards from moving log to log, but for a few +moments Thurston, who scarcely noticed his absence, chopped on alone. +Filled with the lust of conflict, he remembered only that it was +necessary to make sure of victory before he relaxed an effort. Thrice +more in succession he whirled the heavy ax above his head, while, with +a sharp snapping of fibers, the fir trunk yielded beneath his feet. +Flinging his ax into the river he stood erect, breathless, a moment too +late. The logs behind the one which perilously supported him were +creeping forward ready for the mad rush that must follow a few seconds +later. +</P> + +<P> +There remained now but one poor chance of escape and he seized it +instinctively. Springing along the sinking trunk, he threw himself +clear of it into the river, while running men jostled each other as +they surged toward the side of the timber when he sank. A wet head +broke the surface, a swinging left hand followed it. The swimmer +clutched the edge of a loosely-fitted beam, and held it until strong +hands reached down to him. Some gripped his wet fingers, some the back +of his coat, one even clutched his hair. There was a heave, then a +scramble, and, amid hoarse cheers, the rescued man fell over backwards +among his rescuers. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston, who stood up dripping, said, somewhat shakily: "Ah, you were +only just in time! I'm vastly grateful to you all." +</P> + +<P> +The last words were lost in a deafening crash as the jam broke up, and +the giant logs drove through the opening, thrashing the river into +foam. The tree-trunks ground against one another, or smote the slide +casing with a thunderous shock; but the stone-backed timber stood the +strain, and when the clamor of the passage of the logs ceased, a heavy +stillness brooded over the camp as the river grew empty again. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston sought out the man from Mattawa. Laying a wet hand upon his +shoulder he said: "Thank you, Tom. I won't forget the assistance you +rendered me." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right," answered the brawny ax-man, awkwardly. "I get my +wages safe and regular, and I've tackled as tough a contract for a +worse master before." +</P> + +<P> +There was no chance for further speech. Davies, who owned the saw-mill +lower down stream, reined in a lathered horse, close by. "Where have +all my logs gone to?" he asked. "My foreman roused me to say only a +few dozen had brought up in the boom, and as the boys were running them +down by scores I figured they'd piled up against your bridge. I don't +see any special chaos about here, though you look as if you had been in +swimming; but what in the name of thunder have you done with the logs?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're on their way down river," Thurston replied, dryly. "We had +some trouble with them which necessitated my taking a bath. But see +here, what made you turn a two-hundred-foot red fir loose among them?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't," answered Davies, with a puzzled air. "The boys saw every +log into standard lengths. We have no use for a two-hundred-footer and +couldn't get her into the mill. Are you sure it wasn't a wind-blown +log?" +</P> + +<P> +"I saw the butt had been freshly cross-cut," declared Thurston with an +ominous glitter in his eyes. "I understand you are pretty slack just +now. As a favor, would you hire your chopping gang to me for a few +days? I'll tell you why I want them later." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll decide in a few minutes," he added, when Davies had told him what +the cost would be. Turning towards Summers he said: "There may be +several more big red firs growing handy beside the river, and I mean to +prevent any more accidents of this kind in future. If your employer +will not reimburse me, I will bear the cost myself. I would sooner +spend my last dollar than allow any of these loafers to coerce me." +</P> + +<P> +The workmen stood still, all of them curious, and a few uneasy. +Raising one hand to demand attention, Thurston said: "A red fir was +felled by two or three among you to-day, and launched down stream after +darkness fell. I want the men who did it to step forward and explain +their reasons to me." +</P> + +<P> +"You're a mighty bold man," remarked Summers—who knew that, although +few were actually dangerous, the malcontents outnumbered Thurston's +loyal assistants. +</P> + +<P> +Among the listeners nobody moved, but there was a murmuring, and all +eyes were fixed upon the speaker, who, either by design or accident, +leaned upon the haft of a big ax. +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly expected an answer," he went on. "Accordingly, I'll proceed +to name the men who I believe must know about this contemptible action, +and notify them that they will be paid off to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +A tumult of mingled wrath and applause started when Thurston coolly +called aloud a dozen names. One voice broke through the others: "We're +working for Julius Savine, an' don't count a bad two-bits on you," it +declared defiantly. "We'll all fling our tools into the river before +we let one of them fellows go." +</P> + +<P> +"In that case the value of the tools will be deducted from the wages +due you," Thurston announced calmly. "After this notice, Julius +Savine's representative won't pay any of the men I mention, whether +they work or not; and nobody, who does not earn it, will get a single +meal out of the cook shanty. I'll give you until to-morrow to make up +your minds concerning what you will do." Aside to Davies he said: +"I'll take your lumber gang in any case. Go back and send them in as +soon as you can." +</P> + +<P> +The assembly broke up in a divided state of mind. Although it was very +late, little groups lingered outside the tents, and at intervals angry +voices were heard. Summers set out for the railroad to communicate by +telegraph with his employer, and Thurston retired to his tent, where he +went peacefully to sleep. Awakening later than usual, he listened with +apparent unconcern to Mattawa Tom, who aroused him, with the warning: +</P> + +<P> +"It's time you were out. Them fellows are coming along for their +money. The boys called up a big roll, as soon as the lumber gang +marched in, and, though there was considerable wild talking, the +sensible ones allowed it was no more use kicking." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right," averred Thurston, who paid the departing +malcontents and was glad to get rid of them, knowing that the +lumbermen, who were mostly poor settlers, had small sympathy with the +mutineers and that he would have at least a balance of power. He set +the men to work immediately lengthening the wing of the log slide and +the wedge guards of the piers. He himself toiled as hard as any two +among them, and, to the astonishment of all, completed the big task +before the week was past. +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly like to say what it has cost me, but no log of any length +could jam itself in the new pass," he said to Summers. +</P> + +<P> +"You're an enterprising man," was the answer. "Savine is a bit of a +rustler, too, and you'll have a chance of explaining things to him +to-morrow. I have had word from him that he's coming through." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A REST BY THE WAY +</H4> + +<P> +It was afternoon when Julius Savine, accompanied by Summers, had +entered Thurston's tent. On the way from the railroad, Summers had +explained to the contractor all that had happened. Geoffrey rose to +greet Savine, glancing at his employer with some curiosity, for he had +not met him before. Savine was a man of quick, restless movements and +nervous disposition. The gray that tinged his long mustache, lightly +sprinkled his hair, gave evidence of his fifty years of intense living. +He was known to be not only a daring engineer, but a generally +successful speculator in mining and industrial enterprises. +Nevertheless, Geoffrey fancied that something in his face gave a hint +of physical weakness. +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard one or two creditable things about you, and thought of +asking you to run up to my offices, but I'm glad to meet you now," said +Savine with a smile, adding when Thurston made a solemn bow, "There, +I've been sufficiently civil, and I see you would rather I talked +business. I'm considerably indebted to you for the way you tackled the +late crisis, and approve of the log-guard's extension. How much did +the extra work cost you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here is the wages bill and a list of the iron work charged at cost," +Thurston answered. "As I did the work without any orders you would be +justified in declining to pay for it, and I have included no profit." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Savine, who glanced over the paper and scribbled across it. +Looking up with a twinkle in his eye, he asked: "Have you been +acquiring riches latterly? My cashier will pay that note whenever you +hand it in at Vancouver. I'll also endorse your contract for payment +if you will give it me. Further, I want to say that I've been to look +at your work, and it pleases me. There are plenty of men in this +province who would have done it as solidly, but it's the general design +and ingenious fixings that take my fancy. May I ask where you got the +ideas?" +</P> + +<P> +"In England," answered Geoffrey. "I spent some time in the drawing +office of a man of some note." He mentioned a name, and Savine, who +looked at him critically, nodded as if in recognition. The older man +smiled when Thurston showed signs of resenting his inspection. +</P> + +<P> +"In that case I should say you ought to do," Savine observed, +cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't understand," said Thurston, and Savine answered: +</P> + +<P> +"No? Well, if you'll wait a few moments I'll try to make things plain +to you. I want a live man with brains of his own, and some knowledge +of mechanical science. There is no trouble about getting them by the +car load from the East or the Old Country, but the man for me must know +how to use his muscles, if necessary, and handle ax and drill as well. +In short, I want one who has been right through the mill as you seem to +have been, and, so long as he earns it, I'm not going to worry over his +salary." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid I would not suit you," said Geoffrey. "I'm rather too fond +of my own way to make a good servant, and of late I have not done badly +fighting for my own hand. Therefore, while I thank you, and should be +glad to undertake any minor contracts you can give me, I prefer to +continue as at present." +</P> + +<P> +"I should not fancy that you would be particularly easy to get on +with," Savine observed with another shrewd glance, but with unabated +good humor. "Still, what you suggest might suit me. I have rather +more work at present than I can hold on to with both hands, and have +tolerably good accounts of you. Come West with me and spend the week +end at my house, where we could talk things over quietly." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey was gratified—for the speaker was famous in his +profession—and he showed his feeling as he answered: "I consider +myself fortunate that you should ask me." +</P> + +<P> +"I figured you were not fond of compliments, and I'm a plain man +myself," declared Savine, with the humor apparent in his keen eyes +again. "I will, however, give you one piece of advice before I forget +it. My sister-in-law might be there, and if she wants to doctor you, +don't let her. She has a weakness for physicking strangers, and the +results are occasionally embarrassing." +</P> + +<P> +It happened accordingly that Thurston, who had overhauled his wardrobe +in Vancouver, duly arrived at a pretty wooden villa which looked down +upon a deep inlet. He knew the mountain valleys of the Cumberland, and +had wandered, sometimes footsore and hungry, under the giant ramparts +of the Selkirks and the Rockies, but he had never seen a fairer spot +than the reft in the hills which sheltered Savine's villa, and was +known by its Indian name, "The Place of the Hundred Springs." +</P> + +<P> +For a background somber cedars lifted their fretted spires against the +skyline on the southern hand. Beneath the trees the hillsides closed +in and the emerald green of maples and tawny tufts of oak rolled down +to a breadth of milk-white pebbles and a stretch of silver sand, past +which clear green water shoaling from shade to shade wound inland. +Threads of glancing spray quivered in and out among the foliage, and +high above, beyond a strip of sparkling sea and set apart by filmy +cloud from all the earth below, stretched the giant saw-edge of the +Coast Range's snow. +</P> + +<P> +The white-painted, red-roofed dwelling, with its green-latticed +shutters, tasteful scroll work and ample, if indifferently swarded, +lawns, was pleasant to look upon, but Thurston found more pleasure in +the sight of its young mistress, who awaited him in a great cool room +that was hung with deer-head trophies and floored with parquetry of +native timber. +</P> + +<P> +Helen Savine wore a white dress and her favorite crimson roses nestled +in the belt. Though she greeted Geoffrey with indifferent cordiality, +the girl was surprised when her eyes rested upon him. Thurston was not +a man of the conventional type one meets and straightway forgets, and +she had often thought about him; but, since the night at Crosbie Ghyll, +his image had presented itself as she first saw him—ragged, hungry, +and grim, a worthy descendant of the wild Thurstons about whom Musker +had discoursed. Now, in spite of his weather-beaten face and hardened +hands, he appeared what he was, a man of education and some refinement, +and his resolute expression, erect carriage, and muscular frame, +rendered lithe and almost statuesque by much swinging of the ax, gave +him an indefinite air of distinction. Again she decided that Geoffrey +Thurston was a well-favored man, but remembering Musker's stories, she +set herself to watch for some trace of inherent barbarity. This was +unfortunate for Geoffrey, because in such cases observers generally +discover what they search for. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey was placed beside Helen at dinner, and having roughed it since +he left England, and even before that time, it seemed strange to him to +be deftly waited upon at a table glittering with silver and gay with +flowers. Mrs. Thomas Savine sat opposite him, between her husband and +the host, and Helen found certain suspicions confirmed when Savine +referred to the crushing of the strike. Previously, he had given his +daughter a brief account of it. +</P> + +<P> +"It was daringly done," said Helen, "but I wonder, Mr. Thurston, if you +and others who hold the power ever consider the opposite side of the +question. It may be that those men, whose task is evidently highly +dangerous, have wives and children depending upon them, and a few extra +dollars, earned hardly enough, no doubt, might mean so much to them." +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid I don't always do so," answered Geoffrey. "I have toiled +tolerably hard as a workman myself. If any employé should consider +that he was underpaid for the risk he ran, and should say so civilly, I +should listen to him. On the other hand, if any combination strove by +unfair means to coerce me, I should spare no effort to crush it!" +</P> + +<P> +Thurston generally was too much in earnest to make a pleasant +dinner-table conversationalist. As he spoke, he shut one big brown +hand. It was a trifling action, and he was, perhaps, unconscious of +it, but Helen, who noticed the flicker in his eyes and the vindictive +tightening of the hard fingers, shrank from him instinctively. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that not a cruel plan of action, and is there no room for a gentler +policy in your profession? Must the weak always be trampled out of +existence?" she replied, with a slight trace of indignation. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston turned towards her with a puzzled expression. Julius Savine +smiled, but his sister-in-law, who had remained silent, but not +unobservant, broke in: "You believe in the hereditary transmission of +character, Mr. Thurston?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think most people do to some extent," answered Geoffrey. "But why +do you ask me?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's quite simple," said Mrs. Savine, smiling. "Did my husband tell +you that when we were in England, we were held up by a storm there one +night in your ancestral home? There was a man there who ought to +belong to the feudal ages. He was called Musker, and he told us quaint +stories about some of you. I fancy Geoffrey, who robbed the king's +dragoons, must have looked just like you when you shut your fingers so, +a few minutes ago." +</P> + +<P> +"I am a little surprised," Geoffrey returned with a flush rising in his +cheeks. "Musker used to talk a great deal of romantic nonsense. +Crosbie Ghyll is no longer mine. I hope you passed a pleasant night +there." Mrs. Savine became eloquent concerning the historic interest +of the ancient house and her brother-in-law, who appeared interested, +observed. +</P> + +<P> +"So far, you have not told me about that particular adventure." +</P> + +<P> +Again the incident was unfortunate for Geoffrey, because Helen, who had +no great respect for her aunt's perceptions, decided that if the +similitude had struck even that lady, she was right in her own +estimation of Thurston's character. +</P> + +<P> +"We heard of several instances of reckless daring, and we Colonials +consider all the historic romance of the land we sprang from belongs to +us as well as you," Mrs. Savine said. "So, if it is not an intrusion, +may I ask if any of those border warriors were remarkable for deeds of +self-abnegation or charity?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid not," admitted Geoffrey, rather grimly. "Neither did any +of them ever do much towards the making of history. All of them were +generally too busy protecting their property or seizing that of their +neighbors! But, at least, when they fought, they seem to have fought +for the losing side, and, according to tradition, paid for it dearly. +However, to change the subject, is it fair to hold any man responsible +for his ancestors' shortcomings? They have gone back to the dust long +ago, and it is the present that concerns us." +</P> + +<P> +"Still, can anybody avoid the results of those shortcomings or +virtues?" persisted Helen, and her father said: +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think so. There is an instance beside you, Mr. Thurston. +Miss Savine's grandfather ruled in paternally feudal fashion over a few +dozen superstitious habitants way back in old-world Quebec, as his +folks had done since the first French colonization. That explains my +daughter's views on social matters and her weakness for playing the +somewhat autocratic Lady Bountiful. The Seigneurs were benevolent +village despots with very quaint ways." +</P> + +<P> +Savine spoke lightly, and one person only noticed that the face of his +daughter was slightly less pale in coloring than before, but that one +afterwards remembered her father's words and took them as a clue to the +woman's character. He discovered also that Helen Savine was both +generous and benevolent, but that she loved to rule, and to rule +somewhat autocratically. +</P> + +<P> +The first day at the Savine villa passed like a pleasant dream to the +man who had toiled for a bare living in the shadowy forests or knelt +all day among hot rocks to hold the weary drill with bleeding fingers. +Mr. Savine grew more and more interested in Geoffrey, who, during the +second day, made great advances in the estimation of Mrs. Thomas +Savine. Bicycles were not so common a woman's possession in Canada, or +elsewhere, then. In fact, there were few roads in British Columbia fit +to propel one on. An American friend had sent Miss Savine a wheel +which, after a few journeys over a corduroy road, groaned most +distressfully whenever she mounted it. Helen desired to ride in to the +railroad, but the gaudy machine complained even more than usual, and +when at last one of its wheels declined to revolve, Julius Savine +called Geoffrey's attention to it. +</P> + +<P> +"If you are anxious for mild excitement, and want to earn my daughter's +gratitude, you might tackle that confounded thing, Mr. Thurston," he +said. "The local blacksmith shakes his head over it, and sent it back +the last time worse than ever, with several necessary portions missing. +After running many kinds of machines in my time, I'm willing to own +that this particular specimen defies me." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston had stripped and fitted various intricate mining appliances, +but he had never struggled with a bicycle. So, when Helen accepted his +offer of assistance, he wheeled the machine out upon the lawn and +proceeded light-heartedly to dismantle it, while the Savine brothers +lounged in cane chairs, encouraging him over their cigars. The +dismantling was comparatively simple, but when the time for +reassembling came, Thurston, who found that certain cups could not by +any legitimate means be induced to screw home into their places, was +perforce obliged to rest the machine upon two chairs and wriggle +underneath it, where he reclined upon his back with grimy oil dripping +upon his forehead. Red in the face, he crawled out to breathe at +intervals, and Helen made stern efforts to conceal her mingled alarm +and merriment, when Thomas Savine said: +</P> + +<P> +"Will you take long odds, Thurston, that you never make that invention +of his Satanic Majesty run straight again?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine cautioned the operator about sunstroke and apoplexy. When +Thomas Savine caught Helen's eye, both laughed outright, and Geoffrey, +mistaking the reason, felt hurt; he determined to conquer the bicycle +or remain beneath it all night. When at last he succeeded in putting +the various parts together and straightened his aching back, he hoped +that he did not look so disgusted, grimy and savage as he undoubtedly +felt. +</P> + +<P> +"You must really let it alone," said Helen. "The sun is very hot, and +perhaps, you might be more successful after luncheon. I have noticed +that when mending bicycles a rest and refreshment sometimes prove +beneficial." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so!" agreed Thomas Savine. "Young Harry was wont to tackle it +on just those lines. He used up several of my best Cubanos and a +bottle of claret each time, before he had finished; and then I was +never convinced that the thing went any better." +</P> + +<P> +"You must beware of ruining your health," interposed Mrs. Savine. +"Mending bicycles frequently leads to an accumulation of malevolent +humors. Did I interrupt you, Mr. Thurston?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was only going to say that it is nearly finished, and that I should +not like to be vanquished by an affair of this kind," said Geoffrey +with emphasis. "Would it hurt the machine if I stood it upon its head, +Miss Savine?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, and I am so grateful," Helen answered assuringly, noticing +guiltily that there were oil and red dust, besides many somber smears, +upon the operator's face and jacket, while the skin was missing from +several of his knuckles. +</P> + +<P> +It was done at last, and Geoffrey sighed, while the rest of the party +expressed surprise as well as admiration when the wheels revolved +freely without click or groan. Julius Savine nodded, with more than +casual approval, and Helen was gracious with her thanks. +</P> + +<P> +"You look quite faint," observed Mrs. Savine. "It was the hot sun on +your forehead, and the mental excitement. Such things are often +followed by dangerous consequences, and you must take a dose of my +elixir. Helen, dear, you know where to find the bottle." +</P> + +<P> +Julius Savine was guilty of a slight gesture of impatience. His +brother laughed, while Helen seemed anxious to slip away. Geoffrey +answered: +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think one should get very mentally excited over a bicycle. I +feel perfectly well, and only somewhat greasy." +</P> + +<P> +"That is just one of the symptoms. Yes, you have hit it—greasy +feeling!" broke in the amateur dispenser, who rarely relaxed her +efforts until she had run down her victim. "Helen, why don't you hunt +round for that bottle?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean greasy externally," explained Geoffrey in desperation, and +again Thomas Savine chuckled, while Helen, who ground one little +boot-heel into the grasses, deliberately turned away. Mrs. Savine, +however, cheerfully departed to find the bottle, and soon returned with +it and a wine glass. She filled the glass with an inky fluid which +smelt unpleasant, and said to Geoffrey: +</P> + +<P> +"You will be distinctly better the moment you have taken this!" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey took the goblet, walked apart a few paces, and, making a wry +face, heroically swallowed the bitter draught, after which Mrs. Savine, +who beamed upon him, said: +</P> + +<P> +"You feel quite differently, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes!" asserted Geoffrey, truthfully, longing to add that he had felt +perfectly well before and had now to make violent efforts to overcome +his nausea. +</P> + +<P> +His heroism had its reward, however, for when Helen returned from her +wheel ride, she said: "I was really ashamed when my aunt insisted on +doctoring you, but you must take it as a compliment, because she only +prescribes for the people she takes a fancy to. I hope the dose was +not particularly nasty?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry for you, Thurston, from experience!" cried Thomas Savine. "When +I see that bottle, I just vacate the locality. The taste isn't the +worst of it by a long way." +</P> + +<P> +That night Julius Savine called Geoffrey into his study, and, spreading +a roll of plans before him, offered terms, which were gladly accepted, +for the construction of portions of several works. Savine said: "I +won't worry much about references. Your work speaks for itself, and +the Roads and Trails surveyor has been talking about you. I'll take +you, as you'll have to take me, on trust. I keep my eye on rising +young men, and I have been watching you. Besides, the man who could +master an obstinate bicycle the first time he wrestled with one must +have some sense of his own, and it isn't everybody who would have +swallowed that physic." +</P> + +<P> +"I could not well avoid doing so," said Geoffrey, with a rueful smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel I owe you an apology, but it's my sister-in-law's one weakness, +and you have won her favor for the rest of your natural life," Savine +returned. "You have had several distinguished fellow-sufferers, +including provincial representatives and railroad directors, for to my +horror she physicked a very famous one the last time he came. He did +not suffer with your equanimity. In fact, he was almost uncivil, and +said to me, 'If the secretary hadn't sent off your trestle contract, I +should urge the board to reconsider it. Did you ask me here that your +relatives might poison me, Savine?'" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey laughed, and his host added: +</P> + +<P> +"I want to talk over a good many details with you, and dare say you +deserve a holiday—I know I do—so I shall retain you here for a week, +at least. I take your consent for granted; it's really necessary." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GEOFFREY STANDS FIRM +</H4> + +<P> +Geoffrey Thurston possessed a fine constitution, and, in spite of Mrs. +Savine's treatment and her husband's predictions, rose refreshed and +vigorous on the morning that followed his struggle with the bicycle. +It was a glorious morning, and when breakfast was over he enjoyed the +unusual luxury of lounging under the shadow of a cedar on the lawn, +where he breathed in the cool breeze which rippled the sparkling +straits. Hitherto, he had risen with the sun to begin a day of toil +and anxiety and this brief glimpse of a life of ease, with the +pleasures of congenial companionship, was as an oasis in the desert to +him. +</P> + +<P> +"A few days will be as much as is good for me," he told himself with a +sigh. "In the meantime hard work and short commons are considerably +more appropriate, but I shall win the right to all these things some +day, if my strength holds out." +</P> + +<P> +His forehead wrinkled, his eyes contracted, and he stared straight +before him, seeing neither the luminous green of the maples nor the +whispering cedars, but far off in the misty future a golden +possibility, which, if well worth winning, must be painfully earned. +His reverie was broken suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Are your thoughts very serious this morning, Mr. Thurston?" a clear +voice inquired, and the most alluring of the visions he had conjured up +stood before him, losing nothing by the translation into material +flesh. Helen Savine had halted under the cedar. In soft clinging +draperies of white and cream, she was a charming reality. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid they were," Geoffrey answered, and Helen laughed musically. +</P> + +<P> +"One would fancy that you took life too much in earnest," she said. +"It is fortunately impossible either to work or to pile up money +forever, and a holiday is good for everybody. I am going down to White +Rock Cove to see if my marine garden is as beautiful as it used to be. +Would you care to inspect it and carry this basket for me?" +</P> + +<P> +Thurston showed his pleasure almost too openly. They chatted lightly +on many subjects as they walked together, knee-deep, at times, among +scarlet wine-berries, and the delicate green and ebony of maidenhair +fern. The scents and essence of summer hung heavy in the air. Shafts +of golden sunlight, piercing the somber canopy of the forest isles, +touched, and, it seemed to Geoffrey, etherealized, his companion. The +completeness of his enjoyment troubled the man, and presently he lapsed +into silence. All this appeared too good, too pleasant, he feared, to +last. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know that you have not answered my last question, nor spoken a +word for the last ten minutes?" inquired Helen with a smile, at length. +"Have these woods no charm for you, or are you regretting the cigarbox +beneath the cedar?" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey turned towards her, and there was a momentary flash in his +eyes as he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"You must forgive me. Keen enjoyment often blunts the edge of speech, +and I was wishing that this walk through the cool, green stillness +might last forever." +</P> + +<P> +Afraid that he might have said too much, he ceased speaking abruptly, +and then, after the fashion of one unskilled in tricks of speech, +proceeded to remedy one blunder by committing another. +</P> + +<P> +"It reminds me of the evenings at Graham's ranch. There can surely be +no sunsets in the world to equal those that flame along the snows of +British Columbia, and you will remember how, together, we watched them +burn and fade." +</P> + +<P> +It was an unfortunate reference, for now and then Helen had recalled +that period with misgivings. Cut off from all association with persons +of congenial tastes, she had not only found the man's society +interesting, but she had allowed herself to sink into an indefinite +state of companionship with him. In the mountain solitude, such +camaraderie had seemed perfectly natural, but it was impossible under +different circumstances. It was only on the last occasion that he had +ever hinted at a continuance of this intimacy, but she had not +forgotten the rash speech. Had the recollections been all upon her own +side she might have permitted a partial renewal of the companionship, +but she became forbidding at once when Geoffrey ventured to remind her +of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said reflectively. "The sunsets were often impressive, but +we are all of us unstable, and what pleases us at one time may well +prove tiresome at another. If that experience were repeated I should +very possibly grow sadly discontented at Graham's ranch." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey was not only shrewd enough to comprehend that, if Miss Savine +unbent during a summer holiday in the wilderness, it did not follow +that she would always do so, but he felt that he deserved the rebuke. +He had, however, learned patience in Canada, and was content to bide +his time, so he answered good-humoredly that such a result might well +be possible. They were silent until they halted where the hillside +fell sharply to the verge of a cliff. Far down below Thurston could +see the white pebbles shine through translucent water, and with +professional instincts aroused, he dubiously surveyed the slope to the +head of the crag. +</P> + +<P> +Julius Savine, or somebody under his orders, had constructed a zig-zag +pathway which wound down between small maples and clusters of +wine-berries shimmering like blood-drops among their glossy leaves. In +places the pathway was underpinned with timber against the side of an +almost sheer descent, and he noticed that one could have dropped a +vertical line from the fish-hawk, which hung poised a few feet outside +one angle, into the water. They descended cautiously to the first +sharp bend, and here Geoffrey turned around in advance of his +companion. "Do you mind telling me how long it is since you or anybody +else has used this path, Miss Savine?" he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I came up this way last autumn, and think hardly any other person has +used it since. But why do you ask?" was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +"I fancied so!" Geoffrey lapsed instinctively into his brusque, +professional style of comment. "Poor system of underpinning, badly +fixed yonder. I am afraid you must find some other way down to the +beach this morning." +</P> + +<P> +It was long since Helen had heard anybody apply the word "must" to +herself. As Julius Savine's only daughter, most of her wishes had been +immediately gratified, while the men she met vied with one another in +paying her homage. In addition to this, her father, in whose +mechanical abilities she had supreme faith, had constructed that +pathway especially for her pleasure. So for several reasons her pride +took fire, and she answered coldly: "The path is perfectly safe. My +father himself watched the greater portion of its building." +</P> + +<P> +"It was safe once, no doubt," answered Geoffrey, slightly puzzled as to +how he had offended her, but still resolute. "The rains of last +winter, however, have washed out much of the surface soil, leaving bare +parts of the rock beneath, and the next angle yonder is positively +dangerous. Can we not go around?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only by the head of the valley, two miles away at least," Helen's tone +remained the reverse of cordial. "I have climbed both in the Selkirks +and the Coast Range, and to anyone with a clear head, even in the most +slippery places, there cannot be any real danger!" +</P> + +<P> +"I regret that I cannot agree with you. I devoutly wish I could," said +Geoffrey, uneasily. "No! you must please go no further, Miss Savine." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's eyes glittered resentfully. A flush crept into the center +of either cheek as she walked towards him. Though he did not intend +it, there was perhaps too strong a suggestion of command in his +attitude, and when Helen came abreast of him, he laid a hand +restrainingly upon her arm. She shook it off, not with ill-humored +petulance, for Helen was never ungraceful nor undignified, but with a +disdain that hurt the man far more than anger. Nevertheless, knowing +that he was right, he was determined that she should run no risk. +Letting his hand swing at his side, he walked a few paces before her, +and then turned in a narrow portion of the path where two people could +not pass abreast. +</P> + +<P> +"Please listen to me, Miss Savine," he began. "I am an engineer, and I +can see that the bend yonder is dangerous. I cannot, therefore, +consent to allow you to venture upon it. How should I face your father +if anything unfortunate happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"My father saw the path built," repeated Helen. "He also is an +engineer, and is said to be one of the most skillful in the Dominion. +I am not used to being thwarted for inadequate reasons. Let me pass." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey stood erect and immovable. "I am very sorry, Miss Savine, +that, in this one instance, I cannot obey you," he said. +</P> + +<P> +There was an awkward silence, and while they looked at each other, +Helen felt her breath come faster. Retreating a few paces she seated +herself upon a boulder, thus leaving the task of terminating an +unpleasant position to Geoffrey, who was puzzled for a time. Finally, +an inspiration dawned upon Thurston, who said: +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you would feel the disappointment less if I convinced you by +ocular demonstration." +</P> + +<P> +Walking cautiously forward to the dangerous angle, he grasped a broken +edge of the rock outcrop about which the path twisted, and pressed hard +with both feet upon the edge of the narrow causeway. It was a +hazardous experiment, and the result of it startling, for there was a +crash and a rattle, and Geoffrey remained clinging to the rock, with +one foot in a cranny, while a mass of earth and timber slid down the +steep-pitched slope and disappeared over the face of the crag. A +hollow splashing rose suggestively from far beneath the rock. Helen, +who had been too angry to notice the consideration for herself implied +in the man's last speech, turned her eyes upon the ground and did not +raise them until, after swinging himself carefully onto firmer soil, +Geoffrey approached her. "I hope, after what you have seen, you will +forgive me for preventing your descent," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"You used considerable violence, and I am still unconvinced," Helen +declared, rising as she spoke. "In any case, you have at least made +further progress impossible, and we may as well retrace our steps. No; +I do not wish to hear any more upon the subject. It is really not +worth further discussion." +</P> + +<P> +They turned back together. When the ascent grew steeper, Geoffrey held +out his hand. Instead of accepting the proffered assistance as she had +done when they descended, Helen apparently failed to notice the hand, +and the homeward journey was not pleasant to either of them. Helen did +not parade her displeasure, but Geoffrey was sensible of it, and, never +being a fluent speaker upon casual subjects, he was not successful in +his conversational efforts. When at last they reached the villa, he +shook his shoulders disgustedly as he recalled some of his inane +remarks. +</P> + +<P> +"It was hardly a wonder she was silent. Heavens, what prompted me to +drivel in that style?" he reflected. "It was cruelly unfortunate, but +I could not let her risk her precious safety over that confounded path!" +</P> + +<P> +At luncheon it happened that Mrs. Savine said: "I saw you going towards +the White Rock Cove, Helen. Very interesting place, isn't it, Mr. +Thurston? But you brought none of that lovely weed back with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you notice how I had the path graded as you went down?" asked +Savine, and Thurston saw that Helen's eyes were fixed upon him. The +expression of the eyes aroused his indignation because the glance was +not a challenge, but a warning that whatever his answer might be, the +result would be indifferent to her. He was hurt that she should +suppose for a moment that he would profit by this opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"We were not able to descend the whole way," he replied. "Last +winter's rains have loosened the surface soil, and one angle of the +path slipped bodily away. Very fortunately I was some distance in +advance of Miss Savine, and there was not the slightest danger. Might +I suggest socketed timbers? The occurrence reminds me of a curious +accident to the railroad track in the Rockies." +</P> + +<P> +Helen did not glance at the speaker again, for Savine asked no awkward +questions. But Thurston saw no more of her during the afternoon. That +evening he sought Savine in his study. +</P> + +<P> +"You have all been very kind to me," he said. "In fact, so much so +that I feel, if I stay any longer among you, I shall never be content +to rough it when I go back to the bush. This is only too pleasant, +but, being a poor man with a living to earn, it would be more +consistent if I recommenced my work. Which of the operations should I +undertake first?" +</P> + +<P> +Savine smiled on him whimsically, and answered with Western directness: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether the Roads Surveyor was right or wrong when he +said that you were not always over-civil. See here, Thurston, leaving +all personal amenities out of the question, I'm inclined to figure that +you will be of use to me, aid the connection also will help you +considerably. My paid representatives are not always so energetic as +they might be. So if you are tired of High Maples you can start in +with the rock-cutting on the new wagon road. It is only a detail, but +I want it finished, and, as the cars would bring you down in two hours' +time, I'll expect you to put in the week-end here, talking over more +important things with me." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston left the house next morning. He did not see Helen to say +good-by to her, for she had ridden out into the forest before he +departed from High Maples. Helen admitted to herself that she was +interested in Thurston, the more so because he alone, of all the men +whom she had met, had successfully resisted her will. But she shrank +from him, and though convinced that his action in preventing her from +going down the pathway had been justified, she could not quite forgive +him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +SAVINE'S CONFIDENCE +</H4> + +<P> +Despite his employer's invitation Thurston did not return to High +Maples at the end of the week. The rock-cutting engrossed all his +attention, and he was conscious that it might be desirable to allow +Miss Savine's indignation to cool. He had thought of her often since +the day that she gave him the dollar, and, at first still smarting +under the memory of another woman's treachery, had tried to analyze his +feelings regarding her. The result was not very definite, though he +decided that he had never really loved Millicent, and was very certain +now that she had wasted little affection upon him. One evening at +Graham's ranch when they had stood silently together under the early +stars, he had become suddenly conscious of the all-important fact, that +his life would be empty without Helen Savine, and that of all the women +whom he had met she alone could guide and raise him towards a higher +plane. +</P> + +<P> +It was characteristic of Geoffrey Thurston that the determination to +win her in spite of every barrier of wealth and rank came with the +revelation, and that, at the same time counting the cost, he realized +that he must first bid boldly for a name and station, and with all +patience bide his time. A more cold-blooded man might have abandoned +the quest as hopeless at the first, and one more impulsive might have +ruined his chances by rashness, but Geoffrey united the characteristics +of the reckless Thurstons with his mother's cool North Country +canniness. +</P> + +<P> +It therefore happened that Savine, irritated by a journalistic +reference to the tardiness of that season's road-making, went down to +see how the work entrusted to Geoffrey was progressing. He was +accompanied by his daughter, who desired to visit the wife of a +prosperous rancher. It was towards noon of a hot day when they +alighted from their horses in the mouth of a gorge that wound inland +from the margin of a lake. No breath of wind ruffled the steely +surface of the lake. White boulder and somber fir branch slept +motionless, reflected in the crystal depths of the water, and lines of +great black cedars, that kept watch from the ridge above, stood mute +beneath the sun. +</P> + +<P> +As they picked their path carefully through the débris littering an +ugly rent in the rock, where perspiring men were toiling hard with pick +and drill, they came upon Thurston before he was aware of them. +Geoffrey stood with a heavy hammer in his hand critically surveying a +somewhat seedy man who was just then offering his services. Savine, +who had a sense of humor, was interested in the scene, and said to his +daughter: "Thurston's busy. We'll just wait until he's through with +that fellow." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey, being ignorant of their presence, decided that the applicant, +who said that he was an Englishman, and used to estimating quantities, +would be of little service; but he seldom refused to assist a stranger +in distress. +</P> + +<P> +"I do all the draughting and figuring work myself," he said. "However, +if you are hard up you can earn two dollars a day wheeling broken rock +until you find something better." +</P> + +<P> +The man turned away, apparently not delighted at the prospect of +wheeling rock, and Geoffrey faced about to greet the spectators. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't fancy you'll get much work out of that fellow," observed +Savine. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not expect to see you so soon, and am pleasantly surprised," +said Geoffrey, who, warned by something in Helen's face, restrained the +answer he was about to make. "You will be tired after your rough ride, +and it is very hot out here. If you will come into my office tent I +can offer you some slight refreshment." +</P> + +<P> +Helen noticed every appointment of the double tent which was singularly +neat and trim. Its flooring of packed twigs gave out a pleasant +aromatic odor. The instruments scattered among the papers on the maple +desk were silver-mounted. The tall, dusty man in toil-stained jean +produced thin glasses, into which he poured mineral waters and +California wine. A tin of English biscuits was passed with the cooling +drinks. Thurston was a curious combination, she fancied, for, having +seen him covered with the grime of hard toil she now beheld him in a +new <I>rôle</I>—that of host. +</P> + +<P> +They chatted for half-an-hour, and then there was an interruption, for +the young Englishman, who had grown tired of wheeling the barrow, stood +outside the tent demanding to see his employer. Geoffrey strode out +into the sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +The stranger said that he had a backache, besides blisters on his +hands, and that wheeling a heavy barrow did not agree with him. He +added, with an easy assurance that drew a frown to the contractor's +face, "It's a considerable come-down for me to have to work hard at +all, and I was told you were generally good to a distressed countryman. +Can't you really give me anything easier?" +</P> + +<P> +"I try to be helpful to my countrymen when they're worth it," answered +Geoffrey, dryly. "Would you care to hold a rock drill, or swing a +sledge instead?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think so," he returned dubiously. "You see, I haven't been +trained to manual labor, and I'm not so strong as you might think by +looking at me." Geoffrey lost his temper. +</P> + +<P> +"The drill might blister your fingers, I dare say," he admitted. "I'm +afraid you are too good for this rude country, and I have no use for +you. I could afford to be decent? Perhaps so, but I earn my money +with considerably more effort than you seem willing to make. The cook +will give you dinner with the other men to-day; then you can resume +your search for an easy billet. We have no room in this camp for +idlers." +</P> + +<P> +Savine chuckled, but Helen, who had a weakness for philanthropy, and +small practical experience of its economic aspect, flushed with +indignation, pitying the stranger and resenting what she considered +Thurston's brutality. Her father rose, when the contractor came in, to +say that he wanted to look around the workings. He suggested that +Helen should remain somewhere in the shade. When Thurston had placed a +canvas lounge for her, outside the tent, the girl turned towards him a +look of severe disapproval. "Why did you speak to that poor man so +cruelly?" she asked. "Perhaps I am transgressing, but it seems to me +that one living here in comfort, even comparative luxury, might be a +little more considerate towards those less fortunate." +</P> + +<P> +"Please remember that I was once what you term 'less fortunate' +myself," Geoffrey reminded Helen, who answered quickly, "One would +almost fancy it was you who had forgotten." +</P> + +<P> +"On the contrary, I am not likely to forget how hard it was for me to +earn my first fee here in this new country," he declared, looking +straight at her. "I was glad to work up to my waist in ice-water to +make, at first, scarcely a dollar and a half a day. One must exercise +discretion, Miss Savine, and that man, so far as I could see, had no +desire to work." +</P> + +<P> +It was a pity that Geoffrey did not explain that he meant Bransome's +payment by the words "my first fee," for Helen had never forgotten how +she had failed in the attempt to double the amount for which he had +bargained. She had considered him destitute of all the gentler graces, +but now she was surprised that he should apparently attempt to wound +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it right to judge so hastily?" she inquired, mastering her +indignation with difficulty. "The poor man may not be fit for hard +work—I think he said so—and I cannot help growing wrathful at times +when I hear the stories which reach me of commercial avarice and +tyranny." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey blew a silver whistle, which summoned the foreman to whom he +gave an order. +</P> + +<P> +"Your <I>protégé</I> shall have an opportunity of proving his willingness to +be useful by helping the cook," Thurston said with a smile at Helen. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you do that—now?" she asked, uncertain whether to be +gratified or angry, and Geoffrey answered, "Because I fancied it would +meet with your approval." +</P> + +<P> +"Then," declared Helen looking past him, "if that was your only motive, +you were mistaken." +</P> + +<P> +The conversation dragged after that, and they were glad when Savine +returned to escort his daughter part of the way to the ranch. When he +rode back into camp alone an hour later, he dismounted with difficulty, +and his face was gray as he reeled into the tent. +</P> + +<P> +"Give me some wine, Thurston—brandy if you have it, and don't ask +questions. I shall be better in five minutes—I hope," he gasped. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey had no brandy, but he broke the neck off a bottle of his best +substitute, and Savine lay very still on a canvas lounge, gripping one +of its rails hard for long, anxious minutes before he said, "It is +over, and I am myself again. Hope I didn't scare you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I was uneasy," Thurston replied. "Dare I ask, sir, what the trouble +was?" Savine, who evidently had not quite recovered, looked steadily +at the speaker. "I'll tell you in confidence, but neither my daughter +nor my rivals must hear of this," he said at length. "It is part of +the price I paid for success. I have an affection of the heart, which +may snuff me out at any moment, or leave me years of carefully-guarded +life." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't quite understand you, but perhaps I ought to suggest that you +sit still and keep quiet for a time," Geoffrey replied and Savine +answered, "No. Save for a slight faintness I am as well as—I usually +am. When one gets more than his due share of this world's good things, +he must generally pay for it—see? If you don't, remember as an axiom +that one can buy success too dearly. Meantime, and to come back to +this question's every-day aspect, I want your promise to say nothing of +what you have seen. Helen must be spared anxiety, and I must still +pose as a man without a weakness, whatever it costs me." +</P> + +<P> +"You have my word, sir!" said Geoffrey, and Savine, who nodded, +appeared satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +"As I said before, I can trust you, Thurston, and though I've many +interested friends I'm a somewhat lonely man. I don't know why I +should tell you this, it isn't quite like me, but the seizure shook me, +and I just feel that way. Besides, in return for your promise, I owe +you the confidence. Give me some more wine, and I'll try to tell you +how I spent my strength in gaining what is called success." +</P> + +<P> +"I won by hard work; started life as a bridge carpenter, and starved +myself to buy the best text-books," Savine began presently. "Bid +always for something better than what I had, and generally got it; ran +through a big bridge-building contract at twenty-five, and fell in love +with my daughter's mother when I'd finished it. I had risen at a bound +from working foreman—she was the daughter of one of the proudest +poverty-stricken Frenchmen in old Quebec. Well, it would make a long +story, but I married her, and she taught me much worth knowing, besides +helping me on until, when I had all my savings locked up in apparently +profitless schemes, I tried for a great bridge contract. I also got +it, but there was political jobbery, and the opposition, learning from +my rival how I was fixed, required a big deposit before the agreement +was signed." +</P> + +<P> +Savine paused a full minute, and helped himself to more wine before he +proceeded. "The deposit was to be paid in fourteen days from the time +I got the notice, or the tender would be advertised for again, and I +hadn't half the amount handy. I couldn't realize on my possessions +without an appalling loss, but I swore I would hold on to that +contract, and I did it. It was always my way to pick up any odd +information I could, and I learned that a certain mining shaft was +likely to strike high-pay ore. I got the information from a workman +who left the mine to serve me, so I caught the first train, made a long +journey, and rode over a bad pass to reach the shaft. How I dealt with +the manager doesn't greatly matter, but though I neither bribed nor +threatened him he showed me what I wanted to see. I rode back over +pass and down moraine through blinding snow, went on without rest or +sleep to the city, borrowed what I could—I wasn't so well known then, +and it was mighty little—and bought up as much of that mine's stock on +margins as the money would cover. The news was being held back, but +other men were buying quietly. Still—well, they had to sleep and get +their dinners, and I, who could do without either, came out ahead of +them. Market went mad in a day or two over the news of the crushing. +I sold out at a tremendous premium, and started to pay my deposit. I +did it in person, came back with the sealed contract—hadn't eaten +decently or slept more than a few hours in two anxious weeks—went home +triumphant, and collapsed—as I did not long ago—while I told my wife." +</P> + +<P> +There was silence for several minutes inside the tent. Then Geoffrey +said, "I thank you for your confidence, sir, and will respect it, but +even yet I am not quite certain why, considering that you held my +unconditional promise, you gave it me." +</P> + +<P> +"As I said before, I felt like it," answered Savine. "Still, there's +generally a common-sense reason somewhere for what I do, and it may +help you to understand me. I heard of you at your first beginning. I +figured that you were taking hold as I had done before you and thought +I might have some use for a man like you. Perhaps I'll tell you more, +if we both live long enough, some day." +</P> + +<P> +It was in the cool of the evening that Savine and his daughter, who had +been waiting at a house far down the trail, rode back towards the +railroad, leaving Geoffrey puzzled at the uncertain ways of women. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of my new assistant, Helen?" asked Savine. "You +generally have a quick judgment, and you haven't told me yet." +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly know," was the answer. "He is certainly a man of strong +character, but there is something about him which repels one—something +harsh, almost sinister, though this would, of course, in no way affect +his business relations with you. For instance, you saw how he lives, +and yet he turned away a countryman who appeared destitute and hungry." +</P> + +<P> +Savine laughed. "You did not see how he lived. The good things in his +tent were part of his business property, handy when some mining +manager, who may want work done, comes along—or perhaps brought in by +mounted messenger for Miss Savine's special benefit. Thurston lives on +pork and potatoes, and eats them with his men. The fellow you pitied +was a lazy tramp. It mayn't greatly matter to you or me, but Thurston +will do great things some day." +</P> + +<P> +"It is perhaps possible," assented Helen. "The men who are hard and +cruel are usually successful. You have rather a weakness, father, for +growing enthusiastic over what you call a live assistant. You have +sometimes been mistaken, remember." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AN INSPIRATION +</H4> + +<P> +More than twelve months had passed since Thurston's first visit to High +Maples, when he stood one morning gazing abstractedly down a misty +valley. Below him a small army of men toiled upon the huge earth +embankments, which, half-hidden by thin haze, divided the river from +the broad swamps behind it. But Geoffrey scarcely saw the men. He was +looking back upon the events of the past year, and was oblivious to the +present. He had made rapid progress in his profession and had won the +esteem of Julius Savine; but he felt uncertain as to how far he had +succeeded in placating Miss Savine. On some of his brief visits to +High Maples, Helen had treated him with a kindliness which sent him +away exultant. At other times, however, she appeared to avoid his +company. Presently dismissing the recollection of the girl with a +sigh, Geoffrey glanced at the strip of paper in his hand. It was a +telegraphic message from Savine, and ran: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Want you and all the ideas you can bring along at the chalet +to-morrow. Expect deputation and interesting evening." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Savine had undertaken the drainage of the wide valley, which the rising +waters periodically turned into a morass, and had sublet to Geoffrey a +part of the work. Each of the neighboring ranchers who would benefit +by the undertaking had promised a pro-rata payment, and the Crown +authorities had conditionally granted to Savine a percentage of all the +unoccupied land he could reclaim. Previous operations had not, +however, proved successful, for the snow-fed river breached the dykes, +and the leaders of a syndicate with an opposition scheme were not only +sowing distrust among Savine's supporters, but striving to stir up +political controversy over the concession. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey did not agree with the contractor on several important points, +but deferred to the older man's judgment. He had, however, already +made his mark, and could have obtained profitable commissions from both +mining companies and the smaller municipalities, had he desired them. +</P> + +<P> +While Geoffrey was meditating, the mists began to melt before a warm +breeze from the Pacific. Sliding in filmy wisps athwart the climbing +pines, they rolled clear of the river, leaving bare two huge parallel +mounds, between which the turbid waters ran. Geoffrey, surveying the +waste of tall marsh grasses stretching back to the forest, knew that a +rich reward awaited the man who could reclaim the swamp. He was +reminded of his first venture, which was insignificant compared to this +greater one, and as suddenly as the mists had melted, the uncertainty +in his own mind concerning Savine's plan vanished too, and he saw that +the contractor was wrong. What he had done for Bransome on a minute +scale must be done here on a gigantic one. A bold man, backed with +capital, might blast a pathway for the waters through the converging +rocks of the cañon, and, without the need of costly dykes, both swamp +and the wide blue lake at the end of the valley would be left dry land. +He stood rigidly still for ten minutes while his heart beat fast. Then +he strode hurriedly towards the gap in the ranges. There was much to +do before he could obey Savine's summons. +</P> + +<P> +It was towards the close of that afternoon when Julius Savine lounged +on the veranda of a wooden hotel for tourists, which was built in a +gorge of savage beauty. In spite of all that modern art could do, the +building looked raw and new, out of place among the immemorial pines +climbing towards snowy heights unsullied by the presence of man. +Helen, who sat near her father, glanced at him keenly before she said: +</P> + +<P> +"You have not looked well all day. Is it the hot weather, or are you +troubled about the conference to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +Savine at first made no reply. The furrows deepened on his forehead, +and Helen felt a thrill of anxiety as she watched him. She had noticed +that his shoulders were losing their squareness, and that his face had +grown thin. +</P> + +<P> +"I must look worse than I feel," he declared after a little while, +"but, though there is nothing to worry about, the reclamation scheme is +a big one, and some of my rancher friends seem to have grown lukewarm +latterly. If they went over to the opposition, the plea that my +workings might damage their property, if encouraged by meddlesome +politicians, would seriously hamper me. Still, I shall certainly +convince them, and that is why I am receiving the deputation to-night. +I wish Thurston had come in earlier; I want to consult with him." +</P> + +<P> +"What has happened to you?" asked Helen, laying her hand affectionately +upon his arm. "You never used to listen to anybody's opinions, and now +you are always consulting Thurston. Sometimes I fancy you ought to +give up your business before it wears you out. After all, you have not +known Thurston long." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps so," Savine admitted, and when he looked at her Helen became +interested in an eagle, which hung poised on broad wings above the +valley. "I feel older than I used to, and may quit business when I put +this contract through. It is big enough to wind up with. If I'd known +Thurston for ages I couldn't be more sure of him. I am a little +disappointed that you don't like him." +</P> + +<P> +"You go too far." Helen still concentrated her attention upon the +dusky speck against the blue. "I have no reason for disliking Mr. +Thurston; indeed, I do not dislike him and my feeling may be mere +jealousy. You give—him—most of your confidences now, and I should +hate anybody who divided you from me." +</P> + +<P> +Savine lifted her little hand into his own, and patted it playfully as +he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"You need never fear that. Helen, you are very like your mother as she +was thirty years ago." +</P> + +<P> +There was a sparkle of indignation in Helen's eyes, and a suspicion of +tell-tale color in her face. She remembered that, when he first met +her mother, her father's position much resembled Thurston's, and the +girl wondered if he desired to remind her of it. +</P> + +<P> +"The cars are in sight. Perhaps I had better see whether the hotel +people are ready for your guests," she remarked with indifference. +</P> + +<P> +The hotel was famous for its cuisine, and the dinner which followed +was, for various reasons, a memorable one, though some of the guests +appeared distinctly puzzled by the sequence of viands and liquors. +Still, even those who, appreciating the change from leathery venison +and grindstone bread, had eaten too much at the first course, struggled +manfully with the succeeding, and good fellowship reigned until the +cloth was removed, and the party prepared to discuss business. +</P> + +<P> +Savine sat at the head of the table, the gray now showing thickly in +his hair. His expression was, perhaps, too languid, for one of his +guests whispered that the daring engineer was not what he used to be. +The man glanced at Thurston, who sat, stalwart, keen, and determined of +face, beside his chief, and added, "I know which I'd sooner run up +against now; and it wouldn't be his deputy, sub-contractor, or whatever +the fellow is." +</P> + +<P> +"Finding that our correspondence was using up no end of time and ink, I +figured it would be better for us to talk things over together +comfortably, and as some of you come from Vancouver, and some from +round the lake, this place appeared a convenient center," began Savine. +"Now, gentlemen, I'm ready to discuss either business or anything else +you like." +</P> + +<P> +There was a murmur, and the guests looked at one another. They were a +somewhat mixed company—several speculators from the cities, two +credited with political influence; well-educated Englishmen, who had +purchased land in the hope of combining sport with cattle raising; and +wiry axemen, who lived in rough surroundings while they drove their +clearings further into the forest, field by field. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll start right off with business," said a city man. "I bought +land up yonder and signed papers backing you. I thought there would be +a boom in the valley when you got through, but I've heard some talk +lately to the effect that the river is going to beat you, and, in any +case, you're making slow headway. What I, what we all, want to know +is, when you're going to have the undertaking completed." +</P> + +<P> +Applause and a whispering followed, and another man said, "Our +sentiments exactly! Guess you've seen <I>The Freespeaker's</I> article!" +</P> + +<P> +"I have," Savine acknowledged coolly. "It suggested that I have no +intention of carrying out my agreement, that I am hoodwinking the +authorities for some indefinite purpose mysteriously connected with +maintaining our present provincial rulers in power. The thing's absurd +on the face of it, when I'm spending my money like water, and you ought +to know me better. I won't even get the comparatively insignificant +bonus until the work is finished." +</P> + +<P> +Several of the listeners rapped upon the table, one or two growled +suspiciously, and a big sunburnt Englishman stood up. "We'll let the +article in question pass," he said. "It is clearly written with +personal animus. As you say, we know you better; but see here, Savine, +this is going to be a serious business for us if you fail. We've +helped you with free labor, hauled your timber in, lent you oxen, and, +in fact, done almost everything, besides giving you our bonds for a +good many dollars and signing full approval of your scheme. By doing +this we have barred ourselves from encouraging the other fellows' +plans." +</P> + +<P> +After similar but less complimentary speeches had been made, Thurston, +who had been whispering to Savine, claimed attention. He cast a +searching glance round the assembly. "Any sensible man could see that +the opposition scheme is impracticable," he declared. "I am afraid +some of you have been sent here well primed." +</P> + +<P> +His last remark was perhaps combatant rashness, or possibly a +premeditated attempt to force the listeners to reveal their actual +sentiments. If he wished to get at the truth, he was successful, for +several men began to speak at once, and while disjointed words +interloped his remarks, the loudest of them said: +</P> + +<P> +"You can't fool us, Savine. We're poor men with a living to earn, but +we're mighty tough, and nobody walks over us with nails in their boots. +If you can't hold up that river, where are we going to be? I'd sooner +shove in the giant powder to blow them up, than stand by and see my +crops and cattle washed out when your big dykes bust." +</P> + +<P> +"So would I," cried several voices, and there was a rapid cross-fire of +question and comment. "Not the men to be fooled with." "Stand by our +rights; appeal to legislation, and choke this thing right up!" "Can +you make your dykes stand water at all?" "Give the man—a fair show." +"How many years do you figure on keeping us waiting?" +</P> + +<P> +Savine rose somewhat stiffly from his chair, and Thurston noted an +ominous grayness in either cheek. +</P> + +<P> +"There are just two things you can do," Savine said; "appeal to your +legislators to get my grants canceled, or sit tight and trust me. For +thirty-five years I've done my share in the development of the +Dominion, and I never took a contract I didn't put through. This has +proved a tough one, but if it costs me my last dollar——" +</P> + +<P> +The honest persons among the malcontents were mostly struggling men, +who, having expected the operations would bring them swift prosperity, +had been the more disappointed. Still, the speaker's sincerity +inspired returning confidence, and, when he paused, there was a measure +of sympathy for him, for he seemed haggard and ill, and was one against +many. His guests began to wonder whether they had not been too +impatient and suspicious, and one broke in apologetically, "That's +good! We're not unreasonable. But we like straight talking—what if +the dykes keep on bursting?" +</P> + +<P> +Then there was consternation, for Savine collapsed into his chair, +after he had said, "Mr. Thurston will tell you. Remember he acts for +me." To Geoffrey he whispered, "I don't feel well. Help me out, and +then go back to them." +</P> + +<P> +"Sit still. Stand back! You have done rather too much already," +Geoffrey declared, turning fiercely upon the men, who hurried forward, +one with a water decanter, and another with a wine glass. +</P> + +<P> +The guests fell back before Thurston, as he led Savine, who leaned +heavily upon him, from the banquet room. As they entered a broad hall +Helen and her aunt passed along the veranda upon which it opened. +</P> + +<P> +"They must not know; keep them out!" gasped the contractor. "Get me +some brandy and ring for the steward—quick. You have got to go back +and convince those fellows, Thurston. Good Lord!—this is agony." +</P> + +<P> +Savine sank into a chair. His twitching face was livid, and great +beads of moisture gathered upon his forehead. Thurston pressed a +button, then strode swiftly towards the door hoping that Helen, who +passed outside with a laugh upon her lips, might be spared the sight of +her father's suffering. But Mrs. Savine, gazing in through a long +window, started as she exclaimed, "Helen, your father's very sick! Run +along and bring me the elixir out of my valise." +</P> + +<P> +Helen turned towards the window, and Geoffrey, who groaned inwardly, +placed himself so that she could not see. There was a rustle of +skirts, and swift, light footsteps approached. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the matter? Why do you stand there? Let me pass at once!" +cried Helen in a voice trembling with fear. +</P> + +<P> +"Please wait a few moments," answered Geoffrey, standing between the +suffering man and his daughter. "Your father will be better directly, +and you must not excite him." +</P> + +<P> +There was no mistaking the color in Helen's face now. If her eyes were +anxious the crimson in her cheeks and on her forehead was that of +anger. Geoffrey felt compassionate, but he was still determined to +spare her. +</P> + +<P> +"For your father's sake and your own, don't go to him just yet, Miss +Savine," he pleaded, but, with little fingers whose grip felt steely, +the girl wrenched away his detaining arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no limit to your interference or presumption?" she asked, +sweeping past him to fall with a low cry beside the big chair upon +which her father was reclining. The cry pierced to Thurston's heart. +</P> + +<P> +Helen had seen little of either sickness or tragedy. Savine sat still +as if he did not see her, his face contracted into a ghastly grin of +pain. The attendant who came to them deftly aided Geoffrey to force a +little cordial between the sufferer's teeth. Savine made no sign. +Forgetting her indignation in her terror Helen glanced at Geoffrey in +vague question, but he merely raised his hand with a restraining +gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"We had better get him onto a sofa, sir," whispered the attendant, +presently. "Not very heavy. Perhaps you and I could manage." It was +when he was being lifted that Savine first showed signs of +intelligence. He glanced at Geoffrey and attempted to beckon towards +the room they had left. When he seemed slightly better, Thurston said: +</P> + +<P> +"I am going, sir. Stay here a few minutes, and then call somebody, +waiter. I cannot stay any longer." +</P> + +<P> +Savine made an approving gesture, but Helen said with fear and evident +surprise, "You will not leave us now, Mr. Thurston?" +</P> + +<P> +"I must," answered Geoffrey, restraining an intense longing to stay +since she desired it, but loyal to his master's charge. "I believe +your father is recovering, and it is his especial wish. I can do +nothing, and he needs only quiet." +</P> + +<P> +Helen said nothing further. She began to chafe her father's hand, +while Thurston went back, pale and grim, to the head of the long table. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Savine was seized by a passing faintness, but is recovering," he +said. "Nevertheless, he may not be able to return, and, as I am +interested with him in the drainage scheme he has appointed me his +deputy. Therefore, in brief answer to your questions, I would say that +if either of us lives you shall have good oat fields instead of swamp +grass and muskeg. It is a solemn promise—we intend to redeem it." +</P> + +<P> +"I want to ask just two questions," announced a sun-bronzed man, in +picturesque jacket of fringed deerskin. "Who are the—we; and how are +you going to build dykes strong enough to stand the river when the +lake's full of melting snow and sends the water down roaring under a +twenty-foot head?" +</P> + +<P> +The speaker had touched the one weak spot in Savine's scheme, but +Geoffrey rose to the occasion, and there was a wondering hush when he +said, "In answer to the first question—Julius Savine and I are the +'we.' Secondly, we will, if necessary, obliterate the lake. It can be +done." +</P> + +<P> +The boldness of the answer from a comparatively unknown man held the +listeners still, until there were further questions and finally, amid +acclamation, one of the party said: +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's a bargain, and we'll back you solid through thick and thin. +Isn't that so, gentlemen? If the opposition try to make legal trouble, +as the holders of the cleared land likely to be affected we've got the +strongest pull. We came here doubting; you have convinced us." +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think you will regret it," Geoffrey assured them. "Now, as I +must see to Mr. Savine, you will excuse me." +</P> + +<P> +Savine lay breathing heavily when Geoffrey rejoined him, but he +demanded what had happened, and nodded approval when told. Then +Geoffrey withdrew, beckoning to Helen, who rose and followed him. +</P> + +<P> +"This is no time for useless recrimination, or I would ask how you +could leave one who has been a generous friend, helpless and +suffering," the girl said reproachfully. "My father is evidently +seriously ill, and you are the only person I can turn to, for the hotel +manager tells me there is no doctor within miles of us. So in my +distress I must stoop to ask you, for his sake, what I can do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Will you believe not only that I sympathize, but that I would gladly +have given all I possess to save you from this shock?" Thurston began, +but Helen cut him short by an impatient wave of the hand, and stood +close beside him with distress and displeasure in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"All that is outside the question—what can we do?" she asked +imploringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Only one thing," answered Geoffrey. "Bring up the best doctor in +Vancouver by special train. I'm going now to hold up the fast freight. +Gather your courage. I will be back soon after daylight with skilled +assistance." +</P> + +<P> +He went out before the girl could answer, and, comforted, Helen hurried +back to her father's side. Whatever his failings might be, Thurston +was at least a man to depend upon when there was need of action. +</P> + +<P> +There was a little platform near the hotel where trains might be +flagged for the benefit of passengers, but the office was locked. +Thurston, who knew that shortly a freight train would pass, broke in +the window, borrowed a lantern, lighted it, and hurried up the track +which here wound round a curve through the forest and over a trestle. +It is not pleasant to cross a lofty trestle bridge on foot in broad +daylight, for one must step from sleeper to sleeper over wide spaces +with empty air beneath, and, as the ties are just wide enough to carry +the single pair of rails, it would mean death to meet a train. +Geoffrey nevertheless pressed on fast, the light of the blinking +lantern dazzling his eyes and rendering it more difficult to judge the +distances between the ties—until he halted for breath a moment in the +center of the bridge. White mist and the roar of hurrying water rose +out of the chasm beneath, but another sound broke through the noise of +the swift stream. Geoffrey hear the vibratory rattle of freight cars +racing down the valley, and he went on again at a reckless run, leaping +across black gulfs of shadow. +</P> + +<P> +The sound had gained in volume when he reached firm earth and ran +swiftly towards the end of the curve, from which, down a long +declivity, the engineer could see his lantern. Panting, he held the +light aloft as a great fan-shaped blaze of radiance came flaming like a +comet down the track. +</P> + +<P> +Soon he could dimly discern the shape of two huge mountain engines, +while the rails trembled beside him, and a wall of rock flung back the +din of whirring wheels. The fast freight had started from the head of +Atlantic navigation at Montreal, and would not stop until the huge cars +rolled alongside the Empress liner at Vancouver, for part of their +burden was being hurried West from England around half the world to +China and the East again. The track led down-grade, and the engineers, +who had nursed the great machines up the long climb to the summit, were +now racing them down hill. +</P> + +<P> +Waving the lantern Geoffrey stood with a foot on one of the rails and +every sense intent, until the first engine's cow-catcher was almost +upon him. Then he leaped for his life and stood half-blinded amid +whirling ballast and a rushing wind, as, veiled in thick dust, the +great box cars clanged by. He was savage with dismay, for it seemed +that the engineer had not seen his signal; then his heart bounded, a +shrill hoot from two whistles was followed by the screaming of brakes. +When he came up with the standing train at the end of the trestle, one +engineer, leaning down from the rail of the cab, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I saw your light away back, but was too busy trying to stop without +smashing something to answer. Say, has the trestle caved in, or what +in the name of thunder is holding us up?" +</P> + +<P> +"The trestle is all right," answered Geoffrey, climbing into the cab. +"I held you up, and I'm going on with you to bring out a doctor to my +partner, who is dangerously ill." +</P> + +<P> +The engineer's comments were indignant and sulphurous, while the big +fireman turned back his shirt sleeves as if preparing to chastise the +man rash enough to interfere with express freight traffic. Geoffrey, +reaching for a shovel, said: +</P> + +<P> +"When we get there, I'll go with you to your superintendent at +Vancouver; but, if either of you try to put me off or to call +assistance, I'll make good use of this. I tell you it's a question of +life and death, and two at least of your directors are good friends of +the man I want to help. They wouldn't thank you for destroying his +last chance. Meantime you're wasting precious moments. Start the +train." +</P> + +<P> +"Hold fast!" commanded the grizzled engineer, opening the throttle. +"When she's under way, I'll talk to you, and unless you satisfy me, by +the time we reach Vancouver there won't be much of you left for the +police to take charge of." +</P> + +<P> +Then the two locomotives started the long cars on their inter-ocean +race again. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GEOFFREY TESTS HIS FATE +</H4> + +<P> +It was a lowering afternoon in the Fall, when Thurston and Julius +Savine stood talking together upon a spray-drenched ledge in the depths +of a British Columbian cañon. On the crest of the smooth-scarped +hillside, which stretched back from the sheer face of rock far +overhead, stood what looked like a tiny fretwork in ebony, and +consisted of two-hundred-foot conifers. Here and there a clamorous +torrent had worn out a gully, and, with Thurston's assistance, Savine +had accomplished the descent of one of the less precipitous. Elsewhere +the rocks had been rubbed into smooth walls, between which the river +had fretted out its channel during countless ages. The water was +coming down in a mad green flood, for the higher snows had melted fast +under the autumn sun, and the clay beneath the glaciers had stained it. +Foam licked the ledges, a roaring white wake streamed behind each +boulder's ugly head, and the whole gloomy cañon rang with the thunder +of a rapid, whose filmy stream whirled in the chilly breeze. +</P> + +<P> +Savine gazed at the rapid and the whirlpool that fed it, distinguishing +the roar of scoring gravel and grind of broken rock from its vibratory +booming, and though he was a daring man, his heart almost failed him. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks ugly, horribly ugly, and I doubt if another man in the +Dominion would have suggested tackling the river here, but you are +right," he admitted. "Human judgment has its limits, and the constant +bursts have proved that no dykes which wouldn't ruin me in the building +could stand high-water pressure long. If you don't mind, Thurston, +we'll move farther from the edge. I've been a little shaky since that +last attack." +</P> + +<P> +"The climb down was awkward, but you have looked better lately," +declared Geoffrey and Savine sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess my best days are done, and that is one reason why I wish to +end up with a big success," he said. "I got a plain warning from the +Vancouver doctor you brought me in that morning. You managed it +smartly." +</P> + +<P> +"I was lucky," said Thurston, laughing. "At first, I expected to be +ignominiously locked up after the engineer and fireman had torn my +clothes off me. But we did not climb down here to talk of that." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" and Savine looked straight at his companion. "This is a great +scheme, Thurston, the biggest I have ever undertaken. There will be +room for scores of ranches, herds of cattle, wheat fields and orchards, +if we can put it through—and we have just got to put it through. +Those confounded dykes have drained me heavily, and they'll keep right +on costing money. Still, even to me, it looks almost beyond the power +of mortal man to deepen the channel here. The risk will figure high in +money, but higher in human life. You feel quite certain you can do it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes!" asserted Geoffrey. "I believe I can—in winter, when the frost +binds the glaciers and the waters shrink. Once it is done, and the +only hard rock barrier that holds the water up removed, the river will +scour its own way through the alluvial deposits. I have asked a long +price, but the work will be difficult." +</P> + +<P> +Savine nodded. He knew that it would be a task almost fit for +demi-gods or giants to cut down the bed of what was a furious torrent, +thick with grinding débris and scoring ice, and that only very strong +bold men could grapple with the angry waters, amid blinding snow or +under the bitter frost of the inland ranges in winter time. +</P> + +<P> +"The price is not too heavy, but I don't accept your terms," Savine +said. "Hold on until I have finished and then begin your talking. +I'll offer you a minor partnership in my business instead. Take time, +and keep your answer until I explain things in my offices, in case you +find the terms onerous; but there are many men in this country who +would be glad of the chance you're getting." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey stood up, his lean brown face twitching. He walked twice +along the slippery ledge, and then halted before Savine. "I will +accept them whatever they are on one condition, which I hardly dare +hope you will approve," he replied. "That is, regarding the +partnership, for in any case, holding to my first suggestion, you can +count on my best help down here. I don't forget that I owe you a heavy +debt of gratitude, sir, though, as you know, I have had several good +offers latterly." +</P> + +<P> +Savine, who had been abstractedly watching the mad rush of the stream, +looked up as he inquired: +</P> + +<P> +"What is the condition? You seem unusually diffident to-day, Thurston." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a great thing I am going to ask." Geoffrey, standing on the +treacherous ledge above the thundering river, scarcely looked like a +suppliant as he put his fate to the test. "It is your permission to +ask Miss Savine to marry me when the time seems opportune. It would +not be surprising if you laughed at me, but even then I should only +wait the more patiently. This is not a new ambition, for one day when +I first came, a poor man, into this country I set my heart upon it, and +working ever since to realize it, I have, so far at least as worldly +prospects go, lessened the distance between us." +</P> + +<P> +Savine, who betrayed no surprise, was silent for a little while. Then +he answered quietly: +</P> + +<P> +"I am, according to popular opinion, anything but a poor man, and +though those dykes have bled me, such a match would, as you suggest, be +unequal from a financial point of view, unless Helen marries against my +wishes. Then she should marry without a dollar. Does that influence +you?" +</P> + +<P> +Thurston spread out his hands with a contemptuous gesture, which his +quiet earnestness redeemed from being theatrical. +</P> + +<P> +"For my own sake I should prefer it so. Dollars! How far would anyone +count dollars in comparison with Miss Savine? But I do not fear being +able to earn all she needs. When the time seems opportune the +inequality may be less." +</P> + +<P> +"It is possible," continued Savine. "One notices that the man who +knows exactly what he wants and doesn't fool his time away over other +things not infrequently gets it. You have not really surprised me. +Now—and I want a straight answer—why did you leave the Old Country?" +</P> + +<P> +"For several reasons. I lost my money mining. The lady whom I should +have married, according to arrangements made for us, tired of me. It +is a somewhat painful story, but I was bound up in the mine, and there +were, no doubt, ample excuses for her. We were both of us almost too +young to know our own minds when we fell in with our relatives' wishes, +and, though I hardly care to say so, it was perhaps well we found out +our mistake in time." +</P> + +<P> +"All!" said Savine. "Were there no openings for a live man in the Old +Country, and have you told me all?" +</P> + +<P> +"I could not find any place for a man in my position," Geoffrey let the +words fall slowly. "I come of a reckless, hard-living family, and I +feared that some of their failings might repeat themselves in me. I +had my warnings. Had I stayed over there, a disappointed man, they +might have mastered me, and so, when there was nothing to keep me, I +turned my back—and ran. Out here any man who hungers for it can find +quite sufficient healthful excitement for his needs, and excitement is +as wine to me. These, I know, seem very curious qualifications for a +son-in-law, but it seemed just to tell you. Need I explain further?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Savine, whose face had grown serious. "Thanks for your +honesty. I guess I know the weaknesses you mean—the greatest of them +is whiskey. I've had scores of brilliant men it has driven out from +Europe to shovel dirt for me. It's not good news, Thurston. How long +have you made head against your inherited failings?" +</P> + +<P> +"Since I could understand things clearly," was the steady answer. "I +feared only what might happen, and would never have spoken had I not +felt that this country had helped me to break the entail, and set me +free. You know all, sir, and to my disadvantage I have put it before +you tersely, but there is another aspect." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston's tone carried conviction with it, but Savine cut him short. +"It is the practical aspect that appeals to me," he said. He stared +down at the river for several minutes before he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any reason to believe that Helen reciprocates the attachment?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." Geoffrey's face fell. "Once or twice I ventured almost to hope +so; more often I feared the opposite. All I ask is the right to wait +until the time seems ripe, and know that I shall have your good will if +it ever does. I could accept no further benefits from your hands until +I had told you." +</P> + +<P> +"You have it now," Savine declared very gravely. "As you know, my life +is uncertain, and I believe you faithful and strong enough to take care +of Helen. After all, what more could I look for? Still, if she does +not like you, there will be an end of the matter. It may be many would +blame me for yielding, but I believe I could trust you, Thurston—and +there are things they do not know." +</P> + +<P> +Savine sighed after the last words. His face clouded. Then he added +abruptly: "Speak when it suits you, Thurston, and good luck to you. +There are reasons besides the fact that I'm an old man why I should +envy you." +</P> + +<P> +Had Geoffrey been less exultant he might have noticed something curious +in Savine's expression, but he was too full of his heart's desire to be +conscious of more than the one all-important fact that Helen's father +wished him well. It was in a mood of high hopefulness he assisted Mr. +Savine during the arduous scramble up out of the cañon. Later his +elation was diminished by the recollection that he had yet to win the +good will of Miss Savine. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Some time had passed after the interview in the cañon, when one +afternoon Geoffrey walked out on the veranda at High Maples in search +of Helen Savine. It was winter time, but the climate near the +southwestern coast is mild. High Maples was sheltered, and the sun was +faintly warm. There were a few hardy flowers in the borders fringing +the smooth green lawn, a striking contrast to the snow-sheeted pines of +the ice-bound wilderness in which Thurston toiled. Helen was not on +the veranda, and not knowing where to search further, the young man +sank somewhat heavily into a chair. Geoffrey had ridden all night +through powdery snow-drifts which rose at times to the stirrup, and at +others so high that his horse could scarcely flounder through them. He +had made out lists of necessary stores as the jolting train sped on to +Vancouver, and had been busy every moment until it was time to start +for High Maples. Though he would have had it otherwise, he dare not +neglect one item when time was very precious. He had not spared +himself much leisure for either food or sleep of late, for by the short +northern daylight, and flame of the roaring lucigen, through the long +black nights, he and his company of carefully picked men had fought +stubbornly with the icy river. +</P> + +<P> +The suns rays grew brighter, there was still no sign of Helen. Tired +in mind and body Geoffrey sat still, lost in a reverie. He had left +the camp in a state of nervous suspense, but overtaxed nature had +conquered, and now he waited not less anxious than he had been, but +with a physical languidness due to the reaction. +</P> + +<P> +When Helen Savine finally came out softly through a long window +Geoffrey did not at first see her, and she had time to cast more than a +passing glance at him as he sat with head resting gratefully on the +back of the basket chair. His face, deeply tanned by the snow, had +grown once more worn and thin. There were lines upon the forehead and +wrinkles about his eyes; one bronzed hand lay above the other on his +knee, as the complement of a pose that suggested the exhaustion of +over-fatigue. The sight roused her pity, and she felt unusually +sympathetic towards the tired man. +</P> + +<P> +Then Geoffrey started and rose quickly. Helen noticed how he seemed to +fling off his weariness as he came towards her, hat in hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I have made a hurried journey to see you, Miss Savine," he said. "I +have something to tell you, something concerning which I cannot keep +silence any longer. If I am abrupt you will forgive me, but will you +listen a few moments, and then answer me a question?" +</P> + +<P> +The man's tone was humble if his eyes were eager, and Helen, who was +sensible of a tremor of emotion, leaned against the rails of the +veranda. The winter sunlight shone full upon her, and either that or +the cold breeze that she had met on the headland accounted for the +color in her cheeks. She made a dainty picture in her fur cap and +close-fitting jacket, whose rich fur trimming set off the curves of a +shapely figure. The man's longing must have shown itself in his eyes, +for Helen suddenly turned her glance away from him. Again she felt a +curious thrill, almost of pleasure, and wondered at it. If she had +guessed his meaning correctly she would have felt merely sorry for him, +and yet there was no mistaking an indefinite sense of satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you remember what I once told you at Graham's ranch?" he asked. "I +was a needy adventurer then, and guilty of horrible presumption, but +though the words came without my definite will I meant every one of +them. I knew there could be only one woman in the world for me, and I +solemnly determined to win her. It seemed madness—I was a poor, +unknown man—but the thought of you drove me resistlessly on until at +last the gulf between us has been narrowed, and may be narrower still. +That is, I have striven to lessen it in the one way I can—in all +others without your help it must remain impassable. Heaven knows how +far I am beneath you, and the daring hope has but one excuse—I love +you, and shall always do so. Is what I hope for quite impossible?" +</P> + +<P> +While Helen would have told herself ten minutes earlier that she almost +disliked the pleader, she was conscious of a new emotion. She had +regarded other suitors with something like contempt, but it was not so +with Thurston. Even if he occasionally repelled her, it was impossible +to despise him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," she said slowly. "Sorry that you should have told me +this, because I can only answer that it is impossible." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey evinced no great surprise. His face became stern instead of +expectant; his toil-hardened frame was more erect, as he answered with +unusual gentleness: +</P> + +<P> +"I have endeavored to prepare myself for your reply. How could I hope +to win you—as it were for the asking—easily? Still, though I am +painfully conscious of many possible reasons, may I venture to ask why +it is impossible, Miss Savine?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen answered: "I am sorry it is so—but why should I pain you? Can +you not take my answer without the reasons?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; not if you will give them," persisted Geoffrey. "I have grown +accustomed to unpleasant things, and it is to be hoped there is truth +in the belief that they are good for one. The truth from your lips +would hurt me less. Will you not tell me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will try if you demand it." Helen, who could not help noticing how +unflinchingly he had received what was really a needlessly cold rebuff, +hoped she was lucid as she began: +</P> + +<P> +"I have a respect for you, Mr. Thurston, but—how shall I express +it?—also a shrinking. You—please remember, you insisted—seem so +hard and overbearing, and while power is a desirable attribute in a +man—— But will you force me to go on?" +</P> + +<P> +"I beg you to go on," said Geoffrey, with a certain grimness. +</P> + +<P> +"In spite of a popular fallacy, I could not esteem a—a husband I was +afraid of. A man should be gentle, pitiful and considerate to all +women. Without mutual forbearance there could be no true +companionship—and——" +</P> + +<P> +"You are right." Geoffrey's voice was humble without bitterness. "I +have lived a hard life, and perhaps it has made me, compared with your +standard, brutal. Still, I would ask again, are these all your +reasons? Is the other difference between us too great—the distance +dividing the man you gave the dollar to from the daughter of Julius +Savine?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Helen. "That difference is, after all, imaginary. We +do not think over here quite as you do in England, and if we did, are +you not a Thurston of Crosbie? But please believe that I am sorry, +and—you insisted on the explanation—forgive me if I have said too +much. There is a long future before you—and men change their minds." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey's face darkened, and Helen, who regretted the last hasty words +which escaped her without reflection, watched him intently until he +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Musker must have told you about something in my life. But I was not +inconstant though the fault was doubtless mine. That is a story which +cannot be mentioned again, Miss Savine." +</P> + +<P> +"I had never meant to refer to it," Helen apologized with some +confusion, "but since you have mistaken me, I must add that another +friend of yours—a lady—gave me a version that bore truth stamped upon +the face of it. One could imagine that you would not take kindly to +the fate others arranged for you. But how do you know you are not +repeating the same mistake? The fancy which deceived you then may do +the same again." +</P> + +<P> +"How do I know?" Geoffrey's voice rang convincingly as he turned upon +the questioner, stretched out an arm towards her, and then dropped it +swiftly. "I know what love is now, because you have taught me. +Listen, Miss Savine, I am as the Almighty made me, a plain—and +sometimes an ill-tempered man, who would gladly lay down his life to +save you sorrow; but if what you say divides us is all there is, then, +as long as you remain Helen Savine, I shall cling fast to my purpose +and strive to prove myself worthy. Again, you were right—how could +you be otherwise?—but I shall yet convince you that you need not +shrink from me." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be wiser to take a definite 'no' for answer," said Helen. +"Why should this fancy spoil your life for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"You cannot take all hope from me," Geoffrey declared. "Would you +suspect me of exaggerated sentiment, if I said my life has been yours +for a long time and is yours now, for it is true. I will go back to +the work that is best for me, merely adding that, if ever there is +either trouble or adversity in which I can aid you—though God forbid, +for your sake, that should ever be so—you have only to send for me." +</P> + +<P> +"I can at least sincerely wish you success in your great undertaking." +Helen offered him her hand, and was conscious of a faint +disappointment, when, barely touching it, he turned hurriedly away. +She watched him cross the lawn towards the stables, and then waited +until a rapid thud of hoofs broke the silence of the woods. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone, and I let him carry that hope away!" she said, still looking +towards the forest with troubled eyes. "Yesterday I could never have +done so, but yesterday he was gone, and now——" +</P> + +<P> +Helen did not finish her sentence, but as the beat of hoofs died away, +glanced at the hand which for a moment had rested in Geoffrey's. "What +has happened to me, and is he learning quickly or growing strangely +timid?" she asked herself. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston almost rode over Julius Savine near the railroad depot, and +reined in his horse to say: +</P> + +<P> +"I have my answer, sir, but do not feel beaten yet. Some unholy luck +insists that all my affairs must be mixed with my daily business, and, +because of what was said in the cañon, I must ask you, now of all +times, to let me hold the option of that partnership or acceptance of +the offer I made you until we vanquish the river." +</P> + +<P> +He went off at a gallop as the cars rolled in, leaving Savine smiling +dryly as he looked after him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A TEST OF LOYALTY +</H4> + +<P> +It was during a brief respite from his task, which had been suspended, +waiting the arrival of certain tools and material, that Thurston +accompanied Savine and Helen to a semi-public gathering at the house of +a man who was a power in the Mountain Province just outside Vancouver. +Politicians, land-speculators, railroad and shipping magnates were +present with their wives and daughters, and most of them had a word for +Savine or a glance of admiration for Helen. +</P> + +<P> +Savine moved among guests chatting with the brilliancy which +occasionally characterized him, and always puzzled Thurston. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston was rarely troubled by petty jealousies, but the homage all +men paid to Helen awoke an unpleasant apprehension within him. He did +not know many of the men and women who laughed and talked in animated +groups; and at length found himself seated alone in a quiet corner. +The ground floor of the rambling house consisted of various rooms, some +of which opened with archways into one another. He could see into the +one most crowded, where Helen formed the center of an admiring circle. +There was no doubt that Miss Savine owed much to the race from which +she sprang on her mother's side. Dark beauty, grace of movement, and, +when she chose to indulge in it, vivacious speech, all betokened a +Latin extraction, while the slight haughtiness, which Thurston thought +wonderfully became her, was the dowry of a line of autocratic +landowners. That she was pleasant to look upon was proved by the +convincing testimony of other men's admiration as well as by his own +senses. Now, when the distance between them was in some respects +diminishing, she seemed even further away from him. In her presence he +felt himself a plain, unpolished man, and knew he would never shine in +the light play of wit and satire which characterized the society for +which she was fitted. He decided, also, that she had probably remained +unmarried because she could find no one who came up to her standard, +and feared that he himself would come very far beneath it. It appeared +doubtful that he could ever acquire the gentler virtues Helen had +described. Nevertheless, his face grew set as he determined that he +could prove his loyalty in the manner that best suited him—by serving +her father faithfully. +</P> + +<P> +A capitalist, for whom Geoffrey had undertaken several commissions, +halted before him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! Quite alone, Thurston, and worrying over something as usual," +he began, with Western brusqueness. "What has gone wrong? Have more +of your dams burst, up yonder? One would fancy that floundering around +through the ice and snow up there would be more congenial than these +frivolities. I'm not great on them either, but it's a matter of +dollars and cents with me. You perhaps know a little about this +self-made—that's your British term, I think—company." +</P> + +<P> +"Not so much as you do," answered Geoffrey. "Still, I have been +wondering how some of the men earned their money. I understand that +they have sense enough to be proud of their small beginnings, but they +do not furnish instructive details as to the precise manner in which +they achieved their success." +</P> + +<P> +The capitalist, who was one of the class described, laughed +good-humoredly, as he seated himself beside Thurston. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how are you getting on up in the valley?" he inquired, and +Geoffrey's eyes expressed faint amusement as he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"As well as we expected, and, if we had our difficulties, you would +hardly expect me to tell them to a director of the Industrial +Enterprise Company." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps not!" the capitalist smiled, for the Industrial Enterprise was +the corporation which had opposed Savine's reclamation scheme. +"Anyway, the company is a speculation with me; my colleagues manage it +without much of my assistance. But say, what's the matter with your +respected chief? He has come right out of his shell to-night." +</P> + +<P> +The speaker glanced towards Savine, who was surrounded by a group of +well-known men. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you, Thurston, there's something uncanny about that man of +late," he continued. "However, knowing there's no use trying to fool +you, I'll give you a fair warning and come straight to something I may +as well say now as later. Savine will go down like a house of cards +some day, and those who lean upon him will find it, in our language, +frosty weather. Now, suppose we made you a fair offer, would you join +us?" +</P> + +<P> +A curt refusal trembled upon Geoffrey's lips, when he reflected that, +as soon as the work was finished, his relations with Savine would be +drawn closer still. In the meantime, it was not advisable to give any +hint to a possible enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't say until I heard what the offer is," he answered +cautiously. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a typical cold-blooded Britisher," asserted the other man. "I +don't know either. I leave all details to the members of the company; +but we've a secretary, who understands all about it, in this house +to-night. We're half of us here on business, directly or indirectly, +and not for pleasure, so it's possible he may talk to you. But I see +our hostess eying us, and it's time we walked along." +</P> + +<P> +They moved forward together, and the woman whom they approached, +beckoning Geoffrey, whom she had for some reason taken under her +patronage, said: +</P> + +<P> +"There's a countrywoman of yours present, who doesn't know many of our +people yet. I should like to present you to her. She comes, I +understand, from the same wilds which sheltered you. Mrs. Leslie, this +is a special <I>protégé</I> of mine, Mr. Thurston, who could give you all +information about the mountains in which your husband talks of +banishing you." +</P> + +<P> +A handsome, tastefully-dressed woman turned more fully towards them, +and for a moment Geoffrey stood still in blank astonishment. The +average man would find it disconcerting to be brought, without warning, +suddenly face to face in a strange country with a woman who had +discarded him, and Thurston showed slight embarrassment. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Henry Leslie! But you evidently know each other!" exclaimed the +hostess, whose quick eyes had noticed his startled expression. +</P> + +<P> +Millicent had changed since the last time Geoffrey saw her. She had +lost her fresh cream and rose prettiness, but had gained something in +place of it, and though her pale blue eyes were too deeply sunk, her +face had acquired strength and dignity. She was, as he had always +found her, perfectly self-possessed. With a quick glance, which +expressed appeal and warning, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"We are not quite strangers. I knew Mr. Thurston in England." +</P> + +<P> +The young Englishman and his countrywoman moved away together, and +Geoffrey presently found himself standing in a broad corridor with +Millicent's hand upon his arm. Through a long window which opened into +a balcony the clear moonlight shone. A wide vista of forest and +sparkling sea lured them out of doors. +</P> + +<P> +"A breath of fresh air would be delightful. It would be quiet out +there, and I expect you have much to tell me." It was Millicent who +spoke, with quiet composure, and her companion wondered at his own lack +of feeling. After the first shock of the surprise he was sensible of +no particular indignation or emotion. It seemed as if any tenderness +that he had once felt for her had long since disappeared. There was +little that he cared to tell her; but, prompted by some impulse which +may have been mere curiosity, he drew the window open and they passed +out upon the balcony. +</P> + +<P> +"This reminds one of other days," said the woman, with a sigh. "Had I +known you were here, I should have dreaded to meet you, but it is very +pleasant to see you again. You have surely altered, Geoffrey. I +should hardly have expected to find you so friendly." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not in the least inclined to reproach you for the past," was the +sober answer. Geoffrey was distinctly perplexed, for he had acquired a +clearer perception of Millicent's character since he left England, and +now he felt almost indignant with himself for wondering what she +wanted. Glancing at her face he was conscious of a certain pity as +well as a vague distrust, for it was evident that her life had not been +altogether smooth or her health really robust. But the fact that she +should recall the far-off days in England jarred upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a relief to learn that you are not angry, at least. What are +you doing over here, Geoffrey?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Reclaiming a valley from a river. Living up among the mountains in +the snow," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"And you like it? You can find happiness in the hard life?" +</P> + +<P> +"Better than anything I ever undertook before. Happiness is a somewhat +indefinite term, and, perhaps because I have seldom found leisure to +consider whether I am happy or not, the presumption is that I am at +least contented." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent sighed and her face grew sad, while Thurston rebelled against +an instinctive conviction that she knew a wistful expression was +becoming to her and was calculated to appeal to a male observer. +</P> + +<P> +"One could envy you!" she said softly, and Geoffrey, rising superior to +all critical thoughts, felt only sincere pity. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you not been happy in—Canada, Millicent?" he inquired, and if +the woman noticed how nearly he had avoided a blunder, which is +distinctly probable, she at least made no sign. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't resist the temptation to answer you frankly, Geoffrey," she +replied. "I have had severe trials, and some, I fear, have left their +mark on me. There are experiences after which one is never quite the +same. You heard of the financial disaster which overtook us? Yes? +Black days followed it, but Mr. Leslie has hopes of succeeding in this +country, and that will brighten the future—indirectly even—for me." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" Geoffrey spoke with a peculiar inflection of the voice, for +though he could forgive the woman now, he could not forget his +resentment towards the man who had supplanted him. "For your sake, I +hope he will." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent glanced at him sideways, and, as if anxious to change the +subject, asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Is it the Orchard Valley you are endeavoring to reclaim? Yes. I +might have guessed it. I have heard people say that the scheme of Mr. +Savine, if that is his name, is impracticable. It is characteristic of +you, Geoffrey, to play out a losing game, but, with one's future at +stake, is it wise?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know that I was ever particularly remarkable for wisdom," +Geoffrey answered with a shake of the head. "The scheme in question +is, however, by no means so impracticable as some persons imagine it to +be." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you still hope for success. Have you not failed in one or two of +your efforts?" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent's voice was politely indifferent, but a certain keenness in +her eyes, which did not escape Geoffrey's notice, betrayed more than a +casual interest. Thurston afterwards decided that the shock of the +unexpected meeting had the effect of rendering his perceptions +unusually quick. +</P> + +<P> +"I have not been often successful," he admitted, with a laugh, "but my +employer is, as you may have heard, a sanguine person, and has not +hitherto been beaten." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope he will not be in this instance," said Millicent, and it +occurred to Geoffrey that she was concealing a sense of disappointment. +They talked a little longer and then she remarked: "I am afraid we have +been shamefully neglecting our social duties, but as we shall, in all +probability, meet now and then, I hope—in spite of all that has +happened—it will be as good friends." +</P> + +<P> +Again the man felt that the meeting had not been brought about wholly +by accident, but he bent his head as he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"If ever you should need a friend, you can, for the sake of old times, +count on me." +</P> + +<P> +"One of the finest views in the province," said a voice behind them. +"We are proud of the prospect from this balcony. If you stand here, +Miss Helen, you can enjoy it, and tell me if you have anything better +at High Maples. Most romantic spot on such a night for a quiet chat, +and if I was only twenty years younger, my dear young lady——" Then +the speaker evidently retired with some precipitation from the window, +as he added, "No, never mind drawing the curtain, Savine. If she is +not over tired I can show your daughter something interesting in the +conservatory instead." +</P> + +<P> +"Romantic spot occupied already!" The laugh which accompanied the +sound of retreating footsteps and the rustle of drapery, was +unmistakably that of Julius Savine. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey, who fumed inwardly at the reflection that his attitude was +distinctly liable to misconception, straightened himself with perhaps +too great a suddenness, while the faint amusement in his companion's +face heightened his displeasure. Millicent had managed to obtain a +survey of the intruders, and when sure that they had moved away, she +rose, saying, "So that is the beautiful Miss Savine! No doubt you have +seen her, and, like all the rest, admire her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," confessed Geoffrey. "I can honestly say I do." Millicent +regarded him curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"You have heard that we women seldom praise one another, and therefore, +while admitting that she is coldly handsome, I should imagine Miss +Savine to be a trying person," she commented. "Now we must return to +our social duties—in my case, at least, no one could call them +pleasures." +</P> + +<P> +Some little time later Helen, whose eyes had kindled for a moment when +her gray-haired escort led her towards the balcony, heard the bluff +Canadian answer the question that had been in her mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was the lady? Can't exactly say. Her husband's Leslie, the +Britisher, who started the land-agency offices, you will remember there +was trouble about, and is now, I believe, secretary to the Industrial +Enterprise. Frankly, I don't like the man—strikes me as a smart +adventurer, and my wife does not take to Mrs. Leslie. The man on the +balcony was Thurston, Savine's assistant, and a good fellow. He +generally follows humbly in Miss Savine's train, and, considering +Leslie's connection with the rival company, I don't quite see what he +could be doing in that gallery." +</P> + +<P> +Helen was piqued. She was too proud to admit to herself that she was +jealous, but she had not risen superior to all the characteristics of +her sex; and, knowing something of her father's business affairs, she +was also puzzled. Thurston's attitude towards his companion had not +been that of a casual acquaintance, to say the least, and Helen could +not help wondering what could be his connection with the wife of one +whose interests, she gathered, must be diametrically opposed to her +father's. Then, though endeavoring to decide that it did not matter, +she determined to put Thurston to the test at the first opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime Geoffrey stood alone for a few minutes looking out into the +moonlit night. "I am growing brutally suspicious, and poor Millicent +has suffered—she can't well hide it," he told himself. "Well, we were +fond of each other once, and, whether it's her husband or adversity, +whenever I can help her, I must try to do so." It was the revolt of an +open nature against the evidence of his senses, but even while Geoffrey +framed this resolution something seemed to whisper, "Was she ever fond +of you? There is that in the woman's voice which does not ring true." +</P> + +<P> +He had hardly turned back to rejoin the other members of his party when +a business acquaintance met him. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to spare a few minutes for a countryman who has been +inquiring about you," said the man. "Mr. Leslie, this is Mr. +Thurston—the secretary of the Industrial Enterprise!" +</P> + +<P> +The business acquaintance withdrew, and Geoffrey's lips set tight as he +turned towards Leslie who betrayed a certain uneasiness in spite of his +nonchalant manner. He was a dark-haired man with a pale face, which +had grown more heavy and sensual than it was as Geoffrey remembered it. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether I should say this is a pleasure," Leslie remarked +lightly. "There is no use disguising the fact that we last met under +somewhat unfortunate circumstances, but I give you my word that it was +too late to suggest that my employers should choose another emissary +when I discovered your identity. Where commercial interests are +concerned, surely we can both rise superior to mere sentiment." +</P> + +<P> +"There are things which it is uncommonly hard to forget," Geoffrey +replied coldly. "The question is, however— What do you want with +me?" He meant his tone and pose to be anything but conciliatory. +</P> + +<P> +"I want the favor of a business interview before you return," said +Leslie, trying to hide his discomfiture, and Geoffrey answered: +</P> + +<P> +"That is hardly possible. I return early to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you drive over to my quarters now?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. I desire to see my chief before I go." +</P> + +<P> +"It is confoundedly unfortunate," Leslie commented, apparently glad of +some excuse for expressing his disgust. "Well, perhaps nobody will +disturb us for a few minutes in yonder corridor. You can regard me as +a servant of the Industrial Enterprise. Will you listen to what I have +to say?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ready to listen to the great Company's secretary," said Geoffrey, +with a bluntness under which the other winced, as he turned towards the +corridor. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be brief," began Leslie. "The fact is that we want a capable man +accustomed to the planning and construction of irrigation works, and +two of our directors rather fancy you. The right man would have full +control of practical operations, and I have a tolerably free hand in +respect to financial conditions. The main thing we wish to discover +is, are you willing to consider an offer of the position?" +</P> + +<P> +It was on the surface a simple business proposition, but Thurston's +nostrils dilated and his brows contracted, for he guessed what lay +behind it. +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard Savine is a liberal man," continued Leslie, who mistook +Thurston's hesitation. "Still, considering your valuable experience in +the Orchard Valley, I have power to outbid him. You certainly will not +lose financially by throwing in your lot with us." +</P> + +<P> +Then Thurston's anger mastered him, and he flung prudence to the winds. +</P> + +<P> +"Your employers have chosen a worthy messenger," he declared, so +fiercely that Leslie recoiled. "Did you suppose that I would sell my +benefactor, for that is what it amounts to? Confusion to you and the +rogues behind you! There's another score between us, and I feel +greatly tempted to——" +</P> + +<P> +He looked ready to yield to the unmentioned temptation. Leslie, +glancing around anxiously, backed away from him, but restrained himself +with an effort. Thurston stood panting with rage. There was a sound +of approaching footsteps, and the secretary slipped away, leaving the +irate engineer face to face with an amused elderly gentleman and Helen +Savine. Geoffrey did not know how much or how little they had seen. +Helen beckoned to him. +</P> + +<P> +"My father has looked tired during the last hour," she said aside. "I +have been warned that excitement may prove dangerous, but hardly care +to remind him of it. Would you, as a favor to me, persuade him to +return home with you?" +</P> + +<P> +There was no doubt of Thurston's devotion, for Helen had eyes to see, +and she sighed a little, but contentedly, when he hurried away. +Nevertheless, she was still perplexed, for she had seen Mrs. Leslie +looking at him pleadingly, and now Mr. Leslie shrank away from him. +Mrs. Leslie was certainly attractive, and yet Helen thought that she +knew Thurston's character. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey found Savine, who appeared to have suddenly collapsed as if +the fire of brilliancy had burned itself out. With more tact than he +usually possessed, Thurston persuaded the older man to take his leave. +</P> + +<P> +As they all stood on the broad wooden steps Helen stretched out her +hand to Thurston. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Geoffrey," she said softly. "Believe me, I am grateful." +</P> + +<P> +Standing bareheaded beside a pillar, Thurston looked after them as they +drove away. It was the first time Helen had called him "Geoffrey," and +he fancied that he had seen even more than kindness in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"And it is her father whom they tempted me to betray! Damn them!" he +growled. "The only honest man among them included me among those who +lean upon Savine! Savine will need a stay himself presently, and one, +at least, will not fail him. Ah, again!—what the devil are you +wanting?" +</P> + +<P> +The last words were spoken clearly, but Leslie, to whom they were +addressed, smiled malevolently. +</P> + +<P> +"It would pay you to be civil," he threatened. "I have no particular +reason to love you, and might prove a troublesome enemy. However, +because my financial interests, which are bound up with my employers', +come first, I warn you that you are foolish to hold on to an associate, +who has strong men against him, a speculator whose best days are over. +I'll give you time to cool down and think over my suggestion." +</P> + +<P> +"You and I can have no dealings," declared Geoffrey. "What's done +cannot be undone—but keep clear of me. As sure as there's a justice, +which will bring you to book, even without my help, we'll crush you, if +you get in Savine's way, or mine." +</P> + +<P> +"I think this is hardly becoming to either of us, and the next time the +Company wants your views it can send another envoy," asserted Leslie. +</P> + +<P> +"In the expressive Western idiom, it would save trouble if you keep on +thinking in just that way," Geoffrey rejoined. +</P> + +<P> +The two men parted, Leslie to go back to where Millicent was holding a +group of men interested by her forced gayety and Geoffrey to walk +slowly out into the moonlight where he could think of Helen and wonder +how confidently he might hope to win her love. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WORK OF AN ENEMY +</H4> + +<P> +It was a bitter morning when a weary man, sprinkled white with powdery +snow, came limping into Thurston's camp, which was then pitched in the +cañon. A pitiless wind swept down from the range side across the +thrashing pines, and filled the deep rift with its shrill moaning which +sounded above the diapason of the shrunken river. A haze of +frost-dried snow infinitesimally fine, which stung the unprotected skin +like the prick of hot needles, whirled before the wind and then +thinned, leaving bare the higher shoulders of the hills, though a rush +of dingy vapor hid the ice-ribbed peaks above. The cañon was a scene +of appalling desolation, but few of the long-booted men who hurried +among the boulders had leisure to contemplate it. The men were working +for Geoffrey Thurston, who did not encourage idleness. +</P> + +<P> +So the stranger came almost unnoticed into the center of the camp where +Thurston saw him, and asked sharply, "Where do you come from, and what +do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a frame-carpenter," answered the new arrival. "Got fired from the +Hastings saw-mill when work slacked down. Couldn't find anybody who +wanted me at Vancouver, so I struck out for the mountains and mines. +Found worse luck up here; spent all my money and wore my clothes out, +but the boss of the Orchard Mill, who took me for a few days, said I +might tell you he recommended me. I'm about played out with getting +here, and I'm mighty hungry." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey looked the man over, and decided there was truth in the latter +part of his story. "Take this spanner and wade across to the reef +yonder," he said. "You can begin by giving aid to those men who are +bolting the beams down." +</P> + +<P> +The stranger glanced dubiously at the rush of icy water, thick with +jagged cakes of frozen snow, then at his dilapidated foot gear, and +hesitated. "I'm not great at swimming. It looks deep," he objected. +</P> + +<P> +"You can walk, I suppose," Geoffrey answered. "If you do, it won't +drown you." +</P> + +<P> +The man prepared to obey. He had reached the edge of the water when +Geoffrey called him. "I see you're willing, and I'll take you for a +few weeks any way," he said. "In the meantime a rest wouldn't do you +much harm, and the cook might find you something to keep you from +starving until supper, if you asked him civilly." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks!" the man answered, with a curious expression in his face. "I +am a bit used up, and I guess I'll see the cook." +</P> + +<P> +Work proceeded until the winter's dusk fell, when a bountiful supper +was served. The stranger, who did full justice to the meal, showed +himself a capable hand when work was resumed under the flaring light of +several huge lamps. That night two of his new comrades sat in the +cook-shed discussing the stranger. One was James Gillow, whom Geoffrey +had first employed at Helen's suggestion, and now replaced the man he +formerly assisted. He was apparently without ambition, and chiefly +remarkable for an antipathy to physical effort. Although he had a good +education, he found that cooking suited him. He sat upon an overturned +bucket discoursing whimsically, while Mattawa Tom, who acted as +Thurston's foreman, peeled potatoes for him. The cook-shanty was warm +and snug, and Gillow made those to whom he granted the right of entry +work for the privilege. +</P> + +<P> +"Strikes me as queer," said the big axeman, with a grin, when the cook +halted to refill his pipe. "Strikes me as queer, it does, that some of +you fellows who know so much kin do so little. Knowledge ain't worth a +cent unless you've got the rustle. Now there's the boss. You talk the +same talk, an' he can't well know more than you seem to do, but look +where he is, while you stop right down at the bottom running a +cook-shanty. Guess you were born tired, English Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"I dare say you're right," answered Gillow. "Other folks in the Old +Country have said the same thing, though they didn't put it so neatly. +The fact is, some men, like Thurston, are born to wear themselves out +trying to manage things, while I was intended for philosophic +contemplation. He's occasionally hard to get on with, but since I came +here, I'm willing to acknowledge that men of his species are useful, +and I have struck harder masters in this great Dominion." +</P> + +<P> +Mattawa Tom laughed hoarsely as he responded: "I should say! You found +him hard the day you ran black lines all over his drawings and nearly +burnt his shanty up, trying to prove he didn't know his business, when +you was brim-full of Red Pine whiskey." +</P> + +<P> +"It was poison," said Gillow, with unruffled good humor. "Several +bottles of genuine whiskey would not confuse me, but I have sworn off +since the day you mention, partly to oblige Thurston, who seemed to +desire it, and because I can't get any decent liquor. But what do you +think of our latest acquisition?" +</P> + +<P> +"He kin work, which is more than you could, before the boss taught +you," was the dry answer. "But there's something odd about him. You +saw the outfit he came in with? Couldn't have swapped it with a Siwash +Indian—well, the man has better clothes than you or I on underneath, +and if he was so blame hard up, what did he offer Jake five dollars for +his old gum boots for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Afraid of wetting his feet. Most sensible person, considering the +weather," remarked Gillow, indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +"'Fraid of wetting his feet! This is just where horse sense beats +knowledge. That fellow is scared of nothing around this camp. Hasn't +it struck you the boss is going to put through a big contract in a way +that's not been tried before, and that there are some folks who would +put up a good many dollars to see him let down nicely?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" Gillow questioned with a show of interest, and the foreman +nodded sagaciously as he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Whoever busts the boss up will have to get both feet on the neck of +Mattawa Tom first, and that's not going to be easy. I'll keep my eyes +right on to that fellow." +</P> + +<P> +Tom went out, and Gillow, awakening at midnight, saw that his blankets +were still empty. The same thing happened several times, and it was +well for Thurston that he had the true leader's gift of inspiring his +followers with loyalty, for one night a week later the foreman, who had +kept his own counsel, shook Gillow out of his slumber. The sleepy man, +who groped for a boot to fling at the disturber of his peace, abandoned +the benevolent intention when he saw his comrade's face under the +hanging lamp. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't ask no fool questions, but get your things on and come with me," +Tom commanded. +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later Gillow, shivering and reluctant, turned out into the +frost. It was a bitter night, and his breath froze upon his mustache. +The snow and froth of the river glimmered spectrally, and when they had +left the camp some distance behind, there was light enough to see a +black figure crawl up a ladder leading to a wire rope stretched tight +in mid-air above the torrent. A trolley hung beneath it by means of +which men and material were hauled across the chasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Get down here!" whispered Tom. "We'll watch him. If we should fall +over any more of these blame rocks he'd see us certain." +</P> + +<P> +Gillow was glad to obey, for, though there was faint moonlight, he had +already cut one knee cruelly. It was bitterly cold beneath the boulder +where he crouched in the snow, and when the black object, which worked +its way along the bending cable, had disappeared in the gloom of +overhanging rocks on the opposite shore, there was nothing to see but +the tossing spray of the river. The stream was still a formidable +torrent, though now that the feeding snows were frozen fast, it was +shrunken far below its summer level. A good many minutes had passed +with painful slowness when Gillow, who regretted that he had left the +snug cook-shed, said: +</P> + +<P> +"This is distinctly monotonous, and it's about time we struck back to +camp. Guess that fellow has tackled too much Red Pine whiskey, and is +just walking round to cool himself." +</P> + +<P> +In answer the foreman grasped the speaker's shoulder, and stretched out +a pointing hand. The moonlight touched one angle of the rock upon the +opposite shore which encroached upon the frothing water, and the dark +figure showed sharply against it. The figure vanished, reappeared, and +sank from sight again. When this had happened several times Gillow +remarked: "Perhaps we had better go over. The man's clean gone mad." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir!" objected Mattawa Tom. "No more mad than you. See what he's +after? No! You don't remember, either, how mighty hard it was to +wedge in the holdfasts for the chain guys stiffening the front of the +dam, or how the keys work loose? There wouldn't be much of the boring +machines or dam framing left if the chains pulled those wedges out. +Catch on to the idee?" +</P> + +<P> +Gillow gasped. The huge timber framing, which held back the river so +that the costly boring machines could work upon the reef, cumbering +part of its bed, had been built only with the greatest difficulty, and +when finished Thurston had found it necessary to strengthen it by heavy +chains made fast in the rock above. The sockets to which these were +secured had been wedged into deep-sunk holes, but more than once some +of the hard wood keys had worked loose, and Gillow could guess what +would happen if many were partially set free at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +"If he hammered three or four of those wedges clear it would only need +a bang on another one to give the river its way," Gillow said +excitedly. "Then it would take Thurston six months to fix up the +damage, if he ever did, and nobody would know how it happened. The +cold-blooded brute's in the maintenance gang?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just so. A blame smart man, too!" asserted Mattawa Tom. "I guess the +boss wouldn't want everybody to know. Rustle back your hardest and +bring him along." +</P> + +<P> +Fifteen minutes later Thurston took his place behind the boulder, and, +because the light was clearer now, he could dimly see the man swinging +a heavy hammer, against the rock. He knew that the miscreant, whose +business was to prevent the possibility of such accidents, need only +start a few more keys, which he would probably do when the dam was +clear of men, and many thousand dollars' worth of property and the +result of months of labor would be swallowed by the river. His face +paled with fierce anger when he recognized this fact. +</P> + +<P> +"I want that man," he declared with shut teeth. "I want him so badly +that I'd forfeit five hundred dollars sooner than miss him. Slip +forward, Gillow, as much out of sight as you can, and hide yourself on +the other side of the ladder. Mattawa and I will wait for him here, +and among us three we ought to make sure of him." +</P> + +<P> +Gillow, who stole forward stooping, swore softly as he fell over many +obstacles on the way. The man they wanted became visible, ascending +another ladder across the river. Then, hanging in the suspended +trolley, he moved, a black shape clear against the snow—along the wire +which stretched high across the gulf. While the others watched him, +his progress grew slower on reaching the hollow, where the cable bent +slightly under the weight at its center. Suddenly the car's progress +was checked altogether, and it began to move in the opposite direction +more rapidly than before, while Thurston sprang to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Slack the setting up tackles, Gillow. Hurry for your life," he +shouted. "He'll cast the cable loose and be off by the Indian trail +into the ranges, if he once gets across." +</P> + +<P> +Gillow ran his best, where running of any kind was barely possible even +by daylight. He knew that his master was slow to forgive those whose +carelessness thwarted any plan, and that, while taking the easier way +over instead of crawling round a ledge, he had probably alarmed the +fugitive. He reached the foot of the ladder. Climbing up in a +desperate hurry, he cast loose the end of the tackle by means of which +the cable was set up taut, but neglected in his haste to take a turn +with the hemp rope about a post, which would have eased him of most of +the strain. +</P> + +<P> +"Got him safe!" cried Tom from Mattawa, scrambling to the top of the +boulder, as the curve of the wire rope high above their heads +increased. In spite of the fugitive's efforts, the trolley from which +he was suspended ran back to the slackest part of the loop that sagged +down nearer the river. Thurston, who watched him, nodded with a sense +of savage satisfaction. He did not for a moment believe that, of his +own initiative, any workman would have made a long journey or would +have run considerable personal risk to do him an injury. That was why +he was so anxious to secure the offender. +</P> + +<P> +The curve grew rapidly deeper, until the rope stretched into two +diagonals between its fastenings on either shore. Then the trolley +descended with a run towards the river, and Geoffrey ran forward, +shouting, "The weight's too much for Gillow. Bring along the coil of +line from the tool locker, Tom. Hurry, I don't want to drown the +rascal." +</P> + +<P> +What had happened was simple. The cook, endeavoring to take a turn of +the line too late, had failed, and the hemp ran through his half-frozen +fingers, chafing the skin from them. Seeing Thurston floundering in +his direction over the boulders, he valiantly strove to check it, +regardless of the pain until it was whipped clear of his slackening +grasp and the trolley rushed downwards towards the torrent. Thurston +was abreast of it before it splashed in, and had just time to see its +occupant, still clutching the rope, drawn under by the sinking wire, +before he plunged recklessly into the foam. +</P> + +<P> +The water was horribly cold, and the first shock left him gasping and +almost paralyzed. The stream was running fast, and rebounding in white +foam from great stones and uneven ledges below. But the distance was +short, and Thurston was a strong swimmer, so almost before the man had +risen, he was within a few yards of the struggling figure. Hardly had +Geoffrey clutched the man before Mattawa Tom, who had, meantime, run +down stream, whirling a coil of line, loosed it, and the folds, well +directed, shot through the air towards Geoffrey, uncoiling as they +came. By good fortune Thurston was able to seize the end and to pass +it around them both, when—for Gillow had by this time joined his +companion—the two men blundered backwards up the contracted beach, and +Thurston and the fugitive were drawn shorewards together, until their +feet struck bottom. +</P> + +<P> +Breathless and dripping, they staggered out, and, because Geoffrey +still clutched the stranger's jacket, the man said: +</P> + +<P> +"Mightily obliged to you! But you can let up now there's no more +swimming. I couldn't run very far, if it was worth while trying to." +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't trouble to thank me," was the answer. "It wasn't because +I thought the world would miss you that I went into the water; but I +can't expect much sense from a half-drowned man. Do you think the rest +of the boys have heard us, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +The foreman glanced towards the tents clustered in the mouth of a +ravine above, and seeing no sign of life there, shook his head, +whereupon Geoffrey directed: +</P> + +<P> +"Take him quietly to the cook-shed, and give him some whiskey. I've no +doubt that in spite of my orders you have some. Lend him dry clothes, +and bring him along to my shanty as soon as he's ready. Meantime, +rouse the maintenance foreman, and, if any wedges have worked loose, +let him drive them home." +</P> + +<P> +"You're a nice man," commented Mattawa Tom, surveying the stranger +disgustedly as the man stood with the water draining from him in the +cook-shed. "Here, get into these things and keep them as a present. I +wouldn't like the feel of them after they'd been on to you." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right!" was the cool answer. "I expect the game's up, and +I'm quite ready to buy them of you. By the way, partner, you helped +your boss to pull me out, didn't you? As I said before, I'm not great +on swimming." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm almost sorry I had to," said Mattawa Tom, who was a loyal +partisan. "But don't call me 'partner,' or there'll be trouble." +</P> + +<P> +The stranger laughed, as, after a glass of hot liquor, he arrayed +himself beside the banked-up stove, and presently marched under escort +towards Thurston's wood and bark winter dwelling. Mattawa Tom followed +close behind him with a big ax on his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"I might be a panther you'd corralled. How do you know I haven't a +pistol in my pocket, if it was any use turning ugly?" the prisoner +inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm quite certain about you, because your pistol is in my pocket," was +the dry answer, and Tom chuckled. "You weren't quite smart enough when +you slipped off your jacket." +</P> + +<P> +From the door of his shanty, Thurston called them, and Mattawa, +thrusting his prisoner in, proceeded to mount guard close outside until +Thurston reappeared to ask angrily: +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing there?" +</P> + +<P> +"I figured you might want me, sir. That man's not to be trusted," +answered Tom, and Thurston laughed as he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Go back, see that the maintenance man has made a good job of the +wedges, and if any of the boys should ask questions you'll tell +them—nothing," Geoffrey commanded. "You don't suppose I've suddenly +grown helpless, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +Mattawa Tom withdrew with much reluctance, and it was long before any +person knew exactly what Geoffrey and the stranger said to each other, +though Gillow informed his comrade that the captured man said to him, +by way of explanation before sleeping: +</P> + +<P> +"Your boss is considerably too smart a man for me to bluff, and I've +kind of decided to help him. Shouldn't wonder if he didn't beat my +last one, who would have seen me roasted before he'd have gone into a +river for me. I'm not fond of being left out in the rain with the +losing side, either, see? It's not my tip to talk too much, and I +guess that's about good enough for you." +</P> + +<P> +"You're going to help him!" commented Gillow, ironically. "All things +considered, that's very kind of you." +</P> + +<P> +Next morning Thurston, who summoned the cook and foreman before him, +said: "I want you two to keep what happened last night a close secret, +and while I cannot tell you much, I may say that the man who will +remain in camp was, as you have no doubt guessed, only the cat's paw of +several speculators, whom it wouldn't suit to see our employer, Savine, +successful." +</P> + +<P> +"But mightn't he try the same game again?" asked Mattawa, and Thurston +answered: +</P> + +<P> +"He might, but I hardly think he will. I intend to keep him here under +my own eyes until I want him. There's no particular reason why you +shouldn't see that he earns his wages, Tom. Gillow, it's perhaps not +wholly unfortunate you dropped him into the river." +</P> + +<P> +"Kind of trump ace up your sleeve!" suggested Mattawa, and his master +answered with a smile: +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly. The other side is quite smart enough to know who holds +the aces; but I fancy the complete disappearance of this few-spot card +will puzzle them. Now, forget all about it. I wouldn't have said so +much, but that I know I can trust you two!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A GREAT UNDERTAKING +</H4> + +<P> +Except for the wail of a wet breeze from the Pacific and the moaning of +the pines outside, there was unusual quietness in the wood-built villa +looking down upon the valley of the Hundred Springs on the night that +the American specialist came up to consult with Savine's doctor from +Vancouver. The master of High Maples had been brought home +unconscious, some days earlier, and had lain for hours apparently on +the point of death. During this time it was Thurston who took control +of the panic-stricken household. It was he who telegraphed Thomas +Savine to bring his wife. He had sent for the famous American +physician and had allayed Helen's fears. When the girl's aunt arrived +he had prevented that lady from undertaking the cure of the patient by +her own prescription. Geoffrey's temper was never very patient, but he +held it well in hand for Helen's sake. +</P> + +<P> +On the night in question, Geoffrey anxiously awaited the physician's +verdict. He was in the library with Thomas Savine, and had made +spasmodic attempts to divert the attention of the kindly, gray-haired +gentleman from the illness of his brother. At last, when the tension +grew almost unbearable, Thomas Savine said: +</P> + +<P> +"They cannot be much longer, and we'll hear their verdict soon. I'm +trying to hope for the best, Thurston, knowing it can't be good all the +time. This has been a blow to me. You see we were a one-man family, +and it was Julius who started off all the rest of us. He must have +been mighty sick of us several times after he married, but he never +showed a sign of impatience. What a man he was—tireless, +indefatigable, nothing too big for him—until his wife died. Then all +the grit seemed to melt right out of him, and during the last few years +I knew, what mighty few people besides yourself know now, that Julius +was just a shadow of what he had been. He held all the wires in his +own hands too long, and, as he hadn't an understudy with the grit to +act by himself, I was glad when he took hold of you." +</P> + +<P> +"He has always been a generous and considerate employer," interposed +Geoffrey. "But I had better leave you. I hear the doctors coming." +</P> + +<P> +Savine laid a detaining grasp upon his arm with the words: "I want you +right here. It's your concern as well as mine." +</P> + +<P> +The two doctors entered, and the one from Vancouver said: +</P> + +<P> +"I will let my colleague express his opinion, and may say that our +patient admitted to him a complicating weakness which I had suspected. +I wish we had better news to give you, but while it was your brother's +wish that Mr. Thurston should know, I should almost prefer first to +communicate with his own family." +</P> + +<P> +"You can both speak right out; only be quick about it," Thomas Savine +told him. +</P> + +<P> +"It is tolerably simple, and while I sympathize with you, I must not +disguise the truth," said the keen-eyed, lean-faced American. "Though +Mr. Savine will partly recover from this attack, his career as an +active man is closed. His heart may hold out a few years longer, if +you follow my instructions, or it may at any time fail him—if he +worries over anything, it certainly will. In any case, he will never +be strong again. Mental powers and physical vigor have been reduced to +the lowest level by over-work and excessive, if intermittent, +indulgence in what I may call a very devilish drug—a particular +Chinese preparation of opium, not generally known even on this +opium-consuming coast. Under its influence he may still be capable of +spasmodic fits of energy, but while each dose will assist towards his +dissolution, I dare not—at this stage—recommend complete deprivation. +I have arranged with your own adviser as to the best treatment known to +modern science, but fear it cannot prove very efficacious. That's +about all I can tell you in general terms, gentlemen." +</P> + +<P> +"It is worse than I feared," said Thomas Savine, leaning forward in his +chair, with his elbows on the table, and his chin in his hands. Before +the two doctors withdrew, the Canadian said: +</P> + +<P> +"He is anxious to see Mr. Thurston, and in an hour or so it could do no +harm. I will rejoin you shortly, Mr. Savine." +</P> + +<P> +The door closed behind them, and Thomas Savine looked straight at +Thurston as he observed: "I know little about his business, but shall +have to look into it for his daughter's sake. You will help me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Geoffrey. "It seems out of place now, but I cannot +honestly co-operate with you without mentioning a conditional promise +your brother made to me. Perhaps you can guess it." +</P> + +<P> +"I can," said Savine, stretching out his hand. "I won't say that I +hadn't thought Helen might have chosen among the highest in the +Dominion just because it wouldn't be true, but you'll have my good +wishes if you will see my poor brother through his immediate +difficulties at least. You had Mrs. Savine's approval long ago." +After a pause, he added, "There is one part of Julius's trouble Helen +must never know." +</P> + +<P> +The two men's fingers met in a grip that was more eloquent than many +protestations, and Geoffrey went out into the moaning wind and, +bareheaded, paced to and fro until he was summoned to the sick man's +room. The few days that had passed since he had seen his employer had +set their mark upon Savine. The sick man lay in his plainly-furnished +room. With bloodless lips, drawn face, and curiously-glazed eyes, he +was strangely different from his usual self, but he looked up with an +attempt at his characteristic smile as Geoffrey approached. At a +signal, the nurse slipped away. +</P> + +<P> +"I asked them to tell you, so you might know the kind of man I am," +said Savine. "You have got to exercise that partnership option one way +or another right now. It is not too late to back out, and I wouldn't +blame you." +</P> + +<P> +"I should blame myself to my last day if I did, sir," answered +Geoffrey, trying to hide the shock he felt, and Savine beckoned him +nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a big thing you are going into, but you'll do it with both eyes +wide open," he declared. "For the past few years Julius Savine has +been a shadow, and an empty name, and his affairs are mixed +considerably. Reckless contracts taken with a muddled brain and +speculation to make up the losses, have, between them, resulted in +chaos. I'm too sick to value what I own, and no accountant can. I ran +things myself too long, and no one was fit to take hold when I +slackened my grip. But there's still the business, and there's still +the name, and the one man in this province I can trust them to is you. +I should have let go before, but I was greedy—greedy for my daughter's +sake." +</P> + +<P> +"It is comprehensible." Geoffrey spoke with conviction. "So far as I +can serve you, you can command me." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it," was the answer. "What's more, I feel it in me that you +will not lose by it. Lord, how hard it is, but there's no use whining +when brought up sharp by one's own folly. But see here, Geoffrey +Thurston, if Helen will take you willingly I can trust her to you; but +if, when I go under, she looks beyond you, and you attempt to trade +upon her gratitude or her aunt's favor, my curse will follow you. +Besides, if I know Helen Savine, she will be able to repay you full +measure should you win her so." +</P> + +<P> +For just a moment the old flame of quick anger burned in Geoffrey's +eyes. Then he responded. +</P> + +<P> +"I regret you even imagine I could take an dishonorable advantage of +your daughter. God forbid that I should ever bring sorrow upon Miss +Savine. All I ask is a fair field and the right to help her according +to her need." +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me!" returned Savine. "Of late I have grown scared about her +future. I believe you, Thurston; I can't say more. I felt the more +sure of you when you told me straight out about what was born in you. +Lord, how I envied you! The man who can stand those devils off can do +most anything. It was when my wife died they got their claws on me. I +was trying to forget my troubles by doing three men's work, but you +can't fool with nature, and I'd done it too long already. Anyway, when +I couldn't eat or sleep, they had their opportunity. At first they +made my brain work quicker, but soon after I fell in with you I knew +that, unless he had a good man beside him, Savine's game was over. But +I wouldn't be beaten. I was holding on for Helen's sake to leave her a +fortune and a name. +</P> + +<P> +"All this is getting monotonous to you but let me finish when I can." +Savine waited a moment to regain his breath. "I cheated the nurse and +doctor to-day, and I'll be very like a dead man to-morrow. You must go +down to my offices and overhaul everything; then come right back and +we'll see if we can make a deal. I'll have my proposition fixed up +straight and square, but this is the gist of it. While doing your best +for your own advantage, hold Julius Savine's name clean before the +world, win the most possible for Helen out of the wreck, and rush +through the reclamation scheme—which is the key to all." +</P> + +<P> +"As you said—it's a big undertaking, but I'll do my best," began +Geoffrey, but Savine checked him. +</P> + +<P> +"Go down and see what you make of things. Maybe the sight of them will +choke you off. I'll take no other answer. Send Tom to me," he +commanded. +</P> + +<P> +It was the next day when Geoffrey had an interview with Helen, who sent +for him. She was standing beside a window when he came in. She looked +tall in a long somber-tinted dress which emphasized the whiteness of +her full round throat and the pallor of her face. The faint, olive +coloring of her skin had faded; there were shadows about her eyes. At +the first glance Geoffrey's heart went out towards her. It was evident +the verdict of the physicians had been a heavy shock, but he fancied +that she was ready to meet the inevitable with undiminished courage. +Still, her fingers were cold when, for a moment, they touched his own. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, Geoffrey. I have a great deal to say to you, and don't know +how to begin," she said. "But first I am sincerely grateful for all +you have done." +</P> + +<P> +"We will not mention that. Neither, I hope, need I say that Miss +Savine of all people could never be indebted to me. You must know it +already." +</P> + +<P> +Helen thanked him with her eyes as she sank into the chair he wheeled +out so that the light left her face in shadow. Geoffrey stood near the +window framing and he did not look directly towards her. Helen +appreciated the consideration which prompted the action and the respect +implied by his attitude. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to ask a great deal of you, and remind you of a promise you +once made." There was a little tremor in her voice. "You will not +think it ungracious if I say there is no one else who can do what seems +so necessary, and ask you if you do not consider that you owe something +to my father. It is hard for me, not because I doubt you, but +because——" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey checked her with a half-raised hand. "Please don't, Miss +Savine—I can understand. You find it difficult to receive, when, as +yet, you have, you think, but little to give. Would that make any +difference? The little—just to know that I had helped you—would be +so much to me." +</P> + +<P> +Again Helen was grateful. The look of anxiety and distress returned as +she went on. +</P> + +<P> +"I dare spare no effort for my father's sake. He has always been +kindness itself to me, and it is only now that I know how much I love +him. Hitherto I have taken life too easily, forgetting that sorrow and +tragedy could overtake me. I have heard the physician's verdict, and +know my father cannot be spared very long to me. I also know how his +mind is set upon the completion of his last great scheme. That is why, +and because of your promise, I have dared ask help of—you." +</P> + +<P> +"Will it make it easier if I say that, quite apart from his daughter's +wishes, I am bound in honor to protect the interests of Julius Savine +so far as I can?" interposed Geoffrey. "Your father found me much as +you did, a struggling adventurer, and with unusual kindness helped me +on the way to prosperity. All I have I owe to him, and perhaps, the +more so because we have cunning enemies, my own mind is bent on the +completion of the scheme. I believe that we shall triumph, Miss +Savine, and I use the word advisedly, still expecting much from your +father's skill." +</P> + +<P> +Helen gravely shook her head. "I recognize your kind intentions, but +you must expect nothing. It is a hard thing for me to say, but the +truth is always best, and again it is no small favor I ask from +you,—to do the work for the credit of another's name—taking his task +upon your shoulders, to make a broken man's last days easier. I want +you to sign the new partnership agreement, and am glad you recognize +that my father was a good friend to you." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's courage nearly deserted her, for Helen was young still, and +had been severely tried. While Geoffrey, who felt that he would give +his life for the right to comfort her, could only discreetly turn his +face away. +</P> + +<P> +"I will do it all, Miss Savine," he said gravely. "I had already +determined on as much, but you must try to believe that the future is +not so hopeless as it looks. You will consider that I have given you a +solemn pledge." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I can only say God speed you, for my thanks would be inadequate," +Helen's voice trembled as she spoke. "But I must also ask your +forgiveness for my presumption in judging you that day. I now know how +far I was mistaken." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey knew to what she referred. The day had been a memorable one +for him, and, with pulses throbbing, he moved forward a pace, his eyes +fixed upon the speaker's face. For a moment, forgetting everything, +his resolutions were flung to the winds, and he trembled with passion +and hope. Then he remembered his promise to the sick man, and Helen's +own warning, and recovered a partial mastery of himself. It was a mere +sense of justice which prompted the girl's words, his reason warned +him, but he felt, instinctively, that they implied more than this, +though he did not know how much. He stood irresolute until Helen +looked up, and, if it had ever existed, the time for speech was past. +</P> + +<P> +"I fear I have kept you too long, but there is still a question I must +ask. You have seen my father in many of his moods, and there is +something in the state of limp apathy he occasionally falls into which +puzzles me. I cannot help thinking there is another danger of which I +do not know. Can you not enlighten me?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen leaned forward, a strange fear stamped upon her face. Fresh from +the previous struggle, Geoffrey, whose heart yearned to comfort her, +felt his powers of resistance strained to the utmost. Still, it was a +question that he could not answer. Remembering Savine's injunction—to +hold her father's name clean—he said quickly: "There is nothing I can +tell you. You must remember only that the physician admitted a +cheering possibility." +</P> + +<P> +"I will try to believe in it." The trouble deepened in Helen's face, +while her voice expressed bitter disappointment. "You have been very +kind and I must not tax you too heavily." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey turned away, distressed, for her and inwardly anathematized +his evil fortune in being asked that particular question. He had, he +felt, faltered when almost within sight of victory, neglecting to press +home an advantage which might have won success. "It is, perhaps, the +first time I have willfully thrown away my chances—the man who wins is +the one who sees nothing but the prize," he told himself. "But I could +not have taken advantage of her anxiety for her father and gratitude to +me, while, if I had, and won, there would be always between us the +knowledge that I had not played the game fairly." +</P> + +<P> +Thomas Savine came into the room. "I was looking for you, and want to +know when you'll go down to Vancouver with me to puzzle through +everything before finally deciding just what you're going to do," he +said. They talked a few moments. After the older man left him, +Geoffrey found himself confronted by Mrs. Savine. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been worried about you," she asserted. "You're carrying too +heavy a load, and it's wearing you thin. You look a very sick man +to-day, and ought to remember that the main way to preserve one's +health is to take life easily." +</P> + +<P> +"I have no doubt of it, madam," Thurston fidgeted, fearing what might +follow; "but, unfortunately, one cannot always do so." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine held out a little phial as she explained: "A simple +restorative is the next best thing, and you will find yourself braced +in mind and body by a few doses of this. It is what I desired to fix +up my poor brother-in-law with when you prevented me." +</P> + +<P> +"Then the least I can do is to take it myself," said Geoffrey, smiling +to hide his uneasiness. "I presume you do not wish me to swallow it +immediately?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine beamed upon him. "You might hold out an hour or two +longer, but delays are dangerous," she warned him. "Kindness! Well, +there's a tolerable reason why we should be good to you, and, for I +guess you're not a clever man all round, Geoffrey Thurston, you have +piled up a considerable obligation in your favor in one direction." +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask you to speak more plainly, Mrs. Savine?" Geoffrey requested +and she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"You may, but I can't do it. Still, what you did, because you thought +it the fair thing, won't be lost to you. Now, don't ask any more fool +questions, but go right away, take ten drops of the elixir, and don't +worry. It will all come right some day." +</P> + +<P> +The speaker's meaning was discernible, and Geoffrey, having a higher +opinion than many people of Mrs. Savine's sagacity, went out into the +sunlight, satisfied. He held up the phial and was about to hurl it +among the firs, but, either grateful for the donor's words, or softened +by what he had heard and seen, he actually drank a little of it +instead. Then came a revulsion from the strain of the last few days, +and he burst into a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"It would have been mean, and I dare say I haven't absorbed sufficient +of the stuff to quite poison me," he said. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MILLICENT TURNS TRAITRESS +</H4> + +<P> +It was with a heavy sense of responsibility that Geoffrey returned from +a visit to Savine's offices in Vancouver, and yet there was +satisfaction mingled with his anxiety. Thomas Savine, who knew little +of engineering, was no fool at finance, and the week they spent +together made the situation comparatively plain. It was fraught with +peril and would have daunted many a man, but the very uncertainty and +prospect of a struggle which would tax every energy appealed to +Thurston. He felt also that here was an opportunity of proving his +devotion to Helen in the way he could do it best. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm uncommonly thankful we didn't send for an accountant; the fewer +folks who handle those books the better," declared Thomas Savine. "I +was prepared for a surprise, Thurston, but never expected this. I +suppose things can be straightened out, but when I'd fixed up that +balance, it just took my breath away. More than half the assets are +unmarketable stock and ventures no man could value, while whether they +will ever realize anything goodness only knows. It's mighty certain +Julius doesn't know himself what he has been doing the last two years. +I can let my partners run our business down in Oregon and stay right +here for a time, counting on you to do the outside work, if what you +have seen hasn't clicked you off. You haven't signed the agreement +yet. How does the whole thing strike you?" +</P> + +<P> +"As chaos that can and must be reduced to order," answered Geoffrey +with a reckless laugh. "I intend to sign the agreement, and, +foreseeing that you may have trouble about the money which I propose to +spend freely, I am adding all my private savings to the working +capital. It is, therefore, neck or nothing with me now, as I fear it +is with the rest of you, and, in my opinion, we should let everything +but the reclamation scheme go. It will either ruin us or pay us +five-fold if we can put it through." +</P> + +<P> +"Just so!" and Savine nodded. "I leave that end to you, but I've got +to explain things to Helen, and I don't like the thought of it. My +niece has talents. As her future lies at stake, she has a right to +know, but it will be another shock to her. Poor Julius brought her up +in luxury, and I expect has been far too mixed of late to know that he +was tottering towards the verge of bankruptcy. A smart outside +accountant would have soon scented trouble, but I don't quite blame my +brother's cashier, who is a clerk and nothing more, for taking +everything at its book value." +</P> + +<P> +That afternoon Helen sat with the two men in the library at High +Maples. A roll of papers was on the table before her. When Thomas +Savine had made the condition of things as plain as possible, she +leaned back in her chair with crossed hands for a time. +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you for telling me so much, and I can grasp the main issues," +she said at length. "If my opinion is of value I would say I agree +with you that the bold course is best. But you will need much money, +and as it is evident money will not be plentiful, so I must do my part +in helping you. Because this establishment and our mode of life here +is expensive, while it will please my father to be near the scene of +operations, we will let High Maples and retire to a mountain ranch. I +fear we have maintained a style circumstances hardly justified too +long." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a sensible plan all through. I must tell you Mr. Thurston +has——" began Savine, and ceased abruptly, when Geoffrey, who frowned +at him, broke in: +</P> + +<P> +"We have troubled Miss Savine with sufficient details, and I fancy the +arrangement suggested would help to keep her father tranquil, +especially as our progress will be slow. Spring is near, and, in spite +of our efforts, we shall not be able to deepen the pass in the cañon +before the waters rise. That means we can do nothing there until next +winter, and must continue the dyking all summer. It is very brave of +you, Miss Savine." +</P> + +<P> +Helen smiled upon him as she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"The compliment is doubtful. Did you suppose I could do nothing? But +we must march out with banners flying, or, more prosaically, paragraphs +in the papers, stating that Julius Savine will settle near the scene of +his most important operations. While you are here you should show +yourself in public as much as possible, Mr. Thurston. Whenever I can +help you, you must tell me, and I shall demand a strict account of your +stewardship from both of you." +</P> + +<P> +The two men went away satisfied. Savine said: +</P> + +<P> +"I guess some folks are mighty stupid when they consider that only the +ugly women are clever. There's my niece—well, nobody could call her +plain, and you can see how she's taking hold instead of weakening. +Some women never show the grit that's in them until they're fighting +for their children; but you can look out for trouble, Thurston, if you +fool away any chances, while Helen Savine's behind you fighting for her +father." +</P> + +<P> +A few days later Henry Leslie, confidential secretary to the Industrial +Enterprise Company, sat, with a frown upon his puffy face, in his +handsome office. He wore a silk-bound frock coat, a garment not then +common in Vancouver, and a floral spray from Mexico in his button-hole; +but he was evidently far from happy, and glanced with ill-concealed +dismay at the irate specimen of muscular manhood standing before him. +The man, who was a sturdy British agriculturalist, had forced his way +in, defying the clerks specially instructed to intercept him. Leslie +had first set up in business as a land agent, a calling which affords a +promising field for talents of his particular description, and having +taken the new arrival's money, had, by a little manipulation of the +survey lines, transferred to him mostly barren rock and giant trees +instead of land for hop culture. It was a game which had been often +played before, but the particular rancher was a determined man and had +announced his firm intention of obtaining his money back or wreaking +summary vengeance on his betrayer. +</P> + +<P> +"Danged if thee hadn't more hiding holes than a rotten, but I've hunted +thee from one to one, and now I've found thee I want my brass," shouted +the brawny, loud-voiced Briton. Leslie answered truthfully: +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you I haven't got it, even if you had any claim on me, and it's +not my fault you're disappointed, if you foolishly bought land before +you could understand a Canadian survey plan." +</P> + +<P> +"Then thou'lt better get it," was the uncompromising answer. +"Understand a plan! I've stuck to the marked one I got from thee, and +there's lawyers in this country as can. It was good soil and maples I +went up to see, and how the —— can anybody raise crops off the big +stones thou sold me? I'm going to have my rights, and, meantime, I'm +trapesing round all the bars in this city talking about thee. There's +a good many already as believe me." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you had better look out. Confound you!" threatened Leslie, +taking a bold course in desperation. "There's a law which can stop +that game in this country, and I'll set it in motion. Anyway, I can't +have you making this noise in my private office. Go away before I call +my clerks to throw you out." +</P> + +<P> +The effort at intimidation was a distinct failure, for the aggrieved +agriculturalist, who was not quite sober, laughed uproariously as he +seized a heavy ruler. "That's a good yan," he roared. "Thou darsen't +for thy life go near a court with me, and the first clerk who tries to +put me out, danged if I don't pound half the life out of him and thee. +I'm stayin' here comf'able until I get my money." +</P> + +<P> +He pulled out a filthy pipe, and filled it with what, when he struck a +match, turned out to be particularly vile tobacco, and Leslie, who +fumed in his chair, said presently: +</P> + +<P> +"You are only wasting your time and mine—and for heaven's sake take a +cigar and fling that pipe away. I haven't got the money by me, and +it's the former owner's business, not mine, but if you'll call round, +say the day after to-morrow, I'll see what we can do." +</P> + +<P> +He named the day, knowing that he would be absent then, and the +stranger, heaving his heavy limbs out of an easy chair, helped himself +to a handful of choice cigars before he prepared to depart, saying +dubiously: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be back on Wednesday bright and early, bringing several friends +as will see fair play with me. One of them will be a lawyer, and if +he's no good either, look out, mister, for I'll find another way of +settling thee!" +</P> + +<P> +There are in Canada, as well as other British Colonies, capitalists, +dealing in lands and financing mines, whose efforts make for the +progress of civilization and the good of the community. There are also +others, described by their victims as a curse to any country. +Representatives of both descriptions were interested in the Industrial +Enterprise. Therefore, the unfortunate secretary groaned when one of +the latter class, who passed his visitor in the doorway, came in +smiling in a curious manner. Leslie, who hoped he had not heard much, +was rudely undeceived. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm hardly surprised at certain words I heard in the corridor," he +commenced. "Your English friend was telling an interesting tale about +you to all the loungers in the Rideau bar to-day. They seemed to +believe him—he told it very creditably. When are you going to stop +it, Leslie?" +</P> + +<P> +"When I can pay him the equivalent of five hundred sterling in +blackmail. I am afraid it will be a long time," answered the +secretary, ruefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I would advise you to beg, borrow or steal the money. A man of +your abilities and practical experience oughtn't to find much +difficulty in this part of the world," said the newcomer. "The tale +may have been a fabrication, but it sounded true, and while I don't set +up as a reformer I am a director of this Company, and can't have those +rumors set going about its secretary. No, I don't want to hear your +side of the case—it's probably highly creditable to you—but I know +all about the kind of business you were running, and a good many other +folks in this province do, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Who, in the name of perdition, would lend me the money? And it takes +every cent I've got to live up to my post. You don't pay too +liberally," sneered the unfortunate man, stung into brief fury by the +reference to his character. +</P> + +<P> +"I will," was the answer. "That is to say, I'll fix things up with the +plain-spoken Britisher, and take your acknowledgment in return for his +written statement that he has no claim on you. I know how to handle +that breed of cattle, and mayn't press you for the money until you can +pay it comfortably." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing it for?" asked Leslie, dubiously. +</P> + +<P> +"For several reasons; I don't mind mentioning a few. I want more say +in the running of this Company, and I could get at useful facts my +colleagues didn't know through its secretary. I could also give him +instructions without the authority of a board meeting, see? And I +fancy I could put a spoke in Savine's wheel best by doing it quietly my +own way. One live man can often get through more than a squabbling +dozen, and the money is really nothing much to me." +</P> + +<P> +"I had better sue the Englishman for defamation, and prove my +innocence, even if the legal expenses ruin me," said Leslie, and the +other, who laughed aloud, checked him. +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw! It is really useless trying that tone with me, especially as I +have heard about another dispute of the kind you once had at +Westminster. You're between the devil and the deep sea, but if you +don't start kicking you'll get no hurt from me. Call it a deal—and, +to change the subject, where's the man you sent up to worry Thurston?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Leslie. "I gave him a round sum, part of it out +of my own pocket, for I couldn't in the meantime think of a suitable +entry—all the directors don't agree with you. I know he started, but +he has never come back again." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you have got to find him," was the dry answer. "We'll have +law-suits and land commissions before we're through, and if Thurston +has corralled or bought that man over, and plays him at the right +moment, it would certainly cost you your salary." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't find him; I've tried," asserted Leslie. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you had better try again and keep right on trying. Get at +Thurston through his friends if you can't do it any other way. Your +wife is already a figure in local society." +</P> + +<P> +That night Leslie leaned against the mantelpiece in his quarters +talking to his wife. They had just returned from some entertainment +and Millicent, in beautiful evening dress, lay in a lounge chair +watching him keenly. +</P> + +<P> +"You would not like to be poor again, Millicent?" he said, fixing his +glance, not upon her face but on her jeweled hands, and the woman +smiled somewhat bitterly as she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Poor again! That would seem to infer that we are prosperous now. Do +you know how much I owe half the stores in this city, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to!" said Leslie, with a gesture of impatience. "Your +tastes were always extravagant, and I mean the kind of poverty which is +always refused credit." +</P> + +<P> +"My tastes!" and Millicent's tone was indignant. "I suppose I am fond +of money, or the things that it can buy, and you may remember you once +promised me plenty. But why can't you be honest and own that the +display we make is part of your programme? I have grown tired of this +scheming and endeavoring to thrust ourselves upon people who don't want +us, and if you will be content to stay at home and progress slowly, +Harry, I will gladly do my share to help you." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent Leslie was ambitious, but the woman who endeavors to assist +an impecunious husband's schemes by becoming a social influence usually +suffers, even if successful, in the process, and Millicent had not been +particularly successful. She was also subject to morbid fits of +reflection, accompanied by the framing of good resolutions, which, for +the moment at least, she meant to keep. It is possible that night +might have marked a turning-point in her career had her husband +listened to her, but before she could continue, his thin lips curled as +he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it a little too late for either of us to practice the somewhat +monotonous domestic virtues? You need not be afraid of hurting my +feelings, Millicent, by veiling your meaning. But, in the first place, +at the time you transferred your affections to me I had the money, and, +in the second, I must either carry out what you call my programme or go +down with a crash shortly. If luck favors me the prize I am striving +for is, however, worth winning, but things are going most confoundedly +badly just now. In fact, I shall be driven into a corner unless you +can help me." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Leslie possessed no exalted code of honor, but, in her present +frame of mind, her husband's words excited fear and suspicion, and she +asked sharply, "What is it you want me to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will try to explain. You know something of my business. I sent up +a clever rascal to—well, to pass as a workman seeking employment, and +so enable us to forestall some of Savine's mechanical improvements. He +took the money I gave him and started, but we have never seen him +since, and it is particularly desirable that I should know whether he +tried and failed or what has become of him. If the man made his exact +commission known it would cost me my place. The very people who would +applaud me if successful would be the first to make a scapegoat of me +otherwise." +</P> + +<P> +"Your explanation is not quite lucid, but how could I get at the truth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ingratiate yourself with Miss Savine, or get that crack-brained aunt +of hers to cure your neuralgia. There are also two young premium +pupils, sons of leading Montreal citizens, in Mr. Savine's service, who +dance attendance upon the fair Helen continually. It shouldn't be +difficult to flatter them a little and set them talking." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think women are utterly foolish, or that they converse about +dams and earthworks?" asked Millicent, trying to check her rising +indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I know a good many of you have the devil's own cunning, and +there can be but few much keener than you. Women in this country know +a great deal more about their lawful protectors' affairs than they +generally do at home, and Miss Savine is sufficiently proud not to care +whose wife you were if she took a fancy to you." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be utterly useless!" Leslie looked his wife over with coolly +critical approval, noting how the soft lamplight sparkled in the pale +gold clusters of her hair, the beauty that still hung to her somewhat +careworn face, and how the costly dress enhanced the symmetry of a +finely-moulded frame. +</P> + +<P> +"Then why can't you confine your efforts to the men? You are pretty +and clever enough to wheedle secrets out of Thurston's self even, now +you have apparently become reconciled to him." +</P> + +<P> +For the first time since the revelations that followed Leslie's +downfall a red brand of shame and anger flamed in Millicent's cheeks. +She rose, facing the speaker with an almost breathless "How dare you? +Is there no limit to the price I must pay for my folly? Thurston +was——. But how could any woman compare him with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down again, Millicent," suggested Leslie with an uneasy laugh. +"These heroics hardly become you—and nobody can extort a great deal in +return for—nothing better than you. In any case, it's no use now +debating whether one or both of us were foolish. I'm speaking no more +than the painful truth when I say that if I can't get the man back into +my hands I shall have to make a break without a dollar from British +Columbia. Since you have offended your English friends past +forgiveness, God knows what would become of you if that happened, while +Thurston would marry Miss Savine and sail on to riches—confusion to +him!" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent was never afterwards certain why she accepted the quest from +which she shrank with loathing, at first. While her husband proceeded +to substantiate the truth of his statement, she was conscious of rage +and shame, as well as a profound contempt for him; and, because of it, +she felt an illogical desire to inflict suffering upon the man whom she +now considered had too readily accepted his rejection. Naturally, she +disliked Miss Savine. She was possessed by an abject fear of poverty, +and so, turning a troubled face towards the man, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that I shall ever forgive you, and I feel that you will +live to regret this night's work bitterly. However, as you say, it is +over late for us to fear losing the self-respect we parted with long +ago. Rest contented—I will try." +</P> + +<P> +"That is better. We are what ill-luck or the devil made us," replied +Leslie, laying his hand on his wife's white shoulder, but in spite of +her recent declaration Millicent shrank from his touch. +</P> + +<P> +"Your fingers burn me. Take them away. As I said, I will help you, +but if there was any faint hope of happiness or better things left us, +you have killed it," she declared in a decided tone. +</P> + +<P> +"I should say the chance was hardly worth counting on," answered +Leslie, as he withdrew to soothe himself with a brandy-and-soda. +Millicent sat still in her chair, with her hands clenched hard on the +arms of it, staring straight before her. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE INFATUATION OF ENGLISH JIM +</H4> + +<P> +It was perhaps hardly wise of Geoffrey Thurston to suddenly promote +English Jim from the position of camp cook to that of amanuensis. +Geoffrey, however, found himself hard pressed when it became necessary +to divide his time between Vancouver and the scene of practical +operations, and he remembered that the man he had promoted had been +Helen's <I>protégé</I>. James Gillow was a fair draughtsman, also, and, if +not remarkable otherwise for mental capacity, wielded a facile pen, and +Geoffrey found it a relief to turn his rapidly-increasing +correspondence over to him. It was for this reason Gillow accompanied +him on a business trip to Victoria. +</P> + +<P> +English Jim enjoyed the visit, the more so because he found one or two +acquaintances who had achieved some degree of prosperity in that fair +city. He was entertained so well that on the morning of Geoffrey's +return he boarded the steamer contented with himself and the world in +general. He was perfectly sober, so he afterwards decided, or on board +a rolling vessel he could never have succeeded in working out +quantities from rough sketches Thurston gave him. But he had +breakfasted with his friends, just before sailing, and the valedictory +potations had increased, instead of assuaging, his thirst. +</P> + +<P> +The steamer was a fast one. The day was pleasant with the first warmth +of Spring, and Geoffrey sat under the lee of a deckhouse languidly +enjoying a cigar and looking out across the sparkling sea. Gillow, who +came up now and then for a breath of air, envied him each time he +returned to pore over papers that rose and fell perplexingly on one end +of the saloon table. It was hard to get his scale exactly on the lines +of the drawings; the sunrays that beat in through the skylights dazzled +his eyes, and his sight did not become much keener after each visit to +the bar. Nevertheless, few persons would have suspected English Jim of +alcoholic indulgence as he jotted down weights and quantities in his +pocket-book. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime, Thurston began to find the view of the snow-clad Olympians +grow monotonous. It is true that every pinnacle was silhouetted, a +spire of unsullied whiteness, against softest azure. The peaks +towered, a sight to entrance the vision—ethereally majestic above a +cerulean sea—but Geoffrey had seen rather too much snow unpleasantly +close at hand within the last few months. Therefore, he opened the +newspaper beside him, and frowned to see certain rumors he had heard in +Victoria embodied in an article on the Crown lands policy. Anyone with +sufficient knowledge to read between the lines could identify the +writer's instances of how gross injustice might be done the community +with certain conditional grants made to Savine. +</P> + +<P> +"That man has been well posted. He may have been influenced by a +mistaken public spirit or quite possibly by a less praiseworthy motive; +but if we have any more bad breakdowns I can foresee trouble," Geoffrey +said to himself. +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned his eyes towards the groups of passengers, and presently +started at the sight of a lady carrying a camp chair, a book, and a +bundle of wrappings along the heaving deck. It was Millicent Leslie, +and there was no doubt that she had recognized him, for she had set +down her burden and was waiting for his assistance. Geoffrey was at +her side in a moment and presently ensconced her snugly under the lee +of the deckhouse, where he waited, by no means wholly pleased at the +meeting. He had spent most of the previous night with certain men +interested in finance and provincial politics, and being new to the +gentle art of wire-pulling had not quite recovered his serenity. He +regretted the good cigar he had thrown away, and scarcely felt equal to +sustaining the semi-sentimental trend of conversation Millicent had +affected whenever he met her, but she was alone, and cut off all hope +of escape by saying: +</P> + +<P> +"You will not desert me. One never feels solitude so much as when left +to one's own resources among a crowd of strangers." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not, if you can put up with my company; but where is your +husband?" Geoffrey responded. Millicent looked up at him with a +chastened expression. +</P> + +<P> +"Enjoying himself. Some gentlemen, whose good-will is worth gaining, +asked him to go inland for a few days' fishing, and he said it was +necessary he should accept the invitation. Accordingly, I am as usual +left to my own company while I make a solitary journey down the Sound. +It is hardly pleasant, but I suppose all men are much the same, and we +poor women must not complain." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent managed to convey a great deal more than she said, and her +sigh suggested that she often suffered keenly from loneliness; but +while Geoffrey felt sorry for her, he was occupied by another thought +just then, and did not at first answer. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you puzzling over, Geoffrey?" she asked, and the man smiled +as he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"I was wondering if the same errand which took your husband to +Victoria, was the same that sent me there." +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot say." Millicent's gesture betokened weariness. "I know +nothing of my husband's business, and must do him the justice to say +that he seldom troubles me about it. I have little taste for details +of intricate financial scheming, but practical operations, like your +task among the mountains, would appeal to me. It must be both romantic +and inspiring to pit one's self against the rude forces of Nature; but +one grows tired of the prosaic struggle which is fought by eating one's +enemies' dinners and patiently bearing the slights of lukewarm allies' +wives. However, since the fear of poverty is always before me, I try +to play my part in it." +</P> + +<P> +Helen Savine had erred strangely when she concluded that Geoffrey +Thurston was without sympathy. Hard and painfully blunt as he could +be, he was nevertheless compassionate towards women, though not always +happy in expressing his feelings, and when Millicent folded her slender +hands with a pathetic sigh, he was moved to sincere pity and +indignation. He knew that some of the worthy Colonials' wives and +daughters could be, on occasion, almost brutally frank, and that, in +spite of his efforts, Leslie was not wholly popular. +</P> + +<P> +"I can quite understand! It must be a trying life for you, but there +are always chances for an enterprising man in this country, and you +must hope that your husband will shortly raise you above the necessity +of enduring uncongenial social relations." +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't think I am complaining." Millicent read his sympathy in +his eyes. "It was only because you looked so kind that I spoke so +frankly. I fear that I have grown morbid and said too much. But +one-sided confidence is hardly fair, and, to change the subject, tell +me how fortune favors you." +</P> + +<P> +"Where shall I begin?" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent smiled, as most men would have fancied, bewitchingly. +</P> + +<P> +"You need not be bashful. Tell me about your adventures in the +mountains, with all the hairbreadth escapes, fantastic coloring, and +romantic medley of incidents that must be crowded into the life of +anyone engaged in such work as yours." +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid the romance wears thin, leaving only a monotonous, not to +say sordid, reality, while details of cubic quantities would hardly +interest you. Still, and remember you have brought it upon yourself, I +will do my best." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey reluctantly began an account of his experiences, speaking in +an indifferent manner at first, but warming to his subject, until he +spoke eloquently at length. He was not a vain man, but Millicent had +set the right chord vibrating when she chose the topic of his new-world +experiences. He stopped at last abruptly, with an uneasy laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"There! I must have tired you, but you must blame yourself," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"No!" Millicent assured him. "I have rarely heard anything more +interesting. It must be a very hard battle, well worth winning, but +you are fortunate in one respect—having only the rock and river to +contend against instead of human enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid we have both," was the incautious answer, and Millicent +looked out across the white-flecked waters as she commented +indifferently, "But there can be nobody but simple cattle-raisers and +forest-clearers in that region, and what could your enemies gain by +following you there?" +</P> + +<P> +"They might interfere with my plans or thwart them. One of them nearly +did so!" and Geoffrey, hesitating, glanced down at his companion just a +second too late to notice the look of suspiciously-eager interest in +her face, for Millicent had put on the mask again. She was a clever +actress, quick to press into her service smile or sigh, where words +might have been injudicious, and with feminine curiosity and love of +unearthing a secret, was bent on drawing out the whole story. It did +not necessarily follow that she should impart the secret to her +husband, she said to herself. Geoffrey was, for the moment, off his +guard, and victory seemed certain for the woman. +</P> + +<P> +"How did that happen?" she asked, outwardly with languid indifference, +inwardly quivering with suspense, but, as luck would have it, the +steamer, entering one of the tide races which sweep those narrow +waters, rolled wildly just then, and Geoffrey held her chair fast while +the book fell from her knee and went sliding down the slanted deck. +Vexed and nervously anxious, Millicent bit one red lip while Thurston +pursued the volume, and she could hardy conceal her chagrin when he +returned with it. +</P> + +<P> +"It flew open and a page or two got wet in the scuppers. Still, it +will soon dry in the sun, and because I did my best, you will excuse me +being a few seconds too slow to save it," Geoffrey apologized. +</P> + +<P> +Millicent was willing to allow him to deceive himself as to the cause +of her annoyance. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a borrowed book, and I can hardly return it in this condition. +It is really vexatious," she replied, wondering how to lead the +conversation back to the place where it was interrupted. She might +have succeeded, but fate seemed against her. A passenger, who knew +them both, strolled by and nodded to Geoffrey. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been looking for you, Thurston, and if Mrs. Leslie, accepting +my excuses, can spare you for a few minutes, I have something important +to tell you," said the man. "I wouldn't have disturbed you, but we'll +be alongside Vancouver wharf very shortly." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent could only bow in answer, and after an apologetic glance in +her direction, Geoffrey followed the passenger. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Leslie's a handsome woman, though one would guess she had a +temper of her own. Perhaps you didn't notice it, but she just looked +daggers at you when you let that book get away," observed the +companion, who smiled when Geoffrey answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Presumably, you didn't take all this trouble to acquaint me with that +fact?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," admitted the man, with a whimsical gesture. "It was something +much more interesting—about the agitation some folks are trying to +whoop up against your partner." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey found the information of so much interest that the steamer was +sweeping through the pine-shrouded Narrows which forms the gateway of +Vancouver's land-locked harbor when he returned to Millicent, with +English Jim following discreetly behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry that, as we are half-an-hour late, I shall barely have time +to keep an important business appointment," said Thurston. "However, +as the Sound boat does not sail immediately, my assistant, Mr. Gillow, +will be able to look after your baggage, and secure a good berth for +you. You will get hold of the purser, and see Mrs. Leslie is made +comfortable in every way before you follow me, Gillow. I shall not +want you for an hour or two." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent smiled on the assistant, who took his place beside her, as +the steamer ran alongside the wharf, and his employer hurried away. +English Jim was a young, good-looking man of some education, and, since +his promotion from the cook-shed, had indulged himself in a former +weakness for tasteful apparel. He had also, though Thurston did not +notice it, absorbed just sufficient alcoholic stimulant to render him +vivacious in speech without betraying the reason for it, and Millicent, +who found him considerably more amusing than Geoffrey, wondered +whether, since she had failed with the one, she might not succeed with +the other. English Jim no more connected her with the servant of the +corporation whose interests were opposed to Savine's than he remembered +the brass baggage checks in his pocket. His gratified vanity blinded +him to everything besides the pleasure of being seen in his stylish +companion's company. +</P> + +<P> +He found a sunny corner for her beside one of the big Sound steamer's +paddle casings, from which she could look across the blue waters of the +forest-girt inlet, brought up a chair and some English papers, and +after Millicent had chatted with him graciously, was willing to satisfy +her curiosity to the utmost when she said with a smile: +</P> + +<P> +"You are a confidential assistant of Mr. Thurston's? He is an old +friend of mine, and knowing his energy, I dare say he works you very +hard." +</P> + +<P> +"Hard is scarcely an adequate term, madam," answered English Jim. +"Nothing can tire my respected chief, and unfortunately, he expects us +all to equal him. He found me occupation—writing his letters—until 1 +A.M. this morning; and, I believe, must have remained awake himself +until it was almost light, making drawings which I have had the +pleasure of poring over, all the way across. Don't you think, madam, +that it is a mistake to work so hard, that one has never leisure for +the serene contemplation which is one of the—one of the best things in +life. Besides, people who do so, are also apt to deprive others of +their opportunities." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps so, though I hardly think Mr. Thurston would agree with you. +For instance?" asked Millicent, finding his humor infectious, for +English Jim could gather all the men in camp about him, when half in +jest and half in earnest he began one of his discourses. +</P> + +<P> +"These!" was the answer, and the speaker thrust his hand into his +jacket pocket. "If Mr. Thurston had not been of such tireless nature, +I might have found leisure to admire the beauty of this most entrancing +coast scenery, instead of puzzling over weary figures in a particularly +stuffy saloon." +</P> + +<P> +He held up a large handful of papers as he spoke, glanced at them +disdainfully, and, pointing vaguely across the inlet, continued, "Is +not an hour's contemplation of such a prospect better than many days' +labor?" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent laughed outright, and, because, though English Jim's voice +was even, and his accent crisp and clean, his fingers were not quite so +steady as they might have been, one of the papers fluttered, unnoticed +by either of them, to her feet. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel tempted to agree with you," Millicent rejoined, wishing that +she need not press on to the main point, for English Jim promised to +afford the sort of entertainment which she enjoyed. "But a man of your +frame of mind must find scanty opportunity for considering such +questions among the mountains." +</P> + +<P> +"That is so," was the rueful answer. "We commence our toil at +daybreak, and too often continue until midnight. There are times when +the monotony jars upon a sensitive mind, as the camp cooking does upon +a sensitive palate. But our chief never expects more from us than he +will do himself, and is generous in rewarding meritorious service." +</P> + +<P> +"So I should suppose," commented Millicent. "Knowing this, you will +all be very loyal to him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Every one of us!" The loyalty of English Jim, who gracefully ignored +the inference and fell into the trap, was evident enough. "Of course, +we do not always approve of being tired to death, but where our chief +considers it necessary, we are content to obey him. In fact, it would +not make much difference if we were not," he added whimsically. "There +was, however, one instance of a black sheep, or rather wolf of the +contemptible coyote species in sheep's clothing, whom I played a minor +part in catching. But, naturally, you will not care to hear about +this?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should, exceedingly. Did I not say that I am one of Mr. Thurston's +oldest friends? I should very much like to hear about the disguised +coyote. I presume you do not mean a real one, and are speaking +figuratively?" +</P> + +<P> +Gillow was flattered by the glance she cast upon him, and, remembering +only that this gracious lady was one of his employer's friends, +proceeded to gratify her by launching into a vivid description of what +happened on the night when he dropped the prowler into the river. He +had, however, sense enough to conclude with the capture of the man. +</P> + +<P> +"But you have not told me the sequel," said Millicent. "Did you lynch +the miscreant in accordance with the traditional customs of the West, +or how did Mr. Thurston punish him? He is not a man who lightly +forgives an injury." +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Gillow, rashly. "Against my advice, though my respected +employer is difficult to reason with, he kept the rascal in camp, both +feeding and paying him well." +</P> + +<P> +"You surprise me. I should have expected a more dramatic finale." +Millicent's tone might have deceived a much more clever man who did not +know her husband's position. "Why did he do so?" +</P> + +<P> +There were, however, limits to English Jim's communicativeness, and he +answered: "Mr. Thurston did not explain his motives, and it is not +always wise to ask him injudicious questions." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent, having learned what she desired to know, rested content with +this, and chatted on other subjects until the big bell clanged, and the +whistle shrieked out its warning. Then the dismissed Gillow with her +thanks, and the last she saw of him he was being held back by a +policeman as he struggled to scale a lofty railing while the steamer +slid clear of the wharf. He waved an arm in the air shouting +frantically, and through the thud of paddles she caught the disjointed +sentences, "Very sorry. Forgot baggage checks—all your boxes here. +Leave first steamer—sending checks by mail!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is impossible for us to turn back, madam," said the purser to whom +Millicent appealed. "The baggage will, no doubt, follow the day after +to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"But that gentleman has my ticket, and doesn't know my address!" +protested the unfortunate passenger, and the purser answered: +</P> + +<P> +"I really cannot help it, but I will telegraph to any of your friends +from the first way-port we call at, madam." +</P> + +<P> +When the steamer had vanished behind the stately pines shrouding the +Narrows, English Jim sat down upon a timber-head and swore a little at +what he called his luck, before he uneasily recounted the folded papers +in his wallet. +</P> + +<P> +"A pretty mess I've made of it all, and there'll be no end of trouble +if Thurston hears of this," he said aloud, so that a loafing porter +heard and grinned. "I'll write a humble letter—but, confound it, I +don't know where she's going to, and now here is one of those +distressful tracings missing. It must have been that old sketch of +Savine's, and Thurston will never want it, while nobody but a +draughtsman could make head or tail of the thing. Anyway, I'll get +some dinner before I decide what is best to be done." +</P> + +<P> +While Gillow endeavored to enjoy his dinner, and, being an easy-going +man, partially succeeded, Millicent, who had picked up a folded paper, +leaned upon the steamer's rail with it open in her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Greek to me, but I suppose it is of value. I will keep it, +and perhaps give it back to Geoffrey," she ruminated. "The game was +amusing, but I feel horribly mean, and whether I shall tell Harry or +not depends very much upon his behavior." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BURSTING OF THE SLUICE +</H4> + +<P> +One morning of early summer, Geoffrey Thurston lay neither asleep, nor +wholly awake, inside his double tent. The canvas was partly drawn +open, and from his camp-cot he could see a streak of golden sunlight +grow broader across the valley, while rising in fantastic columns the +night mists rolled away. The smell of dew-damped cedars mingled with +the faint aromatic odors of wood smoke. The clamor of frothing water +vibrated through the sweet cool air, for the river was swollen by +melted snow. Geoffrey lay still, breathing in the glorious freshness, +drowsily content. All had gone smoothly with the works, at least, +during the last month or two. Each time that she rode down to camp +with her father from the mountain ranch, Helen had spoken to him with +unusual kindness. Savine would, when well enough, spend an hour in +Geoffrey's tent. While some of the contractor's suggestions were +characterized by his former genius, most betrayed a serious weakening +of his mental powers, and it was apparent that he grew rapidly frailer, +physically. +</P> + +<P> +On this particular morning Geoffrey found something very soothing in +the river's song, and, yielding to temptation, he turned his head from +the growing light to indulge in another half-hour's slumber. Suddenly, +a discordant note, jarring through the deep-toned harmonies, struck his +ears, which were quick to distinguish between the bass roar of the +cañon and the higher-pitched calling of the rapid at its entrance. +What had caused it he could not tell. He dressed with greatest haste +and was striding down into the camp when Mattawa Tom and Gillow came +running towards him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sluice number six has busted, and the water's going in over Hudson's +ranch," shouted Tom. "I've started all the men there's room for +heaving dirt in, but the river's going through in spite of them." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey asked no questions, but ran at full speed through the camp, +shouting orders as he went, and presently stood breathless upon a tall +bank of raw red earth. On one side the green-stained river went +frothing past; on the other a muddy flood spouted through a breach, and +already a shallow lake was spreading fast across the cleared land, +licking up long rows of potato haulm and timothy grass. Men swarmed +like bees about the sloping side of the bank, hurling down earth and +shingle into the aperture, but a few moments' inspection convinced +Geoffrey that more heroic measures were needed and that they labored in +vain. Raising his hand, he called to the men to stop work and, when +the clatter of shovels ceased, he quietly surveyed the few poor fields +rancher Hudson had won from the swamp. His lips were pressed tight +together, and his expression showed his deep concern. +</P> + +<P> +"There's only one thing to be done. Open two more sluice gates, Tom," +he commanded. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll drown out the whole clearing," ventured the foreman, and +Geoffrey nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly! Can't you see the river will tear all this part of the dyke +away unless we equalize the pressure on both sides of it? Go ahead at +once and get it done." +</P> + +<P> +The man from Mattawa wondered at the bold order, but his master +demanded swift obedience and he proceeded to execute it, while Geoffrey +stood fast watching two more huge sheets of froth leap out. He knew +that very shortly rancher Hudson's low-level possessions would be +buried under several feet of water. +</P> + +<P> +"It's done, sir, and a blamed bad job it is!" said the foreman, +returning; and Geoffrey asked: "How did it happen?" +</P> + +<P> +"The sluice gate wasn't strong enough, river rose a foot yesterday, and +she just busted. I was around bright and early and found her +splitting. Got a line round the pieces—they're floating beneath you." +</P> + +<P> +"Heave them up!" ordered Geoffrey. +</P> + +<P> +He was obeyed, and for a few minutes glanced at the timber frame with a +puzzled expression, then turning to Gillow, he said: "You know I +condemned that mode of scarting, and the whole thing's too light. What +carpenters made it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's one of Mr. Savine's gates, sir. I've got the drawing for it +somewhere," was the answer, and Geoffrey frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you will keep that fact carefully to yourself," he replied. "It +is particularly unfortunate. This is about the only gate I have not +overhauled personally, but one cannot see to quite everything, and +naturally the breakage takes place at that especial point." +</P> + +<P> +"Very good, sir," remarked Gillow. "Things generally do happen in just +that way. Here's rancher Hudson coming, and he looks tolerably angry." +</P> + +<P> +The man who strode along the dyke was evidently infuriated, a fact +which was hardly surprising, considering that he owned the flooded +property. The workmen, who now leaned upon their shovels, waited for +the meeting between him and their master in the expectation of +amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the name of thunder do you mean by turning your infernal river +loose on my ranch?" inquired the newcomer. Thurston rejoined: +</P> + +<P> +"May I suggest that you try to master your temper and consider the case +coolly before you ask any further questions." +</P> + +<P> +"Consider it coolly!" shouted Hudson. "Coolly! when the blame water's +washing out my good potatoes by the hundred bushel, and slooshing mud +and shingle all over my hay. Great Columbus! I'll make things red hot +for you." +</P> + +<P> +"See here!" and there were signs that Thurston was losing his temper. +"What we have done was most unfortunately necessary, but, while I +regret it at least as much as you do, you will not be a loser +financially. As soon as the river falls, we'll run off the water, +measure up the flooded land, and pay you current price? for the crop +at average acre yield. As you will thus sell it without gathering or +hauling to market, it's a fair offer." +</P> + +<P> +Most of the forest ranchers in that region would have closed with the +offer forthwith, but there were reasons why the one in question, who +was, moreover, an obstinate, cantankerous man, should seize the +opportunity to harass Thurston. +</P> + +<P> +"It's not half good enough for me," he said. "How'm I going to make +sure you won't play the same trick again, while it's tolerably certain +you can't keep on paying up for damage done forever. Then when you're +cleaned out where'll I be? This scheme which you'll never put +through's a menace to the whole valley, and——" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be rich, I hope, by that time, but if you'll confine yourself +to your legitimate grievance or come along to my tent I'll talk to +you," said Geoffrey. "If, on the other hand, you cast doubt upon my +financial position or predict my failure before my men, I'll take +decided measures to stop you. You have my word that you will be repaid +every cent's worth of damage done, and that should be enough for any +reasonable person." +</P> + +<P> +"It's not—not enough for me by a long way," shouted the rancher. +"I'll demand a Government inspection, I'll—I'll break you." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you show Mr. Hudson the quickest and safest way off this +embankment, Tom," requested Geoffrey, coolly, and there was laughter +mingled with growls of approval from the men, as the irate rancher, +hurling threats over his shoulder, was solemnly escorted along the dyke +by the stalwart foreman. He turned before descending, and shook his +fist at those who watched him. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you can close the sluices," said Geoffrey, when the foreman +returned. "Then set all hands filling in this hole. I want you, +Gillow." +</P> + +<P> +"We are going to have trouble," he predicted, when English Jim stood +before him in his tent. "Hudson unfortunately is either connected with +our enemies, or in their clutches, and he'll try to persuade his +neighbors to join him in an appeal to the authorities. Send a +messenger off at once with this telegram to Vancouver, but stay—first +find me the drawing of the defective gate." +</P> + +<P> +English Jim spent several minutes searching before he answered: "I'm +sorry I can't quite lay my hands upon it. It may be in Vancouver, and +I'll write a note to the folks down there." +</P> + +<P> +He did so, and when he went out shook his head ruefully. "That +confounded sketch must have been the one I lost on board the steamer," +he decided with a qualm of misgiving. "However, there is no use +meeting trouble half-way by telling Thurston so, until I'm sure beyond +a doubt." +</P> + +<P> +Some time had passed, and the greater portion of Hudson's ranch still +lay under water when, in consequence of representations made by its +owner and some of his friends, a Government official armed with full +powers to investigate held an informal court of inquiry in the big +store shed, at which most of the neighboring ranchers were present. +Geoffrey and Thomas Savine, who brought a lawyer with him, awaited the +proceedings with some impatience. +</P> + +<P> +"I have nothing to do with any claim for damages. If necessary, the +sufferers can appeal to the civil courts," announced the official. "My +business is to ascertain whether, as alleged, the way these operations +are conducted endangers the occupied, and unappropriated Crown lands in +this vicinity. I am willing to hear your opinions, gentlemen, +beginning with the complainants." +</P> + +<P> +Rancher Hudson was the first to speak, and he said: +</P> + +<P> +"No sensible man would need much convincing that it's mighty bad for +growing crops to have a full-bore flood turned loose on them. What's +the use of raising hay and potatoes for the river to wash away? And +it's plain that what has just happened is going to happen again. +Before Savine began these dykes the river spread itself all over the +lower swamp; now the walls hold it up, and each time it makes a hole in +them, our property's most turned into a lake. I'm neither farming for +pleasure nor running a salmon hatchery." +</P> + +<P> +There was a hum of approval from the speaker's supporters, whose +possessions lay near the higher end of the valley, and dissenting +growls from those whose boundaries lay below. After several of the +ranchers from the lower valley had spoken the official said: +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think you have cited sufficient to convince an unprejudiced +person that the works are a public danger. You have certainly proved +that two holdings have been temporarily flooded, but the first speaker +pointed out that this was because the river was prevented from +spreading all over the lower end of the valley, as it formerly did. +Now a portion of the district is already under cultivation, and even +the area under crop exceeds that of the damaged plots by at least five +acres to one." +</P> + +<P> +There was applause from the men whose possessions had been converted +into dry land, and Hudson rose, red-faced and indignant, to his feet +again. +</P> + +<P> +"Has Savine bought up the whole province, Government and all? That's +what I'm wanting to know," he rejoined indignantly. "What is it we pay +taxes to keep you fellows for? To look the other way when the rich man +winks, and stand by seeing nothing while he ruins poor settlers' +hard-won holdings? I'm a law-abiding man, I am, but I'm going to let +nobody tramp on me." +</P> + +<P> +A burst of laughter filled the rear of the building when one of +Hudson's supporters pulled him down by main force, and held him fast, +observing, "You just sit right there, and look wise instead of talking +too much. I guess you've said enough already to mix everything up." +</P> + +<P> +The official raised his hand. "I am here to ask questions and not +answer them," he said. "Any more speeches resembling the last would be +likely to get the inquirer into trouble. I must also remind Mr. Hudson +that, after one inundation, he signed a document signifying his +approval of the scheme, and I desire to ask him what has caused the +change in his opinions." +</P> + +<P> +Again there was laughter followed by a few derisive comments from the +party favoring Thurston's cause, while one voice was audible above the +rest, "Hudson's been buying horses. Some Vancouver speculator's check!" +</P> + +<P> +The rancher, shaking off his follower's grasp, bounded to his feet, and +glared at the men behind him. "I'll get square with some of you +fellows later on," he threatened. Turning towards the officer, he went +on: "Just because I'm getting tired of being washed out I've changed my +mind. When he's had two crops ruined, a man begins to get uneasy about +the third one—see?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is a sufficient reason," answered the official. "Now, gentlemen, I +gather that some of you have benefited by this scheme. If you have any +information to give me, I shall be pleased to hear it." +</P> + +<P> +Several men told how they had added to their holdings many acres of +fertile soil, which had once been swamp, and the Crown official said: +</P> + +<P> +"I am convinced that two small ranches have been temporarily inundated, +and six or seven benefited. So much for that side of the question. I +must now ascertain whether the work is carried out in the most +efficient manner, and how many have suffered in minor ways by the +contractors' willful neglect, as the petitioners allege." +</P> + +<P> +Hudson and his comrades testified at length, but each in turn, after +making the most of the accidental upset of a barrow-load of earth among +their crops, or the blundering of a steer into a trench, harked back to +the broken sluice. When amid some laughter they concluded, others who +favored Savine described the precautions Thurston had taken. Then the +inquirer turned over his papers, and Thomas Savine whispered to +Geoffrey: "It's all in our favor so far, but I'm anxious about that +broken sluice. It's our weak point, and he's sure to tackle it." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," agreed Geoffrey, whose face was strangely set. "I am anxious +about it, too. Can you suggest anything I should do, Mr. Gray?" +</P> + +<P> +The Vancouver lawyer, who had a long experience in somewhat similar +disputes, hitched forward his chair. "Not at present," he answered. +"I think with Mr. Savine that the question of the sluice gate may be +serious. Allowances are made for unpreventable accidents and force of +circumstances, but a definite instance of a wholly inefficient +appliance or defective workmanship might be most damaging. It is +particularly unfortunate it was framed timber of insufficient strength +that failed." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey made no answer, but Thomas Savine, who glanced at him keenly, +fancied he set his teeth while the lawyer, turning to the official +inquirer, said: +</P> + +<P> +"These gentlemen have given you all the information in their power, and +if you have finished with them, I would venture to suggest that any +technical details of the work concern only Mr. Thurston and yourself." +</P> + +<P> +There was a protest from the assembly, and the officer beckoned for +silence before he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"You gentlemen seem determined between you to conduct the whole case +your own way. I was about to dismiss with thanks the neighboring +landholders who have assisted me to the best of their ability." +</P> + +<P> +With some commotion the store-shed was emptied of all but the official, +his assistant, and Thurston's party. Beckoning to Geoffrey, the +official held up before his astonished eyes a plan of the defective +gate. "Do you consider the timbering specified here sufficient for the +strain?" he asked. "I cannot press the question, but it would be +judicious of you to answer it." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" replied Geoffrey, divided between surprise and dismay. +</P> + +<P> +The drawing was Savine's. He could recognize the figures upon it, but +it had evidently been made when the contractor was suffering from a +badly-clouded brain. The broken gate itself was damaging evidence, but +this was worse, for a glance at the design showed him that the +artificers who worked from it had, without orders even, slightly +increased the dimensions. Any man with a knowledge of mechanical +science would condemn it, but, while he had often seen Savine incapable +of mental effort of late, this was the first serious blunder that he +had discovered. The mistake, he knew, would be taken as evidence of +sheer incapacity; if further inquiry followed, perhaps it would be +published broadcast in the papers, and Geoffrey was above all things +proud of his professional skill. Still, he had pledged his word to +both his partner and his daughter, and there was only one course open +to him, if the questions which would follow made it possible. +</P> + +<P> +The lawyer, leaning forward, whispered to Thomas Savine, and then said +aloud, "If that drawing is what it purports to be, it must have been +purloined. May we ask accordingly how it came into your possession?" +</P> + +<P> +"One of the complainants forwarded it to me. He said +he—obtained—it," was the dry answer. "Under the circumstances, I +hesitate to make direct use of it, but by the firm's stamp it appears +genuine." +</P> + +<P> +"That Mr. Savine could personally be capable of such a mistake as this +is impossible on the face of it," said the inquirer's professional +assistant. "It is the work of a half-trained man, and suggests two +questions, Do you repudiate the plan, and, if you do not, was it made +by a responsible person? I presume you have a draughtsman?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is no use repudiating anything that bears our stamp," said +Geoffrey, disregarding the lawyer's frown, and looking steadily into +the bewildered face of Thomas Savine. "I work out all such +calculations and make the sketches myself. My assistant sometimes +checks them." +</P> + +<P> +The official, who had heard of the young contractor's reputation for +daring skill, looked puzzled as he commented: +</P> + +<P> +"From what you say the only two persons who could have made the blunder +are Mr. Savine and yourself. I am advised, and agree with the +suggestion, that Mr. Savine could never have done so. From what I have +heard, I should have concluded it would have been equally impossible +with you; but I can't help saying that the inference is plain." +</P> + +<P> +"Is not all this beside the question?" interposed the lawyer. "The +junior partner admits the plan was made in the firm's offices, and that +should be sufficient." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey held himself stubbornly in hand while the officer answered +that he desired to ascertain if it was the work of a responsible +person. He knew that this blunder would be recorded against him, and +would necessitate several brilliant successes before it could be +obliterated, but his resolution never faltered, and when the legal +adviser, laying a hand upon his arm, whispered something softly, he +shook off the lawyer's grasp. +</P> + +<P> +"The only two persons responsible are Mr. Savine and myself—and you +suggested the inference was plain," he asserted. +</P> + +<P> +Here Gillow, who had been fidgeting nervously, opened his lips as if +about to say something, but closed them again when his employer, moving +one foot beneath the table, trod hard upon his toe. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid I should hardly mend matters by saying I am sorry it is," +said the official, dryly. "However, a mistake by a junior partner does +not prove your firm incapable of high-class work, and I hardly think +you will be troubled by further interference after my report is made. +My superiors may warn you—but I must not anticipate. It is as well +you answered frankly, as, otherwise, I should have concluded you were +endeavoring to make your profits at the risk of the community; but I +cannot help saying that the admission may be prejudicial to you, Mr. +Thurston, if you ever apply individually for a Government contract. +Here is the drawing. It is your property." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey stretched out his hand for it, but Savine was too quick for +him, and when he thrust it into his pocket, the contractor, rising +abruptly, stalked out of the room. Gillow, who followed and overtook +him, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I can't understand this at all, sir. Mr. Savine made that drawing. I +know his arrows on the measurement lines, and I was just going to say +so when you stopped me. I have a confession to make. I believe I +dropped that paper out of my wallet on board the steamer." +</P> + +<P> +"You have a very poor memory, Gillow," and Thurston stared the speaker +out of countenance. "I fear your eyes deceive you at times as well. +You must have lost it somewhere else. In any case, if you mention the +fact to anybody else, or repeat that you recognise Mr. Savine's +handiwork, I shall have to look for an assistant who does not lose the +documents with which he is entrusted." +</P> + +<P> +Gillow went away growling to himself, but perfectly satisfied with both +his eyesight and memory. Thurston had hardly dismissed him than Thomas +Savine approached, holding out the sketch. +</P> + +<P> +"See here, Geoffrey," began the contractor's brother, and one glance at +the speaker was sufficient for Thurston, who stopped him. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you coming to torment me about that confounded thing? Give it to +me at once," he said. +</P> + +<P> +He snatched the drawing from Savine's hand, tore it into fragments, and +stamped them into the mould. "Now that's done with at last!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"No," was the answer. "There's no saying where a thing like this will +end, if public mischief-makers get hold of it. You have your future, +which means your professional reputation, to think of. In all human +probability my poor brother can't last very long, and this may handicap +you for years. I cannot——" +</P> + +<P> +"Damn my professional reputation! Can't you believe your ears?" +Geoffrey broke in. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not blind yet, and would sooner trust my eyes," was the dry +answer. "Nobody shall persuade me that I don't know my own brother's +figures. There are limits, Geoffrey, and neither Helen nor I would +hold our peace about this." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen to me!" Geoffrey's face was as hard as flint. "I see I can't +bluff you as easily as the Government man, but I give you fair warning +that if you attempt to make use of your suspicions I'll find means of +checkmating you. Just supposing you're not mistaken, a young man with +any grit in him could live down a dozen similar blunders, and, if he +couldn't, what is my confounded personal credit in comparison with what +your brother has done for me and my promise to Miss Savine? So far as +I can accomplish it, Julius Savine shall honorably wind up a successful +career, and if you either reopen the subject or tell his daughter about +the drawing, there will be war between you and me. That is the last +word I have to say." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if Helen knows the grit there is in that man," pondered +Savine, when, seeing all protests were useless, he turned away, divided +between compunction and gratitude. Neither he nor the lawyer succeeded +in finding out how the drawing fell into hostile hands, while, if +Geoffrey had his suspicions, he decided that it might be better not to +follow them up. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE ABDUCTION OF BLACK CHRISTY +</H4> + +<P> +These were weighty reasons why Christy Black, whose comrades reversed +his name and called him Black Christy instead, remained in Thurston's +camp as long as he did. Although a good mechanic, he was by no means +fond of manual labor, and he had discovered that profitable occupations +were open to an enterprising and not over-scrupulous man. On the +memorable night when Thurston fished him out of the river, his rescuer +had made it plain that he must earn the liberal wages that were +promised to him. As a matter of fact, Black had made the most of his +opportunities, and in doing so had brought himself under the ban of the +law during an altercation over a disputed mineral claim. +</P> + +<P> +Black, who then called himself by another name, disappeared before an +inquiry as to how the body of one of the owners of the claim came into +a neighboring river. Only one comrade, and a mine-floating speculator, +who stood behind the humbler disputants, knew or guessed at the events +which led up the fatality. The comrade shortly afterwards vanished, +too, but the richer man, who had connived at Black's disappearance, +kept a close hand on him, forcing him as the price of freedom to act as +cat's-paw in risky operations, until Black, tired of tyranny, had been +glad to tell Thurston part of the truth and to accept his protection. +The man from whose grip he hoped he had escaped was the one who had +helped Leslie out of a difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +Black Christy found, however, that a life of virtuous toil grew +distinctly monotonous, and one morning, when Mattawa Tom's vigilance +was slack, he departed in search of diversion in the settlement of Red +Pine, which lay beyond the range. He found congenial society there, +and, unfortunately for himself, went on with a boon companion next +morning to a larger settlement beside the railroad track. He intended +to complete the orgie there, and then to return to camp. Accordingly +it happened that, when afternoon was drawing towards a close, he sat +under the veranda of a rickety wooden saloon, hurling drowsy +encouragement at the freighter who was loading rock-boring tools into a +big wagon. He wondered how far his remaining dollar would go towards +assuaging a thirst which steadily increased, and two men, who leaned +against the wagon, chuckled as they watched him. The hands of one of +the men were busy about the brass cap which decorated the hub of the +wheel, but neither Black nor the teamster noticed this fact. Black had +seen one of the men before, for the two had loafed about the district, +ostensibly prospecting for minerals, and had twice visited Thurston's +camp. +</P> + +<P> +It was a pity Black had absorbed sufficient alcohol to confuse his +memory, for when the men strolled towards him he might have recognized +the one whose hat was drawn well down. As it was, he greeted them +affably. +</P> + +<P> +"Nice weather for picnicking in the woods. Not found that galena yet? +I guess somebody in the city is paying you by the week," he observed +jocosely. +</P> + +<P> +"That's about the size of it!" The speaker laughed. "But we've pretty +well found what we wanted, and we're pulling out with the Pacific +express. There don't seem very much left in your glass. Anything the +matter with filling it up with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not proud," was the answer. "I'm open to drink with any man +who'll set them up for me." When the prospector called the bar-tender, +Black proceeded to prove his willingness to be "treated." +</P> + +<P> +Nothing moved in the unpaved street of the sleepy settlement, when the +slow-footed oxen and lurching wagon had lumbered away. The sun beat +down upon it pitilessly, and the drowsy scent of cedars mingled with +the odors of baking dust which eddied in little spirals and got into +the loungers' throats. The bar-tender was liberal with his ice, +however, and Black became confidential. When he had assured them of +his undying friendship, one of the prospectors asked: +</P> + +<P> +"What's a smart man like you muling rocks around in a river-bed for, +anyway? Can't you strike nothing better down to the cities?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," declared Black, thickly. "Couldn't strike a job nohow when I +left them. British Columbia played out—and I had no money to take me +to California." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the prospector, winking at his comrade, "there is +something we might put you on to. The first question is, what kin you +do?" +</P> + +<P> +According to Black's not over-coherent answer, there was little he +could not do excellently. After he had enumerated his capabilities, +the other man said: +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that's sufficient. Come right back with us to 'Frisco and +we'll have a few off days before we start you. This is no country for +a live man, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +Black nodded sagaciously and tried hard to think. He was afraid of +Thurston, but more so of the other man connected with the Enterprise +Company. In San Francisco he would be beyond the reach of either, and +the city offered many delights to a person of his tastes with somebody +else willing to pay expenses. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come," he promised thickly. "So long as you've got the dollars +I'll go right round the earth with either of you." +</P> + +<P> +"Good man!" commended the prospector. "Bring along another jugful, +bar-tender." +</P> + +<P> +The attendant glanced at the three men admiringly, for the speaker was +plainly sober, and he knew how much money Black had paid him. He went +back to his bottles, and there was nobody to see the other prospector, +who had kept himself in the background, pour something from a little +phial beneath his hand, into Black's liquor. +</P> + +<P> +"Not quite so good as last one. I know 'Frisco. Great time at China +Joe's, you an' me," murmured Black as he collapsed with his head upon +the table. He was soon snoring heavily. +</P> + +<P> +"Your climate has been too much for him," one of the men declared, when +the saloon-keeper came in. "Say, hadn't you better help us heave him +in some place where he can sleep, unless you'd prefer to keep him as an +advertisement?" +</P> + +<P> +Black was stored away with some difficulty, and two hours later he was +wheeled on a baggage-truck into the station, where half the inhabitants +of the settlement assembled to see him off. The big cars were already +clanging down the track, when a tall man riding a lathered horse +appeared among the scattered pines on the shoulder of the hill above +the settlement. A bystander commented: +</P> + +<P> +"Thurston's foreman coming round for some of his packages. As usual +he's in an almighty hurry. That place is 'most as steep as a roof, and +he's coming down it at a gallop." +</P> + +<P> +The prospectors glanced at each other, and one of them said, "Lend me a +hand, somebody, to heave our sick partner aboard." +</P> + +<P> +Black was unceremoniously deposited upon the platform of the nearest +car, where he sat blinking vacantly at the assembly, while the +conductor, leaning out from the door of the baggage-car, looked back +towards the rider who was clattering through a dust cloud down the +street, as he asked: "Anybody else besides the tired man? Is that +fellow yonder coming?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered the prospector. "He's only wanting one of those cases +you've just dumped out. Likes to fancy his time's precious. I know +him." +</P> + +<P> +The conductor waved his hand, the big bell clanged, and the train had +just rolled with a rattle over a trestle ahead, when Mattawa Tom, +grimed with thick red dust, flung himself down beside the agent's +office. +</P> + +<P> +"Has a dark-faced thief in a plug hat with two holes in the top of it, +gone out on the cars?" he shouted, and the spectators admitted that +such a person boarded the train. +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you come in two minutes earlier, Tom?" one of them +inquired. "He lit out with two strangers. Has he been stealing +something?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's been doing worse, and I'd have been in on time, but that I +stopped ten minutes to help freighter Louis cut loose the two live oxen +left him," said the foreman, breathlessly. "One wheel came off his +wagon going down the Clearwater Trail, and the whole blame outfit +pitched over into a ravine. There's several thousand dollars' worth of +our boring machines smashed up, and Louis, who has pretty well split +his head, is cussing the man who took the cotter out of his wheel hub." +</P> + +<P> +The two prospectors were heartily tired of their charge by the time +they passed him off as the sick employé of an American firm, at the +nearest station to the Washington border. When Black showed signs of +waking up he was soothed with medicated liquor, and his guardians, who +several times had high words with the conductor, at last unloaded him +in a station hewn out of the forests encircling Puget Sound, where they +managed to hoist him into a spring wagon. Black leaned against one of +the men, for he was feeling distressfully ill. His head throbbed, his +vision was hazy and his throat was dry. Blinking down at the rows of +wooden houses among the firs, and the tall spars of vessels behind +them, he said: "This isn't 'Frisco—not half big enough. Somebody made +mistake somewhere. Say! Lemme out; I'm going back to the depot." +</P> + +<P> +"You're coming along with us," was the decided answer. "Sit down at +once before we make you." +</P> + +<P> +Black slowly doubled up a still formidable fist, and grasping a rail, +lurched to and fro unsteadily. "Lemme out 'fore I kill somebody. +Claim rightsh of British citizensh," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll get them if you're not careful," was the threat, and the +speaker jerked Black's feet from under him. "I was told to remind you +if you made trouble that a sheriff on this side of the frontier had +some papers describing you. There's one or two patrolmen yonder handy." +</P> + +<P> +"It was an accident," temporized Black, endeavoring to pull his +scattered wits together. +</P> + +<P> +"Juss so!" was the answer, given with a gesture of indifference. "I +was only told a name for the patrolmen, and to remind you that a man, +who knows all about it, has got his eye on you." +</P> + +<P> +Black leered upon him with drunken cunning, then his face grew stolid, +and he said nothing further until the wagon drew up in a by-street, +before a door, hung across with quaint signboards of Chinese +characters. The door opened and closed behind him when his companions +knocked, and Black, who recognized a curious sour smell, choked out, +"Gimme long drink of ice watah!" +</P> + +<P> +He drained the cool draught that was brought him, then flinging himself +on a pile of matting in a corner of a dim room, sank forthwith into +slumber. He had intended to pretend to sleep, but to lie awake and +think. His custodians, however, had arranged things differently, and +Black's wits were not working up to their usual power. +</P> + +<P> +Whenever railroad extension or mining enterprise provided high wages +for all strong enough to earn them and crews deserted wholesale, seamen +were occasionally shipped in a very irregular fashion from the ports of +the Pacific slope. At the time Black was brought into one of the +seaboard cities, the purveying of drugged and kidnaped mariners had +risen to be almost a recognized profession. +</P> + +<P> +It accordingly happened that when the unfortunate Black first became +clearly conscious of anything again, he heard the gurgle of sliding +water close beside his head, and, opening his eyes, caught sight of a +smoky lamp that reeled to and fro, in very erratic fashion. Moisture +dripped from the beams above him, and there was a sickly smell which +seemed familiar. Black, who had been to sea before, decided that he +caught the aroma of bilge water. Rows of wooden shelves tenanted by +recumbent figures, became discernible, and he started with dismay to +the full recognition of the fact that he was in a vessel's forecastle. +</P> + +<P> +Somebody or something was pounding upon the scuttle overhead. A black +gap opened above him, a rush of cold night wind swept down, followed by +a gruff order: +</P> + +<P> +"Turn out, watch below, and help get sail upon her. Stir round before +I put a move on to you!" +</P> + +<P> +Men scrambled from the wooden shelves growling as they did so. Two +lost their balance on the heaving floor, went down headlong, and lay +where they fell. When a man in long boots floundered down the ladder, +Black sat up in his bunk. +</P> + +<P> +"Now there's going to be trouble. Some blame rascals have run me off +aboard a lumber ship," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Correct!" observed a man who was struggling into an oilskin jacket. +"You're blame well shanghaied like the rest of us, and as the mate's a +rustler, you've got to make the best of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! What's the matter with you? Not feeling spry this morning, or +is it hot water you're waiting for?" the mate said, jerking Black out +of his bunk as he spoke. "Great Columbus! What kind of a stiff do you +call yourself? Up you go!" +</P> + +<P> +Black went, with all the expedition he was capable of, and, blundering +out through the scuttle, stood shivering on a slant of wet and slippery +deck. A brief survey showed him that he was on board a full-rigged +ship, timber laden, about to be cast off by a tug. There was a fresh +breeze abeam. Looking forward he could see dark figures hanging from +the high-pointed bowsprit that rose and dipped, and beyond them the +lights of a tug reeling athwart a strip of white-streaked sea. +Mountains dimly discernible towered in the distance, and he fancied it +was a little before daybreak. Bursts of spray came hurtling in through +the foremast shrouds, and the whine and rattle of running wire and +chain fell from the windy blackness overhead whence the banging of +loosened canvas came to his ears. Glancing aloft he watched the great +arches of the half-sheeted topsails swell blackly out and then collapse +again with a thunderous flap. Somebody was shouting from the slanted +top-gallant-yard that swung in a wide arc above them, but Black had no +time for further inspection. +</P> + +<P> +"Lay aloft and loose maintopsails! Are you figuring we brought you +here to admire the scenery?" a hoarse voice challenged. +</P> + +<P> +Half-dazed and sullenly savage Black had still sense enough to reflect +that it would be little use to expect that the harassed mate would +listen to reason then. Clawing his way up the ratlines he laid his +chest upon the main-topsail-yard and worked his way out to the lower +end of the long inclined spar. Here, still faint and dizzy, he hung +with the footrope jammed against his heel, as he felt for the gasket +that held the canvas to the yard. Swinging through the blackness +across a space of tumbling foam he felt a horrible unsteadiness. There +were other men behind him, for he could hear them swearing and coughing +until a black wall of banging canvas sank beneath him when somebody +roared: "Sheet her home!" +</P> + +<P> +Then a hail came down across the waters from the tug. There was a loud +splash beneath the bows, while shadowy figures that howled a weird +ditty as they hove the hawser in, rose and fell black against the +foam-flecked sea on the dripping forecastle. Nobody had missed Black, +who now sat astride the yard watching the tug, as the ship, listing +over further and commencing to hurl the spray in clouds about her +plunging bows, gathered way. The steamboat would slide past very close +alongside, and he saw a last chance of escape. Moving out to the very +yard-arm he clutched the lee-brace, which rope led diagonally downwards +to the vessel's depressed rail. He looked below a moment, bracing +himself for the perilous attempt. +</P> + +<P> +The tug was close abreast of the ship's forecastle now, evidently +waiting with engines stopped until the vessel should pass her. The +crew was still heaving in the cable or loosing the top-gallants, and +froth boiled almost level with the depressed rail. Black was a poor +swimmer, but he could keep his head above water for a considerable +time. If the tug did not start her engines within the next few seconds +she must drive close down on him. Otherwise—but filled with the hope +of escape and the lust for revenge Black was willing to take the risk. +</P> + +<P> +He hooked one knee around the brace, gripped it between his ankles and +slackened the grip of his hands. The topsails slid away from him, the +spray rushed up below, his feet struck the rail, and the next moment he +was down in utter blackness and conscious of a shock of icy cold water. +He rose gasping and swung around, buffeted in the vessel's eddying +wake. There was no shouting on board her, and, with a choking cry, he +struck out for the black shape of the tug, now only a short distance +away. Somebody heard and flung down a line. He clutched at it and, by +good fortune, grasped it. Head downward he was drawn on board by the +aid of a long boathook, and hauled, dripping, before the skipper. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you fall or jump in?" asked the skipper. +</P> + +<P> +"I jumped," confessed Black, putting a bold face on it, and the master +of the towboat laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Shanghaied, I guess!" he said. "Well, I don't blame you for showing +your grit. The master of that lumber wagon is a blame avaricious +insect! He beat us down until all we got out of him will hardly pay +for the coal we used—that's what he did. So if you slip ashore +quietly when we tie up, he'll think you pitched over making sail, and +I'll keep my mouth shut." +</P> + +<P> +Accordingly it happened that next morning Black, who had left the +wooden city before daylight to tramp back to the bush, sat down to +consider his next move. +</P> + +<P> +"There's one thing tolerably certain, Black Christy's drowned, and +he'll just stop drowned until it suits him," he decided. "Next, though +he's not over fond of it, there's lots of work for a good carpenter in +this country and newspapers are cheap. So when it's worth his while to +strike in with the Thurston Company and get even with the other side +he'll probably hear of it." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed a little as he once more read the message on a strip of +pulpy paper somebody had slipped into his pocket. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"You are going to China for your health, and you had better stop there +if you want to keep clear of trouble." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Black Christy got upon his feet again and departed into the bush, where +he wandered for several weeks, building fences and splitting shingles +for the ranchers in return for food and shelter, until he found work +and wages at a saw-mill. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after he was employed at the mill, the director who held +Leslie's receipt sat in his handsome offices with the Englishman. A +newspaper lay open on the table before him, and the director smiled as +he read, "Ship, <I>Maria Carmony</I>, timber laden for China, meeting +continuous headwinds after sailing from this port, put into Cosechas, +Cal., for shelter, and her master reported the loss of a seaman when +making sail in the Straits of San Juan. The man's name was T. Slater, +and must have been a stranger, as nobody appears to have known him in +this city." +</P> + +<P> +"Those fellows haven't managed it badly," he commented. "Anyway, +there's an end of him." +</P> + +<P> +"They told me they had some trouble over it, and I gave them fifty +dollars extra," said Leslie. "They used the hint you mentioned—said +it worked well. But the two men are always likely to turn up, +unfortunately." +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't count," the other answered confidently. "You will have to +bluff them off if they do. Deny the whole thing—nobody would believe +them—it's quite easy. It would have been different with that +confounded Black, for he would have had Thurston's testimony. The joke +of the whole thing is, that although he knew I held evidence which +would likely hang him with a jury of miners, it's tolerably certain +Black never did the thing he was wanted for." +</P> + +<P> +Thus, the two parties interested remained contented, and only Thurston +was left bewildered and furious at the loss of a witness who might be +valuable to him. Moreover, the destruction of machinery which, having +been made specially for Thurston, in England, could not be replaced for +months. And not once did it ever occur to his subordinate, English +Jim, that he himself had furnished the clue which led to the abduction +of the missing man. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +UNDER THE STANLEY PINES +</H4> + +<P> +It was a pleasant afternoon when Millicent Leslie stood in the portico +of her villa, which looked upon the inlet from a sunny ridge just +outside Vancouver. Like the other residences scattered about, the +dwelling quaintly suggested a doll's house—it was so diminutively +pretty with its carved veranda, bright green lattices, and spotless +white paint picked out with shades of paler green and yellow. Flowers +filled tiny borders, and behind the house small firs, spared by the ax, +stood rigid and somber. With clear sunshine heating upon it and the +blue waters sparkling close below, the tiny villa was so daintily +attractive that one might almost suppose its inhabitants could carry +neither care nor evil humor across its threshold, but there was disgust +and weariness in Millicent's eyes as she glanced from the little +pony-carriage waiting at the gate to her husband leaning against a +pillar. +</P> + +<P> +Leslie was evidently in a complacent frame of mind, and he did not +notice his wife's expression. There was a smile upon his puffy face +which suggested pride of possession. It was justifiable, for Mrs. +Leslie was still a distinctly handsome woman, and she knew how to dress +herself. +</P> + +<P> +"You will meet very few women who excel you, and the team is unique," +he remarked exultantly. "Drive around by some of the big stores and +let folks see you before you turn into the park. Since that affair of +Thurston's I am almost beginning to grow proud of you." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it somewhat late in the day?" was the answer, and Millicent's +tone was chilly. "If you had wished to pay me a compliment that was +not intended ironically, it would have been wiser to omit all reference +to the subject you mentioned. It is done now—and heaven knows why I +told you—but I can't thank you for reminding me of a deed I am ashamed +of. Further, I understood the ponies were for my pleasure, and I have +stooped far enough in your interest without displaying myself as an +advertisement of a prosperity which does not exist." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie laughed unpleasantly, noticing the flash in the speaker's eyes +before he rejoined: "Perhaps it is tardy praise I give you, but +regarding your last remark, to pretend you have achieved prosperity is, +so far as I can see, the one way to attain it, and I have a promising +scheme in view. It is not a particularly pleasant part to play, and +there was a time when it appeared very improbable that either of us +would be forced, as you say, to stoop to it. Neither was it my +ambition which brought about the necessity. As to the ponies—I had +fancied they might do their part, too, but they are a reward for +services rendered in finding me a clue to the missing-man mystery. +Nobody need know that they're not quite our own. Now you have got +them, isn't it slightly unfair to blame me because you were willing to +earn them?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," admitted Millicent. "Still, I can't help remarking +that you take the man's usual part of blaming the woman for whatever +happens. To-day I will not drive through the city, but straight into +the park." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie said nothing further, but followed his wife to the gate. On his +way to his office, he turned and looked after her with a frown as she +rattled her team along the uneven road. She was a vain and covetous +woman with a bias towards intrigue, but there had been times since her +marriage when she despised herself, and as a natural consequence blamed +her husband. Sometimes she hated Thurston, also, though more often she +was sensible of vague regrets, and grew morbid thinking of what might +have been. Now she flushed a little as she glanced at the ponies and +remembered that they were the price of treachery. The animals were +innocent, but she found satisfaction in making them feel the sting of +the whip. +</P> + +<P> +She looked back at the city. +</P> + +<P> +It rose in terraces above the broad inlet—a maze of wooden buildings, +giving place to stone. Over its streets hung a wire network, raised +high on lofty poles, which would have destroyed the beauty of a much +fairer city. Back of the city rose the somber forest over which at +intervals towered the blasted skeleton of some gigantic pine. +</P> + +<P> +Millicent felt that she detested both the city, with its crude mingling +of primitive simplicity and Western luxury, and the life she lived in +it. It was a life of pretense and struggle, in which she suffered +bitter mortifications daily. Presently she reined the team in to a +walk as she drove under the cool shade of the primeval forest which, +with a wisdom not common in the West, the inhabitants of Vancouver have +left unspoiled as Nature. A few drives have been cut through the trees +and between the long rows of giant trunks she could catch at intervals +the silver shimmer of the Straits. In this park there was only restful +shadow. Its silence was intensified by the soft thud of hoofs. A dim +perspective of tremendous trees whose great branches interlocked, +forming arches for the roof of somber green very far above, lured her +on. +</P> + +<P> +Millicent felt the spell of the silence and sighed remembering how the +lover whom she had discarded once pleaded that she would help him in a +life of healthful labor. She regretted that she had not consented to +flee with him to the new country. Now she was tied to a man she +despised, and who had put her, so she considered, to open shame. She +could not help comparing his weak, greedy, yet venomous nature, with +the other's courage, clean purpose and transparent honesty. +</P> + +<P> +"I was a fool, ten times a fool; but it is too late," she told herself, +and then tightening her grip on the reins she started with surprise. +The man to whom her thoughts had strayed was leaning against a hemlock +with his eyes fixed on her face. It was the first time they had met +since she played the part of Delilah, and, in spite of her customary +self-command, Millicent betrayed her agitation. A softer mood was upon +her and she had the grace to be ashamed. Still, it appeared desirable +to discover whether he suspected her. +</P> + +<P> +"I was quite startled to see you, Geoffrey, but I am very glad. It is +almost too hot for walking. Won't you let me drive you?" she said with +flurried haste. +</P> + +<P> +If Geoffrey hesitated Millicent noticed no sign of it beyond that he +was slow in answering. He was conscious that Mrs. Leslie looked just +then a singularly attractive companion, but she was the wife of another +man, and, of late, he had felt a vague alarm at the confidences she +seemed inclined to exchange with him. Nevertheless, he could find no +excuse at the moment which would not suggest a desire to avoid her, and +with a word of thanks he took his place at her side. +</P> + +<P> +"I came down to consult my friend, Mr. Thomas Savine, on business," he +explained. "I had one or two other matters to attend to, and promised +to overtake him and his wife during their stroll. I must have missed +them. What a pretty team! Have you had the ponies long?" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent's well-gloved fingers closed somewhat viciously upon the +whip, for the casual question was unfortunate, but she smiled as she +answered and she chatted gayly until, in an interlude, Thurston felt +prompted to say: +</P> + +<P> +"Coincidences are sometimes striking, are they not? You remember, the +last time we met, suggesting that I was fortunate in having no enemies +among the mountains?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she replied, shrinking a little, "I do—but do you know that it +makes one shiver to talk about glaciers and snow on such a perfect day." +</P> + +<P> +A man of keener perceptions, reading the speaker's face, would have +changed the subject at once, and Millicent had earned his tactful +consideration. It was a good impulse which prompted her to place +herself beyond the reach of further temptation. Geoffrey, however, was +unobservant that afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +"I am certainly tired of glaciers and snow and other unpleasant things +myself, and was merely going to say that, shortly after I last talked +with you, I discovered another instance of an unknown enemy's +ingenuity," he went on. "A wagon we had chartered upset down a steep +ravine, and several costly pieces of machinery I had brought out from +England, and can hardly replace, were smashed to pieces." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" responded Millicent, staring straight before her. "What a pity! +Still accidents of that description must be fairly common where the +mountain roads are bad?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are; but this was not an accident. We found that somebody had +pulled out the cotter or iron pin which held the wagon wheel on." +</P> + +<P> +"Did any of your own men do it?" Millicent inquired, concealing her +eagerness, and Thurston answered with pride in his tone: +</P> + +<P> +"My own men risk their lives almost every day in my service. There is +not one among them capable of treachery—now. We made tolerably +certain it was the work of two strangers, who hung about the +neighboring settlement and disappeared immediately after the accident." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent's eyes flashed, her white teeth were set together, and, +filled with hot indignation against her husband, she lashed the ponies +viciously. There were several reasons for what she had done, including +a dislike to Miss Savine, but perhaps the greatest was the sordid fear +of poverty. Now she saw that her husband had tricked her. She had +stooped to save his position and not to enable him to work further +injury for Thurston. The innocent ponies were Leslie's gift, and the +smart of the lash she drew across their sleek backs appeared vicarious +punishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I displeased you?" Geoffrey asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Millicent. "Displeased me! How could I resent anything +you might either say or do? Have I not heaped injury upon you?" +</P> + +<P> +She turned to gaze straight at him with a curious glitter in her eyes. +Thurston, bewildered by it and by the traces of ill-suppressed passion +in her voice, grew distinctly uneasy. He was glad that one of the +ponies showed signs of growing restive under its punishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady, Millicent! They're a handsome pair, but not far off bolting, +and there's no parapet to yonder bridge," he cautioned. +</P> + +<P> +In place of an answer the woman again flicked one of the beasts +viciously with the whip, and, next moment, the light vehicle lurched +forward with a whir of gravel hurled up by the wheels. The team had +certainly shied, and the road curved sharply to the unguarded bridge +over a little creek. +</P> + +<P> +"This is my business," declared Geoffrey, wrenching the reins from her +grasp. "Sit well back, throw the whip down and clutch the rail fast." +Then he stood upright grasping the lines in his hard hands. It was, +however, evident that he could not steer the ponies around the bend, +and the fall to the rocks beneath the bridge might mean death. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold fast for your life," he shouted, and let the team run straight +on. There was a heavy shock as the light wheels struck a fallen branch +on leaving the graded road. The vehicle lurched, and Millicent, whose +eyes were wide with terror, screamed faintly. Geoffrey still stood +upright driving the team straight ahead down a more open glade of the +forest. He knew that the stems of the fern and the soft ground beneath +would soon bring them to a standstill if they did not strike a +tree-trunk first. +</P> + +<P> +The going was heavy, and with a plunge or two, the ponies stopped on +the edge of a thicket. Geoffrey, alighting, soothed the trembling +creatures with some difficulty, led them back to the road, and, taking +his place again, turned towards Millicent. It appeared necessary that +he should soothe her, too, for, though generally a self-possessed +person, the emotions of the last few minutes had proved too much for +her. She had suffered from remorse, disgust with herself, rage against +her husband, and to these there had also been added the fear of sudden +death. +</P> + +<P> +"It ended better than it might have done," said Geoffrey, awkwardly. +"Very sorry, but you must really be careful in using the whip to the +ponies. Shall I get down and bring you some water, Millicent? You +look faint. The fright has made you ill." +</P> + +<P> +"No," Millicent denied. "I am not ill; only startled a little—and +very grateful." Instinctively, she moved a little nearer him when +Geoffrey handed her the reins again. He bent his head and smiled +reassuringly. Millicent was white in the face, and shivered a +little—she was also very pretty, and it would have been unkind not to +try to comfort her. Whether it was love of power, dislike to her +husband, or perhaps something more than this, even the woman was not +then sure, but she took full advantage of the position, and the ponies +walked undirected, while Geoffrey essayed to chase away her fears. He +bent his head lower towards her, and Millicent smiled at him with +apparently shy gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +Lifting his eyes a moment, Geoffrey set his teeth as he met the coldly +indifferent gaze of Helen, who came towards them in company with Mr. +and Mrs. Thomas Savine. Millicent also saw the three Savines, and, +either tempted by jealousy of the girl or by mere vanity, managed to +convey a subtle expression of triumph in her smile of greeting. +Possibly neither Thomas Savine nor Geoffrey would have understood the +meaning of the smile had they seen it, but Helen read it, and it was +with the very faintest bend of her head that she acknowledged +Thurston's salutation. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey was silent after they had driven by, but Millicent, who seemed +to recover her spirits, chatted gayly and even said flattering things +of Miss Savine. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime Helen felt confused, hurt and angry. It was true that she had +rejected Thurston's suit, but she had found his loyalty pleasant, and +had believed implicitly in his rectitude. Now a hot color rose to her +temples as she remembered that it was the second time she had seen him +under circumstances which suggested that he had transferred the homage +offered her to a married woman. She felt the insult as keenly as if he +had struck her. The Dominion had not progressed so far in one +direction as the great republic to the south of it, neither are +friendships or flirtations of the kind looked upon as leniently as they +are in tropical colonies, and there was a good deal of the Puritan in +Helen Savine. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm—just rattled. That's Mrs. Leslie!" remarked Thomas Savine. +"Thurston goes straight and steady, but what in the name of——" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine, whose one weakness was medicine, flashed a warning glance +at him, and hastened to answer, perhaps for the benefit of Helen who +came up just then. +</P> + +<P> +"There is not a straighter man in the Dominion, and one could stake +their last cent on the honor of Geoffrey Thurston," she declared. +"From several things I've heard, I've settled that's just a dangerous +woman." +</P> + +<P> +Helen heard, and, knowing her friendship for the young engineer, +guessed her aunt's motive. The explanation, in any case, would not +have improved the position much, for if the woman were utterly +unprincipled, which she could well believe, why should the man who had, +of his own will, pledged himself to her?—but she flushed again as she +refused to follow that line of thought further. Nevertheless, she +clenched a little hand in a manner that boded ill for Thurston when +next he sought speech with her. Afterwards she endeavored to treat the +incident with complete indifference, and succeeded in deceiving her +uncle only, for in spite of her efforts, her face and carriage +expressed outraged dignity. Her aunt was not in the least deceived, +and her eyes twinkled now and then as she chattered on diverse topics, +while the party drove leisurely towards the city. +</P> + +<P> +When Leslie returned home from his office he found his wife awaiting +him with the disdainful look upon her face which he had learned to hate. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter now, Millicent? Has something upset your usually +pacific temper?" he asked with a sneer. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was the direct answer. "When you last asked my assistance you, +as usual, lied to me. I helped you to trace your—your confederate, +because you told me it was the only way to escape ruin. For once I +believed you, which was blindly foolish of me. I met Mr. Thurston and +learned from him how somebody had plotted to destroy his machinery. He +did not know it was you, and I very nearly told him." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be a fool, Millicent," Leslie admonished. "I'm sick of these +displays of temper—they don't become you. I tell you I plotted +nothing except to get my man into my own hands again. The other +rascals exceeded their orders on their own responsibility. Oh, you +would wear out any poor man's patience! Folks in my position don't do +such childish things as hire people to upset wagons loaded with +machinery." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not believe you," replied Millicent, and Leslie laughed +ironically. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that it greatly matters whether you do or not. Have you +any more such dutiful things to say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just this. One hears of honor among thieves, and it is evident you +cannot rise even to that. You have once more tricked me, and +henceforward I warn you that you must carry on your work in your own +way. Further, if I hear of any more plotting to do Thurston injury, I +shall at once inform him." +</P> + +<P> +"Then," Leslie gripped her arm until his fingers left their mark on the +soft white flesh, "I warn you that it will be so much the worse for +you. Good heavens, why don't you—but go, and don't tempt me to say +what I feel greatly tempted to." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent shook off his grasp, moved slowly away, turning to fling back +a bitter answer from the half-opened door. +</P> + +<P> +"Confound her!" said Leslie, refilling the glass upon the table. "Now, +what the devil tempted me to ruin all my prospects by marrying that +woman?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +REPARATION +</H4> + +<P> +"You will have to go," said Henry Leslie, glancing sharply at his wife +across the breakfast-table as he returned her an open letter which had +lately arrived by the English mail. "I hardly know where to find the +money for your passage out and home just now, and you will want new +dresses—women always seem to. Still, we can't afford to miss an +opportunity, and it may prove a good investment," he added, +reflectively. +</P> + +<P> +Millicent sighed as she took the letter, and, ignoring her husband's +words, read it through again. It had been written by a relative, a +member of the legal profession, and requested her to return at once to +England. The stern old man, who had reared her, was slowly dying, and +had expressed an urgent wish to see her. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that the man who wanted you to marry Thurston, and when you +disappointed him washed his hands of both of you?" Leslie inquired. +"There were reasons why I hadn't the pleasure of duly making the +acquaintance of your relatives, but I think you said he was tolerably +wealthy, and, as he evidently desires a reconciliation, you must do +your best to please him. Let me see. You might catch the next New +York Cunarder or the Allan boat from Quebec." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent looked up at him angrily. She was not wholly heartless, and +her kinsman had not only provided for her after her parents died in +financial difficulties, but in his own austere fashion he had been kind +to her. Accordingly, her husband's comments jarred upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"I should certainly go, even if I had to travel by Colonist car and +steerage," she declared. "I should do so if there were no hope of +financial benefit, which is, after all, very uncertain, for Anthony +Thurston is not the man to change his mind when he has once come to a +determination. The fact that he is dying and asks for me is +sufficient—though it is perhaps useless to expect you to believe it." +</P> + +<P> +"We must all die some day," was the abstracted answer. "Hardly an +original observation, is it? But it would be folly to let such a +chance pass, and I must try to spare you. If you really feel it, I +sympathize with you, and had no intention of wounding your +sensibilities, but as, unfortunately, circumstances force us to +consider these questions practically, you will—well, you will do your +best with the old man, Millicent. To put it so, you owe a duty to me." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie and his wife had by this time learned to see each other's real +self, naked and stripped of all disguise, and the sight was not +calculated to inspire either with superfluous delicacy. The man, +however, overlooked the fact that his partner in life still clung to a +last grace of sentiment, and could, on occasion, deceive herself. +</P> + +<P> +"I owe you a duty! How have you discharged yours to me?" she said, +reproachfully. "Do not force me to oppose you, Harry, but if you are +wise, go around to the depot and find out when the steamers sail." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my dear," Leslie acquiesced with a smile, which he did not mean +to be wholly ironical. "Would it be any use for me to say that I shall +miss you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Millicent, though she returned his smile. "You really +would not expect me to believe you. Still, if only because of the +rareness of such civility, I rather like to hear you say so." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Leslie sailed in the first Cunarder, and duly arrived at a little +station in the North of England where a dogcart was waiting to drive +her to Crosbie Ghyll. She had known the man, who drove it long before, +and he told her, with full details, how Anthony Thurston, having come +down from an iron-working town to visit the owner of the dilapidated +mansion had been wounded by a gun accident while shooting. The wound +was not of itself serious, but the old man's health was failing, and he +had not vitality enough to recover from the shock. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime, while Millicent Leslie was driven across the bleak brown +moorlands, Anthony Thurston lay in the great bare guest-chamber at +Crosbie Ghyll. He had been a hard, determined man, a younger son who +had made money in business, while his brothers died poor, clinging to +the land, and it was with characteristic grimness that he was quietly +awaiting his end. The narrow, deep-sunk window in front of him was +open wide, though the evening breeze blew chilly from the fells, which +rose blackly against an orange glow. Though he manifested no +impatience, the sunset light beating in showed an expectant look in his +eyes. A much younger man sat at a table close by and laid down the pen +he held, when the other said: +</P> + +<P> +"That will do, Halliday. Is there any sign of the dog-cart yet? You +are sure she will come to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is a vehicle of some kind behind the larches, but I cannot see +it clearly," was the answer. "You can rest satisfied, sir, for if Mrs. +Leslie has missed the train, she will arrive early to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow may be too late," said the old man. "I do not feel well +to-night. Yes, she will come. Millicent is like her father, and, +though he ruined himself, it was not because he hadn't a keen eye for +the main chance. Because I was a lonely man and because, in my +struggling days her mother was kind to me, I was fond of her. You +needn't be jealous, Halliday. You will have the winding up of my +estate, and it won't affect your share." +</P> + +<P> +There was a vein of misanthropic irony in most of what Anthony Thurston +said, but the other man had the same blood in him, and answered quickly: +</P> + +<P> +"My own business is flourishing, and I have tried to serve you hitherto +because of the relationship. I have no other reason, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"No," assented Thurston, with something approaching a laugh. "There is +no doubt you are genuine. Millicent took after her father and, in +spite of it, I was fond of her. Tell me again. Did you consider her +happy when you saw her in Canada?" +</P> + +<P> +"As I said before, it is a delicate question, but I did not think so. +Her husband struck me as a particularly poor sample, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! She married the rascal suddenly out of pique, perhaps, when +Geoffrey left her. I could never quite get at the truth of that story, +which, of course, was framed in the conventional way, but even now, +though he's nearer of kin than Millicent, I can't quite forgive +Geoffrey. You saw him, you said, on your last visit to those mines." +</P> + +<P> +The speaker's tone was indifferent, but his eyes shoved keen interest, +and Halliday answered: +</P> + +<P> +"If ever the whole truth came out I don't think you would blame +Geoffrey, sir. Individually, I would take his word against—well, +against any woman's solemn declaration. Yes, I saw him. He was making +a pretty fight single-handed against almost overwhelming natural +difficulties." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" asked Anthony Thurston. "A woman out there, eh? Are you +pleading his cause, Halliday? Remember, if you convince me, he may be +another participant in the property." +</P> + +<P> +"He did not explain all his motives to me, and nobody ever gained much +by attempting to force a Thurston's confidence. If you were not my +kinsman and were in better health I should feel tempted to recommend +you to place your affairs in other hands. Confound the property!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a curious cackle in the sick man's throat, and the flicker of +a smile in his sunken eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I can believe it. You are tarred with the same brush as Geoffrey. +The obstinate fool must go out there with a couple of hundred pounds or +so, when he knew he had only to humor me by marrying Millicent and wait +for prosperity. And yet, in one way, I'm glad he did. He never wrote +me to apologize or explain—still, that's hardly surprising either. I +don't know that any of us ever troubled much about other folks' +opinions or listened to advice. Here am I, who might have lived +another ten years, dying, because, when an officious keeper warned me, +I went the opposite way. I hear wheels, Halliday." +</P> + +<P> +"It is the dogcart," Halliday announced. "Yes—I see Mrs. Leslie." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God!" said the sick man. "Bring her here as soon as she's +ready. Meantime, send in the doctor. I feel worse to-night." +</P> + +<P> +The light was dying fast when Millicent Leslie came softly into the +great bare room, and, for Anthony Thurston had paid for overtaxing his +waning strength, her heart smote her as she looked upon him. She could +recognize the stamp of fast approaching death. There was an unusual +gentleness in his eyes, which brightened at her approach, and with the +exception of Geoffrey, whose sympathy filled her with shame, it was +long since anyone had looked upon her with genuine kindliness. So it +was with real sorrow she knelt beside the bed and kissed him. +</P> + +<P> +"I was shocked to hear of your accident, but it was some time ago, and +you are recovering," she remarked, trying to speak hopefully, but with +a catch in her breath. +</P> + +<P> +"I am dying," was the answer, and Millicent sobbed when the withered +fingers rested on her hair. +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted to see you before I went. I was fond of you, Milly, and +you—you and Geoffrey angered me. It was not your fault," the somewhat +strained voice added wistfully. "He—I don't wish to hurt you, or hear +the stereotyped version he of course endorsed. He left you?" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent Leslie was not wholly evil. She had a softer side, and, in +the moment of reconciliation, dreaded to inflict further pain upon one +to whom she owed much. If the truth was not in her, there was one +thing in her favor, so at least the afterwards tried to convince +herself. Prompted by a desire to soothe a dying man's last hours, she +voluntarily accepted a very unpleasant part. She was thankful her head +was bent as she said: "It was perhaps my fault. I would not—I could +not consent to humor him in what appeared a senseless project—and so +Geoffrey went to Canada." +</P> + +<P> +She felt the old man's hand move caressingly across her hair. "Poor +Millicent," he sympathized. "And you chose another husband. Are you +happy with him out there? But stay, it is twilight and the old place +is gloomy. If you would like them, ask for candles. +Geoffrey—Geoffrey left you!" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent did not desire candles, but gently drew herself away. +Anthony Thurston's tenderness had touched her, and, with sudden +compunction, she remembered that she had deceived a dying man. He +believed her, but she did not wish him to see her face. She drew a +chair towards the bed, and for a moment looked about her, striving to +collect her scattered thoughts. Framed by the stone-ribbed window, the +afterglow still shimmered, a pale luminous green, and one star twinkled +over the black shoulder of Crosbie Fell. Curlews called mournfully +down in the misty mosses, and when she turned her head the sick man's +face showed faintly livid against the darker coverings of the bed. For +a moment she felt tempted to make full confession, or at least excuses +for Geoffrey, but Anthony Thurston spoke again just then and the moment +was lost. +</P> + +<P> +"I asked are you happy in Canada, Millicent," he repeated, and there +was command as well as kindness in his tone. Anthony Thurston, mine +owner and iron works director, was dying, but he had long been a ruler +of stiff-necked men, and the habit of authority still remained with +him. It struck Millicent that he was in many ways very like Geoffrey. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not," she admitted. "I would not have told you if you had not +insisted. It is the result of my own folly, and there is no use +complaining." +</P> + +<P> +Anthony Thurston stretched out a thin, claw-like hand and laid it on +one of her own. "Tell me," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"We are poor. That is, my husband's position is precarious, and it is +a constant struggle to live up to it." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why do you try?" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent sighed as she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"It is, I believe, necessary or he would lose it, while he aims at +obtaining sufficient influence to win him a connection, if he resumed +his former land business." +</P> + +<P> +"From what I know it is a rascally business; but there is more than +this. My time is very short, Millicent, but it seems such a very +little while since a bright-haired girl who atoned for another's injury +sat upon my knee, and for the sake of those days I can still protect +you. Your husband treats you ill?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a vibration in the strained voice which more strongly +reminded the listener of Geoffrey's, and awoke her bitterness against +the man she had married. It was so long since she had taken a living +soul into her confidence, that she answered impulsively: "There is no +use hiding the truth from you. He does not treat me well." +</P> + +<P> +Then she related the story of her married life, and Anthony Thurston +listened gravely, comprehending more than she meant to tell him, for +when she had finished he commented: "You have neither been over loyal +nor over wise—too quick to see the present gain, blind to the greater +one behind—but it is my part to help, not blame you, and I will try to +do so. It is dark now. Please ask for my draught and the candles. +Then I want you to tell me about Geoffrey. You have met him in Canada." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent, retiring, stood for a few minutes looking down from a narrow +window in the bare stone corridor on to the moor. There was no moon, +but the night was luminous, for the stars twinkled with a windy glitter +that was flung back by a neighboring tarn. The call of the curlew +seemed more mournful, the crying of lapwing rose from the meadow land, +and she started at a hollow hoot as an owl swept by on muffled wing. +The night voices filled her with an eerie sensation—there was, she +recollected, always something creepy about Crosbie Ghyll, and, for +Millicent was superstitious, she shivered again at the reflection that +she had cheated a dying man. But she could make partial reparation to +the living at least, and when she came back with the candles there was +resolve in her face. +</P> + +<P> +"You asked me about Geoffrey. He has no reason to be ashamed of his +record in Canada," she said. "I will tell you what I know from the +beginning—and I hope I shall tell it well." +</P> + +<P> +It was a relief to do so, and the story of Geoffrey's struggle and +prospective triumph was a stirring one as it fell from the lips of the +woman who had thrice wronged him. She guessed how her husband's +employers had plotted, having gathered much from the talk of his +guests, and the old man listened eagerly, until he struck the coverlet +when she concluded. Grim satisfaction was stamped upon his twitching +face. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a brave story. I thank you, Millicent; you told it very well. +Ay, the old blood tells—and I was proud of the lad. Went his own way +in spite of me—he is my kinsman, what should I expect of him? +Standing alone for a broken master, with cunning and wealth against him +and his last dollar in the scheme! Quite in keeping with traditions, +and there'll be broken crowns before they beat him down." +</P> + +<P> +The dying man, who had fought perhaps as stubbornly all his life long, +gasped once or twice before he added, "You must go now, Millicent. +Send Halliday to me." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent went out with a throbbing pulse and downcast eyes, and when +the lawyer came in Thurston said: "Read over that partly completed +will." +</P> + +<P> +"Had you not better rest until to-morrow, sir?" was the answer. "Dr. +Maltby warned you——" +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to know by this time that I seldom take a warning, and +to-morrow may be too late. Write, and write quickly. After payment of +all bequests above, balance of real estate to yourself and Forsyth as +trustees, to apply and use for the individual benefit of Millicent +Leslie. If her husband lays hands upon it, I'll haunt you. You have +power to nominate Geoffrey Thurston as your co-trustee. God knows what +may happen, and her rascally husband may get himself shot by somebody +he has swindled some day. What I wished for mightn't follow then? I'm +paying you to make my will and not dictate to me. Repeat it as many +times as may appear necessary to let my meaning show clearly through +your legal phraseology." +</P> + +<P> +"I have got it down, sir," the writer told him presently. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, after deductions enumerated, all my floating investments in +mines, stocks and shares to Geoffrey Thurston, to hold or sell as +pleases him, unconditionally. Bequeathed in the hope that this will +help him to confound his enemies." +</P> + +<P> +It was written, signed and witnessed by Musker and the surgeon, then +Anthony Thurston asked once more and very faintly for Millicent. He +drew her down beside him and took her hand in his thin, gnarled one +before he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I have done my best for you, Milly—and again thank you for the story. +After what Halliday said, it has helped to conquer an old bitterness, +and—for my work is finished—I can die contented. I may be gone +to-morrow, and my strength is spent. Good-by, Milly. God bless you!" +</P> + +<P> +Millicent stooped and kissed him with a sense of shame. Before morning +all power of speech or volition left Anthony Thurston, and twelve hours +later he was dead. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A REPRIEVE +</H4> + +<P> +It was with a heavy heart that Geoffrey Thurston turned over the papers +Thomas Savine spread out before him in the Vancouver offices. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm almost scared to do any more figuring," said Savine. "Money is +going to be uncommonly tight with us, and, to make things worse, I can +neither realize nor borrow. My brother's investments are way below par +now, and the first sign of any weakness would raise up an opposition +that would finish us. I can't stay here forever, and poor Julius is +steadily getting worse instead of better. Are you still certain you +can get the work done before the winter's through?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," asserted Geoffrey. "If I can get the machinery and sufficient +men—which means money. There's a moderate fortune waiting us once we +can run the water out of the valley, and it's worth a desperate effort +to secure it." +</P> + +<P> +"We have made a good many daring moves since my brother gave me his +power of attorney, and I have sunk more of my own money than my +partners, who have backed me pluckily, care about. Still, I can't see +how I'm going to meet your estimate, nohow." +</P> + +<P> +"You have just got to do it," Geoffrey insisted. "It is the part you +chose. At my end, I'll stop for nothing short of manslaughter. We +simply can't afford to be beaten, and we're not going to be." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope not," and Thomas Savine sighed dubiously. "Your assurance is +refreshing, Geoffrey, but I own up I can't see—well, we've done enough +for one day. Come round and spend the evening with me. Mrs. Savine is +anxious to see you." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey hesitated for a few seconds, and Thomas Savine smiled at +something which faintly amused him. Remembering Helen's freezing look +and his occupation when she last saw him, Geoffrey felt that it might +not be pleasant to meet her so soon. Then, because he was a proud man, +he endeavored to accept the invitation with cordiality. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad you will come," said Thomas Savine, with a trace of the dry +humor which occasionally characterized him. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey, who felt that in this instance the pleasure was hardly +mutual, and that Helen might not share it with her uncle, said nothing +further on that subject, until Mrs. Savine met him in the hotel +corridor. A friendship had grown up between them since the day +Geoffrey endured the elixir, after mending the bicycle, and there was a +mischievous amusement in the lady's eyes as she said; "My compliments, +Geoffrey. You are a brave man." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't deserve them, madam. Wherein lies the bravery? Being at +present in perfect health, I have no cause to fear you." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine laughed good-naturedly, then laid her hand upon his arm +with a friendly gesture. "Sober earnest, I am glad you came. I +believe in you, Geoffrey, and like to see a man show the grit that's in +him." +</P> + +<P> +"I am honored," returned Geoffrey, with a little bow. There was a +grateful look in his brown eyes, which did not quail in the slightest +under the lady's scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of her good-will, he, however, derived little pleasure from +that evening of relaxation. Helen showed no open displeasure, but he +was painfully conscious that what she had seen had been a shock to her. +It was impossible for him to volunteer an explanation. He was glad to +retire with Savine and a cigar-box to the veranda, and trying to +console himself with the reflection that he had at least shown no +weakness—he took his leave early. Helen was not present when he bade +Mrs. Savine farewell, but she saw him stride away over the gravel. +Though she would not ask herself why, she felt gratified that he had +not stayed away. +</P> + +<P> +It was some time later when, one day of early winter, he sat in his +wooden shanty, which at that season replaced the tent above the cañon. +Close by English Jim was busy writing, and Geoffrey, gnawing an +unlighted pipe, glanced alternately through the open door at his +hurrying workmen and at the letter from Thomas Savine which he held in +his hand. +</P> + +<P> +The letter expressed a fear that a financial crisis was imminent. +"Tell him he must settle all local bills up to the minute," said +Thurston, throwing it across to his amanuensis. "I daresay the English +makers will wait a little for payment due on machinery. Did you find +that the amount I mentioned would cover the wages through the winter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only just," was the answer. "That is, unless you could cut some of +them a little." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a cent," Geoffrey replied. "The poor devils who risk their lives +daily fully earn their money." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know their wages equal the figure the strikers demanded and you +refused to pay? Summers told me about that dispute, sir," ventured +English Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"The strikers were not prepared to earn higher pay—and that one word, +'demanded,' makes a big difference. Hello! who is the stranger?" +</P> + +<P> +Mattawa Tom was directing a horseman towards the shanty, and Geoffrey, +who watched the newcomer with growing interest, found something +familiar in his face and figure, until he rose up in astonishment when +the man rode nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"Halliday, by all that's wonderful!" he cried. "Uncommonly glad to see +you; but whatever brought you back to this far-off land again?" +</P> + +<P> +"Several things," was the answer, as Halliday, shaking the snow from +his furs, dismounted stiffly. "Strain of overwork necessitated a +change, my doctor told me. Trust estate I'm winding up comprised +doubtful British Columbian mining interests, and last, but not least, +to see you, Geoffrey." +</P> + +<P> +The man's fur coat was open now, and Geoffrey, who glanced at the black +coat beneath it, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you wanted to see me, anyway, but come in. Here, Jake, take +the horse to the stable. Are my sympathies needed, Halliday—any of my +new friends over yonder dead?" +</P> + +<P> +Halliday stared at him blankly. "Haven't you read the letter I sent +you? Do you get no English papers?" he questioned. +</P> + +<P> +"No, to both. I fancy very few people over yonder trouble themselves +as to whether I'm living. How did you address your letter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Orchard City, or was it Orchardville? Mrs. Leslie told me the name of +the postoffice, and I looked it up on a map." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey thrust his guest into a chair. +</P> + +<P> +"That explains it. This is Orchard Valley; the other place is away +across the province, a forlorn hamlet, and some ox-driving postmaster +has no doubt returned your letter. Do you bring bad news? Don't keep +me in suspense." +</P> + +<P> +"Anthony Thurston's dead. Died in your old place, partly the result of +a gun accident," answered Halliday, and Geoffrey sat silent for a +moment. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry—yes, sincerely," he said at last. "I can say it freely, +because, as I daresay you know, I disappointed him, and can in no way +benefit by his death. In fact, he had the power to refuse me what was +morally my right, and no doubt he exercised it. Still, now it's too +late, I feel ashamed that I never tried to patch up the quarrel. Poor +old Anthony!" +</P> + +<P> +Halliday smiled. "You are a better fellow than you often lead folks to +suppose, Geoffrey—and I quite believe you. Such regrets are, however, +generally useless, are they not? In this case especially so, for +Anthony Thurston forgot the quarrel before he died, and sent you his +very good wishes. I see I have a surprise in store. You are a +beneficiary. He has bequeathed you considerably more than your moral +share in the property." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston strode up and down the shanty before he halted. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad that, though perhaps I deserved it, he didn't carry the +bitterness into the grave with him," he declared with earnestness. "We +were too much like each other to get on well, but there was a time when +he was a good friend to me. It's no use pretending I'm not pleased at +what you tell me—it means a great deal to me. But you must be tired +and hungry, and I want to talk by the hour to you." +</P> + +<P> +Halliday did full justice to the meal which the camp cook produced, and +afterwards the two men sat talking until the short winter afternoon had +drawn to a close and the first stars were blinking down on untrodden +snows. Answering a question Halliday said: +</P> + +<P> +"Your share—I'll show you a complete list when I unpack my +things—will, if left invested, provide you with a moderate income for +a single man. Indeed, with your Spartan tastes, you might live in what +you would consider luxury. As usual, however, in such cases, the +securities are not readily marketable, and your interest in some +ventures could hardly be summarily realized at any sacrifice. The +whole is left to you unconditionally, but my advice is decidedly that +you hold on." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," Geoffrey replied, "because even at a sacrifice I intend +to sell. If you're not too tired to listen a little longer, I'll try +to explain why." +</P> + +<P> +Halliday listened gravely. Then he commented: +</P> + +<P> +"As Anthony Thurston said, it is characteristic of you, and it's +possible that he would have approved of what on the surface looks like +folly. He stated that he hoped the bequest would help you to confound +your enemies. But you must act as a business man. You say that, if +you go deeper, your firm might still wind up just solvent; then why not +abandon the apparently hopeless project, and withdraw? Follow your +profession if you must work, or live upon your income. This drainage +scheme looks tolerably desperate on your own showing, and if, selling +at a sacrifice you sink all your new possessions in it, you may be left +utterly cleaned out, a beggar. You have no other relatives likely to +leave you another competence, Geoffrey." +</P> + +<P> +"It can't be helped—or rather I don't want to help it. I've pledged +my word and honor to see this undertaking through, and I mean to redeem +it if it ruins me. Now what were you telling me about Mrs. Leslie?" +</P> + +<P> +Halliday explained for some minutes before he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You are on the spot, and it's your duty to join us. Anthony Thurston +was always eccentric, and has left us a very troublesome charge. Her +husband is not to get at the money, and this discrimination between man +and wife is going to be confoundedly awkward. However, as I'm going to +stay some little time, and if possible shoot a mountain sheep, we can +discuss it at leisure." +</P> + +<P> +Thomas Savine, who came up in a day or two, speedily became good +friends with Halliday. Geoffrey had his work to superintend, and was +suspicious that Halliday seized the opportunity his absence afforded to +explain what appeared to him a sacrifice of Anthony Thurston's legacy. +One evening when Halliday was down in the cañon watching the workmen +toiling in the river, under the lurid blaze of the lucigen, Thomas +Savine said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to talk straight, Geoffrey. Your friend told me the whole +thing, and I agree with his opinion. See here, you are safe for life +if you hold fast to what you have got now—and the Lord knows whether +we will ever be successful in the cañon. Of course the money would +help us, but it isn't sufficient to make victory dead certain, and it +would be a drop in the bucket if we came down with a bang, as we may +very well do. Even considering what's at stake, I couldn't let you +make the plunge without protesting." +</P> + +<P> +"If I had ten times as much, or ten times as little, it would all go +after the rest," replied Geoffrey. "I appreciate your good intentions, +but you can't, and never will, convince me, so there's no use talking. +You will, in the meantime, say not a word to Miss Savine on the +subject." +</P> + +<P> +Next morning Geoffrey said to his guest: +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to write out a telegram to your partner in England. +Yonder's a mounted messenger waiting for it. He's to sell everything +bequeathed to me at the best price he can. You have done your best, +Halliday, and I suppose I ought to be more grateful than I am, but you +see I'm rather fond than otherwise of a big risk. We'll ride over with +Mr. Savine and call upon my partner to-day." +</P> + +<P> +It was late in the afternoon when the two arrived at the ranch which +Savine had rented. It was the nearest dwelling to the camp that could +be rendered comfortable, but lay some distance from it, over a very bad +trail. Helen was not cordial towards Geoffrey, who left her to +entertain Halliday, and slipped away to the room looking down the +valley, where his partner sat with a fur robe wrapped about his bent +shoulders. Savine's face had grown very hollow and his eyes were +curiously dim. +</P> + +<P> +"It was good of you to come, Geoffrey," he said; "How are you getting +on in the cañon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Famously, sir. We are certainly going to beat the river," was the +prompt answer, and remembering the accession of capital, Geoffrey's +cheerfulness was real. "I'm hoping to ask Miss Savine to fire the +final shot some time before the snows melt." +</P> + +<P> +Savine looked at him with a trace of his old keenness, and appeared +satisfied that the speaker believed in his own prediction. Then he +smiled as he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"You do me good, Geoffrey. Good news is better than gallons of +medicine, and when you make such a promise I feel I can trust you. I'm +grateful, but it's mighty trying to lie here helpless while another man +plays out my last and boldest game for me. Lord! what wouldn't I give +for just three months of my old vigor! Still, I'll never be fit again, +and as I must lean on somebody, I'm glad it should be you." +</P> + +<P> +"Lean on me! You have given me the chance of my life, sir. You don't +look quite comfortable there. Let me settle that rug for you," said +Geoffrey, and as with clumsy gentleness he rearranged the sick man's +wrappings, Helen came unobserved into the room. She read the pity +beneath the smile on the younger man's bronze face and noticed how +willingly his hard fingers did their unaccustomed work. Her heart grew +soft towards Geoffrey as she heard her father's sigh of content. The +sight touched, though, for a reason she was ashamed of, it also +troubled her. Unwilling to disturb them, she merely smiled when +Thurston saw her, and found herself a seat in a corner. +</P> + +<P> +"My brain's not so clear as it used to be. No use hiding things. +Why," began Savine, and Geoffrey, who surmised that he had not seen his +daughter, knocked over a medicine bottle with his elbow and spent some +time noisily groping under the table for it. The action might have +deceived one of his own sex, but Helen, who wondered what his motive +was, grew piqued as well as curious. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been worrying over things lately," continued Savine. "There was +one of the rancher's hired men in and he told our folks a mixed story +about a sluice gate bursting. You never mentioned it to me. Now I +have a hazy notion that I made a drawing for a gate one day, when I +was—sick, we'll say. I looked for it afterwards and couldn't find it. +I've been thinking over it considerable lately." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you are very foolish, sir," declared Geoffrey. "Of course, we +have had one or two minor breakages, but nothing we were unable to +remedy. Just now everything is going ahead in the most satisfactory +manner." +</P> + +<P> +Helen, who watched the speaker, decided that he was concealing +something, and also fancied her father did not seem quite satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been wondering whether it was that gate which burst. See here, +Geoffrey, I feel you have had bad trouble; isn't it a little mean not +to tell me? You will remember I'm still Julius Savine—and only a +little while ago there was no man in the province who dared to try to +fool me." +</P> + +<P> +A measure of the speaker's former spirit revealed itself in a clearer +vibration of his voice, and, raising himself in his chair, Savine +became for a moment almost the man he had been. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston had determined to hold his fallen leader's credit safe, not +only before the eyes of others but even in his own, and was doing it to +the best of his ability. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, we have had trouble—lots of it, but nothing we could not +overcome," he repeated. "If everything went smoothly it would grow +monotonous. Still, you can rest perfectly contented, sir, and assist +us with your judgment in the difficult cases. For instance, would you +let me know what you think of these specifications?" +</P> + +<P> +Savine, who seemed to find a childish pleasure in being consulted, +forgot his former anxiety, and Geoffrey, leaving him contented, slipped +out of the ranch, and, finding a sheltered path among the redwoods, +paced to and fro. He was presently surprised to see Helen move out +from among the trees. She had a fur about her shoulders which set off +the finely-chiselled face above it. Nevertheless, for once at least, +he was by no means pleased to see her. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish to ask you a question," she said. "Of course, I have heard +there was an inquiry into the breaking of the sluice, but neither you +nor my uncle thought fit to give me any definite information on the +subject. Unfortunately, my father heard distorted rumors of the +accident, and has been fretting ever since. As you know, this is most +detrimental to his failing health, and, so that I may be the better +able to soothe him I want you to tell me all that happened." +</P> + +<P> +"There is absolutely no cause for uneasiness. As I said, we had one or +two difficulties which may have been vanquished. Your uncle will bear +me out in this," answered Geoffrey, who would have spoken more freely +had he not feared the girl's keenness. Helen's face, which was at +first scornful, grew anxious as she responded: +</P> + +<P> +"I have no doubt he would! In fact, when I asked him he explained with +such readiness that I cannot help concluding you have both conspired to +keep me in the dark. Can you not see that, situated as I am in caring +for an invalid who will not let his mind rest, uncertainty is almost +worse than the knowledge of disaster to me. Will you not tell me +frankly what you fear?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would do anything to drive your fears away." Geoffrey, who felt +helpless beneath the listener's searching eyes, spoke with sympathy in +his voice. "But I can only say again there is very slight cause for +anxiety." +</P> + +<P> +Helen turned half from him, angrily, then she faced round again. "You +are not a good dissembler. If quick at making statements you are not +prepared to substantiate them," she declared. "You would do anything +to dispel my fears—but the one most necessary thing I ask. You have +passed through, or are now facing, a crisis, and though some knowledge +of it would be of great help to me you do not consider me worthy of +your confidence." +</P> + +<P> +"Heaven forbid that I should think so. There is no one more +worthy—but——" Helen checked him with a gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"I desire the simple truth and not indifferent compliments," she said. +"You will not tell it to me, and I will plead with you no further, even +for my father's sake. When will you men learn that a woman's +discretion is at least equal to your own?" With a flash in her eyes, +she added: "How dare you once offer what you did to a woman you had no +trust in?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are almost cruel," Geoffrey answered, clenching his hand as he +mastered his own anger. "Some day, perhaps, you will yet believe I +tried to do what was best. Meantime, since I dare not presume to +resent it, I must try to bear your displeasure patiently." +</P> + +<P> +He might have said more, but that Helen left him abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"It is confoundedly hard. Once strike a certain vein of bad luck and +you can neither get around nor under it, but there's no use +groaning—and what on earth could I have done?" he said to the +whispering firs. +</P> + +<P> +He went back presently to the ranch, and found Helen, who apparently +did not notice his return, chatting with Halliday. When the two men +bade their host farewell, Halliday, who lingered a few minutes, +observed to Thomas Savine: +</P> + +<P> +"I always knew my friend was reckless, but when I spoke as I did I +failed to comprehend what was at once his incentive and justification. +I must thank you for your attempt to aid me, but even against the +dictates of my judgment I can't help sympathizing with him now. If you +don't mind my saying so—because I see you know—I think what he hopes +to win is very well worth the risk." +</P> + +<P> +"I certainly know, and perhaps I am prejudiced in favor of my niece, +but I feel tempted to agree with you," answered Savine. "There are few +better women in the Dominion, but she is wayward, and whether Geoffrey +will ever win her only Heaven knows. Meantime, though we depend so +much upon him, I am often ashamed to let him take his chances with us. +Believe me, I have endeavored to dissuade him." +</P> + +<P> +Halliday smiled. "I am a kinsman of his and know him well," he said. +"It is quite in keeping with traditions that he should be perfectly +willing to ruin himself for a woman, and I am at least thankful that +the woman proves worthy. In this case, however, I venture to hope the +end may be the achievement of prosperity. I generally speak my mind +and hope I have not offended you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE ULTIMATUM +</H4> + +<P> +Winter creeping down from the high peaks held the whole valley fast in +its icy grip when Mrs. Thomas Savine, who was seldom daunted by the +elements, went up from Vancouver to persuade her niece to seek +sheltered quarters on the sunny coast until spring. Her visit was, +however, in this respect a failure, for Julius Savine insisted upon +remaining within touch of the reclamation works. Though seldom able to +reach them, he looked eagerly forward to Geoffrey's brief visits, which +alone seemed to arouse him from his lethargy. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine and Helen sat in the general living-room at the ranch one +day when her brother-in-law came in leaning heavily upon his partner's +arm. Geoffrey had set his carpenters to build a sleigh, and from one +hill shoulder bare of timber it was possible, with good glasses, to see +what went on in the cañon. Savine was listening with evident +satisfaction to the tall, frost-bronzed man who led him towards the +room that he delighted to call his office, and Mrs. Savine, noticing +it, smiled gratefully upon Geoffrey. Worn by anxious watching, Helen +was possibly a little out of humor that afternoon, and the sight awoke +within her a certain jealousy. She had done her best, and had done it +very patiently, but she had failed to arouse her father to the +animation he showed in Geoffrey's presence. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't felt so well since I saw you last," observed Savine, +oblivious for the moment of his daughter. "You won't fail to come back +as soon as ever you can—say the day after to-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey glanced towards Helen, who made no sign, and Mrs. Savine +noticed that for a moment his face clouded. Then, as he turned towards +his partner, he seemed to make an effort, and his expression was +confident again. +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid I cannot leave the works quite so often. Yes—we are +progressing at least as well as anyone could expect," he said. "I will +come and consult you whenever I can. In fact, there are several points +I want your advice upon." +</P> + +<P> +"Come soon," urged Savine, with a sigh. "It does me good to talk to +you—after the life I've lived, this everlasting loafing comes mighty +hard to me. I believe once I knew we were victorious I could let go +everything and die happy." +</P> + +<P> +Helen heard, and, overwrought as she was by nights of assiduous care, +the speech both pained and angered her. Geoffrey's answer was not +audible, as they passed on. He came back alone, off his guard for a +moment, looking worn and weary, and Mrs. Savine said: +</P> + +<P> +"You are tired, Geoffrey, and if you don't appear more lively next time +I will attend to you. No—don't get scared. It is not physic I'm +going to prescribe now. Take this lounge and just sit here where it's +cosy. Talk to Helen and me until supper's ready." +</P> + +<P> +Thurston had been crawling over ice-crusted rocks and wading knee-deep +in water most of the preceding night. The chair stood temptingly +between the two ladies and near the stove. He glanced towards it and +Helen longingly. Some impulse tempted the girl to say: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Thurston has usually so little time to spare that it would be +almost too much to hope that he could devote an hour to us." +</P> + +<P> +The tone was ironical, and Geoffrey, excusing himself, went out. He +sighed as he floundered down the snow-cumbered trail. There was +indignation in the elder lady's voice as she declared: +</P> + +<P> +"I am ashamed of you, Helen. The poor man came in too late, for +dinner, and he must be starving. If you had just seen how he looked at +you! You'd feel mean and sorry if they found him to-morrow frozen hard +in the snow." +</P> + +<P> +Helen could not fancy Geoffrey overcome by such a journey because he +had missed two meals, and she smiled at her aunt's dismal picture, +answering her with a flippancy which increased the elder lady's +indignation, "Mr. Thurston is not a cannibal, auntie." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't figure why you are fooling with that man if you don't want +him," said Mrs. Savine. "Oh, yes; you're going to sit here and listen +to some straight talking. Isn't he good enough for you?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen's face was flushed with angry color. "You speak with unpleasant +frankness, but I will endeavor to answer you," she responded. "I have +told Mr. Thurston—that is, I have tried to warn him that he was +expecting the impossible, and what more could I do? He is my father's +partner, and I cannot refuse to see him. I——" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine, leaning forward, took her niece's hands in her own, saying +gravely, "Are you certain it is quite impossible?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Helen looked startled, and her eyes fell. Then, raising +her head, she answered: "Have I not told you so? I have been anxious +about my father lately and do not feel myself to-day. Surely you have +no wish further to torment me." +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I mean to finish what I have to say. Do you know all that man +is doing for you? He has——" But Mrs. Savine ceased abruptly, +remembering she had in return for her husband's confidence promised +secrecy. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I think I know everything," replied Helen, with something +suspiciously like a sob, while her aunt broke her pledge to the extent +of shaking her head with a gesture of negation. "It—it makes it worse +for me. I dare not bid him go away, and I grow horribly ashamed +because—because it hurts one to be conscious of so heavy a debt. +Besides, he is consoling himself with Mrs. Leslie!" +</P> + +<P> +"Geoffrey Thurston would be the last man to consider you owed him +anything, and as to Mrs. Leslie—pshaw! It's as sure as death, +Geoffrey doesn't care two bits for her. He would never let you feel +that debt, my dear, but the debt is there. From what Tom has told me +he has declined offer after offer, and you know that, if he carries +this last scheme through, the credit and most of the money will fall to +your father." +</P> + +<P> +"I know." The moisture gathered in Helen's eyes. "I am grateful, very +grateful—as I said, ashamed, too; but my father comes first. I tried +to warn Geoffrey, but he would not take no. I feel almost frightened +sometimes lest he will force me to yield against my will, but you know +that would be a wrong to him—and what can I do?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen, unclasping her hands from her aunt's, looked straight before +her, and Mrs. Savine answered gently: "Not that. No—if you can't like +him it would not be fair to him. Only try to be kind, and make quite +sure it is impossible. It might have been better for poor Geoffrey if +he had never mixed himself up with us. You, with all your good points, +are mighty proud, my dear, but I have seen proud women find out their +mistake when it was too late to set things straight. Wait, and without +the help of a meddlesome old woman, it will perhaps all come right some +day." +</P> + +<P> +"Auntie," said Helen, looking down, some minutes later. "Though you +meant it in kindness, I am almost vexed with you. I have never spoken +of these things to anyone before, and though it has comforted me, you +won't remind me—will you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." The older woman smiled upon the girl. "Of course not! But you +are pale and worried, and I believe that there is nothing that would +fix you better than a few drops of the elixir. I think I sent you a +new bottle." +</P> + +<P> +Then, though her eyes were misty, Helen laughed outright, as she +replied: +</P> + +<P> +"It was very kind of you, but I fear I lost the bottle, and have wasted +too much time over my troubles. What can I tempt my father with for +supper?" +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +When Geoffrey returned to camp, Halliday, who had arrived that day from +Vancouver, had much to tell him. +</P> + +<P> +"I've sold your English property, and the value lies to your credit in +the B. O. M. agency. All you have to do is to draw upon your account," +he said. "As you intend to sink the money in these works I can only +wish you the best of good luck. Now, I'm starting for home to-morrow, +and there's the other question—how to protect the interests of Mrs. +Leslie. Anthony Thurston made a just will, and her share, while enough +to maintain her, is not a large one, but I don't see yet just how it's +to be handled. It was the testator's special wish that you should join +the trustees, and that her husband should not lay his hands upon a +dollar. From careful inquiries made in Vancouver, I judge he's a +distinctly bad lot. Anyway, you'll have to help us in the meantime, +Geoffrey, and in opening a small bank account I made your signature +necessary on every check." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a confoundedly unpleasant position under the circumstances. What +on earth could my kinsman have been thinking of when he forced it upon +me of all men?" Geoffrey responded with a rueful face. "Still, I owe +him a good deal, and suppose that I must cheerfully acquiesce to his +wishes." +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot take upon myself to determine what the testator thought," was +the dry answer. "He said the estimable Mr. Leslie might either shoot +or drink himself to death some day. The late Anthony Thurston was a +tenacious person, and you must draw your own conclusions." +</P> + +<P> +"If there was one thing which more than another tempted me to refuse +you every scrap of assistance it was the conclusion I arrived at," said +Geoffrey. "However, I'll try to keep faith with the dead man, and +Heaven send me sense sufficient to steer clear of difficulties." +</P> + +<P> +"I can trust your honesty any way," remarked Halliday. "There's a +heavy load off my mind at last. You are a good fellow, Geoffrey, and, +excuse the frankness, even in questions beyond your usual scope not so +simple as you sometimes look." +</P> + +<P> +A day or two before this conversation took place, Henry Leslie, sitting +at his writing-table in the villa above the inlet, laid down his pen +and looked up gratefully at his wife, who placed a strip of stamped +paper before him. Millicent both smiled and frowned as she noticed how +greedily his fingers fastened upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"It is really very good of you. You don't know how much this draft +means to me," he said. "I wish I needn't take it, but I am forced to. +It's practically the whole of the first dole your skinflint trustee +made you, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is a large share," was the answer. "Almost a year's allowance, and +I'm going to pay off our most pressing debts with the rest. But I am +glad to give it to you, Harry, and we must try to be better friends, +and keep on the safe side after this." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope we shall," replied the man, who was touched for once. "It's +tolerably hard for folks like us, who must go when the devil drives, to +be virtuous, but I got hold of a few mining shares, which promise to +pay well now, for almost nothing; and if they turn up trumps, I'd feel +greatly tempted to throw over the Company and start afresh." +</P> + +<P> +He hurriedly scribbled a little note, and Millicent turned away with a +smile that was not far from a sigh. She had returned from England in a +repentant mood, and her husband, whose affairs had gone smoothly, was +almost considerate, so that, following a reconciliation, there were +times when she cherished an uncertain hope that they might struggle +back to their former level. It was on one of the occasions when their +relations were not altogether inharmonious that she had promised to +give him a draft to redeem the loan Director Shackleby held like a whip +lash over him. Had Leslie been a bolder man, it is possible that his +wife's aspirations might have been realized, for Millicent was not +impervious to good influences. +</P> + +<P> +Unfortunately for her, however, a free-spoken man called Shackleby, who +said that he had been sent by his colleagues who managed the Industrial +Enterprise Company, called upon Thurston and Savine together in their +city offices. He came straight to the point after the fashion of +Western business men. +</P> + +<P> +"Julius Savine has rather too big a stake in the Orchard Valley for any +one man," he said. "It's ancient history that if, as usual with such +concerns as ours, we hadn't been a day or two too slow, we would have +held the concessions instead of him. Neither need I tell you about the +mineral indications in both the reefs and alluvial. Now we saw our way +to rake a good many dollars out of that valley, but when Savine got in +ahead we just sat tight and watched him, ready to act if he found the +undertaking too big for him. It seems to me that has happened, which +explains my visit to-day. We might be open to buy some of those +conditional lands from you." +</P> + +<P> +"They may never be ours to sell, though I hope for the contrary," +Geoffrey replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly," said the other. "That is why we're only ready to offer you +out-district virgin forest value for the portions colored blue in this +plan. In other words, we speculate by advancing you money on very +uncertain security." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey laughed after a glance at the plan. "You have a pretty taste! +After giving you all the best for a tithe of its future value, where do +we come in?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the rest," declared Shackleby, coolly. "We would pay down the +money now, and advance you enough on interest to place you beyond all +risks in completing operations. Though you might get more for the +land, without this assistance, you might get nothing, and it will be a +pretty heavy check. I suppose I needn't say it was not until lately +that we decided to meet you this way." +</P> + +<P> +"By your leave!" broke in Thomas Savine, who had been scribbling +figures on a scrap of paper, which he passed to Geoffrey. It bore a +few lines scrawled across the foot of it: "Value absurdly low, but it +might be a good way to hedge against total loss, and we could level up +the average on the rest. What do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey grasped a pen, and the paper went back with the brief answer, +"That it would be a willful sacrifice of Miss Savine's future." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose we refuse?" he asked, and Shackleby stroked his mustache +meditatively before he made answer: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think that would be foolish? You see, we were not unanimous +by a long way on this policy, and several of our leaders agree with me +that we had better stick to our former one. It's a big scheme, and +accidents will happen, however careful one may be. Then there's the +risk of new conditions being imposed upon you by the authorities. +Besides, you have a time limit to finish in, and mightn't do it, +especially without the assistance we could in several ways render you. +You can't have a great many dollars left either—see?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do," said Geoffrey, with an ominous glitter in his eyes. "You +needn't speak more plainly. Accidents, no doubt of the kind you refer +to, have happened already. They have not, however, stopped us yet, and +are not going to. I, of course, appreciate your delicate reference to +your former policy; I conclude it was your policy individually. I +don't like threats, even veiled ones, and nobody ever succeeded in +coercing me. Accordingly, when we have drained it, we'll sell you all +the land you want at its market value. You can't have an acre at +anything like the price you offer now." +</P> + +<P> +"That's your ultimatum. Yes? Then I'm only wasting time, and hope you +won't be sorry," returned Shackleby. When he went out Geoffrey turned +to Thomas Savine. +</P> + +<P> +"A declared enemy is preferable to a treacherous ally," he observed +dryly. "That man would never have kept faith with us." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," was the answer. "Of course, he's crooked, but he has +his qualities. Anyway, I'd sooner trust him than the invertebrate +crawler, Leslie." +</P> + +<P> +A day or two later Shackleby called upon Leslie in his offices and with +evident surprise received the check Millicent had given to her husband. +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't in any hurry. Have some of your titled relatives in the old +country left you a fortune?" he inquired ironically. +</P> + +<P> +"No," was the answer. "My folks are mostly distinctly poor commoners. +I, well—I have been rather fortunate lately." +</P> + +<P> +"Here's your receipt," said Shackleby, with an embarrassing stare, +adding when Leslie, after examining it carefully, thrust the paper into +the glowing stove, "Careful man! Nobody is going to get ahead of you, +but can't you see that blame paper couldn't have made a cent's worth of +difference between you and me. Well, if you still value your +connection with the Company, I have something to tell you. That +infernal idiot Thurston won't hear of making terms, and, as you know, +there's a fortune waiting if we can corral the valley." +</P> + +<P> +"I can see the desirability, but not the means of accomplishing it," +replied Leslie. +</P> + +<P> +"No!" and the speaker glanced at him scornfully. "Well, Thurston must +finish by next summer, or his conditional grants are subject to +revision, while it's quite plain he can only work in the cañon in +winter. Something in the accident line has got to happen." +</P> + +<P> +"It failed before." Shackleby laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with trying again, and keeping on trying? I've got +influence enough to double your salary if Thurston doesn't get through. +It will be tolerably easy, for this time I don't count on trusting too +much to you. I'll send you along a man and you'll just make a bet with +him—we'll fix the odds presently and they'll be heavy against us—that +Thurston successfully completes the job in the cañon. The other man +bets he doesn't. When it appears judicious we'll contrive something to +draw Thurston away for a night or two." +</P> + +<P> +"But if you know the man, and it's so easy, why not make the bet +yourself?" Shackleby smiled pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I'm not secretary hoping to get my salary doubled and a land +bonus. There are other reasons, but I don't want to hurt your feelings +any more than I wish to lacerate those of my worthy colleagues. +They'll ask no questions and only pass a resolution thanking you for +your zealous services. Nothing is going to slip up the wrong way, but +if it did you could only lose your salary, and I'd see you safe on the +way to Mexico with say enough to start a store, and you would be no +worse off than before, because I figure you'd lose the berth unless you +chip in with me." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie realized that this might well be so, but he made a last attempt. +"Suppose in desperation I turned round on you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd strike you for defamation and conspiracy, publish certain facts in +your previous record, and nobody would believe you, or dare to say so. +Besides, you haven't got grit enough in you by a long way, and that's +why I'm taking your consent for granted. By the way, I forgot to +mention that confounded Britisher raked an extra hundred dollars out of +me. Said I'd got to pay for his traveling and hotel expenses. I'm not +charging you, Leslie, and you ought to feel grateful to me." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AN UNEXPECTED ALLY +</H4> + +<P> +Winter was drawing towards its close at last, when, on the evening of a +day in which the result of a heavy blasting charge had exceeded his +utmost expectations, Geoffrey Thurston stood beside his foreman in his +workmen's mess shanty. Tin lamps hung from the beams blackened with +smoke, and sturdy men were finishing their six o'clock supper beneath +them. The men were the pick of the province, for, until tempted by the +contractor's high wages, most of them had been engaged in laying the +foundations of its future greatness by wresting new spaces for corn and +cattle from the forest. They ate, as they worked, heroically. The +supper was varied and bountiful, for Geoffrey, who was conscious of a +thrill of pride as he glanced down the long rows of weather-beaten +faces, fed his workmen well. They had served him faithfully through +howling gale and long black night, under scorching sun and bitter +frost, and now that the result of that day's operations had brought the +end of the work in sight, there was satisfaction in the knowledge that +he had led such men. +</P> + +<P> +"They're a fine crowd, Tom, and I'll be sorry to part with them," he +said. "It's hard to believe, after all we have struggled with, that +less than three weeks will see us through, but I'd give many dollars +for every hour we can reduce the time by. Send for a keg of the +hardest cider and I'll tell them so." +</P> + +<P> +There was applause when the keg was lifted to the table with its head +knocked in. Geoffrey, who had filled a tin dipper, said: "Here's my +best thanks for the way you have backed me, boys. Since they carried +the railroad across Beaver Creek, few men in the province have grappled +as you have with a task like this; but it's sometimes just possible to +go a little better than what looks like one's best, and I'm asking as a +favor from all of you that you will redouble your efforts. I estimate +that we'll finish this tough section in eighteen days from now, but I +want the work done in less time, and accordingly I'll promise a bonus +to every man if we can fire the last big shot a fortnight from to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Stan' by!" shouted a big section foreman, as he hove himself upright. +"Fill every can up an' wait until I've finished. Now, Mr. Thurston, +I'm talking for the rest. You've paid us good wages, an' we've earned +them, every cent, though that wasn't much to our credit, for Tom from +Mattawa saw we did. Still, even dollars won't buy everything, and what +you can't pay us for we're ready to give. If flesh an' blood can do +it, a fortnight will see us through, an' the next contract you take, if +it's to wipe out the coast range or run off the Pacific, we're coming +along with you. I've nailed you to the bargain, boys, an' here's—The +Boss, victorious, an' to —— with his bonus!" +</P> + +<P> +The long shanty rang to the roar that followed, and, when it died away, +Geoffrey, who set down his can, turned to his foreman. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is the little man next to Walla Jake?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"An old partner of his from Oregon. Came in one day when you were +away, and, as Jake allowed he was a square man, I took him on. Found +him worth his money, and fancied I'd told you." +</P> + +<P> +"You did not," said Geoffrey. "Jake's quite trustworthy, but watch the +stranger well. No doubt he's honest, but I'm getting nervous now we're +so near the end." +</P> + +<P> +The foreman answered reassuringly, and Geoffrey, who turned away, rode +beneath the snow-sprinkled firs to Savine's ranch. It was late when he +reached it, but his partner and Helen were expecting him. Savine +sighed with satisfaction when Geoffrey said: +</P> + +<P> +"In all probability we shall fire the decisive shot a fortnight from +to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"It is great news," replied Julius Savine. "As I have said already, it +was a lucky day for me—and mine—when I first fell in with you. Two +more anxious weeks and then the suspense will be over and I can +contentedly close my career. Lord! it will be well worth the living +for—the consummation of the most daring scheme ever carried out in the +Mountain Province. I won't see your next triumph, Geoffrey, but it can +hardly be greater than this you have won for me." +</P> + +<P> +"You exaggerate, sir," said Geoffrey. "It was you who won the +concession and overcame all the initial difficulties, while we would +never have gone so far without your assistance. Such a task would have +been far beyond me alone." +</P> + +<P> +"No—though it is good of you to say so. There were times when I tried +to fancy I was running the contract, but that was just a sick man's +craze. You have played out the game well and bravely, Geoffrey, as +only a true man could. Perhaps Helen will thank you—just now I don't +feel quite equal to it." +</P> + +<P> +Savine's voice broke a little, and he glanced at Helen, who sat very +still with downcast eyes. Geoffrey also looked at her for a second, +and his elation was tinged with bitterness. He could see that she was +troubled, and, with a pang of sudden misgiving, he watched her +anxiously. Without the one prize he had striven for, the victory would +be barren to him. Still, he desired to save her embarrassment, and +when she raised her head to obey her father, he broke in: +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Savine can place me under an obligation by firing the fateful +charge instead. It was her first commission which brought good luck to +me, and it is only fitting she should complete the result of it by +turning the firing key." +</P> + +<P> +Helen's eyes expressed her gratitude, as, consenting, she turned them +upon the speaker. Geoffrey rising to the occasion, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever hear the story of the first contract I undertook in +British Columbia, sir? May I tell it to your father, Miss Savine?" +</P> + +<P> +Helen was quick to appreciate his motive, and allowed him to see it. +While, seizing the opportunity to change the subject, Geoffrey told the +story whimsically. Humor was not his strong point, but he was capable +of brilliancy just then. Julius Savine laughed heartily, and when the +tale was finished all had settled down to their normal manner. When +Geoffrey took his leave, however, Helen followed him to the veranda, +and held out her hand. She stood close to him with the moonlight full +upon her, and it was only by an effort that the man who gripped the +slender fingers, conquered his desire to draw her towards him. Helen +never had looked so desirable. Then he dropped her hand, and stood +impassively still, waiting for what she had to say. +</P> + +<P> +"I could not thank you before my father, but neither could I let you go +without a word," she said, with a quiet composure which, because she +must have guessed at the struggle within him, was the badge of courage. +"You have won my undying gratitude, and——" +</P> + +<P> +"That is a great deal, very well worth the winning," he responded. "It +will be one pleasant memory to carry away with me." +</P> + +<P> +"To carry with you! You are not going away?" asked Helen, with an +illogical sense of dismay, which was not, however, in the least +apparent. She knew that any sign of feeling would provoke the crisis +from which she shrank. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," declared Geoffrey. "Once this work is completed, I shall seek +another field." +</P> + +<P> +"You must not!" Though her voice was strained, Helen, who dared not do +otherwise, looked him steadily in the eyes. "You must not go. Now, +when, if you stay in the Province, fame and prosperity lie within your +grasp you will not overwhelm me by adding to the knowledge of all I +have robbed you of. It is hard for me to express myself plainly—but I +dare not take this from you, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you not guess how hard it all is for me?" He strode a few paces +apart from her while the words fell from his lips. Then he halted +again and turned towards her. +</P> + +<P> +"I had not meant to distress you—but how can I go on seeing you so +near me, hearing your voice, when every word and smile stir up a +longing that at times almost maddens me? What I have done I did for +you, and did it gladly, but this new command I cannot obey. Fame and +prosperity! What are either worth to me when the one thing I would +sell my life for is, you have told me, not to be attained?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," faltered Helen, whose breath came faster. "More sorry +than I can well express. I dare not ruin a bright future for you. Is +there nothing I can say that will prevent you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only one thing," Geoffrey moving nearer looked down upon her until his +gaze impelled Helen to lift her eyes. There was no longer any trace of +passion in his face, which in spite of its firm lines had grown gentle. +</P> + +<P> +"Only one thing," he repeated. "Please listen—it is necessary, even +if it hurts you. I cannot blame you for my own folly, but my love is +incurable. You are a dutiful daughter, with an almost exaggerated idea +of justice, and I know the power circumstances give me. Still, I am so +covetous that I must have all or nothing; I love you so that I dare not +use the advantage chance has given me. Nevertheless, I will not +despair even yet, and some day when, perhaps, absence has hidden some +of my many shortcomings, I will come back and beg speech with you." +</P> + +<P> +"You are very generous." The words vibrated with sincerity. +"Once—always—I have cruelly wronged you——" but here Geoffrey raised +his hand and looked at the girl with a wry smile that had no mirth in +it. +</P> + +<P> +"You have never wronged me, Miss Savine. Once you spoke with a +marvelous accuracy, and I am not generous, only so unusually wise that +you must have inspired me. I cannot be content with less than the +best, and what that is—again, if I am brutal you must remember I +cannot help my nature—I will tell you." +</P> + +<P> +He stooped, and, before she realized his intentions, deftly caught +Helen's hands in each of his own, tightening his grip on them +masterfully, until he forced her to look up at him. Helen trembled as +she met his eyes. The man had spoken no more than the truth when he +said he could not help his nature, and, suddenly transformed, it was +the former Geoffrey Thurston she had shrunk from who held her fast. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I am wise. I know I could bend you to my will now, and that +afterwards you would hate me for it," he told her. "I—I would not +take you so, not if you came to me. Further, for we have dropped all +disguises, and face the naked truth, I have striven, and starved, and +suffered for you, risked my life often—and you shall not cheat me of +my due, which alone is why, because my time is not come yet, I shall go +away. The one reward that will satisfy me is this, that of your own +will you will once more hold my hands and say, 'I love you, Geoffrey +Thurston,' and I can wait with patience—for you will come to me thus +some day." +</P> + +<P> +He bent his head; and Helen felt her heart leap; but it was only her +fingers upon which his lips burned hot. The next moment he had gone, +while leaning breathless against the balustrade she gazed after him. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey did not glance behind him until, when some distance from the +ranch, he reined his horse in, and wiped his forehead. He had yielded +at last to an uncontrollable impulse which was perhaps part of his +inheritance from the old moss troopers, who had carried off their +brides on the crupper. As he walked his horse, a muffled beat of hoofs +came up the trail, and he fancied he heard a voice say: "The +twentieth—I'll be ready." +</P> + +<P> +Then a mounted figure appearing for a moment, vanished among the firs. +Geoffrey, turning back to camp, noticed that beside the hollows the +hoofs had made, there was the print of human feet in the powdery snow. +</P> + +<P> +"There is nothing to bring any rancher down this way, and a man must +have walked beside the rider," he speculated. "Who on earth could it +be?" Dismissing the incident from his mind, he went on his way. It +was only afterwards that the significance of the footprints became +apparent. +</P> + +<P> +There was a light in Geoffrey's quarters when at last he approached +them, and the foreman met him at the door. "That blame waster, Black, +has come back. Rode in quietly after dark, and none of the boys have +set eyes on him," he said; and, noting his master's surprise, he added +with a chuckle, "I put him in there for safety, and waited right here +to take care of him." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey went into the shanty, carefully closed the door, and turned +somewhat sternly upon the visitor. Black's outer appearance suggested +a degree of prosperity, but his face was anxious as he said, "I guess +you're surprised to see me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am," was the answer. "In view of the fact that it is my duty to +hand you over to the nearest magistrate, my surprise is hardly +astonishing." +</P> + +<P> +"No," agreed Black, "it is not. Still, I don't think you'll surrender +me. Anyway, you've got to listen to a little story first. You didn't +hear the whole of it last time. I figure I can trust you to do the +square thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Be quick, then." Geoffrey leaned against the table while his visitor +began: +</P> + +<P> +"You've heard of the Blue Bird mine, and how one of the men who +relocated the lapsed claim was found in the river with a gash, which a +rock might have made, in the back of his head? Of course you have. +Well, it was me and Bob Morgan who located the Blue Bird. Morgan was a +good prospector, but the indications were hazy, and he got drunk when +he could. I knew mighty little of minerals, and we done nothing with +it until the time to put in our legal improvements was nearly up. Then +Morgan struck rich pay ore, and we worked night and day. But we +weren't quite quick enough—one night two jumpers pulled our stakes up. +Oh, yes, they had the law behind them, for says the Crown, 'Unless +you've developed your claim within the legal limit, it lapses; and any +free miner can relocate.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Come to the point," said Thurston. "I'm sleepy." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm coming," Black continued; "Morgan had no grit. He got on to the +whiskey, and talked about shooting himself. I swore I'd shoot the +first of the other crowd who set foot on the claim instead, and half +the boys who started driving pegs all round us heard me. There was a +doubt as to whether the jumpers had hit the time putting their stakes +in, and the boys were most for me, but as usual the thieves had a man +with money behind them. His name was Shackleby." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! I begin to understand things now," said Geoffrey. +</P> + +<P> +"I was sitting alone in my tent at night when one of them jumpers came +in," Black went on, unheeding. "All the rest were sleeping, and the +bush was very still. He'd a roll of dollar bills to give me if I'd +light out quietly. Said I'd nothing to stand on, but the man behind +him didn't want to figure in the papers if it went to court. Well, I +wouldn't take the money, and ran him out of my tent. When he touched +his pistol, I had an ax in my hand, and it was a poor man's luck that +one of the boys must come along. When he'd slouched off, I began to +hanker for the money, went after the jumper to see if I could raise his +price, missed him and came back again, but I struck his tracks in the +mud beside a creek, with another man's hoof-marks behind them. Well, +next morning that jumper was found in the river with no money in his +wallet, and the boys looked black at me until I had an interview with +Mr. Shackleby. He'd fixed the whole thing up good enough to hang me, +and nailed me down to blame hard terms as the price of my liberty. +You're getting tired—no? Shackleby got the Blue Bird, and kept his +claws on me until his man, Leslie, sent me up to bust your machines; +but Shackleby has worn me thin, until I'm ready to stand my trial +sooner than run any more of his mean jobs for him; and now, to cut the +long end off, do you believe me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think I do," replied Geoffrey. "What made you bolt from here, and +what do you want from me? Is it the same promise as before?" +</P> + +<P> +Black related the incidents of his abduction. He raised his right hand +with a dramatic gesture as he concluded: +</P> + +<P> +"As I have been a liar, this is gospel truth, s'help me. Whoever +killed that jumper—and I figure Shackleby knows—it wasn't me. The +night you fished me out of the river I said, 'Here's a man with sand +enough to stand right up to Shackleby,' and I'll make a deal with you." +</P> + +<P> +"The terms?" said Geoffrey. +</P> + +<P> +"Rather better than before. On your part, a smart lawyer to take my +case if Shackleby sets the police on me. On mine—with you behind me, +I can tell a story that will bring two Companies down on Shackleby. +What brought me to the scratch now was, that I read in <I>The Colonist</I> +that you'd be through shortly, and I guessed Shackleby's insect, +Leslie, would have another shot at you. I'm open to take my chances of +hanging to get even with them." +</P> + +<P> +The mingled fear and hatred in the speaker's face was certainly +genuine, and Geoffrey said briefly: "If I thought you guilty, I'd slip +irons on to you. As it is, I'm willing to close that deal. You'll +have to take my word and lie quiet, until you're wanted, where I hide +you." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that is good enough for me," Black declared exultantly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MILLICENT'S REVOLT +</H4> + +<P> +"I really feel mean over it, and, of course, I will pay you back, but +unless I get the money to meet the call, I shall have to sacrifice the +stock," said Henry Leslie, glancing furtively at his wife across the +breakfast-table. +</P> + +<P> +Leslie was seldom at his best in the morning, but he seemed unusually +nervous, and the coffee-cup shook in his fingers as he raised it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the last I'll ask you for," he continued, "and if you press him, +Thurston will sign the check. He said he was coming, did he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was the answer. "Here is his note. It must be the last, Harry, +for I have overdrawn my allowance already. You will notice that +Geoffrey hesitates, and will not sign the check without seeing me. He +will be here on Thursday." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie took the letter with an eagerness which did not escape his wife, +while, as the sum in question was small, she could not quite understand +the satisfaction in his face. It had grown soddened and coarse of +late, and there were times when she looked upon her husband with +positive disgust. Still, she had, in spite of occasional disputes, +resumed her efforts to play the part of a dutiful wife, and it was +easier to pay her husband money than respect, the more so because he +had usually some specious excuse, which appealed both to her ambition +and her gambling instinct. At times he handed her small amounts of +money, said to be her share of the profits on speculations, for which +he required the loans. +</P> + +<P> +"'Pressure of work, but must make an effort to see you as you +suggest,'" Leslie read aloud. "H'm! 'Limit exceeded already. Will be +in town, and try to call upon you on Thursday.'" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"It is very good of him," remarked Millicent. "He evidently finds +every minute precious, and I am very reluctant to bring him here. I +gather that, except for my request, he would have deferred his other +business. Still, I suppose you must have the money, Harry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I must," was the answer, and Leslie, who did not look up, busied +himself with his plate. "Better write that you expect him, and I will +post the note. By the way, I must remind you that we take the Eastern +Fishery delegates on their steamer trip the day after to-morrow, and +though there may be rather a mixed company, I want you to turn out +smartly, and get hold of the best people. It would be well to see a +mention of the handsome Mrs. Leslie in the newspaper report." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent frowned. She was a vain woman, but she had some genuine +pride, and there were limits to her forbearance. By the time her +husband had induced her to withdraw her refusal to accompany him, it +was too late further to discuss Thurston's visit, which was exactly +what Leslie desired. Accordingly, well pleased with himself, he set +out for his office, with a letter in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Leslie had reason to remember the steamer excursion. A party of +prominent persons had been invited to accompany the Fishery delegates +on the maritime picnic, organized for the purpose of displaying the +facilities that coast afforded for the prosecution of a new industry. +It was difficult for the committee to draw a rigid line, and the +company was decidedly mixed, more so than even Millicent at first +surmised. Her husband, who acted as marshal, was kept busy most of the +time, but she noticed a swift look of annoyance on his face when, +before the steamer sailed, a tastefully-dressed young woman ascended +the gangway, where he was receiving the guests. There was nothing +dubious in the appearance of the lady or her elderly companion, and yet +Millicent felt that Leslie was troubled by their presence, and +hesitated to let them pass. The younger lady, however, smiled upon him +in a manner that suggested they had met before, and Leslie stood aside +when Shackleby beckoned him with what looked like an ironical grin. +Then the gangway was run in, and the engines started. +</P> + +<P> +It was a mild day for the season, and Millicent, who found friends, +dismissed the subject from her thoughts, when she saw her husband +exchange no word with his latest guests. She was sitting with a young +married lady, where the sun shone pleasantly in the shelter of the +great white deck-house, when a sound of voices came out, with the odor +of cigar smoke, from an open window. +</P> + +<P> +"You fixed it all right?" observed one voice which sounded familiar, +and there was a laugh which, though muffled, was more familiar still. +While, with curiosity excited, Millicent listened, a companion broke in: +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Mr. Leslie? I have scarcely seen him all morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Making himself useful as usual. Discoursing on fisheries and harbors, +of which he knows nothing, to men who know a good deal, and no doubt +doing it very neatly," said Millicent, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you let him?" asked the other, with a little gesture of pride, +which became her. "Now, my husband knows better than to stay away from +me, even if he wanted to. Ah, here he is, bringing good things from +the sunny South piled up on a tray." +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was the contrast, for Millicent felt both resentful and +neglected when a young man approached carrying choice fruits and cakes +upon a nickeled tray; but before he reached them a voice came through +the window again: +</P> + +<P> +"You're quite certain? That man has eyes all over him, and it won't do +to take any chances with him. He must be kept right here in Vancouver +all night, and the game will be in our own hands before he gets back +again." +</P> + +<P> +"I've done my best," was the answer, and Millicent fancied, but was not +certain, that it was her husband who spoke. "I have fixed things so +that he will come to Vancouver. The only worry is, can we depend upon +the fellow I laid the odds with?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," responded the second voice. "I guess he knows better than +fail me. By the way, you nearly made a fool of yourself over Coralie." +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody inside there talking secrets," observed the younger lady. "I +think it is Mr. Shackleby, and I don't like that man. Charley, set +down that tray and carry my chair and Mrs. Leslie's at least a dozen +yards away." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent, at the risk of being guilty of eavesdropping, would have +greatly preferred to stay where she was; but when the man did his +wife's bidding, she could only follow and thank him. Lifting a cluster +of fruit from the tray, she asked one question. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you tell me, Mr. Nelson, who is Coralie?" +</P> + +<P> +Nelson looked startled for a moment, and found it necessary to place +another folding chair under the tray. He did not answer until his wife +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you hear Mrs. Leslie's question, Charley? Who is Coralie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sounds like the name of a variety actress," answered the man, by no +means glibly. "Why should you ask me? I really don't know. I'm not +good at conundrums. Isn't this a beautiful view? I fancied you'd have +a better appetite up here than amid the crowd below." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent's curiosity was further excited by the speaker's manner, but +she could only possess her soul in patience, until presently it was +satisfied on one point at least. She sat alone for a few minutes on +the steamer's highest deck against the colored glass dome of the great +white and gold saloon. Several of the brass-guarded lights were open +wide, and, hearing a burst of laughter, she looked down. The young +woman, who had spoken to Leslie at the gangway, sat at a corner table, +partly hidden by two carved pillars below. She held a champagne glass +in a lavishly jeweled hand, and there was no doubt that she was pretty, +but there was that in her suggestive laugh and mocking curve of the +full red lips, something which set Millicent's teeth on edge. If more +were needed to increase the unpleasant impression, a rich mine promoter +sat near the young woman, trying to whisper confidentially, and another +man, whose name was notorious in the city, laughed as he watched them. +But Millicent had seen sufficient, and turning her head, looked out to +sea. There were, however, several men smoking on the opposite side of +the dome, and one of them also must have looked down, for his comment +was audible. +</P> + +<P> +"They're having what you call a good time down there! Who and what is +she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ma'mselle Coralie. Ostensibly a <I>clairvoyante</I>," was the dry reply. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Clairvoyante</I>!" repeated the first unseen speaker, who, by his clean +intonation, Millicent set down as a newly-arrived Englishman. "Do you +mean a professional soothsayer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Something of the kind," said the other with a laugh. "We're a curious +people marching in the forefront of progress, so we like to think, and +yet we consult hypnotists and all kinds of fakirs, even about our +business. Walk down —— Street and you'll see half-a-dozen of their +name-plates. When they're young and handsome they get plenty of +customers, and it's suspected that Coralie, with assistance, runs a +select gambling bank of evenings. The charlatan is not tied to one +profession." +</P> + +<P> +"I catch on—correct phrase, isn't it?" rejoined the Englishman. "Of +course, you're liberal minded and free from effete prejudice, but I +hardly fancied the wives of your best citizens would care to meet such +ladies." +</P> + +<P> +"They wouldn't if they knew it!" was the answer. "Coralie's a +newcomer; such women are birds of passage, and before she grows too +famous the police will move her on. In fact, I've been wondering how +she got on board to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Leslie passed her up the gangway," said another man, adding, with a +suggestive laugh as he answered another question: "Why did he do it? +Well, perhaps he's had his fortune told, or you can ask him. Anyway, +although I think he wanted to, he dared not turn her back." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent, rising, slipped away. Trembling with rage, she was glad to +lean upon the steamer's rail. She had discovered long ago that her +husband was not a model of virtue, but the knowledge that his +shortcomings were common property was particularly bitter to her. Of +late she had dutifully endeavored to live on good terms with him, and +it was galling to discover that he had only, it seemed, worked upon her +softer mood for the purpose of extorting money to lavish upon illicit +pleasures. She felt no man could sink lower than that, and determined +there should be a reckoning that very night. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Mrs. Leslie," said a voice beside her. "Why, you look quite +ill. My husband brought a bottle of stuff guaranteed to cure steamboat +malady. Run and get it, Charley," and Millicent turned to meet her +young married friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't trouble, Mr. Nelson. I am not in the least sea-sick," +Millicent replied. "You might, however, spread out that deck chair for +me. It is a passing faintness which will leave me directly." +</P> + +<P> +She remembered nothing about the rest of the voyage, except that, when +the steamer reached the wharf, her husband, who helped her down the +gangway, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I have promised to go to the conference and afterwards dine with the +delegates, Millicent, so I dare say you will excuse me. I shall not be +late if I can help it, and you might wait up for me." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent, who had intended to wait for him, in any case, merely +nodded, and went home alone. She sat beside the English hearth all +evening with an open book upside down upon her knee, and her eyes +turned towards the clock, which very slowly ticked away the last hours +she would spend beneath her husband's roof. There was spirit in her, +and though she hardly knew why, she dressed herself for the interview +carefully. When Leslie entered, his eyes expressed admiration as she +rose with cold dignity and stood before him. Leslie was sober, but +unfortunately for himself barely so, for the delegates had been treated +with lavish Western hospitality, and there had been many toasts to +honor during the dinner. He leaned against the wall with one hand on a +carved bracket, looking down upon her with what seemed to be a leer of +brutal pride upon his slightly-flushed face. +</P> + +<P> +"You excelled yourself to-day, Millicent. I saw no end of folks +admiring you," he said. "Most satisfactory day! Everything went off +famously! Enjoyed yourself, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can hardly say I did, but that is not what you asked me to wait +for," was the cold answer, and Millicent with native caution waited to +hear what the man wanted before committing herself. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I meant it, but it wasn't. I couldn't help saying I was proud of +you." Leslie paused, doubtless satisfied, his wife thought, that he +had smoothed the way sufficiently by a clumsy compliment. His +abilities were not at their best just then. Millicent's thin lips +curled scornfully as she listened. +</P> + +<P> +"Thurston will be here on Thursday," he continued. "Never liked the +man, but he has behaved decently as your trustee, and I want to be fair +to him. Besides, he's a rising genius, and it's as well to be on good +terms with him. Couldn't you get him to stay to dinner and talk over +the way they've invested your legacy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think he would care to meet you?" asked Millicent, cuttingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps he mightn't. You could have the Nelsons over, and press of +business might detain me. Anyway, you'll have no time to settle all +about that money and your English property if he goes out on the +Atlantic train. You two seem to have got quite friendly again, and I'm +tolerably sure he'd stay if you asked him." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent's anger was rising all the time; but, because her suspicions +increased every moment, she kept herself in hand. Feeling certain this +was part of some plot, and that her husband was not steady enough to +carry out his <I>rôle</I> cleverly, she desired to discover his exact +intentions before denouncing him. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should I press him?" +</P> + +<P> +Had it been before the dinner Leslie might have acted more discreetly. +As it was, he looked at the speaker somewhat blankly. "Why? Because I +want you to. Now don't ask troublesome questions or put on your +tragedy air, Millicent, but just promise to keep him here until after +the east-bound train starts, anyway. I'm not asking for caprice—I—I +particularly want a man to see him who will not be in the city until +the following day." +</P> + +<P> +Then, remembering what she had heard outside the steamer's deck house, +a light suddenly broke in upon the woman. The man whose keen eyes +would interfere with Shackleby's plans must be Thurston, and it was +evident there was a scheme on hand to wreck his work in his absence. +Once she had half-willingly assisted her husband to Thurston's +detriment; but much had changed since then, and remembering that she +had already, without knowing it, played into the confederate's hands by +writing to him, her indignation mastered her. +</P> + +<P> +"I could not persuade him against his wishes, and would not do so if I +could," she declared, turning full upon her husband. +</P> + +<P> +"You can and must," replied Leslie, whose passion blazed up. "I'm +about sick of your obstinacy and fondness for dramatic situations. You +could do anything with any man you laid yourself out to inveigle, as I +know to my cost, and in this case—by the Lord, I'll make you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I will not!" Millicent's face was white with anger as she fixed her +eyes on him. "For a few moments you shall listen to me. What you and +Shackleby are planning does not concern me; but I will not move a +finger to help you. Once before you said—what you have done—and if I +have never forgotten it I tried to do so. This time I shall do +neither. I have borne very much from you already, but, sunk almost to +your level as I am, there are things I cannot stoop to countenance. +For instance, the draft I am to cajole from Thurston is not intended +for a speculation in mining shares, but—for Coralie." +</P> + +<P> +The little carved bracket came down from the wall with a crash, and +Leslie, whose face was swollen with fury, gripped the speaker's arm +savagely. "After to-morrow you can do just what pleases you and go +where you will," he responded in a voice shaking with rage and fear. +"But in this I will make you obey me. As to Coralie, somebody has +slandered me. The money is for what I told you, and nothing else." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent with an effort wrenched herself free. "It is useless to +protest, for I would not believe your oath," she said, looking at him +steadily with contempt showing in every line of her pose. "Obey—you! +As the man I, with blind folly, abandoned for you warned me, you are +too abject a thing. Liar, thief, have I not said +sufficient?—adulterer!" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite!" cried Leslie, who yielded to the murderous fury which had been +growing upon him, and leaning down struck her brutally upon the mouth. +"What I am you have made me—and, by Heaven, it is time I repaid you in +part." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent staggered a little under the blow, which had been a heavy +one, but her wits were clear, and, moving swiftly to a bell button, the +pressure of her finger was answered by a tinkle below. +</P> + +<P> +"I presume you do not wish to make a public scandal," she said thickly, +for the lace handkerchief she removed from her smarting lips was +stained with blood. Then, as their Chinese servant appeared in the +doorway, "Your master wants you, John." +</P> + +<P> +Before Leslie could grasp her intentions she had vanished, there was a +rustle of drapery on the stairway, followed by the jar of a lock, and +he was left face to face was the stolid Asiatic. +</P> + +<P> +"Wantee someling, sah?" the Chinaman asked. +</P> + +<P> +Leslie glared at him speechless until, with a humble little nod, the +servant said: +</P> + +<P> +"Linga linga bell; too much hullee, John quick come. Wantee someling. +Linga linga bell." +</P> + +<P> +"Go the devil. Oh, get out before I throw you," roared Leslie, and +John vanished with the waft of a blue gown, while Millicent's book +crashed against the door close behind his head. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A RECKLESS JOURNEY +</H4> + +<P> +The rising moon hung low above the lofty pines behind the city, when +Millicent sank shivering into a chair beside the window of her bedroom. +Under the impact of the blow her teeth had gashed her upper lip, but +she did not feel the pain as she sat with hands clenched, looking down +on the blaze of silver that grew broader across the inlet. She was +faint and dizzy, incapable as yet of definite thought; but confused +memories flashed through her brain, one among them more clearly than +the rest. Instead of land-locked water shimmering beneath the Western +pines, she saw dim English beeches with the coppery disk of the rising +moon behind, and she heard a tall man speak with stinging scorn to one +who cowered before him among the shadows. +</P> + +<P> +"I was mad that night, and have paid for the madness ever since. Now +when it is too late I know what I have lost!" she gasped with a catch +of the breath that was a sob repressed. +</P> + +<P> +There was a heavy step on the stairway, and Millicent shrank with the +nausea of disgust as somebody tried the door. She drew a deep breath +of relief, when the steps passed on unevenly. +</P> + +<P> +The memories returned. They led her through a long succession of +mistakes, falsehoods, slights and wrongs up to the present, and she +shivered again, while a heavy drop of blood splashed warm upon her +hand. Then she was mistress of herself once more, and a hazy purpose +grew into definite shape. She could at least warn the man whom she had +wronged, and so make partial reparation. It was not a wish for revenge +upon her husband which prompted her to desire that amends might be made +for her past treachery. Smarting with shame, she longed only to escape +from him. After the day's revelations she could never forgive that +blow. +</P> + +<P> +Millicent was a woman of action, and it was a relief to consider +practical details. She decided that a telegram might lie for days at +the station nearest the cañon, while what distance divided one from the +other she did not know. There was no train before noon the next day, +and she feared that the plot might be put into execution as soon as +Geoffrey left his camp. Therefore, she must reach it before he did so. +Afterwards—but she would not consider the future then, and, if she +could but warn him, nothing mattered greatly, neither physical peril +nor the risk of her good name. +</P> + +<P> +It was long before Millicent Leslie had thought all this out, but when +once her way seemed clear, exhausted by conflicting emotions, she sank +into heavy slumber, and the sun was high before she awakened. Leslie +had gone to his office, and she ate a little, chose her thickest furs, +and waited for noon in feverish suspense. Her husband might return and +prevent her departure by force. She feared that, should he guess her +intention, a special locomotive might be hired, even after the train +had started. It was, therefore, necessary to slip away without word or +sign, unless, indeed, she could mislead him, and, smiling mirthlessly, +she laid an open letter inside her writing-case. +</P> + +<P> +At last the time came, and she went out carrying only a little +hand-bag, passed along the unfrequented water side to the station by +the wharf, and ensconced herself in the corner of the car nearest the +locomotive, counting the seconds until it should start. Once she +trembled when she saw Shackleby hurry along the platform, but she +breathed again when he hailed a man leaning out from the vestibule of a +car. At last, the big bell clanged, and the Atlantic express, rolling +out of the station, began its race across the continent. +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly dusk when, with a scream of brakes, the cars lurched into +a desolate mountain station, and Millicent shivered as she alighted in +the frost-dried dust of snow. A nipping wind sighed down the valley. +The tall firs on the hillside were fading into phantom battalions of +climbing trees, and above them towered a dim chaos of giant peaks, +weirdly awe-inspiring under the last faint glimmer of the dying day. A +few lights blinked among the lower firs, and Millicent, hurrying +towards them at the station agent's direction, was greeted by the odors +of coarse tobacco as she pushed open the door of the New Eldorado +saloon. +</P> + +<P> +A group of bronze-faced men, some in jackets of fringed deerskin and +some in coarse blue jean, sat about the stove, and, though Millicent +involuntarily shrank from them, there was no reason why she should feel +any fear in their presence. They were rude of aspect—on occasion more +rude of speech—but, in all the essentials that become a man, she would +have found few to surpass them in either English or Western cities. +There was dead silence as she entered, and the others copied him when +one of the loungers, rising, took off his shapeless hat, not +ungracefully. +</P> + +<P> +"I want a guide and good horse to take me to Thurston's camp in the +Orchard River Cañon to-night," she said. +</P> + +<P> +The men looked at one another, and the one who rose first replied: +"Sorry to disappoint you, ma'am, but it's clean impossible. We'll have +snow by morning, and it's steep chances a man couldn't get through in +the dark now the shelf on the wagon trail's down." +</P> + +<P> +"I must go. It is a matter of life and death, and I'm willing to pay +whoever will guide me proportionate to the risk," insisted Millicent, +shaking out on the table a roll of bills. Then, because she was a +woman of quick perceptions, and noticed something in the big axeman's +honest face, she added quickly, "I am in great distress, and disaster +may follow every moment lost. Is there nobody in this settlement with +courage enough to help me?" +</P> + +<P> +This time the listeners whispered as they glanced sympathetically at +the speaker. The big man said: +</P> + +<P> +"If you're willing to face the risk I'll go with you. You can put back +most of your money; but, because we're poor men you'll be responsible +for the horses." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent felt the cold strike through her with the keenness of steel +when the went out into the night. Somebody lifted her to the back of a +snorting horse, and a man already mounted seized its bridle. There was +a shout of "Good luck!" and they had started on their adventurous +journey. Loose floury snow muffled the beat of hoofs, the lights of +the settlement faded behind and the two were alone in a wilderness of +awful white beauty, wherein it seemed no living thing had broken the +frozen silence since the world was made. Staring vacantly before her +Millicent saw the shoulders of the mighty peaks looming far above her +through a haze of driving snow, which did not reach the lower slopes, +where even the wind was still. The steam of the horses hung in white +clouds about them as they climbed, apparently for hours, past scattered +vedettes of dwindling pines. After a long pull on a steep trail the +man checked the horses on the brink of a chasm filled with eddying mist. +</P> + +<P> +"That should have been our way, but the whole blame trail slipped down +into the valley," the man said. "Let me take hold of your bridle and +trust to me. We're going straight over the spur yonder until we strike +the trail again." +</P> + +<P> +It was no longer a ride but a scramble. Even those sure-footed horses +stumbled continually, and where the wind had swept the thin snow away, +the iron on the sliding hoofs clanged on ice-streaked rock, or +hundredweights of loose gravel rattled down the incline. Then there +was juniper to be struggled through. They came to slopes almost +precipitous up which the panting guide somehow dragged the horses, but, +one strong with muscular vigor and the other sustained by sheer force +of will, the two riders held stubbornly on. Millicent had risen +superior to physical weakness that night. +</P> + +<P> +"Four hours to the big divide! We've pretty well equaled Thurston's +record," said the guide, striking a match inside his hollowed palm to +consult his watch. "It's all down grade now, but we'll meet the wind +in the long pass and maybe the snow." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent's heart almost failed her when, as the match went out, she +gazed down into the gulf of darkness that opened at her feet, but she +answered steadily: "Press on. I must reach the camp by daylight, +whatever happens." +</P> + +<P> +They went on. The pace, instead of a scramble, became in places a wild +glissade, and no beast of burden but a mountain pack-horse could have +kept its footing ten minutes. Dark pines rose up from beneath them and +faded back of them, here and there a scarred rock or whitened boulder +flitted by, and then Millicent's sight was dimmed by a whirling haze of +snow. How long the descent lasted she did not know. She could see +nothing through the maze of eddying flakes but that a figure, magnified +by them to gigantic proportions, rode close beside her, until they left +the cloud behind and wound along the face of a declivity, which dipped +into empty blackness close beneath. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly her horse stumbled; there was a flounder and a shock, and +Millicent felt herself sliding very swiftly down a long slope of +crusted snow. Hoarse with terror, she screamed once, then something +seized and held her fast, and she rose, shaking in every limb, to cling +breathless to the guide. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurt bad?" he gasped. "No!—I'm mighty glad. Snow slide must have +gouged part of the trail out. Can you hold up a minute while I 'tend +to the horse?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I am much hurt," stammered Millicent, whose teeth were +chattering, and the man floundering back a few paces, stooped over a +dark object that struggled in the snow. She fancied that he fumbled at +his belt, after which there was a horrible gurgle, and he returned +rubbing his fingers suggestively with a handful of snow. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor brute's done for—I had to settle him," he explained. "It will +cost you—but we can fix that when we get through. I'll have to change +your saddle, and the sooner we get on the better. Won't keep you five +minutes, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent felt very cold and sick, for the unfortunate horse still +struggled feebly, while the gurgle continued, and she was devoutly +thankful when they continued their journey. The traveling was, if +possible, more arduous than before. At times they forced a passage +through climbing forest, and again over slopes of treacherous shale +where a snow slide had plowed a great hollow in the breast of the hill. +The puffs of snow which once more met them grew thicker until Millicent +was sheeted white all over. At last the man said: +</P> + +<P> +"It can't be far off daylight and I'm mighty thankful. I've lost my +bearings, but we're on a trail, which must lead to somewhere, at last. +Stick tight to your saddle and I'll bring you through all right, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent was too cold to answer. A blast that whirled the drifts up +met her in the face, numbing all her faculties and rendering breathing +difficult. The hand that held the bridle was stiffened into +uselessness. Still, while life pulsed within her, she was going on, +and swaying in the saddle, she fixed her eyes ahead. +</P> + +<P> +At last the trail grew level, the snow thinner. In the growing light +of day a cluster of roofs loomed up before her, and she made some +incoherent answer when her guide confessed: +</P> + +<P> +"I struck the wrong way at the forking of the trail. Here's a ranch, +however, and the camp can't be far away. Horse is used up and so am I, +but you could get somebody to take Thurston a message." +</P> + +<P> +Some minutes later he lifted Millicent from the saddle, and she leaned +against him almost powerless as he pounded on the door. The loud +knocking was answered by voices within, the door swung open, and +Millicent reeled into a long hall. Two women rose from beside the +stove, and, for it was broad daylight now, stared in bewilderment at +the strangers. +</P> + +<P> +The guide leaned wearily against the wall, while Millicent, overcome by +the change of temperature, stood clutching at the table and swaying to +and fro. Then her failing strength deserted her. Somebody who helped +her into a chair presently held a cup of warm liquid to her lips. She +gulped down a little, and, recovering command of her senses, found +herself confronted by Helen Savine. It was a curious meeting, and even +then Millicent remembered under what circumstances they had last seen +each other. It appeared probable that Helen remembered, too, for she +showed no sign of welcome, and Mrs. Thomas Savine, who picked up the +fallen cup, watched them intently. +</P> + +<P> +"I see you are surprised to find me here," said Millicent, with a gasp. +"I left the railroad last night for Geoffrey Thurston's camp. We lost +the trail and one of the horses in the snow, and just managed to reach +this ranch. We can drag ourselves no further. I did not know the +ranch belonged to you." +</P> + +<P> +"That's about it!" the guide broke in. "This lady has made a journey +that would have killed some men—it has pretty well used me up, anyway. +I'll sit down in the corner if you don't mind. Can't keep myself right +end up much longer." +</P> + +<P> +"Please make yourself comfortable!" said Helen, with a compassionate +glance in his direction. "I will tell our Chinaman to see to your +horse." She turned towards Millicent, and her face was coldly +impassive. "Anyone in distress is welcome to shelter here. You were +going to Mr. Thurston's camp?" +</P> + +<P> +Even Mrs. Savine had started at Millicent's first statement, and now +she read contemptuous indignation in Helen's eyes. It was certain her +niece's voice, though even, was curiously strained. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes!" answered Millicent, rapidly. "I was going to Geoffrey +Thurston's camp. It is only failing strength that hinders me from +completing the journey. Somebody must warn him at once that he is on +no account to leave for Vancouver as he promised me that he would. +There is a plot to ruin him during his absence—a traitor among his +workmen, I think. At any moment the warning may be too late. He was +starting west to-day to call on me." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent was half-dazed and perhaps did not reflect that it was +possible to draw a damaging inference from her words. Nevertheless, +there was that in Helen's expression which awoke a desire for +retaliation. +</P> + +<P> +Helen asked but one question, "You risked your life to tell him this?" +and when Millicent bent her head the guide interposed, "You can bet she +did, and nearly lost it." +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said the girl, "the warning must not be thrown away. +Unfortunately, we have nobody I could send just now. Auntie, you must +see to Mrs. Leslie; I will go myself." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm very sorry, miss. If you like I'll do my best, but can hardly +promise that I won't fall over on the way," apologized the guide; but +Helen hastened out of the room, and now that the strain was over, +Millicent lay helpless in her chair. Still, she was conscious of a +keen disappointment. After all she had dared and suffered, it was +Helen who would deliver the warning. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston was standing knee-deep in ground-up stone and mire, inside a +coffer dam about which the river frothed and roared, when a man brought +him word that Miss Savine waited for him. He hurried to meet her, and +presently halted beside her horse—a burly figure in shapeless slouch +hat, with a muddy oilskin hanging from his shoulders above the stained +overalls and long boots. +</P> + +<P> +Helen sat still in the saddle, a strange contrast to him, for she was +neat and dainty down to the little foot in Indian dressed deerskin +against the horse's flank. She showed no sign of pleasure as she +returned his greeting, but watched him keenly as she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Leslie arrived this morning almost frozen at the ranch. She left +the railroad last night to reach your camp, but her guide lost the +trail." +</P> + +<P> +The man was certainly startled, but his face betrayed no satisfaction. +It's most visible expression was more akin to annoyance. +</P> + +<P> +"Could she not have waited?" he asked impatiently, adding somewhat +awkwardly, "Did Mrs. Leslie explain why she wanted to see me so +particularly?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was the quick answer. "She has reason to believe that while you +journeyed to Vancouver to visit her, an attempt would be made to wreck +these workings. She bade me warn you that there is a traitor in your +camp." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," replied Geoffrey, a flush showing through the bronze on his +forehead. He thought hastily of all his men and came back to the +consciousness of Helen's presence with a start. "It was very good of +you to face the rough cold journey, but you cannot return without rest +and refreshment," he said with a look that spoke of something more than +gratitude. "I will warn my foremen, and when it seems safe will ride +back with you." +</P> + +<P> +If Helen had been gifted with a wider knowledge of life she might +perhaps have noticed several circumstances that proved Thurston +blameless. As it was she had a quick temper, and at first glance facts +spoke eloquently against him. +</P> + +<P> +"You cannot," was the cold answer. "The warning was very plain, and +considering all that is at stake you must not leave the workings a +moment. Neither are any thanks due to me. I am an interested party, +and the person who has earned your gratitude is Mrs. Leslie. The day +is clear and fine, and I can dispense with an escort." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall not go alone," declared Thurston, doggedly. "You can choose +between my company and that of my assistant. And you shall not go +until you rest. Further, I must ask you a favor. Will you receive +Mrs. Leslie until I have seen her and arranged for her return? There +is no married rancher within some distance, and I cannot well bring her +here." +</P> + +<P> +"You cannot," agreed Helen averting her eyes. "If only on account of +the service she has rendered, Mrs. Leslie is entitled to such shelter +as we can offer her, as long as it appears necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks!" said Thurston, gravely. "You relieve me of a difficulty." +Then, stung by the girl's ill-concealed disdain into one of his former +outbreaks, he gripped the horse's bridle, and backed the beast so that +he and its rider were more fully face to face. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I not harassed sufficiently? Good Lord! do you think——" he began. +</P> + +<P> +"I have neither the right nor desire to inquire into your motives," +responded Helen distantly. "We will, as I say, shelter Mrs. Leslie, +and, since you insist, will you ask your assistant to accompany me?" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey, raising his hat a moment, swung round upon his heel, and blew +a silver whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom," he said to the man who came running up, "tell John to get some +coffee and the nicest things he can in a hurry for Miss Savine. +Straighten up my office room, and lay them out there. English Jim is +to ride back with Miss Savine when she is ready. Send a mounted man to +Allerton's to bring Black in, see that no man you wouldn't trust your +last dollar to lay's hand on a machine. That would stop half the work +in camp? It wouldn't—confound you—you know what I mean. Call in all +explosives from the shot-firing gang. Nobody's to slip for a moment +out of sight of his section foreman." +</P> + +<P> +Helen heard the crisp sharp orders as she rode up the hill, and glanced +once over her shoulder. She had often noticed how the whole strength +of Geoffrey's character could rise to face a crisis. Still, +appearances were terribly against him. +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey, taking breath for a moment, scowled savagely at the river. +</P> + +<P> +"If ever there was an unfortunate devil—but I suppose it can't be +helped. Damn the luck that dogs me!" he ejaculated as he turned to +issue more specific commands. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MRS. SAVINE SPEAKS HER MIND +</H4> + +<P> +Millicent slept brokenly while Helen carried her message, and awakening +feverish, felt relieved to discover that the girl was still absent. +Miss Savine was younger than herself, and of much less varied +experience, but the look in the girl's eyes hurt her, nevertheless. +</P> + +<P> +"I am ashamed to force myself upon you," she said to Mrs. Savine, who +had shown her many small courtesies, "but I am afraid I cannot manage +the journey back to the railroad to-day. I must also see Mr. Thurston +before I leave for England, and it would be a great favor if I could +have the interview here." +</P> + +<P> +"We are glad to have you with us," said Mrs. Savine, who was of kindly +nature and fancied she saw her opportunity. "Yes, I just mean it. The +journey has tried you so much that you are not fit for another now. +Besides, I have heard so much about you, that I want a talk with you." +</P> + +<P> +"You have probably heard nothing that makes this visit particularly +welcome," answered Millicent, bitterly, and the elder lady smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess folks are apt to make the most of the worst points in all of +us," she observed. "But that is not what we are going to talk about. +You are an old friend of a man we are indebted to, and, just because I +believe there's no meanness in Geoffrey Thurston, you are very welcome +to the best that we can do for you. I will ask him over to meet you." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent flushed. Under the circumstances she was touched by the +speaker's sincerity, and grateful for the way she expressed herself. +Perhaps it was this which prompted her to an almost involuntary +outpouring of confidence. +</P> + +<P> +"I am the woman who should have married him," she said simply. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine merely nodded, and dipped her needle somewhat blindly into +the embroidery on her knee before she replied: "I had guessed it +already. You missed a very good husband, my dear. I don't want to +force your confidence, but I imagine that you have some distress to +bear, and I might help you. I have seen a good deal of trouble in my +time." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent was unstable by nature. She was also excited and feverish. +Afterwards she wondered why a kindly word from a woman she knew so +slightly should excite in her such a desire for advice and sympathy. +In spite of her occasional brusqueries, it was hard for anyone to say +no to Mrs. Savine. So Millicent answered, with a sigh: +</P> + +<P> +"I know it now when it is too late—no one knows it better. You do +well to believe in Geoffrey Thurston." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine looked at her very keenly, then nodded. "I believe in you, +too. There! I guess you can trust me." +</P> + +<P> +Millicent bent her head, and her eyes were misty. A raw wound, which +the frost had irritated, marred the delicate curve of her upper lip. +It became painfully visible. +</P> + +<P> +"It is only fit that I should tell you, since I am your guest," she +said, touching the scar with one finger. "That is the mark of my +husband's hand, and I am leaving him forever because I would not +connive at Geoffrey's ruin. Geoffrey is acting as trustee for my +property, and I cannot leave for England without consulting him. So +much is perhaps due to you, and—because of your kindness I should not +like you to think too ill of me—I will tell you the rest. To begin +with, Geoffrey has never shown me anything but kindness." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine gently patted the speaker's arm, and Millicent related what +had led up to her journey, or part of it. When she had finished, the +elder lady commented: +</P> + +<P> +"You are doing a risky thing; but I can't quite blame you, and if I +could, I would not do it now. You will stay right here until Geoffrey +has fixed up all plans for your journey, and you can trust me to be +kind to you. Still, there's one favor I'm going to ask. I want you to +let me tell my niece as much of what you have told me as I think +desirable. Remember, Geoffrey has been good to you." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Millicent's face grew hard, and her eyes defiant. She +smiled sadly as she answered: "It is his due, and can make no +difference now. Tell her what seems best." +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Geoffrey was busy in the cañon camp. With Black and Mattawa +Tom beside him, he stood holding as symbol, both of equality and +authority, a bright ax in his hand, while driller, laborer, and +machine-tender, wondering greatly, were passed in review before him. +Black had been boarded with a trust rancher some distance from the +camp. At last a certain rock driller passed in turn, and Tom from +Mattawa explained: "He's a friend of Walla Jake, and as I told you, the +last man we put on." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the blame reptile who backed up Shackleby's story at the Blue +Bird mine," cried Black, excitedly. "If there's anyone up to mischief, +you can bet all you've got he's the man." +</P> + +<P> +"Stop there, you!" Geoffrey's voice was sharp and stern. "Cut him +down if he feels for a revolver or tries to make a break of it, section +foreman. Come here, close in behind him, you two." +</P> + +<P> +After a swift glance over his shoulder the man who was summoned +advanced, scowling darkly. He sullenly obeyed Geoffrey's second +command, "Stand there—now a few steps aside," leaving his footprints +clearly outlined in a patch of otherwise untrodden snow. +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" observed Geoffrey. "Lay your template [Transcriber's note: +corrected from "templet"] on those marks, Tom." After the foreman had +produced a paper pattern which fitted them, Thurston added: +</P> + +<P> +"We're going to make a prisoner of you, and jail you ourselves, until +we can get a formal warrant. What for? Well, you're going to be tried +for conspiracy among the other things. You see that pattern? It fits +the foot of a man who went out one night with a spy Shackleby sent over +to see how and when you would play the devil with our work in the +cañon. It even shows the stump of the filed-off creeper-spike on your +right boot. There's no use protesting—a friend of yours here will +help us to trace your career back to the finding of the Blue Bird mine. +Take him along and lock him into the galvanized store shed." +</P> + +<P> +The prisoner was taken away, and Geoffrey turned to his foreman. +</P> + +<P> +"He was in the drilling gang, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Juss so! Working under the wall bed of the cañon." +</P> + +<P> +"That lets some light on to the subject. You can dismiss the others. +Come with me, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +Twenty minutes later Geoffrey stood among the boulders that the +shrunken river had left exposed near the foot of a giant cliff which, +instead of overhanging, thrust forward a slanting spur into the rush of +water, and so formed a bend. It was one of the main obstacles +Geoffrey, who wondered at the formation, had determined to remove by +the simultaneous shock of several heavy blasting charges. To that end +a gang of men had long been drilling deep holes into the projecting +spur, and on the preceding day charges of high explosives had been sunk +in most of them with detonators and fuses ready coupled for connection +to the igniting gear. Geoffrey stood upon a boulder and looked up at +the tremendous face of rock which, rising above the spur, held up the +hill slope above. The stratification was looser than usual, and +several mighty masses had fallen from it into the river. There were +also crannies at its feet. +</P> + +<P> +"You've seen all the drilled holes. Anything strike you yet?" inquired +Mattawa Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was the answer. "It occurs to me that French Louis said he +couldn't tally out all the sticks of giant powder that he'd stowed away +a week or two ago. I think you foolishly told him he couldn't count +straight." +</P> + +<P> +"I did," admitted Tom from Mattawa. "Louis ain't great at counting, +and he allowed he'd never let go of the key to the powder magazine." +</P> + +<P> +"I fancy a smart mechanic could make a key that would do as well," +remarked Geoffrey. "It strikes me, also, after considering the strata +yonder, that, if sufficient shots were fired in those crannies, they +would bring the whole cliff and the hillside above it down on top of +us—you'll remember I cautioned you to drill well clear of the rock +face itself? Now, if coupled fuses were led from the shot holes we +filled to those we didn't, so that both would fire simultaneously, +nobody afterwards would find anything suspicious under several thousand +tons of debris. I'm inclined to think there are such fuses. Take your +shovel, and we'll look for them." +</P> + +<P> +They worked hard for half an hour, and then Geoffrey chuckled. Lifting +what looked like a stout black cord from among the rubble where it was +carefully hidden, Mattawa Tom said: "This time I guess you've struck it +dead." +</P> + +<P> +"Follow the thing up," Geoffrey commanded. +</P> + +<P> +This was done, and further searching revealed the charges for which +they were searching, skillfully concealed in the crannies. Geoffrey's +face was grim as he said: +</P> + +<P> +"It was planned well. They would have piled half yonder shoulder of +the range into the cañon if they had got their devilish will. Pull up +every fuse, and fix fresh detonators to all the charges. Change every +man in that gang, and never leave this spot except when the section +boss replaces you, until we're ready for firing. Thank Heaven that +will be in a few more days, and my nerves may hold out that long. I've +hardly had an hour's sleep in the last week, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +While Geoffrey was acting in accordance with the warning she had +delivered, Helen was on her way back to the ranch with his assistant as +her escort. Helen had not forgotten that it was her remonstrance which +had originally obtained a humble appointment for English Jim. He had +several times visited the ranch with messages, and was accordingly +invited to enter when they reached the house. He recognized Mrs. +Leslie at once, but he could be discreet, and, warned by something in +her manner, addressed no word to her until he found opportunity for a +few moments' private speech before leaving. +</P> + +<P> +"You remember me, I see," Millicent said, and English Jim bowed. +</P> + +<P> +"I do; perhaps because I have reason to. Though most reluctant to say +so, I lost a valuable paper the last time I was in your presence, and +that paper was afterwards used against my employer. Pardon me for +speaking so plainly; you said you were a friend of Mr. Thurston's." +</P> + +<P> +"You need not be diffident," replied Millicent, checking him with a +wave of her hand. "Suppose it was I who found the drawing? You would +be willing to keep silence in return for——" +</P> + +<P> +It was English Jim who interrupted now. "In return for your solemn +promise to render no more assistance to our enemies. I do not forget +your kindness, and hate the painful necessity of speaking so to you, +but I am Thurston's man, soul and body." +</P> + +<P> +"I ask your pardon," said Millicent. "Will you believe me if I say +that I lately ran some risk to bring Mr. Thurston a much-needed +warning? I am going to England in a day or two, and shall never come +back again. Therefore, you can rely upon my promise." +</P> + +<P> +"Implicitly," returned English Jim. "You must have had some reason I +cannot guess for what you did. That sounds like presumption, doesn't +it? But you can count upon my silence, madam." +</P> + +<P> +"You are a good man." Millicent impulsively held out her hand to him. +"I have met very few so loyal or so charitable. May I wish you all +prosperity in your career?" +</P> + +<P> +English Jim merely bowed as he went out, and Millicent's eyes grew dim +as she thought of her treachery to Geoffrey. +</P> + +<P> +"There are good men in the world after all, though it has been my +misfortune to chiefly come across the bad," she admitted to herself. +</P> + +<P> +Darkness had fallen when Thurston rode up to the ranch. He passed half +an hour alone with Millicent and went away without speaking to anyone +else. After he had gone Millicent said to Mrs. Savine: +</P> + +<P> +"I start for England as soon as possible, and Mr. Thurston is going to +the railroad with me. I shall never return to Canada." +</P> + +<P> +Pleading fatigue, she retired early, and for a time Mrs. Savine and +Helen sat silently in the glow of the great hearth upon which immense +logs were burning. There was no other light in the room, and each +flicker of the fire showed that Helen's face was more than usually +serious. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you know that it was Mrs. Leslie Geoffrey should have married?" +asked Mrs. Savine at length. +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Helen, flushing. With feeling she added. "Perhaps I +ought to have guessed it. She leaves shortly, does the not? It will +be a relief. She must be a wicked woman, but please don't talk of her." +</P> + +<P> +"That is just what I'm going to do," declared her aunt, gravely. "I +wouldn't guarantee that she is wholly good, but I blame her poison-mean +husband more than her. Anyway, she is better than you suppose her." +</P> + +<P> +"I made no charge against her, and am only glad she is going," said +Helen Savine. Mrs. Savine smiled shrewdly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I am going to show you there is nothing in that charge. Not +quite logical, is it, but sit still there and listen to me." +</P> + +<P> +Helen listened, at first very much against her will, presently she grew +half-convinced, and at last wholly so. She blushed crimson as she said: +</P> + +<P> +"May I be forgiven for thinking evil—but such things do happen, and +though I several times made myself believe, even against, the evidence +of my eyes, that I was wrong, appearances were horribly against her. I +am tired and will say good-night, auntie." +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet," interposed Mrs. Savine, laying a detaining grasp upon her. +"Sit still, my dear, I'm only beginning. Appearances don't always +count for much. Now, there's Mrs. Christopher who started in to copy +my elixir. Oh, yes, it was like it in smell and color, but she nearly +killed poor Christopher with it." +</P> + +<P> +"She said it cured him completely," commented Helen, hoping to effect a +diversion; but Mrs. Savine would not be put off. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't argue about that, though there'll be a coroner called in the +next time she makes a foolish experiment. Now I'm going to give my +husband's confidences away. Hardly fair to Tom, but I'll do it, +because it seems necessary, and the last time I didn't go quite far +enough. To begin with. Did you know the opposition wanted to buy +Geoffrey over, paying him two dollars for every one he could have made +out of your father?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Helen, starting. "It was very loyal of him to refuse. +Why did he do so?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine smiled good-humoredly. "I guess you think that's due to +your dignity, but you don't fool me. Look into your mirror, Helen, if +you really want to know. Did you hear that he put every dollar he'd +made in Canada into the scheme? Of course you didn't; he made Tom +promise he would never tell you. Besides—but I forgot, I must not +mention that." +</P> + +<P> +"Please spare me any more, auntie," pleaded Helen, who was overcome by +a sudden realization of her own injustice and absolute selfishness. +</P> + +<P> +"No mercy this time," was the answer, given almost genially. "Like the +elixir which doesn't taste pleasant, it's good for you. You didn't +know, either, for the same reason, that not long ago Tom was badly +scared for fear he'd have to let the whole thing go for lack of money. +It would have been the end of Julius Savine if he had been forced to +give up this great enterprise." +</P> + +<P> +"I never thought things were so bad, but how does it concern Mr. +Thurston?" Helen questioned her aunt in a voice that was trembling. +</P> + +<P> +"Geoffrey straightened out all the financial affairs in just this way. +A relative in England left an estate to be divided between him and Mrs. +Leslie. There was enough to keep him safe for life, if he'd let it lie +just where it was, but he didn't. No, he sold out all that would have +earned him a life income for any price he could, and turned over every +cent of it to help your father. Now I've about got through, but I've +one question to ask you. Would the man who did all that—you can see +why—be likely to fool with another man's wife, even if it was the +handsome Mrs. Leslie?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Helen, whose cheeks, which had grown pallid, flushed like a +blush rose. "I am glad you told me, auntie, but I feel I shall never +have the courage to look that man in the face again." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine smiled, though her eyes glistened in the firelight as she +laid a thin hand on one of Helen's, which felt burning hot as the +fingers quivered within her grasp. +</P> + +<P> +"You will, or that will hurt him more than all," she replied. "It +wasn't easy to tell you this, but I've seen too many lives ruined for +the want of a little common-sense talking—and I figure Jacob wouldn't +come near beating Geoffrey Thurston." +</P> + +<P> +Helen rose abruptly. "Auntie, you will see to father—he has been +better lately—for just a little while, will not you?" she asked. +"Mrs. Crighton has invited me so often to visit her, and I really need +a change. This valley has grown oppressive, and I must have time to +think." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," assented Mrs. Savine. "But you must stand by your promise to +fire the final shot." +</P> + +<P> +The door closed, and Mrs. Savine, removing her spectacles, wiped both +them and her eyes as she remarked: "I hope the Almighty will forgive a +meddlesome old woman for interfering, knowing she means well." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap28"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LESLIE STEPS OUT +</H4> + +<P> +Henry Leslie did not return home at noon on the day following the +altercation with his wife. Millicent had an ugly temper, but she would +cool down if he gave her time, he said to himself. In the evening he +fell in with two business acquaintances from a mining district, who +were visiting the city for the purpose of finding diversion and they +invited him to assist them in their search for amusement. Leslie, +though unprincipled, lacked several qualities necessary for a +successful rascal, and, oppressed by the fear of Shackleby's +displeasure should Thurston return to the mountains prematurely, and +uncertain what to do, was willing to try to forget his perplexities for +an hour or two. +</P> + +<P> +The attempt was so far successful that he went home at midnight, +somewhat unsteadily, a good many dollars poorer than when he set out. +Trying the door of his wife's room, he found it locked. He did not +suspect that it had been locked on the outside and that Millicent had +thrown the key away. He was, however, rather relieved than otherwise +by the discovery of the locked door, and, sleeping soundly, wakened +later than usual next morning. Millicent, however, was neither at the +breakfast-table nor in her own room when he pried the door open. He +saw that some garments and a valise were missing, and decided that she +had favored certain friends with her company, and, returning mollified, +would make peace again, as had happened before. Still, he was uneasy +until he espied her writing-case with the end of a letter protruding. +Reading the letter, he discovered it to be an invitation to Victoria. +He noticed on the blotter the reversed impression of an addressed +envelope, which showed that she had answered the invitation. Two days +passed, and, hearing nothing, he grew dissatisfied again, and drafted a +diplomatic telegram to the friends in Victoria. It happened that +Shackleby was in his office when the answer arrived. +</P> + +<P> +"Has Thurston come into town yet? You told me you saw your way to keep +him here," said Shackleby. "Didn't you mention he had the handling of +a small legacy left Mrs. Leslie?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is strange, but he has not arrived," was the answer. "My wife is +an old friend of his, and I had counted on her help in detaining him, +but, unfortunately, she considered it necessary to accept an invitation +to Victoria somewhat suddenly." +</P> + +<P> +"I should hardly have fancied Thurston was an old friend of—yours," +Shackleby remarked with a carelessness which almost blunted the sneer. +"I'm also a little surprised at what you tell me, because I saw Mrs. +Leslie hurrying along to the Atlantic express. She couldn't book that +way to Victoria." +</P> + +<P> +"You must have been mistaken," said Leslie, who turned towards a clerk +holding out a telegraphic envelope. He ripped it open and read the +enclosure with a smothered ejaculation. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +"Can't understand your wire. Mrs. Leslie not here. Wrote saying she +could not come." +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse the liberty. I believe I have a right to inspect all +correspondence," observed Shackleby, coolly leaning over and picking up +the message. Then he looked straight at Leslie, and there was a +moment's silence before he asked, "How much does Mrs. Leslie know about +your business?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," answered the anxious man in desperation. "I had to +tell her a little so that she could help me." +</P> + +<P> +"So I guessed!" commented Shackleby. "Now, I don't want to hurt your +feelings, but you can't afford to quarrel with me if I do. You're +coming straight with me to the depot to find out where Mrs. Leslie +bought a ticket to." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll see you hanged first," broke out Leslie. "Isn't it enough that +you presume to read my private correspondence? I'll suffer no +interference with my domestic affairs." +</P> + +<P> +Shackleby laughed contemptuously. "You'll just come along instead of +blustering—there's not an ounce of real grit in you. This is no time +for sentiment, and you have admitted that Mrs. Leslie was on good terms +with Thurston. If she has warned him, one of us at least will have to +make a record break out of this country. If he doesn't it won't be the +divorce court he'll figure in." +</P> + +<P> +Leslie went without further protest, and Shackleby looked at him +significantly when the booking-clerk said, "If I remember right, Mrs. +Leslie bought a ticket for Thompson's. It's a flag station at the head +of the new road that's to be driven into the Orchard Valley." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that's enough," remarked Shackleby. "You and I are going +there by the first train too. Oh, yes, I'm coming with you whether you +like it or not, for it strikes me our one chance is to bluff Thurston +into a bargain for the cessation of hostilities. It's lucky he's +supposed to be uncommonly short of money." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey Thurston, Mrs. Leslie, and Thomas Savine of course, could not +know of this conversation, but the woman was anxious as they rode +together into sight of the little flag station shortly before the +Atlantic express was due. When the others dismounted, Thomas Savine, +who had been summoned by telegram from Vancouver, remained discreetly +behind. It was very cold, darkness was closing down on the deep hollow +among the hills, and some little distance up the ascending line, a huge +freight locomotive was waiting with a string of cars behind it in a +side track. Thurston pointed to the fan-shaped blaze of the great head +lamp. +</P> + +<P> +"We have timed it well. They're expecting your train now," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad," was Millicent's answer. "I shall feel easier when I am +once upon the way, for all day I have been nervously afraid that Harry +might arrive or something unexpected might happen to detain me. There +will be only time to catch the Allan boat, you say, and once the train +leaves this station nobody could overtake me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not!" answered Geoffrey, reassuringly. "It is perhaps +natural that you should be apprehensive, but there is no reason for it. +Whether you are doing right or wrong I dare not presume to judge, and, +under the circumstances, I wish there had been somebody else to counsel +you; but if your husband has treated you cruelly and you are in fear of +him, I cannot venture to dissuade you. You will write to me when you +have settled your plans?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she promised. After a moment's pause, she went on: "I have +hardly been able to consider the position yet, but I will never go back +to Harry. My trustees must either help me to fight him or bribe him +not to molest me. It is a hateful position, but though I have suffered +a great deal there are things I cannot countenance." +</P> + +<P> +The hoot of a whistle came ringing up the valley, the light of another +head lamp, growing brighter, flickered among the firs, and Millicent +looked up at her companion as she said: +</P> + +<P> +"I may never see you again, Geoffrey, but I cannot go without asking +you to forgive me. You do not know, and I dare not tell you, in how +many ways I have injured you. I would like to think that you do not +cherish any ill-will against me." +</P> + +<P> +"You may be quite sure of it," was the answer, and Geoffrey smiled upon +her. "What I shall remember most clearly is how much you risked to +warn me, and that the safe completion of the work I have set my heart +on is due to you. We will forget all the unpleasant things that have +happened in the past and meet as good friends next time, Millicent." +</P> + +<P> +The woman's voice trembled a little as she replied: "I hope when one by +one you hear of the unpleasant things you will be charitable. But a +last favor—you will not tell Harry where I have gone until I am safely +on my way to England?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," promised Geoffrey. "You can depend upon that. I have not +forgiven your husband, but the train is coming in and it will only stop +a few seconds." +</P> + +<P> +With couplings clashing the long cars lurched in. Geoffrey hurried +Millicent into one of them. He felt his hand grasped fervently, and +fancied he saw a tear glisten in Millicent's eyes by the light of the +flashing lamps. Then the great engine snorted, and he sprang down from +the vestibule footboard as the train rolled out. Turning back towards +the station to join Thomas Savine, he found himself confronted by two +men who had just alighted. +</P> + +<P> +Their surprise was mutual, but Thomas Savine, who stood beside a box +just hurled out of the baggage car, had his wits about him. "Here's +one case, Geoffrey. The conductor thinks that some fool must have +labelled the others wrong, and they'll come on by first freight," he +said. +</P> + +<P> +This was an accurate statement, and for Millicent's sake Geoffrey was +grateful that his comrade should make it so opportunely. It accounted +for his presence at the station. +</P> + +<P> +"It can't be helped," he said, and then turned stiffly towards +Shackleby and Henry Leslie, who waited between him and the roadway. +</P> + +<P> +"We want a few words with you, but didn't expect to find you here," +abruptly remarked Shackleby. "Is there any place fit to sit in at the +saloon yonder?" +</P> + +<P> +"I really don't know," Geoffrey replied. "Having no time to waste in +conversation, neither do I care. If you have anything to say to me you +can say it—very briefly—here." +</P> + +<P> +Shackleby pinched the cigar he was smoking. Laying his hand on +Leslie's shoulder warningly, he whispered, "Keep still, you fool." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that I can condense what I have to say," he answered +airily, addressing Thurston. "Fact is, in the first place, and before +Mr. Leslie asks a question, I want to know whether we—that is I—can +still come to terms with you. It's tolerably well-known that my +colleagues are, so to speak, men of straw, and individually I figure it +might be better for both of us if we patched up a compromise. I can't +sketch out the rest of my programme in the open air, but, as a general +idea, what do you think, Mr. Savine?" +</P> + +<P> +"That your suggestion comes rather late in the day," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +Shackleby was silent for a moment, though, for it was quite dark now +that the train had gone. Savine could not be quite certain whether he +moved against Leslie by accident or deliberately hustled him a few +paces away. Geoffrey, however, felt certain that neither had seen +Millicent, nor, thanks to Savine, suspected that she was on board the +departing cars. Just then a deep-toned whistle vibrated across the +pines, somebody waved a lantern between the rails, and the panting of +the freight locomotive's pump became silent. The track led down grade +past the station towards the coast. +</P> + +<P> +"Better late than never," said Shackleby. "My hand's a good one still. +I'm not sure I won't call you." +</P> + +<P> +"To save time I'll show you mine a little sooner than I meant to do, +and you'll see the game's up," replied Geoffrey, grimly. "It may +prevent you from worrying me during the next week or two, and you can't +well profit by it. I've got Black, who is quite ready to go into court +at any time, where you can't get at him. I've got the nearest +magistrate's warrant executed on the person of your other rascal, and +Black will testify as to his record, which implies the throwing of a +sidelight upon your own. No doubt, to save himself, the other man will +turn against you. In addition, if it's necessary, which I hardly think +possible, I have even more damaging testimony. I have sworn a +statement before the said magistrate for the Crown-lands authorities, +and purpose sending a copy to each of your directors individually. +That ought to be sufficient, and I have no more time to waste with you." +</P> + +<P> +"But you have me to settle with, or I'll blast your name throughout the +province if I drag my own in the mud. Where's my wife?" snarled +Leslie, wrenching himself free from his confederate's restraining grasp. +</P> + +<P> +"If you're bent on making a fool of yourself, and I guess you can't +help it, go on your own way," interposed Shackleby, with ironical +contempt. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no intention of telling you where Mrs. Leslie is," asserted +Geoffrey. "You will hear from her when she considers it advisable to +write." +</P> + +<P> +A whir of driver wheels slipping on the rails came down the track, +followed by a shock of couplings tightening and the snorting of a heavy +locomotive, but none of the party noticed it. +</P> + +<P> +"She was here; you can't deny it," shouted Leslie, who had yielded to a +fit of rabid fury. He was not a courageous man, and had been held in +check by fear of Shackleby, but there was some spirit in him, and, +perhaps because he had injured Thurston, had always hated him. Now +when his case seemed desperate, with the boldness of a rat driven into +a corner, he determined to tear the hand that crushed him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take action against you. I'll blazon it in the press. I'll +close every decent house in the province against you," he continued, +working himself up into a frenzy. "Where have you hidden my wife? By +Heaven, I'll make you tell me." +</P> + +<P> +"Take care!" warned Geoffrey, straightening himself and thrusting one +big hand behind his back. "It is desperately hard for me to keep my +fingers off you now, but if you say another word against Mrs. Leslie, +look to yourself. Shackleby, you have heard him; now for the woman's +sake listen to me. I have never wronged your wife by thought or word, +Leslie, and the greatest indiscretion she was ever guilty of was +marrying you." +</P> + +<P> +"You have hidden her!" almost screamed the desperate man. "I'll have +satisfaction one way if you're too strong for me another. Liar, +traitor, sed——" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey strode forward before the last word was completed, Leslie +flung up one hand, but Shackleby struck it aside in time, and something +that fell from it clinked with a metallic sound. Exactly how what +followed really happened was never quite certain. Leslie, blind with +rage, either tripped over his confederate's outstretched foot, or lost +his balance, for just as a blaze of light beat upon the group, he +staggered, clutched at Thurston, and missing him, stepped over the edge +of the platform and fell full length between the rails. +</P> + +<P> +There was a yell from a man with a lantern and a sudden hoot from the +whistle of the big locomotive. Savine's face turned white under the +glare of the headlight. With a reckless leap Geoffrey followed his +enemy. Only conscious of the man's peril, he acted upon impulse +without reflection. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God! They'll both be killed!" exclaimed Shackleby. +</P> + +<P> +Thurston was strong of limb and every muscle in him had been toughened +by strenuous toil, but Leslie had struck his head on the rails and lay +still, stunned and helpless. The lift was heavy for the man who strove +to raise him, and though the brakes screamed along the line of cars the +locomotive was almost upon them. Standing horrified, and, without +power to move, the two spectators saw Geoffrey still gripping his +enemy's shoulders, heave himself erect in a supreme effort, then the +cow-catcher on the engine's front struck them both, and Savine felt, +rather than heard, a sickening sound as the huge machine swept +resistlessly on. Afterward he declared that the suspense which +followed while the long box-cars rolled by was horrible, for nothing +could be seen, and the two men shivered with the uncertainty as to what +might be happening beneath the grinding wheels. +</P> + +<P> +When the last car passed both leapt down upon the track, and a man +joined them holding a lantern aloft. Savine stooped over Thurston, who +lay just clear of the rails, looking strangely limp. +</P> + +<P> +"Another second would have done it—did I heave him clear?" he gasped. +He tried to raise himself by one hand but fell back with a groan. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess not," answered a railroad employé, holding the lantern higher, +and while two others ran up the tracks, the light fell upon a +shapeless, huddled heap. "That one has passed his checks in, certain," +the holder of the lantern announced. +</P> + +<P> +Within ten minutes willing assistants from the tiny settlement were on +the spot and stretchers were improvised. Savine had bidden the agent +telegraph for a doctor, and the two victims were slowly carried towards +the New Eldorado saloon. When they were gently laid down an elderly +miner, familiar with accidents, pointing to Thurston after making a +hasty examination said: +</P> + +<P> +"This one has got his arm broken, collar-bone gone, too, but if there's +nothing busted inside he'll come round. The other one has been stone +dead since the engine hit him." +</P> + +<P> +There were further proffers of help from several of his comrades, who, +as usual with their kind, possessed some knowledge of rude surgery. +When all that was possible had been done for the living, Savine was +drawn aside by Shackleby. +</P> + +<P> +"This is what he dropped on the platform—I picked it up quietly," he +said, holding out an ivory-handled revolver. "No use letting any ugly +tales get round or raking up that other story, is it? I don't know +whether Thurston induced Leslie's wife to run off or not—from what I +have heard of him I hardly think he did—but one may as well let things +simmer down gracefully." +</P> + +<P> +"I am grateful for your thoughtfulness," replied Savine. "Probably it +is more than he would have done for you. This is hardly the time to +discuss such questions, but what has happened can't affect our +position. Still, personally, I may not feel inclined to push merely +vindictive measures against you." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't think it would change matters," said Shackleby, with a shrug. +"If I should be wanted I'm open to describe the—accident—and let +other details slide. The railroad fellows suspect nothing. Thurston +has made your side a strong one, and in a way I don't blame him. If he +had stood in with me, we'd have smashed up your brother completely." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap29"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A REVELATION +</H4> + +<P> +Two persons were strangely affected and stirred to unexpected action by +the news of Thurston's injury, and the first of these was Julius +Savine. It was late next night when his brother's messenger arrived at +the ranch, for Thomas had thought of nothing but the sufferer's welfare +at first, and Savine lay, a very frail, wasted figure, dozing by the +stove. His sister-in-law sat busy over some netting close at hand. +Both were startled when a man, who held out a soiled envelope, came in +abruptly. Savine read the message and tossed the paper across to Mrs. +Savine before he rose shakily to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"I would sooner have heard anything than that Geoffrey was badly hurt," +he exclaimed with a quaver in his voice. To the Chinaman, who brought +the stranger in, he gave the order, "Get him some supper and tell +Fontaine I want him at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Geoffrey! We must hope it is not serious," cried Mrs. Savine +with visible distress. "But sit down. You can't help him, and may +bring on a seizure by exciting yourself, Julius." +</P> + +<P> +Savine, who did not answer her, remained standing until the hired hand +whom he had summoned, entered. "Ride your hardest to the camp and tell +Foreman Tom I'm coming over to take charge until Mr. Thurston, who has +met with an accident, recovers," he said. "He's to send a spare horse +and a couple of men to help the sleigh over the washed-out trail. Come +back at your best pace. I must reach the cañon before morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you mad, Julius?" asked his sister-in-law when the men retired. +"It's even chances the excitement or the journey will kill you." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I must take the chances," declared Savine. "While there was a +man I could trust to handle things, I let this weakness master me. Now +the poor fellow's helpless, somebody must take hold before chaos +ensues, and I haven't quite forgotten everything. You'll have to nurse +Geoffrey, and it's no use trying to scare me. Fill my big flask with +the old brandy and get my furs out." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine saw further remonstrance would be useless. She considered +her brother-in-law more fit for his grave than to complete a great +undertaking, but he was clearly bent on having his way. When she +hinted something of her thoughts, he answered that even so he would +rather die at work in the cañon than tamely in his bed. So shivering +under a load of furs he departed in the sleigh, and after several +narrow escapes of an upset, reached the camp in the dusk of a nipping +morning. +</P> + +<P> +"Help me out. Mr. Thurston, I am sorry to say, has met with a bad +accident, and you and I have got to finish this work without him," he +said to the anxious foreman. "From what he told me I can count upon +your doing the best that's in you, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't go back on nothing Mr. Thurston said," was the quiet answer; +but when Tom from Mattawa left Savine, whose nerveless fingers spilled +half the contents of the silver cup he strove to fill, gasping beside +the stove in Thurston's quarters, he gravely shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +Several days elapsed after Helen's departure for Vancouver before Mrs. +Savine, who had gone at once to the scene of the accident, considered +it judicious to inform her of Geoffrey's condition, and so it happened +that one evening Helen accompanied her hostess to witness the +performance of a Western dramatic company. Despite second-rate acting +the play was a pretty one, and each time the curtain went down Helen +found the combination of bright light, pretty dresses, laughter and +merry voices strangely pleasant after her isolation. At times her +thoughts would wander back to the ice-bound cañon and the man who had +pitted himself against the thundering river in its gloomy depths. +Perhaps the very contrast between this scene of brightness and luxury +and the savage wilderness emphasized the self-abnegation he had shown. +She knew now that he had toiled beyond most men's strength, when he +might have rested, and casting away what would have insured him a life +of ease, had voluntarily chosen an almost hopeless struggle for her +sake. Few women had been wooed so, she reflected, and then she +endeavored to confine her attention to the play, for as yet, though +both proud and grateful, she could not admit that she had been won. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the son of her hostess, who joined the party between the +acts, handed her a note. "I am sorry I could not get here before, but +found this waiting, and thought I'd better bring it along. I hope it's +not a summons of recall," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Helen opened the envelope, and the hurriedly-written lines grew blurred +before her eyes as she read, "I am grieved to say that Geoffrey has +been seriously injured by an accident. The doctor has, however, some +hopes of his recovery, though he won't speak definitely yet. If you +can find an intelligent woman in Vancouver you could trust to help me +nurse him, send her along. Didn't write before because——" +</P> + +<P> +"What is it? No bad news of your father, I hope," her hostess asked, +and the son, a fine type of the young Western citizen, noticed the +dismay in Helen's face as she answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing has happened to my father. His partner has been badly hurt. +I must return to-morrow, and, as it is a tiresome journey, if you will +excuse me, I would rather not sit out the play." +</P> + +<P> +The young man noticed that Helen seemed to shiver, while her voice was +strained. He discreetly turned away his head, though he had seen +sufficient to show him that certain lately-renewed hopes were vain. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Savine has not been used to gayety of late, and I warned her she +must take it quietly, especially with that ride through the ranges +before her. This place is unsufferably hot, and you can trust me to +see her safe home, mother," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Helen's grateful, "Thank you!" was reward enough, but it was in an +unenviable humor that the young man returned to the theater when she +sought refuge in her own room. +</P> + +<P> +Solitude appeared a vital necessity, for at last Helen understood. +Ever since Thurston first limped, footsore and hungry, into her life +she had been alternately attracted and repelled by him. His steadfast +patience and generosity had almost melted her at times, but from the +beginning, circumstances had seemed to conspire against the man, +shadowing him with suspicion, and forcing him into opposition to her +will. Mrs. Savine's story had made his unswerving loyalty plain, and +Helen had begun to see that she would with all confidence trust her +life to him; but she was proud, and knowing how she had misjudged him, +hesitated still. As long as a word or a smile could bring him to her +feet she could postpone the day of reckoning at least until his task +was finished, and thus allow him to prove his devotion to the uttermost +test. +</P> + +<P> +Now, however, fate had intervened, tearing away all disguise, and her +eyes were opened. She knew that without him the future would be empty, +and the revelation stirred every fiber of her being. Growing suddenly +cold with a shock of fear she remembered that she had perhaps already +lost him forever. It might be that another more solemn summons had +preceded her own, and that she might call and Geoffrey Thurston would +not hear! He had won his right to rest by work well done, but she—it +now seemed that a lifetime would be too short to mourn him. Helen +shivered at the thought, then she felt as if she were suffocating. +Turning the light low, she flung the long window open. Beyond the +electric glare of the city, with its shapeless pile of roofs and +towering poles, the mountains rose, serenely majestic, in robes of +awful purity. They were beckoning her she felt. The man whom she had +learned to love too late lay among them, perhaps with the strong hands +that had toiled for her folded in peace at last, and, living or dead, +she must go to him. She remembered that the message said,—"Hire a +capable woman in Vancouver," and it brought her a ray of comfort. If +the time was not already past she would ask nothing better than to wait +on him herself. Presently, when there was a hum of voices below, +Helen, white of face but steady in nerves, descended to meet her +hostess. +</P> + +<P> +"I must go back to-morrow, and as it is a fatiguing journey you will +not mind my retiring early," she said to excuse her absence from the +supper party that was assembled after the play. +</P> + +<P> +On reaching the railroad settlement Helen found the doctor in charge of +Thurston willing to avail himself of her assistance. The physician had +barely held his own in several encounters with her aunt, whom he +suspected of endeavoring to administer unauthorized preparations to his +patient, while on her part Mrs. Savine freely admitted that at her age +she could not sit up all night forever. So Helen was installed, and it +was midnight when she commenced her first watch. +</P> + +<P> +"You will call me at once if the patient wakes complaining of any +pain," said the surgeon. "Do I think he is out of danger? Well, he is +very weak yet, my dear young lady, but if you will carry out my orders, +I fancy we may hope for the best. But you must remember that a nurse's +chief qualifications are presence of mind and a perfect serenity." +</P> + +<P> +"I will not fail you," promised Helen, choking back a sob of relief; +and, trusting that the doctor did not see her quivering face, she added +softly, "Heaven is merciful!" +</P> + +<P> +She had been prepared for a change, but she was startled at the sight +of Thurston. He lay with blanched patches in the paling bronze on his +face, which had grown hollow and lined by pain. Still he was sleeping +soundly, and did not move when she bent over him. She stooped further +and touched his forehead with her lips, rose with the hot blood pulsing +upwards from her neck, and stood trembling, while, either dreaming or +stirred by some influence beyond man's knowledge, the sleeper smiled, +murmuring, "Helen!" +</P> + +<P> +It was daylight when Thurston awakened, and stared as if doubtful of +his senses at his new nurse, until, approaching the frame of canvas +whereon he lay, Helen, with a gentle touch, caressingly brushed the +hair from his forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"I have come to help you to get better. We cannot spare you, +Geoffrey," she said simply. +</P> + +<P> +The sick man asked no question nor betrayed further astonishment. He +looked up gratefully into the eyes which met his own for a moment and +grew downcast again. "Then I shall certainly cheat the doctors yet," +he declared. +</P> + +<P> +Under the circumstances his words were distinctly commonplace, but +speech is not the sole means of communion between mind and mind, and +for the present both were satisfied. Helen laughed and blushed happily +when, as by an after thought, Geoffrey added, "It is really very kind +of you." +</P> + +<P> +"You must not talk," she admonished with a half-shy assumption of +authority, strangely at variance with her former demeanor. "I shall +call in my aunt with the elixir if you do." +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey smiled, but the brightness of his countenance was not +accounted for by his answer: "I believe she has treated me with it once +or twice already, and I still survive. In fact, I am inclined to think +the doctor caught her red-handed on one occasion, and there was +trouble." +</P> + +<P> +After that Geoffrey recovered vigor rapidly, and the days passed +quickly for Helen as she watched over him in the dilapidated frame +house to which he had been removed after the accident. No word of love +passed between them, nor was any word necessary. The man, still weak +and languid, appeared blissfully contented to enjoy the present, and +Helen, who was glad to see him do so, abided her time. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, supported by sheer force of will and a nervous exaltation, +that would vanish utterly when the need for it ceased, Julius Savine, +leaning on his foreman's arm, or sitting propped up in a rude jumper +sleigh, directed operations in the cañon. He knew he was consuming the +vitality that might purchase another few years' life in as many weeks +of effort, but he desired only to see the work finished, and was +satisfied to pay the price. He slept little and scarcely ate, holding +on to his work with desperate purpose and living on cordials. Though +progress was much slower than it would have been under Geoffrey's +direction, he accomplished that purpose. +</P> + +<P> +One afternoon Thomas Savine entered the sick man's room in a state of +complacent satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"Glad to see you getting ahead so fast, and you must hurry, for we'll +want you soon," he said. "The great charge is to be fired the day +after to-morrow. Shackleby, who was at the bottom of the whole +opposition, has cleared out with considerable expedition. Sold all his +stock in the Company, and if his colleagues knew much about his doings, +which is quite possible, they emphatically disown them. As a result +I've made one or two good provisional deals with them, and expect no +more trouble. In short, everything points to a great success." +</P> + +<P> +When Savine went out Geoffrey beckoned Helen to him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am getting so well that you must leave me to your aunt to-morrow," +he said. "You remember your promise to fire the decisive charge for +me, and I hope when you see it you will approve of the electric firing +key. Tell your father I owe more to him than the doctor, for I should +have worried myself beyond the reach of physic if he had not been there +to take charge instead of me—that is to say, before you came to cure +me." +</P> + +<P> +"I will go," agreed Helen, with signs of suppressed agitation that +puzzled Geoffrey. She knew that after that charge had been fired their +present relations, pleasant as they were, could not continue. It +appeared to her the climax to which all he had dared and suffered, and +with a humility that was yet akin to pride she had determined, in +reparation, voluntarily to offer him that which, whether victorious or +defeated otherwise, he had with infinite patience and loyal service won. +</P> + +<P> +It was early one clear cold morning when Helen Savine stood on a little +plank platform perched high in a hollow of the rock walls overhanging +the river opposite Thurston's camp. Each detail of the scene burned +itself into her memory as she gazed about her under a tense +expectancy—the rift of blue sky between the filigree of dark pines +high above, the rush of white-streaked water thundering down the gorge +below and frothing high about the massive boulders, and one huge fang +of promontory which a touch of her finger would, if all went well, +reduce to chaotic débris. Groups of workmen waited on the opposite +side of the flood, all staring towards her expectantly, and Thomas +Savine stood close by holding an insignificant box with wires attached +to it, in a hand that was not quite steady. Tom from Mattawa sat +perched upon a spire of rock holding up a furled flag, and her father +leaned heavily upon the rails of the staging. No one spoke or stirred, +and in spite of the roar of hurrying water a deep oppressive silence +seemed to brood over cañon and camp. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the key," said Thomas Savine. "It is some notion of +Geoffrey's, and he had it made especially in Toronto. You fit it in +here." +</P> + +<P> +Helen glanced at the diminutive object before she took the box. The +finger grip had been fashioned out of a dollar cut clean across bearing +two dates engraved upon it. The first, it flashed upon her, was the +one on which she had given the worn-out man that very coin, while the +other had evidently been added more recently, with less skill, by some +camp artificer. +</P> + +<P> +"It's to-day," said Thomas Savine following her eyes, and Helen noticed +that his voice was strained. "Geoffrey told me to get it done. Quaint +idea; don't know what it means. But put us out of suspense. We're all +waiting." +</P> + +<P> +Helen knew what the dates meant, and appreciated the delicate +compliment. It was she who had started the daring contractor on his +career who was to complete his triumph, and she drew a deep breath as +she looked down into the thundering gorge realizing it was a great +fight he had won. Human courage and dogged endurance, inspired by him, +had mocked at the might of the river, and, blasting a new pathway for +it through the adamantine heart of the hills, would roll back the +barren waters from a good land that the stout of heart and arm might +enter in. Swamps would give place to wheat fields, orchards blossom +where willow swale had been, herds of cattle fatten on the levels of +the lake, and the smoke of prosperous homesteads drift across dark +forests where, for centuries, the wolf and deer had roamed undisturbed. +That was one aspect only, but she knew the man who loved her had won a +greater triumph over his own nature and others' passions and +infirmities. +</P> + +<P> +It was with a thrill of pride that the girl realized all that he had +done for her, and yet for a few seconds she almost shrank from the +responsibility as high above the waiting men the stood with slender +fingers tightening upon the key. The issues of what must follow its +turning would be momentous, for it flashed upon her that the tiny +combination of copper and silver might, with equal chance, open the way +to a golden future or let in overwhelming disaster upon all she loved. +Then the doubt appeared an injustice to Geoffrey Thurston and those who +had followed him through frost and flood and whirling snow, and, with a +color on her forehead, and a light in her eyes, she pressed home the +key. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was bustle and hurry. Julius Savine raised his hand, and +Tom from Mattawa whirled high the unfurled flag. Somebody beat upon an +iron sheet invisible below and the strip of beach in the depths of the +cañon became alive with running men. Next followed a deep stillness +intensified by the clamor of the river which would never raise the same +wild harmonies again, for the slender hand of a woman had bound it fast +henceforward under man's dominion. The hush was ended suddenly. For a +second the great hollow seemed filled with tongues of flame; then, +while thick smoke quenched them and crag and boulder crumbled to +fragments, a stunning detonation rang from rock to rock and rolled +upwards into the frozen silence of untrodden hills. Huge masses which +eddied and whirled, filling the gorge with the crash of their descent +leaped out of the vapor; there was a ceaseless shock and patter of +smaller fragments, and then, while long reverberations rolled among the +hills, the roar of the tortured river drowned the mingled din. Rising, +tremendous in its last revolt, its majestic diapason was deepened by +the boom of grinding rock and the detonation of boulders reduced to +powder. The draught caused by the water's passage fanned the smoke +away, and the blue vapor, curling higher, drifted past the staging, so +that Helen could only dimly see a great muddy wave foam down the cañon, +bursting here and there into gigantic upheavals of spray. She watched +it, held silent, awe-stricken, by the sound and sight. +</P> + +<P> +At last Mattawa Tom appeared again, and his voice was faintly audible +through the dying clamors as he waved his hands: "Juss gorgeous. Gone +way better than the best we hoped," he hailed. +</P> + +<P> +His comrades heard and answered. They were not mere hirelings toiling +for a daily wage, but men who had a stake in that region's future, and +would share its prosperity, and, had it been otherwise, they were human +still. Toiling long with stubborn patience, often in imminent peril of +life and limb; winning ground as it were by inches, and sometimes +barely holding what they had won; fulfilling their race's destiny to +subdue and people the waste places of the earth with the faith which, +when aided by modern science, is greater than the mountains' +immobility, they too rejoiced fervently over the consummation of the +struggle. Twice a roar that was scarcely articulate filled the cañon, +and then, growing into the expression of definite thought, it flung +upward their leader's name. +</P> + +<P> +Helen listened, breathless, intoxicated as by wine. Julius Savine +stood upright with no trace of weakness in his attitude. Then suddenly +he seemed to shrink together, and, with the power gone out of him, +caught at the rails as he turned to his daughter. +</P> + +<P> +"We have won! It is Geoffrey's doing, and my last task is done," he +spoke in a voice that sounded faint and far-away. "Fast horses and +bold riders I can trust you, too, are waiting. Tell him!" +</P> + +<P> +Helen noticed a strange wistfulness in her father's glance, but she +asked no question and turned to Thomas Savine. "I leave him in your +charge. I will go," she said. +</P> + +<P> +That afternoon passed very slowly for Geoffrey. He lay near a window, +which he insisted should be opened, glancing alternately at his watch +and the trail that wound down the hillside as the minutes crept by. He +was hardly civil to the doctor, and almost abrupt with Mrs. Savine, +who, knowing his anxiety, straightway forgave him. +</P> + +<P> +"You tell me I must avoid excitement and await the news with composure. +For heaven's sake, man, be reasonable. You might as well recommend +your next moribund victim to get up and take exercise," he grumbled to +the physician. +</P> + +<P> +But the longest afternoon passes at length, and when the sunset glories +flamed in the western sky, and the great peaks put on fading splendors +of saffron and crimson, three black moving objects became visible on a +hill-crest bare of the climbing firs. Geoffrey watched them with +straining eyes, and it was a wonderful picture that he looked +upon—black gorge, darkening forest, drifting haze in the hollows, and +unearthly splendors above; but he regarded it only as a fit setting for +the slight figure in the foreground that swayed to the stride of a +galloping horse. He was not surprised—it seemed perfectly appropriate +that Helen should bring him the news—though his fingers trembled and +his lips twitched. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall know the best or worst in five minutes. You have done your +utmost, doctor, but I'll get up and annihilate you with your own +bottles if you give me good advice now," he said, and the surgeon, +seeing protests were useless, laughed. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Savine said nothing. She was in a state of nervous tension, too, +and merely laid her hand on the patient, restrainingly, as he strove +with small success to raise himself a little. Meantime the horse came +nearer, its bridle dripping with flakes of spume. Its rider was +sprinkled with snow and her skirt was besmeared with lather, but she +came on at a gallop until she reined in the panting horse beneath the +window, and flinging one arm aloft sat in the saddle with her flushed +face turned towards the watchers. No bearer of good tidings ever +appeared more beautiful to an anxious man. +</P> + +<P> +"It is triumph!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God!" answered Mrs. Savine, who slipped quietly from the room. +</P> + +<P> +Little time elapsed before Helen entered the room where Geoffrey +impatiently waited for her, but brief as it was, there was no sign of +hurried travel about her. Her apparel was fresh and dainty, and there +was even a flower from Mexico at her belt. She went straight to +Geoffrey and bent over him. +</P> + +<P> +"All has gone well—better, I understand, than you even hoped for, and +you have done a great thing, Geoffrey," she said. "You have saved me +my inheritance—which is of small importance—and—I know all now—my +father's honor. You have repaid him tenfold, and gratified his heart's +desire." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I am thankful," answered Geoffrey very quietly. He lay still a +moment looking at her with a great longing in his eyes. Helen was very +beautiful, more beautiful even than usual, it seemed to him. He did +not guess that she had an offering to make, and for the sake of the man +at whose feet she would lay it, would not even so far as trifles went, +depreciate the gift, hence her careful attire. +</P> + +<P> +Helen's eyes fell beneath his gaze. She discerned what he was +thinking, and, though the words "heart's desire" were accidental, there +was no mistaking the suggestion. She said slowly: +</P> + +<P> +"I have been unjust, proud and willful—and I am going to do full +penance. You have surely the gift of prophecy. Do you remember your +last bold prediction?" +</P> + +<P> +Geoffrey's lip twitched. He strove to raise himself that he might see +the speaker more clearly, and, still almost helpless in his bandages, +slipped back again. Helen slipped her hand into his. +</P> + +<P> +"I have come to beg you not to go away." +</P> + +<P> +"There is one thing that would prevent me." Geoffrey, bewildered, +seemed to lose his usual crispness of speech, but Helen checked him. +</P> + +<P> +"Therefore," and Helen's voice was very low, while surging upwards from +her neck a swift wave of color flushed cheek and brow. "I have come of +my own will to say what you asked of me. You have loved and served me +faithfully, and it is not gratitude—only—which prompts me now." +</P> + +<P> +There was a space in which Helen caught her breath. Then she lifted +her head, and said proudly: +</P> + +<P> +"Geoffrey Thurston—I love you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap30"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Popular Copyright Books +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AT MODERATE PRICES +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Any of the following titles can be bought of your +bookseller at the price you paid for this volume +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<B>Alternative, The.</B> By George Barr McCutcheon.<BR> +<B>Angel of Forgiveness, The.</B> By Rosa N. Carey.<BR> +<B>Angel of Pain, The.</B> By E. F. Benson.<BR> +<B>Annals of Ann, The.</B> By Kate Trimble Sharber.<BR> +<B>Battle Ground, The.</B> By Ellen Glasgow.<BR> +<B>Beau Brocade.</B> By Baroness Orczy.<BR> +<B>Beechy.</B> By Bettina Von Hutten.<BR> +<B>Bella Donna.</B> By Robert Hichens.<BR> +<B>Betrayal, The.</B> By E. Phillips Oppenheim,<BR> +<B>Bill Toppers, The.</B> By Andre Castaigne.<BR> +<B>Butterfly Man, The.</B> By George Barr McCutcheon.<BR> +<B>Cab No. 44.</B> By R. F. 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Ingram.<BR> +<B>Stolen Singer, The.</B> By Martha Bellinger.<BR> +<B>Three Brothers, The.</B> By Eden Phillpotts.<BR> +<B>Thurston of Orchard Valley.</B> By Harold Bindloss.<BR> +<B>Title Market, The.</B> By Emily Post.<BR> +<B>Vigilante Girl, A.</B> By Jerome Hart.<BR> +<B>Village of Vagabonds, A.</B> By F. Berkeley Smith.<BR> +<B>Wanted—A Chaperon.</B> By Paul Leicester Ford.<BR> +<B>Wanted: A Matchmaker.</B> By Paul Leicester Ford.<BR> +<B>Watchers of the Plains, The.</B> By Ridgwell Cullum.<BR> +<B>White Sister, The.</B> By Marion Crawford.<BR> +<B>Window at the White Cat, The.</B> By Mary Roberts Rinehart.<BR> +<B>Woman in Question, The.</B> By John Reed Scott.<BR> +<P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Popular Copyright Books +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AT MODERATE PRICES +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Any of the following titles can be bought of your +bookseller at the price you paid for this volume +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<B>Anna the Adventuress.</B> By E. 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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: Thurston of Orchard Valley + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: W. Herbert Dunton + +Release Date: June 28, 2009 [EBook #29266] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THURSTON OF ORCHARD VALLEY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "The Slight Figure that Swayed to the Stride of a +Galloping Horse"--_Chapter XXIX_] + + + + + +Thurston of + +Orchard Valley + + +_By_ Harold Bindloss + + + +Author of "By Right of Purchase," "Lorimer of the Northwest," "Alton of +Somasco," etc. + + + + +with Frontispiece + +By W. HERBERT DUNTON + + + + +A. L. BURT COMPANY + +Publishers ------ New York + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY + +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + + +_All rights reserved_ + + + +_February, 1910_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. "THURSTON'S FOLLY" + II. A DISILLUSION + III. GEOFFREY'S FIRST CONTRACT + IV. GEOFFREY MAKES PROGRESS + V. THE LEGENDS OF CROSBIE GHYLL + VI. MILLICENT'S REWARD + VII. THE BREAKING OF THE JAM + VIII. A REST BY THE WAY + IX. GEOFFREY STANDS FIRM + X. SAVINE'S CONFIDENCE + XI. AN INSPIRATION + XII. GEOFFREY TESTS HIS FATE + XIII. A TEST OF LOYALTY + XIV. THE WORK OF AN ENEMY + XV. A GREAT UNDERTAKING + XVI. MILLICENT TURNS TRAITRESS + XVII. THE INFATUATION OF ENGLISH JIM + XVIII. THE BURSTING OF THE SLUICE + XIX. THE ABDUCTION OF BLACK CHRISTY + XX. UNDER THE STANLEY PINES + XXI. REPARATION + XXII. A REPRIEVE + XXIII. THE ULTIMATUM + XXIV. AN UNEXPECTED ALLY + XXV. MILLICENT'S REVOLT + XXVI. A RECKLESS JOURNEY + XXVII. MRS. SAVINE SPEAKS HER MIND + XXVIII. LESLIE STEPS OUT + XXIX. A REVELATION + + + + +Thurston of Orchard Valley + + +CHAPTER I + +"THURSTON'S FOLLY" + +It was a pity that Geoffrey Thurston was following in his grandfather's +footsteps, the sturdy dalefolk said, and several of them shook their +heads solemnly as they repeated the observation when one morning the +young man came striding down the steep street of a village in the North +Country. The cluster of gray stone houses nestled beneath the scarred +face of a crag, and, because mining operations had lately been +suspended and work was scarce just then, pale-faced men in moleskin +lounged about the slate-slab doorsteps. Above the village, and beyond +the summit of the crag, the mouth of a tunnel formed a black blot on +the sunlit slopes of sheep-cropped grass stretching up to the heather, +which gave place in turn to rock out-crop on the shoulders of the fell. +The loungers glanced at the tunnel regretfully, for that mine had +furnished most of them with their daily bread. + +"It's in t' blood," said one, nodding toward the young man. "Ay, +headstrong folly's bred in t' bone of them, an' it's safer to counter +an angry bull than a Thurston of Crosbie Ghyll. It's like his +grandfather--roughed out of the old hard whinstane he is." + +A murmur of approval followed, for the listeners knew there was a +measure of truth in this; but it ceased when the pedestrian passed +close to them with long, vigorous strides. Though several raised their +hands half-way to their caps in grudging salute, Geoffrey Thurston, who +appeared preoccupied, looked at none of them. Notwithstanding his +youth, there were lines on his forehead and his brows were wrinkled +over his eyes, while his carriage suggested strength of limb and +energy. Tall in stature his frame looked wiry rather than heavily +built. His face was resolute, for both square jaw and steady brown +eyes suggested tenacity of purpose. The hands that swung at his sides +had been roughened by labor with pick and drill. Yet in spite of the +old clay-stained shooting suit and shapeless slouch hat with the grease +on the front of it, where a candle had been set, there was a stamp of +command, and even refinement, about him. He was a Thurston of Crosbie, +one of a family the members of which had long worked their own +diminishing lands among the rugged fells that stretch between the West +Riding and the Solway. + +The Thurstons had been a reckless, hard-living race, with a stubborn, +combative disposition. Most of them had found scope for their energies +in wresting a few more barren acres from the grasp of moss and moor; +but several times an eccentric genius had scattered to the winds what +the rest had won, and Geoffrey seemed bent on playing the traditional +_role_ of spendthrift. There were, however, excuses for him. He was +an ambitious man, and had studied mechanical science under a famous +engineer. Perhaps, because the surface of the earth yielded a +sustenance so grudgingly, a love of burrowing was born in the family. +Copper was dear and the speculative public well disposed towards +British mines. When current prices permitted it, a little copper had +been worked from time immemorial in the depths of Crosbie Fell, so +Geoffrey, continuing where his grandfather had ceased, drove the +ancient adit deeper into the hill, mortgaging field by field to pay for +tools and men, until, when the little property had well-nigh gone, he +came upon a fault or break in the strata, which made further progress +almost impossible. + +When Thurston reached the mouth of the adit, he turned and looked down +upon the poor climbing meadows under the great shoulder of the Fell. +Beyond these, a few weatherbeaten buildings, forming a rude quadrangle +pierced by one tall archway, stood beside a tarn that winked like +polished steel. He sighed as his glance rested upon them. For many +generations they had sheltered the Thurstons of Crosbie; but, unless he +could stoop to soil his hands in a fashion revolting to his pride, a +strange master would own them before many months had gone. An angry +glitter came into his eyes, and his face grew set, as, placing a +lighted candle in his hat, he moved forward into the black adit. + +Twenty minutes had passed when Thurston stood on the brink of a chasm +where some movement of the earth's crust had rent the rocks asunder. +Beside him was a mining engineer, whose fame for skill was greater than +his reputation for integrity. Both men had donned coarse overalls, and +Melhuish, the mining expert, held his candle so that its light fell +upon his companion as well as upon the dripping surface of the rock. +Moisture fell from the wet stone into the gloomy rift, and a faint +monotonous splashing rose up from far below. Melhuish, however, was +watching Thurston too intently to notice anything else. He was a +middle-aged man, with a pale, puffy face and avaricious eyes. He was +well-known to speculative financiers, who made much more than the +shareholders of certain new mining companies. + +"It's interesting geologically--wholly abnormal considering the +stratification, though very unfortunate for you," said Melhuish. "I +give you my word of honor that when I advised you to push on the +heading I never expected this. However, there it is, and unless you're +willing to consider certain suggestions already made, I can't see much +use in wasting any more money. As I said, my friends would, under the +circumstances, treat you fairly." + +Thurston's face was impassive, and Melhuish, who thought that his +companion bore himself with a curious equanimity for a ruined man, did +not see that Thurston's hard fingers were clenched savagely on the +handle of a pick. + +"I fancied you understood my opinions, and I haven't changed them," +said Geoffrey. "I asked you to meet me here to-day to consider whether +the ore already in sight would be worth reduction, and you say, 'No.' +You can advise your friends, when you see them, that I'm not inclined +to assist them in a deliberate fraud upon the public." + +Melhuish laughed. "You are exaggerating, and people seem perfectly +willing to pay for their experience, whether they acquire it over +copper, lead or tin. Besides, there's an average commercial +probability that somebody will find good ore after going down far +enough, and your part would be easy. You take a moderate price as +vendor, we advancing enough to settle the mortgage. Sign the papers my +friends will send you, and keep your mouth shut." + +"And their expert wouldn't see that fault?" asked Geoffrey. Melhuish +smiled pityingly before he answered: + +"The gentlemen I speak of keep an expert who certainly wouldn't see any +more than was necessary. The indications that deceived me are good +enough for anybody. Human judgment is always liable to error, and +there are ways of framing a report without committing the person who +makes it. May I repeat that it's a fair business risk, and whoever +takes this mine should strike the lead if sufficient capital is poured +in. It would be desirable for you to act judiciously. My financial +friends, I understand, have been in communication with the people who +hold your mortgages." + +Geoffrey Thurston's temper, always fiery, had been sorely tried. +Dropping his pick, he gripped the tempter by the shoulder with fingers +that held him like a vice. He pressed Melhuish backward until they +stood within a foot of the verge of the black rift. Melhuish's face +was gray in the candle-light as he heard the dislodged pebbles splash +sullenly into the water, fathoms beneath. He had heard stories of the +vagaries of the Thurstons of Crosbie, and it was most unpleasant to +stand on the brink of eternity, in the grasp of one of them. + +Suddenly Geoffrey dropped his hands. "You need better nerves in your +business, Melhuish," he said quietly. "One would hardly have fancied +you would be so startled at a harmless joke intended to test them for +you. There have been several spendthrifts and highly successful +drunkards in my family, but, with the exception of my namesake, who was +hanged like a Jacobite gentleman for taking, sword in hand, their +despatches from two of Cumberland's dragoons, we have hitherto drawn +the line at stealing." + +"I'm not interested in genealogy, and I don't appreciate jests of the +sort you have just tried," Melhuish answered somewhat shakily. "I'll +take your word that you meant no harm, and I request further and +careful consideration before you return a definite answer to my +friends' suggestions." + +"You shall have it in a few days," Geoffrey promised; and Melhuish, who +determined to receive the answer under the open sunlight, and, if +possible, with assistance near at hand, turned toward the mouth of the +adit. Because he thought it wiser, he walked behind Geoffrey. + +The afternoon was not yet past when Thurston stood leaning on the back +of a stone seat outside a quaint old hall, which had once been a feudal +fortalice and was now attached to an unprofitable farm. Because the +impoverished gentleman, who held a long lease on the ancient building, +had let one wing to certain sportsmen, several of Geoffrey's neighbors +had gathered on the indifferently-kept lawn to enjoy a tennis match. +Miss Millicent Austin sat in an angle of the stone seat. Her little +feet, encased in white shoes, reposed upon a cushion that one of the +sportsmen had insisted on bringing to her. Her hands lay idly folded +in her lap. The delicate hands were characteristic, for Millicent +Austin was slight and dainty. With pale gold hair and pink and white +complexion, she was a perfect type of Saxon beauty, though some of her +rivals said the color of her eyes was too light a blue. They also +added that the blue eyes were very quick to notice where their owner's +interests lay. + +An indefinite engagement had long existed between the girl and the man +beside her, and at one time they had cherished a degree of affection +for each other; but when the merry, high-spirited girl returned from +London changed into a calculating woman, Geoffrey was bound up, mind +and body, in his mine, and Millicent began to wonder whether, with her +advantages, she might not do better than to marry a dalesman burdened +by heavy debts. They formed a curious contrast, the man brown-haired, +brown-eyed, hard-handed, rugged of feature, and sometimes rugged of +speech; and the dainty woman who appeared born for a life of ease and +luxury. + +"Beauty and the beast!" said one young woman to her companion as she +laid by her racquet. "I suppose he has the money?" + +"Unless his mine proves successful I don't think either will have much; +but if Miss Austin is a beauty in a mild way, he's a noble beast, one +very likely to turn the tables upon a rash hunter," was the answer. +"And yet he's stalking blindly into the snare. Alas, poor lion!" + +"You seem interested in him. I'm not partial to wild beasts myself," +remarked her companion, and the other smiled as she answered: + +"Hardly that, but I know the family history, and they are a curious +race with great capabilities for good or evil. It all depends upon how +they are led, because nobody could drive a Thurston. It is rather, I +must confess, an instinctive prejudice against the woman beside him. I +do not like, and would not trust, Miss Austin, though, of course, +except to you, my dear, I would not say so." + +The young speaker glanced a moment towards the pair, and then passed on +with a slight frown upon her honest face, for Thurston bent over his +companion with something that suggested deadly earnestness in his +attitude, and the spectator assumed that Millicent Austin's head was +turned away from him, because she possessed a fine profile and not +because of excessive diffidence. Nor was the observer wrong, for +Millicent did little without a purpose, and was just then thinking +keenly as she said: + +"I am very sorry to hear about your misfortune, Geoffrey, but there is +a way of escape from most disasters if one will look for it, you know, +and if you came to terms with them I understand those London people +would, at least, recoup you for your expenditure." + +"You have heard of that!" exclaimed Geoffrey sharply, displeased that +his _fiancee_, who had been away, should betray so accurate a knowledge +of all that concerned his business affairs. + +"Of course I did. I made Tom tell me. You will agree with them, will +you not?" the girl replied. + +"So," said Geoffrey, with a slight huskiness. "I wish I could, but it +is impossible, and I am not pleased that Tom should tell you what I was +waiting to confide to you myself. Let that pass, for I want you to +listen to me. The old holding will have to go, and there is little +room for a poor man in this overcrowded country. As you know, certain +property will revert to me eventually, but, remembering what is in our +blood, I dare not trust myself to drag out a life of idleness or +monotonous drudgery, waiting for the future here. The curse is a very +real thing--and it would not be fair to you. Now I can save enough +from the wreck to start us without positive hardship over seas, and +George has written offering me a small share in his Australian +cattle-run. You shall want for nothing, Millicent, that toil can win +you, and I know that, with you to help me, I shall achieve at least a +competence." + +Millicent, who glanced up at him as if she were carefully studying him, +could see that the man spoke with conviction. She knew that his power +of effort and dogged obstinacy would carry him far toward obtaining +whatever his heart desired. She dropped her long lashes as he +continued: + +"Hitherto, I have overcome the taint I spoke of--you knew what it was +when you gave me your promise--and working hard, with you to cheer me, +in a new land under the open sun, I shall crush it utterly. +Semi-poverty, with an ill-paid task that demanded but half my energies, +would try you, Millicent, and be dangerous to me. What I say sounds +very selfish, doesn't it--but you will come?" + +There was an appeal in his voice which touched the listener. It was +seldom a Thurston of Crosbie asked help from anyone; but she had no +wish to encourage Geoffrey in what she considered his folly, and shook +her head with a pretty assumption of petulance. + +"Don't be sensational," she said with a wave of her hand. "You are +prone to exaggeration, and, of course, I will not go with you. How +could I help you to chase wild cattle? Now, try to be sensible! Come +to terms with these company people, and then you need not go." + +"Would you have me a thief?" asked Geoffrey, gazing down upon her with +a fierce resentment in his look of reproach, and the girl shrank from +him a little. + +"No, but, so far as I understand it, this is an ordinary business +transaction, and if these people are willing to buy the mine, why +should you refuse?" she returned in a temporizing tone. + +If Thurston was less in love with Millicent Austin than he had been, he +hardly realized it then. He was disappointed, and his forehead +contracted as he struggled with as heavy a temptation as could have +assailed the honor of any man. Millicent was very fair to look upon, +as she turned to him with entreaty and anxiety in her face. + +Nevertheless, he answered wearily: "It is not an ordinary business +transaction. These people would pay me with the general public's +money, and when the mine proves profitless, as it certainly will, they +would turn the deluded shareholders loose on me." + +"There are always risks in mining," Millicent observed significantly. +"The investing public understands that, doesn't it? Of course, I would +not have you dishonest, but, Geoffrey----" + +Thurston was patient in action, but seldom in speech, and he broke out +hotly: + +"Many a woman has sent a man to his damnation for a little luxury, but +I expected help from you. Millicent, if I assist those swindlers and +stay here dragging out the life of a gentleman pauper on a dole of +stolen money, I shall go down and down, dragging you with me. If you +will come out to a new country with me, I know you will never regret +it. Whatever is best worth winning over there, I will win for you. +Can't you see that we stand at the crossroads, and whichever way we +choose there can be no turning back! Think, and for God's sake think +well! The decision means everything to you and me." + +Again Millicent was aware of an unwilling admiration for the speaker, +even though she had little for his sentiments. He stood erect, with a +grim look on his face, his nostrils quivering, and his lips firmly +set--stubborn, vindictive, powerful. Though his strength was +untrained, she knew that he was a man to trust--great in his very +failings, with no meanness in his composition, and clearly born for +risky enterprise and hazardous toil. She was a little afraid of him, a +fact which was not in itself unpleasant; but she dreaded poverty and +hardship! With a shrug of the shoulder upon which he had laid his +hand, she said: + +"I think you are absurd to-day; you are hurting me. This melodramatic +pose approaches the ludicrous, and I have really no patience with your +folly. A little period of calm reflection may prove beneficial, and I +will leave you to it. Clara is beckoning me." + +She turned away, and Thurston, after vainly looking around for Clara, +stalked sullenly into the hall, where he flung himself down in a chair +beside an open window. It did not please him to see Millicent take her +place before the net in the tennis court and to hear her laugh ring +lightly across the lawn. A certain sportsman named Leslie, who had +devoted himself to Miss Austin's service, watched him narrowly from a +corner of the big hall. + +"You look badly hipped over something, Thurston," commented the +sportsman presently. "I suppose it's the mine, and would like to offer +my sympathy. Might I recommend a brandy-and-soda, one of those +Cubanos, and confidence? Tom left the bottle handy for you." + +In spite of the family failing, or, perhaps, because it was the only +thing he feared, Thurston had been an abstemious man. Now, however, he +emptied one stiff tumbler at a gulp, and the soda frothed in the +second, when he noticed a curious smile, for just a moment, in the eyes +of his companion. The smile vanished immediately, but Thurston had +seen and remembered. It was characteristic of him that, before two +more seconds had passed, the glass crashed into splinters in the grate. + +"Quite right!" exclaimed Leslie, nodding. "When one feels as you +evidently do, a little of that sort of consolation is considerably +better than too much. You don't, however, appear to be in a +companionable humor, and perhaps I had better not intrude on you." + +During the rest of the afternoon, Thurston saw little of Millicent and +Leslie was much with her. + +The weather changed suddenly when at dusk Geoffrey rode home. In +forecast of winter, a bitter breeze sighed across the heather and set +the harsh grasses moaning eerily. The sky was somber overhead; scarred +fell and towering pike had faded to blurs of dingy gray, and the +ghostly whistling of curlew emphasized the emptiness of the darkening +moor. The evening's mood suited Geoffrey's, and he rode slowly with +loose bridle. The bouquet of the brandy had awakened within him a +longing that he dreaded, and though, hitherto, he had been too intent +upon his task to trouble about his character, it was borne in upon him +that he must stand fast now or never. But it was not the thought of +his own future which first appealed to him. Those who had gone before +him had rarely counted consequences when tempted by either wine or +women, and he would have risked that freely. Geoffrey was, however, in +his own eccentric fashion, a just man, and he dared not risk bringing +disaster upon Millicent. So he rode slowly, thinking hard, until the +horse, which seemed affected by its master's restlessness, plunged as a +dark figure rose out of the heather. + +"Hallo, is it you, Evans?" asked the rider, with a forced laugh. "I +thought it was the devil. He's abroad to-night." + +"Thou'rt wrang, Mr. Geoffrey," answered the gamekeeper. "It's Thursday +night he comes. Black Jim as broke thy head for thee is coming with t' +quarrymen to poach t' covers. Got the office from yan with a grudge +against t' gang, an' Captain Franklin, who's layin' for him, sends his +compliments, thinkin' as maybe thee would like t' fun." + +Thurston rarely forgot either an injury or a friend, and, the preceding +October, when tripping, he fell helpless, Black Jim twice, with +murderous intent, had brought a gun-butt down upon his unprotected +skull. Excitement was at all times as wine to him, so, promising to be +at the rendezvous, he rode homeward faster than before, with a sense of +anticipation which helped to dull the edge of his care. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A DISILLUSION + +It was a clear cold night when Geoffrey Thurston met Captain Franklin, +who held certain sporting rights in the vicinity, at the place agreed +upon. The captain had brought with him several amateur assistants and +stablehands besides two stalwart keepers. Greeting Thurston he said: + +"Very good of you to help me! Our local constable is either afraid or +powerless, and I must accordingly allow Black Jim's rascals to sweep my +covers or take the law into my own hands. It is the pheasants he is +after now, and he'll start early so as to get his plunder off from the +junction by the night mail, and because the moon rises soon. We had +better divide, and you might come with Evans and me to the beeches +while the others search the fir spinney." + +Geoffrey, assenting, followed the officer across a dew-damped meadow +and up a winding lane hung with gossamer-decked briars, until the party +halted, ankle-deep among withered leaves, in a dry ditch just outside +the wood. There were reasons why each detail of all that happened on +that eventful night should impress itself upon Geoffrey's memory, and, +long afterwards, when wandering far out in the shadow of limitless +forests or the chill of eternal snow, he could recall every incident. +Leaves that made crimson glories by day still clung low down about the +wide-girthed trunks beyond the straggling hedge of ancient thorns, but +the higher branches rose nakedly against faintly luminous sky. Spruce +firs formed clumps of solid blackness, and here and there a delicate +tracery of birch boughs filled gaps against the sky-line between. The +meadows behind him were silent and empty, streaked with belts of +spectral mist, and, because it was not very late, he could see a red +glimmer of light in the windows of Barrow Hall. + +But if the grass told no story it was otherwise with the wood, for +Geoffrey could hear the rabbits thumping in their burrows among the +roots of the thorn. Twice a cock-pheasant uttered a drowsy, raucous +crow, and there was a blundering of unseen feathery bodies among the +spruce, while, when this ceased, he heard a water-hen flutter with feet +splashing across a hidden pool. Then heavy stillness followed, +intensified by the clamor of a beck which came foaming down the side of +a fell until, clattering loudly, wood-pigeons, neither asleep nor +wholly awake, drove out against the sky, wheeled and fell clumsily into +the wood again. All this was a plain warning, and keeper Evans nodded +agreement when Captain Franklin said: + +"There's somebody here, and, in order not to miss him, we'll divide our +forces once more. If you'll go in by the Hall footpath, Thurston, and +whistle on sight of anything suspicious, I'd be much obliged to you." + +A few minutes later Thurston halted on the topmost step of the lofty +stile by which a footpath from the Hall entered the wood. Looking back +across misty grass land and swelling ridges of heather, he could see a +faint brightness behind the eastern rim of the moor; but, when he +stepped down, it was very dark among the serried tree-trunks. The +slender birches had faded utterly, the stately beeches resembled dim +ghosts of trees and only the spruces retained, imperfectly, their shape +and form. Thurston was country bred, and, lifting high his feet to +clear bramble trailer and fallen twig, he walked by feeling instead of +sight. The beck moaned a little more loudly, and there was a heavy +astringent odor of damp earth and decaying leaves. When beast and bird +were still again it seemed as if Nature, worn out by the productive +effort of summer, were sinking under solemn silence into her winter +sleep. + +The watcher knew the wood was a large one and unlawful visitants might +well be hidden towards its farther end. He stood still at intervals, +concentrating all his powers to listen, but his ears told him nothing +until at last there was a rustle somewhere ahead. Puzzled by the +sound, which reminded him of something curiously out of place in the +lonely wood, he instantly sank down behind an ash tree. + +The sound certainly was not made by withered bracken or bramble leaves, +and had nothing to do with the stealthy fall of a poacher's heavy boot. +It came again more clearly, and Thurston was almost sure that it was +the rustle of a woven fabric, such as a woman's dress. To confirm this +opinion a soft laugh followed. He rose, deciding it could only be some +assignation with a maid from the Hall, and no business of his. He had +turned to retreat when he noticed the eastern side of a silver fir +reflect a faint shimmer. Glancing along the beam of light that +filtered through a fantastic fretwork of delicate birch twigs arching a +drive, he saw a broad, bright disk hanging low above the edge of the +moor. It struck him that perhaps the poachers had used the girl to +coax information out of a young groom or keeper, and that she was now +warning them. So he waited, debating, because he was a rudely +chivalrous person, how he might secure the girl's companion without +involving the girl's disgrace. Again a laugh rose from beyond a +thicket. Then he heard the voice of a man. + +Geoffrey was puzzled, for the laugh was musical, unlike a rustic +giggle; and, though the calling of the beck partly drowned it, the +man's voice did not resemble that of a laborer. Thurston moved again, +wondering whether it was not some affair of Leslie's from the Hall, and +whether he ought not to slip away after all. The birch boughs sighed a +little, there was a fluttering down of withered leaves, and he remained +undecided, gripping his stout oak cudgel by the middle. Then the hot +blood pulsed fiercely through every artery, for the voice rose once +more, harsh and clear this time, with almost a threat in the tone, and +there was no possibility of doubting that the speaker was Leslie. + +"This cannot continue, Millicent," the voice said. "It has gone on too +long, and I will not be trifled with. You cannot have both of us, and +my patience is exhausted. Leave the fool to his folly." + +Geoffrey raised the cudgel and dropped it to his side. Turning +suddenly cold, he remained for a second or two almost without power of +thought or motion. The disillusion was cruel. The woman's light +answer filled him with returning fury and he hurled himself at a +thicket from which, amid a crash of branches, he reeled out into the +sight of the speakers. The moon was well clear of the moor now, and +silver light and inky shadow checkered the mosses of the drive. + +With a little scream of terror Millicent sprang apart from her +companion's side and stood for a space staring at the man who had +appeared out of the rent-down undergrowth. The pale light beat upon +Geoffrey's face, showing it was white with anger. Looking from +Geoffrey, the girl glanced towards Leslie, who waited in the partial +shadow of a hazel bush. Even had he desired to escape, which was +possible, the bush would have cut off his retreat. + +Geoffrey turned fiercely from one to the other. The woman, who stood +with one hand on a birch branch, was evidently struggling to regain her +courage. Her lips were twitching and her pale blue eyes were very wide +open. The man was shrinking back as far as possible in a manner which +suggested physical fear; he had heard the dalesfolk say a savage devil, +easily aroused, lurked in all the Thurstons, and the one before him +looked distinctly dangerous just then. Leslie was weak in limb as well +as moral fiber, and it was Geoffrey who broke the painful silence. + +"What are you doing here at such an hour with this man, Millicent?" he +asked sternly. "No answer! It appears that some explanation is +certainly due to me--and I mean to force it out of one of you." + +Millicent, saying nothing, gazed at her companion, as if conjuring him +to speak plainly and to end an intolerable position. Geoffrey read her +meaning, even though Leslie, who glanced longingly over his shoulder +down the drive, refused to do so. Because there was spirit in her, and +she had recovered from the first shock of surprise, Millicent ground +one little heel into the mosses with a gesture of disgust and anger +when the man made answer: + +"I resent your attitude and question. We came out to see the moon rise +on the moor, and found the night breeze nipping." + +Geoffrey laughed harshly before he repeated: "You found the breeze +nipping! There is scarcely an air astir. And you understand the +relations existing between Miss Austin and me? I want a better reason. +Millicent, you, at least, are not a coward--dare you give it me?" + +"I challenge your right to demand an account of my actions," said the +girl. With an evident effort to defy Thurston, she added, after a +pause, "But the explanation must have come sooner or later, and you +shall have it now. I have grown--perhaps the brutal truth is +best--tired of you and your folly. You would sacrifice my future to +your fantastic pride--and this man would give up everything for me." + +The first heat of Geoffrey's passion was past, and he was now coldly +savage because of the woman's treachery. + +"Including his conscience and honor, but not his personal safety!" he +supplemented contemptuously. "Millicent, one could almost admire you." +Turning to Leslie he asked: "But are you struck dumb that you let the +woman speak? This was my promised wife to whom you have been making +love, though, for delicacy would be superfluous, it is evident that she +has not discouraged you. Until three days ago I could have trusted my +life to her. Now, I presume, she has pledged herself to you?" + +"Yes," answered Leslie, recovering his equanimity as his fears grew +less oppressive. He began to excuse himself but Geoffrey cut him short +with a gesture. + +"Then, even if I desired to make them, my protests would be useless," +said Geoffrey. "I am at least grateful for your frankness, Millicent; +it prevented me from wringing the truth from your somewhat abject +lover. Had you told me honestly, when this man first spoke to you, +that you had grown tired of me, I would have released you, and I would +have tried to wish you well. Now I can only say, that at least you +know the worst of each other--and there will be less disappointment +when, stripped of either mutual or self respect, you begin life +together. But I was forgetting that Franklin's keepers are searching +the wood. Some of them might talk. Go at once by the Hall path, as +softly as you can." + +The man and the girl were plainly glad to hurry away, and Geoffrey +waited until the sound of their footsteps became scarcely audible +before he heeded a faint rustling which indicated that somebody with a +knowledge of woodcraft was forcing a passage through the undergrowth. +He broke a dry twig at intervals as he walked slowly for a little +distance. Then he dropped on hands and knees to cross a strip of open +sward at an angle to his previous course, and lay still in the black +shadow of a spruce. It was evident that somebody was following his +trail, and the pursuer, passing his hiding-place, followed it straight +on. Geoffrey's was a curious character, and the very original cure for +a disappointment in love, that of baffling a game watcher while his +faithless mistress escaped, brought him relief; it left no time for +reflection. + +Presently he dashed across a bare strip of velvet mosses and +rabbit-cropped turf, slipped between the roots of the hedge, and, +running silently beneath it, halted several score yards away face to +face with the astonished keeper. "Weel, I'm clanged; this clean beats +me," gasped that worthy. "Hello, behind there. It's only Mr. +Geoffrey, sir. Didst see Black Jim slip out this way, or hear a scream +a laal while gone by?" + +"I saw no one," answered Geoffrey, "but I heard the scream. It was not +unlike a hare squealing in a snare. You and I must have been stalking +each other, Evans, and Black Jim can't be here." + +The rest came up as they spoke, and Captain Franklin said, "You seem +badly disappointed at missing your old enemy, Thurston. I never saw +you look so savage. I expect Black Jim has tricked us, after all." + +"I've had several troubles lately, and don't find much amusement in +hunting poachers who aren't there," said Geoffrey. "You will excuse me +from going back with you." + +He departed across the meadows, at a swinging pace, and the keeper, who +stared after him, commented: + +"Something gradely wrang with Mr. Geoffrey to-night. They're an ill +folk to counter yon, and it's maybe as well for Black Jim as Mr. +Geoffrey didn't get hold on him." + +Geoffrey saw no more of Millicent, but once he visited her younger +sister, a gentle invalid, who, because of the friendship which had long +existed between them, said: "You must try to believe I mean it in +kindness when I say that I am not wholly sorry, Geoffrey. You and +Millicent would never have gotten on well together, and while I wish +the awakening could have happened in a more creditable way, you will +realize--when somebody else makes you happy--that all has been for the +best." + +"That day will be long in coming," declared the man, grimly, and the +sick girl laid a thin white hand on his hard one as she answered him. + +"It is not a flattering speech, and you must not lose faith in all of +us," the invalid went on. "Lying still here, helpless, I have often +thought about both of you, and I feel that you have done well in +choosing a new life in a new country. When you go out, Geoffrey, you +will take my fervent wishes for your welfare with you." + +Janet Austin was frail and worn by pain. Her pale face flushed a +little as the man suddenly stooped and touched her forehead with his +lips. + +"God bless you for your kindly heart," he said. "A ruined man has very +few friends, and many acquaintances are waiting to convince him that +his downfall is the result of his own folly, but"--and he straightened +his wiry frame, while his eyes glinted--"they have not seen the end, +and even if beaten, there is satisfaction in a stubborn, single-handed +struggle." + +Janet Austin, perhaps thinking of her own helplessness, sighed as she +answered: + +"I do not think you will be beaten, Geoffrey, but if you will take +advice from me, remember that over-confidence in your powers and the +pride that goes with it may cost you many a minor victory. Good-by, +and good luck, Geoffrey. You will remember me." + +That afternoon, while Thurston was in the midst of preparations to +leave his native land, the mining engineer called upon him with a +provincial newspaper in his hand. "I suppose this is your answer," he +remarked, laying his finger on a paragraph. + + +"Mr. G. Thurston, who has, in the face of many difficulties, attempted +to exploit the copper vein in Crosbie Fell, has been compelled to close +the mine," the printed lines ran. "We understand he came upon an +unexpected break in the strata, coupled with a subsidence which +practically precludes the possibility of following the lost lead with +any hope of commercial success. He has, therefore, placed his affairs +in the hands of Messrs. Lonsdale & Routh, solicitors, and, we +understand, intends emigrating. His many friends and former employees +wish him success." + + +"Yes," Geoffrey answered dryly, "I sent them the information, also a +copy to London financial papers. Considering the interest displayed +just now in British mines, they should insert a paragraph. I've staked +down your backers' game in return for your threats, and you may be +thankful you have come off so easily. Your check is ready. It is the +last you will ever get from me." + +The expert smiled almost good-naturedly. "You needn't have taken so +much trouble, Thurston," he said. "The exploitation of your rabbit +burrow would only have been another drop in the bucket to my +correspondents, and it's almost a pity we can't be friends, for, with +some training, your sledge-hammer style would make its mark in the +ring." + +"Thanks!" replied Geoffrey. "I'm not fishing for compliments, and it's +probably no use explaining my motives--you wouldn't understand them. +Still, in future, don't set down every man commonly honest as an +uncommon fool. If I ever had much money, which is hardly likely, I +should fight extremely shy of any investments recommended by your +friends!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GEOFFREY'S FIRST CONTRACT + +It was springtime among the mountains which, glistening coldly white +with mantles of eternal snow, towered above the deep-sunk valley, when, +one morning, Geoffrey Thurston limped painfully out of a redwood forest +of British Columbia. The boom of a hidden river set the pine sprays +quivering. A blue grouse was drumming deliriously on the top of a +stately fir, and the morning sun drew clean, healing odors from balsam +and cedar. + +The scene was characteristic of what is now the grandest and wildest, +as it will some day be the richest, province of the Canadian Dominion. +The serene majesty of snow-clad heights and the grandeur of vast +shadowy aisles, with groined roofs of red branches and mighty +colonnades of living trunks, were partly lost upon the traveler who, +most of the preceding night, had trudged wearily over rough railroad +ballast. He had acquired Colonial experience of the hardest kind by +working through the winter in an Ontario logging camp, which is a rough +school. + +An hour earlier the man, to visit whom Thurston had undertaken an +eight-league journey, had laughed in his face when he offered to drain +a lake which flooded his ranch. Saying nothing, but looking grimmer +than ever, Geoffrey had continued his weary journey in search of +sustenance. He frowned as he flung himself down beneath a fir, for, +shimmering like polished steel between the giant trees, the glint of +water caught his eye, and the blue wood smoke curling over the house on +a distant slope suggested the usual plentiful Colonial breakfast. + +Although Geoffrey's male forbears had been reckless men, his mother had +transmitted him a strain of north-country canniness. The remnant of +his poor possessions, converted into currency, lay in a Canadian bank +to provide working capital and, finding no scope for his mental +abilities, he had wandered here and there endeavoring to sell the +strength of his body for daily bread. Sometimes he had been +successful, more often he had failed, but always, when he would accept +it, the kindly bush settlers gave him freely of their best. As he +basked in the warmth and brightness, he took from his pocket a few +cents' worth of crackers. When he had eaten, his face relaxed, for the +love of wild nature was born in him, and the glorious freshness of the +spring was free to the poorest as well as to the richest. He stooped +to drink at a glacier-fed rill, and then producing a corn-cob pipe, +sighed on finding that only the tin label remained of his cake of +tobacco. + +Through the shadow of the firs two young women watched him with +curiosity. The man looked worn and weary, his jean jacket was old and +torn, and an essential portion of one boot was missing. The stranger's +face had been almost blackened by the snow-reflected glare of the clear +winter sun, and yet both girls decided that he was hardly a +representative specimen of the wandering fraternity of tramps. + +Helen Savine was slender, tall, and dark. Though arrayed in a plain +dress of light fabric, she carried herself with a dignity befitting the +daughter of the famous engineering contractor, Julius Savine, and a +descendant, through her mother, from Seigneurs of ancient French +descent who had ruled in patriarchal fashion in old-world Quebec. Jean +Graham, whose father owned the ranch on the slope behind them, was +ruddy in face, with a solidity of frame that betokened Caledonian +extraction, and true trans-Atlantic directness of speech. + +"He must be hungry," whispered Jean. "Quite good-looking, too, and +it's queer he sits there munching those crackers, instead of walking +straight up and striking us for a meal. I don't like to see a +good-looking man hungry," she added, reflectively. + +"We will go down and speak to him," said Helen, and the suggestion that +she should interview a wandering vagrant did not seem out of place in +that country where men from many different walks of life turned their +often ill-fitted hands to the rudest labor that promised them a +livelihood. In any case, Helen possessed a somewhat imperious will, +which was supplemented by a grace of manner which made whatever she did +appear right. + +Geoffrey, looking round at the sound of approaching steps, stood +suddenly upright, thrusting the more dilapidated boot behind the other, +and wondering with what purpose the two girls had sought him. One he +recognized as a type common enough throughout the Dominion--kindly, +shrewd, somewhat hard-featured and caustic in speech; but the other, +who looked down on him with thinly-veiled pity, more resembled the +women of birth and education whom he had seen in England. + +"You are a stranger to this district. Looking for work, perhaps?" said +Helen Savine. Geoffrey lifted his wide and battered felt hat as he +answered, "I am." + +"There is work here," announced Helen. "I can offer you a dollar +now--if you would care to earn it. Yonder rock, which I believe is a +loose boulder, obstructs our wagon trail. If you are willing to remove +it and will follow us to the ranch, you will find suitable tools." + +Geoffrey flushed a little under his tan. When seeking work he had +grown used to being sworn at by foremen with Protectionist tendencies, +but it galled him to be offered a woman's charity, and the words "If +you would care to earn it," left a sting. Nevertheless, he reflected +that any superfluous sensitiveness would be distinctly out of place in +one of his position, and, considering the wages paid in that country, +the man who rolled the boulder clear would well earn his dollar. +Accordingly he answered: "I should be glad to remove the rock, if I +can." + +The two young women turned back towards the ranch, and Thurston +followed respectfully, as far as possible in the rear, that they might +not observe the condition of his attire. This was an entirely +superfluous precaution, for Helen's keen eyes had noticed. + +Reaching the ranch, Geoffrey possessed himself of a grub-hoe, which is +a pick with an adz-shaped blade with an ax and shovel; also he returned +with the girls to the boulder. For an hour or two he toiled hard, +grubbing out hundredweights of soil and gravel from round about the +rock. Then cutting a young fir he inserted the butt of it as a lever, +and spent another thirty minutes focusing his full strength on the +opposite end. The rock, however, refused to move an inch, and, because +a few crackers are not much for a hungry man to work on after an +all-night march, Thurston became conscious that he had a headache and a +distressful stitch in his side. Still, being obstinate and filled with +an unreasoning desire to prove his trustworthiness to his fair +employer, he continued doggedly, and after another hour's digging found +the stone still immovable. Then it happened that while, with the +perspiration dripping from him, he tugged at the lever, the rancher who +had rebuffed him that morning, drew rein close beside. + +"Hello! What are you after now? You're messing all this trail up if +you're doing nothing else," he declared in a tone of challenge. + +"If you have come here to amuse yourself at my expense, take care. I'm +not in the mood for baiting," answered Thurston, who still smarted +under the recollection of the summary manner in which the speaker had +rejected his proffered services. "There are, however, folks in this +country more willing to give a stranger a chance than you, and I've +taken a contract to remove that rock for a dollar. Now, if you are +satisfied, ride on your way." + +"Then you've made a blame bad bargain," commented the rancher, with +unruffled good humor. "I was figuring that I might help you. I +thought you were a hobo after my chickens, or trying to bluff me into a +free meal this morning. If you'd asked straight for it, I'd have given +it you." + +Geoffrey hesitated, divided between an inclination to laugh or to +assault the rancher, who perhaps guessed his thoughts, for, +dismounting, he said: + +"If you're so mighty thin-skinned what are you doing here? Why don't +you British dukes stop right back in your own country where folks touch +their hats to you? Let me on to that lever." + +For at least twenty minutes, the two men tugged and panted. Then +Bransome, the rancher, said: + +"The blame thing's either part of the out-crop or wedged fast there +forever, and I've no more time to spare. Say, Graham's a hard man, and +has been playing it low on you. What's the matter with turning his +contract up and going over to fill oat bags for me?" + +"Thank, but having given my word to move that rock, I'm going to stay +here until I do it," answered Geoffrey; and Bransome, nodding to him, +rode on towards the ranch. + +When he reached it Bransome said to Jean Graham in the hearing of Miss +Savine: + +"The old man has taken in yonder guileless stranger who has put two +good dollars' worth of work into that job already, and the rock's +rather faster than it was before." + +"Did he say Mr. Graham hired him?" asked Helen, and she drew her own +inference when Bransome answered: + +"Why, no! I put it that way, and he didn't contradict me." + +It was afternoon when Thurston realized at last that even considerable +faith in one's self is not sufficient, unaided, to move huge boulders. +He felt faint and hungry, but the pride of the Insular Briton +restrained him from begging for a meal. His own dislike to acknowledge +defeat also prompted him to decide that where weary muscles failed, +mechanical power might succeed, and he determined to tramp back a +league to the settlement in the hope of perhaps obtaining a drill and +some giant powder on credit. He had not studied mining theoretically +as well as in a costly practical school for nothing. + +It was a rough trail to the settlement. The red dust lay thick upon it +and the afternoon sun was hot. When at last, powdered all over with +dust and very weary, Thurston came in sight of the little wooden store, +he noticed Bransome's horse fastened outside it. He did not see the +rancher, who sat on an empty box behind a sugar hogshead inside the +counter. + +"I want two sticks of giant powder, a fathom or two of fuse, and +several detonators," said Geoffrey as indifferently as he could. "I +have only two bits at present to pay for them, but if they don't come +to more than a dollar you shall have the rest to-morrow. I also want +to borrow a drill." + +The storekeeper was used to giving much longer credit than Geoffrey +wanted, but the glance he cast at the applicant was not reassuring, and +it is possible he might have refused his request, but that, unseen by +Thurston, Bransome signaled to him from behind the barrel. + +"We don't trade that way with strangers generally," the storekeeper +answered. "Still, if you want them special, and will pay me what +they're worth to-morrow, I'll oblige you, and even lend you a set of +drills. But you'll come back sure, and not lose any of them drills?" +he added dubiously. + +"I haven't come here to rob you. It's a business deal, and not a favor +I'm asking," asserted Geoffrey grimly, and when he withdrew the +storekeeper observed: + +"Why can't you do your own charity, Bransome, instead of taxing me? +That's the crank who wanted to run your lake down, isn't he? I guess +I'll never see either him or them drills again." + +"You will," the rancher assured him. "If that man's alive to-morrow +you'll get your money; I'll go bail for him. He's just the man you +mention, but I'm considerably less sure about the crankiness than I was +this morning. There's a quantity of fine clean sand in him." + +Meanwhile, and soon after Geoffrey had set out for the store, the two +girls strolled down the trail to ascertain how he was progressing. +They looked at each other significantly when they came upon the litter +of debris and tools. + +"Lit out!" announced Jean Graham. "The sight of all that work was too +much for him. He'll be lying on his back now by the river thinking +poetry. This country's just thick with reposeful Britishers nobody at +home has any use for, and their kind friends ship off onto us. In a +way I'm sorry. He lit out hungry, and he didn't look like a loafer." + +"I'm afraid we were a little hard upon him," said Helen, smiling. +"Still, I am somewhat surprised he did not carry out his bargain." + +"You can never trust those gilt-edge Britishers," said Jean Graham with +authority. "There was old man Peters who took one of them in, and he'd +sit in the store nights making little songs to his banjo, and talking +just wonderful. Said he was a baronet or something, if he had his +rights, and made love to Sally. Old fool Peters believed him, and lent +him three hundred dollars to start a lawsuit over his English property +with. Dessay Peters thought red-haired Sally would look well trailing +round as a countess in a gold-hemmed dress. The baronet took the +money, but wanted some more, and lit out the same night with Lou of the +Sapin Rouge saloon." + +"I should hardly expect all that from our acquaintance of this morning, +but I am disappointed, though I'm sure I don't know why I should be," +said Helen Savine. + +The sunlight had faded from the valley, though the peaks still +shimmered orange and red, and the broken edge of a glacier flashed like +a great rose diamond, when the two girls sat on the veranda encircling +Graham's ranch-house. The rancher and his stalwart sons were away +rounding up his cattle, but Jean was expecting both them and her mother +and the delayed supper was ready. The evening was very still and cool. +The life-giving air was heavy with the breath of dew-touched cedars, +while the hoarse clamor of the river accentuated the hush of the +mountain solitude. Strange to say, both of the girls were thinking +about the vagrant, and Helen Savine, who considered herself a judge of +character, had been more impressed by him than she would have cared to +admit. There was no doubt, she reflected, that the man was tolerably +good-looking and had enjoyed some training, though perhaps not the +best, in England. He had also known adversity, she deduced from the +gauntness of his face and a certain grimness of expression. She had +noticed that his chin indicated a masterful expression and she was, +therefore, the more surprised that he had allowed himself to be +vanquished by the boulder. + +Suddenly a heavy crash broke through the musical jangle of cow bells +that drew nearer up the valley, and a cloud of yellow smoke curling +above the dark branches spread itself across the fir tops in filmy +folds. + +"I guess that's our hobo blowing the rock up!" cried Jean. "I wonder +where he stole the giant powder from. Well, daddy's found his cattle, +and the swearing will have made him hungry. I'll start Kate on to the +supper, and we'll bring the man in when he comes round for his dollar." + +Presently Thurston knocked at the door, and strode in at a summons to +enter. Slightly abashed, he halted inside the threshold. Jean, +looking ruddy and winsome in light print dress, with sleeves rolled +clear of each plump fore-arm, was spreading great platefuls of hot +cakes and desiccated fruits among the more solid viands on the snowy +tablecloth. Geoffrey found it difficult to refrain from glancing +wolfishly at the good things until his eyes rested upon Miss Savine, +and then it cost him an effort to turn them away. Helen reclined on an +ox-hide lounge. An early rose rested among the glossy clusters of her +thick, dark hair. A faint tinge of crimson showed through the pale +olive in her cheek, and he caught the glimmer of pearly teeth between +the ripe red lips. In her presence he grew painfully conscious that he +was ragged, toil-stained and dusty, though he had made the best toilet +he could beside a stream. + +"I have removed the rock, and have brought the tools back," he said. + +"How much did the explosives cost you?" asked Helen, and Geoffrey +smiled. + +"If you will excuse me, is not that beside the question? I engaged to +remove the boulder, and I have done it," he answered. + +Ever since her mother's death, Helen Savine had ruled her father and +most of the men with whom she came in contact. She had come to the +ranch with Mr. Savine, who was interested in many enterprises in the +neighborhood and she was prepared to be interested in whatever +occurred. Few of her wishes ever had been thwarted, so, naturally, she +was conscious of a faint displeasure that a disheveled wanderer should +even respectfully slight her question. Placing two silver coins on the +table, the said coldly: + +"Then here are your covenanted wages, and we are obliged to you." + +Geoffrey handed one of the coins back with a slight inclination of his +head. "Our bargain was one dollar, madam, and I cannot take more. +Perhaps you have forgotten," he replied. + +Helen was distinctly annoyed now. The color grew a little warmer in +her cheek and her eyes brighter, but she uttered only a "Thank you," +and took up the piece of silver. + +Jean Graham, prompted by the Westerner's generous hospitality, and a +feeling that she had been overlooked, spoke: + +"You have earned a square meal any way, and you're going to get it," +she declared. "Sit right down there and we'll have supper when the +boys come in." + +Uneasily conscious that Helen was watching him, Thurston cast a swift +hungry glance at the food. Then, remembering his frayed and tattered +garments and the hole in his boot, he answered: "I thank you, but as I +must be well on my way to-morrow I cannot stay." + +"Then you'll take these along, and eat them when it suits you," said +the girl, deftly thrusting a plateful of hot cakes upon him. Divided +between gratitude and annoyance, Geoffrey stood still, stupidly holding +out the dainties at arm's length, while flavored syrup dripped from +them. It was equally impossible to return them without flagrant +discourtesy or to retire with any dignity. Finally, he moved out +backwards still clutching the plate of cakes, and when he had +disappeared Helen laughed softly, while Jean's merriment rang out in +rippling tones. + +"You saved the situation," said Helen. "It was really getting +embarrassing, and he made me ashamed. I ought to have known better +than to play that trick with the dollar, but the poor man looked as if +he needed it. He is certainly not a hobo, and I could wonder who he +is, but that it does not matter, as we shall never see him again." + +Meanwhile, Geoffrey Thurston walked savagely down the trail. He felt +greatly tempted to hurl the cakes away, but, on second thoughts, ate +them instead. It was a trifling decision, but it led to important +results, as trifles often do, because, if he had not satisfied his +hunger, he would have limped back through the settlement towards the +railroad and probably never would have re-entered the valley. As it +was, when the edge of his hunger was blunted he felt drowsy, and, +curling himself up among the roots of hemlock, sank into slumber under +the open sky. Early next morning Bransome stopped him on the trail. + +"I've been thinking over what you told me about making a rock cutting +to run the water clear of my meadows," said the rancher, "and if you're +still keen on business I'm open to talk to you." + +"Why didn't you talk yesterday morning?" inquired Thurston, and +Bransome answered frankly: "Well, just then I had my doubts about you; +now I figure that if you say you can do a thing, you can. Come over to +the ranch, and, if we can't make a deal, I'll give you a week's work, +any way." + +"Thanks!" replied Thurston. "I should be glad to, but I have some +business at the settlement first. Will you advance me a dollar, on +account of wages, so that I can discharge a debt to the storekeeper?" + +"Why, yes!" agreed the rancher. "But didn't you get a dollar from +Graham yesterday? Do you want two?" + +"Yes!" said Thurston. "I want two," and Bransome laughed. + +"You're in a greater hurry to pay your debts than other folks from your +country I've met over here," he observed with a smile. "But come on to +the ranch and breakfast; I'll square the storekeeper for you." + +Thurston accepted the chance that offered him a sustaining meal, but he +did not explain that, owing to some faint trace of superstition in his +nature, he intended to keep Helen Savine's dollar. It was the first +coin that he had earned as his own master, in the Dominion, and he felt +that the successfully-executed contract marked a turning point in his +career. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GEOFFREY MAKES PROGRESS + +Thurston did justice to his breakfast at Bransome's ranch, and he +frankly informed his host that he had found it difficult to exist on +two handfuls of crackers and one of hot corn cakes. When the meal was +finished and pipes were lighted, the two men surveyed each other with +mutual interest. They were not unlike in physique, for the Colonial, +was, as is usual with his kind, lean and wiry. His quick, restless +movements suggested nervous energy, but when advisable, he could assume +the bovine stolidity which, though foreign to his real nature, the +Canadian bushman occasionally adopts for diplomatic purposes. +Thurston, however, still retained certain traits of the Insular Briton, +including a curtness of speech and a judicious reserve. + +"That blame lake backs up on my meadows each time the creek rises," +Bransome observed at length. "The snow melts fast in hay-time, and, +more often than I like, a freshet harvests my timothy grass for me. +Now cutting down three-hundred-foot redwoods is good as exercise, but +it gets monotonous, and a big strip of natural prairie would be +considerably more useful than a beaver's swimming bath. You said you +could blow a channel through the rocks that hold up the outlet, didn't +you?" + +"I can!" Geoffrey asserted confidently. "From some knowledge of mining +I am inclined to think that a series of heavy charges fired +simultaneously along the natural cleavage would reduce the lake's level +at least a fathom. Have you got a pencil?" + +Here it was that the national idiosyncrasies of the men became +apparent; for Thurston, leaning on one elbow, made an elaborate sketch +and many calculations with Bransome's pencil. A humming-bird, +resplendent in gold and purple, blundered in between the roses +shrouding the open window, and hovered for a moment above him on +invisible wings. Thurston did not notice the bird, but Bransome flung +a crust at it as he smiled on his companion. + +"We'll take the figures for granted. Life is too short to worry over +them," the rancher said. "Let's get down to business. How much are +you asking, no cure no pay, I finding tools and material? I want your +bottom price straight away." + +Thurston had never done business in so summary a fashion before, but he +could adapt himself to circumstances, and he mentioned a moderate sum +forthwith. + +"Can't come down?--then it's a deal!" Bransome announced. +"Contract--this is the Pacific slope, and we've no time for such +foolery. I'm figuring that I can trust you, and my word's good enough +in this locality. Run that pond down a fathom and you'll get your +money. Any particular reason why you shouldn't start in to-day? Don't +know of any? Then put that pipe in your pocket, and we'll strike out +for the store at the settlement now." + +So it came about that at sunset Geoffrey was deposited with several +bags of provisions, a blanket, and a litter of tools, outside a ruined +shack on the edge of the natural prairie surrounding Bransome's lake. +He had elected to live beside his work. + +A tall forest of tremendous growth walled the lake, and then for a +space rotting trees and willow swale showed where the intermittent rise +of waters had set a limit to the all-encroaching bush. The wail of a +loon rang eerily out of the shadow, and was answered by the howl of a +distant wolf. A thin silver crescent sailed clear of the fretted +minarets of towering firs clear cut against a pale pearl of the sky. + +"Carlton's prairie, we call it," said Bransome, leaning against his +light wagon, which stood, near the deserted dwelling. "Land which +isn't all rock or forest is mighty scarce, and Carlton figured he'd +done great things when he bought this place. Five years he tried to +drain it, working night and day, and pouring good money into it, and +five times the freshets washed out his crops for him. The creek just +laughed at his ditches. Then when he'd no more money he went out to +help track-laying, and a big tree flattened him. The boys said he +didn't seem very sorry. This prairie had broken his heart for him, and +I've heard the Siwash say he still comes back and digs at nights when +the moon is full." + +"Carlton made a mistake," said Geoffrey, who had been examining the +surroundings rather than listening to the tale. "He began in what +looked the easiest and was the hardest way. He should have cut the +mother rock instead of trenching the forest." When Bransome drove away +Thurston rolled himself in the thick brown blanket, and sank into +slumber under the lee of the dead man's dwelling, through which a maple +tree had grown from the inside, wrenching off the shingle roof. + +An owl that circled about the crumbling house, stooped now and then on +muffled wing to inspect the sleeper. Once a stealthy panther, slipping +through the willows, bared its fangs and passed the other way, and the +pale green points of luminescence that twinkled in the surrounding +bush, and were the eyes of timber wolves, faded again. Neither did the +deer that panther and wolves sought, come down to feed on the swamp +that night, for a man, holding dominion over the beasts of the forest, +lay slumbering in the desolate clearing. + +Geoffrey began work early next day, and afterwards week by week toiled +from dawn until nearly sunset, blasting clear minor reefs and ledges +until he attacked the mother rock under the lip of a clashing fall. +The fee promised was by no means large, and, because current wages +prohibited assistance, he did all the work himself. So he shoveled +debris and drilled holes in the hard blue grit; and drilling, +single-handed, is a difficult operation, damaging to the knuckles of +the man attempting it. He waded waist-deep in water, learned to carry +heavy burdens on his shoulder, and found his interest in the task +growing upon him. He felt that much depended upon the successful +completion of his contract. It was not, however, all monotonous labor, +and there were compensations, for, after each day's toil was done, he +lay prone on scented pine twigs, and heard the voices of the bush break +softly through the solemn hush as, through gradations of fading glories +along the lofty snows, night closed in. He would watch the black bear +grubbing hog-fashion among the tall wild cabbage, while the little +butter duck, paddling before its brood, set divergent lines creeping +across the steely lake until the shadows of the whitened driftwood +broke and quivered. + +Sometimes he would call the chipmunks, which scurried up and down +behind him, or tap on a rotten log until a crested woodpecker cried in +answer, and by degrees the spell of the mountains gained upon him, +until he forgot his troubles and became no more subject to fits of +berserk rage. He was growing quiet and more patient, learning to wait, +but his energy and determination still remained. But he was not wholly +cut off from human intercourse, for at times some of the scattered +ranchers would ride over to offer impracticable advice or to predict +his failure, and Geoffrey listened quietly, answering that in time it +would be proved which was right. Sometimes, he tramped through scented +shadow to Graham's homestead and discussed crops and cattle with the +rancher. On these occasions, he had long conversations with Helen +Savine, who, finding no person of liberal education thereabouts, was +pleased to talk to him. There was nothing incongruous in this, for +petty class distinctions vanish in the bush, where, when his daily task +is done, the hired man meets his master on terms of equality. + +At last the day on which Thurston's work was to be practically tested +arrived, and most of the ranchers drove over to witness what they +regarded as a reckless experiment. + +Jean Graham and Helen Savine stood a little apart from the rest on the +edge of the forest looking down on the glancing water and talking with +the experimenter. The rich wet meadows were heavy with flag and +blossom to the edge of the driftwood frieze, and the splash of rising +trout alone disturbed the reflection of the mighty trunks and branches +crowning a promontory on the farther side. + +"It is very beautiful, and now you are going to spoil it all, Mr. +Bransome," said Helen. + +The rancher glanced at her with admiration in his eyes. Helen was +worthy of inspection. Her thin summer dress, with the cluster of +crimson roses tucked into the waist of it, brought out her rich beauty +which betokened a Latin ancestry. + +"Yes, it's mighty pretty; a picture worth looking at--all of it," he +said, and there was a faint smile on Helen's lips as she recognized +that the general tribute to the picturesque was as far as Bransome +dared venture in the direction of a compliment. He was not a diffident +person, but he felt a wholesome respect for Helen Savine. + +"Mighty pretty, but what's the good of it, and I'm not farming for my +health," he continued. "It's just a beautiful wilderness, and what has +a man brains given him for, unless it's to turn the wilderness into +cheese and butter. It has broken one man's heart, and my thick-headed +neighbors said a swamp it would remain forever, but a stranger with +ideas came along, and I told him, 'Sail ahead.'" + +"I did hear you told him not to be a--perhaps I had better say--a +simple fool," Helen answered mischievously; and Bransome coughed before +he made reply. + +"Maybe!" he acknowledged. "I didn't know him then, but to-day I'm +ready to back that man to put through just whatever he sets his mind +upon." + +As Bransome spoke, the subject of this encomium came up from the little +gorge by the lake outlet, and it struck Helen Savine that the rock +worker had changed to advantage since she first saw him. His keen +eyes, which she had noticed were quick to flash with anger, had grown +more kindly and the bronzed face was more reposeful. The thin jean +garments and great knee boots, which had no longer any rents in them, +suited the well-proportioned frame. + +"I was disappointed about the electric firing gear ordered from +Vancouver, but I think the coupled time-fuses should serve almost as +well," said Thurston, acknowledging Helen's presence with a bow that +was significant. "You appear interested, Miss Savine. We are trusting +to the shock of a number of charges fired simultaneously, and perhaps +you had better retire nearer the bush, for the blast will be powerful. +I should like your good wishes, since you are in a measure responsible +for this venture. You will remember you gave me my first commission." + +"You have them!" said Helen, with a frank sincerity, for though the man +was a mere enterprising laborer, she was too proud to assume any air of +condescension. She was Helen Savine, and considered that she had no +need to maintain her dignity. + +Geoffrey returned a conventional answer, and there was a buzz of voices +as he and Bransome walked back together towards the gorge. The rancher +halted discreetly when his companion, taking a brand from a fire near +it, clambered over the boulders. Geoffrey disappeared among the rocks, +and the voices grew louder when he came into view again walking +hurriedly. + +Several trails of thin blue vapor began to crawl in and out among the +rocks. Bransome joined Thurston, and both men broke into a smart trot. +They were heading for the bush until Geoffrey, halting near it, ran +back at full speed towards the gorge. All who watched him were +astonished, for they were already bracing themselves to face the heavy +shock. + +"He's mad--stark mad!" roared Graham. "Come back for your life, +Bransome. It's smashed into small pieces both of you will be," and the +eyes of the spectators grew wide as they watched the two running +figures, for the rancher also had turned, and the lines of vapor were +creeping with ominous swiftness across the face of the stone. + +There was a roar as the behind man clutched at the other, missed him, +and staggered several paces, leaving his hat behind him before he took +up the chase again. Single cries sharper than the rest rose out of the +clamor, "Blown to glory both of them! Two sticks of giant powder in +most of the holes. All that's left of the Britisher won't be worth +picking up!" + +The two men disappeared among the boulders almost under the white foam +of the fall, and for a brief space there was heavy silence emphasized +by the song of hurrying water and the drumming of a blue-grouse on the +summit of a fir. Helen Savine fancied she could hear the assembly +breathing unevenly, and felt a pricking among the roots of her hair, +while she struggled with an impulse which prompted her to cry aloud or +in any wild fashion to break the torturing suspense. Jean Graham, +whose eyes were wide with apprehension, noted that her face was +bloodless to the lips. Neither had as yet been rudely confronted with +tragedy, and both felt held fast, spellbound, without the power to move. + +"The Lord have mercy on them," said the hoarse voice of a man somewhere +behind the girls. + +Once more a murmur swelled into a roar, and Jean, twining her brown +fingers together, cried, "There! They're coming. They may be in time!" + +A figure, apparently Bransome's, leaped down from a boulder close in +front of one that climbed over the stone, and there followed harsh, +breathless cries of encouragement as the two headed at mad speed for +the sheltering forest, the rear runner, who came up with hands clenched +and long swinging strides, gaining steadily on the one before him. +They were near enough for those who watched to see that the fear of +sudden death was stamped upon their perspiring faces. Then, as they +passed a spur of rock out-crop, Thurston leaped upon the leader, hurled +him forward so that he lost his balance and the pair went down out of +sight among the rocks, while a shaft of radiance pale in the sunlight +blazed aloft beside the outlet of the lake. Thick yellow-tinted vapor +followed it, and hillside and forest rang to the shock of a stunning +detonation. + +The smoke curling in filmy wreaths spread itself across the quaggy +meadows, while the patter of falling fragments filled the quivering +bush, and was mingled with a loud splashing, or a heavy crash as some +piece of greater weight drove hurtling through the trees or plunged +into the lake. Then for the last time the assembly gave voice, raising +a tumultuous cheer of relief as the two men came forth uninjured out of +the eddying smoke. + +Geoffrey, shaking the dust from his garments, turned to his companion +with a somewhat nervous laugh: + +"We cut it rather fine," he said, "but I felt reasonably sure there +would be just sufficient time, and it might have spoiled the whole +blast if the two bad fuses had failed to fire their shots. Of course, +I'm grateful for your company, but as it was my particular business I +don't quite see why you turned back after me." + +Bransome, who mopped his forehead, stared at the speaker with some +wonder and more admiration before he answered: + +"There's a good deal of cast iron about you, and I guess I'd a long way +sooner have trusted the rest than have gone back to stir up those two +charges. What took me?--well, I figured you had turned suddenly crazy, +and I was in a way responsible for you. Made the best bargain for your +time I could, but I didn't buy you up bones and body--see?" + +"I think I do," answered Geoffrey, and that was all, but it meant the +recognition of a bond between them. Bransome, as if glad to change the +subject, asked: + +"Say, after you had fired the fuse what did you waste precious seconds +looking for? If I wasn't too scared to notice anything clearly I'd +swear you found something and picked it up." + +"I did!" declared Geoffrey, smiling. "It was something I must have +dropped before. Only a trifle, but I would not like to lose it, and--I +had one eye on the fuses--there seemed a second or two to spare. +However, for some reason my throat feels all stuck together. Have you +any cider in your wagon?" + +Half-an-hour later, when most of the spectators stood watching the +released waters thunder down the gorge, for the blast had been +successful, Helen Savine said: + +"I don't quite understand what happened, Mr. Bransome." + +"It was this way!" answered the rancher, glad to profit by any +opportunity of interesting the girl. "That Thurston is a hard, tough +man. Two fuses that were to fire small charges petered out, and sooner +than risk anything he must light them again. I don't quite understand +all the rest of it, either, for he's not a mean man, and why he should +stay fooling on top of a powder mine looking for one dollar when I've a +hatful to pay him is away beyond me. Yet I'm sure he picked up a piece +of silver just before we ran. Curious kind of creature, isn't he?" + +Helen thought the incident distinctly odd. She could not comprehend +why a man should risk his life for the sake of a silver coin. She +could not find a solution of the mystery until it was explained that +evening. + +Geoffrey Thurston, attired in white shirt, black sash, and new store +clothes, had tramped over to Graham's ranch and by degrees he and Miss +Savine gravitated away from the others. They were interested in +subjects that did not appeal to the rest, and, though Jean smiled +mischievously at times, this excited no comment. + +Clear moonlight sparkled upon the untrodden snows above them, snows +that had remained stainless since the giant peaks were framed when the +world was young. The pines were black on their lower slopes, and white +mists filled the valley, out of which the song of the river rose in +long reverberations. Geoffrey and Helen leaned on the veranda +balustrade, both silent, for the solemnity of the mountains impressed +them, and speech seemed superfluous. + +After a while, the girl told Geoffrey that he ought to be glad to live +after his narrow escape from death. "There was really no great risk, +and, if there had been, the results would have justified it," Geoffrey +replied. "The failure of two charges might have spoiled all my work +for me. Since I left you the Roads and Trails Surveyor voluntarily +offered me a rock work contract he had refused before, and I at once +accepted it." + +"You have not been used to this laborious life. Have you no further +ambition, and do you like it?" asked Helen, flashing a quick glance at +him. + +"It is not exactly what I expected, but as there appears to be no great +demand in this country for mental abilities, one is glad to earn a +living as one can," he said. "I am afraid I am a somewhat ambitious +person. I consider this only the beginning, and Miss Savine +responsible for it. You will remember who it was offered me my first +contract." + +"Don't!" commanded Helen, averting her eyes. "That is hardly fair or +civil. You really looked so--and how was I to know?" + +Geoffrey's pulse beat faster, and the smile faded out of his eyes as he +noticed, for the moon was high, the trace of faintly heightened color +in the speaker's face. + +"I doubtless looked the hungry, worn-out tramp I was," he interposed +gravely. "And out of gentle compassion, you offered me a dollar. +Well, I earned that dollar, and I have it still. It has brought me +good luck, and I will keep it as a talisman." + +Instinctively his fingers slid to one end of a thin gold chain, and for +a moment a look of consternation came into his face, for the links hung +loose; then as the hard hand dropped to his pocket, he looked relieved +and Helen found it judicious to watch a gray blur of shadow moving +across the snow. She had sometimes wondered what he wore at one end of +that cross-pattern chain, for rock cutters do not usually adorn +themselves with such trinkets, but, remembering Bransome's comments, +she now understood what had happened just before the explosion. +Geoffrey's quick eyes had noticed something unusual in her air, and his +old reckless spirit, breaking through all restraint, prompted him to +say: + +"It will, I fancy, still bring me good fortune. I come of a +superstitious race, and nothing would tempt me to part with it. This, +as I said, is only the beginning. It appeared impossible to move the +boulder from your wagon trail, and I did it. The neighbors declared +nobody could drain Bransome's prairie, and a number of goodly acres are +drying now, while to-night I feel it may be possible to go on and on, +until----" + +"Does not that sound somewhat egotistical?" interposed Helen. + +"Horribly," said Thurston, with a curious smile. "But you see I am +trusting in the talisman, and some day I may ask you to admit that I +have made it good. I'm not avaricious, and desire money only as means +to an end. Dollars! If all goes well, the contract for the wagon road +rock work should bring me in a good many of them." + +"You are refreshingly certain," averred Helen. "But will the end or +dominant purpose justify all this?" + +Thurston answered quietly: + +"I may ask you to judge that, also, some day!" + +Helen was conscious of a chagrin quite unusual to her. Hitherto, she +had experienced little difficulty in making the men she knew regret +anything that resembled presumption, but with this man it was +different. What he meant she would not at the moment ask herself, but, +though she rather admired his quietly confident tone, it nettled her, +and yet, without begging an awkward question she could not resent it. +Geoffrey's reckless frankness was often more unassailable than wiser +men's diplomacy--and she was certainly pleased that he had recovered +the dollar. + +"The dew is getting heavy, and I promised Jean some instruction in +netting," she told him rather unsteadily. She paused a second, and, +with an assumed carelessness, added, "isn't it useless to forecast the +future?" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LEGENDS OF CROSBIE GHYLL + +Helen Savine had passed two years in England, and, because her father +was a prosperous man who humored her slightest wishes, she occasionally +returned to take her pleasure in what she called the Old Country. It +is a far cry from the snowy heights of the Pacific slope to the +pleasant valleys of the North Country, but in these days of +quadruple-expansion engines, distance counts but little when one has +sufficient money. + +The Atlantic express had brought Helen and her aunt by marriage, Mrs. +Thomas P. Savine, into Montreal, whence a fast train had conveyed them +to New York in time to catch a big Southampton liner, but Mrs. Savine +was a restless lady, and had grown tired of London within six weeks +from the day she left Vancouver. She was an American, and took pains +to impress the fact upon anybody who mistook her for a Canadian, and, +finding a party of her countrymen and women, whom she had hoped to +overtake in the metropolis, had departed northwards, she determined to +follow them to the English lakes. + +"It's a big, hot, dusty wilderness, Tom, and we've seen all they've got +to show us here before," she said to her long-suffering husband, as she +stood in the vestibule of a fashionable hotel. "Say, we'll pull out +to-day and catch the Schroeders' party meditating around Wordsworth's +tomb. Young man, will you kindly get us a railroad schedule?" + +The silver-buttoned official, who watched the big plate-glass door, +started at a smart rap on his shoulder, and blinked at the angular lady +in a startling costume and a blue veil. Thomas Savine interposed +meekly: + +"A time-table; and that's evidently not the man to ask, my dear." + +"Then he can tell the right one," Mrs. Savine answered airily, and +presently halted before a row of resplendently-gilded books adorning +one portion of the vestibule. She thereupon explained for the benefit +of all listeners that it was hard to see the necessity for so many +railways in so small a country, and finally, with a clerk's assistance, +selected a train which would deposit her at Oxenholme, from which place +the official suggested that she might find means of transport into the +district in which, to the best of his belief, Coleridge and Wordsworth, +or one of them, wrote what Mrs. Savine entitled charming little pieces. +It proved good counsel, and two of the party passed a delightful week +at Ambleside, where their sojourn was marred only by Mrs. Savine's +laments that potatoes were not served at supper and breakfast. + +"I want some potatoes with my ham," she said, and when the attendant +explained that the vegetables were never eaten in England at that meal, +she inquired, "Don't you grow potatoes anywhere in this country?" + +The attendant said that very fine ones were produced in the immediate +vicinity, and Mrs. Savine waved a jeweled hand majestically. + +"Then away you go and buy some. I'll sit right here until they're +boiled," she said. + +"It really isn't the custom, and you know you never got them in London, +and hardly ate them at home," said Thomas Savine, but Mrs. Savine +remained superior to such reasoning. + +"That's quite outside the question. I want those potatoes, and I'm +going to have them," she insisted. + +There was a whispering at the end of the breakfast hall, somebody +whistled up a tube, and the hotel manager appeared to announce, with +regrets, that it was unfortunately impossible in the busy season to +upset the culinary arrangements for the benefit of a single guest. + +"Then we'll start again and follow the Schroeders' trail to that place +in Cumberland," Mrs. Savine decided. "Tom, you go out and buy one of +those twenty five cent guide-books which tell you all about everything. +Hire some ponies and a man, and we'll drive a straight line across the +mountains." + +The manager respectfully suggested it would be better to take the +train, even though the railway went round, because the mountains were +lofty, and the roads were indifferent in the region traversed. To this +the lady answered with some truth that the highest peak in Britain was +a pigmy to the lowest of the Selkirks, and that she had spent two +summers camping among the fastnesses of the snow-clad Olympians. + +"Your aunt is a smart woman, but she can't help upsetting things," said +Thomas Savine, when his niece went out with him to make arrangements +for the trip. Helen smiled pleasantly, for she knew her aunt's good +qualities, and also she was fond of adventurous wanderings. + +It was perfect weather, and the three tourists enjoyed their journey +among the less frequented fells, during which they camped, so Thomas +Savine termed it, each night in some high-perched hostelry or +trout-fisher's haunt. Helen realized that never before had she fully +appreciated the beauty of England. Quite apart from its wonders of +industrial enterprise, tide of world-wide commerce, and treasury of +literature and art, the old country was to be loved for its quiet, +green restfulness, she thought. + +Suddenly there came a change. A south-wester drove thick rain-clouds +scudding across peak and valley, and filled the passes with dank, white +mists from the Irish Sea, and so, towards the close of a threatening +day, Mrs. Savine's party came winding down in a hurry from a bare hill +shoulder and under the gray crags of Crosbie Fell. The hollows beneath +them were lost in a woolly vapor, low-flying scud raked the bare ridges +above, and even as they passed a black rift in the hillside the first +heavy drops of rain fell pattering. Helen Savine had seen many a +mining adit in British Columbia, and, turning to glance at the mouth of +the tunnel, she read, scratched on the rock beside it, "Thurston's +Folly." That careless glance over her shoulder was to lead to +important results. + +"There's wild weather brewing," said Thomas Savine. "Make those ponies +rustle, and we'll get in somewhere before it comes along." + +When they reached the little wind-swept village, it became evident that +no shelter for the night could be found there, for it was seldom that +even an enterprising pedestrian tourist came down from the high moors +behind Crosbie Fell. Still, one inhabitant informed their guide, in a +tongue none of the others could comprehend, that if he was in an +unusually good humor old Musker, the keeper, might take them in at +Crosbie Ghyll. Thus it happened that just as the rain began in +earnest, such a cavalcade as had probably never before passed its +gloomy portals rode up to the gate of the dilapidated edifice. Some of +the iron-bound barriers still lay moldering in the hollow of the arch, +and Helen noticed slits for muskets in the stout walls above, for the +owners had been a fighting race, and several times in bygone centuries +the tide of battle had rolled about and then had ebbed away from the +stubbornly-held stronghold. The observer had gathered so much from a +paragraph in her guide-book. + +The romance of English history appealed to Helen as it does to the +citizens of the wider Britain over seas, and she turned in her saddle +to look about her. Framed by the weather-worn archway she could see +the black rampart of the fells fading into the rain, and the bare sweep +of moss and moor, which had once stretched unbroken to the feet of the +great ranges above the Solway shore. Inside the quadrangle, for the +place had during the past century served as farm instead of hall, barn, +cart-shed and shippon were ruinous and empty, but she could fill the +space in fancy with sturdy archer, man-at-arms, and corsleted rider, +for that the present venerable edifice had been built into an older one +the stump of a square tower remained to testify. + +Thomas Savine pounded on the oaken door at one end of the courtyard +until it was opened by a bent-shouldered man with frosted hair and +wrinkled visage. + +"We are unfortunate strangers with a guide who has lost his way, and it +would be a favor if you could take us in to-night out of the storm," he +said. The older man glanced at the party suspiciously. + +"If you ride straight on across the moor you'll find a road, and a +brand new hotel in twelve miles, where you'll get whatever you have +been used to," he said. "I once took some London folks in, and after +the thanks they gave me I never will again." + +"We're not Londoners, only forlorn Canadians," explained Thomas Savine. +"Never mind, Matilda; he'll find out that you're an American in due +time. We have all learned to rough it in our own country, and would +trouble you very little." + +"What part of Canada?" asked the forbidding figure in the doorway, and +when Savine answered, "British Columbia," called "Margery!" A little +weazened woman, with cheeks still ruddy from much lashing of the wind, +appeared in the portal. + +"Strangers from British Columbia! Perhaps they know the master," said +the man, and there was a whispering until the woman vanished, saying, +"I'll ask Miss Gracie." + +She returned promptly, and, with a reserved courtesy, bade the party +enter. Then she sent her husband and the guide to stable the ponies, +and fifteen minutes later the travelers reassembled beside the +deep-seated window of a great stone-flagged room, darkly wainscoted, +which apparently once had been the hall, and was now kitchen. There +were a spotless cloth and neat cutlery on the table by the window; +trout and bacon, hacked from the sides hanging beneath the +smoke-blackened beams, frizzled upon a peat fire; and, though she found +neither wine nor potatoes, Mrs. Savine said that she had not enjoyed +such a meal since she left Vancouver. + +"We can't give you a sitting-room to yourselves," apologized the +withered dame as the removed the cloth. "What furniture there is above +is covered up, and it will be ill finding you sleeping quarters even. +Nobody lives here beside ourselves, except when Mr. Forsyth comes down +for a few weeks' shooting. His wife was a Thurston, and he bought the +old place to please her sooner than let it go out of the family." + +"A Thurston!" said Helen Savine. "We saw 'Thurston's Folly' written +beside a mining tunnel on the fell. Was that one of the former owners? +Being Colonials we are interested in all ancient buildings and their +traditions." + +"Oh, yes!" broke in Mrs. Savine. "We just love to hear about wicked +barons and witches and all those quaint folk of the olden time." + +Musker had drawn nearer meanwhile, and Thomas Savine held out the cigar +case that lay upon his knee. "If we may smoke in the great hearth +there, just help yourself," said he. "My wife is fond of antiquities, +and if you have any to talk of, we should be glad of your company." + +Musker glanced keenly at his guests. Though, having lived elsewhere, +he spoke easy colloquial English, he was a son of the North Country +dogged and slow, intensely self-respecting, and, while loyal with +feudal fealty to superiors he knew, quick to resent a stranger's +assumption of authority. Thomas Savine, brown-faced, vigorous, a +pleasant Colonial gentleman, smiled upon him good-naturedly, and Musker +took a cigar awkwardly. Mrs. Savine surveyed the great bare hall with +respectful curiosity and evident interest, while Helen, visibly +interested, leaned back in her chair. + +"Maybe you met the master in British Columbia?" Musker hazarded with an +eager look in his dim eyes. + +"What is his full name, and what is he like?" asked Helen, bending +forward a little. The old woman, reaching over, lifted a faded +photograph from the window seat. + +"Geoffrey Thurston!" she answered. "That was him when he was young. +My husband yonder broke the pony in." + +Helen started as she gazed at the picture of the boy and the pony. The +face was like, and yet unlike, that of the gaunt and hungry man whom +she had first seen sitting upon the fallen fir. "Yes," she answered +gravely; "I know him. I met Mr. Thurston in British Columbia." + +"We would take it very kindly if you would tell us how and where you +found him, miss," said Musker in haste. + +"I found him in a great Canadian forest. He was looking very worn and +tired," Helen answered, with a trace of color in her face. "I--I hired +him to do some work for me, and it was hard work--much harder than I +fancied--but he did it, and, as we afterwards discovered, spent all I +paid him on the powder he found was necessary." + +"Ay," said the old man. "That was Mr. Geoffrey. They were all hard +and ill to beat, the Thurstons of Crosbie. And you'll kindly tell us, +miss, you saw him again?" + +"Yes," repeated Helen, "I saw him again. By good fortune the work he +did for me procured him a contract he carried out daringly, and when I +last saw him he was no longer hungry or ragged, but, I fancy, on the +way to win success as an engineer." + +Musker straightened his bent shoulders and smiled a slow, almost +reluctant smile of pride, while his wife's eyes were grateful as she +fixed them on the speaker. "Ay! What Mr. Geoffrey sets his heart on +he'll win or ruin himself over. It was the way of all of them; and +this is gradely news," he told her. + +"Now," said Helen, nodding towards him graciously, "we don't wish to be +unduly inquisitive, but--if you may tell us--why did Mr. Thurston +emigrate to Canada?" + +Musker was evidently tempted to embark upon a favorite topic, and his +wife went out hurriedly. But he hesitated, sitting silent for a minute +or two. Savine, rising under the arch of the great hearth, flung his +cigar into the fire, as a young woman, wearing what Helen noticed was a +decidedly antiquated riding habit, came forward out of the shadows. + +"I hope we are not intruding here," said the Canadian. "We were tired +out before the rain came down, and almost afraid to cross the moor." + +"You are very welcome," said the stranger. "I am not, however, +mistress, only a relative of the old place's owner, and, therefore, a +kinswoman of Geoffrey Thurston. I heard that you had shown him a +passing kindness, and should like to thank you." + +There was no apparent reason why the two young women should scrutinize +each other, and yet both did so by the fading daylight and red blaze of +the fire. Helen saw that the stranger was ruddy and blonde--frank by +nature and impulsive, she imagined. The stranger noted only that the +Colonial was pale and dark and comely, with a slightly imperious +presence, and a face that it was not easy to read. + +"I am Marian Thwaite of Barrow Hall, and regret I cannot stay any +longer, having three miles to ride in the rain," she said. "Still, I +may return to-morrow before you set out. Mrs. Forsyth will be pleased +if she hears you have made these Canadian strangers comfortable, +Musker, and I think you may tell them why Mr. Geoffrey left England. +May I ask your names?" + +Helen told her, and after Miss Thwaite departed, Musker began the story +of Thurston's Folly. It had grown quite dark. Driving rain lashed the +windows. The ancient building was filled with strange rumblings and +the wailing of the blast when the old man concluded: "Mr. Geoffrey was +too proud to turn a swindler, and that was why he shook off his +sweetheart, who tried to persuade him, though he knew old Anthony +Thurston would have left him his money, if they married." + +"Some said it was the opposite," interposed his wife; but Musker +answered angrily, "Then they didn't tell it right. No woman born could +twist Geoffrey Thurston from his path, and when she gave him bad +counsel he turned his back on her. A fool these dolts called him. He +was a leal, hard man, and what was a light woman's greediness to him?" + +"And what became of the lady?" asked Helen, with a curious flash in her +eyes. + +"She married a London man, who came here shooting, married him out of +spite, and has rued it many times if the tales are true. She was down +with him fishing, looking sour and pale, and the Hall maids were +say----" + +"Just gossip and lies!" broke in his spouse; and Helen, who apparently +had lapsed into a disdainful indifference, asked no further questions. +Mrs. Savine, however, made many inquiries, and Musker, who became +unusually communicative, presently offered to show the strangers what +he called the armory. + +They followed him down a draughty corridor to the black-wainscoted +gun-room at the base of the crumbling tower, and when he had lighted a +lamp its glow revealed a modern collection of costly guns. There were +also trout-rods hung upon the wall, and a few good sporting etchings, +at all of which Musker glanced somewhat contemptuously. "These are Mr. +Forsyth's, and I take care of them, but he only belongs to the place by +purchase and marriage. Those belonged to the Thurstons--the old, dead +Thurstons--and they hunted men," he said. + +He ran the lamp up higher by a tarnished brass chain, and pointed first +to a big moldering bow. "A Thurston drew that in France long ago, and +it has splitted many an Annandale cattle thief in the Solway mosses +since. Red Geoffrey carried this long spear, and, so the story goes, +won his wife with it, and brought her home on the crupper from beside +the Nith. She pined away and died just above where we stand now in +this very tower. That was another Geoffrey's sword; they hanged him +high outside Lancaster jail. He was for Prince Charlie, and cut down +single-handed two of King George's dragoons carrying a warrant for a +friend's arrest when the Prince's cause was lost. His wife, she +poisoned herself. Those are the spurs Mad Harry rode Hellfire on a +wager down Crosbie Ghyll with, and broke his neck doing it, besides his +young wife's heart. The women who married the Thurstons had an ill lot +to grapple with. Even when they settled down to farming, the Thurstons +were men who would walk unflinchingly into ruin sooner than lose their +grip on their purpose, and Mr. Geoffrey favors them." + +"They must have been just lovely," sighed Mrs. Savine. "Say, I've +taken a fancy to some of those old things. That rusty iron lamp can't +be much use to anybody, but it's quaint, and I'd give it's weight in +dollars for it. Can't you tell me where Mr. Forsyth lives?" + +Musker stared at her horrified, Thomas Savine laughed, and even Helen, +who had appeared unusually thoughtful, smiled. Musker answered: + +"No money could buy one of them out of the family, and if any but a +Thurston moves that lamp from where it hangs the dead men rise and come +for it when midnight strikes. It is falling to pieces, but once when +they took it to Kendal to be mended, the smith sent a man back with it +on horseback before the day had broken." + +There was a few moments' silence when Musker concluded, and the ancient +weapons glinted strangely as the lamp's flame wavered in the chilling +draughts. A gale from the Irish Sea boomed about the crumbling tower, +and all the lonely mosses seemed to swell it with their moaning. Helen +shivered as she listened, for those clamorous voices of wind and rain +carried her back in fancy to the old unhappy days of bloodshed and +foray. The associations of the place oppressed her. She had acquired +a horror of those grim dead men whose mementos hung above her, and +whose spirits might well wander on such a night vainly seeking rest. +Even Mrs. Savine became subdued, and her husband said: + +"We can't tell tales like these in our country, and I'm thankful we +can't. Still, I daresay it was such men as these who bred in us the +grit to chase the whales in the Arctic, build our railroads through the +snow-barred passes, and master the primeval forest. Now we'll try to +forget them, and go back out of this creepy place to the fire again." + +An hour later Mrs. Musker escorted Helen to her quarters. A bright +fire glowed in the rusty grate, and two candles burned on the +dressing-table. "It's Mrs. Forsyth's own room, and the best in the +house," the old caretaker assured the girl. "Musker has been telling +you about the old Thurstons. He's main proud of them, but you needn't +fear them--it's long since the last one walked. You have a kind heart, +and nothing evil dare hurt you. See! I've tried to make you +comfortable. You were kind to the old place's real master--many a time +I've nursed him--God bless you!" + +Helen was not in the least afraid of the dead Thurstons. She was +filled with the common-sense courage which characterizes the +inhabitants of her new country, but she had been affected by the +stories, and she sat for a time with her feet on the hearth irons, +gazing thoughtfully into the blaze. She had met a modern Thurston, and +found the instincts of his forbears strong within him. She considered +that strength, courage, and resolution well became a man, but that +gentleness and chivalrous respect for women were desirable attributes, +too. The Thurstons, however, had taken to bloodshed as a pastime, and +broken most of their wives' hearts until it seemed that they had +brought a curse upon their race. She suspected there was a measure of +their brutality in the one she knew. Remembering something Geoffrey +once had said, her face grew flushed and she clenched a little hand +with an angry gesture, saying, "No man shall ever make a slave of me, +and my husband, if I have one, must be my servant before he is my +master." + +Thereupon she dismissed the subject, tried to blot the stories from her +memory, and presently buried her ears in the pillow to shut out the +clamor of the storm. After a sound night's slumber, and an interview +with Miss Thwaite she resumed her journey next morning. + +Musker stood in the gate to watch the party ride away, and glancing at +the coins in his hand said to Margery, "I wish they'd come often. Main +interested in my stories they were all of them, and it's double what +any of the shooting folks ever gave me. This one came from the young +lady, and there's a way about her that puzzles me after seeing her." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MILLICENT'S REWARD + +The late Autumn evening was closing in. Millicent Leslie stood out on +the terrace of the old North Country hall, where, the year before, she +had first met her husband. A pale moon had climbed above the high +black ridge of moor, which shut in one end of the valley, and the big +beech wood that rolled down the lower hillside had faded to a shadowy +blur, but she could still see the dim, white road running straight +between the hedgerows, and could catch the faint gleam of a winding +river. Twilight and night were meeting and melting into each other, +the dew lay heavy upon the last of the dahlias beneath the terrace +wall, and there was a chill of frost in the air. It was very still, +though now and then the harsh call of a pheasant came up faintly +through the murmur of the river from the depths of the wood. Millicent +could hear no other sound, though she strained her ears to listen and +it seemed to her that the rattle of wheels should carry far down the +silent valley. + +She was waiting somewhat anxiously for the return of her husband, who +had set off that morning with three or four other men to walk certain +distant stubble and turnip fields for partridges. They had passed a +week at the hall, for, although Millicent would have preferred to avoid +that particular place, Leslie had said he did not know of any other +place where one could obtain rough shooting, as well as a more or less +congenial company, in return for what was little more than a +first-class hotel bill. He had also added that he needed a holiday, in +which Millicent had agreed with him. There was no doubt that he had +looked jaded and harassed. + +Millicent knew little about her husband's business, except that it was +connected with stocks and shares, and the flotation of companies; but +she was quite aware that he had met with a serious reverse soon after +he married her, since it had been necessary for them to give up their +town house and install themselves temporarily in a London flat. Leslie +had informed her that reverses were not uncommon in his profession, and +he had appeared quite convinced of his ability to recover his losses in +a new venture which had something to do with South African gold or +diamonds. Of late, however, he had grown dejected and moody. On the +previous evening she had seen his face set hard, as he read a letter +which bore the London postmark. He had not given her any information +about the contents of the letter, for there had been no great measure +of confidence between them; but there were one or two telegrams for him +among those a groom had brought over from the nearest station during +the day, and she felt a little uneasy as she thought of them. + +By and by, with a little shiver and a suppressed sigh, she glanced up +at the highest part of the climbing wood. It was there she had had her +last memorable interview with Geoffrey, almost a year ago. Though she +had not cared to face the fact, she was troubled by a suspicion that +she had made an unwise choice then. Leslie had changed since their +marriage. He was harsh at times, and though he had, even in their more +humble quarters, surrounded her with a certain amount of luxury, there +was a laxity in his manners and conversation that jarred upon her. +Geoffrey, she remembered, had not been addicted to mincing words, but, +at least, he had lived in accordance with a Spartan moral code. +Millicent was not a scrupulous woman, and her ideas of ethical justice +were rudimentary, but she possessed in place of a conscience a delicate +sense of refinement which her husband frequently offended. + +Feeling chilly at length, and seeing no sign of the shooter's return, +Millicent went back into the house. She stopped when she reached the +square entrance hall which served the purpose of a lounging-room. The +hall had been rudely ceiled and paneled at a time when skilled +craftsmen were scarce in the North Country, and in the daylight it was +more or less dim and forbidding, but with the lamps lighted and a fire +blazing in the wide, old-fashioned hearth, the place looked invitingly +comfortable. When she entered, Millicent was not altogether pleased to +see another woman there. Marian Thwaite, whom she knew but had not +expected to meet, lay in a big chair near the fire. The glow of health +which the keen air of the moors had brought there was in her face. She +wore heavy boots and severely simple walking attire. Her features +suggested a decided character, and she had unwavering blue eyes. + +"Mrs. Boone won't be down for some minutes, and I believe the rest are +dressing," Marian said. "I haven't seen you since your marriage, and +to tell the truth, you're not looking by any means as fresh as you did +before you left us. I suppose it's one effect of living in London?" + +She studied Millicent with a steady contemplative gaze, and there was +no doubt that her comment was justified. Millicent's face was pallid, +there was a certain weariness in her eyes, and on the whole, her +expression was languidly querulous. + +"I didn't know you were coming to-night," said Millicent, as she sank +into a chair. + +"I didn't know it myself," Marian explained. "I was out on the fells, +and I met Boone as I came down this way. He said somebody would drive +me home, if I'd stay. You have been here a week, haven't you? How is +it you haven't come over to see us yet?" + +"As a matter of fact, I didn't intend to call, and it was rather +against my wishes that we came up here," said Millicent with the candor +of an old acquaintance. "You were not very cordial when I last saw +you, and I can't help a feeling that you are all of you prejudiced +against me." + +Quite unembarrassed Marian looked at her with a reflective air. "Yes," +she admitted, "to some extent that's true. We're closely connected +with the Thurstons, and I've no doubt we make rather intolerant +partisans. After all, it's only natural that we sympathize with +Geoffrey. Besides--you can make what you like of it--he was always a +favorite of mine. I suppose you haven't heard from him since he went +to Canada?" + +"Would you have expected him to write?" + +Marian smiled. "Perhaps it would have been unreasonable, but taking it +for granted that he hasn't been communicative, I've a piece of news for +you. Some Canadian tourists stayed a night at the Ghyll, two or three +months ago, and it seems they met him in British Columbia. I +understand he is by no means prosperous, but at least getting a footing +in the country, and the people apparently have rather a high opinion of +him. Did I mention that one of the party was a girl?" + +She saw the quickened interest in Millicent's eyes. With assumed +indifference in her voice Millicent asked: "What kind of people were +they?" + +"The girl was handsome--well-finished, too. In fact, she struck me as +rather an imperious young person of some consequence in the place she +came from. She would pass in any circle that you or I are likely to +get an entry to. I don't know whether it's significant, but I +understand from Margery that she took some interest in Musker's stories +of the Thurstons." + +There was nothing to show whether Millicent was pleased with this or +not. She did not speak for a moment or two. + +"Did they mention what Geoffrey had been doing?" she inquired presently. + +"Chopping down trees for sawmills, or something of the kind. The man +said Geoffrey had evidently been what they call 'up against it' until +lately when he seems to have got upon his feet. It will probably +convince you that you were perfectly right in not marrying him." + +This time Millicent laughed. "It wouldn't have counted for much with +you?" + +Marian looked at her with unwavering eyes. "No," she replied, "if I'd +had any particular tenderness for Geoffrey it certainly wouldn't have +had the least effect beyond making me more sorry for him, but, as it +happens, he never did anything to encourage vain ideas of the kind in +me." She changed the subject with the abruptness which usually +characterized her. "I suppose you haven't seen old Anthony Thurston +since you married Leslie? He, at least, is openly bitter against you." + +"I haven't. In a way, I suppose he is right. Of course, he would take +the stereotyped view that it was all my fault--that is to say, that I +had discarded Geoffrey?" + +"I believe he did, but it struck me once or twice that Geoffrey +proclaimed that view a little too loudly. Of course, with his rather +primitive notions of delicacy and what is due to us, it's very much +what one would have anticipated in his case. He naturally wouldn't +want to leave room for any suspicion that he--wasn't altogether +satisfied with you." + +Millicent's face clouded. "That is a point which concerns nobody +except Geoffrey and myself," she declared. + +"And Anthony Thurston," Marian broke in. "Of course, it's an open +secret that if you had married Geoffrey you would both have benefited +by his will. As things have turned out, my own opinion is that the +question whether either of you ever gets a penny of the property +depends a great deal on the view he continues to take of the matter. +Any way, that's not the least concern of mine, except that I'm sorry +for Geoffrey. I wonder if I'm going too far in asking what it was you +and he actually split upon. I'm referring to the immediate cause of +the trouble." + +"I can tell you that," Millicent answered quickly, for she was glad to +remove the ground for one suspicion, which was evidently in Marian's +mind. "Geoffrey insisted on giving up the mine when he could have sold +it, and going out to Australia or Canada. I wouldn't go with him. I +think nobody could have reasonably expected me to." + +Marian smiled. "Well," she said, "I wonder if you know that your +husband was one of the men who were willing to take the mine over. +There are reasons for believing it was what brought him here in the +first place." + +Millicent's start betrayed the fact that this was news to her, but just +then there was a rattle of wheels outside, and Marian rose. A murmur +of voices and laughter grew clearer when the outer door was opened, and +the two could hear the returning shooters talking with their host, who +had gone out another way to meet them. + +"The birds were scarce and very wild," announced one of them. "We had +only two or three brace all morning, though we were a little more +fortunate when we got up onto the higher land. It's my candid opinion +that we should have done better there, but Leslie had all the luck in +the turnips, and he made a shocking bad use of it." + +"That's a fact," assented Leslie with what struck Millicent as a rather +strained laugh. "I was right off the mark. There are some days when +you simply can't shoot." + +Several of the women guests now entered the hall, but the men did not +come in. Judging from the sounds outside they seemed to be waiting +while coats or cartridge bags were handed down to them from the +dog-cart, and they were evidently bantering one another in the +meanwhile. + +"It depends upon how long you sit up in the smoking-room on the +previous night," said one of them, and another observed: + +"If you happen to be in business, the state of the markets has its +effect." + +Millicent started again at this, for she remembered her husband's +expression when he had read his letter on the preceding evening. A +third speaker took up the conversation. + +"I don't think any variation in the price of Colonials or Kaffirs, or +of wheat and cotton, for that matter, should prevent a man from telling +the difference between a hare and a dog. I've a suspicion that if Tom +cares to look he'll find one or two number six pellets in the +hindquarters of the setter. It's a good thing our friend wasn't quite +up to his usual form that time." + +A burst of laughter followed, and Leslie's voice broke through it +rather sharply as he replied: "He should have kept the brute in hand. +The difference isn't a big one when you can only see a liver-colored +patch through a clump of bracken. Besides, there was a hare." + +"Undoubtedly," cried somebody. "Lawson got it." + +Then they came in one after another, and while some of them spoke to +their hostess and the other women Leslie walked up to the little table +where several letters were spread out. Millicent watched him as he did +it, and there was no doubt that the very way he moved was suggestive of +restrained eagerness. She saw him tear open a telegram and crumple it +in his hand, after which he seized a second one and ripped it across +the fold in his clumsy haste. Then as he put the pieces together his +face grew suddenly pale and haggard. Nobody else, however, appeared to +notice him, and he leaned with one hand upon the table for a moment or +two with his head turned away from her. She felt her heart beat +painfully fast, for it was clear that a disaster of some kind had +befallen him, though a large part of her anxiety sprang from the +question how far the fact was likely to affect herself. He moved away +from the table, and went towards the stairway at the further end of the +hall, and she followed him a few minutes later. He was sitting by an +open window when she reached their room. A candle flickered beside him +and a little bundle of papers was clenched in one hand. + +"What is it, Harry?" she asked. + +He looked up at her, and his voice sounded hoarse. "I'll try to tell +you later," he answered. "There's a dinner to be got through, and it +will be a big enough effort to sit it out. Slip away as soon as you +can afterward without attracting attention. You'll find me on the +terrace." + +He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and she turned towards the +little dressing-room. When she came out again he had gone, leaving his +outdoor clothing scattered on the floor. + +The dinner that followed was an ordeal to Millicent, but she took her +part in the conversation, and glanced towards her husband only now and +then. He did not eat a great deal, and though he spoke when it seemed +necessary, she noticed the trace of unsteadiness in his voice. At +last, however, the meal, which seemed to drag on interminably, was +finished and as soon as possible she slipped out upon the terrace where +she found Leslie leaning against a seat. The moon which had risen +higher was brighter now, and she could see his face. It showed set and +somber in the pale silvery light. + +"Well?" she said impatiently. "Can't you speak?" + +"I'll try," he answered. "Winkleheim Reef Explorations went down to +four and six pence to-day, and as there's 5 shillings a share not paid +up, it's very probable that one wouldn't be able to give the stock away +before the market closes to-morrow." + +"Ah," replied Millicent sharply, "didn't you tell me that they were +worth sixteen shillings not very long ago? Why didn't you sell them +then?" + +"Because, as it seems to me now, my greediness was greater than my +judgment. I wanted twenty shillings, and I thought I saw how I could +get it." He paused with a little jarring laugh. "As a matter of +fact--strange as it may seem--I believed in the thing. That is why I +let them send out their independent expert, and held on when the stock +began to drop. At the worst, I'd good reasons for believing Walmer +would let me see the cipher report in time to sell. As it happened, he +and the other traitor sold their own stock instead and that must have +started the panic. Now they've got their report. There's no ore that +will pay for milling in the reef." + +It was not all clear to Millicent, but she understood from his manner +that her husband was ruined. "Then what are we to do?" she asked. "Is +there nobody who will give you a start again? You must be known in the +business." + +"That is the precise trouble. I'm too well known. So long as a man is +a winner at this particular game and can make it worth while for +interested folks to applaud him, or, at least, to keep their mouths +shut, he can find a field for his talents when he wants it, but once he +makes a false move or comes down with a bang, they get their claws in +him and keep him from getting up again. Nobody has any sympathy with a +broken company exploiter, especially when he has for once been crazy +enough to believe in his own venture." + +Leslie found it a small relief to run on with ironical bitterness, but +Millicent, who was severely practical in some respects, checked him. + +"You haven't answered my other question." + +"Then I won't keep you waiting. In a few weeks we'll go out to the +Pacific Slope of North America. I may save enough from the wreck to +start me in the land-agency business somewhere in British Columbia." + +Millicent turned from him, and gazed down the moon-lit valley. +Troubled as she was, its rugged beauty and its stillness appealed to +her, and she knew it would be a wrench to leave the land which had +hitherto safely sheltered her. She had known only the smoother side of +life in it, and nobody could appreciate the ease and luxury it could +offer some of its inhabitants better than she did. Now, it seemed, she +must leave it, and go out to struggle for a mere living in some +unlovely town in what she supposed must be a wild and semi-barbarous +country. She felt bitter against the man who, as she thought of it, +had dragged her down, but she hid her resentment. + +"But you know nothing about the land-agency business," she pointed out. + +Leslie laughed ironically. "I have a few ideas. Milligan--we had him +over at dinner once--made a good deal of money that way, and from what +he told me it doesn't seem very different from the business I have been +engaged in. Success evidently depends upon one's ability to sell the +confiding investor what he thinks he'd like to get. Somehow I fancy +that, with moderately good luck, two or three years of it should set us +on our feet." + +"But those two or three years. It's unthinkable!" Millicent broke out. + +"I'm afraid you will have to face them," said Leslie dryly. He turned +and looked hard at her. "You can't reasonably rue your bargain. You +knew when I married you that while I had the command of money my +business was a risky one." + +Again Millicent stood silent a moment or two. She recognized that it +was largely because Leslie enjoyed that command of money that she had +discarded Geoffrey. Now his riches had apparently taken wings and +vanished, but the man was bound to her still. One could fancy that +there was something like retribution in the thing. + +"It's rather dreadful, but I suppose I shall not make it any better by +complaining," she remarked after a long silence. + +Her husband's manner became embarrassed. "I understand that Anthony +Thurston is well off and you were a favorite of his," he said. "Would +it be of any use if you explained the trouble to him?" + +"No," was the answer, "it would be perfectly useless, and for other +reasons that course is impossible. He meant me to marry Geoffrey and +I've mortally offended him. He's a hard, determined man." + +Leslie made a sign of assent, though there was a suggestion of grim +amusement in his manner. "I suppose you couldn't very well explain +that it was Geoffrey who threw you over? That would, no doubt, be too +much to expect of you, and, after all, when you get to the bottom of +the matter it wouldn't be true. In reality you finished with Geoffrey +when he decided to emigrate instead of selling the mine, didn't you?" + +Millicent flashed a swift glance at him, but he met it half-mockingly, +and she turned her head away. "Why should you make yourself +intolerable?" she returned. "I'm sorry for you--that is, I want to be, +if you will let me." + +Leslie shrugged his shoulders as he lit a cigar. "Well," he said, "it +can't be helped. We must face the thing! And now I don't want to set +the others wondering why we have slipped away; we had better go in +again." They walked back info the house. + +Leslie, with one or two of the other men, sat up late in the +smoking-room. Leslie told a number of stories with force and point, +and when at length two of his companions went up the stairway together, +one of them looked at the other with a lifting of the eyebrows. + +"After what Leslie has got through to-night, I'll take the farthest +place in the line from him to-morrow," he said. "If his nerves aren't +unusually good it seems quite possible that there'll be more than a +setter peppered." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BREAKING OF THE JAM + +It was late one moonlight night when Geoffrey Thurston sat inside his +double-skinned tent which was pitched above a river of British +Columbia. A few good furs checkered the spruce twigs which served as a +carpet, and the canvas dwelling was both commodious and comfortable. A +bright brass lamp hung from the ridge pole, a nickeled clock ticked +cheerily upon a hanging shelf behind the neat camp cot, while the rest +of the well-made furniture betokened a degree of prosperity. One of +Savine's junior assistants, sent up there in an emergency to replace an +older man, sat close by, and, because he dwelt in a bark shanty, envied +Thurston his tent. + +Geoffrey was studying a bridge-work tracing that lay unrolled upon his +knees. + +"I can only repeat what I said months ago. The wing slide of the log +pass is too short and the angle over sharp," he said, glancing at the +jam. "An extra big log will jam there some day and imperil the whole +bridge. Did you send a man down to keep watch to-night?" + +"The slide is in accordance with the Roads and Trails specification," +answered the young man, airily. "There was no reason why we should do +more work than they asked for. You're an uneasy man, Thurston, always +looking for trouble, and I've had enough of late over the rascally +hoboes who, when they feel inclined, condescend to work for me. Oh, +yes! I posted the lookout as soon as I heard Davies was running his +saw logs down." + +Thurston hitched his chair forward and threw the door-flap back so that +he could look out into the night. The tent stood perched on the +hillside. Long ranks of climbing pines stretched upwards from it to +the scarped rocks which held up the snow-fields on the shoulders of the +mighty peaks above. Thin white mist and the roar of water rose up from +the shadowy gorge below, but in one place, where the rock walls which +hemmed it in sloped down, a gossamer-like structure spanned the chasm. +This was a wagon-road bridge Julius Savine, the contractor of large +interests and well-known name, was building for the Provincial +authorities, and on their surveyor's recommendation he had sub-let to +Thurston the construction of a pass through which saw-logs and +driftwood might slide without jamming between the piers. Savine, being +pressed for time, had brought in a motley collection of workmen, picked +up haphazard in the seaboard cities. After bargaining to work for +certain wages, these workmen had demanded twenty per cent. more. +Thurston, who had picked his own assistants carefully, among the sturdy +ranchers, and had aided Savine's representative in resisting this +demand, now surmised that the malcontents were meditating mischief. +There were some mighty mean rascals among them, his foreman said. + +"You're looking worried again," observed his companion, presently, and +Thurston answered, "Perhaps I am. I wish Davies would run his logs +down by daylight, but presumably the stream is too fast for him when +the waters rise. It might give some of your friends yonder an +opportunity, Summers." + +"You don't figure they're capable of wrecking the bridge?" replied +Summers, showing sudden uneasiness. + +"One or two among them, including the man I had to thrash, are capable +of anything. Perhaps you had better hail your watchman," Thurston said. + +Summers blew a whistle, and an answer came back faintly through the +fret of the river: "Plenty saw logs coming down. All of them handy +sizes and sliding safely through." + +"That's good enough," declared Summers. "I'm not made of cast-iron, +and need a little sleep at times, so good-night to you!" + +He departed with the cheerful confidence of the salaried man, and +Thurston, who fought for his own interests, flung himself down on his +trestle cot with all his clothes on. Neither the timber slide nor the +bridge was quite finished, but because rivers in that region shrink at +night when the frost checks the drainage from the feeding glaciers on +the peaks above, the saw-miller had insisted on driving down his logs +when there was less chance of their stranding on the shoals that +cumbered the high-water channel. Thurston lay awake for some time, +listening to the fret of the river, which vibrated far across the +silence of the hills, and to the occasional crash of a mighty log +smiting the slide. Hardly had his eyelids closed when he was aroused +by a sound of hurried footsteps approaching the tent. He stood wide +awake in the entrance before the newcomer reached it. + +"There's a mighty big pine caught its butt on one slide and jammed its +thin end across the pier," said the man. "Logs piling up behind it +already!" + +As he spoke somebody beat upon a suspended iron sheet down in the +valley and drowsy voices rose up from among the clustered tents. +Summers went by shouting, "Get a move on, before we lose the bridge!" + +Five minutes later Thurston, running across a bending plank, halted on +the rock which served as foundation for the main bridge pier. Beside +him Summers shouted confused orders to a group of struggling men. The +moonlight beat down mistily through the haze that rose from the river, +and Geoffrey could see the long wedge-headed timber framing that he had +built, beside the wing on the shore-side, so that any trunk floating +down would cannon off at an angle and shoot safely between the piers. +But one huge fir had proved too long for the pass, and when its butt +canted, the other end had driven athwart the point of the wedge, after +which, because the river was black with drifting logs, other heavy +trunks drove against it and jammed it fast. Panting men were hard at +work with levers and pike-poles striving to wrench the massive trunk +clear, and one lighted an air-blast flare, whose red glare flickered +athwart the strip of water foaming between the piers. It showed that +some of the logs forced up by the pressure were sliding out above the +others, while, amid a horrible grinding, some sank. One side of the +river was blocked by a mass of timber that was increasing every moment. +Thurston feared that the unfinished piers could not long withstand the +pressure, and he remembered that his own work would be paid for only on +completion. Nevertheless, he passed several minutes in a critical +survey, and then glanced towards certain groups of dark figures +watching for the approaching ruin. + +"She'll go down inside an hour--that is certain, and Savine will lose +thousands of dollars," said Summers, whose eyes were wide with +apprehension. "I'm rattled completely. Can't you think of anything +that might be done?" + +"Yes!" answered Thurston, coolly. "It is, however, almost too late +now. It could have been done readily, if the man who should have seen +to it had not turned traitor. Hello! Where's Mattawa Tom?" + +A big sinewy ax-man from the forests of Northern Ontario sprang up +beside him, and Thurston said: + +"I'm going to try to chop through the king log that's keying them. +It's rather more than you bargained for, but will you stand by me, Tom?" + +"Looks mighty like suicide!" was the dry answer. "But if you're ready +to chance it, I'm coming right along." + +The workmen had divided into two hostile camps, but there was a growl +of admiring wonder from friends and foes alike when two figures, +balancing bright axes, stood high up on the pier slides ready to leap +down upon the working logs. Then disjointed cries went up: "Too late!" +"You'll be smashed flatter than a flapjack when the jam breaks up!" +"Get hold of the fools, somebody!" "Take their axes away!" + +"I'll brain the first man who touches mine," threatened Thurston, +turning savagely upon those who approached him with remonstrances, and +there was a simultaneous murmur from all the assembly when the two +adventurous men dropped upon the timber. The logs rolled, groaned, and +heaved beneath them and Thurston, trusting to the creeper spikes upon +his heels, sprang from one great tree trunk to another behind his +companion, who had a longer experience of the perilous work of +log-driving. Here a gap, filled with spouting foam, opened up before +him; there a trunk upon which he was about to step rolled over and +sank. But he worked his way forward towards the center of the fir +which keyed the growing mass. This log was many feet in girth. +Pressed down level with the water, it was already bending like a +slackly-strung bow. + +The example proved inspiring. Thurston's assistants were sturdy, +fearless men, who often risked their lives in wresting a living from +the forest, so several among them prepared to follow. Two seamen +deserters sprang out from the ranks of the mutineers. One stalwart +forest rancher, however, tripped his comrade up, and sat upon his +prostrate form shouting, "You'll stop just where you are, you blame +idiot! You couldn't do nothing if you got there. Hardly room for them +two fellows already where they can get at the log!" + +The remaining volunteers saw the force of this argument and when +somebody increased the blast of the lamp so that the roaring column of +flame leapt up higher, the men stood very still, staring at the two who +had now gained the center of the partly submerged log. + +It requires considerable practice to acquire full mastery of the +long-hafted ax, but Thurston, who was stout of arm and keen of eye, had +managed to earn his bread with it one winter in an Ontario logging +camp. When he swung aloft the heavy wedge of steel, it reflected the +blast lamp's radiance, making red flashes as it circled round his head. +It came down hissing close past his knee. Mattawa Tom's blade crossed +it when it rose, and the first white chip leapt up. More chips +followed in quick succession until they whirled in one continuous +shower, and the razor-edged steel losing definite form became a +confused circling brightness, in the center of which two supple figures +swayed and heaved. The red light smiting the faces of the two showed +great drops of sweat, the swell of toil-hardened muscles on the corded +arms, and the rise of each straining chest. There was not a clash nor +a falter, but, flash after flash, the blades came down chunking into +the ever-widening notch. Summers had seen sword play in Montreal +armories, and had heard the ax clang often on the side of Western firs, +but--for Thurston was fighting to stave off ruin--this grim struggle in +the face of a desperate risk surpassed any remembered exhibition of +fencers' skill with the steel. The trunk was bending visibly beneath +the hewers, the river frothed more at their feet, and the giant logs +were rolling, creeping, shocking close behind, ready to plunge forward +when the partly severed trunk should yield. + +Thurston felt as if his lungs were bursting, his heart throbbed +painfully, and something drummed deafeningly inside his head. His +vision grew hazy, and he could scarcely see the widening gap in the +rough bark into which the trenchant steel cut. It was evident that the +steadily increasing jam would rub the bridge piers out of existence +long before any two men could hew half way through the great trunk, +but, fortunately, the log was now bending like a fully-drawn bow, and +the pressure would burst it asunder when a little more of its +circumference had been chopped into. So, choking and blinded with +perspiration, Geoffrey smote on mechanically, until the man from +Mattawa said, "She's about busted." + +Just then there was a clamor from the watchers on the piers. Men +shouted, "Come back." "Whole jam's starting!" "King log's yielding +now!" "Jump for your lives before the wreckage breaks away with you!" + +Mattawa Tom leapt shorewards from moving log to log, but for a few +moments Thurston, who scarcely noticed his absence, chopped on alone. +Filled with the lust of conflict, he remembered only that it was +necessary to make sure of victory before he relaxed an effort. Thrice +more in succession he whirled the heavy ax above his head, while, with +a sharp snapping of fibers, the fir trunk yielded beneath his feet. +Flinging his ax into the river he stood erect, breathless, a moment too +late. The logs behind the one which perilously supported him were +creeping forward ready for the mad rush that must follow a few seconds +later. + +There remained now but one poor chance of escape and he seized it +instinctively. Springing along the sinking trunk, he threw himself +clear of it into the river, while running men jostled each other as +they surged toward the side of the timber when he sank. A wet head +broke the surface, a swinging left hand followed it. The swimmer +clutched the edge of a loosely-fitted beam, and held it until strong +hands reached down to him. Some gripped his wet fingers, some the back +of his coat, one even clutched his hair. There was a heave, then a +scramble, and, amid hoarse cheers, the rescued man fell over backwards +among his rescuers. + +Thurston, who stood up dripping, said, somewhat shakily: "Ah, you were +only just in time! I'm vastly grateful to you all." + +The last words were lost in a deafening crash as the jam broke up, and +the giant logs drove through the opening, thrashing the river into +foam. The tree-trunks ground against one another, or smote the slide +casing with a thunderous shock; but the stone-backed timber stood the +strain, and when the clamor of the passage of the logs ceased, a heavy +stillness brooded over the camp as the river grew empty again. + +Thurston sought out the man from Mattawa. Laying a wet hand upon his +shoulder he said: "Thank you, Tom. I won't forget the assistance you +rendered me." + +"That's all right," answered the brawny ax-man, awkwardly. "I get my +wages safe and regular, and I've tackled as tough a contract for a +worse master before." + +There was no chance for further speech. Davies, who owned the saw-mill +lower down stream, reined in a lathered horse, close by. "Where have +all my logs gone to?" he asked. "My foreman roused me to say only a +few dozen had brought up in the boom, and as the boys were running them +down by scores I figured they'd piled up against your bridge. I don't +see any special chaos about here, though you look as if you had been in +swimming; but what in the name of thunder have you done with the logs?" + +"They're on their way down river," Thurston replied, dryly. "We had +some trouble with them which necessitated my taking a bath. But see +here, what made you turn a two-hundred-foot red fir loose among them?" + +"I didn't," answered Davies, with a puzzled air. "The boys saw every +log into standard lengths. We have no use for a two-hundred-footer and +couldn't get her into the mill. Are you sure it wasn't a wind-blown +log?" + +"I saw the butt had been freshly cross-cut," declared Thurston with an +ominous glitter in his eyes. "I understand you are pretty slack just +now. As a favor, would you hire your chopping gang to me for a few +days? I'll tell you why I want them later." + +"I'll decide in a few minutes," he added, when Davies had told him what +the cost would be. Turning towards Summers he said: "There may be +several more big red firs growing handy beside the river, and I mean to +prevent any more accidents of this kind in future. If your employer +will not reimburse me, I will bear the cost myself. I would sooner +spend my last dollar than allow any of these loafers to coerce me." + +The workmen stood still, all of them curious, and a few uneasy. +Raising one hand to demand attention, Thurston said: "A red fir was +felled by two or three among you to-day, and launched down stream after +darkness fell. I want the men who did it to step forward and explain +their reasons to me." + +"You're a mighty bold man," remarked Summers--who knew that, although +few were actually dangerous, the malcontents outnumbered Thurston's +loyal assistants. + +Among the listeners nobody moved, but there was a murmuring, and all +eyes were fixed upon the speaker, who, either by design or accident, +leaned upon the haft of a big ax. + +"I hardly expected an answer," he went on. "Accordingly, I'll proceed +to name the men who I believe must know about this contemptible action, +and notify them that they will be paid off to-morrow." + +A tumult of mingled wrath and applause started when Thurston coolly +called aloud a dozen names. One voice broke through the others: "We're +working for Julius Savine, an' don't count a bad two-bits on you," it +declared defiantly. "We'll all fling our tools into the river before +we let one of them fellows go." + +"In that case the value of the tools will be deducted from the wages +due you," Thurston announced calmly. "After this notice, Julius +Savine's representative won't pay any of the men I mention, whether +they work or not; and nobody, who does not earn it, will get a single +meal out of the cook shanty. I'll give you until to-morrow to make up +your minds concerning what you will do." Aside to Davies he said: +"I'll take your lumber gang in any case. Go back and send them in as +soon as you can." + +The assembly broke up in a divided state of mind. Although it was very +late, little groups lingered outside the tents, and at intervals angry +voices were heard. Summers set out for the railroad to communicate by +telegraph with his employer, and Thurston retired to his tent, where he +went peacefully to sleep. Awakening later than usual, he listened with +apparent unconcern to Mattawa Tom, who aroused him, with the warning: + +"It's time you were out. Them fellows are coming along for their +money. The boys called up a big roll, as soon as the lumber gang +marched in, and, though there was considerable wild talking, the +sensible ones allowed it was no more use kicking." + +"That's all right," averred Thurston, who paid the departing +malcontents and was glad to get rid of them, knowing that the +lumbermen, who were mostly poor settlers, had small sympathy with the +mutineers and that he would have at least a balance of power. He set +the men to work immediately lengthening the wing of the log slide and +the wedge guards of the piers. He himself toiled as hard as any two +among them, and, to the astonishment of all, completed the big task +before the week was past. + +"I hardly like to say what it has cost me, but no log of any length +could jam itself in the new pass," he said to Summers. + +"You're an enterprising man," was the answer. "Savine is a bit of a +rustler, too, and you'll have a chance of explaining things to him +to-morrow. I have had word from him that he's coming through." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A REST BY THE WAY + +It was afternoon when Julius Savine, accompanied by Summers, had +entered Thurston's tent. On the way from the railroad, Summers had +explained to the contractor all that had happened. Geoffrey rose to +greet Savine, glancing at his employer with some curiosity, for he had +not met him before. Savine was a man of quick, restless movements and +nervous disposition. The gray that tinged his long mustache, lightly +sprinkled his hair, gave evidence of his fifty years of intense living. +He was known to be not only a daring engineer, but a generally +successful speculator in mining and industrial enterprises. +Nevertheless, Geoffrey fancied that something in his face gave a hint +of physical weakness. + +"I have heard one or two creditable things about you, and thought of +asking you to run up to my offices, but I'm glad to meet you now," said +Savine with a smile, adding when Thurston made a solemn bow, "There, +I've been sufficiently civil, and I see you would rather I talked +business. I'm considerably indebted to you for the way you tackled the +late crisis, and approve of the log-guard's extension. How much did +the extra work cost you?" + +"Here is the wages bill and a list of the iron work charged at cost," +Thurston answered. "As I did the work without any orders you would be +justified in declining to pay for it, and I have included no profit." + +"Ah!" said Savine, who glanced over the paper and scribbled across it. +Looking up with a twinkle in his eye, he asked: "Have you been +acquiring riches latterly? My cashier will pay that note whenever you +hand it in at Vancouver. I'll also endorse your contract for payment +if you will give it me. Further, I want to say that I've been to look +at your work, and it pleases me. There are plenty of men in this +province who would have done it as solidly, but it's the general design +and ingenious fixings that take my fancy. May I ask where you got the +ideas?" + +"In England," answered Geoffrey. "I spent some time in the drawing +office of a man of some note." He mentioned a name, and Savine, who +looked at him critically, nodded as if in recognition. The older man +smiled when Thurston showed signs of resenting his inspection. + +"In that case I should say you ought to do," Savine observed, +cheerfully. + +"I don't understand," said Thurston, and Savine answered: + +"No? Well, if you'll wait a few moments I'll try to make things plain +to you. I want a live man with brains of his own, and some knowledge +of mechanical science. There is no trouble about getting them by the +car load from the East or the Old Country, but the man for me must know +how to use his muscles, if necessary, and handle ax and drill as well. +In short, I want one who has been right through the mill as you seem to +have been, and, so long as he earns it, I'm not going to worry over his +salary." + +"I'm afraid I would not suit you," said Geoffrey. "I'm rather too fond +of my own way to make a good servant, and of late I have not done badly +fighting for my own hand. Therefore, while I thank you, and should be +glad to undertake any minor contracts you can give me, I prefer to +continue as at present." + +"I should not fancy that you would be particularly easy to get on +with," Savine observed with another shrewd glance, but with unabated +good humor. "Still, what you suggest might suit me. I have rather +more work at present than I can hold on to with both hands, and have +tolerably good accounts of you. Come West with me and spend the week +end at my house, where we could talk things over quietly." + +Geoffrey was gratified--for the speaker was famous in his +profession--and he showed his feeling as he answered: "I consider +myself fortunate that you should ask me." + +"I figured you were not fond of compliments, and I'm a plain man +myself," declared Savine, with the humor apparent in his keen eyes +again. "I will, however, give you one piece of advice before I forget +it. My sister-in-law might be there, and if she wants to doctor you, +don't let her. She has a weakness for physicking strangers, and the +results are occasionally embarrassing." + +It happened accordingly that Thurston, who had overhauled his wardrobe +in Vancouver, duly arrived at a pretty wooden villa which looked down +upon a deep inlet. He knew the mountain valleys of the Cumberland, and +had wandered, sometimes footsore and hungry, under the giant ramparts +of the Selkirks and the Rockies, but he had never seen a fairer spot +than the reft in the hills which sheltered Savine's villa, and was +known by its Indian name, "The Place of the Hundred Springs." + +For a background somber cedars lifted their fretted spires against the +skyline on the southern hand. Beneath the trees the hillsides closed +in and the emerald green of maples and tawny tufts of oak rolled down +to a breadth of milk-white pebbles and a stretch of silver sand, past +which clear green water shoaling from shade to shade wound inland. +Threads of glancing spray quivered in and out among the foliage, and +high above, beyond a strip of sparkling sea and set apart by filmy +cloud from all the earth below, stretched the giant saw-edge of the +Coast Range's snow. + +The white-painted, red-roofed dwelling, with its green-latticed +shutters, tasteful scroll work and ample, if indifferently swarded, +lawns, was pleasant to look upon, but Thurston found more pleasure in +the sight of its young mistress, who awaited him in a great cool room +that was hung with deer-head trophies and floored with parquetry of +native timber. + +Helen Savine wore a white dress and her favorite crimson roses nestled +in the belt. Though she greeted Geoffrey with indifferent cordiality, +the girl was surprised when her eyes rested upon him. Thurston was not +a man of the conventional type one meets and straightway forgets, and +she had often thought about him; but, since the night at Crosbie Ghyll, +his image had presented itself as she first saw him--ragged, hungry, +and grim, a worthy descendant of the wild Thurstons about whom Musker +had discoursed. Now, in spite of his weather-beaten face and hardened +hands, he appeared what he was, a man of education and some refinement, +and his resolute expression, erect carriage, and muscular frame, +rendered lithe and almost statuesque by much swinging of the ax, gave +him an indefinite air of distinction. Again she decided that Geoffrey +Thurston was a well-favored man, but remembering Musker's stories, she +set herself to watch for some trace of inherent barbarity. This was +unfortunate for Geoffrey, because in such cases observers generally +discover what they search for. + +Geoffrey was placed beside Helen at dinner, and having roughed it since +he left England, and even before that time, it seemed strange to him to +be deftly waited upon at a table glittering with silver and gay with +flowers. Mrs. Thomas Savine sat opposite him, between her husband and +the host, and Helen found certain suspicions confirmed when Savine +referred to the crushing of the strike. Previously, he had given his +daughter a brief account of it. + +"It was daringly done," said Helen, "but I wonder, Mr. Thurston, if you +and others who hold the power ever consider the opposite side of the +question. It may be that those men, whose task is evidently highly +dangerous, have wives and children depending upon them, and a few extra +dollars, earned hardly enough, no doubt, might mean so much to them." + +"I am afraid I don't always do so," answered Geoffrey. "I have toiled +tolerably hard as a workman myself. If any employe should consider +that he was underpaid for the risk he ran, and should say so civilly, I +should listen to him. On the other hand, if any combination strove by +unfair means to coerce me, I should spare no effort to crush it!" + +Thurston generally was too much in earnest to make a pleasant +dinner-table conversationalist. As he spoke, he shut one big brown +hand. It was a trifling action, and he was, perhaps, unconscious of +it, but Helen, who noticed the flicker in his eyes and the vindictive +tightening of the hard fingers, shrank from him instinctively. + +"Is that not a cruel plan of action, and is there no room for a gentler +policy in your profession? Must the weak always be trampled out of +existence?" she replied, with a slight trace of indignation. + +Thurston turned towards her with a puzzled expression. Julius Savine +smiled, but his sister-in-law, who had remained silent, but not +unobservant, broke in: "You believe in the hereditary transmission of +character, Mr. Thurston?" + +"I think most people do to some extent," answered Geoffrey. "But why +do you ask me?" + +"It's quite simple," said Mrs. Savine, smiling. "Did my husband tell +you that when we were in England, we were held up by a storm there one +night in your ancestral home? There was a man there who ought to +belong to the feudal ages. He was called Musker, and he told us quaint +stories about some of you. I fancy Geoffrey, who robbed the king's +dragoons, must have looked just like you when you shut your fingers so, +a few minutes ago." + +"I am a little surprised," Geoffrey returned with a flush rising in his +cheeks. "Musker used to talk a great deal of romantic nonsense. +Crosbie Ghyll is no longer mine. I hope you passed a pleasant night +there." Mrs. Savine became eloquent concerning the historic interest +of the ancient house and her brother-in-law, who appeared interested, +observed. + +"So far, you have not told me about that particular adventure." + +Again the incident was unfortunate for Geoffrey, because Helen, who had +no great respect for her aunt's perceptions, decided that if the +similitude had struck even that lady, she was right in her own +estimation of Thurston's character. + +"We heard of several instances of reckless daring, and we Colonials +consider all the historic romance of the land we sprang from belongs to +us as well as you," Mrs. Savine said. "So, if it is not an intrusion, +may I ask if any of those border warriors were remarkable for deeds of +self-abnegation or charity?" + +"I am afraid not," admitted Geoffrey, rather grimly. "Neither did any +of them ever do much towards the making of history. All of them were +generally too busy protecting their property or seizing that of their +neighbors! But, at least, when they fought, they seem to have fought +for the losing side, and, according to tradition, paid for it dearly. +However, to change the subject, is it fair to hold any man responsible +for his ancestors' shortcomings? They have gone back to the dust long +ago, and it is the present that concerns us." + +"Still, can anybody avoid the results of those shortcomings or +virtues?" persisted Helen, and her father said: + +"I hardly think so. There is an instance beside you, Mr. Thurston. +Miss Savine's grandfather ruled in paternally feudal fashion over a few +dozen superstitious habitants way back in old-world Quebec, as his +folks had done since the first French colonization. That explains my +daughter's views on social matters and her weakness for playing the +somewhat autocratic Lady Bountiful. The Seigneurs were benevolent +village despots with very quaint ways." + +Savine spoke lightly, and one person only noticed that the face of his +daughter was slightly less pale in coloring than before, but that one +afterwards remembered her father's words and took them as a clue to the +woman's character. He discovered also that Helen Savine was both +generous and benevolent, but that she loved to rule, and to rule +somewhat autocratically. + +The first day at the Savine villa passed like a pleasant dream to the +man who had toiled for a bare living in the shadowy forests or knelt +all day among hot rocks to hold the weary drill with bleeding fingers. +Mr. Savine grew more and more interested in Geoffrey, who, during the +second day, made great advances in the estimation of Mrs. Thomas +Savine. Bicycles were not so common a woman's possession in Canada, or +elsewhere, then. In fact, there were few roads in British Columbia fit +to propel one on. An American friend had sent Miss Savine a wheel +which, after a few journeys over a corduroy road, groaned most +distressfully whenever she mounted it. Helen desired to ride in to the +railroad, but the gaudy machine complained even more than usual, and +when at last one of its wheels declined to revolve, Julius Savine +called Geoffrey's attention to it. + +"If you are anxious for mild excitement, and want to earn my daughter's +gratitude, you might tackle that confounded thing, Mr. Thurston," he +said. "The local blacksmith shakes his head over it, and sent it back +the last time worse than ever, with several necessary portions missing. +After running many kinds of machines in my time, I'm willing to own +that this particular specimen defies me." + +Thurston had stripped and fitted various intricate mining appliances, +but he had never struggled with a bicycle. So, when Helen accepted his +offer of assistance, he wheeled the machine out upon the lawn and +proceeded light-heartedly to dismantle it, while the Savine brothers +lounged in cane chairs, encouraging him over their cigars. The +dismantling was comparatively simple, but when the time for +reassembling came, Thurston, who found that certain cups could not by +any legitimate means be induced to screw home into their places, was +perforce obliged to rest the machine upon two chairs and wriggle +underneath it, where he reclined upon his back with grimy oil dripping +upon his forehead. Red in the face, he crawled out to breathe at +intervals, and Helen made stern efforts to conceal her mingled alarm +and merriment, when Thomas Savine said: + +"Will you take long odds, Thurston, that you never make that invention +of his Satanic Majesty run straight again?" + +Mrs. Savine cautioned the operator about sunstroke and apoplexy. When +Thomas Savine caught Helen's eye, both laughed outright, and Geoffrey, +mistaking the reason, felt hurt; he determined to conquer the bicycle +or remain beneath it all night. When at last he succeeded in putting +the various parts together and straightened his aching back, he hoped +that he did not look so disgusted, grimy and savage as he undoubtedly +felt. + +"You must really let it alone," said Helen. "The sun is very hot, and +perhaps, you might be more successful after luncheon. I have noticed +that when mending bicycles a rest and refreshment sometimes prove +beneficial." + +"That's so!" agreed Thomas Savine. "Young Harry was wont to tackle it +on just those lines. He used up several of my best Cubanos and a +bottle of claret each time, before he had finished; and then I was +never convinced that the thing went any better." + +"You must beware of ruining your health," interposed Mrs. Savine. +"Mending bicycles frequently leads to an accumulation of malevolent +humors. Did I interrupt you, Mr. Thurston?" + +"I was only going to say that it is nearly finished, and that I should +not like to be vanquished by an affair of this kind," said Geoffrey +with emphasis. "Would it hurt the machine if I stood it upon its head, +Miss Savine?" + +"Oh, no, and I am so grateful," Helen answered assuringly, noticing +guiltily that there were oil and red dust, besides many somber smears, +upon the operator's face and jacket, while the skin was missing from +several of his knuckles. + +It was done at last, and Geoffrey sighed, while the rest of the party +expressed surprise as well as admiration when the wheels revolved +freely without click or groan. Julius Savine nodded, with more than +casual approval, and Helen was gracious with her thanks. + +"You look quite faint," observed Mrs. Savine. "It was the hot sun on +your forehead, and the mental excitement. Such things are often +followed by dangerous consequences, and you must take a dose of my +elixir. Helen, dear, you know where to find the bottle." + +Julius Savine was guilty of a slight gesture of impatience. His +brother laughed, while Helen seemed anxious to slip away. Geoffrey +answered: + +"I hardly think one should get very mentally excited over a bicycle. I +feel perfectly well, and only somewhat greasy." + +"That is just one of the symptoms. Yes, you have hit it--greasy +feeling!" broke in the amateur dispenser, who rarely relaxed her +efforts until she had run down her victim. "Helen, why don't you hunt +round for that bottle?" + +"I mean greasy externally," explained Geoffrey in desperation, and +again Thomas Savine chuckled, while Helen, who ground one little +boot-heel into the grasses, deliberately turned away. Mrs. Savine, +however, cheerfully departed to find the bottle, and soon returned with +it and a wine glass. She filled the glass with an inky fluid which +smelt unpleasant, and said to Geoffrey: + +"You will be distinctly better the moment you have taken this!" + +Geoffrey took the goblet, walked apart a few paces, and, making a wry +face, heroically swallowed the bitter draught, after which Mrs. Savine, +who beamed upon him, said: + +"You feel quite differently, don't you?" + +"Yes!" asserted Geoffrey, truthfully, longing to add that he had felt +perfectly well before and had now to make violent efforts to overcome +his nausea. + +His heroism had its reward, however, for when Helen returned from her +wheel ride, she said: "I was really ashamed when my aunt insisted on +doctoring you, but you must take it as a compliment, because she only +prescribes for the people she takes a fancy to. I hope the dose was +not particularly nasty?" + +"Sorry for you, Thurston, from experience!" cried Thomas Savine. "When +I see that bottle, I just vacate the locality. The taste isn't the +worst of it by a long way." + +That night Julius Savine called Geoffrey into his study, and, spreading +a roll of plans before him, offered terms, which were gladly accepted, +for the construction of portions of several works. Savine said: "I +won't worry much about references. Your work speaks for itself, and +the Roads and Trails surveyor has been talking about you. I'll take +you, as you'll have to take me, on trust. I keep my eye on rising +young men, and I have been watching you. Besides, the man who could +master an obstinate bicycle the first time he wrestled with one must +have some sense of his own, and it isn't everybody who would have +swallowed that physic." + +"I could not well avoid doing so," said Geoffrey, with a rueful smile. + +"I feel I owe you an apology, but it's my sister-in-law's one weakness, +and you have won her favor for the rest of your natural life," Savine +returned. "You have had several distinguished fellow-sufferers, +including provincial representatives and railroad directors, for to my +horror she physicked a very famous one the last time he came. He did +not suffer with your equanimity. In fact, he was almost uncivil, and +said to me, 'If the secretary hadn't sent off your trestle contract, I +should urge the board to reconsider it. Did you ask me here that your +relatives might poison me, Savine?'" + +Geoffrey laughed, and his host added: + +"I want to talk over a good many details with you, and dare say you +deserve a holiday--I know I do--so I shall retain you here for a week, +at least. I take your consent for granted; it's really necessary." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +GEOFFREY STANDS FIRM + +Geoffrey Thurston possessed a fine constitution, and, in spite of Mrs. +Savine's treatment and her husband's predictions, rose refreshed and +vigorous on the morning that followed his struggle with the bicycle. +It was a glorious morning, and when breakfast was over he enjoyed the +unusual luxury of lounging under the shadow of a cedar on the lawn, +where he breathed in the cool breeze which rippled the sparkling +straits. Hitherto, he had risen with the sun to begin a day of toil +and anxiety and this brief glimpse of a life of ease, with the +pleasures of congenial companionship, was as an oasis in the desert to +him. + +"A few days will be as much as is good for me," he told himself with a +sigh. "In the meantime hard work and short commons are considerably +more appropriate, but I shall win the right to all these things some +day, if my strength holds out." + +His forehead wrinkled, his eyes contracted, and he stared straight +before him, seeing neither the luminous green of the maples nor the +whispering cedars, but far off in the misty future a golden +possibility, which, if well worth winning, must be painfully earned. +His reverie was broken suddenly. + +"Are your thoughts very serious this morning, Mr. Thurston?" a clear +voice inquired, and the most alluring of the visions he had conjured up +stood before him, losing nothing by the translation into material +flesh. Helen Savine had halted under the cedar. In soft clinging +draperies of white and cream, she was a charming reality. + +"I'm afraid they were," Geoffrey answered, and Helen laughed musically. + +"One would fancy that you took life too much in earnest," she said. +"It is fortunately impossible either to work or to pile up money +forever, and a holiday is good for everybody. I am going down to White +Rock Cove to see if my marine garden is as beautiful as it used to be. +Would you care to inspect it and carry this basket for me?" + +Thurston showed his pleasure almost too openly. They chatted lightly +on many subjects as they walked together, knee-deep, at times, among +scarlet wine-berries, and the delicate green and ebony of maidenhair +fern. The scents and essence of summer hung heavy in the air. Shafts +of golden sunlight, piercing the somber canopy of the forest isles, +touched, and, it seemed to Geoffrey, etherealized, his companion. The +completeness of his enjoyment troubled the man, and presently he lapsed +into silence. All this appeared too good, too pleasant, he feared, to +last. + +"Do you know that you have not answered my last question, nor spoken a +word for the last ten minutes?" inquired Helen with a smile, at length. +"Have these woods no charm for you, or are you regretting the cigarbox +beneath the cedar?" + +Geoffrey turned towards her, and there was a momentary flash in his +eyes as he answered: + +"You must forgive me. Keen enjoyment often blunts the edge of speech, +and I was wishing that this walk through the cool, green stillness +might last forever." + +Afraid that he might have said too much, he ceased speaking abruptly, +and then, after the fashion of one unskilled in tricks of speech, +proceeded to remedy one blunder by committing another. + +"It reminds me of the evenings at Graham's ranch. There can surely be +no sunsets in the world to equal those that flame along the snows of +British Columbia, and you will remember how, together, we watched them +burn and fade." + +It was an unfortunate reference, for now and then Helen had recalled +that period with misgivings. Cut off from all association with persons +of congenial tastes, she had not only found the man's society +interesting, but she had allowed herself to sink into an indefinite +state of companionship with him. In the mountain solitude, such +camaraderie had seemed perfectly natural, but it was impossible under +different circumstances. It was only on the last occasion that he had +ever hinted at a continuance of this intimacy, but she had not +forgotten the rash speech. Had the recollections been all upon her own +side she might have permitted a partial renewal of the companionship, +but she became forbidding at once when Geoffrey ventured to remind her +of it. + +"Yes," she said reflectively. "The sunsets were often impressive, but +we are all of us unstable, and what pleases us at one time may well +prove tiresome at another. If that experience were repeated I should +very possibly grow sadly discontented at Graham's ranch." + +Geoffrey was not only shrewd enough to comprehend that, if Miss Savine +unbent during a summer holiday in the wilderness, it did not follow +that she would always do so, but he felt that he deserved the rebuke. +He had, however, learned patience in Canada, and was content to bide +his time, so he answered good-humoredly that such a result might well +be possible. They were silent until they halted where the hillside +fell sharply to the verge of a cliff. Far down below Thurston could +see the white pebbles shine through translucent water, and with +professional instincts aroused, he dubiously surveyed the slope to the +head of the crag. + +Julius Savine, or somebody under his orders, had constructed a zig-zag +pathway which wound down between small maples and clusters of +wine-berries shimmering like blood-drops among their glossy leaves. In +places the pathway was underpinned with timber against the side of an +almost sheer descent, and he noticed that one could have dropped a +vertical line from the fish-hawk, which hung poised a few feet outside +one angle, into the water. They descended cautiously to the first +sharp bend, and here Geoffrey turned around in advance of his +companion. "Do you mind telling me how long it is since you or anybody +else has used this path, Miss Savine?" he inquired. + +"I came up this way last autumn, and think hardly any other person has +used it since. But why do you ask?" was the reply. + +"I fancied so!" Geoffrey lapsed instinctively into his brusque, +professional style of comment. "Poor system of underpinning, badly +fixed yonder. I am afraid you must find some other way down to the +beach this morning." + +It was long since Helen had heard anybody apply the word "must" to +herself. As Julius Savine's only daughter, most of her wishes had been +immediately gratified, while the men she met vied with one another in +paying her homage. In addition to this, her father, in whose +mechanical abilities she had supreme faith, had constructed that +pathway especially for her pleasure. So for several reasons her pride +took fire, and she answered coldly: "The path is perfectly safe. My +father himself watched the greater portion of its building." + +"It was safe once, no doubt," answered Geoffrey, slightly puzzled as to +how he had offended her, but still resolute. "The rains of last +winter, however, have washed out much of the surface soil, leaving bare +parts of the rock beneath, and the next angle yonder is positively +dangerous. Can we not go around?" + +"Only by the head of the valley, two miles away at least," Helen's tone +remained the reverse of cordial. "I have climbed both in the Selkirks +and the Coast Range, and to anyone with a clear head, even in the most +slippery places, there cannot be any real danger!" + +"I regret that I cannot agree with you. I devoutly wish I could," said +Geoffrey, uneasily. "No! you must please go no further, Miss Savine." + +The girl's eyes glittered resentfully. A flush crept into the center +of either cheek as she walked towards him. Though he did not intend +it, there was perhaps too strong a suggestion of command in his +attitude, and when Helen came abreast of him, he laid a hand +restrainingly upon her arm. She shook it off, not with ill-humored +petulance, for Helen was never ungraceful nor undignified, but with a +disdain that hurt the man far more than anger. Nevertheless, knowing +that he was right, he was determined that she should run no risk. +Letting his hand swing at his side, he walked a few paces before her, +and then turned in a narrow portion of the path where two people could +not pass abreast. + +"Please listen to me, Miss Savine," he began. "I am an engineer, and I +can see that the bend yonder is dangerous. I cannot, therefore, +consent to allow you to venture upon it. How should I face your father +if anything unfortunate happened?" + +"My father saw the path built," repeated Helen. "He also is an +engineer, and is said to be one of the most skillful in the Dominion. +I am not used to being thwarted for inadequate reasons. Let me pass." + +Geoffrey stood erect and immovable. "I am very sorry, Miss Savine, +that, in this one instance, I cannot obey you," he said. + +There was an awkward silence, and while they looked at each other, +Helen felt her breath come faster. Retreating a few paces she seated +herself upon a boulder, thus leaving the task of terminating an +unpleasant position to Geoffrey, who was puzzled for a time. Finally, +an inspiration dawned upon Thurston, who said: + +"Perhaps you would feel the disappointment less if I convinced you by +ocular demonstration." + +Walking cautiously forward to the dangerous angle, he grasped a broken +edge of the rock outcrop about which the path twisted, and pressed hard +with both feet upon the edge of the narrow causeway. It was a +hazardous experiment, and the result of it startling, for there was a +crash and a rattle, and Geoffrey remained clinging to the rock, with +one foot in a cranny, while a mass of earth and timber slid down the +steep-pitched slope and disappeared over the face of the crag. A +hollow splashing rose suggestively from far beneath the rock. Helen, +who had been too angry to notice the consideration for herself implied +in the man's last speech, turned her eyes upon the ground and did not +raise them until, after swinging himself carefully onto firmer soil, +Geoffrey approached her. "I hope, after what you have seen, you will +forgive me for preventing your descent," he said. + +"You used considerable violence, and I am still unconvinced," Helen +declared, rising as she spoke. "In any case, you have at least made +further progress impossible, and we may as well retrace our steps. No; +I do not wish to hear any more upon the subject. It is really not +worth further discussion." + +They turned back together. When the ascent grew steeper, Geoffrey held +out his hand. Instead of accepting the proffered assistance as she had +done when they descended, Helen apparently failed to notice the hand, +and the homeward journey was not pleasant to either of them. Helen did +not parade her displeasure, but Geoffrey was sensible of it, and, never +being a fluent speaker upon casual subjects, he was not successful in +his conversational efforts. When at last they reached the villa, he +shook his shoulders disgustedly as he recalled some of his inane +remarks. + +"It was hardly a wonder she was silent. Heavens, what prompted me to +drivel in that style?" he reflected. "It was cruelly unfortunate, but +I could not let her risk her precious safety over that confounded path!" + +At luncheon it happened that Mrs. Savine said: "I saw you going towards +the White Rock Cove, Helen. Very interesting place, isn't it, Mr. +Thurston? But you brought none of that lovely weed back with you." + +"Did you notice how I had the path graded as you went down?" asked +Savine, and Thurston saw that Helen's eyes were fixed upon him. The +expression of the eyes aroused his indignation because the glance was +not a challenge, but a warning that whatever his answer might be, the +result would be indifferent to her. He was hurt that she should +suppose for a moment that he would profit by this opportunity. + +"We were not able to descend the whole way," he replied. "Last +winter's rains have loosened the surface soil, and one angle of the +path slipped bodily away. Very fortunately I was some distance in +advance of Miss Savine, and there was not the slightest danger. Might +I suggest socketed timbers? The occurrence reminds me of a curious +accident to the railroad track in the Rockies." + +Helen did not glance at the speaker again, for Savine asked no awkward +questions. But Thurston saw no more of her during the afternoon. That +evening he sought Savine in his study. + +"You have all been very kind to me," he said. "In fact, so much so +that I feel, if I stay any longer among you, I shall never be content +to rough it when I go back to the bush. This is only too pleasant, +but, being a poor man with a living to earn, it would be more +consistent if I recommenced my work. Which of the operations should I +undertake first?" + +Savine smiled on him whimsically, and answered with Western directness: + +"I don't know whether the Roads Surveyor was right or wrong when he +said that you were not always over-civil. See here, Thurston, leaving +all personal amenities out of the question, I'm inclined to figure that +you will be of use to me, aid the connection also will help you +considerably. My paid representatives are not always so energetic as +they might be. So if you are tired of High Maples you can start in +with the rock-cutting on the new wagon road. It is only a detail, but +I want it finished, and, as the cars would bring you down in two hours' +time, I'll expect you to put in the week-end here, talking over more +important things with me." + +Thurston left the house next morning. He did not see Helen to say +good-by to her, for she had ridden out into the forest before he +departed from High Maples. Helen admitted to herself that she was +interested in Thurston, the more so because he alone, of all the men +whom she had met, had successfully resisted her will. But she shrank +from him, and though convinced that his action in preventing her from +going down the pathway had been justified, she could not quite forgive +him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SAVINE'S CONFIDENCE + +Despite his employer's invitation Thurston did not return to High +Maples at the end of the week. The rock-cutting engrossed all his +attention, and he was conscious that it might be desirable to allow +Miss Savine's indignation to cool. He had thought of her often since +the day that she gave him the dollar, and, at first still smarting +under the memory of another woman's treachery, had tried to analyze his +feelings regarding her. The result was not very definite, though he +decided that he had never really loved Millicent, and was very certain +now that she had wasted little affection upon him. One evening at +Graham's ranch when they had stood silently together under the early +stars, he had become suddenly conscious of the all-important fact, that +his life would be empty without Helen Savine, and that of all the women +whom he had met she alone could guide and raise him towards a higher +plane. + +It was characteristic of Geoffrey Thurston that the determination to +win her in spite of every barrier of wealth and rank came with the +revelation, and that, at the same time counting the cost, he realized +that he must first bid boldly for a name and station, and with all +patience bide his time. A more cold-blooded man might have abandoned +the quest as hopeless at the first, and one more impulsive might have +ruined his chances by rashness, but Geoffrey united the characteristics +of the reckless Thurstons with his mother's cool North Country +canniness. + +It therefore happened that Savine, irritated by a journalistic +reference to the tardiness of that season's road-making, went down to +see how the work entrusted to Geoffrey was progressing. He was +accompanied by his daughter, who desired to visit the wife of a +prosperous rancher. It was towards noon of a hot day when they +alighted from their horses in the mouth of a gorge that wound inland +from the margin of a lake. No breath of wind ruffled the steely +surface of the lake. White boulder and somber fir branch slept +motionless, reflected in the crystal depths of the water, and lines of +great black cedars, that kept watch from the ridge above, stood mute +beneath the sun. + +As they picked their path carefully through the debris littering an +ugly rent in the rock, where perspiring men were toiling hard with pick +and drill, they came upon Thurston before he was aware of them. +Geoffrey stood with a heavy hammer in his hand critically surveying a +somewhat seedy man who was just then offering his services. Savine, +who had a sense of humor, was interested in the scene, and said to his +daughter: "Thurston's busy. We'll just wait until he's through with +that fellow." + +Geoffrey, being ignorant of their presence, decided that the applicant, +who said that he was an Englishman, and used to estimating quantities, +would be of little service; but he seldom refused to assist a stranger +in distress. + +"I do all the draughting and figuring work myself," he said. "However, +if you are hard up you can earn two dollars a day wheeling broken rock +until you find something better." + +The man turned away, apparently not delighted at the prospect of +wheeling rock, and Geoffrey faced about to greet the spectators. + +"I don't fancy you'll get much work out of that fellow," observed +Savine. + +"I did not expect to see you so soon, and am pleasantly surprised," +said Geoffrey, who, warned by something in Helen's face, restrained the +answer he was about to make. "You will be tired after your rough ride, +and it is very hot out here. If you will come into my office tent I +can offer you some slight refreshment." + +Helen noticed every appointment of the double tent which was singularly +neat and trim. Its flooring of packed twigs gave out a pleasant +aromatic odor. The instruments scattered among the papers on the maple +desk were silver-mounted. The tall, dusty man in toil-stained jean +produced thin glasses, into which he poured mineral waters and +California wine. A tin of English biscuits was passed with the cooling +drinks. Thurston was a curious combination, she fancied, for, having +seen him covered with the grime of hard toil she now beheld him in a +new _role_--that of host. + +They chatted for half-an-hour, and then there was an interruption, for +the young Englishman, who had grown tired of wheeling the barrow, stood +outside the tent demanding to see his employer. Geoffrey strode out +into the sunshine. + +The stranger said that he had a backache, besides blisters on his +hands, and that wheeling a heavy barrow did not agree with him. He +added, with an easy assurance that drew a frown to the contractor's +face, "It's a considerable come-down for me to have to work hard at +all, and I was told you were generally good to a distressed countryman. +Can't you really give me anything easier?" + +"I try to be helpful to my countrymen when they're worth it," answered +Geoffrey, dryly. "Would you care to hold a rock drill, or swing a +sledge instead?" + +"I hardly think so," he returned dubiously. "You see, I haven't been +trained to manual labor, and I'm not so strong as you might think by +looking at me." Geoffrey lost his temper. + +"The drill might blister your fingers, I dare say," he admitted. "I'm +afraid you are too good for this rude country, and I have no use for +you. I could afford to be decent? Perhaps so, but I earn my money +with considerably more effort than you seem willing to make. The cook +will give you dinner with the other men to-day; then you can resume +your search for an easy billet. We have no room in this camp for +idlers." + +Savine chuckled, but Helen, who had a weakness for philanthropy, and +small practical experience of its economic aspect, flushed with +indignation, pitying the stranger and resenting what she considered +Thurston's brutality. Her father rose, when the contractor came in, to +say that he wanted to look around the workings. He suggested that +Helen should remain somewhere in the shade. When Thurston had placed a +canvas lounge for her, outside the tent, the girl turned towards him a +look of severe disapproval. "Why did you speak to that poor man so +cruelly?" she asked. "Perhaps I am transgressing, but it seems to me +that one living here in comfort, even comparative luxury, might be a +little more considerate towards those less fortunate." + +"Please remember that I was once what you term 'less fortunate' +myself," Geoffrey reminded Helen, who answered quickly, "One would +almost fancy it was you who had forgotten." + +"On the contrary, I am not likely to forget how hard it was for me to +earn my first fee here in this new country," he declared, looking +straight at her. "I was glad to work up to my waist in ice-water to +make, at first, scarcely a dollar and a half a day. One must exercise +discretion, Miss Savine, and that man, so far as I could see, had no +desire to work." + +It was a pity that Geoffrey did not explain that he meant Bransome's +payment by the words "my first fee," for Helen had never forgotten how +she had failed in the attempt to double the amount for which he had +bargained. She had considered him destitute of all the gentler graces, +but now she was surprised that he should apparently attempt to wound +her. + +"Is it right to judge so hastily?" she inquired, mastering her +indignation with difficulty. "The poor man may not be fit for hard +work--I think he said so--and I cannot help growing wrathful at times +when I hear the stories which reach me of commercial avarice and +tyranny." + +Geoffrey blew a silver whistle, which summoned the foreman to whom he +gave an order. + +"Your _protege_ shall have an opportunity of proving his willingness to +be useful by helping the cook," Thurston said with a smile at Helen. + +"Why did you do that--now?" she asked, uncertain whether to be +gratified or angry, and Geoffrey answered, "Because I fancied it would +meet with your approval." + +"Then," declared Helen looking past him, "if that was your only motive, +you were mistaken." + +The conversation dragged after that, and they were glad when Savine +returned to escort his daughter part of the way to the ranch. When he +rode back into camp alone an hour later, he dismounted with difficulty, +and his face was gray as he reeled into the tent. + +"Give me some wine, Thurston--brandy if you have it, and don't ask +questions. I shall be better in five minutes--I hope," he gasped. + +Geoffrey had no brandy, but he broke the neck off a bottle of his best +substitute, and Savine lay very still on a canvas lounge, gripping one +of its rails hard for long, anxious minutes before he said, "It is +over, and I am myself again. Hope I didn't scare you!" + +"I was uneasy," Thurston replied. "Dare I ask, sir, what the trouble +was?" Savine, who evidently had not quite recovered, looked steadily +at the speaker. "I'll tell you in confidence, but neither my daughter +nor my rivals must hear of this," he said at length. "It is part of +the price I paid for success. I have an affection of the heart, which +may snuff me out at any moment, or leave me years of carefully-guarded +life." + +"I don't quite understand you, but perhaps I ought to suggest that you +sit still and keep quiet for a time," Geoffrey replied and Savine +answered, "No. Save for a slight faintness I am as well as--I usually +am. When one gets more than his due share of this world's good things, +he must generally pay for it--see? If you don't, remember as an axiom +that one can buy success too dearly. Meantime, and to come back to +this question's every-day aspect, I want your promise to say nothing of +what you have seen. Helen must be spared anxiety, and I must still +pose as a man without a weakness, whatever it costs me." + +"You have my word, sir!" said Geoffrey, and Savine, who nodded, +appeared satisfied. + +"As I said before, I can trust you, Thurston, and though I've many +interested friends I'm a somewhat lonely man. I don't know why I +should tell you this, it isn't quite like me, but the seizure shook me, +and I just feel that way. Besides, in return for your promise, I owe +you the confidence. Give me some more wine, and I'll try to tell you +how I spent my strength in gaining what is called success." + +"I won by hard work; started life as a bridge carpenter, and starved +myself to buy the best text-books," Savine began presently. "Bid +always for something better than what I had, and generally got it; ran +through a big bridge-building contract at twenty-five, and fell in love +with my daughter's mother when I'd finished it. I had risen at a bound +from working foreman--she was the daughter of one of the proudest +poverty-stricken Frenchmen in old Quebec. Well, it would make a long +story, but I married her, and she taught me much worth knowing, besides +helping me on until, when I had all my savings locked up in apparently +profitless schemes, I tried for a great bridge contract. I also got +it, but there was political jobbery, and the opposition, learning from +my rival how I was fixed, required a big deposit before the agreement +was signed." + +Savine paused a full minute, and helped himself to more wine before he +proceeded. "The deposit was to be paid in fourteen days from the time +I got the notice, or the tender would be advertised for again, and I +hadn't half the amount handy. I couldn't realize on my possessions +without an appalling loss, but I swore I would hold on to that +contract, and I did it. It was always my way to pick up any odd +information I could, and I learned that a certain mining shaft was +likely to strike high-pay ore. I got the information from a workman +who left the mine to serve me, so I caught the first train, made a long +journey, and rode over a bad pass to reach the shaft. How I dealt with +the manager doesn't greatly matter, but though I neither bribed nor +threatened him he showed me what I wanted to see. I rode back over +pass and down moraine through blinding snow, went on without rest or +sleep to the city, borrowed what I could--I wasn't so well known then, +and it was mighty little--and bought up as much of that mine's stock on +margins as the money would cover. The news was being held back, but +other men were buying quietly. Still--well, they had to sleep and get +their dinners, and I, who could do without either, came out ahead of +them. Market went mad in a day or two over the news of the crushing. +I sold out at a tremendous premium, and started to pay my deposit. I +did it in person, came back with the sealed contract--hadn't eaten +decently or slept more than a few hours in two anxious weeks--went home +triumphant, and collapsed--as I did not long ago--while I told my wife." + +There was silence for several minutes inside the tent. Then Geoffrey +said, "I thank you for your confidence, sir, and will respect it, but +even yet I am not quite certain why, considering that you held my +unconditional promise, you gave it me." + +"As I said before, I felt like it," answered Savine. "Still, there's +generally a common-sense reason somewhere for what I do, and it may +help you to understand me. I heard of you at your first beginning. I +figured that you were taking hold as I had done before you and thought +I might have some use for a man like you. Perhaps I'll tell you more, +if we both live long enough, some day." + +It was in the cool of the evening that Savine and his daughter, who had +been waiting at a house far down the trail, rode back towards the +railroad, leaving Geoffrey puzzled at the uncertain ways of women. + +"What do you think of my new assistant, Helen?" asked Savine. "You +generally have a quick judgment, and you haven't told me yet." + +"I hardly know," was the answer. "He is certainly a man of strong +character, but there is something about him which repels one--something +harsh, almost sinister, though this would, of course, in no way affect +his business relations with you. For instance, you saw how he lives, +and yet he turned away a countryman who appeared destitute and hungry." + +Savine laughed. "You did not see how he lived. The good things in his +tent were part of his business property, handy when some mining +manager, who may want work done, comes along--or perhaps brought in by +mounted messenger for Miss Savine's special benefit. Thurston lives on +pork and potatoes, and eats them with his men. The fellow you pitied +was a lazy tramp. It mayn't greatly matter to you or me, but Thurston +will do great things some day." + +"It is perhaps possible," assented Helen. "The men who are hard and +cruel are usually successful. You have rather a weakness, father, for +growing enthusiastic over what you call a live assistant. You have +sometimes been mistaken, remember." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AN INSPIRATION + +More than twelve months had passed since Thurston's first visit to High +Maples, when he stood one morning gazing abstractedly down a misty +valley. Below him a small army of men toiled upon the huge earth +embankments, which, half-hidden by thin haze, divided the river from +the broad swamps behind it. But Geoffrey scarcely saw the men. He was +looking back upon the events of the past year, and was oblivious to the +present. He had made rapid progress in his profession and had won the +esteem of Julius Savine; but he felt uncertain as to how far he had +succeeded in placating Miss Savine. On some of his brief visits to +High Maples, Helen had treated him with a kindliness which sent him +away exultant. At other times, however, she appeared to avoid his +company. Presently dismissing the recollection of the girl with a +sigh, Geoffrey glanced at the strip of paper in his hand. It was a +telegraphic message from Savine, and ran: + + +"Want you and all the ideas you can bring along at the chalet +to-morrow. Expect deputation and interesting evening." + + +Savine had undertaken the drainage of the wide valley, which the rising +waters periodically turned into a morass, and had sublet to Geoffrey a +part of the work. Each of the neighboring ranchers who would benefit +by the undertaking had promised a pro-rata payment, and the Crown +authorities had conditionally granted to Savine a percentage of all the +unoccupied land he could reclaim. Previous operations had not, +however, proved successful, for the snow-fed river breached the dykes, +and the leaders of a syndicate with an opposition scheme were not only +sowing distrust among Savine's supporters, but striving to stir up +political controversy over the concession. + +Geoffrey did not agree with the contractor on several important points, +but deferred to the older man's judgment. He had, however, already +made his mark, and could have obtained profitable commissions from both +mining companies and the smaller municipalities, had he desired them. + +While Geoffrey was meditating, the mists began to melt before a warm +breeze from the Pacific. Sliding in filmy wisps athwart the climbing +pines, they rolled clear of the river, leaving bare two huge parallel +mounds, between which the turbid waters ran. Geoffrey, surveying the +waste of tall marsh grasses stretching back to the forest, knew that a +rich reward awaited the man who could reclaim the swamp. He was +reminded of his first venture, which was insignificant compared to this +greater one, and as suddenly as the mists had melted, the uncertainty +in his own mind concerning Savine's plan vanished too, and he saw that +the contractor was wrong. What he had done for Bransome on a minute +scale must be done here on a gigantic one. A bold man, backed with +capital, might blast a pathway for the waters through the converging +rocks of the canyon, and, without the need of costly dykes, both swamp +and the wide blue lake at the end of the valley would be left dry land. +He stood rigidly still for ten minutes while his heart beat fast. Then +he strode hurriedly towards the gap in the ranges. There was much to +do before he could obey Savine's summons. + +It was towards the close of that afternoon when Julius Savine lounged +on the veranda of a wooden hotel for tourists, which was built in a +gorge of savage beauty. In spite of all that modern art could do, the +building looked raw and new, out of place among the immemorial pines +climbing towards snowy heights unsullied by the presence of man. +Helen, who sat near her father, glanced at him keenly before she said: + +"You have not looked well all day. Is it the hot weather, or are you +troubled about the conference to-night?" + +Savine at first made no reply. The furrows deepened on his forehead, +and Helen felt a thrill of anxiety as she watched him. She had noticed +that his shoulders were losing their squareness, and that his face had +grown thin. + +"I must look worse than I feel," he declared after a little while, +"but, though there is nothing to worry about, the reclamation scheme is +a big one, and some of my rancher friends seem to have grown lukewarm +latterly. If they went over to the opposition, the plea that my +workings might damage their property, if encouraged by meddlesome +politicians, would seriously hamper me. Still, I shall certainly +convince them, and that is why I am receiving the deputation to-night. +I wish Thurston had come in earlier; I want to consult with him." + +"What has happened to you?" asked Helen, laying her hand affectionately +upon his arm. "You never used to listen to anybody's opinions, and now +you are always consulting Thurston. Sometimes I fancy you ought to +give up your business before it wears you out. After all, you have not +known Thurston long." + +"Perhaps so," Savine admitted, and when he looked at her Helen became +interested in an eagle, which hung poised on broad wings above the +valley. "I feel older than I used to, and may quit business when I put +this contract through. It is big enough to wind up with. If I'd known +Thurston for ages I couldn't be more sure of him. I am a little +disappointed that you don't like him." + +"You go too far." Helen still concentrated her attention upon the +dusky speck against the blue. "I have no reason for disliking Mr. +Thurston; indeed, I do not dislike him and my feeling may be mere +jealousy. You give--him--most of your confidences now, and I should +hate anybody who divided you from me." + +Savine lifted her little hand into his own, and patted it playfully as +he answered: + +"You need never fear that. Helen, you are very like your mother as she +was thirty years ago." + +There was a sparkle of indignation in Helen's eyes, and a suspicion of +tell-tale color in her face. She remembered that, when he first met +her mother, her father's position much resembled Thurston's, and the +girl wondered if he desired to remind her of it. + +"The cars are in sight. Perhaps I had better see whether the hotel +people are ready for your guests," she remarked with indifference. + +The hotel was famous for its cuisine, and the dinner which followed +was, for various reasons, a memorable one, though some of the guests +appeared distinctly puzzled by the sequence of viands and liquors. +Still, even those who, appreciating the change from leathery venison +and grindstone bread, had eaten too much at the first course, struggled +manfully with the succeeding, and good fellowship reigned until the +cloth was removed, and the party prepared to discuss business. + +Savine sat at the head of the table, the gray now showing thickly in +his hair. His expression was, perhaps, too languid, for one of his +guests whispered that the daring engineer was not what he used to be. +The man glanced at Thurston, who sat, stalwart, keen, and determined of +face, beside his chief, and added, "I know which I'd sooner run up +against now; and it wouldn't be his deputy, sub-contractor, or whatever +the fellow is." + +"Finding that our correspondence was using up no end of time and ink, I +figured it would be better for us to talk things over together +comfortably, and as some of you come from Vancouver, and some from +round the lake, this place appeared a convenient center," began Savine. +"Now, gentlemen, I'm ready to discuss either business or anything else +you like." + +There was a murmur, and the guests looked at one another. They were a +somewhat mixed company--several speculators from the cities, two +credited with political influence; well-educated Englishmen, who had +purchased land in the hope of combining sport with cattle raising; and +wiry axemen, who lived in rough surroundings while they drove their +clearings further into the forest, field by field. + +"Then I'll start right off with business," said a city man. "I bought +land up yonder and signed papers backing you. I thought there would be +a boom in the valley when you got through, but I've heard some talk +lately to the effect that the river is going to beat you, and, in any +case, you're making slow headway. What I, what we all, want to know +is, when you're going to have the undertaking completed." + +Applause and a whispering followed, and another man said, "Our +sentiments exactly! Guess you've seen _The Freespeaker's_ article!" + +"I have," Savine acknowledged coolly. "It suggested that I have no +intention of carrying out my agreement, that I am hoodwinking the +authorities for some indefinite purpose mysteriously connected with +maintaining our present provincial rulers in power. The thing's absurd +on the face of it, when I'm spending my money like water, and you ought +to know me better. I won't even get the comparatively insignificant +bonus until the work is finished." + +Several of the listeners rapped upon the table, one or two growled +suspiciously, and a big sunburnt Englishman stood up. "We'll let the +article in question pass," he said. "It is clearly written with +personal animus. As you say, we know you better; but see here, Savine, +this is going to be a serious business for us if you fail. We've +helped you with free labor, hauled your timber in, lent you oxen, and, +in fact, done almost everything, besides giving you our bonds for a +good many dollars and signing full approval of your scheme. By doing +this we have barred ourselves from encouraging the other fellows' +plans." + +After similar but less complimentary speeches had been made, Thurston, +who had been whispering to Savine, claimed attention. He cast a +searching glance round the assembly. "Any sensible man could see that +the opposition scheme is impracticable," he declared. "I am afraid +some of you have been sent here well primed." + +His last remark was perhaps combatant rashness, or possibly a +premeditated attempt to force the listeners to reveal their actual +sentiments. If he wished to get at the truth, he was successful, for +several men began to speak at once, and while disjointed words +interloped his remarks, the loudest of them said: + +"You can't fool us, Savine. We're poor men with a living to earn, but +we're mighty tough, and nobody walks over us with nails in their boots. +If you can't hold up that river, where are we going to be? I'd sooner +shove in the giant powder to blow them up, than stand by and see my +crops and cattle washed out when your big dykes bust." + +"So would I," cried several voices, and there was a rapid cross-fire of +question and comment. "Not the men to be fooled with." "Stand by our +rights; appeal to legislation, and choke this thing right up!" "Can +you make your dykes stand water at all?" "Give the man--a fair show." +"How many years do you figure on keeping us waiting?" + +Savine rose somewhat stiffly from his chair, and Thurston noted an +ominous grayness in either cheek. + +"There are just two things you can do," Savine said; "appeal to your +legislators to get my grants canceled, or sit tight and trust me. For +thirty-five years I've done my share in the development of the +Dominion, and I never took a contract I didn't put through. This has +proved a tough one, but if it costs me my last dollar----" + +The honest persons among the malcontents were mostly struggling men, +who, having expected the operations would bring them swift prosperity, +had been the more disappointed. Still, the speaker's sincerity +inspired returning confidence, and, when he paused, there was a measure +of sympathy for him, for he seemed haggard and ill, and was one against +many. His guests began to wonder whether they had not been too +impatient and suspicious, and one broke in apologetically, "That's +good! We're not unreasonable. But we like straight talking--what if +the dykes keep on bursting?" + +Then there was consternation, for Savine collapsed into his chair, +after he had said, "Mr. Thurston will tell you. Remember he acts for +me." To Geoffrey he whispered, "I don't feel well. Help me out, and +then go back to them." + +"Sit still. Stand back! You have done rather too much already," +Geoffrey declared, turning fiercely upon the men, who hurried forward, +one with a water decanter, and another with a wine glass. + +The guests fell back before Thurston, as he led Savine, who leaned +heavily upon him, from the banquet room. As they entered a broad hall +Helen and her aunt passed along the veranda upon which it opened. + +"They must not know; keep them out!" gasped the contractor. "Get me +some brandy and ring for the steward--quick. You have got to go back +and convince those fellows, Thurston. Good Lord!--this is agony." + +Savine sank into a chair. His twitching face was livid, and great +beads of moisture gathered upon his forehead. Thurston pressed a +button, then strode swiftly towards the door hoping that Helen, who +passed outside with a laugh upon her lips, might be spared the sight of +her father's suffering. But Mrs. Savine, gazing in through a long +window, started as she exclaimed, "Helen, your father's very sick! Run +along and bring me the elixir out of my valise." + +Helen turned towards the window, and Geoffrey, who groaned inwardly, +placed himself so that she could not see. There was a rustle of +skirts, and swift, light footsteps approached. + +"What is the matter? Why do you stand there? Let me pass at once!" +cried Helen in a voice trembling with fear. + +"Please wait a few moments," answered Geoffrey, standing between the +suffering man and his daughter. "Your father will be better directly, +and you must not excite him." + +There was no mistaking the color in Helen's face now. If her eyes were +anxious the crimson in her cheeks and on her forehead was that of +anger. Geoffrey felt compassionate, but he was still determined to +spare her. + +"For your father's sake and your own, don't go to him just yet, Miss +Savine," he pleaded, but, with little fingers whose grip felt steely, +the girl wrenched away his detaining arm. + +"Is there no limit to your interference or presumption?" she asked, +sweeping past him to fall with a low cry beside the big chair upon +which her father was reclining. The cry pierced to Thurston's heart. + +Helen had seen little of either sickness or tragedy. Savine sat still +as if he did not see her, his face contracted into a ghastly grin of +pain. The attendant who came to them deftly aided Geoffrey to force a +little cordial between the sufferer's teeth. Savine made no sign. +Forgetting her indignation in her terror Helen glanced at Geoffrey in +vague question, but he merely raised his hand with a restraining +gesture. + +"We had better get him onto a sofa, sir," whispered the attendant, +presently. "Not very heavy. Perhaps you and I could manage." It was +when he was being lifted that Savine first showed signs of +intelligence. He glanced at Geoffrey and attempted to beckon towards +the room they had left. When he seemed slightly better, Thurston said: + +"I am going, sir. Stay here a few minutes, and then call somebody, +waiter. I cannot stay any longer." + +Savine made an approving gesture, but Helen said with fear and evident +surprise, "You will not leave us now, Mr. Thurston?" + +"I must," answered Geoffrey, restraining an intense longing to stay +since she desired it, but loyal to his master's charge. "I believe +your father is recovering, and it is his especial wish. I can do +nothing, and he needs only quiet." + +Helen said nothing further. She began to chafe her father's hand, +while Thurston went back, pale and grim, to the head of the long table. + +"Mr. Savine was seized by a passing faintness, but is recovering," he +said. "Nevertheless, he may not be able to return, and, as I am +interested with him in the drainage scheme he has appointed me his +deputy. Therefore, in brief answer to your questions, I would say that +if either of us lives you shall have good oat fields instead of swamp +grass and muskeg. It is a solemn promise--we intend to redeem it." + +"I want to ask just two questions," announced a sun-bronzed man, in +picturesque jacket of fringed deerskin. "Who are the--we; and how are +you going to build dykes strong enough to stand the river when the +lake's full of melting snow and sends the water down roaring under a +twenty-foot head?" + +The speaker had touched the one weak spot in Savine's scheme, but +Geoffrey rose to the occasion, and there was a wondering hush when he +said, "In answer to the first question--Julius Savine and I are the +'we.' Secondly, we will, if necessary, obliterate the lake. It can be +done." + +The boldness of the answer from a comparatively unknown man held the +listeners still, until there were further questions and finally, amid +acclamation, one of the party said: + +"Then it's a bargain, and we'll back you solid through thick and thin. +Isn't that so, gentlemen? If the opposition try to make legal trouble, +as the holders of the cleared land likely to be affected we've got the +strongest pull. We came here doubting; you have convinced us." + +"I hardly think you will regret it," Geoffrey assured them. "Now, as I +must see to Mr. Savine, you will excuse me." + +Savine lay breathing heavily when Geoffrey rejoined him, but he +demanded what had happened, and nodded approval when told. Then +Geoffrey withdrew, beckoning to Helen, who rose and followed him. + +"This is no time for useless recrimination, or I would ask how you +could leave one who has been a generous friend, helpless and +suffering," the girl said reproachfully. "My father is evidently +seriously ill, and you are the only person I can turn to, for the hotel +manager tells me there is no doctor within miles of us. So in my +distress I must stoop to ask you, for his sake, what I can do?" + +"Will you believe not only that I sympathize, but that I would gladly +have given all I possess to save you from this shock?" Thurston began, +but Helen cut him short by an impatient wave of the hand, and stood +close beside him with distress and displeasure in her eyes. + +"All that is outside the question--what can we do?" she asked +imploringly. + +"Only one thing," answered Geoffrey. "Bring up the best doctor in +Vancouver by special train. I'm going now to hold up the fast freight. +Gather your courage. I will be back soon after daylight with skilled +assistance." + +He went out before the girl could answer, and, comforted, Helen hurried +back to her father's side. Whatever his failings might be, Thurston +was at least a man to depend upon when there was need of action. + +There was a little platform near the hotel where trains might be +flagged for the benefit of passengers, but the office was locked. +Thurston, who knew that shortly a freight train would pass, broke in +the window, borrowed a lantern, lighted it, and hurried up the track +which here wound round a curve through the forest and over a trestle. +It is not pleasant to cross a lofty trestle bridge on foot in broad +daylight, for one must step from sleeper to sleeper over wide spaces +with empty air beneath, and, as the ties are just wide enough to carry +the single pair of rails, it would mean death to meet a train. +Geoffrey nevertheless pressed on fast, the light of the blinking +lantern dazzling his eyes and rendering it more difficult to judge the +distances between the ties--until he halted for breath a moment in the +center of the bridge. White mist and the roar of hurrying water rose +out of the chasm beneath, but another sound broke through the noise of +the swift stream. Geoffrey hear the vibratory rattle of freight cars +racing down the valley, and he went on again at a reckless run, leaping +across black gulfs of shadow. + +The sound had gained in volume when he reached firm earth and ran +swiftly towards the end of the curve, from which, down a long +declivity, the engineer could see his lantern. Panting, he held the +light aloft as a great fan-shaped blaze of radiance came flaming like a +comet down the track. + +Soon he could dimly discern the shape of two huge mountain engines, +while the rails trembled beside him, and a wall of rock flung back the +din of whirring wheels. The fast freight had started from the head of +Atlantic navigation at Montreal, and would not stop until the huge cars +rolled alongside the Empress liner at Vancouver, for part of their +burden was being hurried West from England around half the world to +China and the East again. The track led down-grade, and the engineers, +who had nursed the great machines up the long climb to the summit, were +now racing them down hill. + +Waving the lantern Geoffrey stood with a foot on one of the rails and +every sense intent, until the first engine's cow-catcher was almost +upon him. Then he leaped for his life and stood half-blinded amid +whirling ballast and a rushing wind, as, veiled in thick dust, the +great box cars clanged by. He was savage with dismay, for it seemed +that the engineer had not seen his signal; then his heart bounded, a +shrill hoot from two whistles was followed by the screaming of brakes. +When he came up with the standing train at the end of the trestle, one +engineer, leaning down from the rail of the cab, said: + +"I saw your light away back, but was too busy trying to stop without +smashing something to answer. Say, has the trestle caved in, or what +in the name of thunder is holding us up?" + +"The trestle is all right," answered Geoffrey, climbing into the cab. +"I held you up, and I'm going on with you to bring out a doctor to my +partner, who is dangerously ill." + +The engineer's comments were indignant and sulphurous, while the big +fireman turned back his shirt sleeves as if preparing to chastise the +man rash enough to interfere with express freight traffic. Geoffrey, +reaching for a shovel, said: + +"When we get there, I'll go with you to your superintendent at +Vancouver; but, if either of you try to put me off or to call +assistance, I'll make good use of this. I tell you it's a question of +life and death, and two at least of your directors are good friends of +the man I want to help. They wouldn't thank you for destroying his +last chance. Meantime you're wasting precious moments. Start the +train." + +"Hold fast!" commanded the grizzled engineer, opening the throttle. +"When she's under way, I'll talk to you, and unless you satisfy me, by +the time we reach Vancouver there won't be much of you left for the +police to take charge of." + +Then the two locomotives started the long cars on their inter-ocean +race again. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +GEOFFREY TESTS HIS FATE + +It was a lowering afternoon in the Fall, when Thurston and Julius +Savine stood talking together upon a spray-drenched ledge in the depths +of a British Columbian canyon. On the crest of the smooth-scarped +hillside, which stretched back from the sheer face of rock far +overhead, stood what looked like a tiny fretwork in ebony, and +consisted of two-hundred-foot conifers. Here and there a clamorous +torrent had worn out a gully, and, with Thurston's assistance, Savine +had accomplished the descent of one of the less precipitous. Elsewhere +the rocks had been rubbed into smooth walls, between which the river +had fretted out its channel during countless ages. The water was +coming down in a mad green flood, for the higher snows had melted fast +under the autumn sun, and the clay beneath the glaciers had stained it. +Foam licked the ledges, a roaring white wake streamed behind each +boulder's ugly head, and the whole gloomy canyon rang with the thunder +of a rapid, whose filmy stream whirled in the chilly breeze. + +Savine gazed at the rapid and the whirlpool that fed it, distinguishing +the roar of scoring gravel and grind of broken rock from its vibratory +booming, and though he was a daring man, his heart almost failed him. + +"It looks ugly, horribly ugly, and I doubt if another man in the +Dominion would have suggested tackling the river here, but you are +right," he admitted. "Human judgment has its limits, and the constant +bursts have proved that no dykes which wouldn't ruin me in the building +could stand high-water pressure long. If you don't mind, Thurston, +we'll move farther from the edge. I've been a little shaky since that +last attack." + +"The climb down was awkward, but you have looked better lately," +declared Geoffrey and Savine sighed. + +"I guess my best days are done, and that is one reason why I wish to +end up with a big success," he said. "I got a plain warning from the +Vancouver doctor you brought me in that morning. You managed it +smartly." + +"I was lucky," said Thurston, laughing. "At first, I expected to be +ignominiously locked up after the engineer and fireman had torn my +clothes off me. But we did not climb down here to talk of that." + +"No!" and Savine looked straight at his companion. "This is a great +scheme, Thurston, the biggest I have ever undertaken. There will be +room for scores of ranches, herds of cattle, wheat fields and orchards, +if we can put it through--and we have just got to put it through. +Those confounded dykes have drained me heavily, and they'll keep right +on costing money. Still, even to me, it looks almost beyond the power +of mortal man to deepen the channel here. The risk will figure high in +money, but higher in human life. You feel quite certain you can do it?" + +"Yes!" asserted Geoffrey. "I believe I can--in winter, when the frost +binds the glaciers and the waters shrink. Once it is done, and the +only hard rock barrier that holds the water up removed, the river will +scour its own way through the alluvial deposits. I have asked a long +price, but the work will be difficult." + +Savine nodded. He knew that it would be a task almost fit for +demi-gods or giants to cut down the bed of what was a furious torrent, +thick with grinding debris and scoring ice, and that only very strong +bold men could grapple with the angry waters, amid blinding snow or +under the bitter frost of the inland ranges in winter time. + +"The price is not too heavy, but I don't accept your terms," Savine +said. "Hold on until I have finished and then begin your talking. +I'll offer you a minor partnership in my business instead. Take time, +and keep your answer until I explain things in my offices, in case you +find the terms onerous; but there are many men in this country who +would be glad of the chance you're getting." + +Geoffrey stood up, his lean brown face twitching. He walked twice +along the slippery ledge, and then halted before Savine. "I will +accept them whatever they are on one condition, which I hardly dare +hope you will approve," he replied. "That is, regarding the +partnership, for in any case, holding to my first suggestion, you can +count on my best help down here. I don't forget that I owe you a heavy +debt of gratitude, sir, though, as you know, I have had several good +offers latterly." + +Savine, who had been abstractedly watching the mad rush of the stream, +looked up as he inquired: + +"What is the condition? You seem unusually diffident to-day, Thurston." + +"It is a great thing I am going to ask." Geoffrey, standing on the +treacherous ledge above the thundering river, scarcely looked like a +suppliant as he put his fate to the test. "It is your permission to +ask Miss Savine to marry me when the time seems opportune. It would +not be surprising if you laughed at me, but even then I should only +wait the more patiently. This is not a new ambition, for one day when +I first came, a poor man, into this country I set my heart upon it, and +working ever since to realize it, I have, so far at least as worldly +prospects go, lessened the distance between us." + +Savine, who betrayed no surprise, was silent for a little while. Then +he answered quietly: + +"I am, according to popular opinion, anything but a poor man, and +though those dykes have bled me, such a match would, as you suggest, be +unequal from a financial point of view, unless Helen marries against my +wishes. Then she should marry without a dollar. Does that influence +you?" + +Thurston spread out his hands with a contemptuous gesture, which his +quiet earnestness redeemed from being theatrical. + +"For my own sake I should prefer it so. Dollars! How far would anyone +count dollars in comparison with Miss Savine? But I do not fear being +able to earn all she needs. When the time seems opportune the +inequality may be less." + +"It is possible," continued Savine. "One notices that the man who +knows exactly what he wants and doesn't fool his time away over other +things not infrequently gets it. You have not really surprised me. +Now--and I want a straight answer--why did you leave the Old Country?" + +"For several reasons. I lost my money mining. The lady whom I should +have married, according to arrangements made for us, tired of me. It +is a somewhat painful story, but I was bound up in the mine, and there +were, no doubt, ample excuses for her. We were both of us almost too +young to know our own minds when we fell in with our relatives' wishes, +and, though I hardly care to say so, it was perhaps well we found out +our mistake in time." + +"All!" said Savine. "Were there no openings for a live man in the Old +Country, and have you told me all?" + +"I could not find any place for a man in my position," Geoffrey let the +words fall slowly. "I come of a reckless, hard-living family, and I +feared that some of their failings might repeat themselves in me. I +had my warnings. Had I stayed over there, a disappointed man, they +might have mastered me, and so, when there was nothing to keep me, I +turned my back--and ran. Out here any man who hungers for it can find +quite sufficient healthful excitement for his needs, and excitement is +as wine to me. These, I know, seem very curious qualifications for a +son-in-law, but it seemed just to tell you. Need I explain further?" + +"No," answered Savine, whose face had grown serious. "Thanks for your +honesty. I guess I know the weaknesses you mean--the greatest of them +is whiskey. I've had scores of brilliant men it has driven out from +Europe to shovel dirt for me. It's not good news, Thurston. How long +have you made head against your inherited failings?" + +"Since I could understand things clearly," was the steady answer. "I +feared only what might happen, and would never have spoken had I not +felt that this country had helped me to break the entail, and set me +free. You know all, sir, and to my disadvantage I have put it before +you tersely, but there is another aspect." + +Thurston's tone carried conviction with it, but Savine cut him short. +"It is the practical aspect that appeals to me," he said. He stared +down at the river for several minutes before he asked: + +"Have you any reason to believe that Helen reciprocates the attachment?" + +"No." Geoffrey's face fell. "Once or twice I ventured almost to hope +so; more often I feared the opposite. All I ask is the right to wait +until the time seems ripe, and know that I shall have your good will if +it ever does. I could accept no further benefits from your hands until +I had told you." + +"You have it now," Savine declared very gravely. "As you know, my life +is uncertain, and I believe you faithful and strong enough to take care +of Helen. After all, what more could I look for? Still, if she does +not like you, there will be an end of the matter. It may be many would +blame me for yielding, but I believe I could trust you, Thurston--and +there are things they do not know." + +Savine sighed after the last words. His face clouded. Then he added +abruptly: "Speak when it suits you, Thurston, and good luck to you. +There are reasons besides the fact that I'm an old man why I should +envy you." + +Had Geoffrey been less exultant he might have noticed something curious +in Savine's expression, but he was too full of his heart's desire to be +conscious of more than the one all-important fact that Helen's father +wished him well. It was in a mood of high hopefulness he assisted Mr. +Savine during the arduous scramble up out of the canyon. Later his +elation was diminished by the recollection that he had yet to win the +good will of Miss Savine. + + * * * * * + +Some time had passed after the interview in the canyon, when one +afternoon Geoffrey walked out on the veranda at High Maples in search +of Helen Savine. It was winter time, but the climate near the +southwestern coast is mild. High Maples was sheltered, and the sun was +faintly warm. There were a few hardy flowers in the borders fringing +the smooth green lawn, a striking contrast to the snow-sheeted pines of +the ice-bound wilderness in which Thurston toiled. Helen was not on +the veranda, and not knowing where to search further, the young man +sank somewhat heavily into a chair. Geoffrey had ridden all night +through powdery snow-drifts which rose at times to the stirrup, and at +others so high that his horse could scarcely flounder through them. He +had made out lists of necessary stores as the jolting train sped on to +Vancouver, and had been busy every moment until it was time to start +for High Maples. Though he would have had it otherwise, he dare not +neglect one item when time was very precious. He had not spared +himself much leisure for either food or sleep of late, for by the short +northern daylight, and flame of the roaring lucigen, through the long +black nights, he and his company of carefully picked men had fought +stubbornly with the icy river. + +The suns rays grew brighter, there was still no sign of Helen. Tired +in mind and body Geoffrey sat still, lost in a reverie. He had left +the camp in a state of nervous suspense, but overtaxed nature had +conquered, and now he waited not less anxious than he had been, but +with a physical languidness due to the reaction. + +When Helen Savine finally came out softly through a long window +Geoffrey did not at first see her, and she had time to cast more than a +passing glance at him as he sat with head resting gratefully on the +back of the basket chair. His face, deeply tanned by the snow, had +grown once more worn and thin. There were lines upon the forehead and +wrinkles about his eyes; one bronzed hand lay above the other on his +knee, as the complement of a pose that suggested the exhaustion of +over-fatigue. The sight roused her pity, and she felt unusually +sympathetic towards the tired man. + +Then Geoffrey started and rose quickly. Helen noticed how he seemed to +fling off his weariness as he came towards her, hat in hand. + +"I have made a hurried journey to see you, Miss Savine," he said. "I +have something to tell you, something concerning which I cannot keep +silence any longer. If I am abrupt you will forgive me, but will you +listen a few moments, and then answer me a question?" + +The man's tone was humble if his eyes were eager, and Helen, who was +sensible of a tremor of emotion, leaned against the rails of the +veranda. The winter sunlight shone full upon her, and either that or +the cold breeze that she had met on the headland accounted for the +color in her cheeks. She made a dainty picture in her fur cap and +close-fitting jacket, whose rich fur trimming set off the curves of a +shapely figure. The man's longing must have shown itself in his eyes, +for Helen suddenly turned her glance away from him. Again she felt a +curious thrill, almost of pleasure, and wondered at it. If she had +guessed his meaning correctly she would have felt merely sorry for him, +and yet there was no mistaking an indefinite sense of satisfaction. + +"Do you remember what I once told you at Graham's ranch?" he asked. "I +was a needy adventurer then, and guilty of horrible presumption, but +though the words came without my definite will I meant every one of +them. I knew there could be only one woman in the world for me, and I +solemnly determined to win her. It seemed madness--I was a poor, +unknown man--but the thought of you drove me resistlessly on until at +last the gulf between us has been narrowed, and may be narrower still. +That is, I have striven to lessen it in the one way I can--in all +others without your help it must remain impassable. Heaven knows how +far I am beneath you, and the daring hope has but one excuse--I love +you, and shall always do so. Is what I hope for quite impossible?" + +While Helen would have told herself ten minutes earlier that she almost +disliked the pleader, she was conscious of a new emotion. She had +regarded other suitors with something like contempt, but it was not so +with Thurston. Even if he occasionally repelled her, it was impossible +to despise him. + +"I am sorry," she said slowly. "Sorry that you should have told me +this, because I can only answer that it is impossible." + +Geoffrey evinced no great surprise. His face became stern instead of +expectant; his toil-hardened frame was more erect, as he answered with +unusual gentleness: + +"I have endeavored to prepare myself for your reply. How could I hope +to win you--as it were for the asking--easily? Still, though I am +painfully conscious of many possible reasons, may I venture to ask why +it is impossible, Miss Savine?" + +Helen answered: "I am sorry it is so--but why should I pain you? Can +you not take my answer without the reasons?" + +"No; not if you will give them," persisted Geoffrey. "I have grown +accustomed to unpleasant things, and it is to be hoped there is truth +in the belief that they are good for one. The truth from your lips +would hurt me less. Will you not tell me?" + +"I will try if you demand it." Helen, who could not help noticing how +unflinchingly he had received what was really a needlessly cold rebuff, +hoped she was lucid as she began: + +"I have a respect for you, Mr. Thurston, but--how shall I express +it?--also a shrinking. You--please remember, you insisted--seem so +hard and overbearing, and while power is a desirable attribute in a +man---- But will you force me to go on?" + +"I beg you to go on," said Geoffrey, with a certain grimness. + +"In spite of a popular fallacy, I could not esteem a--a husband I was +afraid of. A man should be gentle, pitiful and considerate to all +women. Without mutual forbearance there could be no true +companionship--and----" + +"You are right." Geoffrey's voice was humble without bitterness. "I +have lived a hard life, and perhaps it has made me, compared with your +standard, brutal. Still, I would ask again, are these all your +reasons? Is the other difference between us too great--the distance +dividing the man you gave the dollar to from the daughter of Julius +Savine?" + +"No," answered Helen. "That difference is, after all, imaginary. We +do not think over here quite as you do in England, and if we did, are +you not a Thurston of Crosbie? But please believe that I am sorry, +and--you insisted on the explanation--forgive me if I have said too +much. There is a long future before you--and men change their minds." + +Geoffrey's face darkened, and Helen, who regretted the last hasty words +which escaped her without reflection, watched him intently until he +said: + +"Musker must have told you about something in my life. But I was not +inconstant though the fault was doubtless mine. That is a story which +cannot be mentioned again, Miss Savine." + +"I had never meant to refer to it," Helen apologized with some +confusion, "but since you have mistaken me, I must add that another +friend of yours--a lady--gave me a version that bore truth stamped upon +the face of it. One could imagine that you would not take kindly to +the fate others arranged for you. But how do you know you are not +repeating the same mistake? The fancy which deceived you then may do +the same again." + +"How do I know?" Geoffrey's voice rang convincingly as he turned upon +the questioner, stretched out an arm towards her, and then dropped it +swiftly. "I know what love is now, because you have taught me. +Listen, Miss Savine, I am as the Almighty made me, a plain--and +sometimes an ill-tempered man, who would gladly lay down his life to +save you sorrow; but if what you say divides us is all there is, then, +as long as you remain Helen Savine, I shall cling fast to my purpose +and strive to prove myself worthy. Again, you were right--how could +you be otherwise?--but I shall yet convince you that you need not +shrink from me." + +"It would be wiser to take a definite 'no' for answer," said Helen. +"Why should this fancy spoil your life for you?" + +"You cannot take all hope from me," Geoffrey declared. "Would you +suspect me of exaggerated sentiment, if I said my life has been yours +for a long time and is yours now, for it is true. I will go back to +the work that is best for me, merely adding that, if ever there is +either trouble or adversity in which I can aid you--though God forbid, +for your sake, that should ever be so--you have only to send for me." + +"I can at least sincerely wish you success in your great undertaking." +Helen offered him her hand, and was conscious of a faint +disappointment, when, barely touching it, he turned hurriedly away. +She watched him cross the lawn towards the stables, and then waited +until a rapid thud of hoofs broke the silence of the woods. + +"Gone, and I let him carry that hope away!" she said, still looking +towards the forest with troubled eyes. "Yesterday I could never have +done so, but yesterday he was gone, and now----" + +Helen did not finish her sentence, but as the beat of hoofs died away, +glanced at the hand which for a moment had rested in Geoffrey's. "What +has happened to me, and is he learning quickly or growing strangely +timid?" she asked herself. + +Thurston almost rode over Julius Savine near the railroad depot, and +reined in his horse to say: + +"I have my answer, sir, but do not feel beaten yet. Some unholy luck +insists that all my affairs must be mixed with my daily business, and, +because of what was said in the canyon, I must ask you, now of all +times, to let me hold the option of that partnership or acceptance of +the offer I made you until we vanquish the river." + +He went off at a gallop as the cars rolled in, leaving Savine smiling +dryly as he looked after him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A TEST OF LOYALTY + +It was during a brief respite from his task, which had been suspended, +waiting the arrival of certain tools and material, that Thurston +accompanied Savine and Helen to a semi-public gathering at the house of +a man who was a power in the Mountain Province just outside Vancouver. +Politicians, land-speculators, railroad and shipping magnates were +present with their wives and daughters, and most of them had a word for +Savine or a glance of admiration for Helen. + +Savine moved among guests chatting with the brilliancy which +occasionally characterized him, and always puzzled Thurston. + +Thurston was rarely troubled by petty jealousies, but the homage all +men paid to Helen awoke an unpleasant apprehension within him. He did +not know many of the men and women who laughed and talked in animated +groups; and at length found himself seated alone in a quiet corner. +The ground floor of the rambling house consisted of various rooms, some +of which opened with archways into one another. He could see into the +one most crowded, where Helen formed the center of an admiring circle. +There was no doubt that Miss Savine owed much to the race from which +she sprang on her mother's side. Dark beauty, grace of movement, and, +when she chose to indulge in it, vivacious speech, all betokened a +Latin extraction, while the slight haughtiness, which Thurston thought +wonderfully became her, was the dowry of a line of autocratic +landowners. That she was pleasant to look upon was proved by the +convincing testimony of other men's admiration as well as by his own +senses. Now, when the distance between them was in some respects +diminishing, she seemed even further away from him. In her presence he +felt himself a plain, unpolished man, and knew he would never shine in +the light play of wit and satire which characterized the society for +which she was fitted. He decided, also, that she had probably remained +unmarried because she could find no one who came up to her standard, +and feared that he himself would come very far beneath it. It appeared +doubtful that he could ever acquire the gentler virtues Helen had +described. Nevertheless, his face grew set as he determined that he +could prove his loyalty in the manner that best suited him--by serving +her father faithfully. + +A capitalist, for whom Geoffrey had undertaken several commissions, +halted before him. + +"Hello! Quite alone, Thurston, and worrying over something as usual," +he began, with Western brusqueness. "What has gone wrong? Have more +of your dams burst, up yonder? One would fancy that floundering around +through the ice and snow up there would be more congenial than these +frivolities. I'm not great on them either, but it's a matter of +dollars and cents with me. You perhaps know a little about this +self-made--that's your British term, I think--company." + +"Not so much as you do," answered Geoffrey. "Still, I have been +wondering how some of the men earned their money. I understand that +they have sense enough to be proud of their small beginnings, but they +do not furnish instructive details as to the precise manner in which +they achieved their success." + +The capitalist, who was one of the class described, laughed +good-humoredly, as he seated himself beside Thurston. + +"Well, how are you getting on up in the valley?" he inquired, and +Geoffrey's eyes expressed faint amusement as he answered: + +"As well as we expected, and, if we had our difficulties, you would +hardly expect me to tell them to a director of the Industrial +Enterprise Company." + +"Perhaps not!" the capitalist smiled, for the Industrial Enterprise was +the corporation which had opposed Savine's reclamation scheme. +"Anyway, the company is a speculation with me; my colleagues manage it +without much of my assistance. But say, what's the matter with your +respected chief? He has come right out of his shell to-night." + +The speaker glanced towards Savine, who was surrounded by a group of +well-known men. + +"I tell you, Thurston, there's something uncanny about that man of +late," he continued. "However, knowing there's no use trying to fool +you, I'll give you a fair warning and come straight to something I may +as well say now as later. Savine will go down like a house of cards +some day, and those who lean upon him will find it, in our language, +frosty weather. Now, suppose we made you a fair offer, would you join +us?" + +A curt refusal trembled upon Geoffrey's lips, when he reflected that, +as soon as the work was finished, his relations with Savine would be +drawn closer still. In the meantime, it was not advisable to give any +hint to a possible enemy. + +"I couldn't say until I heard what the offer is," he answered +cautiously. + +"You're a typical cold-blooded Britisher," asserted the other man. "I +don't know either. I leave all details to the members of the company; +but we've a secretary, who understands all about it, in this house +to-night. We're half of us here on business, directly or indirectly, +and not for pleasure, so it's possible he may talk to you. But I see +our hostess eying us, and it's time we walked along." + +They moved forward together, and the woman whom they approached, +beckoning Geoffrey, whom she had for some reason taken under her +patronage, said: + +"There's a countrywoman of yours present, who doesn't know many of our +people yet. I should like to present you to her. She comes, I +understand, from the same wilds which sheltered you. Mrs. Leslie, this +is a special _protege_ of mine, Mr. Thurston, who could give you all +information about the mountains in which your husband talks of +banishing you." + +A handsome, tastefully-dressed woman turned more fully towards them, +and for a moment Geoffrey stood still in blank astonishment. The +average man would find it disconcerting to be brought, without warning, +suddenly face to face in a strange country with a woman who had +discarded him, and Thurston showed slight embarrassment. + +"Mrs. Henry Leslie! But you evidently know each other!" exclaimed the +hostess, whose quick eyes had noticed his startled expression. + +Millicent had changed since the last time Geoffrey saw her. She had +lost her fresh cream and rose prettiness, but had gained something in +place of it, and though her pale blue eyes were too deeply sunk, her +face had acquired strength and dignity. She was, as he had always +found her, perfectly self-possessed. With a quick glance, which +expressed appeal and warning, she said: + +"We are not quite strangers. I knew Mr. Thurston in England." + +The young Englishman and his countrywoman moved away together, and +Geoffrey presently found himself standing in a broad corridor with +Millicent's hand upon his arm. Through a long window which opened into +a balcony the clear moonlight shone. A wide vista of forest and +sparkling sea lured them out of doors. + +"A breath of fresh air would be delightful. It would be quiet out +there, and I expect you have much to tell me." It was Millicent who +spoke, with quiet composure, and her companion wondered at his own lack +of feeling. After the first shock of the surprise he was sensible of +no particular indignation or emotion. It seemed as if any tenderness +that he had once felt for her had long since disappeared. There was +little that he cared to tell her; but, prompted by some impulse which +may have been mere curiosity, he drew the window open and they passed +out upon the balcony. + +"This reminds one of other days," said the woman, with a sigh. "Had I +known you were here, I should have dreaded to meet you, but it is very +pleasant to see you again. You have surely altered, Geoffrey. I +should hardly have expected to find you so friendly." + +"I am not in the least inclined to reproach you for the past," was the +sober answer. Geoffrey was distinctly perplexed, for he had acquired a +clearer perception of Millicent's character since he left England, and +now he felt almost indignant with himself for wondering what she +wanted. Glancing at her face he was conscious of a certain pity as +well as a vague distrust, for it was evident that her life had not been +altogether smooth or her health really robust. But the fact that she +should recall the far-off days in England jarred upon him. + +"It is a relief to learn that you are not angry, at least. What are +you doing over here, Geoffrey?" she asked. + +"Reclaiming a valley from a river. Living up among the mountains in +the snow," was the answer. + +"And you like it? You can find happiness in the hard life?" + +"Better than anything I ever undertook before. Happiness is a somewhat +indefinite term, and, perhaps because I have seldom found leisure to +consider whether I am happy or not, the presumption is that I am at +least contented." + +Millicent sighed and her face grew sad, while Thurston rebelled against +an instinctive conviction that she knew a wistful expression was +becoming to her and was calculated to appeal to a male observer. + +"One could envy you!" she said softly, and Geoffrey, rising superior to +all critical thoughts, felt only sincere pity. + +"Have you not been happy in--Canada, Millicent?" he inquired, and if +the woman noticed how nearly he had avoided a blunder, which is +distinctly probable, she at least made no sign. + +"I can't resist the temptation to answer you frankly, Geoffrey," she +replied. "I have had severe trials, and some, I fear, have left their +mark on me. There are experiences after which one is never quite the +same. You heard of the financial disaster which overtook us? Yes? +Black days followed it, but Mr. Leslie has hopes of succeeding in this +country, and that will brighten the future--indirectly even--for me." + +"Ah!" Geoffrey spoke with a peculiar inflection of the voice, for +though he could forgive the woman now, he could not forget his +resentment towards the man who had supplanted him. "For your sake, I +hope he will." + +Millicent glanced at him sideways, and, as if anxious to change the +subject, asked: + +"Is it the Orchard Valley you are endeavoring to reclaim? Yes. I +might have guessed it. I have heard people say that the scheme of Mr. +Savine, if that is his name, is impracticable. It is characteristic of +you, Geoffrey, to play out a losing game, but, with one's future at +stake, is it wise?" + +"I do not know that I was ever particularly remarkable for wisdom," +Geoffrey answered with a shake of the head. "The scheme in question +is, however, by no means so impracticable as some persons imagine it to +be." + +"Then you still hope for success. Have you not failed in one or two of +your efforts?" + +Millicent's voice was politely indifferent, but a certain keenness in +her eyes, which did not escape Geoffrey's notice, betrayed more than a +casual interest. Thurston afterwards decided that the shock of the +unexpected meeting had the effect of rendering his perceptions +unusually quick. + +"I have not been often successful," he admitted, with a laugh, "but my +employer is, as you may have heard, a sanguine person, and has not +hitherto been beaten." + +"I hope he will not be in this instance," said Millicent, and it +occurred to Geoffrey that she was concealing a sense of disappointment. +They talked a little longer and then she remarked: "I am afraid we have +been shamefully neglecting our social duties, but as we shall, in all +probability, meet now and then, I hope--in spite of all that has +happened--it will be as good friends." + +Again the man felt that the meeting had not been brought about wholly +by accident, but he bent his head as he answered: + +"If ever you should need a friend, you can, for the sake of old times, +count on me." + +"One of the finest views in the province," said a voice behind them. +"We are proud of the prospect from this balcony. If you stand here, +Miss Helen, you can enjoy it, and tell me if you have anything better +at High Maples. Most romantic spot on such a night for a quiet chat, +and if I was only twenty years younger, my dear young lady----" Then +the speaker evidently retired with some precipitation from the window, +as he added, "No, never mind drawing the curtain, Savine. If she is +not over tired I can show your daughter something interesting in the +conservatory instead." + +"Romantic spot occupied already!" The laugh which accompanied the +sound of retreating footsteps and the rustle of drapery, was +unmistakably that of Julius Savine. + +Geoffrey, who fumed inwardly at the reflection that his attitude was +distinctly liable to misconception, straightened himself with perhaps +too great a suddenness, while the faint amusement in his companion's +face heightened his displeasure. Millicent had managed to obtain a +survey of the intruders, and when sure that they had moved away, she +rose, saying, "So that is the beautiful Miss Savine! No doubt you have +seen her, and, like all the rest, admire her?" + +"Yes," confessed Geoffrey. "I can honestly say I do." Millicent +regarded him curiously. + +"You have heard that we women seldom praise one another, and therefore, +while admitting that she is coldly handsome, I should imagine Miss +Savine to be a trying person," she commented. "Now we must return to +our social duties--in my case, at least, no one could call them +pleasures." + +Some little time later Helen, whose eyes had kindled for a moment when +her gray-haired escort led her towards the balcony, heard the bluff +Canadian answer the question that had been in her mind. + +"Who was the lady? Can't exactly say. Her husband's Leslie, the +Britisher, who started the land-agency offices, you will remember there +was trouble about, and is now, I believe, secretary to the Industrial +Enterprise. Frankly, I don't like the man--strikes me as a smart +adventurer, and my wife does not take to Mrs. Leslie. The man on the +balcony was Thurston, Savine's assistant, and a good fellow. He +generally follows humbly in Miss Savine's train, and, considering +Leslie's connection with the rival company, I don't quite see what he +could be doing in that gallery." + +Helen was piqued. She was too proud to admit to herself that she was +jealous, but she had not risen superior to all the characteristics of +her sex; and, knowing something of her father's business affairs, she +was also puzzled. Thurston's attitude towards his companion had not +been that of a casual acquaintance, to say the least, and Helen could +not help wondering what could be his connection with the wife of one +whose interests, she gathered, must be diametrically opposed to her +father's. Then, though endeavoring to decide that it did not matter, +she determined to put Thurston to the test at the first opportunity. + +Meantime Geoffrey stood alone for a few minutes looking out into the +moonlit night. "I am growing brutally suspicious, and poor Millicent +has suffered--she can't well hide it," he told himself. "Well, we were +fond of each other once, and, whether it's her husband or adversity, +whenever I can help her, I must try to do so." It was the revolt of an +open nature against the evidence of his senses, but even while Geoffrey +framed this resolution something seemed to whisper, "Was she ever fond +of you? There is that in the woman's voice which does not ring true." + +He had hardly turned back to rejoin the other members of his party when +a business acquaintance met him. + +"I want you to spare a few minutes for a countryman who has been +inquiring about you," said the man. "Mr. Leslie, this is Mr. +Thurston--the secretary of the Industrial Enterprise!" + +The business acquaintance withdrew, and Geoffrey's lips set tight as he +turned towards Leslie who betrayed a certain uneasiness in spite of his +nonchalant manner. He was a dark-haired man with a pale face, which +had grown more heavy and sensual than it was as Geoffrey remembered it. + +"I don't know whether I should say this is a pleasure," Leslie remarked +lightly. "There is no use disguising the fact that we last met under +somewhat unfortunate circumstances, but I give you my word that it was +too late to suggest that my employers should choose another emissary +when I discovered your identity. Where commercial interests are +concerned, surely we can both rise superior to mere sentiment." + +"There are things which it is uncommonly hard to forget," Geoffrey +replied coldly. "The question is, however-- What do you want with +me?" He meant his tone and pose to be anything but conciliatory. + +"I want the favor of a business interview before you return," said +Leslie, trying to hide his discomfiture, and Geoffrey answered: + +"That is hardly possible. I return early to-morrow." + +"Can you drive over to my quarters now?" + +"No. I desire to see my chief before I go." + +"It is confoundedly unfortunate," Leslie commented, apparently glad of +some excuse for expressing his disgust. "Well, perhaps nobody will +disturb us for a few minutes in yonder corridor. You can regard me as +a servant of the Industrial Enterprise. Will you listen to what I have +to say?" + +"I'm ready to listen to the great Company's secretary," said Geoffrey, +with a bluntness under which the other winced, as he turned towards the +corridor. + +"I'll be brief," began Leslie. "The fact is that we want a capable man +accustomed to the planning and construction of irrigation works, and +two of our directors rather fancy you. The right man would have full +control of practical operations, and I have a tolerably free hand in +respect to financial conditions. The main thing we wish to discover +is, are you willing to consider an offer of the position?" + +It was on the surface a simple business proposition, but Thurston's +nostrils dilated and his brows contracted, for he guessed what lay +behind it. + +"I've heard Savine is a liberal man," continued Leslie, who mistook +Thurston's hesitation. "Still, considering your valuable experience in +the Orchard Valley, I have power to outbid him. You certainly will not +lose financially by throwing in your lot with us." + +Then Thurston's anger mastered him, and he flung prudence to the winds. + +"Your employers have chosen a worthy messenger," he declared, so +fiercely that Leslie recoiled. "Did you suppose that I would sell my +benefactor, for that is what it amounts to? Confusion to you and the +rogues behind you! There's another score between us, and I feel +greatly tempted to----" + +He looked ready to yield to the unmentioned temptation. Leslie, +glancing around anxiously, backed away from him, but restrained himself +with an effort. Thurston stood panting with rage. There was a sound +of approaching footsteps, and the secretary slipped away, leaving the +irate engineer face to face with an amused elderly gentleman and Helen +Savine. Geoffrey did not know how much or how little they had seen. +Helen beckoned to him. + +"My father has looked tired during the last hour," she said aside. "I +have been warned that excitement may prove dangerous, but hardly care +to remind him of it. Would you, as a favor to me, persuade him to +return home with you?" + +There was no doubt of Thurston's devotion, for Helen had eyes to see, +and she sighed a little, but contentedly, when he hurried away. +Nevertheless, she was still perplexed, for she had seen Mrs. Leslie +looking at him pleadingly, and now Mr. Leslie shrank away from him. +Mrs. Leslie was certainly attractive, and yet Helen thought that she +knew Thurston's character. + +Geoffrey found Savine, who appeared to have suddenly collapsed as if +the fire of brilliancy had burned itself out. With more tact than he +usually possessed, Thurston persuaded the older man to take his leave. + +As they all stood on the broad wooden steps Helen stretched out her +hand to Thurston. + +"Thank you, Geoffrey," she said softly. "Believe me, I am grateful." + +Standing bareheaded beside a pillar, Thurston looked after them as they +drove away. It was the first time Helen had called him "Geoffrey," and +he fancied that he had seen even more than kindness in her eyes. + +"And it is her father whom they tempted me to betray! Damn them!" he +growled. "The only honest man among them included me among those who +lean upon Savine! Savine will need a stay himself presently, and one, +at least, will not fail him. Ah, again!--what the devil are you +wanting?" + +The last words were spoken clearly, but Leslie, to whom they were +addressed, smiled malevolently. + +"It would pay you to be civil," he threatened. "I have no particular +reason to love you, and might prove a troublesome enemy. However, +because my financial interests, which are bound up with my employers', +come first, I warn you that you are foolish to hold on to an associate, +who has strong men against him, a speculator whose best days are over. +I'll give you time to cool down and think over my suggestion." + +"You and I can have no dealings," declared Geoffrey. "What's done +cannot be undone--but keep clear of me. As sure as there's a justice, +which will bring you to book, even without my help, we'll crush you, if +you get in Savine's way, or mine." + +"I think this is hardly becoming to either of us, and the next time the +Company wants your views it can send another envoy," asserted Leslie. + +"In the expressive Western idiom, it would save trouble if you keep on +thinking in just that way," Geoffrey rejoined. + +The two men parted, Leslie to go back to where Millicent was holding a +group of men interested by her forced gayety and Geoffrey to walk +slowly out into the moonlight where he could think of Helen and wonder +how confidently he might hope to win her love. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WORK OF AN ENEMY + +It was a bitter morning when a weary man, sprinkled white with powdery +snow, came limping into Thurston's camp, which was then pitched in the +canyon. A pitiless wind swept down from the range side across the +thrashing pines, and filled the deep rift with its shrill moaning which +sounded above the diapason of the shrunken river. A haze of +frost-dried snow infinitesimally fine, which stung the unprotected skin +like the prick of hot needles, whirled before the wind and then +thinned, leaving bare the higher shoulders of the hills, though a rush +of dingy vapor hid the ice-ribbed peaks above. The canyon was a scene +of appalling desolation, but few of the long-booted men who hurried +among the boulders had leisure to contemplate it. The men were working +for Geoffrey Thurston, who did not encourage idleness. + +So the stranger came almost unnoticed into the center of the camp where +Thurston saw him, and asked sharply, "Where do you come from, and what +do you want?" + +"I'm a frame-carpenter," answered the new arrival. "Got fired from the +Hastings saw-mill when work slacked down. Couldn't find anybody who +wanted me at Vancouver, so I struck out for the mountains and mines. +Found worse luck up here; spent all my money and wore my clothes out, +but the boss of the Orchard Mill, who took me for a few days, said I +might tell you he recommended me. I'm about played out with getting +here, and I'm mighty hungry." + +Geoffrey looked the man over, and decided there was truth in the latter +part of his story. "Take this spanner and wade across to the reef +yonder," he said. "You can begin by giving aid to those men who are +bolting the beams down." + +The stranger glanced dubiously at the rush of icy water, thick with +jagged cakes of frozen snow, then at his dilapidated foot gear, and +hesitated. "I'm not great at swimming. It looks deep," he objected. + +"You can walk, I suppose," Geoffrey answered. "If you do, it won't +drown you." + +The man prepared to obey. He had reached the edge of the water when +Geoffrey called him. "I see you're willing, and I'll take you for a +few weeks any way," he said. "In the meantime a rest wouldn't do you +much harm, and the cook might find you something to keep you from +starving until supper, if you asked him civilly." + +"Thanks!" the man answered, with a curious expression in his face. "I +am a bit used up, and I guess I'll see the cook." + +Work proceeded until the winter's dusk fell, when a bountiful supper +was served. The stranger, who did full justice to the meal, showed +himself a capable hand when work was resumed under the flaring light of +several huge lamps. That night two of his new comrades sat in the +cook-shed discussing the stranger. One was James Gillow, whom Geoffrey +had first employed at Helen's suggestion, and now replaced the man he +formerly assisted. He was apparently without ambition, and chiefly +remarkable for an antipathy to physical effort. Although he had a good +education, he found that cooking suited him. He sat upon an overturned +bucket discoursing whimsically, while Mattawa Tom, who acted as +Thurston's foreman, peeled potatoes for him. The cook-shanty was warm +and snug, and Gillow made those to whom he granted the right of entry +work for the privilege. + +"Strikes me as queer," said the big axeman, with a grin, when the cook +halted to refill his pipe. "Strikes me as queer, it does, that some of +you fellows who know so much kin do so little. Knowledge ain't worth a +cent unless you've got the rustle. Now there's the boss. You talk the +same talk, an' he can't well know more than you seem to do, but look +where he is, while you stop right down at the bottom running a +cook-shanty. Guess you were born tired, English Jim." + +"I dare say you're right," answered Gillow. "Other folks in the Old +Country have said the same thing, though they didn't put it so neatly. +The fact is, some men, like Thurston, are born to wear themselves out +trying to manage things, while I was intended for philosophic +contemplation. He's occasionally hard to get on with, but since I came +here, I'm willing to acknowledge that men of his species are useful, +and I have struck harder masters in this great Dominion." + +Mattawa Tom laughed hoarsely as he responded: "I should say! You found +him hard the day you ran black lines all over his drawings and nearly +burnt his shanty up, trying to prove he didn't know his business, when +you was brim-full of Red Pine whiskey." + +"It was poison," said Gillow, with unruffled good humor. "Several +bottles of genuine whiskey would not confuse me, but I have sworn off +since the day you mention, partly to oblige Thurston, who seemed to +desire it, and because I can't get any decent liquor. But what do you +think of our latest acquisition?" + +"He kin work, which is more than you could, before the boss taught +you," was the dry answer. "But there's something odd about him. You +saw the outfit he came in with? Couldn't have swapped it with a Siwash +Indian--well, the man has better clothes than you or I on underneath, +and if he was so blame hard up, what did he offer Jake five dollars for +his old gum boots for?" + +"Afraid of wetting his feet. Most sensible person, considering the +weather," remarked Gillow, indifferently. + +"'Fraid of wetting his feet! This is just where horse sense beats +knowledge. That fellow is scared of nothing around this camp. Hasn't +it struck you the boss is going to put through a big contract in a way +that's not been tried before, and that there are some folks who would +put up a good many dollars to see him let down nicely?" + +"Well?" Gillow questioned with a show of interest, and the foreman +nodded sagaciously as he answered: + +"Whoever busts the boss up will have to get both feet on the neck of +Mattawa Tom first, and that's not going to be easy. I'll keep my eyes +right on to that fellow." + +Tom went out, and Gillow, awakening at midnight, saw that his blankets +were still empty. The same thing happened several times, and it was +well for Thurston that he had the true leader's gift of inspiring his +followers with loyalty, for one night a week later the foreman, who had +kept his own counsel, shook Gillow out of his slumber. The sleepy man, +who groped for a boot to fling at the disturber of his peace, abandoned +the benevolent intention when he saw his comrade's face under the +hanging lamp. + +"Don't ask no fool questions, but get your things on and come with me," +Tom commanded. + +Five minutes later Gillow, shivering and reluctant, turned out into the +frost. It was a bitter night, and his breath froze upon his mustache. +The snow and froth of the river glimmered spectrally, and when they had +left the camp some distance behind, there was light enough to see a +black figure crawl up a ladder leading to a wire rope stretched tight +in mid-air above the torrent. A trolley hung beneath it by means of +which men and material were hauled across the chasm. + +"Get down here!" whispered Tom. "We'll watch him. If we should fall +over any more of these blame rocks he'd see us certain." + +Gillow was glad to obey, for, though there was faint moonlight, he had +already cut one knee cruelly. It was bitterly cold beneath the boulder +where he crouched in the snow, and when the black object, which worked +its way along the bending cable, had disappeared in the gloom of +overhanging rocks on the opposite shore, there was nothing to see but +the tossing spray of the river. The stream was still a formidable +torrent, though now that the feeding snows were frozen fast, it was +shrunken far below its summer level. A good many minutes had passed +with painful slowness when Gillow, who regretted that he had left the +snug cook-shed, said: + +"This is distinctly monotonous, and it's about time we struck back to +camp. Guess that fellow has tackled too much Red Pine whiskey, and is +just walking round to cool himself." + +In answer the foreman grasped the speaker's shoulder, and stretched out +a pointing hand. The moonlight touched one angle of the rock upon the +opposite shore which encroached upon the frothing water, and the dark +figure showed sharply against it. The figure vanished, reappeared, and +sank from sight again. When this had happened several times Gillow +remarked: "Perhaps we had better go over. The man's clean gone mad." + +"No, sir!" objected Mattawa Tom. "No more mad than you. See what he's +after? No! You don't remember, either, how mighty hard it was to +wedge in the holdfasts for the chain guys stiffening the front of the +dam, or how the keys work loose? There wouldn't be much of the boring +machines or dam framing left if the chains pulled those wedges out. +Catch on to the idee?" + +Gillow gasped. The huge timber framing, which held back the river so +that the costly boring machines could work upon the reef, cumbering +part of its bed, had been built only with the greatest difficulty, and +when finished Thurston had found it necessary to strengthen it by heavy +chains made fast in the rock above. The sockets to which these were +secured had been wedged into deep-sunk holes, but more than once some +of the hard wood keys had worked loose, and Gillow could guess what +would happen if many were partially set free at the same time. + +"If he hammered three or four of those wedges clear it would only need +a bang on another one to give the river its way," Gillow said +excitedly. "Then it would take Thurston six months to fix up the +damage, if he ever did, and nobody would know how it happened. The +cold-blooded brute's in the maintenance gang?" + +"Just so. A blame smart man, too!" asserted Mattawa Tom. "I guess the +boss wouldn't want everybody to know. Rustle back your hardest and +bring him along." + +Fifteen minutes later Thurston took his place behind the boulder, and, +because the light was clearer now, he could dimly see the man swinging +a heavy hammer, against the rock. He knew that the miscreant, whose +business was to prevent the possibility of such accidents, need only +start a few more keys, which he would probably do when the dam was +clear of men, and many thousand dollars' worth of property and the +result of months of labor would be swallowed by the river. His face +paled with fierce anger when he recognized this fact. + +"I want that man," he declared with shut teeth. "I want him so badly +that I'd forfeit five hundred dollars sooner than miss him. Slip +forward, Gillow, as much out of sight as you can, and hide yourself on +the other side of the ladder. Mattawa and I will wait for him here, +and among us three we ought to make sure of him." + +Gillow, who stole forward stooping, swore softly as he fell over many +obstacles on the way. The man they wanted became visible, ascending +another ladder across the river. Then, hanging in the suspended +trolley, he moved, a black shape clear against the snow--along the wire +which stretched high across the gulf. While the others watched him, +his progress grew slower on reaching the hollow, where the cable bent +slightly under the weight at its center. Suddenly the car's progress +was checked altogether, and it began to move in the opposite direction +more rapidly than before, while Thurston sprang to his feet. + +"Slack the setting up tackles, Gillow. Hurry for your life," he +shouted. "He'll cast the cable loose and be off by the Indian trail +into the ranges, if he once gets across." + +Gillow ran his best, where running of any kind was barely possible even +by daylight. He knew that his master was slow to forgive those whose +carelessness thwarted any plan, and that, while taking the easier way +over instead of crawling round a ledge, he had probably alarmed the +fugitive. He reached the foot of the ladder. Climbing up in a +desperate hurry, he cast loose the end of the tackle by means of which +the cable was set up taut, but neglected in his haste to take a turn +with the hemp rope about a post, which would have eased him of most of +the strain. + +"Got him safe!" cried Tom from Mattawa, scrambling to the top of the +boulder, as the curve of the wire rope high above their heads +increased. In spite of the fugitive's efforts, the trolley from which +he was suspended ran back to the slackest part of the loop that sagged +down nearer the river. Thurston, who watched him, nodded with a sense +of savage satisfaction. He did not for a moment believe that, of his +own initiative, any workman would have made a long journey or would +have run considerable personal risk to do him an injury. That was why +he was so anxious to secure the offender. + +The curve grew rapidly deeper, until the rope stretched into two +diagonals between its fastenings on either shore. Then the trolley +descended with a run towards the river, and Geoffrey ran forward, +shouting, "The weight's too much for Gillow. Bring along the coil of +line from the tool locker, Tom. Hurry, I don't want to drown the +rascal." + +What had happened was simple. The cook, endeavoring to take a turn of +the line too late, had failed, and the hemp ran through his half-frozen +fingers, chafing the skin from them. Seeing Thurston floundering in +his direction over the boulders, he valiantly strove to check it, +regardless of the pain until it was whipped clear of his slackening +grasp and the trolley rushed downwards towards the torrent. Thurston +was abreast of it before it splashed in, and had just time to see its +occupant, still clutching the rope, drawn under by the sinking wire, +before he plunged recklessly into the foam. + +The water was horribly cold, and the first shock left him gasping and +almost paralyzed. The stream was running fast, and rebounding in white +foam from great stones and uneven ledges below. But the distance was +short, and Thurston was a strong swimmer, so almost before the man had +risen, he was within a few yards of the struggling figure. Hardly had +Geoffrey clutched the man before Mattawa Tom, who had, meantime, run +down stream, whirling a coil of line, loosed it, and the folds, well +directed, shot through the air towards Geoffrey, uncoiling as they +came. By good fortune Thurston was able to seize the end and to pass +it around them both, when--for Gillow had by this time joined his +companion--the two men blundered backwards up the contracted beach, and +Thurston and the fugitive were drawn shorewards together, until their +feet struck bottom. + +Breathless and dripping, they staggered out, and, because Geoffrey +still clutched the stranger's jacket, the man said: + +"Mightily obliged to you! But you can let up now there's no more +swimming. I couldn't run very far, if it was worth while trying to." + +"You needn't trouble to thank me," was the answer. "It wasn't because +I thought the world would miss you that I went into the water; but I +can't expect much sense from a half-drowned man. Do you think the rest +of the boys have heard us, Tom?" + +The foreman glanced towards the tents clustered in the mouth of a +ravine above, and seeing no sign of life there, shook his head, +whereupon Geoffrey directed: + +"Take him quietly to the cook-shed, and give him some whiskey. I've no +doubt that in spite of my orders you have some. Lend him dry clothes, +and bring him along to my shanty as soon as he's ready. Meantime, +rouse the maintenance foreman, and, if any wedges have worked loose, +let him drive them home." + +"You're a nice man," commented Mattawa Tom, surveying the stranger +disgustedly as the man stood with the water draining from him in the +cook-shed. "Here, get into these things and keep them as a present. I +wouldn't like the feel of them after they'd been on to you." + +"That's all right!" was the cool answer. "I expect the game's up, and +I'm quite ready to buy them of you. By the way, partner, you helped +your boss to pull me out, didn't you? As I said before, I'm not great +on swimming." + +"I'm almost sorry I had to," said Mattawa Tom, who was a loyal +partisan. "But don't call me 'partner,' or there'll be trouble." + +The stranger laughed, as, after a glass of hot liquor, he arrayed +himself beside the banked-up stove, and presently marched under escort +towards Thurston's wood and bark winter dwelling. Mattawa Tom followed +close behind him with a big ax on his shoulder. + +"I might be a panther you'd corralled. How do you know I haven't a +pistol in my pocket, if it was any use turning ugly?" the prisoner +inquired. + +"I'm quite certain about you, because your pistol is in my pocket," was +the dry answer, and Tom chuckled. "You weren't quite smart enough when +you slipped off your jacket." + +From the door of his shanty, Thurston called them, and Mattawa, +thrusting his prisoner in, proceeded to mount guard close outside until +Thurston reappeared to ask angrily: + +"What are you doing there?" + +"I figured you might want me, sir. That man's not to be trusted," +answered Tom, and Thurston laughed as he said: + +"Go back, see that the maintenance man has made a good job of the +wedges, and if any of the boys should ask questions you'll tell +them--nothing," Geoffrey commanded. "You don't suppose I've suddenly +grown helpless, do you?" + +Mattawa Tom withdrew with much reluctance, and it was long before any +person knew exactly what Geoffrey and the stranger said to each other, +though Gillow informed his comrade that the captured man said to him, +by way of explanation before sleeping: + +"Your boss is considerably too smart a man for me to bluff, and I've +kind of decided to help him. Shouldn't wonder if he didn't beat my +last one, who would have seen me roasted before he'd have gone into a +river for me. I'm not fond of being left out in the rain with the +losing side, either, see? It's not my tip to talk too much, and I +guess that's about good enough for you." + +"You're going to help him!" commented Gillow, ironically. "All things +considered, that's very kind of you." + +Next morning Thurston, who summoned the cook and foreman before him, +said: "I want you two to keep what happened last night a close secret, +and while I cannot tell you much, I may say that the man who will +remain in camp was, as you have no doubt guessed, only the cat's paw of +several speculators, whom it wouldn't suit to see our employer, Savine, +successful." + +"But mightn't he try the same game again?" asked Mattawa, and Thurston +answered: + +"He might, but I hardly think he will. I intend to keep him here under +my own eyes until I want him. There's no particular reason why you +shouldn't see that he earns his wages, Tom. Gillow, it's perhaps not +wholly unfortunate you dropped him into the river." + +"Kind of trump ace up your sleeve!" suggested Mattawa, and his master +answered with a smile: + +"Not exactly. The other side is quite smart enough to know who holds +the aces; but I fancy the complete disappearance of this few-spot card +will puzzle them. Now, forget all about it. I wouldn't have said so +much, but that I know I can trust you two!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A GREAT UNDERTAKING + +Except for the wail of a wet breeze from the Pacific and the moaning of +the pines outside, there was unusual quietness in the wood-built villa +looking down upon the valley of the Hundred Springs on the night that +the American specialist came up to consult with Savine's doctor from +Vancouver. The master of High Maples had been brought home +unconscious, some days earlier, and had lain for hours apparently on +the point of death. During this time it was Thurston who took control +of the panic-stricken household. It was he who telegraphed Thomas +Savine to bring his wife. He had sent for the famous American +physician and had allayed Helen's fears. When the girl's aunt arrived +he had prevented that lady from undertaking the cure of the patient by +her own prescription. Geoffrey's temper was never very patient, but he +held it well in hand for Helen's sake. + +On the night in question, Geoffrey anxiously awaited the physician's +verdict. He was in the library with Thomas Savine, and had made +spasmodic attempts to divert the attention of the kindly, gray-haired +gentleman from the illness of his brother. At last, when the tension +grew almost unbearable, Thomas Savine said: + +"They cannot be much longer, and we'll hear their verdict soon. I'm +trying to hope for the best, Thurston, knowing it can't be good all the +time. This has been a blow to me. You see we were a one-man family, +and it was Julius who started off all the rest of us. He must have +been mighty sick of us several times after he married, but he never +showed a sign of impatience. What a man he was--tireless, +indefatigable, nothing too big for him--until his wife died. Then all +the grit seemed to melt right out of him, and during the last few years +I knew, what mighty few people besides yourself know now, that Julius +was just a shadow of what he had been. He held all the wires in his +own hands too long, and, as he hadn't an understudy with the grit to +act by himself, I was glad when he took hold of you." + +"He has always been a generous and considerate employer," interposed +Geoffrey. "But I had better leave you. I hear the doctors coming." + +Savine laid a detaining grasp upon his arm with the words: "I want you +right here. It's your concern as well as mine." + +The two doctors entered, and the one from Vancouver said: + +"I will let my colleague express his opinion, and may say that our +patient admitted to him a complicating weakness which I had suspected. +I wish we had better news to give you, but while it was your brother's +wish that Mr. Thurston should know, I should almost prefer first to +communicate with his own family." + +"You can both speak right out; only be quick about it," Thomas Savine +told him. + +"It is tolerably simple, and while I sympathize with you, I must not +disguise the truth," said the keen-eyed, lean-faced American. "Though +Mr. Savine will partly recover from this attack, his career as an +active man is closed. His heart may hold out a few years longer, if +you follow my instructions, or it may at any time fail him--if he +worries over anything, it certainly will. In any case, he will never +be strong again. Mental powers and physical vigor have been reduced to +the lowest level by over-work and excessive, if intermittent, +indulgence in what I may call a very devilish drug--a particular +Chinese preparation of opium, not generally known even on this +opium-consuming coast. Under its influence he may still be capable of +spasmodic fits of energy, but while each dose will assist towards his +dissolution, I dare not--at this stage--recommend complete deprivation. +I have arranged with your own adviser as to the best treatment known to +modern science, but fear it cannot prove very efficacious. That's +about all I can tell you in general terms, gentlemen." + +"It is worse than I feared," said Thomas Savine, leaning forward in his +chair, with his elbows on the table, and his chin in his hands. Before +the two doctors withdrew, the Canadian said: + +"He is anxious to see Mr. Thurston, and in an hour or so it could do no +harm. I will rejoin you shortly, Mr. Savine." + +The door closed behind them, and Thomas Savine looked straight at +Thurston as he observed: "I know little about his business, but shall +have to look into it for his daughter's sake. You will help me?" + +"Yes," replied Geoffrey. "It seems out of place now, but I cannot +honestly co-operate with you without mentioning a conditional promise +your brother made to me. Perhaps you can guess it." + +"I can," said Savine, stretching out his hand. "I won't say that I +hadn't thought Helen might have chosen among the highest in the +Dominion just because it wouldn't be true, but you'll have my good +wishes if you will see my poor brother through his immediate +difficulties at least. You had Mrs. Savine's approval long ago." +After a pause, he added, "There is one part of Julius's trouble Helen +must never know." + +The two men's fingers met in a grip that was more eloquent than many +protestations, and Geoffrey went out into the moaning wind and, +bareheaded, paced to and fro until he was summoned to the sick man's +room. The few days that had passed since he had seen his employer had +set their mark upon Savine. The sick man lay in his plainly-furnished +room. With bloodless lips, drawn face, and curiously-glazed eyes, he +was strangely different from his usual self, but he looked up with an +attempt at his characteristic smile as Geoffrey approached. At a +signal, the nurse slipped away. + +"I asked them to tell you, so you might know the kind of man I am," +said Savine. "You have got to exercise that partnership option one way +or another right now. It is not too late to back out, and I wouldn't +blame you." + +"I should blame myself to my last day if I did, sir," answered +Geoffrey, trying to hide the shock he felt, and Savine beckoned him +nearer. + +"It's a big thing you are going into, but you'll do it with both eyes +wide open," he declared. "For the past few years Julius Savine has +been a shadow, and an empty name, and his affairs are mixed +considerably. Reckless contracts taken with a muddled brain and +speculation to make up the losses, have, between them, resulted in +chaos. I'm too sick to value what I own, and no accountant can. I ran +things myself too long, and no one was fit to take hold when I +slackened my grip. But there's still the business, and there's still +the name, and the one man in this province I can trust them to is you. +I should have let go before, but I was greedy--greedy for my daughter's +sake." + +"It is comprehensible." Geoffrey spoke with conviction. "So far as I +can serve you, you can command me." + +"I know it," was the answer. "What's more, I feel it in me that you +will not lose by it. Lord, how hard it is, but there's no use whining +when brought up sharp by one's own folly. But see here, Geoffrey +Thurston, if Helen will take you willingly I can trust her to you; but +if, when I go under, she looks beyond you, and you attempt to trade +upon her gratitude or her aunt's favor, my curse will follow you. +Besides, if I know Helen Savine, she will be able to repay you full +measure should you win her so." + +For just a moment the old flame of quick anger burned in Geoffrey's +eyes. Then he responded. + +"I regret you even imagine I could take an dishonorable advantage of +your daughter. God forbid that I should ever bring sorrow upon Miss +Savine. All I ask is a fair field and the right to help her according +to her need." + +"Forgive me!" returned Savine. "Of late I have grown scared about her +future. I believe you, Thurston; I can't say more. I felt the more +sure of you when you told me straight out about what was born in you. +Lord, how I envied you! The man who can stand those devils off can do +most anything. It was when my wife died they got their claws on me. I +was trying to forget my troubles by doing three men's work, but you +can't fool with nature, and I'd done it too long already. Anyway, when +I couldn't eat or sleep, they had their opportunity. At first they +made my brain work quicker, but soon after I fell in with you I knew +that, unless he had a good man beside him, Savine's game was over. But +I wouldn't be beaten. I was holding on for Helen's sake to leave her a +fortune and a name. + +"All this is getting monotonous to you but let me finish when I can." +Savine waited a moment to regain his breath. "I cheated the nurse and +doctor to-day, and I'll be very like a dead man to-morrow. You must go +down to my offices and overhaul everything; then come right back and +we'll see if we can make a deal. I'll have my proposition fixed up +straight and square, but this is the gist of it. While doing your best +for your own advantage, hold Julius Savine's name clean before the +world, win the most possible for Helen out of the wreck, and rush +through the reclamation scheme--which is the key to all." + +"As you said--it's a big undertaking, but I'll do my best," began +Geoffrey, but Savine checked him. + +"Go down and see what you make of things. Maybe the sight of them will +choke you off. I'll take no other answer. Send Tom to me," he +commanded. + +It was the next day when Geoffrey had an interview with Helen, who sent +for him. She was standing beside a window when he came in. She looked +tall in a long somber-tinted dress which emphasized the whiteness of +her full round throat and the pallor of her face. The faint, olive +coloring of her skin had faded; there were shadows about her eyes. At +the first glance Geoffrey's heart went out towards her. It was evident +the verdict of the physicians had been a heavy shock, but he fancied +that she was ready to meet the inevitable with undiminished courage. +Still, her fingers were cold when, for a moment, they touched his own. + +"Sit down, Geoffrey. I have a great deal to say to you, and don't know +how to begin," she said. "But first I am sincerely grateful for all +you have done." + +"We will not mention that. Neither, I hope, need I say that Miss +Savine of all people could never be indebted to me. You must know it +already." + +Helen thanked him with her eyes as she sank into the chair he wheeled +out so that the light left her face in shadow. Geoffrey stood near the +window framing and he did not look directly towards her. Helen +appreciated the consideration which prompted the action and the respect +implied by his attitude. + +"I am going to ask a great deal of you, and remind you of a promise you +once made." There was a little tremor in her voice. "You will not +think it ungracious if I say there is no one else who can do what seems +so necessary, and ask you if you do not consider that you owe something +to my father. It is hard for me, not because I doubt you, but +because----" + +Geoffrey checked her with a half-raised hand. "Please don't, Miss +Savine--I can understand. You find it difficult to receive, when, as +yet, you have, you think, but little to give. Would that make any +difference? The little--just to know that I had helped you--would be +so much to me." + +Again Helen was grateful. The look of anxiety and distress returned as +she went on. + +"I dare spare no effort for my father's sake. He has always been +kindness itself to me, and it is only now that I know how much I love +him. Hitherto I have taken life too easily, forgetting that sorrow and +tragedy could overtake me. I have heard the physician's verdict, and +know my father cannot be spared very long to me. I also know how his +mind is set upon the completion of his last great scheme. That is why, +and because of your promise, I have dared ask help of--you." + +"Will it make it easier if I say that, quite apart from his daughter's +wishes, I am bound in honor to protect the interests of Julius Savine +so far as I can?" interposed Geoffrey. "Your father found me much as +you did, a struggling adventurer, and with unusual kindness helped me +on the way to prosperity. All I have I owe to him, and perhaps, the +more so because we have cunning enemies, my own mind is bent on the +completion of the scheme. I believe that we shall triumph, Miss +Savine, and I use the word advisedly, still expecting much from your +father's skill." + +Helen gravely shook her head. "I recognize your kind intentions, but +you must expect nothing. It is a hard thing for me to say, but the +truth is always best, and again it is no small favor I ask from +you,--to do the work for the credit of another's name--taking his task +upon your shoulders, to make a broken man's last days easier. I want +you to sign the new partnership agreement, and am glad you recognize +that my father was a good friend to you." + +The girl's courage nearly deserted her, for Helen was young still, and +had been severely tried. While Geoffrey, who felt that he would give +his life for the right to comfort her, could only discreetly turn his +face away. + +"I will do it all, Miss Savine," he said gravely. "I had already +determined on as much, but you must try to believe that the future is +not so hopeless as it looks. You will consider that I have given you a +solemn pledge." + +"Then I can only say God speed you, for my thanks would be inadequate," +Helen's voice trembled as she spoke. "But I must also ask your +forgiveness for my presumption in judging you that day. I now know how +far I was mistaken." + +Geoffrey knew to what she referred. The day had been a memorable one +for him, and, with pulses throbbing, he moved forward a pace, his eyes +fixed upon the speaker's face. For a moment, forgetting everything, +his resolutions were flung to the winds, and he trembled with passion +and hope. Then he remembered his promise to the sick man, and Helen's +own warning, and recovered a partial mastery of himself. It was a mere +sense of justice which prompted the girl's words, his reason warned +him, but he felt, instinctively, that they implied more than this, +though he did not know how much. He stood irresolute until Helen +looked up, and, if it had ever existed, the time for speech was past. + +"I fear I have kept you too long, but there is still a question I must +ask. You have seen my father in many of his moods, and there is +something in the state of limp apathy he occasionally falls into which +puzzles me. I cannot help thinking there is another danger of which I +do not know. Can you not enlighten me?" + +Helen leaned forward, a strange fear stamped upon her face. Fresh from +the previous struggle, Geoffrey, whose heart yearned to comfort her, +felt his powers of resistance strained to the utmost. Still, it was a +question that he could not answer. Remembering Savine's injunction--to +hold her father's name clean--he said quickly: "There is nothing I can +tell you. You must remember only that the physician admitted a +cheering possibility." + +"I will try to believe in it." The trouble deepened in Helen's face, +while her voice expressed bitter disappointment. "You have been very +kind and I must not tax you too heavily." + +Geoffrey turned away, distressed, for her and inwardly anathematized +his evil fortune in being asked that particular question. He had, he +felt, faltered when almost within sight of victory, neglecting to press +home an advantage which might have won success. "It is, perhaps, the +first time I have willfully thrown away my chances--the man who wins is +the one who sees nothing but the prize," he told himself. "But I could +not have taken advantage of her anxiety for her father and gratitude to +me, while, if I had, and won, there would be always between us the +knowledge that I had not played the game fairly." + +Thomas Savine came into the room. "I was looking for you, and want to +know when you'll go down to Vancouver with me to puzzle through +everything before finally deciding just what you're going to do," he +said. They talked a few moments. After the older man left him, +Geoffrey found himself confronted by Mrs. Savine. + +"I have been worried about you," she asserted. "You're carrying too +heavy a load, and it's wearing you thin. You look a very sick man +to-day, and ought to remember that the main way to preserve one's +health is to take life easily." + +"I have no doubt of it, madam," Thurston fidgeted, fearing what might +follow; "but, unfortunately, one cannot always do so." + +Mrs. Savine held out a little phial as she explained: "A simple +restorative is the next best thing, and you will find yourself braced +in mind and body by a few doses of this. It is what I desired to fix +up my poor brother-in-law with when you prevented me." + +"Then the least I can do is to take it myself," said Geoffrey, smiling +to hide his uneasiness. "I presume you do not wish me to swallow it +immediately?" + +Mrs. Savine beamed upon him. "You might hold out an hour or two +longer, but delays are dangerous," she warned him. "Kindness! Well, +there's a tolerable reason why we should be good to you, and, for I +guess you're not a clever man all round, Geoffrey Thurston, you have +piled up a considerable obligation in your favor in one direction." + +"May I ask you to speak more plainly, Mrs. Savine?" Geoffrey requested +and she answered: + +"You may, but I can't do it. Still, what you did, because you thought +it the fair thing, won't be lost to you. Now, don't ask any more fool +questions, but go right away, take ten drops of the elixir, and don't +worry. It will all come right some day." + +The speaker's meaning was discernible, and Geoffrey, having a higher +opinion than many people of Mrs. Savine's sagacity, went out into the +sunlight, satisfied. He held up the phial and was about to hurl it +among the firs, but, either grateful for the donor's words, or softened +by what he had heard and seen, he actually drank a little of it +instead. Then came a revulsion from the strain of the last few days, +and he burst into a laugh. + +"It would have been mean, and I dare say I haven't absorbed sufficient +of the stuff to quite poison me," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MILLICENT TURNS TRAITRESS + +It was with a heavy sense of responsibility that Geoffrey returned from +a visit to Savine's offices in Vancouver, and yet there was +satisfaction mingled with his anxiety. Thomas Savine, who knew little +of engineering, was no fool at finance, and the week they spent +together made the situation comparatively plain. It was fraught with +peril and would have daunted many a man, but the very uncertainty and +prospect of a struggle which would tax every energy appealed to +Thurston. He felt also that here was an opportunity of proving his +devotion to Helen in the way he could do it best. + +"I'm uncommonly thankful we didn't send for an accountant; the fewer +folks who handle those books the better," declared Thomas Savine. "I +was prepared for a surprise, Thurston, but never expected this. I +suppose things can be straightened out, but when I'd fixed up that +balance, it just took my breath away. More than half the assets are +unmarketable stock and ventures no man could value, while whether they +will ever realize anything goodness only knows. It's mighty certain +Julius doesn't know himself what he has been doing the last two years. +I can let my partners run our business down in Oregon and stay right +here for a time, counting on you to do the outside work, if what you +have seen hasn't clicked you off. You haven't signed the agreement +yet. How does the whole thing strike you?" + +"As chaos that can and must be reduced to order," answered Geoffrey +with a reckless laugh. "I intend to sign the agreement, and, +foreseeing that you may have trouble about the money which I propose to +spend freely, I am adding all my private savings to the working +capital. It is, therefore, neck or nothing with me now, as I fear it +is with the rest of you, and, in my opinion, we should let everything +but the reclamation scheme go. It will either ruin us or pay us +five-fold if we can put it through." + +"Just so!" and Savine nodded. "I leave that end to you, but I've got +to explain things to Helen, and I don't like the thought of it. My +niece has talents. As her future lies at stake, she has a right to +know, but it will be another shock to her. Poor Julius brought her up +in luxury, and I expect has been far too mixed of late to know that he +was tottering towards the verge of bankruptcy. A smart outside +accountant would have soon scented trouble, but I don't quite blame my +brother's cashier, who is a clerk and nothing more, for taking +everything at its book value." + +That afternoon Helen sat with the two men in the library at High +Maples. A roll of papers was on the table before her. When Thomas +Savine had made the condition of things as plain as possible, she +leaned back in her chair with crossed hands for a time. + +"I thank you for telling me so much, and I can grasp the main issues," +she said at length. "If my opinion is of value I would say I agree +with you that the bold course is best. But you will need much money, +and as it is evident money will not be plentiful, so I must do my part +in helping you. Because this establishment and our mode of life here +is expensive, while it will please my father to be near the scene of +operations, we will let High Maples and retire to a mountain ranch. I +fear we have maintained a style circumstances hardly justified too +long." + +"It's a sensible plan all through. I must tell you Mr. Thurston +has----" began Savine, and ceased abruptly, when Geoffrey, who frowned +at him, broke in: + +"We have troubled Miss Savine with sufficient details, and I fancy the +arrangement suggested would help to keep her father tranquil, +especially as our progress will be slow. Spring is near, and, in spite +of our efforts, we shall not be able to deepen the pass in the canyon +before the waters rise. That means we can do nothing there until next +winter, and must continue the dyking all summer. It is very brave of +you, Miss Savine." + +Helen smiled upon him as she answered: + +"The compliment is doubtful. Did you suppose I could do nothing? But +we must march out with banners flying, or, more prosaically, paragraphs +in the papers, stating that Julius Savine will settle near the scene of +his most important operations. While you are here you should show +yourself in public as much as possible, Mr. Thurston. Whenever I can +help you, you must tell me, and I shall demand a strict account of your +stewardship from both of you." + +The two men went away satisfied. Savine said: + +"I guess some folks are mighty stupid when they consider that only the +ugly women are clever. There's my niece--well, nobody could call her +plain, and you can see how she's taking hold instead of weakening. +Some women never show the grit that's in them until they're fighting +for their children; but you can look out for trouble, Thurston, if you +fool away any chances, while Helen Savine's behind you fighting for her +father." + +A few days later Henry Leslie, confidential secretary to the Industrial +Enterprise Company, sat, with a frown upon his puffy face, in his +handsome office. He wore a silk-bound frock coat, a garment not then +common in Vancouver, and a floral spray from Mexico in his button-hole; +but he was evidently far from happy, and glanced with ill-concealed +dismay at the irate specimen of muscular manhood standing before him. +The man, who was a sturdy British agriculturalist, had forced his way +in, defying the clerks specially instructed to intercept him. Leslie +had first set up in business as a land agent, a calling which affords a +promising field for talents of his particular description, and having +taken the new arrival's money, had, by a little manipulation of the +survey lines, transferred to him mostly barren rock and giant trees +instead of land for hop culture. It was a game which had been often +played before, but the particular rancher was a determined man and had +announced his firm intention of obtaining his money back or wreaking +summary vengeance on his betrayer. + +"Danged if thee hadn't more hiding holes than a rotten, but I've hunted +thee from one to one, and now I've found thee I want my brass," shouted +the brawny, loud-voiced Briton. Leslie answered truthfully: + +"I tell you I haven't got it, even if you had any claim on me, and it's +not my fault you're disappointed, if you foolishly bought land before +you could understand a Canadian survey plan." + +"Then thou'lt better get it," was the uncompromising answer. +"Understand a plan! I've stuck to the marked one I got from thee, and +there's lawyers in this country as can. It was good soil and maples I +went up to see, and how the ---- can anybody raise crops off the big +stones thou sold me? I'm going to have my rights, and, meantime, I'm +trapesing round all the bars in this city talking about thee. There's +a good many already as believe me." + +"Then you had better look out. Confound you!" threatened Leslie, +taking a bold course in desperation. "There's a law which can stop +that game in this country, and I'll set it in motion. Anyway, I can't +have you making this noise in my private office. Go away before I call +my clerks to throw you out." + +The effort at intimidation was a distinct failure, for the aggrieved +agriculturalist, who was not quite sober, laughed uproariously as he +seized a heavy ruler. "That's a good yan," he roared. "Thou darsen't +for thy life go near a court with me, and the first clerk who tries to +put me out, danged if I don't pound half the life out of him and thee. +I'm stayin' here comf'able until I get my money." + +He pulled out a filthy pipe, and filled it with what, when he struck a +match, turned out to be particularly vile tobacco, and Leslie, who +fumed in his chair, said presently: + +"You are only wasting your time and mine--and for heaven's sake take a +cigar and fling that pipe away. I haven't got the money by me, and +it's the former owner's business, not mine, but if you'll call round, +say the day after to-morrow, I'll see what we can do." + +He named the day, knowing that he would be absent then, and the +stranger, heaving his heavy limbs out of an easy chair, helped himself +to a handful of choice cigars before he prepared to depart, saying +dubiously: + +"I'll be back on Wednesday bright and early, bringing several friends +as will see fair play with me. One of them will be a lawyer, and if +he's no good either, look out, mister, for I'll find another way of +settling thee!" + +There are in Canada, as well as other British Colonies, capitalists, +dealing in lands and financing mines, whose efforts make for the +progress of civilization and the good of the community. There are also +others, described by their victims as a curse to any country. +Representatives of both descriptions were interested in the Industrial +Enterprise. Therefore, the unfortunate secretary groaned when one of +the latter class, who passed his visitor in the doorway, came in +smiling in a curious manner. Leslie, who hoped he had not heard much, +was rudely undeceived. + +"I'm hardly surprised at certain words I heard in the corridor," he +commenced. "Your English friend was telling an interesting tale about +you to all the loungers in the Rideau bar to-day. They seemed to +believe him--he told it very creditably. When are you going to stop +it, Leslie?" + +"When I can pay him the equivalent of five hundred sterling in +blackmail. I am afraid it will be a long time," answered the +secretary, ruefully. + +"Then I would advise you to beg, borrow or steal the money. A man of +your abilities and practical experience oughtn't to find much +difficulty in this part of the world," said the newcomer. "The tale +may have been a fabrication, but it sounded true, and while I don't set +up as a reformer I am a director of this Company, and can't have those +rumors set going about its secretary. No, I don't want to hear your +side of the case--it's probably highly creditable to you--but I know +all about the kind of business you were running, and a good many other +folks in this province do, too." + +"Who, in the name of perdition, would lend me the money? And it takes +every cent I've got to live up to my post. You don't pay too +liberally," sneered the unfortunate man, stung into brief fury by the +reference to his character. + +"I will," was the answer. "That is to say, I'll fix things up with the +plain-spoken Britisher, and take your acknowledgment in return for his +written statement that he has no claim on you. I know how to handle +that breed of cattle, and mayn't press you for the money until you can +pay it comfortably." + +"What are you doing it for?" asked Leslie, dubiously. + +"For several reasons; I don't mind mentioning a few. I want more say +in the running of this Company, and I could get at useful facts my +colleagues didn't know through its secretary. I could also give him +instructions without the authority of a board meeting, see? And I +fancy I could put a spoke in Savine's wheel best by doing it quietly my +own way. One live man can often get through more than a squabbling +dozen, and the money is really nothing much to me." + +"I had better sue the Englishman for defamation, and prove my +innocence, even if the legal expenses ruin me," said Leslie, and the +other, who laughed aloud, checked him. + +"Pshaw! It is really useless trying that tone with me, especially as I +have heard about another dispute of the kind you once had at +Westminster. You're between the devil and the deep sea, but if you +don't start kicking you'll get no hurt from me. Call it a deal--and, +to change the subject, where's the man you sent up to worry Thurston?" + +"I don't know," said Leslie. "I gave him a round sum, part of it out +of my own pocket, for I couldn't in the meantime think of a suitable +entry--all the directors don't agree with you. I know he started, but +he has never come back again." + +"Then you have got to find him," was the dry answer. "We'll have +law-suits and land commissions before we're through, and if Thurston +has corralled or bought that man over, and plays him at the right +moment, it would certainly cost you your salary." + +"I can't find him; I've tried," asserted Leslie. + +"Then you had better try again and keep right on trying. Get at +Thurston through his friends if you can't do it any other way. Your +wife is already a figure in local society." + +That night Leslie leaned against the mantelpiece in his quarters +talking to his wife. They had just returned from some entertainment +and Millicent, in beautiful evening dress, lay in a lounge chair +watching him keenly. + +"You would not like to be poor again, Millicent?" he said, fixing his +glance, not upon her face but on her jeweled hands, and the woman +smiled somewhat bitterly as she answered: + +"Poor again! That would seem to infer that we are prosperous now. Do +you know how much I owe half the stores in this city, Harry?" + +"I don't want to!" said Leslie, with a gesture of impatience. "Your +tastes were always extravagant, and I mean the kind of poverty which is +always refused credit." + +"My tastes!" and Millicent's tone was indignant. "I suppose I am fond +of money, or the things that it can buy, and you may remember you once +promised me plenty. But why can't you be honest and own that the +display we make is part of your programme? I have grown tired of this +scheming and endeavoring to thrust ourselves upon people who don't want +us, and if you will be content to stay at home and progress slowly, +Harry, I will gladly do my share to help you." + +Millicent Leslie was ambitious, but the woman who endeavors to assist +an impecunious husband's schemes by becoming a social influence usually +suffers, even if successful, in the process, and Millicent had not been +particularly successful. She was also subject to morbid fits of +reflection, accompanied by the framing of good resolutions, which, for +the moment at least, she meant to keep. It is possible that night +might have marked a turning-point in her career had her husband +listened to her, but before she could continue, his thin lips curled as +he said: + +"Isn't it a little too late for either of us to practice the somewhat +monotonous domestic virtues? You need not be afraid of hurting my +feelings, Millicent, by veiling your meaning. But, in the first place, +at the time you transferred your affections to me I had the money, and, +in the second, I must either carry out what you call my programme or go +down with a crash shortly. If luck favors me the prize I am striving +for is, however, worth winning, but things are going most confoundedly +badly just now. In fact, I shall be driven into a corner unless you +can help me." + +Mrs. Leslie possessed no exalted code of honor, but, in her present +frame of mind, her husband's words excited fear and suspicion, and she +asked sharply, "What is it you want me to do?" + +"I will try to explain. You know something of my business. I sent up +a clever rascal to--well, to pass as a workman seeking employment, and +so enable us to forestall some of Savine's mechanical improvements. He +took the money I gave him and started, but we have never seen him +since, and it is particularly desirable that I should know whether he +tried and failed or what has become of him. If the man made his exact +commission known it would cost me my place. The very people who would +applaud me if successful would be the first to make a scapegoat of me +otherwise." + +"Your explanation is not quite lucid, but how could I get at the truth?" + +"Ingratiate yourself with Miss Savine, or get that crack-brained aunt +of hers to cure your neuralgia. There are also two young premium +pupils, sons of leading Montreal citizens, in Mr. Savine's service, who +dance attendance upon the fair Helen continually. It shouldn't be +difficult to flatter them a little and set them talking." + +"Do you think women are utterly foolish, or that they converse about +dams and earthworks?" asked Millicent, trying to check her rising +indignation. + +"No, but I know a good many of you have the devil's own cunning, and +there can be but few much keener than you. Women in this country know +a great deal more about their lawful protectors' affairs than they +generally do at home, and Miss Savine is sufficiently proud not to care +whose wife you were if she took a fancy to you." + +"It would be utterly useless!" Leslie looked his wife over with coolly +critical approval, noting how the soft lamplight sparkled in the pale +gold clusters of her hair, the beauty that still hung to her somewhat +careworn face, and how the costly dress enhanced the symmetry of a +finely-moulded frame. + +"Then why can't you confine your efforts to the men? You are pretty +and clever enough to wheedle secrets out of Thurston's self even, now +you have apparently become reconciled to him." + +For the first time since the revelations that followed Leslie's +downfall a red brand of shame and anger flamed in Millicent's cheeks. +She rose, facing the speaker with an almost breathless "How dare you? +Is there no limit to the price I must pay for my folly? Thurston +was----. But how could any woman compare him with you?" + +"Sit down again, Millicent," suggested Leslie with an uneasy laugh. +"These heroics hardly become you--and nobody can extort a great deal in +return for--nothing better than you. In any case, it's no use now +debating whether one or both of us were foolish. I'm speaking no more +than the painful truth when I say that if I can't get the man back into +my hands I shall have to make a break without a dollar from British +Columbia. Since you have offended your English friends past +forgiveness, God knows what would become of you if that happened, while +Thurston would marry Miss Savine and sail on to riches--confusion to +him!" + +Millicent was never afterwards certain why she accepted the quest from +which she shrank with loathing, at first. While her husband proceeded +to substantiate the truth of his statement, she was conscious of rage +and shame, as well as a profound contempt for him; and, because of it, +she felt an illogical desire to inflict suffering upon the man whom she +now considered had too readily accepted his rejection. Naturally, she +disliked Miss Savine. She was possessed by an abject fear of poverty, +and so, turning a troubled face towards the man, she said: + +"I don't know that I shall ever forgive you, and I feel that you will +live to regret this night's work bitterly. However, as you say, it is +over late for us to fear losing the self-respect we parted with long +ago. Rest contented--I will try." + +"That is better. We are what ill-luck or the devil made us," replied +Leslie, laying his hand on his wife's white shoulder, but in spite of +her recent declaration Millicent shrank from his touch. + +"Your fingers burn me. Take them away. As I said, I will help you, +but if there was any faint hope of happiness or better things left us, +you have killed it," she declared in a decided tone. + +"I should say the chance was hardly worth counting on," answered +Leslie, as he withdrew to soothe himself with a brandy-and-soda. +Millicent sat still in her chair, with her hands clenched hard on the +arms of it, staring straight before her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE INFATUATION OF ENGLISH JIM + +It was perhaps hardly wise of Geoffrey Thurston to suddenly promote +English Jim from the position of camp cook to that of amanuensis. +Geoffrey, however, found himself hard pressed when it became necessary +to divide his time between Vancouver and the scene of practical +operations, and he remembered that the man he had promoted had been +Helen's _protege_. James Gillow was a fair draughtsman, also, and, if +not remarkable otherwise for mental capacity, wielded a facile pen, and +Geoffrey found it a relief to turn his rapidly-increasing +correspondence over to him. It was for this reason Gillow accompanied +him on a business trip to Victoria. + +English Jim enjoyed the visit, the more so because he found one or two +acquaintances who had achieved some degree of prosperity in that fair +city. He was entertained so well that on the morning of Geoffrey's +return he boarded the steamer contented with himself and the world in +general. He was perfectly sober, so he afterwards decided, or on board +a rolling vessel he could never have succeeded in working out +quantities from rough sketches Thurston gave him. But he had +breakfasted with his friends, just before sailing, and the valedictory +potations had increased, instead of assuaging, his thirst. + +The steamer was a fast one. The day was pleasant with the first warmth +of Spring, and Geoffrey sat under the lee of a deckhouse languidly +enjoying a cigar and looking out across the sparkling sea. Gillow, who +came up now and then for a breath of air, envied him each time he +returned to pore over papers that rose and fell perplexingly on one end +of the saloon table. It was hard to get his scale exactly on the lines +of the drawings; the sunrays that beat in through the skylights dazzled +his eyes, and his sight did not become much keener after each visit to +the bar. Nevertheless, few persons would have suspected English Jim of +alcoholic indulgence as he jotted down weights and quantities in his +pocket-book. + +Meantime, Thurston began to find the view of the snow-clad Olympians +grow monotonous. It is true that every pinnacle was silhouetted, a +spire of unsullied whiteness, against softest azure. The peaks +towered, a sight to entrance the vision--ethereally majestic above a +cerulean sea--but Geoffrey had seen rather too much snow unpleasantly +close at hand within the last few months. Therefore, he opened the +newspaper beside him, and frowned to see certain rumors he had heard in +Victoria embodied in an article on the Crown lands policy. Anyone with +sufficient knowledge to read between the lines could identify the +writer's instances of how gross injustice might be done the community +with certain conditional grants made to Savine. + +"That man has been well posted. He may have been influenced by a +mistaken public spirit or quite possibly by a less praiseworthy motive; +but if we have any more bad breakdowns I can foresee trouble," Geoffrey +said to himself. + +Then he turned his eyes towards the groups of passengers, and presently +started at the sight of a lady carrying a camp chair, a book, and a +bundle of wrappings along the heaving deck. It was Millicent Leslie, +and there was no doubt that she had recognized him, for she had set +down her burden and was waiting for his assistance. Geoffrey was at +her side in a moment and presently ensconced her snugly under the lee +of the deckhouse, where he waited, by no means wholly pleased at the +meeting. He had spent most of the previous night with certain men +interested in finance and provincial politics, and being new to the +gentle art of wire-pulling had not quite recovered his serenity. He +regretted the good cigar he had thrown away, and scarcely felt equal to +sustaining the semi-sentimental trend of conversation Millicent had +affected whenever he met her, but she was alone, and cut off all hope +of escape by saying: + +"You will not desert me. One never feels solitude so much as when left +to one's own resources among a crowd of strangers." + +"Certainly not, if you can put up with my company; but where is your +husband?" Geoffrey responded. Millicent looked up at him with a +chastened expression. + +"Enjoying himself. Some gentlemen, whose good-will is worth gaining, +asked him to go inland for a few days' fishing, and he said it was +necessary he should accept the invitation. Accordingly, I am as usual +left to my own company while I make a solitary journey down the Sound. +It is hardly pleasant, but I suppose all men are much the same, and we +poor women must not complain." + +Millicent managed to convey a great deal more than she said, and her +sigh suggested that she often suffered keenly from loneliness; but +while Geoffrey felt sorry for her, he was occupied by another thought +just then, and did not at first answer. + +"What are you puzzling over, Geoffrey?" she asked, and the man smiled +as he answered: + +"I was wondering if the same errand which took your husband to +Victoria, was the same that sent me there." + +"I cannot say." Millicent's gesture betokened weariness. "I know +nothing of my husband's business, and must do him the justice to say +that he seldom troubles me about it. I have little taste for details +of intricate financial scheming, but practical operations, like your +task among the mountains, would appeal to me. It must be both romantic +and inspiring to pit one's self against the rude forces of Nature; but +one grows tired of the prosaic struggle which is fought by eating one's +enemies' dinners and patiently bearing the slights of lukewarm allies' +wives. However, since the fear of poverty is always before me, I try +to play my part in it." + +Helen Savine had erred strangely when she concluded that Geoffrey +Thurston was without sympathy. Hard and painfully blunt as he could +be, he was nevertheless compassionate towards women, though not always +happy in expressing his feelings, and when Millicent folded her slender +hands with a pathetic sigh, he was moved to sincere pity and +indignation. He knew that some of the worthy Colonials' wives and +daughters could be, on occasion, almost brutally frank, and that, in +spite of his efforts, Leslie was not wholly popular. + +"I can quite understand! It must be a trying life for you, but there +are always chances for an enterprising man in this country, and you +must hope that your husband will shortly raise you above the necessity +of enduring uncongenial social relations." + +"Please don't think I am complaining." Millicent read his sympathy in +his eyes. "It was only because you looked so kind that I spoke so +frankly. I fear that I have grown morbid and said too much. But +one-sided confidence is hardly fair, and, to change the subject, tell +me how fortune favors you." + +"Where shall I begin?" + +Millicent smiled, as most men would have fancied, bewitchingly. + +"You need not be bashful. Tell me about your adventures in the +mountains, with all the hairbreadth escapes, fantastic coloring, and +romantic medley of incidents that must be crowded into the life of +anyone engaged in such work as yours." + +"I am afraid the romance wears thin, leaving only a monotonous, not to +say sordid, reality, while details of cubic quantities would hardly +interest you. Still, and remember you have brought it upon yourself, I +will do my best." + +Geoffrey reluctantly began an account of his experiences, speaking in +an indifferent manner at first, but warming to his subject, until he +spoke eloquently at length. He was not a vain man, but Millicent had +set the right chord vibrating when she chose the topic of his new-world +experiences. He stopped at last abruptly, with an uneasy laugh. + +"There! I must have tired you, but you must blame yourself," he said. + +"No!" Millicent assured him. "I have rarely heard anything more +interesting. It must be a very hard battle, well worth winning, but +you are fortunate in one respect--having only the rock and river to +contend against instead of human enemies." + +"I am afraid we have both," was the incautious answer, and Millicent +looked out across the white-flecked waters as she commented +indifferently, "But there can be nobody but simple cattle-raisers and +forest-clearers in that region, and what could your enemies gain by +following you there?" + +"They might interfere with my plans or thwart them. One of them nearly +did so!" and Geoffrey, hesitating, glanced down at his companion just a +second too late to notice the look of suspiciously-eager interest in +her face, for Millicent had put on the mask again. She was a clever +actress, quick to press into her service smile or sigh, where words +might have been injudicious, and with feminine curiosity and love of +unearthing a secret, was bent on drawing out the whole story. It did +not necessarily follow that she should impart the secret to her +husband, she said to herself. Geoffrey was, for the moment, off his +guard, and victory seemed certain for the woman. + +"How did that happen?" she asked, outwardly with languid indifference, +inwardly quivering with suspense, but, as luck would have it, the +steamer, entering one of the tide races which sweep those narrow +waters, rolled wildly just then, and Geoffrey held her chair fast while +the book fell from her knee and went sliding down the slanted deck. +Vexed and nervously anxious, Millicent bit one red lip while Thurston +pursued the volume, and she could hardy conceal her chagrin when he +returned with it. + +"It flew open and a page or two got wet in the scuppers. Still, it +will soon dry in the sun, and because I did my best, you will excuse me +being a few seconds too slow to save it," Geoffrey apologized. + +Millicent was willing to allow him to deceive himself as to the cause +of her annoyance. + +"It was a borrowed book, and I can hardly return it in this condition. +It is really vexatious," she replied, wondering how to lead the +conversation back to the place where it was interrupted. She might +have succeeded, but fate seemed against her. A passenger, who knew +them both, strolled by and nodded to Geoffrey. + +"I have been looking for you, Thurston, and if Mrs. Leslie, accepting +my excuses, can spare you for a few minutes, I have something important +to tell you," said the man. "I wouldn't have disturbed you, but we'll +be alongside Vancouver wharf very shortly." + +Millicent could only bow in answer, and after an apologetic glance in +her direction, Geoffrey followed the passenger. + +"Mrs. Leslie's a handsome woman, though one would guess she had a +temper of her own. Perhaps you didn't notice it, but she just looked +daggers at you when you let that book get away," observed the +companion, who smiled when Geoffrey answered: + +"Presumably, you didn't take all this trouble to acquaint me with that +fact?" + +"No," admitted the man, with a whimsical gesture. "It was something +much more interesting--about the agitation some folks are trying to +whoop up against your partner." + +Geoffrey found the information of so much interest that the steamer was +sweeping through the pine-shrouded Narrows which forms the gateway of +Vancouver's land-locked harbor when he returned to Millicent, with +English Jim following discreetly behind him. + +"I am sorry that, as we are half-an-hour late, I shall barely have time +to keep an important business appointment," said Thurston. "However, +as the Sound boat does not sail immediately, my assistant, Mr. Gillow, +will be able to look after your baggage, and secure a good berth for +you. You will get hold of the purser, and see Mrs. Leslie is made +comfortable in every way before you follow me, Gillow. I shall not +want you for an hour or two." + +Millicent smiled on the assistant, who took his place beside her, as +the steamer ran alongside the wharf, and his employer hurried away. +English Jim was a young, good-looking man of some education, and, since +his promotion from the cook-shed, had indulged himself in a former +weakness for tasteful apparel. He had also, though Thurston did not +notice it, absorbed just sufficient alcoholic stimulant to render him +vivacious in speech without betraying the reason for it, and Millicent, +who found him considerably more amusing than Geoffrey, wondered +whether, since she had failed with the one, she might not succeed with +the other. English Jim no more connected her with the servant of the +corporation whose interests were opposed to Savine's than he remembered +the brass baggage checks in his pocket. His gratified vanity blinded +him to everything besides the pleasure of being seen in his stylish +companion's company. + +He found a sunny corner for her beside one of the big Sound steamer's +paddle casings, from which she could look across the blue waters of the +forest-girt inlet, brought up a chair and some English papers, and +after Millicent had chatted with him graciously, was willing to satisfy +her curiosity to the utmost when she said with a smile: + +"You are a confidential assistant of Mr. Thurston's? He is an old +friend of mine, and knowing his energy, I dare say he works you very +hard." + +"Hard is scarcely an adequate term, madam," answered English Jim. +"Nothing can tire my respected chief, and unfortunately, he expects us +all to equal him. He found me occupation--writing his letters--until 1 +A.M. this morning; and, I believe, must have remained awake himself +until it was almost light, making drawings which I have had the +pleasure of poring over, all the way across. Don't you think, madam, +that it is a mistake to work so hard, that one has never leisure for +the serene contemplation which is one of the--one of the best things in +life. Besides, people who do so, are also apt to deprive others of +their opportunities." + +"Perhaps so, though I hardly think Mr. Thurston would agree with you. +For instance?" asked Millicent, finding his humor infectious, for +English Jim could gather all the men in camp about him, when half in +jest and half in earnest he began one of his discourses. + +"These!" was the answer, and the speaker thrust his hand into his +jacket pocket. "If Mr. Thurston had not been of such tireless nature, +I might have found leisure to admire the beauty of this most entrancing +coast scenery, instead of puzzling over weary figures in a particularly +stuffy saloon." + +He held up a large handful of papers as he spoke, glanced at them +disdainfully, and, pointing vaguely across the inlet, continued, "Is +not an hour's contemplation of such a prospect better than many days' +labor?" + +Millicent laughed outright, and, because, though English Jim's voice +was even, and his accent crisp and clean, his fingers were not quite so +steady as they might have been, one of the papers fluttered, unnoticed +by either of them, to her feet. + +"I feel tempted to agree with you," Millicent rejoined, wishing that +she need not press on to the main point, for English Jim promised to +afford the sort of entertainment which she enjoyed. "But a man of your +frame of mind must find scanty opportunity for considering such +questions among the mountains." + +"That is so," was the rueful answer. "We commence our toil at +daybreak, and too often continue until midnight. There are times when +the monotony jars upon a sensitive mind, as the camp cooking does upon +a sensitive palate. But our chief never expects more from us than he +will do himself, and is generous in rewarding meritorious service." + +"So I should suppose," commented Millicent. "Knowing this, you will +all be very loyal to him?" + +"Every one of us!" The loyalty of English Jim, who gracefully ignored +the inference and fell into the trap, was evident enough. "Of course, +we do not always approve of being tired to death, but where our chief +considers it necessary, we are content to obey him. In fact, it would +not make much difference if we were not," he added whimsically. "There +was, however, one instance of a black sheep, or rather wolf of the +contemptible coyote species in sheep's clothing, whom I played a minor +part in catching. But, naturally, you will not care to hear about +this?" + +"I should, exceedingly. Did I not say that I am one of Mr. Thurston's +oldest friends? I should very much like to hear about the disguised +coyote. I presume you do not mean a real one, and are speaking +figuratively?" + +Gillow was flattered by the glance she cast upon him, and, remembering +only that this gracious lady was one of his employer's friends, +proceeded to gratify her by launching into a vivid description of what +happened on the night when he dropped the prowler into the river. He +had, however, sense enough to conclude with the capture of the man. + +"But you have not told me the sequel," said Millicent. "Did you lynch +the miscreant in accordance with the traditional customs of the West, +or how did Mr. Thurston punish him? He is not a man who lightly +forgives an injury." + +"No," replied Gillow, rashly. "Against my advice, though my respected +employer is difficult to reason with, he kept the rascal in camp, both +feeding and paying him well." + +"You surprise me. I should have expected a more dramatic finale." +Millicent's tone might have deceived a much more clever man who did not +know her husband's position. "Why did he do so?" + +There were, however, limits to English Jim's communicativeness, and he +answered: "Mr. Thurston did not explain his motives, and it is not +always wise to ask him injudicious questions." + +Millicent, having learned what she desired to know, rested content with +this, and chatted on other subjects until the big bell clanged, and the +whistle shrieked out its warning. Then the dismissed Gillow with her +thanks, and the last she saw of him he was being held back by a +policeman as he struggled to scale a lofty railing while the steamer +slid clear of the wharf. He waved an arm in the air shouting +frantically, and through the thud of paddles she caught the disjointed +sentences, "Very sorry. Forgot baggage checks--all your boxes here. +Leave first steamer--sending checks by mail!" + +"It is impossible for us to turn back, madam," said the purser to whom +Millicent appealed. "The baggage will, no doubt, follow the day after +to-morrow." + +"But that gentleman has my ticket, and doesn't know my address!" +protested the unfortunate passenger, and the purser answered: + +"I really cannot help it, but I will telegraph to any of your friends +from the first way-port we call at, madam." + +When the steamer had vanished behind the stately pines shrouding the +Narrows, English Jim sat down upon a timber-head and swore a little at +what he called his luck, before he uneasily recounted the folded papers +in his wallet. + +"A pretty mess I've made of it all, and there'll be no end of trouble +if Thurston hears of this," he said aloud, so that a loafing porter +heard and grinned. "I'll write a humble letter--but, confound it, I +don't know where she's going to, and now here is one of those +distressful tracings missing. It must have been that old sketch of +Savine's, and Thurston will never want it, while nobody but a +draughtsman could make head or tail of the thing. Anyway, I'll get +some dinner before I decide what is best to be done." + +While Gillow endeavored to enjoy his dinner, and, being an easy-going +man, partially succeeded, Millicent, who had picked up a folded paper, +leaned upon the steamer's rail with it open in her hand. + +"This is Greek to me, but I suppose it is of value. I will keep it, +and perhaps give it back to Geoffrey," she ruminated. "The game was +amusing, but I feel horribly mean, and whether I shall tell Harry or +not depends very much upon his behavior." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE BURSTING OF THE SLUICE + +One morning of early summer, Geoffrey Thurston lay neither asleep, nor +wholly awake, inside his double tent. The canvas was partly drawn +open, and from his camp-cot he could see a streak of golden sunlight +grow broader across the valley, while rising in fantastic columns the +night mists rolled away. The smell of dew-damped cedars mingled with +the faint aromatic odors of wood smoke. The clamor of frothing water +vibrated through the sweet cool air, for the river was swollen by +melted snow. Geoffrey lay still, breathing in the glorious freshness, +drowsily content. All had gone smoothly with the works, at least, +during the last month or two. Each time that she rode down to camp +with her father from the mountain ranch, Helen had spoken to him with +unusual kindness. Savine would, when well enough, spend an hour in +Geoffrey's tent. While some of the contractor's suggestions were +characterized by his former genius, most betrayed a serious weakening +of his mental powers, and it was apparent that he grew rapidly frailer, +physically. + +On this particular morning Geoffrey found something very soothing in +the river's song, and, yielding to temptation, he turned his head from +the growing light to indulge in another half-hour's slumber. Suddenly, +a discordant note, jarring through the deep-toned harmonies, struck his +ears, which were quick to distinguish between the bass roar of the +canyon and the higher-pitched calling of the rapid at its entrance. +What had caused it he could not tell. He dressed with greatest haste +and was striding down into the camp when Mattawa Tom and Gillow came +running towards him. + +"Sluice number six has busted, and the water's going in over Hudson's +ranch," shouted Tom. "I've started all the men there's room for +heaving dirt in, but the river's going through in spite of them." + +Geoffrey asked no questions, but ran at full speed through the camp, +shouting orders as he went, and presently stood breathless upon a tall +bank of raw red earth. On one side the green-stained river went +frothing past; on the other a muddy flood spouted through a breach, and +already a shallow lake was spreading fast across the cleared land, +licking up long rows of potato haulm and timothy grass. Men swarmed +like bees about the sloping side of the bank, hurling down earth and +shingle into the aperture, but a few moments' inspection convinced +Geoffrey that more heroic measures were needed and that they labored in +vain. Raising his hand, he called to the men to stop work and, when +the clatter of shovels ceased, he quietly surveyed the few poor fields +rancher Hudson had won from the swamp. His lips were pressed tight +together, and his expression showed his deep concern. + +"There's only one thing to be done. Open two more sluice gates, Tom," +he commanded. + +"You'll drown out the whole clearing," ventured the foreman, and +Geoffrey nodded. + +"Exactly! Can't you see the river will tear all this part of the dyke +away unless we equalize the pressure on both sides of it? Go ahead at +once and get it done." + +The man from Mattawa wondered at the bold order, but his master +demanded swift obedience and he proceeded to execute it, while Geoffrey +stood fast watching two more huge sheets of froth leap out. He knew +that very shortly rancher Hudson's low-level possessions would be +buried under several feet of water. + +"It's done, sir, and a blamed bad job it is!" said the foreman, +returning; and Geoffrey asked: "How did it happen?" + +"The sluice gate wasn't strong enough, river rose a foot yesterday, and +she just busted. I was around bright and early and found her +splitting. Got a line round the pieces--they're floating beneath you." + +"Heave them up!" ordered Geoffrey. + +He was obeyed, and for a few minutes glanced at the timber frame with a +puzzled expression, then turning to Gillow, he said: "You know I +condemned that mode of scarting, and the whole thing's too light. What +carpenters made it?" + +"It's one of Mr. Savine's gates, sir. I've got the drawing for it +somewhere," was the answer, and Geoffrey frowned. + +"Then you will keep that fact carefully to yourself," he replied. "It +is particularly unfortunate. This is about the only gate I have not +overhauled personally, but one cannot see to quite everything, and +naturally the breakage takes place at that especial point." + +"Very good, sir," remarked Gillow. "Things generally do happen in just +that way. Here's rancher Hudson coming, and he looks tolerably angry." + +The man who strode along the dyke was evidently infuriated, a fact +which was hardly surprising, considering that he owned the flooded +property. The workmen, who now leaned upon their shovels, waited for +the meeting between him and their master in the expectation of +amusement. + +"What in the name of thunder do you mean by turning your infernal river +loose on my ranch?" inquired the newcomer. Thurston rejoined: + +"May I suggest that you try to master your temper and consider the case +coolly before you ask any further questions." + +"Consider it coolly!" shouted Hudson. "Coolly! when the blame water's +washing out my good potatoes by the hundred bushel, and slooshing mud +and shingle all over my hay. Great Columbus! I'll make things red hot +for you." + +"See here!" and there were signs that Thurston was losing his temper. +"What we have done was most unfortunately necessary, but, while I +regret it at least as much as you do, you will not be a loser +financially. As soon as the river falls, we'll run off the water, +measure up the flooded land, and pay you current price? for the crop +at average acre yield. As you will thus sell it without gathering or +hauling to market, it's a fair offer." + +Most of the forest ranchers in that region would have closed with the +offer forthwith, but there were reasons why the one in question, who +was, moreover, an obstinate, cantankerous man, should seize the +opportunity to harass Thurston. + +"It's not half good enough for me," he said. "How'm I going to make +sure you won't play the same trick again, while it's tolerably certain +you can't keep on paying up for damage done forever. Then when you're +cleaned out where'll I be? This scheme which you'll never put +through's a menace to the whole valley, and----" + +"You'll be rich, I hope, by that time, but if you'll confine yourself +to your legitimate grievance or come along to my tent I'll talk to +you," said Geoffrey. "If, on the other hand, you cast doubt upon my +financial position or predict my failure before my men, I'll take +decided measures to stop you. You have my word that you will be repaid +every cent's worth of damage done, and that should be enough for any +reasonable person." + +"It's not--not enough for me by a long way," shouted the rancher. +"I'll demand a Government inspection, I'll--I'll break you." + +"Will you show Mr. Hudson the quickest and safest way off this +embankment, Tom," requested Geoffrey, coolly, and there was laughter +mingled with growls of approval from the men, as the irate rancher, +hurling threats over his shoulder, was solemnly escorted along the dyke +by the stalwart foreman. He turned before descending, and shook his +fist at those who watched him. + +"I think you can close the sluices," said Geoffrey, when the foreman +returned. "Then set all hands filling in this hole. I want you, +Gillow." + +"We are going to have trouble," he predicted, when English Jim stood +before him in his tent. "Hudson unfortunately is either connected with +our enemies, or in their clutches, and he'll try to persuade his +neighbors to join him in an appeal to the authorities. Send a +messenger off at once with this telegram to Vancouver, but stay--first +find me the drawing of the defective gate." + +English Jim spent several minutes searching before he answered: "I'm +sorry I can't quite lay my hands upon it. It may be in Vancouver, and +I'll write a note to the folks down there." + +He did so, and when he went out shook his head ruefully. "That +confounded sketch must have been the one I lost on board the steamer," +he decided with a qualm of misgiving. "However, there is no use +meeting trouble half-way by telling Thurston so, until I'm sure beyond +a doubt." + +Some time had passed, and the greater portion of Hudson's ranch still +lay under water when, in consequence of representations made by its +owner and some of his friends, a Government official armed with full +powers to investigate held an informal court of inquiry in the big +store shed, at which most of the neighboring ranchers were present. +Geoffrey and Thomas Savine, who brought a lawyer with him, awaited the +proceedings with some impatience. + +"I have nothing to do with any claim for damages. If necessary, the +sufferers can appeal to the civil courts," announced the official. "My +business is to ascertain whether, as alleged, the way these operations +are conducted endangers the occupied, and unappropriated Crown lands in +this vicinity. I am willing to hear your opinions, gentlemen, +beginning with the complainants." + +Rancher Hudson was the first to speak, and he said: + +"No sensible man would need much convincing that it's mighty bad for +growing crops to have a full-bore flood turned loose on them. What's +the use of raising hay and potatoes for the river to wash away? And +it's plain that what has just happened is going to happen again. +Before Savine began these dykes the river spread itself all over the +lower swamp; now the walls hold it up, and each time it makes a hole in +them, our property's most turned into a lake. I'm neither farming for +pleasure nor running a salmon hatchery." + +There was a hum of approval from the speaker's supporters, whose +possessions lay near the higher end of the valley, and dissenting +growls from those whose boundaries lay below. After several of the +ranchers from the lower valley had spoken the official said: + +"I hardly think you have cited sufficient to convince an unprejudiced +person that the works are a public danger. You have certainly proved +that two holdings have been temporarily flooded, but the first speaker +pointed out that this was because the river was prevented from +spreading all over the lower end of the valley, as it formerly did. +Now a portion of the district is already under cultivation, and even +the area under crop exceeds that of the damaged plots by at least five +acres to one." + +There was applause from the men whose possessions had been converted +into dry land, and Hudson rose, red-faced and indignant, to his feet +again. + +"Has Savine bought up the whole province, Government and all? That's +what I'm wanting to know," he rejoined indignantly. "What is it we pay +taxes to keep you fellows for? To look the other way when the rich man +winks, and stand by seeing nothing while he ruins poor settlers' +hard-won holdings? I'm a law-abiding man, I am, but I'm going to let +nobody tramp on me." + +A burst of laughter filled the rear of the building when one of +Hudson's supporters pulled him down by main force, and held him fast, +observing, "You just sit right there, and look wise instead of talking +too much. I guess you've said enough already to mix everything up." + +The official raised his hand. "I am here to ask questions and not +answer them," he said. "Any more speeches resembling the last would be +likely to get the inquirer into trouble. I must also remind Mr. Hudson +that, after one inundation, he signed a document signifying his +approval of the scheme, and I desire to ask him what has caused the +change in his opinions." + +Again there was laughter followed by a few derisive comments from the +party favoring Thurston's cause, while one voice was audible above the +rest, "Hudson's been buying horses. Some Vancouver speculator's check!" + +The rancher, shaking off his follower's grasp, bounded to his feet, and +glared at the men behind him. "I'll get square with some of you +fellows later on," he threatened. Turning towards the officer, he went +on: "Just because I'm getting tired of being washed out I've changed my +mind. When he's had two crops ruined, a man begins to get uneasy about +the third one--see?" + +"It is a sufficient reason," answered the official. "Now, gentlemen, I +gather that some of you have benefited by this scheme. If you have any +information to give me, I shall be pleased to hear it." + +Several men told how they had added to their holdings many acres of +fertile soil, which had once been swamp, and the Crown official said: + +"I am convinced that two small ranches have been temporarily inundated, +and six or seven benefited. So much for that side of the question. I +must now ascertain whether the work is carried out in the most +efficient manner, and how many have suffered in minor ways by the +contractors' willful neglect, as the petitioners allege." + +Hudson and his comrades testified at length, but each in turn, after +making the most of the accidental upset of a barrow-load of earth among +their crops, or the blundering of a steer into a trench, harked back to +the broken sluice. When amid some laughter they concluded, others who +favored Savine described the precautions Thurston had taken. Then the +inquirer turned over his papers, and Thomas Savine whispered to +Geoffrey: "It's all in our favor so far, but I'm anxious about that +broken sluice. It's our weak point, and he's sure to tackle it." + +"Yes," agreed Geoffrey, whose face was strangely set. "I am anxious +about it, too. Can you suggest anything I should do, Mr. Gray?" + +The Vancouver lawyer, who had a long experience in somewhat similar +disputes, hitched forward his chair. "Not at present," he answered. +"I think with Mr. Savine that the question of the sluice gate may be +serious. Allowances are made for unpreventable accidents and force of +circumstances, but a definite instance of a wholly inefficient +appliance or defective workmanship might be most damaging. It is +particularly unfortunate it was framed timber of insufficient strength +that failed." + +Geoffrey made no answer, but Thomas Savine, who glanced at him keenly, +fancied he set his teeth while the lawyer, turning to the official +inquirer, said: + +"These gentlemen have given you all the information in their power, and +if you have finished with them, I would venture to suggest that any +technical details of the work concern only Mr. Thurston and yourself." + +There was a protest from the assembly, and the officer beckoned for +silence before he answered: + +"You gentlemen seem determined between you to conduct the whole case +your own way. I was about to dismiss with thanks the neighboring +landholders who have assisted me to the best of their ability." + +With some commotion the store-shed was emptied of all but the official, +his assistant, and Thurston's party. Beckoning to Geoffrey, the +official held up before his astonished eyes a plan of the defective +gate. "Do you consider the timbering specified here sufficient for the +strain?" he asked. "I cannot press the question, but it would be +judicious of you to answer it." + +"No!" replied Geoffrey, divided between surprise and dismay. + +The drawing was Savine's. He could recognize the figures upon it, but +it had evidently been made when the contractor was suffering from a +badly-clouded brain. The broken gate itself was damaging evidence, but +this was worse, for a glance at the design showed him that the +artificers who worked from it had, without orders even, slightly +increased the dimensions. Any man with a knowledge of mechanical +science would condemn it, but, while he had often seen Savine incapable +of mental effort of late, this was the first serious blunder that he +had discovered. The mistake, he knew, would be taken as evidence of +sheer incapacity; if further inquiry followed, perhaps it would be +published broadcast in the papers, and Geoffrey was above all things +proud of his professional skill. Still, he had pledged his word to +both his partner and his daughter, and there was only one course open +to him, if the questions which would follow made it possible. + +The lawyer, leaning forward, whispered to Thomas Savine, and then said +aloud, "If that drawing is what it purports to be, it must have been +purloined. May we ask accordingly how it came into your possession?" + +"One of the complainants forwarded it to me. He said +he--obtained--it," was the dry answer. "Under the circumstances, I +hesitate to make direct use of it, but by the firm's stamp it appears +genuine." + +"That Mr. Savine could personally be capable of such a mistake as this +is impossible on the face of it," said the inquirer's professional +assistant. "It is the work of a half-trained man, and suggests two +questions, Do you repudiate the plan, and, if you do not, was it made +by a responsible person? I presume you have a draughtsman?" + +"There is no use repudiating anything that bears our stamp," said +Geoffrey, disregarding the lawyer's frown, and looking steadily into +the bewildered face of Thomas Savine. "I work out all such +calculations and make the sketches myself. My assistant sometimes +checks them." + +The official, who had heard of the young contractor's reputation for +daring skill, looked puzzled as he commented: + +"From what you say the only two persons who could have made the blunder +are Mr. Savine and yourself. I am advised, and agree with the +suggestion, that Mr. Savine could never have done so. From what I have +heard, I should have concluded it would have been equally impossible +with you; but I can't help saying that the inference is plain." + +"Is not all this beside the question?" interposed the lawyer. "The +junior partner admits the plan was made in the firm's offices, and that +should be sufficient." + +Geoffrey held himself stubbornly in hand while the officer answered +that he desired to ascertain if it was the work of a responsible +person. He knew that this blunder would be recorded against him, and +would necessitate several brilliant successes before it could be +obliterated, but his resolution never faltered, and when the legal +adviser, laying a hand upon his arm, whispered something softly, he +shook off the lawyer's grasp. + +"The only two persons responsible are Mr. Savine and myself--and you +suggested the inference was plain," he asserted. + +Here Gillow, who had been fidgeting nervously, opened his lips as if +about to say something, but closed them again when his employer, moving +one foot beneath the table, trod hard upon his toe. + +"I am afraid I should hardly mend matters by saying I am sorry it is," +said the official, dryly. "However, a mistake by a junior partner does +not prove your firm incapable of high-class work, and I hardly think +you will be troubled by further interference after my report is made. +My superiors may warn you--but I must not anticipate. It is as well +you answered frankly, as, otherwise, I should have concluded you were +endeavoring to make your profits at the risk of the community; but I +cannot help saying that the admission may be prejudicial to you, Mr. +Thurston, if you ever apply individually for a Government contract. +Here is the drawing. It is your property." + +Geoffrey stretched out his hand for it, but Savine was too quick for +him, and when he thrust it into his pocket, the contractor, rising +abruptly, stalked out of the room. Gillow, who followed and overtook +him, said: + +"I can't understand this at all, sir. Mr. Savine made that drawing. I +know his arrows on the measurement lines, and I was just going to say +so when you stopped me. I have a confession to make. I believe I +dropped that paper out of my wallet on board the steamer." + +"You have a very poor memory, Gillow," and Thurston stared the speaker +out of countenance. "I fear your eyes deceive you at times as well. +You must have lost it somewhere else. In any case, if you mention the +fact to anybody else, or repeat that you recognise Mr. Savine's +handiwork, I shall have to look for an assistant who does not lose the +documents with which he is entrusted." + +Gillow went away growling to himself, but perfectly satisfied with both +his eyesight and memory. Thurston had hardly dismissed him than Thomas +Savine approached, holding out the sketch. + +"See here, Geoffrey," began the contractor's brother, and one glance at +the speaker was sufficient for Thurston, who stopped him. + +"Are you coming to torment me about that confounded thing? Give it to +me at once," he said. + +He snatched the drawing from Savine's hand, tore it into fragments, and +stamped them into the mould. "Now that's done with at last!" he said. + +"No," was the answer. "There's no saying where a thing like this will +end, if public mischief-makers get hold of it. You have your future, +which means your professional reputation, to think of. In all human +probability my poor brother can't last very long, and this may handicap +you for years. I cannot----" + +"Damn my professional reputation! Can't you believe your ears?" +Geoffrey broke in. + +"I'm not blind yet, and would sooner trust my eyes," was the dry +answer. "Nobody shall persuade me that I don't know my own brother's +figures. There are limits, Geoffrey, and neither Helen nor I would +hold our peace about this." + +"Listen to me!" Geoffrey's face was as hard as flint. "I see I can't +bluff you as easily as the Government man, but I give you fair warning +that if you attempt to make use of your suspicions I'll find means of +checkmating you. Just supposing you're not mistaken, a young man with +any grit in him could live down a dozen similar blunders, and, if he +couldn't, what is my confounded personal credit in comparison with what +your brother has done for me and my promise to Miss Savine? So far as +I can accomplish it, Julius Savine shall honorably wind up a successful +career, and if you either reopen the subject or tell his daughter about +the drawing, there will be war between you and me. That is the last +word I have to say." + +"I wonder if Helen knows the grit there is in that man," pondered +Savine, when, seeing all protests were useless, he turned away, divided +between compunction and gratitude. Neither he nor the lawyer succeeded +in finding out how the drawing fell into hostile hands, while, if +Geoffrey had his suspicions, he decided that it might be better not to +follow them up. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE ABDUCTION OF BLACK CHRISTY + +These were weighty reasons why Christy Black, whose comrades reversed +his name and called him Black Christy instead, remained in Thurston's +camp as long as he did. Although a good mechanic, he was by no means +fond of manual labor, and he had discovered that profitable occupations +were open to an enterprising and not over-scrupulous man. On the +memorable night when Thurston fished him out of the river, his rescuer +had made it plain that he must earn the liberal wages that were +promised to him. As a matter of fact, Black had made the most of his +opportunities, and in doing so had brought himself under the ban of the +law during an altercation over a disputed mineral claim. + +Black, who then called himself by another name, disappeared before an +inquiry as to how the body of one of the owners of the claim came into +a neighboring river. Only one comrade, and a mine-floating speculator, +who stood behind the humbler disputants, knew or guessed at the events +which led up the fatality. The comrade shortly afterwards vanished, +too, but the richer man, who had connived at Black's disappearance, +kept a close hand on him, forcing him as the price of freedom to act as +cat's-paw in risky operations, until Black, tired of tyranny, had been +glad to tell Thurston part of the truth and to accept his protection. +The man from whose grip he hoped he had escaped was the one who had +helped Leslie out of a difficulty. + +Black Christy found, however, that a life of virtuous toil grew +distinctly monotonous, and one morning, when Mattawa Tom's vigilance +was slack, he departed in search of diversion in the settlement of Red +Pine, which lay beyond the range. He found congenial society there, +and, unfortunately for himself, went on with a boon companion next +morning to a larger settlement beside the railroad track. He intended +to complete the orgie there, and then to return to camp. Accordingly +it happened that, when afternoon was drawing towards a close, he sat +under the veranda of a rickety wooden saloon, hurling drowsy +encouragement at the freighter who was loading rock-boring tools into a +big wagon. He wondered how far his remaining dollar would go towards +assuaging a thirst which steadily increased, and two men, who leaned +against the wagon, chuckled as they watched him. The hands of one of +the men were busy about the brass cap which decorated the hub of the +wheel, but neither Black nor the teamster noticed this fact. Black had +seen one of the men before, for the two had loafed about the district, +ostensibly prospecting for minerals, and had twice visited Thurston's +camp. + +It was a pity Black had absorbed sufficient alcohol to confuse his +memory, for when the men strolled towards him he might have recognized +the one whose hat was drawn well down. As it was, he greeted them +affably. + +"Nice weather for picnicking in the woods. Not found that galena yet? +I guess somebody in the city is paying you by the week," he observed +jocosely. + +"That's about the size of it!" The speaker laughed. "But we've pretty +well found what we wanted, and we're pulling out with the Pacific +express. There don't seem very much left in your glass. Anything the +matter with filling it up with me?" + +"I'm not proud," was the answer. "I'm open to drink with any man +who'll set them up for me." When the prospector called the bar-tender, +Black proceeded to prove his willingness to be "treated." + +Nothing moved in the unpaved street of the sleepy settlement, when the +slow-footed oxen and lurching wagon had lumbered away. The sun beat +down upon it pitilessly, and the drowsy scent of cedars mingled with +the odors of baking dust which eddied in little spirals and got into +the loungers' throats. The bar-tender was liberal with his ice, +however, and Black became confidential. When he had assured them of +his undying friendship, one of the prospectors asked: + +"What's a smart man like you muling rocks around in a river-bed for, +anyway? Can't you strike nothing better down to the cities?" + +"No," declared Black, thickly. "Couldn't strike a job nohow when I +left them. British Columbia played out--and I had no money to take me +to California." + +"Well," said the prospector, winking at his comrade, "there is +something we might put you on to. The first question is, what kin you +do?" + +According to Black's not over-coherent answer, there was little he +could not do excellently. After he had enumerated his capabilities, +the other man said: + +"I guess that's sufficient. Come right back with us to 'Frisco and +we'll have a few off days before we start you. This is no country for +a live man, anyway." + +Black nodded sagaciously and tried hard to think. He was afraid of +Thurston, but more so of the other man connected with the Enterprise +Company. In San Francisco he would be beyond the reach of either, and +the city offered many delights to a person of his tastes with somebody +else willing to pay expenses. + +"I'll come," he promised thickly. "So long as you've got the dollars +I'll go right round the earth with either of you." + +"Good man!" commended the prospector. "Bring along another jugful, +bar-tender." + +The attendant glanced at the three men admiringly, for the speaker was +plainly sober, and he knew how much money Black had paid him. He went +back to his bottles, and there was nobody to see the other prospector, +who had kept himself in the background, pour something from a little +phial beneath his hand, into Black's liquor. + +"Not quite so good as last one. I know 'Frisco. Great time at China +Joe's, you an' me," murmured Black as he collapsed with his head upon +the table. He was soon snoring heavily. + +"Your climate has been too much for him," one of the men declared, when +the saloon-keeper came in. "Say, hadn't you better help us heave him +in some place where he can sleep, unless you'd prefer to keep him as an +advertisement?" + +Black was stored away with some difficulty, and two hours later he was +wheeled on a baggage-truck into the station, where half the inhabitants +of the settlement assembled to see him off. The big cars were already +clanging down the track, when a tall man riding a lathered horse +appeared among the scattered pines on the shoulder of the hill above +the settlement. A bystander commented: + +"Thurston's foreman coming round for some of his packages. As usual +he's in an almighty hurry. That place is 'most as steep as a roof, and +he's coming down it at a gallop." + +The prospectors glanced at each other, and one of them said, "Lend me a +hand, somebody, to heave our sick partner aboard." + +Black was unceremoniously deposited upon the platform of the nearest +car, where he sat blinking vacantly at the assembly, while the +conductor, leaning out from the door of the baggage-car, looked back +towards the rider who was clattering through a dust cloud down the +street, as he asked: "Anybody else besides the tired man? Is that +fellow yonder coming?" + +"No," answered the prospector. "He's only wanting one of those cases +you've just dumped out. Likes to fancy his time's precious. I know +him." + +The conductor waved his hand, the big bell clanged, and the train had +just rolled with a rattle over a trestle ahead, when Mattawa Tom, +grimed with thick red dust, flung himself down beside the agent's +office. + +"Has a dark-faced thief in a plug hat with two holes in the top of it, +gone out on the cars?" he shouted, and the spectators admitted that +such a person boarded the train. + +"Why didn't you come in two minutes earlier, Tom?" one of them +inquired. "He lit out with two strangers. Has he been stealing +something?" + +"He's been doing worse, and I'd have been in on time, but that I +stopped ten minutes to help freighter Louis cut loose the two live oxen +left him," said the foreman, breathlessly. "One wheel came off his +wagon going down the Clearwater Trail, and the whole blame outfit +pitched over into a ravine. There's several thousand dollars' worth of +our boring machines smashed up, and Louis, who has pretty well split +his head, is cussing the man who took the cotter out of his wheel hub." + +The two prospectors were heartily tired of their charge by the time +they passed him off as the sick employe of an American firm, at the +nearest station to the Washington border. When Black showed signs of +waking up he was soothed with medicated liquor, and his guardians, who +several times had high words with the conductor, at last unloaded him +in a station hewn out of the forests encircling Puget Sound, where they +managed to hoist him into a spring wagon. Black leaned against one of +the men, for he was feeling distressfully ill. His head throbbed, his +vision was hazy and his throat was dry. Blinking down at the rows of +wooden houses among the firs, and the tall spars of vessels behind +them, he said: "This isn't 'Frisco--not half big enough. Somebody made +mistake somewhere. Say! Lemme out; I'm going back to the depot." + +"You're coming along with us," was the decided answer. "Sit down at +once before we make you." + +Black slowly doubled up a still formidable fist, and grasping a rail, +lurched to and fro unsteadily. "Lemme out 'fore I kill somebody. +Claim rightsh of British citizensh," he said. + +"You'll get them if you're not careful," was the threat, and the +speaker jerked Black's feet from under him. "I was told to remind you +if you made trouble that a sheriff on this side of the frontier had +some papers describing you. There's one or two patrolmen yonder handy." + +"It was an accident," temporized Black, endeavoring to pull his +scattered wits together. + +"Juss so!" was the answer, given with a gesture of indifference. "I +was only told a name for the patrolmen, and to remind you that a man, +who knows all about it, has got his eye on you." + +Black leered upon him with drunken cunning, then his face grew stolid, +and he said nothing further until the wagon drew up in a by-street, +before a door, hung across with quaint signboards of Chinese +characters. The door opened and closed behind him when his companions +knocked, and Black, who recognized a curious sour smell, choked out, +"Gimme long drink of ice watah!" + +He drained the cool draught that was brought him, then flinging himself +on a pile of matting in a corner of a dim room, sank forthwith into +slumber. He had intended to pretend to sleep, but to lie awake and +think. His custodians, however, had arranged things differently, and +Black's wits were not working up to their usual power. + +Whenever railroad extension or mining enterprise provided high wages +for all strong enough to earn them and crews deserted wholesale, seamen +were occasionally shipped in a very irregular fashion from the ports of +the Pacific slope. At the time Black was brought into one of the +seaboard cities, the purveying of drugged and kidnaped mariners had +risen to be almost a recognized profession. + +It accordingly happened that when the unfortunate Black first became +clearly conscious of anything again, he heard the gurgle of sliding +water close beside his head, and, opening his eyes, caught sight of a +smoky lamp that reeled to and fro, in very erratic fashion. Moisture +dripped from the beams above him, and there was a sickly smell which +seemed familiar. Black, who had been to sea before, decided that he +caught the aroma of bilge water. Rows of wooden shelves tenanted by +recumbent figures, became discernible, and he started with dismay to +the full recognition of the fact that he was in a vessel's forecastle. + +Somebody or something was pounding upon the scuttle overhead. A black +gap opened above him, a rush of cold night wind swept down, followed by +a gruff order: + +"Turn out, watch below, and help get sail upon her. Stir round before +I put a move on to you!" + +Men scrambled from the wooden shelves growling as they did so. Two +lost their balance on the heaving floor, went down headlong, and lay +where they fell. When a man in long boots floundered down the ladder, +Black sat up in his bunk. + +"Now there's going to be trouble. Some blame rascals have run me off +aboard a lumber ship," he said. + +"Correct!" observed a man who was struggling into an oilskin jacket. +"You're blame well shanghaied like the rest of us, and as the mate's a +rustler, you've got to make the best of it." + +"Hello! What's the matter with you? Not feeling spry this morning, or +is it hot water you're waiting for?" the mate said, jerking Black out +of his bunk as he spoke. "Great Columbus! What kind of a stiff do you +call yourself? Up you go!" + +Black went, with all the expedition he was capable of, and, blundering +out through the scuttle, stood shivering on a slant of wet and slippery +deck. A brief survey showed him that he was on board a full-rigged +ship, timber laden, about to be cast off by a tug. There was a fresh +breeze abeam. Looking forward he could see dark figures hanging from +the high-pointed bowsprit that rose and dipped, and beyond them the +lights of a tug reeling athwart a strip of white-streaked sea. +Mountains dimly discernible towered in the distance, and he fancied it +was a little before daybreak. Bursts of spray came hurtling in through +the foremast shrouds, and the whine and rattle of running wire and +chain fell from the windy blackness overhead whence the banging of +loosened canvas came to his ears. Glancing aloft he watched the great +arches of the half-sheeted topsails swell blackly out and then collapse +again with a thunderous flap. Somebody was shouting from the slanted +top-gallant-yard that swung in a wide arc above them, but Black had no +time for further inspection. + +"Lay aloft and loose maintopsails! Are you figuring we brought you +here to admire the scenery?" a hoarse voice challenged. + +Half-dazed and sullenly savage Black had still sense enough to reflect +that it would be little use to expect that the harassed mate would +listen to reason then. Clawing his way up the ratlines he laid his +chest upon the main-topsail-yard and worked his way out to the lower +end of the long inclined spar. Here, still faint and dizzy, he hung +with the footrope jammed against his heel, as he felt for the gasket +that held the canvas to the yard. Swinging through the blackness +across a space of tumbling foam he felt a horrible unsteadiness. There +were other men behind him, for he could hear them swearing and coughing +until a black wall of banging canvas sank beneath him when somebody +roared: "Sheet her home!" + +Then a hail came down across the waters from the tug. There was a loud +splash beneath the bows, while shadowy figures that howled a weird +ditty as they hove the hawser in, rose and fell black against the +foam-flecked sea on the dripping forecastle. Nobody had missed Black, +who now sat astride the yard watching the tug, as the ship, listing +over further and commencing to hurl the spray in clouds about her +plunging bows, gathered way. The steamboat would slide past very close +alongside, and he saw a last chance of escape. Moving out to the very +yard-arm he clutched the lee-brace, which rope led diagonally downwards +to the vessel's depressed rail. He looked below a moment, bracing +himself for the perilous attempt. + +The tug was close abreast of the ship's forecastle now, evidently +waiting with engines stopped until the vessel should pass her. The +crew was still heaving in the cable or loosing the top-gallants, and +froth boiled almost level with the depressed rail. Black was a poor +swimmer, but he could keep his head above water for a considerable +time. If the tug did not start her engines within the next few seconds +she must drive close down on him. Otherwise--but filled with the hope +of escape and the lust for revenge Black was willing to take the risk. + +He hooked one knee around the brace, gripped it between his ankles and +slackened the grip of his hands. The topsails slid away from him, the +spray rushed up below, his feet struck the rail, and the next moment he +was down in utter blackness and conscious of a shock of icy cold water. +He rose gasping and swung around, buffeted in the vessel's eddying +wake. There was no shouting on board her, and, with a choking cry, he +struck out for the black shape of the tug, now only a short distance +away. Somebody heard and flung down a line. He clutched at it and, by +good fortune, grasped it. Head downward he was drawn on board by the +aid of a long boathook, and hauled, dripping, before the skipper. + +"Did you fall or jump in?" asked the skipper. + +"I jumped," confessed Black, putting a bold face on it, and the master +of the towboat laughed. + +"Shanghaied, I guess!" he said. "Well, I don't blame you for showing +your grit. The master of that lumber wagon is a blame avaricious +insect! He beat us down until all we got out of him will hardly pay +for the coal we used--that's what he did. So if you slip ashore +quietly when we tie up, he'll think you pitched over making sail, and +I'll keep my mouth shut." + +Accordingly it happened that next morning Black, who had left the +wooden city before daylight to tramp back to the bush, sat down to +consider his next move. + +"There's one thing tolerably certain, Black Christy's drowned, and +he'll just stop drowned until it suits him," he decided. "Next, though +he's not over fond of it, there's lots of work for a good carpenter in +this country and newspapers are cheap. So when it's worth his while to +strike in with the Thurston Company and get even with the other side +he'll probably hear of it." + +He laughed a little as he once more read the message on a strip of +pulpy paper somebody had slipped into his pocket. + + +"You are going to China for your health, and you had better stop there +if you want to keep clear of trouble." + + +Black Christy got upon his feet again and departed into the bush, where +he wandered for several weeks, building fences and splitting shingles +for the ranchers in return for food and shelter, until he found work +and wages at a saw-mill. + +Shortly after he was employed at the mill, the director who held +Leslie's receipt sat in his handsome offices with the Englishman. A +newspaper lay open on the table before him, and the director smiled as +he read, "Ship, _Maria Carmony_, timber laden for China, meeting +continuous headwinds after sailing from this port, put into Cosechas, +Cal., for shelter, and her master reported the loss of a seaman when +making sail in the Straits of San Juan. The man's name was T. Slater, +and must have been a stranger, as nobody appears to have known him in +this city." + +"Those fellows haven't managed it badly," he commented. "Anyway, +there's an end of him." + +"They told me they had some trouble over it, and I gave them fifty +dollars extra," said Leslie. "They used the hint you mentioned--said +it worked well. But the two men are always likely to turn up, +unfortunately." + +"It wouldn't count," the other answered confidently. "You will have to +bluff them off if they do. Deny the whole thing--nobody would believe +them--it's quite easy. It would have been different with that +confounded Black, for he would have had Thurston's testimony. The joke +of the whole thing is, that although he knew I held evidence which +would likely hang him with a jury of miners, it's tolerably certain +Black never did the thing he was wanted for." + +Thus, the two parties interested remained contented, and only Thurston +was left bewildered and furious at the loss of a witness who might be +valuable to him. Moreover, the destruction of machinery which, having +been made specially for Thurston, in England, could not be replaced for +months. And not once did it ever occur to his subordinate, English +Jim, that he himself had furnished the clue which led to the abduction +of the missing man. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +UNDER THE STANLEY PINES + +It was a pleasant afternoon when Millicent Leslie stood in the portico +of her villa, which looked upon the inlet from a sunny ridge just +outside Vancouver. Like the other residences scattered about, the +dwelling quaintly suggested a doll's house--it was so diminutively +pretty with its carved veranda, bright green lattices, and spotless +white paint picked out with shades of paler green and yellow. Flowers +filled tiny borders, and behind the house small firs, spared by the ax, +stood rigid and somber. With clear sunshine heating upon it and the +blue waters sparkling close below, the tiny villa was so daintily +attractive that one might almost suppose its inhabitants could carry +neither care nor evil humor across its threshold, but there was disgust +and weariness in Millicent's eyes as she glanced from the little +pony-carriage waiting at the gate to her husband leaning against a +pillar. + +Leslie was evidently in a complacent frame of mind, and he did not +notice his wife's expression. There was a smile upon his puffy face +which suggested pride of possession. It was justifiable, for Mrs. +Leslie was still a distinctly handsome woman, and she knew how to dress +herself. + +"You will meet very few women who excel you, and the team is unique," +he remarked exultantly. "Drive around by some of the big stores and +let folks see you before you turn into the park. Since that affair of +Thurston's I am almost beginning to grow proud of you." + +"Isn't it somewhat late in the day?" was the answer, and Millicent's +tone was chilly. "If you had wished to pay me a compliment that was +not intended ironically, it would have been wiser to omit all reference +to the subject you mentioned. It is done now--and heaven knows why I +told you--but I can't thank you for reminding me of a deed I am ashamed +of. Further, I understood the ponies were for my pleasure, and I have +stooped far enough in your interest without displaying myself as an +advertisement of a prosperity which does not exist." + +Leslie laughed unpleasantly, noticing the flash in the speaker's eyes +before he rejoined: "Perhaps it is tardy praise I give you, but +regarding your last remark, to pretend you have achieved prosperity is, +so far as I can see, the one way to attain it, and I have a promising +scheme in view. It is not a particularly pleasant part to play, and +there was a time when it appeared very improbable that either of us +would be forced, as you say, to stoop to it. Neither was it my +ambition which brought about the necessity. As to the ponies--I had +fancied they might do their part, too, but they are a reward for +services rendered in finding me a clue to the missing-man mystery. +Nobody need know that they're not quite our own. Now you have got +them, isn't it slightly unfair to blame me because you were willing to +earn them?" + +"I suppose so," admitted Millicent. "Still, I can't help remarking +that you take the man's usual part of blaming the woman for whatever +happens. To-day I will not drive through the city, but straight into +the park." + +Leslie said nothing further, but followed his wife to the gate. On his +way to his office, he turned and looked after her with a frown as she +rattled her team along the uneven road. She was a vain and covetous +woman with a bias towards intrigue, but there had been times since her +marriage when she despised herself, and as a natural consequence blamed +her husband. Sometimes she hated Thurston, also, though more often she +was sensible of vague regrets, and grew morbid thinking of what might +have been. Now she flushed a little as she glanced at the ponies and +remembered that they were the price of treachery. The animals were +innocent, but she found satisfaction in making them feel the sting of +the whip. + +She looked back at the city. + +It rose in terraces above the broad inlet--a maze of wooden buildings, +giving place to stone. Over its streets hung a wire network, raised +high on lofty poles, which would have destroyed the beauty of a much +fairer city. Back of the city rose the somber forest over which at +intervals towered the blasted skeleton of some gigantic pine. + +Millicent felt that she detested both the city, with its crude mingling +of primitive simplicity and Western luxury, and the life she lived in +it. It was a life of pretense and struggle, in which she suffered +bitter mortifications daily. Presently she reined the team in to a +walk as she drove under the cool shade of the primeval forest which, +with a wisdom not common in the West, the inhabitants of Vancouver have +left unspoiled as Nature. A few drives have been cut through the trees +and between the long rows of giant trunks she could catch at intervals +the silver shimmer of the Straits. In this park there was only restful +shadow. Its silence was intensified by the soft thud of hoofs. A dim +perspective of tremendous trees whose great branches interlocked, +forming arches for the roof of somber green very far above, lured her +on. + +Millicent felt the spell of the silence and sighed remembering how the +lover whom she had discarded once pleaded that she would help him in a +life of healthful labor. She regretted that she had not consented to +flee with him to the new country. Now she was tied to a man she +despised, and who had put her, so she considered, to open shame. She +could not help comparing his weak, greedy, yet venomous nature, with +the other's courage, clean purpose and transparent honesty. + +"I was a fool, ten times a fool; but it is too late," she told herself, +and then tightening her grip on the reins she started with surprise. +The man to whom her thoughts had strayed was leaning against a hemlock +with his eyes fixed on her face. It was the first time they had met +since she played the part of Delilah, and, in spite of her customary +self-command, Millicent betrayed her agitation. A softer mood was upon +her and she had the grace to be ashamed. Still, it appeared desirable +to discover whether he suspected her. + +"I was quite startled to see you, Geoffrey, but I am very glad. It is +almost too hot for walking. Won't you let me drive you?" she said with +flurried haste. + +If Geoffrey hesitated Millicent noticed no sign of it beyond that he +was slow in answering. He was conscious that Mrs. Leslie looked just +then a singularly attractive companion, but she was the wife of another +man, and, of late, he had felt a vague alarm at the confidences she +seemed inclined to exchange with him. Nevertheless, he could find no +excuse at the moment which would not suggest a desire to avoid her, and +with a word of thanks he took his place at her side. + +"I came down to consult my friend, Mr. Thomas Savine, on business," he +explained. "I had one or two other matters to attend to, and promised +to overtake him and his wife during their stroll. I must have missed +them. What a pretty team! Have you had the ponies long?" + +Millicent's well-gloved fingers closed somewhat viciously upon the +whip, for the casual question was unfortunate, but she smiled as she +answered and she chatted gayly until, in an interlude, Thurston felt +prompted to say: + +"Coincidences are sometimes striking, are they not? You remember, the +last time we met, suggesting that I was fortunate in having no enemies +among the mountains?" + +"Yes," she replied, shrinking a little, "I do--but do you know that it +makes one shiver to talk about glaciers and snow on such a perfect day." + +A man of keener perceptions, reading the speaker's face, would have +changed the subject at once, and Millicent had earned his tactful +consideration. It was a good impulse which prompted her to place +herself beyond the reach of further temptation. Geoffrey, however, was +unobservant that afternoon. + +"I am certainly tired of glaciers and snow and other unpleasant things +myself, and was merely going to say that, shortly after I last talked +with you, I discovered another instance of an unknown enemy's +ingenuity," he went on. "A wagon we had chartered upset down a steep +ravine, and several costly pieces of machinery I had brought out from +England, and can hardly replace, were smashed to pieces." + +"Ah!" responded Millicent, staring straight before her. "What a pity! +Still accidents of that description must be fairly common where the +mountain roads are bad?" + +"They are; but this was not an accident. We found that somebody had +pulled out the cotter or iron pin which held the wagon wheel on." + +"Did any of your own men do it?" Millicent inquired, concealing her +eagerness, and Thurston answered with pride in his tone: + +"My own men risk their lives almost every day in my service. There is +not one among them capable of treachery--now. We made tolerably +certain it was the work of two strangers, who hung about the +neighboring settlement and disappeared immediately after the accident." + +Millicent's eyes flashed, her white teeth were set together, and, +filled with hot indignation against her husband, she lashed the ponies +viciously. There were several reasons for what she had done, including +a dislike to Miss Savine, but perhaps the greatest was the sordid fear +of poverty. Now she saw that her husband had tricked her. She had +stooped to save his position and not to enable him to work further +injury for Thurston. The innocent ponies were Leslie's gift, and the +smart of the lash she drew across their sleek backs appeared vicarious +punishment. + +"Have I displeased you?" Geoffrey asked. + +"No," replied Millicent. "Displeased me! How could I resent anything +you might either say or do? Have I not heaped injury upon you?" + +She turned to gaze straight at him with a curious glitter in her eyes. +Thurston, bewildered by it and by the traces of ill-suppressed passion +in her voice, grew distinctly uneasy. He was glad that one of the +ponies showed signs of growing restive under its punishment. + +"Steady, Millicent! They're a handsome pair, but not far off bolting, +and there's no parapet to yonder bridge," he cautioned. + +In place of an answer the woman again flicked one of the beasts +viciously with the whip, and, next moment, the light vehicle lurched +forward with a whir of gravel hurled up by the wheels. The team had +certainly shied, and the road curved sharply to the unguarded bridge +over a little creek. + +"This is my business," declared Geoffrey, wrenching the reins from her +grasp. "Sit well back, throw the whip down and clutch the rail fast." +Then he stood upright grasping the lines in his hard hands. It was, +however, evident that he could not steer the ponies around the bend, +and the fall to the rocks beneath the bridge might mean death. + +"Hold fast for your life," he shouted, and let the team run straight +on. There was a heavy shock as the light wheels struck a fallen branch +on leaving the graded road. The vehicle lurched, and Millicent, whose +eyes were wide with terror, screamed faintly. Geoffrey still stood +upright driving the team straight ahead down a more open glade of the +forest. He knew that the stems of the fern and the soft ground beneath +would soon bring them to a standstill if they did not strike a +tree-trunk first. + +The going was heavy, and with a plunge or two, the ponies stopped on +the edge of a thicket. Geoffrey, alighting, soothed the trembling +creatures with some difficulty, led them back to the road, and, taking +his place again, turned towards Millicent. It appeared necessary that +he should soothe her, too, for, though generally a self-possessed +person, the emotions of the last few minutes had proved too much for +her. She had suffered from remorse, disgust with herself, rage against +her husband, and to these there had also been added the fear of sudden +death. + +"It ended better than it might have done," said Geoffrey, awkwardly. +"Very sorry, but you must really be careful in using the whip to the +ponies. Shall I get down and bring you some water, Millicent? You +look faint. The fright has made you ill." + +"No," Millicent denied. "I am not ill; only startled a little--and +very grateful." Instinctively, she moved a little nearer him when +Geoffrey handed her the reins again. He bent his head and smiled +reassuringly. Millicent was white in the face, and shivered a +little--she was also very pretty, and it would have been unkind not to +try to comfort her. Whether it was love of power, dislike to her +husband, or perhaps something more than this, even the woman was not +then sure, but she took full advantage of the position, and the ponies +walked undirected, while Geoffrey essayed to chase away her fears. He +bent his head lower towards her, and Millicent smiled at him with +apparently shy gratitude. + +Lifting his eyes a moment, Geoffrey set his teeth as he met the coldly +indifferent gaze of Helen, who came towards them in company with Mr. +and Mrs. Thomas Savine. Millicent also saw the three Savines, and, +either tempted by jealousy of the girl or by mere vanity, managed to +convey a subtle expression of triumph in her smile of greeting. +Possibly neither Thomas Savine nor Geoffrey would have understood the +meaning of the smile had they seen it, but Helen read it, and it was +with the very faintest bend of her head that she acknowledged +Thurston's salutation. + +Geoffrey was silent after they had driven by, but Millicent, who seemed +to recover her spirits, chatted gayly and even said flattering things +of Miss Savine. + +Meantime Helen felt confused, hurt and angry. It was true that she had +rejected Thurston's suit, but she had found his loyalty pleasant, and +had believed implicitly in his rectitude. Now a hot color rose to her +temples as she remembered that it was the second time she had seen him +under circumstances which suggested that he had transferred the homage +offered her to a married woman. She felt the insult as keenly as if he +had struck her. The Dominion had not progressed so far in one +direction as the great republic to the south of it, neither are +friendships or flirtations of the kind looked upon as leniently as they +are in tropical colonies, and there was a good deal of the Puritan in +Helen Savine. + +"Well, I'm--just rattled. That's Mrs. Leslie!" remarked Thomas Savine. +"Thurston goes straight and steady, but what in the name of----" + +Mrs. Savine, whose one weakness was medicine, flashed a warning glance +at him, and hastened to answer, perhaps for the benefit of Helen who +came up just then. + +"There is not a straighter man in the Dominion, and one could stake +their last cent on the honor of Geoffrey Thurston," she declared. +"From several things I've heard, I've settled that's just a dangerous +woman." + +Helen heard, and, knowing her friendship for the young engineer, +guessed her aunt's motive. The explanation, in any case, would not +have improved the position much, for if the woman were utterly +unprincipled, which she could well believe, why should the man who had, +of his own will, pledged himself to her?--but she flushed again as she +refused to follow that line of thought further. Nevertheless, she +clenched a little hand in a manner that boded ill for Thurston when +next he sought speech with her. Afterwards she endeavored to treat the +incident with complete indifference, and succeeded in deceiving her +uncle only, for in spite of her efforts, her face and carriage +expressed outraged dignity. Her aunt was not in the least deceived, +and her eyes twinkled now and then as she chattered on diverse topics, +while the party drove leisurely towards the city. + +When Leslie returned home from his office he found his wife awaiting +him with the disdainful look upon her face which he had learned to hate. + +"What's the matter now, Millicent? Has something upset your usually +pacific temper?" he asked with a sneer. + +"Yes," was the direct answer. "When you last asked my assistance you, +as usual, lied to me. I helped you to trace your--your confederate, +because you told me it was the only way to escape ruin. For once I +believed you, which was blindly foolish of me. I met Mr. Thurston and +learned from him how somebody had plotted to destroy his machinery. He +did not know it was you, and I very nearly told him." + +"Don't be a fool, Millicent," Leslie admonished. "I'm sick of these +displays of temper--they don't become you. I tell you I plotted +nothing except to get my man into my own hands again. The other +rascals exceeded their orders on their own responsibility. Oh, you +would wear out any poor man's patience! Folks in my position don't do +such childish things as hire people to upset wagons loaded with +machinery." + +"I do not believe you," replied Millicent, and Leslie laughed +ironically. + +"I don't know that it greatly matters whether you do or not. Have you +any more such dutiful things to say?" + +"Just this. One hears of honor among thieves, and it is evident you +cannot rise even to that. You have once more tricked me, and +henceforward I warn you that you must carry on your work in your own +way. Further, if I hear of any more plotting to do Thurston injury, I +shall at once inform him." + +"Then," Leslie gripped her arm until his fingers left their mark on the +soft white flesh, "I warn you that it will be so much the worse for +you. Good heavens, why don't you--but go, and don't tempt me to say +what I feel greatly tempted to." + +Millicent shook off his grasp, moved slowly away, turning to fling back +a bitter answer from the half-opened door. + +"Confound her!" said Leslie, refilling the glass upon the table. "Now, +what the devil tempted me to ruin all my prospects by marrying that +woman?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +REPARATION + +"You will have to go," said Henry Leslie, glancing sharply at his wife +across the breakfast-table as he returned her an open letter which had +lately arrived by the English mail. "I hardly know where to find the +money for your passage out and home just now, and you will want new +dresses--women always seem to. Still, we can't afford to miss an +opportunity, and it may prove a good investment," he added, +reflectively. + +Millicent sighed as she took the letter, and, ignoring her husband's +words, read it through again. It had been written by a relative, a +member of the legal profession, and requested her to return at once to +England. The stern old man, who had reared her, was slowly dying, and +had expressed an urgent wish to see her. + +"Isn't that the man who wanted you to marry Thurston, and when you +disappointed him washed his hands of both of you?" Leslie inquired. +"There were reasons why I hadn't the pleasure of duly making the +acquaintance of your relatives, but I think you said he was tolerably +wealthy, and, as he evidently desires a reconciliation, you must do +your best to please him. Let me see. You might catch the next New +York Cunarder or the Allan boat from Quebec." + +Millicent looked up at him angrily. She was not wholly heartless, and +her kinsman had not only provided for her after her parents died in +financial difficulties, but in his own austere fashion he had been kind +to her. Accordingly, her husband's comments jarred upon her. + +"I should certainly go, even if I had to travel by Colonist car and +steerage," she declared. "I should do so if there were no hope of +financial benefit, which is, after all, very uncertain, for Anthony +Thurston is not the man to change his mind when he has once come to a +determination. The fact that he is dying and asks for me is +sufficient--though it is perhaps useless to expect you to believe it." + +"We must all die some day," was the abstracted answer. "Hardly an +original observation, is it? But it would be folly to let such a +chance pass, and I must try to spare you. If you really feel it, I +sympathize with you, and had no intention of wounding your +sensibilities, but as, unfortunately, circumstances force us to +consider these questions practically, you will--well, you will do your +best with the old man, Millicent. To put it so, you owe a duty to me." + +Leslie and his wife had by this time learned to see each other's real +self, naked and stripped of all disguise, and the sight was not +calculated to inspire either with superfluous delicacy. The man, +however, overlooked the fact that his partner in life still clung to a +last grace of sentiment, and could, on occasion, deceive herself. + +"I owe you a duty! How have you discharged yours to me?" she said, +reproachfully. "Do not force me to oppose you, Harry, but if you are +wise, go around to the depot and find out when the steamers sail." + +"Yes, my dear," Leslie acquiesced with a smile, which he did not mean +to be wholly ironical. "Would it be any use for me to say that I shall +miss you?" + +"No," answered Millicent, though she returned his smile. "You really +would not expect me to believe you. Still, if only because of the +rareness of such civility, I rather like to hear you say so." + +Mrs. Leslie sailed in the first Cunarder, and duly arrived at a little +station in the North of England where a dogcart was waiting to drive +her to Crosbie Ghyll. She had known the man, who drove it long before, +and he told her, with full details, how Anthony Thurston, having come +down from an iron-working town to visit the owner of the dilapidated +mansion had been wounded by a gun accident while shooting. The wound +was not of itself serious, but the old man's health was failing, and he +had not vitality enough to recover from the shock. + +Meantime, while Millicent Leslie was driven across the bleak brown +moorlands, Anthony Thurston lay in the great bare guest-chamber at +Crosbie Ghyll. He had been a hard, determined man, a younger son who +had made money in business, while his brothers died poor, clinging to +the land, and it was with characteristic grimness that he was quietly +awaiting his end. The narrow, deep-sunk window in front of him was +open wide, though the evening breeze blew chilly from the fells, which +rose blackly against an orange glow. Though he manifested no +impatience, the sunset light beating in showed an expectant look in his +eyes. A much younger man sat at a table close by and laid down the pen +he held, when the other said: + +"That will do, Halliday. Is there any sign of the dog-cart yet? You +are sure she will come to-night?" + +"There is a vehicle of some kind behind the larches, but I cannot see +it clearly," was the answer. "You can rest satisfied, sir, for if Mrs. +Leslie has missed the train, she will arrive early to-morrow." + +"To-morrow may be too late," said the old man. "I do not feel well +to-night. Yes, she will come. Millicent is like her father, and, +though he ruined himself, it was not because he hadn't a keen eye for +the main chance. Because I was a lonely man and because, in my +struggling days her mother was kind to me, I was fond of her. You +needn't be jealous, Halliday. You will have the winding up of my +estate, and it won't affect your share." + +There was a vein of misanthropic irony in most of what Anthony Thurston +said, but the other man had the same blood in him, and answered quickly: + +"My own business is flourishing, and I have tried to serve you hitherto +because of the relationship. I have no other reason, sir." + +"No," assented Thurston, with something approaching a laugh. "There is +no doubt you are genuine. Millicent took after her father and, in +spite of it, I was fond of her. Tell me again. Did you consider her +happy when you saw her in Canada?" + +"As I said before, it is a delicate question, but I did not think so. +Her husband struck me as a particularly poor sample, sir." + +"Ah! She married the rascal suddenly out of pique, perhaps, when +Geoffrey left her. I could never quite get at the truth of that story, +which, of course, was framed in the conventional way, but even now, +though he's nearer of kin than Millicent, I can't quite forgive +Geoffrey. You saw him, you said, on your last visit to those mines." + +The speaker's tone was indifferent, but his eyes shoved keen interest, +and Halliday answered: + +"If ever the whole truth came out I don't think you would blame +Geoffrey, sir. Individually, I would take his word against--well, +against any woman's solemn declaration. Yes, I saw him. He was making +a pretty fight single-handed against almost overwhelming natural +difficulties." + +"Why?" asked Anthony Thurston. "A woman out there, eh? Are you +pleading his cause, Halliday? Remember, if you convince me, he may be +another participant in the property." + +"He did not explain all his motives to me, and nobody ever gained much +by attempting to force a Thurston's confidence. If you were not my +kinsman and were in better health I should feel tempted to recommend +you to place your affairs in other hands. Confound the property!" + +There was a curious cackle in the sick man's throat, and the flicker of +a smile in his sunken eyes. + +"I can believe it. You are tarred with the same brush as Geoffrey. +The obstinate fool must go out there with a couple of hundred pounds or +so, when he knew he had only to humor me by marrying Millicent and wait +for prosperity. And yet, in one way, I'm glad he did. He never wrote +me to apologize or explain--still, that's hardly surprising either. I +don't know that any of us ever troubled much about other folks' +opinions or listened to advice. Here am I, who might have lived +another ten years, dying, because, when an officious keeper warned me, +I went the opposite way. I hear wheels, Halliday." + +"It is the dogcart," Halliday announced. "Yes--I see Mrs. Leslie." + +"Thank God!" said the sick man. "Bring her here as soon as she's +ready. Meantime, send in the doctor. I feel worse to-night." + +The light was dying fast when Millicent Leslie came softly into the +great bare room, and, for Anthony Thurston had paid for overtaxing his +waning strength, her heart smote her as she looked upon him. She could +recognize the stamp of fast approaching death. There was an unusual +gentleness in his eyes, which brightened at her approach, and with the +exception of Geoffrey, whose sympathy filled her with shame, it was +long since anyone had looked upon her with genuine kindliness. So it +was with real sorrow she knelt beside the bed and kissed him. + +"I was shocked to hear of your accident, but it was some time ago, and +you are recovering," she remarked, trying to speak hopefully, but with +a catch in her breath. + +"I am dying," was the answer, and Millicent sobbed when the withered +fingers rested on her hair. + +"I wanted to see you before I went. I was fond of you, Milly, and +you--you and Geoffrey angered me. It was not your fault," the somewhat +strained voice added wistfully. "He--I don't wish to hurt you, or hear +the stereotyped version he of course endorsed. He left you?" + +Millicent Leslie was not wholly evil. She had a softer side, and, in +the moment of reconciliation, dreaded to inflict further pain upon one +to whom she owed much. If the truth was not in her, there was one +thing in her favor, so at least the afterwards tried to convince +herself. Prompted by a desire to soothe a dying man's last hours, she +voluntarily accepted a very unpleasant part. She was thankful her head +was bent as she said: "It was perhaps my fault. I would not--I could +not consent to humor him in what appeared a senseless project--and so +Geoffrey went to Canada." + +She felt the old man's hand move caressingly across her hair. "Poor +Millicent," he sympathized. "And you chose another husband. Are you +happy with him out there? But stay, it is twilight and the old place +is gloomy. If you would like them, ask for candles. +Geoffrey--Geoffrey left you!" + +Millicent did not desire candles, but gently drew herself away. +Anthony Thurston's tenderness had touched her, and, with sudden +compunction, she remembered that she had deceived a dying man. He +believed her, but she did not wish him to see her face. She drew a +chair towards the bed, and for a moment looked about her, striving to +collect her scattered thoughts. Framed by the stone-ribbed window, the +afterglow still shimmered, a pale luminous green, and one star twinkled +over the black shoulder of Crosbie Fell. Curlews called mournfully +down in the misty mosses, and when she turned her head the sick man's +face showed faintly livid against the darker coverings of the bed. For +a moment she felt tempted to make full confession, or at least excuses +for Geoffrey, but Anthony Thurston spoke again just then and the moment +was lost. + +"I asked are you happy in Canada, Millicent," he repeated, and there +was command as well as kindness in his tone. Anthony Thurston, mine +owner and iron works director, was dying, but he had long been a ruler +of stiff-necked men, and the habit of authority still remained with +him. It struck Millicent that he was in many ways very like Geoffrey. + +"I am not," she admitted. "I would not have told you if you had not +insisted. It is the result of my own folly, and there is no use +complaining." + +Anthony Thurston stretched out a thin, claw-like hand and laid it on +one of her own. "Tell me," he said. + +"We are poor. That is, my husband's position is precarious, and it is +a constant struggle to live up to it." + +"Then why do you try?" + +Millicent sighed as she answered: + +"It is, I believe, necessary or he would lose it, while he aims at +obtaining sufficient influence to win him a connection, if he resumed +his former land business." + +"From what I know it is a rascally business; but there is more than +this. My time is very short, Millicent, but it seems such a very +little while since a bright-haired girl who atoned for another's injury +sat upon my knee, and for the sake of those days I can still protect +you. Your husband treats you ill?" + +There was a vibration in the strained voice which more strongly +reminded the listener of Geoffrey's, and awoke her bitterness against +the man she had married. It was so long since she had taken a living +soul into her confidence, that she answered impulsively: "There is no +use hiding the truth from you. He does not treat me well." + +Then she related the story of her married life, and Anthony Thurston +listened gravely, comprehending more than she meant to tell him, for +when she had finished he commented: "You have neither been over loyal +nor over wise--too quick to see the present gain, blind to the greater +one behind--but it is my part to help, not blame you, and I will try to +do so. It is dark now. Please ask for my draught and the candles. +Then I want you to tell me about Geoffrey. You have met him in Canada." + +Millicent, retiring, stood for a few minutes looking down from a narrow +window in the bare stone corridor on to the moor. There was no moon, +but the night was luminous, for the stars twinkled with a windy glitter +that was flung back by a neighboring tarn. The call of the curlew +seemed more mournful, the crying of lapwing rose from the meadow land, +and she started at a hollow hoot as an owl swept by on muffled wing. +The night voices filled her with an eerie sensation--there was, she +recollected, always something creepy about Crosbie Ghyll, and, for +Millicent was superstitious, she shivered again at the reflection that +she had cheated a dying man. But she could make partial reparation to +the living at least, and when she came back with the candles there was +resolve in her face. + +"You asked me about Geoffrey. He has no reason to be ashamed of his +record in Canada," she said. "I will tell you what I know from the +beginning--and I hope I shall tell it well." + +It was a relief to do so, and the story of Geoffrey's struggle and +prospective triumph was a stirring one as it fell from the lips of the +woman who had thrice wronged him. She guessed how her husband's +employers had plotted, having gathered much from the talk of his +guests, and the old man listened eagerly, until he struck the coverlet +when she concluded. Grim satisfaction was stamped upon his twitching +face. + +"It is a brave story. I thank you, Millicent; you told it very well. +Ay, the old blood tells--and I was proud of the lad. Went his own way +in spite of me--he is my kinsman, what should I expect of him? +Standing alone for a broken master, with cunning and wealth against him +and his last dollar in the scheme! Quite in keeping with traditions, +and there'll be broken crowns before they beat him down." + +The dying man, who had fought perhaps as stubbornly all his life long, +gasped once or twice before he added, "You must go now, Millicent. +Send Halliday to me." + +Millicent went out with a throbbing pulse and downcast eyes, and when +the lawyer came in Thurston said: "Read over that partly completed +will." + +"Had you not better rest until to-morrow, sir?" was the answer. "Dr. +Maltby warned you----" + +"You ought to know by this time that I seldom take a warning, and +to-morrow may be too late. Write, and write quickly. After payment of +all bequests above, balance of real estate to yourself and Forsyth as +trustees, to apply and use for the individual benefit of Millicent +Leslie. If her husband lays hands upon it, I'll haunt you. You have +power to nominate Geoffrey Thurston as your co-trustee. God knows what +may happen, and her rascally husband may get himself shot by somebody +he has swindled some day. What I wished for mightn't follow then? I'm +paying you to make my will and not dictate to me. Repeat it as many +times as may appear necessary to let my meaning show clearly through +your legal phraseology." + +"I have got it down, sir," the writer told him presently. + +"Now, after deductions enumerated, all my floating investments in +mines, stocks and shares to Geoffrey Thurston, to hold or sell as +pleases him, unconditionally. Bequeathed in the hope that this will +help him to confound his enemies." + +It was written, signed and witnessed by Musker and the surgeon, then +Anthony Thurston asked once more and very faintly for Millicent. He +drew her down beside him and took her hand in his thin, gnarled one +before he said: + +"I have done my best for you, Milly--and again thank you for the story. +After what Halliday said, it has helped to conquer an old bitterness, +and--for my work is finished--I can die contented. I may be gone +to-morrow, and my strength is spent. Good-by, Milly. God bless you!" + +Millicent stooped and kissed him with a sense of shame. Before morning +all power of speech or volition left Anthony Thurston, and twelve hours +later he was dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A REPRIEVE + +It was with a heavy heart that Geoffrey Thurston turned over the papers +Thomas Savine spread out before him in the Vancouver offices. + +"I'm almost scared to do any more figuring," said Savine. "Money is +going to be uncommonly tight with us, and, to make things worse, I can +neither realize nor borrow. My brother's investments are way below par +now, and the first sign of any weakness would raise up an opposition +that would finish us. I can't stay here forever, and poor Julius is +steadily getting worse instead of better. Are you still certain you +can get the work done before the winter's through?" + +"Yes," asserted Geoffrey. "If I can get the machinery and sufficient +men--which means money. There's a moderate fortune waiting us once we +can run the water out of the valley, and it's worth a desperate effort +to secure it." + +"We have made a good many daring moves since my brother gave me his +power of attorney, and I have sunk more of my own money than my +partners, who have backed me pluckily, care about. Still, I can't see +how I'm going to meet your estimate, nohow." + +"You have just got to do it," Geoffrey insisted. "It is the part you +chose. At my end, I'll stop for nothing short of manslaughter. We +simply can't afford to be beaten, and we're not going to be." + +"I hope not," and Thomas Savine sighed dubiously. "Your assurance is +refreshing, Geoffrey, but I own up I can't see--well, we've done enough +for one day. Come round and spend the evening with me. Mrs. Savine is +anxious to see you." + +Geoffrey hesitated for a few seconds, and Thomas Savine smiled at +something which faintly amused him. Remembering Helen's freezing look +and his occupation when she last saw him, Geoffrey felt that it might +not be pleasant to meet her so soon. Then, because he was a proud man, +he endeavored to accept the invitation with cordiality. + +"I am glad you will come," said Thomas Savine, with a trace of the dry +humor which occasionally characterized him. + +Geoffrey, who felt that in this instance the pleasure was hardly +mutual, and that Helen might not share it with her uncle, said nothing +further on that subject, until Mrs. Savine met him in the hotel +corridor. A friendship had grown up between them since the day +Geoffrey endured the elixir, after mending the bicycle, and there was a +mischievous amusement in the lady's eyes as she said; "My compliments, +Geoffrey. You are a brave man." + +"I don't deserve them, madam. Wherein lies the bravery? Being at +present in perfect health, I have no cause to fear you." + +Mrs. Savine laughed good-naturedly, then laid her hand upon his arm +with a friendly gesture. "Sober earnest, I am glad you came. I +believe in you, Geoffrey, and like to see a man show the grit that's in +him." + +"I am honored," returned Geoffrey, with a little bow. There was a +grateful look in his brown eyes, which did not quail in the slightest +under the lady's scrutiny. + +In spite of her good-will, he, however, derived little pleasure from +that evening of relaxation. Helen showed no open displeasure, but he +was painfully conscious that what she had seen had been a shock to her. +It was impossible for him to volunteer an explanation. He was glad to +retire with Savine and a cigar-box to the veranda, and trying to +console himself with the reflection that he had at least shown no +weakness--he took his leave early. Helen was not present when he bade +Mrs. Savine farewell, but she saw him stride away over the gravel. +Though she would not ask herself why, she felt gratified that he had +not stayed away. + +It was some time later when, one day of early winter, he sat in his +wooden shanty, which at that season replaced the tent above the canyon. +Close by English Jim was busy writing, and Geoffrey, gnawing an +unlighted pipe, glanced alternately through the open door at his +hurrying workmen and at the letter from Thomas Savine which he held in +his hand. + +The letter expressed a fear that a financial crisis was imminent. +"Tell him he must settle all local bills up to the minute," said +Thurston, throwing it across to his amanuensis. "I daresay the English +makers will wait a little for payment due on machinery. Did you find +that the amount I mentioned would cover the wages through the winter?" + +"Only just," was the answer. "That is, unless you could cut some of +them a little." + +"Not a cent," Geoffrey replied. "The poor devils who risk their lives +daily fully earn their money." + +"Do you know their wages equal the figure the strikers demanded and you +refused to pay? Summers told me about that dispute, sir," ventured +English Jim. + +"The strikers were not prepared to earn higher pay--and that one word, +'demanded,' makes a big difference. Hello! who is the stranger?" + +Mattawa Tom was directing a horseman towards the shanty, and Geoffrey, +who watched the newcomer with growing interest, found something +familiar in his face and figure, until he rose up in astonishment when +the man rode nearer. + +"Halliday, by all that's wonderful!" he cried. "Uncommonly glad to see +you; but whatever brought you back to this far-off land again?" + +"Several things," was the answer, as Halliday, shaking the snow from +his furs, dismounted stiffly. "Strain of overwork necessitated a +change, my doctor told me. Trust estate I'm winding up comprised +doubtful British Columbian mining interests, and last, but not least, +to see you, Geoffrey." + +The man's fur coat was open now, and Geoffrey, who glanced at the black +coat beneath it, said: + +"I'm glad you wanted to see me, anyway, but come in. Here, Jake, take +the horse to the stable. Are my sympathies needed, Halliday--any of my +new friends over yonder dead?" + +Halliday stared at him blankly. "Haven't you read the letter I sent +you? Do you get no English papers?" he questioned. + +"No, to both. I fancy very few people over yonder trouble themselves +as to whether I'm living. How did you address your letter?" + +"Orchard City, or was it Orchardville? Mrs. Leslie told me the name of +the postoffice, and I looked it up on a map." + +Geoffrey thrust his guest into a chair. + +"That explains it. This is Orchard Valley; the other place is away +across the province, a forlorn hamlet, and some ox-driving postmaster +has no doubt returned your letter. Do you bring bad news? Don't keep +me in suspense." + +"Anthony Thurston's dead. Died in your old place, partly the result of +a gun accident," answered Halliday, and Geoffrey sat silent for a +moment. + +"I'm sorry--yes, sincerely," he said at last. "I can say it freely, +because, as I daresay you know, I disappointed him, and can in no way +benefit by his death. In fact, he had the power to refuse me what was +morally my right, and no doubt he exercised it. Still, now it's too +late, I feel ashamed that I never tried to patch up the quarrel. Poor +old Anthony!" + +Halliday smiled. "You are a better fellow than you often lead folks to +suppose, Geoffrey--and I quite believe you. Such regrets are, however, +generally useless, are they not? In this case especially so, for +Anthony Thurston forgot the quarrel before he died, and sent you his +very good wishes. I see I have a surprise in store. You are a +beneficiary. He has bequeathed you considerably more than your moral +share in the property." + +Thurston strode up and down the shanty before he halted. + +"I'm glad that, though perhaps I deserved it, he didn't carry the +bitterness into the grave with him," he declared with earnestness. "We +were too much like each other to get on well, but there was a time when +he was a good friend to me. It's no use pretending I'm not pleased at +what you tell me--it means a great deal to me. But you must be tired +and hungry, and I want to talk by the hour to you." + +Halliday did full justice to the meal which the camp cook produced, and +afterwards the two men sat talking until the short winter afternoon had +drawn to a close and the first stars were blinking down on untrodden +snows. Answering a question Halliday said: + +"Your share--I'll show you a complete list when I unpack my +things--will, if left invested, provide you with a moderate income for +a single man. Indeed, with your Spartan tastes, you might live in what +you would consider luxury. As usual, however, in such cases, the +securities are not readily marketable, and your interest in some +ventures could hardly be summarily realized at any sacrifice. The +whole is left to you unconditionally, but my advice is decidedly that +you hold on." + +"I am sorry," Geoffrey replied, "because even at a sacrifice I intend +to sell. If you're not too tired to listen a little longer, I'll try +to explain why." + +Halliday listened gravely. Then he commented: + +"As Anthony Thurston said, it is characteristic of you, and it's +possible that he would have approved of what on the surface looks like +folly. He stated that he hoped the bequest would help you to confound +your enemies. But you must act as a business man. You say that, if +you go deeper, your firm might still wind up just solvent; then why not +abandon the apparently hopeless project, and withdraw? Follow your +profession if you must work, or live upon your income. This drainage +scheme looks tolerably desperate on your own showing, and if, selling +at a sacrifice you sink all your new possessions in it, you may be left +utterly cleaned out, a beggar. You have no other relatives likely to +leave you another competence, Geoffrey." + +"It can't be helped--or rather I don't want to help it. I've pledged +my word and honor to see this undertaking through, and I mean to redeem +it if it ruins me. Now what were you telling me about Mrs. Leslie?" + +Halliday explained for some minutes before he said: + +"You are on the spot, and it's your duty to join us. Anthony Thurston +was always eccentric, and has left us a very troublesome charge. Her +husband is not to get at the money, and this discrimination between man +and wife is going to be confoundedly awkward. However, as I'm going to +stay some little time, and if possible shoot a mountain sheep, we can +discuss it at leisure." + +Thomas Savine, who came up in a day or two, speedily became good +friends with Halliday. Geoffrey had his work to superintend, and was +suspicious that Halliday seized the opportunity his absence afforded to +explain what appeared to him a sacrifice of Anthony Thurston's legacy. +One evening when Halliday was down in the canyon watching the workmen +toiling in the river, under the lurid blaze of the lucigen, Thomas +Savine said: + +"I'm going to talk straight, Geoffrey. Your friend told me the whole +thing, and I agree with his opinion. See here, you are safe for life +if you hold fast to what you have got now--and the Lord knows whether +we will ever be successful in the canyon. Of course the money would +help us, but it isn't sufficient to make victory dead certain, and it +would be a drop in the bucket if we came down with a bang, as we may +very well do. Even considering what's at stake, I couldn't let you +make the plunge without protesting." + +"If I had ten times as much, or ten times as little, it would all go +after the rest," replied Geoffrey. "I appreciate your good intentions, +but you can't, and never will, convince me, so there's no use talking. +You will, in the meantime, say not a word to Miss Savine on the +subject." + +Next morning Geoffrey said to his guest: + +"I want you to write out a telegram to your partner in England. +Yonder's a mounted messenger waiting for it. He's to sell everything +bequeathed to me at the best price he can. You have done your best, +Halliday, and I suppose I ought to be more grateful than I am, but you +see I'm rather fond than otherwise of a big risk. We'll ride over with +Mr. Savine and call upon my partner to-day." + +It was late in the afternoon when the two arrived at the ranch which +Savine had rented. It was the nearest dwelling to the camp that could +be rendered comfortable, but lay some distance from it, over a very bad +trail. Helen was not cordial towards Geoffrey, who left her to +entertain Halliday, and slipped away to the room looking down the +valley, where his partner sat with a fur robe wrapped about his bent +shoulders. Savine's face had grown very hollow and his eyes were +curiously dim. + +"It was good of you to come, Geoffrey," he said; "How are you getting +on in the canyon?" + +"Famously, sir. We are certainly going to beat the river," was the +prompt answer, and remembering the accession of capital, Geoffrey's +cheerfulness was real. "I'm hoping to ask Miss Savine to fire the +final shot some time before the snows melt." + +Savine looked at him with a trace of his old keenness, and appeared +satisfied that the speaker believed in his own prediction. Then he +smiled as he answered: + +"You do me good, Geoffrey. Good news is better than gallons of +medicine, and when you make such a promise I feel I can trust you. I'm +grateful, but it's mighty trying to lie here helpless while another man +plays out my last and boldest game for me. Lord! what wouldn't I give +for just three months of my old vigor! Still, I'll never be fit again, +and as I must lean on somebody, I'm glad it should be you." + +"Lean on me! You have given me the chance of my life, sir. You don't +look quite comfortable there. Let me settle that rug for you," said +Geoffrey, and as with clumsy gentleness he rearranged the sick man's +wrappings, Helen came unobserved into the room. She read the pity +beneath the smile on the younger man's bronze face and noticed how +willingly his hard fingers did their unaccustomed work. Her heart grew +soft towards Geoffrey as she heard her father's sigh of content. The +sight touched, though, for a reason she was ashamed of, it also +troubled her. Unwilling to disturb them, she merely smiled when +Thurston saw her, and found herself a seat in a corner. + +"My brain's not so clear as it used to be. No use hiding things. +Why," began Savine, and Geoffrey, who surmised that he had not seen his +daughter, knocked over a medicine bottle with his elbow and spent some +time noisily groping under the table for it. The action might have +deceived one of his own sex, but Helen, who wondered what his motive +was, grew piqued as well as curious. + +"I've been worrying over things lately," continued Savine. "There was +one of the rancher's hired men in and he told our folks a mixed story +about a sluice gate bursting. You never mentioned it to me. Now I +have a hazy notion that I made a drawing for a gate one day, when I +was--sick, we'll say. I looked for it afterwards and couldn't find it. +I've been thinking over it considerable lately." + +"Then you are very foolish, sir," declared Geoffrey. "Of course, we +have had one or two minor breakages, but nothing we were unable to +remedy. Just now everything is going ahead in the most satisfactory +manner." + +Helen, who watched the speaker, decided that he was concealing +something, and also fancied her father did not seem quite satisfied. + +"I've been wondering whether it was that gate which burst. See here, +Geoffrey, I feel you have had bad trouble; isn't it a little mean not +to tell me? You will remember I'm still Julius Savine--and only a +little while ago there was no man in the province who dared to try to +fool me." + +A measure of the speaker's former spirit revealed itself in a clearer +vibration of his voice, and, raising himself in his chair, Savine +became for a moment almost the man he had been. + +Thurston had determined to hold his fallen leader's credit safe, not +only before the eyes of others but even in his own, and was doing it to +the best of his ability. + +"Of course, we have had trouble--lots of it, but nothing we could not +overcome," he repeated. "If everything went smoothly it would grow +monotonous. Still, you can rest perfectly contented, sir, and assist +us with your judgment in the difficult cases. For instance, would you +let me know what you think of these specifications?" + +Savine, who seemed to find a childish pleasure in being consulted, +forgot his former anxiety, and Geoffrey, leaving him contented, slipped +out of the ranch, and, finding a sheltered path among the redwoods, +paced to and fro. He was presently surprised to see Helen move out +from among the trees. She had a fur about her shoulders which set off +the finely-chiselled face above it. Nevertheless, for once at least, +he was by no means pleased to see her. + +"I wish to ask you a question," she said. "Of course, I have heard +there was an inquiry into the breaking of the sluice, but neither you +nor my uncle thought fit to give me any definite information on the +subject. Unfortunately, my father heard distorted rumors of the +accident, and has been fretting ever since. As you know, this is most +detrimental to his failing health, and, so that I may be the better +able to soothe him I want you to tell me all that happened." + +"There is absolutely no cause for uneasiness. As I said, we had one or +two difficulties which may have been vanquished. Your uncle will bear +me out in this," answered Geoffrey, who would have spoken more freely +had he not feared the girl's keenness. Helen's face, which was at +first scornful, grew anxious as she responded: + +"I have no doubt he would! In fact, when I asked him he explained with +such readiness that I cannot help concluding you have both conspired to +keep me in the dark. Can you not see that, situated as I am in caring +for an invalid who will not let his mind rest, uncertainty is almost +worse than the knowledge of disaster to me. Will you not tell me +frankly what you fear?" + +"I would do anything to drive your fears away." Geoffrey, who felt +helpless beneath the listener's searching eyes, spoke with sympathy in +his voice. "But I can only say again there is very slight cause for +anxiety." + +Helen turned half from him, angrily, then she faced round again. "You +are not a good dissembler. If quick at making statements you are not +prepared to substantiate them," she declared. "You would do anything +to dispel my fears--but the one most necessary thing I ask. You have +passed through, or are now facing, a crisis, and though some knowledge +of it would be of great help to me you do not consider me worthy of +your confidence." + +"Heaven forbid that I should think so. There is no one more +worthy--but----" Helen checked him with a gesture. + +"I desire the simple truth and not indifferent compliments," she said. +"You will not tell it to me, and I will plead with you no further, even +for my father's sake. When will you men learn that a woman's +discretion is at least equal to your own?" With a flash in her eyes, +she added: "How dare you once offer what you did to a woman you had no +trust in?" + +"You are almost cruel," Geoffrey answered, clenching his hand as he +mastered his own anger. "Some day, perhaps, you will yet believe I +tried to do what was best. Meantime, since I dare not presume to +resent it, I must try to bear your displeasure patiently." + +He might have said more, but that Helen left him abruptly. + +"It is confoundedly hard. Once strike a certain vein of bad luck and +you can neither get around nor under it, but there's no use +groaning--and what on earth could I have done?" he said to the +whispering firs. + +He went back presently to the ranch, and found Helen, who apparently +did not notice his return, chatting with Halliday. When the two men +bade their host farewell, Halliday, who lingered a few minutes, +observed to Thomas Savine: + +"I always knew my friend was reckless, but when I spoke as I did I +failed to comprehend what was at once his incentive and justification. +I must thank you for your attempt to aid me, but even against the +dictates of my judgment I can't help sympathizing with him now. If you +don't mind my saying so--because I see you know--I think what he hopes +to win is very well worth the risk." + +"I certainly know, and perhaps I am prejudiced in favor of my niece, +but I feel tempted to agree with you," answered Savine. "There are few +better women in the Dominion, but she is wayward, and whether Geoffrey +will ever win her only Heaven knows. Meantime, though we depend so +much upon him, I am often ashamed to let him take his chances with us. +Believe me, I have endeavored to dissuade him." + +Halliday smiled. "I am a kinsman of his and know him well," he said. +"It is quite in keeping with traditions that he should be perfectly +willing to ruin himself for a woman, and I am at least thankful that +the woman proves worthy. In this case, however, I venture to hope the +end may be the achievement of prosperity. I generally speak my mind +and hope I have not offended you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE ULTIMATUM + +Winter creeping down from the high peaks held the whole valley fast in +its icy grip when Mrs. Thomas Savine, who was seldom daunted by the +elements, went up from Vancouver to persuade her niece to seek +sheltered quarters on the sunny coast until spring. Her visit was, +however, in this respect a failure, for Julius Savine insisted upon +remaining within touch of the reclamation works. Though seldom able to +reach them, he looked eagerly forward to Geoffrey's brief visits, which +alone seemed to arouse him from his lethargy. + +Mrs. Savine and Helen sat in the general living-room at the ranch one +day when her brother-in-law came in leaning heavily upon his partner's +arm. Geoffrey had set his carpenters to build a sleigh, and from one +hill shoulder bare of timber it was possible, with good glasses, to see +what went on in the canyon. Savine was listening with evident +satisfaction to the tall, frost-bronzed man who led him towards the +room that he delighted to call his office, and Mrs. Savine, noticing +it, smiled gratefully upon Geoffrey. Worn by anxious watching, Helen +was possibly a little out of humor that afternoon, and the sight awoke +within her a certain jealousy. She had done her best, and had done it +very patiently, but she had failed to arouse her father to the +animation he showed in Geoffrey's presence. + +"I haven't felt so well since I saw you last," observed Savine, +oblivious for the moment of his daughter. "You won't fail to come back +as soon as ever you can--say the day after to-morrow?" + +Geoffrey glanced towards Helen, who made no sign, and Mrs. Savine +noticed that for a moment his face clouded. Then, as he turned towards +his partner, he seemed to make an effort, and his expression was +confident again. + +"I am afraid I cannot leave the works quite so often. Yes--we are +progressing at least as well as anyone could expect," he said. "I will +come and consult you whenever I can. In fact, there are several points +I want your advice upon." + +"Come soon," urged Savine, with a sigh. "It does me good to talk to +you--after the life I've lived, this everlasting loafing comes mighty +hard to me. I believe once I knew we were victorious I could let go +everything and die happy." + +Helen heard, and, overwrought as she was by nights of assiduous care, +the speech both pained and angered her. Geoffrey's answer was not +audible, as they passed on. He came back alone, off his guard for a +moment, looking worn and weary, and Mrs. Savine said: + +"You are tired, Geoffrey, and if you don't appear more lively next time +I will attend to you. No--don't get scared. It is not physic I'm +going to prescribe now. Take this lounge and just sit here where it's +cosy. Talk to Helen and me until supper's ready." + +Thurston had been crawling over ice-crusted rocks and wading knee-deep +in water most of the preceding night. The chair stood temptingly +between the two ladies and near the stove. He glanced towards it and +Helen longingly. Some impulse tempted the girl to say: + +"Mr. Thurston has usually so little time to spare that it would be +almost too much to hope that he could devote an hour to us." + +The tone was ironical, and Geoffrey, excusing himself, went out. He +sighed as he floundered down the snow-cumbered trail. There was +indignation in the elder lady's voice as she declared: + +"I am ashamed of you, Helen. The poor man came in too late, for +dinner, and he must be starving. If you had just seen how he looked at +you! You'd feel mean and sorry if they found him to-morrow frozen hard +in the snow." + +Helen could not fancy Geoffrey overcome by such a journey because he +had missed two meals, and she smiled at her aunt's dismal picture, +answering her with a flippancy which increased the elder lady's +indignation, "Mr. Thurston is not a cannibal, auntie." + +"I can't figure why you are fooling with that man if you don't want +him," said Mrs. Savine. "Oh, yes; you're going to sit here and listen +to some straight talking. Isn't he good enough for you?" + +Helen's face was flushed with angry color. "You speak with unpleasant +frankness, but I will endeavor to answer you," she responded. "I have +told Mr. Thurston--that is, I have tried to warn him that he was +expecting the impossible, and what more could I do? He is my father's +partner, and I cannot refuse to see him. I----" + +Mrs. Savine, leaning forward, took her niece's hands in her own, saying +gravely, "Are you certain it is quite impossible?" + +For a moment Helen looked startled, and her eyes fell. Then, raising +her head, she answered: "Have I not told you so? I have been anxious +about my father lately and do not feel myself to-day. Surely you have +no wish further to torment me." + +"No, but I mean to finish what I have to say. Do you know all that man +is doing for you? He has----" But Mrs. Savine ceased abruptly, +remembering she had in return for her husband's confidence promised +secrecy. + +"Yes. I think I know everything," replied Helen, with something +suspiciously like a sob, while her aunt broke her pledge to the extent +of shaking her head with a gesture of negation. "It--it makes it worse +for me. I dare not bid him go away, and I grow horribly ashamed +because--because it hurts one to be conscious of so heavy a debt. +Besides, he is consoling himself with Mrs. Leslie!" + +"Geoffrey Thurston would be the last man to consider you owed him +anything, and as to Mrs. Leslie--pshaw! It's as sure as death, +Geoffrey doesn't care two bits for her. He would never let you feel +that debt, my dear, but the debt is there. From what Tom has told me +he has declined offer after offer, and you know that, if he carries +this last scheme through, the credit and most of the money will fall to +your father." + +"I know." The moisture gathered in Helen's eyes. "I am grateful, very +grateful--as I said, ashamed, too; but my father comes first. I tried +to warn Geoffrey, but he would not take no. I feel almost frightened +sometimes lest he will force me to yield against my will, but you know +that would be a wrong to him--and what can I do?" + +Helen, unclasping her hands from her aunt's, looked straight before +her, and Mrs. Savine answered gently: "Not that. No--if you can't like +him it would not be fair to him. Only try to be kind, and make quite +sure it is impossible. It might have been better for poor Geoffrey if +he had never mixed himself up with us. You, with all your good points, +are mighty proud, my dear, but I have seen proud women find out their +mistake when it was too late to set things straight. Wait, and without +the help of a meddlesome old woman, it will perhaps all come right some +day." + +"Auntie," said Helen, looking down, some minutes later. "Though you +meant it in kindness, I am almost vexed with you. I have never spoken +of these things to anyone before, and though it has comforted me, you +won't remind me--will you?" + +"No." The older woman smiled upon the girl. "Of course not! But you +are pale and worried, and I believe that there is nothing that would +fix you better than a few drops of the elixir. I think I sent you a +new bottle." + +Then, though her eyes were misty, Helen laughed outright, as she +replied: + +"It was very kind of you, but I fear I lost the bottle, and have wasted +too much time over my troubles. What can I tempt my father with for +supper?" + + +When Geoffrey returned to camp, Halliday, who had arrived that day from +Vancouver, had much to tell him. + +"I've sold your English property, and the value lies to your credit in +the B. O. M. agency. All you have to do is to draw upon your account," +he said. "As you intend to sink the money in these works I can only +wish you the best of good luck. Now, I'm starting for home to-morrow, +and there's the other question--how to protect the interests of Mrs. +Leslie. Anthony Thurston made a just will, and her share, while enough +to maintain her, is not a large one, but I don't see yet just how it's +to be handled. It was the testator's special wish that you should join +the trustees, and that her husband should not lay his hands upon a +dollar. From careful inquiries made in Vancouver, I judge he's a +distinctly bad lot. Anyway, you'll have to help us in the meantime, +Geoffrey, and in opening a small bank account I made your signature +necessary on every check." + +"It's a confoundedly unpleasant position under the circumstances. What +on earth could my kinsman have been thinking of when he forced it upon +me of all men?" Geoffrey responded with a rueful face. "Still, I owe +him a good deal, and suppose that I must cheerfully acquiesce to his +wishes." + +"I cannot take upon myself to determine what the testator thought," was +the dry answer. "He said the estimable Mr. Leslie might either shoot +or drink himself to death some day. The late Anthony Thurston was a +tenacious person, and you must draw your own conclusions." + +"If there was one thing which more than another tempted me to refuse +you every scrap of assistance it was the conclusion I arrived at," said +Geoffrey. "However, I'll try to keep faith with the dead man, and +Heaven send me sense sufficient to steer clear of difficulties." + +"I can trust your honesty any way," remarked Halliday. "There's a +heavy load off my mind at last. You are a good fellow, Geoffrey, and, +excuse the frankness, even in questions beyond your usual scope not so +simple as you sometimes look." + +A day or two before this conversation took place, Henry Leslie, sitting +at his writing-table in the villa above the inlet, laid down his pen +and looked up gratefully at his wife, who placed a strip of stamped +paper before him. Millicent both smiled and frowned as she noticed how +greedily his fingers fastened upon it. + +"It is really very good of you. You don't know how much this draft +means to me," he said. "I wish I needn't take it, but I am forced to. +It's practically the whole of the first dole your skinflint trustee +made you, isn't it?" + +"It is a large share," was the answer. "Almost a year's allowance, and +I'm going to pay off our most pressing debts with the rest. But I am +glad to give it to you, Harry, and we must try to be better friends, +and keep on the safe side after this." + +"I hope we shall," replied the man, who was touched for once. "It's +tolerably hard for folks like us, who must go when the devil drives, to +be virtuous, but I got hold of a few mining shares, which promise to +pay well now, for almost nothing; and if they turn up trumps, I'd feel +greatly tempted to throw over the Company and start afresh." + +He hurriedly scribbled a little note, and Millicent turned away with a +smile that was not far from a sigh. She had returned from England in a +repentant mood, and her husband, whose affairs had gone smoothly, was +almost considerate, so that, following a reconciliation, there were +times when she cherished an uncertain hope that they might struggle +back to their former level. It was on one of the occasions when their +relations were not altogether inharmonious that she had promised to +give him a draft to redeem the loan Director Shackleby held like a whip +lash over him. Had Leslie been a bolder man, it is possible that his +wife's aspirations might have been realized, for Millicent was not +impervious to good influences. + +Unfortunately for her, however, a free-spoken man called Shackleby, who +said that he had been sent by his colleagues who managed the Industrial +Enterprise Company, called upon Thurston and Savine together in their +city offices. He came straight to the point after the fashion of +Western business men. + +"Julius Savine has rather too big a stake in the Orchard Valley for any +one man," he said. "It's ancient history that if, as usual with such +concerns as ours, we hadn't been a day or two too slow, we would have +held the concessions instead of him. Neither need I tell you about the +mineral indications in both the reefs and alluvial. Now we saw our way +to rake a good many dollars out of that valley, but when Savine got in +ahead we just sat tight and watched him, ready to act if he found the +undertaking too big for him. It seems to me that has happened, which +explains my visit to-day. We might be open to buy some of those +conditional lands from you." + +"They may never be ours to sell, though I hope for the contrary," +Geoffrey replied. + +"Exactly," said the other. "That is why we're only ready to offer you +out-district virgin forest value for the portions colored blue in this +plan. In other words, we speculate by advancing you money on very +uncertain security." + +Geoffrey laughed after a glance at the plan. "You have a pretty taste! +After giving you all the best for a tithe of its future value, where do +we come in?" + +"On the rest," declared Shackleby, coolly. "We would pay down the +money now, and advance you enough on interest to place you beyond all +risks in completing operations. Though you might get more for the +land, without this assistance, you might get nothing, and it will be a +pretty heavy check. I suppose I needn't say it was not until lately +that we decided to meet you this way." + +"By your leave!" broke in Thomas Savine, who had been scribbling +figures on a scrap of paper, which he passed to Geoffrey. It bore a +few lines scrawled across the foot of it: "Value absurdly low, but it +might be a good way to hedge against total loss, and we could level up +the average on the rest. What do you think?" + +Geoffrey grasped a pen, and the paper went back with the brief answer, +"That it would be a willful sacrifice of Miss Savine's future." + +"Suppose we refuse?" he asked, and Shackleby stroked his mustache +meditatively before he made answer: + +"Don't you think that would be foolish? You see, we were not unanimous +by a long way on this policy, and several of our leaders agree with me +that we had better stick to our former one. It's a big scheme, and +accidents will happen, however careful one may be. Then there's the +risk of new conditions being imposed upon you by the authorities. +Besides, you have a time limit to finish in, and mightn't do it, +especially without the assistance we could in several ways render you. +You can't have a great many dollars left either--see?" + +"I do," said Geoffrey, with an ominous glitter in his eyes. "You +needn't speak more plainly. Accidents, no doubt of the kind you refer +to, have happened already. They have not, however, stopped us yet, and +are not going to. I, of course, appreciate your delicate reference to +your former policy; I conclude it was your policy individually. I +don't like threats, even veiled ones, and nobody ever succeeded in +coercing me. Accordingly, when we have drained it, we'll sell you all +the land you want at its market value. You can't have an acre at +anything like the price you offer now." + +"That's your ultimatum. Yes? Then I'm only wasting time, and hope you +won't be sorry," returned Shackleby. When he went out Geoffrey turned +to Thomas Savine. + +"A declared enemy is preferable to a treacherous ally," he observed +dryly. "That man would never have kept faith with us." + +"I don't know," was the answer. "Of course, he's crooked, but he has +his qualities. Anyway, I'd sooner trust him than the invertebrate +crawler, Leslie." + +A day or two later Shackleby called upon Leslie in his offices and with +evident surprise received the check Millicent had given to her husband. + +"I wasn't in any hurry. Have some of your titled relatives in the old +country left you a fortune?" he inquired ironically. + +"No," was the answer. "My folks are mostly distinctly poor commoners. +I, well--I have been rather fortunate lately." + +"Here's your receipt," said Shackleby, with an embarrassing stare, +adding when Leslie, after examining it carefully, thrust the paper into +the glowing stove, "Careful man! Nobody is going to get ahead of you, +but can't you see that blame paper couldn't have made a cent's worth of +difference between you and me. Well, if you still value your +connection with the Company, I have something to tell you. That +infernal idiot Thurston won't hear of making terms, and, as you know, +there's a fortune waiting if we can corral the valley." + +"I can see the desirability, but not the means of accomplishing it," +replied Leslie. + +"No!" and the speaker glanced at him scornfully. "Well, Thurston must +finish by next summer, or his conditional grants are subject to +revision, while it's quite plain he can only work in the canyon in +winter. Something in the accident line has got to happen." + +"It failed before." Shackleby laughed. + +"What's the matter with trying again, and keeping on trying? I've got +influence enough to double your salary if Thurston doesn't get through. +It will be tolerably easy, for this time I don't count on trusting too +much to you. I'll send you along a man and you'll just make a bet with +him--we'll fix the odds presently and they'll be heavy against us--that +Thurston successfully completes the job in the canyon. The other man +bets he doesn't. When it appears judicious we'll contrive something to +draw Thurston away for a night or two." + +"But if you know the man, and it's so easy, why not make the bet +yourself?" Shackleby smiled pleasantly. + +"Because I'm not secretary hoping to get my salary doubled and a land +bonus. There are other reasons, but I don't want to hurt your feelings +any more than I wish to lacerate those of my worthy colleagues. +They'll ask no questions and only pass a resolution thanking you for +your zealous services. Nothing is going to slip up the wrong way, but +if it did you could only lose your salary, and I'd see you safe on the +way to Mexico with say enough to start a store, and you would be no +worse off than before, because I figure you'd lose the berth unless you +chip in with me." + +Leslie realized that this might well be so, but he made a last attempt. +"Suppose in desperation I turned round on you?" + +"I'd strike you for defamation and conspiracy, publish certain facts in +your previous record, and nobody would believe you, or dare to say so. +Besides, you haven't got grit enough in you by a long way, and that's +why I'm taking your consent for granted. By the way, I forgot to +mention that confounded Britisher raked an extra hundred dollars out of +me. Said I'd got to pay for his traveling and hotel expenses. I'm not +charging you, Leslie, and you ought to feel grateful to me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +AN UNEXPECTED ALLY + +Winter was drawing towards its close at last, when, on the evening of a +day in which the result of a heavy blasting charge had exceeded his +utmost expectations, Geoffrey Thurston stood beside his foreman in his +workmen's mess shanty. Tin lamps hung from the beams blackened with +smoke, and sturdy men were finishing their six o'clock supper beneath +them. The men were the pick of the province, for, until tempted by the +contractor's high wages, most of them had been engaged in laying the +foundations of its future greatness by wresting new spaces for corn and +cattle from the forest. They ate, as they worked, heroically. The +supper was varied and bountiful, for Geoffrey, who was conscious of a +thrill of pride as he glanced down the long rows of weather-beaten +faces, fed his workmen well. They had served him faithfully through +howling gale and long black night, under scorching sun and bitter +frost, and now that the result of that day's operations had brought the +end of the work in sight, there was satisfaction in the knowledge that +he had led such men. + +"They're a fine crowd, Tom, and I'll be sorry to part with them," he +said. "It's hard to believe, after all we have struggled with, that +less than three weeks will see us through, but I'd give many dollars +for every hour we can reduce the time by. Send for a keg of the +hardest cider and I'll tell them so." + +There was applause when the keg was lifted to the table with its head +knocked in. Geoffrey, who had filled a tin dipper, said: "Here's my +best thanks for the way you have backed me, boys. Since they carried +the railroad across Beaver Creek, few men in the province have grappled +as you have with a task like this; but it's sometimes just possible to +go a little better than what looks like one's best, and I'm asking as a +favor from all of you that you will redouble your efforts. I estimate +that we'll finish this tough section in eighteen days from now, but I +want the work done in less time, and accordingly I'll promise a bonus +to every man if we can fire the last big shot a fortnight from to-day." + +"Stan' by!" shouted a big section foreman, as he hove himself upright. +"Fill every can up an' wait until I've finished. Now, Mr. Thurston, +I'm talking for the rest. You've paid us good wages, an' we've earned +them, every cent, though that wasn't much to our credit, for Tom from +Mattawa saw we did. Still, even dollars won't buy everything, and what +you can't pay us for we're ready to give. If flesh an' blood can do +it, a fortnight will see us through, an' the next contract you take, if +it's to wipe out the coast range or run off the Pacific, we're coming +along with you. I've nailed you to the bargain, boys, an' here's--The +Boss, victorious, an' to ---- with his bonus!" + +The long shanty rang to the roar that followed, and, when it died away, +Geoffrey, who set down his can, turned to his foreman. + +"Who is the little man next to Walla Jake?" he asked. + +"An old partner of his from Oregon. Came in one day when you were +away, and, as Jake allowed he was a square man, I took him on. Found +him worth his money, and fancied I'd told you." + +"You did not," said Geoffrey. "Jake's quite trustworthy, but watch the +stranger well. No doubt he's honest, but I'm getting nervous now we're +so near the end." + +The foreman answered reassuringly, and Geoffrey, who turned away, rode +beneath the snow-sprinkled firs to Savine's ranch. It was late when he +reached it, but his partner and Helen were expecting him. Savine +sighed with satisfaction when Geoffrey said: + +"In all probability we shall fire the decisive shot a fortnight from +to-day." + +"It is great news," replied Julius Savine. "As I have said already, it +was a lucky day for me--and mine--when I first fell in with you. Two +more anxious weeks and then the suspense will be over and I can +contentedly close my career. Lord! it will be well worth the living +for--the consummation of the most daring scheme ever carried out in the +Mountain Province. I won't see your next triumph, Geoffrey, but it can +hardly be greater than this you have won for me." + +"You exaggerate, sir," said Geoffrey. "It was you who won the +concession and overcame all the initial difficulties, while we would +never have gone so far without your assistance. Such a task would have +been far beyond me alone." + +"No--though it is good of you to say so. There were times when I tried +to fancy I was running the contract, but that was just a sick man's +craze. You have played out the game well and bravely, Geoffrey, as +only a true man could. Perhaps Helen will thank you--just now I don't +feel quite equal to it." + +Savine's voice broke a little, and he glanced at Helen, who sat very +still with downcast eyes. Geoffrey also looked at her for a second, +and his elation was tinged with bitterness. He could see that she was +troubled, and, with a pang of sudden misgiving, he watched her +anxiously. Without the one prize he had striven for, the victory would +be barren to him. Still, he desired to save her embarrassment, and +when she raised her head to obey her father, he broke in: + +"Miss Savine can place me under an obligation by firing the fateful +charge instead. It was her first commission which brought good luck to +me, and it is only fitting she should complete the result of it by +turning the firing key." + +Helen's eyes expressed her gratitude, as, consenting, she turned them +upon the speaker. Geoffrey rising to the occasion, said: + +"Did you ever hear the story of the first contract I undertook in +British Columbia, sir? May I tell it to your father, Miss Savine?" + +Helen was quick to appreciate his motive, and allowed him to see it. +While, seizing the opportunity to change the subject, Geoffrey told the +story whimsically. Humor was not his strong point, but he was capable +of brilliancy just then. Julius Savine laughed heartily, and when the +tale was finished all had settled down to their normal manner. When +Geoffrey took his leave, however, Helen followed him to the veranda, +and held out her hand. She stood close to him with the moonlight full +upon her, and it was only by an effort that the man who gripped the +slender fingers, conquered his desire to draw her towards him. Helen +never had looked so desirable. Then he dropped her hand, and stood +impassively still, waiting for what she had to say. + +"I could not thank you before my father, but neither could I let you go +without a word," she said, with a quiet composure which, because she +must have guessed at the struggle within him, was the badge of courage. +"You have won my undying gratitude, and----" + +"That is a great deal, very well worth the winning," he responded. "It +will be one pleasant memory to carry away with me." + +"To carry with you! You are not going away?" asked Helen, with an +illogical sense of dismay, which was not, however, in the least +apparent. She knew that any sign of feeling would provoke the crisis +from which she shrank. + +"Yes," declared Geoffrey. "Once this work is completed, I shall seek +another field." + +"You must not!" Though her voice was strained, Helen, who dared not do +otherwise, looked him steadily in the eyes. "You must not go. Now, +when, if you stay in the Province, fame and prosperity lie within your +grasp you will not overwhelm me by adding to the knowledge of all I +have robbed you of. It is hard for me to express myself plainly--but I +dare not take this from you, too." + +"Can you not guess how hard it all is for me?" He strode a few paces +apart from her while the words fell from his lips. Then he halted +again and turned towards her. + +"I had not meant to distress you--but how can I go on seeing you so +near me, hearing your voice, when every word and smile stir up a +longing that at times almost maddens me? What I have done I did for +you, and did it gladly, but this new command I cannot obey. Fame and +prosperity! What are either worth to me when the one thing I would +sell my life for is, you have told me, not to be attained?" + +"I am sorry," faltered Helen, whose breath came faster. "More sorry +than I can well express. I dare not ruin a bright future for you. Is +there nothing I can say that will prevent you?" + +"Only one thing," Geoffrey moving nearer looked down upon her until his +gaze impelled Helen to lift her eyes. There was no longer any trace of +passion in his face, which in spite of its firm lines had grown gentle. + +"Only one thing," he repeated. "Please listen--it is necessary, even +if it hurts you. I cannot blame you for my own folly, but my love is +incurable. You are a dutiful daughter, with an almost exaggerated idea +of justice, and I know the power circumstances give me. Still, I am so +covetous that I must have all or nothing; I love you so that I dare not +use the advantage chance has given me. Nevertheless, I will not +despair even yet, and some day when, perhaps, absence has hidden some +of my many shortcomings, I will come back and beg speech with you." + +"You are very generous." The words vibrated with sincerity. +"Once--always--I have cruelly wronged you----" but here Geoffrey raised +his hand and looked at the girl with a wry smile that had no mirth in +it. + +"You have never wronged me, Miss Savine. Once you spoke with a +marvelous accuracy, and I am not generous, only so unusually wise that +you must have inspired me. I cannot be content with less than the +best, and what that is--again, if I am brutal you must remember I +cannot help my nature--I will tell you." + +He stooped, and, before she realized his intentions, deftly caught +Helen's hands in each of his own, tightening his grip on them +masterfully, until he forced her to look up at him. Helen trembled as +she met his eyes. The man had spoken no more than the truth when he +said he could not help his nature, and, suddenly transformed, it was +the former Geoffrey Thurston she had shrunk from who held her fast. + +"Yes, I am wise. I know I could bend you to my will now, and that +afterwards you would hate me for it," he told her. "I--I would not +take you so, not if you came to me. Further, for we have dropped all +disguises, and face the naked truth, I have striven, and starved, and +suffered for you, risked my life often--and you shall not cheat me of +my due, which alone is why, because my time is not come yet, I shall go +away. The one reward that will satisfy me is this, that of your own +will you will once more hold my hands and say, 'I love you, Geoffrey +Thurston,' and I can wait with patience--for you will come to me thus +some day." + +He bent his head; and Helen felt her heart leap; but it was only her +fingers upon which his lips burned hot. The next moment he had gone, +while leaning breathless against the balustrade she gazed after him. + +Geoffrey did not glance behind him until, when some distance from the +ranch, he reined his horse in, and wiped his forehead. He had yielded +at last to an uncontrollable impulse which was perhaps part of his +inheritance from the old moss troopers, who had carried off their +brides on the crupper. As he walked his horse, a muffled beat of hoofs +came up the trail, and he fancied he heard a voice say: "The +twentieth--I'll be ready." + +Then a mounted figure appearing for a moment, vanished among the firs. +Geoffrey, turning back to camp, noticed that beside the hollows the +hoofs had made, there was the print of human feet in the powdery snow. + +"There is nothing to bring any rancher down this way, and a man must +have walked beside the rider," he speculated. "Who on earth could it +be?" Dismissing the incident from his mind, he went on his way. It +was only afterwards that the significance of the footprints became +apparent. + +There was a light in Geoffrey's quarters when at last he approached +them, and the foreman met him at the door. "That blame waster, Black, +has come back. Rode in quietly after dark, and none of the boys have +set eyes on him," he said; and, noting his master's surprise, he added +with a chuckle, "I put him in there for safety, and waited right here +to take care of him." + +Geoffrey went into the shanty, carefully closed the door, and turned +somewhat sternly upon the visitor. Black's outer appearance suggested +a degree of prosperity, but his face was anxious as he said, "I guess +you're surprised to see me?" + +"I am," was the answer. "In view of the fact that it is my duty to +hand you over to the nearest magistrate, my surprise is hardly +astonishing." + +"No," agreed Black, "it is not. Still, I don't think you'll surrender +me. Anyway, you've got to listen to a little story first. You didn't +hear the whole of it last time. I figure I can trust you to do the +square thing." + +"Be quick, then." Geoffrey leaned against the table while his visitor +began: + +"You've heard of the Blue Bird mine, and how one of the men who +relocated the lapsed claim was found in the river with a gash, which a +rock might have made, in the back of his head? Of course you have. +Well, it was me and Bob Morgan who located the Blue Bird. Morgan was a +good prospector, but the indications were hazy, and he got drunk when +he could. I knew mighty little of minerals, and we done nothing with +it until the time to put in our legal improvements was nearly up. Then +Morgan struck rich pay ore, and we worked night and day. But we +weren't quite quick enough--one night two jumpers pulled our stakes up. +Oh, yes, they had the law behind them, for says the Crown, 'Unless +you've developed your claim within the legal limit, it lapses; and any +free miner can relocate.'" + +"Come to the point," said Thurston. "I'm sleepy." + +"I'm coming," Black continued; "Morgan had no grit. He got on to the +whiskey, and talked about shooting himself. I swore I'd shoot the +first of the other crowd who set foot on the claim instead, and half +the boys who started driving pegs all round us heard me. There was a +doubt as to whether the jumpers had hit the time putting their stakes +in, and the boys were most for me, but as usual the thieves had a man +with money behind them. His name was Shackleby." + +"Ah! I begin to understand things now," said Geoffrey. + +"I was sitting alone in my tent at night when one of them jumpers came +in," Black went on, unheeding. "All the rest were sleeping, and the +bush was very still. He'd a roll of dollar bills to give me if I'd +light out quietly. Said I'd nothing to stand on, but the man behind +him didn't want to figure in the papers if it went to court. Well, I +wouldn't take the money, and ran him out of my tent. When he touched +his pistol, I had an ax in my hand, and it was a poor man's luck that +one of the boys must come along. When he'd slouched off, I began to +hanker for the money, went after the jumper to see if I could raise his +price, missed him and came back again, but I struck his tracks in the +mud beside a creek, with another man's hoof-marks behind them. Well, +next morning that jumper was found in the river with no money in his +wallet, and the boys looked black at me until I had an interview with +Mr. Shackleby. He'd fixed the whole thing up good enough to hang me, +and nailed me down to blame hard terms as the price of my liberty. +You're getting tired--no? Shackleby got the Blue Bird, and kept his +claws on me until his man, Leslie, sent me up to bust your machines; +but Shackleby has worn me thin, until I'm ready to stand my trial +sooner than run any more of his mean jobs for him; and now, to cut the +long end off, do you believe me?" + +"I think I do," replied Geoffrey. "What made you bolt from here, and +what do you want from me? Is it the same promise as before?" + +Black related the incidents of his abduction. He raised his right hand +with a dramatic gesture as he concluded: + +"As I have been a liar, this is gospel truth, s'help me. Whoever +killed that jumper--and I figure Shackleby knows--it wasn't me. The +night you fished me out of the river I said, 'Here's a man with sand +enough to stand right up to Shackleby,' and I'll make a deal with you." + +"The terms?" said Geoffrey. + +"Rather better than before. On your part, a smart lawyer to take my +case if Shackleby sets the police on me. On mine--with you behind me, +I can tell a story that will bring two Companies down on Shackleby. +What brought me to the scratch now was, that I read in _The Colonist_ +that you'd be through shortly, and I guessed Shackleby's insect, +Leslie, would have another shot at you. I'm open to take my chances of +hanging to get even with them." + +The mingled fear and hatred in the speaker's face was certainly +genuine, and Geoffrey said briefly: "If I thought you guilty, I'd slip +irons on to you. As it is, I'm willing to close that deal. You'll +have to take my word and lie quiet, until you're wanted, where I hide +you." + +"I guess that is good enough for me," Black declared exultantly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +MILLICENT'S REVOLT + +"I really feel mean over it, and, of course, I will pay you back, but +unless I get the money to meet the call, I shall have to sacrifice the +stock," said Henry Leslie, glancing furtively at his wife across the +breakfast-table. + +Leslie was seldom at his best in the morning, but he seemed unusually +nervous, and the coffee-cup shook in his fingers as he raised it. + +"It's the last I'll ask you for," he continued, "and if you press him, +Thurston will sign the check. He said he was coming, did he not?" + +"Yes," was the answer. "Here is his note. It must be the last, Harry, +for I have overdrawn my allowance already. You will notice that +Geoffrey hesitates, and will not sign the check without seeing me. He +will be here on Thursday." + +Leslie took the letter with an eagerness which did not escape his wife, +while, as the sum in question was small, she could not quite understand +the satisfaction in his face. It had grown soddened and coarse of +late, and there were times when she looked upon her husband with +positive disgust. Still, she had, in spite of occasional disputes, +resumed her efforts to play the part of a dutiful wife, and it was +easier to pay her husband money than respect, the more so because he +had usually some specious excuse, which appealed both to her ambition +and her gambling instinct. At times he handed her small amounts of +money, said to be her share of the profits on speculations, for which +he required the loans. + +"'Pressure of work, but must make an effort to see you as you +suggest,'" Leslie read aloud. "H'm! 'Limit exceeded already. Will be +in town, and try to call upon you on Thursday.'" + + +"It is very good of him," remarked Millicent. "He evidently finds +every minute precious, and I am very reluctant to bring him here. I +gather that, except for my request, he would have deferred his other +business. Still, I suppose you must have the money, Harry?" + +"I must," was the answer, and Leslie, who did not look up, busied +himself with his plate. "Better write that you expect him, and I will +post the note. By the way, I must remind you that we take the Eastern +Fishery delegates on their steamer trip the day after to-morrow, and +though there may be rather a mixed company, I want you to turn out +smartly, and get hold of the best people. It would be well to see a +mention of the handsome Mrs. Leslie in the newspaper report." + +Millicent frowned. She was a vain woman, but she had some genuine +pride, and there were limits to her forbearance. By the time her +husband had induced her to withdraw her refusal to accompany him, it +was too late further to discuss Thurston's visit, which was exactly +what Leslie desired. Accordingly, well pleased with himself, he set +out for his office, with a letter in his hand. + +Mrs. Leslie had reason to remember the steamer excursion. A party of +prominent persons had been invited to accompany the Fishery delegates +on the maritime picnic, organized for the purpose of displaying the +facilities that coast afforded for the prosecution of a new industry. +It was difficult for the committee to draw a rigid line, and the +company was decidedly mixed, more so than even Millicent at first +surmised. Her husband, who acted as marshal, was kept busy most of the +time, but she noticed a swift look of annoyance on his face when, +before the steamer sailed, a tastefully-dressed young woman ascended +the gangway, where he was receiving the guests. There was nothing +dubious in the appearance of the lady or her elderly companion, and yet +Millicent felt that Leslie was troubled by their presence, and +hesitated to let them pass. The younger lady, however, smiled upon him +in a manner that suggested they had met before, and Leslie stood aside +when Shackleby beckoned him with what looked like an ironical grin. +Then the gangway was run in, and the engines started. + +It was a mild day for the season, and Millicent, who found friends, +dismissed the subject from her thoughts, when she saw her husband +exchange no word with his latest guests. She was sitting with a young +married lady, where the sun shone pleasantly in the shelter of the +great white deck-house, when a sound of voices came out, with the odor +of cigar smoke, from an open window. + +"You fixed it all right?" observed one voice which sounded familiar, +and there was a laugh which, though muffled, was more familiar still. +While, with curiosity excited, Millicent listened, a companion broke in: + +"Where's Mr. Leslie? I have scarcely seen him all morning." + +"Making himself useful as usual. Discoursing on fisheries and harbors, +of which he knows nothing, to men who know a good deal, and no doubt +doing it very neatly," said Millicent, smiling. + +"Why do you let him?" asked the other, with a little gesture of pride, +which became her. "Now, my husband knows better than to stay away from +me, even if he wanted to. Ah, here he is, bringing good things from +the sunny South piled up on a tray." + +Perhaps it was the contrast, for Millicent felt both resentful and +neglected when a young man approached carrying choice fruits and cakes +upon a nickeled tray; but before he reached them a voice came through +the window again: + +"You're quite certain? That man has eyes all over him, and it won't do +to take any chances with him. He must be kept right here in Vancouver +all night, and the game will be in our own hands before he gets back +again." + +"I've done my best," was the answer, and Millicent fancied, but was not +certain, that it was her husband who spoke. "I have fixed things so +that he will come to Vancouver. The only worry is, can we depend upon +the fellow I laid the odds with?" + +"Oh, yes," responded the second voice. "I guess he knows better than +fail me. By the way, you nearly made a fool of yourself over Coralie." + +"Somebody inside there talking secrets," observed the younger lady. "I +think it is Mr. Shackleby, and I don't like that man. Charley, set +down that tray and carry my chair and Mrs. Leslie's at least a dozen +yards away." + +Millicent, at the risk of being guilty of eavesdropping, would have +greatly preferred to stay where she was; but when the man did his +wife's bidding, she could only follow and thank him. Lifting a cluster +of fruit from the tray, she asked one question. + +"Can you tell me, Mr. Nelson, who is Coralie?" + +Nelson looked startled for a moment, and found it necessary to place +another folding chair under the tray. He did not answer until his wife +said: + +"Didn't you hear Mrs. Leslie's question, Charley? Who is Coralie?" + +"Sounds like the name of a variety actress," answered the man, by no +means glibly. "Why should you ask me? I really don't know. I'm not +good at conundrums. Isn't this a beautiful view? I fancied you'd have +a better appetite up here than amid the crowd below." + +Millicent's curiosity was further excited by the speaker's manner, but +she could only possess her soul in patience, until presently it was +satisfied on one point at least. She sat alone for a few minutes on +the steamer's highest deck against the colored glass dome of the great +white and gold saloon. Several of the brass-guarded lights were open +wide, and, hearing a burst of laughter, she looked down. The young +woman, who had spoken to Leslie at the gangway, sat at a corner table, +partly hidden by two carved pillars below. She held a champagne glass +in a lavishly jeweled hand, and there was no doubt that she was pretty, +but there was that in her suggestive laugh and mocking curve of the +full red lips, something which set Millicent's teeth on edge. If more +were needed to increase the unpleasant impression, a rich mine promoter +sat near the young woman, trying to whisper confidentially, and another +man, whose name was notorious in the city, laughed as he watched them. +But Millicent had seen sufficient, and turning her head, looked out to +sea. There were, however, several men smoking on the opposite side of +the dome, and one of them also must have looked down, for his comment +was audible. + +"They're having what you call a good time down there! Who and what is +she?" + +"Ma'mselle Coralie. Ostensibly a _clairvoyante_," was the dry reply. + +"_Clairvoyante_!" repeated the first unseen speaker, who, by his clean +intonation, Millicent set down as a newly-arrived Englishman. "Do you +mean a professional soothsayer?" + +"Something of the kind," said the other with a laugh. "We're a curious +people marching in the forefront of progress, so we like to think, and +yet we consult hypnotists and all kinds of fakirs, even about our +business. Walk down ---- Street and you'll see half-a-dozen of their +name-plates. When they're young and handsome they get plenty of +customers, and it's suspected that Coralie, with assistance, runs a +select gambling bank of evenings. The charlatan is not tied to one +profession." + +"I catch on--correct phrase, isn't it?" rejoined the Englishman. "Of +course, you're liberal minded and free from effete prejudice, but I +hardly fancied the wives of your best citizens would care to meet such +ladies." + +"They wouldn't if they knew it!" was the answer. "Coralie's a +newcomer; such women are birds of passage, and before she grows too +famous the police will move her on. In fact, I've been wondering how +she got on board to-day." + +"Leslie passed her up the gangway," said another man, adding, with a +suggestive laugh as he answered another question: "Why did he do it? +Well, perhaps he's had his fortune told, or you can ask him. Anyway, +although I think he wanted to, he dared not turn her back." + +Millicent, rising, slipped away. Trembling with rage, she was glad to +lean upon the steamer's rail. She had discovered long ago that her +husband was not a model of virtue, but the knowledge that his +shortcomings were common property was particularly bitter to her. Of +late she had dutifully endeavored to live on good terms with him, and +it was galling to discover that he had only, it seemed, worked upon her +softer mood for the purpose of extorting money to lavish upon illicit +pleasures. She felt no man could sink lower than that, and determined +there should be a reckoning that very night. + +"My dear Mrs. Leslie," said a voice beside her. "Why, you look quite +ill. My husband brought a bottle of stuff guaranteed to cure steamboat +malady. Run and get it, Charley," and Millicent turned to meet her +young married friend. + +"Please don't trouble, Mr. Nelson. I am not in the least sea-sick," +Millicent replied. "You might, however, spread out that deck chair for +me. It is a passing faintness which will leave me directly." + +She remembered nothing about the rest of the voyage, except that, when +the steamer reached the wharf, her husband, who helped her down the +gangway, said: + +"I have promised to go to the conference and afterwards dine with the +delegates, Millicent, so I dare say you will excuse me. I shall not be +late if I can help it, and you might wait up for me." + +Millicent, who had intended to wait for him, in any case, merely +nodded, and went home alone. She sat beside the English hearth all +evening with an open book upside down upon her knee, and her eyes +turned towards the clock, which very slowly ticked away the last hours +she would spend beneath her husband's roof. There was spirit in her, +and though she hardly knew why, she dressed herself for the interview +carefully. When Leslie entered, his eyes expressed admiration as she +rose with cold dignity and stood before him. Leslie was sober, but +unfortunately for himself barely so, for the delegates had been treated +with lavish Western hospitality, and there had been many toasts to +honor during the dinner. He leaned against the wall with one hand on a +carved bracket, looking down upon her with what seemed to be a leer of +brutal pride upon his slightly-flushed face. + +"You excelled yourself to-day, Millicent. I saw no end of folks +admiring you," he said. "Most satisfactory day! Everything went off +famously! Enjoyed yourself, eh?" + +"I can hardly say I did, but that is not what you asked me to wait +for," was the cold answer, and Millicent with native caution waited to +hear what the man wanted before committing herself. + +"No. I meant it, but it wasn't. I couldn't help saying I was proud of +you." Leslie paused, doubtless satisfied, his wife thought, that he +had smoothed the way sufficiently by a clumsy compliment. His +abilities were not at their best just then. Millicent's thin lips +curled scornfully as she listened. + +"Thurston will be here on Thursday," he continued. "Never liked the +man, but he has behaved decently as your trustee, and I want to be fair +to him. Besides, he's a rising genius, and it's as well to be on good +terms with him. Couldn't you get him to stay to dinner and talk over +the way they've invested your legacy?" + +"Do you think he would care to meet you?" asked Millicent, cuttingly. + +"Perhaps he mightn't. You could have the Nelsons over, and press of +business might detain me. Anyway, you'll have no time to settle all +about that money and your English property if he goes out on the +Atlantic train. You two seem to have got quite friendly again, and I'm +tolerably sure he'd stay if you asked him." + +Millicent's anger was rising all the time; but, because her suspicions +increased every moment, she kept herself in hand. Feeling certain this +was part of some plot, and that her husband was not steady enough to +carry out his _role_ cleverly, she desired to discover his exact +intentions before denouncing him. + +"Why should I press him?" + +Had it been before the dinner Leslie might have acted more discreetly. +As it was, he looked at the speaker somewhat blankly. "Why? Because I +want you to. Now don't ask troublesome questions or put on your +tragedy air, Millicent, but just promise to keep him here until after +the east-bound train starts, anyway. I'm not asking for caprice--I--I +particularly want a man to see him who will not be in the city until +the following day." + +Then, remembering what she had heard outside the steamer's deck house, +a light suddenly broke in upon the woman. The man whose keen eyes +would interfere with Shackleby's plans must be Thurston, and it was +evident there was a scheme on hand to wreck his work in his absence. +Once she had half-willingly assisted her husband to Thurston's +detriment; but much had changed since then, and remembering that she +had already, without knowing it, played into the confederate's hands by +writing to him, her indignation mastered her. + +"I could not persuade him against his wishes, and would not do so if I +could," she declared, turning full upon her husband. + +"You can and must," replied Leslie, whose passion blazed up. "I'm +about sick of your obstinacy and fondness for dramatic situations. You +could do anything with any man you laid yourself out to inveigle, as I +know to my cost, and in this case--by the Lord, I'll make you!" + +"I will not!" Millicent's face was white with anger as she fixed her +eyes on him. "For a few moments you shall listen to me. What you and +Shackleby are planning does not concern me; but I will not move a +finger to help you. Once before you said--what you have done--and if I +have never forgotten it I tried to do so. This time I shall do +neither. I have borne very much from you already, but, sunk almost to +your level as I am, there are things I cannot stoop to countenance. +For instance, the draft I am to cajole from Thurston is not intended +for a speculation in mining shares, but--for Coralie." + +The little carved bracket came down from the wall with a crash, and +Leslie, whose face was swollen with fury, gripped the speaker's arm +savagely. "After to-morrow you can do just what pleases you and go +where you will," he responded in a voice shaking with rage and fear. +"But in this I will make you obey me. As to Coralie, somebody has +slandered me. The money is for what I told you, and nothing else." + +Millicent with an effort wrenched herself free. "It is useless to +protest, for I would not believe your oath," she said, looking at him +steadily with contempt showing in every line of her pose. "Obey--you! +As the man I, with blind folly, abandoned for you warned me, you are +too abject a thing. Liar, thief, have I not said +sufficient?--adulterer!" + +"Quite!" cried Leslie, who yielded to the murderous fury which had been +growing upon him, and leaning down struck her brutally upon the mouth. +"What I am you have made me--and, by Heaven, it is time I repaid you in +part." + +Millicent staggered a little under the blow, which had been a heavy +one, but her wits were clear, and, moving swiftly to a bell button, the +pressure of her finger was answered by a tinkle below. + +"I presume you do not wish to make a public scandal," she said thickly, +for the lace handkerchief she removed from her smarting lips was +stained with blood. Then, as their Chinese servant appeared in the +doorway, "Your master wants you, John." + +Before Leslie could grasp her intentions she had vanished, there was a +rustle of drapery on the stairway, followed by the jar of a lock, and +he was left face to face was the stolid Asiatic. + +"Wantee someling, sah?" the Chinaman asked. + +Leslie glared at him speechless until, with a humble little nod, the +servant said: + +"Linga linga bell; too much hullee, John quick come. Wantee someling. +Linga linga bell." + +"Go the devil. Oh, get out before I throw you," roared Leslie, and +John vanished with the waft of a blue gown, while Millicent's book +crashed against the door close behind his head. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A RECKLESS JOURNEY + +The rising moon hung low above the lofty pines behind the city, when +Millicent sank shivering into a chair beside the window of her bedroom. +Under the impact of the blow her teeth had gashed her upper lip, but +she did not feel the pain as she sat with hands clenched, looking down +on the blaze of silver that grew broader across the inlet. She was +faint and dizzy, incapable as yet of definite thought; but confused +memories flashed through her brain, one among them more clearly than +the rest. Instead of land-locked water shimmering beneath the Western +pines, she saw dim English beeches with the coppery disk of the rising +moon behind, and she heard a tall man speak with stinging scorn to one +who cowered before him among the shadows. + +"I was mad that night, and have paid for the madness ever since. Now +when it is too late I know what I have lost!" she gasped with a catch +of the breath that was a sob repressed. + +There was a heavy step on the stairway, and Millicent shrank with the +nausea of disgust as somebody tried the door. She drew a deep breath +of relief, when the steps passed on unevenly. + +The memories returned. They led her through a long succession of +mistakes, falsehoods, slights and wrongs up to the present, and she +shivered again, while a heavy drop of blood splashed warm upon her +hand. Then she was mistress of herself once more, and a hazy purpose +grew into definite shape. She could at least warn the man whom she had +wronged, and so make partial reparation. It was not a wish for revenge +upon her husband which prompted her to desire that amends might be made +for her past treachery. Smarting with shame, she longed only to escape +from him. After the day's revelations she could never forgive that +blow. + +Millicent was a woman of action, and it was a relief to consider +practical details. She decided that a telegram might lie for days at +the station nearest the canyon, while what distance divided one from the +other she did not know. There was no train before noon the next day, +and she feared that the plot might be put into execution as soon as +Geoffrey left his camp. Therefore, she must reach it before he did so. +Afterwards--but she would not consider the future then, and, if she +could but warn him, nothing mattered greatly, neither physical peril +nor the risk of her good name. + +It was long before Millicent Leslie had thought all this out, but when +once her way seemed clear, exhausted by conflicting emotions, she sank +into heavy slumber, and the sun was high before she awakened. Leslie +had gone to his office, and she ate a little, chose her thickest furs, +and waited for noon in feverish suspense. Her husband might return and +prevent her departure by force. She feared that, should he guess her +intention, a special locomotive might be hired, even after the train +had started. It was, therefore, necessary to slip away without word or +sign, unless, indeed, she could mislead him, and, smiling mirthlessly, +she laid an open letter inside her writing-case. + +At last the time came, and she went out carrying only a little +hand-bag, passed along the unfrequented water side to the station by +the wharf, and ensconced herself in the corner of the car nearest the +locomotive, counting the seconds until it should start. Once she +trembled when she saw Shackleby hurry along the platform, but she +breathed again when he hailed a man leaning out from the vestibule of a +car. At last, the big bell clanged, and the Atlantic express, rolling +out of the station, began its race across the continent. + +It was nearly dusk when, with a scream of brakes, the cars lurched into +a desolate mountain station, and Millicent shivered as she alighted in +the frost-dried dust of snow. A nipping wind sighed down the valley. +The tall firs on the hillside were fading into phantom battalions of +climbing trees, and above them towered a dim chaos of giant peaks, +weirdly awe-inspiring under the last faint glimmer of the dying day. A +few lights blinked among the lower firs, and Millicent, hurrying +towards them at the station agent's direction, was greeted by the odors +of coarse tobacco as she pushed open the door of the New Eldorado +saloon. + +A group of bronze-faced men, some in jackets of fringed deerskin and +some in coarse blue jean, sat about the stove, and, though Millicent +involuntarily shrank from them, there was no reason why she should feel +any fear in their presence. They were rude of aspect--on occasion more +rude of speech--but, in all the essentials that become a man, she would +have found few to surpass them in either English or Western cities. +There was dead silence as she entered, and the others copied him when +one of the loungers, rising, took off his shapeless hat, not +ungracefully. + +"I want a guide and good horse to take me to Thurston's camp in the +Orchard River Canyon to-night," she said. + +The men looked at one another, and the one who rose first replied: +"Sorry to disappoint you, ma'am, but it's clean impossible. We'll have +snow by morning, and it's steep chances a man couldn't get through in +the dark now the shelf on the wagon trail's down." + +"I must go. It is a matter of life and death, and I'm willing to pay +whoever will guide me proportionate to the risk," insisted Millicent, +shaking out on the table a roll of bills. Then, because she was a +woman of quick perceptions, and noticed something in the big axeman's +honest face, she added quickly, "I am in great distress, and disaster +may follow every moment lost. Is there nobody in this settlement with +courage enough to help me?" + +This time the listeners whispered as they glanced sympathetically at +the speaker. The big man said: + +"If you're willing to face the risk I'll go with you. You can put back +most of your money; but, because we're poor men you'll be responsible +for the horses." + +Millicent felt the cold strike through her with the keenness of steel +when the went out into the night. Somebody lifted her to the back of a +snorting horse, and a man already mounted seized its bridle. There was +a shout of "Good luck!" and they had started on their adventurous +journey. Loose floury snow muffled the beat of hoofs, the lights of +the settlement faded behind and the two were alone in a wilderness of +awful white beauty, wherein it seemed no living thing had broken the +frozen silence since the world was made. Staring vacantly before her +Millicent saw the shoulders of the mighty peaks looming far above her +through a haze of driving snow, which did not reach the lower slopes, +where even the wind was still. The steam of the horses hung in white +clouds about them as they climbed, apparently for hours, past scattered +vedettes of dwindling pines. After a long pull on a steep trail the +man checked the horses on the brink of a chasm filled with eddying mist. + +"That should have been our way, but the whole blame trail slipped down +into the valley," the man said. "Let me take hold of your bridle and +trust to me. We're going straight over the spur yonder until we strike +the trail again." + +It was no longer a ride but a scramble. Even those sure-footed horses +stumbled continually, and where the wind had swept the thin snow away, +the iron on the sliding hoofs clanged on ice-streaked rock, or +hundredweights of loose gravel rattled down the incline. Then there +was juniper to be struggled through. They came to slopes almost +precipitous up which the panting guide somehow dragged the horses, but, +one strong with muscular vigor and the other sustained by sheer force +of will, the two riders held stubbornly on. Millicent had risen +superior to physical weakness that night. + +"Four hours to the big divide! We've pretty well equaled Thurston's +record," said the guide, striking a match inside his hollowed palm to +consult his watch. "It's all down grade now, but we'll meet the wind +in the long pass and maybe the snow." + +Millicent's heart almost failed her when, as the match went out, she +gazed down into the gulf of darkness that opened at her feet, but she +answered steadily: "Press on. I must reach the camp by daylight, +whatever happens." + +They went on. The pace, instead of a scramble, became in places a wild +glissade, and no beast of burden but a mountain pack-horse could have +kept its footing ten minutes. Dark pines rose up from beneath them and +faded back of them, here and there a scarred rock or whitened boulder +flitted by, and then Millicent's sight was dimmed by a whirling haze of +snow. How long the descent lasted she did not know. She could see +nothing through the maze of eddying flakes but that a figure, magnified +by them to gigantic proportions, rode close beside her, until they left +the cloud behind and wound along the face of a declivity, which dipped +into empty blackness close beneath. + +Suddenly her horse stumbled; there was a flounder and a shock, and +Millicent felt herself sliding very swiftly down a long slope of +crusted snow. Hoarse with terror, she screamed once, then something +seized and held her fast, and she rose, shaking in every limb, to cling +breathless to the guide. + +"Hurt bad?" he gasped. "No!--I'm mighty glad. Snow slide must have +gouged part of the trail out. Can you hold up a minute while I 'tend +to the horse?" + +"I don't think I am much hurt," stammered Millicent, whose teeth were +chattering, and the man floundering back a few paces, stooped over a +dark object that struggled in the snow. She fancied that he fumbled at +his belt, after which there was a horrible gurgle, and he returned +rubbing his fingers suggestively with a handful of snow. + +"Poor brute's done for--I had to settle him," he explained. "It will +cost you--but we can fix that when we get through. I'll have to change +your saddle, and the sooner we get on the better. Won't keep you five +minutes, ma'am." + +Millicent felt very cold and sick, for the unfortunate horse still +struggled feebly, while the gurgle continued, and she was devoutly +thankful when they continued their journey. The traveling was, if +possible, more arduous than before. At times they forced a passage +through climbing forest, and again over slopes of treacherous shale +where a snow slide had plowed a great hollow in the breast of the hill. +The puffs of snow which once more met them grew thicker until Millicent +was sheeted white all over. At last the man said: + +"It can't be far off daylight and I'm mighty thankful. I've lost my +bearings, but we're on a trail, which must lead to somewhere, at last. +Stick tight to your saddle and I'll bring you through all right, ma'am." + +Millicent was too cold to answer. A blast that whirled the drifts up +met her in the face, numbing all her faculties and rendering breathing +difficult. The hand that held the bridle was stiffened into +uselessness. Still, while life pulsed within her, she was going on, +and swaying in the saddle, she fixed her eyes ahead. + +At last the trail grew level, the snow thinner. In the growing light +of day a cluster of roofs loomed up before her, and she made some +incoherent answer when her guide confessed: + +"I struck the wrong way at the forking of the trail. Here's a ranch, +however, and the camp can't be far away. Horse is used up and so am I, +but you could get somebody to take Thurston a message." + +Some minutes later he lifted Millicent from the saddle, and she leaned +against him almost powerless as he pounded on the door. The loud +knocking was answered by voices within, the door swung open, and +Millicent reeled into a long hall. Two women rose from beside the +stove, and, for it was broad daylight now, stared in bewilderment at +the strangers. + +The guide leaned wearily against the wall, while Millicent, overcome by +the change of temperature, stood clutching at the table and swaying to +and fro. Then her failing strength deserted her. Somebody who helped +her into a chair presently held a cup of warm liquid to her lips. She +gulped down a little, and, recovering command of her senses, found +herself confronted by Helen Savine. It was a curious meeting, and even +then Millicent remembered under what circumstances they had last seen +each other. It appeared probable that Helen remembered, too, for she +showed no sign of welcome, and Mrs. Thomas Savine, who picked up the +fallen cup, watched them intently. + +"I see you are surprised to find me here," said Millicent, with a gasp. +"I left the railroad last night for Geoffrey Thurston's camp. We lost +the trail and one of the horses in the snow, and just managed to reach +this ranch. We can drag ourselves no further. I did not know the +ranch belonged to you." + +"That's about it!" the guide broke in. "This lady has made a journey +that would have killed some men--it has pretty well used me up, anyway. +I'll sit down in the corner if you don't mind. Can't keep myself right +end up much longer." + +"Please make yourself comfortable!" said Helen, with a compassionate +glance in his direction. "I will tell our Chinaman to see to your +horse." She turned towards Millicent, and her face was coldly +impassive. "Anyone in distress is welcome to shelter here. You were +going to Mr. Thurston's camp?" + +Even Mrs. Savine had started at Millicent's first statement, and now +she read contemptuous indignation in Helen's eyes. It was certain her +niece's voice, though even, was curiously strained. + +"Yes!" answered Millicent, rapidly. "I was going to Geoffrey +Thurston's camp. It is only failing strength that hinders me from +completing the journey. Somebody must warn him at once that he is on +no account to leave for Vancouver as he promised me that he would. +There is a plot to ruin him during his absence--a traitor among his +workmen, I think. At any moment the warning may be too late. He was +starting west to-day to call on me." + +Millicent was half-dazed and perhaps did not reflect that it was +possible to draw a damaging inference from her words. Nevertheless, +there was that in Helen's expression which awoke a desire for +retaliation. + +Helen asked but one question, "You risked your life to tell him this?" +and when Millicent bent her head the guide interposed, "You can bet she +did, and nearly lost it." + +"Then," said the girl, "the warning must not be thrown away. +Unfortunately, we have nobody I could send just now. Auntie, you must +see to Mrs. Leslie; I will go myself." + +"I'm very sorry, miss. If you like I'll do my best, but can hardly +promise that I won't fall over on the way," apologized the guide; but +Helen hastened out of the room, and now that the strain was over, +Millicent lay helpless in her chair. Still, she was conscious of a +keen disappointment. After all she had dared and suffered, it was +Helen who would deliver the warning. + +Thurston was standing knee-deep in ground-up stone and mire, inside a +coffer dam about which the river frothed and roared, when a man brought +him word that Miss Savine waited for him. He hurried to meet her, and +presently halted beside her horse--a burly figure in shapeless slouch +hat, with a muddy oilskin hanging from his shoulders above the stained +overalls and long boots. + +Helen sat still in the saddle, a strange contrast to him, for she was +neat and dainty down to the little foot in Indian dressed deerskin +against the horse's flank. She showed no sign of pleasure as she +returned his greeting, but watched him keenly as she said: + +"Mrs. Leslie arrived this morning almost frozen at the ranch. She left +the railroad last night to reach your camp, but her guide lost the +trail." + +The man was certainly startled, but his face betrayed no satisfaction. +It's most visible expression was more akin to annoyance. + +"Could she not have waited?" he asked impatiently, adding somewhat +awkwardly, "Did Mrs. Leslie explain why she wanted to see me so +particularly?" + +"Yes," was the quick answer. "She has reason to believe that while you +journeyed to Vancouver to visit her, an attempt would be made to wreck +these workings. She bade me warn you that there is a traitor in your +camp." + +"Ah," replied Geoffrey, a flush showing through the bronze on his +forehead. He thought hastily of all his men and came back to the +consciousness of Helen's presence with a start. "It was very good of +you to face the rough cold journey, but you cannot return without rest +and refreshment," he said with a look that spoke of something more than +gratitude. "I will warn my foremen, and when it seems safe will ride +back with you." + +If Helen had been gifted with a wider knowledge of life she might +perhaps have noticed several circumstances that proved Thurston +blameless. As it was she had a quick temper, and at first glance facts +spoke eloquently against him. + +"You cannot," was the cold answer. "The warning was very plain, and +considering all that is at stake you must not leave the workings a +moment. Neither are any thanks due to me. I am an interested party, +and the person who has earned your gratitude is Mrs. Leslie. The day +is clear and fine, and I can dispense with an escort." + +"You shall not go alone," declared Thurston, doggedly. "You can choose +between my company and that of my assistant. And you shall not go +until you rest. Further, I must ask you a favor. Will you receive +Mrs. Leslie until I have seen her and arranged for her return? There +is no married rancher within some distance, and I cannot well bring her +here." + +"You cannot," agreed Helen averting her eyes. "If only on account of +the service she has rendered, Mrs. Leslie is entitled to such shelter +as we can offer her, as long as it appears necessary." + +"Thanks!" said Thurston, gravely. "You relieve me of a difficulty." +Then, stung by the girl's ill-concealed disdain into one of his former +outbreaks, he gripped the horse's bridle, and backed the beast so that +he and its rider were more fully face to face. + +"Am I not harassed sufficiently? Good Lord! do you think----" he began. + +"I have neither the right nor desire to inquire into your motives," +responded Helen distantly. "We will, as I say, shelter Mrs. Leslie, +and, since you insist, will you ask your assistant to accompany me?" + +Geoffrey, raising his hat a moment, swung round upon his heel, and blew +a silver whistle. + +"Tom," he said to the man who came running up, "tell John to get some +coffee and the nicest things he can in a hurry for Miss Savine. +Straighten up my office room, and lay them out there. English Jim is +to ride back with Miss Savine when she is ready. Send a mounted man to +Allerton's to bring Black in, see that no man you wouldn't trust your +last dollar to lay's hand on a machine. That would stop half the work +in camp? It wouldn't--confound you--you know what I mean. Call in all +explosives from the shot-firing gang. Nobody's to slip for a moment +out of sight of his section foreman." + +Helen heard the crisp sharp orders as she rode up the hill, and glanced +once over her shoulder. She had often noticed how the whole strength +of Geoffrey's character could rise to face a crisis. Still, +appearances were terribly against him. + +Geoffrey, taking breath for a moment, scowled savagely at the river. + +"If ever there was an unfortunate devil--but I suppose it can't be +helped. Damn the luck that dogs me!" he ejaculated as he turned to +issue more specific commands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MRS. SAVINE SPEAKS HER MIND + +Millicent slept brokenly while Helen carried her message, and awakening +feverish, felt relieved to discover that the girl was still absent. +Miss Savine was younger than herself, and of much less varied +experience, but the look in the girl's eyes hurt her, nevertheless. + +"I am ashamed to force myself upon you," she said to Mrs. Savine, who +had shown her many small courtesies, "but I am afraid I cannot manage +the journey back to the railroad to-day. I must also see Mr. Thurston +before I leave for England, and it would be a great favor if I could +have the interview here." + +"We are glad to have you with us," said Mrs. Savine, who was of kindly +nature and fancied she saw her opportunity. "Yes, I just mean it. The +journey has tried you so much that you are not fit for another now. +Besides, I have heard so much about you, that I want a talk with you." + +"You have probably heard nothing that makes this visit particularly +welcome," answered Millicent, bitterly, and the elder lady smiled. + +"I guess folks are apt to make the most of the worst points in all of +us," she observed. "But that is not what we are going to talk about. +You are an old friend of a man we are indebted to, and, just because I +believe there's no meanness in Geoffrey Thurston, you are very welcome +to the best that we can do for you. I will ask him over to meet you." + +Millicent flushed. Under the circumstances she was touched by the +speaker's sincerity, and grateful for the way she expressed herself. +Perhaps it was this which prompted her to an almost involuntary +outpouring of confidence. + +"I am the woman who should have married him," she said simply. + +Mrs. Savine merely nodded, and dipped her needle somewhat blindly into +the embroidery on her knee before she replied: "I had guessed it +already. You missed a very good husband, my dear. I don't want to +force your confidence, but I imagine that you have some distress to +bear, and I might help you. I have seen a good deal of trouble in my +time." + +Millicent was unstable by nature. She was also excited and feverish. +Afterwards she wondered why a kindly word from a woman she knew so +slightly should excite in her such a desire for advice and sympathy. +In spite of her occasional brusqueries, it was hard for anyone to say +no to Mrs. Savine. So Millicent answered, with a sigh: + +"I know it now when it is too late--no one knows it better. You do +well to believe in Geoffrey Thurston." + +Mrs. Savine looked at her very keenly, then nodded. "I believe in you, +too. There! I guess you can trust me." + +Millicent bent her head, and her eyes were misty. A raw wound, which +the frost had irritated, marred the delicate curve of her upper lip. +It became painfully visible. + +"It is only fit that I should tell you, since I am your guest," she +said, touching the scar with one finger. "That is the mark of my +husband's hand, and I am leaving him forever because I would not +connive at Geoffrey's ruin. Geoffrey is acting as trustee for my +property, and I cannot leave for England without consulting him. So +much is perhaps due to you, and--because of your kindness I should not +like you to think too ill of me--I will tell you the rest. To begin +with, Geoffrey has never shown me anything but kindness." + +Mrs. Savine gently patted the speaker's arm, and Millicent related what +had led up to her journey, or part of it. When she had finished, the +elder lady commented: + +"You are doing a risky thing; but I can't quite blame you, and if I +could, I would not do it now. You will stay right here until Geoffrey +has fixed up all plans for your journey, and you can trust me to be +kind to you. Still, there's one favor I'm going to ask. I want you to +let me tell my niece as much of what you have told me as I think +desirable. Remember, Geoffrey has been good to you." + +For a moment Millicent's face grew hard, and her eyes defiant. She +smiled sadly as she answered: "It is his due, and can make no +difference now. Tell her what seems best." + +Meanwhile, Geoffrey was busy in the canyon camp. With Black and Mattawa +Tom beside him, he stood holding as symbol, both of equality and +authority, a bright ax in his hand, while driller, laborer, and +machine-tender, wondering greatly, were passed in review before him. +Black had been boarded with a trust rancher some distance from the +camp. At last a certain rock driller passed in turn, and Tom from +Mattawa explained: "He's a friend of Walla Jake, and as I told you, the +last man we put on." + +"That's the blame reptile who backed up Shackleby's story at the Blue +Bird mine," cried Black, excitedly. "If there's anyone up to mischief, +you can bet all you've got he's the man." + +"Stop there, you!" Geoffrey's voice was sharp and stern. "Cut him +down if he feels for a revolver or tries to make a break of it, section +foreman. Come here, close in behind him, you two." + +After a swift glance over his shoulder the man who was summoned +advanced, scowling darkly. He sullenly obeyed Geoffrey's second +command, "Stand there--now a few steps aside," leaving his footprints +clearly outlined in a patch of otherwise untrodden snow. + +"Good!" observed Geoffrey. "Lay your template [Transcriber's note: +corrected from "templet"] on those marks, Tom." After the foreman had +produced a paper pattern which fitted them, Thurston added: + +"We're going to make a prisoner of you, and jail you ourselves, until +we can get a formal warrant. What for? Well, you're going to be tried +for conspiracy among the other things. You see that pattern? It fits +the foot of a man who went out one night with a spy Shackleby sent over +to see how and when you would play the devil with our work in the +canyon. It even shows the stump of the filed-off creeper-spike on your +right boot. There's no use protesting--a friend of yours here will +help us to trace your career back to the finding of the Blue Bird mine. +Take him along and lock him into the galvanized store shed." + +The prisoner was taken away, and Geoffrey turned to his foreman. + +"He was in the drilling gang, Tom?" + +"Juss so! Working under the wall bed of the canyon." + +"That lets some light on to the subject. You can dismiss the others. +Come with me, Tom." + +Twenty minutes later Geoffrey stood among the boulders that the +shrunken river had left exposed near the foot of a giant cliff which, +instead of overhanging, thrust forward a slanting spur into the rush of +water, and so formed a bend. It was one of the main obstacles +Geoffrey, who wondered at the formation, had determined to remove by +the simultaneous shock of several heavy blasting charges. To that end +a gang of men had long been drilling deep holes into the projecting +spur, and on the preceding day charges of high explosives had been sunk +in most of them with detonators and fuses ready coupled for connection +to the igniting gear. Geoffrey stood upon a boulder and looked up at +the tremendous face of rock which, rising above the spur, held up the +hill slope above. The stratification was looser than usual, and +several mighty masses had fallen from it into the river. There were +also crannies at its feet. + +"You've seen all the drilled holes. Anything strike you yet?" inquired +Mattawa Tom. + +"Yes," was the answer. "It occurs to me that French Louis said he +couldn't tally out all the sticks of giant powder that he'd stowed away +a week or two ago. I think you foolishly told him he couldn't count +straight." + +"I did," admitted Tom from Mattawa. "Louis ain't great at counting, +and he allowed he'd never let go of the key to the powder magazine." + +"I fancy a smart mechanic could make a key that would do as well," +remarked Geoffrey. "It strikes me, also, after considering the strata +yonder, that, if sufficient shots were fired in those crannies, they +would bring the whole cliff and the hillside above it down on top of +us--you'll remember I cautioned you to drill well clear of the rock +face itself? Now, if coupled fuses were led from the shot holes we +filled to those we didn't, so that both would fire simultaneously, +nobody afterwards would find anything suspicious under several thousand +tons of debris. I'm inclined to think there are such fuses. Take your +shovel, and we'll look for them." + +They worked hard for half an hour, and then Geoffrey chuckled. Lifting +what looked like a stout black cord from among the rubble where it was +carefully hidden, Mattawa Tom said: "This time I guess you've struck it +dead." + +"Follow the thing up," Geoffrey commanded. + +This was done, and further searching revealed the charges for which +they were searching, skillfully concealed in the crannies. Geoffrey's +face was grim as he said: + +"It was planned well. They would have piled half yonder shoulder of +the range into the canyon if they had got their devilish will. Pull up +every fuse, and fix fresh detonators to all the charges. Change every +man in that gang, and never leave this spot except when the section +boss replaces you, until we're ready for firing. Thank Heaven that +will be in a few more days, and my nerves may hold out that long. I've +hardly had an hour's sleep in the last week, Tom." + +While Geoffrey was acting in accordance with the warning she had +delivered, Helen was on her way back to the ranch with his assistant as +her escort. Helen had not forgotten that it was her remonstrance which +had originally obtained a humble appointment for English Jim. He had +several times visited the ranch with messages, and was accordingly +invited to enter when they reached the house. He recognized Mrs. +Leslie at once, but he could be discreet, and, warned by something in +her manner, addressed no word to her until he found opportunity for a +few moments' private speech before leaving. + +"You remember me, I see," Millicent said, and English Jim bowed. + +"I do; perhaps because I have reason to. Though most reluctant to say +so, I lost a valuable paper the last time I was in your presence, and +that paper was afterwards used against my employer. Pardon me for +speaking so plainly; you said you were a friend of Mr. Thurston's." + +"You need not be diffident," replied Millicent, checking him with a +wave of her hand. "Suppose it was I who found the drawing? You would +be willing to keep silence in return for----" + +It was English Jim who interrupted now. "In return for your solemn +promise to render no more assistance to our enemies. I do not forget +your kindness, and hate the painful necessity of speaking so to you, +but I am Thurston's man, soul and body." + +"I ask your pardon," said Millicent. "Will you believe me if I say +that I lately ran some risk to bring Mr. Thurston a much-needed +warning? I am going to England in a day or two, and shall never come +back again. Therefore, you can rely upon my promise." + +"Implicitly," returned English Jim. "You must have had some reason I +cannot guess for what you did. That sounds like presumption, doesn't +it? But you can count upon my silence, madam." + +"You are a good man." Millicent impulsively held out her hand to him. +"I have met very few so loyal or so charitable. May I wish you all +prosperity in your career?" + +English Jim merely bowed as he went out, and Millicent's eyes grew dim +as she thought of her treachery to Geoffrey. + +"There are good men in the world after all, though it has been my +misfortune to chiefly come across the bad," she admitted to herself. + +Darkness had fallen when Thurston rode up to the ranch. He passed half +an hour alone with Millicent and went away without speaking to anyone +else. After he had gone Millicent said to Mrs. Savine: + +"I start for England as soon as possible, and Mr. Thurston is going to +the railroad with me. I shall never return to Canada." + +Pleading fatigue, she retired early, and for a time Mrs. Savine and +Helen sat silently in the glow of the great hearth upon which immense +logs were burning. There was no other light in the room, and each +flicker of the fire showed that Helen's face was more than usually +serious. + +"Did you know that it was Mrs. Leslie Geoffrey should have married?" +asked Mrs. Savine at length. + +"No," answered Helen, flushing. With feeling she added. "Perhaps I +ought to have guessed it. She leaves shortly, does the not? It will +be a relief. She must be a wicked woman, but please don't talk of her." + +"That is just what I'm going to do," declared her aunt, gravely. "I +wouldn't guarantee that she is wholly good, but I blame her poison-mean +husband more than her. Anyway, she is better than you suppose her." + +"I made no charge against her, and am only glad she is going," said +Helen Savine. Mrs. Savine smiled shrewdly. + +"Well, I am going to show you there is nothing in that charge. Not +quite logical, is it, but sit still there and listen to me." + +Helen listened, at first very much against her will, presently she grew +half-convinced, and at last wholly so. She blushed crimson as she said: + +"May I be forgiven for thinking evil--but such things do happen, and +though I several times made myself believe, even against, the evidence +of my eyes, that I was wrong, appearances were horribly against her. I +am tired and will say good-night, auntie." + +"Not yet," interposed Mrs. Savine, laying a detaining grasp upon her. +"Sit still, my dear, I'm only beginning. Appearances don't always +count for much. Now, there's Mrs. Christopher who started in to copy +my elixir. Oh, yes, it was like it in smell and color, but she nearly +killed poor Christopher with it." + +"She said it cured him completely," commented Helen, hoping to effect a +diversion; but Mrs. Savine would not be put off. + +"We won't argue about that, though there'll be a coroner called in the +next time she makes a foolish experiment. Now I'm going to give my +husband's confidences away. Hardly fair to Tom, but I'll do it, +because it seems necessary, and the last time I didn't go quite far +enough. To begin with. Did you know the opposition wanted to buy +Geoffrey over, paying him two dollars for every one he could have made +out of your father?" + +"No," answered Helen, starting. "It was very loyal of him to refuse. +Why did he do so?" + +Mrs. Savine smiled good-humoredly. "I guess you think that's due to +your dignity, but you don't fool me. Look into your mirror, Helen, if +you really want to know. Did you hear that he put every dollar he'd +made in Canada into the scheme? Of course you didn't; he made Tom +promise he would never tell you. Besides--but I forgot, I must not +mention that." + +"Please spare me any more, auntie," pleaded Helen, who was overcome by +a sudden realization of her own injustice and absolute selfishness. + +"No mercy this time," was the answer, given almost genially. "Like the +elixir which doesn't taste pleasant, it's good for you. You didn't +know, either, for the same reason, that not long ago Tom was badly +scared for fear he'd have to let the whole thing go for lack of money. +It would have been the end of Julius Savine if he had been forced to +give up this great enterprise." + +"I never thought things were so bad, but how does it concern Mr. +Thurston?" Helen questioned her aunt in a voice that was trembling. + +"Geoffrey straightened out all the financial affairs in just this way. +A relative in England left an estate to be divided between him and Mrs. +Leslie. There was enough to keep him safe for life, if he'd let it lie +just where it was, but he didn't. No, he sold out all that would have +earned him a life income for any price he could, and turned over every +cent of it to help your father. Now I've about got through, but I've +one question to ask you. Would the man who did all that--you can see +why--be likely to fool with another man's wife, even if it was the +handsome Mrs. Leslie?" + +"No," said Helen, whose cheeks, which had grown pallid, flushed like a +blush rose. "I am glad you told me, auntie, but I feel I shall never +have the courage to look that man in the face again." + +Mrs. Savine smiled, though her eyes glistened in the firelight as she +laid a thin hand on one of Helen's, which felt burning hot as the +fingers quivered within her grasp. + +"You will, or that will hurt him more than all," she replied. "It +wasn't easy to tell you this, but I've seen too many lives ruined for +the want of a little common-sense talking--and I figure Jacob wouldn't +come near beating Geoffrey Thurston." + +Helen rose abruptly. "Auntie, you will see to father--he has been +better lately--for just a little while, will not you?" she asked. +"Mrs. Crighton has invited me so often to visit her, and I really need +a change. This valley has grown oppressive, and I must have time to +think." + +"Yes," assented Mrs. Savine. "But you must stand by your promise to +fire the final shot." + +The door closed, and Mrs. Savine, removing her spectacles, wiped both +them and her eyes as she remarked: "I hope the Almighty will forgive a +meddlesome old woman for interfering, knowing she means well." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +LESLIE STEPS OUT + +Henry Leslie did not return home at noon on the day following the +altercation with his wife. Millicent had an ugly temper, but she would +cool down if he gave her time, he said to himself. In the evening he +fell in with two business acquaintances from a mining district, who +were visiting the city for the purpose of finding diversion and they +invited him to assist them in their search for amusement. Leslie, +though unprincipled, lacked several qualities necessary for a +successful rascal, and, oppressed by the fear of Shackleby's +displeasure should Thurston return to the mountains prematurely, and +uncertain what to do, was willing to try to forget his perplexities for +an hour or two. + +The attempt was so far successful that he went home at midnight, +somewhat unsteadily, a good many dollars poorer than when he set out. +Trying the door of his wife's room, he found it locked. He did not +suspect that it had been locked on the outside and that Millicent had +thrown the key away. He was, however, rather relieved than otherwise +by the discovery of the locked door, and, sleeping soundly, wakened +later than usual next morning. Millicent, however, was neither at the +breakfast-table nor in her own room when he pried the door open. He +saw that some garments and a valise were missing, and decided that she +had favored certain friends with her company, and, returning mollified, +would make peace again, as had happened before. Still, he was uneasy +until he espied her writing-case with the end of a letter protruding. +Reading the letter, he discovered it to be an invitation to Victoria. +He noticed on the blotter the reversed impression of an addressed +envelope, which showed that she had answered the invitation. Two days +passed, and, hearing nothing, he grew dissatisfied again, and drafted a +diplomatic telegram to the friends in Victoria. It happened that +Shackleby was in his office when the answer arrived. + +"Has Thurston come into town yet? You told me you saw your way to keep +him here," said Shackleby. "Didn't you mention he had the handling of +a small legacy left Mrs. Leslie?" + +"It is strange, but he has not arrived," was the answer. "My wife is +an old friend of his, and I had counted on her help in detaining him, +but, unfortunately, she considered it necessary to accept an invitation +to Victoria somewhat suddenly." + +"I should hardly have fancied Thurston was an old friend of--yours," +Shackleby remarked with a carelessness which almost blunted the sneer. +"I'm also a little surprised at what you tell me, because I saw Mrs. +Leslie hurrying along to the Atlantic express. She couldn't book that +way to Victoria." + +"You must have been mistaken," said Leslie, who turned towards a clerk +holding out a telegraphic envelope. He ripped it open and read the +enclosure with a smothered ejaculation. + + +"Can't understand your wire. Mrs. Leslie not here. Wrote saying she +could not come." + + +"Excuse the liberty. I believe I have a right to inspect all +correspondence," observed Shackleby, coolly leaning over and picking up +the message. Then he looked straight at Leslie, and there was a +moment's silence before he asked, "How much does Mrs. Leslie know about +your business?" + +"I don't know," answered the anxious man in desperation. "I had to +tell her a little so that she could help me." + +"So I guessed!" commented Shackleby. "Now, I don't want to hurt your +feelings, but you can't afford to quarrel with me if I do. You're +coming straight with me to the depot to find out where Mrs. Leslie +bought a ticket to." + +"I'll see you hanged first," broke out Leslie. "Isn't it enough that +you presume to read my private correspondence? I'll suffer no +interference with my domestic affairs." + +Shackleby laughed contemptuously. "You'll just come along instead of +blustering--there's not an ounce of real grit in you. This is no time +for sentiment, and you have admitted that Mrs. Leslie was on good terms +with Thurston. If she has warned him, one of us at least will have to +make a record break out of this country. If he doesn't it won't be the +divorce court he'll figure in." + +Leslie went without further protest, and Shackleby looked at him +significantly when the booking-clerk said, "If I remember right, Mrs. +Leslie bought a ticket for Thompson's. It's a flag station at the head +of the new road that's to be driven into the Orchard Valley." + +"I guess that's enough," remarked Shackleby. "You and I are going +there by the first train too. Oh, yes, I'm coming with you whether you +like it or not, for it strikes me our one chance is to bluff Thurston +into a bargain for the cessation of hostilities. It's lucky he's +supposed to be uncommonly short of money." + +Geoffrey Thurston, Mrs. Leslie, and Thomas Savine of course, could not +know of this conversation, but the woman was anxious as they rode +together into sight of the little flag station shortly before the +Atlantic express was due. When the others dismounted, Thomas Savine, +who had been summoned by telegram from Vancouver, remained discreetly +behind. It was very cold, darkness was closing down on the deep hollow +among the hills, and some little distance up the ascending line, a huge +freight locomotive was waiting with a string of cars behind it in a +side track. Thurston pointed to the fan-shaped blaze of the great head +lamp. + +"We have timed it well. They're expecting your train now," he said. + +"I am glad," was Millicent's answer. "I shall feel easier when I am +once upon the way, for all day I have been nervously afraid that Harry +might arrive or something unexpected might happen to detain me. There +will be only time to catch the Allan boat, you say, and once the train +leaves this station nobody could overtake me?" + +"Of course not!" answered Geoffrey, reassuringly. "It is perhaps +natural that you should be apprehensive, but there is no reason for it. +Whether you are doing right or wrong I dare not presume to judge, and, +under the circumstances, I wish there had been somebody else to counsel +you; but if your husband has treated you cruelly and you are in fear of +him, I cannot venture to dissuade you. You will write to me when you +have settled your plans?" + +"Yes," she promised. After a moment's pause, she went on: "I have +hardly been able to consider the position yet, but I will never go back +to Harry. My trustees must either help me to fight him or bribe him +not to molest me. It is a hateful position, but though I have suffered +a great deal there are things I cannot countenance." + +The hoot of a whistle came ringing up the valley, the light of another +head lamp, growing brighter, flickered among the firs, and Millicent +looked up at her companion as she said: + +"I may never see you again, Geoffrey, but I cannot go without asking +you to forgive me. You do not know, and I dare not tell you, in how +many ways I have injured you. I would like to think that you do not +cherish any ill-will against me." + +"You may be quite sure of it," was the answer, and Geoffrey smiled upon +her. "What I shall remember most clearly is how much you risked to +warn me, and that the safe completion of the work I have set my heart +on is due to you. We will forget all the unpleasant things that have +happened in the past and meet as good friends next time, Millicent." + +The woman's voice trembled a little as she replied: "I hope when one by +one you hear of the unpleasant things you will be charitable. But a +last favor--you will not tell Harry where I have gone until I am safely +on my way to England?" + +"No," promised Geoffrey. "You can depend upon that. I have not +forgiven your husband, but the train is coming in and it will only stop +a few seconds." + +With couplings clashing the long cars lurched in. Geoffrey hurried +Millicent into one of them. He felt his hand grasped fervently, and +fancied he saw a tear glisten in Millicent's eyes by the light of the +flashing lamps. Then the great engine snorted, and he sprang down from +the vestibule footboard as the train rolled out. Turning back towards +the station to join Thomas Savine, he found himself confronted by two +men who had just alighted. + +Their surprise was mutual, but Thomas Savine, who stood beside a box +just hurled out of the baggage car, had his wits about him. "Here's +one case, Geoffrey. The conductor thinks that some fool must have +labelled the others wrong, and they'll come on by first freight," he +said. + +This was an accurate statement, and for Millicent's sake Geoffrey was +grateful that his comrade should make it so opportunely. It accounted +for his presence at the station. + +"It can't be helped," he said, and then turned stiffly towards +Shackleby and Henry Leslie, who waited between him and the roadway. + +"We want a few words with you, but didn't expect to find you here," +abruptly remarked Shackleby. "Is there any place fit to sit in at the +saloon yonder?" + +"I really don't know," Geoffrey replied. "Having no time to waste in +conversation, neither do I care. If you have anything to say to me you +can say it--very briefly--here." + +Shackleby pinched the cigar he was smoking. Laying his hand on +Leslie's shoulder warningly, he whispered, "Keep still, you fool." + +"I don't know that I can condense what I have to say," he answered +airily, addressing Thurston. "Fact is, in the first place, and before +Mr. Leslie asks a question, I want to know whether we--that is I--can +still come to terms with you. It's tolerably well-known that my +colleagues are, so to speak, men of straw, and individually I figure it +might be better for both of us if we patched up a compromise. I can't +sketch out the rest of my programme in the open air, but, as a general +idea, what do you think, Mr. Savine?" + +"That your suggestion comes rather late in the day," was the answer. + +Shackleby was silent for a moment, though, for it was quite dark now +that the train had gone. Savine could not be quite certain whether he +moved against Leslie by accident or deliberately hustled him a few +paces away. Geoffrey, however, felt certain that neither had seen +Millicent, nor, thanks to Savine, suspected that she was on board the +departing cars. Just then a deep-toned whistle vibrated across the +pines, somebody waved a lantern between the rails, and the panting of +the freight locomotive's pump became silent. The track led down grade +past the station towards the coast. + +"Better late than never," said Shackleby. "My hand's a good one still. +I'm not sure I won't call you." + +"To save time I'll show you mine a little sooner than I meant to do, +and you'll see the game's up," replied Geoffrey, grimly. "It may +prevent you from worrying me during the next week or two, and you can't +well profit by it. I've got Black, who is quite ready to go into court +at any time, where you can't get at him. I've got the nearest +magistrate's warrant executed on the person of your other rascal, and +Black will testify as to his record, which implies the throwing of a +sidelight upon your own. No doubt, to save himself, the other man will +turn against you. In addition, if it's necessary, which I hardly think +possible, I have even more damaging testimony. I have sworn a +statement before the said magistrate for the Crown-lands authorities, +and purpose sending a copy to each of your directors individually. +That ought to be sufficient, and I have no more time to waste with you." + +"But you have me to settle with, or I'll blast your name throughout the +province if I drag my own in the mud. Where's my wife?" snarled +Leslie, wrenching himself free from his confederate's restraining grasp. + +"If you're bent on making a fool of yourself, and I guess you can't +help it, go on your own way," interposed Shackleby, with ironical +contempt. + +"I have no intention of telling you where Mrs. Leslie is," asserted +Geoffrey. "You will hear from her when she considers it advisable to +write." + +A whir of driver wheels slipping on the rails came down the track, +followed by a shock of couplings tightening and the snorting of a heavy +locomotive, but none of the party noticed it. + +"She was here; you can't deny it," shouted Leslie, who had yielded to a +fit of rabid fury. He was not a courageous man, and had been held in +check by fear of Shackleby, but there was some spirit in him, and, +perhaps because he had injured Thurston, had always hated him. Now +when his case seemed desperate, with the boldness of a rat driven into +a corner, he determined to tear the hand that crushed him. + +"I'll take action against you. I'll blazon it in the press. I'll +close every decent house in the province against you," he continued, +working himself up into a frenzy. "Where have you hidden my wife? By +Heaven, I'll make you tell me." + +"Take care!" warned Geoffrey, straightening himself and thrusting one +big hand behind his back. "It is desperately hard for me to keep my +fingers off you now, but if you say another word against Mrs. Leslie, +look to yourself. Shackleby, you have heard him; now for the woman's +sake listen to me. I have never wronged your wife by thought or word, +Leslie, and the greatest indiscretion she was ever guilty of was +marrying you." + +"You have hidden her!" almost screamed the desperate man. "I'll have +satisfaction one way if you're too strong for me another. Liar, +traitor, sed----" + +Geoffrey strode forward before the last word was completed, Leslie +flung up one hand, but Shackleby struck it aside in time, and something +that fell from it clinked with a metallic sound. Exactly how what +followed really happened was never quite certain. Leslie, blind with +rage, either tripped over his confederate's outstretched foot, or lost +his balance, for just as a blaze of light beat upon the group, he +staggered, clutched at Thurston, and missing him, stepped over the edge +of the platform and fell full length between the rails. + +There was a yell from a man with a lantern and a sudden hoot from the +whistle of the big locomotive. Savine's face turned white under the +glare of the headlight. With a reckless leap Geoffrey followed his +enemy. Only conscious of the man's peril, he acted upon impulse +without reflection. + +"Good God! They'll both be killed!" exclaimed Shackleby. + +Thurston was strong of limb and every muscle in him had been toughened +by strenuous toil, but Leslie had struck his head on the rails and lay +still, stunned and helpless. The lift was heavy for the man who strove +to raise him, and though the brakes screamed along the line of cars the +locomotive was almost upon them. Standing horrified, and, without +power to move, the two spectators saw Geoffrey still gripping his +enemy's shoulders, heave himself erect in a supreme effort, then the +cow-catcher on the engine's front struck them both, and Savine felt, +rather than heard, a sickening sound as the huge machine swept +resistlessly on. Afterward he declared that the suspense which +followed while the long box-cars rolled by was horrible, for nothing +could be seen, and the two men shivered with the uncertainty as to what +might be happening beneath the grinding wheels. + +When the last car passed both leapt down upon the track, and a man +joined them holding a lantern aloft. Savine stooped over Thurston, who +lay just clear of the rails, looking strangely limp. + +"Another second would have done it--did I heave him clear?" he gasped. +He tried to raise himself by one hand but fell back with a groan. + +"I guess not," answered a railroad employe, holding the lantern higher, +and while two others ran up the tracks, the light fell upon a +shapeless, huddled heap. "That one has passed his checks in, certain," +the holder of the lantern announced. + +Within ten minutes willing assistants from the tiny settlement were on +the spot and stretchers were improvised. Savine had bidden the agent +telegraph for a doctor, and the two victims were slowly carried towards +the New Eldorado saloon. When they were gently laid down an elderly +miner, familiar with accidents, pointing to Thurston after making a +hasty examination said: + +"This one has got his arm broken, collar-bone gone, too, but if there's +nothing busted inside he'll come round. The other one has been stone +dead since the engine hit him." + +There were further proffers of help from several of his comrades, who, +as usual with their kind, possessed some knowledge of rude surgery. +When all that was possible had been done for the living, Savine was +drawn aside by Shackleby. + +"This is what he dropped on the platform--I picked it up quietly," he +said, holding out an ivory-handled revolver. "No use letting any ugly +tales get round or raking up that other story, is it? I don't know +whether Thurston induced Leslie's wife to run off or not--from what I +have heard of him I hardly think he did--but one may as well let things +simmer down gracefully." + +"I am grateful for your thoughtfulness," replied Savine. "Probably it +is more than he would have done for you. This is hardly the time to +discuss such questions, but what has happened can't affect our +position. Still, personally, I may not feel inclined to push merely +vindictive measures against you." + +"I didn't think it would change matters," said Shackleby, with a shrug. +"If I should be wanted I'm open to describe the--accident--and let +other details slide. The railroad fellows suspect nothing. Thurston +has made your side a strong one, and in a way I don't blame him. If he +had stood in with me, we'd have smashed up your brother completely." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A REVELATION + +Two persons were strangely affected and stirred to unexpected action by +the news of Thurston's injury, and the first of these was Julius +Savine. It was late next night when his brother's messenger arrived at +the ranch, for Thomas had thought of nothing but the sufferer's welfare +at first, and Savine lay, a very frail, wasted figure, dozing by the +stove. His sister-in-law sat busy over some netting close at hand. +Both were startled when a man, who held out a soiled envelope, came in +abruptly. Savine read the message and tossed the paper across to Mrs. +Savine before he rose shakily to his feet. + +"I would sooner have heard anything than that Geoffrey was badly hurt," +he exclaimed with a quaver in his voice. To the Chinaman, who brought +the stranger in, he gave the order, "Get him some supper and tell +Fontaine I want him at once." + +"Poor Geoffrey! We must hope it is not serious," cried Mrs. Savine +with visible distress. "But sit down. You can't help him, and may +bring on a seizure by exciting yourself, Julius." + +Savine, who did not answer her, remained standing until the hired hand +whom he had summoned, entered. "Ride your hardest to the camp and tell +Foreman Tom I'm coming over to take charge until Mr. Thurston, who has +met with an accident, recovers," he said. "He's to send a spare horse +and a couple of men to help the sleigh over the washed-out trail. Come +back at your best pace. I must reach the canyon before morning." + +"Are you mad, Julius?" asked his sister-in-law when the men retired. +"It's even chances the excitement or the journey will kill you." + +"Then I must take the chances," declared Savine. "While there was a +man I could trust to handle things, I let this weakness master me. Now +the poor fellow's helpless, somebody must take hold before chaos +ensues, and I haven't quite forgotten everything. You'll have to nurse +Geoffrey, and it's no use trying to scare me. Fill my big flask with +the old brandy and get my furs out." + +Mrs. Savine saw further remonstrance would be useless. She considered +her brother-in-law more fit for his grave than to complete a great +undertaking, but he was clearly bent on having his way. When she +hinted something of her thoughts, he answered that even so he would +rather die at work in the canyon than tamely in his bed. So shivering +under a load of furs he departed in the sleigh, and after several +narrow escapes of an upset, reached the camp in the dusk of a nipping +morning. + +"Help me out. Mr. Thurston, I am sorry to say, has met with a bad +accident, and you and I have got to finish this work without him," he +said to the anxious foreman. "From what he told me I can count upon +your doing the best that's in you, Tom." + +"I won't go back on nothing Mr. Thurston said," was the quiet answer; +but when Tom from Mattawa left Savine, whose nerveless fingers spilled +half the contents of the silver cup he strove to fill, gasping beside +the stove in Thurston's quarters, he gravely shook his head. + +Several days elapsed after Helen's departure for Vancouver before Mrs. +Savine, who had gone at once to the scene of the accident, considered +it judicious to inform her of Geoffrey's condition, and so it happened +that one evening Helen accompanied her hostess to witness the +performance of a Western dramatic company. Despite second-rate acting +the play was a pretty one, and each time the curtain went down Helen +found the combination of bright light, pretty dresses, laughter and +merry voices strangely pleasant after her isolation. At times her +thoughts would wander back to the ice-bound canyon and the man who had +pitted himself against the thundering river in its gloomy depths. +Perhaps the very contrast between this scene of brightness and luxury +and the savage wilderness emphasized the self-abnegation he had shown. +She knew now that he had toiled beyond most men's strength, when he +might have rested, and casting away what would have insured him a life +of ease, had voluntarily chosen an almost hopeless struggle for her +sake. Few women had been wooed so, she reflected, and then she +endeavored to confine her attention to the play, for as yet, though +both proud and grateful, she could not admit that she had been won. + +Presently the son of her hostess, who joined the party between the +acts, handed her a note. "I am sorry I could not get here before, but +found this waiting, and thought I'd better bring it along. I hope it's +not a summons of recall," he said. + +Helen opened the envelope, and the hurriedly-written lines grew blurred +before her eyes as she read, "I am grieved to say that Geoffrey has +been seriously injured by an accident. The doctor has, however, some +hopes of his recovery, though he won't speak definitely yet. If you +can find an intelligent woman in Vancouver you could trust to help me +nurse him, send her along. Didn't write before because----" + +"What is it? No bad news of your father, I hope," her hostess asked, +and the son, a fine type of the young Western citizen, noticed the +dismay in Helen's face as she answered: + +"Nothing has happened to my father. His partner has been badly hurt. +I must return to-morrow, and, as it is a tiresome journey, if you will +excuse me, I would rather not sit out the play." + +The young man noticed that Helen seemed to shiver, while her voice was +strained. He discreetly turned away his head, though he had seen +sufficient to show him that certain lately-renewed hopes were vain. + +"Miss Savine has not been used to gayety of late, and I warned her she +must take it quietly, especially with that ride through the ranges +before her. This place is unsufferably hot, and you can trust me to +see her safe home, mother," he said. + +Helen's grateful, "Thank you!" was reward enough, but it was in an +unenviable humor that the young man returned to the theater when she +sought refuge in her own room. + +Solitude appeared a vital necessity, for at last Helen understood. +Ever since Thurston first limped, footsore and hungry, into her life +she had been alternately attracted and repelled by him. His steadfast +patience and generosity had almost melted her at times, but from the +beginning, circumstances had seemed to conspire against the man, +shadowing him with suspicion, and forcing him into opposition to her +will. Mrs. Savine's story had made his unswerving loyalty plain, and +Helen had begun to see that she would with all confidence trust her +life to him; but she was proud, and knowing how she had misjudged him, +hesitated still. As long as a word or a smile could bring him to her +feet she could postpone the day of reckoning at least until his task +was finished, and thus allow him to prove his devotion to the uttermost +test. + +Now, however, fate had intervened, tearing away all disguise, and her +eyes were opened. She knew that without him the future would be empty, +and the revelation stirred every fiber of her being. Growing suddenly +cold with a shock of fear she remembered that she had perhaps already +lost him forever. It might be that another more solemn summons had +preceded her own, and that she might call and Geoffrey Thurston would +not hear! He had won his right to rest by work well done, but she--it +now seemed that a lifetime would be too short to mourn him. Helen +shivered at the thought, then she felt as if she were suffocating. +Turning the light low, she flung the long window open. Beyond the +electric glare of the city, with its shapeless pile of roofs and +towering poles, the mountains rose, serenely majestic, in robes of +awful purity. They were beckoning her she felt. The man whom she had +learned to love too late lay among them, perhaps with the strong hands +that had toiled for her folded in peace at last, and, living or dead, +she must go to him. She remembered that the message said,--"Hire a +capable woman in Vancouver," and it brought her a ray of comfort. If +the time was not already past she would ask nothing better than to wait +on him herself. Presently, when there was a hum of voices below, +Helen, white of face but steady in nerves, descended to meet her +hostess. + +"I must go back to-morrow, and as it is a fatiguing journey you will +not mind my retiring early," she said to excuse her absence from the +supper party that was assembled after the play. + +On reaching the railroad settlement Helen found the doctor in charge of +Thurston willing to avail himself of her assistance. The physician had +barely held his own in several encounters with her aunt, whom he +suspected of endeavoring to administer unauthorized preparations to his +patient, while on her part Mrs. Savine freely admitted that at her age +she could not sit up all night forever. So Helen was installed, and it +was midnight when she commenced her first watch. + +"You will call me at once if the patient wakes complaining of any +pain," said the surgeon. "Do I think he is out of danger? Well, he is +very weak yet, my dear young lady, but if you will carry out my orders, +I fancy we may hope for the best. But you must remember that a nurse's +chief qualifications are presence of mind and a perfect serenity." + +"I will not fail you," promised Helen, choking back a sob of relief; +and, trusting that the doctor did not see her quivering face, she added +softly, "Heaven is merciful!" + +She had been prepared for a change, but she was startled at the sight +of Thurston. He lay with blanched patches in the paling bronze on his +face, which had grown hollow and lined by pain. Still he was sleeping +soundly, and did not move when she bent over him. She stooped further +and touched his forehead with her lips, rose with the hot blood pulsing +upwards from her neck, and stood trembling, while, either dreaming or +stirred by some influence beyond man's knowledge, the sleeper smiled, +murmuring, "Helen!" + +It was daylight when Thurston awakened, and stared as if doubtful of +his senses at his new nurse, until, approaching the frame of canvas +whereon he lay, Helen, with a gentle touch, caressingly brushed the +hair from his forehead. + +"I have come to help you to get better. We cannot spare you, +Geoffrey," she said simply. + +The sick man asked no question nor betrayed further astonishment. He +looked up gratefully into the eyes which met his own for a moment and +grew downcast again. "Then I shall certainly cheat the doctors yet," +he declared. + +Under the circumstances his words were distinctly commonplace, but +speech is not the sole means of communion between mind and mind, and +for the present both were satisfied. Helen laughed and blushed happily +when, as by an after thought, Geoffrey added, "It is really very kind +of you." + +"You must not talk," she admonished with a half-shy assumption of +authority, strangely at variance with her former demeanor. "I shall +call in my aunt with the elixir if you do." + +Geoffrey smiled, but the brightness of his countenance was not +accounted for by his answer: "I believe she has treated me with it once +or twice already, and I still survive. In fact, I am inclined to think +the doctor caught her red-handed on one occasion, and there was +trouble." + +After that Geoffrey recovered vigor rapidly, and the days passed +quickly for Helen as she watched over him in the dilapidated frame +house to which he had been removed after the accident. No word of love +passed between them, nor was any word necessary. The man, still weak +and languid, appeared blissfully contented to enjoy the present, and +Helen, who was glad to see him do so, abided her time. + +Meanwhile, supported by sheer force of will and a nervous exaltation, +that would vanish utterly when the need for it ceased, Julius Savine, +leaning on his foreman's arm, or sitting propped up in a rude jumper +sleigh, directed operations in the canyon. He knew he was consuming the +vitality that might purchase another few years' life in as many weeks +of effort, but he desired only to see the work finished, and was +satisfied to pay the price. He slept little and scarcely ate, holding +on to his work with desperate purpose and living on cordials. Though +progress was much slower than it would have been under Geoffrey's +direction, he accomplished that purpose. + +One afternoon Thomas Savine entered the sick man's room in a state of +complacent satisfaction. + +"Glad to see you getting ahead so fast, and you must hurry, for we'll +want you soon," he said. "The great charge is to be fired the day +after to-morrow. Shackleby, who was at the bottom of the whole +opposition, has cleared out with considerable expedition. Sold all his +stock in the Company, and if his colleagues knew much about his doings, +which is quite possible, they emphatically disown them. As a result +I've made one or two good provisional deals with them, and expect no +more trouble. In short, everything points to a great success." + +When Savine went out Geoffrey beckoned Helen to him. + +"I am getting so well that you must leave me to your aunt to-morrow," +he said. "You remember your promise to fire the decisive charge for +me, and I hope when you see it you will approve of the electric firing +key. Tell your father I owe more to him than the doctor, for I should +have worried myself beyond the reach of physic if he had not been there +to take charge instead of me--that is to say, before you came to cure +me." + +"I will go," agreed Helen, with signs of suppressed agitation that +puzzled Geoffrey. She knew that after that charge had been fired their +present relations, pleasant as they were, could not continue. It +appeared to her the climax to which all he had dared and suffered, and +with a humility that was yet akin to pride she had determined, in +reparation, voluntarily to offer him that which, whether victorious or +defeated otherwise, he had with infinite patience and loyal service won. + +It was early one clear cold morning when Helen Savine stood on a little +plank platform perched high in a hollow of the rock walls overhanging +the river opposite Thurston's camp. Each detail of the scene burned +itself into her memory as she gazed about her under a tense +expectancy--the rift of blue sky between the filigree of dark pines +high above, the rush of white-streaked water thundering down the gorge +below and frothing high about the massive boulders, and one huge fang +of promontory which a touch of her finger would, if all went well, +reduce to chaotic debris. Groups of workmen waited on the opposite +side of the flood, all staring towards her expectantly, and Thomas +Savine stood close by holding an insignificant box with wires attached +to it, in a hand that was not quite steady. Tom from Mattawa sat +perched upon a spire of rock holding up a furled flag, and her father +leaned heavily upon the rails of the staging. No one spoke or stirred, +and in spite of the roar of hurrying water a deep oppressive silence +seemed to brood over canyon and camp. + +"This is the key," said Thomas Savine. "It is some notion of +Geoffrey's, and he had it made especially in Toronto. You fit it in +here." + +Helen glanced at the diminutive object before she took the box. The +finger grip had been fashioned out of a dollar cut clean across bearing +two dates engraved upon it. The first, it flashed upon her, was the +one on which she had given the worn-out man that very coin, while the +other had evidently been added more recently, with less skill, by some +camp artificer. + +"It's to-day," said Thomas Savine following her eyes, and Helen noticed +that his voice was strained. "Geoffrey told me to get it done. Quaint +idea; don't know what it means. But put us out of suspense. We're all +waiting." + +Helen knew what the dates meant, and appreciated the delicate +compliment. It was she who had started the daring contractor on his +career who was to complete his triumph, and she drew a deep breath as +she looked down into the thundering gorge realizing it was a great +fight he had won. Human courage and dogged endurance, inspired by him, +had mocked at the might of the river, and, blasting a new pathway for +it through the adamantine heart of the hills, would roll back the +barren waters from a good land that the stout of heart and arm might +enter in. Swamps would give place to wheat fields, orchards blossom +where willow swale had been, herds of cattle fatten on the levels of +the lake, and the smoke of prosperous homesteads drift across dark +forests where, for centuries, the wolf and deer had roamed undisturbed. +That was one aspect only, but she knew the man who loved her had won a +greater triumph over his own nature and others' passions and +infirmities. + +It was with a thrill of pride that the girl realized all that he had +done for her, and yet for a few seconds she almost shrank from the +responsibility as high above the waiting men the stood with slender +fingers tightening upon the key. The issues of what must follow its +turning would be momentous, for it flashed upon her that the tiny +combination of copper and silver might, with equal chance, open the way +to a golden future or let in overwhelming disaster upon all she loved. +Then the doubt appeared an injustice to Geoffrey Thurston and those who +had followed him through frost and flood and whirling snow, and, with a +color on her forehead, and a light in her eyes, she pressed home the +key. + +Then there was bustle and hurry. Julius Savine raised his hand, and +Tom from Mattawa whirled high the unfurled flag. Somebody beat upon an +iron sheet invisible below and the strip of beach in the depths of the +canyon became alive with running men. Next followed a deep stillness +intensified by the clamor of the river which would never raise the same +wild harmonies again, for the slender hand of a woman had bound it fast +henceforward under man's dominion. The hush was ended suddenly. For a +second the great hollow seemed filled with tongues of flame; then, +while thick smoke quenched them and crag and boulder crumbled to +fragments, a stunning detonation rang from rock to rock and rolled +upwards into the frozen silence of untrodden hills. Huge masses which +eddied and whirled, filling the gorge with the crash of their descent +leaped out of the vapor; there was a ceaseless shock and patter of +smaller fragments, and then, while long reverberations rolled among the +hills, the roar of the tortured river drowned the mingled din. Rising, +tremendous in its last revolt, its majestic diapason was deepened by +the boom of grinding rock and the detonation of boulders reduced to +powder. The draught caused by the water's passage fanned the smoke +away, and the blue vapor, curling higher, drifted past the staging, so +that Helen could only dimly see a great muddy wave foam down the canyon, +bursting here and there into gigantic upheavals of spray. She watched +it, held silent, awe-stricken, by the sound and sight. + +At last Mattawa Tom appeared again, and his voice was faintly audible +through the dying clamors as he waved his hands: "Juss gorgeous. Gone +way better than the best we hoped," he hailed. + +His comrades heard and answered. They were not mere hirelings toiling +for a daily wage, but men who had a stake in that region's future, and +would share its prosperity, and, had it been otherwise, they were human +still. Toiling long with stubborn patience, often in imminent peril of +life and limb; winning ground as it were by inches, and sometimes +barely holding what they had won; fulfilling their race's destiny to +subdue and people the waste places of the earth with the faith which, +when aided by modern science, is greater than the mountains' +immobility, they too rejoiced fervently over the consummation of the +struggle. Twice a roar that was scarcely articulate filled the canyon, +and then, growing into the expression of definite thought, it flung +upward their leader's name. + +Helen listened, breathless, intoxicated as by wine. Julius Savine +stood upright with no trace of weakness in his attitude. Then suddenly +he seemed to shrink together, and, with the power gone out of him, +caught at the rails as he turned to his daughter. + +"We have won! It is Geoffrey's doing, and my last task is done," he +spoke in a voice that sounded faint and far-away. "Fast horses and +bold riders I can trust you, too, are waiting. Tell him!" + +Helen noticed a strange wistfulness in her father's glance, but she +asked no question and turned to Thomas Savine. "I leave him in your +charge. I will go," she said. + +That afternoon passed very slowly for Geoffrey. He lay near a window, +which he insisted should be opened, glancing alternately at his watch +and the trail that wound down the hillside as the minutes crept by. He +was hardly civil to the doctor, and almost abrupt with Mrs. Savine, +who, knowing his anxiety, straightway forgave him. + +"You tell me I must avoid excitement and await the news with composure. +For heaven's sake, man, be reasonable. You might as well recommend +your next moribund victim to get up and take exercise," he grumbled to +the physician. + +But the longest afternoon passes at length, and when the sunset glories +flamed in the western sky, and the great peaks put on fading splendors +of saffron and crimson, three black moving objects became visible on a +hill-crest bare of the climbing firs. Geoffrey watched them with +straining eyes, and it was a wonderful picture that he looked +upon--black gorge, darkening forest, drifting haze in the hollows, and +unearthly splendors above; but he regarded it only as a fit setting for +the slight figure in the foreground that swayed to the stride of a +galloping horse. He was not surprised--it seemed perfectly appropriate +that Helen should bring him the news--though his fingers trembled and +his lips twitched. + +"We shall know the best or worst in five minutes. You have done your +utmost, doctor, but I'll get up and annihilate you with your own +bottles if you give me good advice now," he said, and the surgeon, +seeing protests were useless, laughed. + +Mrs. Savine said nothing. She was in a state of nervous tension, too, +and merely laid her hand on the patient, restrainingly, as he strove +with small success to raise himself a little. Meantime the horse came +nearer, its bridle dripping with flakes of spume. Its rider was +sprinkled with snow and her skirt was besmeared with lather, but she +came on at a gallop until she reined in the panting horse beneath the +window, and flinging one arm aloft sat in the saddle with her flushed +face turned towards the watchers. No bearer of good tidings ever +appeared more beautiful to an anxious man. + +"It is triumph!" she cried. + +"Thank God!" answered Mrs. Savine, who slipped quietly from the room. + +Little time elapsed before Helen entered the room where Geoffrey +impatiently waited for her, but brief as it was, there was no sign of +hurried travel about her. Her apparel was fresh and dainty, and there +was even a flower from Mexico at her belt. She went straight to +Geoffrey and bent over him. + +"All has gone well--better, I understand, than you even hoped for, and +you have done a great thing, Geoffrey," she said. "You have saved me +my inheritance--which is of small importance--and--I know all now--my +father's honor. You have repaid him tenfold, and gratified his heart's +desire." + +"Then I am thankful," answered Geoffrey very quietly. He lay still a +moment looking at her with a great longing in his eyes. Helen was very +beautiful, more beautiful even than usual, it seemed to him. He did +not guess that she had an offering to make, and for the sake of the man +at whose feet she would lay it, would not even so far as trifles went, +depreciate the gift, hence her careful attire. + +Helen's eyes fell beneath his gaze. She discerned what he was +thinking, and, though the words "heart's desire" were accidental, there +was no mistaking the suggestion. She said slowly: + +"I have been unjust, proud and willful--and I am going to do full +penance. You have surely the gift of prophecy. Do you remember your +last bold prediction?" + +Geoffrey's lip twitched. He strove to raise himself that he might see +the speaker more clearly, and, still almost helpless in his bandages, +slipped back again. Helen slipped her hand into his. + +"I have come to beg you not to go away." + +"There is one thing that would prevent me." Geoffrey, bewildered, +seemed to lose his usual crispness of speech, but Helen checked him. + +"Therefore," and Helen's voice was very low, while surging upwards from +her neck a swift wave of color flushed cheek and brow. "I have come of +my own will to say what you asked of me. You have loved and served me +faithfully, and it is not gratitude--only--which prompts me now." + +There was a space in which Helen caught her breath. Then she lifted +her head, and said proudly: + +"Geoffrey Thurston--I love you." + + + + + Popular Copyright Books + + AT MODERATE PRICES + + Any of the following titles can be bought of your + bookseller at the price you paid for this volume + + + Alternative, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. + Angel of Forgiveness, The. By Rosa N. Carey. + Angel of Pain, The. By E. F. Benson. + Annals of Ann, The. 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