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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/34415-8.txt b/34415-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cee8391 --- /dev/null +++ b/34415-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12594 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of For the Allinson Honor, 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: For the Allinson Honor + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: Cyrus Cuneo + +Release Date: November 23, 2010 [EBook #34415] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: "TWO MORE APPEARED ... DRAGGING ALONG A THIRD'"--Page 48] + + + + +FOR THE +ALLINSON HONOR + +BY +HAROLD BINDLOSS + +AUTHOR OF +PRESCOTT OF SASKATCHEWAN, +WINSTON OF THE PRAIRIE, ETC. + +FRONTISPIECE +BY CYRUS CUNEO + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK +GROSSET & DUNLAP +PUBLISHERS + +_Copyright, 1913, by +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY_ + +_All rights reserved_ + +SECOND PRINTING + +[Illustration: FAS Co logo] + +_September, 1914_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE +I. THE TENANT AT THE FIRS 1 +II. THE FAMILY PRIDE 13 +III. A COUNCIL 23 +IV. THE LAKE OF SHADOWS 35 +V. THE FIRST SUSPICIONS 46 +VI. DREAM MINE 55 +VII. THE AMATEUR MINER 66 +VIII. THE ISLAND OF PINES 77 +IX. AMONG THE ICE 89 +X. A CRISIS 100 +XI. THE REAL BOSS 110 +XII. INTERRUPTED PLANS 123 +XIII. LOVE'S ENCOURAGEMENT 134 +XIV. TREACHERY 143 +XV. THE SILVER LODE 154 +XVI. THE CACHE 167 +XVII. THE GAP IN THE RIDGE 175 +XVIII. THE EMPTY FLOUR-BAG 188 +XIX. A WOMAN'S WAY 194 +XX. THE RESCUE PARTY 203 +XXI. A BUSHMAN'S SATISFACTION 212 +XXII. FRESH PLANS 222 +XXIII. UNEXPECTED SUPPORT 235 +XXIV. THE TRUTH ABOUT RAIN BLUFF 245 +XXV. A DELICATE POINT 257 +XXVI. A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER 269 +XXVII. ANDREW STAKES HIS CLAIM 282 +XXVIII. GERALDINE 292 +XXIX. THE JUMPERS 304 +XXX. THE EVE OF BATTLE 315 +XXXI. ALLINSON'S MAKES GOOD 328 +XXXII. THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE 341 + + + + + +FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TENANT AT THE FIRS + + +It was a hot autumn afternoon. Mrs. Olcott, a young and attractive +woman, reclined in a canvas chair beside a tea-table on the lawn in +front of the cottage she had lately taken in the country. Her thin +white dress displayed a slender and rather girlish form; her dark hair +emphasized the delicate coloring of her face, which wore a nervous +look. As a matter of fact, she felt disturbed. Clare Olcott needed +somebody to take care of her; but she had few friends, and her husband +held a government appointment in West Africa. His pay was moderate and +he had no private means. His relatives justified their neglect of his +wife by the reflection that he had married beneath him; and this was +why he had commended her, with confidence, to the protection of a +friend. + +Andrew Allinson, who had made Olcott's acquaintance when serving as +lieutenant of yeomanry during the Boer campaign, sat on a grassy bank +near by with a teacup in his hand. He was strongly built and +negligently dressed, in knickerbockers and shooting jacket. The +bicycle he had just ridden leaned against the hedge. Andrew had lately +reached his twenty-ninth year. He had large blue eyes that met you +with a direct glance, a broad forehead, and a strong jaw. On the +whole, he was a good-looking man, but his characteristic expression +was one of rather heavy good-humor. Though by no means stupid, he had +never done anything remarkable, and most of the Allinsons thought him +slow. + +Raising himself a little, he looked slowly round. Beyond the hedge the +white highroad climbed a bold ridge of moor that blazed in the strong +sunshine with regal purple; farther back, smooth-topped hills faded +into an ethereal haziness through varying shades of gray. The head of +the deep valley near the house was steeped in blue shadow, but lower +down oatfields gleamed with ocher and cadmium among broad squares of +green. There were flowers in the borders about the tiny lawn, and +creepers draped the front of the house. The still air was filled with +the drone of bees; all was eminently peaceful. + +"How do you like the place?" he asked. "It's nicer than London in +weather like this, and you're looking better than you did when I saw +you there." + +Mrs. Olcott gave him a grateful smile. + +"I haven't regretted leaving town. I was miserable and scarcely saw +anybody after Tom sailed. Our small flat was too far from the few +people I knew; and even if it had been nearer, I couldn't entertain. I +was feeling very downhearted the day you called." + +Andrew remembered having found her looking very forlorn in a dingy and +shabbily furnished room. She was sitting at a writing-table with a +pile of bills before her, about which she had made a naive confession. + +"I'm glad you find things pleasant here; I thought you would," he +said. + +"It's so fresh and green. In the morning and at sunset the moorland +air's like wine. Then the house is very pretty and remarkably cheap." + +She looked at him sharply, for he had found the house for her; but he +answered with heavy calm. + +"I don't think it's dear." + +After that there was a few moments' silence, during which they heard +the soft splash of a stream falling into the valley. Then he turned to +her with a resolute air. + +"And now, about those bills? You have put me off once or twice, but I +want to see them." + +Mrs. Olcott colored and hesitated, but she opened a drawer in the +table and took out a bundle of papers, which she handed to him. To her +surprise and consternation, he counted them before he put them into +his pocket. + +"These are not all. Give me the others." + +"I can manage about the rest," she protested. + +"Let me have them; you can't begin here in difficulties." + +Mrs. Olcott rose and he watched her enter the house with quiet pity. +She was not a capable woman, and he was thankful that she had not got +into worse embarrassments. She came back, still somewhat flushed, and +gave him a few more papers. + +"I'm afraid I'm a wretchedly bad manager," she confessed. "As soon as +my next remittance comes, I will send you a check." + +"When it suits you," he said, and added thoughtfully: "One of us +should tell your husband about this; perhaps it had better be you." + +She smiled, for he was now and then boyishly ingenuous. He sat +directly opposite the gate, where all passers-by could see him, and he +had somehow an unfortunate air of being at home in the place. + +"Yes," she said, "I will write by the first mail. I feel less +embarrassed because Tom told me that if I was ever in any difficulty I +might consult you. He described you as the right sort--and I have +found it true." + +"I suppose you know that I owe a good deal to your husband," Andrew +answered awkwardly. + +"He told me that you and he were in the field hospital together for a +time, and before then he helped you in some way when you were wounded, +but he never said much about it. What did he do? You may smoke while +you tell me." + +"I think you ought to know, because it will show the claim Tom has on +me." + +Andrew lighted a cigarette and began in a disjointed manner, for he +was not a fluent speaker: + +"It was a dazzlingly bright morning and getting very hot--our side had +been badly cut up in the dark, and we were getting back, a mixed crowd +of stragglers, a few miles behind the brigade. Tom and Sergeant +Carnally, the Canadian, had no proper business with the wreck of my +squadron, but there they were. Anyhow, only half of us were mounted, +and when we found ourselves cut off we tried to hold a kopje--the +horses back in a hollow, except mine, which was shot as I dismounted. +I was fond of the poor faithful brute, and I suppose that made me +savage, for I felt that I must get the fellow who killed it." + +He paused and his face hardened. + +"There we were, lying among the stones, with the sun blazing down on +us; faint puffs of smoke on the opposite rise, spirts of sand jumping +up where the Mauser bullets struck. Now and then a man dropped his +rifle and the rest of us set our teeth. It wasn't a spectacular +fight, and we kept it up in a very informal way; two or three +commissioned officers, dismounted troopers, and a few lost line +Tommies, firing as they got a chance. The man I wanted had gone to +earth beside a big flat stone, and I dropped the bullets close about +it; a hundred yards I made it and the light good. I suppose I was so +keen on my shooting that I didn't pay much attention when somebody +said they were flanking us; and the next thing I knew a Boer had put a +bullet in my leg. Anyhow, I couldn't get up, and when I looked round +there was no one about. Then I must have shouted, for Tom came running +back, with the sand spirting all round. Carnally was behind him. It +looked like certain death, but Tom got hold of me, and dragged me a +few yards before Carnally came up. Then we all dropped behind a big +stone, and I'm not clear about the rest. Somebody had heard the firing +and detached a squadron with a gun. But I can still picture Tom, +running with his face set through the spirting sand--one doesn't +forget things like that." + +The blood crept into Clare Olcott's pale cheeks and her eyes shone. No +one could have doubted that she admired and loved her absent husband. + +"Were you not with Carnally when he broke out of the prison camp?" she +asked presently. + +"I was. Our guard was friendly and careless, and we picked up a hint +of a movement we thought our army ought to know about. We were caged +in behind a very awkward fence, but I'd found a wire-nipper in the +sand--they were used to cut defense entanglements. Then we held a +council and decided that somebody must break out with the news, but +while two men might do so, more would have no chance to dodge the +guard. Carnally and I were picked, and after waiting for a dark night +we cut the wire and crawled out, close behind a sentry we hadn't seen. +Of course, knowing what we did about the Boers' intentions, we +couldn't give up our plan." + +Mrs. Olcott recognized that Andrew Allinson was not the man to abandon +a duty, though he was unarmed and the sentry carried a magazine rifle. + +"Well," he resumed, "I crept up and seized the fellow by the leg. He +dropped his rifle, and Carnally slipped away. We'd arranged that if we +got out one was not to stop for the other." + +"But what happened to you? Did the Boer pick up his rifle?" + +"No," said Andrew quietly; "I got it first." + +"But----" said Mrs. Olcott, and stopped. + +Andrew smiled. + +"You see, he had called out when I grabbed him and several of his +friends were running up. I didn't think he'd noticed Carnally, who had +got clear off, and there was a chance of its being some time before +they missed him. Then the fellow had shown us one or two small +favors--given me some tobacco, among other things he might have got +into trouble for." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Olcott expressively. "So you let them take you back to +prison. But what about the Canadian?" + +"He got through safely and they made a fuss over him. Offered him a +commission, which he was too sensible to take." + +"Tom came home promoted and got his West African appointment; Carnally +could have had a commission; and you went back to prison. Though of +course they deserved it, didn't it strike you that the rewards were +not very fairly shared out?" + +"I believe my people were disappointed when I returned as +undistinguished as I went out, though I don't know that they were +surprised. So far as I was concerned, it was an inglorious +campaign--twice in a hospital, and some months in a prison camp. And +yet, I'll admit that I left England determined on doing something +brilliant." + +Mrs. Olcott made no remark. He did not seem to attach much importance +to the incident that had secured his comrade's escape. His conduct was +not of the kind that catches the public eye, but her husband, whose +opinion was worth having, believed in Allinson. + +"Well," he resumed, "I've stayed some time. Are you sure you're quite +comfortable here? There's nothing you feel short of?" + +"Oh, no," she said. "I ought to be happy. It's perhaps a trifle quiet: +nobody has called on me yet." + +"I dare say that can be altered," he replied; and though she did not +suppose her solitude was likely to be enlivened at his request, she +gave him her hand gratefully and let him go. + +Picking up his bicycle, he wheeled it up the road, which wound between +yellow harvest fields and dark-green clover to the long ascent of the +moor. Here the gray stone walls broke off and the open heath ran up, +steeped in strong color: the glowing crimson of the ling checkered +with the purple of the heather, mossy patches showing lemon and +brightest green, while the gaps from which peat was dug made blotches +of rich chocolate-brown. Andrew noticed it all with quiet +appreciation, though he was thinking hard as he slowly climbed the +hill. He had made Mrs. Olcott a promise, and he meant to keep it, but +the thing was beginning to look more difficult than he had imagined. +His sisters might have helped him by recognizing the lonely woman, +but they had shown some prejudice against her, and this was +unfortunate, for their attitude would have its effect on their +neighbors. + +The Allinsons were people of importance in the countryside and the +history of the family was not without romance. Long ago an Andrew +Allinson had become possessed, by violence most probably, of a strong +stone peel, half fortress, half farmstead, that commanded a fertile +dale up which the Scots moss-troopers often rode to the foray. Little +was known of his descendants, except that they held the peel for +several generations and were buried with a coat of arms roughly cut +upon their tombstones in a moorland kirkyard. Then had come a break, +when they were perhaps driven out by economic changes, for the family +vanished from the dale and next appeared as London goldsmiths in Queen +Anne's reign. Later, Andrew's grandfather, retiring from his banking +business, resumed the coat of arms, bought back the peel and built a +commodious house about it. On his death it was discovered that his +property had shrunk in value owing to changing times, and his shrewd +north-country widow gave up the hall and coat of arms and made her son +reopen the family business. He had prospered and maintained the best +traditions of the ancient firm, for Allinson & Son was noted for +caution, decorum and strict probity. The firm was eminently sound and +carried on its business in an old-fashioned, austere way. + +To its head's keen disappointment, his only son, Andrew, showed no +aptitude for commerce, and after two years in the counting-house was +allowed to follow his own devices. Then on the marriage of Andrew's +sister to a clever young business man, the latter was made a partner. +Soon after this Andrew's father died, leaving him a large share of his +money, which was, however, to remain in the business, over which his +brother-in-law, Leonard Hathersage, now had control. + +When the gradient grew easier Andrew mounted, but got down again with +a frown a few minutes later. The Boer's nicked bullet had badly torn +the muscles of his thigh, and now and then the old wound troubled him. +Though he loved horses, he could no longer ride far with pleasure, +and, being of active temperament, had taken to the bicycle. + +He had not gone far before he saw a girl ride out from behind a grove +of gnarled spruce firs and he joined her when she pulled up her horse +to wait for him. Ethel Hillyard looked well in the saddle: tall and +rather largely built, she was nevertheless graceful and generally +characterized by an air of dignified repose. Now, however, there was +amusement in the fine gray eyes she fixed on Andrew. + +"You look moody, and that's not usual," she said. + +They were old friends, and Andrew answered her confidentially. + +"I've been thinking and, for another thing, I found I couldn't get up +this bit of a hill. I suppose it oughtn't to worry me, but it does. +You see, a lameness that comes on when I least expect it is all I +brought back from South Africa." + +Ethel gave him a sympathetic nod as she started her horse. + +"It's a pity, but you might have suffered worse; and, after all, +distinction is sometimes cheaply gained." + +"You don't win it by keeping people busy curing you and seeing that +you don't break out of prison camps," Andrew retorted grimly. + +"But what else were you thinking of that disturbed you?" + +"My thoughts were, so to speak, all of a piece--one led to another. I +did nothing in South Africa, and it has struck me lately that I +haven't done much anywhere else, except to catch salmon in Norway and +shoot a few Canadian deer. Now there's Leonard, who's not an Allinson, +making money for all of us and managing the firm." + +"Leonard got money and the opportunity for making more from +Allinson's." + +"That's true, but it doesn't excuse me. I ought to be a power in the +firm, and I don't suppose I could even keep one of its books +properly." + +He walked on in silence for the next minute or two and his companion +watched him with interest. His brows were knit, his brown face looked +strong as well as thoughtful, and Ethel did not agree with his +relatives, who thought him a bit of a fool. She was inclined to +believe that Leonard had spread that impression and the others had +adopted it without consideration. Andrew had been idle, but that was +his worst fault, and he might change. There was, however, nothing +significant in his taking her into his confidence; he had often done +so, though she realized with half regretful acquiescence that it was +only as a confidante that he thought of her. He could not have chosen +a better one, for Ethel Hillyard was a girl of unusual character, and +she now determined to exert her influence for his benefit. + +"Isn't Allinson's rather branching out of late?" she asked. + +"It is. The West African goldfield was a new kind of venture, though +it's paying handsomely; and we're now taking up a mine in Canada. Of +course, the old private banking business has gone under and one must +move with the times; but, in a sense, it's a pity." + +Ethel understood him. Her father had dealt with Allinson's and she +knew the firm had hitherto been dignified and conservative, while +Leonard was essentially modern in his methods and what is known as +pushing. She foresaw disagreements if Andrew ever took an active part +in the business, which he had a right to do. + +"Perhaps it isn't necessary that you should be good at bookkeeping," +she said. "Is there no place for you in these new foreign schemes? You +have traveled in the Canadian bush to shoot deer, and you seemed to +like it; wouldn't it be as interesting if you went there to look for +minerals or manage a mine? You would have the free life in the wilds, +but with an object." + +"There's something in that," Andrew replied thoughtfully. "I happen to +know the country where the mine is and it's unusually rough. It's +curious that you have made a hazy idea I've had a little clearer. I'll +think over the thing." + +Ethel knew that she had said enough. She would miss the man if he went +away, but it would be better for him and she knew that she would never +have more than his liking. + +"Where is the mine?" she asked. + +"It's among the rocks some distance back from the Lake of Shadows in +western Ontario." + +"The Lake of Shadows!" Ethel exclaimed. "A friend I made in London +used to go there with her father for fishing and shooting; but that's +not important." + +"Well," said Andrew, "I've talked enough about myself. There's a +favor I want to ask. Will you call on Mrs. Olcott?" + +Ethel started. Mrs. Olcott was young and pretty; nobody knew anything +about her husband; Andrew's visits had already excited comment. + +"Why should I call?" she inquired. + +He gave her the best reasons he could think of for befriending the +lonely woman, and she pondered them for a moment or two. Then she +asked bluntly: + +"How was it that Mrs. Olcott chose this neighborhood, where she knows +nobody?" + +"I suggested it," said Andrew, simply. "The Firs was empty, and she +has few friends anywhere." + +Though she had attached no importance to the remarks that had been +made about him, Ethel found his unembarrassed candor reassuring. He +had, however, asked her to do something that was harder than he +imagined, and she hesitated. + +"Very well," she said; "I will call." + +"Thanks. I knew I could count on you." + +They had now reached the top of the hill, and Ethel took a crossroad +while Andrew mounted his bicycle, but she turned her head, and watched +him ride across the moor. Andrew, however, did not look back at her, +and by and by she urged her horse to a trot. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FAMILY PRIDE + + +The hall which Andrew's grandfather had built around the peel had for +years been let with its shooting rights. Ghyllside, however, where +Andrew lived, was a commodious house, and Leonard Hathersage was +frequently glad to spend a week-end there. He and his wife had arrived +on the previous evening, and he was now busy in the library while +Andrew sat talking to his sisters on the terrace. + +Though the light was fading, it was not yet dark, and the air was +still and fragrant with flowers. Yew hedges and shrubberies were +growing indistinct; a clump of firs in a neighboring meadow loomed up +black and shadowy, but a band of pale saffron light still shone behind +the hall on the edge of the moorland a mile away. The square peel +stood out harsh and sharp against the glow, the rambling house with +its tall chimneys trailing away into the gloom on its flanks. + +Andrew, who had early lost his mother, had three sisters. Florence, +Leonard's wife, his senior by several years, was a tall, prim and +rather domineering woman; Gertrude, who had married Antony Wannop, a +local gentleman, was gentler and less decided than her sister; Hilda, +the youngest of all, was little, dark, and impulsive. + +Wannop leaned on the terrace wall between the flower urns with a cigar +in his mouth. He was stout and generally marked by a bluff geniality. + +"Where did you go this afternoon, Andrew, when you wouldn't come with +us to the Warringtons'?" Hilda asked. + +Andrew would have preferred to evade the question, but that seemed +impossible. + +"I went to see Mrs. Olcott." + +"Again!" exclaimed Hilda, who prided herself on being blunt. + +Wannop chuckled softly, but Florence claimed Andrew's attention. + +"Don't you think you have been there often enough?" + +"It hasn't struck me in that light." + +"Then," replied Florence, "I feel it's time it did." + +"Come now!" Wannop broke in. "Three to one is hardly fair. Don't be +bullied, Andrew; a bachelor can be independent." + +"How do you make it three?" Hilda asked. "Only Florence and I +mentioned the matter." + +"I am, of course, acquainted with Gertrude's views," Wannop explained. + +Hilda laughed. Antony, with his characteristic maladroitness, had +somehow made things worse, and Andrew's face hardened. His sisters +were generally candid with him, but they had gone too far. With a +thoughtlessness he sometimes showed, he had told them nothing about +his acquaintance with Clare Olcott's husband. + +"You're not much of an ally," he said with a dry smile. "Anyway, as +there's no reason why I shouldn't go to The Firs, I'm not likely to be +deterred. I may as well mention that I met Ethel Hillyard and begged +her to call." + +"On Mrs. Olcott?" Florence cried. "What did she say?" + +"She promised." + +The astonishment of the others was obvious, but Hilda was the only one +who ventured to express it. + +"Andrew, you're a wonder! You haven't the least idea of scheming, and +you'd spoil the best plot you took a hand in, and yet you have a +funny, blundering way of getting hard things done." + +"You have hinted that I was a bit of a fool," said Andrew; "but I +don't see why this should be hard." + +As an explanation was undesirable, Hilda let his remark pass and +addressed the others. + +"He has beaten us and we may as well give in gracefully. If Ethel +goes, all the people who count will follow her." + +"There's more in Andrew than his friends suspect," Wannop observed, +laughing. + +They let the subject drop, and Florence went in search of her husband. + +"What's your opinion of Allinson's new policy, Andrew?" Wannop asked. + +"I don't know what to think. One can be too conservative nowadays, but +I'll confess that I liked the firm's old-fashioned staidness better. +Even the old dingy offices somehow made you feel that the Allinsons +were sober, responsible people. The new place with its brass-work, +plate-glass and gilding was somewhat of a shock to me; but the +business is flourishing. Mining speculation was quite out of my +father's line, but Leonard makes it pay." + +"I've a few thousands in the African concern," Wannop remarked with +complacent satisfaction. "As it looks as if I'd get my money back in +about seven years, I wish I'd put in twice as much." + +Hilda let her eyes rest on the fading outline of the grim old peel. + +"Well," she said, "I don't agree with Leonard's methods. They're +vulgarly assertive, and the new offices strike me as being out of +place. Allinson's ought to be more dignified. Even when we stole +cattle from the Scots in the old days we did so in a gentlemanly way." + +"Is stealing ever gentlemanly?" Wannop inquired. + +"It's sometimes less mean than it is at others. Though I've no doubt +that we robbed the Armstrongs and the Elliots, I can't think that we +plundered our neighbors or took a bribe to shut our eyes when the +Scots moss-troopers were riding up the dale. The Allinsons couldn't +have betrayed the English cause, as some of the Borderers did." + +"No," said Wannop, "it would certainly have been against their +traditions. And in times that we know more about, nobody has ever +questioned the honor of the House." + +Andrew looked up with a reserved smile. + +"I don't think it's likely that anybody ever will." + +He got up and started toward the house. + +"I must have a talk with Leonard," he said. + +When he had left them, Wannop turned to the others. + +"Now and then you can see the old stock in Andrew; and, after all, he +has a controlling interest in the firm." + +"Andrew may not do much good," Hilda declared, "but he'll do +Allinson's no harm. He'll stick to the best of the old traditions." +She paused with a laugh. "Perhaps we're silly in our family pride and +sometimes think ourselves better than our neighbors with very little +reason; but it's a clean pride. We're a mercantile family, but +Allinson's has always ranked with the Bank of England." + +When Andrew reached the library, his brother-in-law sat at a +writing-table on which stood a tall silver lamp. The light fell in a +sharply defined circle on the polished floor, which ran back beyond it +into shadow. The windows at the western end were open and, for it was +not quite dark yet, the long rows of bookcases, dimly visible against +the wall, emphasized the spaciousness of the room. The scent of +flowers that drifted in was mingled with the smell of a cigar, and as +Andrew's footsteps echoed through the room Leonard laid down his pen. +The strong light fell upon him, showing his thin face and tall, spare +figure. His hair receded somewhat from his high forehead, and he had +the colorless complexion of a man who lives much indoors; but his eyes +were singularly penetrating. Dressed with fastidious neatness he had +an air of elegance and, by comparison, made Andrew, who was of +robuster build, look heavy and awkward. + +"I'm glad of an excuse for stopping," he said. "Will you sit down and +smoke?" + +"What are you doing? I thought you came here for a rest," said Andrew, +lighting a cigarette. + +"The firm is a hard task-master, and it's difficult to get a few +minutes undisturbed in town. That's why I brought these papers down. +Writing a prospectus is a business which demands both caution and +imagination. Would you like to see the draft?" + +"I thought a boundless optimism was the most essential thing," Andrew +replied, taking the paper handed him. "You're moderate," he continued +when he had read it. "Ten per cent. is all you promise, though as far +as my experience goes, twenty's the more usual thing." + +"Allinson's does not promise more than it can fulfill." + +"That's true and quite in accordance with my views. Until lately, +however, prospectuses were very much out of our line." + +Leonard was surprised and annoyed. Andrew was associating himself with +the business in an unusual manner; although he had a right to do so. + +"If there's anything you wish to ask, I shall be glad to explain it." + +"These underwritten shares--I suppose you're letting the fellows have +them below par? Is that because you expect any difficulty in getting +the money?" + +"No; any project we're connected with will be taken up. Still, when +you launch a good thing, it's policy to let a few members of the ring +in at bottom and give them a share of the pickings." + +Andrew frowned. + +"It sounds like a bribe. But these pickings? They must come out of the +shareholders' pockets." + +"In the end, they do." + +"Though I'm not a business man, it seems to me that capital put into +shafts and reducing plant stands a fair chance of being productive. +That spent in starting the concern is largely wasted." + +"We are spending less than usual. May I ask what your idea of the +object of floating a company is?" + +"Mine would be the expectation of getting a good dividend on the stock +I took in it." + +Leonard looked amused. + +"Excellent, so far as it goes; but there's sometimes a little more +than that." + +Andrew sat silent a while. Then he said: + +"I gather that this new scheme will be subscribed for because +Allinson's guarantees it." + +"It's impossible to guarantee a mining scheme, but, in a sense, you're +right. The firm's name will count." + +"Well," said Andrew, "I'd like to go to Canada and take some share in +starting things--you see, I know the country. Then, as I suppose some +of my money will be put into the business, you might, perhaps, make me +a director. I'd be of no use in London, but I might do something in +Canada." + +Leonard was surprised, but the suggestion pleased him. The name of +Andrew Allinson would have its influence on investors. + +"It is not a bad idea," he said. "We'll see what can be done." + +Andrew then changed the subject. + +"How's business generally?" + +"Pretty fair; we have made some profitable ventures in South America. +You will remember my bringing Seņor Piņola down? We made some money +out of him." + +"How?" Andrew asked without much interest. "The fellow had a dash of +the nigger or Indian in him." + +"He was Dictator Valhermosa's secret agent." + +"Then you supported Valhermosa's administration during the +unsuccessful revolution?" + +"We did. They wanted to re-arm the troops quietly in preparation; +Piņola came over to buy new rifles and machine-guns, and as he +couldn't pay ready money we arranged the matter. There was a risk, but +we got some valuable concessions as security, and turned them over +afterward to a German syndicate on excellent terms." + +Andrew's face was grim when he looked up. + +"And I gave Piņola two days' shooting instead of pitching him into the +nearest bog! To think of Allinson's backing that brute Valhermosa is +somewhat of a shock." + +"What do you know about him?" + +"A good deal. Warren, the naturalist who was with me in Canada, spent +some time in his country and has friends there. He used to talk about +the things he'd seen, and the memory of his stories makes me savage +yet, because I believe them. I have other acquaintances who have lived +in parts of the world that business men don't often reach. If you +don't know how rubber's collected and minerals are worked in countries +where there's a subject native population, you'd better not find out." +Andrew broke into a harsh laugh. + +"You didn't suspect that while the firm helped the Dictator, I, its +sleeping partner, gave Warren a check for the rebels, and I'd like to +think that every cartridge my money bought accounted for one of the +brutes who flog women to death and burn Indians at the stake when the +revenue falls off." + +Leonard looked grieved. + +"I'm sorry to hear this; though it's possible that Warren was +exaggerating. Anyway, we're out of it now. The deal was a matter of +business--we couldn't be expected to know what was being done in the +back-country, and after all it's no concern of ours." + +Lighting another cigarette, Andrew smoked half of it in silence. + +"The thing will hardly bear speaking of," he said finally; "and the +fault is partly mine for not taking the interest in the firm I should +have done." + +He paused and looked Leonard steadily in the face. + +"From what I've heard, those concessions may be good for another two +or three years; and then, when Valhermosa's victims revolt again, if +Allinson's can take any hand in the matter, it will be on the other +side. Now we'll let the subject drop." + +Leonard acquiesced with a tolerant gesture, though he was disconcerted +by Andrew's tone. It implied that his opinions would have to be +considered in the future. + +"By the way," Leonard said, "there's a matter I must mention, though +it's delicate. I saw Judson this morning and he grumbled about the +liberality you have shown of late." + +"Judson's niggardliness has lost me one or two good tenants." + +"It's possible; but he told me that you had let The Firs to Mrs. +Olcott for ten pounds less than he could easily have obtained. As he's +a talkative fellow and nothing is kept secret here, do you think you +were wise in letting her have the place below its value?" + +"You have been given a hint, Leonard. What do you know about Mrs. +Olcott?" + +"Nothing. The point is that nobody else seems to know anything. I +merely wished to suggest that it might be well to be more cautious." + +The color crept into Andrew's face. + +"The next time you hear Mrs. Olcott mentioned you may say that her +husband is a friend of mine; that he served with credit as captain +through the recent war; and that he now holds a government post in +West Africa, though the climate compelled him to leave his wife at +home. Now, would you like a game of pool?" + +Leonard said that he would be busy for a while, and when Andrew went +out he leaned back in his chair to think. On the death of Andrew's +father, he had been left in control of the business, though, as he had +not brought much capital into the firm, his share of the profits was +not large. There was a good deal to be paid over to members of the +family and, getting tired of slow and steady progress, he had of late +launched out into bold speculations. + +Since his first advancement he had looked on his brother-in-law as an +obstacle in his way, and had quietly strengthened his own position. He +had made Andrew's brief business experience distasteful to him, by +seeing that the young man was kept busy at monotonous tasks that he +could take no interest in. Afterward, when Andrew retired from the +counting-house, he had missed no opportunity for suggesting that he +was right in doing so, because he was obviously unfitted for a +commercial career. Now and then he went farther and hinted that the +young man was not gifted with much intelligence. It was, however, done +cleverly; nobody realized that the impression that Andrew was +something of a fool had originated with his brother-in-law, but in +time it was generally held. This promised to make Leonard's position +safer, because the firm was a family one, and though Andrew held a +good deal of the capital, his opinion would not have much weight with +his relatives. + +Nevertheless, to some extent, Leonard was honest in what he had done. +Andrew was undoubtedly not clever and Leonard believed that for him to +have any say in matters would be detrimental to the firm. Now that he +was inclined to assert his rights, it would be well to send him to +Canada. This implied some risk, as there were matters connected with +the mine which Leonard preferred to conceal, but it was unlikely that +Andrew would make any undesirable discovery. However, as Andrew's +inaptitude for business was taken for granted, it might be wise to +give the family a reason for entrusting him with the post, and Leonard +thought it could be supplied by making the most of his acquaintance +with Mrs. Olcott. Having arrived at this conclusion, he dismissed the +matter and busied himself with the prospectus. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A COUNCIL + + +Hot sunshine flooded the Ghyllside lawn, but there was a belt of +shadow beneath a copper beech, where a family group had gathered. +Leonard sat in a basket-chair, talking to Mrs. Fenwood, an elderly +widow with an austere expression; his wife and Gertrude Wannop were +whispering over their teacups; Wannop, red-faced and burly, stood +beside Robert Allinson, a solemn-looking clergyman. + +"We have been here half an hour and not a word has been said yet upon +the subject everybody's itching to talk about. We're a decorous lot," +Wannop remarked, surveying the others with amusement. "Personally, I +should be glad if we were allowed to go home without its being +broached. It's hardly the thing to discuss Andrew's shortcomings round +his table." + +"There are times when it's a duty to overcome one's delicacy," Robert +replied. "If I have been correctly informed, the matter demands +attention. Hitherto the Allinsons have never given their neighbors +cause to criticize their conduct." + +"None of them? I seem to remember----" + +"None of them," Robert interposed firmly. "There was once a malicious +story about Arthur, but I am glad to say it was disproved. But this +Mrs. Olcott, whom I haven't seen--I suppose she's attractive?" + +Wannop smiled. + +"Distinctly so; what's more, she has a forlorn and pathetic air which +is highly fetching. Still, I'm convinced that there's no harm in her." + +"A married woman living apart from her husband!" Robert exclaimed +severely. "I understand that Andrew is at her house now, and I must +confess that after walking some distance I feel hurt at his not being +here to receive us." + +"He didn't know you were coming," Wannop pointed out, and added with a +roguish air: "We have all been young and I don't suppose you used to +look the other way when you met a pretty girl; but I'll go bail Andrew +only visits her out of charity. However, if you are determined to have +your say, you may as well begin and get it over." + +Robert left him and addressed Leonard in a formal tone. + +"I am told that Andrew is going out to assist in the development of +the new mine and wishes to be made a director. As a relative and a +shareholder, may I ask if you consider him fit for the post?" + +Leonard had been waiting for an opening, and he welcomed the inquiry. + +"Andrew has every right to demand the position, which I could not +refuse." He paused, for the next suggestion must be skilfully +conveyed. "As it happens, his abilities hardly enter into the +question. It is merely needful that we should have a representative on +the spot to whom we can send instructions, and I dare say he will get +a good deal of the fishing and shooting he enjoys. All matters of +importance will be decided in London." + +"Then I take it that his inexperience and inaptitude can do the +company no harm?" + +Leonard was grateful to him for so plainly expressing his meaning. + +"Oh, no! Besides, I imagine that the change will be beneficial in +several ways." + +Glancing at the others, he knew that he had said enough. It would have +been difficult for any of the family to cite a remark of his in open +disparagement of his brother-in-law, though he had cunningly fostered +their disbelief in him. His wife, however, was endowed with courage as +well as candor. + +"There is nothing to be gained by shutting one's eyes to the truth," +she observed. "We all know that Andrew's visits to this woman are +being talked about. What is more serious is that he induced her to +come here, and let her have The Firs on purely nominal terms." + +"Is it so bad as that?" Mrs. Fenwood, with a shocked look, turned to +the clergyman, as if begging him to deal with the painful situation. + +"The thing must be stopped; nipped in the bud," said Robert firmly. "I +agree with Leonard that our infatuated relative should be sent to +Canada at once." + +Wannop smiled. + +"It strikes me as fortunate that Andrew is willing to go." + +"It's a favorable sign," said Mrs. Fenwood. "He may be struggling +against the creature's influence, in which case it's our duty to +assist him." + +"That wasn't what I meant. I've a suspicion that we have fallen into a +habit of underestimating Andrew's abilities and determination." Wannop +looked hard at Leonard. "You are going to put him into a position of +responsibility and teach him to use his power. Are you prepared for +the possible consequences?" + +Nobody paid much attention to this, and Leonard after a moment's +hesitation dismissed the matter. The Allinsons regarded Wannop as a +thoughtless person whose moral code was somewhat lax. Nevertheless, he +was shrewd and had read Andrew's character better than Leonard. + +"If Andrew ever wishes to have his say in business matters, I should +have neither the desire nor the authority to object," Leonard said. + +"Then we may rest assured that everything will be done to facilitate +his departure for Canada," Robert said decidedly. "There is only +another point--I wonder whether Mrs. Olcott could by any means be +induced to leave the neighborhood." + +Wannop's eyes sparkled angrily. He was easy-going, but there was a +chivalrous vein in him. + +"It would be wiser to leave the hatching of the plot until Andrew has +sailed!" he said indignantly. + +"Plot is not the right word; and you are mistaken if you imagine that +any fear of Andrew's displeasure would deter me in a matter of duty. +With the welfare of the parish at heart----" + +Wannop checked him. + +"Duty's a good deal easier when it chimes with one's inclinations; and +the welfare of the parish isn't threatened by Mrs. Olcott. There are, +however, one or two abuses you could put your finger on to-morrow if +you liked, though I dare say it would get you into trouble." + +Robert reddened and Mrs. Wannop made her husband a peremptory sign to +stop. + +"I think we needn't talk about the matter any more," she said. "It is +decided that Andrew shall be sent to Canada." + +They changed the subject, and a few minutes later Wannop left them. +Crossing the lawn, he met Hilda in a shrubbery walk. + +"Where have you been?" he asked. "I haven't seen you since we came." + +"Florence found me an errand that kept me out of the way," said Hilda +pointedly. "Now what have you and the others been talking about?" + +"I mustn't betray a confidence," answered Wannop with twinkling eyes. +"Still, I dare say you can guess." + +"Of course! They were discussing my erring brother. Aren't they +silly?" + +"I think so. It's curious that you and I, whose opinions don't count +for much, should venture to differ with the rest." + +Hilda gave him a grateful glance. + +"But we are the ones who see most clearly. I have always felt that you +are to be trusted." + +He made her a humorous bow. + +"I must try to deserve such confidence." + +"Don't be foolish; this is serious. They mean well, but they're all +wrong about Andrew. Of course, I make fun of him now and then, but I'm +very fond of him. It's a mistake to think he's stupid; and Leonard's +responsible for it." + +"I'll admit that something of the kind has occurred to me," Wannop +said. + +Hilda hesitated. + +"Well," she said, "I have never had much confidence in Leonard, though +the others think him perfect. I've an idea that all along he has been +gently pushing Andrew aside, making him look silly, and undermining +the influence he ought to have. Now he's sending him to Canada--I very +much wonder why? He has some reason." + +Wannop started. + +"My dear, your suspicions go a trifle farther than mine. You may be +right, though it's not nice to think so. But where does all this +lead?" + +"Andrew may need supporters who don't altogether believe in the +immaculate Leonard some day. I think, if needful, he could count on +us." + +"And on nobody else?" + +"Not until the others understood; and it would be hard to make them +see." + +"Uncommonly hard," Wannop admitted. "Well, Hilda, you and I will be +allies. We can conspire together unsuspected, because we are the two +who are not supposed to count--you because you're too young and +charming; I because I haven't the fine moral fastidiousness and air of +distinction that marks the Allinsons. But I'll let you into a +secret--Gertrude's wavering in her ideas about Andrew: I'm perverting +her." + +"There's something I'd better tell you. I met Mrs. Olcott half an hour +ago and I stopped and spoke. I like her--there isn't the least reason +why I shouldn't--and I'm sorry for her. I know she feels being left +alone, and we're going to be friends. Now if the others should try to +make things unpleasant?" + +"I imagine Robert means mischief." + +"I was afraid of it," said Hilda. "Of course, he's as silly and unable +to see things properly as an owl in daylight, but solemn stupid people +often pass for being wise, and he might do harm. If he tries, can you +stop him? I know Andrew would like it." + +Wannop made a sign of rather dubious assent. + +"As I'm unromantically stout, getting elderly, and devoid of personal +charm, I might perhaps venture to interfere in this matter. After +all, there's a sense in which Andrew is undoubtedly to blame. Why do +you let him go to The Firs so often?" + +"If I should give him a hint that people are talking, it would only +make him angry. You know he really is slow at understanding now and +then." + +They strolled back to the party, which soon afterward broke up, for +although Hilda begged them to wait for dinner nobody seemed anxious to +meet Andrew. When they had gone, Hilda turned to Leonard with a smile. + +"Had an interesting talk?" she asked. "You all looked so serious that +I was afraid to join you." + +Leonard glanced at her sharply. + +"As you grow older you'll find that there are matters which can't be +treated humorously." + +"It's possible," Hilda agreed. "Still, that remark is too much in +Robert's style. Improving conversation is apt to get tiresome." + +She moved away and Leonard watched her with thoughtful eyes. He +believed he enjoyed her sisters' confidence, but he was doubtful of +Hilda. + +Three weeks later Andrew sailed, and soon after he had done so Wannop +called one afternoon at The Firs, where he was received by Mrs. Olcott +in the garden. He thought she looked harassed, but he had expected +this. + +"I believe you have met my wife," he began, taking the canvas chair +she indicated. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Olcott. "She called on me and, if I remember right, +stayed five minutes." + +This was not encouraging. + +"You know my sister-in-law, Hilda, better?" Wannop ventured. + +Mrs. Olcott's expression softened. + +"That is true; I have reason to be grateful to her." + +"Hilda is a very nice girl. I verily believe that we are fond of each +other, and as I am more than double her age, she now and then favors +me with her confidence. In fact, she suggested that I might be able to +help you out of a difficulty." + +His hostess studied him carefully. He was burly and looked hot after +his walk, but he had a reassuring smile and his red face seemed to +indicate good-nature. She thought that he could be trusted. + +"It's about the house," she said. "I don't know where else to go and +it looks as if I might be turned out." + +That this should distress her hinted at some degree of poverty, and +Wannop felt compassionate. She was young and inexperienced, and had +been coldly treated by her neighbors. + +"How is that?" he asked. + +After a moment of irresolution Mrs. Olcott decided to tell him. + +"Mr. Allinson arranged about the house. Perhaps I shouldn't have +allowed this, but when he was wounded in the war my husband carried +him out of reach of the Boer fire." + +"Ah! Andrew ought to have made that clear. But won't you go on with +the explanation?" + +"Mr. Allinson told me that no papers were needed, I was to pay the +rent to a man called Judson. He came here and said that there had been +some mistake. The rent was ten pounds more and I must share the cost +of the alterations, while the field adjoining, which must go with The +Firs, would be another extra. When I declared I couldn't pay all this +he said I was undoubtedly liable, but he could find another tenant +who would take the house off my hands." + +"I see a clerical finger in this pie," said Wannop half aloud, and +smiled at his hostess. "I beg your pardon. I suppose you didn't know +that this is Andrew Allinson's house." + +Mrs. Olcott started and colored. + +"I did not know. But if it is, I can't understand why his agent--" + +"Somebody is back of him. Now we had better be candid. I venture to +believe you can confide in me." + +"What proof can I have of that? You are a connection of the Allinsons, +who seem bent on persecuting me. Have they sent you here?" + +"Hilda did," Wannop replied with quiet good-humor. "Perhaps I had +better say that on some points she and I are not quite in accord with +the rest of the family. I suppose Andrew promised your husband to look +after you until his return?" + +Mrs. Olcott agreed, for her suspicions about his errand had vanished. +Wannop mused for a few moments. + +"I think you should stay here and fight it out until he comes back," +he said. "After all, your neighbors are honest as far as they see, and +you'll find them ready to make amends." + +Mrs. Olcott's eyes sparkled, but she hesitated. + +"I'm afraid I can't hold out. They have attacked me where I'm +weakest." + +"Will you leave the matter of the house to me? It can be put right." + +"Why are you willing to take the trouble?" + +Wannop laughed. + +"For one thing, I enjoy putting a spoke in the parson's wheel; for +another, Andrew made you a promise, and the Allinsons like to keep +their word." + +He got up and held out his hand. + +"I'll have a talk with Mr. Judson. Show your courage and hold your +ground. You'll be glad you did so by and by." + +The next morning Wannop called at the agent's office in a neighboring +town. He was shown into a dingy room, where an elderly man with +spectacles received him with deference. + +"I've been looking into accounts, Judson," Wannop began abruptly. +"After deducting your commission and the cost of the repairs you +agreed to, I find that the return on my property for the past year is +small. Now I met Maxwell the other day and he hinted that it might be +managed to better advantage." + +The agent looked alarmed. + +"I understood you didn't wish to put the screw on your tenants; and it +isn't good policy." + +"No," said Wannop; "I want to be fair. I don't think Andrew Allinson +would wish any undue pressure put on his tenants either. As we talk +over things now and then, I know his views." + +Judson pondered this without answering, and Wannop resumed: + +"My business and Andrew's should be worth a good deal to you, though +Maxwell seemed to think that both could be improved." + +"Maxwell couldn't get you a penny more than I have got," Judson +declared. "I should be very sorry if you contemplated a change." + +"I shouldn't do so without a strong reason. You look after the +Reverend Robert Allinson's property, but your commission on it can't +be large." + +"It is not," said Judson, beginning to understand where the other's +remarks led. + +"Well," went on Wannop, "I saw Mrs. Olcott yesterday, and she +mentioned the misunderstanding about her lease. I may tell you that +Mrs. Wannop and Miss Allinson are friends of hers." + +Judson was surprised, but decided that if he must offend either Wannop +or the clergyman, it would better be the latter. + +"Mr. Andrew called here in a hurry and said he had got a tenant for +The Firs and I was to have some alterations made. He was driving, and +as his horse was restive he ran out before we could talk over +details." + +Wannop thought this was correct, for Andrew was sometimes careless. + +"Atkinson will take the field off your hands. It's not usual to charge +a tenant with needful repairs; and you mustn't be hard on Mrs. Olcott +about the rent. Perhaps you had better go over and put things straight +with her." + +Judson promised to do so and Wannop took out some papers. + +"Here's a more important matter. I've decided to buy Bell's place, and +you can see his agent and the architect as soon as convenient." + +He rode away, knowing that his hints would be attended to. During the +evening he met Hilda. + +"I've seen Mrs. Olcott and Judson," he told her. "It's very unlikely +that she'll have any more trouble about The Firs." + +"That's splendid!" cried Hilda. "But how did you manage it?" + +Wannop chuckled. + +"My dear girl, an explanation isn't always desirable. When you know +how a thing's done it spoils the trick." + +"Oh, well," said Hilda, "it doesn't matter, but you have a +suspiciously complacent look. One could imagine that you felt +satisfied with yourself." + +"There's some truth in that," Wannop laughed. "I feel that we have +held our own against the more brilliant members of the family. But +here's Robert!" + +The clergyman appeared around a turn in the road and joined them. + +"You seem amused," he remarked. "May I share the joke?" + +"The point's involved," Wannop said. "However, you'll agree that the +wisest people's plans sometimes fail." + +"I can't deny it," said Robert, looking puzzled. "Still, I fail to +understand what the failure of wise people's plans has to do with us." + +"As a modest man," said Wannop, "I'll admit that it doesn't seem to +have much to do with me." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE LAKE OF SHADOWS + + +The evening was gloomy and there was a boisterous onshore wind when +Jake Carnally stood on a sawmill dump, looking out across the Lake of +Shadows. Its troubled waters reflected the color of the leaden clouds +above, though they were laced with tumbling foam, and short, +white-topped waves broke angrily upon the sweating sawdust at +Carnally's feet. The tall pines that rolled back from the beach had +faded to a deep somber hue; the distance was blurred and gray. The +lake is a large one, stretching many leagues to the south, but it is +strewn with forest-clad islets, and those inshore obstructed +Carnally's view. On the nearest of them wisps of smoke drifted out +from among the shadowy trunks and an aromatic smell of burning cedar +reached him across the spray-swept sound. Holiday-makers from Winnipeg +had pitched a summer camp there. + +Seeing nothing out on the lake, he turned and glanced past the tall +iron chimney-stacks toward a row of pretty wooden houses beside the +river mouth. A moving cloud of sooty smoke floated above them, and he +knew that a west-bound train was pulling out of the station. Then a +man came up to him. + +"Why, Jake!" he cried. "You look as if you'd been up against it! When +did you come down?" + +Carnally smiled. He was tall, and sparely but strongly built. His +knee-boots were dilapidated; his brown overalls badly torn. + +"This afternoon," he answered. "Took the river for it with two of the +boys, and a mighty tough time we had in getting through. Water was on +the rock portages and we had to shove round through the bush. It +didn't seem worth while getting out my glad rags, as I have to take +the new boss up early to-morrow." + +"Looks as if he'd got lost," said the other. "I guess you heard he +left for Duck Island with two of the Company's roustabouts day before +yesterday. They hadn't much grub with them, but he allowed he'd be +back this morning." + +"What did he go to Duck Island for?" + +"To prospect the fireclay bed. Seemed to think the Company might put +up a smelter." + +"It's early for that," said Carnally with a grin. "They've got to +raise milling ore and pack it down first. I suppose you've seen him; +what's he like? I don't even know his name." + +"Big man, about your age. Kind of slow, thinks before he speaks, but +for an English sucker he shows some sense. It's my notion he's a +stayer." + +"Were they river-jacks he took along?" + +"Struck me as more like railroad shovelers, though they could paddle +in smooth water. As there's a nasty sea running in the open, you'd +better look for him. If those fellows wreck his canoe and he has to +spend the night on an island with nothing to eat while you sit in the +hotel, it's steep chances he fires you." + +"I don't care two bits whether I get fired or no. The Rain Bluff +Mining Company is the meanest business proposition I've ever run up +against, except the Mappin Transport, which is worse. All the same, I +guess I'll have to go. If you're going back to the hotel, you might +tell the boys to bring my canoe and blankets." + +The man promised to do so, and Carnally sat down out of the wind to +smoke until the craft arrived. He was tired by an arduous journey down +a river swollen by heavy rain, which, throughout a good deal of its +course, poured over ledges and ran furiously between fangs of rock. It +had needed nerve and skill to shoot the rapids, and to force a passage +over the rugged portages had taxed the party's strength. Now he must +launch out again and paddle, perhaps all night, in search of his +missing chief. + +The canoe came lurching to the foot of the dump, and as there was a +chance of swamping her alongside it, Carnally ran out on a treacherous +drift-log and sprang on board. A man untrained to river work would +have upset the craft or gone through her bottom, but Carnally came +down safely and seized the steering paddle. + +"This is rough on us, boys, but it has to be done," he said. "Shove +her straight out for the gap." + +His companions were wiry, dark-faced and dark-haired men whose +French-Canadian blood had in it a strain of the Indian--hard to beat +at river work or travel through the wilds. Toiling strenuously, they +drove the light craft over the short seas, with the spray whipping +their faces and the foam washing in at the bows. Now and then they +made no headway for a minute or two against a savage gust, but when it +lulled they slowly forged on again, though they knew that to find a +canoe among the maze of islands was as difficult a task as could be +set them. When they labored out into the more open spaces of the lake +as dusk was closing in, Carnally roused himself to keen alertness. +Here the waves were dangerously high and an error of judgment might +involve a capsize. + +As it happened, the craft they sought was battling with the breeze +some distance offshore, and Andrew Allinson, kneeling astern, glanced +anxiously to leeward when he dared take his eyes off the threatening +seas ahead. They rolled down on the canoe, ridged with foam, and it +needed quick work with the paddle to help her over them. To make +things worse, she was half full of water, and nobody could spare a +hand to bale it out. Andrew was not an expert at canoeing, but he had +once made a journey up the Canadian waterways and had been a yachtsman +at home; and when the breeze freshened and the waves got steeper it +had become evident that neither of his companions was capable of +managing the craft in broken water. He had accordingly taken the +helmsman's post and after running before the sea for the greater part +of the day without a meal, had discovered at dusk a long ridge of +rocks and pines looming up not far ahead. + +They lost it in the growing darkness, for Andrew knew the risk of +trying to land among big boulders on which the surf was breaking. He +must paddle out and clear the end of the island, in the hope of +finding a harbor on its sheltered side; but it still lay to lee of +him, and breaking waves and savage gusts drove them nearer the +threatening shore. He was wet through and very tired, one galled hand +bled freely, and the party had consumed the last of their provisions +at breakfast. This was the cause of the distressful stitch in his +side, and he was painfully cramped, but he knew that he had to choose +between paddling and trying to crawl out of the surf on a rugged beach +amid the wreckage of the canoe. So far as the other two could judge, +he was still serene, and now and then his voice reached them, hoarse +but cheerful: + +"A bit of a lull, boys; drive her at it in the smooth!" + +He could see nothing to leeward except flying spray, but he was not +deceived by the emptiness. The island must be close to them. He did +not think he could clear it, but he meant to fight until the last +moment. + +"Put some weight into the stroke! We'll make a few yards now!" he +cried. + +"Hold on!" shouted one of the others. "What's that?" + +A hail reached them faintly and, when they answered, rose again, a +little nearer. + +"Are you the Rain Bluff crowd?" + +"Sure we are!" + +"Then follow us!" cried a voice, as the blurred shape of a canoe +appeared ahead. "Don't let her sag to lee; keep right astern!" + +They got the canoe round, stern to sea, in some peril of being +overturned, and drove away at a furious pace, with the other craft +lurching before them through the spray. In a few minutes shadowy pines +appeared, then a strip of foam-swept beach, at which Andrew glanced +anxiously. He could not turn back now; the dark, froth-ridged seas +drove him on, but in a few more minutes the end of the beach slipped +past and a narrow strip of water with pines about it opened up. They +ran in, the wild lurching ceased, and they paddled through smooth +water, until the craft ahead gently took the beach. Andrew now +realized that he had mistaken two islands for one, and was in the +sound between them. It was very dark among the trees when he came +ashore, but he heard one of the strangers asking for the boss, and +answered him. + +"Sit down out of the wind while we make a fire and get supper," said +the other. "I understood that your grub might be running out, so we +brought some along." + +The man's voice sounded familiar, but Andrew was too tired and cold to +exert his memory. Finding a sheltered place among the rocks, he waited +until he was called. Then he saw that a fire had been lighted, a +shelter of bark and branches made, and a meal which looked very +inviting laid out beside it. All had been done with remarkable +neatness as well as celerity, and Andrew recognized the experienced +bushman's skill. Then the firelight fell on his pilot's face, and he +started. + +"Carnally, by all that's wonderful!" he cried. + +Carnally gazed at him in astonishment for a moment or two, and then +his expression grew reserved. + +"Yes," he said; "that's my name." + +"Then you ought to remember me!" + +"Sure! You're Lieutenant Allinson, late of the Imperial Yeomanry, and, +I understand, in charge of the Rain Bluff mining operations. I'm the +mine boss's assistant, at your service." + +It was the greeting of a subordinate to his superior, and Andrew was +puzzled. He owed a good deal to the man and they had treated each +other as comrades in South Africa when, as had happened once or twice, +the accidents of the campaign had enabled them to sink the difference +of rank. Now it was the inferior who obviously meant to bear their +relative positions in mind; and that is not the Canadian employee's +usual attitude toward his master. The man he had known and liked as +Sergeant Carnally had rather pointedly declined to see that he wished +to shake hands. + +"I'm very glad to run across you again and to find that we shall be +working together," Andrew said. + +"Mutual pleasure," Carnally replied. "Sit right down; supper will be +getting cold." + +The united party gathered round the fire, sharing the meal, but Andrew +failed in his attempts to lead Carnally into friendly talk. The man +answered readily, but he would not continue a conversation and there +was a strange reserve about him. Indeed, Andrew was glad when the meal +was over; and soon afterward he lay down, wrapped in damp blankets, +and went to sleep. The next morning the wind had fallen, the lake lay +shimmering with light under a cloudless sky, and they paddled smoothly +between islands covered with dusky pines whose reflections quivered in +the glassy water, until they reached the little wooden town. When they +landed, Andrew touched Carnally's arm. + +"Will you have supper with me to-night at my hotel?" he asked. + +"Sorry I can't," said Carnally. "Got to meet a man at the other place. +If it will suit, I'll come over during the evening." + +Andrew told him to do so, though he was piqued. He took supper with +Mappin, the head of a transport and contracting company with which it +seemed he was to have business relations. Mappin, he thought, was +about thirty years of age; a powerfully built man of city type, with +sleek black hair and a fleshy but forceful face. His manner to the +waitresses jarred on Andrew, for he gazed at one who was pretty with +insolent admiration, and bullied another who was nervous and plain. In +conversation he was brusque and opinionated; but Andrew was soon +convinced that he possessed marked business ability. After supper they +sat smoking on a wooden balcony while the clean fragrance of the pines +and the murmur of running water filled the cooling air. Andrew, who +was by no means oversensitive, was unpleasantly affected by the way +Mappin bit off the end of his cigar. He had large and very white +teeth, but his lower lip was unusually thick, and there was something +suggestive of an animal in the trifling action which made it +repulsive, though on the whole the fellow was coarsely handsome. + +"I noticed a very pretty wooden house on one of the islands we passed +this morning," Andrew said. "Whom does it belong to?" + +"You must mean Frobisher's place. Calls it a summer camp, though it's +fitted up luxuriously. He's from across the frontier and a bit of a +sport; the Americans are coming north largely now for shooting and +fishing. However, as he'll be here soon, you're sure to meet him." + +"A pleasant man?" + +Mappin laughed. + +"He can be very dry and you'd find it hard to get ahead of him; but +he's hospitable, and you can't get a dinner like he puts up out of +Montreal. I'll take you across some evening; he's by way of being a +friend of mine. Then Geraldine Frobisher's a picture: figure like +classical sculpture, face with each feature molded just as it ought to +be. It's a feast for the eyes to watch that girl walk." + +Andrew had occasionally listened to similar descriptions of young +women, but he resented something in Mappin's appreciation of Miss +Frobisher. It struck him as wholly physical and gross. + +"Well," he said curtly, "I'll think over the matters we have talked +about and let you know my decision." + +Mappin looked surprised, as if he had taken Andrew's assent to his +suggestions for granted. + +"No hurry, but you'll have to write," he said. "As you're going up to +the mine, I'll pull out on the Toronto express in the morning. And now +there are some letters I must get off by the mail." + +Andrew was not sorry to have him go; and when Carnally entered the +balcony a few minutes later he was struck by the contrast between the +two men. The bushman was lean and wiry; there was a lithe grace in his +quick movements, and a hint of the ascetic in his keen, bronzed face. +One could imagine that this man's body was his well-trained servant +and would never become his pampered master. + +"Sit down, Jake," said Andrew, determined to penetrate his reserve. +"Take a cigar. Now, we got on pretty well in the hospital and the +prison camp, didn't we?" + +Carnally's eyes twinkled when he had lighted his cigar. + +"That's so; I wasn't in your squadron then. Besides, you've got moved +up since; you're colonel now." + +"In a sense, I am. I don't know how you rank yet, but I have some say +in choosing my officers. But we'll drop this fencing. Why did you hold +off last night when I meant to be friendly?" + +Carnally considered before he answered. + +"I know my place; you're my boss. If my attitude didn't please you, +tell me what you expect." + +"I'll try. To begin with, when I speak as the Company's +representative, I must have what I want done." + +"That's right. I'm agreeable, so long as I hold my job." + +"Don't you mean to hold it?" + +"That depends. I haven't made up my mind yet." + +"Then I want a man that I can rely on to help me through any trouble +I meet," Andrew went on. "One that I can consult, when it's needful, +with confidence." + +"It's quite likely that we might look at things from a different point +of view." + +Andrew was frankly puzzled by his companion's manner. His reserve and +lack of response were not in accordance with what he knew of Carnally. + +"Well," he asked, "what are you going to do?" + +"We might give the thing a trial. Do you know much about mining?" + +"Nothing," said Andrew. "I'll admit that to you. I don't think you'll +take advantage of it." + +"But how did you come to be sent over in charge of the mine if you +don't know your work?" + +"I'm a director of the Company, and a good deal of the family money +has gone into it." + +Carnally looked grave at this, and sat silent a few moments studying +his companion. + +"Did you have anything to do with fixing up things on this side?" he +asked. + +"No. My brother-in-law, Hathersage, came over and made all +arrangements. I'm rather ignorant about them." + +"Then he didn't take you much into his confidence about this mining +proposition?" + +"No; I can't say that he did." + +"And you expect a fair return on your money and mean to see that your +friends who have invested don't get left? That's all?" + +"Of course; I've no claim to anything else." + +"That," said the Canadian dryly, "is a point on which there might be +some difference of opinion. You want the shareholders to make a good +thing?" + +"Yes. The firm has backed this mine; I believe the name helped to +float the scheme. That makes me responsible to the people who found +the money." + +Carnally gave him a long searching glance, and his expression changed. + +"Well," he said with an air of quiet resolve, "I guess I'll have to +see you through." + +When Carnally left a half-hour later he met a storekeeper of the town +outside the hotel. + +"You're looking serious, Jake," the man remarked. "Been with your new +boss, I heard. What do you think of him?" + +"Well," Carnally answered gravely, "it's my idea he's white." + +"Then you're not going to quit, as you talked of doing?" + +"No, sir; I guess the new boss and I will pull along." + +"If he's square, why's he working with Mappin and the other grafters?" + +Carnally laughed. + +"That's a point I don't understand yet. But it's my notion there's +going to be less graft about this Rain Bluff proposition than you +fellows think." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FIRST SUSPICIONS + + +Trails of mist floated among the pines that stretched their ragged +branches across the swollen river. Though there had been rain in +abundance, it flowed crystal clear out of the trackless wilderness of +rock and forest that rolls north from the Lake of Shadows toward +Hudson Bay. This rugged belt, which extends from Ottawa River to the +fertile prairie, had until very recent days been regarded as valueless +to man, except for the purpose of trapping fur-bearing animals. The +pines are, for the most part, too small for milling, and there is +little soil among the curiously rounded rocks. Moreover, the agents of +the Hudson Bay Company, which long held dominion over the Canadian +wilds, did not encourage the intrusion of adventurous settlers into +their fur preserves. At last, however, the discovery that there were +valuable minerals in the rocks was made, and hardy treasure-seekers +braved the rigors of the North. + +Andrew and Carnally knelt in the bottom of their canoe, plying the +paddle, while a big half-breed stood upright, using an iron-shod pole +when the nature of the bottom permitted it. The stream ran strong +against them; they were wet, and had laboriously forced a passage +between big boulders, up rapids, and a few slacker reaches, since +early morning. A fine drizzle obscured their view, but so far as they +could see, the prospect was far from cheerful. Ahead, stony ledges +broke the froth-streaked surface of the flood; the pines were green by +the waterside, growing with vigor where they could find a hold among +the rocks, but farther back they were small and tangled, leaning +athwart each other, stripped of half their branches. Some had been +blackened by fire, and there were unsightly avenues of tottering +charred logs. The picture was dreary and desolate. + +"Isn't it getting time for supper?" Andrew asked as they rounded a +bend in the river. + +"Not quite. Besides, there's a Mappin camp not far ahead, and if we +can make it we'll be saved some trouble." + +Andrew nodded, for he had discovered that cooking supper and arranging +a shelter for the night is a tiresome business when one is wet and +worn out by a long day's journey. + +"Then we'd better go on. I suppose Mappin's boys are road-making?" + +"Yes," said Carnally. "Transport is going to be one of the Company's +biggest expenses. Though the river is available it pays to cut out the +worst of the portages. Packing ore over a mile or two of slippery rock +costs money, and the river makes a big bend full of rapids a little +higher up." + +"I remember now. The road is to go straight across by the old +fur-trade traverse, and when it's finished we'll put wagons on. From +the looks of the country it will be an undertaking." + +"Sure!" agreed Carnally. "Still, if you get it done at a reasonable +figure, it ought to pay." + +"It has struck me that we're giving a good deal of work to Mappin. +Ever since we left the landing we have come across his men." + +"It's usual to put jobs you're unable to attend to into a contractor's +hands," Carnally replied. + +The men were now on more friendly terms, but Andrew had noticed that +his companion was generally content with answering questions and +seldom made a suggestion. Moreover, he had an idea that Carnally was +quietly studying him. The man's attitude was puzzling, but he thought +he would in due time find an explanation. + +They paddled on for another half-hour, and then a sharp report rang +out of the mist ahead. It was followed by a succession of heavy +crashes that might have been made by falling rock, and Carnally turned +the canoe's head toward the bank. + +"Giant-powder," he explained. "The camp's near by, and the boys +haven't quit for supper yet." + +On landing, they left the half-breed to look after the canoe, while +they followed a narrow track through a belt of dismal tottering pines. +A low log-building stood in a clearing and beyond it the new road led +up a ravine with rocky slopes. In one place they had been violently +rent, for the ground was strewn with great fragments, over which a +cloud of dust still floated. A group of men stood a short distance +away, as if afraid to approach nearer, and their attitude suggested +that something unusual was going on. As Andrew hurried toward them, +two more appeared, staggering out of the dust and vapor in a curious +drunken manner and dragging along a third. His limpness and the slack +way his arms hung down were unpleasantly suggestive. + +"What's happened? Has he been hit by a stone?" Andrew asked the +nearest man; but the tall, light-haired fellow shook his head as if he +did not understand. + +Andrew questioned another, with no better success, and then noticed +two others moving cautiously toward the dust and smoke. Their care +seemed uncalled for, as the explosion had already occurred; but it was +obvious that somebody was lying in need of assistance among the stones +brought down by the shot, and Andrew ran forward. + +Plunging into the dust he noticed that it had an acrid smell, and a +moment later he felt dizzy. Then he was conscious of an intolerable +headache and a feeling of nausea. He could hardly see; he was losing +control of his limbs; but he struggled on and, overtaking the others, +helped to drag out an unconscious man. Then he sat down, gasping, and +found it difficult to prevent himself from slipping off the stone. + +"I'm sorry," said Carnally, coming up at that moment. "I stopped +behind to talk to one of the boys and as I didn't know what you were +doing I couldn't warn you. You'll feel better presently." + +"What is it?" Andrew asked. "What knocked me and the other fellows +over?" + +"Giant-powder gas. Some kinds are worse than others, though they're +all poisonous. Sit quiet while it works off." + +After a while Andrew's head got clearer and the pain less severe, and +then Carnally took him to the log-building, where supper was ready. +Finding him a seat at the end of a long table, he handed him a +pannikin of strong tea. Andrew felt better when he had drunk it, and +he began to look about. + +The building was a wretched, decrepit hovel. The logs were small and +sagged in the middle; one could hardly stand up in the room; and the +rain that had run in through the leaking roof stood in pools on the +earthen floor. The bunks consisted of two split-board ledges against +the walls, littered with dirty, damp blankets and miry clothing which +filled the place with a sour, unpleasant smell. The long table which +ran up the middle of the one room was crowded with unkempt men, eating +voraciously and talking in what Andrew presently recognized as +Norwegian, though he thought he caught a word or two of German +occasionally. A very neat Chinaman laid a plate before him; but, +hungry as he had been before he breathed the powder fumes, he revolted +from the food. The greasy pork smelt rancid; the potatoes were rotten. + +"I couldn't eat this if I were feeling fit," he said disgustedly. + +Carnally called the Chinaman, who took the plate away and substituted +a piece of pie and one or two desiccated apricots. This was better, +and Andrew ate a little, although he suspected that there was +something wrong with the lard used in the pie, and the fruit was small +and worm-eaten. + +"Let's get out," he said. "I don't think I'm dainty, but this place is +too much for me." + +Leaving the building, they sat down at the foot of a rock which kept +the drizzle off them. Andrew breathed the clean fragrance of the pines +with delight. + +"This is a great improvement," he declared. "Will you tell Lucien to +pitch our tent where there's shelter?" + +"As you wish," said Carnally. "I had figured on our sleeping and +getting breakfast in the shack." + +"Heavens, no!" + +Andrew lighted his pipe. + +"I've recovered enough to feel curious. How did the accident happen? +The men who use it must know that the fumes of giant-powder are +dangerous; why didn't they wait?" + +"It might be better if I let the man responsible explain." + +Carnally beckoned the foreman. + +"Mr. Allinson wants to know why you didn't keep the boys back until +the fumes had cleared." + +"I gave them about the usual time; but it looks as if I'd cut it too +fine. Guess the damp and there being no wind stopped the gas from +getting away. Besides, we're not using a high-grade powder." + +"But if there was any doubt, couldn't you have given them another few +minutes?" Andrew asked. + +The foreman smiled. + +"I had to hold up a dozen men while that shot was fired, and the rain +has kept us back lately. Now a boss contractor knows how many yards of +dirt a man can move in a day and how much rock you ought to shift with +a stick of giant-powder. It's easy figuring how far the road should be +pushed ahead for the money spent, and I've got to keep up to +schedule." + +Andrew studied the man. He looked hard, capable of getting the most +out of his subordinates, but not brutal. + +"Then no allowances are made?" he suggested. + +"No, sir; not on a Mappin job. You have to put through the work or +get!" + +He left them and Andrew turned to Carnally. + +"Is the shack these fellows live in better or worse than the average?" +he asked. + +"Worse. The boys are often quite comfortably fixed." + +"What about the food?" + +"You can judge for yourself," Carnally drawled. "It's the meanest hash +I ever struck; and you want to remember it's no fault of the cook's. +The stuff is mighty bad when a Chinaman can't dish it up fit to eat." + +"Are the men boarded free?" + +"Not much! They pay about six dollars a week; and it's enough. Now, as +a rule, an employer doesn't look for a profit on the grub; taking +camps all round, the boys get pretty good value for their money." + +"Then it looks as if this one were an exception," said Andrew. "Why do +they employ so many Scandinavians?" + +"They get them cheap: catch them newly landed, anxious for a job, +before they find out what they ought to have. A dollar looks big after +a kroner. That's my notion, but we'll see if it's right." He called a +Canadian workman. "What would you fix a road-maker's wages at, Jim?" + +"You ought to know. A good chopper and shoveler would get up to +two-fifty, so long as he was west of cleared Ontario." + +"Two dollars and a-half a day," Carnally repeated to Andrew in +emphasis, and addressed the man again: "What are you making now?" + +"Dollar, seventy-five. I was cleaned out when I took the job. These +blamed Dutchmen get one-fifty. The Mappin crowd's the meanest I've +ever been up against." + +"That leaves them three dollars a week for clothing and all expenses," +Andrew observed, when the workman went away. "Considering what things +cost in Canada, it isn't a great deal. Mappin seems a hard master. Do +you know anything about him?" + +"He's a smart man," said Carnally with a smile. "I met him for the +first time when I hired out with your Company, but I heard that he +hadn't a dollar a few years ago." He paused and added: "In fact, I've +wondered where he got the capital to finance this job." + +When they moved off to the camp which the half-breed had pitched, +Andrew sat thoughtfully smoking outside the tent while the mist +gathered thicker about the dripping pines and the roar of the river +rang in his ears. He had been unfavorably impressed by Mappin, and had +since learned that he treated his workmen with marked injustice; +indeed, he had suffered in person from the fellow's greed. Andrew felt +that a Company of which he was a director ought not to make a profit +by trickery and oppression; but that was taking something for granted, +for he had not ascertained that the Rain Bluff Company received the +benefit. He must reserve the question for future consideration. +Moreover, he had been struck by the manner in which Carnally had +explained how the contractor conducted his business. He had called in +outsiders to check his statements, and allowed them to supply the most +damaging particulars. It had been done with some skill. Andrew felt +that Carnally was anxious that he should learn the truth about Mappin, +though his object was far from clear. + +Then he began to think about Carnally. He had learned in South Africa +that the man had courage and keen intelligence; and that he was to be +trusted. Though fond of the vernacular, his intonation was clean; he +had good manners; and there were signs that he had enjoyed an +excellent education. + +"Jake," he said at last, "is there any reason why the Company +shouldn't do its own transport work?" + +"I don't know of any. You would have to let Mappin get through with +his contracts first." + +"Of course. What I mean is, could we do it as cheaply as he does and +pay regulation wages?" + +"It would take some figuring to answer that. Speaking without the +book, you ought to do the work at the contractor's prices and have a +profit. He must make one; and you can buy plant and tools on as good +terms as he can." + +"That's obvious. Then, on the whole, it ought to pay the Company?" + +"What do you mean by the Company?" + +"Well, the shareholders." + +"It might pay--them," said Carnally with suggestive emphasis. + +Andrew smoked his pipe out before he answered. + +"I'll consider it when I've a little more to go on. It strikes me that +I'm learning things. And now I think I'll get to sleep; my head's +aching." + +He lay down on a bed of spruce twigs and soon sank into restful +slumber, but Carnally sat a while in the tent door, watching the dark +river roll by. Allinson evidently meant to make him his confidential +adviser, and he felt his responsibility. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +DREAM MINE + + +The next morning the party broke camp, and after toiling hard with +pole and paddle reached, toward evening, a forest-shrouded gorge +through which the flood swept furiously. A quarter of a mile ahead +steep rocks pent in the raging water, which was veiled in spray; but +nearer at hand the stream widened into a pool at which Andrew gazed +with misgivings. Evidently Carnally meant to cross it. A wall of crag +formed one bank; the opposite beach was strewn with massy boulders, +over which the pine branches stretched; and in between there ran a +great wedge-shaped track of foam. No canoe, Andrew thought, could live +through that tumult of broken water; but it ran more slackly near the +boulder bank, and a short distance higher up an angry eddy swung back, +close inshore, to the head of the pool, where it joined the main +downward rush. At the junction a spur of rock ran out into the wild +side-swirl of the flood. Shut in as it was by dripping pines, the +place had a forbidding look. + +"It strikes me that the Company will find carrying up its stores and +plant very costly work," Andrew remarked, as they rested in an eddy +behind a stone. "I'm beginning to understand why Leonard asked for so +much capital. My idea is that we'll have to do some preliminary +reducing on the spot to save mineral transport." + +Carnally nodded. For a novice in such matters, Allinson was showing an +unusual grasp of details. + +"It's a question of the quality of the ore. In the North you must have +a high-grade product that can be handled at a profit in small +quantities. It doesn't pay to work rock that carries a low percentage +of metal." + +"What grade of stuff are we turning out? I've been unable to learn +anything about it since I saw the results of the first assays." + +"So far, the Company has not got up much ore: the boys have been kept +busy at development work. But you'll be able to judge for yourself +shortly, and we had better get on. There's a slack along the edge of +the spur at the head of the pool which we ought to make, and it will +save us some trouble in portaging. I'll land you if you'd rather, but +I want a hand, and Lucien must give us a lift by tracking." + +"If you can take the canoe up, I'll go with you," said Andrew quietly. + +They headed for the boulder beach, where they landed the half-breed. +He made a line fast to the craft and went up-stream with the end of +it, while Carnally thrust the canoe out and, with Andrew's help, +forced her up against the current, aided by the line. It was arduous +work. The foam stood high about the bows; eddies swirling up from the +rough bottom swung them to and fro and, although they strained every +muscle, now and then brought them to a standstill. Angry waves broke +on board freely, and Andrew realized that if Lucien lost his footing +or slackened his efforts the line would be torn from him and they +would be swept back to the tail of the pool. This, however, would be +better than being sucked into the cataract close outshore, which +would no doubt result in the canoe's capsizing. At last they reached a +spot where they must stem the main rush, which swung in nearer the +bank. + +"Can we get through there?" Andrew asked breathlessly. + +"I'll try," said Carnally. "If we fail, I guess you'll have to swim." + +Andrew said nothing, but the swollen veins rose on his forehead as he +strained upon his pole. Frothing water broke into the canoe; Lucien +was knee-deep in the foam, braced tensely against the drag of the +line. Spray lashed their hot faces, and the air was filled with the +roar of the torrent. For nearly a minute they hung stationary, their +strength taxed to the utmost, the pole-shoes gripping the bottom. Then +they moved a foot or two, and the work was a little easier when they +next dipped the poles. They made a few yards. With a cry to the +half-breed, Carnally loosed the line, and they shot forward up-stream +with a back-eddy. It swirled about them in curious green upheavals, +streaked with lines of foam, and they sped with it past boulder and +shingle at a furious pace. This was exhilarating; but when steep rocks +dropped to the water Andrew glanced anxiously toward the white +confusion where the eddy reunited with the downward stream. Its +descent was not to be thought of, but he could see no alternative +except being dashed against the crag. + +Carnally, however, did not seem disturbed. He knelt in the stern, his +eyes fixed ahead, quietly dipping the steering paddle, for they had +laid down the poles. + +"Use all your strength when I give the word," he said. + +They slid on, a tall, projecting spur of rock drawing nearer, with +furious waves leaping down-stream a yard or two outshore of it. It +seemed to Andrew that destruction surely awaited them. The turmoil +grew closer, the rock was only a yard or two away; in another few +moments the bow of the canoe would plunge into the tumbling foam. Then +came a cry from Carnally: + +"Now, with your right! Shoot her in!" + +Andrew felt the stout paddle bend and afterward thought he had never +made a stronger effort. The bow swung inshore, the rock unexpectedly +fell back, and as they drove past its end a narrow basin opened up. +The next moment they had entered it and, gliding forward, grounded on +a gravelly bank. A man scrambled down a ledge and helped them to drag +out the canoe. + +"I've been watching you; didn't think you would make it," he said. +"The stream's stronger than usual. Come along to my camp; I'll put you +up to-night." + +"Thanks," responded Carnally. "This is Mr. Allinson, of the Rain Bluff +Mine." He turned to Andrew. "Mr. Graham, from the Landing." + +Andrew saw that the man was studying him with quiet interest. Graham +was elderly; his hair was gray, and his face and general appearance +indicated that he led a comfortable, domestic life. Andrew supposed he +was in business, but when they reached his camp he recognized that it +had been laid out by a man with some knowledge of the wilds. + +Graham gave them a supper of gray trout and bannocks and they +afterward sat talking while the half-breed went fishing. The rain had +ceased, though the mist still drifted heavily down the gorge, and the +aromatic smell of wood-smoke mingled with the scent of the pines. +Somewhere in the shadows a loon was calling, its wild cry piercing +through the roar of water. + +"A rugged and beautiful country," Graham remarked. "Is this your first +visit to it, Mr. Allinson?" + +"No," Andrew replied. "I was once some distance north, looking for +caribou. I'm glad of an opportunity for seeing it again. It gets hold +of one." + +"So you know that; you have felt the pull of the lonely North! Curious +how it draws some of us, isn't it?" + +"Have you been up there?" + +"Oh, yes; as a young man I served the Hudson Bay. I've been through +most of the barrens between Churchill and the Mackenzie. Perhaps +that's the grimmest, hardest country white men ever entered; but it's +one you can't forget." + +"It's undoubtedly hard," said Andrew. "We scarcely reached the fringe +of it, but I was dressed in rags and worn very thin when we struck +Lake Manitoba. I suppose you live at the Landing now?" + +"I've been there twenty years; built my house myself when there was +only a shack or two and a Hudson Bay store. The railroad has changed +all that." + +"Mr. Graham is treasurer for the sawmill," Carnally explained. + +"Didn't you find it tamer than serving the fur company?" Andrew asked. + +A curious smile crept into Graham's eyes. + +"One can't have everything, Mr. Allinson. I've been content, a willing +slave of the desk, only seeing the wilds for a week or two in summer. +But I've thought I might make another trip before I get too old." + +"I think I understand," Andrew replied; "if I've a chance, I'm going +before I return home. There's so much up yonder that impresses +me--the caribou, the timber wolves, the lake storms, and the break up +of the rivers in the spring. What a tremendous spectacle the last must +be!--six-foot ice, piled up in wild confusion, thundering down the +valleys. I've only followed the track of it in summer, but I've seen +the wreckage of rubbed-out buttes and islands, and boulders smashed to +rubble." + +"It is grand," said Graham quietly. + +"I wonder if you'd mind telling Mr. Allinson about the silver lode you +found?" Carnally suggested. "I guess he'd be interested." + +Graham needed some persuasion before he began his tale. + +"It happened a long time ago and I seldom mention it now; in fact, +I'll confess that the lode is looked upon as a harmless illusion of +mine. My friends call it my Dream Mine. When I was a young man I was +stationed at a Hudson Bay factory about four hundred miles north of +here and was despatched with two half-breeds and a canoe to carry +stores to a band of Indians. No doubt you know that the great Company +held sovereign authority over the North for a very long time and the +Indians depended on it for their maintenance. Well, we set off with +the canoe, paddling and portaging up rivers and across the height of +land, toward the south." + +"Then you were working across country toward the headwaters of this +river," Andrew remarked. + +"We didn't get so far, but I did my errand, and one day when crossing +a divide we nooned beside a little creek. As I filled the kettle I +noticed something peculiar about the pebbles and picked up a few. They +were unusually heavy and dully lustrous, which made me curious. +Following the creek back, I found a vein of the same material among +the rocks. I filled a small bag with specimens and took the bearings +of the spot, though we had to get on without loss of time because the +rivers would soon be freezing up. On reaching the fort I showed the +agent the specimens. I can remember his look of disgust. He was a grim +old Scot. + +"Just pebbles; I'm no saying but they might be pretty,' he remarked, +and opening the door threw them out. 'Ye'll think nae mair o' them. +The Company's no collecting precious stones, and ye should ken a +souter's expected to stick till his last.'" + +"I wonder," said Andrew, "which of you hailed from the Border." + +"Both," laughed Graham. "He was a Hawick terry; I was born between +Selkirk and Ettrick shaws. The official language of the Company was +Caledonian; but that's beside the point. I was young enough to feel +hurt; though I knew my man and how staunch he was to the Company's +traditional policy." + +"What was that policy?" + +"The North for the Hudson Bay. As you know, in Canada all minerals +belong to the Crown. The first discoverer can claim the right to work +them, so long as he complies with the regulations." + +"I see," said Andrew. "Prospectors might scare away animals with skins +worth a good deal of silver. But I didn't mean to interrupt you." + +"A day or two later I thought I would look for the stones, but there +had been a heavy fall of snow and I found only a few of them. I never +got the rest, because I was away when the thaw came. About a year +later I was sent back with the same companions to the band of Indians. +It was winter, they were starving, and the agent recognized their +claim. There was no oppression of native races in the Hudson Bay +domains; not a yard of the Indians' land was taken from them, and +drink could not be bought at the factories. The Company offered them a +higher standard of comfort if they would work for it, but there was no +compulsion. If they found English guns and stores and blankets better +than the articles they had used, the agents were there to trade." + +Graham paused with a smile. + +"I'm discursive, Mr. Allinson, but I've a grievance against the Hudson +Bay, and I want to be fair." + +"I'm interested," Andrew declared. "It's a clean record for a +commercial monopoly, considering how cocoa, rubber, and one or two +other things, are often procured." + +"We reached the Indian camp, handed over the supplies, and started +back, with rations carefully weighed out to see us through. In winter +starvation stalks one closely across the northern wilds. Now I had +meant to visit the creek where I'd found the stones, but there was the +difficulty that, as the Indians had changed their location, it would +mean a longer trip. I couldn't rob the starving trappers of anything +that had been sent them, and I must make our provisions cover an extra +three or four days. There was a danger in this, because an unexpected +delay might be fatal, and the dogs were already in poor condition. I +faced the risk. We set off, the sledge running heavily over soft snow, +and we reached the neighborhood of the creek in a raging blizzard, and +camped for twenty-four hours. I could not find the creek, it was +impossible to wait, and we went on through the bitterest weather I +have known. Gales and snowstorms dogged our steps all the way to the +fort and we reached it, starving, four days late. One of the +half-breeds had a badly frozen foot and I'll carry a memento of that +march for the rest of my life." + +Graham held up his left hand, which was short of two fingers. + +"The result of a small ax cut and putting on a damp mitten, when we +were near the creek." + +"That put an end to your prospecting?" + +"It did. I think the agent suspected me, for he took care that I was +not sent south again, and during the next year I left the Company's +service. I kept the stones and after some time took them to an +American assayer. He found them rich in lead and silver, which are +often combined, and his estimate of the value of the matrix rock +startled me. It was beyond anything I had imagined." + +"Then there's a fortune awaiting exploitation beside that creek," +exclaimed Andrew. "Did you do nothing about it?" + +Graham smiled at him. + +"I was married then, Mr. Allinson; a clerk in a small sawmill. What +could I do? Stories of such strikes in the wilderness are common, and +I had nothing but two or three bits of stone to show a capitalist. The +country's difficult to traverse; it would have needed a well-equipped +party to carry up stores and haul a canoe over the divides. In winter, +provisions and sledge dogs could be obtained only from the Hudson Bay +agents. The Company had to be reckoned with, and it was too strong for +me." + +"They couldn't have forbidden you to prospect in their territory." + +"Oh, no; after all, it belongs to Canada. But their agents could +refuse me the assistance and supplies I couldn't do without. It was +impossible to hire an Indian guide or packer without their consent. If +I'd been able to raise a thousand dollars, I might have beaten them; +but that was out of the question." + +"You tried, I've no doubt?" + +"I spent a year's savings on a visit to Montreal and made the round of +the banks and financiers' offices. Here and there a man listened with +some interest, but nobody would venture five dollars on the project." + +"And then?" said Andrew. + +"I gave up all idea of developing the mine. I had two children to +bring up; my salary was small. From the beginning, my wife made light +of my discovery--I dare say she feared I might go back to the +North--the children as they grew up took her view, and my silver mine +became a joke among us. For twenty years I've led a happy, domestic +life; but I've never forgotten the lode and I've thought of it often +the last year or two. My girl is teaching, the boy has got a post, and +I have a few dollars accumulating in the bank." + +Graham, breaking off, filled his pipe and laughed softly before he +went on. + +"That's my story, Mr. Allinson; but perhaps it isn't finished yet. I +may take the trail again some day, but it will have to be soon. The +North is a hard country, and I'm getting old." + +Andrew was moved. Loving adventure as he did, he could imagine what +Graham's self-denial had cost him while he had cheerfully carried out +his duty to his family. + +"Prospecting would no doubt be easier now?" he suggested. + +"Much easier," said Graham. "The railroad has opened up the country, +and the Company finds miners very good customers. Only, when you get +back a short distance from the track, the North is still unsubdued. To +grapple with its snow and ice, its rapids and muskegs, is mighty tough +work." + +They talked about other matters, until the chilly mist, gathering +thicker round the camp, drove them into the tent. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE AMATEUR MINER + + +It was afternoon, and hot sunshine poured down into the little valley. +Andrew stood at the foot of a low range, looking about with keen +interest. The strip of level ground between rock and river was strewn +with small fir stumps, among which lay half-burned logs and branches. +On the edge of the clearing stood two log shacks and a smith's shop, +with an unsightly heap of empty cans, broken boots and discarded +clothing in front of them. A bank of shattered stone stretched toward +the stream, and on a scarped slope of the hillside where the rocks +shone a warm pink there was a black hole. A stream of water flowing +out of it ran down a trench. This was the Rain Bluff Mine. Andrew felt +disappointed. There was not much to show for the capital that had been +subscribed. He supposed, however, that the pieces of machinery which +lay in disorder about the waterside were expensive, and he meant to +ascertain their cost. + +"Why don't they get those things fitted up and working?" he asked +Carnally, who stood near him. + +"They're not complete. We're waiting until the Mappin people bring the +rest of them." + +Andrew pointed to several stacks of small logs. + +"I suppose those are props? You seem to use a good many. Do you cut +them on the spot?" + +"The Mappin boys do. The Company pays for them by the foot." + +"It strikes me that Mappin's doing a good deal of the Company's work. +However, it looks as if we meant to dig the ore out." + +Carnally saw impatience and suspicion in his face. + +"I'm asking a good many questions, Jake," Andrew went on: "but I'm in +the unfortunate position of having to look after matters I know +nothing about. That's a rather remarkable qualification for a +director." + +"It isn't altogether unusual," Carnally replied. "I could point out +one or two men who couldn't tell a pump from a rock drill, and control +mining concerns." + +"It sounds surprising. How's it done?" + +"By hiring subordinates with brains and keeping a careful eye on +them." + +"I'm serious, Jake. The Company pays my expenses and two hundred +dollars a month while I'm in Canada. It's the shareholders' money; I +feel that I ought to earn it." + +"You may have trouble." + +"That won't matter. I've had only a few words with the mine boss, +Watson. What kind of man is he?" + +"He's straight; a smart manager underground, good at timbering and +getting ore out; but that's as far as he goes." + +"Well, we'll look at the workings." + +As they approached the adit Watson came to meet them. He was a short, +wiry man, clad in wet, soil-stained overalls. Andrew indicated the +drainage trench. + +"There seems to be a good deal of water in the mine." + +"That's so," said Watson. "We want to get rid of it. I've several boys +in the sump, baling it up with coal-oil cans." + +"You mean the five-gallon drums you get your kerosene in?" Andrew +asked in surprise. "Why don't you order a pump?" + +"We've got half of one and the engine's fixed. Guess we'll get the +rest when Mappin's ready." + +"I'll send down word about it to the Landing." + +"You needn't. One of the river bosses is up here; he's getting his +dinner now." + +"But dinner has been finished some time." + +"That don't count. We had pork to-day and the Mappin man figured he'd +like trout, so I had to tell Yan Li to cook him some. If you want your +plant brought up, you have to be civil to the transport people." + +The color swept into Andrew's face. + +"Bring the fellow here!" + +Watson grinned and called to a miner at work on the dump. The miner +disappeared and presently came back with a man. + +"You sent for me, Mr. Allinson?" he said, as if he resented it. + +"I did," answered Andrew curtly. "You have a pump of ours which has +been in your hands some time. I want it delivered here immediately." + +The man looked surprised at his tone. + +"We'll do what we can, but most of the boys are busy on the road." + +"Then you had better send them back to the canoes. Our supplies must +not be stopped." + +"It's awkward," said the other. "You don't quite understand yet how +things are run here, Mr. Allinson. You want to give and take." + +"I expect to understand them better soon," Andrew dryly rejoined. +"What we want at present is the pump, and if it isn't here by next +week I'll charge your employer with the extra expense we're being put +to." + +"The office wouldn't allow your claim." + +"I won't make one," said Andrew. "I'll knock it off your bill. No +accounts will be paid without my sanction." + +"Oh, well," said the other, "since you make a point of it, I'll get +down the river right away and see where that pump is." + +He left them, and Watson looked at Carnally as they entered the mine. + +"And I thought he was an English sucker!" he remarked. + +"You were wrong," said Carnally. "You'll know Mr. Allinson better in a +little while." + +Seeing that Andrew was waiting, Watson gave him a small flat lamp to +hook in his hat, and they went down a narrow gallery. By the uncertain +smoky light Andrew could see that it was strongly timbered: stout +props were ranged along its sides, and beams, some cracked and +sagging, spanned the roof between. The floor was wet and strewn with +large fragments, which seemed to have fallen lately. Watson explained +that they were working through treacherous rocks. Presently they +stopped at the top of a dark hole, where a man was busy at a primitive +windlass. + +"Lode dips sharply here," Watson explained. "We had to go down a bit, +but we'll push on this heading. Pay dirt's badly broken up, but we'll +fix things different when we strike it fair. It's pretty wet in the +lower level; do you feel like going down?" + +Andrew put on the waterproof jacket that had been given him, and +looked at the pit. A rough ladder ran down its side, but the man at +the windlass turned to him as he emptied a big can into the drainage +trench. + +"The rope's quicker and quite as safe," he said. "One of the Mappin +boys made that ladder and fixed it wrong. Catch hold here and get a +turn round your foot; you don't want to go through the bottom of the +can." + +Andrew having done as he was directed, the man called a warning to +somebody beneath and then let him go. When he had descended a short +distance, the rope was checked, and a man seizing it swung him across +a murky pool, in which the reflection of faint lights quivered; then +springing down, he found himself in a short gallery. A smoky lamp +burned here and there among the timbering, and shadowy figures were +busy in recesses with hammer and drill. The floor was strewn with +broken rock, damming back the stream that ran along it, and water +freely trickled in. Near at hand three or four men were building up a +square pillar of timber and rock toward the roof. They wore no +clothing above the waist, and the drips from the stone splashed on +their wet skin. Watson spoke to one of them before he turned to +Andrew. + +"Ore's pretty good, here," he said. "We had to make a show for the +people in Montreal to do some figuring on--that is why I cut so much +stuff without leaving more support, though I didn't know the roof was +quite so bad. We'll have her shored up in a day or two, but the worst +trouble's the water." + +Andrew asked him a few questions, and presently went back to the +surface, where he sat down in the sunshine and lighted his pipe. A +good deal of capital had already been expended, and the result looked +discouragingly small. The Company owned a short tunnel, driven into +what was evidently inferior ore, and another at the bottom of a pit, +which might be choked up by a fall of roof and was threatened with +inundation. Still, Andrew supposed that success depended upon the +quality of the main body of the ore, which they had hardly reached as +yet. When he had finished his pipe, he joined Carnally, who was busy +among the machinery by the river. + +"Jake," he said, "I want you to go to the Landing and see that the +Mappin people send up the plant Watson expects as soon as it's off the +cars. I shall stay here a while and try to learn something about my +business." + +"Well," drawled Carnally with signs of amusement, "there is a good +deal to learn." + +He set off early the next morning, and Andrew, putting on a suit of +overalls, went down into the mine and insisted on being given +practical instruction in the use of the drill. It was a painful +process: he was forced to kneel on sharp stones and sometimes in water +while he held the steel bar, which jarred his hands when his companion +struck it. Nor did he find the work easier when he came to strike, +standing in a cramped position without room to swing the hammer, his +eyes fixed upon the end of the drill, which must be squarely hit. To +miss might result in the other man's knuckles being smashed. The inch +of metal which glimmered in the lamplight formed a perplexing mark. +Andrew had an accurate eye, however, and did not often miss; and he +forgave his instructor for hitting him on the wrist, though this +necessitated its being bound up for several days. He learned the quick +twist of the drill which brings the cutting edge to bear, and how to +wedge up the roof by setting a prop, sawed a little too long for the +position, slantwise beneath a beam and hammering it straight; and then +he turned his attention to more advanced subjects. + +"Watson," he commented one morning, "this mine strikes me as being +badly arranged. The best ore's on the lower level, the lode dips, and +having the shaft underground must give you extra trouble in getting +the stone and water out." + +"It does," Watson assented. "You want to remember that we took over +Rain Bluff after work had been begun, and the fellows who locate these +bush mines often don't know much about their job. If they think the +ore's there, they start to get it out the best way they can. I've seen +that we'll have to drive a lower adit right in from outside sooner or +later, but I'm shy of the expense." + +"It seems to me that the money will be profitably spent," Andrew said +when they had discussed it for a while. "You'll get it back by saving +labor and pumping, while the extra cost you're put to now would +probably increase. You'd better start the work at once; I'll be +responsible." + +Watson was beginning to understand that the resident director +possessed abilities which he had by no means suspected at first. He +did as he was told, and for the next few weeks Andrew was pleasantly +occupied. He learned to nip detonators on to fuses, and how a stick of +giant-powder should be inserted into a firing hole. He studied the +lines of cleavage in the rock, calculated the cost in labor and +explosives of the stone brought down, and found it all interesting. As +a matter of fact, it was the first time he had seriously interested +himself in anything except sport, and there was encouragement in +feeling that he possessed some useful powers. Watson spoke to him as +to one who could understand; the miners did not seem to notice his +clumsiness. He had expected some banter from them, but none was +offered, and he remembered that it was Leonard and his relatives who +had shown an amused disbelief in his capabilities. + +One day he descended to the lower level, where the men were having +trouble in the manager's absence. A number of lamps were burning and +the place looked wetter than usual in the unsteady light. Water +trickled down the end wall, the rows of props were dripping, and the +half-naked men splashed through pools when they moved to and fro. They +were feverishly busy: one group building a massive pillar, others +putting up fresh props; only two or three were breaking out ore at the +working face. Then Carnally came toward him, and his wet face showed +tense and anxious in the light of Andrew's lamp. + +"The blamed roof's very shaky," he said. "We've had two ugly cave-ins. +I wish Watson was back. And I'm getting scared about the water; expect +we're tapping a tank-pot in the hill, but there's nothing to help us +in locating it. You might give the boys a hand with the pillar." + +Andrew stripped to shirt and overall trousers, and hurried toward the +spot. He saw that the men needed help, for the cracked roof was +bulging downward ominously and there were several heaps of freshly +fallen stones. They were constructing a square frame of logs, crossed +at the ends, and filling it in with broken rock as fast as they could; +but there remained a wide gap between its top and the roof it was +meant to support. For an hour he worked savagely, wet with falling +water and dripping with perspiration, passing up heavy beams and +stones to the men who laid them in place. He grew breathless and tore +his hand, but the flakes of rock which fell at intervals urged him on. +Once or twice there was a crash farther down the tunnel and he saw +shadowy figures scatter and others run in with props, but for the most +part he fixed his attention on his task, because it looked as if they +had no time to lose. When a gush of water flowing down the heading +splashed about his boots, he called Carnally. + +"Is this tunnel going to cave in?" he asked. + +"That's more than I can tell," Carnally replied. "We may be able to +shore her up, but if it's not done soon, the chances of her crushing +in are steep." + +"I see," said Andrew, and turned to his companions. "Boys, I'll stand +for a ten-dollar bonus if this job's finished in half an hour." + +One of them laughed, but there was no other response and they did not +seem to increase their exertions much. This suggested that they had +been doing their utmost already, with a clear recognition of the risk +they ran. Their pay was good, but something besides their interest +urged them to keep the mine open. These were men who would not easily +be beaten by inpouring water or crushing rock: they had braced +themselves for a grapple with their treacherous natural foes. + +Andrew, however, was feeling the strain. His injured hand was painful, +the stones he had to lift were heavy, his arms and back ached; but he +meant to hold out, for the gap between roof and pillar was getting +narrow. He had raised a ponderous piece of rock and was holding it up +to a man who reached for it when there was a smashing sound above and +a dark mass rushed past him. The tunnel echoed with a crash, and +Andrew received a violent blow on his head. The pain of it turned him +dizzy, but he heard a clamor of voices and harsh warning cries. They +were followed by a smashing of timber; he saw two or three props crush +in; and then half the lights went out and he felt the water washing +past his boots. + +The next moment his legs were wet, and he set off for the shaft, +knee-deep in a rushing flood. There was a confused uproar behind him: +stones falling, timber breaking; and then the last of the lamps went +out. It cost him an effort to keep his head. Hurrying men jostled him; +he struck his feet against sharp stones and was thankful that he did +not fall. While he battled with a growing horror, he made for the +feeble glimmer which marked the bottom of the shaft. It was a short +distance, and he presently stood in the gathering water among a group +of half-seen men, watching one being slowly drawn up toward the +brighter light above. Another was hurriedly climbing the ladder, while +a comrade waited to follow as soon as he was high enough. Then Andrew +felt a hand on his arm. + +"I was looking for you," Carnally said. "You had better get up. Take +the rope as soon as it drops." + +Andrew felt a strong desire to do so, but he mastered it. + +"No," he returned calmly; "not yet. In a sense, it's my mine; I must +see the boys out." + +A man near him raised a shout. + +"What's the matter with the winch! Can't you heave on it?" + +A deepening rush of water swirled about them and there were sharp +cries: + +"You above, get on to the handles! When's that rope coming? She ought +to carry two!" + +A man clutched at the rope, which fell among them but when another +grasped it Andrew interfered. + +"Steady, boys!" he said. "The winch won't lift you both. Being heaved +up is too slow. Tell them to make the rope fast, and then climb; it's +strong enough to carry two or three." + +There was a growl of approval; instructions were shouted up; and while +the water rapidly deepened, the group at the foot of the shaft +decreased. Andrew, however, was above his waist before he clutched the +ladder, while Carnally seized the rope. There was a man above him +whose feet he must avoid, and he felt the timber shake, but it was +with vast relief that he climbed out of the flood. He was near the top +when a cross-batten broke and Grennan, the fellow above him, slipping +down a foot or two, bruised Andrew's fingers with his heavy boot. For +a brief moment Andrew clung by one hand, and then, his overtired arm +suddenly relaxing, his fingers loosed their grasp and he fell, half +dazed from pain and horror, into the swirling flood below. A crash of +the timbers somewhere in the shaft preceded a fresh onrush of water. +The flood was neck-deep and rapidly rising. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ISLAND OF PINES + + +When Carnally crawled out, wet and breathless, into the open air with +the last of the men, he turned to speak to Andrew. + +"Where's the boss?" he demanded quickly of Grennan. + +Just then the roar of a fresh rushing of waters was borne up to them, +and Carnally was filled with anxiety as he leaned over the edge of the +pit. + +"Allinson!" he shouted. + +No answer came, and before the scared miners could fully realize what +had happened, Carnally was sliding down the rope. In the feeble light +at the bottom he saw Andrew's arms reaching above his head grasping +desperately on to the ladder. He seemed unable to pull himself up, but +held on with a vise-grip. + +"All right, Allinson!" Carnally called across reassuringly. + +Letting go of the rope, a few strokes in the water brought him to the +ladder. + +"My knee!" explained Allinson, his face gray with pain. "Struck a +sharp ledge at the bottom!" + +With Carnally's assistance, he managed to climb to the top of the +ladder, where a dozen arms were extended to pull him to safety. He had +a bad gash on his knee, his fingers on one hand were bruised and +bleeding, and there was a large welt on his head where the cross-beam +had struck him; but there seemed to be nothing serious. + +He held out his hand to Carnally, and they gripped in silence. Words +were unnecessary. + +"The cross-pieces of the ladder could not have been properly notched +in," Andrew said after a while. "I think it was supplied by Mappin?" + +"Yes," answered Carnally; "and it's a rough job!" + +"I must endeavor to see that Mappin does his work better. But what's +to be done about the flooded level?" + +"Try to pump it out; it's fortunate that with a wood-burning engine +fuel costs you nothing. I expect Watson will start all the boys at the +new heading as soon as he gets back." + +They discussed the mine until Yan Li called them to supper, and for +the next two weeks they worked very hard. Then Andrew went down to the +Landing on business, and one day he sat lazily in a rowing skiff on +the Lake of Shadows. A blaze of sunshine fell upon the shimmering +water, which farther on was streaked with deep-blue lines, but close +at hand it lay dim and still, reflecting the somber pines. The skiff +was drifting past the shore of a rocky island, on which a few maples, +turning crimson, made patches of glowing color among the dusky +needles, when Andrew saw a girl sitting on the shore. She was near +when he noticed her, and it struck him that she was remarkably pretty. +The thin white dress, cut in the current American fashion, left her +finely molded arms uncovered to the elbow and revealed her firm white +throat. Her hands were shapely; and, for her hat lay beside her, he +noticed the warm coppery tones in her hair. She had gray eyes and her +face pleased him, though while observing the regularity of her +features, he could not clearly analyze its charm. Then feeling that he +had gazed at her as long as was admissible, he dipped his oars, but, +somewhat to his astonishment, she called to him. + +"Did you see a canoe as you came?" she asked. + +"No," Andrew answered. "Have you lost yours?" + +"It floated away; I didn't notice until it was too late. It went +toward the point." + +She indicated the end of the island, and Andrew nodded. + +"It would drift to leeward. I'll go and look for it." + +As he swung the skiff round it struck him that she had kept curiously +still. Her pose was somewhat unusual, for she sat with her feet drawn +up beneath her skirt, and skirts, as he remembered, were cut decidedly +short. He rowed away and presently saw the canoe some distance off. On +running alongside, he noticed a pair of light stockings in the bottom, +and laughed as the reason for the girl's attitude became apparent. +Pulling back with the canoe astern, he loosed the light craft and +drove it toward the beach with a vigorous push. + +"Thank you," said the girl, and he tactfully rowed away. + +He had not gone far when he heard a hail and saw her standing on the +point, waving her hand. For a moment or two he hesitated. As the canoe +had grounded within her reach, he could not see what she wanted; and, +in view of the discovery he had made, he had imagined that she would +have been glad to get rid of him. Still, she had called him and he +pulled back. + +"Can I be of any further assistance?" he asked, noticing with some +relief that she now had her shoes on. + +"Yes," she said frankly. "I am marooned here; there's no paddle in the +canoe." + +"No paddle? But how could it have fallen out?" + +"I don't know; and it doesn't seem an important point. Perhaps the +canoe rocked, and it overbalanced." + +"I could tow you to the Landing," Andrew suggested. + +His manner was formally correct and she felt half amused. This young +man was obviously not addicted to indiscriminate gallantry. + +"I don't want to go to the Landing, and the canoe would tow easier +with no one on board. Your skiff should carry two." + +He ran the craft in, made fast the canoe, and then held out his hand. +When she was seated, he pushed off. + +"Where shall I take you?" he asked gravely. + +"To the large island yonder--the Island of Pines," she said, +indicating it; and he knew that this was Geraldine Frobisher, whom +Mappin had discussed. Andrew admitted that his description of her was +warranted. + +"You have been unlucky," he remarked. + +"I've been careless and have had to pay for it. We got breakfast early +and I've missed my lunch." + +"It's nearly three o'clock," said Andrew, pulling faster. "But how is +it no one came to look for you?" + +"My aunt goes to sleep in the afternoon; my father had some business +at the Landing--if he had been at home it would have taken him some +time to find me. He would have searched the nearer islands first, +systematically and in rotation." She smiled. "That's the kind of man +he is. I suppose you have guessed who I am?" + +"Miss Frobisher?" + +"And you're Mr. Allinson. It wasn't hard to identify you. Perhaps you +know that your doings are a source of interest to the people at the +Landing." + +"I can't see why that should be so." + +"For one thing, they seem to think you are up against what they call +'a tough proposition'." + +Andrew's face grew thoughtful. Since the collapse of the heading, he +had spent a fortnight in determined physical toil, as his scarred +hands and broken nails testified. It had been a time of stress and +anxiety, and during it he had realized that the mine would be a costly +one to work. The ore must carry a high percentage of metal if it were +to pay for extraction. + +"I'm afraid that's true," he said. + +"Then you won't get much leisure for hunting and fishing?" + +Andrew laughed. + +"After all, those were not my objects in coming out, though you're not +the only person who seems to have concluded that they were." + +"I have no opinion on the matter," Geraldine declared. "But at the +Landing you are supposed to be more of a sportsman than a miner--isn't +it flattering to feel that people are talking about you? Then you are +really working at the mine?" + +"So far, I've saved the Company about two dollars and a-half a day." + +"But isn't your voice in controlling things worth more than that?" + +"No," Andrew replied; "I'm afraid it isn't." + +"Then you don't know much about mining?" + +"I believe," Andrew answered dryly, "I know a little more than I did." + +Geraldine was pleased with him. The man was humorously modest, but he +looked capable and resolute. + +"Well," she said, "it can't be easy work; though one understands that +getting the ore out is not always the greatest difficulty." + +"It's hard enough when the roof comes down, and the props crush up, +and the water breaks in. Still, I believe you're right." + +"I know something about these matters," she said, and then surprised +him by a sudden turn of the subject. "There's one man you can trust. I +mean Jake Carnally." + +"Do you know him?" + +"He built our boat pier and cleared the bush to make our lawn. We +often made him talk to us; and I know my father, who's a good judge, +thought a good deal of him." + +"Jake," said Andrew cautiously, "rather puzzles me: I can get so +little out of him, though I like the man. As you seem to know the +people I have to deal with, is there anybody else whose +trustworthiness you would vouch for?" + +Geraldine's face hardened. + +"No, I don't know of anybody else; but you will soon be able to form +your own opinion." + +This struck Andrew as significant, because she must have heard of his +connection with Mappin, who visited the house. Just then he caught +sight of a boat that swung around the end of an island and headed +toward them with bows buried in foam. + +"A gasoline launch," he said. "She's traveling very fast." + +"It's ours," explained Geraldine. "My father must have got back from +the Landing and has come to look for me." + +The launch was soon abreast of them and stopped near the skiff. A man +of middle age, in light clothes, held the tiller and looked at +Geraldine inquiringly. + +"I suppose you have been dreadfully worried," she said with a smile at +him. "I was cast away on a desolate island when the canoe went adrift, +and should have been there still, only that Mr. Allinson came to my +rescue." She turned to Andrew. "My father, Henry T. Frobisher." + +Andrew noticed that Frobisher glanced at him keenly when he heard his +name, but he started the engine and ran the launch alongside. + +"Come on board and see our island," he said. "I'll take you back to +the Landing afterward." + +Andrew followed Miss Frobisher into the craft and made the skiff and +canoe fast astern, and they set off and presently reached a short pier +which ran out into still, clear water. A lawn stretched down to the +shore, bordered with flowers, and at the end of it a wooden house +stood against a background of somber pines. A veranda ran across the +front, the rows of slender columns braced by graceful arches; above +were green-shuttered windows, steep roofs, and gables. Moldings, +scrolls and finials had been freely and tastefully used to adorn the +building, though Andrew understood that Frobisher used it only +occasionally as a summer resort. + +Andrew was taken in and presented to Frobisher's sister, Mrs. Denton, +a lady with a languid expression and formal manners. Then tea was +served in artistic china, and after some general conversation +Frobisher led Andrew to a small room on the upper story, which looked +out upon the lake, and gave him an excellent cigar. Noticing him +glance at the maps unrolled on a table, he smiled. + +"I find that I can't get away from business," he explained. "It +follows me down here; and in a new country like this there's generally +some interesting project cropping up. I go off into the bush hunting, +and see something that looks like an opportunity; the idea sticks to +me and begins to develop." + +"So far, I haven't found the prospects here very encouraging; but I +suppose mining's slow," Andrew responded. "What do you deal in?" + +"Land, lumber, waterfalls that will drive turbines--anything in the +shape of natural resources. But how are you getting on at Rain Bluff?" + +Andrew reflected that as the Company's operations would be freely +discussed at the Landing, there was no reason why he should be +reticent. Besides, he felt inclined to trust his host. The man had a +keen, thoughtful face, but its seriousness was relieved by his genial +smile. + +"I'm afraid we're not getting on very fast," he said, and related the +mishaps they had met with. + +"You seem to find the work harder than you expected." + +"I must admit it," said Andrew. "If it were merely a question of +propping up the roof, getting rid of the water, and cutting out the +ore, I'd feel less diffident. It's the business complications that I +have the most trouble in understanding." + +Frobisher gave him a keen glance. + +"That side's generally involved. Rain Bluff, however, has a good big +capital, I understand." + +"Which means big liabilities. We're naturally expecting to pay +dividends on it." + +"It's an expectation that's not invariably realized," Frobisher +remarked dryly. "You feel that your shareholders ought to be +satisfied?" + +"Of course. That's why I'm here." + +"Our acquaintance is short, but if you don't feel that I'm too much of +a stranger, I might perhaps be able to throw some light on any points +that you're puzzled about. I've had a pretty extensive experience in +these matters." + +He was mildly gratified by his guest's ready confidence, but Andrew +had been endowed with a quick and accurate judgment of character. He +talked without reserve as Frobisher drew him out; and the American +listened with unusual interest. The affairs of the Rain Bluff Company +were no concern of his, but the working of Allinson's mind fixed his +attention. Allinson was obviously a novice in such matters, but, for +an untrained man, he showed a grasp of the salient points and a +boldness in attacking difficulties which Frobisher thought remarkable. +Lighting a fresh cigar when Andrew had finished, he smoked a while in +silence. With a few words he might explain the Company's situation in +a manner that would fill his guest with astonishment and perhaps +dismay, but on the whole it did not seem advisable that they should be +spoken. It would be better that Allinson should find out for himself +how matters stood. Frobisher felt strongly curious about what he would +do then. + +Andrew presently looked up, as if he expected some comment. + +"There are one or two suggestions I might make," said Frobisher. + +They were not of much moment, though they promised to save Andrew some +time and trouble, and after discussing them he rose to go. When they +reached the hall Geraldine met them. + +"If you are going to the Landing, I'll come with you," she said. +"There are a few things I want from the stores." + +"Then if Mr. Allinson will excuse me, I'll let you take him. I have +some matters to consider before the mail to-morrow; and waiting while +you buy millinery is a tedious business." + +Frobisher shook hands with Andrew cordially. + +"Come back to the Island of Pines whenever you feel inclined," he +said, and Andrew and Geraldine walked down to the pier. + +She started the engine and stood aft, holding the helm, while Andrew +sat on a locker, looking about while the launch swept noisily away. +The days were rapidly getting shorter and the sunlight had faded off +the lake. The breeze had fallen and the water lay gleaming, smooth as +oil, with the shadow of the rocks and trees floating on it. Here and +there a clump of pines to the westward stood out, black and rugged, +against a glow of pink and green; the air was cold and filled with a +resinous fragrance. But Geraldine occupied most of Andrew's attention. +She stood, gracefully poised, her light dress fluttering in the +draught made by the launch's speed, and a clear warm color glowing in +her face. Fine spray leaped about the bows, around which there curled +a wisp of foam, and the froth streamed back far across the lake. + +Andrew was inclined to be sorry the launch was so fast: it was not far +to the Landing, and he could have spent an hour or two pleasantly on +board. Miss Frobisher was not the first attractive young woman he had +met, and she had neither said nor done anything in particular to +excite his admiration. Indeed, when he came to think of it, she had +said little to him; but somehow she impressed him as no other girl had +done. When presently she made some remark which demanded an answer, +they chatted gaily until she ran the launch alongside the wharf. There +Andrew left her and went to his hotel. + +After making her purchases, Geraldine returned to the island, where +she found her father sitting on the pier with a notebook in his hand. + +"You landed your passenger safely, I see. What did you think of him?" + +"He didn't give me much opportunity for forming an opinion, except +that he's rather serious," Geraldine answered with a smile. "Besides, +I don't suppose my opinion would be worth as much as yours." + +"That's a very modest admission; I thought you imagined yourself a +good judge of young men. Anyway, I'm interested in this one; perhaps +because he has upset the ideas I had about him." + +"How?" + +"For one thing, he's straight--straight as a plumb-line, which isn't +altogether what I expected. Then, for a man engaged in business, he's +a type that's new to me." + +"Are those remarks connected?" Geraldine asked with a laugh. "You're +in business and nobody could be straighter than you are." + +Frobisher looked at her with appreciation. + +"I'm afraid there have been occasions when I had to sail dangerously +near the wind; but that's outside the question. I'm sorry for this +young fellow--there's trouble ahead of him." + +"You mean financial trouble? Of course, I've heard people talking +about the mine." + +"Not altogether; anyway, if I'm right about him, I don't think he'll +find that the worst." Frobisher broke into a thoughtful smile. "After +all, I have met business men who didn't consider their money the most +important thing they could lose. But I'm inclined to think the people +who sent Allinson over here have made a mistake." + +Geraldine was unwilling to betray too great an interest in the man; +and, indeed, her curiosity about him did not go very far. + +"Oh, well," she said, "it really doesn't concern us." + +She turned toward the house, and Frobisher looked out across the +water. From what he knew about Rain Bluff Mine he had concluded that +Allinson must be either a clever and somewhat unscrupulous exploiter +of such ventures, or a guileless ignoramus who could be made a tool +of. Now, having met him, he was convinced that the man was neither of +these. However, he had other things to think about; and opening the +notebook he busied himself with a scheme for utilizing some +water-power. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AMONG THE ICE + + +Graham was sitting on the veranda of his house at the Landing after +supper one evening when Andrew joined him. The veranda was broad, and +covered with mosquito-netting, and furnished with a table and one or +two chairs; the wooden house was small but pretty. In front a plot of +grass, kept green throughout the hot summer by an automatic sprinkler, +ran, unfenced, to the edge of the dusty road. Across this a belt of +blackened fir stumps stretched back to the stacks of lumber by the +sawmill, and beyond that the lake lay shining in the evening light. + +A window was open and Andrew could hear a girl singing. A rattle of +crockery which suggested that Mrs. Graham was busy with domestic +duties also reached him now and then; and a lad who had greeted him +pleasantly as he passed sat on the nearest fir stump talking with a +companion. Graham seemed to indicate it all with a movement of his +pipe as he turned to Andrew. + +"My world, Mr. Allinson," he said. "A happy one, but narrow." + +"I feel inclined to envy you," Andrew replied. + +"I am to be envied; I admit it with gratitude." Graham glanced half +wistfully at a map on the table. "For all that, I remember the wide +spaces up yonder now and then." + +"If I were in your place, I wouldn't study that map too much." + +"Ah! It isn't an amusement that I often indulge in; but sometimes, +when I've spent a week making up trumpery lumber bills or getting in +five-dollar accounts, I find it a solace to recall what I used to do. +However, I've inconsistently practised prudent self-denial in other +ways. There was a moose head--a beast I shot--I took off its stand and +gave to the Institute; an old pair of snowshoes that hung above the +mantel I gave my boy. He said they were very poor things and sadly out +of date." + +Andrew glanced at the map and noticed the lines penciled across it. He +felt that he was not acting considerately in tempting Graham, but he +could not resist. + +"Those marks show the marches you have made?" he asked. + +Graham laid his finger on the map, moving it from spot to spot. + +"Yes. I don't need a diary; I can see it all again. We started here +one winter and made three hundred miles on half rations, with wind and +snow ahead all the way. There we camped three days in a blizzard among +a clump of willows, while the snow piled up six feet deep to lee of +us. I made this line through a country new to me; two hundred miles +over soft snow, with the dogs playing out and the timber wolves on my +trail for the last few days. This lake ends in a big muskeg, and we +snagged our canoe there one fall. As she'd ripped her bilge open, we +left her and spent a day and a half floundering through two or three +feet of water and tall reeds, and carrying loads of sixty pounds." He +paused and indicated a line that broke off abruptly in a wide bare +space. "The lode lies south of here, and I believe I'm the only +survivor of the few who knew of it. One half-breed was drowned in a +rapid, another lost in a blizzard; the agent, so I heard afterward, +left the factory to visit some Indians three or four miles off and +they found him next day in a snowdrift, frozen to death." + +"A grim country," Andrew said thoughtfully, "One to make a man afraid, +and yet----" + +Graham laughed, rather harshly. + +"Yes; I think you know! Well, I'm glad that for twenty years I've +mastered the longing and kept my head. Now, however, my children have +made a fair start, with prospects of going farther than I have done, +and my responsibility is lightening. A winter up there would satisfy +me--I'm afraid it would be all I could stand now--and though it's +still out of the question, I've a feeling that a way may be found +before I grow too old." + +He rolled up the map resolutely and laid it aside, and soon afterward +Mrs. Graham's voice reached them. + +"Bring Mr. Allinson in. It's getting chilly." + +Andrew rose and followed Graham into his sitting-room. It was very +small and there were signs of economy in its appointments, but it had +a homelike charm. Two or three sketches in color which showed some +talent hung on the varnished board walls. The lamp, though obviously +cheap, was of artistic design; the rug on the stained floor and the +hangings were of harmonious hue. Mrs. Graham, a little, faded woman +with a cheerful air, sat sewing at a table, and opposite her a girl +was busy with some papers. Both greeted Andrew cordially, and a few +minutes later the young man he had seen outside came in with a +humorous tale he had heard. + +He was a handsome lad, quicker of speech and more assertive than his +father, and the girl, who now and then made a remark, had a decided +air. Though Graham would occasionally talk without reserve, he was as +a rule quiet and dreamy. It was not from him that his children had +acquired a trace of the somewhat aggressive smartness which +characterizes the inhabitants of the new western cities: he had more +in common with the silent dwellers in the lonely wilds. These are, for +the most part, sentimentalists of a kind; loving the wilderness, not +for what can be made out of it, and untouched by the materialistic +ideas of the towns, where the business chance is the chief thing +sought. Their gifts become most manifest when the ice breaks up on the +rivers across which they must get the dog-sleds, and when all the +powers of mind and body are taxed to traverse the frozen waste before +starvation cuts short the march. It struck Andrew that Graham, dressed +in shabby clothes, listening good-humoredly while his children talked, +had somehow the look of a captive eagle, conscious of crippled wings, +though the simile was a bad one because there was no predatory +fierceness in him. + +"One of you might shut the door," said Mrs. Graham. "The nights are +getting colder fast; we'll soon have to light the basement heater." +She turned to Andrew. "This is a hard country in winter. I've seen the +thermometer stand a week at fifty below." + +"Don't be scared, Mr. Allinson," laughed the lad, as he closed the +door. "It's not often too fierce, and in a place like the Landing +there's generally something going on. Will the frost interfere with +your mining?" + +"Not underground," said Andrew. "I understand that nothing can be done +on the surface, but we expect to send off a good lot of ore for +experimental reduction in the next week or two. Then we'll have +something to base our plans on." + +"Mappin's going to handle the transport, I guess. That man's surely on +to a soft thing. I s'pose you know he's making his pile out of the +Rain Bluff?" + +Mrs. Graham glanced at her son in rebuke. + +"I don't think you should talk to Mr. Allinson in that manner, Jim. +He's a good deal older and more experienced than you are." + +"Your ideas are out of date, Mother; we've grown ahead of them. Mr. +Allinson doesn't look as if he minded. Anyway, he doesn't know as much +as I do about the Canadian contractor." He turned to Andrew. "Do you +like it up yonder?" + +"Yes," Andrew answered good-humoredly; "I like the work better than +anything I remember having done." + +"A matter of taste. Now, I can't see much amusement in rolling rocks +about or standing in wet slickers in a dark pit watching the boys +punch the drills." + +"Mr. Allinson is not doing it for amusement," said his mother. + +"Well, money isn't often made that way. You don't get rich by knowing +how to use the hammer and giant-powder." + +"I believe that's true," Andrew responded with a smile. + +"A sure thing! Money is made by sitting tight in your office and +hiring other fellows to do the rough work. They break up the rocks and +cut the milling logs; you take the profit. It's business, first and +last, for mine!" + +"Then it's fortunate there are people with different views," his +sister interposed. "If nobody were willing to live in the logging +camps all winter and go prospecting in the bush, you would be badly +off." + +"But so long as there are people who like doing that kind of thing, +we're glad to let them." + +"This is a favorite pose of his," the girl explained to Andrew. "It's +the latest fashion among the boys; they're afraid of being thought +altruistic." + +"Now that everything is controlled by mergers and they make all we +need so dear, one is forced to be practical," Mrs. Graham remarked +feelingly. "For all that, it jars on me to hear our young people talk +as they do." + +"We're realists, with no use for sentiment," Jim replied. "We don't +let our imagination run away with us. It doesn't pay." + +"You may be wrong in that," said Andrew, smiling, "I'm not much of a +philosopher, but it seems to me that imagination's now and then a +useful thing. I've seen it help a man through tight places. Take your +prospectors, for example; they often face risks that couldn't be +justified by a return in money. I heard of one fellow crossing a lake +in a savage storm in a leaky canoe, to keep the time he'd allowed for +his journey, because he wouldn't be beaten; and of another making two +hundred miles on snowshoes with very little food, because a party he'd +promised to meet was expecting him." + +"That," said the lad, "is the kind of thing father would do; he's +given to impractical idealism. There's a mine up in the barrens he has +talked about as long as I remember; but if he found it I believe he'd +be content with that and sell the claim to any one for a few hundred +dollars. Getting yourself frozen for an abstract idea isn't good +business." + +Graham laughed and changed the subject, and soon afterward Andrew took +his leave. He spent the next evening with Frobisher, whom he had now +visited several times, and on the following morning set out for the +mine, where he worked very hard for a few weeks. They were still using +the old adit, though the new one was being driven toward the lower +level. Then he and Carnally left the camp in a canoe to hurry forward +some stores and, after arranging for their quicker transport, stood on +a little promontory, looking down the river, late one gloomy +afternoon. + +Winter had set in with unusual rigor. The gray sky was barred with +leaden cloud; the pines, which looked strangely ragged and somber, +stood out with harsh distinctness against the first thin snow; and the +river flowed, a dark-colored riband, through a clean-cut channel in +the ice. A nipping wind blew down the gorge, and now and then light +flakes of snow fell. + +"We had better push on," Carnally suggested. "It looks as if the +messenger hadn't got through, and we'll hardly make the mine before +midnight. There's heavy snow coming and we have no provisions or camp +outfit." + +"Wait an hour," said Andrew. "The smelter people promised to let me +know the results they got and the letter was due yesterday. I'm +anxious about the thing." + +Carnally agreed. They had sent out a quantity of ore for reduction, +and particulars of the yield in refined metal would throw a useful +light on the prospects of the mine. The last analysis of specimens +selected to represent the bulk had not been encouraging, but this test +was unsatisfactory because the ore was variable. + +"Let's get out of the wind," Carnally said. "If I'd expected this kind +of weather, I'd have brought my fur-coat along." + +They found a sheltered spot among a clump of pines, where they sat +down; but Andrew felt disturbed and apprehensive. The Company had +spent money freely, the mine was expensive to work, and of late Watson +had grown morose and reserved. Even when Andrew pressed him, he had +avoided giving his opinion. The report of the smelting company would, +however, show how matters stood, and Andrew looked out anxiously for +the expected messenger. + +It got dark, though they could still see the glimmer of the ice, and +at length they heard a faint, regular splashing, made by canoe poles. +A shout answered their hail, and when they ran down the bank a man +came cautiously across the fringe of ice. + +"Here's your mail," he said, handing Andrew some letters. "Now that +I've given it to you, we'll get back." + +"Won't you come on to the mine with us?" + +"No, sir! It's steep chances you don't get there to-night and we can +make a Mappin camp in about three hours down-stream." + +"It would be wiser to follow him," Carnally suggested. "We'll have +heavy snow before long." + +"I'm going on," said Andrew doggedly. "I must compare the report with +our books and get Watson to tell me what he thinks as soon as +possible." + +Launching their canoe, they poled her laboriously against the current, +which ran fast between its banks of ice. Andrew was thankful that the +snow on the frozen surface threw up a faint light and they could see +the glimmer of the floes that drifted down, though it was not always +possible to avoid them. Once or twice there was a crash as a heavy +mass struck the canoe, which was too lightly built to stand much of +this buffeting. Andrew had thick mittens, but they soon got wet and +his hands grew numbed. He was not clad for rigorous weather, and his +exertions failed to keep him warm. + +Still, they were making progress, and they met with no serious +difficulty until they entered a slacker reach. It had been open when +they came down, but now the channel made by the current was glazed +with thin ice, through which they could hardly drive the canoe. +Indeed, in some places Carnally was forced to break the crust with the +pole while Andrew paddled. + +"If there's much more of this, it will be late to-morrow before we +make camp," Andrew remarked. + +"We'll have to leave the river pretty soon, but we'll stick to it as +long as we can," Carnally replied. "It's rough traveling through the +bush, and the shore ice is hardly safe yet." + +They got through the reach, paddled laboriously against a swifter +stream, and dragged the canoe over a portage, stumbling among big +stones and across frozen pools. During this passage Andrew fell and +hurt himself; but stopping was out of the question. Launching the +craft on the upper edge of the rapid, they drove her out. For a minute +or two they made no progress, and Andrew, straining at his pole, +feared that they would be swept down the wild, foaming rush; but they +found slacker water and the ominous roar of the rapid died away. Then +snow began to fall, making it difficult to see, though they had the +faint glimmer of the shore-ice for a guide. In the reach up which they +were poling, it did not run out far because the stream was strong, +and they had gone some distance when there was a heavy thud and a +curious crunch at the bows. + +"In with her!" cried Carnally. "Head for the slack behind the point!" + +They ran in through crackling ice and had reached the thicker strip +along the bank when Andrew felt his knees grow wet. Feeling with his +hand, he found there was an inch or two of water in the bottom of the +craft. + +"Skin's punched through," Carnally explained. "We can't bale her and +use the pole. You'll have to get out." + +Andrew did so hastily, but the ice on which he landed cracked as he +moved, and he had gone several yards before it seemed strong enough to +bear him. Carnally dragged the canoe out, and then turned cautiously +up-stream. + +"We'll have to chance the ice for the next mile or two," he said. +"It's rough country--steep rock and very thick scrub--on this side." + +As they moved forward Andrew noticed that the snow was falling faster +and the wind freshening. The cold flakes drove into his tingling face +and he had to brace himself against the gusts. The gorge they followed +was wrapped in obscurity and filled with the roar of water and the +wailing of the trees. However, he held on for some time; and then +suddenly felt no support for his foot. It was too late to stop; the +next moment he was in the water. The shock took his breath away; he +had a horrible fear of being drawn under the ice, and it was with vast +relief that he found he could stand up waist-deep. Moving cautiously, +he got his knee upon the ice, but it broke away; then he saw that +Carnally was lying down near the edge and holding out his hand. + +"Get your arms on it, and catch hold," he said. As he obeyed, Andrew +heard the ice crack, but his weight was now well distributed and he +crawled forward, clutching Carnally's hand. Then he got up, dripping +and shaking with cold. + +"Thanks!" he said. "That's a risk I don't mean to run again. If it had +been a foot deeper I'd never have got out." + +Carnally turned toward the bank and, in thick darkness, they scrambled +up a steep slope among stunted pines. Leaving its summit, they +floundered over the rounded surfaces of outcropping rocks and plunged +into hollows filled with thick brush. The pines were smaller farther +on, which made things worse, for they had to force a passage through +the snow-laden needles. Some had been partly blown down and leaned on +one another in tangles which would have been difficult to traverse in +daylight. How Carnally kept his line Andrew could not tell, for they +had lost the sound of the river, and the snow was thick; but he +steadily pushed on and after a while the country grew more open. Here +the wind was worse and Andrew, who was getting worn out, struggled +forward stupidly with lowered head and labored breath. He could not +remember how long he kept it up, but at last a light blinked among the +trees and he recognized joyfully that it came from a shack at the +mine. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A CRISIS + + +It was late at night when Andrew entered Watson's office at the mine +with the letters he had brought. Though a bitter wind blew the snow +about it, the little wooden building was hot and filled with the smell +of pine boarding. A stove, glowing a dull red, stood at one end, and a +kerosene lamp hanging from a beam threw a bright light on the faces of +the men. They were eager and expectant, but Andrew's bore the stamp of +fatigue, for the journey up-river had tried his strength. Moreover, he +shrank from learning what the smelting company's report might reveal. +Drawing a chair to the table, he sat for a few moments lost in +troubled thought. + +When he first reached the mine he had found a keen and scarcely +expected pleasure in his work. Its difficulties seized his interest, +and for a while he enjoyed the grapple with them. Then misgivings +crept in; he felt that there was something wrong. Watson displayed no +enthusiasm about the Company's prospects, and Carnally let fall +disturbing hints. Andrew, however, steadily occupied himself with his +task, which gained a stronger hold on him, until he realized that all +his mind was bent upon its successful accomplishment. Now he must put +his half-formed plans and surmises to a searching test. Bracing +himself, he opened a large sealed envelope with a steady hand. + +As he took out the first of its contents he made an abrupt movement, +but he read on through several sheets while his face hardened; and +then he sat very still, with the papers scattered about the table. + +"Well?" said Watson, in harsh inquiry. + +Gathering up the papers, Andrew passed them to him without a word, +while Carnally waited as if he knew what to expect. When he in turn +took the report from Watson, there was an oppressive silence in the +shack. Andrew could hear the billets snap in the stove and the murmur +of the river among the ice. + +"It seems to me that this report leaves us no room for doubt," he +said, when Carnally had finished reading the papers. "We can't keep +the mine working on such returns as these. But I want your honest +opinion." + +Watson made a sign of agreement. + +"Well," he said frankly, "you have got to have the truth, though I +guess it will cost me my job. Rain Bluff will never pay its +shareholders." + +"You knew this some time ago?" + +"I was afraid of it; but it wasn't my business. I was sent here to get +out as much ore as I could, and I've done so." + +"Have you any suggestion to make?" + +"If you wrote down your capital, got rid of Mappin, and did your +transport work yourselves, you might keep going. The ore's there, +though its hard to get at and not worth much." + +Andrew turned to Carnally. + +"You suspected how matters stood from the beginning. I see now that +you meant to warn me." + +"I guessed. I couldn't speak plainly without proof." + +"Oh," said Andrew in a strained voice, "you knew; so did Watson, and +no doubt every man who works for us. I and the unfortunate people who +found the money were the only ones deceived." He turned to the manager +sharply. "What did you mean when you said the mine would never pay its +shareholders? Do you imply that somebody else may make a profit out of +it?" + +"You've hit it. Mappin's making his pile, and I guess there's a man +with money backing him; but that's no concern of mine. I'm sorry for +you, Mr. Allinson, but I suppose I must hand you my notice and tell +the boys to quit?" + +"No," said Andrew; "not yet. Let them go on as usual, until I speak to +you again." + +"I'm not anxious to leave your service--you're square," Watson replied +with an air of relief. "Now, if you don't want me any more, I'll go to +bed." + +He left them and Andrew quietly filled his pipe, while Carnally +watched him with interest. Andrew had had a shock, but he had borne it +well. Instead of unnerving, it had braced him to grapple with a +difficult situation. He had courage and determination; but there was +something else he must be told. + +"Jake," Andrew said at length, "this has been a blow. I put a good +deal of money into the Company and will lose it, but that's only half +the trouble--the rest will hardly bear thinking of. My firm put its +stamp on this venture, backed it with its name; and it was rotten from +the first!" His face suddenly darkened with suspicion. "How Leonard +came to take it up I can't imagine." + +"If he's the man who fixed things in Montreal, I guess he'd tell you +it was a fair business risk; but you don't quite understand the matter +yet. It's clear that Mappin has the support of Mr. Hathersage; he +finds him the money, gives him the job at prices higher than you need +pay, and no doubt takes a share of the profit." + +Andrew started. + +"It's hard to admit, but I believe you're right!" Then his mind leaped +to a wider conclusion. "I dare say the Company was started solely for +Hathersage's benefit!" + +"I guess there's some foundation for that," Carnally said pointedly. + +Neither spoke for the next few moments; and then Andrew looked up with +a grim smile. + +"I'm beginning to understand your attitude toward me when I first +came. You thought I was in the ring--one of the people who, knowing +how bad it was, led investors into this rotten scheme!" + +"I allow I did think something of the kind." + +"And afterward? My guess isn't flattering, but I can't blame you, +Jake. You believed I was what you call a sucker, sent here because I +was too big a fool to find things out." + +Carnally looked embarrassed. + +"I figured it out like this," he said: "the people who sent you +expected you'd spend your time hunting and fishing, without taking +much interest in the mine. Then, if trouble came, they'd leave you to +face it. Being on the spot, it would be your fault for not learning +what was wrong." + +"A clever plan. After all, it's possible they took too much for +granted." + +"They did," Carnally declared. "You have shown a grip of things they +didn't look for. In my opinion they picked the wrong man for the part: +but you're in a pretty tight place. You can't make this mine pay." + +"No," said Andrew; "I don't mean to try. If I can get his consent, I'm +going to look for Graham's lode." + +Carnally started. + +"It's a great plan! Will you want me?" + +"Of course! I'd be helpless without you." + +"No," Carnally corrected him with a smile. "So far, I've given you +hints about things you couldn't be expected to know; but I've taught +you all I can, and you take your right place now. You're boss in this +new proposition, and I'll be glad to be your second." + +"Thank you," said Andrew. "We'll start for the Landing to-morrow and +see Graham." + +They left the mine at daybreak, and on reaching the town Andrew had +first of all an interview with Graham's employer. The president of the +lumber company sat at a desk in his office at the mill and listened +attentively while Andrew explained the object of his visit. He was an +elderly man with a keen but good-humored expression, and once or twice +he glanced at Andrew as if surprised. When the latter had finished, +the mill-owner took a box from a shelf. + +"Have a cigar," he said. + +Andrew lighted one and looked round the room. It was dusty and dingy, +with a rough board floor; and a cloud of steam from a neighboring +stack obscured the light that entered the windows. A rusty stove stood +at one end, with a desk near it which Graham had occupied for twenty +years. + +"So the mine has not turned out all you expected?" commented the +lumber-man. + +"Far from it," Andrew acknowledged. + +"And you feel it a duty to do something to protect the interests of +the shareholders?" + +"Yes," said Andrew, and added with a direct glance: "Are you +surprised?" + +A smile crept into his companion's eyes. + +"I guess we can let that go. You have done the square thing in coming +to me before you spoke to Graham. He's a man we value and he has +served us well, but I've now and then felt sorry for him. It's +possible he hasn't found it easy to spend the best part of his life +here, keeping our accounts on a very moderate salary, though we pay +him more than we could get another man for." + +"It's strange he didn't break loose from it long ago." + +"I guess it cost him something to stay. We're an optimistic people, +Mr. Allinson, with a hankering after adventure; but Graham could never +put by money enough to make the plunge. He had his children to bring +up and he spared nothing to give them a fair start. I suppose this +isn't quite the line you thought I would take?" + +Andrew admitted it with some embarrassment, and the lumber-man looked +amused. + +"There are plenty of big mills run entirely on the laws of supply and +demand, where men are scrapped as freely as obsolete plant, and the +one thing looked for is the maximum output. Still, you see, our +isolated position gives us a monopoly, and we're small enough to take +a personal interest in our older hands. As a matter of fact, we find +it pays; but that is not the point. You are willing to guarantee +Graham against any loss if your search is unsuccessful?" + +"Yes," Andrew promised; "he shall not suffer." + +"Then we'll do our share in keeping his place open as long as may be +needful. As it happens, things are slack just now; and to make this +journey will set his mind at rest. He'll be content with the old +routine when he comes back." + +"Then you count on his coming back to the mill?" + +The lumber-man looked sympathetic. + +"I don't wish to discourage you, but if Graham finds that lode I shall +be surprised." + +Andrew thanked him and returned to his hotel, where he wrote some +letters and afterward decided to visit Frobisher, who was staying at +the Island of Pines for a week or two. Graham was away on business +down the line and would not return until the next day, and Andrew, +being in a restless mood, felt that a talk with Frobisher or his +daughter might soothe him. They were intelligent and sympathetic +people; and he had thought a good deal about Geraldine of late. + +Fine snow was driving before a stinging breeze when he walked out upon +the frozen lake. Here and there its surface had been swept clear by +the wind, leaving stretches of smooth ice, but, for the most part, its +white covering offered good foothold. It was dark and bitterly cold; +Andrew's hands grew stiff in his thick mittens and he shivered as he +faced the stronger gusts, guiding himself by the loom of the rocks and +trees that now and then showed faintly through the snow. The walk was +far from pleasant, and he realized that things would be much worse +when he went up into the trackless spaces of the frozen North. + +Reaching the house without misadventure, he was received by Geraldine. +Mrs. Denton, she explained, was invalided by a cold caught on the +train, and her father had driven across to the Landing for his mail, +but would be back soon. She led Andrew into a room which looked +delightfully bright and comfortable after the shack at the mine, and +made him sit down by the hearth, on which a pine-log fire burned +gaily. + +"You are thinner than you were when we last saw you, and you don't +look so cheerful," she said, taking a low chair opposite him. + +"I think both things are explainable," Andrew replied with a rueful +smile. + +Geraldine quietly studied him. He was troubled and could not hide it, +and he interested her. The man was honest and forceful in an untrained +way. She could imagine his grappling with unaccustomed difficulties, +clumsily, perhaps, but resolutely. Though several years his junior, +she knew that she had the keener intelligence; but this did not make +her attitude contemptuous. He had shown signs of qualities which +sometimes carried one farther than superficial smartness. + +"I suppose you have had some trouble at the mine?" + +"Yes," he said, though he could not account for his candor; "I've had +an experience that has rudely shaken me. After all, it's possible that +one needs something of the kind now and then; and until lately I've +escaped it." + +"I wonder whether that's unfortunate?" + +"It is, beyond a doubt. I've taken life easily, generally getting what +I wanted without much trouble, and now, when I've no experience to +fall back on, I'm landed in a maze of difficulties. But all this is +too personal; forgive me for boring you." + +"But I'm interested," she declared. She felt that he would find a way +out, though it might not be the easiest one. "As you came over to +Canada, I suppose you must have found the smooth life you led grow +monotonous." + +"Not exactly. I liked it; but I'd a feeling now and then that it might +be more bracing to do something useful; make things, for instance, or +even go into business." + +Geraldine laughed, and it struck Andrew that she was very pretty as +she looked at him with sparkling eyes. + +"You're delightfully matter-of-fact. You might have hinted at a +longing for high adventure or something romantic." + +"The worst of adventure is that you often get a good deal more than +you bargain for," said Andrew soberly. + +"You learned that in the North?" + +"Yes," he answered with a moody air; "that and other things. For +example, I learned how money's sometimes made, and it was a shock." + +"Ah! The money was yours?" + +"That's where the trouble lies. So far, I've been content with +spending it." + +"And you now feel that your responsibility doesn't end there? But if +you wished to go into business, why didn't you do so?" + +"That is rather more than I can tell. Still, whenever I hinted at it, +I was quietly discouraged. I suppose it wasn't expected of me, and the +general opinion was that I was incapable." + +Geraldine thought that his friends were mistaken in this conclusion, +but she could imagine his yielding to the representations of cleverer +people, without questioning the accuracy of their views about him. He +had, however, obviously broken loose from his tutelage, and now stood +firm, ignorant perhaps of much that men who worked for their living +knew, confronting with undisciplined courage troubles new to him. She +had no doubt that he had courage and strong sincerity. + +"I'm afraid I'm not very entertaining," he apologized with a smile. + +"It's a compliment that you're natural," Geraldine said graciously. +"One doesn't always expect to be amused. But you have Carnally to help +you at the mine. What do you think of him?" + +"I have a high opinion of Jake." + +"I believe you're right; he's a favorite of mine. What he undertakes +he carries out. You feel that he can be relied on; that he would do +the square thing, however difficult it is. After all, one couldn't say +much more of any man." + +"No," Andrew responded gravely. "The trouble often is to see how the +square thing should be done." + +There were footsteps in the hall, and Frobisher came in and greeted +Andrew cordially. + +"I heard you were at the Landing, and I'm not sorry you'll have to +stay all night," he said. "It's snowing so hard that I had some +difficulty in getting home with the team." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE REAL BOSS + + +"How have you been getting on in the bush?" Frobisher asked his guest +when they sat talking in his smoking-room. "You look worried." + +"There's a reason for it--the mine's no good." Andrew looked Frobisher +steadily in the face. "I dare say you knew that some time ago." + +"I had my suspicions. I wasn't singular in that." + +"So it seems. I must ask you to believe that it was only during the +last few days that I found out the truth." + +Frobisher smiled. + +"After that, I'd better say that I exonerated you--I think it's the +right word--as soon as we'd had our first talk. I saw that you were +being made a tool of." + +"You were right," said Andrew. "It isn't a pleasant situation. I don't +mind its not being flattering; that's the least trouble." + +"What are you going to do about it?" + +"The square thing, so far as I'm able. Allinson's, so to speak, +guaranteed the undertaking." + +There was some extra color in Andrew's face and pride in his voice, +though he spoke quietly, and Frobisher sat silent a moment or two. + +"Have you made any plans yet?" the American then asked. + +Andrew told him that he proposed to take Carnally and Graham north to +search for the silver lode; and Frobisher looked grave. + +"There's a point to be remembered," he cautioned. "Minerals in Canada +belong to the State, which makes a grant of them to the discoverer on +certain terms. The lode will therefore become the property of whoever +first locates and records it, which will be open to any member of your +party." + +"I've thought of that. The expedition will be financed by me, and I'll +have an understanding with Graham and Carnally as to their share +before we start." + +"Three claims could be staked, and your companions could make them +over to you when the development work was done. If properly patented, +you would be the legal owner." + +"I intend to become the owner." + +Frobisher looked as if the statement surprised him. + +"Then you'd better cut your connection with Rain Bluff before you set +off," he advised. "It might prevent some complications. The directors +might contend that you were not entitled to undertake private mining +operations while you represented the Company and drew its pay." + +"I don't think you understand. I mean to hold the claims in my own +name, so as to strengthen my position, which will need it. I expect to +have serious trouble over the Company's affairs." + +Frobisher laughed softly. + +"You're no fool! You feel that you undertook to look after the +shareholders' interests when you came over, and you have to make +good?" + +"Yes," Andrew assented; "I feel something of the kind." + +"Then we'll assume that you find the lode and that it's as rich as +Graham believes--which is taking a good deal for granted. Your +shareholders, learning that Rain Bluff is worthless, would probably +jump at a proposition that would give them back their money, or even +part of it. You could buy them out and afterward repay yourself +handsomely by developing the new mine." + +Andrew's face hardened. + +"When these people gave us their money, they did so expecting to get +any profit that could be made. It's their due and, so far, Allinson's +has never broken faith with those who trusted it." + +Frobisher was not surprised at the answer. There was, he had seen, a +clean pride in the man, whom he felt disposed to pity. Allinson had +obviously little knowledge of business, and would have to meet the +determined opposition of the clever tricksters who had floated the +Company. He was entering on a hard fight with unaccustomed weapons. +Nevertheless, Frobisher would not venture to predict his defeat. +Courage such as Allinson showed often carried one a long way, and he +had the right upon his side. Frobisher's business experience had not +made him an optimist, but he was prepared to watch this altruistic +champion's struggles with friendly interest and to assist him as far +as he could. + +"You have undertaken a pretty big thing," he said. "To begin with, +it's a lonely country that you're going into, and though having the +lakes and rivers frozen may simplify traveling, you'll find it tough +work living in the open with the thermometer at forty below. Winter's +a bad time for prospecting; but as timber's plentiful, you may be able +to thaw out enough of the surface to test the lode, and something +might be done with giant-powder. Provisions will be your chief +difficulty. You will need a number of packers." + +"If possible, I must make the trip with no companions except Carnally +and Graham. Everybody at the Landing has heard about the lode, and if +we took up a strong party and failed to locate it, we'd have shown +them roughly where it lay. That would give the packers a chance for +forestalling our next attempt. Their right to record the minerals +would be as good as ours." + +Frobisher was somewhat surprised. Allinson had thought out the matter +in a way that would have done credit to a more experienced man. + +"Suppose we go down now," he suggested after a while. "I'll get +Geraldine to sing for us." + +Andrew agreed, and was glad he had done so when Miss Frobisher opened +the piano. He was not a musician, but there was a sweetness in her +voice that greatly pleased him. He sat listening with quiet enjoyment +to her first song, watching her with appreciation. The light from a +shaded lamp forced up the strong warm coloring of her hair and fell on +her face, which was outlined in delicate profile against a background +of ebony. Her figure lay half in shadow, but the thin evening-dress +shimmered in places, flowing about her in graceful lines. + +He grew more intent when she sang again. It was a ballad of toil and +endeavor, and the girl had caught its feeling. Andrew wondered whether +she had chosen it by accident, for the words chimed with his mood, and +he was stirred and carried away as he listened. Obscure feelings deep +in his nature throbbed in quick response. After wasted years of +lounging, he had plunged into the struggle of life and become a +citizen of the strenuous world. Ingenuous as he was, some of his lost +youthful fervor awoke again; he would never sink back into his former +state of slothful ease; bruised, beaten perhaps, he must go on. The +duty to which he had long been blind now burned like a beacon through +the mists ahead. Yet it was no evanescent, romantic sentiment. Andrew +was a solid and matter-of-fact person. + +When Geraldine closed the piano he rose and looked at her with a gleam +in his eyes. + +"Thank you; I mean it sincerely," he said. "It's a very fine song." + +"It's stirring," she replied. "I dare say it's true--one would like to +think so." + +There was some color in her face, and his heart throbbed at the +knowledge that she had meant the song for him. + +Then Frobisher broke in humorously: + +"That kind of thing appeals more to young folk. When one gets to my +age, one would rather be soothed. We've had enough of the +rough-and-tumble scuffle; it's time to retire from the ring and sit +comfortably in a front seat, looking on." + +"It would soon get tiresome," declared Geraldine. "You would want to +take a side and instruct the combatants," she added with an +affectionate smile. "The temptation would be irresistible if somebody +whom you thought didn't deserve it were getting badly hurt." + +"I don't know. Interfering is a dangerous habit, and people aren't +always grateful." Frobisher's glance rested for a moment on his guest. +"However, I might still step into the ring if the provocation were +very strong." + +Then they engaged in casual talk until it got late, and when Geraldine +and her father wished him goodnight Andrew said diffidently: + +"I'm grateful to you for keeping me here. I'll go back feeling +brighter than when I came." + +He left them and Frobisher looked after him with a humorous +expression. + +"That young man has chosen a hard row to hoe, though I don't think he +quite sees all he's up against. It's safer to take a bone from a +hungry dog than to do a business man out of the pickings he thinks +he's entitled to, especially if he's engaged in floating companies." + +"But that is part of your business." + +"Sure!" said Frobisher. "It's wiser to speak of the things you know. +I've picked up one or two good bones." + +"But you had a right to them," Geraldine declared confidently. + +Frobisher's eyes twinkled. + +"I believe there was a difference of opinion on the point, but I'd got +my teeth in first. However, I'll admit that unless Allinson was +convinced the bone belonged to him he'd let it go. That's the kind of +man he is, and he's not likely to grow more prudent if you let him see +that you agree with him." + +"Do you think I've done so?" Geraldine asked. + +"I don't know," Frobisher smiled. "It seems possible; but I've no +doubt your intentions were excellent. You're a bit of an idealist. +However, the fellow will do you credit. He has sense and grit, though +he's what one might perhaps call superfluously honest." + +"How could his virtues reflect any credit on me?" Geraldine retorted. +"Besides, your cynicism is assumed. I don't believe you ever took a +dollar you were not entitled to. Why do you always make a joke of +things?" + +"It's true that my ventures have generally paid a dividend, but I've a +suspicion that it was a lucky accident that one or two of them did so. +When I was young, I was as serious as Mr. Allinson, but people +sometimes grow more humorous as they get older. They don't expect so +much and they learn to make allowances." + +"That's a mistake," said Geraldine. "I should never be content with +the mediocre." + +She left him with a smile, but Frobisher looked thoughtful as he +lighted a last cigar. He had led a strenuous life, stubbornly +struggling upward from a humble beginning, and the years of effort had +tried him hard. He had taken big risks, and exacted every dollar he +could, but after all he did not think he had wronged anyone badly. Now +that he had acquired power and influence, he regarded human nature +with whimsical forbearance, but he was glad that his daughter seemed +to demand conformity with higher standards, thought she was free from +the cant and prudery he hated. Then he thought of Allinson, for whom +he had a warm liking. He had fought many a stern battle before he was +Allinson's age, but this did not make him contemptuous. Allinson was +late in beginning, but he showed a determination and, what was more +remarkable, a sagacity that pleased Frobisher well. Besides this, the +purity of his motives and his fastidious honesty roused the American's +admiration. Frobisher would not have embarked on a long struggle for a +principle, but he could respect a man who did so. Allinson and +Geraldine had apparently the same ideals, they had rapidly fallen +into confidential terms--but that was a subject on which it was +premature to speculate. + +Andrew left the house the next day, and on entering his hotel in the +afternoon he found Mappin sitting in the unoccupied general-room. He +laid down his newspaper as Andrew came in and looked up with a +truculent expression in his heavy face. + +"I got your letter at Fort William as I was coming here," he said. "It +seemed to need an explanation. What d'you mean by giving me warning to +quit?" + +His tone was offensive, but Andrew sat down quietly, knowing it was +desirable to keep cool. + +"I thought I'd better send you notice that we may terminate our +arrangements in three months, as we have the option of doing," he +replied. + +"But why do you want to terminate them?" + +"We may shut down the Rain Bluff. It's not paying." + +Mapping gave a snorting laugh. + +"What has that to do with it?" + +"It ought to be obvious," Andrew said curtly. "If the mine won't pay, +it must be closed. Allinson's is not in the habit of carrying on a +business for its private benefit at the investors' expense." + +"I shouldn't have thought it," Mappin sneered, and looked hard at +Andrew. "You seem to be taking a pretty decided line. May I ask whom +you are speaking for?" + +"For myself, in the first place, but I believe the shareholders would +support me. Though I haven't interfered much so far, I'm the head of +the firm." + +Mappin was impressed by Andrew's manner, and his tone became more +conciliatory. + +"I'm afraid you have kept out of business so long that you don't quite +understand matters. Your brother-in-law has arranged things here much +better than you, in your inexperience, could do. This proposition's +too big and complicated for a beginner to meddle with; you'd only +involve yourself and everybody concerned in a deplorable mess. Be +warned and let up. Make any small improvements and economies you can, +but leave the main points of Hathersage's scheme alone." + +There was some ground for Mappin's opinion, and his air of conviction +had weight; but Andrew had no thought of yielding. + +"So far, I can't tell what changes may be necessary, but I expect to +make them, whatever they are, as occasion arises." + +"Then hadn't you better wait until you know?" + +Mappin took a letter from his pocket. "Suppose you tear this thing +up?" + +"No," Andrew said firmly; "the notice stands." + +There was a moment's silence while their glances met, and each +recognized that there should be no compromise: henceforward they must +be enemies. + +"Oh, well," said Mappin, with an air of ironic resignation, "I'll +continue to look after your transport until the time expires. Now that +we understand things, let's talk of something else. Have you seen +Frobisher lately? I'm going across to his place after supper." + +A sudden anger seized Andrew, though he scarcely realized that it +sprang from jealousy. This coarse fellow with his low cunning and +sensual nature had no right to enter the house that sheltered +Geraldine Frobisher. It was repugnant to think of his meeting her on +friendly terms and, having heard that he had been a frequent visitor, +he wondered what had induced Frobisher to tolerate him. An unpleasant +suspicion crept into his mind--perhaps the man had a friend in Mrs. +Denton, who differed from her brother in many ways. However, Andrew +concealed his annoyance. + +"It will be a fine night, though the snow's rather deep," he said. +"Now what about the provisions I ordered?" + +They discussed the matter for a while, and then Andrew went out to +look for Graham. He found him alone in the mill office, and the elder +man listened eagerly to what he had to say. Then Graham jumped up and +strode excitedly up and down the room. + +"After all the years of waiting, I can hardly realize that I'm to have +my chance!" he exclaimed. "I feel dazed; the thing's--overwhelming!" + +"There's no doubt about it," said Andrew. "I've arranged matters +satisfactorily with your president. You have only to say that you will +come." + +"Come!" Graham's eyes glowed; but he paused in sudden hesitation. +"Still, I don't know how my wife will face it. She must be told at +once. Come with me and explain--I think you will do it better than I +can." + +He threw a book into the desk, shut the desk noisily, and took out his +watch. + +"Mr. Allinson," he said, "I believe this office has never been closed +five minutes before the proper time since I first entered it, but the +habits of twenty years have lost their grip to-night. I feel like a +man unexpectedly let out of prison." + +Andrew went out with him and nothing was said until they reached his +house. The table was neatly laid for supper, and Mrs. Graham was +cheerfully bustling about it. She stopped and looked at her husband +with a start when he came in. The man was trying hard to maintain his +usual calm, but his expression was strained and eager, and his manner +deprecatory, as if he were half ashamed. Andrew thought Mrs. Graham +knew. + +"Can you spare me a few minutes?" Andrew asked. "I have something to +say." + +She sat down with forced quietness, though her color faded. + +"I'm afraid it will be a shock, Martha," Graham broke in; "he means to +tell you that I am going north to look for the lode with him." + +The woman did not flinch. She looked at her husband gravely, with no +sign of reproach; and Andrew saw that she had courage. + +"I have expected this; I knew it must come sooner or later," she said +quietly. "But go on, Mr. Allinson; I will listen." + +Andrew felt relieved. She would give no trouble, but her tense +expression caused him a sense of guilt. He explained the arrangements +he had made and handed her two or three documents, which included an +order on a bank for certain payments to be made her if the expedition +did not return by a specified date. + +Mrs. Graham took the papers with a gesture of repugnance, but a moment +later she looked up quietly. + +"It's fair; it's generous, Mr. Allinson. I am getting old and my +daughter is very young." Then her lips quivered and she broke into a +pitiful smile. "You have done what you can, but it doesn't cover the +greatest risk I run." + +"I know," responded Andrew gently; "I am asking a great deal from +you." + +"Well," she said, "for his sake, perhaps for my sake, I must try to +let him go." She paused for a moment and then asked with an effort: +"When do you start?" + +"As soon as we can." Andrew felt that it would be tactful to take his +leave. "But I have a letter I must mail." + +"Come back, please," she said. "Supper will be ready in about ten +minutes." + +When Andrew had gone out Graham turned to his wife. + +"I'm sorry, Martha. I feel that I must go." + +She came to him and put her hands on his shoulders, smiling bravely. + +"Why, of course, dear! I wouldn't stop you." + +Graham threw his arms around her. + +"It isn't all restlessness, Martha--there is a chance! What have I +done so far but keep you poor? It has hurt me to see you always hard +at work at some drudgery, living in this poor little house, planning +to save a few cents wherever you could. Now there may be a change; our +life will be very different and the children's future brighter if I +can find the lode. But if I am to find it, I must go now. In a few +more years it would be too late." + +"Yes," she said softly. "But, after all, we have been happy here." + +He kissed her, protesting that he had been far happier than he +deserved; but she drew away from him. + +"Still, you have had your bad hours. Do you think I don't know? It +wasn't easy to go to the office day after day and keep accounts, with +the longing you couldn't get over, and dreams of riches in your +mind." + +"I'm afraid I let you guess it. But they're not dreams. I found a lode +rich in silver; I may locate it again." + +Mrs. Graham smiled rather wearily. + +"Dear, I hardly care whether you find the lode or not. You will be +content when you have looked for it, and I shall be happier knowing +that the restlessness you couldn't master has gone and will never +trouble us again." + +When Jim and his sister came in for supper, Andrew joined them, and +found that he was expected to talk over his plans. It was obvious that +Graham had not strained his authority: his was a harmonious household +and its younger members expressed their opinions with freedom. Andrew +was, however, amused to see that their father had risen in their +esteem. They had never attached much importance to his belief in the +lode; but since he had gained the support of a man of means, it looked +as if there might be something in the project. Nevertheless, they +bantered Andrew freely and he took it in good part. When he left, Mrs. +Graham accompanied him to the door. + +"You'll try to forgive me?" he begged, stopping a moment in the +narrow, shabby hall. + +"Yes," she said. "I can't fairly blame you, and I have been prepared +for what has happened." Then she laid her hand on his arm. "I am +trusting you with a great deal, Mr. Allinson. It's a heavy +responsibility." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +INTERRUPTED PLANS + + +Mrs. Denton reclined in an easy-chair in her room at Frobisher's +house. A shawl of beautiful texture covered her shoulders, her feet +rested on a stool, and the lamp on a neighboring table was carefully +shaded. The dull pallor of her skin and the gauntness of her face +suggested the invalid, but her health, while far from good, had +suffered from the thought she bestowed on it. She was a reserved and +selfish woman, and her mean ambitions were responsible for much of the +trouble that had befallen her. Geraldine and she were generally at +variance, Frobisher bore with her, but there was one person for whom +she cherished a somewhat misguided tenderness. Mappin had been her +favorite from his earliest years. + +His father had been her lover when the Frobishers were poor, and she +had returned his affection. Nevertheless she had thrown him over when +a richer suitor appeared, and her marriage had turned out +disastrously. Urged by a desire for social prominence and love of +ostentation, she had driven her husband into hazardous, speculations, +for which he had weakly reproached her when the crash came. He escaped +total ruin by Frobisher's help, but he afterward went downhill fast, +wrangling with his wife until his death set her free. Her old lover +had also married, and died a widower, leaving one son, and Mrs. Denton +had shown a benevolent interest in the boy. He was bold and +ambitious, which was what she liked, and she was not deterred by the +lack of principle he early displayed. Success was the one thing she +respected, and as he grew up young Mappin promised to attain it. Now +she was expecting him, for he came to see her whenever he was in the +neighborhood, and Frobisher made him welcome for her sake. + +When Mappin came in he was red-faced from the frosty air. + +"This place is stiflingly hot," he said. "I'm afraid that's because +you're not feeling very fit yet." + +Mrs. Denton told him she could not get rid of her cold, and he had the +tact to listen with a show of interest while she talked about her +health. + +"You will stay all night?" she asked. + +"Yes, I'm sorry I must get back to-morrow." + +"Then I've no doubt it's necessary," she remarked in a suggestive +tone. + +Mappin laughed as if he understood her. + +"It is. As things are going, business must come first. Besides, I +can't flatter myself that I gained much by my last visit." + +"That's a point I can't speak upon, but you're not likely to lose your +head. There's a cold-blooded, calculating vein in you. I wonder +whether that was why you came straight to my room, though the society +of a crotchety old invalid can't have much charm for you." + +The man's heavy face grew a trifle redder than usual. + +"No," he protested, "it wasn't. I'm not dirt mean." + +"Oh, well," said Mrs. Denton, looking at him gently, "you know I'm +your friend. But I never pretended not to guess what brought you +here." + +"And I haven't made a secret of it. I mean to marry Geraldine." + +"She'll have a good deal of money some day." + +Mappin looked up angrily. + +"I'll admit that my interest generally comes first; but I'd be mighty +glad to take Geraldine without a cent." + +"Then you had better bestir yourself. Allinson has been here pretty +often and she seems to like him. Besides, he's made a good impression +on her father." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Mappin, "that confounded Englishman again! It's only a +few hours since he threatened to cut my connection with the Rain +Bluff; and one way and another that's a bad set-back." He frowned and +the veins showed on his forehead. "I was coining money out of my +contract, and I need it, because I have my feelings and I won't ask +Frobisher for Geraldine like a beggar. He has a cool, smiling way of +saying unpleasant things that makes me mad. I want to show him I'm as +smart as he is and can give the girl as much as he can." + +When they were detached from his business, Mappin's ideas were crude, +but Mrs. Denton was not refined and found no fault with them. +Moreover, she had an interest in his success. For a long time she had +been the mistress of her brother's house and directed his social +affairs. The position was a desirable one, especially as she had been +left without means; but it was threatened. It was inevitable that +Geraldine would take the power she enjoyed out of her hands, unless +she married. Had Mappin not entered the field, Mrs. Denton would have +furthered the claims of any suitor, to get the girl out of her way. + +"I suppose money would gratify your pride, but you may find waiting +risky," she said. "If you're wise, you'll make all the progress with +Geraldine you can." + +He smiled ruefully. + +"I sometimes feel that I'm making none. She looks at me half amused +and half astonished when I express my opinions; I have to keep a curb +on myself when I talk to her. In fact, I've once or twice got mad. I +can take a joke, but her condescending smile is riling." + +"Then why do you want to marry her?" + +"It puzzles me when I think it over coolly, but that's difficult. When +she's near me I only know that I want her." His eyes gleamed and his +face grew flushed as he proceeded. "Guess it must be her wonderful +eyes and hair and skin; the shape of her, the way she stands, the grit +she shows. Once when I said something she flashed out at me in a fury, +and I liked her for it." He clenched a big hand. "Somehow I'm going to +get her!" + +Mrs. Denton smiled. The savagery of his passion did not jar on her; +she admired his determined boldness. She respected force that was +guided by capacity; she liked a man who was strong or cunning enough +to take what he desired. Her niece, however, held different views. + +"That sounds genuine," she said. "Still, you had better talk to +Geraldine in a more polished strain." + +"No; I'd do it badly, and it wouldn't pay. There's red blood in me, +and I haven't found much difference in men and women. If you hit +straight at their human nature, you can't go wrong. A girl's never +offended because you like her for being pretty." + +He was wise, in that he knew his limitations and never pretended to be +what he was not. His knowledge of human weaknesses had been +profitable, for he had not scrupled to prey upon them, but he erred in +assuming that his was the only rule of life. Virtue he frankly +regarded as either absence of desire or a sentimental pose. + +"You're too coarse, too crude in your methods," Mrs. Denton persisted. +"If you're not careful, you'll disgust Geraldine. You don't seem to +see that she's different from the girls you are accustomed to." + +Mappin laughed. + +"Oh," he said, "at heart, they're all the same." + +"In a sense, you're wrong. Allinson lets Geraldine see that he puts +her on a higher plane, and she likes it. If you can't imitate him, you +had better watch him." + +"If Allinson's likely to make trouble, I'll fix him quick. Pretty talk +and finicking manners, that's all there is to him, except a few fool +notions about the mining business which he hasn't the grit or ability +to carry out. But you look as if you had a headache and I guess I've +talked enough." + +She let him go, fearing to strain the consideration he sometimes +showed her, for he was the only person for whom she had a scrap of +affection. Mappin left her with half-contemptuous pity. He owed her +some gratitude, because it was on her account that he had been +received in the house; but he knew how little her support was worth, +for he was shrewd enough to see that her brother and her niece held +her in no great esteem. Indeed, he knew his position was not +encouraging. Geraldine had shown him no favor, and Frobisher's +attitude was more marked by forbearance than friendliness; but Mappin +was not deterred. He had stubborn courage and a firm belief in his +powers. + +Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he stopped in the shadow of a heavy +curtain as Geraldine came out of a door at the farther end of the +large hall. The girl did not see him and, prompted by curiosity to +learn what effect his sudden appearance would have, he stood watching +her. She looked thoughtful, and moved slowly, but with a grace he did +not miss. The soft rustle of her dress stirred him, he noticed with +greedy eyes the fine outline about which the light material flowed, +the bloom of her complexion, the beauty of her pose. Indeed, he forgot +why he had waited, for his heart was beating fast and he felt his +nerves tingle. He was filled with a burning desire to possess her. + +Then she saw him and recoiled. There was a glitter in his eyes from +which she shrank, his face was stamped with gross sensual passion. It +alarmed her and filled her with disgust. Mappin, however, could not +guess her feelings. She was obviously startled; perhaps he had shown +what he thought of her too plainly and shocked her prudishness; but +this after all was no great matter. Delicacy was unknown to him; he +could hardly have been made to understand that Geraldine regarded him +with downright loathing. Still, as he could think of nothing to say, +he was not sorry that she turned back without a word; and with a harsh +laugh he opened an adjoining door to look for Frobisher. Geraldine +returned to the room she had left, and sat down with a sense of +repulsion that presently gave place to burning anger. She felt that +she had received an outrageous insult. + +She did not see Mappin again until the next morning, when she was +coldly polite, and he left in a state of half-puzzled irritation, +thinking more about Allinson than he had done. The man might prove a +dangerous rival, unless something were done to prevent it. Mappin, +however, thought that he could deal with him and was glad he had +written to Hathersage, giving him a hint that Allinson threatened to +make trouble for them both. + +As a result of Mappin's letter Andrew was handed a cablegram one +evening when he was discussing the preparations for the journey with +Carnally and Graham in the latter's house. When he had opened it he +frowned. + +"This promises to complicate matters. It's from my brother-in-law," he +explained and read out the message: + +"_Do nothing until I arrive; sailing Sylvitanian._" + +Graham took up a Montreal paper. + +"One of the fast boats. He should be here in nine days." Then he +looked disturbed. "It may prevent your going North." + +"No," Andrew said resolutely; "it shall not do that; but I'll have to +see him. It's strange he should come, though I told him the mine +wasn't paying." + +"You want to remember that Mappin's a friend of his," Carnally +interposed. "There's another thing: you can't tell him about the lode, +which, so far, doesn't belong to you. I guess the less you say about +your plans the better." + +"I believe that's true," Andrew agreed. "Well, our start must be put +off a while." + +Leonard arrived, accompanied by Wannop, who explained that he had come +to see the country and look up one or two old friends. Soon after they +reached the Landing, Leonard had an interview with Watson, who had +been summoned to meet him; then he went with Andrew to his room at the +hotel. It was small and scantily furnished, but a galvanized pipe +which ran up through the floor from the basement heater made it +comfortably warm; and Leonard, sitting in a rickety chair, watched +his brother-in-law closely while he talked about the mine. Andrew had +acquired a quickness of thought and a decision of manner which were +new to Leonard. There was a pause after he had finished his +explanation, for both felt that the next few minutes might prove +momentous. They held widely different views and an unconsidered remark +might bring them into open collision. Leonard waited, ready to profit +by any mistake the other made, until Andrew spoke. + +"I was surprised to hear you were coming over; though perhaps it's as +well you did so." + +"When I got your letter the matter seemed serious enough to require my +personal attention." + +"You may tell me what you think," said Andrew, "and I'll consider it +carefully." + +"To begin with, why did you give Mappin notice to terminate his +contract?" + +"It seemed the best thing to be done in the shareholders' interest." + +There was something impressive in Andrew's tone. Leonard knew that a +conflict, which he wished to avoid, was imminent. + +"I won't mince matters," he replied. "You have no business experience +and know nothing about mining. You have acted rashly. I made the +arrangements with Mappin and considered them satisfactory." + +"I'm sorry to hear it. I wish it had been somebody less closely +connected with Allinson's who concluded the deal with him. The man's +making a good thing out of his contract at the Company's expense." + +"You mustn't be hypercritical. Opportunities for picking up a few +dollars are often attached to operations like ours, and its wiser to +let one's friends have them and look for favors in return. Besides, +the man does his work well." + +"No," corrected Andrew, "he does it badly, with a cool assurance that +no fault will be found and we'll pass his bills. In fact, for the firm +to take any favors from him would savor of corruption. In the end, the +shareholders would have to pay for them." + +"Be careful," Leonard warned him. "You may cause a good deal of +trouble without doing any good. Remember that you're only here on +trial and accountable to the rest of the directors. If necessary, the +power you're overstraining could be withdrawn." + +"I think not," said Andrew. "In a sense, I'm Allinson's; it would be a +difficult matter to get rid of me. I have neglected my duties, but +it's not too late to make a change." + +Leonard paused to light a cigarette. He had been met with a firmness +he had not expected, and he realized that Andrew might prove a +formidable antagonist. + +"Very well," he conceded, "if you insist on our giving no more work to +Mappin, I suppose he must be sacrificed, though you place me in an +unpleasant position. After all, he's comparatively unimportant; we +must talk about the mine. You seem to think it ought to be closed, +which is out of the question for the present. You have, no doubt, +learned that it often takes time to reach payable ore; all sorts of +preliminary difficulties have to be overcome, and investors have +frequently to exercise patience and put up with disappointments." + +"You promised a good dividend in the prospectus." + +"We didn't promise it on the first six months' working. Besides, one +makes allowances for prospectus statements." + +"It shouldn't be needful where Allinson's is concerned. But what do +you suggest?" + +"That we keep the mine open, and do everything possible to increase +the output and strike better ore. In the meanwhile, we won't say too +much about our troubles." + +"When you increase the output you increase expenses. This doesn't +matter so long as the refined metal will pay for it, but it's a +ruinous policy where the ore's no good. Then, you can't hide our +difficulties. The shareholders will expect a dividend, and if it isn't +forthcoming they'll demand an explanation at their meeting." + +"That might be prevented. The family vote could be relied on, and it's +often possible to control a meeting and silence objectors. These are +matters you can leave to me." + +"The objectors have a right to be heard; they could be silenced only +by trickery. If we have made a mistake, we must admit it and consider +how we can cut the loss." + +"Admit our mistake?" Leonard laughed. "You're talking at random." + +Andrew leaned forward, his eyes fixed on his brother-in-law. + +"This Company should never have been floated. We'll let it go at that: +the less said upon the point the better. The question is--what is to +be done now? Well, I've decided on two things--we'll keep a few men +working at the mine, because the yield will cover their wages, while I +go into the bush and look for a richer lode I've heard about. If I'm +successful, we'll consider the new situation." + +Seeing that objections would be useless, Leonard reluctantly +acquiesced, and it was a relief to both when Wannop came in. + +"There's a friend of yours asking for you, Andrew; I brought him up," +he explained, and stood aside as Frobisher entered. + +"I came to ask you over for a day or two, and I shall be glad if your +relatives will come as well," he said. "We have plenty of room and +have been rather dull lately. Besides, the hotel is too full to be +comfortable." + +After some demur they agreed to go, and Andrew felt grateful to +Frobisher, for the visit would relieve the strain that Leonard's +society threatened to impose on him. Half an hour later they took +their places in Frobisher's sleigh. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +LOVE'S ENCOURAGEMENT + + +It was after dinner and Wannop, lounging comfortably over his cigar in +Frobisher's smoking-room, smiled at Andrew, who sat opposite. + +"This is a very nice house and I like your friend," he commented. +"It's lucky he invited us, because I don't know how they'd have put us +up at the hotel." + +"What brought you over with Leonard?" Andrew asked bluntly. + +"Gertrude wanted to make some visits this winter, which set me free. +I've never been much away from home, and it struck me as a good chance +for seeing Canada; then Jack Cartwright--you may remember him--is in +Toronto. It's twelve years since I've met him, though he has often +urged me to come over; and there's another man I know in Winnipeg." + +"I wonder whether that was all?" + +Wannop looked amused. He was stout and clumsy, but he had his jovial +air. + +"You seem to have been getting smarter since you came to Canada," he +said. "Perhaps I'd better admit that I was anxious to see how you were +getting on." + +"Didn't Leonard tell you?" + +"Leonard was as guarded and diplomatic as usual. He informed us that +there had been some trouble at the mine and he was afraid you hadn't +experience enough to deal with the situation. Then he gave us the +impression that you were inclined to be rash and might make a mess of +things unless he came over and put you right." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Andrew; "I expected something of the sort." + +They looked at each other with mutual comprehension. + +"Can matters be straightened out?" Wannop asked. + +"Not in the few days that Leonard intends to devote to it. It's most +unlikely that the Rain Bluff will ever pay." + +"I'm sorry to hear it. A good deal of my money and Gertrude's has gone +into the mine." + +"You needn't be alarmed. I don't think the shareholders will suffer." + +Andrew's tone was impressive, and Wannop looked at him sharply. + +"That doesn't seem to agree with your last remark." + +"I've a plan for working a richer lode, but I can't tell you anything +further, because the secret belongs to another man until the minerals +have been recorded; and it wouldn't be fair to Leonard and the +directors, who haven't been consulted about the project yet. When my +plans are ready, they will be disclosed. Perhaps I'm straining your +confidence." + +"It will stand some strain. But are you sure that Leonard will be fair +to you?" + +"That is another matter," Andrew said quietly. + +"Well, I'm glad you have told me something: it gives me a lead. It was +obvious that you and Leonard were at variance. In fact, I've foreseen +a split for some time, and if a side must be taken, I'd rather stand +by you." + +"Thanks! But it may get you into trouble." + +Wannop lighted another cigar and then looked up with a chuckle. + +"We're neither of us sentimentalists, but there's something to be +said. You and I have always got on well, and when I married Gertrude +you didn't lay such stress on the favor shown me in being allowed to +enter the family as your estimable relatives did. Then we're the two +whose abilities aren't held in much esteem, which is some reason why +we should stick together. With all respect for the others, I sometimes +think they're wrong." + +Andrew laughed. + +"We'll come to business," Wannop went on. "While the Rain Bluff shares +were well taken up by outside investors, a good many are held by the +family; these count as a compact block, a strong voting power--though +it's remarkable that Leonard holds less than any of the rest of us. So +if there's to be a fight between you and him, it will begin among your +relatives; their opinion is more important than that of the general +shareholders." + +"Yes," assented Andrew, "Leonard would be powerful if backed by the +solid family vote." + +"The point is that he may not get it. Anyhow, Gertrude and I will +support you, and we hold a good deal of stock between us." + +"Thanks!" said Andrew. "Still, it may not come to a struggle of that +kind, after all. It must be avoided if possible." + +Then Frobisher came in and interrupted them. + +Leonard spent a week with Frobisher, driving across to the Landing +each morning on business. He and Andrew now and then discussed the +Company's affairs without open disagreement. His attitude toward +Andrew was friendly, but marked by a tone of good-humored forbearance, +and when he spoke of him to Frobisher it was with a trace of +amusement, as if Andrew were erratic and needed judicious guidance. It +was done cleverly, for Leonard carefully avoided detraction, but his +remarks conveyed the impression that Andrew was something of a +simpleton. + +"If Allinson hasn't much judgment, why did you send him over to look +after the mine?" Frobisher once asked him bluntly. + +Leonard smiled at this. + +"We didn't give him much responsibility; to tell the truth, we wanted +to get him away for a while. There was a young grass-widow that it +seemed possible he might make a fool of himself about. Rather a +dangerous woman, I believe, and Andrew's confiding." + +When his guests had returned to the Landing, Frobisher remarked to his +daughter: + +"Mr. Hathersage doesn't seem to think much of his brother-in-law." + +"So it seems," said Geraldine, with an angry sparkle in her eyes. "He +never missed an opportunity for cunningly disparaging him." + +"Then you don't agree with his opinion?" + +"I don't know that it was his real opinion," Geraldine replied. "I +wouldn't trust the man." She paused and asked sharply: "Would you?" + +"If I had to choose, I think I'd rather put my confidence in +Allinson." + +He looked thoughtful when his daughter left him, for he had not spoken +to her without an object, and her indignation had its significance. On +the whole, however, Frobisher saw no cause for uneasiness. He liked +Andrew, and though Leonard's explanation might have had a deterrent +effect, he disbelieved it. + +Before returning to England, Leonard had an interview with Mappin at +the hotel. + +"Do you know anything of the lode Allinson talks about?" he asked him. + +"Nothing except that it lies up in the northern barrens, a mighty +rough country, and that people think it's a delusion of the man who +claims to have discovered it. But didn't your brother-in-law talk it +over with you, if he's interested in the thing?" + +"He did not. I may as well admit that there are points upon which his +views don't agree with mine." + +"So I imagined," Mappin remarked pointedly. + +"He's in favor of closing the Rain Bluff. If that were done, it would, +of course, cost you your contract." + +Mappin looked thoughtful. Leonard had already sketched out a plan by +which the notice Andrew had given Mappin might be rendered of no +effect. + +"Well," he said, "I'd much rather keep it; but we had better be frank. +You would prefer that Allinson didn't find the lode?" + +"I don't want him to waste the Company's time and money on a journey +into the wilds, and expensive prospecting work which will probably +lead to nothing. It would be wiser to keep the Rain Bluff going and +get out as much ore as possible. I needn't point out that this would +be more to your interest." + +"That's so," chuckled Mappin. "I begin to see. I'm to make all the +difficulties I can for Allinson?" + +Leonard hesitated. He was asked to give his confederate dangerous +powers, but he thought the safety of his position required it. There +did not seem to be much likelihood of Andrew's discovering valuable +minerals, but he might perhaps find somewhat better ore than the Rain +Bluff was turning out, and with a practical scheme for working it gain +support enough to embarrass the directors. If, however, Andrew failed +in his search, it would be easier to discredit him, and the demand he +would no doubt make for the abandoning of the mine could be withstood. + +"I think that's what I meant," he said. "You are in charge of our +transport and I expect he'll need a quantity of food and prospecting +tools sent up into the bush. I can leave you to work out details." + +Mappin's eyes flashed. + +"I guess I can fix it; let it go at that. Now there's another matter I +want to mention." + +Leonard acquiesced in the change of subject, feeling that he had done +all that was possible to counteract Andrew's projects. He left with +the Montreal express the next morning. + +Two days later Mappin was summoned to Andrew's room at the hotel and +found him studying a list of provisions. + +"We shall get off in the next few days," he said. "I want you to send +these supplies up to the mine, where we'll call for them." + +"What about the rest of your truck?" Mappin inquired. + +"Carnally has sent it off already." + +Mappin saw that he could not do as much as he had expected to delay +the party. + +"Is there anything else?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Andrew. "As we can't transport stores enough for the whole +march, provisions will have to be cached for use on our return. Do you +know where Whitefish Creek is?" + +"It's a very long way up and said not to be indicated very correctly +on the map. Two forks, aren't there?" + +Andrew nodded. + +"A lake lies about two days' march up the east branch, and there's an +island in it with a sandy tongue at one end. Take this list of +provisions and have a cache made there. Get them up in a month from +now. You can do that?" + +"Oh, yes; I've some smart packers." + +"Then here's another list. To get to the Whitefish you cross the +height of land and there's a low neck in the middle of the long ridge. +I want another cache made at the bottom of the gap. You understand +that? It's important." + +"I'll make a careful note of it," Mappin promised. "Your idea is to +travel with light loads, and replenish your stores at the caches as +you come back?" + +"Precisely. Carnally and Graham have been calculating our supplies +closely and we shall not have much left when we reach the first cache. +You had better put a barked fir-pole on the top of it; there are trees +about." + +"The boys I'll send up will see to it," said Mappin, and after a few +questions took his leave. + +A day or two later Andrew walked across the ice in the evening to see +the Frobishers before he started on his journey, and when he had spent +some time with them Geraldine went down with him to the hall. They +were alone, for her father was searching for a compass he wished to +give Andrew. Geraldine stopped when she reached the foot of the stairs +and stood with her hand on the balustrade. Her unstudied pose was +graceful, she made a very attractive picture, and though she saw +Andrew's admiration she was not displeased. It was different from +that which Mappin had bestowed on her. + +"I think you are doing a very fine thing," she said diffidently. "You +see, I know something, besides what you have told me, about the mine +and Allinson's. Ethel Hillyard wrote to me not long ago--I knew her in +England--and she said several nice things about you." + +"Did she?" said Andrew, with some embarrassment. "Ethel's a good +friend. But it's rather trying to have things said about you." + +"Now you're curious," Geraldine replied, "and I'll be indiscreet +enough to mention one. She said you were always sincere, and to be +relied on." She paused a moment and added: "I think that's true; your +going to search for the lode proves it." + +Andrew looked at her steadily, his heart throbbing. + +"Would you be surprised to hear that you are largely responsible for +the search?" + +"I! What could I have to do with it?" + +"I'll try to explain. There was a time when I was half afraid to go on +with my plans; I could see nothing but trouble ahead. Then one day +when you were speaking of Carnally you said something about doing the +square thing. That and the song you sang one evening soon afterward +decided me." + +"Then I'm afraid I've been very rash; it's a responsibility I should +not have assumed. After all, I know nothing about the difficulties you +may meet with." + +"And I know very little, except that they'll certainly be plentiful. +Ignorance is a heavy handicap, and it doesn't make things better when +it's your own fault. Still, whether you meant it or not, you showed me +that there was only one course open--to go straight ahead and leave +the rest to Fate." + +His words awoke a responsive thrill in Geraldine, for she knew his +worth. There was courage in him and sterling honesty; he was entering +on a hard fight for the sake of people unknown to him who had trusted +to the honor of his house. He would, she believed, be opposed by +clever trickery, prejudice and strong commercial interests, but if the +world were ruled by right, as she tried to believe, it was unthinkable +that he should be beaten. + +"Well," she said, with the color in her face and sympathy in her eyes, +"I wish you good luck. But be careful up there among the rocks and +muskegs. Don't run too many risks. Come back safe." + +"Thank you! It would be something to you if we kept out of trouble?" + +His gaze was steadily searching and for a moment she turned her head. +Then, though there was a slight change in her manner, she looked +around with a smile. + +"Yes, of course," she answered. "I shall be anxious while you are away +and eager for news." + +Andrew saw that there was nothing more to be said, and he was glad +that Frobisher came down the stairs with the compass in his hand. + +"It's one of the cutest things of the kind I've seen," said the +American. "There's very little oscillation, the card can't come +unshipped, and you can take a bearing correctly with the sights on +this sliding ring." + +When Andrew had thanked him for the gift, he left the house. It was a +still night and bitterly cold, but he walked back across the ice to +the Landing with a glow at his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TREACHERY + + +The afternoon was nearly over and the frost intense when Andrew +plodded up the frozen river with Carnally and Graham. The snow +crunched with a squeaking sound beneath their moccasins, which Andrew +had had specially made because ordinary boots are not adapted to the +extreme cold of the North. On their western hand the pines stood out +sharp and black against a coppery glare, and as they passed the wider +openings the light struck dazzlingly into their aching eyes. Ahead the +white riband of river led into a wilderness of rocks and stunted +trees, but there was no sign of life in all the picture, and +everything was very still. + +The men were not heavily loaded, for most of their supplies had been +sent on to the mine, but Andrew had found his pack a bad enough +handicap on the long march up-river and had noticed with some concern +that Graham seemed to feel the weight more than he did. The old man +had lagged behind, but he now came up breathless. + +"You want to get a move on," Carnally advised. "It's 'most six miles +yet to Rain Bluff and I'm feeling ready for my supper." + +"So am I," said Graham; "but it was too cold to rest by the greenwood +fire when we nooned, and I'm not so young as you are. Then it is +remarkable how twenty years of domestic life soften one." + +"Sure!" grinned Carnally. "You don't find the man who gets his dinner +every day leading in a long, hard march. That was Allinson's trouble +when he first took the trail with me." + +"There may be disadvantages in having regular meals, but I know from +painful experience what an ache in the side you get when forced to go +without," Andrew returned. "It's one of the things I've learned in +Canada." + +"You'll learn a few more of the same kind before you're through," +Carnally drawled. "But how do you like your moccasins?" + +"They're comfortable; the American shoe people have made them well; +but I'm not sure they'll last the journey through. It's lucky we have +some spare pairs among the provisions Mappin has sent up." + +"It might have been better if we'd hired two or three boys at the +Landing and packed the truck up along with us," Carnally remarked. + +"Mappin engaged to forward the things. It's his business." + +Carnally looked unconvinced. + +"I never deal with a man who's not straight if I can help it. You +can't tell when he may go back on you, unless you can fix it so that +his interest is the same as yours; and you and Mappin don't agree." + +"That's a fact," Andrew admitted. "However, we'll soon find out about +the provisions." + +He forced the pace, but it slackened again. He was tired; the red +glare, which grew more lurid, hurt his eyes, and he was thankful when +it suddenly faded, leaving the wilderness wrapped in soft blue shadow. +The pack-straps galled his shoulders, his fur-cap was thick with rime, +and its fringe of frosted hair stung his forehead. They came to a +narrow reach where the stream ran fast and the ice was thrown up in +ragged hummocks. It was difficult to pick their way in the dim light; +they slipped and stumbled, breaking through the treacherous snow +bridges between the blocks; and when they came out upon a better +surface it was dark. Shadowy firs rose about them; here and there an +ice-crusted rock showed above the gray level of the stream. Except for +their soft footsteps there was a deathly silence. Graham was now some +distance behind them, and after a while he made protest. + +"Hold on!" he cried. "I'm not toughened up to your mark yet." + +Andrew was glad to wait for him, though the frost bit keenly when he +stopped and he was anxious to finish the long day's march. The ranks +of stunted pines looked inexpressibly dreary looming out of the +darkness, and, fatigued as he was, the savagery of the surrounding +desolation oppressed him. They would reach warmth and shelter in +another hour, but when they went on again Andrew thought with a heavy +heart of the leagues of travel through the grim solitudes of the +frozen North. Up there, their only resting-place would be a hollow +behind a rock or a trench scooped out of the snow. Still, he was not +daunted. He had undertaken a big thing, and he meant to carry it out. + +At last a twinkle of light showed among the trees, and when they +approached one of the shacks at the mine the door opened and a dark +figure appeared against the brightness of the interior. + +"Is that you, Watson?" Andrew asked. "Has Mappin sent up some +provisions for us?" + +"Nothing has turned up lately except some tools," Watson answered. +"But come right in." + +They entered the shack, which for the first few minutes felt +intolerably hot. + +"Did those tools come in cases with a Toronto freight tag?" Carnally +asked. + +"They did," said Watson. + +Carnally looked at Andrew. + +"That's what misled me. I found out the cases had left the Landing and +thought they held our truck. What I wasn't sure about was whether +they'd reach here." + +"The provisions haven't come, and a day or two's rest will do us +good," Andrew replied. "I suppose the fellow will send some +explanation." + +"That's certain. He won't want you to go down and look him up; you'll +get word from him before long. Whether you'll get your provisions or +not is another matter." + +"Let it drop," Andrew advised; and soon afterward they sat down to +supper. In an hour or two they were all asleep; but the next day +passed before they heard anything about the missing supplies. They +were sitting round the stove in the evening when Watson came in with a +letter. + +"One of Mappin's boys has brought you this," he said. + +Andrew opened it and looked up with a frown. + +"No answer. Let him go back when he likes." + +When Watson left them he turned to the others. + +"Mappin regrets to say that our stores have been lost in transit, and +though he is trying to trace them, there may be some delay. He thinks +I would like to know this at once--which looks like ironical wit. If +needful, he will order a duplicate lot." + +"Is it worth while to go down and see him?" Graham asked. + +"I'd enjoy it," said Andrew grimly. "However, now that we have come so +far, we can't waste time in going back, and I've no doubt it would be +a week or two before I could get the goods. We'll have to do without +them, which is unfortunate." + +His anger was justified. Travel in the North, where food is scarce, is +a question of transport. As the traveler must take all he needs with +him, his supplies must be carefully regulated in accordance with the +distance and his power of carrying them, while an error in his +calculations may result in starvation. Knowing this, Carnally and +Graham had considered how the weight could be cut down by the use of +certain condensed foods, as well as clothing and camp equipment made +to combine the greatest warmth with lightness. The goods were +expensive, but their value could hardly be reckoned in money. + +"Then we had better push on at once," Graham suggested. "We have the +things Carnally sent up and we ought to get some provisions at the +Hudson Bay factory, where I expect to hire the sledge dogs. It will +add to our loads and shorten our stay, but we'll have to put up with +that." + +"You should have cut Mappin right out of this business," Carnally said +to Andrew. "His first trick hasn't stopped us, but I feel uneasy about +leaving him to handle the food we'll need when coming down." + +Andrew looked grave. + +"The man's treacherous; but he has gone as far as is safe already. +Taking it for granted that he wishes to prevent our finding the lode, +one can understand his trying to hinder our outward journey. He would, +however, gain nothing by delaying our return, and he's too clever to +risk getting himself into trouble without a good reason." + +"That sounds right; I can find no fault with it," Carnally agreed. +"We'll pull out to-morrow, but I'd feel easier if the making of those +caches wasn't in Mappin's hands." + +They left Rain Bluff the next morning and it was a week later when +Mappin learned that he had failed to detain them. He had just returned +to the Landing from a business visit, and was sitting in his room at +the hotel when the messenger came in. + +"Did Mr. Allinson seem annoyed?" he asked. + +"Can't say," the man replied. "He didn't say a word to me; told Watson +there was no answer, and pulled out with the other fellows next day." + +"I suppose they went off with pretty heavy loads?" + +"That's so. Took some of Watson's blue camp blankets, and I guess +they'll soon get tired. Two of them are tenderfoots at the job." + +"Carnally's a smart bushman, isn't he?" + +"Sure! But he'd all he could carry." + +Mappin was surprised at the turbulence of his feelings. Though of +gross nature, ambition and avarice had hitherto dominated him, and he +was generally marked by a cold-blooded calm. Now, however, his +passions were aroused, and he was filled with an anger which he +thought must be subdued before it led him into rashness. He had done +all he could to delay Allinson, and though he had failed it was not +his habit to grow savage at a reverse; moreover, it was unlikely that +the prospectors would get very far. For all that, he was disturbed. +Allinson, whom he had regarded with contempt as a fastidious +tenderfoot, might prove a dangerous rival. That he had refrained from +sending down an angry remonstrance suggested strong self-control and +a suspicion of Mappin's motives. He must be careful, and must make all +the progress he could with Geraldine while Allinson was away. + +During the next three weeks he saw the Frobishers often, though he had +undertaken an important railroad contract for which his men were +cutting lumber in the bush. Geraldine treated him with a conventional +politeness which misled him, for he was inexperienced in dealing with +girls of her character. Indeed, except for his business capacity, +Mappin was undeveloped and primitive. For all that, he felt that he +was not advancing much in Geraldine's favor and he made up his mind to +press his suit without delay. Allinson would be back before very long, +and the provisions he would need for his return journey must shortly +be sent off. + +After waiting for an opportunity, he found Geraldine alone one evening +in her drawing-room and sat down feeling unusually diffident as well +as eager, though he forced himself to talk about matters of no +importance. For one thing, the room had a disturbing effect on him. It +was furnished with refined taste and all its appointments seemed +stamped with its owner's personality; a faint perfume that she was +fond of clung about it. All this reacted on the man, and the girl's +beauty worked on his passions. + +She listened with indifference, now and then glancing toward him. He +was smartly dressed, but he looked out of place--too big and gross for +his surroundings. Then by degrees she grew more intent; there was a +hint of strain in his voice and a gleam in his eyes which caused her +vague alarm. His face was slightly flushed, he looked coarser than +usual, and when he was silent his lips set in an ugly, determined +fashion. At last, when she was thinking of an excuse for leaving him, +he rose. + +"Geraldine," he said, "I have something to tell you." + +She looked up quickly; somewhat frightened, he thought, and he was not +displeased. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Is it necessary?" + +"I think so; you shall judge. For a long while I've been very fond of +you." + +His ardent glance repelled her. She resented it and this gave her +courage. + +"I wonder what you mean by that?" she asked coldly. + +The man failed to understand her. Love was not a complex thing to him. + +"It ought to be pretty simple. You're the girl I mean to marry; I set +my heart on it some time ago." + +"_Mean_ to marry? You're not diffident." + +Mappin laughed and his amusement filled her with repulsion. She was +not encouraging, he thought; but he had not expected her to be so. + +"No," he replied, "I'm not. Bashfulness doesn't pay, and I haven't had +time to study saying pretty things. I want you--there it is." + +"It's a pity you didn't tell me this earlier. It might have saved you +some disappointment," said Geraldine. + +She was angry and alarmed, but keenly interested. She had not expected +that her first offer would take this abrupt form; but there was no +doubting the strong primitive passion in the man. It was a force to be +reckoned with; one could not treat it with indifference. He looked big +and clumsy as he stood with his eyes fixed on her, but his face and +pose suggested power. + +"Well," he explained, "there was a reason. I was pretty low down in +the world; I hadn't much to offer, and I wouldn't have you think I +wanted you for your money. Now I've got on; I begin to see how I'm +going to make a big success. There's no longer anything to stop my +claiming you." + +This sounded sincere, but it was unthinkable that she should feel any +tenderness for the man, and he must be made to understand. + +"Mr. Mappin," she began; but he checked her. + +"Let me get through. You shall have all you want: a house in Montreal +or Toronto, as you like, smart friends and position--guess if I set my +mind on it I can get them. In fact, you shall have what you +wish--you'll only need to ask for it. I want my wife to take a leading +place, and I'll see she gets there." + +"I'm sorry, but it's impossible for me to marry you," said Geraldine +firmly. + +Mappin regarded her with a grim smile. + +"You look as if you meant it." + +"I do." Geraldine tried hard to preserve her calm. "Please understand +that my mind is made up." + +"Oh," he replied tolerantly, "I didn't expect to get you first try. +Guess I'll have to wait until you get used to the idea." + +"I shall never get used to it!" + +He had held himself in hand, but as he heard the decision in her tone +his passion mastered him. + +"Never is a mighty long time; you have got to yield sooner or later. I +can make you!" + +Geraldine rose with all the dignity she could assume; but he moved +between her and the door. + +"Wait a bit," he said with a harsh laugh. "Now, what's the matter with +me?" + +"I think I need only say that you're very far from being the kind of +man I could marry. Let me pass!" + +Mappin barred her way. + +"Well," he said, "I know my value. I'll stand comparison with that +finicking Englishman!" + +Her blush told that this shot had reached the mark and he turned on +her with fury. + +"You'll never get him! Count on that; I'll break the fellow!" + +Geraldine recoiled. She thought that he meant to seize her; he was +capable of it. Indeed, he moved a pace or two, but this gave her an +opportunity for reaching the door. There she turned and saw that he +was watching her with a curious grim smile. + +"The subject is closed," she said. "You have behaved hatefully!" + +Escaping into the hall, she sought her room and shut herself in. She +felt humiliated, and, although there had once or twice been something +ludicrous in the situation, the man's overbearing boldness had +strongly impressed her. She was afraid of him; he would not readily be +beaten. + +Mappin left the house without speaking to Frobisher and returned to +the Landing. The next day he sent for the packer who was to lead the +party taking up Andrew's supplies. The fellow was some time in coming +and Mappin waited for him in a threatening mood. Geraldine's blush had +filled him with jealous hatred. Allinson was a dangerous rival. Let +him beware! + +"You know the Whitefish Creek," he said to the man he had summoned. +"What lies between the forks?" + +"A piece of high and very rough country; muskegs full of little pines +mussed up with blown trees in the hollows." + +"Well," said Mappin, "you'll cache the supplies for Allinson where +I've put the cross on this map. Think you've got it right?" + +"Yes," answered the packer. "It must be near the tall butte, a piece +up the creek. That's a pretty good mark." + +"Then there's the other lot of supplies. You can see the place for +them on the height of land, south of the Whitefish." + +The man glanced at the map and nodded. + +"We'll dump those first. Everything's ready. We'll pull out as soon as +I can get the boys together." + +He left the room and Mappin lighted a cigar. He felt somewhat nervous, +as if he had undergone a strain. + +"If Allinson gets through, I'll allow he's the better man," he mused. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SILVER LODE + + +A half-breed stood on the river bank beside his dog-team while Andrew +handed Carnally the packs from the sled. It was late in the afternoon, +the valley was swept by driving snow, and the men's hands were so +numbed that they found it difficult to strap on their heavy loads. The +ice was several feet in thickness on the deeper pools, but the stream +ran strong along the opposite shore, and its frozen surface was rough, +and broken in places by pools of inky water. + +"It would save some trouble if we made our caches among these +boulders," Graham suggested. + +"That's so," agreed Carnally. "Still I guess it would be safer on the +other side, where we'll strike it sooner coming back. It's wise to +take no chances in this country." + +They were loaded at last, and the gorge looked very desolate when the +half-breed vanished with his dogs beyond the summit of the bank. He +was not a man of much conversational powers, but they had found his +company pleasant in the grim solitudes. Andrew had hired him at an +outlying Hudson Bay factory, where he had had no trouble in obtaining +food. The fur trade was languishing thereabout, and prospectors for +timber and minerals were made welcome. The Scot in charge of the +lonely post had, however, no dogs for sale, though he engaged to +transport a limited quantity of provisions to a point which one of the +company's half-breeds, despatched on another errand, would pass with +his team. + +Andrew considered Carnally's caution well justified. Their supply of +food was scanty, and the journey attended by risks enough; but he +could sympathize with Graham. It was snowing hard, the wind was +rising, and there was no sign of a camping-place in all the +desolation. They had gone a long way since sunrise, and were too tired +to think of lengthening the journey by looking for a better place to +cross the river. They went forward, carefully avoiding the hummocks, +and winding around the larger cracks. Andrew was too occupied in +picking his way to notice that Graham had fallen some distance behind; +but when he had skirted a tall hummock, a sharp cry reached him, and +he stopped in alarm. He could see nothing except a stretch of rugged +ice and a high white bank fading into the driving snow. Their +companion had disappeared. + +"Guess he was straight behind us!" cried Carnally, as they turned +back, running. + +Andrew fell over a block of ice, but he was up in a moment, for the +cry came again, and when they had passed a black pool he saw what +seemed to be the head and shoulders of a man projecting from a +fissure. He sprang across a dangerous crack and as he ran he saw +Graham's face turned toward him, with a strained, tense look. Carnally +was a pace or two in front and had seized Graham's arm when Andrew +came up and grasped his collar. They dragged him out of the crevice +and set him, gasping breathlessly, on the ice, with the water running +from one of his moccasins. + +"You were only just in time," he said after a moment or two. "There +was snow across the crack and it broke under me. Couldn't crawl out, +with my pack dragging me down." + +"It's blamed unfortunate you got your moccasin wet," Carnally +remarked. "It ought to come off right away, but we haven't another. +Think the water has got through?" + +"I'm afraid it has; the back seam opened up a bit yesterday. But my +feet are so cold I can hardly feel." + +"If Mappin hadn't played that trick on us, you'd have a sound dry pair +to put on. But you want to keep moving, and it's getting dark." + +They crossed the ice without further misadventure, toiled up a steep +bank where short brush that impeded them badly rose out of the snow, +and an hour afterward found a hollow among the rocks sheltered by a +few junipers and tottering firs. Carnally loosed the load from his +aching shoulders and threw it down with relief. + +"It's that hog Mappin's fault we're packing a pile of unnecessary +weight along," he said. "I'm looking forward to a talk with him when I +get back." + +He set to work, hacking rotten branches from a leaning fir, while +Andrew scraped away the snow and built a wall of it between them and +the wind. Graham lighted a fire, filled the kettle with snow, and +spread branches and twigs to lay their blankets on. It took time, and +Andrew knew of no labor so irksome as making camp after an exhausting +march; but no pains could be spared if they wished to sleep without +freezing. At last they gathered about a crackling fire which threw an +uncertain light upon their faces, and Carnally cooked a frugal supper. + +"I guess we could eat more, but it wouldn't be prudent," he said as he +shared out the food. "Your lode's about a hundred miles off yet, isn't +it, Graham?" + +"Yes, as near as I can calculate." + +"Call it six days; a fortnight anyhow before we get back here, and +that won't allow much time for thawing out and shot-firing. Then we'll +have to reach our first cache before the grub runs out. It's going to +be a blamed tight fit." + +Andrew consumed his portion and glanced regretfully at the empty +frying-pan. Then, for fatigue had soured his temper, he broke out: + +"I'd like to have the brute who cut our rations short up here +to-night! Blast his greed! It's an infamous thing that a man should +make money by starving his fellow creatures!" + +"They seem to consider it legitimate in the cities," said Graham +dryly. "We have mergers controlling almost everything we eat and +drink, and men get rich by bull deals in the wheat pits. However, your +sentiments are not exactly new. What do you think, Jake? I haven't +heard you on politics." + +Carnally grinned. + +"As it looks as if I'm going to be hungry, I'm a hard-shelled +grit--something like your Radicals," he explained to Andrew. "But if I +thought we could get a good one, I'd prefer being governed by an +emperor. So far as my experience goes, one live man can run things +much better than a crowd, and it's a poor mine or railroad boss who +can't beat a board of directors." + +"That's so," Graham assented. "They're most capable when they let one +of them drive the lot. But there's the trouble that you might get the +wrong kind of emperor. It's hard to tell a good man until he gets to +work." + +"Sure!" agreed Carnally. "If you're not pleased with the Laurier gang, +you can fire them out, and then you might not find the other crowd +much better. But if a bad emperor meant to stay with it, you'd have to +use dynamite." + +The others laughed, but Andrew, awkwardly filling his pipe with numbed +fingers, looked serious. There was a truth in his companion's remarks +that touched him personally. It was undoubtedly difficult to get rid +of an able man entrusted with power which he abused. To attack him +might imply the break-up of the organization which had appointed him; +one might have to use destructive methods, and Andrew wished to build +up the Rain Bluff Company, not pull it down. For all that, Leonard +must be stripped of the authority he had wrongly used, though the task +would be extremely troublesome. With one or two unimportant +exceptions, he enjoyed the confidence of the Allinson family, as well +as the support of the directors; and Andrew knew what his relatives +thought of him. In the first place, however, he must find the lode, +and he was glad to think it lay within a week's march from camp. + +"Have you got that wet moccasin off yet?" Carnally asked Graham. + +Graham confessed that he had been too tired and hungry to remember it, +and after drawing it off with some trouble he spent a while in chafing +his foot, which he afterward wrapped in a blanket. Then while the men +sat silent a long howl came faintly down the bitter breeze. + +"A timber wolf," said Carnally. "I saw some tracks this morning and +the half-breed told me they'd had a number of the big gray fellows +near the factory. They get pretty bold when there's no caribou about, +and it's unlucky we haven't struck any caribou. It would help out the +grub." + +"Three men with a camp-fire going are safe enough," said Graham. + +"Oh, yes," Carnally assented. "Still, a timber wolf is a beast I've no +kind of use for in winter." + +They lay down soon afterward, but Andrew heard the wolves again before +he went to sleep. He was very cold when he awakened the next morning +and found Carnally busy about the fire. There was no wind, the smoke +went straight up, and the snow stretched back from the camp, +glistening a faint silvery gray. The firs were very black but +indistinct in the growing light. + +"Get a move on; we should have been off long ago," Carnally said; and +Andrew, rising with cramped limbs and sore shoulders, awkwardly set +about rolling up his pack. + +He shivered as he did so. The cold bit through him, his mittened hands +would hardly bend, but he strapped up his bundle and helped Graham to +put on his frozen moccasin. They were careful to hang up their +footwear in a warm place at night, but the fire had sunk while they +slept. Then they ate a hurried meal and struck out into the white +wilderness as the light grew stronger. They made, by estimation, +eighteen miles by nightfall, finding a creek and one or two small +lakes over which traveling was easy, but most of the way led across +hillocks of rounded rock and through tangles of tottering pines, where +snow-shoes could not be used. Some of the trees had been partly +burned, and others were slanted and distorted by the savage winds. + +Toward the end of the march Graham dragged behind, and when they made +camp he spent some time rubbing his foot. + +"It feels dead," he told them. "I'm afraid I got it nipped a bit, but +I don't think it's bad." + +"See that you get your moccasin properly dry to-night," Carnally +warned him. + +The next morning he felt lame and the country was rougher, but they +made thirty miles in two days, and set out again on the third dawn +with thick snow driving into their faces. Fortunately, the ground was +smoother, and they plodded on stubbornly with a short halt at noon, +Carnally breaking the trail for the two behind. Graham had trouble in +keeping up with his companions; but they had no thought to spare for +him during the laborious march. It needed all their resolution to +press forward against the searching wind. At nightfall they camped in +a sheltered ravine and when supper was over Graham got Carnally to +help him off with his moccasin. While they pulled at it he made an +abrupt movement, and Carnally, stopping, glanced at a dark stain on +the leather. + +"That looks like blood!" + +"I think it is," said Graham. "I slept with the thing on last night. +To tell the truth, I was afraid to take it off." + +"It will have to come off now." + +Carnally's face turned grave when Graham removed his stocking. Part of +his foot felt cold and lifeless; the rest was inflamed, and there was +a red patch, rubbed raw by the frozen moccasin. + +"Looks bad," Carnally said. "Have you got an old handkerchief or +anything to wrap round it?" + +"I couldn't walk with a bandage under my stocking." + +"You're not going to walk; you ought to know what trouble that might +make." Carnally turned to Andrew. "He can't go on. It's a dangerous +thing to gall a frostnipped foot. I don't see how it got so bad in +four days' time." + +Graham broke into a wry smile. + +"It began to hurt soon after I left the factory, and getting it wet +didn't improve things; but I thought I could hold out until we made +the lode." + +There was silence for a few moments. Graham's foot was throbbing +painfully, and having gone on until compelled to stop, he knew his +helplessness. His comrades realized that they were burdened with a +crippled man, far from shelter and assistance in an icy waste. +Dejection seized them; and Andrew, glancing at the darkness round +about, felt a sudden horror of the desolation. This, however, was a +dangerous feeling to yield to, and he strove to overcome it. + +"We're two days' march from the lode," he said. "It's unthinkable that +we should turn back without trying to locate it. Graham may be better +after a rest. It might be possible, Carnally, that by forcing the pace +we could knock a day off the double journey." + +"I'll give you six days," Graham said. "I can stay here; but if you +don't start the first thing to-morrow, I'll crawl on myself." + +"No," Andrew declared; "whether we strike the lode or not, we'll be +back before the fourth morning. The next thing is to consider what to +do then. Provisions aren't plentiful." + +They discussed the matter at length, for even the finding of the lode +was, by comparison unimportant. It would be some time before Graham +could walk far, and, with each day's journey seriously curtailed there +was grave danger of their food running out. At first, Carnally was in +favor of trying to reach the factory, where they would find shelter, +but yielded to the objection that it was farther off than the nearer +of the caches which Mappin had been engaged to make. He agreed that +they would save several days by cutting the back trail between the +mine and the spot where they had diverged to reach the factory, and +they would then pick up a hand sled they had used for a time and +abandoned when the country grew very rough and their load lighter. If +Graham's foot was still troublesome, they could haul him on the sled +and still make a good day's march. The plan was agreed on, and after +carefully arranging their packs for the expedition and getting the +clearest instructions that Graham could give them, they went to sleep. + +The next morning long before daylight Andrew and Carnally were getting +together a supply of branches and logs so that Graham might keep a +fire going night and day until their return: for the double purpose of +warmth and of protection against the timber wolves. When they had made +Graham comfortable, they set off. They had heard no wolves of late, +which was reassuring, but they had grave misgivings about leaving the +crippled man, and meant to save every possible minute on the march. It +was comparatively open country, they could use their snow-shoes, and +they pressed on until dusk without stopping, though the last league +taxed Andrew's strength. He was badly tired when at noon the next day +they reached a hillside commanding a rocky basin filled with stunted +pines. A shallow ravine ran at their feet. + +Carnally stopped suddenly. + +"I believe we've struck it!" he cried. "That must be the creek Graham +talks about!" + +Forgetting their weariness, they ran down the hill and stopped beside +a frozen stream hemmed in by ice-glazed rocks. + +"I guess we're somewhere about the spot, and we'll fire a dump shot +on yonder ridge where there's not much snow," Carnally said. "That's +all we can do." + +"Can't we stake three claims?" Andrew suggested. "The recorder might +allow Graham one if things were explained." + +"It can't be done. You get the frontage you apply for on the reef, but +its extent is limited and full particulars must be supplied, while a +man can hold only one claim on the same vein. Then a record isn't +secret. If you don't stake off the best of the lode, you give the +thing away, and send off every prospector who hears of it to locate +what you have missed." + +The situation was clear to Andrew, and it was daunting. After all the +fatigue and dangers of the journey, he must go back without +accomplishing anything useful; but there was no help for it. + +"I suppose if we had a week we might form some idea of what is worth +staking off, even with the snow on the ground," he said. "However, as +it is, we have got about two hours. We had better make the most of +them." + +They lighted a fire and sat beside it, thawing two sticks of dynamite, +a proceeding attended by some risk, which Carnally seriously increased +when he crimped the powerful detonating caps on the fuses with numbed +and clumsy fingers. Both men were moody and dejected, but they did not +express their feelings, for they were capable of meeting reverses with +silent fortitude. Carnally stood to lose more money than he had ever +had a prospect of earning until his companion took him north; Andrew +knew at what a disadvantage his failure would place him in the +struggle with Leonard. He was sincere in his purpose to see justice +done, but he had no romantic ideas about it. His task was based on +common honesty: Allinson's had guaranteed the undertaking and +Allinson's must make good. Andrew was, however, troubled by two +conflicting claims. He had a duty to the shareholders which could best +be discharged by remaining near the lode until he proved its value; +and a duty to Graham, whom he had promised to bring home safe and +sound. Graham, most unfortunately, was crippled, and the scarcity of +provisions made it doubtful whether he could be taken back to the +Landing, unless they started without delay. The shareholders must +wait. + +Carnally kneaded the softening dynamite round the detonators. + +"Try to scrape down to the rock on the spot I marked," he said. "I'll +come when you're ready and we'll fire the shot." + +Andrew had some trouble in carrying out his instructions, but when he +had done so Carnally laid the cartridges on the stone and covered them +with snow carefully pressed down. Then they dragged up a small fallen +spruce and, laying it on the spot, lighted the fuses and hastily +retired. In a minute there was a flash, a sharp report; and a shower +of flying fragments plunged into the snow, while a cloud of vapor +curled up. Andrew sprang from his shelter, but Carnally seized his +arm. + +"Hold on!" he cried. "You don't want the fumes to knock you over. I +guess we'll get dinner while we wait. You can't expect any startling +results from one shot." + +Eager as he was, Andrew ate his share of the scanty meal; he could +practise self-control and he had marched a long way on short rations +in bitter frost. + +When they had examined the cavity made by the explosion, Carnally +covered it with snow, and picked up the broken bits of rock. They had +gathered a small heap, and Carnally, carefully selecting a few, +looked at Andrew with a smile. + +"I suppose you feel that you'd like to take the whole lot?" + +"I thought we might carry half of them," Andrew admitted. + +"Unless you're willing to dump your blankets, these will be enough. +It's a long way to the Landing and we have to make the first food +cache quick." + +"You're right," said Andrew. "Besides, we must reach Graham's camp by +to-morrow night." + +"Rough on you!" Carnally sympathized; "I haven't as big a stake." + +Nothing more was said while they rolled up their packs and set off +grimly on the return trail. + +It had been dark for several hours the next night when Andrew wearily +toiled up a long rise dotted with ragged spruces. He was hungry and +very cold, though he panted with the exertion he was forced to make. +There was no feeling in his feet, which were bound to big snow-shoes; +his hands were powerless in his thick mittens, and he carried a light +ax under his arm. Fortunately, the trail they had broken when coming +out led straight up the rise, and Carnally pressed on in front, a gray +shape outlined against the glitter of the snow. A half-moon hung above +them in a cloudless sky, the frost was intense, and the white +desolation lay wrapped in an impressive silence. Not a breath of wind +stirred the tops of the spruces. + +Andrew's knees were giving way, and it seemed to him that the ascent +they were laboriously mounting ran on for ever. He felt as if they had +spent hours on it, though the frozen river at its foot was not far +behind them. It was discouraging to fix his eyes on the black shape +of a spruce ahead and see how slowly it grew nearer, but he felt +unequal to contemplating the long trail to the summit, and he divided +the distance into stages between tree and tree. + +At last they crossed the ridge and it was a relief to go downhill, +though the spruces grew in thicker belts and there was half a mile of +timber that they were forced to traverse in their moccasins. Fallen +logs obstructed their passage, they plunged into tangles of blown-down +branches, the snow was loose among the slender trunks and here and +there they sank deep in it. Andrew was, however, consumed by an +anxiety which would brook no delay, and when he had with difficulty +replaced his snow-shoes he looked up at his companion. + +"We can't be far from camp?" he queried. + +"About three miles. We ought to see it when we're through the timber +on the lower bench. Graham had wood enough to keep a good fire going." + +They pressed on, slipping down the steeper slopes, stumbling now and +then, for both had regretted the necessity for leaving Graham alone, +and at sunset they had seen the tracks of wolves. At last they plunged +into a thick belt of spruce, where the trees were fairly large and +there was not much fallen wood. Here and there a broad patch of +moonlight glittered on the snow, confusing after the deep gloom, but +the men could get through on their snow-shoes and avoid the trunks. +They made good speed and when they broke out into the open Andrew +stopped. Where a bright blaze should have marked Graham's fire there +were only a few dying embers. The old man was nowhere to be seen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE CACHE + + +The two prospectors forgot their weariness as they rushed to the dying +fire. Carnally looked at the embers. + +"Can't have been gone long," he declared. + +"Shout, Jake!" cried Andrew. "I'm out of breath." + +Carnally called, and Andrew's heart throbbed when a faint cry rose in +answer. His anxiety had not been groundless: a lonely man runs many +risks in the frozen North. Following the sound, they hastened up the +ravine, and as they rounded a projecting boulder, a red glow flashed +out a little distance ahead, died down, and rose more clearly. + +"That's mighty good to see!" Carnally exclaimed. + +Graham met them as they entered the firelight. + +"Had any trouble?" Andrew asked anxiously. + +"No; and the foot's feeling better. The rest has done it good. I've +been pretty comfortable since you left, though the wolves got so +friendly last night that I thought I'd better shift my camp a bit +to-night. I didn't allow you could get back before to-morrow, and I +knew I'd hear you shout if you did. I left the other fire burning as a +beacon." + +Andrew breathed deeply. + +"It's a wonderful relief!" he said. + +Carnally looked hard at Graham's face. + +"Guess you didn't sleep well, but we'll get a good rest to-night, now +there are three of us. A timber wolf is a cussed mean brute. +Government ought to supply the bush settlers with free arsenic." + +There was a brief silence, while Graham waited, intent and eager, +until Carnally broke into a soft laugh. + +"We struck it, partner! Guess your lode's right there, but we couldn't +do enough prospecting to tell you what it's worth." + +Graham turned his head for a moment, and his eyes glittered when he +looked around. + +"That is my misfortune and Mappin's fault. But you must have your +supper, and then we'll talk." + +Carnally glanced at Andrew, who had thrown off his pack and sat down +on it in an attitude of exhaustion. + +"Allinson allowed we'd be back to-night, and he hustled me along +pretty lively for a tenderfoot." + +They laughed at this and began the meal which Graham soon had ready. +Then, sitting close beside the fire, they filled their pipes and +Graham carefully examined the bits of stone Carnally produced. He +poised them in his hands, because the weight is a rough test, before +he looked up. + +"What do you think of them, Jake?" he asked. + +"My idea is that they're pretty good, though they are not carrying a +remarkable quantity of metal. Of course, we may have struck only the +edge of the lode. There wasn't time to find how it ran." + +Graham sat silent a while, and then turned to Andrew with a strained +expression. + +"I agree with Carnally. So far as I can judge, these specimens are not +very rich, though the ore might pay for reduction. That I feel +disappointed after waiting twenty years for this chance doesn't need +saying; but I've brought you here at a big expense and risk and I +can't blame you if you let the matter drop." + +"Nothing is farther from my mind," declared Andrew, smiling. "It's +unpleasant to feel beaten; and I'm partly responsible for our failure +by confiding in Mappin. If you and Carnally still think I'm to be +trusted as a partner, we'll come back again, though I'd prefer waiting +until the ice breaks up in the spring." + +Graham's relief carried him away. + +"I'd trust you with my life, Allinson! It's hard to express what I +feel, but I've got to talk. If we had failed to find the lode, I'd +have gone home, content, I think, to forget it; but to have struck it +and got no farther would have been maddening! The thing would have +haunted me for the rest of my days; but I hardly expect any one would +have put up the money for another search. I can see myself hanging +round mining men's offices, laughed and sneered at, neglecting my work +until the sawmill people turned me out--they'll tell you at the +Landing that I'm a crank. But the silver's there, Allinson! You have +only to look for it!" + +"We'll have a good try," Andrew promised cheerfully. "But the first +thing we have to do is to get home, and I'm afraid it won't be easy. I +wish the Hudson Bay factory weren't so far off." + +They discussed their return, Graham declaring that his foot was much +better and that he ought to have no difficulty in keeping up with +them, and soon afterward they went to sleep. + +At daybreak they set off in a haze of driving snow, and Andrew long +remembered the march with a shudder. There was only one thing in their +favor--the raging wind which drove the loose snow in clouds along the +frozen creeks blew behind them. The cold was intense; even when no +snow fell the light was dim; but they stumbled on, making the best +progress they could. On the second day out Graham sat down among the +willows on an island trying to alter the fastenings of his snow-shoe. +Carnally, turning back with Andrew through a cloud of drifting flakes +glanced sharply at the sitting man. + +"Ah!" he said, indicating a broad smear on his moccasin; "that's fresh +and bigger than before." + +"Broken out again," said Graham, curtly. "There's no use in talking +about it. I can't nurse it now." + +"Can you walk?" Andrew asked. + +"I'll have to," Graham answered, getting up. + +The truth of this was obvious, for the alternative was to freeze to +death. He managed to keep up with the others, though Carnally +slackened the pace all the afternoon. When they camped at nightfall, +Graham would not let him examine his foot. + +"If the moccasin comes off, I'll never get it on again," he declared. + +After this, the distance traversed daily was reduced and rations were +cut down to match. One day when the wind raged behind them, they made +fourteen miles along a frozen creek; but more often they made eight or +nine; and part of the time Graham carried his snowshoes and limped in +his moccasins. His companions helped him as much as they could over +the roughest ground; but the only effectual way of assisting a +crippled man is to carry him, which they could not do. Their faces +grew sterner and gaunter, but with grim restraint they husbanded the +rapidly running out provisions, and one blustering morning they came +upon the sled they had left on their outward journey, half covered +with snow. + +The traces, though frozen hard, were still attached to it, and Andrew +slipped them over his shoulders when Graham, wrapped in all their +blankets, sat down on the sled. It was a relief to get rid of their +loads, and for a while Andrew made a moderate pace. The wind had +hardened the surface of the snow, and the runners slid along easily, +but he found it different when he came to the next ascent. The trace +hurt his chest, the weight he was hauling seemed to increase, his +breathing got harder, his knees and shoulders ached. + +"You had better let me have hold," Carnally suggested. + +"I'll get off," said Graham. "I could hobble along if you fixed the +back posts so I could lean on them." + +"Stay where you are!" Carnally bade him curtly. "We have to make good +time and we're going faster with you on the sled." + +They altered the traces and plodded forward side by side, until the +sled overturned on a steep slope and flung Graham off. For the next +hour he had to walk while they struggled across rocky hummocks and +through belts of small spruces, and his face was gray with pain when +he resumed his place. Still, they made progress and felt more cheerful +when they camped at night. + +"I allow we're four miles to the good on this stage," Carnally said. +"That's a quarter of a day knocked off. With luck and a smooth trail, +we're going through." + +Somehow they maintained the speed, though the struggle was almost +unbearably hard, and one afternoon they nerved themselves to an extra +effort as they toiled up a creek. It ran between rugged hills and the +snow was good. They were badly worn out and Andrew had a distressing +pain in his side, but he braced himself against the drag of the +trace, watching the white hill-shoulders change their shapes ahead. +They were on the Whitefish Creek, and the first provision cache was +not far off. When they reached it they would rest and feast +luxuriously. + +"Keep her going," urged Carnally "We want to make the island where the +cache is before dark." + +For an hour they struggled on in a state of tension, the snow +crunching beneath their shoes, large flakes blowing past them. A heavy +gray sky hung over head, and the cold was biting. Then the hills in +front grew dimmer, the scattered spruces lost their sharpness of form; +dusk was falling when they came to a narrow lake. Here the snow was +very firm and the pace grew faster. They broke into a run when a +blurred mass of willows came into sight. The cruel aches in joints and +muscles were no longer felt; the food they craved was close at hand. +They drew near the willows rapidly, though Andrew was panting with +exhaustion; the first of the bushes slipped behind, but more rose +ahead, and he grew savage as he glanced at them. He knew that the +island was small, but they seemed to be getting no nearer to its +upstream tongue where he had arranged with Mappin that the cache +should be made. + +"Get on!" he cried hoarsely. "I can stand a little more yet." + +A few minutes later they dropped the traces, and the sled, driving in +among the willows, stopped with a crash. Leaving Graham to hobble +after them, Andrew and Carnally plunged through the branches and came +out on a short level strip. It was nearly dark now, but the snow +glimmered faintly and only a few clumps of brush broke its surface. +Andrew stopped, breathing hard, and dismay seized him as he glanced +about. + +"This is the place," he said hoarsely. "I can't see the cache." + +"Search round here; I'll try farther on," Carnally said, and vanished +among the willows. + +Pulling himself together, Andrew spent a few anxious minutes hurrying +up and down the open space, but found nothing to suggest that it had +lately been visited by a transport party. When he stopped, Graham +awkwardly hobbled toward him. + +"Haven't you found it yet?" he asked. + +"No," said Andrew, as calmly as he could. "There may have been a +mistake about the spot. Carnally's gone back to look." + +They stood still for a few moments while the willows rustled harshly +in the bitter wind. A little snow blew about them and it was very +cold. Then Andrew broke away from his companion and, plunging into the +bushes that grew thickly up the middle of the island, savagely +floundered through them. He could not see where he was going, +snow-laden branches whipped him, and he stuck fast now and then; but +he thought that nobody could have traversed those thickets without +leaving traces of his passage, and, finding none, he presently +returned to the clear space. Graham was still standing in the middle +of it, but they waited in silence until Carnally appeared. He was +walking heavily, and they knew he had been unsuccessful. + +"Nothing; not a sign of a cache," he reported in a strained voice. "So +far as I can see, this is the only place on the island where one could +have been made. I found a few small spruces on a higher patch. We'll +pack the truck along and camp there." + +It took them some time and they had trouble in helping Graham through +the brush, but scarcely a word was spoken until they gathered about +their fire. Then Carnally broke into a harsh laugh as he laid three +morsels of pork in the frying-pan and took out a very small bannock +baked the previous night. + +"This isn't the kind of supper I looked forward to but we'll get less +to-morrow," he said. "The blasted hog has played another trick on +us!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE GAP IN THE RIDGE + + +The scanty supper was finished before the three men held a council. + +"We'll have another search in the morning, but you can take it for +granted that there's no cache here," Carnally said grimly. + +"Could Mappin have made a mistake about the place?" Graham suggested. + +"No, sir! That's a sure thing. But wait a minute. I think I see!" +Carnally lighted his pipe before he resumed: "Now, you want to +remember that we're up against a clever man. He didn't mean us to find +the food but he'd see that there was a chance of our getting through +without it and try to fix things so Allinson wouldn't have much ground +for making trouble. So he sent the supplies up." + +"Then where are they?" Andrew broke in. + +"Let me finish. I guess there was nobody else about when you told him +where to make the cache?" + +Andrew nodded, and Carnally went on: + +"You said the east Whitefish, and he sent the truck to the west fork. +It's a point where one might go wrong, and he'll claim that he +misunderstood you and you didn't make your instructions clear." + +"I believe you're right!" Andrew had a savage glitter in his eyes. +"But the brute's cold-blooded cunning is devilish! He meant to starve +us to death because I threatened his contract!" + +"That's not all. Mappin's dirt mean, but I guess he has a stronger +count against you." + +"Ah!" said Andrew sharply, as a light dawned on him. "I wonder whether +you have hit the mark?" + +In spite of the peril to which he was exposed he felt a thrill of +satisfaction. It looked as if Mappin, whom he suspected of seeking +Geraldine's favor, had some ground for believing him a successful +rival. Perhaps the girl had inadvertently betrayed a preference for +him. Mappin would not be driven into a risky course by impulse; he +must have believed his jealousy well-founded. This was comforting; but +Andrew had now to consider how he and his comrades were to escape from +their difficulties. + +"Couldn't we get across to the west fork?" he suggested. + +"We'll try," said Carnally. "It's a rough bit of country." + +"Very rough," Graham agreed. "A low range with steep rock on this side +runs through it. I've no doubt Mappin knew that when he decided to +make the cache on the other fork." + +"Then suppose we can't get over?" + +Carnally looked thoughtful. + +"If that's so, we'll push on for the second cache." + +They looked at him in astonishment and he smiled. "The cache is +there--somewhere about the neck you told him of--though I guess he'll +have had it put where we won't find it easily. Anyhow, it will have to +be found and, when it comes to bush work, my head's as good as +Mappin's." + +Andrew made a gesture of assent. Apart from his knowledge of the +wilds, Carnally had shown a power of close and accurate reasoning +which had surprised him. Indeed, Andrew was inclined to think him a +match for Mappin all round, and was glad of it, because there was no +doubt that he needed a keen-witted supporter. + +"There's another thing," Carnally remarked presently "Has it struck +you that Hathersage may have given the hog a hint?" + +Andrew flushed. + +"No," he said sternly. "It's unthinkable! I can't discuss the point." + +"Oh, well," acquiesced Carnally. "Now that we've decided what to do, +we'd better get to sleep. We have to look for a way across the range +the first thing to-morrow." + +At noon the next day Andrew stood, breathless, half-way up a gully +filled with hard snow. Walls of ice-glazed rock shut it in, but it led +straight up the face of a towering crag toward an opening high above. +Andrew carried a thick, sharp-pointed stick with which he had +laboriously broken holes for his feet, because soft moccasins are +treacherous things on a steep snow-slope. He and Carnally had spent +half an hour over the ascent, and Andrew, looking up with a sinking +heart, thought it would take them as long to reach the summit, +provided they could avoid slipping, which was doubtful. + +The gully lay in shadow, a long, deep rent, widening toward the +bottom, in which the snow gleamed a soft blue-gray, though a ray of +sunlight struck the beetling crag so that it flashed with steely +brightness. Here and there a spur of rock broke the smooth surface and +offered a resting-place, but some of the spaces between them seemed +dangerously precipitous. Andrew, worn with hunger and fatigue, frowned +at the sight. + +"This looked the quickest way up and we haven't much time to lose," +he said. "I'll feel very savage if we don't get a clear view from the +top." + +"You'll get that," replied Carnally, finding a precarious seat near +by. "Whether you'll see a way through the rocks on the other side or +not is another matter, and I'm doubtful. Better get a move on, hadn't +you?" + +Andrew placed his foot in a hole he had made, but the snow broke as he +rested on it, and he slipped down several yards before the stick +brought him up. He shuddered as he glanced below, for it struck him +that had he slid a little farther he would not have stopped until he +reached the bottom. + +"This is an abominable slope," he exclaimed. "I've been on worse in +Switzerland, but I had an ice-ax and wasn't half starved then. +However, we'll have another try." + +He got up twenty yards, clawing at the snow, and then stopped for +breath, glancing ruefully at his mittens, which showed signs of +wearing through. + +"It means frost-bitten hands if these things give out, and they won't +stand much more," he said. "The worst of it is that you think we'll +find we have wasted our labor when we get to the top. I believe I +could feel cheerful if I could see Mappin crawling up after us." + +"Mappin has more sense. He stays in his office, which is how money is +made. You don't, as a rule, get much for doing this kind of thing. +Still, he has to take some chances, and one he didn't size up right is +going back on him. When I'm feeling tired and hungry I like to think +of my meeting with that man." + +"When you're feeling tired and hungry!" Andrew exclaimed. "I feel both +all the time!" + +"Well," returned Carnally, "what can you expect? If you will make +trouble instead of letting things alone, you must take the +consequences. Now, if you had been a sensible man and not worried +about shareholders you have never seen, you might have been sitting +down to your lunch at home. Think of it! A nice warm room, a butler, +or somebody of the kind, bringing you a menu as long as your hand. Put +you there right now, and you'd take the whole lot. Say, what do you +have as a rule?" + +"Stop!" said Andrew. "It won't bear thinking of! I know what I'll get +for supper, and that's an inch or two of flinty bannock, burned black +outside." + +It was surface jesting and forced upon them, because they would not +face the tragic possibilities of the situation before it was +necessary. It was easier to do what could be done with a laugh. Still, +they had not laughed much lately, until the imminence of disaster +braced them to it. + +Changing places now and then to relieve the leader of the work of +breaking footholds, they reached the summit, and Andrew's heart sank +as he gazed at the landscape which stretched away before him. The air +was clear, bright sunshine glittered on the high rocks, but the snow +in the shadow was steeped in ethereal blue; dark spruces broke the +gleaming surface with a delicate intricacy of outline. The scene had a +wild grandeur, but from Andrew's point of view it was inexpressibly +discouraging. They had laboriously scaled the first and largest +rampart, but beyond it lay a series of lower ridges with rugged and +almost precipitous sides. The hollows, so far as he could see, were +filled with spruce muskeg--the small rotting trees falling across each +other with underbrush pushing up between. To traverse these places +would be a very difficult matter. + +"It looks pretty bad," he said slowly. "Mappin knew his business when +he had the cache made on the wrong side of the range." + +"He's smart," Carnally agreed. "A hard man to beat, and you want to +use a full-sized club when you stand up to him; but I guess he'd go +down if he got the right knock-out." + +Andrew, tired and hungry, failed to see how the decisive blow could be +given: there did not seem to be much probability of his ever coming to +close quarters with his enemy. So far as his brief experience went, +injustice was singularly hard to vanquish and the reformer's path +rough. + +"Couldn't we work around the hills to the other fork?" he asked. + +"The grub would run out before we got there." + +"I suppose we couldn't push straight across, leaving Graham until we +came back?" + +"We might, if we had time enough. I believe there's forty miles of +this broken country. Look at it!" + +Andrew had already done so, and it had daunted him. He remembered that +they had been since sunrise reaching the top of the first ridge. + +"Then what must be done?" + +"My advice is to look for the second cache." + +They turned back, following the crest until they found an easier but +longer way down. Graham glanced at them sharply when they reached the +camp, and guessed the truth, though Andrew tried to smile. + +"Leave me behind," he urged. + +"No," said Andrew firmly; "not while we have strength enough to haul +the sled. There's no more to be said on that point. We're going on +together to the gap in the long ridge." + +"When do you mean to start?" + +"Right now!" Carnally broke in. "Get the camp truck rolled up. We'll +have mighty keen appetites before we make the cache." + +In quarter of an hour they crossed the creek and toiled up a broken +slope, and when they gained the top Andrew looked back at the island +with a grim smile. + +"Yesterday afternoon I came up that river at four miles an hour, +looking forward to my supper like an epicure. Now I'm glad to see the +last of the place." + +"Quit talking!" said Carnally. "We can make a few minutes by a hustle +down the pitch ahead." + +They went down, stumbling and sliding, while Graham clung tightly to +the lurching sled. Time was of vital importance to them now, for its +flight could be measured by the exhaustion of their food supply. For +the hour or two of daylight that remained Carnally drove his comrade +hard, and it was with a strange savage hilarity that they rushed the +sled down declivities and dragged it with many a crash and bump +through thickets. Their course was roughly south and any deviation was +intolerable. Night closed in, but it was far from dark and they held +on until Andrew stumbled and fell. The sled struck him before he could +get up, but a hard smile was on his lips when he rose shakily and +looked about. There was an uncovered rock not far off with a few +junipers growing beside it. + +"This is far enough, Jake," he said. "You're bad to tire, but I don't +suppose you feel equal to hauling another passenger." + +They broke camp in the dark the next morning, and the forced marches +they made during the next seven days wore the half-starved men +terribly. Sometimes they had to contend with fresh snow, in which the +sled runners sank; sometimes they plodded doggedly with lowered heads +while a raging wind drove the stinging flakes into their pinched +faces; and there were days of bitter frost when they could not keep +warm. Still, they crept on across the rugged desolation, and one +evening reached a belt of timber beneath a low range that stretched +across their path. The ridge was broken by a gap a mile or two ahead, +and it was there that Andrew had instructed Mappin to make the second +cache. A crescent moon rose above the dark tree-tops as they lighted a +fire. Andrew glanced at the hillside irresolutely. + +"There's food up yonder, if we could get our hands on it, and I would +enjoy a good supper, Heaven knows; but I don't feel equal to facing +another disappointment," he said. "I'm afraid we'll have to wait until +to-morrow." + +"That's my feeling," Carnally agreed. "I've gone as far as I'm able, +and that grub won't be found easily. You may as well gather some wood +and fill the kettle." + +When they had eaten the few morsels he allowed them they sat smoking +beside the fire. The thin spruce boughs above them were laden with +snow which now and then fell upon the brands; a malignant wind swept +between the slender trunks and blew the smoke about the men. After a +while the casual talk, which had cost them an effort to keep up, died +away, and there was a long silence until Carnally spoke. + +"I guess we're all thinking about those provisions. We'll look for +them at sun-up. What I've been trying to do for several days is to put +myself in Mappin's place." + +"It must have been difficult," Andrew remarked. "If I thought you +could do so, I'd disown you. But go on." + +"Well," said Carnally, "we have agreed that he meant to make it hard +for us to find the cache; but he'd try to fix things so the packers he +sent up with the truck shouldn't guess his object. He wouldn't tell +them to pick a place where nobody would think of looking." + +"You're assuming that he'd employ honest men," Graham objected. +"What's to prevent his hiring three or four toughs and bribing them to +say nothing?" + +"He's too smart," said Carnally promptly. "He'd know that if we got +lost up here the fellows could keep striking him for money and he'd +have to pay; while if we got through, there'd be a risk of our finding +them and buying them over. Besides, men of the kind he'd want are +scarce in the bush. If they're to be found, it's hanging round the +saloons in the cities." + +"Then we'll assume that the boys were square. That would make it +harder for him and easier for us. What follows?" + +Carnally drank some tea from a blackened can before he answered. + +"This matter needs a lot of thinking out, and it looks as if our lives +depended on our thinking right. Allinson's instructions to the hog +seem to have been pretty clear, and he wouldn't plant the cache too +far from the gap. Then he'd have to arrange things so the boys would +think they'd dumped the truck in a handy place for a party coming down +from the north." + +"I believe he has never been up here," Andrew argued. "Are there any +good maps? I couldn't get one." + +"They're sketchy," Graham said. "My idea is that Mappin would get +hold of a prospector who knows the country and have a good talk with +him; but he wouldn't send him up with the other men." + +"It's probable," agreed Carnally. "Well, in my opinion the provisions +are lying south of the pass in one of the gulches leading down from +the height of land, but not directly on our line of march. You can +come up from Rain Bluff several ways, and the hog would mark a route +for the boys which would bring them in, so far as he could figure, a +bit outside the shortest track. We've got to find the gulch they'd +pitch on. It's our brains against Mappin's." + +"Your brains," Andrew corrected him. + +Carnally knocked out his pipe. + +"I allow I'll want a clear head to-morrow and I'm going to sleep." + +He and Andrew left camp in the dark the next morning; but day had +broken when they stood in the gap of the neck, looking down on the +broken country beneath. For a short distance the descent from the pass +was clearly defined, leading down a hollow among the rocks, but after +that it opened out on to a scarp of hillside from which a number of +ravines branched off and led to the banks of a frozen creek. They +seemed to be filled with brush, and the spurs between them were rough. +It was a difficult country to traverse, and Andrew realized with +concern that the search might last several days. + +"Take that right hand gulch," Carnally directed. "Follow it right down +to the creek and come back up the next farther on, while I prospect +east. If we find nothing in the ravines, we'll try the spurs." + +"The obvious place is the gap we're standing in," Andrew pointed out. +"How would Mappin get over that without making his packers +suspicious?" + +"I thought of it," said Carnally. "He'd contend that he was afraid the +cache might get snowed up; and it would be a pretty good reason. The +drifts pile up deep in a gap like this." + +Andrew left him and spent a long while climbing down a rough ravine +which led him to the river. It was noon when he came back up another +and the exertion had told on him, but they had long ago dispensed with +a midday meal and he held on at a dragging pace until a thrill ran +through him at the sight of a tall pole among the rocks ahead. He made +for it in haste, floundering over the snow-covered stones, and lost it +once or twice at a bend in the gully. At last he stopped in the bottom +of the hollow, looking up at a steep face of rock. It was ragged and +broken, glazed with ice in some places, and he doubted whether he +could get up; but a foot or two of the pole rose above the top. +Following up the gully, he looked for an easier ascent, but he could +not find one. Fearing to lose the pole, he stopped and shouted on the +chance that Carnally might be in the neighborhood. Presently a cry +answered him, and when Carnally came scrambling down the hollow Andrew +took him back and pointed out the pole. + +"A dead fir!" cried Carnally. "Looks as if somebody had broken the +branches off, and there are no other trees about! The trouble is, we +can't get up from here." + +"We will have to!" declared Andrew. "If you could give me a lift up +over the worst bits, I'd help you when I had found a hold. Anyway, we +must try!" + +Carnally consented dubiously. The rock was about thirty feet in height +and very steep, though there were several crevices and broken edges. +Andrew ascended one of the latter, gripping it with hands and knees. +Reaching a narrow ledge, he leaned down and gave his hand to +Carnally, and when he had helped him up they stopped for a minute or +two. They were weak and hungry, and there was an awkward bulge above. + +"Steady me up," said Andrew. "If I can find a crack for my hand, I can +get up there." + +For a few moments he rested his foot on Carnally's back; then he +pressed his toes against the stone and his comrade watched him +disappear beyond the bulging rock with unpleasant sensations, knowing +that he would have to follow. Presently, however, the bottom of +Andrew's fur coat fell over the edge and Carnally, seizing it, +scrambled up three or four feet, until the projecting stone forced him +outward. Losing hold with his feet, he hung by his hands for a moment +or two, in a state of horrible fear. + +"Throw one arm over the projection!" Andrew shouted. + +Carnally found a hold; Andrew seized his arm; and after an arduous +struggle he stood, gasping, on a snowy knob. The sharp edge of a big +slab rose eight or nine feet above him. + +"Take a rest," advised Andrew. "If you go slowly, you ought to get up +this last bit." + +"I'll have to try. It's a sure thing I can't get down. But how d'you +come to be so smart at this work?" + +"I used to do something like it in Switzerland." + +"Well," said Carnally, "you're a curious kind of man: I guess you +didn't have to climb. I'd find it a bit too exciting if I wasn't doing +it for money." + +"We're not climbing for money now," Andrew grimly reminded him. +"There's food ahead of us and we must get on!" + +They made the ascent, though it tried their nerve severely. When they +finally crawled up to the summit Andrew stopped, growing suddenly +white in the face. + +"Look!" he said hoarsely. + +Carnally sat down heavily in the snow. + +"A dead tree! Nobody put it there; it grew!" + +With an effort he pulled himself together. + +"Come! We'll try farther on!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE EMPTY FLOUR-BAG + + +When it was getting dark Andrew and Carnally gave up the useless +search. A red glow, flickering among the spruce trunks, guided them +down the pass, and they saw Graham's figure, black against the +firelight, as they approached the camp. He was standing up, looking +out for them, but they came on in silence and after a quick glance at +their faces he turned away and busied himself getting supper. He knew +they had failed and words were superfluous. + +They ate the small bannock he took from the frying-pan, and Andrew +glanced about the camp when he had lighted his pipe. Graham had been +at work while they were away, laying down spruce branches and raising +a wall to keep off the wind. It was warm beside the fire, and the +place looked comfortable. + +"There wouldn't be much to complain of if we had enough to eat," said +Andrew. "It's surprising how soon one gets grateful for such a shelter +as this, and I believe I've slept as soundly in the snow as I ever did +in bed." + +"I tried to fix things neatly, though I wouldn't have been sorry if +I'd wasted my labor," Graham replied and glanced at Carnally. "It +struck me we might be here a day or two." + +Carnally's smile was rather grim. + +"It's very likely. S'pose I ought to play up to Allinson, but he's +put it a notch too high. I've been doing some hard thinking while I +was on the hill. We're certainly up against a tough proposition." + +"You're still convinced the grub is here?" + +"That is a sure thing--all we have to do is to find it; but it's going +to be a big job. I expect both of you want me to talk?" + +Their willingness to hear his views was obvious. + +"The trouble is," he explained, "you can get down from the neck a +number of different ways--there are the spurs one could break a trail +along and there are the ravines. We may try them all before we strike +the right one; but we'll have a better chance if we work up instead of +down." + +"Why?" Andrew asked. + +"Because the packers would start from the low ground, and the benches +look different from below." + +"Do you think Mappin told them to pick any particular place?" + +"I've been figuring on that. He's learned something about the ground, +and my idea is that the provisions are dumped in a hollow that looks +like a good road up to the gap; that is, as you would see it from the +creek. What we don't know is where his boys would strike the ice. It +might be anywhere within three or four miles." + +Andrew knit his brows. + +"It's a puzzling question and we have only a day or two to find the +answer. The worst of it is that we're worn out and famishing; I feel +that my wits would be quicker if I could come at it fresh from a +square meal." + +"No, sir! A man's brain is keenest when he's working on short +rations." + +"I believe that's true," Graham said. + +"Our rations," contended Andrew, "couldn't be much shorter; but I +couldn't think of anything intelligently as I stumbled along through +the snow to-day. And yet----" + +He broke off, remembering that once or twice of late he had become +capable of a strange clarity of thought, accompanied by an unusual +emotional stirring. It had passed, but it had left its mark on him. +After all, it was in the stern North that he had first seen things in +their true proportions; it was there that the duty he had vaguely +realized had grown into definite shape, and Leonard's treachery to +Allinson's had been clearly perceived. Moreover, he had somehow gained +a new and unexpected sense of power. Then as the fire blazed up he +glanced with sudden interest at the faces of his comrades. They were +worn and haggard, and Graham's was stamped with lines of pain; but +there was something in them he could best describe as fine. Hunger and +toil, instead of subduing the men, had given them new strength and an +elusive dignity. Andrew remembered having seen that puzzling look in +the lean, brown faces of tired and thirsty soldiers as a brigade went +by through the rolling dust of the African veldt. It had been flung +back, shattered, from a rock fortress, and was pressing on, undaunted, +to a fresh attack. Andrew's heart had throbbed faster at the sight, +and he now felt something of the same thrill again; but these things +were not to be spoken of. + +"Well," said Carnally, "I might feel content if I thought Mappin was +as hungry as we are; but there's not much fear of that. The blasted +hog has sense enough to keep out of the bush; going about the country +getting his hands on other men's money pays him better. He's no use +for eating supper behind a bank of snow; the Place Viger and the +Windsor in Montreal are more his style." + +This was far from heroic, but Andrew laughed; the minor weaknesses of +human nature seldom jarred on him. + +"I think," he suggested lightly, "you might, for a change, call him +the swine. It's a term we sometimes use and it sounds grosser than the +other. The hogs I've seen running in the Ontario bush were thin and +not repulsive." + +"I'll admit it's foolish; but when I think of that man studying the +menu, I get mad! Can't you see him picking out the dollar dishes, on +the European plan? Canvasbacks and such, if they're in season." + +"They wouldn't give him much canvasback for a dollar," Graham +objected. + +"That doesn't count. The point is--where does he get the dollar?" + +"I'm afraid he has got a few of them out of us," said Andrew. "He has +got more out of the Rain Bluff shareholders; though I'm glad to think +that supply will be stopped. Anyhow, our first business is to find the +cache." + +"That's so," assented Carnally, as he threw some branches on the fire. +"We'll try again at sun-up. Though it makes you feel easier now and +then, talking doesn't do much good." + +A few minutes later they were all asleep, and when day broke Andrew +and Carnally descended a steep, snow-covered bank below the neck. +Their search proved unsuccessful, and they were very silent after they +returned to camp in the evening. The next morning Graham gave them a +very small bannock for breakfast, and then threw an empty flour-bag +into the snow. + +"Boys," he said gravely, "you have got to find the cache to-day." + +Spurred on by the imminence of starvation, they started off again, +beating their way against a driving snowstorm, stumbling often and +rising each time with greater difficulty; always, however, keeping +eager watch for the pole that should mark the spot of the cache. + +After three days of fruitless search, they could not bear to talk when +they met in camp in the evening. They knew that starvation was upon +them; their last strength was fast running out. They were not the men, +however, to give up easily; and once more they set off grimly at +sunrise. + +It was snowing hard when Andrew, knowing that he could drag himself no +farther, crawled into the shelter of a rock on the desolate hillside +and sat down shivering. There was an intolerable pain in his left +side, he was faint with hunger, and his muscles ached cruelly. His fur +coat was ragged, his moccasins were cut by the snow-shoe fastenings +and falling to pieces; his face was pinched and hollow. It was some +hours since he had seen Carnally. He was physically unable to continue +the search, but he shrank from going back to camp, where there was +nothing to eat, and facing his famishing comrade. Indeed, as he grew +lethargic with cold, it scarcely seemed worth while to make the effort +of getting on his feet again. He sat still, listlessly looking down +across the white slopes; Carnally would probably pass near the spot, +though there was now no expectation of his finding the cache. During +the last few days they had sometimes met while they searched and +exchanged a brief "Nothing yet," or a dejected shake of the head. It +would be the same again, though Andrew felt that his comrade might +have succeeded if they could have held out. + +He could not see far through the snow, which swept along the hillside +before a savage wind. Blurred clumps of spruce marked the edge of the +lower ground, but the river was hidden and the straggling junipers on +the spurs were formless and indistinct. At last, however, Andrew +noticed something moving near the end of a long ridge and, as it must +be a man, he concluded it was Carnally returning. Then he imagined +that the hazy figure stopped and waved an arm, as if signaling to +somebody below; that was curious, for his comrade would be alone. + +Andrew decided that he had been mistaken, and bent down to brush the +gathering snow from his torn moccasins; but he started when he looked +up. There were now two men on the slope below, and while he gazed at +them a third emerged from among the rocks. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A WOMAN'S WAY + + +They had not been forgotten while they journeyed through the wilds. +Frobisher thought of them now and then, and his daughter more often; +indeed, her mind dwelt a good deal on Andrew after he left and she +found herself looking forward eagerly to his return. She spent some +weeks in an American city with her father, but its gaieties had less +attraction for her than usual, and she was glad when they went back +for a time to the Lake of Shadows. On the day after her arrival she +drove across the ice to the Landing and inquired at a store where news +circulated whether anything had been heard of the Allinson expedition. +The proprietor had nothing to tell her, but while she spoke to him a +man crossed the floor, and she saw with annoyance that it was Mappin. +She left while he made his purchases, but he joined her when she was +putting some parcels into the sleigh, and did not seem daunted by the +coldness of her manner. + +"I didn't know you were coming back so soon," he greeted her. + +"Didn't you?" she asked indifferently. "When my father had finished +his business we suddenly made up our minds to leave, without +consulting Mrs. Denton. I suppose that explains your ignorance." + +"You're smart," he said. "As soon as you're ready to receive people I +must make my call." + +It was getting dark, but the lights from the store window fell on his +face, and Geraldine saw a glitter in his eyes. She thought he meant to +defy her. + +"You are excused, so far as I am concerned," she replied +uncompromisingly. + +Mappin stood silent a moment or two, looking at her hard, and she felt +half afraid of him. + +"You would rather see Allinson! But that's a pleasure you may find +deferred. You didn't get much news of him just now!" + +"I don't doubt that you heard me ask for it, though there were two +teamsters waiting to buy things, who had the good manners to keep +away." + +"Certainly I heard," he answered coolly; "that's the kind of man I am. +I don't let chances pass." + +Geraldine knew that he would make unscrupulous use of those he seized, +but his candor had its effect on her. He was overbearing, but there +was force in the man, and she grew uneasy. Though she shrank from him, +she admitted his power; unless she roused herself to fight, he might +break her will. + +"One could hardly consider it an admirable type," she said, getting +into the sleigh. "However, it's too cold to stand talking." + +Mappin was obliged to step back when she started the team, and she +drove off in some confusion, glad to escape, but feeling that she had +run away. It had seemed the safest course, though she did not think +she was a coward. Then as the team trotted across the frozen lake she +remembered Mappin's curious tone when he had spoken of Andrew +Allinson. He had suggested with an unpleasant hint of satisfaction +that Andrew's return might be delayed, and she grew troubled as she +thought of it. Still, she reasoned, as no news had reached the +Landing, Mappin could know nothing about the matter, and the men +Andrew had with him were accustomed to the bush. Dismissing the +subject, she urged the horses and drew the thick driving-robe close +about her. It was very cold and she shivered as she wondered how +Andrew and his comrades were faring in the North. + +Some days later she met Mrs. Graham at the post-office and inquired +about her husband. Geraldine thought she looked anxious. + +"He's a little behind time; but soft snow or storms might delay the +party." + +"Then he mentioned a time when you could expect him?" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Graham. "He warned me that he might be a week late; +but they thought out the journey very carefully, because it was a +question of carrying enough food." + +"You mean that helped to fix the time of their return?" + +"Of course! They couldn't get food anywhere except at a Hudson Bay +factory, and they couldn't take a large quantity. That means they knew +within a week or so when they must reach the provision caches that +were to be made for them north of the mine." + +"I understand," said Geraldine. "They wouldn't delay when they came to +the caches, except, perhaps, for a day's rest. I suppose the food was +taken up?" + +"Oh, yes! I saw the packers leave and come down. They were good +bushmen and one of them knew the country. He made the caches at the +places decided on." + +"Then the expedition should be quite safe," said Geraldine cheerfully; +but when she left Mrs. Graham she grew thoughtful. + +Andrew was late and Geraldine saw that delay might be dangerous. The +men would lose no time in coming south, because, considering the +difficulty of transport, the margin of provisions would not be large. +Nothing but a serious accident would detain them, which was +disconcerting to reflect upon. Then she reasoned that their provisions +would be nearly exhausted when they reached the caches, and her mind +dwelt on the point, because it was essential that they should obtain +fresh supplies. She felt uneasy as she remembered a remark of +Mappin's, which she did not think he had made casually. There had been +a significant grimness in his manner when he had spoken of Allinson. +After all, however, it was possible that there was no ground for +anxiety: the prospectors might turn up in the next few days. + +As there was no news of them, however, Geraldine drove to the +settlement one evening and called on Mrs. Graham. She found her +seriously disturbed. + +"A man came down from the mine this morning, and my husband hadn't +arrived," she said. "I'm afraid something has gone wrong!" + +"What can have gone wrong?" + +"I don't know; I've been thinking about it all the last few days and +trying not to be afraid. Of course, they would be safe if they reached +the food caches." + +"Yes," said Geraldine; "those caches are important. But as nobody has +turned up I don't think you need be alarmed. The worst would be if one +came back alone." + +Mrs. Graham did not seem much comforted when Geraldine left her; and +the girl, driving home in the moonlight, tried to face the situation +calmly. She admitted, without reserve for the first time, that she +loved Andrew Allinson; and he was in danger. Something must be done +to extricate him, and while she wondered how she ought to set about it +her thoughts turned to Mappin. It dawned on her that he knew what +peril threatened the party, and this suggested that he had either +allowed the men to involve themselves in unsuspected difficulties, or +had brought the difficulties about. They had depended on him in some +way and he had betrayed them. Geraldine shuddered at the thought, but +she roused herself, for it was obvious that if her suspicions were +correct, the man's designs must be combated. Mappin was strong and +cunning; but she had ready wits and her lover's safety was at stake. + +The next evening Mappin came to the house, and Geraldine carefully +made some changes in her dress before she entered the drawing-room, +where he was talking with Mrs. Denton. He rose with a challenging +smile as she came in, and Geraldine was glad to feel that she was +looking her best. It was humiliating to dress to please this man, but +there was a struggle before her and she must use such weapons as she +had. + +"You're surprised to see me?" he said. + +"Oh, no! I didn't doubt your boldness." + +Mappin glanced at her sharply, for there was nothing ungracious in her +tone. Her manner hinted at a change of mood; but he understood that +women were variable. + +"Then I have your permission to remain?" + +"I'm not sure that you need it, and it would be inhospitable to refuse +it," Geraldine replied, as if amused. + +Mrs. Denton looked from one to the other in a puzzled way, but she +said nothing, and Mappin began to talk, relating scraps of news picked +up at the Landing. Geraldine showed some interest, and after a while +Mrs. Denton, seeing them apparently on good terms, judiciously left +them. Then the girl ceased to respond to her companion's remarks, and +Mappin, never a brilliant conversationalist, found it hard to go on. +He began to show impatience, and Geraldine enjoyed his embarrassment. +At last he glanced toward the piano. + +"I wish you would play or sing something," he begged. + +Geraldine rose good-humoredly and opened the piano. + +"I didn't know you cared for music." + +"I don't, as a rule." + +"That sounds like a compliment," she answered, smiling. "It's a pity I +haven't any jingling rag-time tunes." + +"They're what I like--my taste isn't classical; but I don't mind your +taking a shot at me. One doesn't want music to make one serious." + +"You think one should be serious only where money is concerned?" + +"Well," he said grimly, "I haven't found trying to get it very +amusing; but I can be in earnest in other matters." + +"So I suppose," responded Geraldine, turning over the music. "Here's +something that might please you. Will you light the candles?" + +Her amiability had cost her an effort, and it grew harder as she +opened the song. It was pointed with witty coquetry, and she hesitated +for a moment with a feeling of humiliation, though she meant to play +out her part. Andrew and his friends were in peril in the icy wilds; +somehow they were at the mercy of this cruel, gross-natured man; and, +hateful as her task was, she must not shrink. She thought he could be +led on to betray himself. Tingling with shame, she sang with all the +fire and art she could command, and Mappin was swept off his feet. + +Music had no great charm for him, but the ballad was one he could +appreciate, and the girl's beauty had a stronger effect. The light of +the shaded candles fell on her face, which was slightly flushed, and +forced up gleams in her hair. She looked inexpressibly alluring; her +fine voice and arch smile well brought out the half-tender mockery of +the song. He noticed the supple shapeliness of her figure and the +polished whiteness of her skin, and his heart began to throb fast and +his eyes to glisten. Turning over a leaf, he came near shaking down +the music, and he drew back thrilled when she made a gesture of amused +rebuke. There was, he felt, something very friendly in it. + +When she stopped he leaned on the piano looking down at her, and +Geraldine knew that she had gone far enough. After having treated him +with cold indifference, she must not be too gracious, lest his +suspicions be aroused. The man was in her hands, but he was not a +fool. She hated him as she saw the crude desire in his face. + +"Thank you," he said hoarsely, and picked out another song at random. +"Won't you try this? I've never heard it." + +"No," she answered firmly; "not that one." + +It was the ballad which Andrew had told her helped to send him up into +the wilds where his duty lay. Henceforward it was sacred--not to be +sung to such a man as Mappin. + +"Why?" he demanded. + +"I sing that only to people who I know will appreciate it." + +"And you don't think I would?" + +"It strikes me as very doubtful," she said with a smile in which there +was a touch of scorn. + +His color deepened. She had shown signs of yielding, and how he +wondered whether she had after all been amusing herself with him. +Stirred as he was by passion he was in no reasoning mood; savage +jealousy filled his heart. + +"It's the kind of thing you keep for sentimental fools like Allinson!" +he exclaimed. + +Geraldine had expected some such outbreak. Indeed it was what she +desired. + +"Well," she said with a tenderness which was meant to disturb her +companion, "I sang it to him once." + +"It will be a long while before you sing it to him again!" + +The voice rang harsh with exultant fierceness and Geraldine knew that +she had gained her object in rousing the brute in him. She had learned +the truth--for whatever danger threatened her lover this man was +responsible. But there was more she must know. + +"As he's a friend of ours, you're not very considerate," she said. +"What makes you speak with so much certainty?" + +Mappin saw that he had been rash, and he was instantly on his guard. + +"It was a fool thing to go North in winter. It's no country for a raw +tenderfoot, and Allinson should have taken a stronger party. I know +something about transport work in the bush." + +"I suppose food would be their greatest difficulty," Geraldine +remarked with a thoughtful air. + +"No. Fresh snow and blizzards would trouble them worse." + +"Still, food would be a consideration," Geraldine persisted. "I know +they thought a good deal about the matter and had some caches made. If +they couldn't find them coming back, it would be serious, wouldn't +it?" + +Mappin's jealousy was heightened by her interest, but he regretted his +haste and meant to be cautious. Unfortunately for him, the charm +Geraldine had exercised had carried him away. He could not think as +clearly as usual. + +"The provisions were carefully packed and sent up in charge of good +men," he declared hotly. "They were properly cached; every precaution +was taken." + +"Were they your men?" + +Mappin glanced at her sharply, but read nothing in her face. He could +not evade the question without rousing suspicion. + +"Yes," he said; "that's why I know they could be relied on to do their +work." + +Geraldine sat silent a moment, struggling to preserve her calm. She +had found out what she wished to know. She understood now why Mappin +had insisted on the dangers of the journey and made light of the +question of food. He had, with scarcely conceivable cruelty, cut off +the party's supplies. Still, he must not suspect that she knew this. +With an effort she took up another piece of music. + +"We are anxious for news of the expedition, and it's comforting to +remember that they had an excellent guide," she said. "But I'll play +you something." + +Before the piece was finished, her father came in and she left him to +entertain their guest. Seeking her room she sat down, feeling suddenly +limp from strain. That she was humbled and ashamed did not matter; she +was filled, on the one hand, with hatred and loathing for the man she +had led on, and, on the other, with anxiety for Andrew. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE RESCUE PARTY + + +When Mappin left, Frobisher went to his smoking-room, where he was +surprised to find Geraldine waiting for him. + +"I think," he said with mock severity, "it was mean of you to leave +Mr. Mappin on my hands, particularly as I don't suppose his visit was +made on my account." + +"Did he bore you very badly?" Geraldine inquired. + +"We have had guests here whom I'd rather entertain; but for your +aunt's sake I try to be civil. After all, we have known the man for a +long while." + +"I feel that we have been very patient in putting up with him! He's +insufferable!" + +"Ah!" said Frobisher, taking out a cigar. "Then you didn't happen to +be here by accident? Sit down and we'll have a talk." + +Geraldine took the chair he indicated. + +"I have something to tell you," she said with an effort. "Mappin asked +me to marry him a little while ago." + +"It strikes me as curious that this is the first I've heard of it." + +"I was ashamed to tell you," Geraldine admitted, shyly. "I felt +degraded. Besides, you must have guessed----" + +"Yes. I had some idea of the man's ambitions; in my opinion, he's too +cold-blooded to be influenced by any more tender sentiment. We'll +take it for granted that you refused him. Nowadays it seems to be a +father's business to sanction and not to interfere; but I really think +if you had wanted to marry the fellow I'd have been as firm as +adamant. However, this is not to the purpose. Why do you tell me about +it now?" + +"You'll see presently. But try to remember that he has other feelings +than avarice. The man's unscrupulous and full of savage cruelty." + +"Well?" + +"To begin with, will you read this? It's from Ethel Hillyard, whom I +met in London. You have heard me speak of her." + +She gave him a letter containing sufficient information about the +house of Allinson to explain why Andrew had gone to Canada. His +character and his relations with Hathersage and the rest of the family +were cleverly sketched. Frobisher studied it carefully before he +looked up. + +"All this is not exactly new to me, though Miss Hillyard, who seems to +be a shrewd young lady, speaks strongly in Allinson's favor. From odd +things he let fall, I'd formed a pretty good idea of the situation. +Now that you have cleared the ground, you had better go on." + +"Father," said Geraldine, "so far, you have done nearly everything I +asked you, and that is why I'm not afraid to ask for something else. I +want you to send up a party to look for Mr. Allinson. He and the +others are in danger of starving in the snow." + +Frobisher looked at her searchingly, and she met his gaze for a +moment, though a flush crept into her face. + +"Well," he said simply, "he is a straight man." + +"And a friend of yours. But you will send him help at once?" + +"First of all, tell me why you think it is needful." + +Geraldine spent some time over the explanation and concluded: + +"You must see that their safety depends on their finding the +provisions, and Mappin has had the caches made at the wrong places." + +For the next few minutes Frobisher sat silent, the smoke curling up +from his neglected cigar, while Geraldine watched him in suspense. + +"You have reasoned the matter out remarkably well," he said, "and it +strikes me that you're near the truth. However, I don't understand how +you led Mappin into making the dangerous admissions that gave you a +clue; he's a brute, but I thought him a cunning one. Perhaps I'd +better not inquire." + +Geraldine's embarrassment was obvious and there were signs of +amusement on her father's face. + +"After all," he resumed, "when you play a game for high stakes with a +man like Mappin, you can't be fastidious." + +"But what about the relief party?" Geraldine asked. + +"I think the situation is serious enough to need one. I'll drive over +to the Landing and see about it the first thing to-morrow." + +He got up, and as he reached the door Geraldine, following, put her +arms about his neck and kissed him. Then she went past swiftly and +vanished down the passage. + +The next morning Frobisher learned that Mappin had gone east by an +early train and that there was not a man capable of undertaking a +difficult journey into the wilds disengaged. Mappin had hired all the +available choppers and packers and sent them into the bush to cut some +lumber he required for his railroad contract. Frobisher could not +determine whether this had been done with the object of preventing +their being employed on a relief expedition, but it looked suspicious. +Being in a difficulty, he called on the owner of the sawmill and told +him as much as he thought advisable. + +"As it happens, I can help you," said the lumber-man. "There are two +or three fellows on our pay roll whom we haven't much work for at +present, though we'll need them later. They're good bushmen, and I +might raise one or two more by sending up to our logging camp." + +"Thanks," said Frobisher; "it will be a favor. It's lucky I thought of +coming to you." + +"Never mind that. I feel that I ought to help Graham out: he's an old +and valued servant. But I don't see how you are interested in the +thing." + +Frobisher smiled. + +"It's one's duty to help a fellow creature who's in serious danger. +Then I believe I may call myself a friend of Allinson's." + +"There's a point to be considered. The most likely place to meet the +party would be in the neighborhood of the food caches. You intimate +that there's a risk of Allinson's missing them; but he must have a +rough idea as to about where they are. As Mappin's out of town, +wouldn't it be well to wire and ask him exactly where they were to be +made?" + +"On the whole, I'd rather get the information from Mrs. Graham. No +doubt she knows her husband's plans." + +The mill-owner gave him a searching glance. He was a shrewd man and +suspected that there was a good reason for his visitor's preference. + +"Yes," he said pointedly, "that might be wiser." + +"There may have been some misunderstanding about the precise location +of the caches," Frobisher explained. "Mrs. Graham will know where her +husband meant them to be made--which of course is the most important +thing." + +"Just so," agreed the other. "Excuse me for a few minutes." + +He went out, and returning a little later announced that three men +would be ready to start up-river during the afternoon and that some +more from the logging camp would follow in a few days. Frobisher left +him and, after calling on Mrs. Graham, went to the store, where he +ordered a quantity of provisions to be prepared. It was evening when +he reached home. Finding Geraldine waiting for him, he smiled at her +as he took off his furs. + +"I've had a busy day, but I've got things satisfactorily fixed," he +said. + +"You have found men to take up provisions?" Geraldine asked eagerly. + +"Better than that," replied Frobisher. "I've sent them off." + +Seeing the pleasure in his daughter's face, he nodded reassuringly and +left her. + +The relief expedition had orders to lose no time. Two of the men, as +it happened, had themselves narrowly escaped starvation in the wilds, +and their experience led them to urge the pace. It was afterward +admitted that they made an excellent march, which was fortunate, +because a few hours meant much to the starving men. + +As Andrew crouched at the side of the rock, half-dazed with fatigue +and want of food, it was a moment or two before he could believe that +he was not the victim of a disordered imagination as he stared at the +three figures on the hillslope. But the figures moved and grew more +distinct. He could not doubt that they were men, and they were coming +up the hill! With his heart beating painfully fast, he staggered up +and raised a wild, hoarse cry. + +It was answered. One of the men waved to him. They came on faster, +though he could see that they were heavily loaded, stumbling now and +then in their haste. He could not imagine what had brought them into +the wilds, but they were obviously well supplied, and he could +purchase their provisions and recompense them for an abandoned +journey. When they were close to him, the leader stopped a moment and +called back to the others: + +"We've struck it right! It's Mr. Allinson!" + +Andrew, recognizing the man, whom he had seen at the Landing, stumbled +forward and shook hands with him. + +"I'm uncommonly glad to see you; but what brought you here?" he cried. + +"Where's the rest of you?" the other asked. + +"Carnally's down the hill somewhere; Graham's in camp beyond the gap." + +The man looked relieved. + +"That's good. We felt scared when we saw you were alone. Thought we +might have come too late, though we hurried some." + +"Then you knew we were here?" + +"Sure! Frobisher sent us up with provisions for you. We made a few +caches as we came along, and there ought to be three more of the boys +on the trail behind us. You don't want to worry; we'll see you down." + +Andrew felt shaky. Relief had come so unexpectedly; his troubles were +over. But there was more than this. Frobisher had despatched the men; +he might have done so at his daughter's request; at least it showed a +very friendly feeling. Andrew began to wonder how Frobisher could have +known he needed help; but this was a matter of much less importance, +and he turned to the packers. + +"If one of you would go down the next spur and look for Carnally, I'd +be glad," he said. "I expect he's near the river and he's pretty +hungry." + +A man threw off his load and set off rapidly downhill, while Andrew +climbed with the others toward the neck, scarcely able to keep on his +feet. His companions slackened their pace and glanced at him +compassionately. Crossing the gap, they saw the light of Graham's fire +in the gathering dusk, and when they neared the belt of timber Andrew +waved his hand to a dark figure that appeared in an opening among the +trunks. + +"No more trouble!" he cried. "Help has arrived!" + +A few minutes later Graham shook hands with the newcomers, whom he +knew. + +"Boys," he said hoarsely, "now that I see who you are, I know you made +good time; and you hadn't much to spare. When did you leave?" + +One of them told him, and he and Andrew looked astonished, while the +packer laughed. + +"We certainly hustled," he said with a deprecatory air. "But I've been +four years at the mill and never had trouble over charging my time. +Your pay-sheet was square." + +"That's so," agreed his companion. "They might have laid me off a +while last summer when we ran out of logs, but Mr. Graham fixed it so +I kept my job." + +Andrew smiled at Graham, who looked confused. + +"If you do these things, you must take the consequences; but I've met +people with shorter memories." + +"Anyhow, we've got here ahead of the logging crowd and I'm mighty +glad," said the first packer. "Those fellows think nobody can break a +trail unless he lives in the woods. Now you sit by quiet while we get +supper." + +Before the meal was ready Carnally arrived with the man who had gone +to look for him, and the party feasted royally. When they had +finished, Carnally sighed with deep content. + +"I just don't want to move," he remarked. "I feel most too good to +talk; but if the rest of you have anything to say, I'll try to +listen." + +"What's your program?" one of the men asked. "We have food enough to +take us down, going easy." + +"I want two days' rest," said Andrew. "Until they're up, we'll do +nothing but eat and lie about the fire and smoke." + +Carnally looked up lazily. + +"That sounds nice, but I'm going to locate Mappin's cache before we +start." + +The others began to talk to Graham, but Andrew did not know how long +they continued, for he was soon fast asleep. + +They broke camp on the third morning and when they crossed the neck +Carnally divided the party, which had been joined by the loggers. Some +he told to follow down one or two ravines at a distance, which he had +not searched, and then meet the others, who would work along the +ridge. Toward evening a man hailed him and Andrew from a slope some +way off, and when they joined him he led them into a deep hollow. In +the middle of it a small, barked fir projected from a snowy mound. + +"It's the kind of place you'd break a trail up if you were trying to +make the neck," the packer explained. + +"It looks a good road from here," Carnally assented. "We didn't get so +far along, but we'll climb up a piece." + +The hollow died out into a snow slope, and when they had walked on +farther they lost sight of it. Then Carnally stopped and carefully +looked about. + +"We might have struck that gulch first shot, but the chances were +against it; you can only see it from below. You want to remember that +the line the fellows who made the cache would take would depend on +where they left the big loop of the lower river. Mappin was smart +enough to see that. Now we'll have a look at the provisions." + +They proved to be sufficient in quantity and in excellent order when +the cache was opened; but Carnally had expected that. + +"I wonder how Mappin will feel when he sees us come marching in?" +Andrew said lightly. They could laugh now. + +"Not very comfortable, I'll promise you!" Carnally declared with a +glint in his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A BUSHMAN'S SATISFACTION + + +Andrew reached the Landing physically exhausted and troubled by a +heavy depression. The long-continued strain had left its mark on him, +for, having proposed the expedition, he felt responsible for the +safety of his friends; and his strength and endurance deserted him +shortly after the arrival of the rescue party. Relief had been +followed by a severe reaction, which left him limp and nerveless; and +the homeward march proved long and toilsome. As they had food, there +was no longer the same necessity for haste, but the rigor of the +weather forced the men to push on as fast as possible, and Andrew +found it difficult to emulate his rescuers' pace. Moreover, he was +seriously troubled about Graham, whose foot appeared to be getting +worse, and he was deeply disappointed with the result of his search. +He had found the lode, but, so far as he had been able to test it, the +ore did not promise much. + +Dusk was falling when they saw the lights of the settlement, and as +they passed the first house a man greeted them. After a word or two, +he ran on ahead; and the party, following slowly, worn with the march, +found most of the inhabitants gathering in the street. Eager helpers +took their packs from them and seized the traces of the sled; +questions and congratulations were showered on them, and, to Andrew's +annoyance, they entered the town in a triumphal procession. He was +plodding along, too tired and listless to notice the remarks of the +curious and sympathetic crowd, when Carnally touched his arm. + +"You can go straight to the hotel," he said. "I'll take Graham home." + +"No," said Andrew firmly; "that's my business and it can't be shirked. +You might send the doctor." + +Carnally disappeared among the crowd and Andrew went on, shrinking +from the meeting with his comrade's wife, though when the time came he +found it less trying than he had feared. As they turned into a side +street there was a shout: + +"Make room; let her pass! It's Mrs. Graham!" + +The men in the traces stopped and Graham spoke to them. + +"You might help me up, boys." + +They got him on his feet and fell back as a woman hurried toward him. +She flung her arms about his neck and it was several moments before +she saw Andrew. + +"We have brought him back, but I'm afraid he's a little the worse for +wear," he said. + +"You have brought him back!" she cried. "That is the greatest thing." + +Graham walked along with her for a few yards, and then stopped, his +face contorted. + +"If you don't mind, I'll finish the journey on the sled. My foot's +rather sore." + +When they reached his house, he insisted on getting up, and after +telling Andrew to follow, limped in unhelped, but he sat down heavily +on a couch. + +"I suppose this moccasin had better come off now, though it's going to +give me trouble," he said with a rueful smile. + +"No," advised Andrew, "not until the doctor comes; he should be here +directly. I'd like to see him, Mrs. Graham, but you'll want to talk to +your husband. May I wait in the other room?" + +She let him go and he spent an anxious half-hour. He heard the doctor +arrive and Mrs. Graham hurry about the house--getting water and +bandages, he thought. Then there was silence for a while, until the +doctor entered the room where he was sitting. + +"His foot's in a very bad state," he reported. "There's some risk of +mortification, though I think it can be averted. I'll be able to tell +you more in a day or two." + +"Do you know of any surgeon in Winnipeg or Toronto you would like to +bring out?" + +"There's a good man in Winnipeg, which is much nearer. On the whole, +it might be advisable to get his opinion." + +"Then wire for him," said Andrew, "and send for a trained nurse if one +can be had." + +The doctor left and Andrew rose as Mrs. Graham came in. + +"I'm afraid you'll find it hard to forgive me," he said. + +Mrs. Graham looked troubled. + +"I must try to be fair. You are really not to blame; even if he hadn't +met you, he would have gone to look for the lode some day. Then I'm +confident you took every care of him. But, after all----" + +"I know," Andrew sympathized. "He was well and strong when I took him +away, and I have brought him back disabled. That can't be got over." +He paused and resumed in a diffident tone: "I feel responsible. There +are things I can't put right--your distress, the pain your husband +suffers, his regret at being laid up helpless while his foot gets +better--but I must insist on making what amends are in my power. I +think you understand." + +"Yes." Mrs. Graham gave him a grateful glance. "But we'll talk of that +later." Then she smiled. "He sent you a message--you are to mail the +specimens to an assayer the first thing." + +"I'll do so," Andrew promised, turning toward the door. "I'll come +back and see how he's getting on early to-morrow." + +On reaching the hotel he sought Carnally. + +"Jake," he said, "you might fix things with the packers; give them any +bonus you think fit over regulation wages. Then, because we owe them +more than we can pay in money, you had better get up a supper and +dance they could bring their wives to." + +"It's a good idea! They'll like that. I'll see about it to-morrow. I +need a rest to-night, and there's a job I want to be fit for in the +morning." + +Andrew was too weary to ask him what it was and after sending a +message to Frobisher and getting supper he went off to bed. Rising +late the next day, he went to Graham's and then took a sleigh drive, +and by doing so missed a scene which caused some sensation in the +town. + +About the middle of the morning Mappin was sitting in his office, +which was situated above a store opposite the second-class hotel. The +hotel was full, for some loggers had come in the previous night, and a +number of railroad carpenters, whose work had been interfered with by +a snowstorm, were staying there. Mappin had heard of Andrew's return +and he was in a thoughtful mood, though he had so far avoided meeting +with any of the party. He could not, however, continue to do so, and +he felt that he might as well get the interview with Allinson over as +soon as possible. Even if Allinson suspected treachery, he had no +proof, and the worst charge he could make would be one of +carelessness. On the whole, it had been a relief to see that the man +had escaped: he had acted in the heat of passion when he cut off his +supplies and had afterward experienced a twinge of remorse. Mappin +felt that he was a match for the fellow, and he had gone a needless +length in plotting to destroy him. + +He was thinking over the matter when he heard some one ask for him in +the store, through which it was necessary to pass to reach his office. +Then there were footsteps on the stairs and he looked up in surprise +as Carnally came in. It was Allinson he had expected to see. + +Carnally was smartly dressed, and though his face was thin and worn it +wore a look of satisfaction that puzzled Mappin. + +"Where's your boss this morning?" Mappin inquired. "I've been waiting +for him." + +"At Graham's," said Carnally, sitting down. "I've come instead. Mr. +Allinson's got into a habit of leaving matters to me. There are things +I do better than he can. I'm not so fastidious as he is." + +"Then let me know what you want." + +"It's about those provisions you sent up. Mr. Allinson told you where +to make the caches?" + +"Yes; I carefully put it down." + +"Got the paper or the notebook?" + +"I can't say where the notebook is, but I believe I could find it." + +Carnally smiled, as if he were enjoying the situation. + +"If you produce the book, it will be because it doesn't agree with +what Mr. Allinson says he told you; but that wouldn't prove much. +You're capable of writing down what you meant to do and not what he +said. If you're not able to find it, the reason is that you thought of +the trick you played us after you saw him." + +"Then you didn't find the provisions I sent as easily as you +expected?" + +"No; you know we didn't." + +Mappin had plenty of courage. + +"Well, what about it?" he asked with a little smile of scorn. + +"I know the hand you're playing from; it's a pretty good one. Mr. +Allinson believes he gave you orders to make the caches in certain +places; you contend he told you somewhere else, and there was nobody +about when you were talking to decide the thing. Somehow an +unfortunate mistake was made." + +"It looks like that," said Mappin, feeling uneasy at the man's ready +acquiescence in the situation. + +"Sure thing!" Carnally cheerfully assented. "You fixed it all so +neatly that you left only one way of getting after you; but I won't +grumble, because it's the one I like." He rose and his expression +changed. "The mistake you meant to make came mighty near starving +three men to death. Stand up and answer for it, you blasted hog!" + +"So that's your line?" + +Mappin did not move as he rapidly considered his course. Overbearing +as he was, he did not often give way to anger unless his passions were +strongly roused. A brawl with Carnally could lead to no useful result, +and it would attract undesirable attention. + +"You have hit it first time! Got feet, haven't you? You seem to want +some stirring up!" Carnally reached for an inkwell and flung it across +the office at Mappin's head. "Sorry I missed," he said. "But I've +spoiled your clothes." + +Mappin rose with a savage frown. + +"Do you mean to go on with this fooling?" + +"Sure!" replied Carnally. "If I can't wake you any other way, I'll +fire your office fixings out of the window. Guess that will bring the +boys around and I'll be glad to tell them what the trouble's about." + +A heavy account-book, deftly thrown, swept Mappin's desk, scattering +pens and papers across the room. Seeing that a struggle was +unavoidable, he sprang forward. Caution had hitherto held him back, +but his patience had its limits, and he was the heavier man. He missed +Carnally with his first two blows, but the third took effect with +sledge-hammer force, flinging him back upon the office-table, and +during the next few minutes Carnally gasped and dodged. He saw that he +must try to wear out his antagonist, and he watched his chance before +he clinched. For a while they grappled in the middle of the floor, +swaying, breaking ground with heavy feet, striking when they could; +and then as Mappin freed himself the door was flung open and the +storekeeper and several of his customers ran in. + +"Hold on!" he cried. "What's the trouble? I thought you were coming +through my ceiling!" + +Carnally looked around, flushed and breathless. + +"Stand back! This business has to be got through, with! It's pretty +well known that the fellow's smart at stealing his boys' time, but he +took on too big a contract when he played a low-down trick on me." He +turned to Mappin. "Are you ready, you fat swine, or must I fire you +down the stairs?" + +"Leave them to it," advised a big logger with an appreciative grin. +"I'll put a dollar on the bushman!" + +"You're wrecking the place!" objected the storekeeper, indicating the +dislodged stove, from which thick smoke was pouring, and a broken +chair. + +"That doesn't matter," Carnally replied. "Mappin can meet the bill. He +seems a bit slow in moving: they've been too liberal with the corn." + +One or two of the men laughed; but Mappin looked dangerous. The +struggle that occupied the next few minutes was a determined and +strenuous one, and the spectators watched it with frank delight. +Mappin was powerful and could use his strength, but he had lived +indulgently, a prey to his appetites. Carnally lived for the most part +in the wilds, and hard toil and plain fare had toughened him. +Moreover, as a matter of necessity, he frequently taxed his endurance +to the limit, and this stood him in good stead now. He was quicker +than his enemy, and recovered sooner; when they broke away from a +grapple he was the fresher. + +Mappin began to show distress. He panted hard, his face grew suffused, +the perspiration dripped from him. His collar had burst open, and his +torn sleeve hung loose about his arm; he looked strangely brutish and +his eyes had a murderous expression. By comparison, Carnally seemed +cool. His thin, brown face was quietly intent, resolute without +passion; he fought cautiously, avoiding his antagonist's furious +rushes, breaking away from an occasional grapple. Endurance was his +strongest point, and he meant to tire his man. Mappin, guessing this, +saw the advisability of bringing the struggle to a speedy conclusion. +He clinched again, trying to throw his agile opponent by sheer force, +and for a moment or two Carnally seemed helpless in his grasp. He +could not get free and Mappin drove him backward across the narrow +floor, while the spectators, who had increased in number, looked on in +tense excitement. + +In the West personal combat is hampered by few of the rules of the +boxing ring; but there is a rough notion of fair play and there are +limits which may not be exceeded. Thus when Carnally, driven hard +against the edge of the table, seemed to grow limp, there was a shout +of protest as Mappin, reaching out with free right arm, seized a heavy +poker from the wood-box. He was ready to strike when Carnally, +realizing his peril, rallied his strength for a decisive effort. The +poker struck the table with a resounding crash. Carnally secured a +firm hold before Mappin recovered his shaken balance, and lifted him +from his feet. He lurched forward, while the spectators scattered, and +reeling through the doorway plunged down the stairs. + +Mappin was undermost. He struck the steps half-way down, but it did +not stop them. They rolled into the store amid a confused outcry. None +of those who watched could tell whether Mappin scrambled up or +Carnally lifted him from the floor, but in a moment they were on their +feet, Carnally driving the other toward the door. With a last effort +he hurled him backward, and Mappin went down headlong into the snow. + +He got up in a half-dazed manner and Carnally leaned against the +doorpost, breathing hard and regarding him with a grim smile. + +"You can do what you like about it, but if you're wise, you'll keep +out of my sight," he said. "It won't hurt me to let people know what +made the trouble." + +Carnally turned back into the store and sat down on a barrel, hot, +disheveled, and generally the worse for wear. + +"It's a long while since I felt so good, boys," he grinned. + +Mappin slunk away to his hotel, knowing that a grave misfortune had +befallen him. He was a hard master and accustomed to get more than the +full equivalent of their wages out of his men, but in this his +overbearing manner had assisted his cunning. In logging camps and on +new roads, courage and muscular strength command respect; but now that +he had been ignominiously thrown out of the store before a derisive +crowd, his prestige had gone. Henceforward there would be serious risk +of his mutinous subordinates following Carnally's example. + +The man, however, was far from a coward. It would be pleasanter to +leave the town, where he was not held in much esteem, until the matter +blew over, and he had work going on in other places; but he did not +mean to run away from Allinson. The latter, of course, now understood +that he had been tricked over the location of the food caches, and +Mappin wondered what he would do. It was, however, obvious that there +was no really effective course open to Allinson. Carnally had been +shrewd enough to take the only possible means of obtaining redress, +but his primitive methods were not likely to be adopted by his +employer. + +After removing the signs of battle, so far as he could, from his +clothes and person, Mappin returned to his office and spent the day +there, waiting for a visit from his rival. Allinson, however, did not +come; it looked as though he meant to do nothing, and this caused +Mappin some uneasiness. The man was cleverer and perhaps, more to be +feared than he had thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FRESH PLANS + + +Geraldine Frobisher, sitting by the hearth in her drawing-room, +glanced compassionately at Andrew. He looked gaunt and very weary, and +she noticed a significant slackness in his pose. There was no one else +in the room; the lamps were lighted and a log fire diffused a pleasant +glow and an aromatic odor. + +"You are quiet to-night," she said. + +Andrew looked up with a deprecatory smile. + +"I fear I'm disgracefully dull; but I don't seem able to think of +anything except that it's very pleasant to be here again." + +"You consider that a good excuse?" + +"I can't judge; I felt that I needed one. In fact, I don't know what +is the matter with me since I came down-river." + +Geraldine had some idea; a glance at the man supplied an explanation. + +"You are worn out, for one thing," she answered sympathetically. + +He mused for a few moments, and the girl was not displeased. From the +first she had felt on curiously confidential terms with him. He was +direct and sincere and, though by no means shallow, he seldom puzzled +her. + +"No," he said, "it's not altogether that. We had a rather bad time +before the relief party arrived, but I felt up to my work--anxious, of +course, but not troubled by the slackness that has since got hold of +me. All this, however, isn't of much consequence. I'm very grateful to +you and your father for sending help--we were in a very tight place +when it came. But I don't understand how you knew we needed it." + +Geraldine looked down, to hide her confusion. + +"I wonder why you associate me with my father?" + +"I can't tell you clearly, but I feel that you had something to do +with the matter. Indeed, it made the relief more welcome. But you +haven't given me an explanation." + +"Do you understand why you failed to find the food?" + +"Yes," said Andrew grimly. "I've a suspicion that you know as much +about it as I do, though it's hard to see how you came by the +knowledge." + +Geraldine looked up with a forced smile. He must not guess how she had +led Mappin to betray himself. + +"It is rather astonishing, isn't it? The search gave you trouble, and +you have some respect for your thinking powers." + +"I've more respect for Carnally's; he found the clue. But he was on +the spot." + +"And I was handicapped by being at home? Do you know I sometimes think +I'm not altogether stupid?" + +"You're exceptionally clever," said Andrew warmly. "You have a gift +for seizing on the truth and sticking to it. I think it's because the +truth is in you that you recognize it. That's different from +smartness." + +She checked him with a gesture of mocking rebuke. + +"You should have learned that I don't expect you to pay me labored +compliments." + +"It wasn't labored; I believe it was a flash of insight," Andrew +declared. He glanced at her face and laughed, looking baffled. + +There was silence for the next few moments. Geraldine knew what the +man thought of her, but she approved of the respectful diffidence he +generally displayed. Now that he was safe, she preferred that they +remain on a purely friendly footing for a time; he was hers, but she +shrank with a fluttering timidity from an open surrender. It was not +difficult to repulse him gently when he grew too bold. Nevertheless +his wan and downcast appearance roused a deep and tender pity. She +longed to hear his troubles and comfort him. + +"You suddenly changed the subject we began," she said. "Were you not +going to tell me why you feel depressed?" + +"Something of the kind," replied Andrew. "It didn't seem a very happy +topic." + +"That was a mistake," declared Geraldine reproachfully. "You shouldn't +have doubted my interest, and it lightens one's troubles to confide in +a friend." + +Andrew, in his dejected mood, felt a longing for sympathy and +encouragement. + +"Well," he said, "failure is hard to bear, and I've a strong suspicion +that I've undertaken more than I'm able to carry out. So far, I've +made a deplorable mess of things. We reached the neighborhood of the +lode with no time to search the ground, and, for all the results we +got, we might as well have stayed at home." + +"But it's something to have proved that the lode exists." + +"I'm not sure it's worth proving. The value of the ore is the most +important point, because a mine could not be worked up there unless it +was very rich. Then there's a risk of Graham's being lamed for life. +Mappin has beaten us badly at the beginning of the fight." + +"It's only a small reverse. You would not use the means he employed. +They were infamous!" + +"The trouble is that other opponents I shall have to meet may use +similar methods, and unless I do the same, I'll be further +handicapped. As it happens, I'm carrying weight enough already." + +Geraldine looked thoughtful. + +"In a way, you're right. I've learned something about the situation." + +"If we had proved the lode to be rich, I should have had something to +fall back on; but I've failed. Now I must attack strong vested +interests, with the whole influence of my conservative relatives +against me. My chief antagonist enjoys a high prestige, and has made +an excellent profit on the money handed him." Andrew laughed in a +rueful manner. "And I'm the fool of the family, who has lately taken +to upsetting a very satisfactory state of affairs. Can you imagine the +surprise and disgust of everybody concerned?" + +"But your people are upright, aren't they?" + +"Oh, yes; there's no doubt of that. But, with one or two unimportant +exceptions, they're conventional and prejudiced. They believe in what +they see; the prosperity of Allinson's, the dividends coming in. They +distrust anything that seems out of the usual course, and they +couldn't bring themselves to think there should be anything wrong with +the firm. I, whom they good-naturedly look down on, have to convince +them to the contrary." + +"It will be hard; one can understand that. But the feeling of +helplessness that troubles you now will pass. You must remember that +you have borne enough to exhaust you." + +"My body's tired," Andrew admitted. "One can get over that. The real +difficulty is that my mind feels sick." + +"Is there no connection between the two?" Geraldine smiled at him. +"You make me think it's the first time you have had any serious +difficulties." + +"That's true. It looks as if there were some benefit in being dull. +You're saved a good deal of trouble if you don't notice things." + +"I didn't mean that," Geraldine objected. "You're not really dull, you +know." + +"Then I'm something like it. But you don't think I've been foolish in +starting on this campaign?" + +"No!" said Geraldine promptly. "I think you are doing what is fine! +You must go on; I want you to win. The difficulties won't look so +serious if you attack them one by one, and it must be worth something +to have the right on your side. There is so much injustice everywhere +and few people seem to mind. No doubt it's dangerous to interfere, but +it's encouraging to find a man here and there who is not afraid." + +She looked up at a sound and saw her father standing in the doorway. + +"One here and there?" smiled Frobisher. "You're not exacting. In +France, they once asked for a hundred men who knew how to die, and +found them in one southern town." + +Geraldine's color was higher than usual, but she laughed. + +"I suppose I am a bit of a sentimentalist; but you're too cynical. I +don't see why you should be proud of your detached and critical +attitude. You look on as if the sight of people struggling amused +you." + +"I don't think I really am proud of it, but perhaps there's something +to be said for the intelligent spectator who knows his limitations and +is content with trying to see fair play. However, I came to take +Allinson away for a smoke. If I leave him to you, you'll be sending +him off on some new chivalrous adventure." + +Seeing that his host was waiting for him, Andrew rose, but as he +reached the door Geraldine looked at him with a smile. + +"What I said was rather crude, but I meant it." + +"She generally does mean things; it's a habit that has its drawbacks," +Frobisher said, as he led Andrew to his smoking-room, where he gave +him a cigar and pointed to an easy-chair. + +"What are you going to do about Mappin?" the American asked bluntly. + +"Nothing. As he has only to deny what I told him to clear himself, +there's no means of punishing him. I can't see any use in making a +fuss that can have no result. It would simply show I was the weaker +party." + +"You're wise," Frobisher agreed. Then his eyes twinkled. "Carnally, +however, seems to have seen a way out of the difficulty. You haven't +heard what happened at the settlement?" + +"No; I hired a sleigh and went for a drive. After that I slept until I +came here. I tried to keep out of people's way." + +"You missed a dramatic scene at the store. I'm told Carnally threw +Mappin downstairs and out into the snow." + +Andrew shook his head dubiously. + +"It's a pity, but I might have been prepared for something of the +kind. I can hardly grudge him any satisfaction he derived from it." + +"It was a good stroke; Mappin will find it damaging." + +"But I understood he was a friend of yours," Andrew said with some +awkwardness. + +"He came to my house. I put up with him, which I think describes it +best, though I fail to see much reason for doing so any longer. But +what are you going to do about the lode?" + +"Go back and investigate it thoroughly. We'll wait until the spring." + +"Then you mean to proceed with your scheme? I see trouble, but I +mustn't discourage you. Now I guess the situation warrants some +candor. Has it struck you that Mappin is working hand in hand with +your brother-in-law?" + +"I'm afraid it's true." Andrew's face was grave. "You can see how it +complicates things." + +"But you mean to go on?" + +"I must," said Andrew simply. + +Frobisher leaned forward and touched his arm. + +"You have grit, Allinson. It will be a tough fight, but I feel that +you'll make good." + +He changed the subject abruptly, and they talked of other matters +until they went back to the drawing-room. Some time afterward there +was a knock at the door, and Geraldine, opening it, held out a +telegram to Andrew. + +"It's from the assayer; I left word at the settlement for the message +to be sent on," he explained. "You will excuse my opening it?" + +"Of course," said Geraldine. "May it bring you good news!" + +Andrew tore open the envelope, and there was an exultant tone in his +voice as he read out: + +"_Specimens unpromising._" + +Frobisher and Geraldine looked puzzled. + +"But you seem satisfied," the girl said. + +"I am. I asked the man to let me have his general opinion as soon as +he could; he's to send a regular analysis later. He has been quick, +but perhaps he has some rough preliminary test." + +"But he tells you they're unpromising!" + +"I'm beginning to think Mr. Allinson is a bit of a genius," Frobisher +observed. "No doubt he'll explain his mysterious proceedings." + +"I gave the man a three-word code, reversing the meaning, and his +answer puts the quality of the ore, so to speak, in the comparative +degree. It shows that we have struck the edge of the lode, and careful +prospecting should give us better results." + +He broke off, standing still, the message in his hand and a look of +marked relief in his face, and Frobisher turned to his daughter. + +"It was a maxim of Napoleon's that one should use every means of +misleading the enemy, and Mr. Allinson seems to know that telegrams +are handled rather casually in these small places. A mineral claim +doesn't belong to its discoverer until it's duly staked off and +recorded; and if all the formalities are not complied with it can be +jumped." + +He was called away a few minutes later, and Andrew took his place by +the hearth with Geraldine sitting opposite him. + +"I'm very glad you got such good news," she said, with a curious +softness in her voice. + +"Thank you. It was you who brought it to me; but that wasn't all you +did. I came here dejected, and now I'm cheerful again." + +"But that isn't surprising, after the message." + +"It wasn't the message. I was bracing up before it came; you and your +father made me feel that I needn't despair. In fact, I was getting +ashamed of being downcast, after the confidence you seemed to have in +me." + +Geraldine smiled at him. + +"Ah!" she said. "It must need a good deal of courage to lead a forlorn +hope, and one could imagine that your undertaking looked like that. It +must be much pleasanter to feel that you have some chance of winning. +But what will you do next?" + +"Go home, I think. I want to see how I stand there." + +"For long?" Geraldine asked quietly. + +"No; for a month or so. I shall be eager to get back." Andrew paused +and asked with a hint of tension in his voice: "Will I be missed?" + +"Of course!" Geraldine looked up with friendly candor. "But will you +be able to make the double journey and do all that's needful in a few +weeks?" + +Andrew felt gently rebuffed. Geraldine had a way of checking him when +he tried to draw closer to her, and her unembarrassed frankness was +deterring. + +"I'll try," he said doggedly. + +Frobisher came in then, and they chatted about various matters until +Andrew took his leave. When he reached his hotel he wrote a letter +home, announcing his return, and the next morning he had a long talk +with Carnally, whom he empowered to act as his deputy while he was in +England. Then he went to Graham's and found the Winnipeg surgeon +leaving. His report was favorable: Graham's foot could be saved, +though it would be some time before he recovered the use of it. + +Andrew was shown into a room where his comrade lay on a couch. + +"I've heard the news and I'm very glad," he said. "I was troubled +about you." + +"You couldn't hide it." Graham smiled at him. "It wasn't your fault I +got frost-bitten, anyway. But have you heard about the specimens?" + +"Yes; the first report's encouraging. Of course, I haven't learned the +full results yet." + +Graham's eyes glistened, and he moved into a comfortable pose with a +look of deep content. + +"That's good. Now I must try to get about again as soon as possible." + +"There's no hurry. As you know, you needn't go back to the mill until +you're able. Then as Carnally and I know where the lode is, it isn't +strictly necessary that you should come with us." + +"Isn't it! I've been thinking about that lode for twenty years, and do +you suppose I could let another man locate it? Besides, we must stake +three claims on the best frontage." + +"That would be better; but what about Mrs. Graham? Haven't you given +her enough anxiety?" + +Graham looked disturbed. + +"I can't predict what line she'll take, but I venture to believe +she'll let me go, knowing I'll be satisfied for good when I have +finished my work." + +Andrew told him about his trip home and the arrangements he had made +with Carnally, and left soon afterward. During the next week he came +in daily and spent two evenings with the Frobishers, and then he left +the Landing early one morning by the Montreal express. + +The Atlantic passage was short and uneventful, and late one afternoon +he alighted from a local train at a wayside station among the English +hills. Wannop and Hilda were waiting on the platform, and after the +first greetings were over, the girl regarded her brother critically. + +"Andrew," she exclaimed, "you haven't come back the same! How did you +get those lines on your forehead?" + +"Are there some?" Andrew asked with a smile. "I suppose I was anxious +now and then. Not knowing whether you'll get enough to eat makes one +think." + +Hilda shook her head. + +"No; that's not it. My dear boy, you have been _developing_ since you +went to Canada." + +"If you're right," laughed Andrew, "it was getting time I did; but +you're standing in the way of the baggage truck." + +They moved on, and when they drove off in Wannop's trap Andrew sat +silent for a while, looking about delightedly. It was open weather; by +comparison with the Canadian cold, the air was soft and mild. A gray +sky hung above the hills, but there was a glimmer of pale red and +saffron low in the west, and the rugged slopes, clothed with withered +fern, shone a rich, warm brown. Then they dipped into a valley which +struck Andrew, accustomed to the monotonous snow-glare, as wonderfully +green. The shining riband of a river wound through its midst; clover +growing among the stubble and broad strips of raw-red soil where +sheep, netted in, stood about the turnip-cutters, checkered the +pasture land. They passed climbing woods where the leafless branches +formed blurs of blue and gray; and here and there a white thread of +foaming water streaked the heights above. + +It was a countryside that Andrew loved, but now, while softly +beautiful, it looked strangely small--a narrow green strip, shut in by +lofty moors. Then there were many tall hedgerows and big stone walls; +one could not wander there at will. The wide horizons and the +limitless stretch of trackless woods were missing. It was curious, +Andrew thought, with what content he had once searched stubble and +turnips for partridges, and stood with gun ready outside the woods +from which the pheasants broke on clattering wings. Now all that +seemed tame; he had lost his zest for it in a sterner chase. + +Hilda broke in upon his reflections. + +"You haven't spared me much attention yet," she said. "How do you +think I'm looking?" + +"Now that I think of it, you're growing rather pretty; though that is +what I expected." + +"I'm aware of it." Hilda made him the best curtsey that space allowed. +"But don't you notice that I'm looking more mature and intellectual?" + +"Steady!" Wannop cautioned. "You nearly knocked the whip out of my +hand. Keep that kind of thing for the ballroom--it's wasted on your +brother." + +"The maturity didn't strike me; but you used to show signs of +intelligence now and then," Andrew answered. + +"Perhaps it's better to be pretty. Cleverness is open to any one who +is willing to study. But did you see any girl as nice-looking as I am +while you were in Canada?" + +"Even at the risk of giving offense, I can think of one--though of +course beauty is largely a matter of taste." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Hilda delightedly. "I had my suspicions! I suppose you +mean the girl who wrote to Ethel about you?" + +Andrew started and Wannop laughed. + +"I knew she was up to something. That is what she has been leading you +on to." + +"How did you hear about her?" Andrew asked. "Did Ethel tell you?" + +"As a matter of fact, she wasn't very communicative, but I elicited a +few scraps of information. It's surprising how one can follow up a +clue." + +"I suppose so," said Andrew. "Whether it leads you right or not is +another matter. I'm thankful I haven't your fervid imagination." + +"How he puts it off!" Hilda said to Wannop. "He's been learning +diplomacy in Canada." + +Wannop chuckled. + +"I always knew he wasn't a fool. But I wish you would keep still. The +horse is fresh and this is a steep bit of road." + +Hilda changed the subject, for she had learned enough from her +brother's start to give her food for thought. + +"Leonard will be down to-morrow with Florence," Wannop said when they +approached the house. "I suppose you'll have something to tell us. I +needn't remind you that if there's any difficulty you can count on +me." + +Andrew gave him a grateful nod, and a few minutes later they drove up +to Ghyllside. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +UNEXPECTED SUPPORT + + +The day after Andrew's return he was sitting in the library at +Ghyllside, waiting for dinner. Though a fire burned on the hearth by +which he lounged, cigarette in hand, two of the tall windows were open +and the air that flowed in was soft and muggy. He had spent most of +the day in shooting, and after a long walk across wet meadows and a +boggy moor he now felt very comfortable and somewhat drowsy. He would +have to bestir himself when the guests he expected arrived, and he was +enjoying a few minutes' rest. His cigarette was, however, only half +smoked when Wannop walked in. + +"As I didn't see you downstairs I came up to look for you; Gertrude's +with Hilda. Haven't Florence and Leonard arrived yet?" + +"Train seems to be late," Andrew replied. "I suppose I should have +gone to meet them, but I felt lazy." + +"Was that all?" + +"It wasn't my only reason. To tell the truth, I shirked the drive home +with Leonard. I'm a poor dissembler and our relations are rather +strained. It will be easier to meet him when there are others about." + +"They'll be on his side." + +"I expect so; but I'm not afraid of direct opposition. It's beating +about a delicate subject and trying to keep on safe ground that +bothers me." + +"I know; it's embarrassing. You won't be able to broach matters of any +importance to-night." + +"No. We'll have one or two outside people here and I want my +homecoming to be harmonious. We'll let things stand over till +to-morrow." + +"Feeling nervous about it?" Wannop suggested with a grin. + +"I'll confess that I do. It's the preliminary tussle, and I haven't +many backers." + +"You needn't be downhearted. I don't know that your people are +remarkably broad-minded, but they're straight--I'll say that even for +Robert. They'll come round if they think you're right. But don't be +apologetic; take a firm tone. Manner goes a long way and, after all, +you are the head of Allinson's." + +"The trouble is that I've allowed Leonard to usurp my place and he'll +be hard to depose." + +Andrew rose, for there were voices and footsteps below, and they went +down to meet the arriving guests. The hall was large and square, with +seats in recesses and one or two small tables and comfortable chairs +scattered about. Mrs. Fenwood had come with Robert Allinson, who shook +hands with Andrew heartily, though there was a hint of constraint in +his manner afterward. He was not quite satisfied with Andrew's conduct +before leaving England, and could not forget that his interference in +the matter of Mrs. Olcott's house had been thwarted. He regarded +Wannop, who was saying something humorous to Mrs. Fenwood, with a +suspicious eye. + +Then there was a rattle of wheels outside and Florence Hathersage came +in with Leonard. He expressed his pleasure at Andrew's safe return and +after a few friendly words hurried off to his room. When he came down +again three more guests arrived, and Andrew went eagerly to meet them. +Ethel Hillyard and Mrs. Olcott were foremost, and after welcoming them +Andrew turned toward a man with a lined, brown face, bearing the stamp +of the soldier. It was with marked cordiality that they shook hands. + +"It's good to see you, Tom," Andrew said. "I heard you had just got +home, and though it's an unhealthy country, you're looking very fit." + +"A little fever now and then, though I escaped fairly well," rejoined +the other with a friendly smile. "I have a good deal to say to you +when we get a chance." He lowered his voice as he added: "I'm deeply +grateful." + +The meeting had a dramatic interest to the onlookers. Every eye had +been fixed on the stranger. As he had come with Mrs. Olcott his +identity was obvious; and the good-will both men had shown had its +significance. Then Andrew led the Olcotts forward and presented them +to the elderly unmarried relative who managed his household and looked +after Hilda. Mrs. Olcott's color was slightly heightened, though she +smiled, for she understood the interest she had aroused and this was +her triumph. She had produced the husband whose absence had excited +comment and whose existence some had ventured to doubt. Moreover, he +was a man to be proud of, and nobody who had witnessed their meeting +could doubt that he was Andrew's trusted friend. Robert Allinson +looked at him earnestly and then turned to Leonard with a frown. He +was narrow and censorious, but he was just, and he felt that he had +been mistaken, or perhaps misled. + +They went in to dinner and Andrew sat at the head of his table, saying +enough to keep conversation going, but content to give Leonard the +lead. Considering how he stood toward his host, Hathersage showed +admirable tact. He skilfully turned every topic which might prove +difficult and kept the others on safe ground; he was witty in a +polished manner, but if anything a little too obviously at ease. For +the first time it struck one or two of the party with surprise that +there was something in Andrew's bearing which his more brilliant +brother-in-law lacked. The soldier from tropical Africa bore the same +elusive stamp of command, sincerity and steadfastness. Ethel Hillyard, +studying them carefully, decided that Leonard was, by comparison, +cheap and superficial. + +Still, it was largely due to his efforts that dinner was a pleasant +function without an awkward pause in it; and afterward the guests +dispersed through several rooms to amuse themselves. When Andrew found +a place by Ethel Hillyard in a recess in the hall, she surveyed him +with smiling scrutiny. + +"I think you did well in going to Canada," she said. "Though I can't +quite express what I mean, you look bigger." + +"As a matter of fact, I'm a good deal lighter." + +Ethel laughed. + +"Oh, well, I don't want to make you embarrassed! I believe you had a +trying time. Looking after the silver mine didn't prove as easy as you +expected?" + +"I don't remember what I expected, but I found it very difficult." + +"So I gathered. Antony Wannop seems to think the reforms you have in +view won't be popular. I suppose you have been summoned home to +explain?" + +"No," said Andrew; "I came. There's a difference." + +"It's marked," Ethel answered. "But we are old friends, Andrew; +follow your own bent, stick to your guns. Whatever plans you have +determined on will be fair. Once before I told you not to be daunted; +but it strikes me that you need less encouragement now." + +"Thank you," said Andrew. "I'm sorry I can't tell you much about the +matter. You see----" + +"It's a family affair, and after all I have my ideas. But you made +some new friends by the Lake of Shadows, didn't you?" + +"Yes; staunch ones. They showed their friendship in a very practical +way. That's something I owe to you; I suspect that you have been +prejudicing them in my favor." + +"Then you have a good opinion of Geraldine?" + +Andrew colored as he met her inquiring glance. + +"Yes," he said simply, "the highest I'm capable of forming." + +Ethel smiled rather curiously. Two or three years earlier she had +contemplated the possibility of Andrew's seeking her for his wife, but +her feelings had not been deeply stirred, and when she saw that she +had taken too much for granted she quietly submitted and retained a +very friendly interest in him. Now, however, there was something +grimly amusing in the thought that she had given him to Geraldine. + +"Well," she said, "I'm sure she merits it. But to speak of something +else, I'm glad you asked the Olcotts here." + +"That's another matter in which I'm indebted to you. What do you think +of Olcott? He sat next to you." + +"A delightful man." Ethel, who was direct and fearless, looked up at +her companion. "No one could doubt Mrs. Olcott's devotion to him, and +I think it's warranted." Then she rose. "You must have a good deal to +say to the others and I mustn't monopolize you." + +Andrew went to the smoking-room, which proved to be unoccupied, but as +he was leaving it Olcott came in. + +"I stole away and followed you," he said. "Sit down a minute and light +up." + +"Cigars in that drawer," said Andrew, lighting a cigarette. "Drinks in +the cupboard below." + +Olcott took out two glasses and filled them. + +"It's your house, but I feel at home." + +"So you ought!" + +Olcott raised his glass. + +"Here's to you, old friend, and may you get with full measure, as you +give! I can't wish you anything better." He put down his glass and +continued: "And now we'll proceed to business. As soon as I'd had a +talk with Clare I paid a check into your bank." + +"Sure it's convenient?" + +"Quite: I had my duties increased and, what was much less usual, a +corresponding increase of pay. I'd rather have come over when you were +alone, and I only got home yesterday, but Clare insisted on my +appearing to-night. Can you guess the reason?" + +"Yes." Andrew flushed but looked at his friend with steady eyes. "I +got very savage about the matter, and wondered whether I'd been in any +way to blame. Still, you left things pretty mixed when you went +away--your wife needed somebody to straighten them out, and I'm not a +tactful person." + +"I'd only a day or two's notice, and there wasn't time to arrange +matters properly. But it's hard to imagine that people who knew you +could be such credulous fools. I mustn't say anything stronger of your +relatives." + +"I don't think being my relatives makes them any brighter," Andrew +replied with a grin. "My father was the last genius in the family; +talent often skips a generation. But we'll let the matter drop." + +"If you find gratitude hard to put up with. It seems that your sister +Hilda has told Clare something about your adventures. You had some +rough experiences in Canada?" + +"One or two. I shouldn't imagine they were uncommon in West Africa." + +"You're right," returned Olcott grimly. "We must have a long talk; but +here's the clergyman coming in search of you and he looks as if he had +something important to say." + +He withdrew and Robert Allinson sat down with a confused but resolute +air. + +"Andrew," he said, "I have come to express my regret at having wronged +you by suspicions which I am now ashamed of." + +"After all, perhaps you had some excuse. I wasn't as careful as I +should have been; but I'm getting tired of the subject." + +"It's painful, but I must go on. I knew what a mistake I had made as +soon as I saw Olcott come in; but you don't understand yet how far my +suspicions led me. I felt it my duty to see Judson about Mrs. Olcott's +lease." + +"Ah! You mean you put the screw on him? I'm glad your plot seems to +have failed." + +"So am I," said Robert. "I'll confess that I was disappointed at first +and suspected Wannop of interfering. As you know, he's lax in his +views." + +"It's unfortunate the laxity you complain of isn't more common." +Andrew broke into a smile. "No doubt Wannop was too clever for you; +but I don't bear you any grudge. I believe you meant well, and good +intentions seem to excuse a good deal of harshness." + +"I did what I thought was my duty," Robert said with dignity, and +moved away. + +Shortly afterward Andrew entered the drawing-room, where he was +surprised to see Robert talking to Mrs. Olcott. The clergyman looked +unusually solemn and Mrs. Olcott's expression was resigned. Hilda, +joining her brother, glanced toward the other two. + +"Isn't he amusing?" she said with a soft laugh. "He's doing penance +and feeling as awkward as he deserves. No doubt Mrs. Olcott feels +horribly bored." + +"What do you know about the matter?" Andrew asked sharply. + +"More than you think. Robert believes he's making full amends by +countenancing Mrs. Olcott as he's doing. After this, of course, nobody +need fight shy of her." + +Andrew knew that reproof would be useless; Hilda would laugh at him. + +"Well," he said, "I've a higher opinion of Robert now than I've had +for some time." + +"He's pompous and silly," Hilda declared. "Sometimes I feel sorry for +him, sometimes he makes me positively wicked; but after all he has his +good points. For one thing, he's not afraid." + +She went away when Andrew joined his elder sisters, and the evening +passed pleasantly. When the party broke up Andrew strolled out to the +terrace and leaned on the low wall. There was no moon, but the night +was clear and mild. Bare trees rose in shadowy masses across the dark +stretch of lawn; the ghyll beyond it was filled with mist, out of +which there rose the gurgle of running water. In the distance a ridge +of moor cut darkly against the sky. The lights in the house went out +one by one; the stillness was soothing and Andrew became lost in +thought. + +He knew and loved every wood and field in the dim countryside he +looked out upon. He had spent happy, healthful days on the purple +moors when the grouse came flitting across the heather; among the +turnips and yellow stubble in the valley where the partridge coveys +lay; and by deep pools in the ghyll where the silver sea-trout gleamed +through the brown peat water. It was a harmless life he had led there, +but he felt that it had been a wasted one. Its peaceful sounds had +dulled his ears to the clamor of the busy world where the work he had +neglected badly needed doing. He was not a prig and felt no call to be +a general reformer, but the Allinson honor was tainted and it was his +business to remove the stain. He might fail, but he must concentrate +upon the task all the power he possessed. + +Then he began to consider ways and means. A good deal depended on his +relatives' attitude. They could hamper him by their resistance and he +wanted their support, though he was prepared to go on without it. +To-night they had obviously acquitted him of a supposititious folly, +which was something to the good; indeed, he had been especially +pleased by Robert's frank expression of regret. He had looked for +determined opposition from the clergyman, but now he did not despair +of winning him. Though prejudiced and conventional, Robert was +sincere, and that was a great thing. + +To-morrow evening the family council must be held. He imagined that +Leonard was clever enough to have put him in the wrong beforehand. He +would, no doubt, be called on to explain his rash interference with +the company's Canadian affairs, and he must make the best defense he +could. Indeed, he must bear with a good deal, if needful, to make his +defense effective; but, if this could not be done, there was another +line he meant to take. He would let those who misjudged him know that +he was the head of Allinson's and would go on as he had begun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE TRUTH ABOUT RAIN BLUFF + + +Dinner was a solemn function the next evening. Andrew, who had been +shooting with Wannop and Olcott all day, was quietly thoughtful, and +the rest of the party felt a sense of constraint. Conversation +dragged; once or twice it nearly died away and Leonard prevented an +awkward pause by his polished wit. Between whiles, however, Wannop +jested bravely and Hilda seconded him, occasionally at Robert's and +Leonard's expense. The others talked without much point when they +could think of anything to say; but, preoccupied as they were, it was +a relief to all when they dispersed for half an hour before meeting +Andrew in the library. He spent the interval in his smoking-room, +thinking hard, but he looked up when Hilda came in and sat down on the +lounge beside him. + +"Feeling very bad, old boy?" she said. + +"I have spent more cheerful moments," Andrew replied. + +Hilda nodded. + +"It must be trying--the pause before the battle! But you'll shake off +the sinking feeling when you get into action. Don't let them bully +you, Andrew. They can look very wise, but there's none of them you +need be afraid of, unless it's Leonard. Antony, of course, will back +you all he can." + +"Thanks for the encouragement; but I'm not sure you have any right to +talk about these things." + +"Oh, don't be silly! Can't you realize that I've grown up? And if I +hadn't as much sense as Robert and Mrs. Fenwood, I'd feel very sorry +for myself. But we had better be practical--I suppose you see what you +ought to do?" + +"No," Andrew admitted, "not as clearly as I could wish." + +"Then what troubles the others is that they can't think for +themselves. They must have a lead, as Leonard knows, and he has +cleverly given them one. So far, they have followed him docilely; now +you must make them follow you." + +"Can you tell me how it should be done?" + +"I'll admit that it's easier to sketch out a general plan than to fit +in the details; but that's your business," said Hilda. Then her tone +changed and grew tinged with haughtiness. "First of all, remember that +you're fighting for Allinson's! I'm glad the others are nearly as +proud of the name as we are. It's unthinkable that Leonard should drag +it down and sell it for what he can gain. You stand for what we hold +precious; you must beat him." + +"I'll try," Andrew promised soberly; and Hilda kissed him and went +hastily from the room. + +Andrew remained for a few minutes, feeling cheered. Geraldine, Ethel, +and now Hilda had urged him on. They thought he was right, and it +looked as if all had some confidence in his ability. He was not sure +that it was well founded, for he knew his limitations, the worst of +which was ignorance. Still, he must try not to discredit his +supporters, and his task could not be shirked. He went to the library, +where his relatives were waiting, and gravely asked them to be seated. +Though two pillar lamps were lighted, the large room was shadowy. A +silver stand with candles burning occupied the middle of the great oak +table round which the party gathered, flinging a clear illumination on +their faces. + +Andrew took the head of the table, and there was something the others +had not expected in his quiet manner. He did not look as if he had +come to make excuses or ask their forbearance. Leonard, sitting +opposite, eyed him sharply; Florence and Gertrude did not seem at +ease. Mrs. Fenwood and Robert Allinson were heavily serious; Wannop +waited with amused expectancy. + +"I asked you to meet me here because you all have a large interest in +Allinson's and the Rain Bluff mine," Andrew began. "I thought it fit +that you should hear why I have made some changes in our Canadian +plans." + +"It would be better not to confuse Allinson's with the mine," Leonard +interposed. "The Rain Bluff is, of course, an independent company." + +"No," said Andrew sternly; "in a very real sense that is not correct. +The two must stand together. The Rain Bluff shares were largely taken +up by the family and our customers. The mine cannot prove a failure +without discrediting the firm which launched and tacitly guaranteed +it. A pledge given by Allinson's must be redeemed." + +"That is obvious," Robert solemnly agreed. + +"Andrew is begging the question in speaking of the mine as being +guaranteed by the firm," Leonard persisted. "The shares were offered +to the public on the inducements stated in the prospectus." + +"They were subscribed for because it was an Allinson venture; but +we'll leave that point for a while. I feel justified in asking your +attention as Rain Bluff shareholders--though I have learned that +Leonard has lately reduced his holding." + +Several of the others showed surprise and Leonard looked disconcerted, +but Wannop broke into a deep chuckle. + +"I felt tempted to do the same, after what I learned at the Lake of +Shadows," he remarked. "However, when I'd had a few words with Andrew +I decided to hold on. Though he's carrying a good bit of my money, I +felt he was worth backing." + +"Well," said Andrew, "I was sent out to look into Canadian matters, +and I have done so. The discoveries I made are by no means +reassuring." + +He paused with a dry smile, and his listeners felt uncomfortable. He +had not been sent out to investigate the mining operations, but to +keep him out of harm. Leonard was conscious that he had made a +mistake; Andrew had developed unsuspected capabilities. + +"A large proportion of the company's work is done by contract, and I +found that newly arrived immigrants, ignorant of their rights, were +mainly employed. They were badly fed, though in Canada the rudest +laborers are given a generous diet, worse housed, paid less than +standard wages, and cheated of part of their due. It is not by such +means that Allinson's should make money." + +"It is not," Robert firmly declared. + +He was the last ally Andrew had looked for; but Robert had been +thinking to some purpose. Leonard had deceived him about Mrs. Olcott; +he had been led into conduct which savored of cruelty and which he +regretted. Leonard having played false in one matter, might do so in +another. Robert's faith in him had been rudely shaken and he felt +that the man must be watched. + +"After all, we are not responsible for the evils Andrew mentions," +Mrs. Fenwood broke in. "It must be the contractor's fault." + +"Responsibility," said Robert, "cannot be shuffled off, though what +one may call the impersonal nature of a public company seems to make +it easier. The money is yours and you expect to draw the dividends. It +is a pernicious idea that one may make a profit by investing in a +company whose business is harmful, and go free from blame. I may say +that I was once urged to apply for shares in a new brewery a little +before they were put on the market, and I felt that I had done right +in declining, though they went to a handsome premium shortly +afterward." + +The tone in which he concluded suggested keen regret, and Wannop +laughed. + +"Andrew is probably mistaken in what he alleges," Leonard said. + +"I'll give you a few figures." Andrew read from a notebook particulars +of the wages paid by Mappin as compared with other contractors. "I +have seen the rest of the things; there can be no doubt about them. I +presume Leonard was ignorant of the contractor's character and the +methods he employs." + +Andrew stopped, having scored a point. Leonard could not profess a +knowledge of Mappin's doings, although to admit his ignorance of them +was to acknowledge his antagonist's superiority. + +"It seems that I have been somewhat mistaken about the man," he said. + +"Now that you have been informed, you cannot feel that we ought still +to entrust our work to him?" + +Wannop gave Andrew an approving smile, recognizing that he had taken a +very judicious line. Leonard must respect the opinions of the others, +and he knew that they would not sanction anything flagrantly unjust +and discreditable. + +"No," he conceded; "not in a general way. At the same time, sudden and +severe changes should be avoided. The man is carrying out his duties +efficiently and economically." + +"I think not," said Andrew. "I'll have to tax your patience with some +more figures. They show that we could do the work cheaper without +wronging anybody we employ." + +Opening his notebook, he supported his claim, and there was a brief +silence when he had finished. Then Florence broke in angrily. + +"As a shareholder in my own right, I am entitled to speak. Leonard was +satisfied with the arrangements, and you all know his long experience +and business ability. It's absurd that Andrew should presume to +question what Leonard has done. His judgment cannot be as good." + +"That is obvious," Mrs. Fenwood said. + +Andrew realized that his relatives' prejudices had still to be +reckoned with. In their eyes he was a rash beginner, liable to be +misled. + +"I spent some time on the spot, investigating things," he reminded +them. "You have heard our contractor's charges, and I have given you +the cost of cutting rock and supplying props at regulation wages. Is +Leonard inclined to challenge the figures?" + +"After all," said Leonard, "the subject is not of the first +importance. It is more serious that you have taken upon yourself to +reduce the output of the mine." + +"It is undoubtedly a grave matter. Unfortunately, there seems to be no +prospect of the mine's paying." + +The announcement caused some sensation, but while the others looked at +him in surprise and concern, Leonard flushed. + +"There is a risk in jumping to conclusions!" he said. "The all-round +quality of the ore can only be proved by extensive working, and you +must be aware that to increase the quantity of the output reduces the +cost per ton!" + +"That is a maxim which requires some thinking over," Wannop observed. +"To begin with, I don't see how you can cut down the cost when you +have a good deal of the work done by a contractor at a fixed price. +Then if there's a loss on every ton, it puzzles an outsider like +myself to understand how you expect to make a profit by producing a +very large quantity." + +"I'm afraid it would take me some time and trouble to explain the +thing," Leonard said with a polished sneer. + +"There's no doubt you'd find it difficult," Wannop retorted. + +"Are we to understand that there will be no dividends?" Mrs. Fenwood +interposed, in alarm. "If so, I feel that I have been cruelly +deceived. I was promised a handsome profit in the prospectus." + +"I have much the same feeling," said Robert Allinson. "The matter is +one of importance to me. My stipend is not large; the expenses which +my work in this parish entails are heavy. I bought the shares because +I expected they would pay." + +"It's the usual reason for buying shares; but investors are +disappointed now and then," Wannop said genially. + +"You took a business hazard, Robert, as did Mrs. Fenwood," Leonard +contended. "Even if our Canadian prospects were as bad as Andrew +imagines, which I do not admit, you would have no grievance." + +"You're mistaken!" exclaimed Mrs. Fenwood. "I have heard that mining +shares are risky, but I had every reason to believe that Allinson's +never took up anything that was not perfectly sound." + +"That was true, until recently," Andrew said quietly, looking steadily +at his brother-in-law. "I think I may say that it will again be the +rule in the future." + +Leonard smiled and turned to the others. + +"I agree with Andrew, but I must suggest more caution on his part. +After careful investigations in Canada, I made arrangements for the +working of the new company. Everything promised well, there was no +prospect of any difficulty, and I must confess to some astonishment +when Andrew told me we were threatened by serious trouble. If he is +right, I feel that he is to some extent responsible. In his +inexperience, he has, I fear, acted with more zeal than discretion." + +"It's the only conclusion one can come to," Mrs. Fenwood remarked +severely. + +"Is it seriously suggested that Andrew's inexperience has had some +effect on the nature of the rock we are working?" Wannop inquired. + +"After all," continued Leonard, "I think I may say that there is no +cause for alarm. If the mining is proceeded with on the lines I laid +down and no rash experiments are made, we shall no doubt presently +reach excellent ore. I must deprecate the undertaking of any new +ventures such as Andrew seems to have in view." + +The listeners showed relief. One or two questions were asked, and +Leonard, feeling that he was getting the better of the situation, went +on gravely. + +"His favorite scheme, I understand, is the exploitation of a lode far +to the north, which was discovered by a sawmill clerk twenty years +ago; though in the place where he lives the thing is looked on as a +delusion of the man's. Indeed, it is said that he is crazy on the +subject. It strikes me as highly injudicious that the Company's +capital should be wasted upon a search for imaginary minerals." + +"I will engage that not a penny shall be unprofitably spent," said +Andrew. "If the thing prove a failure, I will bear the expense." + +No one spoke for a few moments, and then Robert looked up. + +"I feel that we are entitled to ask for a few particulars," he said. + +"There we must disagree," Andrew replied. "If I am right about the +lode, you and the other shareholders will be told all you wish to +know; if I am wrong, the loss will be mine." + +They were puzzled by his resolute air. He was placing himself at a +disadvantage by refusing an explanation, but this did not seem to +trouble him. He had all along adopted a strangely masterful tone, +without a hint of doubt or hesitation. + +"I hardly think you are treating us fairly by keeping us in the dark," +Robert protested. + +Andrew smiled. + +"Then I must ask your forbearance. I was given full authority as a +director when I went to Canada, and I must try to use it as I think +best for the shareholders' benefit. Moreover, it cannot be rescinded +until the next general meeting of the Company. When that is held, I +shall be ready to give an account of what I have done." + +"Then it looks as if we had been brought here for nothing," Mrs. +Fenwood complained. + +"Hardly so. You have learned that the mine cannot be profitably worked +on the present system and that I am making changes which may improve +the Company's prospects. You have had an opportunity for condemning my +policy, which you have not done. I venture to believe you are +reserving your judgment, which is all I can ask." + +There was a pause for the next few moments. Andrew had changed his +tone to one of grave appeal, and as he leaned back, waiting, with the +light of the candles on his face, it struck one or two of them that he +looked very much like his father, who had retrieved and added to the +fortunes of the firm. Robert glanced at him in frank sympathy, which +touched Andrew, for he had not expected it. Then Leonard broke the +silence. + +"Andrew is asking you to trust him with extensive powers; in fact, he +demands something of the nature of a blank check, without explaining +what use he means to make of it. I willingly admit that the position +he holds by right is a strong one, and we have no direct means of +restraining him; his interest in the firm gives him more authority +than any of us individually holds. For all that, it must be remembered +that he could not stand against the unanimous family vote, and I have +no doubt he will agree that you are now called upon to act as a kind +of informal jury. Whatever course you decide on the directors must +adopt. Your position is accordingly a serious and important one. +Andrew is young and inexperienced; the affairs of a Company like the +Rain Bluff demand careful and skilful handling." + +"Leonard has stated the situation fairly. I have nothing to add," +Andrew said quietly. + +His relatives hesitated, looking irresolute, with the exception of +Florence and Mrs. Fenwood, who regarded Andrew with distrustful +severity. After a few moments Wannop addressed them. + +"My suggestion is that we do nothing at present, but wait, as Andrew +asks, until a meeting of the shareholders is held, when he must give a +full account of his plans. Then we will see our course more clearly; +but if he finds he can take us into his confidence sooner, so much the +better." + +Florence and Mrs. Fenwood dissented, but the others acquiesced, +including Leonard, who knew how far it was prudent to go, and the +party broke up. Andrew, however, remained in his place, and Leonard +lingered to light a cigarette. + +"I must congratulate you," he said. "You handled the thing better than +one could have anticipated. I suppose you are going back shortly, to +look for the lode?" + +"I am going back. I cannot tell you what I shall do until I arrive." + +Leonard winced. + +"You're not disposed to be confidential, but I won't complain of +that." He added quietly: "Be careful, Andrew; it's easy to make +trouble, and hard to put it right. You haven't accomplished much yet, +and there are serious difficulties ahead." + +"That's true," admitted Andrew with a direct glance. "I am, however, +not making trouble. It's all round me and must be grappled with." + +"Then I wish you luck," said Leonard, and went out. + +Andrew lighted a cigar; he deeply distrusted Leonard, whose +confederate, perhaps with his knowledge, had plotted to starve him to +death; it was irksome that he should be forced to treat the man as an +honored guest. Of late he had been subject to fits of savage anger as +he remembered how his attempt to find the lode was thwarted. So far as +it was possible, he must play out the game correctly in accordance +with conventional rules. His relatives would insist on this; an +outbreak would shock them and cost him their support. Nevertheless, it +was hard to dissemble and treat Leonard courteously. + +Flinging his cigar into the grate, Andrew rose with a frown. His +brother-in-law was right: there was trouble ahead. He had not only +Leonard but the unscrupulous Mappin to grapple with. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A DELICATE POINT + + +The afternoon was drawing to a close when Andrew, Olcott, and a friend +of the latter's, carrying guns and spread out in line, entered a +stretch of rough, boggy pasture near the river. Clumps of reeds and +rushes grew along the open drains, water gleamed among the grass, and +the bare trees on the high bank across the stream stood out sharp and +black against a glow of saffron light. The men were wet to the knees, +and a white setter, splashed with mire, trotted in front of them. +Murray, Olcott's friend, who was on Andrew's right, sprang across a +broad drain and laughed when he alighted. + +"Over my boots, but my feet can't get any wetter," he remarked. "I +don't know that this is a judicious amusement after being invalided +home from the tropics; but it looks a likely place for a mallard." + +Allinson had met Murray for the first time that morning, and noticed +that the man, a government official in a West African colony, looked +at him rather intently when they were introduced. They had, however, +spent a pleasant day, and Andrew was going to Olcott's to dinner. + +"I'm afraid the plover will put up any ducks there are about," he +said. "They're a nuisance and you're not allowed to shoot them here. +It will be bad to keep our line over this rough ground." + +Four or five lapwings, screaming shrilly, wheeled in wide circles +overhead, showing sharply black and white as the light struck them, +and fading into indistinct gray patches as they turned in erratic +flight. The men advanced cautiously, searching the ground with eager +eyes, and keeping their positions as closely as possible. This was +needful for the safety of the party in case a bird got up and crossed +their line of march, when the right to first shot would be determined +by the code of shooting etiquette. + +Andrew was plodding through a belt of rush with a plover circling +close above his head when the setter, after creeping slowly forward +for a few paces, suddenly stopped. Then a small gray object sprang up +from a drain and Andrew threw his gun to his shoulder. He dropped it +the next moment, with a low call to Murray: + +"Your bird!" + +The snipe had swung a little to the right in its swift flight, +swerving in sharp corkscrew twists, and Murray's gun twice flashed. +The bird, however, held on and faded against the dusky background of +the river bank. Murray stopped and turned to Andrew with a laugh. + +"I'm afraid I'm hardly up to snipe," he said. "It's a pity you were +generous enough to give me the shot." + +"It was yours by right." + +"That," Murray disputed, "is an open point. If I had been in your +place and could have hit the bird, I wouldn't have let it go. However, +if the firing hasn't made them wild, you may get another chance." + +The sun had sunk behind the tall bank and the pale yellow light that +lingered was confusing when the setter flushed a second snipe, which +went away at long range in front of Andrew. During a part of each +quick gyration he could not see it, but when it was outlined for a +second, black against the light, his gun flashed and the bird fell +among the reeds. When the setter had found it Murray looked surprised. + +"Considering the bad light and the distance, it was a remarkably clean +shot," he said. "I expected to see that you had hit it with only a +stray pellet or two." + +"I used the left barrel," Andrew explained, smiling. "It's a +half-choke; an old gun. That accounts for the charge hanging +together." + +"It doesn't account for your killing your bird at a long range with +shot which wouldn't spread. But it's getting dark and we've had +enough." + +They turned back to the nearest road, and an hour or two after +reaching home Andrew walked across to Olcott's. Ethel Hillyard was +there, and when they went into dinner Murray, sitting next to her, +glanced at Andrew near the other end of the table. + +"I was out with Mr. Allinson to-day," he said. "As he's a neighbor of +yours, I've no doubt you know him pretty well. He struck me as a +particularly straight man." + +"He is so," declared Ethel warmly. "I don't know a straighter. Still, +I don't see how you came to that conclusion by watching his shooting." + +"It doesn't seem very obvious," Murray responded with a smile. +"However, so far as my experience goes, a man who's scrupulous in one +thing is very apt to prove the same in another. When we were out this +afternoon, a snipe got up in front of him and he let me have the +shot." + +"But how does that prove his general honesty?" + +"I'm not sure I was entitled to the shot, though as the bird headed +slightly toward me there was some doubt about the matter. Allinson +gave me the full benefit, though I think he must have known that I +would miss." + +"Is it a great sacrifice to give up a shot?" + +"A snipe," said Murray, "is very hard to hit, though Allinson showed +us afterward that he is capable of bringing one down. Now when you +know you can do a difficult thing neatly, it's not easy to refrain." + +"Perhaps that's true," Ethel agreed. "No doubt the temptation's +stronger when you have an appreciative audience." + +"Mine," said Murray, "was too polite to laugh." + +Mrs. Olcott asked him a question and they changed the subject, but +after dinner Murray found an opportunity for a word with Andrew, whom +Olcott had left alone in his smoking-room. + +"Perhaps it's hardly correct to talk to you on business here, and I +won't press you, but there's some information you may be able to give +me," he said. + +Andrew looked at the man more carefully than he had hitherto done. +Murray's face was thin and rather haggard, but it bore the stamp of +authority. His manner was grave but pleasant. + +"I am at your service," he replied. + +"Then I want to ask about the Rain Bluff mine. A little time ago a +stock-jobbing friend told me it ought to turn out a good thing. He +said that whatever Allinson's took up could be relied on, and it was +clear that he had a high opinion of your house. On the strength of it, +I put some money into the venture." He paused with a smile. "Now, you +are wondering why a man with means enough to speculate should go to +West Africa?" + +"Something like that was in my mind." + +"Well, I learned that I'd the knack of getting on with primitive +peoples; in fact, it's my only talent, and I felt that I had to make +use of it. Then it's a mysterious country, that gets hold of one, and +perhaps is hardly so bad as it's painted. As a rule, I don't have +fever more than half a dozen times a year. What's more to the purpose, +part of the money was lately left to me. But I'm getting away from the +point." + +Andrew was favorably impressed by the man. They had something in +common, for both were imbued with a sense of responsibility. Murray +had lightly indicated this, and Andrew knew that West Africa is far +from a desirable place to live. + +"You have a reason for feeling anxious about those shares?" + +"Yes. In my district, the risk of getting permanently disabled by the +climate or shot by an ambushed nigger has to be considered. Stipend +and pension are small, and I felt that I needed something to fall back +on. That was why I bought the Rain Bluff stock. Now my friend tells me +that the shares are being quietly sold in small lots, which he seems +to think ominous. If you can tell me anything about the matter, I'll +be grateful." + +Andrew was silent for a minute or two, feeling troubled. He did not +pity the regular stock-jobbers and speculators who had bought Rain +Bluff stock, for they were accustomed to playing a risky game. It was, +however, different with such investors as Murray--men of small means, +who had carefully saved something to provide for old age, and women +left with just enough to keep them from want. These, he thought, +formed a numerous class and demanded his sympathy. They had, no doubt, +avoiding ventures which offered a larger return, been influenced by a +desire for security, which would seem to be promised by Allinson's +connection with the mine. + +"Well," he said at last, "I believe it is true that shares have been +parted with by a man who has a say in the management of the company." + +"That sounds discouraging. If I sell out, I'll lose three or four +shillings on every share." + +"Yes; and if others follow your example, it will weaken the Company's +position. However, I think you can venture to keep your stock." + +"You can't expect me to take the risk of holding, in order to support +a concern in which I'm badly disappointed. I must ask you frankly what +is wrong at the mine?" + +"In strict confidence, I may say that the ore we are working does not +promise well." + +Murray looked at him in astonishment. + +"You are remarkably candid; but you give me a curious reason for +holding on to my shares." + +"Here's a better one," said Andrew. "We have another mine in view; but +whether it turns out rich or not, no holder of Rain Bluff stock shall +lose a penny by his confidence in Allinson's." + +"Though I don't know much about stock-jobbing, that strikes me as an +extraordinary promise." + +"I dare say it is," Andrew replied. "I offer you no guarantee; you +must use your judgment." + +Murray looked up sharply. + +"I believe your word is good enough. You have taken a load off my +mind, Mr. Allinson. I'll hold those shares. May I add that if my proxy +is likely to be of any value at your meetings, you may count on it?" + +"Thanks! And now, did I tell you that Olcott promised to bring you +out again to-morrow? There's a cover I want to beat and the pheasants +ought to be plentiful." + +They went down together and Murray joined Ethel Hillyard in the +drawing-room. + +"I've had a talk with Mr. Allinson which confirms your opinion of +him," he said. "But I must say that he doesn't fit in with my idea of +a Company director." + +Ethel laughed. + +"Andrew's new to the business, and undertook it with reluctance from a +sense of duty. For all that, though his ignorance of commercial +matters must be a handicap, I expect him to make a success of it." + +"One would imagine that a desire to make money is the more usual +object, but I think you're right. In fact, you have touched upon a pet +idea of mine." + +The girl turned and studied him. There was a trace of gravity in his +manner, and she understood that he had done with credit difficult and +dangerous work. + +"What is the idea?" she asked. + +"To put it roughly, something like this--more depends on character +than specialized training; determination and strong sincerity often +carry one farther than a knowledge of the rules of the game. One sees +people who rely on the latter come to grief." + +"Even in Company floating?" + +"That," said Murray, smiling, "is a subject about which I'm ignorant. +I was speaking of the general principle." + +"Do you mean that right must prevail?" + +"I'm sanguine enough to believe it often does in the end." + +"One would like to think so. But as we seem to be getting serious, +isn't the question whether it prevails or not another matter from an +altruistic point of view?" + +Murray pondered this and then looked up with a twinkle. + +"So long as I'm not priggish, I don't mind being serious. You see, I'm +fresh from the shadowy bush, where life is solemn enough, and when I +came home not long ago after a three years' absence I felt strangely +out of place. You're at a disadvantage when you can't talk about the +latest musical comedy or popular dancer, and it's as bad not to know +the favorite for an approaching steeplechase. However, to stick to our +subject, I see what you mean. One must do one's work and not worry +about the result?" + +Olcott was passing and he stopped beside them. + +"Murray seems to be moralizing," he laughed. "I must warn you that he +spends his evenings in Africa sitting behind a mosquito-netting +studying the early Victorian philosophers. It's some excuse for him +that when the niggers are quiet he has nothing else to do and nobody +to talk to except a colored official." + +"Don't you get any newspapers?" Ethel asked. + +"They're often too wet and pulpy to read, and now and then the +sporting natives bag the mail-carrier. I've known them try to stalk +the white officer responsible for too drastic reforms." + +Ethel regarded Murray with heightened interest. There was something +that both amused and touched her in the thought of the lonely man, +shut in by the black, steamy forest, spending his evenings reading +philosophy. + +"I wonder," she said, "whether you find any practical application of +the great thinkers' theories?" + +"One old favorite of mine strikes me as rather grim and singularly +hard to please; but so far as I can judge, he hits the mark now and +then. It's a pet theme of his that only that which stands on justice, +and is better than what it displaces, can endure. You see that worked +out in a primitive country like West Africa." + +"But isn't the progress of civilization assisted by machine-guns and +followed by gin?" + +"A fair shot!" laughed Olcott. "Our rule's often faulty, but it's a +good deal better than the natives had before. Murray knows a creek +that mutilated corpses used to drift down after each big palaver and +celebration of Ju-Ju rites." + +"I suppose he had some trouble in putting a stop to it?" + +Olcott broke into a grim smile. + +"One would imagine so, from what I heard of the matter. An army of +savages with flintlocks took the bush on the other side; there were +about two dozen colored Mohammedan soldiers, a white lieutenant, +carried in a hammock because he was too ill to walk, and a civil +officer who wasn't authorized to fight, to carry out the reforms. +Though it didn't look encouraging at the start, they were effected." + +"Ah," said Ethel, "one could be proud of things like that! After all, +Mr. Murray's philosopher may be right. It's cheering to find a man +ready to put his belief in justice to the test." + +"There's one," said Olcott, indicating Andrew. "I shouldn't wonder if +it costs him something." + +The group broke up and some time later Andrew walked home with Ethel. +The distance was not great, the road was dry, and a half moon threw +down a silvery light. Thin mist filled the hollows, the murmur of the +river rose from a deep valley, and the air was soft. + +"It's very open weather," Ethel remarked. "I suppose it's different in +Canada?" + +"In the part I'm best acquainted with the thermometer is now +registering forty degrees below zero, and it would need a charge of +dynamite to break the ice on the lakes." + +"Prospecting must be stern work," said Ethel speculatively. "It's +curious that you haven't thought it worth while to give me an account +of your adventures. Won't you do so?" + +"Well, you mustn't blame me if you find them tedious. As a matter of +fact, I haven't said much about them to anybody yet." + +He began with a few rather involved explanations, but his style became +clearer as he followed up the main thread of the tale, and Ethel +listened with close interest. + +"So it was the Frobishers who saved you by sending off a rescue +party!" she exclaimed when he had finished. "But how did they know you +were in danger?" + +"That's more than I can tell. Of course, we were behind our time, but +that doesn't account for all. I've a suspicion that Miss Frobisher had +some means of finding out the most serious risk we ran." + +Ethel thought this indicated that Geraldine took a marked interest in +the man. She wondered if it had occurred to him. + +"And you believe the fellow really meant to starve you?" she said. + +"He didn't intend us to find the food. It comes to the same thing." + +"But his conduct seems so inhuman! Surely, he would not have let you +die of hunger with no better reason than to prevent you from +interfering with his contract?" + +Andrew hesitated. He could not tell her that Mappin might have been +actuated by jealousy; modesty prevented his doing so. + +"The fellow is greedy and unscrupulous enough for anything," he +replied evasively. + +"But you hinted that he was clever," Ethel persisted. "Only a fool +would commit a serious crime for a small advantage." + +"It's certainly puzzling," Andrew admitted. + +Then he was surprised and disconcerted when Ethel turned on him a +searching glance. + +"Andrew," she said, "the man must have been given a hint by some one +more powerful. His is not the strongest interest you are opposed to." + +The color crept into Andrew's face. He suspected Leonard, but it was +unthinkable that he should declare his brother-in-law's infamy. This +was a matter that lay between the culprit and himself. + +"It's an unpleasant topic and the fellow's a rascal," he answered. +"It's hard to say what might influence such men. They're not quite +normal; you can't account for them." + +"But you're going back to look for the lode, aren't you?" Ethel laid +her hand on his arm. "Be careful; you have had a warning. I suppose +you must do what you have fixed your mind on and, knowing you are +right, I dare not dissuade you." + +"I'll run no risks that can be avoided and, in particular, trust no +outsider to look after the supplies for our next trip," Andrew said +grimly. "One experience like the last is enough." + +For a few minutes they walked on in silence. Ethel knew her +companion's character and admired it; and now she had met Murray, who +in some respects resembled him, as did Olcott. All were men of action, +and there was the same indefinite but recognizable stamp on them. They +were direct, simple in a sense which did not imply foolishness, free +from petty assumption and incapable of suave diplomacy; but one could +rely on them in time of stress. Leonard was a good example of the +opposite type; but she found the other more pleasant to think about. +When she reached the gate she gave Andrew her hand. + +"You know you have my good wishes," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER + + +Andrew returned to Canada satisfied with his English visit. He had not +convinced his relatives that his judgment was entirely to be trusted, +but he knew that he stood higher in their esteem than he had done; and +that was something to be thankful for. Leonard, he thought, would find +it more difficult to prejudice them against his plans. On reaching the +Lake of Shadows, he found Graham recovering and learned that the +Frobishers had left for their home in Denver. After remaining a few +days at the Landing he went up to the mine, where the ore showed no +sign of improvement. For all that, he spent a month there, waiting +until the thaw came and maturing his plans for his second journey to +Dream Mine. + +At last the rotting ice began to yield, and Andrew sat outside +Watson's shack one day, watching an impressive spectacle. The river +broke up with violence, the ice ripping and rending with a sound like +the roar of artillery, and as the great torn masses swept away, the +water pent up in the higher reaches poured into the gorge, swollen +with melting snow. It rolled by in savage flood, laden with tremendous +blocks of ice, some of which, cemented together near falls and rapids, +were the size of small frame houses. Among them drove huge floes into +which the floating cakes had solidified during the earlier frosts. +Here and there one stranded upon a point, or swung in an eddy, until +another crashed into it and both were shattered amid a bewildering +uproar. Then, for a while, the stream was filled with massive, driving +sheets of ice, which ground the banks with a tremendous din and scored +the tops of projecting boulders, while waterlogged pines and stumps +sunk in the river-bed were crushed to pulp. + +Andrew had never seen any display of natural forces to equal this, and +when he went into the shack for supper he found that he could not get +the recollection of it out of his mind. The lonely North is a savage +country, very grim and terrible in some of its moods. Andrew, however, +had carefully considered and endeavored to guard against its dangers, +and when a canoe which had been especially built for him in Toronto +arrived, he set out on his journey with Carnally and Graham. There was +now no risk of frostbite and the gray trout would help out their food +supply, but they knew the trip would cost them much exhausting labor. + +For some days they poled and paddled up the swollen river, spending +hours in dragging the canoe and provisions across rocky portages to +avoid furious rapids, and often wading waist-deep in icy water with +the tracking line. At night they slept, generally wet through, among +the stones, though there was often sharp frost and the slack along the +bank was covered with fresh ice in the morning; but they made steady +progress until the stream broke up into small forks and they must +cross the height of land. This was singularly toilsome work. In some +places they were forced to hew a path through scrub spruce bush; in +others there were slippery rocks to be scrambled across, while two in +turn carried the canoe, borne upside-down upon the shoulders. Then +there were the provisions to be brought up, and in relaying them each +difficult stage had to be traversed several times, so that once or +twice, when they had made only a mile or two in an exhausting day, +Andrew almost despaired of getting any farther. + +At last, however, they found a creek rushing tumultuously down the +back of the divide. They followed it, one of them checking the canoe +by the tracking line while the others kept her off the rocks with pole +and paddle. Their provisions were secured, so far as possible, from +damage by water, but there was danger of losing them in a capsize, and +boiling eddies and roaring rapids made caution needful. For a while +the creek led them roughly where they wished to go, and then turned +off, and they crossed a high ridge in search of another. Lakes and +rivers abound in those wilds, which are almost impassable on foot +during the short summer. As they worked north the sun grew warmer, but +the temperature fell sharply at night, and now and then the waste was +swept by piercing winds. + +One of these was raging when they scudded down a lake on a cold and +lowering evening. Gray vapor blurred the rocky shore, but here and +there a few dark pines stood out, harshly distinct. The water was +leaden-colored between the lines of foam, and short, slashing seas +broke angrily about the canoe, which ran before them with a small +lugsail set. Carnally knelt astern, holding the steering paddle; +Andrew lay down amidships, out of the wind; and Graham, crouching +forward, fixed his eyes ahead. + +"There seems to be a creek abreast of us," Carnally said. "We're in +shoaling water; watch out for snags." + +A violent gust struck them and the canoe drove on furiously, lifting +her bows on a foaming ridge while the water lapped level with her +stern. + +"Shoot her up!" Graham called out sharply. "Log right ahead!" + +Andrew seized the sheet and Carnally plied the paddle; but the warning +had come too late. While the canoe slanted over until her lee side was +under water as she altered her course, there was a sharp crash. Her +speed slackened for a moment or two. Then she lifted as a white wave +surged by; and when she drove on again the water poured in through a +rent in her side. + +"Can't be kept under by baling," Carnally remarked. "We'll have to put +her on the wind and make the beach." + +He hauled the sheet, but she would not bear the pressure when she +brought the wind abeam, and seeing the water pouring in over her +lowered side, Carnally let her fall off again. + +"Looks as if we had to keep her running," he said. + +"The end of the lake can't be far off and the water's too rough to do +much with the paddle." + +They scudded on, Andrew and Graham baling as fast as possible, while +the rising water gained on them, until blurred trees and rocks began +to grow out of the haze ahead. Then as a strip of beach became +distinguishable they lowered the sail, and soon afterward jumped over +and carried her out across the jagged driftwood that hammered on the +pebbles. There was a small promontory near at hand, and Carnally +walked across it while the others made camp. Supper was ready when he +returned, and after the meal was finished he lay down near the fire. + +"The canoe wants a patch on her bilge," he said. "Could you sew on a +bit of the thin cedar with the copper wire, Graham? There's some +caulking gum in the green can." + +"It would take me a day to make a neat job." + +"No hurry," replied Carnally. "The outlet from the lake's just beyond +that rise and it looks pretty good. When you have finished the canoe, +you and Andrew could take her down and wait for me where the creek +runs into the river we're looking for." + +"It would be hard work at the portages. But why aren't you coming with +us?" Andrew asked. + +"I ought to make the creek where Mappin cached the first lot of stores +for our other trip in about two days' march." + +"We have enough without them." + +"That's so. Anyhow, I want to look at the cache. Stores are a +consideration on a trip like this; the less you have to pack over the +portages, the quicker you can travel. Though we didn't find it, Mappin +knows where the cache was made." + +"I don't see the drift of this," Andrew said. + +Carnally smiled. + +"Hasn't it struck you that we might be followed? Sending up the canoe +and camp truck would show the people at the Landing that we were ready +to start, and Mappin knows our line roughly as far as the cache. You +can't make camp and haul across brush portages without leaving a +trail." + +"Ah! That makes one think. Of course, we would have no legal claim to +the lode unless we got our stakes in before anybody else." + +"It's not enough. You have to get back to a government office and file +your record before you're safe. Well, considering everything, I guess +I'll start for the cache at sun-up." + +The others agreed to this and after he left the next morning they set +to work on the canoe and repaired her satisfactorily. Then they +launched her on the outflowing stream and a few days later made camp +on the bank of a larger river, where they sat beside their fire late +at night. The gorge was filled with the clamor of rushing water, but +the night was very still, and they could hear sounds in the bush +through the deep-toned roar of the flood. Outside the glow of the +fire, which fell on the straight spruce trunks, there was nothing to +be seen; but they sat listening, for Carnally had been longer than he +expected and Andrew was anxious. + +At last, Graham raised his hand. + +"I heard something!" + +Andrew turned his head, but for a while could hear only the hoarse +turmoil of the river. Then he started as a faint crackle came out of +the shadows. It rose again, more clearly, and presently a man's dark +shape emerged from the gloom. A few moments later Carnally threw off +his pack and sat down by the fire, his boots badly ripped and his +clothing tattered. + +"I struck some pretty rough country," he explained. "The creek winds a +lot and I came across the range." + +"Did you find the cache?" Andrew asked. + +"Sure! It had been opened not long before and provisions taken out." + +Graham moved abruptly. + +"I suppose the things couldn't have been taken by Indians?" + +"No, sir! Indians would have cleaned out the whole lot. Whoever found +the cache left some food to pick up when coming back. There were three +or four white men in the party; I learned that when I struck their +empty camp. Looks as if the hog was still getting after us." + +"I'm afraid so," said Andrew, frowning. "What's to be done to shake +off his men?" + +"The fellows were heading down-stream, and I guess they'd hold on +until they struck this river, where they'd make a base camp and look +for our trail. Well, instead of keeping to the water, as they'd +expect, we'll strike across the divide, though it will be an awkward +traverse." + +His companions approved the plan, and the next day they found a spot +where smooth rocky slabs dropped gently to the water. Here they took +off their boots, to avoid leaving tell-tale scratches, and then they +hauled out the canoe. They were able to carry her some distance before +they met with much brush, and when they had brought up the provisions, +Carnally looked about with a satisfied air. + +"This wouldn't strike one as an easy place to portage across, and the +stream runs smartly past the stones we landed on," he chuckled. "I +guess Mappin's boys will go straight on, and it may be some time +before they get suspicious." + +His opinion was reassuring, as far as it went, but Andrew felt daunted +as he studied the rise ahead. The ravines were filled with brushwood, +the spurs clothed with spruce, and he failed to see how the canoe was +to be conveyed to the top. It must, however, be tried, and they set to +work, laboriously carrying her up the steep slopes, a few yards at a +time, until they reached a gully choked with brush, where progress +became almost impossible. They were forced to drag her through thick +bushes, stopping every two or three minutes for breath, while on the +steeper pitches they buried knees and toes in the gravel as they +passed her from hand to hand. The light was fading when they reached +the crest, exhausted, and it cost Andrew a determined effort to go +back some distance with Carnally for the provisions. Indeed, it was +only hunger forced him to do so. + +The nights had been getting lighter rapidly, but the soft dimness was +puzzling when the two men faced the ascent. They could not judge the +steepness of the slope; they plunged into bushes they had not noticed, +and there were spots where they narrowly escaped dangerous falls. +Slipping, scrambling, floundering, Andrew struggled up with his load, +and sank down, worn out and aching, beside Graham's fire. + +"You'll have to cook; I can't make another move," he said. "It strikes +me that the man who finds a mine in this country deserves all he gets. +That raises the question--how is it that Mappin can trust the rascals +he has sent after us? Suppose they found the lode, why couldn't they +stick to it?" + +"A mineral vein is of little use to a man without money," Graham +explained. "It would cost him a good deal in transport of provisions +and tools before he got his legal development work done; and then he +wouldn't be much farther on, because he'd have to put up expensive +plant and clear a trail to bring the ore out. As a matter of fact, the +fortunate prospector is forced to look for a capitalist." + +"That," remarked Carnally, "is how we are fixed. You needn't worry +about our going back on you." + +"Rot!" said Andrew. "You know I'd trust either of you with my last +penny!" + +"It's your trouble that you're a confiding man. But I guess you have +learned that it doesn't pay to take any chances when you deal with +Mappin." + +"I'm convinced of it. One experience of his tricks is enough." + +"I'll confess it wasn't enough for me. When I'd fired him out of the +store I felt so good that I set up drinks for all the thirsty slouches +in the hotel; but I made a mistake I've been sorry for ever since. +Instead of letting him walk off, I ought to have punched the hog until +they had to take him to a Winnipeg hospital. For one thing, it would +have saved us portaging over this blamed divide." + +The others laughed, and though Andrew admitted that Carnally's methods +were primitive, he thought there was some excuse for them. Mappin +might be considered an outlaw, against whom any weapons could be used. + +They went to sleep soon after supper, and resuming the march the next +morning, they spent two arduous days transporting the canoe to the +nearest water, and paddled down it, seeing nothing of Mappin's men. +The canoe received some damage when running a rapid into a lake and it +cost them a day to repair her, though Carnally showed much impatience +at the detention. When dusk fell they sat smoking by the fire, for the +night was cold. The wild cry of a loon rang at intervals across the +palely gleaming water; the resinous smell of the spruces was in the +air; and the soft splash of ripples upon the shingle accentuated the +stillness. + +The loon's call suddenly broke off in the middle, and Carnally got up +sharply. A little later he pointed to a dark speck which appeared out +on the lake. + +"The loon," he commented. "It was in the shadow by the big stone and +must have swum a good piece under water. Somebody scared the bird; +now it's gone again!" + +The black spot vanished and Carnally stood still in fixed attention +while Andrew's heart began to beat quickly. He could hear nothing, but +he knew that Carnally was seldom mistaken in matters of this kind. +Some minutes passed, and then as footsteps broke the silence, Carnally +beckoned Graham to give him a rifle they had brought. + +"Come out of the bush so we can see you!" he cried. + +A shadowy form appeared against the gleaming water and stopped. + +"What do you want?" Carnally asked. "Are you alone?" + +"Something to eat," said the stranger. "There's nobody with me." + +"One of the Mappin crowd, I guess. Where's the rest of you?" + +"I don't know. It's three or four days since I left them." + +"Then you can come along. I see you have a gun. If you're wise, you'll +keep it at the trail." + +"Don't be scared," said the other, advancing, "I'm not looking for +trouble." + +In a few moments he entered the firelight and stopped at a motion from +Carnally--a ragged and very weary man, with a pinched and eager look +in his face. + +"Now," said Carnally, "what brought you here?" + +"I'm starving," the man replied; and Andrew thought his appearance +bore it out. + +He sat down, with the rifle he had carried across his arm, and +Carnally indicated the frying-pan. + +"There's a bannock and some pork yonder. It won't take long to warm +up, but before you get any, we must have a talk. Why did you leave the +rest of Mappin's hobos?" + +"We wrecked our canoe in a rapid and lost all the grub. There was some +trouble about it, and when the others turned back to make the cache I +allowed I'd follow you. Missed your trail once or twice, but I figured +on the line you'd take and picked it up again." + +Andrew thought the tale was plausible, and a bruise on the man's face +seemed to corroborate it, as it hinted at the reason for his leaving +his comrades. + +"Will they follow us up?" he asked. + +"Can't tell," said the stranger. "They'd be mighty hungry when they +made the cache. Anyhow, I'd had enough of them." + +"Give him some supper," said Andrew. + +Graham put on the frying-pan, and in a few minutes the man fell upon +the food ravenously. When he had finished he felt for his pipe and +ruefully put it back. Andrew laughed and threw him a pouch of cut +tobacco. + +"You're white," said the stranger with a curious look. + +While he lighted his pipe Carnally, leaning quickly forward, picked up +his rifle and flung it into the lake. + +"Why did you do that?" the fellow asked in anger. + +"You'll have something else to carry and one gun's enough for this +crowd," Carnally significantly replied. + +"Then you don't mean to fire me out?" + +"Oh, no! I guess we'll engage you as packer, but I must speak to the +boss first," and Carnally led Andrew a short distance back into the +shadow. + +"Is it wise to take the rascal with us?" Andrew asked. + +"It seems the only thing to do. You don't want him to starve?" + +"Certainly not; but couldn't we give him a few provisions and let him +go?" + +"If he had a little grub to go on with, he might catch a trout in the +shallows or snare something that he could eat. Then he'd either follow +us or join his friends and put them on our track. I prefer to have him +under our eye." + +"But he'll see where the lode is!" + +"Sure! I'll take care he does no prospecting. Three claims on the best +of the vein will give you all you want to work, and as soon as your +record's filed you'll have prospectors coming up by dozens." + +"Well," concluded Andrew, "you must do what you think fit." + +They went back to the fire, and Carnally turned to the stranger. + +"Your engagement begins to-morrow. If you do your work, you'll get +your grub, and nothing else." Then he added: "If that doesn't seem +good enough, you can quit when you like." + +It was, as both recognized, an impossible alternative, because if the +fellow left their service he must starve. + +"Call it a deal," he said. "You have got me safe." + +"That's so," said Carnally. "You want to remember that the moment you +give us any cause for suspicion you get fired. Now what about your +partners? How long would it take them to make the cache?" + +"Two or three days." + +"Then they'd have to come back and find our trail. I reckon we're six +days ahead, and that ought to be enough. You have a blanket; you can +choose your place and sleep when you like." + +The man, who was obviously worn out, gathered some spruce twigs and +lay down on them, but the others sat a while beside the fire before +they followed his example. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +ANDREW STAKES HIS CLAIM + + +Soon after daybreak they launched the canoe, and though she was now +rather deeply loaded they made good progress down the outflowing +creek. When it was necessary for one to wade and check her with the +tracking line, their new companion was allotted the task, and at the +portages Carnally took care to give him the heaviest load. Though it +was obvious that he had not recovered from his long, forced march, he +seemed a good-humored rascal and resigned himself to the situation +philosophically. + +In the afternoon they came to a rapid and spent some time hauling the +canoe round it, and then they went back for the stores. Turner, as the +newcomer was called, was first despatched with a load which contained +nothing eatable, and Andrew was the last to set off. Dark spruces on +the high bank cut off the wind, the sun was very hot, and the +perspiration dripped from Andrew as he floundered across the stones. +They were large and uneven, and he had to proceed cautiously to save +himself from falling into the hollows between. Graham and Carnally +were some distance ahead, but after a while he overtook Turner, who +was moving slowly. Shortly before Andrew came up the man dropped the +things he carried and turned with signs of distress in his hot face. + +"I'm not trying to kick," he said. "Guess you've got a pull on me and +I have to work, but I'm a bit played out yet, and your partner piled +more weight on me than I can stand." + +"Stop and take a smoke," said Andrew, handing him his tobacco pouch. +"I don't feel very fresh, but I could carry those blankets. Let me +have them." + +"I'll have to do that or leave them. It was a tough march I made with +nothing to eat." He filled his pipe before he resumed: "There's no +meanness in you." + +"Never mind that. What was Mappin to give you for this job?" + +"Three dollars a day while I was out on it. Four hundred dollars when +I'd staked the claim, if the specimens assayed right." + +"But how could he tell whether you would do the square thing by him?" + +Turner grinned. + +"It wouldn't be safe to do anything else. Supposing I'd gone round, +looking for another buyer, he'd have had me doped or sandbagged before +I'd made the sale. You can't fool Mappin. You have to put your job +through when you deal with him." + +"It seems to me that you haven't made a success of this particular +business," Andrew remarked. + +"I certainly haven't," the other admitted with a rueful air. "Your +partner has me fixed--he's a smart man. There'll be no three dollars a +day for mine when I go home." + +"You have struck bad luck," said Andrew with a smile. "I'm not sure +you don't deserve it, but that's another matter. And now give me the +blankets: we'll take the things along." + +They went on, and when they reached the next wild stream where +tracking was necessary Andrew got into the water. Turner gave him a +grateful glance, but he afterward did his share of the heaviest work, +and when they made camp in the evening he soon went to sleep. When the +firelight, leaping up, fell on his shadowy form, Carnally chuckled. + +"A handy man; he's going to save us a lot of trouble, and we got him +cheap." + +"He's a bit of a rogue, and claim-jumping isn't a creditable +profession," Andrew replied. "Still, I don't think we ought to take +too much advantage of the fellow's necessity. After all, he's only a +tool. It's his employer who's really responsible." + +"Just so," Graham agreed. "The pity is that he should find men willing +to do his dirty work on very moderate pay; but there's no lack of +them. There are men you can only dynamite out of the mire, because if +you pull them out by gentler means they crawl straight back again. +It's unfortunate, because you meet some with a few likable qualities; +I think our new packer is one of these." + +"Their trouble generally begins when they get into the clutches of +such a hog as we're up against," Carnally said. "He knows how to +handle them and it needs some grit to break away from him. We'll get +Turner to tell us some of his claim-jumping experiences to-morrow +night. You'll find them interesting." + +Supper was finished and they were sitting in camp after a hard day's +toil when Carnally cleverly drew the packer out. He was not unwilling +and, warming to his subject, recounted incidents that filled Andrew +with surprise and disgust. Sitting in the shadow with his eyes fixed +on the ragged adventurer, he heard how small sawmill owners had been +jockeyed out of the timber leases they were not rich enough to +defend; how dams and flumes had been tampered with until their +harassed proprietor sold out his water rights; and the means by which +impecunious owners of minerals had been robbed of their claims. Turner +occasionally chuckled over the memory of some roguish trick, but, for +the most part, his manner was impressively matter-of-fact. Andrew did +not think he was drawing much upon his imagination; but it seemed +incredible that such things should be done without the men who plotted +them and reaped the benefit incurring general odium. After Turner had +strolled away, he said something of the kind to Graham. + +"The point is," Graham explained, "the low-down rascals who are used +as tools daren't talk where they'll be heard, and nobody attaches much +importance to what is said in third-rate saloons. Respectable people +don't ask too many questions when they see a prospect of dividends; +there may be something not quite straight, but so long as it's well +hidden, they don't want to know. Still, I'll say this: if you put the +ugly facts square before them, they'll quite often act, even if they +have to make some sacrifice to set matters right." + +"Yes," assented Andrew; "I believe that's true. There's a reason why I +find it encouraging." + +"Now we'll talk of something else," Carnally interposed. "It's my +opinion that we ought to leave the water soon, perhaps to-morrow, and +push straight across the last height of land for the lode. We want to +keep well ahead of the Mappin boys." + +They discussed it until they went to sleep, and the next day they +carried the canoe some distance back from the river and carefully hid +her in the brush. Farther on they cached part of their stores, and +then plunged into a desolate, stony waste. Their journey across it +proved uneventful, and at length they came down into the hollow where +the lode lay. As it was noon, they ate a meal before anything was +said; and then Carnally gave Turner a fishing-line with a trolling +bait on it. + +"You go back to the last creek we crossed and catch some trout," he +ordered. "Stay there until supper, whether you get any or not." + +Turner winked. + +"If I catch one with this outfit, it will be a mighty silly trout; the +thing's made for spinning behind a canoe on a lake. Don't you want +help with your prospecting? I know something about minerals." + +"So do we," Carnally replied. "I'd rather hear that you were fond of +fishing, because you're going to get a good deal of it. Every day +we're here you'll light out after breakfast and not come back till +dark. If we see you from the camp, we'll fire you on the spot." + +"I understand," said Turner. "Guess I'll stay out. I've no use for +taking the trail without any grub." + +He left them and Carnally turned to Graham. + +"We must get our prospecting done before the Mappin gang arrives, and +the sooner we start the better. We'll begin where we fired the shot +last time, and follow up the vein." + +It proved to be fairly well defined when they set to work with the +light tools they had brought, and their task was rendered easier +because the small but rapid creek had exposed the strata in scouring +out its channel. In some places they picked a hole, in others they +fired a charge of giant-powder, carefully separating the specimens +they obtained; and when evening came they sat in camp, examining +several heaps of stones. + +"They're promising," said Graham. "The weight is a good rough test, +and though it doesn't tell us much about the proportion of lead to +silver, I can find out something about that to-morrow. Jake, you might +pound this handful of stuff as fine as you can." + +He opened a small box which he had taken great care of during the +journey, and Andrew was surprised to see it contained a delicate +balance and several phials. + +"I didn't know you were an assayer," he said. + +"I'm not," Graham answered, smiling. "But you must remember that for +twenty years I've clung to the idea that I might find the lode, and +perhaps it isn't astonishing that I should try to learn something +about minerals and chemistry. In fact, it's been my only recreation; +but I didn't bring this outfit last trip because the frost would have +prevented my making much use of it." + +There was something that touched Andrew in the thought of the sawmill +clerk, patiently discharging his monotonous duties year after year and +preparing himself for the search which was the great object of his +life, though he knew he might never be able to make it. It was, +however, obvious that he had studied to some purpose, because he had +shown skill in tracing the vein, and Andrew had noticed that Carnally, +who knew a good deal about minerals, deferred to him. + +"I was lucky in getting hold of you and Jake," he said. + +Soon afterward Turner appeared with one trout, which he confessed he +had caught with his hands, and Graham carefully put away the box and +specimens. + +They began again at sunrise and worked with determined activity. +Before noon it grew very hot; there was no wind in the sheltered +basin, and the smell of the scattered spruces filled the listless air. +By degrees the men stripped off most of their clothing, and the strong +sun burned Andrew's bare arms and neck as he swung the pick. They +stopped only a few minutes for dinner, and continued with no +slackening of exertion until the shadows of the rocks covered the +hollow. Then Andrew, throwing down his tools, glanced with a curious +satisfaction at the pile of stones which marked the course of the +vein. He had accomplished something that day; the result of his toil +could be seen. + +"You look pleased," Carnally commented. + +"I feel so," declared Andrew. "We haven't improved the appearance of +the place from an artistic point of view; but I don't know when I felt +so content with what I've done. I used to feel proud when I'd helped +to fill the game cart at home; but this is different. Somehow it's +more bracing." + +"I understand; though I'm not much of a sport and when I work it isn't +for fun." + +Andrew slept as soon as he lay down on his bed of spruce twigs, and +awakened, fresh and sanguine, ready for another day's determined toil. +There was something strangely exhilarating in the resin-scented air; +Andrew felt vigorous and cheerful. Graham had expressed his +satisfaction with the rough tests he had made, and the more they +exposed the reef the better the ore looked. It would undoubtedly pay +for working and might yield a handsome profit, and Andrew felt that +the first half of the battle had been won. The other half would no +doubt entail some stubborn fighting, but he looked forward to it with +new courage. He had proved his ability and gained confidence in +himself; it was no longer a forlorn hope he was leading. He would +meet his cunning antagonist on fairly equal terms. + +Apart from all this, he found a keen pleasure in his work. It was good +to get up in the bracing cold of dawn and smell the aromatic wood +smoke as he renewed the fire. He had never enjoyed his breakfast as he +did in the desolate North; there was satisfaction in using the drill +with a dexterity he had painfully acquired. He could bring down the +hammer squarely upon the head of the tool, and swing the pick all day +with delight in the strength of his muscles instead of exhaustion. It +was gratifying to find that he had chosen the right line of cleavage +in the stone when the great fragments leaped up through the vapor of +the exploding charge. Judgment as well as strength was needed in these +things--all were worth doing and made for health and tranquillity of +mind. + +Turner seemed to recognize that Carnally was not to be trifled with. +He gave them no trouble, remaining away until the day's work was done. +Then as they lounged about the fire in the sharp cold of the evening, +he told stories, amusing and grim, and Andrew listened, divided +between admiration of the man's ingenuity and daring, and disgust at +his frank rascality. + +When the claims had been carefully staked and the last evening came, +Andrew was sensible of a keen regret. He had been happy in the +wilderness, and it was hardly probable that he would use the pick and +drill again. Henceforward his duty would lie in a different sphere; it +was the last time he would lie down in soil-stained clothes, healthily +tired after a day of bodily labor. The air was wonderfully clear; +scattered spruces and towering rocks stood out with sharp distinctness +against a glow of transcendental green. The smoke of the fire rose +straight up; the splash of the creek came musically out of the shadow. + +"I think we're all ready to start south at sunrise," Graham said +presently, and looked at Turner. "Can you guess why your partners +haven't turned up?" + +"No," answered the man. "I'll allow that I've been expecting them the +last day or two. Perhaps they couldn't strike your trail, and there's +a chance that when they made the cache, starving, they found there +wouldn't be grub enough to take them up and down." + +"It's possible," said Andrew, and looked at the others. "Though I +think we've staked off the best of the vein, it seems a pity that you +couldn't secure some of the rest." + +"It can't well be done," Carnally explained. "A man can locate only +one claim on the same lode; but if the ore pans out as good as it +looks, I'll be content with the terms you promised me." + +"I'm the one who's got left," Turner broke in. "I've packed your truck +and done your hardest work, and don't get five cents for it. It +wouldn't rob you if you let me stake a claim." + +"The difficulty is that you'd have to sell it to Mappin," Andrew +reminded him. + +"That's so," Turner admitted. "If I tried to go back on that man, it +would be the worse for me. The way I'm fixed is mighty rough." + +"You got your grub," said Graham; "you ran a big risk of being left to +starve; and you might have got shot. It strikes me you had better quit +Mappin's service and try how honesty pays." + +They left camp at sunrise and met with no misadventures on their +journey south. It was nearly completed and they expected to reach the +mine in a few more days when Carnally called Turner as he was loading +the canoe one morning. + +"You can let up on that job. We won't want you any more," he said +bluntly. + +Turner looked at him dismally. + +"Are you going to fire me here?" + +"You've hit it," said Carnally. "We'll give you grub for two meals, +and if you hustle you ought to make the camp back at the awkward +portage by noon to-morrow. You'll find a cache with provisions that +should last you to the mine by the water's edge. As I'll give Watson +orders you're not to have a canoe, we should be down at the settlement +a week before you get there." + +"Well," Turner acquiesced, "I guess it's no use grumbling." + +He was leaving the camp when Andrew called to him. + +"Though I suppose you would have jumped our claim without hesitation, +I don't want to be too hard, and we have found you a useful help. If +you will call on me at the Landing, I think I can promise you three +dollars for every day you have been with us. But it's conditional on +your playing no tricks!" + +"Your partner doesn't leave me many chances," Turner grinned. + +They launched the canoe and were paddling down-stream when Carnally +alluded to the matter. + +"I don't know that the fellow could make trouble for us; but he's +safer up here until we get our records filed," he said. + +Then he swung his paddle and the canoe drove faster toward a rapid. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +GERALDINE + + +On reaching the Landing Andrew learned that Frobisher had returned and +he rowed across to visit him. It was evening when he disembarked at +the little pier. Geraldine came down across the lawn, and Andrew's +heart beat fast as he watched her. She was wonderfully graceful, he +thought, her white summer dress and light hat became her, there was a +tinge of color in her face, and she was obviously eager to hear his +news. She gave him a quick glance before they met, and then smiled in +cordial welcome, for the man's expression was suggestive. He had lost +his strained and anxious look, there was now an assured tranquillity +in his bearing; he had not come back disappointed, and, for his sake, +she rejoiced at this. Then as she gave him her hand and noticed the +eager light in his eyes she grew suddenly disturbed. + +"You have been successful; I'm very glad," she said. + +"Yes," responded Andrew, holding her hand; "things have gone well with +us, but except for the mineral recorder you are the first person I've +told the good news to. That strikes me as particularly appropriate." + +"Why?" + +"I don't suppose I'd ever have found the lode if you hadn't encouraged +me. I felt daunted once or twice. Then I ventured to think that you'd +be interested." + +"I am interested," Geraldine assured him, gently withdrawing her hand. +"You needn't doubt that. But won't you come up to the house?" + +Andrew laughed with a trace of awkwardness as he realized that he had +been standing at the top of the uncomfortably narrow steps by which +one reached the pier. + +"It might be better, if you and Mr. Frobisher are not engaged." + +"He's writing letters, though I think he'll have finished soon. +Wherever he is, he's generally busy; but I can answer for his being +glad to see you." + +"That's good to hear. I'm heavily in your father's debt; but I'd like +to think he's not the only one in the family to feel the pleasure." + +Geraldine smiled at him mockingly. + +"How delightfully formal, Mr. Allinson! Besides, you seem to need a +good deal of assuring." + +"A fair shot," Andrew laughed. "I'm afraid, when I'm really in +earnest, I'm apt to be stilted; but perhaps it isn't an altogether +unusual fault. The correct light touch seems hard to acquire." + +"Not stilted; that's too harsh. Now and then you're rather too +serious." + +Looking at her steadily, he saw amusement in her eyes, but he had not +wit enough to read all it covered and he felt slightly chilled. The +girl knew his love for her and had thought of him often and anxiously +in his absence; but now that he had come back safe and successful she +was seized by a strange timidity. She shrank from the drastic change +in their relations which his attitude threatened; he must be kept at a +distance until she had become more used to the situation. + +"It's very possible. Wouldn't it be pleasanter here?" he hinted, as +they approached a seat which stood in the shadow of the firs. "We +might disturb your father by going in." + +"Yes," Geraldine assented, somewhat dubiously, though the house, which +faced the west, was uncomfortably hot. + +They sat down and she glanced at him unobtrusively. She was now very +cool and free from embarrassment, while the man seemed to be suffering +from constraint. Moreover, he looked disappointed, and she felt sorry +for him. + +"So you found the lode and recorded your claims?" she said. "That must +have been a great relief; but what will you do next?" + +Andrew grew impatient. He would have preferred to discuss something +more personal than his mining affairs. + +"Oh," he exclaimed, "you must have heard enough about the lode to make +you tired of it! However, I expect I shall have to go back to England +before long." + +Geraldine wondered whether the curt announcement was meant to alarm +her, and decided that it was not. The man was too modest to make sure +of her affection for him. Nevertheless it caused her some concern. + +"Will it be a visit, or do you think of staying there?" she asked. + +"I can't tell," said Andrew moodily. "If I can get things straightened +up, I may come back to the new mine; but I shall not know until I +arrive." + +"Do you wish to come back?" + +"Yes," he answered emphatically, "very much indeed." + +"Then you will no doubt find an excuse for doing so. It shouldn't be +difficult to a fertile mind." + +"Unfortunately, mine often seems to suffer from sterility. It has been +subjected to stimulating influences here, and I'll miss them on the +other side." + +"If needful, couldn't you take Carnally with you?" Geraldine spoke +with a touch of raillery. + +"Carnally's useful, as far as he goes, but I'm not sure that he'd be +much help in England; and he's not the only person I've, so to speak, +come to lean on." + +Geraldine regarded him with faint amusement. + +"Then perhaps it's better that all outside support should be withdrawn +and you learned to stand on your own feet. Don't you think you could +do so, if you made an effort?" + +"It's possible; I've no doubt I'll have to try. But when it's been +generously given, one gets into a habit of looking for help and +applause." + +"That's unfortunate. Criticism's much more bracing. I'm afraid you +haven't had enough of it." + +"Haven't I?" said Andrew. "I got nothing else at home, and it's +damping to have somebody always ready to point out how much better you +might have managed things. If I do any good when I get back it will be +because of the encouragement I've had here." + +"That's a very poor reason. You ought to do what you intend because +you feel it's right." + +"No doubt," said Andrew with a stern smile. "Still, you see, it needs +a good deal of nerve." + +Geraldine mused for a few moments. He had played up to her, as she +thought of it, but in his half-humorous manner there had been a touch +of gravity, and she knew what her commendation had been worth to him. +She was glad that he valued it, but she could not have him guess this, +and she shrank from showing too much earnestness. + +"Well," she said, "the mail must be sent across to the Landing soon; +I'd better tell my father." + +She got up, and a few minutes afterward Frobisher appeared and took +Andrew to his smoking-room. When they had talked for a while, Andrew +took out a few specimens. + +"So far as we were able," he said, "we picked out the best of the +lode, but I believe much of the ore is of excellent quality. I brought +you these specimens to look at, and the assayer's report on those we +sent him after the first trip." + +Frobisher examined them with care. + +"A good business proposition; this stuff should pay for smelting. I +suppose you realize that your knowledge of the locality is valuable?" + +"That's what I am coming to. If the thing's in your line, any +information I can give you is at your service." + +"Ah!" said Frobisher. "Let us understand each other. Do you want to +sell?" + +"Not to you. We have staked three claims, which is all we can legally +hold, and our records were only filed an hour and a half ago. By using +my map of our route and a sketch of the vein, you or anybody you may +send could reach the spot and have some days for prospecting before +anybody else could find it." + +"Then you're offering me this out of friendship?" + +"Not altogether. I don't forget that you saved us from starving; but +apart from that, I'd rather have somebody I know as owner of an +adjacent claim. You'll excuse my saying that I can't tolerate Mappin +there. I understand it isn't difficult to get up disputes over +boundaries and water-rights, and he'd find some means of attacking +us." + +"You're wise, and I appreciate your generosity. There's every reason +to believe you have put me on to a good thing. But I'm getting too old +to make the journey, and there's no time to be lost. The trouble is to +fix on the right men to send, because they'll have to be reliable. I +know two or three boys in Colorado who would see the thing through, +but it would take a week to bring them here and only a British subject +can file a record." + +He broke off and sat silent a few moments. "I have it!" he exclaimed. +"There's a fellow at the Landing who, I think, would deal honestly; +but he must get off with some packers to-morrow. If you'll excuse me, +I'll go across." + +Andrew went to a writing-table and hastily filled up a sheet of paper; +then took a map from his pocket and wrote some directions on the back +of it. + +"Here's an order on Watson at the mine for any provisions and tools he +can supply. It will save your men some transport and that means a +quicker journey. Now listen carefully for a minute." + +"Thanks," said Frobisher, when he had finished, and left him on the +word. + +Andrew laughed as he sat down to finish his cigar. The American's +promptness was characteristic, and he was glad to feel that he had +been of some service to him. + +When he went out he found Geraldine on the lawn. + +"What have you told my father?" she asked. "He ran past me without +speaking and nearly fell into the water as he jumped on board the +launch. I can't remember having seen him go so fast." + +"Perhaps it's not surprising. I told Mr. Frobisher about the lode and +where the best locations were." + +"The information ought to be valuable. The ore is rich, isn't it?" + +"I think so, but of course it isn't mine to give away. All I did was +to give your father some information which should help him to find it +before anybody else. He means to send up a prospecting party at once." + +Geraldine pondered this. The man was too modest to make much of the +affair, but her father's eager haste had its significance. His +judgment on business matters was unusually good, and she had no doubt +that the minerals were worth locating. It was, however, more important +that Andrew had been able to place him under an obligation, because, +in a sense, his power to confer a favor proved his value. She had +believed in him from the first, but it was pleasant to feel that +others must recognize his merits. + +"Well," she said, smiling, "you have made some progress in his esteem. +He's inclined to judge people by what they have done, and you have +found a rich mine." + +"Wouldn't it be fairer to judge them by what they would like to do? +It's often better than the other." + +"Oh, no! Liking's easy; one often gets no farther. Accomplishment is +hard, but it counts." + +Strolling to the beach, they found a seat on the pier. There was not a +breath of wind and the languid ripples splashed softly on the shingle. +Near the land the dark shadow of the pines floated on the glassy +water, but farther out it gleamed with silvery light. To the west the +black rocks and ragged trees cut sharp against a glow of vivid green. +Andrew was silent for a while. Geraldine had quietly checked him +whenever he bordered on the sentimental, and it was disconcerting, +though he felt that it would be wiser to make no effort to come to +closer quarters until she tacitly gave him encouragement. + +"What a beautiful country this is!" he said at length, feeling that +the topic was safe. + +"Yes," answered Geraldine, "it is beautiful and rugged, very different +from your well-cared-for England, and I suppose it gets wilder as you +travel north." + +"It's the wildness that gets hold of one. I don't know when I was so +happy as I was when hauling the canoe over portages, tracking her up +rapids, and blowing rocks to bits. There must be a primitive strain in +us that shows itself in the waste." + +"It may be useful now and then, but indulging it doesn't make for +progress. Even our Indians have found that out, and those who still +cling to their primitive customs live miserably in skin tepees by +catching fish. I dare say any of them could take a canoe up a rapid +better than you." + +"There's no doubt of that," Andrew responded. "But I don't see your +drift." + +"One gets impatient now and then with the cult of the physical, which +they're so proud of here. It's good in a way, but it doesn't lead to +much. For example, you can't continue finding valuable claims, and +there must be something for you to do besides drilling holes for +dynamite." + +"Shooting pheasants is easier," Andrew smiled; "I can't say it's more +useful." + +"And is there nothing else?" + +Andrew grew suddenly thoughtful. + +"I'll confess to a hazy idea that if I succeeded in straightening up +the Allinson affairs, I'd retire from the business while my laurels +were fresh, and turn miner. The claims will need attention, and it +would be more in my line than the management of the firm." + +"You mean you would like it better?" + +"I'm beginning to understand." Andrew looked at her gravely. "If +anybody else had hinted as much, I'd have felt it was exacting and I +was being driven too hard. With you it's different. Once or twice +already you have given me the impetus I needed, and you're right now. +But if I'm not required by Allinson's why shouldn't I attend to the +claims?" + +Looking up he saw the launch, which had rounded a neighboring islet, +heading for the pier, and shortly afterward Frobisher joined them. + +"I've got everything fixed," he said jubilantly. "Three men will start +at sunrise. But you look as if you had been discussing something +important. What's it all about?" + +"Give us your opinion, Father. Mr. Allinson seems to think he can make +a few drastic reforms in his firm, and then leave such matters alone. +My idea is that he will find it harder than he expected." + +Frobisher laughed with quiet amusement. + +"Mr. Allinson has still a good deal to learn and I'm afraid he's much +mistaken in this matter." He turned to Andrew. "Once you take an +active interest in a big business you'll find you can't let go. +Instead of your directing the concern, it will come to own and drive +you unmercifully hard. For the last ten years I've been trying to take +life easier and escape from the pressure of affairs, but I'm still a +long way from doing so. In fact, in spite of my good resolutions, it's +only an hour since I launched out on another new venture." + +"Isn't it largely a matter of temperament?" Andrew asked. + +"No doubt; but not quite in the way you think--that is, it's not +always a question of making money. If a man has what we'll call the +constructive genius, he can't stand and look on when he sees anything +that needs to be done. He feels that he must take his coat off and get +to work." + +Andrew had an uncomfortable feeling that Geraldine and her father were +right. One thing led to another, and he might be drawn irresistibly +into a long series of business complications, which was by no means +what he had at first contemplated. Nevertheless, if his services were +of any value, Allinson's had the first claim on them. He dismissed the +matter when Frobisher suggested that they go in to supper. Frobisher +was witty, Geraldine charmingly cordial, and it was with regret that +Andrew took his leave. Geraldine walked to the pier with him and he +noticed a gentleness in her face that set his heart to beating. He +thought the soft dusk emphasized her beauty by etherealizing it. When +they reached the steps she turned to him with a smile. + +"I feel as if I'd presumed too far," she said. "After all, I'm only a +girl and younger than you are, which doesn't seem to justify my +imposing my half-formed views on you." + +"I don't think that matters," returned Andrew. "I believe those views +are right." + +"Then, though you had better test them thoroughly, you don't feel +offended?" + +"I am grateful; but there's one point that disturbs me. I shouldn't +like to think you were reconciled to the idea of getting rid of me." + +Geraldine smiled at him. + +"That would be a wrong conclusion. If it's any comfort, we shall miss +you; but it isn't such a very long journey from England to the Lake +of Shadows. You will find it needful to come over and see how the +mines are working now and then." + +"Whether the mines need me or not, I shall come." + +She gave him her hand. + +"We'll consider it a promise; but you're not going yet, and you +needn't neglect us before you start." + +When she turned away Andrew got into his canoe and paddled back to the +Landing. He had, he felt, been firmly held off at arm's length, but +for all that he had noticed faint hints of tenderness in the girl's +manner which were highly encouraging, and she undoubtedly took a +strong interest in him. He must proceed cautiously and avoid alarming +her by being precipitate. That, after all, was the course he +preferred, for he was strangely diffident in love. + +A day or two later he saw Turner in the bar at the hotel, where +several others were lounging; but the man gave him a careless +greeting. Andrew went into the lobby and Turner presently sauntered +in. + +"Can you come down to the beach behind the sawmill dump in a few +minutes?" he asked. + +Andrew nodded, and when Turner went out he put some bills into his +wallet and made for the beach. It was a quiet place, hidden between a +rocky head and a bank of sawdust, and Turner was waiting for him. + +"I suppose you have come for the money I promised you?" Andrew said. + +"That's not the only thing, though I'd be glad to have it." + +Andrew counted out several bills. + +"I didn't want to be seen talking to you at the hotel," Turner +explained. "It mightn't have been safe for me if Mappin got to hear of +it. But there's something you ought to know. The boys he sent after +you heard about the strike you made when they came down here for grub, +and are on the trail again." + +"I don't see how that matters. When Mappin's rascals reach the lode +they'll find we have staked off the best, and it looks as if every man +about the settlement who can get away is going up to prospect." + +"Those fellows," persisted Turner, "are old hands at the game. I don't +know their plans, but there's one thing you can depend on--they mean +to make trouble. They might shift some of your stakes and then claim +that your record wasn't correct, which would give Mappin a chance of +getting after you. It takes a smart surveyor to lay out boundaries and +frontage in such a way that they can't be questioned. I want to warn +you to be on the lookout." + +Andrew considered. He knew there was sometimes litigation over mineral +claims, and he had to deal with a clever and unscrupulous man. + +"I wonder why you told me this?" + +"You treated me like a white man," Turner answered with a trace of +awkwardness, and then broke into a grin. "Besides, I was getting tired +of the business, anyhow; there wasn't a dollar in it for me. Now I +guess I'll light out before somebody comes along." + +Andrew thanked him, and then went off in search of Carnally, feeling +glad that he had treated Turner leniently. The man was a rogue, but he +had the virtue of gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE JUMPERS + + +The sun was rising when Joe Thorpe made a hasty breakfast with his two +companions in their camp beside the lode. He was a logger by +profession, though he had an extensive experience in prospecting for +timber-rights and minerals. Big Joe was known as an honest man; that +was why Frobisher had selected him to stake off a claim, and he had +arrived late on the previous night after a forced march. + +"We ought to have a clear day or two before the first of the crowd +that's following us comes in, but that's all," he said. "We want to +get our prospecting done and the best locations picked before the rush +begins, and we'll start as soon as you've finished." + +"I'll be through in a minute," said one of the others with his mouth +full. "It's a pretty fair deal Frobisher made with us and he's not the +man to go back on one." + +"That's more than I'd say of Mappin," remarked the third of the party. +"He's in this somehow, isn't he? What was it Carnally said to you when +we were getting ready to start, Joe?" + +"Told me to watch out for the Mappin crowd. It seems Mappin's put +Scaith, who made the trouble over the Newark timber-rights, on to the +job. The fellow's a crook, and two of the others have been mixed up in +jumping rows. Now we like Carnally, and he allowed he was on to a good +thing in the Allinson claims. Anyhow, Watkins, you've had enough for +one man. Let up on the pork and bring along the drill." + +They set to work, and it was late in the afternoon when, stripped to +shirt and trousers and dripping with perspiration, Joe stopped for a +few moments to look about. Thirty feet behind him the creek swirled +furiously around a rocky head, the steep face of which was fumed and +scarred by giant-powder. A stake was driven into the crest of the +promontory, another could be seen a short distance back, and +straggling jack-pines and spruces followed the edge of the bank. The +ground had been disturbed all round and was strewn with piles of soil +and stones. + +"I guess the Allinson outfit know their business," he observed. "It +looks a curious way to pitch a claim, but if you come to figure out +the thing, it gives them the best frontage they could get. This corner +post's just where I'd have put it. If they'd located it a bit to the +right, it would have swung their line off the richest stuff. There's +no room for us here on pay dirt: we'll move higher up." + +He took a few steps forward but stopped suddenly at a sharp crash +followed by a puff of vapor that curled up among the rocks ahead. +Great fragments leaped out of it, and Joe ran for his life as one +large piece that turned over as it sped came toward him. It fell short +with a heavy thud and he swung around angrily. + +"What in thunder are you firing two sticks for where you weren't +told?" he cried. + +"Watkins likes a big charge," grinned his companion. "He's surely +rough on giant-powder." + +The third man came toward them and explained. + +"That blamed Allinson corner post shoves us back, and I wanted to see +if we could squeeze in a block beside them and keep on the ore, +though I guess there's not much use in it. If I was a jumper, I'd +shift that stake." + +"You can't do it!" Joe replied promptly. "We're acting square! But +when the fumes have cleared, we'll look at what you've got." + +The examination confirmed his opinion that they were shut out by the +Allinson claim, which must be respected, and they moved farther up the +lode. It was dusk when they stopped work, and they spent the following +morning digging holes and firing shots before deciding on their +locations. These they roughly marked with piles of stones, but there +were distances to be carefully measured and bearings verified before +their stakes were driven, and while they were getting dinner another +party arrived. The men were ragged and weary, and the appearance of +several was far from prepossessing. + +"There's Scaith and Nepigon Jim," Watkins exclaimed. "Brought four +other fellows with them. They're a tough-looking crowd." + +The newcomers lighted a fire, and while they prepared a meal their +leader strolled across to the other camp. He was a short, wiry man, +with keen eyes. + +"Well, Joe," he said, "you've been over the ground; what's it like?" + +"Pretty good," Joe answered. "The Allinson gang got first pick and +we've had the next, but there's plenty pay dirt left. I suppose you're +up here for Mappin? You want to keep off our blocks." + +"Sure we will," said the other genially. "We'll take a look round +after grub and see where we can begin. You got away from the Landing +mighty smart." + +"We wanted to keep ahead of the crowd. I suppose the boys were getting +ready when you left?" + +"They were quitting work all round the settlement; one or two outfits +would get off soon after us. We made pretty good time over the +Allinson trail. But I guess our dinner's ready." + +He moved away and Joe turned to his companions with a meaning glance. + +"That's a man who'll want some watching," he warned them. + +During the afternoon he and the others drove in their stakes, and +there was apparently nothing to prevent their return to record the +claims, but Joe declared that he was tired and they would not get far +enough before dark to make it worth while to start. Accordingly, they +lounged in camp while the newcomers wandered about the neighborhood, +testing the ground. It struck Joe as suspicious that they seemed to +find it necessary to cross the Allinson claims very frequently. Toward +evening the sky grew overcast and rain began to fall, but Joe's camp +was sheltered, and when it grew cold after supper they made a bigger +fire. + +"Some of the boys from the settlement should get through by morning, +and they're a straight crowd," Joe said. "We'll take the trail first +thing after breakfast." + +A raw wind sprang up, the rain got heavier, and dusk fell early; but +when the others went to sleep Joe sat up a while. He had done what he +had been sent to do and would receive a good reward for it, besides +retaining an interest in the claims when Frobisher took them over +after the development work had been done. The thought of it excited +him, but after a while he laid his blanket in a hollow and went to +sleep. + +It was, however, not sound sleep, for every now and then he opened his +eyes, and at last raised himself to a sitting position and looked +about. The fire had burned very low, so that its light did not dazzle +him, and he could see the shadowy trunks that ran up into the gloom. +Heavy drops fell among the red embers, the wind wailed dolefully about +the branches, and he could hear the rain beat upon the stones. Though +it was darker than usual, the sky was visible and rocks and trees +stood out black against the surrounding obscurity. Knowing that he had +a long march before him, Joe felt irritated because of his +restlessness; but as he did not feel at all sleepy he lighted his pipe +and began to think of his return journey. + +Presently Scaith's camp-fire caught his eye. It was burning brightly, +which seemed to indicate that the party had sat up very late or that +somebody had risen and thrown on fresh fuel. This struck him as +curious, and he watched the flickering glow. Before he had smoked out +his pipe he imagined that he saw a blurred figure among the smoke. It +vanished, though he did not think the fellow had left the camp. He sat +for a few minutes, pondering the matter. Although they had given him +no reason for doing so, he suspected Scaith's party and felt uneasy, +wishing that the night were clearer. Large objects were faintly +distinguishable, but Joe did not think he could see a man except at a +very short distance, and the wind among the spruce tops would prevent +his hearing footsteps. It was raining very hard, trickles of water ran +down the trunks, and cold draughts eddied about him. He would be more +comfortable lying down under his blanket but he was troubled by vague +suspicions and felt that he must keep watch. + +At last he got up and picked his way toward the newly staked claims. +The ground was rough and he fell over a heap of stones, but he +reflected that the darkness which prevented his seeing anything would +also prevent his being seen. He had flung his blanket over his +shoulders, and though it impeded his movements it kept him drier. He +wandered about for some time before he could find the first stake, but +it was easier afterward because he knew the line and had only to count +his paces. The other posts were all in their proper positions; it +looked as if he had wasted his pains, for no attempt had been made to +tamper with the boundaries. + +This was satisfactory, but Joe did not feel quite at ease. He wished +that some of the other parties from the Landing had arrived, because +he knew the men, and knew that they would keep a keen lookout for any +trickery. Claim-jumping is sternly discountenanced by honest miners, +who are apt to deal with the jumpers in a drastic manner. Joe, +however, could not delay his departure. The filing of an application +form in the recorder's office is the first proof a discoverer of +minerals can advance of his right to them. + +He stopped a few moments by the last stake, feeling that he could now +return to camp, but still irresolute. It would be dark for some time +yet and mischief might be on foot. Then it dawned on him that the +Allinson claims would be better worth attacking than his, and he moved +toward the corner post, which was the key to their position. Their +safety was no direct concern of his, and he was getting wet; but +Carnally was his friend and Allinson was held in much esteem at the +Landing as a just and considerate employer. With difficulty he found +the post, which seemed to have been undisturbed; but he felt +suspicious and reluctant to leave the spot. Finding a hollow to lee of +a rock, he sat down. + +For a while nothing disturbed him. He could hear the creek roaring +among the stones below, for the steep edge of the bank was only a few +yards away. Scaith's fire glowed in the distance, and the rain blew in +sheets past the edge of his shelter. Joe thought he was foolish for +waiting, but he stayed. Then all at once a dim figure was outlined +against the sky only a few paces from him. + +Joe had heard nobody approach and he was startled; but the next moment +he became cool and intent. A man was moving toward the Allinson corner +post. He had his hands on it when Joe sprang forward. But he was too +late to surprise the fellow. Joe closed with him in a savage grapple; +but he could not throw him, and glancing sideways at a sound, he saw +that he would shortly have to deal with a second enemy. Another man +was running hard toward them. + +It was obvious that he would be overpowered unless he could disable +the fellow he had seized before his confederate arrived; and with a +tense effort he drove him backward. Clutching each other, they +staggered a few yards through the darkness, until Joe felt the ground +slant sharply beneath his feet. Then, using all his force, he flung +off his adversary. The man disappeared and there was a splash in the +creek below. Then Joe turned breathlessly to meet the other man. + +He was near at hand, but, instead of attacking him, the fellow stopped +and cried out. This, however, did not trouble Joe, because the shout +would bring his companions upon the scene as well as the other party. +Moving cautiously in search of clearer ground on which to meet the +rush he expected, his foot caught in his blanket, which had fallen +off, and he swiftly picked it up. He had hardly done so when the +fellow ran at him, and Joe, meeting him with a staggering blow, flung +the heavy blanket over his head. He stumbled, unable to see, and Joe, +leaping upon him, bore him to the ground. There he had the advantage +of being uppermost; and, getting his knee on the other's chest, +managed to hold him down. This was satisfactory, so far as it went, +but he did not know what to do with his captive, and shouts now broke +out in the darkness. The rest of Scaith's friends were evidently +coming to the rescue, but he could hear Watkins' voice, and wondered +anxiously which would arrive first. + +He spent a minute or two holding the fellow down and thumping him as a +hint to keep still, while hurrying footsteps rapidly drew nearer. A +voice he did not know reached him, and he remembered that although +there was a rifle in camp he was unarmed and, if he stuck to his +prisoner, there would be two of his friends to four of Scaith's. That +was long odds; it looked as if he must be driven off the field, but he +determined to give the other side all the trouble he could. + +A moment or two later a man appeared. + +"Scaith!" he called, and the fellow under the blanket struggled as if +he had heard. + +"Quit it!" warned Joe, striking him hard; and then shouted: "Stand off +before you get hurt!" + +The newcomer stopped, no doubt trying to make out the meaning of what +he indistinctly saw, and Joe, hearing two or three more running, did +not get up. If the fellow attacked him, he would resist, but he wished +to keep his captive out of action as long as possible. They waited, +both expecting help, until Watkins and the third of Joe's party came +upon the scene. Behind them appeared three others, and both parties +paused. In the darkness it was difficult to discover what was going +on. + +"Where's our boss?" the first of the strangers asked. + +"I can't say," Joe answered. "One of your crowd's in the gulch, and +I've another here who'll sure get damaged if he don't keep still. I +don't know which is which." + +Scaith's friends seemed disconcerted at the news. + +"What's to be done about it, Joe?" Watkins broke in. + +"Well," said Joe coolly, "I guess we'll give them a chance to quit." +He addressed the opposite party. "You had better look for your +partner, boys. There'll be no stakes pulled up to-night." + +"We can wipe you out!" was the answer. "We've got a gun!" + +"So've we," replied Watkins. "I've got something else that will fix +you as quick. Get a hustle on; we've no use for jumpers!" + +Nobody stirred. Joe knew that he must confine himself to a defensive +course; Scaith's was the stronger party, but they were apparently +daunted by the loss of their leader. + +"You want to be reasonable," argued one. "What we're out for has +nothing to do with you. This isn't your claim." + +"We're going to watch it," Joe said. + +"Run them off!" cried one of the others. "We've talked enough!" + +They seemed ready for a rush, and Watkins quickly struck a match in +the shelter of his jacket. The next moment a slight hissing became +audible and he held up something which emitted small red sparks. + +"I guess you know what this is," he remarked. "The fuse is pretty +short and there's a stick of giant-powder at the end of it. You had +better quit before I pitch it into the midst of you." He added +sharply: "Get up, Joe!" + +They were startled by his cold-blooded daring, and though it may have +been discharged by accident, a pistol flashed. Then, as Joe sprang to +his feet, Watkins yelled in mockery and flung the dynamite cartridge +into the air. A train of sparks marked its flight, but the others did +not wait, and while Joe and his comrades ran off there was a flash and +a detonation. + +It was followed by a shout some distance off and a sound of men +running hard. Joe called his friends back. It was not Scaith's party +he heard: the footsteps were too numerous. + +"What's the trouble?" somebody shouted. + +"Jumpers!" Joe answered, and turned to his companions. "It's the first +of the boys up from the settlement." + +In a minute or two the newcomers arrived and Joe explained the matter. + +"We were making for your fire when we heard the shot and hastened on +our fastest hustle," said one. "Now we'll go along and bounce the +blamed jumpers out." + +Dawn was breaking when they reached Scaith's camp. They found several +men very busy, but they stopped a moment when the party came up. + +"You have to get off the ground!" ordered one of the men from the +Landing. "The sooner you quit the better for you!" + +"We're going," was the sullen answer. "I reckon we know when you've +got the best of us." + +"Then," said the other man, "we'll wait till you start--and we won't +wait long!" + +Shortly afterward Scaith's party took the trail to the south, and as +there were six of them Joe concluded that his first assailant had not +been seriously damaged by his fall into the ravine. When they had +gone, one of the new arrivals turned to Joe. + +"Carnally and Graham should be here before night," he said. "They were +getting ready to come up when we left. Jake allowed he wanted to be on +the ground." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE EVE OF BATTLE + + +It was evening when the big liner which had left Montreal at daybreak +steamed slowly past the ramparts of Quebec, the roar of her whistle +echoing among the rocks. The tide which had floated her across the +shoals of Lake St. Peter was running low, the great river was +unruffled, and Andrew leaned on her saloon-deck rails, watching the +city open up as she swung inshore with the slack stream. Behind the +wharves and warehouses at the waterside old buildings and loftier +modern ones, stores, banks and churches, rose in picturesque +confusion, tier above tier, to the heights girdled by Dufferin Avenue, +and the huge Frontenac Hotel. It struck him as a beautiful city, +viewed from the river, but it bore an exotic stamp. In spite of the +sooty smoke of the locomotives and the rattle of steamboat winches, it +had a stronger resemblance to the old romantic towns of France than +the business centers of essentially modern Canada. + +A feeble scream answered the sonorous whistle, and the engines stopped +for a few minutes as a tug steamed out from the wharf. She brought a +dozen passengers besides a number of mailbags, and when she cast off +the screw throbbed again and the liner forged ahead. It was with mixed +feelings that Andrew watched the city drop behind and the white thread +of Montmorency Falls disappear behind a long green island. Beyond it +the river widened, the shores were falling back, and dusk was creeping +across the oily water. Open sea was still far away, but Andrew felt +that he had parted from Canada, and though he was going home with his +work successfully done, the thought filled him with wistful regret. In +spite of many hardships and difficulties, he had been happy in the +northern wilds, and happier with Geraldine by the Lake of Shadows. He +meant to come back when he had finished his fight for Allinson's and +he thrilled as he wondered how Geraldine would welcome him. She had +given him a gracious farewell and her sincere good wishes; but she had +with gentle firmness prevented his making any direct appeal. This he +determined should not be the same again. When he returned she should +hear him out; but there was still much to be done before he could +prove his right to claim her, for the possibility of ignominious +failure confronted him. + +Before the next few weeks had passed he might be beaten and +discredited--jeered at as a rash fool who, undertaking a task beyond +his powers, had brought disaster upon those he meant to benefit and +wrecked an honored firm. But apart from such considerations, he knew +that he had turned his back upon the strenuous life of the wilderness. +Even if he returned to the lode for a month or two, he would travel by +well-marked roads, surrounded by some degree of civilized comfort. +There would be no more of the zest of the unknown trail; the charm of +the lonely North would be broken by the crash of machinery and the +voices of busy men. + +The dinner bugle broke his reverie, and when he was leaving the saloon +a steward gave him a letter the tender had brought. Recognizing +Carnally's writing, he opened it eagerly in a quiet corner of the +smoking-room, and as he read it he felt a faint envy of his comrade +who was using pick and powder in the wilds. This, however, gave place +to more practical considerations. Carnally related the jumpers' +defeat, which he described as Mappin's last attempt to trouble them. +The claims, he said, were safe from any fresh attack, and there was a +marked improvement in the ore as they opened up the lode. He thought +Andrew could devote himself to his English business with undisturbed +confidence. + +Andrew realized that the latter would need all his attention, and +during the short voyage he had little to say to his fellow-passengers. +Revolving schemes in his mind, he found weak points in all of them, +for it was a serious problem he had to attack. He could see several +ways of regulating the Rain Bluff Company's affairs, if Leonard would +agree, and he could bring charges against his brother-in-law which +would cost him his relatives' support; but this course was not +admissible. Leonard must be deprived of all control over Allinson's +but it must be done without suspicion being cast upon the integrity of +the firm. That would be difficult. Then Florence's position required +thought. Andrew wished the unraveling of the matter had been left to +somebody else with more tact and acuteness, but it was his duty and he +must do the best he could. + +On landing he traveled straight to London, and after taking a room at +a hotel went on foot to the Allinson offices. It was a sultry day with +rain at intervals; the streets were miry, and smoke thickened the +listless air. As he walked eastward along the Strand the roar of +traffic jarred on his ears and he noticed the streaky grime on the wet +buildings; but it was the intent, pallid faces of the passers-by that +impressed him most when he approached the city. Some were pinched and +hungrily eager, some were gross and fleshy, but the steady, direct +frankness of the Canadian glance was missing, and there was a more +marked difference in the movements of Andrew's city countrymen. All +were in a hurry, bolting into and out of dingy offices, but they had +not the free virile grace of the men who followed the lonely Canadian +trails. Nor had they, so far as their expressions hinted, the +optimistic cheerfulness that is common in the West. + +Though he was glad to be at home, Andrew was sensible of a faint +depression. The people he saw about him were those he would +henceforward work among; he must change the drill and canoe paddle for +the pen, and breathe the close air of offices instead of the fragrance +of the pines. Had the option been his, he would have turned away from +the city; but, as the head of Allinson's, he was not free to choose. +Doggedly, as when he had followed the frozen trail on a morsel of +food, he held on eastward past the Law Courts. + +At the office he learned that Leonard was away at a German health +resort, but would be back in a few days, and that Florence was staying +at Ghyllside. Andrew was sorry for Florence and felt guilty when he +thought of her. Though she had always taken her husband's view and +refused to consider him a person of any importance, she was his eldest +sister. Had she been less prejudiced, she might have helped him to +come to some understanding with Leonard which would have prevented a +direct conflict, but he feared he could look only for opposition and +bitterness. Next he learned that the Rain Bluff shareholders' meeting, +which he had suggested, had been fixed for an unexpectedly early +date. He surmised that Leonard, having his plans ready, meant to get +them adopted before his own were prepared. + +Summoning Sharpe, the elderly chief accountant who had served his +father, Andrew spent some hours with him, mastering so far as possible +the state of the firm's affairs. With a few exceptions, they were +prospering; there was no doubt that, in a sense, Leonard had done his +work well. In particular, the returns from foreign ventures were +excellent, and though Sharpe could not tell him precisely how the +profits had been made, Andrew with wider knowledge on some points +could guess. He feared that a full explanation would not redound to +the honor of the firm. He knew of lands to which Allinson's money had +been sent, where the high interest was wrung out of subject races with +fiendish cruelty. + +At last, when the electric lights were burning in the +lavishly-decorated office, Sharpe closed his books. + +"I think that is all I can tell you, Mr. Allinson," he said. "On the +whole, I venture to believe you must find our position eminently +satisfactory. The one weak point, if I may say so, is the Rain Bluff +mine. You will have seen that the shares are quoted down." + +"I've noticed it. What's the reason? The directors wouldn't let any +information that might have a depressing effect leak out." + +"There has been some selling," Sharpe answered with a shrug. "It's +possible that things have been kept too close. A little encouraging +news given to the press now and then goes a long way, but silence +tends to uneasiness." He hesitated. "I suppose I must not ask about +the Company's prospects until you have met the Board?" + +"You have been investing?" + +Sharpe admitted it. + +"I bought in the open market, with no favor shown. The firm has +treated me liberally, but I may have to make room for a younger man by +and by, and I had two boys to start. One at law, the other as surgeon; +but they are only beginning to stand on their own feet, and it was a +drain. What was left went into the Rain Bluff. I felt I was safe in a +venture organized by us." + +He looked at Andrew eagerly, but for a few moments the latter mused. +It was, he thought, such men as this old servant, patient, highly +trained toilers, who would have been hardest hit by the failure of the +mine. When he answered, his expression was unusually grave. + +"I think I can say that you have no cause for anxiety." + +"Thank you," said Sharpe. "Your assurance is a great relief. I wonder +whether I may mention that you have your father's manner; it was his +habit to make a curt statement without an explanation, but it always +carried weight. You remind me of him strongly, though I never noticed +the resemblance until to-day." + +"You have paid me a sincere compliment," said Andrew quietly. + +He spent the evening studying figures in his hotel, with no thought of +the attractions the city had to offer, and the next day he proceeded +to call on as many of the Rain Bluff directors as he could find in +their offices. They were city men, ignorant of any but the financial +side of mining, and he saw that the first two regarded him as an +inexperienced meddler. These, he thought, had been given a hint by +Leonard, though he did not question their honesty. Another insisted on +talking about Canadian sport, with the fixed impression that he had +really gone out to shoot and fish, and Andrew abandoned the attempt to +undeceive him. The fourth, however, heard what he had to say with +close attention. + +"To divulge this news would bring about a dangerous crisis," he warned +Andrew. "I must strongly urge you to consult with Hathersage and defer +any mention of new arrangements until after the meeting." + +"Then I should have you gentlemen united against me." + +"You do us injustice," Rahway protested. "On some of the points +involved our judgment is necessarily better than yours, and we would +no doubt insist on following it, but you will not find us neglectful +of the real interests of the Company." + +"They can be served only by a radical change of plans. As it stands, +the Company is rotten!" + +"Grave language, Mr. Allinson." + +"It's warranted. You must submit a report to the shareholders. Is it +prepared?" + +The director handed him some sheets of paper which Andrew studied with +rising indignation. + +"I recognize Hathersage's work!" he exclaimed. "There's no hint of the +difficulties that confront us. He wrote this?" + +"It's a draft I have just received from him." + +"And after what I've told you about the mine, you think it should +stand?" + +Rahway looked disturbed. "With a few exceptions, I must say that I do. +You are new to these matters, and don't realize how undesirable it is +that we should make our troubles public. Give us time to consider and +mature fresh schemes, and, if matters are really so serious as they +seem to you, we may find some judicious remedy. Undue haste can only +have disastrous results." + +Andrew lost his patience. + +"You want to tinker with the situation, to keep the shareholders in +the dark, while you try to patch up a tottering concern? It's an +impossible course! The truth must be faced boldly and the Company +reorganized from the start!' + +"If that is so, it must be done by the directors, with great caution. +I must beg you not to force our hands." + +"Well," replied Andrew, "I have nothing more to say. I shall attend +the meeting and do what seems advisable." + +He left the office, convinced that he could take only a bold, +independent course, for no help could be expected from the men he had +called on. Leonard's influence over them could not be combated. He +thought they might honestly doubt that the state of affairs was as +serious as he had represented; but if they were convinced of this, +their chief desire would be to keep the mine going long enough to save +their credit, and to make disclosure gradually. He was glad he had +told them nothing about the richness of the Graham lode and that the +claims on it were held under his personal control. On reaching his +hotel, he wrote to the directors he had not been able to see, though +he did not expect much result from this, and the next morning he left +for his home. + +Though he had a cordial welcome, he did not explain his plans to his +relatives, and Florence seemed to regard him with suspicion. A week +later Leonard came down to take her home, and asked for a private +interview after dinner on the night of his arrival. Andrew went with +him to the library and waited calmly until he began. + +"We must understand each other," Leonard said. "I hear you have found +the lode. Will you tell me your plans?" + +"Not to begin with. I want some information about yours first. No +doubt Mappin cabled you news of our discovery?" + +"He did. I might retort that you have seen my colleagues and tried to +gain them over, in my absence, instead of waiting for my return; but +that is not an important matter. What is it you wish to know?" + +Andrew's voice was quietly steady as he asked the test question upon +which their future relations turned: + +"Do you mean to submit the report to the Rain Bluff shareholders as it +stands?" + +"Yes," Leonard answered curtly, and Andrew knew that there could be no +compromise. It was now a trial of strength; one of them must be driven +off the field. + +"Knowing it to be misleading?" he said. "Very well; I can't prevent +its issue. I suppose you have heard that your confederate has been +beaten in what must be his last attempt to thwart me?" + +"I heard that an attempt had been made to jump the Company's claims." + +"My claims," said Andrew. + +"The Company's, I think. You were our representative when you found +them." + +"We'll let that go; it's not a point that's likely to be raised." + +As the question of the ownership of the claims seemed to be of +importance, Leonard looked puzzled. + +"Oh, well," he said, "I've told you that, if needful, Mappin must be +sacrificed." + +"That is not what you told him. You must have meant to trick one of us +or play false to both." + +"I can't tolerate such words!" + +Leonard lost the indulgent air he had so far assumed, and Andrew, +leaning forward with elbows on the table, fixed his eyes on him. + +"We'll drop all disguises. You have plotted against me ever since I +went to Canada, and I'm showing you more consideration than you +deserve in speaking of these things in private instead of before the +family. It is for Florence's sake I'm doing so." He raised his hand. +"Let me finish! You would have ruined the Rain Bluff Company sooner +than allow me to reorganize it; you conspired with Mappin to starve me +and my friends to death." + +Leonard sat back in his chair with a harsh laugh. + +"That is ridiculous! If we are to talk the matter out, try to be calm. +I'll admit that I would have been glad to prevent your wasting the +Company's time and money on an absurd adventure, and gave Mappin a +hint to that effect. If he went farther, for his own ends, I'm not +responsible." + +"I'd like to believe that you speak the truth. Apart from this, you +have persuaded the directors that my suggestions are not to be +considered seriously and what's worse, you have from the beginning +prejudiced my relatives against me. It's your doing that they think me +a fool." + +A smile crept into Leonard's eyes. + +"It looks as if you mean to force a quarrel," he said. + +"In a sense, you're right. We can't go on as we have been doing." + +"Very well. What do you suggest?" + +"In the first place, I ask for your resignation from the Rain Bluff +Board. That shouldn't be difficult; you have been selling your +shares." + +Leonard considered for a minute. + +"I might agree. Three of the directors must retire, and the Company +isn't likely to prosper if you get control." + +"I understand your reasons. The concern has got into trouble, for +which I'm to be held responsible, and you clear out because you find +it impossible to curb my recklessness. You expect to save your credit +in that way." + +"Have it so, if you like," said Leonard coolly. + +His answer convinced Andrew that Leonard did not know of the richness +of the lode. Andrew thought he had honestly disbelieved in it, and +Mappin, who had informed him of its discovery, which had not yet been +widely mentioned in the Canadian papers, might not have made him +understand its importance. Indeed, it was possible that Mappin meant +to throw over his English confederate. + +"I have another demand to make. I want your consent to a dissolution +of your partnership in Allinson's." + +Leonard started and his face grew hard; though it seemed impossible +that Andrew, whom he had genuinely looked down on, should urge the +matter. + +"This is too much!" he exclaimed. "Have you lost your senses?" + +"I think not. You have betrayed the trust my father had in you; you +have started Allinson's on a downward course. That you have, with the +exception of the Rain Bluff speculation, so far made money for the +firm does not count, because you can't continue doing so. There's a +code of business morality; they are not fools in the city, and your +methods would be found out. Then the reputation we trade upon would +be gone. But enough of this. Put your price on your position and I'll +pay it if possible." + +Leonard clenched his hands. + +"No!" he answered. "I hold my place! You cannot get rid of me!" + +"Is that your last word?" + +"Yes! I've tried to be forbearing, but you push me too hard. It has +come to an open fight, which may as well begin at the shareholders' +meeting. I shall not resign from the Board." + +"It was bound to come," said Andrew. "We know how we stand." + +Leonard rose. + +"Florence and I leave to-morrow! There is no train to-night." + +"That must be as you wish," responded Andrew, as he went out. + +Half an hour later Florence found him on the terrace. Her face was +flushed and her eyes were angry. + +"Andrew," she cried, "do you mean to persist in this madness? Shall I +try to make peace with Leonard before it is too late?" + +"I'm sorry it's too late already. I can't think he sent you." + +"No; I came because I felt I must. Can't you see that you are bent on +ruining yourself and bringing discredit on the firm?" + +"I think not; but it's a point on which we can't agree. I can't blame +you for taking Leonard's side." + +"Oh," she cried, "try to be sensible! Think how Leonard has developed +the business and earned the money that you have spent. Try to remember +all you owe to him." + +A queer smile crept into Andrew's eyes. He knew what he owed to +Leonard, but Florence must not guess. She should keep her faith in her +husband, if she could. + +"At the worst, he would leave the firm with a very much larger capital +than when he joined it, and there are, no doubt, other firms which +would welcome him." + +Florence turned upon him with a mocking laugh. + +"But Leonard is not going to leave the firm! Tell me, for one thing, +why you wish him to?" + +It was far from Andrew's intention that she should ever learn. + +"Well," he said slowly, "our views are so different on almost every +point that it's impossible we should get on. I'm very sorry, Florence, +but you can't mend the matter. The split was inevitable." + +"And you venture to set your immature judgment against Leonard's?" + +"I'm forced to. Don't say any more, Florence. I suppose the thing must +trouble you. Forgive me, if you can." + +"I'll try, when you have found out your folly," she said, and left +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +ALLINSON'S MAKES GOOD + + +It was with a strange sense of detachment that Andrew attended the +first meeting of the shareholders in the Rain Bluff mine. He had +thought of the event with great anxiety, made numerous plans and +abandoned them, and now he had come, in a sense, unprepared, +determined to submit two general propositions and let the shareholders +decide for themselves. Ignorant of the usual mode of procedure at such +meetings, he had consulted nobody better informed, and realized that +he might be ruled out of order or shouted down; but he was sensible of +a coolness that somewhat surprised him. + +The room hired for the occasion was large and handsome, with a floor +of inlaid hardwood, frescoed walls and lofty roof. It had something of +the look of a chapel. At one end a group of well-groomed frock-coated +directors were seated at a fine oak table, with the Company's +secretary behind an array of books and papers. All that the eye rested +on suggested stable prosperity, for Leonard knew the effect that +imposing surroundings had on the small provincial investor. It would +be difficult for inexperienced and unorganized malcontents to +disregard the air of severe formality which he meant to cast over the +proceedings. + +Andrew missed nothing as he entered. To face a crisis had a steadying +effect on him, and his manner was very tranquil as he walked up the +long room. + +Carefully scanning the assembled shareholders, he surmised from their +dress and appearance that a number of them were people of small means +from country towns. There were a few women, who looked nervous, as if +they felt themselves out of place. He was surprised to see Gertrude +and Mrs. Fenwood; and then as his glance roved farther he caught sight +of Wannop, who gave him an encouraging grin. Robert Allinson was +nearby, looking unusually grave; but Murray caught Andrew's eye and +smiled. On the whole, he was glad that he had made no attempt to win +over his relatives since his return: it was better that they should +judge and vote like the rest of the shareholders. Then as he took his +place he looked at his fellow-directors, whom he had not seen since +his futile interviews. They wore an air of staid formality, and he +suspected that before the meeting was finished they would regard him +as a traitor to his class; but that did not matter. He had given them +their opportunity and they would not seize it. Leonard, dressed with +fastidious taste, looked, as usual, suave and well-bred, but the quick +glance he gave Andrew seemed to hint at anxiety. + +He made a short speech, calculated to reassure, but containing very +little definite information. His audience listened in an apathetic +manner, and it struck Andrew that a curious, matter-of-fact dullness +characterized the proceedings. Leonard stated that the business of the +meeting was to adopt the report and elect new members of the Board in +place of those who retired, though they were, he added, eligible for +re-election. Then there was a discordant note, for a short man in +badly cut clothes, with spectacles and upstanding red hair, rose in +the body of the hall. + +"I take it that our chairman has made an error," he said. "Our +business is to consider the report; not necessarily to adopt it." + +"That is correct," said Leonard, smiling. "We invite your best +consideration. I will now ask the secretary to read the document." + +The secretary did so in a monotonous voice, as if it were a matter +which must be got through with out of respect to custom, and Andrew +felt that it would be a bold shareholder who ventured to disturb the +tranquillity of the meeting. Moreover, he recognized the cleverness of +the report. It said a good deal that was not to the point and avoided +every loophole for adverse criticism. There was only one weak spot--no +dividend was declared, though it was hinted that a satisfactory profit +might be anticipated when the Company's property had been further +developed. + +Somebody proposed that it be adopted, a seconder appeared; and then, +while Andrew felt that his time to speak had come, the short man with +the red hair got up again. + +"I move as an amendment that the report be held over until we are +supplied with more details," he said. "What I want to know is--why +there is no dividend, and when we may expect one?" + +One or two of the directors looked supercilious, the others amused, +and Leonard smiled indulgently. He was used to dealing with objectors. + +"The question," he explained, "is complicated, but I think we have +answered it already. I may add that it is unreasonable to expect a +dividend on the first year's operations. Preliminary expenses are +large, and a mine is not like a factory. The ground must, so to speak, +be cleared before you can get to work. Headings must be driven and +timbered, pumps and machines of various kinds have to be put up." + +"Were you ever in a mine?" the red-haired man interrupted amid some +laughter. + +"I hardly think that is to the point," Leonard answered lightly. +"Though I must admit that I have not been down a shaft, I have a +knowledge of the commercial side of the subject, which is all that +concerns me." + +"So I thought!" exclaimed the other. "You can't know much about your +work unless you have put up pitprops and used the pick. Now the +chairman of a mining company ought----" + +He was interrupted by cries of "Sit down!" and some ironical +encouragement, and Leonard frowned. It might be dangerous to allow the +meeting to get out of hand, and this troublesome fellow was giving +Andrew, of whom he was half afraid, his opportunity. + +"May I inquire whether the gentleman is a practical miner himself?" +one of the directors interposed. + +"I was, when I was young. Now I keep a shop and deal with pitmen. But +I came here expecting to be told about a dividend. I put three hundred +pounds into the Company, because lawyer Jesmond said one could rely on +anything that was started by Allinson's. The money wasn't easily +saved, but there was no opening in my business--what with the +co-operatives cutting into a small man's trade----" + +"That's enough!" said somebody; and there was a shout of "Don't waste +our time!" But the shopkeeper sturdily stood his ground. + +"I'm not here for myself alone," he resumed. "I came up, by excursion, +to speak for other people in our town. Jesmond did their business, and +he said----" + +There was loud interruption. The meeting was getting unruly, but +Wannop's voice broke through the uproar: + +"Go on, man!" + +"I mean to," replied the speaker calmly. "What's more, I have signed +proxies in my pocket to be filled up as I think fit." + +"It's doubtful how far that's in order," the secretary objected. + +"Let him fill them up by all means!" exclaimed a stockjobber +ironically. "If all his friends gave him proxies, they wouldn't count +for much! There are individual holders present whose votes----" + +He broke off at a touch from a neighbor, and Andrew cast a keen glance +at the quieter portion of the audience. It was composed of city men +who seemed inclined to support the directors. They were, perhaps, not +satisfied with the report, for several had been whispering together; +but Andrew thought they would prefer to avoid a disturbance and +disclosures that might injure the Company. If the meeting could be got +through safely, they could afterward sell out at once and cut their +loss. Andrew's sympathies, however, were strongly with such investors +as the determined shopkeeper. He could imagine the patient drudgery +and careful frugality which had enabled them to buy their shares. + +"I must ask the gentleman to find a seconder for his motion," Leonard +broke in. + +There was a pause and the shopkeeper looked eagerly round the hall, +where he seemed to have no friends. Then Andrew got up and quietly +faced the assembly. + +"I second the amendment," he said. + +A murmur of astonishment greeted the speech. + +"A director!" exclaimed somebody, and a whisper ran through the hall. +"Mr. Allinson--the company's agent in Canada!" + +Deep silence followed, and Andrew saw that every eye was fixed on him. +He was acting against all precedent--opposing his colleagues on the +Board, who were, in a manner, entitled to his support. + +"I suppose I'm taking an unusual line in offering the gentleman who +has been speaking information which the chairman has refused him," he +said. "He asked when he might expect a dividend. The answer is--never, +unless a radical change is made in the Company's policy." + +The plain words made a sensation, and after an impressive pause an +uproar began. + +"What about the prospectus with your name on it?" + +"What changes would you make?" + +"Keep quiet and let him speak!" + +"No, it's a case of collusion; there's some trick in it!" + +The meeting raged confusedly until Leonard got up. He looked shaken by +the storm of indignation. + +"Order, gentlemen! There is a motion before you." + +"The amendment first!" somebody shouted. + +"The amendment," said Leonard. "A show of hands will serve. 'That the +report be held over, pending the furnishing of further details.'" + +The audience appeared to be unanimous as the hands went up, and +Leonard sought to turn the matter to his advantage. + +"Carried," he said. "We will now adjourn the meeting until the +information which is asked for can be supplied." + +"That," Andrew stated firmly, "is not needful. I can give now an +accurate outline of the Company's position." + +The secretary protested that this was informal and one of the +directors requested Leonard to rule it out of order; but the meeting +had got beyond the chairman's control. There were poor men present who +thought they had lost their all, as well as rich men who believed they +had been deceived, and Leonard's words were greeted with angry clamor. + +Murray jumped to his feet. + +"I suggest that we hear Mr. Allinson. We will learn the truth from +him!" he said. + +"Let him speak!" shouted some one. + +Andrew, standing very still and intent of face, raised his hand and +the turmoil ceased. + +"I ask your attention. First, I must show you the worst of things, as +I learned it on the spot in Canada. The mine is threatened with +inundation, which can be prevented only by the use of powerful pumping +machinery; the rock is unusually broken up and faulty, which +necessitates expensive timbering and impedes the work. These +difficulties, however, need not be enlarged upon, because, if the +quality of the ore justified it, they could be overcome. Instead, I +will tell you roughly how much capital we have expended, the quantity +of ore raised, the cost of its extraction, and the value of the yield +in refined metal." + +He quoted from his notebook, and there was a strange quietness as he +proceeded: + +"Though the figures might be challenged and slightly modified by +experts, the conclusion is inevitable--the ore turned out at the Rain +Bluff can pay only a small interest on the cost of labor. The capital +spent in acquiring the mine has irretrievably gone." + +Then the storm broke. Questions, reproaches and insulting epithets +were hurled at the directors, some of whom tried to smile +forbearingly, while others grew red, and Leonard sat grim and silent +with his hand clenched. Andrew waited unmoved, and seized on a pause +to continue: + +"There is every reason to believe that your directors acted, as they +thought, in your interests, but they have been misled." + +"So have we!" exclaimed a furious investor. + +"I'm afraid that's true," Andrew agreed. "It's an important point, but +I must ask you to consider the remedies. In the first place, I will, +if necessary, redeem every Rain Bluff share which has been allotted; +that is, my brokers will buy up all that are brought to them." + +He was heard with astonishment. Some of those present knew a good deal +about commercial companies, but that a director of one should make +such an offer was unprecedented in their experience. On the surface, +it was surprisingly fair, but they suspected a trick. + +"At what price?" cried one. "The shares will fall to a few shillings +as soon as the truth about the mine is known." + +"At par," said Andrew. "You will be returned every penny you have paid +in." + +It was obvious that the greater part of his audience did not know what +to make of this. That he should be in earnest scarcely seemed +possible, as his offer seemed the extremity of rashness. No one spoke +for a moment or two; and then Robert Allinson rose. + +"If any guarantee is needed, I shall be glad to supply it, so far as +my means allow. My name is Allinson, a member of the family +controlling the firm which promoted this Company. I may perhaps +remark without undue pride that it is a point of honor with +Allinson's to keep its promises." + +"Bravo, Bob!" cried a loud, hearty voice. + +"I think," said Robert, in a tone of grave rebuke, "that is not +altogether seemly at a public meeting." + +Wannop got up with a laugh in which a number of the listeners joined. + +"And I am prepared to back my relative, Andrew Allinson, to my last +shilling--in which Mrs. Wannop joins me. Between us we hold a good +deal of stock." + +There was applause mixed with expressions of relief, but some still +suspected knavery. + +"What is Mr. Allinson's object?" a man blurted out. "What does he +expect to gain?" + +Andrew flushed, but answered quietly. + +"If you close with my offer, I shall undoubtedly benefit; but I do not +urge you to do so. Listen to the alternative, and then decide. But I +must ask for patience while I tell you the story of another mine." + +"As chairman, I must raise a point of order," Leonard objected; but +they silenced him with shouts, and he sat down, baffled, knowing that +the game was up. + +"Go on!" they ordered Andrew, and with a steady voice he began to tell +them of Graham's discovery of the lode. + +He paused once or twice, but they encouraged him, and as he proceeded +nobody felt that the narrative was out of place. A few, indeed, forgot +what they had come for and listened with a sense of romance and high +adventure, while he told them of the sawmill clerk's steadfast, +long-deferred purpose. Here and there women who had been keenly +anxious a few minutes earlier watched him with fixed, sympathizing +eyes, and Andrew, cheered by the close attention, was conscious of a +new power. He could hold these people, and take them with him into the +frozen wilds. + +They followed the march of the starving men across the Northern snow, +saw them blasting icy rocks, and searching with desperate eagerness +for the food caches. Then, as he told of the hard-won triumph, when +the vein was at last disclosed, a hoarse murmur that had something of +a cheer in it filled the room. It was forced upon those who had +doubted him that they were listening to an exceptional man, who had +borne and done things that needed the staunchest courage, for honor +and not for gain. + +"Now," he said with an abrupt change of tone, "I have told you how we +found the Graham Lode, on which three of the richest claims have been +contracted to me. Let me read you the reports of different assayers to +whom I submitted specimens." He did so, and added: "The original +documents are here; you may examine and pass them round. But I must +get on. These claims are mine, though my right to them might be +contested by the directors of this Company--the cost of finding and +proving them has been borne by myself--but, if you agree to their +development and the abandoning of the Rain Bluff, I propose to hand +them over as your property." + +There was confused applause, in the midst of which Leonard rose. + +"In face of the want of confidence you have shown in us and the +extraordinary course Mr. Allinson has taken, my colleagues and I feel +compelled to resign in a body." + +"Let them go! We're well rid of them!" exclaimed the shopkeeper. "You +don't join them?" he said anxiously to Andrew. + +"I had better do so and offer myself for re-election." + +"Then I have much pleasure in proposing Mr. Allinson," said Murray. "I +should like to mention that I remained a shareholder in this Company +because I preferred his bare word to the strong recommendations of +experienced stockjobbing friends." + +Several men rose to second him, and when every hand went up amidst a +burst of applause, Andrew said with some emotion: + +"Thank you for this mark of trust. My first offer stands--anybody +anxious to have his shares redeemed at par need only apply to my +brokers, whose address is here." He laid an envelope on the table in +sight of all. + +"We'll go on with the election," resumed the shopkeeper. "With the +permission of the meeting, I'll ask Mr. Allinson whom he'd like to +have on the Board." + +Andrew smiled. + +"You're giving up your rights and offering me a very unusual +privilege." + +"Never mind that," rejoined a stockjobber dryly. "These proceedings +have been remarkably unusual from the start. In fact, I imagine we +have reached the limit of irregularity for a company meeting. For all +that, I support our spokesman's plucky offer." + +"Very well," said Andrew. "I would suggest the nomination of three of +your previous directors. I believe they would serve you well, and +their appointment might act as a judicious check on me." + +The gentlemen he named looked irresolute and somewhat embarrassed, but +after a word or two with him they expressed their willingness to +serve. They were elected without dissent, and then Robert Allinson +stood up. + +"I have pleasure in proposing Mr. Antony Wannop, who is a large +shareholder and Mr. Allinson's brother-in-law. Though I may be +prejudiced, I feel that I may say that your interest may safely be +trusted to the Allinson family." + +"After what we have heard here, that is an opinion with which I +heartily agree," a man at the back declared. "None of us can doubt +that Allinson is a justly respected name." + +Wannop was chosen and several more; and then a man got up. + +"If it's necessary to hold an adjourned meeting, it will be attended +as a matter of form," he said. "I propose that we instruct Mr. +Allinson to push on with the development of the new lode as fast as +possible, giving him, with confidence, full authority to do what he +thinks fit." + +Though the secretary tried to point out that the Board must act as a +body, the proposal was carried with acclamation, and as the meeting +broke up Andrew leaned forward rather heavily on the big oak table. He +was filled with confused emotions and the strain had told on him. When +he looked up the room was almost empty and Leonard had gone, but the +reappointed directors whom he had suggested remained. + +"We have something to regret," said one awkwardly. "It's unfortunate +we didn't quite grasp your intentions. We feel that although you took +us unprepared, you have treated us with exceptional fairness." + +"You may remember that you wouldn't listen when I tried to explain +matters," Andrew answered with a twinkle in his eyes. "However, your +greater experience should be valuable to me and I've no doubt we'll +get on well in future." + +After a few cordial words they withdrew, and one of them turned to his +companion. + +"Though I'm glad we rejoined, I dare say you noticed the personal tone +he took. It's clear that he expects us to play second fiddle." + +"Well, after all, Allinson has shown that he's capable of leading the +tune." + +When they had gone Wannop came up to Andrew. + +"It's a compliment when I tell you I wasn't a bit surprised," he said. +"I'd expected something of the kind from you. The Allinson strain +showed up well to-day. You got hold of them and swept them off their +feet. Robert, too, proved himself a brick; but he's waiting in the +passage and we must try to shunt him. He'll lecture me on my new +duties and I want a big, long drink. In fact, half a dozen would be +better." + +Andrew laughed, and they went out, Wannop talking excitedly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE + + +On the day after the meeting Andrew returned to Ghyllside, and Hilda +met him at the station, her eyes sparkling with delight. + +"You have won!" she cried. "Antony came down last night and brought us +the news. Then Gertrude was over this morning and could talk of +nothing else. She said you were splendid, and she got quite vexed when +I told her she needn't speak as if she hadn't expected it." + +"After all, my position was a strong one," Andrew said. "It doesn't +need much skill to win the game when you hold the best cards, and of +course Dream Mine was the ace of trumps. Leonard could only throw down +his hand when I brought it out." + +"Ah! but how did you get the ace? It wasn't by chance; you searched +for it, starving, in the snow. But it's a silly metaphor--one isn't +allowed to choose one's cards." + +"That's true," Andrew replied with a trace of gravity. "It was dealt +to me--I think not by accident. Without it, I should not have won the +game." + +Hilda's manner changed, for she was seldom serious long. + +"Well," she said, when he had helped her into the waiting trap, "in +the future you'll be called on to play a different one. You can't +reasonably expect to find another mine, and you'll have no excuse for +tramping through the wilds on snow-shoes, after this. Instead of furs +and moccasins, you'll have to wear a silk hat and a Bond street coat, +and write things in ledgers instead of firing off dynamite. How will +you like it?" + +"I don't know. However, I suppose it will have to be done; though I +might, perhaps, hire somebody to do the writing for me." + +"That would be better," Hilda laughed; "your writing isn't good. But +I'm afraid there's a bit of a trial in store for you to-night. All +your friends and relatives in the neighborhood are coming to dinner +and of course they'll congratulate you and try to look as if you +hadn't astonished them. In a way, the situation is distinctly +humorous." + +"How so?" + +Hilda broke into a delighted laugh. + +"Can't you see it's the triumph of the foolish and looked-down-upon +members of the family? You're a popular hero; Antony's a director; and +I'm no longer a person who needn't be considered!" + +"But what had you to do with it?" Andrew asked with unflattering +frankness. + +"I believe I pulled some strings in a humble way. You know you're not +really brilliant, Andrew, and I'm afraid you never will be. Perhaps +that's why you can't see the large part we women had in your triumph. +Of course, you can walk a long distance in snow-shoes and use a +pickax; but who led you to think of putting the snow-shoes on?" + +"Graham, I believe." + +"Try to use some imagination! Go back a little farther. Who made you +see that Allinson's had a claim on you, encouraged you to go to +Canada, and prompted you to right that horrid contractor? Can you deny +that I, and Ethel, and the girl in Canada, now and then gave you the +push you needed? Indeed, I think Miss Frobisher must have been very +firm with you." + +"You're right," Andrew admitted. "Am I to understand that you propose +to continue your supervision and assistance in my duties as the +company's manager?" + +"You might do worse than consult me sometimes; but you must get a good +partner who knows the things you haven't learned, when Leonard +leaves." Hilda looked up anxiously. "I suppose he is going to leave?" + +"I'm inclined to think so," Andrew replied with some severity. "Still, +I haven't seen him since the meeting. It's fortunate I know of a +partner who'll make up for my deficiencies--I mean our old accountant, +Sharpe." + +"But surely he has no money!" + +"No. You may have heard that money can be valued too highly, and I +believe it's true." + +Hilda chatted on general topics during the remainder of the drive, and +soon after he got home Andrew went down to receive his guests. Ethel +Hillyard was the first to arrive, and she smiled at him as she gave +him her hand. + +"I have heard the news and am very glad," she said. "But it was only +what I had confidently looked forward to." + +"Then you had a narrow escape of being badly disappointed. As a matter +of fact, I owe a great deal to the staunchness of my friends. I should +hardly have pulled through if they hadn't cheered me on." + +"That's an easy task. It was you who made the fight." + +"I had no choice," said Andrew humorously. "There was no retreat. +Then I was well supported--by Olcott's friend, upon whom I had no +claim, among others." + +"Mr. Murray? I don't suppose you know that you won him over by letting +him miss a snipe you could have shot. It's a curious reason for giving +you his confidence, isn't it? But it has struck me that in many ways +you and he are alike." + +"After that, I can hardly say that Murray's a good sort," Andrew +laughed. "However, we must drop the subject, for here he comes." + +He saw that Murray had not noticed him but was advancing straight +toward Ethel, and that a faint tinge of color showed in her face. Then +after a word of welcome to the man he turned away. + +Mrs. Fenwood appeared next and greeted him with more cordiality than +he could remember her displaying. + +"It's a gratification to see you following in your father's steps at +last, though I must say that for a long time we doubted your ever +doing so. One recognized that you were influenced by a very proper +sense of your responsibility yesterday, and though I thought you were, +perhaps, somewhat rash, Robert assures me that you showed signs of +business acumen." + +"The trouble is that I may not be able to keep on doing so. If +Robert's capable of judging on such a matter, I'm afraid you'll have +to be patient with me and make allowance for my wasted years." + +"Don't be flippant. It isn't becoming," Mrs. Fenwood rebuked him. "You +have begun well, and it would be a grief to all of us if you relapsed +again." + +Mrs. Olcott came to his rescue and soon afterward they went in to +dinner. Andrew was quiet during the meal, though he felt content. The +strain he had long borne had told on him, and a mild reaction, which +brought a sense of fatigue, had set in. He wanted to rest and he had +not finished with Leonard yet. + +It was a calm, warm evening, and though a few shaded candles threw a +soft light over the table, the windows were wide open and the smoky +red of the dying sunset gleamed above the shadowy hills. Wannop was in +a boisterous mood and Hilda abetted him, apparently to Robert's +irritation. Ethel talked to Murray, who seemed gravely interested; +Mrs. Olcott was patiently listening to Mrs. Fenwood; Gertrude now and +then made furtive attempts to check her husband. Andrew looked on with +languid satisfaction, and joined in only when it was necessary. +Presently, to his annoyance, Wannop filled his glass and got up. + +"You have all heard what happened in London yesterday," he said. "Now +that we are here together and those who have joined us are our host's +good friends, it seems opportune to wish a long and useful career to +the Head of the House." + +They rose with lifted glasses, and Andrew felt a thrill as he read the +good-will in their faces and knew his victory over his relatives' +prejudices was complete. The toast they drank with hearty sincerity +was, in a sense, an act of homage--a recognition of his authority. +Instead of bearing with and trying to guide him, they would +henceforward follow where he led. There was a moment's silence after +they sat down, and then he thanked them awkwardly. + +As they left the table Mrs. Fenwood remarked to Hilda, who was nearest +her. + +"It's your brother's rightful place, but he was a long time claiming +it; and, after all, I don't see what Leonard can have done that he +should be deposed." + +"That lies between him and Andrew," Hilda replied. "I think he's the +only one who knows and he will never tell." + +"I'm afraid I haven't appreciated Andrew as he deserves," Mrs. Fenwood +observed with a thoughtful air. + +The remainder of the evening passed pleasantly, and the next day +Andrew received a telegram, requesting him to call on Leonard at the +Company's offices. He declined to do so, feeling that if Leonard +wished to make terms, he must come to him; and he smiled when another +message stated that his brother-in-law would arrive that evening. It +was getting dark when Leonard reached Ghyllside and was shown into the +library, where Andrew was waiting for him. + +"If you will let your man keep the horse ready I could catch the new +night train back from the junction," he said. "That would, perhaps, +suit both of us best." + +"As you wish," responded Andrew. + +Leonard laid some papers on the table. + +"You made me an offer a little while ago." + +"Which you refused," said Andrew. + +"I did; things have changed since then." + +"They have. Though I told the secretary to take care that only a very +brief notice of the meeting was sent to the papers, news of what took +place has, no doubt, leaked out. It was impossible to prevent this +from happening, and it must have had some effect in the city. You are +afraid it will damage your prestige and weaken your position." + +"I'm not prepared to admit that altogether." + +"It can't be denied. You no longer command public confidence as you +did. You'll find it has been rudely shaken." + +"We'll let that subject drop. I must remind you that your father's +will and the partnership deed prevent your getting rid of me unless +I'm willing to go." + +Andrew regarded him with amusement. + +"I can't deny it, but I think you will be willing. However, I'd better +say that I don't wish to take an undue advantage of the situation. +What do you propose?" + +"That you buy me out, as you offered. I've sketched out the +terms--you'll find them here, with an estimate of my average profits +and what my interest in the firm is worth." + +He pushed the papers across the table and Andrew carefully studied +them before he looked up. + +"The fairest way would be to submit these figures to an outside +accountant. As soon as he has made up a statement, I'll meet you at +Carter & Roding's office and get them to draw up any documents that +are needed to annul our partnership. Are you agreeable?" + +"Yes; we'll consider the thing decided." Leonard hesitated for a +moment. "I don't see," he added, "that you will gain anything by +letting Florence and the others know exactly what we differed about." + +"I quite agree with you. There are reasons enough to account for the +split--the incompatibility of our views on business matters, your +objection to taking a subordinate place. Even at the cost of allowing +Florence to blame me, the truth must be kept from her." + +"Thank you!" said Leonard. "I believe I've said all that's needful, +and I may as well be off. It's a long drive to the junction." + +Andrew let him go. He had accomplished all that he had laid himself +out to do: gained his relatives' confidence, reorganized the mining +company, and got rid of Leonard, who had been a menace to the good +name of Allinson's. It had been easier than he expected; the task he +had shrunk from had become less formidable when boldly attacked, +though he admitted that fortune had favored him. Henceforward he was +his own master, the acknowledged head of Allinson's, and that brought +with it a deep sense of responsibility. Nevertheless, he no longer +felt daunted, for he had gained self-confidence. There were many +things of which he was ignorant; but they could be learned. Then he +remembered that he must go back to Canada for a while after he had +arranged matters with Leonard and had thoroughly informed himself +about Allinson's affairs. + +It was a month before he could get away, and Wannop drove to the +station with him. When he shook hands as the train came in he smiled. + +"Bring her back with you. Then the credit of the Allinson family will +be in safe hands." + +"I'll try," Andrew promised. "I wish I felt more sure of succeeding; +but I wasn't thinking of the credit of the family." + +"That's the proper line to take," Wannop answered, smiling, as he +stood with his hand on the carriage door. "Don't be timid. I'm +inclined to think you have done more difficult things." + +He made room for Hilda and pulled her back as the train started, and +they stood waving their hands until the last carriage vanished into a +tunnel. + +"Andrew needs some encouraging," he remarked. "When there's anything +to be gained for himself, he's too diffident; but perhaps it's a good +fault, and by no means common." + +"Though he talked a good deal about the mine, we all know why he's +going back," said Hilda. "I suppose you are satisfied about this Miss +Frobisher?" + +"So far as my opinion goes, she's what you might call eminently +suitable. If I had any doubt on the matter Andrew's firm conviction +would decide me. Though it was a long time before the family realized +it, his judgment is to be relied on." + +"Yes," agreed Hilda; "in some things, he is really very sensible." + +When Andrew reached the Lake of Shadows he found Carnally awaiting him +with a satisfactory account of the progress of development work on the +lode, and they spent some time talking over it in Andrew's room at the +hotel. + +"Jake, are you willing to take the post of our general manager in +Canada?" Andrew asked. + +"Under Hathersage, as boss director?" + +"No, under me. Hathersage has left the firm for good." + +"Then I'll be proud to take it," said Carnally quietly. + +"It's yours. You haven't asked about the stipend." + +"That's so," Carnally drawled. "I guess I can leave you to do the +square thing." Then his eyes twinkled. "I've kept you here some time +talking business, and it strikes me you're anxious to get away. You'll +find a skiff ready, and I'd like to wish you good luck." + +"Thanks," responded Andrew soberly. "Perhaps you had better wait until +I come back." + +He hurried to the beach and rowed across the lake with steady, +determined strokes, and it happened, but not by accident, that +Geraldine was waiting on the lawn. She had seen a trail of engine +smoke drift across the pines an hour earlier, and at last a skiff +shoot out across the sparkling water. As it drew near the landing she +felt tempted to retreat to the house, but she waited, and the color +crept into her face when Andrew took her hand in a masterful grasp. + +"I think you know why I have come," he said at once. + +"No doubt you had mining matters to arrange," she answered with an +attempt at light raillery, though her heart was beating fast. + +"I had; they have kept me since the train came in, and I never grudged +loss of time so much; but I felt that I required something to steady +me before I rowed across. The fact is, I felt extremely anxious." + +"Anxious? You knew you would be welcome." + +"To be welcomed as I was sent away didn't seem enough." Andrew held +fast the hand she had given him. "You were very gracious and I knew +what I owed to you, but you kept something back, and it was that I +wanted. I told you how I had got on in England, but I'm afraid I +haven't learned to stand on my own feet yet. You know how you have +helped me so far; won't you do so altogether?" + +"If I remember, I said it was criticism you needed," Geraldine +answered softly, looking down. + +"That or censure; whatever it is, it will be right if it comes from +you." Andrew's voice grew tense as he drew her nearer. "I ask for the +greatest gift; I need you, Geraldine." + +She yielded, looking up at him swiftly with eyes that shone, and then +turned her head, which sank until it rested on his shoulder. It was +getting dusk; the scent of the pines stole out of the shadows and the +call of a loon came ringing to them over the water, as if in blessing. + + +THE END + + + + +JOHN FOX, JR'S. +STORIES OF THE KENTUCKY MOUNTAINS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list. + + +THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE. + +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +[Illustration] + +The "lonesome pine" from which the story takes its name was a tall +tree that stood in solitary splendor on a mountain top. The fame of +the pine lured a young engineer through Kentucky to catch the trail, +and when he finally climbed to its shelter he found not only the pine +but the _foot-prints of a girl_. And the girl proved to be lovely, +piquant, and the trail of these girlish foot-prints led the young +engineer a madder chase than "the trail of the lonesome pine." + + +THE LITTLE SHEPHERD OF KINGDOM COME + +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +This is a story of Kentucky, in a settlement known as "Kingdom Come." +It is a life rude, semi-barbarous; but natural and honest, from which +often springs the flower of civilization. + +"Chad." the "little shepherd" did not know who he was nor whence he +came--he had just wandered from door to door since early childhood, +seeking shelter with kindly mountaineers who gladly fathered and +mothered this waif about whom there was such a mystery--a charming +waif, by the way, who could play the banjo better that anyone else in +the mountains. + + +A KNIGHT OF THE CUMBERLAND. + +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +The scenes are laid along the waters of the Cumberland, the lair of +moonshiner and feudsman. The knight is a moonshiner's son, and the +heroine a beautiful girl perversely christened "The Blight." Two +impetuous young Southerners' fall under the spell of "The Blight's" +charms and she learns what a large part jealousy and pistols have in +the love making of the mountaineers. + +Included in this volume is "Hell fer-Sartain" and other stories, some +of Mr. Fox's most entertaining Cumberland valley narratives. + + +_Ask for complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26TH ST., NEW YORK + + + + +STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY +GENE STRATTON-PORTER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list. + + +THE HARVESTER + +Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs + +[Illustration] + +"The Harvester," David Langston, is a man of the woods and fields, who +draws his living from the prodigal hand of Mother Nature herself. If +the book had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man, with +his sure grip on life, his superb optimism, and his almost miraculous +knowledge of nature secrets, it would be notable. But when the Girl +comes to his "Medicine Woods," and the Harvester's whole sound, +healthy, large outdoor being realizes that this is the highest point +of life which has come to him--there begins a romance, troubled and +interrupted, yet of the rarest idyllic quality. + + +FRECKLES. Decorations by E. Stetson Crawford + +Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in which +he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the great +Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him succumbs +to the charm of his engaging personality; and his love-story with "The +Angel" are full of real sentiment. + + +A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. + +Illustrated by Wladyslaw T. Brenda. + +The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, lovable type of +the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and kindness +towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the sheer beauty +of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from barren and +unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage. + +It is an inspiring story of a life worth while and the rich beauties +of the out-of-doors are strewn through all its pages. + + +AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. + +Illustrations in colors by Oliver Kemp. Design and decorations by +Ralph Fletcher Seymour. + +The scene of this charming, idyllic love story is laid in Central +Indiana. The story is one of devoted friendship, and tender +self-sacrificing love; the friendship that gives freely without +return, and the love that seeks first the happiness of the object. The +novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of nature, and +its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all. + + +_Ask for complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26TH ST., NEW YORK + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors, present in the +original edition, have been corrected. + +In Chapter I, a period was added after "firing as they got a chance". + +In Chapter III, a missing period was added after "_I think you should +stay here and fight it out until he comes back,_ he said". + +In Chapter VII, "a man siezing it swung him across" was changed to "a +man seizing it swung him across". + +In Chapter VIII, a comma was changed to a period after "I'd feel less +diffident", and "be busied himself" was changed to "he busied +himself". + +In Chapter IX, "the hangings where of harmonious hue" was changed to +"the hangings were of harmonious hue". + +In Chapter X, "from a neigboring stack" was changed to "from a +neighboring stack". + +In Chapter XI, a missing quotation mark was added after "it would be +too late". + +In Chapter XII, "its wiser to let one's friends have them" was changed +to "it's wiser to let one's friends have them". + +In Chapter XVI, "The blasted, hog" was changed to "The blasted hog", +and a missing quotation mark was added after "before dark". + +In Chapter XVII, a quotation mark was removed before "We'll have +mighty keen appetites". + +In Chapter XIX, a missing period was added after "the prospectors +might turn up in the next few days". + +In Chapter XXI, a missing quotation mark was added after "what the +trouble's about". + +In Chapter XXIV, a missing quotation mark was added after "right to +talk about these things". + +In Chapter XXV, "I am at your sevice" was changed to "I am at your +service", and "actuated by jealously" was changed to "actuated by +jealousy". + +In Chapter XXVII, "some stubborn fight, ing" was changed to "some +stubborn fighting". + +In Chapter XXVII, "_Oh,_ he exclaimed _you must have heard enough_" +was changed to "_Oh,_ he exclaimed, _you must have heard enough_", and +"Mr Allinson" was changed to "Mr. Allinson" in two places. + +In Chapter XXVII, a comma was changed to a period after "another new +venture". + +In Chapter XXVI, "coppper wire" was changed to "copper wire". + +In Chapter XXX, "the Company is rotton" was changed to "the Company is +rotten". + +In Chapter XXXII, a missing quotation mark was added after "a long and +useful career to the Head of the House", and "he said a once" was +changed to "he said at once". + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's For the Allinson Honor, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR *** + +***** This file should be named 34415-8.txt or 34415-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/4/1/34415/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You 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: For the Allinson Honor + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: Cyrus Cuneo + +Release Date: November 23, 2010 [EBook #34415] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 340px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="340" height="500" alt="book cover" title="For the Allinson Honor" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 328px;"> +<img src="images/image-1.jpg" width="328" height="500" alt="frontispiece" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="caption">"TWO MORE APPEARED ... DRAGGING ALONG A THIRD'"—<a href="#twomore">Page +48</a></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1><span class="smallishtext">FOR THE</span><br /> +ALLINSON HONOR</h1> + + +<h2><span class="smallishtext">BY</span><br /> +HAROLD BINDLOSS</h2> + +<p class="center" style="margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%;">AUTHOR OF<br /> +PRESCOTT OF SASKATCHEWAN, +WINSTON OF THE PRAIRIE, ETC.</p> + +<p class="center">FRONTISPIECE<br /> +<span class="biggishtext"><span class="smcap">By</span> CYRUS CUNEO</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 98px;"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="98" height="100" alt="flame logo" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK<br /> +<span class="bigtext">GROSSET & DUNLAP</span><br /> +PUBLISHERS</p> + + + + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1913, by<br /> +<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Stokes Company</span></i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<p class="center">SECOND PRINTING</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/fas.png" width="500" height="134" alt="FAS Co September, 1914" title="FAS Co September, 1914" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum smalltext smcap">Chapter</td> +<td class="chapname"> </td> +<td class="chappage smalltext smcap">Page</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">I.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Tenant at the Firs</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">II.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Family Pride</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">III.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Council</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">23</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IV.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Lake of Shadows</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">V.</td> +<td class="chapname">The First Suspicions</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Dream Mine</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Amateur Miner</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">66</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Island of Pines</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">77</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Among the Ice</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">89</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">X.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Crisis</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">100</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XI.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Real Boss</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Interrupted Plans</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">123</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Love's Encouragement</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">134</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Treachery</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">143</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XV.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Silver Lode</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">154</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Cache</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">167</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Gap in the Ridge</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">175</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Empty Flour-Bag</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">188</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Woman's Way</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">194</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Rescue Party</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">203</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Bushman's Satisfaction</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">212</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Fresh Plans</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">222</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Unexpected Support</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">235</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Truth About Rain Bluff</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">245</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXV.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Delicate Point</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">257</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Suspicious Stranger</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">269</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Andrew Stakes His Claim</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">282</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Geraldine</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">292</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Jumpers</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">304</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Eve of Battle</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">315</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Allinson's Makes Good</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">328</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Head of the House</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">341</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="FOR_THE_ALLINSON_HONOR" id="FOR_THE_ALLINSON_HONOR"></a>FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR</h2> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE TENANT AT THE FIRS</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a hot autumn afternoon. Mrs. Olcott, a young and attractive +woman, reclined in a canvas chair beside a tea-table on the lawn in +front of the cottage she had lately taken in the country. Her thin +white dress displayed a slender and rather girlish form; her dark hair +emphasized the delicate coloring of her face, which wore a nervous +look. As a matter of fact, she felt disturbed. Clare Olcott needed +somebody to take care of her; but she had few friends, and her husband +held a government appointment in West Africa. His pay was moderate and +he had no private means. His relatives justified their neglect of his +wife by the reflection that he had married beneath him; and this was +why he had commended her, with confidence, to the protection of a +friend.</p> + +<p>Andrew Allinson, who had made Olcott's acquaintance when serving as +lieutenant of yeomanry during the Boer campaign, sat on a grassy bank +near by with a teacup in his hand. He was strongly built and +negligently dressed, in knickerbockers and shooting jacket. The +bicycle he had just ridden leaned against the hedge. Andrew had lately +reached his twenty-ninth year. He had large blue eyes that met you +with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> direct glance, a broad forehead, and a strong jaw. On the +whole, he was a good-looking man, but his characteristic expression +was one of rather heavy good-humor. Though by no means stupid, he had +never done anything remarkable, and most of the Allinsons thought him +slow.</p> + +<p>Raising himself a little, he looked slowly round. Beyond the hedge the +white highroad climbed a bold ridge of moor that blazed in the strong +sunshine with regal purple; farther back, smooth-topped hills faded +into an ethereal haziness through varying shades of gray. The head of +the deep valley near the house was steeped in blue shadow, but lower +down oatfields gleamed with ocher and cadmium among broad squares of +green. There were flowers in the borders about the tiny lawn, and +creepers draped the front of the house. The still air was filled with +the drone of bees; all was eminently peaceful.</p> + +<p>"How do you like the place?" he asked. "It's nicer than London in +weather like this, and you're looking better than you did when I saw +you there."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott gave him a grateful smile.</p> + +<p>"I haven't regretted leaving town. I was miserable and scarcely saw +anybody after Tom sailed. Our small flat was too far from the few +people I knew; and even if it had been nearer, I couldn't entertain. I +was feeling very downhearted the day you called."</p> + +<p>Andrew remembered having found her looking very forlorn in a dingy and +shabbily furnished room. She was sitting at a writing-table with a +pile of bills before her, about which she had made a naive confession.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you find things pleasant here; I thought you would," he +said.</p> + +<p>"It's so fresh and green. In the morning and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> sunset the moorland +air's like wine. Then the house is very pretty and remarkably cheap."</p> + +<p>She looked at him sharply, for he had found the house for her; but he +answered with heavy calm.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it's dear."</p> + +<p>After that there was a few moments' silence, during which they heard +the soft splash of a stream falling into the valley. Then he turned to +her with a resolute air.</p> + +<p>"And now, about those bills? You have put me off once or twice, but I +want to see them."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott colored and hesitated, but she opened a drawer in the +table and took out a bundle of papers, which she handed to him. To her +surprise and consternation, he counted them before he put them into +his pocket.</p> + +<p>"These are not all. Give me the others."</p> + +<p>"I can manage about the rest," she protested.</p> + +<p>"Let me have them; you can't begin here in difficulties."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott rose and he watched her enter the house with quiet pity. +She was not a capable woman, and he was thankful that she had not got +into worse embarrassments. She came back, still somewhat flushed, and +gave him a few more papers.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I'm a wretchedly bad manager," she confessed. "As soon as +my next remittance comes, I will send you a check."</p> + +<p>"When it suits you," he said, and added thoughtfully: "One of us +should tell your husband about this; perhaps it had better be you."</p> + +<p>She smiled, for he was now and then boyishly ingenuous. He sat +directly opposite the gate, where all passers-by could see him, and he +had somehow an unfortunate air of being at home in the place.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>"Yes," she said, "I will write by the first mail. I feel less +embarrassed because Tom told me that if I was ever in any difficulty I +might consult you. He described you as the right sort—and I have +found it true."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you know that I owe a good deal to your husband," Andrew +answered awkwardly.</p> + +<p>"He told me that you and he were in the field hospital together for a +time, and before then he helped you in some way when you were wounded, +but he never said much about it. What did he do? You may smoke while +you tell me."</p> + +<p>"I think you ought to know, because it will show the claim Tom has on +me."</p> + +<p>Andrew lighted a cigarette and began in a disjointed manner, for he +was not a fluent speaker:</p> + +<p>"It was a dazzlingly bright morning and getting very hot—our side had +been badly cut up in the dark, and we were getting back, a mixed crowd +of stragglers, a few miles behind the brigade. Tom and Sergeant +Carnally, the Canadian, had no proper business with the wreck of my +squadron, but there they were. Anyhow, only half of us were mounted, +and when we found ourselves cut off we tried to hold a kopje—the +horses back in a hollow, except mine, which was shot as I dismounted. +I was fond of the poor faithful brute, and I suppose that made me +savage, for I felt that I must get the fellow who killed it."</p> + +<p>He paused and his face hardened.</p> + +<p>"There we were, lying among the stones, with the sun blazing down on +us; faint puffs of smoke on the opposite rise, spirts of sand jumping +up where the Mauser bullets struck. Now and then a man dropped his +rifle and the rest of us set our teeth. It wasn't a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> spectacular +fight, and we kept it up in a very informal way; two or three +commissioned officers, dismounted troopers, and a few lost line +Tommies, firing as they got a chance. The man I wanted had gone to +earth beside a big flat stone, and I dropped the bullets close about +it; a hundred yards I made it and the light good. I suppose I was so +keen on my shooting that I didn't pay much attention when somebody +said they were flanking us; and the next thing I knew a Boer had put a +bullet in my leg. Anyhow, I couldn't get up, and when I looked round +there was no one about. Then I must have shouted, for Tom came running +back, with the sand spirting all round. Carnally was behind him. It +looked like certain death, but Tom got hold of me, and dragged me a +few yards before Carnally came up. Then we all dropped behind a big +stone, and I'm not clear about the rest. Somebody had heard the firing +and detached a squadron with a gun. But I can still picture Tom, +running with his face set through the spirting sand—one doesn't +forget things like that."</p> + +<p>The blood crept into Clare Olcott's pale cheeks and her eyes shone. No +one could have doubted that she admired and loved her absent husband.</p> + +<p>"Were you not with Carnally when he broke out of the prison camp?" she +asked presently.</p> + +<p>"I was. Our guard was friendly and careless, and we picked up a hint +of a movement we thought our army ought to know about. We were caged +in behind a very awkward fence, but I'd found a wire-nipper in the +sand—they were used to cut defense entanglements. Then we held a +council and decided that somebody must break out with the news, but +while two men might do so, more would have no chance to dodge the +guard. Carnally and I were picked, and after waiting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> for a dark night +we cut the wire and crawled out, close behind a sentry we hadn't seen. +Of course, knowing what we did about the Boers' intentions, we +couldn't give up our plan."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott recognized that Andrew Allinson was not the man to abandon +a duty, though he was unarmed and the sentry carried a magazine rifle.</p> + +<p>"Well," he resumed, "I crept up and seized the fellow by the leg. He +dropped his rifle, and Carnally slipped away. We'd arranged that if we +got out one was not to stop for the other."</p> + +<p>"But what happened to you? Did the Boer pick up his rifle?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Andrew quietly; "I got it first."</p> + +<p>"But——" said Mrs. Olcott, and stopped.</p> + +<p>Andrew smiled.</p> + +<p>"You see, he had called out when I grabbed him and several of his +friends were running up. I didn't think he'd noticed Carnally, who had +got clear off, and there was a chance of its being some time before +they missed him. Then the fellow had shown us one or two small +favors—given me some tobacco, among other things he might have got +into trouble for."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Mrs. Olcott expressively. "So you let them take you back to +prison. But what about the Canadian?"</p> + +<p>"He got through safely and they made a fuss over him. Offered him a +commission, which he was too sensible to take."</p> + +<p>"Tom came home promoted and got his West African appointment; Carnally +could have had a commission; and you went back to prison. Though of +course they deserved it, didn't it strike you that the rewards were +not very fairly shared out?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>"I believe my people were disappointed when I returned as +undistinguished as I went out, though I don't know that they were +surprised. So far as I was concerned, it was an inglorious +campaign—twice in a hospital, and some months in a prison camp. And +yet, I'll admit that I left England determined on doing something +brilliant."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott made no remark. He did not seem to attach much importance +to the incident that had secured his comrade's escape. His conduct was +not of the kind that catches the public eye, but her husband, whose +opinion was worth having, believed in Allinson.</p> + +<p>"Well," he resumed, "I've stayed some time. Are you sure you're quite +comfortable here? There's nothing you feel short of?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," she said. "I ought to be happy. It's perhaps a trifle quiet: +nobody has called on me yet."</p> + +<p>"I dare say that can be altered," he replied; and though she did not +suppose her solitude was likely to be enlivened at his request, she +gave him her hand gratefully and let him go.</p> + +<p>Picking up his bicycle, he wheeled it up the road, which wound between +yellow harvest fields and dark-green clover to the long ascent of the +moor. Here the gray stone walls broke off and the open heath ran up, +steeped in strong color: the glowing crimson of the ling checkered +with the purple of the heather, mossy patches showing lemon and +brightest green, while the gaps from which peat was dug made blotches +of rich chocolate-brown. Andrew noticed it all with quiet +appreciation, though he was thinking hard as he slowly climbed the +hill. He had made Mrs. Olcott a promise, and he meant to keep it, but +the thing was beginning to look more difficult than he had imagined. +His sisters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> might have helped him by recognizing the lonely woman, +but they had shown some prejudice against her, and this was +unfortunate, for their attitude would have its effect on their +neighbors.</p> + +<p>The Allinsons were people of importance in the countryside and the +history of the family was not without romance. Long ago an Andrew +Allinson had become possessed, by violence most probably, of a strong +stone peel, half fortress, half farmstead, that commanded a fertile +dale up which the Scots moss-troopers often rode to the foray. Little +was known of his descendants, except that they held the peel for +several generations and were buried with a coat of arms roughly cut +upon their tombstones in a moorland kirkyard. Then had come a break, +when they were perhaps driven out by economic changes, for the family +vanished from the dale and next appeared as London goldsmiths in Queen +Anne's reign. Later, Andrew's grandfather, retiring from his banking +business, resumed the coat of arms, bought back the peel and built a +commodious house about it. On his death it was discovered that his +property had shrunk in value owing to changing times, and his shrewd +north-country widow gave up the hall and coat of arms and made her son +reopen the family business. He had prospered and maintained the best +traditions of the ancient firm, for Allinson & Son was noted for +caution, decorum and strict probity. The firm was eminently sound and +carried on its business in an old-fashioned, austere way.</p> + +<p>To its head's keen disappointment, his only son, Andrew, showed no +aptitude for commerce, and after two years in the counting-house was +allowed to follow his own devices. Then on the marriage of Andrew's +sister to a clever young business man, the latter was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> made a partner. +Soon after this Andrew's father died, leaving him a large share of his +money, which was, however, to remain in the business, over which his +brother-in-law, Leonard Hathersage, now had control.</p> + +<p>When the gradient grew easier Andrew mounted, but got down again with +a frown a few minutes later. The Boer's nicked bullet had badly torn +the muscles of his thigh, and now and then the old wound troubled him. +Though he loved horses, he could no longer ride far with pleasure, +and, being of active temperament, had taken to the bicycle.</p> + +<p>He had not gone far before he saw a girl ride out from behind a grove +of gnarled spruce firs and he joined her when she pulled up her horse +to wait for him. Ethel Hillyard looked well in the saddle: tall and +rather largely built, she was nevertheless graceful and generally +characterized by an air of dignified repose. Now, however, there was +amusement in the fine gray eyes she fixed on Andrew.</p> + +<p>"You look moody, and that's not usual," she said.</p> + +<p>They were old friends, and Andrew answered her confidentially.</p> + +<p>"I've been thinking and, for another thing, I found I couldn't get up +this bit of a hill. I suppose it oughtn't to worry me, but it does. +You see, a lameness that comes on when I least expect it is all I +brought back from South Africa."</p> + +<p>Ethel gave him a sympathetic nod as she started her horse.</p> + +<p>"It's a pity, but you might have suffered worse; and, after all, +distinction is sometimes cheaply gained."</p> + +<p>"You don't win it by keeping people busy curing you and seeing that +you don't break out of prison camps," Andrew retorted grimly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>"But what else were you thinking of that disturbed you?"</p> + +<p>"My thoughts were, so to speak, all of a piece—one led to another. I +did nothing in South Africa, and it has struck me lately that I +haven't done much anywhere else, except to catch salmon in Norway and +shoot a few Canadian deer. Now there's Leonard, who's not an Allinson, +making money for all of us and managing the firm."</p> + +<p>"Leonard got money and the opportunity for making more from +Allinson's."</p> + +<p>"That's true, but it doesn't excuse me. I ought to be a power in the +firm, and I don't suppose I could even keep one of its books +properly."</p> + +<p>He walked on in silence for the next minute or two and his companion +watched him with interest. His brows were knit, his brown face looked +strong as well as thoughtful, and Ethel did not agree with his +relatives, who thought him a bit of a fool. She was inclined to +believe that Leonard had spread that impression and the others had +adopted it without consideration. Andrew had been idle, but that was +his worst fault, and he might change. There was, however, nothing +significant in his taking her into his confidence; he had often done +so, though she realized with half regretful acquiescence that it was +only as a confidante that he thought of her. He could not have chosen +a better one, for Ethel Hillyard was a girl of unusual character, and +she now determined to exert her influence for his benefit.</p> + +<p>"Isn't Allinson's rather branching out of late?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"It is. The West African goldfield was a new kind of venture, though +it's paying handsomely; and we're<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> now taking up a mine in Canada. Of +course, the old private banking business has gone under and one must +move with the times; but, in a sense, it's a pity."</p> + +<p>Ethel understood him. Her father had dealt with Allinson's and she +knew the firm had hitherto been dignified and conservative, while +Leonard was essentially modern in his methods and what is known as +pushing. She foresaw disagreements if Andrew ever took an active part +in the business, which he had a right to do.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it isn't necessary that you should be good at bookkeeping," +she said. "Is there no place for you in these new foreign schemes? You +have traveled in the Canadian bush to shoot deer, and you seemed to +like it; wouldn't it be as interesting if you went there to look for +minerals or manage a mine? You would have the free life in the wilds, +but with an object."</p> + +<p>"There's something in that," Andrew replied thoughtfully. "I happen to +know the country where the mine is and it's unusually rough. It's +curious that you have made a hazy idea I've had a little clearer. I'll +think over the thing."</p> + +<p>Ethel knew that she had said enough. She would miss the man if he went +away, but it would be better for him and she knew that she would never +have more than his liking.</p> + +<p>"Where is the mine?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"It's among the rocks some distance back from the Lake of Shadows in +western Ontario."</p> + +<p>"The Lake of Shadows!" Ethel exclaimed. "A friend I made in London +used to go there with her father for fishing and shooting; but that's +not important."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Andrew, "I've talked enough about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> myself. There's a +favor I want to ask. Will you call on Mrs. Olcott?"</p> + +<p>Ethel started. Mrs. Olcott was young and pretty; nobody knew anything +about her husband; Andrew's visits had already excited comment.</p> + +<p>"Why should I call?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>He gave her the best reasons he could think of for befriending the +lonely woman, and she pondered them for a moment or two. Then she +asked bluntly:</p> + +<p>"How was it that Mrs. Olcott chose this neighborhood, where she knows +nobody?"</p> + +<p>"I suggested it," said Andrew, simply. "The Firs was empty, and she +has few friends anywhere."</p> + +<p>Though she had attached no importance to the remarks that had been +made about him, Ethel found his unembarrassed candor reassuring. He +had, however, asked her to do something that was harder than he +imagined, and she hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Very well," she said; "I will call."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. I knew I could count on you."</p> + +<p>They had now reached the top of the hill, and Ethel took a crossroad +while Andrew mounted his bicycle, but she turned her head, and watched +him ride across the moor. Andrew, however, did not look back at her, +and by and by she urged her horse to a trot.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE FAMILY PRIDE</span></h2> + + +<p>The hall which Andrew's grandfather had built around the peel had for +years been let with its shooting rights. Ghyllside, however, where +Andrew lived, was a commodious house, and Leonard Hathersage was +frequently glad to spend a week-end there. He and his wife had arrived +on the previous evening, and he was now busy in the library while +Andrew sat talking to his sisters on the terrace.</p> + +<p>Though the light was fading, it was not yet dark, and the air was +still and fragrant with flowers. Yew hedges and shrubberies were +growing indistinct; a clump of firs in a neighboring meadow loomed up +black and shadowy, but a band of pale saffron light still shone behind +the hall on the edge of the moorland a mile away. The square peel +stood out harsh and sharp against the glow, the rambling house with +its tall chimneys trailing away into the gloom on its flanks.</p> + +<p>Andrew, who had early lost his mother, had three sisters. Florence, +Leonard's wife, his senior by several years, was a tall, prim and +rather domineering woman; Gertrude, who had married Antony Wannop, a +local gentleman, was gentler and less decided than her sister; Hilda, +the youngest of all, was little, dark, and impulsive.</p> + +<p>Wannop leaned on the terrace wall between the flower urns with a cigar +in his mouth. He was stout and generally marked by a bluff geniality.</p> + +<p>"Where did you go this afternoon, Andrew, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> you wouldn't come with +us to the Warringtons'?" Hilda asked.</p> + +<p>Andrew would have preferred to evade the question, but that seemed +impossible.</p> + +<p>"I went to see Mrs. Olcott."</p> + +<p>"Again!" exclaimed Hilda, who prided herself on being blunt.</p> + +<p>Wannop chuckled softly, but Florence claimed Andrew's attention.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think you have been there often enough?"</p> + +<p>"It hasn't struck me in that light."</p> + +<p>"Then," replied Florence, "I feel it's time it did."</p> + +<p>"Come now!" Wannop broke in. "Three to one is hardly fair. Don't be +bullied, Andrew; a bachelor can be independent."</p> + +<p>"How do you make it three?" Hilda asked. "Only Florence and I +mentioned the matter."</p> + +<p>"I am, of course, acquainted with Gertrude's views," Wannop explained.</p> + +<p>Hilda laughed. Antony, with his characteristic maladroitness, had +somehow made things worse, and Andrew's face hardened. His sisters +were generally candid with him, but they had gone too far. With a +thoughtlessness he sometimes showed, he had told them nothing about +his acquaintance with Clare Olcott's husband.</p> + +<p>"You're not much of an ally," he said with a dry smile. "Anyway, as +there's no reason why I shouldn't go to The Firs, I'm not likely to be +deterred. I may as well mention that I met Ethel Hillyard and begged +her to call."</p> + +<p>"On Mrs. Olcott?" Florence cried. "What did she say?"</p> + +<p>"She promised."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>The astonishment of the others was obvious, but Hilda was the only one +who ventured to express it.</p> + +<p>"Andrew, you're a wonder! You haven't the least idea of scheming, and +you'd spoil the best plot you took a hand in, and yet you have a +funny, blundering way of getting hard things done."</p> + +<p>"You have hinted that I was a bit of a fool," said Andrew; "but I +don't see why this should be hard."</p> + +<p>As an explanation was undesirable, Hilda let his remark pass and +addressed the others.</p> + +<p>"He has beaten us and we may as well give in gracefully. If Ethel +goes, all the people who count will follow her."</p> + +<p>"There's more in Andrew than his friends suspect," Wannop observed, +laughing.</p> + +<p>They let the subject drop, and Florence went in search of her husband.</p> + +<p>"What's your opinion of Allinson's new policy, Andrew?" Wannop asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to think. One can be too conservative nowadays, but +I'll confess that I liked the firm's old-fashioned staidness better. +Even the old dingy offices somehow made you feel that the Allinsons +were sober, responsible people. The new place with its brass-work, +plate-glass and gilding was somewhat of a shock to me; but the +business is flourishing. Mining speculation was quite out of my +father's line, but Leonard makes it pay."</p> + +<p>"I've a few thousands in the African concern," Wannop remarked with +complacent satisfaction. "As it looks as if I'd get my money back in +about seven years, I wish I'd put in twice as much."</p> + +<p>Hilda let her eyes rest on the fading outline of the grim old peel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>"Well," she said, "I don't agree with Leonard's methods. They're +vulgarly assertive, and the new offices strike me as being out of +place. Allinson's ought to be more dignified. Even when we stole +cattle from the Scots in the old days we did so in a gentlemanly way."</p> + +<p>"Is stealing ever gentlemanly?" Wannop inquired.</p> + +<p>"It's sometimes less mean than it is at others. Though I've no doubt +that we robbed the Armstrongs and the Elliots, I can't think that we +plundered our neighbors or took a bribe to shut our eyes when the +Scots moss-troopers were riding up the dale. The Allinsons couldn't +have betrayed the English cause, as some of the Borderers did."</p> + +<p>"No," said Wannop, "it would certainly have been against their +traditions. And in times that we know more about, nobody has ever +questioned the honor of the House."</p> + +<p>Andrew looked up with a reserved smile.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it's likely that anybody ever will."</p> + +<p>He got up and started toward the house.</p> + +<p>"I must have a talk with Leonard," he said.</p> + +<p>When he had left them, Wannop turned to the others.</p> + +<p>"Now and then you can see the old stock in Andrew; and, after all, he +has a controlling interest in the firm."</p> + +<p>"Andrew may not do much good," Hilda declared, "but he'll do +Allinson's no harm. He'll stick to the best of the old traditions." +She paused with a laugh. "Perhaps we're silly in our family pride and +sometimes think ourselves better than our neighbors with very little +reason; but it's a clean pride. We're a mercantile family, but +Allinson's has always ranked with the Bank of England."</p> + +<p>When Andrew reached the library, his brother-in-law sat at a +writing-table on which stood a tall silver lamp.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> The light fell in a +sharply defined circle on the polished floor, which ran back beyond it +into shadow. The windows at the western end were open and, for it was +not quite dark yet, the long rows of bookcases, dimly visible against +the wall, emphasized the spaciousness of the room. The scent of +flowers that drifted in was mingled with the smell of a cigar, and as +Andrew's footsteps echoed through the room Leonard laid down his pen. +The strong light fell upon him, showing his thin face and tall, spare +figure. His hair receded somewhat from his high forehead, and he had +the colorless complexion of a man who lives much indoors; but his eyes +were singularly penetrating. Dressed with fastidious neatness he had +an air of elegance and, by comparison, made Andrew, who was of +robuster build, look heavy and awkward.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of an excuse for stopping," he said. "Will you sit down and +smoke?"</p> + +<p>"What are you doing? I thought you came here for a rest," said Andrew, +lighting a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"The firm is a hard task-master, and it's difficult to get a few +minutes undisturbed in town. That's why I brought these papers down. +Writing a prospectus is a business which demands both caution and +imagination. Would you like to see the draft?"</p> + +<p>"I thought a boundless optimism was the most essential thing," Andrew +replied, taking the paper handed him. "You're moderate," he continued +when he had read it. "Ten per cent. is all you promise, though as far +as my experience goes, twenty's the more usual thing."</p> + +<p>"Allinson's does not promise more than it can fulfill."</p> + +<p>"That's true and quite in accordance with my views.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Until lately, +however, prospectuses were very much out of our line."</p> + +<p>Leonard was surprised and annoyed. Andrew was associating himself with +the business in an unusual manner; although he had a right to do so.</p> + +<p>"If there's anything you wish to ask, I shall be glad to explain it."</p> + +<p>"These underwritten shares—I suppose you're letting the fellows have +them below par? Is that because you expect any difficulty in getting +the money?"</p> + +<p>"No; any project we're connected with will be taken up. Still, when +you launch a good thing, it's policy to let a few members of the ring +in at bottom and give them a share of the pickings."</p> + +<p>Andrew frowned.</p> + +<p>"It sounds like a bribe. But these pickings? They must come out of the +shareholders' pockets."</p> + +<p>"In the end, they do."</p> + +<p>"Though I'm not a business man, it seems to me that capital put into +shafts and reducing plant stands a fair chance of being productive. +That spent in starting the concern is largely wasted."</p> + +<p>"We are spending less than usual. May I ask what your idea of the +object of floating a company is?"</p> + +<p>"Mine would be the expectation of getting a good dividend on the stock +I took in it."</p> + +<p>Leonard looked amused.</p> + +<p>"Excellent, so far as it goes; but there's sometimes a little more +than that."</p> + +<p>Andrew sat silent a while. Then he said:</p> + +<p>"I gather that this new scheme will be subscribed for because +Allinson's guarantees it."</p> + +<p>"It's impossible to guarantee a mining scheme, but, in a sense, you're +right. The firm's name will count."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>"Well," said Andrew, "I'd like to go to Canada and take some share in +starting things—you see, I know the country. Then, as I suppose some +of my money will be put into the business, you might, perhaps, make me +a director. I'd be of no use in London, but I might do something in +Canada."</p> + +<p>Leonard was surprised, but the suggestion pleased him. The name of +Andrew Allinson would have its influence on investors.</p> + +<p>"It is not a bad idea," he said. "We'll see what can be done."</p> + +<p>Andrew then changed the subject.</p> + +<p>"How's business generally?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty fair; we have made some profitable ventures in South America. +You will remember my bringing Señor Piñola down? We made some money +out of him."</p> + +<p>"How?" Andrew asked without much interest. "The fellow had a dash of +the nigger or Indian in him."</p> + +<p>"He was Dictator Valhermosa's secret agent."</p> + +<p>"Then you supported Valhermosa's administration during the +unsuccessful revolution?"</p> + +<p>"We did. They wanted to re-arm the troops quietly in preparation; +Piñola came over to buy new rifles and machine-guns, and as he +couldn't pay ready money we arranged the matter. There was a risk, but +we got some valuable concessions as security, and turned them over +afterward to a German syndicate on excellent terms."</p> + +<p>Andrew's face was grim when he looked up.</p> + +<p>"And I gave Piñola two days' shooting instead of pitching him into the +nearest bog! To think of Allinson's backing that brute Valhermosa is +somewhat of a shock."</p> + +<p>"What do you know about him?"</p> + +<p>"A good deal. Warren, the naturalist who was with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> me in Canada, spent +some time in his country and has friends there. He used to talk about +the things he'd seen, and the memory of his stories makes me savage +yet, because I believe them. I have other acquaintances who have lived +in parts of the world that business men don't often reach. If you +don't know how rubber's collected and minerals are worked in countries +where there's a subject native population, you'd better not find out." +Andrew broke into a harsh laugh.</p> + +<p>"You didn't suspect that while the firm helped the Dictator, I, its +sleeping partner, gave Warren a check for the rebels, and I'd like to +think that every cartridge my money bought accounted for one of the +brutes who flog women to death and burn Indians at the stake when the +revenue falls off."</p> + +<p>Leonard looked grieved.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to hear this; though it's possible that Warren was +exaggerating. Anyway, we're out of it now. The deal was a matter of +business—we couldn't be expected to know what was being done in the +back-country, and after all it's no concern of ours."</p> + +<p>Lighting another cigarette, Andrew smoked half of it in silence.</p> + +<p>"The thing will hardly bear speaking of," he said finally; "and the +fault is partly mine for not taking the interest in the firm I should +have done."</p> + +<p>He paused and looked Leonard steadily in the face.</p> + +<p>"From what I've heard, those concessions may be good for another two +or three years; and then, when Valhermosa's victims revolt again, if +Allinson's can take any hand in the matter, it will be on the other +side. Now we'll let the subject drop."</p> + +<p>Leonard acquiesced with a tolerant gesture, though he was disconcerted +by Andrew's tone. It implied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> that his opinions would have to be +considered in the future.</p> + +<p>"By the way," Leonard said, "there's a matter I must mention, though +it's delicate. I saw Judson this morning and he grumbled about the +liberality you have shown of late."</p> + +<p>"Judson's niggardliness has lost me one or two good tenants."</p> + +<p>"It's possible; but he told me that you had let The Firs to Mrs. +Olcott for ten pounds less than he could easily have obtained. As he's +a talkative fellow and nothing is kept secret here, do you think you +were wise in letting her have the place below its value?"</p> + +<p>"You have been given a hint, Leonard. What do you know about Mrs. +Olcott?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. The point is that nobody else seems to know anything. I +merely wished to suggest that it might be well to be more cautious."</p> + +<p>The color crept into Andrew's face.</p> + +<p>"The next time you hear Mrs. Olcott mentioned you may say that her +husband is a friend of mine; that he served with credit as captain +through the recent war; and that he now holds a government post in +West Africa, though the climate compelled him to leave his wife at +home. Now, would you like a game of pool?"</p> + +<p>Leonard said that he would be busy for a while, and when Andrew went +out he leaned back in his chair to think. On the death of Andrew's +father, he had been left in control of the business, though, as he had +not brought much capital into the firm, his share of the profits was +not large. There was a good deal to be paid over to members of the +family and, getting tired of slow and steady progress, he had of late +launched out into bold speculations.</p> + +<p>Since his first advancement he had looked on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> brother-in-law as an +obstacle in his way, and had quietly strengthened his own position. He +had made Andrew's brief business experience distasteful to him, by +seeing that the young man was kept busy at monotonous tasks that he +could take no interest in. Afterward, when Andrew retired from the +counting-house, he had missed no opportunity for suggesting that he +was right in doing so, because he was obviously unfitted for a +commercial career. Now and then he went farther and hinted that the +young man was not gifted with much intelligence. It was, however, done +cleverly; nobody realized that the impression that Andrew was +something of a fool had originated with his brother-in-law, but in +time it was generally held. This promised to make Leonard's position +safer, because the firm was a family one, and though Andrew held a +good deal of the capital, his opinion would not have much weight with +his relatives.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, to some extent, Leonard was honest in what he had done. +Andrew was undoubtedly not clever and Leonard believed that for him to +have any say in matters would be detrimental to the firm. Now that he +was inclined to assert his rights, it would be well to send him to +Canada. This implied some risk, as there were matters connected with +the mine which Leonard preferred to conceal, but it was unlikely that +Andrew would make any undesirable discovery. However, as Andrew's +inaptitude for business was taken for granted, it might be wise to +give the family a reason for entrusting him with the post, and Leonard +thought it could be supplied by making the most of his acquaintance +with Mrs. Olcott. Having arrived at this conclusion, he dismissed the +matter and busied himself with the prospectus.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A COUNCIL</span></h2> + + +<p>Hot sunshine flooded the Ghyllside lawn, but there was a belt of +shadow beneath a copper beech, where a family group had gathered. +Leonard sat in a basket-chair, talking to Mrs. Fenwood, an elderly +widow with an austere expression; his wife and Gertrude Wannop were +whispering over their teacups; Wannop, red-faced and burly, stood +beside Robert Allinson, a solemn-looking clergyman.</p> + +<p>"We have been here half an hour and not a word has been said yet upon +the subject everybody's itching to talk about. We're a decorous lot," +Wannop remarked, surveying the others with amusement. "Personally, I +should be glad if we were allowed to go home without its being +broached. It's hardly the thing to discuss Andrew's shortcomings round +his table."</p> + +<p>"There are times when it's a duty to overcome one's delicacy," Robert +replied. "If I have been correctly informed, the matter demands +attention. Hitherto the Allinsons have never given their neighbors +cause to criticize their conduct."</p> + +<p>"None of them? I seem to remember——"</p> + +<p>"None of them," Robert interposed firmly. "There was once a malicious +story about Arthur, but I am glad to say it was disproved. But this +Mrs. Olcott, whom I haven't seen—I suppose she's attractive?"</p> + +<p>Wannop smiled.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>"Distinctly so; what's more, she has a forlorn and pathetic air which +is highly fetching. Still, I'm convinced that there's no harm in her."</p> + +<p>"A married woman living apart from her husband!" Robert exclaimed +severely. "I understand that Andrew is at her house now, and I must +confess that after walking some distance I feel hurt at his not being +here to receive us."</p> + +<p>"He didn't know you were coming," Wannop pointed out, and added with a +roguish air: "We have all been young and I don't suppose you used to +look the other way when you met a pretty girl; but I'll go bail Andrew +only visits her out of charity. However, if you are determined to have +your say, you may as well begin and get it over."</p> + +<p>Robert left him and addressed Leonard in a formal tone.</p> + +<p>"I am told that Andrew is going out to assist in the development of +the new mine and wishes to be made a director. As a relative and a +shareholder, may I ask if you consider him fit for the post?"</p> + +<p>Leonard had been waiting for an opening, and he welcomed the inquiry.</p> + +<p>"Andrew has every right to demand the position, which I could not +refuse." He paused, for the next suggestion must be skilfully +conveyed. "As it happens, his abilities hardly enter into the +question. It is merely needful that we should have a representative on +the spot to whom we can send instructions, and I dare say he will get +a good deal of the fishing and shooting he enjoys. All matters of +importance will be decided in London."</p> + +<p>"Then I take it that his inexperience and inaptitude can do the +company no harm?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>Leonard was grateful to him for so plainly expressing his meaning.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! Besides, I imagine that the change will be beneficial in +several ways."</p> + +<p>Glancing at the others, he knew that he had said enough. It would have +been difficult for any of the family to cite a remark of his in open +disparagement of his brother-in-law, though he had cunningly fostered +their disbelief in him. His wife, however, was endowed with courage as +well as candor.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing to be gained by shutting one's eyes to the truth," +she observed. "We all know that Andrew's visits to this woman are +being talked about. What is more serious is that he induced her to +come here, and let her have The Firs on purely nominal terms."</p> + +<p>"Is it so bad as that?" Mrs. Fenwood, with a shocked look, turned to +the clergyman, as if begging him to deal with the painful situation.</p> + +<p>"The thing must be stopped; nipped in the bud," said Robert firmly. "I +agree with Leonard that our infatuated relative should be sent to +Canada at once."</p> + +<p>Wannop smiled.</p> + +<p>"It strikes me as fortunate that Andrew is willing to go."</p> + +<p>"It's a favorable sign," said Mrs. Fenwood. "He may be struggling +against the creature's influence, in which case it's our duty to +assist him."</p> + +<p>"That wasn't what I meant. I've a suspicion that we have fallen into a +habit of underestimating Andrew's abilities and determination." Wannop +looked hard at Leonard. "You are going to put him into a position of +responsibility and teach him to use his power. Are you prepared for +the possible consequences?"</p> + +<p>Nobody paid much attention to this, and Leonard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> after a moment's +hesitation dismissed the matter. The Allinsons regarded Wannop as a +thoughtless person whose moral code was somewhat lax. Nevertheless, he +was shrewd and had read Andrew's character better than Leonard.</p> + +<p>"If Andrew ever wishes to have his say in business matters, I should +have neither the desire nor the authority to object," Leonard said.</p> + +<p>"Then we may rest assured that everything will be done to facilitate +his departure for Canada," Robert said decidedly. "There is only +another point—I wonder whether Mrs. Olcott could by any means be +induced to leave the neighborhood."</p> + +<p>Wannop's eyes sparkled angrily. He was easy-going, but there was a +chivalrous vein in him.</p> + +<p>"It would be wiser to leave the hatching of the plot until Andrew has +sailed!" he said indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Plot is not the right word; and you are mistaken if you imagine that +any fear of Andrew's displeasure would deter me in a matter of duty. +With the welfare of the parish at heart——"</p> + +<p>Wannop checked him.</p> + +<p>"Duty's a good deal easier when it chimes with one's inclinations; and +the welfare of the parish isn't threatened by Mrs. Olcott. There are, +however, one or two abuses you could put your finger on to-morrow if +you liked, though I dare say it would get you into trouble."</p> + +<p>Robert reddened and Mrs. Wannop made her husband a peremptory sign to +stop.</p> + +<p>"I think we needn't talk about the matter any more," she said. "It is +decided that Andrew shall be sent to Canada."</p> + +<p>They changed the subject, and a few minutes later<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> Wannop left them. +Crossing the lawn, he met Hilda in a shrubbery walk.</p> + +<p>"Where have you been?" he asked. "I haven't seen you since we came."</p> + +<p>"Florence found me an errand that kept me out of the way," said Hilda +pointedly. "Now what have you and the others been talking about?"</p> + +<p>"I mustn't betray a confidence," answered Wannop with twinkling eyes. +"Still, I dare say you can guess."</p> + +<p>"Of course! They were discussing my erring brother. Aren't they +silly?"</p> + +<p>"I think so. It's curious that you and I, whose opinions don't count +for much, should venture to differ with the rest."</p> + +<p>Hilda gave him a grateful glance.</p> + +<p>"But we are the ones who see most clearly. I have always felt that you +are to be trusted."</p> + +<p>He made her a humorous bow.</p> + +<p>"I must try to deserve such confidence."</p> + +<p>"Don't be foolish; this is serious. They mean well, but they're all +wrong about Andrew. Of course, I make fun of him now and then, but I'm +very fond of him. It's a mistake to think he's stupid; and Leonard's +responsible for it."</p> + +<p>"I'll admit that something of the kind has occurred to me," Wannop +said.</p> + +<p>Hilda hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "I have never had much confidence in Leonard, though +the others think him perfect. I've an idea that all along he has been +gently pushing Andrew aside, making him look silly, and undermining +the influence he ought to have. Now he's sending him to Canada—I very +much wonder why? He has some reason."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>Wannop started.</p> + +<p>"My dear, your suspicions go a trifle farther than mine. You may be +right, though it's not nice to think so. But where does all this +lead?"</p> + +<p>"Andrew may need supporters who don't altogether believe in the +immaculate Leonard some day. I think, if needful, he could count on +us."</p> + +<p>"And on nobody else?"</p> + +<p>"Not until the others understood; and it would be hard to make them +see."</p> + +<p>"Uncommonly hard," Wannop admitted. "Well, Hilda, you and I will be +allies. We can conspire together unsuspected, because we are the two +who are not supposed to count—you because you're too young and +charming; I because I haven't the fine moral fastidiousness and air of +distinction that marks the Allinsons. But I'll let you into a +secret—Gertrude's wavering in her ideas about Andrew: I'm perverting +her."</p> + +<p>"There's something I'd better tell you. I met Mrs. Olcott half an hour +ago and I stopped and spoke. I like her—there isn't the least reason +why I shouldn't—and I'm sorry for her. I know she feels being left +alone, and we're going to be friends. Now if the others should try to +make things unpleasant?"</p> + +<p>"I imagine Robert means mischief."</p> + +<p>"I was afraid of it," said Hilda. "Of course, he's as silly and unable +to see things properly as an owl in daylight, but solemn stupid people +often pass for being wise, and he might do harm. If he tries, can you +stop him? I know Andrew would like it."</p> + +<p>Wannop made a sign of rather dubious assent.</p> + +<p>"As I'm unromantically stout, getting elderly, and devoid of personal +charm, I might perhaps venture to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> interfere in this matter. After +all, there's a sense in which Andrew is undoubtedly to blame. Why do +you let him go to The Firs so often?"</p> + +<p>"If I should give him a hint that people are talking, it would only +make him angry. You know he really is slow at understanding now and +then."</p> + +<p>They strolled back to the party, which soon afterward broke up, for +although Hilda begged them to wait for dinner nobody seemed anxious to +meet Andrew. When they had gone, Hilda turned to Leonard with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Had an interesting talk?" she asked. "You all looked so serious that +I was afraid to join you."</p> + +<p>Leonard glanced at her sharply.</p> + +<p>"As you grow older you'll find that there are matters which can't be +treated humorously."</p> + +<p>"It's possible," Hilda agreed. "Still, that remark is too much in +Robert's style. Improving conversation is apt to get tiresome."</p> + +<p>She moved away and Leonard watched her with thoughtful eyes. He +believed he enjoyed her sisters' confidence, but he was doubtful of +Hilda.</p> + +<p>Three weeks later Andrew sailed, and soon after he had done so Wannop +called one afternoon at The Firs, where he was received by Mrs. Olcott +in the garden. He thought she looked harassed, but he had expected +this.</p> + +<p>"I believe you have met my wife," he began, taking the canvas chair +she indicated.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Olcott. "She called on me and, if I remember right, +stayed five minutes."</p> + +<p>This was not encouraging.</p> + +<p>"You know my sister-in-law, Hilda, better?" Wannop ventured.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>Mrs. Olcott's expression softened.</p> + +<p>"That is true; I have reason to be grateful to her."</p> + +<p>"Hilda is a very nice girl. I verily believe that we are fond of each +other, and as I am more than double her age, she now and then favors +me with her confidence. In fact, she suggested that I might be able to +help you out of a difficulty."</p> + +<p>His hostess studied him carefully. He was burly and looked hot after +his walk, but he had a reassuring smile and his red face seemed to +indicate good-nature. She thought that he could be trusted.</p> + +<p>"It's about the house," she said. "I don't know where else to go and +it looks as if I might be turned out."</p> + +<p>That this should distress her hinted at some degree of poverty, and +Wannop felt compassionate. She was young and inexperienced, and had +been coldly treated by her neighbors.</p> + +<p>"How is that?" he asked.</p> + +<p>After a moment of irresolution Mrs. Olcott decided to tell him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Allinson arranged about the house. Perhaps I shouldn't have +allowed this, but when he was wounded in the war my husband carried +him out of reach of the Boer fire."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Andrew ought to have made that clear. But won't you go on with +the explanation?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Allinson told me that no papers were needed, I was to pay the +rent to a man called Judson. He came here and said that there had been +some mistake. The rent was ten pounds more and I must share the cost +of the alterations, while the field adjoining, which must go with The +Firs, would be another extra. When I declared I couldn't pay all this +he said I was un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>doubtedly liable, but he could find another tenant +who would take the house off my hands."</p> + +<p>"I see a clerical finger in this pie," said Wannop half aloud, and +smiled at his hostess. "I beg your pardon. I suppose you didn't know +that this is Andrew Allinson's house."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott started and colored.</p> + +<p>"I did not know. But if it is, I can't understand why his agent—"</p> + +<p>"Somebody is back of him. Now we had better be candid. I venture to +believe you can confide in me."</p> + +<p>"What proof can I have of that? You are a connection of the Allinsons, +who seem bent on persecuting me. Have they sent you here?"</p> + +<p>"Hilda did," Wannop replied with quiet good-humor. "Perhaps I had +better say that on some points she and I are not quite in accord with +the rest of the family. I suppose Andrew promised your husband to look +after you until his return?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott agreed, for her suspicions about his errand had vanished. +Wannop mused for a few moments.</p> + +<p>"I think you should stay here and fight it out until he comes back," +he said. "After all, your neighbors are honest as far as they see, and +you'll find them ready to make amends."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott's eyes sparkled, but she hesitated.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I can't hold out. They have attacked me where I'm +weakest."</p> + +<p>"Will you leave the matter of the house to me? It can be put right."</p> + +<p>"Why are you willing to take the trouble?"</p> + +<p>Wannop laughed.</p> + +<p>"For one thing, I enjoy putting a spoke in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> parson's wheel; for +another, Andrew made you a promise, and the Allinsons like to keep +their word."</p> + +<p>He got up and held out his hand.</p> + +<p>"I'll have a talk with Mr. Judson. Show your courage and hold your +ground. You'll be glad you did so by and by."</p> + +<p>The next morning Wannop called at the agent's office in a neighboring +town. He was shown into a dingy room, where an elderly man with +spectacles received him with deference.</p> + +<p>"I've been looking into accounts, Judson," Wannop began abruptly. +"After deducting your commission and the cost of the repairs you +agreed to, I find that the return on my property for the past year is +small. Now I met Maxwell the other day and he hinted that it might be +managed to better advantage."</p> + +<p>The agent looked alarmed.</p> + +<p>"I understood you didn't wish to put the screw on your tenants; and it +isn't good policy."</p> + +<p>"No," said Wannop; "I want to be fair. I don't think Andrew Allinson +would wish any undue pressure put on his tenants either. As we talk +over things now and then, I know his views."</p> + +<p>Judson pondered this without answering, and Wannop resumed:</p> + +<p>"My business and Andrew's should be worth a good deal to you, though +Maxwell seemed to think that both could be improved."</p> + +<p>"Maxwell couldn't get you a penny more than I have got," Judson +declared. "I should be very sorry if you contemplated a change."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't do so without a strong reason. You look after the +Reverend Robert Allinson's property, but your commission on it can't +be large."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>"It is not," said Judson, beginning to understand where the other's +remarks led.</p> + +<p>"Well," went on Wannop, "I saw Mrs. Olcott yesterday, and she +mentioned the misunderstanding about her lease. I may tell you that +Mrs. Wannop and Miss Allinson are friends of hers."</p> + +<p>Judson was surprised, but decided that if he must offend either Wannop +or the clergyman, it would better be the latter.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Andrew called here in a hurry and said he had got a tenant for +The Firs and I was to have some alterations made. He was driving, and +as his horse was restive he ran out before we could talk over +details."</p> + +<p>Wannop thought this was correct, for Andrew was sometimes careless.</p> + +<p>"Atkinson will take the field off your hands. It's not usual to charge +a tenant with needful repairs; and you mustn't be hard on Mrs. Olcott +about the rent. Perhaps you had better go over and put things straight +with her."</p> + +<p>Judson promised to do so and Wannop took out some papers.</p> + +<p>"Here's a more important matter. I've decided to buy Bell's place, and +you can see his agent and the architect as soon as convenient."</p> + +<p>He rode away, knowing that his hints would be attended to. During the +evening he met Hilda.</p> + +<p>"I've seen Mrs. Olcott and Judson," he told her. "It's very unlikely +that she'll have any more trouble about The Firs."</p> + +<p>"That's splendid!" cried Hilda. "But how did you manage it?"</p> + +<p>Wannop chuckled.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>"My dear girl, an explanation isn't always desirable. When you know +how a thing's done it spoils the trick."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said Hilda, "it doesn't matter, but you have a +suspiciously complacent look. One could imagine that you felt +satisfied with yourself."</p> + +<p>"There's some truth in that," Wannop laughed. "I feel that we have +held our own against the more brilliant members of the family. But +here's Robert!"</p> + +<p>The clergyman appeared around a turn in the road and joined them.</p> + +<p>"You seem amused," he remarked. "May I share the joke?"</p> + +<p>"The point's involved," Wannop said. "However, you'll agree that the +wisest people's plans sometimes fail."</p> + +<p>"I can't deny it," said Robert, looking puzzled. "Still, I fail to +understand what the failure of wise people's plans has to do with us."</p> + +<p>"As a modest man," said Wannop, "I'll admit that it doesn't seem to +have much to do with me."</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE LAKE OF SHADOWS</span></h2> + + +<p>The evening was gloomy and there was a boisterous onshore wind when +Jake Carnally stood on a sawmill dump, looking out across the Lake of +Shadows. Its troubled waters reflected the color of the leaden clouds +above, though they were laced with tumbling foam, and short, +white-topped waves broke angrily upon the sweating sawdust at +Carnally's feet. The tall pines that rolled back from the beach had +faded to a deep somber hue; the distance was blurred and gray. The +lake is a large one, stretching many leagues to the south, but it is +strewn with forest-clad islets, and those inshore obstructed +Carnally's view. On the nearest of them wisps of smoke drifted out +from among the shadowy trunks and an aromatic smell of burning cedar +reached him across the spray-swept sound. Holiday-makers from Winnipeg +had pitched a summer camp there.</p> + +<p>Seeing nothing out on the lake, he turned and glanced past the tall +iron chimney-stacks toward a row of pretty wooden houses beside the +river mouth. A moving cloud of sooty smoke floated above them, and he +knew that a west-bound train was pulling out of the station. Then a +man came up to him.</p> + +<p>"Why, Jake!" he cried. "You look as if you'd been up against it! When +did you come down?"</p> + +<p>Carnally smiled. He was tall, and sparely but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> strongly built. His +knee-boots were dilapidated; his brown overalls badly torn.</p> + +<p>"This afternoon," he answered. "Took the river for it with two of the +boys, and a mighty tough time we had in getting through. Water was on +the rock portages and we had to shove round through the bush. It +didn't seem worth while getting out my glad rags, as I have to take +the new boss up early to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Looks as if he'd got lost," said the other. "I guess you heard he +left for Duck Island with two of the Company's roustabouts day before +yesterday. They hadn't much grub with them, but he allowed he'd be +back this morning."</p> + +<p>"What did he go to Duck Island for?"</p> + +<p>"To prospect the fireclay bed. Seemed to think the Company might put +up a smelter."</p> + +<p>"It's early for that," said Carnally with a grin. "They've got to +raise milling ore and pack it down first. I suppose you've seen him; +what's he like? I don't even know his name."</p> + +<p>"Big man, about your age. Kind of slow, thinks before he speaks, but +for an English sucker he shows some sense. It's my notion he's a +stayer."</p> + +<p>"Were they river-jacks he took along?"</p> + +<p>"Struck me as more like railroad shovelers, though they could paddle +in smooth water. As there's a nasty sea running in the open, you'd +better look for him. If those fellows wreck his canoe and he has to +spend the night on an island with nothing to eat while you sit in the +hotel, it's steep chances he fires you."</p> + +<p>"I don't care two bits whether I get fired or no. The Rain Bluff +Mining Company is the meanest business proposition I've ever run up +against, except the Mappin Transport, which is worse. All the same, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +guess I'll have to go. If you're going back to the hotel, you might +tell the boys to bring my canoe and blankets."</p> + +<p>The man promised to do so, and Carnally sat down out of the wind to +smoke until the craft arrived. He was tired by an arduous journey down +a river swollen by heavy rain, which, throughout a good deal of its +course, poured over ledges and ran furiously between fangs of rock. It +had needed nerve and skill to shoot the rapids, and to force a passage +over the rugged portages had taxed the party's strength. Now he must +launch out again and paddle, perhaps all night, in search of his +missing chief.</p> + +<p>The canoe came lurching to the foot of the dump, and as there was a +chance of swamping her alongside it, Carnally ran out on a treacherous +drift-log and sprang on board. A man untrained to river work would +have upset the craft or gone through her bottom, but Carnally came +down safely and seized the steering paddle.</p> + +<p>"This is rough on us, boys, but it has to be done," he said. "Shove +her straight out for the gap."</p> + +<p>His companions were wiry, dark-faced and dark-haired men whose +French-Canadian blood had in it a strain of the Indian—hard to beat +at river work or travel through the wilds. Toiling strenuously, they +drove the light craft over the short seas, with the spray whipping +their faces and the foam washing in at the bows. Now and then they +made no headway for a minute or two against a savage gust, but when it +lulled they slowly forged on again, though they knew that to find a +canoe among the maze of islands was as difficult a task as could be +set them. When they labored out into the more open spaces of the lake +as dusk was closing in, Carnally roused himself to keen alertness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +Here the waves were dangerously high and an error of judgment might +involve a capsize.</p> + +<p>As it happened, the craft they sought was battling with the breeze +some distance offshore, and Andrew Allinson, kneeling astern, glanced +anxiously to leeward when he dared take his eyes off the threatening +seas ahead. They rolled down on the canoe, ridged with foam, and it +needed quick work with the paddle to help her over them. To make +things worse, she was half full of water, and nobody could spare a +hand to bale it out. Andrew was not an expert at canoeing, but he had +once made a journey up the Canadian waterways and had been a yachtsman +at home; and when the breeze freshened and the waves got steeper it +had become evident that neither of his companions was capable of +managing the craft in broken water. He had accordingly taken the +helmsman's post and after running before the sea for the greater part +of the day without a meal, had discovered at dusk a long ridge of +rocks and pines looming up not far ahead.</p> + +<p>They lost it in the growing darkness, for Andrew knew the risk of +trying to land among big boulders on which the surf was breaking. He +must paddle out and clear the end of the island, in the hope of +finding a harbor on its sheltered side; but it still lay to lee of +him, and breaking waves and savage gusts drove them nearer the +threatening shore. He was wet through and very tired, one galled hand +bled freely, and the party had consumed the last of their provisions +at breakfast. This was the cause of the distressful stitch in his +side, and he was painfully cramped, but he knew that he had to choose +between paddling and trying to crawl out of the surf on a rugged beach +amid the wreckage of the canoe. So far as the other two could judge, +he was still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> serene, and now and then his voice reached them, hoarse +but cheerful:</p> + +<p>"A bit of a lull, boys; drive her at it in the smooth!"</p> + +<p>He could see nothing to leeward except flying spray, but he was not +deceived by the emptiness. The island must be close to them. He did +not think he could clear it, but he meant to fight until the last +moment.</p> + +<p>"Put some weight into the stroke! We'll make a few yards now!" he +cried.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" shouted one of the others. "What's that?"</p> + +<p>A hail reached them faintly and, when they answered, rose again, a +little nearer.</p> + +<p>"Are you the Rain Bluff crowd?"</p> + +<p>"Sure we are!"</p> + +<p>"Then follow us!" cried a voice, as the blurred shape of a canoe +appeared ahead. "Don't let her sag to lee; keep right astern!"</p> + +<p>They got the canoe round, stern to sea, in some peril of being +overturned, and drove away at a furious pace, with the other craft +lurching before them through the spray. In a few minutes shadowy pines +appeared, then a strip of foam-swept beach, at which Andrew glanced +anxiously. He could not turn back now; the dark, froth-ridged seas +drove him on, but in a few more minutes the end of the beach slipped +past and a narrow strip of water with pines about it opened up. They +ran in, the wild lurching ceased, and they paddled through smooth +water, until the craft ahead gently took the beach. Andrew now +realized that he had mistaken two islands for one, and was in the +sound between them. It was very dark among the trees when he came +ashore, but he heard one of the strangers asking for the boss, and +answered him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>"Sit down out of the wind while we make a fire and get supper," said +the other. "I understood that your grub might be running out, so we +brought some along."</p> + +<p>The man's voice sounded familiar, but Andrew was too tired and cold to +exert his memory. Finding a sheltered place among the rocks, he waited +until he was called. Then he saw that a fire had been lighted, a +shelter of bark and branches made, and a meal which looked very +inviting laid out beside it. All had been done with remarkable +neatness as well as celerity, and Andrew recognized the experienced +bushman's skill. Then the firelight fell on his pilot's face, and he +started.</p> + +<p>"Carnally, by all that's wonderful!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Carnally gazed at him in astonishment for a moment or two, and then +his expression grew reserved.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said; "that's my name."</p> + +<p>"Then you ought to remember me!"</p> + +<p>"Sure! You're Lieutenant Allinson, late of the Imperial Yeomanry, and, +I understand, in charge of the Rain Bluff mining operations. I'm the +mine boss's assistant, at your service."</p> + +<p>It was the greeting of a subordinate to his superior, and Andrew was +puzzled. He owed a good deal to the man and they had treated each +other as comrades in South Africa when, as had happened once or twice, +the accidents of the campaign had enabled them to sink the difference +of rank. Now it was the inferior who obviously meant to bear their +relative positions in mind; and that is not the Canadian employee's +usual attitude toward his master. The man he had known and liked as +Sergeant Carnally had rather pointedly declined to see that he wished +to shake hands.</p> + +<p>"I'm very glad to run across you again and to find that we shall be +working together," Andrew said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>"Mutual pleasure," Carnally replied. "Sit right down; supper will be +getting cold."</p> + +<p>The united party gathered round the fire, sharing the meal, but Andrew +failed in his attempts to lead Carnally into friendly talk. The man +answered readily, but he would not continue a conversation and there +was a strange reserve about him. Indeed, Andrew was glad when the meal +was over; and soon afterward he lay down, wrapped in damp blankets, +and went to sleep. The next morning the wind had fallen, the lake lay +shimmering with light under a cloudless sky, and they paddled smoothly +between islands covered with dusky pines whose reflections quivered in +the glassy water, until they reached the little wooden town. When they +landed, Andrew touched Carnally's arm.</p> + +<p>"Will you have supper with me to-night at my hotel?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Sorry I can't," said Carnally. "Got to meet a man at the other place. +If it will suit, I'll come over during the evening."</p> + +<p>Andrew told him to do so, though he was piqued. He took supper with +Mappin, the head of a transport and contracting company with which it +seemed he was to have business relations. Mappin, he thought, was +about thirty years of age; a powerfully built man of city type, with +sleek black hair and a fleshy but forceful face. His manner to the +waitresses jarred on Andrew, for he gazed at one who was pretty with +insolent admiration, and bullied another who was nervous and plain. In +conversation he was brusque and opinionated; but Andrew was soon +convinced that he possessed marked business ability. After supper they +sat smoking on a wooden balcony while the clean fragrance of the pines +and the murmur of running water filled the cooling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> air. Andrew, who +was by no means oversensitive, was unpleasantly affected by the way +Mappin bit off the end of his cigar. He had large and very white +teeth, but his lower lip was unusually thick, and there was something +suggestive of an animal in the trifling action which made it +repulsive, though on the whole the fellow was coarsely handsome.</p> + +<p>"I noticed a very pretty wooden house on one of the islands we passed +this morning," Andrew said. "Whom does it belong to?"</p> + +<p>"You must mean Frobisher's place. Calls it a summer camp, though it's +fitted up luxuriously. He's from across the frontier and a bit of a +sport; the Americans are coming north largely now for shooting and +fishing. However, as he'll be here soon, you're sure to meet him."</p> + +<p>"A pleasant man?"</p> + +<p>Mappin laughed.</p> + +<p>"He can be very dry and you'd find it hard to get ahead of him; but +he's hospitable, and you can't get a dinner like he puts up out of +Montreal. I'll take you across some evening; he's by way of being a +friend of mine. Then Geraldine Frobisher's a picture: figure like +classical sculpture, face with each feature molded just as it ought to +be. It's a feast for the eyes to watch that girl walk."</p> + +<p>Andrew had occasionally listened to similar descriptions of young +women, but he resented something in Mappin's appreciation of Miss +Frobisher. It struck him as wholly physical and gross.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said curtly, "I'll think over the matters we have talked +about and let you know my decision."</p> + +<p>Mappin looked surprised, as if he had taken Andrew's assent to his +suggestions for granted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>"No hurry, but you'll have to write," he said. "As you're going up to +the mine, I'll pull out on the Toronto express in the morning. And now +there are some letters I must get off by the mail."</p> + +<p>Andrew was not sorry to have him go; and when Carnally entered the +balcony a few minutes later he was struck by the contrast between the +two men. The bushman was lean and wiry; there was a lithe grace in his +quick movements, and a hint of the ascetic in his keen, bronzed face. +One could imagine that this man's body was his well-trained servant +and would never become his pampered master.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Jake," said Andrew, determined to penetrate his reserve. +"Take a cigar. Now, we got on pretty well in the hospital and the +prison camp, didn't we?"</p> + +<p>Carnally's eyes twinkled when he had lighted his cigar.</p> + +<p>"That's so; I wasn't in your squadron then. Besides, you've got moved +up since; you're colonel now."</p> + +<p>"In a sense, I am. I don't know how you rank yet, but I have some say +in choosing my officers. But we'll drop this fencing. Why did you hold +off last night when I meant to be friendly?"</p> + +<p>Carnally considered before he answered.</p> + +<p>"I know my place; you're my boss. If my attitude didn't please you, +tell me what you expect."</p> + +<p>"I'll try. To begin with, when I speak as the Company's +representative, I must have what I want done."</p> + +<p>"That's right. I'm agreeable, so long as I hold my job."</p> + +<p>"Don't you mean to hold it?"</p> + +<p>"That depends. I haven't made up my mind yet."</p> + +<p>"Then I want a man that I can rely on to help me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> through any trouble +I meet," Andrew went on. "One that I can consult, when it's needful, +with confidence."</p> + +<p>"It's quite likely that we might look at things from a different point +of view."</p> + +<p>Andrew was frankly puzzled by his companion's manner. His reserve and +lack of response were not in accordance with what he knew of Carnally.</p> + +<p>"Well," he asked, "what are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"We might give the thing a trial. Do you know much about mining?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Andrew. "I'll admit that to you. I don't think you'll +take advantage of it."</p> + +<p>"But how did you come to be sent over in charge of the mine if you +don't know your work?"</p> + +<p>"I'm a director of the Company, and a good deal of the family money +has gone into it."</p> + +<p>Carnally looked grave at this, and sat silent a few moments studying +his companion.</p> + +<p>"Did you have anything to do with fixing up things on this side?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"No. My brother-in-law, Hathersage, came over and made all +arrangements. I'm rather ignorant about them."</p> + +<p>"Then he didn't take you much into his confidence about this mining +proposition?"</p> + +<p>"No; I can't say that he did."</p> + +<p>"And you expect a fair return on your money and mean to see that your +friends who have invested don't get left? That's all?"</p> + +<p>"Of course; I've no claim to anything else."</p> + +<p>"That," said the Canadian dryly, "is a point on which there might be +some difference of opinion. You want the shareholders to make a good +thing?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. The firm has backed this mine; I believe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> the name helped to +float the scheme. That makes me responsible to the people who found +the money."</p> + +<p>Carnally gave him a long searching glance, and his expression changed.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said with an air of quiet resolve, "I guess I'll have to +see you through."</p> + +<p>When Carnally left a half-hour later he met a storekeeper of the town +outside the hotel.</p> + +<p>"You're looking serious, Jake," the man remarked. "Been with your new +boss, I heard. What do you think of him?"</p> + +<p>"Well," Carnally answered gravely, "it's my idea he's white."</p> + +<p>"Then you're not going to quit, as you talked of doing?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir; I guess the new boss and I will pull along."</p> + +<p>"If he's square, why's he working with Mappin and the other grafters?"</p> + +<p>Carnally laughed.</p> + +<p>"That's a point I don't understand yet. But it's my notion there's +going to be less graft about this Rain Bluff proposition than you +fellows think."</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE FIRST SUSPICIONS</span></h2> + + +<p>Trails of mist floated among the pines that stretched their ragged +branches across the swollen river. Though there had been rain in +abundance, it flowed crystal clear out of the trackless wilderness of +rock and forest that rolls north from the Lake of Shadows toward +Hudson Bay. This rugged belt, which extends from Ottawa River to the +fertile prairie, had until very recent days been regarded as valueless +to man, except for the purpose of trapping fur-bearing animals. The +pines are, for the most part, too small for milling, and there is +little soil among the curiously rounded rocks. Moreover, the agents of +the Hudson Bay Company, which long held dominion over the Canadian +wilds, did not encourage the intrusion of adventurous settlers into +their fur preserves. At last, however, the discovery that there were +valuable minerals in the rocks was made, and hardy treasure-seekers +braved the rigors of the North.</p> + +<p>Andrew and Carnally knelt in the bottom of their canoe, plying the +paddle, while a big half-breed stood upright, using an iron-shod pole +when the nature of the bottom permitted it. The stream ran strong +against them; they were wet, and had laboriously forced a passage +between big boulders, up rapids, and a few slacker reaches, since +early morning. A fine drizzle obscured their view, but so far as they +could see, the prospect was far from cheerful. Ahead, stony<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> ledges +broke the froth-streaked surface of the flood; the pines were green by +the waterside, growing with vigor where they could find a hold among +the rocks, but farther back they were small and tangled, leaning +athwart each other, stripped of half their branches. Some had been +blackened by fire, and there were unsightly avenues of tottering +charred logs. The picture was dreary and desolate.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it getting time for supper?" Andrew asked as they rounded a +bend in the river.</p> + +<p>"Not quite. Besides, there's a Mappin camp not far ahead, and if we +can make it we'll be saved some trouble."</p> + +<p>Andrew nodded, for he had discovered that cooking supper and arranging +a shelter for the night is a tiresome business when one is wet and +worn out by a long day's journey.</p> + +<p>"Then we'd better go on. I suppose Mappin's boys are road-making?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Carnally. "Transport is going to be one of the Company's +biggest expenses. Though the river is available it pays to cut out the +worst of the portages. Packing ore over a mile or two of slippery rock +costs money, and the river makes a big bend full of rapids a little +higher up."</p> + +<p>"I remember now. The road is to go straight across by the old +fur-trade traverse, and when it's finished we'll put wagons on. From +the looks of the country it will be an undertaking."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" agreed Carnally. "Still, if you get it done at a reasonable +figure, it ought to pay."</p> + +<p>"It has struck me that we're giving a good deal of work to Mappin. +Ever since we left the landing we have come across his men."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>"It's usual to put jobs you're unable to attend to into a contractor's +hands," Carnally replied.</p> + +<p>The men were now on more friendly terms, but Andrew had noticed that +his companion was generally content with answering questions and +seldom made a suggestion. Moreover, he had an idea that Carnally was +quietly studying him. The man's attitude was puzzling, but he thought +he would in due time find an explanation.</p> + +<p>They paddled on for another half-hour, and then a sharp report rang +out of the mist ahead. It was followed by a succession of heavy +crashes that might have been made by falling rock, and Carnally turned +the canoe's head toward the bank.</p> + +<p>"Giant-powder," he explained. "The camp's near by, and the boys +haven't quit for supper yet."</p> + +<p>On landing, they left the half-breed to look after the canoe, while +they followed a narrow track through a belt of dismal tottering pines. +A low log-building stood in a clearing and beyond it the new road led +up a ravine with rocky slopes. In one place they had been violently +rent, for the ground was strewn with great fragments, over which a +cloud of dust still floated. A group of men stood a short distance +away, as if afraid to approach nearer, and their attitude suggested +that something unusual was going on. <a name="twomore" id="twomore"></a>As Andrew hurried toward them, +two more appeared, staggering out of the dust and vapor in a curious +drunken manner and dragging along a third. His limpness and the slack +way his arms hung down were unpleasantly suggestive.</p> + +<p>"What's happened? Has he been hit by a stone?" Andrew asked the +nearest man; but the tall, light-haired fellow shook his head as if he +did not understand.</p> + +<p>Andrew questioned another, with no better success,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> and then noticed +two others moving cautiously toward the dust and smoke. Their care +seemed uncalled for, as the explosion had already occurred; but it was +obvious that somebody was lying in need of assistance among the stones +brought down by the shot, and Andrew ran forward.</p> + +<p>Plunging into the dust he noticed that it had an acrid smell, and a +moment later he felt dizzy. Then he was conscious of an intolerable +headache and a feeling of nausea. He could hardly see; he was losing +control of his limbs; but he struggled on and, overtaking the others, +helped to drag out an unconscious man. Then he sat down, gasping, and +found it difficult to prevent himself from slipping off the stone.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," said Carnally, coming up at that moment. "I stopped +behind to talk to one of the boys and as I didn't know what you were +doing I couldn't warn you. You'll feel better presently."</p> + +<p>"What is it?" Andrew asked. "What knocked me and the other fellows +over?"</p> + +<p>"Giant-powder gas. Some kinds are worse than others, though they're +all poisonous. Sit quiet while it works off."</p> + +<p>After a while Andrew's head got clearer and the pain less severe, and +then Carnally took him to the log-building, where supper was ready. +Finding him a seat at the end of a long table, he handed him a +pannikin of strong tea. Andrew felt better when he had drunk it, and +he began to look about.</p> + +<p>The building was a wretched, decrepit hovel. The logs were small and +sagged in the middle; one could hardly stand up in the room; and the +rain that had run in through the leaking roof stood in pools on the +earthen floor. The bunks consisted of two split-board<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> ledges against +the walls, littered with dirty, damp blankets and miry clothing which +filled the place with a sour, unpleasant smell. The long table which +ran up the middle of the one room was crowded with unkempt men, eating +voraciously and talking in what Andrew presently recognized as +Norwegian, though he thought he caught a word or two of German +occasionally. A very neat Chinaman laid a plate before him; but, +hungry as he had been before he breathed the powder fumes, he revolted +from the food. The greasy pork smelt rancid; the potatoes were rotten.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't eat this if I were feeling fit," he said disgustedly.</p> + +<p>Carnally called the Chinaman, who took the plate away and substituted +a piece of pie and one or two desiccated apricots. This was better, +and Andrew ate a little, although he suspected that there was +something wrong with the lard used in the pie, and the fruit was small +and worm-eaten.</p> + +<p>"Let's get out," he said. "I don't think I'm dainty, but this place is +too much for me."</p> + +<p>Leaving the building, they sat down at the foot of a rock which kept +the drizzle off them. Andrew breathed the clean fragrance of the pines +with delight.</p> + +<p>"This is a great improvement," he declared. "Will you tell Lucien to +pitch our tent where there's shelter?"</p> + +<p>"As you wish," said Carnally. "I had figured on our sleeping and +getting breakfast in the shack."</p> + +<p>"Heavens, no!"</p> + +<p>Andrew lighted his pipe.</p> + +<p>"I've recovered enough to feel curious. How did the accident happen? +The men who use it must know that the fumes of giant-powder are +dangerous; why didn't they wait?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>"It might be better if I let the man responsible explain."</p> + +<p>Carnally beckoned the foreman.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Allinson wants to know why you didn't keep the boys back until +the fumes had cleared."</p> + +<p>"I gave them about the usual time; but it looks as if I'd cut it too +fine. Guess the damp and there being no wind stopped the gas from +getting away. Besides, we're not using a high-grade powder."</p> + +<p>"But if there was any doubt, couldn't you have given them another few +minutes?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p>The foreman smiled.</p> + +<p>"I had to hold up a dozen men while that shot was fired, and the rain +has kept us back lately. Now a boss contractor knows how many yards of +dirt a man can move in a day and how much rock you ought to shift with +a stick of giant-powder. It's easy figuring how far the road should be +pushed ahead for the money spent, and I've got to keep up to +schedule."</p> + +<p>Andrew studied the man. He looked hard, capable of getting the most +out of his subordinates, but not brutal.</p> + +<p>"Then no allowances are made?" he suggested.</p> + +<p>"No, sir; not on a Mappin job. You have to put through the work or +get!"</p> + +<p>He left them and Andrew turned to Carnally.</p> + +<p>"Is the shack these fellows live in better or worse than the average?" +he asked.</p> + +<p>"Worse. The boys are often quite comfortably fixed."</p> + +<p>"What about the food?"</p> + +<p>"You can judge for yourself," Carnally drawled. "It's the meanest hash +I ever struck; and you want to remember it's no fault of the cook's. +The stuff is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> mighty bad when a Chinaman can't dish it up fit to eat."</p> + +<p>"Are the men boarded free?"</p> + +<p>"Not much! They pay about six dollars a week; and it's enough. Now, as +a rule, an employer doesn't look for a profit on the grub; taking +camps all round, the boys get pretty good value for their money."</p> + +<p>"Then it looks as if this one were an exception," said Andrew. "Why do +they employ so many Scandinavians?"</p> + +<p>"They get them cheap: catch them newly landed, anxious for a job, +before they find out what they ought to have. A dollar looks big after +a kroner. That's my notion, but we'll see if it's right." He called a +Canadian workman. "What would you fix a road-maker's wages at, Jim?"</p> + +<p>"You ought to know. A good chopper and shoveler would get up to +two-fifty, so long as he was west of cleared Ontario."</p> + +<p>"Two dollars and a-half a day," Carnally repeated to Andrew in +emphasis, and addressed the man again: "What are you making now?"</p> + +<p>"Dollar, seventy-five. I was cleaned out when I took the job. These +blamed Dutchmen get one-fifty. The Mappin crowd's the meanest I've +ever been up against."</p> + +<p>"That leaves them three dollars a week for clothing and all expenses," +Andrew observed, when the workman went away. "Considering what things +cost in Canada, it isn't a great deal. Mappin seems a hard master. Do +you know anything about him?"</p> + +<p>"He's a smart man," said Carnally with a smile. "I met him for the +first time when I hired out with your Company, but I heard that he +hadn't a dollar a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> years ago." He paused and added: "In fact, I've +wondered where he got the capital to finance this job."</p> + +<p>When they moved off to the camp which the half-breed had pitched, +Andrew sat thoughtfully smoking outside the tent while the mist +gathered thicker about the dripping pines and the roar of the river +rang in his ears. He had been unfavorably impressed by Mappin, and had +since learned that he treated his workmen with marked injustice; +indeed, he had suffered in person from the fellow's greed. Andrew felt +that a Company of which he was a director ought not to make a profit +by trickery and oppression; but that was taking something for granted, +for he had not ascertained that the Rain Bluff Company received the +benefit. He must reserve the question for future consideration. +Moreover, he had been struck by the manner in which Carnally had +explained how the contractor conducted his business. He had called in +outsiders to check his statements, and allowed them to supply the most +damaging particulars. It had been done with some skill. Andrew felt +that Carnally was anxious that he should learn the truth about Mappin, +though his object was far from clear.</p> + +<p>Then he began to think about Carnally. He had learned in South Africa +that the man had courage and keen intelligence; and that he was to be +trusted. Though fond of the vernacular, his intonation was clean; he +had good manners; and there were signs that he had enjoyed an +excellent education.</p> + +<p>"Jake," he said at last, "is there any reason why the Company +shouldn't do its own transport work?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know of any. You would have to let Mappin get through with +his contracts first."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>"Of course. What I mean is, could we do it as cheaply as he does and +pay regulation wages?"</p> + +<p>"It would take some figuring to answer that. Speaking without the +book, you ought to do the work at the contractor's prices and have a +profit. He must make one; and you can buy plant and tools on as good +terms as he can."</p> + +<p>"That's obvious. Then, on the whole, it ought to pay the Company?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by the Company?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the shareholders."</p> + +<p>"It might pay—them," said Carnally with suggestive emphasis.</p> + +<p>Andrew smoked his pipe out before he answered.</p> + +<p>"I'll consider it when I've a little more to go on. It strikes me that +I'm learning things. And now I think I'll get to sleep; my head's +aching."</p> + +<p>He lay down on a bed of spruce twigs and soon sank into restful +slumber, but Carnally sat a while in the tent door, watching the dark +river roll by. Allinson evidently meant to make him his confidential +adviser, and he felt his responsibility.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">DREAM MINE</span></h2> + + +<p>The next morning the party broke camp, and after toiling hard with +pole and paddle reached, toward evening, a forest-shrouded gorge +through which the flood swept furiously. A quarter of a mile ahead +steep rocks pent in the raging water, which was veiled in spray; but +nearer at hand the stream widened into a pool at which Andrew gazed +with misgivings. Evidently Carnally meant to cross it. A wall of crag +formed one bank; the opposite beach was strewn with massy boulders, +over which the pine branches stretched; and in between there ran a +great wedge-shaped track of foam. No canoe, Andrew thought, could live +through that tumult of broken water; but it ran more slackly near the +boulder bank, and a short distance higher up an angry eddy swung back, +close inshore, to the head of the pool, where it joined the main +downward rush. At the junction a spur of rock ran out into the wild +side-swirl of the flood. Shut in as it was by dripping pines, the +place had a forbidding look.</p> + +<p>"It strikes me that the Company will find carrying up its stores and +plant very costly work," Andrew remarked, as they rested in an eddy +behind a stone. "I'm beginning to understand why Leonard asked for so +much capital. My idea is that we'll have to do some preliminary +reducing on the spot to save mineral transport."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>Carnally nodded. For a novice in such matters, Allinson was showing an +unusual grasp of details.</p> + +<p>"It's a question of the quality of the ore. In the North you must have +a high-grade product that can be handled at a profit in small +quantities. It doesn't pay to work rock that carries a low percentage +of metal."</p> + +<p>"What grade of stuff are we turning out? I've been unable to learn +anything about it since I saw the results of the first assays."</p> + +<p>"So far, the Company has not got up much ore: the boys have been kept +busy at development work. But you'll be able to judge for yourself +shortly, and we had better get on. There's a slack along the edge of +the spur at the head of the pool which we ought to make, and it will +save us some trouble in portaging. I'll land you if you'd rather, but +I want a hand, and Lucien must give us a lift by tracking."</p> + +<p>"If you can take the canoe up, I'll go with you," said Andrew quietly.</p> + +<p>They headed for the boulder beach, where they landed the half-breed. +He made a line fast to the craft and went up-stream with the end of +it, while Carnally thrust the canoe out and, with Andrew's help, +forced her up against the current, aided by the line. It was arduous +work. The foam stood high about the bows; eddies swirling up from the +rough bottom swung them to and fro and, although they strained every +muscle, now and then brought them to a standstill. Angry waves broke +on board freely, and Andrew realized that if Lucien lost his footing +or slackened his efforts the line would be torn from him and they +would be swept back to the tail of the pool. This, however, would be +better than being sucked into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> the cataract close outshore, which +would no doubt result in the canoe's capsizing. At last they reached a +spot where they must stem the main rush, which swung in nearer the +bank.</p> + +<p>"Can we get through there?" Andrew asked breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"I'll try," said Carnally. "If we fail, I guess you'll have to swim."</p> + +<p>Andrew said nothing, but the swollen veins rose on his forehead as he +strained upon his pole. Frothing water broke into the canoe; Lucien +was knee-deep in the foam, braced tensely against the drag of the +line. Spray lashed their hot faces, and the air was filled with the +roar of the torrent. For nearly a minute they hung stationary, their +strength taxed to the utmost, the pole-shoes gripping the bottom. Then +they moved a foot or two, and the work was a little easier when they +next dipped the poles. They made a few yards. With a cry to the +half-breed, Carnally loosed the line, and they shot forward up-stream +with a back-eddy. It swirled about them in curious green upheavals, +streaked with lines of foam, and they sped with it past boulder and +shingle at a furious pace. This was exhilarating; but when steep rocks +dropped to the water Andrew glanced anxiously toward the white +confusion where the eddy reunited with the downward stream. Its +descent was not to be thought of, but he could see no alternative +except being dashed against the crag.</p> + +<p>Carnally, however, did not seem disturbed. He knelt in the stern, his +eyes fixed ahead, quietly dipping the steering paddle, for they had +laid down the poles.</p> + +<p>"Use all your strength when I give the word," he said.</p> + +<p>They slid on, a tall, projecting spur of rock drawing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> nearer, with +furious waves leaping down-stream a yard or two outshore of it. It +seemed to Andrew that destruction surely awaited them. The turmoil +grew closer, the rock was only a yard or two away; in another few +moments the bow of the canoe would plunge into the tumbling foam. Then +came a cry from Carnally:</p> + +<p>"Now, with your right! Shoot her in!"</p> + +<p>Andrew felt the stout paddle bend and afterward thought he had never +made a stronger effort. The bow swung inshore, the rock unexpectedly +fell back, and as they drove past its end a narrow basin opened up. +The next moment they had entered it and, gliding forward, grounded on +a gravelly bank. A man scrambled down a ledge and helped them to drag +out the canoe.</p> + +<p>"I've been watching you; didn't think you would make it," he said. +"The stream's stronger than usual. Come along to my camp; I'll put you +up to-night."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," responded Carnally. "This is Mr. Allinson, of the Rain Bluff +Mine." He turned to Andrew. "Mr. Graham, from the Landing."</p> + +<p>Andrew saw that the man was studying him with quiet interest. Graham +was elderly; his hair was gray, and his face and general appearance +indicated that he led a comfortable, domestic life. Andrew supposed he +was in business, but when they reached his camp he recognized that it +had been laid out by a man with some knowledge of the wilds.</p> + +<p>Graham gave them a supper of gray trout and bannocks and they +afterward sat talking while the half-breed went fishing. The rain had +ceased, though the mist still drifted heavily down the gorge, and the +aromatic smell of wood-smoke mingled with the scent of the pines. +Somewhere in the shadows a loon was calling, its wild cry piercing +through the roar of water.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>"A rugged and beautiful country," Graham remarked. "Is this your first +visit to it, Mr. Allinson?"</p> + +<p>"No," Andrew replied. "I was once some distance north, looking for +caribou. I'm glad of an opportunity for seeing it again. It gets hold +of one."</p> + +<p>"So you know that; you have felt the pull of the lonely North! Curious +how it draws some of us, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Have you been up there?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; as a young man I served the Hudson Bay. I've been through +most of the barrens between Churchill and the Mackenzie. Perhaps +that's the grimmest, hardest country white men ever entered; but it's +one you can't forget."</p> + +<p>"It's undoubtedly hard," said Andrew. "We scarcely reached the fringe +of it, but I was dressed in rags and worn very thin when we struck +Lake Manitoba. I suppose you live at the Landing now?"</p> + +<p>"I've been there twenty years; built my house myself when there was +only a shack or two and a Hudson Bay store. The railroad has changed +all that."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Graham is treasurer for the sawmill," Carnally explained.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you find it tamer than serving the fur company?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p>A curious smile crept into Graham's eyes.</p> + +<p>"One can't have everything, Mr. Allinson. I've been content, a willing +slave of the desk, only seeing the wilds for a week or two in summer. +But I've thought I might make another trip before I get too old."</p> + +<p>"I think I understand," Andrew replied; "if I've a chance, I'm going +before I return home. There's so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> much up yonder that impresses +me—the caribou, the timber wolves, the lake storms, and the break up +of the rivers in the spring. What a tremendous spectacle the last must +be!—six-foot ice, piled up in wild confusion, thundering down the +valleys. I've only followed the track of it in summer, but I've seen +the wreckage of rubbed-out buttes and islands, and boulders smashed to +rubble."</p> + +<p>"It is grand," said Graham quietly.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you'd mind telling Mr. Allinson about the silver lode you +found?" Carnally suggested. "I guess he'd be interested."</p> + +<p>Graham needed some persuasion before he began his tale.</p> + +<p>"It happened a long time ago and I seldom mention it now; in fact, +I'll confess that the lode is looked upon as a harmless illusion of +mine. My friends call it my Dream Mine. When I was a young man I was +stationed at a Hudson Bay factory about four hundred miles north of +here and was despatched with two half-breeds and a canoe to carry +stores to a band of Indians. No doubt you know that the great Company +held sovereign authority over the North for a very long time and the +Indians depended on it for their maintenance. Well, we set off with +the canoe, paddling and portaging up rivers and across the height of +land, toward the south."</p> + +<p>"Then you were working across country toward the headwaters of this +river," Andrew remarked.</p> + +<p>"We didn't get so far, but I did my errand, and one day when crossing +a divide we nooned beside a little creek. As I filled the kettle I +noticed something peculiar about the pebbles and picked up a few. They +were unusually heavy and dully lustrous, which made me curious. +Following the creek back, I found a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> vein of the same material among +the rocks. I filled a small bag with specimens and took the bearings +of the spot, though we had to get on without loss of time because the +rivers would soon be freezing up. On reaching the fort I showed the +agent the specimens. I can remember his look of disgust. He was a grim +old Scot.</p> + +<p>"Just pebbles; I'm no saying but they might be pretty,' he remarked, +and opening the door threw them out. 'Ye'll think nae mair o' them. +The Company's no collecting precious stones, and ye should ken a +souter's expected to stick till his last.'"</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Andrew, "which of you hailed from the Border."</p> + +<p>"Both," laughed Graham. "He was a Hawick terry; I was born between +Selkirk and Ettrick shaws. The official language of the Company was +Caledonian; but that's beside the point. I was young enough to feel +hurt; though I knew my man and how staunch he was to the Company's +traditional policy."</p> + +<p>"What was that policy?"</p> + +<p>"The North for the Hudson Bay. As you know, in Canada all minerals +belong to the Crown. The first discoverer can claim the right to work +them, so long as he complies with the regulations."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Andrew. "Prospectors might scare away animals with skins +worth a good deal of silver. But I didn't mean to interrupt you."</p> + +<p>"A day or two later I thought I would look for the stones, but there +had been a heavy fall of snow and I found only a few of them. I never +got the rest, because I was away when the thaw came. About a year +later I was sent back with the same companions to the band of Indians. +It was winter, they were starving, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> agent recognized their +claim. There was no oppression of native races in the Hudson Bay +domains; not a yard of the Indians' land was taken from them, and +drink could not be bought at the factories. The Company offered them a +higher standard of comfort if they would work for it, but there was no +compulsion. If they found English guns and stores and blankets better +than the articles they had used, the agents were there to trade."</p> + +<p>Graham paused with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I'm discursive, Mr. Allinson, but I've a grievance against the Hudson +Bay, and I want to be fair."</p> + +<p>"I'm interested," Andrew declared. "It's a clean record for a +commercial monopoly, considering how cocoa, rubber, and one or two +other things, are often procured."</p> + +<p>"We reached the Indian camp, handed over the supplies, and started +back, with rations carefully weighed out to see us through. In winter +starvation stalks one closely across the northern wilds. Now I had +meant to visit the creek where I'd found the stones, but there was the +difficulty that, as the Indians had changed their location, it would +mean a longer trip. I couldn't rob the starving trappers of anything +that had been sent them, and I must make our provisions cover an extra +three or four days. There was a danger in this, because an unexpected +delay might be fatal, and the dogs were already in poor condition. I +faced the risk. We set off, the sledge running heavily over soft snow, +and we reached the neighborhood of the creek in a raging blizzard, and +camped for twenty-four hours. I could not find the creek, it was +impossible to wait, and we went on through the bitterest weather I +have known. Gales and snowstorms dogged our steps all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> the way to the +fort and we reached it, starving, four days late. One of the +half-breeds had a badly frozen foot and I'll carry a memento of that +march for the rest of my life."</p> + +<p>Graham held up his left hand, which was short of two fingers.</p> + +<p>"The result of a small ax cut and putting on a damp mitten, when we +were near the creek."</p> + +<p>"That put an end to your prospecting?"</p> + +<p>"It did. I think the agent suspected me, for he took care that I was +not sent south again, and during the next year I left the Company's +service. I kept the stones and after some time took them to an +American assayer. He found them rich in lead and silver, which are +often combined, and his estimate of the value of the matrix rock +startled me. It was beyond anything I had imagined."</p> + +<p>"Then there's a fortune awaiting exploitation beside that creek," +exclaimed Andrew. "Did you do nothing about it?"</p> + +<p>Graham smiled at him.</p> + +<p>"I was married then, Mr. Allinson; a clerk in a small sawmill. What +could I do? Stories of such strikes in the wilderness are common, and +I had nothing but two or three bits of stone to show a capitalist. The +country's difficult to traverse; it would have needed a well-equipped +party to carry up stores and haul a canoe over the divides. In winter, +provisions and sledge dogs could be obtained only from the Hudson Bay +agents. The Company had to be reckoned with, and it was too strong for +me."</p> + +<p>"They couldn't have forbidden you to prospect in their territory."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; after all, it belongs to Canada. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> their agents could +refuse me the assistance and supplies I couldn't do without. It was +impossible to hire an Indian guide or packer without their consent. If +I'd been able to raise a thousand dollars, I might have beaten them; +but that was out of the question."</p> + +<p>"You tried, I've no doubt?"</p> + +<p>"I spent a year's savings on a visit to Montreal and made the round of +the banks and financiers' offices. Here and there a man listened with +some interest, but nobody would venture five dollars on the project."</p> + +<p>"And then?" said Andrew.</p> + +<p>"I gave up all idea of developing the mine. I had two children to +bring up; my salary was small. From the beginning, my wife made light +of my discovery—I dare say she feared I might go back to the +North—the children as they grew up took her view, and my silver mine +became a joke among us. For twenty years I've led a happy, domestic +life; but I've never forgotten the lode and I've thought of it often +the last year or two. My girl is teaching, the boy has got a post, and +I have a few dollars accumulating in the bank."</p> + +<p>Graham, breaking off, filled his pipe and laughed softly before he +went on.</p> + +<p>"That's my story, Mr. Allinson; but perhaps it isn't finished yet. I +may take the trail again some day, but it will have to be soon. The +North is a hard country, and I'm getting old."</p> + +<p>Andrew was moved. Loving adventure as he did, he could imagine what +Graham's self-denial had cost him while he had cheerfully carried out +his duty to his family.</p> + +<p>"Prospecting would no doubt be easier now?" he suggested.</p> + +<p>"Much easier," said Graham. "The railroad has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> opened up the country, +and the Company finds miners very good customers. Only, when you get +back a short distance from the track, the North is still unsubdued. To +grapple with its snow and ice, its rapids and muskegs, is mighty tough +work."</p> + +<p>They talked about other matters, until the chilly mist, gathering +thicker round the camp, drove them into the tent.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE AMATEUR MINER</span></h2> + + +<p>It was afternoon, and hot sunshine poured down into the little valley. +Andrew stood at the foot of a low range, looking about with keen +interest. The strip of level ground between rock and river was strewn +with small fir stumps, among which lay half-burned logs and branches. +On the edge of the clearing stood two log shacks and a smith's shop, +with an unsightly heap of empty cans, broken boots and discarded +clothing in front of them. A bank of shattered stone stretched toward +the stream, and on a scarped slope of the hillside where the rocks +shone a warm pink there was a black hole. A stream of water flowing +out of it ran down a trench. This was the Rain Bluff Mine. Andrew felt +disappointed. There was not much to show for the capital that had been +subscribed. He supposed, however, that the pieces of machinery which +lay in disorder about the waterside were expensive, and he meant to +ascertain their cost.</p> + +<p>"Why don't they get those things fitted up and working?" he asked +Carnally, who stood near him.</p> + +<p>"They're not complete. We're waiting until the Mappin people bring the +rest of them."</p> + +<p>Andrew pointed to several stacks of small logs.</p> + +<p>"I suppose those are props? You seem to use a good many. Do you cut +them on the spot?"</p> + +<p>"The Mappin boys do. The Company pays for them by the foot."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>"It strikes me that Mappin's doing a good deal of the Company's work. +However, it looks as if we meant to dig the ore out."</p> + +<p>Carnally saw impatience and suspicion in his face.</p> + +<p>"I'm asking a good many questions, Jake," Andrew went on: "but I'm in +the unfortunate position of having to look after matters I know +nothing about. That's a rather remarkable qualification for a +director."</p> + +<p>"It isn't altogether unusual," Carnally replied. "I could point out +one or two men who couldn't tell a pump from a rock drill, and control +mining concerns."</p> + +<p>"It sounds surprising. How's it done?"</p> + +<p>"By hiring subordinates with brains and keeping a careful eye on +them."</p> + +<p>"I'm serious, Jake. The Company pays my expenses and two hundred +dollars a month while I'm in Canada. It's the shareholders' money; I +feel that I ought to earn it."</p> + +<p>"You may have trouble."</p> + +<p>"That won't matter. I've had only a few words with the mine boss, +Watson. What kind of man is he?"</p> + +<p>"He's straight; a smart manager underground, good at timbering and +getting ore out; but that's as far as he goes."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll look at the workings."</p> + +<p>As they approached the adit Watson came to meet them. He was a short, +wiry man, clad in wet, soil-stained overalls. Andrew indicated the +drainage trench.</p> + +<p>"There seems to be a good deal of water in the mine."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Watson. "We want to get rid of it. I've several boys +in the sump, baling it up with coal-oil cans."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>"You mean the five-gallon drums you get your kerosene in?" Andrew +asked in surprise. "Why don't you order a pump?"</p> + +<p>"We've got half of one and the engine's fixed. Guess we'll get the +rest when Mappin's ready."</p> + +<p>"I'll send down word about it to the Landing."</p> + +<p>"You needn't. One of the river bosses is up here; he's getting his +dinner now."</p> + +<p>"But dinner has been finished some time."</p> + +<p>"That don't count. We had pork to-day and the Mappin man figured he'd +like trout, so I had to tell Yan Li to cook him some. If you want your +plant brought up, you have to be civil to the transport people."</p> + +<p>The color swept into Andrew's face.</p> + +<p>"Bring the fellow here!"</p> + +<p>Watson grinned and called to a miner at work on the dump. The miner +disappeared and presently came back with a man.</p> + +<p>"You sent for me, Mr. Allinson?" he said, as if he resented it.</p> + +<p>"I did," answered Andrew curtly. "You have a pump of ours which has +been in your hands some time. I want it delivered here immediately."</p> + +<p>The man looked surprised at his tone.</p> + +<p>"We'll do what we can, but most of the boys are busy on the road."</p> + +<p>"Then you had better send them back to the canoes. Our supplies must +not be stopped."</p> + +<p>"It's awkward," said the other. "You don't quite understand yet how +things are run here, Mr. Allinson. You want to give and take."</p> + +<p>"I expect to understand them better soon," Andrew dryly rejoined. +"What we want at present is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> pump, and if it isn't here by next +week I'll charge your employer with the extra expense we're being put +to."</p> + +<p>"The office wouldn't allow your claim."</p> + +<p>"I won't make one," said Andrew. "I'll knock it off your bill. No +accounts will be paid without my sanction."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said the other, "since you make a point of it, I'll get +down the river right away and see where that pump is."</p> + +<p>He left them, and Watson looked at Carnally as they entered the mine.</p> + +<p>"And I thought he was an English sucker!" he remarked.</p> + +<p>"You were wrong," said Carnally. "You'll know Mr. Allinson better in a +little while."</p> + +<p>Seeing that Andrew was waiting, Watson gave him a small flat lamp to +hook in his hat, and they went down a narrow gallery. By the uncertain +smoky light Andrew could see that it was strongly timbered: stout +props were ranged along its sides, and beams, some cracked and +sagging, spanned the roof between. The floor was wet and strewn with +large fragments, which seemed to have fallen lately. Watson explained +that they were working through treacherous rocks. Presently they +stopped at the top of a dark hole, where a man was busy at a primitive +windlass.</p> + +<p>"Lode dips sharply here," Watson explained. "We had to go down a bit, +but we'll push on this heading. Pay dirt's badly broken up, but we'll +fix things different when we strike it fair. It's pretty wet in the +lower level; do you feel like going down?"</p> + +<p>Andrew put on the waterproof jacket that had been given him, and +looked at the pit. A rough ladder ran down its side, but the man at +the windlass turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> to him as he emptied a big can into the drainage +trench.</p> + +<p>"The rope's quicker and quite as safe," he said. "One of the Mappin +boys made that ladder and fixed it wrong. Catch hold here and get a +turn round your foot; you don't want to go through the bottom of the +can."</p> + +<p>Andrew having done as he was directed, the man called a warning to +somebody beneath and then let him go. When he had descended a short +distance, the rope was checked, and a man seizing it swung him across +a murky pool, in which the reflection of faint lights quivered; then +springing down, he found himself in a short gallery. A smoky lamp +burned here and there among the timbering, and shadowy figures were +busy in recesses with hammer and drill. The floor was strewn with +broken rock, damming back the stream that ran along it, and water +freely trickled in. Near at hand three or four men were building up a +square pillar of timber and rock toward the roof. They wore no +clothing above the waist, and the drips from the stone splashed on +their wet skin. Watson spoke to one of them before he turned to +Andrew.</p> + +<p>"Ore's pretty good, here," he said. "We had to make a show for the +people in Montreal to do some figuring on—that is why I cut so much +stuff without leaving more support, though I didn't know the roof was +quite so bad. We'll have her shored up in a day or two, but the worst +trouble's the water."</p> + +<p>Andrew asked him a few questions, and presently went back to the +surface, where he sat down in the sunshine and lighted his pipe. A +good deal of capital had already been expended, and the result looked +discouragingly small. The Company owned a short tunnel,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> driven into +what was evidently inferior ore, and another at the bottom of a pit, +which might be choked up by a fall of roof and was threatened with +inundation. Still, Andrew supposed that success depended upon the +quality of the main body of the ore, which they had hardly reached as +yet. When he had finished his pipe, he joined Carnally, who was busy +among the machinery by the river.</p> + +<p>"Jake," he said, "I want you to go to the Landing and see that the +Mappin people send up the plant Watson expects as soon as it's off the +cars. I shall stay here a while and try to learn something about my +business."</p> + +<p>"Well," drawled Carnally with signs of amusement, "there is a good +deal to learn."</p> + +<p>He set off early the next morning, and Andrew, putting on a suit of +overalls, went down into the mine and insisted on being given +practical instruction in the use of the drill. It was a painful +process: he was forced to kneel on sharp stones and sometimes in water +while he held the steel bar, which jarred his hands when his companion +struck it. Nor did he find the work easier when he came to strike, +standing in a cramped position without room to swing the hammer, his +eyes fixed upon the end of the drill, which must be squarely hit. To +miss might result in the other man's knuckles being smashed. The inch +of metal which glimmered in the lamplight formed a perplexing mark. +Andrew had an accurate eye, however, and did not often miss; and he +forgave his instructor for hitting him on the wrist, though this +necessitated its being bound up for several days. He learned the quick +twist of the drill which brings the cutting edge to bear, and how to +wedge up the roof by setting a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> prop, sawed a little too long for the +position, slantwise beneath a beam and hammering it straight; and then +he turned his attention to more advanced subjects.</p> + +<p>"Watson," he commented one morning, "this mine strikes me as being +badly arranged. The best ore's on the lower level, the lode dips, and +having the shaft underground must give you extra trouble in getting +the stone and water out."</p> + +<p>"It does," Watson assented. "You want to remember that we took over +Rain Bluff after work had been begun, and the fellows who locate these +bush mines often don't know much about their job. If they think the +ore's there, they start to get it out the best way they can. I've seen +that we'll have to drive a lower adit right in from outside sooner or +later, but I'm shy of the expense."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that the money will be profitably spent," Andrew said +when they had discussed it for a while. "You'll get it back by saving +labor and pumping, while the extra cost you're put to now would +probably increase. You'd better start the work at once; I'll be +responsible."</p> + +<p>Watson was beginning to understand that the resident director +possessed abilities which he had by no means suspected at first. He +did as he was told, and for the next few weeks Andrew was pleasantly +occupied. He learned to nip detonators on to fuses, and how a stick of +giant-powder should be inserted into a firing hole. He studied the +lines of cleavage in the rock, calculated the cost in labor and +explosives of the stone brought down, and found it all interesting. As +a matter of fact, it was the first time he had seriously interested +himself in anything except sport, and there was encouragement in +feeling that he possessed some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> useful powers. Watson spoke to him as +to one who could understand; the miners did not seem to notice his +clumsiness. He had expected some banter from them, but none was +offered, and he remembered that it was Leonard and his relatives who +had shown an amused disbelief in his capabilities.</p> + +<p>One day he descended to the lower level, where the men were having +trouble in the manager's absence. A number of lamps were burning and +the place looked wetter than usual in the unsteady light. Water +trickled down the end wall, the rows of props were dripping, and the +half-naked men splashed through pools when they moved to and fro. They +were feverishly busy: one group building a massive pillar, others +putting up fresh props; only two or three were breaking out ore at the +working face. Then Carnally came toward him, and his wet face showed +tense and anxious in the light of Andrew's lamp.</p> + +<p>"The blamed roof's very shaky," he said. "We've had two ugly cave-ins. +I wish Watson was back. And I'm getting scared about the water; expect +we're tapping a tank-pot in the hill, but there's nothing to help us +in locating it. You might give the boys a hand with the pillar."</p> + +<p>Andrew stripped to shirt and overall trousers, and hurried toward the +spot. He saw that the men needed help, for the cracked roof was +bulging downward ominously and there were several heaps of freshly +fallen stones. They were constructing a square frame of logs, crossed +at the ends, and filling it in with broken rock as fast as they could; +but there remained a wide gap between its top and the roof it was +meant to support. For an hour he worked savagely, wet with falling +water and dripping with perspiration, passing up heavy beams<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> and +stones to the men who laid them in place. He grew breathless and tore +his hand, but the flakes of rock which fell at intervals urged him on. +Once or twice there was a crash farther down the tunnel and he saw +shadowy figures scatter and others run in with props, but for the most +part he fixed his attention on his task, because it looked as if they +had no time to lose. When a gush of water flowing down the heading +splashed about his boots, he called Carnally.</p> + +<p>"Is this tunnel going to cave in?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"That's more than I can tell," Carnally replied. "We may be able to +shore her up, but if it's not done soon, the chances of her crushing +in are steep."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Andrew, and turned to his companions. "Boys, I'll stand +for a ten-dollar bonus if this job's finished in half an hour."</p> + +<p>One of them laughed, but there was no other response and they did not +seem to increase their exertions much. This suggested that they had +been doing their utmost already, with a clear recognition of the risk +they ran. Their pay was good, but something besides their interest +urged them to keep the mine open. These were men who would not easily +be beaten by inpouring water or crushing rock: they had braced +themselves for a grapple with their treacherous natural foes.</p> + +<p>Andrew, however, was feeling the strain. His injured hand was painful, +the stones he had to lift were heavy, his arms and back ached; but he +meant to hold out, for the gap between roof and pillar was getting +narrow. He had raised a ponderous piece of rock and was holding it up +to a man who reached for it when there was a smashing sound above and +a dark mass rushed past him. The tunnel echoed with a crash, and +Andrew received a violent blow on his head. The pain of it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> turned him +dizzy, but he heard a clamor of voices and harsh warning cries. They +were followed by a smashing of timber; he saw two or three props crush +in; and then half the lights went out and he felt the water washing +past his boots.</p> + +<p>The next moment his legs were wet, and he set off for the shaft, +knee-deep in a rushing flood. There was a confused uproar behind him: +stones falling, timber breaking; and then the last of the lamps went +out. It cost him an effort to keep his head. Hurrying men jostled him; +he struck his feet against sharp stones and was thankful that he did +not fall. While he battled with a growing horror, he made for the +feeble glimmer which marked the bottom of the shaft. It was a short +distance, and he presently stood in the gathering water among a group +of half-seen men, watching one being slowly drawn up toward the +brighter light above. Another was hurriedly climbing the ladder, while +a comrade waited to follow as soon as he was high enough. Then Andrew +felt a hand on his arm.</p> + +<p>"I was looking for you," Carnally said. "You had better get up. Take +the rope as soon as it drops."</p> + +<p>Andrew felt a strong desire to do so, but he mastered it.</p> + +<p>"No," he returned calmly; "not yet. In a sense, it's my mine; I must +see the boys out."</p> + +<p>A man near him raised a shout.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with the winch! Can't you heave on it?"</p> + +<p>A deepening rush of water swirled about them and there were sharp +cries:</p> + +<p>"You above, get on to the handles! When's that rope coming? She ought +to carry two!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>A man clutched at the rope, which fell among them but when another +grasped it Andrew interfered.</p> + +<p>"Steady, boys!" he said. "The winch won't lift you both. Being heaved +up is too slow. Tell them to make the rope fast, and then climb; it's +strong enough to carry two or three."</p> + +<p>There was a growl of approval; instructions were shouted up; and while +the water rapidly deepened, the group at the foot of the shaft +decreased. Andrew, however, was above his waist before he clutched the +ladder, while Carnally seized the rope. There was a man above him +whose feet he must avoid, and he felt the timber shake, but it was +with vast relief that he climbed out of the flood. He was near the top +when a cross-batten broke and Grennan, the fellow above him, slipping +down a foot or two, bruised Andrew's fingers with his heavy boot. For +a brief moment Andrew clung by one hand, and then, his overtired arm +suddenly relaxing, his fingers loosed their grasp and he fell, half +dazed from pain and horror, into the swirling flood below. A crash of +the timbers somewhere in the shaft preceded a fresh onrush of water. +The flood was neck-deep and rapidly rising.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE ISLAND OF PINES</span></h2> + + +<p>When Carnally crawled out, wet and breathless, into the open air with +the last of the men, he turned to speak to Andrew.</p> + +<p>"Where's the boss?" he demanded quickly of Grennan.</p> + +<p>Just then the roar of a fresh rushing of waters was borne up to them, +and Carnally was filled with anxiety as he leaned over the edge of the +pit.</p> + +<p>"Allinson!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>No answer came, and before the scared miners could fully realize what +had happened, Carnally was sliding down the rope. In the feeble light +at the bottom he saw Andrew's arms reaching above his head grasping +desperately on to the ladder. He seemed unable to pull himself up, but +held on with a vise-grip.</p> + +<p>"All right, Allinson!" Carnally called across reassuringly.</p> + +<p>Letting go of the rope, a few strokes in the water brought him to the +ladder.</p> + +<p>"My knee!" explained Allinson, his face gray with pain. "Struck a +sharp ledge at the bottom!"</p> + +<p>With Carnally's assistance, he managed to climb to the top of the +ladder, where a dozen arms were extended to pull him to safety. He had +a bad gash on his knee, his fingers on one hand were bruised and +bleeding, and there was a large welt on his head where the cross-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>beam +had struck him; but there seemed to be nothing serious.</p> + +<p>He held out his hand to Carnally, and they gripped in silence. Words +were unnecessary.</p> + +<p>"The cross-pieces of the ladder could not have been properly notched +in," Andrew said after a while. "I think it was supplied by Mappin?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Carnally; "and it's a rough job!"</p> + +<p>"I must endeavor to see that Mappin does his work better. But what's +to be done about the flooded level?"</p> + +<p>"Try to pump it out; it's fortunate that with a wood-burning engine +fuel costs you nothing. I expect Watson will start all the boys at the +new heading as soon as he gets back."</p> + +<p>They discussed the mine until Yan Li called them to supper, and for +the next two weeks they worked very hard. Then Andrew went down to the +Landing on business, and one day he sat lazily in a rowing skiff on +the Lake of Shadows. A blaze of sunshine fell upon the shimmering +water, which farther on was streaked with deep-blue lines, but close +at hand it lay dim and still, reflecting the somber pines. The skiff +was drifting past the shore of a rocky island, on which a few maples, +turning crimson, made patches of glowing color among the dusky +needles, when Andrew saw a girl sitting on the shore. She was near +when he noticed her, and it struck him that she was remarkably pretty. +The thin white dress, cut in the current American fashion, left her +finely molded arms uncovered to the elbow and revealed her firm white +throat. Her hands were shapely; and, for her hat lay beside her, he +noticed the warm coppery tones in her hair. She had gray eyes and her +face pleased him, though while observing the regularity of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +features, he could not clearly analyze its charm. Then feeling that he +had gazed at her as long as was admissible, he dipped his oars, but, +somewhat to his astonishment, she called to him.</p> + +<p>"Did you see a canoe as you came?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No," Andrew answered. "Have you lost yours?"</p> + +<p>"It floated away; I didn't notice until it was too late. It went +toward the point."</p> + +<p>She indicated the end of the island, and Andrew nodded.</p> + +<p>"It would drift to leeward. I'll go and look for it."</p> + +<p>As he swung the skiff round it struck him that she had kept curiously +still. Her pose was somewhat unusual, for she sat with her feet drawn +up beneath her skirt, and skirts, as he remembered, were cut decidedly +short. He rowed away and presently saw the canoe some distance off. On +running alongside, he noticed a pair of light stockings in the bottom, +and laughed as the reason for the girl's attitude became apparent. +Pulling back with the canoe astern, he loosed the light craft and +drove it toward the beach with a vigorous push.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said the girl, and he tactfully rowed away.</p> + +<p>He had not gone far when he heard a hail and saw her standing on the +point, waving her hand. For a moment or two he hesitated. As the canoe +had grounded within her reach, he could not see what she wanted; and, +in view of the discovery he had made, he had imagined that she would +have been glad to get rid of him. Still, she had called him and he +pulled back.</p> + +<p>"Can I be of any further assistance?" he asked, noticing with some +relief that she now had her shoes on.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>"Yes," she said frankly. "I am marooned here; there's no paddle in the +canoe."</p> + +<p>"No paddle? But how could it have fallen out?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know; and it doesn't seem an important point. Perhaps the +canoe rocked, and it overbalanced."</p> + +<p>"I could tow you to the Landing," Andrew suggested.</p> + +<p>His manner was formally correct and she felt half amused. This young +man was obviously not addicted to indiscriminate gallantry.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to go to the Landing, and the canoe would tow easier +with no one on board. Your skiff should carry two."</p> + +<p>He ran the craft in, made fast the canoe, and then held out his hand. +When she was seated, he pushed off.</p> + +<p>"Where shall I take you?" he asked gravely.</p> + +<p>"To the large island yonder—the Island of Pines," she said, +indicating it; and he knew that this was Geraldine Frobisher, whom +Mappin had discussed. Andrew admitted that his description of her was +warranted.</p> + +<p>"You have been unlucky," he remarked.</p> + +<p>"I've been careless and have had to pay for it. We got breakfast early +and I've missed my lunch."</p> + +<p>"It's nearly three o'clock," said Andrew, pulling faster. "But how is +it no one came to look for you?"</p> + +<p>"My aunt goes to sleep in the afternoon; my father had some business +at the Landing—if he had been at home it would have taken him some +time to find me. He would have searched the nearer islands first, +systematically and in rotation." She smiled. "That's the kind of man +he is. I suppose you have guessed who I am?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Frobisher?"</p> + +<p>"And you're Mr. Allinson. It wasn't hard to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> identify you. Perhaps you +know that your doings are a source of interest to the people at the +Landing."</p> + +<p>"I can't see why that should be so."</p> + +<p>"For one thing, they seem to think you are up against what they call +'a tough proposition'."</p> + +<p>Andrew's face grew thoughtful. Since the collapse of the heading, he +had spent a fortnight in determined physical toil, as his scarred +hands and broken nails testified. It had been a time of stress and +anxiety, and during it he had realized that the mine would be a costly +one to work. The ore must carry a high percentage of metal if it were +to pay for extraction.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that's true," he said.</p> + +<p>"Then you won't get much leisure for hunting and fishing?"</p> + +<p>Andrew laughed.</p> + +<p>"After all, those were not my objects in coming out, though you're not +the only person who seems to have concluded that they were."</p> + +<p>"I have no opinion on the matter," Geraldine declared. "But at the +Landing you are supposed to be more of a sportsman than a miner—isn't +it flattering to feel that people are talking about you? Then you are +really working at the mine?"</p> + +<p>"So far, I've saved the Company about two dollars and a-half a day."</p> + +<p>"But isn't your voice in controlling things worth more than that?"</p> + +<p>"No," Andrew replied; "I'm afraid it isn't."</p> + +<p>"Then you don't know much about mining?"</p> + +<p>"I believe," Andrew answered dryly, "I know a little more than I did."</p> + +<p>Geraldine was pleased with him. The man was humorously modest, but he +looked capable and resolute.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>"Well," she said, "it can't be easy work; though one understands that +getting the ore out is not always the greatest difficulty."</p> + +<p>"It's hard enough when the roof comes down, and the props crush up, +and the water breaks in. Still, I believe you're right."</p> + +<p>"I know something about these matters," she said, and then surprised +him by a sudden turn of the subject. "There's one man you can trust. I +mean Jake Carnally."</p> + +<p>"Do you know him?"</p> + +<p>"He built our boat pier and cleared the bush to make our lawn. We +often made him talk to us; and I know my father, who's a good judge, +thought a good deal of him."</p> + +<p>"Jake," said Andrew cautiously, "rather puzzles me: I can get so +little out of him, though I like the man. As you seem to know the +people I have to deal with, is there anybody else whose +trustworthiness you would vouch for?"</p> + +<p>Geraldine's face hardened.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't know of anybody else; but you will soon be able to form +your own opinion."</p> + +<p>This struck Andrew as significant, because she must have heard of his +connection with Mappin, who visited the house. Just then he caught +sight of a boat that swung around the end of an island and headed +toward them with bows buried in foam.</p> + +<p>"A gasoline launch," he said. "She's traveling very fast."</p> + +<p>"It's ours," explained Geraldine. "My father must have got back from +the Landing and has come to look for me."</p> + +<p>The launch was soon abreast of them and stopped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> near the skiff. A man +of middle age, in light clothes, held the tiller and looked at +Geraldine inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you have been dreadfully worried," she said with a smile at +him. "I was cast away on a desolate island when the canoe went adrift, +and should have been there still, only that Mr. Allinson came to my +rescue." She turned to Andrew. "My father, Henry T. Frobisher."</p> + +<p>Andrew noticed that Frobisher glanced at him keenly when he heard his +name, but he started the engine and ran the launch alongside.</p> + +<p>"Come on board and see our island," he said. "I'll take you back to +the Landing afterward."</p> + +<p>Andrew followed Miss Frobisher into the craft and made the skiff and +canoe fast astern, and they set off and presently reached a short pier +which ran out into still, clear water. A lawn stretched down to the +shore, bordered with flowers, and at the end of it a wooden house +stood against a background of somber pines. A veranda ran across the +front, the rows of slender columns braced by graceful arches; above +were green-shuttered windows, steep roofs, and gables. Moldings, +scrolls and finials had been freely and tastefully used to adorn the +building, though Andrew understood that Frobisher used it only +occasionally as a summer resort.</p> + +<p>Andrew was taken in and presented to Frobisher's sister, Mrs. Denton, +a lady with a languid expression and formal manners. Then tea was +served in artistic china, and after some general conversation +Frobisher led Andrew to a small room on the upper story, which looked +out upon the lake, and gave him an excellent cigar. Noticing him +glance at the maps unrolled on a table, he smiled.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>"I find that I can't get away from business," he explained. "It +follows me down here; and in a new country like this there's generally +some interesting project cropping up. I go off into the bush hunting, +and see something that looks like an opportunity; the idea sticks to +me and begins to develop."</p> + +<p>"So far, I haven't found the prospects here very encouraging; but I +suppose mining's slow," Andrew responded. "What do you deal in?"</p> + +<p>"Land, lumber, waterfalls that will drive turbines—anything in the +shape of natural resources. But how are you getting on at Rain Bluff?"</p> + +<p>Andrew reflected that as the Company's operations would be freely +discussed at the Landing, there was no reason why he should be +reticent. Besides, he felt inclined to trust his host. The man had a +keen, thoughtful face, but its seriousness was relieved by his genial +smile.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid we're not getting on very fast," he said, and related the +mishaps they had met with.</p> + +<p>"You seem to find the work harder than you expected."</p> + +<p>"I must admit it," said Andrew. "If it were merely a question of +propping up the roof, getting rid of the water, and cutting out the +ore, I'd feel less diffident. It's the business complications that I +have the most trouble in understanding."</p> + +<p>Frobisher gave him a keen glance.</p> + +<p>"That side's generally involved. Rain Bluff, however, has a good big +capital, I understand."</p> + +<p>"Which means big liabilities. We're naturally expecting to pay +dividends on it."</p> + +<p>"It's an expectation that's not invariably realized," Frobisher +remarked dryly. "You feel that your shareholders ought to be +satisfied?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>"Of course. That's why I'm here."</p> + +<p>"Our acquaintance is short, but if you don't feel that I'm too much of +a stranger, I might perhaps be able to throw some light on any points +that you're puzzled about. I've had a pretty extensive experience in +these matters."</p> + +<p>He was mildly gratified by his guest's ready confidence, but Andrew +had been endowed with a quick and accurate judgment of character. He +talked without reserve as Frobisher drew him out; and the American +listened with unusual interest. The affairs of the Rain Bluff Company +were no concern of his, but the working of Allinson's mind fixed his +attention. Allinson was obviously a novice in such matters, but, for +an untrained man, he showed a grasp of the salient points and a +boldness in attacking difficulties which Frobisher thought remarkable. +Lighting a fresh cigar when Andrew had finished, he smoked a while in +silence. With a few words he might explain the Company's situation in +a manner that would fill his guest with astonishment and perhaps +dismay, but on the whole it did not seem advisable that they should be +spoken. It would be better that Allinson should find out for himself +how matters stood. Frobisher felt strongly curious about what he would +do then.</p> + +<p>Andrew presently looked up, as if he expected some comment.</p> + +<p>"There are one or two suggestions I might make," said Frobisher.</p> + +<p>They were not of much moment, though they promised to save Andrew some +time and trouble, and after discussing them he rose to go. When they +reached the hall Geraldine met them.</p> + +<p>"If you are going to the Landing, I'll come with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> you," she said. +"There are a few things I want from the stores."</p> + +<p>"Then if Mr. Allinson will excuse me, I'll let you take him. I have +some matters to consider before the mail to-morrow; and waiting while +you buy millinery is a tedious business."</p> + +<p>Frobisher shook hands with Andrew cordially.</p> + +<p>"Come back to the Island of Pines whenever you feel inclined," he +said, and Andrew and Geraldine walked down to the pier.</p> + +<p>She started the engine and stood aft, holding the helm, while Andrew +sat on a locker, looking about while the launch swept noisily away. +The days were rapidly getting shorter and the sunlight had faded off +the lake. The breeze had fallen and the water lay gleaming, smooth as +oil, with the shadow of the rocks and trees floating on it. Here and +there a clump of pines to the westward stood out, black and rugged, +against a glow of pink and green; the air was cold and filled with a +resinous fragrance. But Geraldine occupied most of Andrew's attention. +She stood, gracefully poised, her light dress fluttering in the +draught made by the launch's speed, and a clear warm color glowing in +her face. Fine spray leaped about the bows, around which there curled +a wisp of foam, and the froth streamed back far across the lake.</p> + +<p>Andrew was inclined to be sorry the launch was so fast: it was not far +to the Landing, and he could have spent an hour or two pleasantly on +board. Miss Frobisher was not the first attractive young woman he had +met, and she had neither said nor done anything in particular to +excite his admiration. Indeed, when he came to think of it, she had +said little to him; but somehow she impressed him as no other girl had +done.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> When presently she made some remark which demanded an answer, +they chatted gaily until she ran the launch alongside the wharf. There +Andrew left her and went to his hotel.</p> + +<p>After making her purchases, Geraldine returned to the island, where +she found her father sitting on the pier with a notebook in his hand.</p> + +<p>"You landed your passenger safely, I see. What did you think of him?"</p> + +<p>"He didn't give me much opportunity for forming an opinion, except +that he's rather serious," Geraldine answered with a smile. "Besides, +I don't suppose my opinion would be worth as much as yours."</p> + +<p>"That's a very modest admission; I thought you imagined yourself a +good judge of young men. Anyway, I'm interested in this one; perhaps +because he has upset the ideas I had about him."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>"For one thing, he's straight—straight as a plumb-line, which isn't +altogether what I expected. Then, for a man engaged in business, he's +a type that's new to me."</p> + +<p>"Are those remarks connected?" Geraldine asked with a laugh. "You're +in business and nobody could be straighter than you are."</p> + +<p>Frobisher looked at her with appreciation.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid there have been occasions when I had to sail dangerously +near the wind; but that's outside the question. I'm sorry for this +young fellow—there's trouble ahead of him."</p> + +<p>"You mean financial trouble? Of course, I've heard people talking +about the mine."</p> + +<p>"Not altogether; anyway, if I'm right about him, I don't think he'll +find that the worst." Frobisher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> broke into a thoughtful smile. "After +all, I have met business men who didn't consider their money the most +important thing they could lose. But I'm inclined to think the people +who sent Allinson over here have made a mistake."</p> + +<p>Geraldine was unwilling to betray too great an interest in the man; +and, indeed, her curiosity about him did not go very far.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," she said, "it really doesn't concern us."</p> + +<p>She turned toward the house, and Frobisher looked out across the +water. From what he knew about Rain Bluff Mine he had concluded that +Allinson must be either a clever and somewhat unscrupulous exploiter +of such ventures, or a guileless ignoramus who could be made a tool +of. Now, having met him, he was convinced that the man was neither of +these. However, he had other things to think about; and opening the +notebook he busied himself with a scheme for utilizing some +water-power.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AMONG THE ICE</span></h2> + + +<p>Graham was sitting on the veranda of his house at the Landing after +supper one evening when Andrew joined him. The veranda was broad, and +covered with mosquito-netting, and furnished with a table and one or +two chairs; the wooden house was small but pretty. In front a plot of +grass, kept green throughout the hot summer by an automatic sprinkler, +ran, unfenced, to the edge of the dusty road. Across this a belt of +blackened fir stumps stretched back to the stacks of lumber by the +sawmill, and beyond that the lake lay shining in the evening light.</p> + +<p>A window was open and Andrew could hear a girl singing. A rattle of +crockery which suggested that Mrs. Graham was busy with domestic +duties also reached him now and then; and a lad who had greeted him +pleasantly as he passed sat on the nearest fir stump talking with a +companion. Graham seemed to indicate it all with a movement of his +pipe as he turned to Andrew.</p> + +<p>"My world, Mr. Allinson," he said. "A happy one, but narrow."</p> + +<p>"I feel inclined to envy you," Andrew replied.</p> + +<p>"I am to be envied; I admit it with gratitude." Graham glanced half +wistfully at a map on the table. "For all that, I remember the wide +spaces up yonder now and then."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>"If I were in your place, I wouldn't study that map too much."</p> + +<p>"Ah! It isn't an amusement that I often indulge in; but sometimes, +when I've spent a week making up trumpery lumber bills or getting in +five-dollar accounts, I find it a solace to recall what I used to do. +However, I've inconsistently practised prudent self-denial in other +ways. There was a moose head—a beast I shot—I took off its stand and +gave to the Institute; an old pair of snowshoes that hung above the +mantel I gave my boy. He said they were very poor things and sadly out +of date."</p> + +<p>Andrew glanced at the map and noticed the lines penciled across it. He +felt that he was not acting considerately in tempting Graham, but he +could not resist.</p> + +<p>"Those marks show the marches you have made?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Graham laid his finger on the map, moving it from spot to spot.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I don't need a diary; I can see it all again. We started here +one winter and made three hundred miles on half rations, with wind and +snow ahead all the way. There we camped three days in a blizzard among +a clump of willows, while the snow piled up six feet deep to lee of +us. I made this line through a country new to me; two hundred miles +over soft snow, with the dogs playing out and the timber wolves on my +trail for the last few days. This lake ends in a big muskeg, and we +snagged our canoe there one fall. As she'd ripped her bilge open, we +left her and spent a day and a half floundering through two or three +feet of water and tall reeds, and carrying loads of sixty pounds." He +paused and indicated a line that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> broke off abruptly in a wide bare +space. "The lode lies south of here, and I believe I'm the only +survivor of the few who knew of it. One half-breed was drowned in a +rapid, another lost in a blizzard; the agent, so I heard afterward, +left the factory to visit some Indians three or four miles off and +they found him next day in a snowdrift, frozen to death."</p> + +<p>"A grim country," Andrew said thoughtfully, "One to make a man afraid, +and yet——"</p> + +<p>Graham laughed, rather harshly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I think you know! Well, I'm glad that for twenty years I've +mastered the longing and kept my head. Now, however, my children have +made a fair start, with prospects of going farther than I have done, +and my responsibility is lightening. A winter up there would satisfy +me—I'm afraid it would be all I could stand now—and though it's +still out of the question, I've a feeling that a way may be found +before I grow too old."</p> + +<p>He rolled up the map resolutely and laid it aside, and soon afterward +Mrs. Graham's voice reached them.</p> + +<p>"Bring Mr. Allinson in. It's getting chilly."</p> + +<p>Andrew rose and followed Graham into his sitting-room. It was very +small and there were signs of economy in its appointments, but it had +a homelike charm. Two or three sketches in color which showed some +talent hung on the varnished board walls. The lamp, though obviously +cheap, was of artistic design; the rug on the stained floor and the +hangings were of harmonious hue. Mrs. Graham, a little, faded woman +with a cheerful air, sat sewing at a table, and opposite her a girl +was busy with some papers. Both greeted Andrew cordially, and a few +minutes later the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> young man he had seen outside came in with a +humorous tale he had heard.</p> + +<p>He was a handsome lad, quicker of speech and more assertive than his +father, and the girl, who now and then made a remark, had a decided +air. Though Graham would occasionally talk without reserve, he was as +a rule quiet and dreamy. It was not from him that his children had +acquired a trace of the somewhat aggressive smartness which +characterizes the inhabitants of the new western cities: he had more +in common with the silent dwellers in the lonely wilds. These are, for +the most part, sentimentalists of a kind; loving the wilderness, not +for what can be made out of it, and untouched by the materialistic +ideas of the towns, where the business chance is the chief thing +sought. Their gifts become most manifest when the ice breaks up on the +rivers across which they must get the dog-sleds, and when all the +powers of mind and body are taxed to traverse the frozen waste before +starvation cuts short the march. It struck Andrew that Graham, dressed +in shabby clothes, listening good-humoredly while his children talked, +had somehow the look of a captive eagle, conscious of crippled wings, +though the simile was a bad one because there was no predatory +fierceness in him.</p> + +<p>"One of you might shut the door," said Mrs. Graham. "The nights are +getting colder fast; we'll soon have to light the basement heater." +She turned to Andrew. "This is a hard country in winter. I've seen the +thermometer stand a week at fifty below."</p> + +<p>"Don't be scared, Mr. Allinson," laughed the lad, as he closed the +door. "It's not often too fierce, and in a place like the Landing +there's generally something going on. Will the frost interfere with +your mining?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>"Not underground," said Andrew. "I understand that nothing can be done +on the surface, but we expect to send off a good lot of ore for +experimental reduction in the next week or two. Then we'll have +something to base our plans on."</p> + +<p>"Mappin's going to handle the transport, I guess. That man's surely on +to a soft thing. I s'pose you know he's making his pile out of the +Rain Bluff?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Graham glanced at her son in rebuke.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you should talk to Mr. Allinson in that manner, Jim. +He's a good deal older and more experienced than you are."</p> + +<p>"Your ideas are out of date, Mother; we've grown ahead of them. Mr. +Allinson doesn't look as if he minded. Anyway, he doesn't know as much +as I do about the Canadian contractor." He turned to Andrew. "Do you +like it up yonder?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Andrew answered good-humoredly; "I like the work better than +anything I remember having done."</p> + +<p>"A matter of taste. Now, I can't see much amusement in rolling rocks +about or standing in wet slickers in a dark pit watching the boys +punch the drills."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Allinson is not doing it for amusement," said his mother.</p> + +<p>"Well, money isn't often made that way. You don't get rich by knowing +how to use the hammer and giant-powder."</p> + +<p>"I believe that's true," Andrew responded with a smile.</p> + +<p>"A sure thing! Money is made by sitting tight in your office and +hiring other fellows to do the rough work. They break up the rocks and +cut the milling logs; you take the profit. It's business, first and +last, for mine!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>"Then it's fortunate there are people with different views," his +sister interposed. "If nobody were willing to live in the logging +camps all winter and go prospecting in the bush, you would be badly +off."</p> + +<p>"But so long as there are people who like doing that kind of thing, +we're glad to let them."</p> + +<p>"This is a favorite pose of his," the girl explained to Andrew. "It's +the latest fashion among the boys; they're afraid of being thought +altruistic."</p> + +<p>"Now that everything is controlled by mergers and they make all we +need so dear, one is forced to be practical," Mrs. Graham remarked +feelingly. "For all that, it jars on me to hear our young people talk +as they do."</p> + +<p>"We're realists, with no use for sentiment," Jim replied. "We don't +let our imagination run away with us. It doesn't pay."</p> + +<p>"You may be wrong in that," said Andrew, smiling, "I'm not much of a +philosopher, but it seems to me that imagination's now and then a +useful thing. I've seen it help a man through tight places. Take your +prospectors, for example; they often face risks that couldn't be +justified by a return in money. I heard of one fellow crossing a lake +in a savage storm in a leaky canoe, to keep the time he'd allowed for +his journey, because he wouldn't be beaten; and of another making two +hundred miles on snowshoes with very little food, because a party he'd +promised to meet was expecting him."</p> + +<p>"That," said the lad, "is the kind of thing father would do; he's +given to impractical idealism. There's a mine up in the barrens he has +talked about as long as I remember; but if he found it I believe he'd +be content with that and sell the claim to any one for a few hun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>dred +dollars. Getting yourself frozen for an abstract idea isn't good +business."</p> + +<p>Graham laughed and changed the subject, and soon afterward Andrew took +his leave. He spent the next evening with Frobisher, whom he had now +visited several times, and on the following morning set out for the +mine, where he worked very hard for a few weeks. They were still using +the old adit, though the new one was being driven toward the lower +level. Then he and Carnally left the camp in a canoe to hurry forward +some stores and, after arranging for their quicker transport, stood on +a little promontory, looking down the river, late one gloomy +afternoon.</p> + +<p>Winter had set in with unusual rigor. The gray sky was barred with +leaden cloud; the pines, which looked strangely ragged and somber, +stood out with harsh distinctness against the first thin snow; and the +river flowed, a dark-colored riband, through a clean-cut channel in +the ice. A nipping wind blew down the gorge, and now and then light +flakes of snow fell.</p> + +<p>"We had better push on," Carnally suggested. "It looks as if the +messenger hadn't got through, and we'll hardly make the mine before +midnight. There's heavy snow coming and we have no provisions or camp +outfit."</p> + +<p>"Wait an hour," said Andrew. "The smelter people promised to let me +know the results they got and the letter was due yesterday. I'm +anxious about the thing."</p> + +<p>Carnally agreed. They had sent out a quantity of ore for reduction, +and particulars of the yield in refined metal would throw a useful +light on the prospects of the mine. The last analysis of specimens +selected to represent the bulk had not been encouraging, but this test +was unsatisfactory because the ore was variable.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>"Let's get out of the wind," Carnally said. "If I'd expected this kind +of weather, I'd have brought my fur-coat along."</p> + +<p>They found a sheltered spot among a clump of pines, where they sat +down; but Andrew felt disturbed and apprehensive. The Company had +spent money freely, the mine was expensive to work, and of late Watson +had grown morose and reserved. Even when Andrew pressed him, he had +avoided giving his opinion. The report of the smelting company would, +however, show how matters stood, and Andrew looked out anxiously for +the expected messenger.</p> + +<p>It got dark, though they could still see the glimmer of the ice, and +at length they heard a faint, regular splashing, made by canoe poles. +A shout answered their hail, and when they ran down the bank a man +came cautiously across the fringe of ice.</p> + +<p>"Here's your mail," he said, handing Andrew some letters. "Now that +I've given it to you, we'll get back."</p> + +<p>"Won't you come on to the mine with us?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir! It's steep chances you don't get there to-night and we can +make a Mappin camp in about three hours down-stream."</p> + +<p>"It would be wiser to follow him," Carnally suggested. "We'll have +heavy snow before long."</p> + +<p>"I'm going on," said Andrew doggedly. "I must compare the report with +our books and get Watson to tell me what he thinks as soon as +possible."</p> + +<p>Launching their canoe, they poled her laboriously against the current, +which ran fast between its banks of ice. Andrew was thankful that the +snow on the frozen surface threw up a faint light and they could see +the glimmer of the floes that drifted down, though it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> was not always +possible to avoid them. Once or twice there was a crash as a heavy +mass struck the canoe, which was too lightly built to stand much of +this buffeting. Andrew had thick mittens, but they soon got wet and +his hands grew numbed. He was not clad for rigorous weather, and his +exertions failed to keep him warm.</p> + +<p>Still, they were making progress, and they met with no serious +difficulty until they entered a slacker reach. It had been open when +they came down, but now the channel made by the current was glazed +with thin ice, through which they could hardly drive the canoe. +Indeed, in some places Carnally was forced to break the crust with the +pole while Andrew paddled.</p> + +<p>"If there's much more of this, it will be late to-morrow before we +make camp," Andrew remarked.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to leave the river pretty soon, but we'll stick to it as +long as we can," Carnally replied. "It's rough traveling through the +bush, and the shore ice is hardly safe yet."</p> + +<p>They got through the reach, paddled laboriously against a swifter +stream, and dragged the canoe over a portage, stumbling among big +stones and across frozen pools. During this passage Andrew fell and +hurt himself; but stopping was out of the question. Launching the +craft on the upper edge of the rapid, they drove her out. For a minute +or two they made no progress, and Andrew, straining at his pole, +feared that they would be swept down the wild, foaming rush; but they +found slacker water and the ominous roar of the rapid died away. Then +snow began to fall, making it difficult to see, though they had the +faint glimmer of the shore-ice for a guide. In the reach up which they +were poling, it did not run out far because the stream<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> was strong, +and they had gone some distance when there was a heavy thud and a +curious crunch at the bows.</p> + +<p>"In with her!" cried Carnally. "Head for the slack behind the point!"</p> + +<p>They ran in through crackling ice and had reached the thicker strip +along the bank when Andrew felt his knees grow wet. Feeling with his +hand, he found there was an inch or two of water in the bottom of the +craft.</p> + +<p>"Skin's punched through," Carnally explained. "We can't bale her and +use the pole. You'll have to get out."</p> + +<p>Andrew did so hastily, but the ice on which he landed cracked as he +moved, and he had gone several yards before it seemed strong enough to +bear him. Carnally dragged the canoe out, and then turned cautiously +up-stream.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to chance the ice for the next mile or two," he said. +"It's rough country—steep rock and very thick scrub—on this side."</p> + +<p>As they moved forward Andrew noticed that the snow was falling faster +and the wind freshening. The cold flakes drove into his tingling face +and he had to brace himself against the gusts. The gorge they followed +was wrapped in obscurity and filled with the roar of water and the +wailing of the trees. However, he held on for some time; and then +suddenly felt no support for his foot. It was too late to stop; the +next moment he was in the water. The shock took his breath away; he +had a horrible fear of being drawn under the ice, and it was with vast +relief that he found he could stand up waist-deep. Moving cautiously, +he got his knee upon the ice, but it broke away; then he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> saw that +Carnally was lying down near the edge and holding out his hand.</p> + +<p>"Get your arms on it, and catch hold," he said. As he obeyed, Andrew +heard the ice crack, but his weight was now well distributed and he +crawled forward, clutching Carnally's hand. Then he got up, dripping +and shaking with cold.</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" he said. "That's a risk I don't mean to run again. If it had +been a foot deeper I'd never have got out."</p> + +<p>Carnally turned toward the bank and, in thick darkness, they scrambled +up a steep slope among stunted pines. Leaving its summit, they +floundered over the rounded surfaces of outcropping rocks and plunged +into hollows filled with thick brush. The pines were smaller farther +on, which made things worse, for they had to force a passage through +the snow-laden needles. Some had been partly blown down and leaned on +one another in tangles which would have been difficult to traverse in +daylight. How Carnally kept his line Andrew could not tell, for they +had lost the sound of the river, and the snow was thick; but he +steadily pushed on and after a while the country grew more open. Here +the wind was worse and Andrew, who was getting worn out, struggled +forward stupidly with lowered head and labored breath. He could not +remember how long he kept it up, but at last a light blinked among the +trees and he recognized joyfully that it came from a shack at the +mine.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A CRISIS</span></h2> + + +<p>It was late at night when Andrew entered Watson's office at the mine +with the letters he had brought. Though a bitter wind blew the snow +about it, the little wooden building was hot and filled with the smell +of pine boarding. A stove, glowing a dull red, stood at one end, and a +kerosene lamp hanging from a beam threw a bright light on the faces of +the men. They were eager and expectant, but Andrew's bore the stamp of +fatigue, for the journey up-river had tried his strength. Moreover, he +shrank from learning what the smelting company's report might reveal. +Drawing a chair to the table, he sat for a few moments lost in +troubled thought.</p> + +<p>When he first reached the mine he had found a keen and scarcely +expected pleasure in his work. Its difficulties seized his interest, +and for a while he enjoyed the grapple with them. Then misgivings +crept in; he felt that there was something wrong. Watson displayed no +enthusiasm about the Company's prospects, and Carnally let fall +disturbing hints. Andrew, however, steadily occupied himself with his +task, which gained a stronger hold on him, until he realized that all +his mind was bent upon its successful accomplishment. Now he must put +his half-formed plans and surmises to a searching test. Bracing +himself, he opened a large sealed envelope with a steady hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>As he took out the first of its contents he made an abrupt movement, +but he read on through several sheets while his face hardened; and +then he sat very still, with the papers scattered about the table.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Watson, in harsh inquiry.</p> + +<p>Gathering up the papers, Andrew passed them to him without a word, +while Carnally waited as if he knew what to expect. When he in turn +took the report from Watson, there was an oppressive silence in the +shack. Andrew could hear the billets snap in the stove and the murmur +of the river among the ice.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that this report leaves us no room for doubt," he +said, when Carnally had finished reading the papers. "We can't keep +the mine working on such returns as these. But I want your honest +opinion."</p> + +<p>Watson made a sign of agreement.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said frankly, "you have got to have the truth, though I +guess it will cost me my job. Rain Bluff will never pay its +shareholders."</p> + +<p>"You knew this some time ago?"</p> + +<p>"I was afraid of it; but it wasn't my business. I was sent here to get +out as much ore as I could, and I've done so."</p> + +<p>"Have you any suggestion to make?"</p> + +<p>"If you wrote down your capital, got rid of Mappin, and did your +transport work yourselves, you might keep going. The ore's there, +though its hard to get at and not worth much."</p> + +<p>Andrew turned to Carnally.</p> + +<p>"You suspected how matters stood from the beginning. I see now that +you meant to warn me."</p> + +<p>"I guessed. I couldn't speak plainly without proof."</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Andrew in a strained voice, "you knew;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> so did Watson, and +no doubt every man who works for us. I and the unfortunate people who +found the money were the only ones deceived." He turned to the manager +sharply. "What did you mean when you said the mine would never pay its +shareholders? Do you imply that somebody else may make a profit out of +it?"</p> + +<p>"You've hit it. Mappin's making his pile, and I guess there's a man +with money backing him; but that's no concern of mine. I'm sorry for +you, Mr. Allinson, but I suppose I must hand you my notice and tell +the boys to quit?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Andrew; "not yet. Let them go on as usual, until I speak to +you again."</p> + +<p>"I'm not anxious to leave your service—you're square," Watson replied +with an air of relief. "Now, if you don't want me any more, I'll go to +bed."</p> + +<p>He left them and Andrew quietly filled his pipe, while Carnally +watched him with interest. Andrew had had a shock, but he had borne it +well. Instead of unnerving, it had braced him to grapple with a +difficult situation. He had courage and determination; but there was +something else he must be told.</p> + +<p>"Jake," Andrew said at length, "this has been a blow. I put a good +deal of money into the Company and will lose it, but that's only half +the trouble—the rest will hardly bear thinking of. My firm put its +stamp on this venture, backed it with its name; and it was rotten from +the first!" His face suddenly darkened with suspicion. "How Leonard +came to take it up I can't imagine."</p> + +<p>"If he's the man who fixed things in Montreal, I guess he'd tell you +it was a fair business risk; but you don't quite understand the matter +yet. It's clear that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> Mappin has the support of Mr. Hathersage; he +finds him the money, gives him the job at prices higher than you need +pay, and no doubt takes a share of the profit."</p> + +<p>Andrew started.</p> + +<p>"It's hard to admit, but I believe you're right!" Then his mind leaped +to a wider conclusion. "I dare say the Company was started solely for +Hathersage's benefit!"</p> + +<p>"I guess there's some foundation for that," Carnally said pointedly.</p> + +<p>Neither spoke for the next few moments; and then Andrew looked up with +a grim smile.</p> + +<p>"I'm beginning to understand your attitude toward me when I first +came. You thought I was in the ring—one of the people who, knowing +how bad it was, led investors into this rotten scheme!"</p> + +<p>"I allow I did think something of the kind."</p> + +<p>"And afterward? My guess isn't flattering, but I can't blame you, +Jake. You believed I was what you call a sucker, sent here because I +was too big a fool to find things out."</p> + +<p>Carnally looked embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"I figured it out like this," he said: "the people who sent you +expected you'd spend your time hunting and fishing, without taking +much interest in the mine. Then, if trouble came, they'd leave you to +face it. Being on the spot, it would be your fault for not learning +what was wrong."</p> + +<p>"A clever plan. After all, it's possible they took too much for +granted."</p> + +<p>"They did," Carnally declared. "You have shown a grip of things they +didn't look for. In my opinion they picked the wrong man for the part: +but you're<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> in a pretty tight place. You can't make this mine pay."</p> + +<p>"No," said Andrew; "I don't mean to try. If I can get his consent, I'm +going to look for Graham's lode."</p> + +<p>Carnally started.</p> + +<p>"It's a great plan! Will you want me?"</p> + +<p>"Of course! I'd be helpless without you."</p> + +<p>"No," Carnally corrected him with a smile. "So far, I've given you +hints about things you couldn't be expected to know; but I've taught +you all I can, and you take your right place now. You're boss in this +new proposition, and I'll be glad to be your second."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Andrew. "We'll start for the Landing to-morrow and +see Graham."</p> + +<p>They left the mine at daybreak, and on reaching the town Andrew had +first of all an interview with Graham's employer. The president of the +lumber company sat at a desk in his office at the mill and listened +attentively while Andrew explained the object of his visit. He was an +elderly man with a keen but good-humored expression, and once or twice +he glanced at Andrew as if surprised. When the latter had finished, +the mill-owner took a box from a shelf.</p> + +<p>"Have a cigar," he said.</p> + +<p>Andrew lighted one and looked round the room. It was dusty and dingy, +with a rough board floor; and a cloud of steam from a neighboring +stack obscured the light that entered the windows. A rusty stove stood +at one end, with a desk near it which Graham had occupied for twenty +years.</p> + +<p>"So the mine has not turned out all you expected?" commented the +lumber-man.</p> + +<p>"Far from it," Andrew acknowledged.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>"And you feel it a duty to do something to protect the interests of +the shareholders?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Andrew, and added with a direct glance: "Are you +surprised?"</p> + +<p>A smile crept into his companion's eyes.</p> + +<p>"I guess we can let that go. You have done the square thing in coming +to me before you spoke to Graham. He's a man we value and he has +served us well, but I've now and then felt sorry for him. It's +possible he hasn't found it easy to spend the best part of his life +here, keeping our accounts on a very moderate salary, though we pay +him more than we could get another man for."</p> + +<p>"It's strange he didn't break loose from it long ago."</p> + +<p>"I guess it cost him something to stay. We're an optimistic people, +Mr. Allinson, with a hankering after adventure; but Graham could never +put by money enough to make the plunge. He had his children to bring +up and he spared nothing to give them a fair start. I suppose this +isn't quite the line you thought I would take?"</p> + +<p>Andrew admitted it with some embarrassment, and the lumber-man looked +amused.</p> + +<p>"There are plenty of big mills run entirely on the laws of supply and +demand, where men are scrapped as freely as obsolete plant, and the +one thing looked for is the maximum output. Still, you see, our +isolated position gives us a monopoly, and we're small enough to take +a personal interest in our older hands. As a matter of fact, we find +it pays; but that is not the point. You are willing to guarantee +Graham against any loss if your search is unsuccessful?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Andrew promised; "he shall not suffer."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll do our share in keeping his place open as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> long as may be +needful. As it happens, things are slack just now; and to make this +journey will set his mind at rest. He'll be content with the old +routine when he comes back."</p> + +<p>"Then you count on his coming back to the mill?"</p> + +<p>The lumber-man looked sympathetic.</p> + +<p>"I don't wish to discourage you, but if Graham finds that lode I shall +be surprised."</p> + +<p>Andrew thanked him and returned to his hotel, where he wrote some +letters and afterward decided to visit Frobisher, who was staying at +the Island of Pines for a week or two. Graham was away on business +down the line and would not return until the next day, and Andrew, +being in a restless mood, felt that a talk with Frobisher or his +daughter might soothe him. They were intelligent and sympathetic +people; and he had thought a good deal about Geraldine of late.</p> + +<p>Fine snow was driving before a stinging breeze when he walked out upon +the frozen lake. Here and there its surface had been swept clear by +the wind, leaving stretches of smooth ice, but, for the most part, its +white covering offered good foothold. It was dark and bitterly cold; +Andrew's hands grew stiff in his thick mittens and he shivered as he +faced the stronger gusts, guiding himself by the loom of the rocks and +trees that now and then showed faintly through the snow. The walk was +far from pleasant, and he realized that things would be much worse +when he went up into the trackless spaces of the frozen North.</p> + +<p>Reaching the house without misadventure, he was received by Geraldine. +Mrs. Denton, she explained, was invalided by a cold caught on the +train, and her father had driven across to the Landing for his mail, +but would be back soon. She led Andrew into a room<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> which looked +delightfully bright and comfortable after the shack at the mine, and +made him sit down by the hearth, on which a pine-log fire burned +gaily.</p> + +<p>"You are thinner than you were when we last saw you, and you don't +look so cheerful," she said, taking a low chair opposite him.</p> + +<p>"I think both things are explainable," Andrew replied with a rueful +smile.</p> + +<p>Geraldine quietly studied him. He was troubled and could not hide it, +and he interested her. The man was honest and forceful in an untrained +way. She could imagine his grappling with unaccustomed difficulties, +clumsily, perhaps, but resolutely. Though several years his junior, +she knew that she had the keener intelligence; but this did not make +her attitude contemptuous. He had shown signs of qualities which +sometimes carried one farther than superficial smartness.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you have had some trouble at the mine?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, though he could not account for his candor; "I've had +an experience that has rudely shaken me. After all, it's possible that +one needs something of the kind now and then; and until lately I've +escaped it."</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether that's unfortunate?"</p> + +<p>"It is, beyond a doubt. I've taken life easily, generally getting what +I wanted without much trouble, and now, when I've no experience to +fall back on, I'm landed in a maze of difficulties. But all this is +too personal; forgive me for boring you."</p> + +<p>"But I'm interested," she declared. She felt that he would find a way +out, though it might not be the easiest one. "As you came over to +Canada, I suppose you must have found the smooth life you led grow +monotonous."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>"Not exactly. I liked it; but I'd a feeling now and then that it might +be more bracing to do something useful; make things, for instance, or +even go into business."</p> + +<p>Geraldine laughed, and it struck Andrew that she was very pretty as +she looked at him with sparkling eyes.</p> + +<p>"You're delightfully matter-of-fact. You might have hinted at a +longing for high adventure or something romantic."</p> + +<p>"The worst of adventure is that you often get a good deal more than +you bargain for," said Andrew soberly.</p> + +<p>"You learned that in the North?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered with a moody air; "that and other things. For +example, I learned how money's sometimes made, and it was a shock."</p> + +<p>"Ah! The money was yours?"</p> + +<p>"That's where the trouble lies. So far, I've been content with +spending it."</p> + +<p>"And you now feel that your responsibility doesn't end there? But if +you wished to go into business, why didn't you do so?"</p> + +<p>"That is rather more than I can tell. Still, whenever I hinted at it, +I was quietly discouraged. I suppose it wasn't expected of me, and the +general opinion was that I was incapable."</p> + +<p>Geraldine thought that his friends were mistaken in this conclusion, +but she could imagine his yielding to the representations of cleverer +people, without questioning the accuracy of their views about him. He +had, however, obviously broken loose from his tutelage, and now stood +firm, ignorant perhaps of much that men who worked for their living +knew, confronting with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> undisciplined courage troubles new to him. She +had no doubt that he had courage and strong sincerity.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I'm not very entertaining," he apologized with a smile.</p> + +<p>"It's a compliment that you're natural," Geraldine said graciously. +"One doesn't always expect to be amused. But you have Carnally to help +you at the mine. What do you think of him?"</p> + +<p>"I have a high opinion of Jake."</p> + +<p>"I believe you're right; he's a favorite of mine. What he undertakes +he carries out. You feel that he can be relied on; that he would do +the square thing, however difficult it is. After all, one couldn't say +much more of any man."</p> + +<p>"No," Andrew responded gravely. "The trouble often is to see how the +square thing should be done."</p> + +<p>There were footsteps in the hall, and Frobisher came in and greeted +Andrew cordially.</p> + +<p>"I heard you were at the Landing, and I'm not sorry you'll have to +stay all night," he said. "It's snowing so hard that I had some +difficulty in getting home with the team."</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE REAL BOSS</span></h2> + + +<p>"How have you been getting on in the bush?" Frobisher asked his guest +when they sat talking in his smoking-room. "You look worried."</p> + +<p>"There's a reason for it—the mine's no good." Andrew looked Frobisher +steadily in the face. "I dare say you knew that some time ago."</p> + +<p>"I had my suspicions. I wasn't singular in that."</p> + +<p>"So it seems. I must ask you to believe that it was only during the +last few days that I found out the truth."</p> + +<p>Frobisher smiled.</p> + +<p>"After that, I'd better say that I exonerated you—I think it's the +right word—as soon as we'd had our first talk. I saw that you were +being made a tool of."</p> + +<p>"You were right," said Andrew. "It isn't a pleasant situation. I don't +mind its not being flattering; that's the least trouble."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do about it?"</p> + +<p>"The square thing, so far as I'm able. Allinson's, so to speak, +guaranteed the undertaking."</p> + +<p>There was some extra color in Andrew's face and pride in his voice, +though he spoke quietly, and Frobisher sat silent a moment or two.</p> + +<p>"Have you made any plans yet?" the American then asked.</p> + +<p>Andrew told him that he proposed to take Carnally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> and Graham north to +search for the silver lode; and Frobisher looked grave.</p> + +<p>"There's a point to be remembered," he cautioned. "Minerals in Canada +belong to the State, which makes a grant of them to the discoverer on +certain terms. The lode will therefore become the property of whoever +first locates and records it, which will be open to any member of your +party."</p> + +<p>"I've thought of that. The expedition will be financed by me, and I'll +have an understanding with Graham and Carnally as to their share +before we start."</p> + +<p>"Three claims could be staked, and your companions could make them +over to you when the development work was done. If properly patented, +you would be the legal owner."</p> + +<p>"I intend to become the owner."</p> + +<p>Frobisher looked as if the statement surprised him.</p> + +<p>"Then you'd better cut your connection with Rain Bluff before you set +off," he advised. "It might prevent some complications. The directors +might contend that you were not entitled to undertake private mining +operations while you represented the Company and drew its pay."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you understand. I mean to hold the claims in my own +name, so as to strengthen my position, which will need it. I expect to +have serious trouble over the Company's affairs."</p> + +<p>Frobisher laughed softly.</p> + +<p>"You're no fool! You feel that you undertook to look after the +shareholders' interests when you came over, and you have to make +good?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Andrew assented; "I feel something of the kind."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>"Then we'll assume that you find the lode and that it's as rich as +Graham believes—which is taking a good deal for granted. Your +shareholders, learning that Rain Bluff is worthless, would probably +jump at a proposition that would give them back their money, or even +part of it. You could buy them out and afterward repay yourself +handsomely by developing the new mine."</p> + +<p>Andrew's face hardened.</p> + +<p>"When these people gave us their money, they did so expecting to get +any profit that could be made. It's their due and, so far, Allinson's +has never broken faith with those who trusted it."</p> + +<p>Frobisher was not surprised at the answer. There was, he had seen, a +clean pride in the man, whom he felt disposed to pity. Allinson had +obviously little knowledge of business, and would have to meet the +determined opposition of the clever tricksters who had floated the +Company. He was entering on a hard fight with unaccustomed weapons. +Nevertheless, Frobisher would not venture to predict his defeat. +Courage such as Allinson showed often carried one a long way, and he +had the right upon his side. Frobisher's business experience had not +made him an optimist, but he was prepared to watch this altruistic +champion's struggles with friendly interest and to assist him as far +as he could.</p> + +<p>"You have undertaken a pretty big thing," he said. "To begin with, +it's a lonely country that you're going into, and though having the +lakes and rivers frozen may simplify traveling, you'll find it tough +work living in the open with the thermometer at forty below. Winter's +a bad time for prospecting; but as timber's plentiful, you may be able +to thaw out enough of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> surface to test the lode, and something +might be done with giant-powder. Provisions will be your chief +difficulty. You will need a number of packers."</p> + +<p>"If possible, I must make the trip with no companions except Carnally +and Graham. Everybody at the Landing has heard about the lode, and if +we took up a strong party and failed to locate it, we'd have shown +them roughly where it lay. That would give the packers a chance for +forestalling our next attempt. Their right to record the minerals +would be as good as ours."</p> + +<p>Frobisher was somewhat surprised. Allinson had thought out the matter +in a way that would have done credit to a more experienced man.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we go down now," he suggested after a while. "I'll get +Geraldine to sing for us."</p> + +<p>Andrew agreed, and was glad he had done so when Miss Frobisher opened +the piano. He was not a musician, but there was a sweetness in her +voice that greatly pleased him. He sat listening with quiet enjoyment +to her first song, watching her with appreciation. The light from a +shaded lamp forced up the strong warm coloring of her hair and fell on +her face, which was outlined in delicate profile against a background +of ebony. Her figure lay half in shadow, but the thin evening-dress +shimmered in places, flowing about her in graceful lines.</p> + +<p>He grew more intent when she sang again. It was a ballad of toil and +endeavor, and the girl had caught its feeling. Andrew wondered whether +she had chosen it by accident, for the words chimed with his mood, and +he was stirred and carried away as he listened. Obscure feelings deep +in his nature throbbed in quick response. After wasted years of +lounging,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> he had plunged into the struggle of life and become a +citizen of the strenuous world. Ingenuous as he was, some of his lost +youthful fervor awoke again; he would never sink back into his former +state of slothful ease; bruised, beaten perhaps, he must go on. The +duty to which he had long been blind now burned like a beacon through +the mists ahead. Yet it was no evanescent, romantic sentiment. Andrew +was a solid and matter-of-fact person.</p> + +<p>When Geraldine closed the piano he rose and looked at her with a gleam +in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Thank you; I mean it sincerely," he said. "It's a very fine song."</p> + +<p>"It's stirring," she replied. "I dare say it's true—one would like to +think so."</p> + +<p>There was some color in her face, and his heart throbbed at the +knowledge that she had meant the song for him.</p> + +<p>Then Frobisher broke in humorously:</p> + +<p>"That kind of thing appeals more to young folk. When one gets to my +age, one would rather be soothed. We've had enough of the +rough-and-tumble scuffle; it's time to retire from the ring and sit +comfortably in a front seat, looking on."</p> + +<p>"It would soon get tiresome," declared Geraldine. "You would want to +take a side and instruct the combatants," she added with an +affectionate smile. "The temptation would be irresistible if somebody +whom you thought didn't deserve it were getting badly hurt."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Interfering is a dangerous habit, and people aren't +always grateful." Frobisher's glance rested for a moment on his guest. +"However, I might still step into the ring if the provocation were +very strong."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>Then they engaged in casual talk until it got late, and when Geraldine +and her father wished him goodnight Andrew said diffidently:</p> + +<p>"I'm grateful to you for keeping me here. I'll go back feeling +brighter than when I came."</p> + +<p>He left them and Frobisher looked after him with a humorous +expression.</p> + +<p>"That young man has chosen a hard row to hoe, though I don't think he +quite sees all he's up against. It's safer to take a bone from a +hungry dog than to do a business man out of the pickings he thinks +he's entitled to, especially if he's engaged in floating companies."</p> + +<p>"But that is part of your business."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" said Frobisher. "It's wiser to speak of the things you know. +I've picked up one or two good bones."</p> + +<p>"But you had a right to them," Geraldine declared confidently.</p> + +<p>Frobisher's eyes twinkled.</p> + +<p>"I believe there was a difference of opinion on the point, but I'd got +my teeth in first. However, I'll admit that unless Allinson was +convinced the bone belonged to him he'd let it go. That's the kind of +man he is, and he's not likely to grow more prudent if you let him see +that you agree with him."</p> + +<p>"Do you think I've done so?" Geraldine asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Frobisher smiled. "It seems possible; but I've no +doubt your intentions were excellent. You're a bit of an idealist. +However, the fellow will do you credit. He has sense and grit, though +he's what one might perhaps call superfluously honest."</p> + +<p>"How could his virtues reflect any credit on me?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> Geraldine retorted. +"Besides, your cynicism is assumed. I don't believe you ever took a +dollar you were not entitled to. Why do you always make a joke of +things?"</p> + +<p>"It's true that my ventures have generally paid a dividend, but I've a +suspicion that it was a lucky accident that one or two of them did so. +When I was young, I was as serious as Mr. Allinson, but people +sometimes grow more humorous as they get older. They don't expect so +much and they learn to make allowances."</p> + +<p>"That's a mistake," said Geraldine. "I should never be content with +the mediocre."</p> + +<p>She left him with a smile, but Frobisher looked thoughtful as he +lighted a last cigar. He had led a strenuous life, stubbornly +struggling upward from a humble beginning, and the years of effort had +tried him hard. He had taken big risks, and exacted every dollar he +could, but after all he did not think he had wronged anyone badly. Now +that he had acquired power and influence, he regarded human nature +with whimsical forbearance, but he was glad that his daughter seemed +to demand conformity with higher standards, thought she was free from +the cant and prudery he hated. Then he thought of Allinson, for whom +he had a warm liking. He had fought many a stern battle before he was +Allinson's age, but this did not make him contemptuous. Allinson was +late in beginning, but he showed a determination and, what was more +remarkable, a sagacity that pleased Frobisher well. Besides this, the +purity of his motives and his fastidious honesty roused the American's +admiration. Frobisher would not have embarked on a long struggle for a +principle, but he could respect a man who did so. Allinson and +Geraldine had apparently the same ideals,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> they had rapidly fallen +into confidential terms—but that was a subject on which it was +premature to speculate.</p> + +<p>Andrew left the house the next day, and on entering his hotel in the +afternoon he found Mappin sitting in the unoccupied general-room. He +laid down his newspaper as Andrew came in and looked up with a +truculent expression in his heavy face.</p> + +<p>"I got your letter at Fort William as I was coming here," he said. "It +seemed to need an explanation. What d'you mean by giving me warning to +quit?"</p> + +<p>His tone was offensive, but Andrew sat down quietly, knowing it was +desirable to keep cool.</p> + +<p>"I thought I'd better send you notice that we may terminate our +arrangements in three months, as we have the option of doing," he +replied.</p> + +<p>"But why do you want to terminate them?"</p> + +<p>"We may shut down the Rain Bluff. It's not paying."</p> + +<p>Mapping gave a snorting laugh.</p> + +<p>"What has that to do with it?"</p> + +<p>"It ought to be obvious," Andrew said curtly. "If the mine won't pay, +it must be closed. Allinson's is not in the habit of carrying on a +business for its private benefit at the investors' expense."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have thought it," Mappin sneered, and looked hard at +Andrew. "You seem to be taking a pretty decided line. May I ask whom +you are speaking for?"</p> + +<p>"For myself, in the first place, but I believe the shareholders would +support me. Though I haven't interfered much so far, I'm the head of +the firm."</p> + +<p>Mappin was impressed by Andrew's manner, and his tone became more +conciliatory.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>"I'm afraid you have kept out of business so long that you don't quite +understand matters. Your brother-in-law has arranged things here much +better than you, in your inexperience, could do. This proposition's +too big and complicated for a beginner to meddle with; you'd only +involve yourself and everybody concerned in a deplorable mess. Be +warned and let up. Make any small improvements and economies you can, +but leave the main points of Hathersage's scheme alone."</p> + +<p>There was some ground for Mappin's opinion, and his air of conviction +had weight; but Andrew had no thought of yielding.</p> + +<p>"So far, I can't tell what changes may be necessary, but I expect to +make them, whatever they are, as occasion arises."</p> + +<p>"Then hadn't you better wait until you know?"</p> + +<p>Mappin took a letter from his pocket. "Suppose you tear this thing +up?"</p> + +<p>"No," Andrew said firmly; "the notice stands."</p> + +<p>There was a moment's silence while their glances met, and each +recognized that there should be no compromise: henceforward they must +be enemies.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said Mappin, with an air of ironic resignation, "I'll +continue to look after your transport until the time expires. Now that +we understand things, let's talk of something else. Have you seen +Frobisher lately? I'm going across to his place after supper."</p> + +<p>A sudden anger seized Andrew, though he scarcely realized that it +sprang from jealousy. This coarse fellow with his low cunning and +sensual nature had no right to enter the house that sheltered +Geraldine Frobisher. It was repugnant to think of his meeting her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> on +friendly terms and, having heard that he had been a frequent visitor, +he wondered what had induced Frobisher to tolerate him. An unpleasant +suspicion crept into his mind—perhaps the man had a friend in Mrs. +Denton, who differed from her brother in many ways. However, Andrew +concealed his annoyance.</p> + +<p>"It will be a fine night, though the snow's rather deep," he said. +"Now what about the provisions I ordered?"</p> + +<p>They discussed the matter for a while, and then Andrew went out to +look for Graham. He found him alone in the mill office, and the elder +man listened eagerly to what he had to say. Then Graham jumped up and +strode excitedly up and down the room.</p> + +<p>"After all the years of waiting, I can hardly realize that I'm to have +my chance!" he exclaimed. "I feel dazed; the thing's—overwhelming!"</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt about it," said Andrew. "I've arranged matters +satisfactorily with your president. You have only to say that you will +come."</p> + +<p>"Come!" Graham's eyes glowed; but he paused in sudden hesitation. +"Still, I don't know how my wife will face it. She must be told at +once. Come with me and explain—I think you will do it better than I +can."</p> + +<p>He threw a book into the desk, shut the desk noisily, and took out his +watch.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Allinson," he said, "I believe this office has never been closed +five minutes before the proper time since I first entered it, but the +habits of twenty years have lost their grip to-night. I feel like a +man unexpectedly let out of prison."</p> + +<p>Andrew went out with him and nothing was said until they reached his +house. The table was neatly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> laid for supper, and Mrs. Graham was +cheerfully bustling about it. She stopped and looked at her husband +with a start when he came in. The man was trying hard to maintain his +usual calm, but his expression was strained and eager, and his manner +deprecatory, as if he were half ashamed. Andrew thought Mrs. Graham +knew.</p> + +<p>"Can you spare me a few minutes?" Andrew asked. "I have something to +say."</p> + +<p>She sat down with forced quietness, though her color faded.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it will be a shock, Martha," Graham broke in; "he means to +tell you that I am going north to look for the lode with him."</p> + +<p>The woman did not flinch. She looked at her husband gravely, with no +sign of reproach; and Andrew saw that she had courage.</p> + +<p>"I have expected this; I knew it must come sooner or later," she said +quietly. "But go on, Mr. Allinson; I will listen."</p> + +<p>Andrew felt relieved. She would give no trouble, but her tense +expression caused him a sense of guilt. He explained the arrangements +he had made and handed her two or three documents, which included an +order on a bank for certain payments to be made her if the expedition +did not return by a specified date.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Graham took the papers with a gesture of repugnance, but a moment +later she looked up quietly.</p> + +<p>"It's fair; it's generous, Mr. Allinson. I am getting old and my +daughter is very young." Then her lips quivered and she broke into a +pitiful smile. "You have done what you can, but it doesn't cover the +greatest risk I run."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>"I know," responded Andrew gently; "I am asking a great deal from +you."</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "for his sake, perhaps for my sake, I must try to +let him go." She paused for a moment and then asked with an effort: +"When do you start?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as we can." Andrew felt that it would be tactful to take his +leave. "But I have a letter I must mail."</p> + +<p>"Come back, please," she said. "Supper will be ready in about ten +minutes."</p> + +<p>When Andrew had gone out Graham turned to his wife.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Martha. I feel that I must go."</p> + +<p>She came to him and put her hands on his shoulders, smiling bravely.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course, dear! I wouldn't stop you."</p> + +<p>Graham threw his arms around her.</p> + +<p>"It isn't all restlessness, Martha—there is a chance! What have I +done so far but keep you poor? It has hurt me to see you always hard +at work at some drudgery, living in this poor little house, planning +to save a few cents wherever you could. Now there may be a change; our +life will be very different and the children's future brighter if I +can find the lode. But if I am to find it, I must go now. In a few +more years it would be too late."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said softly. "But, after all, we have been happy here."</p> + +<p>He kissed her, protesting that he had been far happier than he +deserved; but she drew away from him.</p> + +<p>"Still, you have had your bad hours. Do you think I don't know? It +wasn't easy to go to the office day after day and keep accounts, with +the longing you couldn't get over, and dreams of riches in your +mind."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>"I'm afraid I let you guess it. But they're not dreams. I found a lode +rich in silver; I may locate it again."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Graham smiled rather wearily.</p> + +<p>"Dear, I hardly care whether you find the lode or not. You will be +content when you have looked for it, and I shall be happier knowing +that the restlessness you couldn't master has gone and will never +trouble us again."</p> + +<p>When Jim and his sister came in for supper, Andrew joined them, and +found that he was expected to talk over his plans. It was obvious that +Graham had not strained his authority: his was a harmonious household +and its younger members expressed their opinions with freedom. Andrew +was, however, amused to see that their father had risen in their +esteem. They had never attached much importance to his belief in the +lode; but since he had gained the support of a man of means, it looked +as if there might be something in the project. Nevertheless, they +bantered Andrew freely and he took it in good part. When he left, Mrs. +Graham accompanied him to the door.</p> + +<p>"You'll try to forgive me?" he begged, stopping a moment in the +narrow, shabby hall.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said. "I can't fairly blame you, and I have been prepared +for what has happened." Then she laid her hand on his arm. "I am +trusting you with a great deal, Mr. Allinson. It's a heavy +responsibility."</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">INTERRUPTED PLANS</span></h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Denton reclined in an easy-chair in her room at Frobisher's +house. A shawl of beautiful texture covered her shoulders, her feet +rested on a stool, and the lamp on a neighboring table was carefully +shaded. The dull pallor of her skin and the gauntness of her face +suggested the invalid, but her health, while far from good, had +suffered from the thought she bestowed on it. She was a reserved and +selfish woman, and her mean ambitions were responsible for much of the +trouble that had befallen her. Geraldine and she were generally at +variance, Frobisher bore with her, but there was one person for whom +she cherished a somewhat misguided tenderness. Mappin had been her +favorite from his earliest years.</p> + +<p>His father had been her lover when the Frobishers were poor, and she +had returned his affection. Nevertheless she had thrown him over when +a richer suitor appeared, and her marriage had turned out +disastrously. Urged by a desire for social prominence and love of +ostentation, she had driven her husband into hazardous, speculations, +for which he had weakly reproached her when the crash came. He escaped +total ruin by Frobisher's help, but he afterward went downhill fast, +wrangling with his wife until his death set her free. Her old lover +had also married, and died a widower, leaving one son, and Mrs. Denton +had shown a benevolent interest in the boy. He was bold and +ambitious,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> which was what she liked, and she was not deterred by the +lack of principle he early displayed. Success was the one thing she +respected, and as he grew up young Mappin promised to attain it. Now +she was expecting him, for he came to see her whenever he was in the +neighborhood, and Frobisher made him welcome for her sake.</p> + +<p>When Mappin came in he was red-faced from the frosty air.</p> + +<p>"This place is stiflingly hot," he said. "I'm afraid that's because +you're not feeling very fit yet."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Denton told him she could not get rid of her cold, and he had the +tact to listen with a show of interest while she talked about her +health.</p> + +<p>"You will stay all night?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm sorry I must get back to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Then I've no doubt it's necessary," she remarked in a suggestive +tone.</p> + +<p>Mappin laughed as if he understood her.</p> + +<p>"It is. As things are going, business must come first. Besides, I +can't flatter myself that I gained much by my last visit."</p> + +<p>"That's a point I can't speak upon, but you're not likely to lose your +head. There's a cold-blooded, calculating vein in you. I wonder +whether that was why you came straight to my room, though the society +of a crotchety old invalid can't have much charm for you."</p> + +<p>The man's heavy face grew a trifle redder than usual.</p> + +<p>"No," he protested, "it wasn't. I'm not dirt mean."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said Mrs. Denton, looking at him gently, "you know I'm +your friend. But I never pretended not to guess what brought you +here."</p> + +<p>"And I haven't made a secret of it. I mean to marry Geraldine."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>"She'll have a good deal of money some day."</p> + +<p>Mappin looked up angrily.</p> + +<p>"I'll admit that my interest generally comes first; but I'd be mighty +glad to take Geraldine without a cent."</p> + +<p>"Then you had better bestir yourself. Allinson has been here pretty +often and she seems to like him. Besides, he's made a good impression +on her father."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Mappin, "that confounded Englishman again! It's only a +few hours since he threatened to cut my connection with the Rain +Bluff; and one way and another that's a bad set-back." He frowned and +the veins showed on his forehead. "I was coining money out of my +contract, and I need it, because I have my feelings and I won't ask +Frobisher for Geraldine like a beggar. He has a cool, smiling way of +saying unpleasant things that makes me mad. I want to show him I'm as +smart as he is and can give the girl as much as he can."</p> + +<p>When they were detached from his business, Mappin's ideas were crude, +but Mrs. Denton was not refined and found no fault with them. +Moreover, she had an interest in his success. For a long time she had +been the mistress of her brother's house and directed his social +affairs. The position was a desirable one, especially as she had been +left without means; but it was threatened. It was inevitable that +Geraldine would take the power she enjoyed out of her hands, unless +she married. Had Mappin not entered the field, Mrs. Denton would have +furthered the claims of any suitor, to get the girl out of her way.</p> + +<p>"I suppose money would gratify your pride, but you may find waiting +risky," she said. "If you're wise, you'll make all the progress with +Geraldine you can."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>He smiled ruefully.</p> + +<p>"I sometimes feel that I'm making none. She looks at me half amused +and half astonished when I express my opinions; I have to keep a curb +on myself when I talk to her. In fact, I've once or twice got mad. I +can take a joke, but her condescending smile is riling."</p> + +<p>"Then why do you want to marry her?"</p> + +<p>"It puzzles me when I think it over coolly, but that's difficult. When +she's near me I only know that I want her." His eyes gleamed and his +face grew flushed as he proceeded. "Guess it must be her wonderful +eyes and hair and skin; the shape of her, the way she stands, the grit +she shows. Once when I said something she flashed out at me in a fury, +and I liked her for it." He clenched a big hand. "Somehow I'm going to +get her!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Denton smiled. The savagery of his passion did not jar on her; +she admired his determined boldness. She respected force that was +guided by capacity; she liked a man who was strong or cunning enough +to take what he desired. Her niece, however, held different views.</p> + +<p>"That sounds genuine," she said. "Still, you had better talk to +Geraldine in a more polished strain."</p> + +<p>"No; I'd do it badly, and it wouldn't pay. There's red blood in me, +and I haven't found much difference in men and women. If you hit +straight at their human nature, you can't go wrong. A girl's never +offended because you like her for being pretty."</p> + +<p>He was wise, in that he knew his limitations and never pretended to be +what he was not. His knowledge of human weaknesses had been +profitable, for he had not scrupled to prey upon them, but he erred in +assuming that his was the only rule of life. Virtue he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> frankly +regarded as either absence of desire or a sentimental pose.</p> + +<p>"You're too coarse, too crude in your methods," Mrs. Denton persisted. +"If you're not careful, you'll disgust Geraldine. You don't seem to +see that she's different from the girls you are accustomed to."</p> + +<p>Mappin laughed.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he said, "at heart, they're all the same."</p> + +<p>"In a sense, you're wrong. Allinson lets Geraldine see that he puts +her on a higher plane, and she likes it. If you can't imitate him, you +had better watch him."</p> + +<p>"If Allinson's likely to make trouble, I'll fix him quick. Pretty talk +and finicking manners, that's all there is to him, except a few fool +notions about the mining business which he hasn't the grit or ability +to carry out. But you look as if you had a headache and I guess I've +talked enough."</p> + +<p>She let him go, fearing to strain the consideration he sometimes +showed her, for he was the only person for whom she had a scrap of +affection. Mappin left her with half-contemptuous pity. He owed her +some gratitude, because it was on her account that he had been +received in the house; but he knew how little her support was worth, +for he was shrewd enough to see that her brother and her niece held +her in no great esteem. Indeed, he knew his position was not +encouraging. Geraldine had shown him no favor, and Frobisher's +attitude was more marked by forbearance than friendliness; but Mappin +was not deterred. He had stubborn courage and a firm belief in his +powers.</p> + +<p>Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he stopped in the shadow of a heavy +curtain as Geraldine came out of a door at the farther end of the +large hall. The girl did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> not see him and, prompted by curiosity to +learn what effect his sudden appearance would have, he stood watching +her. She looked thoughtful, and moved slowly, but with a grace he did +not miss. The soft rustle of her dress stirred him, he noticed with +greedy eyes the fine outline about which the light material flowed, +the bloom of her complexion, the beauty of her pose. Indeed, he forgot +why he had waited, for his heart was beating fast and he felt his +nerves tingle. He was filled with a burning desire to possess her.</p> + +<p>Then she saw him and recoiled. There was a glitter in his eyes from +which she shrank, his face was stamped with gross sensual passion. It +alarmed her and filled her with disgust. Mappin, however, could not +guess her feelings. She was obviously startled; perhaps he had shown +what he thought of her too plainly and shocked her prudishness; but +this after all was no great matter. Delicacy was unknown to him; he +could hardly have been made to understand that Geraldine regarded him +with downright loathing. Still, as he could think of nothing to say, +he was not sorry that she turned back without a word; and with a harsh +laugh he opened an adjoining door to look for Frobisher. Geraldine +returned to the room she had left, and sat down with a sense of +repulsion that presently gave place to burning anger. She felt that +she had received an outrageous insult.</p> + +<p>She did not see Mappin again until the next morning, when she was +coldly polite, and he left in a state of half-puzzled irritation, +thinking more about Allinson than he had done. The man might prove a +dangerous rival, unless something were done to prevent it. Mappin, +however, thought that he could deal with him and was glad he had +written to Hathersage, giving him a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> hint that Allinson threatened to +make trouble for them both.</p> + +<p>As a result of Mappin's letter Andrew was handed a cablegram one +evening when he was discussing the preparations for the journey with +Carnally and Graham in the latter's house. When he had opened it he +frowned.</p> + +<p>"This promises to complicate matters. It's from my brother-in-law," he +explained and read out the message:</p> + +<p>"<i>Do nothing until I arrive; sailing Sylvitanian.</i>"</p> + +<p>Graham took up a Montreal paper.</p> + +<p>"One of the fast boats. He should be here in nine days." Then he +looked disturbed. "It may prevent your going North."</p> + +<p>"No," Andrew said resolutely; "it shall not do that; but I'll have to +see him. It's strange he should come, though I told him the mine +wasn't paying."</p> + +<p>"You want to remember that Mappin's a friend of his," Carnally +interposed. "There's another thing: you can't tell him about the lode, +which, so far, doesn't belong to you. I guess the less you say about +your plans the better."</p> + +<p>"I believe that's true," Andrew agreed. "Well, our start must be put +off a while."</p> + +<p>Leonard arrived, accompanied by Wannop, who explained that he had come +to see the country and look up one or two old friends. Soon after they +reached the Landing, Leonard had an interview with Watson, who had +been summoned to meet him; then he went with Andrew to his room at the +hotel. It was small and scantily furnished, but a galvanized pipe +which ran up through the floor from the basement heater made it +comfortably warm; and Leonard, sitting in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> rickety chair, watched +his brother-in-law closely while he talked about the mine. Andrew had +acquired a quickness of thought and a decision of manner which were +new to Leonard. There was a pause after he had finished his +explanation, for both felt that the next few minutes might prove +momentous. They held widely different views and an unconsidered remark +might bring them into open collision. Leonard waited, ready to profit +by any mistake the other made, until Andrew spoke.</p> + +<p>"I was surprised to hear you were coming over; though perhaps it's as +well you did so."</p> + +<p>"When I got your letter the matter seemed serious enough to require my +personal attention."</p> + +<p>"You may tell me what you think," said Andrew, "and I'll consider it +carefully."</p> + +<p>"To begin with, why did you give Mappin notice to terminate his +contract?"</p> + +<p>"It seemed the best thing to be done in the shareholders' interest."</p> + +<p>There was something impressive in Andrew's tone. Leonard knew that a +conflict, which he wished to avoid, was imminent.</p> + +<p>"I won't mince matters," he replied. "You have no business experience +and know nothing about mining. You have acted rashly. I made the +arrangements with Mappin and considered them satisfactory."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to hear it. I wish it had been somebody less closely +connected with Allinson's who concluded the deal with him. The man's +making a good thing out of his contract at the Company's expense."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't be hypercritical. Opportunities for picking up a few +dollars are often attached to operations like ours, and its wiser to +let one's friends have them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> and look for favors in return. Besides, +the man does his work well."</p> + +<p>"No," corrected Andrew, "he does it badly, with a cool assurance that +no fault will be found and we'll pass his bills. In fact, for the firm +to take any favors from him would savor of corruption. In the end, the +shareholders would have to pay for them."</p> + +<p>"Be careful," Leonard warned him. "You may cause a good deal of +trouble without doing any good. Remember that you're only here on +trial and accountable to the rest of the directors. If necessary, the +power you're overstraining could be withdrawn."</p> + +<p>"I think not," said Andrew. "In a sense, I'm Allinson's; it would be a +difficult matter to get rid of me. I have neglected my duties, but +it's not too late to make a change."</p> + +<p>Leonard paused to light a cigarette. He had been met with a firmness +he had not expected, and he realized that Andrew might prove a +formidable antagonist.</p> + +<p>"Very well," he conceded, "if you insist on our giving no more work to +Mappin, I suppose he must be sacrificed, though you place me in an +unpleasant position. After all, he's comparatively unimportant; we +must talk about the mine. You seem to think it ought to be closed, +which is out of the question for the present. You have, no doubt, +learned that it often takes time to reach payable ore; all sorts of +preliminary difficulties have to be overcome, and investors have +frequently to exercise patience and put up with disappointments."</p> + +<p>"You promised a good dividend in the prospectus."</p> + +<p>"We didn't promise it on the first six months' working. Besides, one +makes allowances for prospectus statements."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>"It shouldn't be needful where Allinson's is concerned. But what do +you suggest?"</p> + +<p>"That we keep the mine open, and do everything possible to increase +the output and strike better ore. In the meanwhile, we won't say too +much about our troubles."</p> + +<p>"When you increase the output you increase expenses. This doesn't +matter so long as the refined metal will pay for it, but it's a +ruinous policy where the ore's no good. Then, you can't hide our +difficulties. The shareholders will expect a dividend, and if it isn't +forthcoming they'll demand an explanation at their meeting."</p> + +<p>"That might be prevented. The family vote could be relied on, and it's +often possible to control a meeting and silence objectors. These are +matters you can leave to me."</p> + +<p>"The objectors have a right to be heard; they could be silenced only +by trickery. If we have made a mistake, we must admit it and consider +how we can cut the loss."</p> + +<p>"Admit our mistake?" Leonard laughed. "You're talking at random."</p> + +<p>Andrew leaned forward, his eyes fixed on his brother-in-law.</p> + +<p>"This Company should never have been floated. We'll let it go at that: +the less said upon the point the better. The question is—what is to +be done now? Well, I've decided on two things—we'll keep a few men +working at the mine, because the yield will cover their wages, while I +go into the bush and look for a richer lode I've heard about. If I'm +successful, we'll consider the new situation."</p> + +<p>Seeing that objections would be useless, Leonard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> reluctantly +acquiesced, and it was a relief to both when Wannop came in.</p> + +<p>"There's a friend of yours asking for you, Andrew; I brought him up," +he explained, and stood aside as Frobisher entered.</p> + +<p>"I came to ask you over for a day or two, and I shall be glad if your +relatives will come as well," he said. "We have plenty of room and +have been rather dull lately. Besides, the hotel is too full to be +comfortable."</p> + +<p>After some demur they agreed to go, and Andrew felt grateful to +Frobisher, for the visit would relieve the strain that Leonard's +society threatened to impose on him. Half an hour later they took +their places in Frobisher's sleigh.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">LOVE'S ENCOURAGEMENT</span></h2> + + +<p>It was after dinner and Wannop, lounging comfortably over his cigar in +Frobisher's smoking-room, smiled at Andrew, who sat opposite.</p> + +<p>"This is a very nice house and I like your friend," he commented. +"It's lucky he invited us, because I don't know how they'd have put us +up at the hotel."</p> + +<p>"What brought you over with Leonard?" Andrew asked bluntly.</p> + +<p>"Gertrude wanted to make some visits this winter, which set me free. +I've never been much away from home, and it struck me as a good chance +for seeing Canada; then Jack Cartwright—you may remember him—is in +Toronto. It's twelve years since I've met him, though he has often +urged me to come over; and there's another man I know in Winnipeg."</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether that was all?"</p> + +<p>Wannop looked amused. He was stout and clumsy, but he had his jovial +air.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have been getting smarter since you came to Canada," he +said. "Perhaps I'd better admit that I was anxious to see how you were +getting on."</p> + +<p>"Didn't Leonard tell you?"</p> + +<p>"Leonard was as guarded and diplomatic as usual. He informed us that +there had been some trouble at the mine and he was afraid you hadn't +experience enough to deal with the situation. Then he gave us the +im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>pression that you were inclined to be rash and might make a mess of +things unless he came over and put you right."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Andrew; "I expected something of the sort."</p> + +<p>They looked at each other with mutual comprehension.</p> + +<p>"Can matters be straightened out?" Wannop asked.</p> + +<p>"Not in the few days that Leonard intends to devote to it. It's most +unlikely that the Rain Bluff will ever pay."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to hear it. A good deal of my money and Gertrude's has gone +into the mine."</p> + +<p>"You needn't be alarmed. I don't think the shareholders will suffer."</p> + +<p>Andrew's tone was impressive, and Wannop looked at him sharply.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't seem to agree with your last remark."</p> + +<p>"I've a plan for working a richer lode, but I can't tell you anything +further, because the secret belongs to another man until the minerals +have been recorded; and it wouldn't be fair to Leonard and the +directors, who haven't been consulted about the project yet. When my +plans are ready, they will be disclosed. Perhaps I'm straining your +confidence."</p> + +<p>"It will stand some strain. But are you sure that Leonard will be fair +to you?"</p> + +<p>"That is another matter," Andrew said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad you have told me something: it gives me a lead. It was +obvious that you and Leonard were at variance. In fact, I've foreseen +a split for some time, and if a side must be taken, I'd rather stand +by you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks! But it may get you into trouble."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>Wannop lighted another cigar and then looked up with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>"We're neither of us sentimentalists, but there's something to be +said. You and I have always got on well, and when I married Gertrude +you didn't lay such stress on the favor shown me in being allowed to +enter the family as your estimable relatives did. Then we're the two +whose abilities aren't held in much esteem, which is some reason why +we should stick together. With all respect for the others, I sometimes +think they're wrong."</p> + +<p>Andrew laughed.</p> + +<p>"We'll come to business," Wannop went on. "While the Rain Bluff shares +were well taken up by outside investors, a good many are held by the +family; these count as a compact block, a strong voting power—though +it's remarkable that Leonard holds less than any of the rest of us. So +if there's to be a fight between you and him, it will begin among your +relatives; their opinion is more important than that of the general +shareholders."</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented Andrew, "Leonard would be powerful if backed by the +solid family vote."</p> + +<p>"The point is that he may not get it. Anyhow, Gertrude and I will +support you, and we hold a good deal of stock between us."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" said Andrew. "Still, it may not come to a struggle of that +kind, after all. It must be avoided if possible."</p> + +<p>Then Frobisher came in and interrupted them.</p> + +<p>Leonard spent a week with Frobisher, driving across to the Landing +each morning on business. He and Andrew now and then discussed the +Company's affairs without open disagreement. His attitude to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>ward +Andrew was friendly, but marked by a tone of good-humored forbearance, +and when he spoke of him to Frobisher it was with a trace of +amusement, as if Andrew were erratic and needed judicious guidance. It +was done cleverly, for Leonard carefully avoided detraction, but his +remarks conveyed the impression that Andrew was something of a +simpleton.</p> + +<p>"If Allinson hasn't much judgment, why did you send him over to look +after the mine?" Frobisher once asked him bluntly.</p> + +<p>Leonard smiled at this.</p> + +<p>"We didn't give him much responsibility; to tell the truth, we wanted +to get him away for a while. There was a young grass-widow that it +seemed possible he might make a fool of himself about. Rather a +dangerous woman, I believe, and Andrew's confiding."</p> + +<p>When his guests had returned to the Landing, Frobisher remarked to his +daughter:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Hathersage doesn't seem to think much of his brother-in-law."</p> + +<p>"So it seems," said Geraldine, with an angry sparkle in her eyes. "He +never missed an opportunity for cunningly disparaging him."</p> + +<p>"Then you don't agree with his opinion?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that it was his real opinion," Geraldine replied. "I +wouldn't trust the man." She paused and asked sharply: "Would you?"</p> + +<p>"If I had to choose, I think I'd rather put my confidence in +Allinson."</p> + +<p>He looked thoughtful when his daughter left him, for he had not spoken +to her without an object, and her indignation had its significance. On +the whole, however, Frobisher saw no cause for uneasiness. He liked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +Andrew, and though Leonard's explanation might have had a deterrent +effect, he disbelieved it.</p> + +<p>Before returning to England, Leonard had an interview with Mappin at +the hotel.</p> + +<p>"Do you know anything of the lode Allinson talks about?" he asked him.</p> + +<p>"Nothing except that it lies up in the northern barrens, a mighty +rough country, and that people think it's a delusion of the man who +claims to have discovered it. But didn't your brother-in-law talk it +over with you, if he's interested in the thing?"</p> + +<p>"He did not. I may as well admit that there are points upon which his +views don't agree with mine."</p> + +<p>"So I imagined," Mappin remarked pointedly.</p> + +<p>"He's in favor of closing the Rain Bluff. If that were done, it would, +of course, cost you your contract."</p> + +<p>Mappin looked thoughtful. Leonard had already sketched out a plan by +which the notice Andrew had given Mappin might be rendered of no +effect.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I'd much rather keep it; but we had better be frank. +You would prefer that Allinson didn't find the lode?"</p> + +<p>"I don't want him to waste the Company's time and money on a journey +into the wilds, and expensive prospecting work which will probably +lead to nothing. It would be wiser to keep the Rain Bluff going and +get out as much ore as possible. I needn't point out that this would +be more to your interest."</p> + +<p>"That's so," chuckled Mappin. "I begin to see. I'm to make all the +difficulties I can for Allinson?"</p> + +<p>Leonard hesitated. He was asked to give his confederate dangerous +powers, but he thought the safety of his position required it. There +did not seem to be much likelihood of Andrew's discovering valuable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +minerals, but he might perhaps find somewhat better ore than the Rain +Bluff was turning out, and with a practical scheme for working it gain +support enough to embarrass the directors. If, however, Andrew failed +in his search, it would be easier to discredit him, and the demand he +would no doubt make for the abandoning of the mine could be withstood.</p> + +<p>"I think that's what I meant," he said. "You are in charge of our +transport and I expect he'll need a quantity of food and prospecting +tools sent up into the bush. I can leave you to work out details."</p> + +<p>Mappin's eyes flashed.</p> + +<p>"I guess I can fix it; let it go at that. Now there's another matter I +want to mention."</p> + +<p>Leonard acquiesced in the change of subject, feeling that he had done +all that was possible to counteract Andrew's projects. He left with +the Montreal express the next morning.</p> + +<p>Two days later Mappin was summoned to Andrew's room at the hotel and +found him studying a list of provisions.</p> + +<p>"We shall get off in the next few days," he said. "I want you to send +these supplies up to the mine, where we'll call for them."</p> + +<p>"What about the rest of your truck?" Mappin inquired.</p> + +<p>"Carnally has sent it off already."</p> + +<p>Mappin saw that he could not do as much as he had expected to delay +the party.</p> + +<p>"Is there anything else?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Andrew. "As we can't transport stores enough for the whole +march, provisions will have to be cached for use on our return. Do you +know where Whitefish Creek is?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>"It's a very long way up and said not to be indicated very correctly +on the map. Two forks, aren't there?"</p> + +<p>Andrew nodded.</p> + +<p>"A lake lies about two days' march up the east branch, and there's an +island in it with a sandy tongue at one end. Take this list of +provisions and have a cache made there. Get them up in a month from +now. You can do that?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; I've some smart packers."</p> + +<p>"Then here's another list. To get to the Whitefish you cross the +height of land and there's a low neck in the middle of the long ridge. +I want another cache made at the bottom of the gap. You understand +that? It's important."</p> + +<p>"I'll make a careful note of it," Mappin promised. "Your idea is to +travel with light loads, and replenish your stores at the caches as +you come back?"</p> + +<p>"Precisely. Carnally and Graham have been calculating our supplies +closely and we shall not have much left when we reach the first cache. +You had better put a barked fir-pole on the top of it; there are trees +about."</p> + +<p>"The boys I'll send up will see to it," said Mappin, and after a few +questions took his leave.</p> + +<p>A day or two later Andrew walked across the ice in the evening to see +the Frobishers before he started on his journey, and when he had spent +some time with them Geraldine went down with him to the hall. They +were alone, for her father was searching for a compass he wished to +give Andrew. Geraldine stopped when she reached the foot of the stairs +and stood with her hand on the balustrade. Her unstudied pose was +graceful, she made a very attractive picture, and though she saw +Andrew's admiration she was not displeased.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> It was different from +that which Mappin had bestowed on her.</p> + +<p>"I think you are doing a very fine thing," she said diffidently. "You +see, I know something, besides what you have told me, about the mine +and Allinson's. Ethel Hillyard wrote to me not long ago—I knew her in +England—and she said several nice things about you."</p> + +<p>"Did she?" said Andrew, with some embarrassment. "Ethel's a good +friend. But it's rather trying to have things said about you."</p> + +<p>"Now you're curious," Geraldine replied, "and I'll be indiscreet +enough to mention one. She said you were always sincere, and to be +relied on." She paused a moment and added: "I think that's true; your +going to search for the lode proves it."</p> + +<p>Andrew looked at her steadily, his heart throbbing.</p> + +<p>"Would you be surprised to hear that you are largely responsible for +the search?"</p> + +<p>"I! What could I have to do with it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll try to explain. There was a time when I was half afraid to go on +with my plans; I could see nothing but trouble ahead. Then one day +when you were speaking of Carnally you said something about doing the +square thing. That and the song you sang one evening soon afterward +decided me."</p> + +<p>"Then I'm afraid I've been very rash; it's a responsibility I should +not have assumed. After all, I know nothing about the difficulties you +may meet with."</p> + +<p>"And I know very little, except that they'll certainly be plentiful. +Ignorance is a heavy handicap, and it doesn't make things better when +it's your own fault. Still, whether you meant it or not, you showed me +that there was only one course open—to go straight ahead and leave +the rest to Fate."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>His words awoke a responsive thrill in Geraldine, for she knew his +worth. There was courage in him and sterling honesty; he was entering +on a hard fight for the sake of people unknown to him who had trusted +to the honor of his house. He would, she believed, be opposed by +clever trickery, prejudice and strong commercial interests, but if the +world were ruled by right, as she tried to believe, it was unthinkable +that he should be beaten.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, with the color in her face and sympathy in her eyes, +"I wish you good luck. But be careful up there among the rocks and +muskegs. Don't run too many risks. Come back safe."</p> + +<p>"Thank you! It would be something to you if we kept out of trouble?"</p> + +<p>His gaze was steadily searching and for a moment she turned her head. +Then, though there was a slight change in her manner, she looked +around with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course," she answered. "I shall be anxious while you are away +and eager for news."</p> + +<p>Andrew saw that there was nothing more to be said, and he was glad +that Frobisher came down the stairs with the compass in his hand.</p> + +<p>"It's one of the cutest things of the kind I've seen," said the +American. "There's very little oscillation, the card can't come +unshipped, and you can take a bearing correctly with the sights on +this sliding ring."</p> + +<p>When Andrew had thanked him for the gift, he left the house. It was a +still night and bitterly cold, but he walked back across the ice to +the Landing with a glow at his heart.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">TREACHERY</span></h2> + + +<p>The afternoon was nearly over and the frost intense when Andrew +plodded up the frozen river with Carnally and Graham. The snow +crunched with a squeaking sound beneath their moccasins, which Andrew +had had specially made because ordinary boots are not adapted to the +extreme cold of the North. On their western hand the pines stood out +sharp and black against a coppery glare, and as they passed the wider +openings the light struck dazzlingly into their aching eyes. Ahead the +white riband of river led into a wilderness of rocks and stunted +trees, but there was no sign of life in all the picture, and +everything was very still.</p> + +<p>The men were not heavily loaded, for most of their supplies had been +sent on to the mine, but Andrew had found his pack a bad enough +handicap on the long march up-river and had noticed with some concern +that Graham seemed to feel the weight more than he did. The old man +had lagged behind, but he now came up breathless.</p> + +<p>"You want to get a move on," Carnally advised. "It's 'most six miles +yet to Rain Bluff and I'm feeling ready for my supper."</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Graham; "but it was too cold to rest by the greenwood +fire when we nooned, and I'm not so young as you are. Then it is +remarkable how twenty years of domestic life soften one."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>"Sure!" grinned Carnally. "You don't find the man who gets his dinner +every day leading in a long, hard march. That was Allinson's trouble +when he first took the trail with me."</p> + +<p>"There may be disadvantages in having regular meals, but I know from +painful experience what an ache in the side you get when forced to go +without," Andrew returned. "It's one of the things I've learned in +Canada."</p> + +<p>"You'll learn a few more of the same kind before you're through," +Carnally drawled. "But how do you like your moccasins?"</p> + +<p>"They're comfortable; the American shoe people have made them well; +but I'm not sure they'll last the journey through. It's lucky we have +some spare pairs among the provisions Mappin has sent up."</p> + +<p>"It might have been better if we'd hired two or three boys at the +Landing and packed the truck up along with us," Carnally remarked.</p> + +<p>"Mappin engaged to forward the things. It's his business."</p> + +<p>Carnally looked unconvinced.</p> + +<p>"I never deal with a man who's not straight if I can help it. You +can't tell when he may go back on you, unless you can fix it so that +his interest is the same as yours; and you and Mappin don't agree."</p> + +<p>"That's a fact," Andrew admitted. "However, we'll soon find out about +the provisions."</p> + +<p>He forced the pace, but it slackened again. He was tired; the red +glare, which grew more lurid, hurt his eyes, and he was thankful when +it suddenly faded, leaving the wilderness wrapped in soft blue shadow. +The pack-straps galled his shoulders, his fur-cap was thick with rime, +and its fringe of frosted hair stung his fore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>head. They came to a +narrow reach where the stream ran fast and the ice was thrown up in +ragged hummocks. It was difficult to pick their way in the dim light; +they slipped and stumbled, breaking through the treacherous snow +bridges between the blocks; and when they came out upon a better +surface it was dark. Shadowy firs rose about them; here and there an +ice-crusted rock showed above the gray level of the stream. Except for +their soft footsteps there was a deathly silence. Graham was now some +distance behind them, and after a while he made protest.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he cried. "I'm not toughened up to your mark yet."</p> + +<p>Andrew was glad to wait for him, though the frost bit keenly when he +stopped and he was anxious to finish the long day's march. The ranks +of stunted pines looked inexpressibly dreary looming out of the +darkness, and, fatigued as he was, the savagery of the surrounding +desolation oppressed him. They would reach warmth and shelter in +another hour, but when they went on again Andrew thought with a heavy +heart of the leagues of travel through the grim solitudes of the +frozen North. Up there, their only resting-place would be a hollow +behind a rock or a trench scooped out of the snow. Still, he was not +daunted. He had undertaken a big thing, and he meant to carry it out.</p> + +<p>At last a twinkle of light showed among the trees, and when they +approached one of the shacks at the mine the door opened and a dark +figure appeared against the brightness of the interior.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Watson?" Andrew asked. "Has Mappin sent up some +provisions for us?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing has turned up lately except some tools," Watson answered. +"But come right in."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>They entered the shack, which for the first few minutes felt +intolerably hot.</p> + +<p>"Did those tools come in cases with a Toronto freight tag?" Carnally +asked.</p> + +<p>"They did," said Watson.</p> + +<p>Carnally looked at Andrew.</p> + +<p>"That's what misled me. I found out the cases had left the Landing and +thought they held our truck. What I wasn't sure about was whether +they'd reach here."</p> + +<p>"The provisions haven't come, and a day or two's rest will do us +good," Andrew replied. "I suppose the fellow will send some +explanation."</p> + +<p>"That's certain. He won't want you to go down and look him up; you'll +get word from him before long. Whether you'll get your provisions or +not is another matter."</p> + +<p>"Let it drop," Andrew advised; and soon afterward they sat down to +supper. In an hour or two they were all asleep; but the next day +passed before they heard anything about the missing supplies. They +were sitting round the stove in the evening when Watson came in with a +letter.</p> + +<p>"One of Mappin's boys has brought you this," he said.</p> + +<p>Andrew opened it and looked up with a frown.</p> + +<p>"No answer. Let him go back when he likes."</p> + +<p>When Watson left them he turned to the others.</p> + +<p>"Mappin regrets to say that our stores have been lost in transit, and +though he is trying to trace them, there may be some delay. He thinks +I would like to know this at once—which looks like ironical wit. If +needful, he will order a duplicate lot."</p> + +<p>"Is it worth while to go down and see him?" Graham asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>"I'd enjoy it," said Andrew grimly. "However, now that we have come so +far, we can't waste time in going back, and I've no doubt it would be +a week or two before I could get the goods. We'll have to do without +them, which is unfortunate."</p> + +<p>His anger was justified. Travel in the North, where food is scarce, is +a question of transport. As the traveler must take all he needs with +him, his supplies must be carefully regulated in accordance with the +distance and his power of carrying them, while an error in his +calculations may result in starvation. Knowing this, Carnally and +Graham had considered how the weight could be cut down by the use of +certain condensed foods, as well as clothing and camp equipment made +to combine the greatest warmth with lightness. The goods were +expensive, but their value could hardly be reckoned in money.</p> + +<p>"Then we had better push on at once," Graham suggested. "We have the +things Carnally sent up and we ought to get some provisions at the +Hudson Bay factory, where I expect to hire the sledge dogs. It will +add to our loads and shorten our stay, but we'll have to put up with +that."</p> + +<p>"You should have cut Mappin right out of this business," Carnally said +to Andrew. "His first trick hasn't stopped us, but I feel uneasy about +leaving him to handle the food we'll need when coming down."</p> + +<p>Andrew looked grave.</p> + +<p>"The man's treacherous; but he has gone as far as is safe already. +Taking it for granted that he wishes to prevent our finding the lode, +one can understand his trying to hinder our outward journey. He would, +however, gain nothing by delaying our return, and he's too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> clever to +risk getting himself into trouble without a good reason."</p> + +<p>"That sounds right; I can find no fault with it," Carnally agreed. +"We'll pull out to-morrow, but I'd feel easier if the making of those +caches wasn't in Mappin's hands."</p> + +<p>They left Rain Bluff the next morning and it was a week later when +Mappin learned that he had failed to detain them. He had just returned +to the Landing from a business visit, and was sitting in his room at +the hotel when the messenger came in.</p> + +<p>"Did Mr. Allinson seem annoyed?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Can't say," the man replied. "He didn't say a word to me; told Watson +there was no answer, and pulled out with the other fellows next day."</p> + +<p>"I suppose they went off with pretty heavy loads?"</p> + +<p>"That's so. Took some of Watson's blue camp blankets, and I guess +they'll soon get tired. Two of them are tenderfoots at the job."</p> + +<p>"Carnally's a smart bushman, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Sure! But he'd all he could carry."</p> + +<p>Mappin was surprised at the turbulence of his feelings. Though of +gross nature, ambition and avarice had hitherto dominated him, and he +was generally marked by a cold-blooded calm. Now, however, his +passions were aroused, and he was filled with an anger which he +thought must be subdued before it led him into rashness. He had done +all he could to delay Allinson, and though he had failed it was not +his habit to grow savage at a reverse; moreover, it was unlikely that +the prospectors would get very far. For all that, he was disturbed. +Allinson, whom he had regarded with contempt as a fastidious +tenderfoot, might prove a dangerous rival. That he had refrained from +sending down an angry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> remonstrance suggested strong self-control and +a suspicion of Mappin's motives. He must be careful, and must make all +the progress he could with Geraldine while Allinson was away.</p> + +<p>During the next three weeks he saw the Frobishers often, though he had +undertaken an important railroad contract for which his men were +cutting lumber in the bush. Geraldine treated him with a conventional +politeness which misled him, for he was inexperienced in dealing with +girls of her character. Indeed, except for his business capacity, +Mappin was undeveloped and primitive. For all that, he felt that he +was not advancing much in Geraldine's favor and he made up his mind to +press his suit without delay. Allinson would be back before very long, +and the provisions he would need for his return journey must shortly +be sent off.</p> + +<p>After waiting for an opportunity, he found Geraldine alone one evening +in her drawing-room and sat down feeling unusually diffident as well +as eager, though he forced himself to talk about matters of no +importance. For one thing, the room had a disturbing effect on him. It +was furnished with refined taste and all its appointments seemed +stamped with its owner's personality; a faint perfume that she was +fond of clung about it. All this reacted on the man, and the girl's +beauty worked on his passions.</p> + +<p>She listened with indifference, now and then glancing toward him. He +was smartly dressed, but he looked out of place—too big and gross for +his surroundings. Then by degrees she grew more intent; there was a +hint of strain in his voice and a gleam in his eyes which caused her +vague alarm. His face was slightly flushed, he looked coarser than +usual, and when he was silent his lips set in an ugly, determined +fashion. At last,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> when she was thinking of an excuse for leaving him, +he rose.</p> + +<p>"Geraldine," he said, "I have something to tell you."</p> + +<p>She looked up quickly; somewhat frightened, he thought, and he was not +displeased.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Is it necessary?"</p> + +<p>"I think so; you shall judge. For a long while I've been very fond of +you."</p> + +<p>His ardent glance repelled her. She resented it and this gave her +courage.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what you mean by that?" she asked coldly.</p> + +<p>The man failed to understand her. Love was not a complex thing to him.</p> + +<p>"It ought to be pretty simple. You're the girl I mean to marry; I set +my heart on it some time ago."</p> + +<p>"<i>Mean</i> to marry? You're not diffident."</p> + +<p>Mappin laughed and his amusement filled her with repulsion. She was +not encouraging, he thought; but he had not expected her to be so.</p> + +<p>"No," he replied, "I'm not. Bashfulness doesn't pay, and I haven't had +time to study saying pretty things. I want you—there it is."</p> + +<p>"It's a pity you didn't tell me this earlier. It might have saved you +some disappointment," said Geraldine.</p> + +<p>She was angry and alarmed, but keenly interested. She had not expected +that her first offer would take this abrupt form; but there was no +doubting the strong primitive passion in the man. It was a force to be +reckoned with; one could not treat it with indifference. He looked big +and clumsy as he stood with his eyes fixed on her, but his face and +pose suggested power.</p> + +<p>"Well," he explained, "there was a reason. I was pretty low down in +the world; I hadn't much to offer,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> and I wouldn't have you think I +wanted you for your money. Now I've got on; I begin to see how I'm +going to make a big success. There's no longer anything to stop my +claiming you."</p> + +<p>This sounded sincere, but it was unthinkable that she should feel any +tenderness for the man, and he must be made to understand.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Mappin," she began; but he checked her.</p> + +<p>"Let me get through. You shall have all you want: a house in Montreal +or Toronto, as you like, smart friends and position—guess if I set my +mind on it I can get them. In fact, you shall have what you +wish—you'll only need to ask for it. I want my wife to take a leading +place, and I'll see she gets there."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but it's impossible for me to marry you," said Geraldine +firmly.</p> + +<p>Mappin regarded her with a grim smile.</p> + +<p>"You look as if you meant it."</p> + +<p>"I do." Geraldine tried hard to preserve her calm. "Please understand +that my mind is made up."</p> + +<p>"Oh," he replied tolerantly, "I didn't expect to get you first try. +Guess I'll have to wait until you get used to the idea."</p> + +<p>"I shall never get used to it!"</p> + +<p>He had held himself in hand, but as he heard the decision in her tone +his passion mastered him.</p> + +<p>"Never is a mighty long time; you have got to yield sooner or later. I +can make you!"</p> + +<p>Geraldine rose with all the dignity she could assume; but he moved +between her and the door.</p> + +<p>"Wait a bit," he said with a harsh laugh. "Now, what's the matter with +me?"</p> + +<p>"I think I need only say that you're very far from being the kind of +man I could marry. Let me pass!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>Mappin barred her way.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I know my value. I'll stand comparison with that +finicking Englishman!"</p> + +<p>Her blush told that this shot had reached the mark and he turned on +her with fury.</p> + +<p>"You'll never get him! Count on that; I'll break the fellow!"</p> + +<p>Geraldine recoiled. She thought that he meant to seize her; he was +capable of it. Indeed, he moved a pace or two, but this gave her an +opportunity for reaching the door. There she turned and saw that he +was watching her with a curious grim smile.</p> + +<p>"The subject is closed," she said. "You have behaved hatefully!"</p> + +<p>Escaping into the hall, she sought her room and shut herself in. She +felt humiliated, and, although there had once or twice been something +ludicrous in the situation, the man's overbearing boldness had +strongly impressed her. She was afraid of him; he would not readily be +beaten.</p> + +<p>Mappin left the house without speaking to Frobisher and returned to +the Landing. The next day he sent for the packer who was to lead the +party taking up Andrew's supplies. The fellow was some time in coming +and Mappin waited for him in a threatening mood. Geraldine's blush had +filled him with jealous hatred. Allinson was a dangerous rival. Let +him beware!</p> + +<p>"You know the Whitefish Creek," he said to the man he had summoned. +"What lies between the forks?"</p> + +<p>"A piece of high and very rough country; muskegs full of little pines +mussed up with blown trees in the hollows."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mappin, "you'll cache the supplies for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> Allinson where +I've put the cross on this map. Think you've got it right?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the packer. "It must be near the tall butte, a piece +up the creek. That's a pretty good mark."</p> + +<p>"Then there's the other lot of supplies. You can see the place for +them on the height of land, south of the Whitefish."</p> + +<p>The man glanced at the map and nodded.</p> + +<p>"We'll dump those first. Everything's ready. We'll pull out as soon as +I can get the boys together."</p> + +<p>He left the room and Mappin lighted a cigar. He felt somewhat nervous, +as if he had undergone a strain.</p> + +<p>"If Allinson gets through, I'll allow he's the better man," he mused.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE SILVER LODE</span></h2> + + +<p>A half-breed stood on the river bank beside his dog-team while Andrew +handed Carnally the packs from the sled. It was late in the afternoon, +the valley was swept by driving snow, and the men's hands were so +numbed that they found it difficult to strap on their heavy loads. The +ice was several feet in thickness on the deeper pools, but the stream +ran strong along the opposite shore, and its frozen surface was rough, +and broken in places by pools of inky water.</p> + +<p>"It would save some trouble if we made our caches among these +boulders," Graham suggested.</p> + +<p>"That's so," agreed Carnally. "Still I guess it would be safer on the +other side, where we'll strike it sooner coming back. It's wise to +take no chances in this country."</p> + +<p>They were loaded at last, and the gorge looked very desolate when the +half-breed vanished with his dogs beyond the summit of the bank. He +was not a man of much conversational powers, but they had found his +company pleasant in the grim solitudes. Andrew had hired him at an +outlying Hudson Bay factory, where he had had no trouble in obtaining +food. The fur trade was languishing thereabout, and prospectors for +timber and minerals were made welcome. The Scot in charge of the +lonely post had, however, no dogs for sale, though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> he engaged to +transport a limited quantity of provisions to a point which one of the +company's half-breeds, despatched on another errand, would pass with +his team.</p> + +<p>Andrew considered Carnally's caution well justified. Their supply of +food was scanty, and the journey attended by risks enough; but he +could sympathize with Graham. It was snowing hard, the wind was +rising, and there was no sign of a camping-place in all the +desolation. They had gone a long way since sunrise, and were too tired +to think of lengthening the journey by looking for a better place to +cross the river. They went forward, carefully avoiding the hummocks, +and winding around the larger cracks. Andrew was too occupied in +picking his way to notice that Graham had fallen some distance behind; +but when he had skirted a tall hummock, a sharp cry reached him, and +he stopped in alarm. He could see nothing except a stretch of rugged +ice and a high white bank fading into the driving snow. Their +companion had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Guess he was straight behind us!" cried Carnally, as they turned +back, running.</p> + +<p>Andrew fell over a block of ice, but he was up in a moment, for the +cry came again, and when they had passed a black pool he saw what +seemed to be the head and shoulders of a man projecting from a +fissure. He sprang across a dangerous crack and as he ran he saw +Graham's face turned toward him, with a strained, tense look. Carnally +was a pace or two in front and had seized Graham's arm when Andrew +came up and grasped his collar. They dragged him out of the crevice +and set him, gasping breathlessly, on the ice, with the water running +from one of his moccasins.</p> + +<p>"You were only just in time," he said after a moment or two. "There +was snow across the crack and it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> broke under me. Couldn't crawl out, +with my pack dragging me down."</p> + +<p>"It's blamed unfortunate you got your moccasin wet," Carnally +remarked. "It ought to come off right away, but we haven't another. +Think the water has got through?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it has; the back seam opened up a bit yesterday. But my +feet are so cold I can hardly feel."</p> + +<p>"If Mappin hadn't played that trick on us, you'd have a sound dry pair +to put on. But you want to keep moving, and it's getting dark."</p> + +<p>They crossed the ice without further misadventure, toiled up a steep +bank where short brush that impeded them badly rose out of the snow, +and an hour afterward found a hollow among the rocks sheltered by a +few junipers and tottering firs. Carnally loosed the load from his +aching shoulders and threw it down with relief.</p> + +<p>"It's that hog Mappin's fault we're packing a pile of unnecessary +weight along," he said. "I'm looking forward to a talk with him when I +get back."</p> + +<p>He set to work, hacking rotten branches from a leaning fir, while +Andrew scraped away the snow and built a wall of it between them and +the wind. Graham lighted a fire, filled the kettle with snow, and +spread branches and twigs to lay their blankets on. It took time, and +Andrew knew of no labor so irksome as making camp after an exhausting +march; but no pains could be spared if they wished to sleep without +freezing. At last they gathered about a crackling fire which threw an +uncertain light upon their faces, and Carnally cooked a frugal supper.</p> + +<p>"I guess we could eat more, but it wouldn't be prudent," he said as he +shared out the food. "Your lode's about a hundred miles off yet, isn't +it, Graham?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>"Yes, as near as I can calculate."</p> + +<p>"Call it six days; a fortnight anyhow before we get back here, and +that won't allow much time for thawing out and shot-firing. Then we'll +have to reach our first cache before the grub runs out. It's going to +be a blamed tight fit."</p> + +<p>Andrew consumed his portion and glanced regretfully at the empty +frying-pan. Then, for fatigue had soured his temper, he broke out:</p> + +<p>"I'd like to have the brute who cut our rations short up here +to-night! Blast his greed! It's an infamous thing that a man should +make money by starving his fellow creatures!"</p> + +<p>"They seem to consider it legitimate in the cities," said Graham +dryly. "We have mergers controlling almost everything we eat and +drink, and men get rich by bull deals in the wheat pits. However, your +sentiments are not exactly new. What do you think, Jake? I haven't +heard you on politics."</p> + +<p>Carnally grinned.</p> + +<p>"As it looks as if I'm going to be hungry, I'm a hard-shelled +grit—something like your Radicals," he explained to Andrew. "But if I +thought we could get a good one, I'd prefer being governed by an +emperor. So far as my experience goes, one live man can run things +much better than a crowd, and it's a poor mine or railroad boss who +can't beat a board of directors."</p> + +<p>"That's so," Graham assented. "They're most capable when they let one +of them drive the lot. But there's the trouble that you might get the +wrong kind of emperor. It's hard to tell a good man until he gets to +work."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" agreed Carnally. "If you're not pleased with the Laurier gang, +you can fire them out, and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> you might not find the other crowd +much better. But if a bad emperor meant to stay with it, you'd have to +use dynamite."</p> + +<p>The others laughed, but Andrew, awkwardly filling his pipe with numbed +fingers, looked serious. There was a truth in his companion's remarks +that touched him personally. It was undoubtedly difficult to get rid +of an able man entrusted with power which he abused. To attack him +might imply the break-up of the organization which had appointed him; +one might have to use destructive methods, and Andrew wished to build +up the Rain Bluff Company, not pull it down. For all that, Leonard +must be stripped of the authority he had wrongly used, though the task +would be extremely troublesome. With one or two unimportant +exceptions, he enjoyed the confidence of the Allinson family, as well +as the support of the directors; and Andrew knew what his relatives +thought of him. In the first place, however, he must find the lode, +and he was glad to think it lay within a week's march from camp.</p> + +<p>"Have you got that wet moccasin off yet?" Carnally asked Graham.</p> + +<p>Graham confessed that he had been too tired and hungry to remember it, +and after drawing it off with some trouble he spent a while in chafing +his foot, which he afterward wrapped in a blanket. Then while the men +sat silent a long howl came faintly down the bitter breeze.</p> + +<p>"A timber wolf," said Carnally. "I saw some tracks this morning and +the half-breed told me they'd had a number of the big gray fellows +near the factory. They get pretty bold when there's no caribou about, +and it's unlucky we haven't struck any caribou. It would help out the +grub."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>"Three men with a camp-fire going are safe enough," said Graham.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," Carnally assented. "Still, a timber wolf is a beast I've no +kind of use for in winter."</p> + +<p>They lay down soon afterward, but Andrew heard the wolves again before +he went to sleep. He was very cold when he awakened the next morning +and found Carnally busy about the fire. There was no wind, the smoke +went straight up, and the snow stretched back from the camp, +glistening a faint silvery gray. The firs were very black but +indistinct in the growing light.</p> + +<p>"Get a move on; we should have been off long ago," Carnally said; and +Andrew, rising with cramped limbs and sore shoulders, awkwardly set +about rolling up his pack.</p> + +<p>He shivered as he did so. The cold bit through him, his mittened hands +would hardly bend, but he strapped up his bundle and helped Graham to +put on his frozen moccasin. They were careful to hang up their +footwear in a warm place at night, but the fire had sunk while they +slept. Then they ate a hurried meal and struck out into the white +wilderness as the light grew stronger. They made, by estimation, +eighteen miles by nightfall, finding a creek and one or two small +lakes over which traveling was easy, but most of the way led across +hillocks of rounded rock and through tangles of tottering pines, where +snow-shoes could not be used. Some of the trees had been partly +burned, and others were slanted and distorted by the savage winds.</p> + +<p>Toward the end of the march Graham dragged behind, and when they made +camp he spent some time rubbing his foot.</p> + +<p>"It feels dead," he told them. "I'm afraid I got it nipped a bit, but +I don't think it's bad."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>"See that you get your moccasin properly dry to-night," Carnally +warned him.</p> + +<p>The next morning he felt lame and the country was rougher, but they +made thirty miles in two days, and set out again on the third dawn +with thick snow driving into their faces. Fortunately, the ground was +smoother, and they plodded on stubbornly with a short halt at noon, +Carnally breaking the trail for the two behind. Graham had trouble in +keeping up with his companions; but they had no thought to spare for +him during the laborious march. It needed all their resolution to +press forward against the searching wind. At nightfall they camped in +a sheltered ravine and when supper was over Graham got Carnally to +help him off with his moccasin. While they pulled at it he made an +abrupt movement, and Carnally, stopping, glanced at a dark stain on +the leather.</p> + +<p>"That looks like blood!"</p> + +<p>"I think it is," said Graham. "I slept with the thing on last night. +To tell the truth, I was afraid to take it off."</p> + +<p>"It will have to come off now."</p> + +<p>Carnally's face turned grave when Graham removed his stocking. Part of +his foot felt cold and lifeless; the rest was inflamed, and there was +a red patch, rubbed raw by the frozen moccasin.</p> + +<p>"Looks bad," Carnally said. "Have you got an old handkerchief or +anything to wrap round it?"</p> + +<p>"I couldn't walk with a bandage under my stocking."</p> + +<p>"You're not going to walk; you ought to know what trouble that might +make." Carnally turned to Andrew. "He can't go on. It's a dangerous +thing to gall a frostnipped foot. I don't see how it got so bad in +four days' time."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>Graham broke into a wry smile.</p> + +<p>"It began to hurt soon after I left the factory, and getting it wet +didn't improve things; but I thought I could hold out until we made +the lode."</p> + +<p>There was silence for a few moments. Graham's foot was throbbing +painfully, and having gone on until compelled to stop, he knew his +helplessness. His comrades realized that they were burdened with a +crippled man, far from shelter and assistance in an icy waste. +Dejection seized them; and Andrew, glancing at the darkness round +about, felt a sudden horror of the desolation. This, however, was a +dangerous feeling to yield to, and he strove to overcome it.</p> + +<p>"We're two days' march from the lode," he said. "It's unthinkable that +we should turn back without trying to locate it. Graham may be better +after a rest. It might be possible, Carnally, that by forcing the pace +we could knock a day off the double journey."</p> + +<p>"I'll give you six days," Graham said. "I can stay here; but if you +don't start the first thing to-morrow, I'll crawl on myself."</p> + +<p>"No," Andrew declared; "whether we strike the lode or not, we'll be +back before the fourth morning. The next thing is to consider what to +do then. Provisions aren't plentiful."</p> + +<p>They discussed the matter at length, for even the finding of the lode +was, by comparison unimportant. It would be some time before Graham +could walk far, and, with each day's journey seriously curtailed there +was grave danger of their food running out. At first, Carnally was in +favor of trying to reach the factory, where they would find shelter, +but yielded to the objection that it was farther off than the nearer +of the caches which Mappin had been engaged to make. He agreed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> that +they would save several days by cutting the back trail between the +mine and the spot where they had diverged to reach the factory, and +they would then pick up a hand sled they had used for a time and +abandoned when the country grew very rough and their load lighter. If +Graham's foot was still troublesome, they could haul him on the sled +and still make a good day's march. The plan was agreed on, and after +carefully arranging their packs for the expedition and getting the +clearest instructions that Graham could give them, they went to sleep.</p> + +<p>The next morning long before daylight Andrew and Carnally were getting +together a supply of branches and logs so that Graham might keep a +fire going night and day until their return: for the double purpose of +warmth and of protection against the timber wolves. When they had made +Graham comfortable, they set off. They had heard no wolves of late, +which was reassuring, but they had grave misgivings about leaving the +crippled man, and meant to save every possible minute on the march. It +was comparatively open country, they could use their snow-shoes, and +they pressed on until dusk without stopping, though the last league +taxed Andrew's strength. He was badly tired when at noon the next day +they reached a hillside commanding a rocky basin filled with stunted +pines. A shallow ravine ran at their feet.</p> + +<p>Carnally stopped suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I believe we've struck it!" he cried. "That must be the creek Graham +talks about!"</p> + +<p>Forgetting their weariness, they ran down the hill and stopped beside +a frozen stream hemmed in by ice-glazed rocks.</p> + +<p>"I guess we're somewhere about the spot, and we'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> fire a dump shot +on yonder ridge where there's not much snow," Carnally said. "That's +all we can do."</p> + +<p>"Can't we stake three claims?" Andrew suggested. "The recorder might +allow Graham one if things were explained."</p> + +<p>"It can't be done. You get the frontage you apply for on the reef, but +its extent is limited and full particulars must be supplied, while a +man can hold only one claim on the same vein. Then a record isn't +secret. If you don't stake off the best of the lode, you give the +thing away, and send off every prospector who hears of it to locate +what you have missed."</p> + +<p>The situation was clear to Andrew, and it was daunting. After all the +fatigue and dangers of the journey, he must go back without +accomplishing anything useful; but there was no help for it.</p> + +<p>"I suppose if we had a week we might form some idea of what is worth +staking off, even with the snow on the ground," he said. "However, as +it is, we have got about two hours. We had better make the most of +them."</p> + +<p>They lighted a fire and sat beside it, thawing two sticks of dynamite, +a proceeding attended by some risk, which Carnally seriously increased +when he crimped the powerful detonating caps on the fuses with numbed +and clumsy fingers. Both men were moody and dejected, but they did not +express their feelings, for they were capable of meeting reverses with +silent fortitude. Carnally stood to lose more money than he had ever +had a prospect of earning until his companion took him north; Andrew +knew at what a disadvantage his failure would place him in the +struggle with Leonard. He was sincere in his purpose to see justice +done, but he had no romantic ideas about it. His task was based on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +common honesty: Allinson's had guaranteed the undertaking and +Allinson's must make good. Andrew was, however, troubled by two +conflicting claims. He had a duty to the shareholders which could best +be discharged by remaining near the lode until he proved its value; +and a duty to Graham, whom he had promised to bring home safe and +sound. Graham, most unfortunately, was crippled, and the scarcity of +provisions made it doubtful whether he could be taken back to the +Landing, unless they started without delay. The shareholders must +wait.</p> + +<p>Carnally kneaded the softening dynamite round the detonators.</p> + +<p>"Try to scrape down to the rock on the spot I marked," he said. "I'll +come when you're ready and we'll fire the shot."</p> + +<p>Andrew had some trouble in carrying out his instructions, but when he +had done so Carnally laid the cartridges on the stone and covered them +with snow carefully pressed down. Then they dragged up a small fallen +spruce and, laying it on the spot, lighted the fuses and hastily +retired. In a minute there was a flash, a sharp report; and a shower +of flying fragments plunged into the snow, while a cloud of vapor +curled up. Andrew sprang from his shelter, but Carnally seized his +arm.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he cried. "You don't want the fumes to knock you over. I +guess we'll get dinner while we wait. You can't expect any startling +results from one shot."</p> + +<p>Eager as he was, Andrew ate his share of the scanty meal; he could +practise self-control and he had marched a long way on short rations +in bitter frost.</p> + +<p>When they had examined the cavity made by the explosion, Carnally +covered it with snow, and picked up the broken bits of rock. They had +gathered a small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> heap, and Carnally, carefully selecting a few, +looked at Andrew with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you feel that you'd like to take the whole lot?"</p> + +<p>"I thought we might carry half of them," Andrew admitted.</p> + +<p>"Unless you're willing to dump your blankets, these will be enough. +It's a long way to the Landing and we have to make the first food +cache quick."</p> + +<p>"You're right," said Andrew. "Besides, we must reach Graham's camp by +to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>"Rough on you!" Carnally sympathized; "I haven't as big a stake."</p> + +<p>Nothing more was said while they rolled up their packs and set off +grimly on the return trail.</p> + +<p>It had been dark for several hours the next night when Andrew wearily +toiled up a long rise dotted with ragged spruces. He was hungry and +very cold, though he panted with the exertion he was forced to make. +There was no feeling in his feet, which were bound to big snow-shoes; +his hands were powerless in his thick mittens, and he carried a light +ax under his arm. Fortunately, the trail they had broken when coming +out led straight up the rise, and Carnally pressed on in front, a gray +shape outlined against the glitter of the snow. A half-moon hung above +them in a cloudless sky, the frost was intense, and the white +desolation lay wrapped in an impressive silence. Not a breath of wind +stirred the tops of the spruces.</p> + +<p>Andrew's knees were giving way, and it seemed to him that the ascent +they were laboriously mounting ran on for ever. He felt as if they had +spent hours on it, though the frozen river at its foot was not far +behind them. It was discouraging to fix his eyes on the black<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> shape +of a spruce ahead and see how slowly it grew nearer, but he felt +unequal to contemplating the long trail to the summit, and he divided +the distance into stages between tree and tree.</p> + +<p>At last they crossed the ridge and it was a relief to go downhill, +though the spruces grew in thicker belts and there was half a mile of +timber that they were forced to traverse in their moccasins. Fallen +logs obstructed their passage, they plunged into tangles of blown-down +branches, the snow was loose among the slender trunks and here and +there they sank deep in it. Andrew was, however, consumed by an +anxiety which would brook no delay, and when he had with difficulty +replaced his snow-shoes he looked up at his companion.</p> + +<p>"We can't be far from camp?" he queried.</p> + +<p>"About three miles. We ought to see it when we're through the timber +on the lower bench. Graham had wood enough to keep a good fire going."</p> + +<p>They pressed on, slipping down the steeper slopes, stumbling now and +then, for both had regretted the necessity for leaving Graham alone, +and at sunset they had seen the tracks of wolves. At last they plunged +into a thick belt of spruce, where the trees were fairly large and +there was not much fallen wood. Here and there a broad patch of +moonlight glittered on the snow, confusing after the deep gloom, but +the men could get through on their snow-shoes and avoid the trunks. +They made good speed and when they broke out into the open Andrew +stopped. Where a bright blaze should have marked Graham's fire there +were only a few dying embers. The old man was nowhere to be seen.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE CACHE</span></h2> + + +<p>The two prospectors forgot their weariness as they rushed to the dying +fire. Carnally looked at the embers.</p> + +<p>"Can't have been gone long," he declared.</p> + +<p>"Shout, Jake!" cried Andrew. "I'm out of breath."</p> + +<p>Carnally called, and Andrew's heart throbbed when a faint cry rose in +answer. His anxiety had not been groundless: a lonely man runs many +risks in the frozen North. Following the sound, they hastened up the +ravine, and as they rounded a projecting boulder, a red glow flashed +out a little distance ahead, died down, and rose more clearly.</p> + +<p>"That's mighty good to see!" Carnally exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Graham met them as they entered the firelight.</p> + +<p>"Had any trouble?" Andrew asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No; and the foot's feeling better. The rest has done it good. I've +been pretty comfortable since you left, though the wolves got so +friendly last night that I thought I'd better shift my camp a bit +to-night. I didn't allow you could get back before to-morrow, and I +knew I'd hear you shout if you did. I left the other fire burning as a +beacon."</p> + +<p>Andrew breathed deeply.</p> + +<p>"It's a wonderful relief!" he said.</p> + +<p>Carnally looked hard at Graham's face.</p> + +<p>"Guess you didn't sleep well, but we'll get a good rest to-night, now +there are three of us. A timber wolf<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> is a cussed mean brute. +Government ought to supply the bush settlers with free arsenic."</p> + +<p>There was a brief silence, while Graham waited, intent and eager, +until Carnally broke into a soft laugh.</p> + +<p>"We struck it, partner! Guess your lode's right there, but we couldn't +do enough prospecting to tell you what it's worth."</p> + +<p>Graham turned his head for a moment, and his eyes glittered when he +looked around.</p> + +<p>"That is my misfortune and Mappin's fault. But you must have your +supper, and then we'll talk."</p> + +<p>Carnally glanced at Andrew, who had thrown off his pack and sat down +on it in an attitude of exhaustion.</p> + +<p>"Allinson allowed we'd be back to-night, and he hustled me along +pretty lively for a tenderfoot."</p> + +<p>They laughed at this and began the meal which Graham soon had ready. +Then, sitting close beside the fire, they filled their pipes and +Graham carefully examined the bits of stone Carnally produced. He +poised them in his hands, because the weight is a rough test, before +he looked up.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of them, Jake?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"My idea is that they're pretty good, though they are not carrying a +remarkable quantity of metal. Of course, we may have struck only the +edge of the lode. There wasn't time to find how it ran."</p> + +<p>Graham sat silent a while, and then turned to Andrew with a strained +expression.</p> + +<p>"I agree with Carnally. So far as I can judge, these specimens are not +very rich, though the ore might pay for reduction. That I feel +disappointed after waiting twenty years for this chance doesn't need +saying; but I've brought you here at a big expense and risk and I +can't blame you if you let the matter drop."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>"Nothing is farther from my mind," declared Andrew, smiling. "It's +unpleasant to feel beaten; and I'm partly responsible for our failure +by confiding in Mappin. If you and Carnally still think I'm to be +trusted as a partner, we'll come back again, though I'd prefer waiting +until the ice breaks up in the spring."</p> + +<p>Graham's relief carried him away.</p> + +<p>"I'd trust you with my life, Allinson! It's hard to express what I +feel, but I've got to talk. If we had failed to find the lode, I'd +have gone home, content, I think, to forget it; but to have struck it +and got no farther would have been maddening! The thing would have +haunted me for the rest of my days; but I hardly expect any one would +have put up the money for another search. I can see myself hanging +round mining men's offices, laughed and sneered at, neglecting my work +until the sawmill people turned me out—they'll tell you at the +Landing that I'm a crank. But the silver's there, Allinson! You have +only to look for it!"</p> + +<p>"We'll have a good try," Andrew promised cheerfully. "But the first +thing we have to do is to get home, and I'm afraid it won't be easy. I +wish the Hudson Bay factory weren't so far off."</p> + +<p>They discussed their return, Graham declaring that his foot was much +better and that he ought to have no difficulty in keeping up with +them, and soon afterward they went to sleep.</p> + +<p>At daybreak they set off in a haze of driving snow, and Andrew long +remembered the march with a shudder. There was only one thing in their +favor—the raging wind which drove the loose snow in clouds along the +frozen creeks blew behind them. The cold was intense; even when no +snow fell the light was dim; but they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> stumbled on, making the best +progress they could. On the second day out Graham sat down among the +willows on an island trying to alter the fastenings of his snow-shoe. +Carnally, turning back with Andrew through a cloud of drifting flakes +glanced sharply at the sitting man.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said, indicating a broad smear on his moccasin; "that's fresh +and bigger than before."</p> + +<p>"Broken out again," said Graham, curtly. "There's no use in talking +about it. I can't nurse it now."</p> + +<p>"Can you walk?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to," Graham answered, getting up.</p> + +<p>The truth of this was obvious, for the alternative was to freeze to +death. He managed to keep up with the others, though Carnally +slackened the pace all the afternoon. When they camped at nightfall, +Graham would not let him examine his foot.</p> + +<p>"If the moccasin comes off, I'll never get it on again," he declared.</p> + +<p>After this, the distance traversed daily was reduced and rations were +cut down to match. One day when the wind raged behind them, they made +fourteen miles along a frozen creek; but more often they made eight or +nine; and part of the time Graham carried his snowshoes and limped in +his moccasins. His companions helped him as much as they could over +the roughest ground; but the only effectual way of assisting a +crippled man is to carry him, which they could not do. Their faces +grew sterner and gaunter, but with grim restraint they husbanded the +rapidly running out provisions, and one blustering morning they came +upon the sled they had left on their outward journey, half covered +with snow.</p> + +<p>The traces, though frozen hard, were still attached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> to it, and Andrew +slipped them over his shoulders when Graham, wrapped in all their +blankets, sat down on the sled. It was a relief to get rid of their +loads, and for a while Andrew made a moderate pace. The wind had +hardened the surface of the snow, and the runners slid along easily, +but he found it different when he came to the next ascent. The trace +hurt his chest, the weight he was hauling seemed to increase, his +breathing got harder, his knees and shoulders ached.</p> + +<p>"You had better let me have hold," Carnally suggested.</p> + +<p>"I'll get off," said Graham. "I could hobble along if you fixed the +back posts so I could lean on them."</p> + +<p>"Stay where you are!" Carnally bade him curtly. "We have to make good +time and we're going faster with you on the sled."</p> + +<p>They altered the traces and plodded forward side by side, until the +sled overturned on a steep slope and flung Graham off. For the next +hour he had to walk while they struggled across rocky hummocks and +through belts of small spruces, and his face was gray with pain when +he resumed his place. Still, they made progress and felt more cheerful +when they camped at night.</p> + +<p>"I allow we're four miles to the good on this stage," Carnally said. +"That's a quarter of a day knocked off. With luck and a smooth trail, +we're going through."</p> + +<p>Somehow they maintained the speed, though the struggle was almost +unbearably hard, and one afternoon they nerved themselves to an extra +effort as they toiled up a creek. It ran between rugged hills and the +snow was good. They were badly worn out and Andrew had a distressing +pain in his side, but he braced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> himself against the drag of the +trace, watching the white hill-shoulders change their shapes ahead. +They were on the Whitefish Creek, and the first provision cache was +not far off. When they reached it they would rest and feast +luxuriously.</p> + +<p>"Keep her going," urged Carnally "We want to make the island where the +cache is before dark."</p> + +<p>For an hour they struggled on in a state of tension, the snow +crunching beneath their shoes, large flakes blowing past them. A heavy +gray sky hung over head, and the cold was biting. Then the hills in +front grew dimmer, the scattered spruces lost their sharpness of form; +dusk was falling when they came to a narrow lake. Here the snow was +very firm and the pace grew faster. They broke into a run when a +blurred mass of willows came into sight. The cruel aches in joints and +muscles were no longer felt; the food they craved was close at hand. +They drew near the willows rapidly, though Andrew was panting with +exhaustion; the first of the bushes slipped behind, but more rose +ahead, and he grew savage as he glanced at them. He knew that the +island was small, but they seemed to be getting no nearer to its +upstream tongue where he had arranged with Mappin that the cache +should be made.</p> + +<p>"Get on!" he cried hoarsely. "I can stand a little more yet."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later they dropped the traces, and the sled, driving in +among the willows, stopped with a crash. Leaving Graham to hobble +after them, Andrew and Carnally plunged through the branches and came +out on a short level strip. It was nearly dark now, but the snow +glimmered faintly and only a few clumps of brush broke its surface. +Andrew stopped, breathing hard, and dismay seized him as he glanced +about.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>"This is the place," he said hoarsely. "I can't see the cache."</p> + +<p>"Search round here; I'll try farther on," Carnally said, and vanished +among the willows.</p> + +<p>Pulling himself together, Andrew spent a few anxious minutes hurrying +up and down the open space, but found nothing to suggest that it had +lately been visited by a transport party. When he stopped, Graham +awkwardly hobbled toward him.</p> + +<p>"Haven't you found it yet?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Andrew, as calmly as he could. "There may have been a +mistake about the spot. Carnally's gone back to look."</p> + +<p>They stood still for a few moments while the willows rustled harshly +in the bitter wind. A little snow blew about them and it was very +cold. Then Andrew broke away from his companion and, plunging into the +bushes that grew thickly up the middle of the island, savagely +floundered through them. He could not see where he was going, +snow-laden branches whipped him, and he stuck fast now and then; but +he thought that nobody could have traversed those thickets without +leaving traces of his passage, and, finding none, he presently +returned to the clear space. Graham was still standing in the middle +of it, but they waited in silence until Carnally appeared. He was +walking heavily, and they knew he had been unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>"Nothing; not a sign of a cache," he reported in a strained voice. "So +far as I can see, this is the only place on the island where one could +have been made. I found a few small spruces on a higher patch. We'll +pack the truck along and camp there."</p> + +<p>It took them some time and they had trouble in helping Graham through +the brush, but scarcely a word was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> spoken until they gathered about +their fire. Then Carnally broke into a harsh laugh as he laid three +morsels of pork in the frying-pan and took out a very small bannock +baked the previous night.</p> + +<p>"This isn't the kind of supper I looked forward to but we'll get less +to-morrow," he said. "The blasted hog has played another trick on +us!"</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE GAP IN THE RIDGE</span></h2> + + +<p>The scanty supper was finished before the three men held a council.</p> + +<p>"We'll have another search in the morning, but you can take it for +granted that there's no cache here," Carnally said grimly.</p> + +<p>"Could Mappin have made a mistake about the place?" Graham suggested.</p> + +<p>"No, sir! That's a sure thing. But wait a minute. I think I see!" +Carnally lighted his pipe before he resumed: "Now, you want to +remember that we're up against a clever man. He didn't mean us to find +the food but he'd see that there was a chance of our getting through +without it and try to fix things so Allinson wouldn't have much ground +for making trouble. So he sent the supplies up."</p> + +<p>"Then where are they?" Andrew broke in.</p> + +<p>"Let me finish. I guess there was nobody else about when you told him +where to make the cache?"</p> + +<p>Andrew nodded, and Carnally went on:</p> + +<p>"You said the east Whitefish, and he sent the truck to the west fork. +It's a point where one might go wrong, and he'll claim that he +misunderstood you and you didn't make your instructions clear."</p> + +<p>"I believe you're right!" Andrew had a savage glitter in his eyes. +"But the brute's cold-blooded cunning is devilish! He meant to starve +us to death because I threatened his contract!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>"That's not all. Mappin's dirt mean, but I guess he has a stronger +count against you."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Andrew sharply, as a light dawned on him. "I wonder whether +you have hit the mark?"</p> + +<p>In spite of the peril to which he was exposed he felt a thrill of +satisfaction. It looked as if Mappin, whom he suspected of seeking +Geraldine's favor, had some ground for believing him a successful +rival. Perhaps the girl had inadvertently betrayed a preference for +him. Mappin would not be driven into a risky course by impulse; he +must have believed his jealousy well-founded. This was comforting; but +Andrew had now to consider how he and his comrades were to escape from +their difficulties.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't we get across to the west fork?" he suggested.</p> + +<p>"We'll try," said Carnally. "It's a rough bit of country."</p> + +<p>"Very rough," Graham agreed. "A low range with steep rock on this side +runs through it. I've no doubt Mappin knew that when he decided to +make the cache on the other fork."</p> + +<p>"Then suppose we can't get over?"</p> + +<p>Carnally looked thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"If that's so, we'll push on for the second cache."</p> + +<p>They looked at him in astonishment and he smiled. "The cache is +there—somewhere about the neck you told him of—though I guess he'll +have had it put where we won't find it easily. Anyhow, it will have to +be found and, when it comes to bush work, my head's as good as +Mappin's."</p> + +<p>Andrew made a gesture of assent. Apart from his knowledge of the +wilds, Carnally had shown a power of close and accurate reasoning +which had surprised him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> Indeed, Andrew was inclined to think him a +match for Mappin all round, and was glad of it, because there was no +doubt that he needed a keen-witted supporter.</p> + +<p>"There's another thing," Carnally remarked presently "Has it struck +you that Hathersage may have given the hog a hint?"</p> + +<p>Andrew flushed.</p> + +<p>"No," he said sternly. "It's unthinkable! I can't discuss the point."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," acquiesced Carnally. "Now that we've decided what to do, +we'd better get to sleep. We have to look for a way across the range +the first thing to-morrow."</p> + +<p>At noon the next day Andrew stood, breathless, half-way up a gully +filled with hard snow. Walls of ice-glazed rock shut it in, but it led +straight up the face of a towering crag toward an opening high above. +Andrew carried a thick, sharp-pointed stick with which he had +laboriously broken holes for his feet, because soft moccasins are +treacherous things on a steep snow-slope. He and Carnally had spent +half an hour over the ascent, and Andrew, looking up with a sinking +heart, thought it would take them as long to reach the summit, +provided they could avoid slipping, which was doubtful.</p> + +<p>The gully lay in shadow, a long, deep rent, widening toward the +bottom, in which the snow gleamed a soft blue-gray, though a ray of +sunlight struck the beetling crag so that it flashed with steely +brightness. Here and there a spur of rock broke the smooth surface and +offered a resting-place, but some of the spaces between them seemed +dangerously precipitous. Andrew, worn with hunger and fatigue, frowned +at the sight.</p> + +<p>"This looked the quickest way up and we haven't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> much time to lose," +he said. "I'll feel very savage if we don't get a clear view from the +top."</p> + +<p>"You'll get that," replied Carnally, finding a precarious seat near +by. "Whether you'll see a way through the rocks on the other side or +not is another matter, and I'm doubtful. Better get a move on, hadn't +you?"</p> + +<p>Andrew placed his foot in a hole he had made, but the snow broke as he +rested on it, and he slipped down several yards before the stick +brought him up. He shuddered as he glanced below, for it struck him +that had he slid a little farther he would not have stopped until he +reached the bottom.</p> + +<p>"This is an abominable slope," he exclaimed. "I've been on worse in +Switzerland, but I had an ice-ax and wasn't half starved then. +However, we'll have another try."</p> + +<p>He got up twenty yards, clawing at the snow, and then stopped for +breath, glancing ruefully at his mittens, which showed signs of +wearing through.</p> + +<p>"It means frost-bitten hands if these things give out, and they won't +stand much more," he said. "The worst of it is that you think we'll +find we have wasted our labor when we get to the top. I believe I +could feel cheerful if I could see Mappin crawling up after us."</p> + +<p>"Mappin has more sense. He stays in his office, which is how money is +made. You don't, as a rule, get much for doing this kind of thing. +Still, he has to take some chances, and one he didn't size up right is +going back on him. When I'm feeling tired and hungry I like to think +of my meeting with that man."</p> + +<p>"When you're feeling tired and hungry!" Andrew exclaimed. "I feel both +all the time!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>"Well," returned Carnally, "what can you expect? If you will make +trouble instead of letting things alone, you must take the +consequences. Now, if you had been a sensible man and not worried +about shareholders you have never seen, you might have been sitting +down to your lunch at home. Think of it! A nice warm room, a butler, +or somebody of the kind, bringing you a menu as long as your hand. Put +you there right now, and you'd take the whole lot. Say, what do you +have as a rule?"</p> + +<p>"Stop!" said Andrew. "It won't bear thinking of! I know what I'll get +for supper, and that's an inch or two of flinty bannock, burned black +outside."</p> + +<p>It was surface jesting and forced upon them, because they would not +face the tragic possibilities of the situation before it was +necessary. It was easier to do what could be done with a laugh. Still, +they had not laughed much lately, until the imminence of disaster +braced them to it.</p> + +<p>Changing places now and then to relieve the leader of the work of +breaking footholds, they reached the summit, and Andrew's heart sank +as he gazed at the landscape which stretched away before him. The air +was clear, bright sunshine glittered on the high rocks, but the snow +in the shadow was steeped in ethereal blue; dark spruces broke the +gleaming surface with a delicate intricacy of outline. The scene had a +wild grandeur, but from Andrew's point of view it was inexpressibly +discouraging. They had laboriously scaled the first and largest +rampart, but beyond it lay a series of lower ridges with rugged and +almost precipitous sides. The hollows, so far as he could see, were +filled with spruce muskeg—the small rotting trees falling across each +other with underbrush pushing up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> between. To traverse these places +would be a very difficult matter.</p> + +<p>"It looks pretty bad," he said slowly. "Mappin knew his business when +he had the cache made on the wrong side of the range."</p> + +<p>"He's smart," Carnally agreed. "A hard man to beat, and you want to +use a full-sized club when you stand up to him; but I guess he'd go +down if he got the right knock-out."</p> + +<p>Andrew, tired and hungry, failed to see how the decisive blow could be +given: there did not seem to be much probability of his ever coming to +close quarters with his enemy. So far as his brief experience went, +injustice was singularly hard to vanquish and the reformer's path +rough.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't we work around the hills to the other fork?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"The grub would run out before we got there."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we couldn't push straight across, leaving Graham until we +came back?"</p> + +<p>"We might, if we had time enough. I believe there's forty miles of +this broken country. Look at it!"</p> + +<p>Andrew had already done so, and it had daunted him. He remembered that +they had been since sunrise reaching the top of the first ridge.</p> + +<p>"Then what must be done?"</p> + +<p>"My advice is to look for the second cache."</p> + +<p>They turned back, following the crest until they found an easier but +longer way down. Graham glanced at them sharply when they reached the +camp, and guessed the truth, though Andrew tried to smile.</p> + +<p>"Leave me behind," he urged.</p> + +<p>"No," said Andrew firmly; "not while we have strength enough to haul +the sled. There's no more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> to be said on that point. We're going on +together to the gap in the long ridge."</p> + +<p>"When do you mean to start?"</p> + +<p>"Right now!" Carnally broke in. "Get the camp truck rolled up. We'll +have mighty keen appetites before we make the cache."</p> + +<p>In quarter of an hour they crossed the creek and toiled up a broken +slope, and when they gained the top Andrew looked back at the island +with a grim smile.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday afternoon I came up that river at four miles an hour, +looking forward to my supper like an epicure. Now I'm glad to see the +last of the place."</p> + +<p>"Quit talking!" said Carnally. "We can make a few minutes by a hustle +down the pitch ahead."</p> + +<p>They went down, stumbling and sliding, while Graham clung tightly to +the lurching sled. Time was of vital importance to them now, for its +flight could be measured by the exhaustion of their food supply. For +the hour or two of daylight that remained Carnally drove his comrade +hard, and it was with a strange savage hilarity that they rushed the +sled down declivities and dragged it with many a crash and bump +through thickets. Their course was roughly south and any deviation was +intolerable. Night closed in, but it was far from dark and they held +on until Andrew stumbled and fell. The sled struck him before he could +get up, but a hard smile was on his lips when he rose shakily and +looked about. There was an uncovered rock not far off with a few +junipers growing beside it.</p> + +<p>"This is far enough, Jake," he said. "You're bad to tire, but I don't +suppose you feel equal to hauling another passenger."</p> + +<p>They broke camp in the dark the next morning, and the forced marches +they made during the next seven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> days wore the half-starved men +terribly. Sometimes they had to contend with fresh snow, in which the +sled runners sank; sometimes they plodded doggedly with lowered heads +while a raging wind drove the stinging flakes into their pinched +faces; and there were days of bitter frost when they could not keep +warm. Still, they crept on across the rugged desolation, and one +evening reached a belt of timber beneath a low range that stretched +across their path. The ridge was broken by a gap a mile or two ahead, +and it was there that Andrew had instructed Mappin to make the second +cache. A crescent moon rose above the dark tree-tops as they lighted a +fire. Andrew glanced at the hillside irresolutely.</p> + +<p>"There's food up yonder, if we could get our hands on it, and I would +enjoy a good supper, Heaven knows; but I don't feel equal to facing +another disappointment," he said. "I'm afraid we'll have to wait until +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"That's my feeling," Carnally agreed. "I've gone as far as I'm able, +and that grub won't be found easily. You may as well gather some wood +and fill the kettle."</p> + +<p>When they had eaten the few morsels he allowed them they sat smoking +beside the fire. The thin spruce boughs above them were laden with +snow which now and then fell upon the brands; a malignant wind swept +between the slender trunks and blew the smoke about the men. After a +while the casual talk, which had cost them an effort to keep up, died +away, and there was a long silence until Carnally spoke.</p> + +<p>"I guess we're all thinking about those provisions. We'll look for +them at sun-up. What I've been trying to do for several days is to put +myself in Mappin's place."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>"It must have been difficult," Andrew remarked. "If I thought you +could do so, I'd disown you. But go on."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Carnally, "we have agreed that he meant to make it hard +for us to find the cache; but he'd try to fix things so the packers he +sent up with the truck shouldn't guess his object. He wouldn't tell +them to pick a place where nobody would think of looking."</p> + +<p>"You're assuming that he'd employ honest men," Graham objected. +"What's to prevent his hiring three or four toughs and bribing them to +say nothing?"</p> + +<p>"He's too smart," said Carnally promptly. "He'd know that if we got +lost up here the fellows could keep striking him for money and he'd +have to pay; while if we got through, there'd be a risk of our finding +them and buying them over. Besides, men of the kind he'd want are +scarce in the bush. If they're to be found, it's hanging round the +saloons in the cities."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll assume that the boys were square. That would make it +harder for him and easier for us. What follows?"</p> + +<p>Carnally drank some tea from a blackened can before he answered.</p> + +<p>"This matter needs a lot of thinking out, and it looks as if our lives +depended on our thinking right. Allinson's instructions to the hog +seem to have been pretty clear, and he wouldn't plant the cache too +far from the gap. Then he'd have to arrange things so the boys would +think they'd dumped the truck in a handy place for a party coming down +from the north."</p> + +<p>"I believe he has never been up here," Andrew argued. "Are there any +good maps? I couldn't get one."</p> + +<p>"They're sketchy," Graham said. "My idea is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> that Mappin would get +hold of a prospector who knows the country and have a good talk with +him; but he wouldn't send him up with the other men."</p> + +<p>"It's probable," agreed Carnally. "Well, in my opinion the provisions +are lying south of the pass in one of the gulches leading down from +the height of land, but not directly on our line of march. You can +come up from Rain Bluff several ways, and the hog would mark a route +for the boys which would bring them in, so far as he could figure, a +bit outside the shortest track. We've got to find the gulch they'd +pitch on. It's our brains against Mappin's."</p> + +<p>"Your brains," Andrew corrected him.</p> + +<p>Carnally knocked out his pipe.</p> + +<p>"I allow I'll want a clear head to-morrow and I'm going to sleep."</p> + +<p>He and Andrew left camp in the dark the next morning; but day had +broken when they stood in the gap of the neck, looking down on the +broken country beneath. For a short distance the descent from the pass +was clearly defined, leading down a hollow among the rocks, but after +that it opened out on to a scarp of hillside from which a number of +ravines branched off and led to the banks of a frozen creek. They +seemed to be filled with brush, and the spurs between them were rough. +It was a difficult country to traverse, and Andrew realized with +concern that the search might last several days.</p> + +<p>"Take that right hand gulch," Carnally directed. "Follow it right down +to the creek and come back up the next farther on, while I prospect +east. If we find nothing in the ravines, we'll try the spurs."</p> + +<p>"The obvious place is the gap we're standing in," Andrew pointed out. +"How would Mappin get over that without making his packers +suspicious?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>"I thought of it," said Carnally. "He'd contend that he was afraid the +cache might get snowed up; and it would be a pretty good reason. The +drifts pile up deep in a gap like this."</p> + +<p>Andrew left him and spent a long while climbing down a rough ravine +which led him to the river. It was noon when he came back up another +and the exertion had told on him, but they had long ago dispensed with +a midday meal and he held on at a dragging pace until a thrill ran +through him at the sight of a tall pole among the rocks ahead. He made +for it in haste, floundering over the snow-covered stones, and lost it +once or twice at a bend in the gully. At last he stopped in the bottom +of the hollow, looking up at a steep face of rock. It was ragged and +broken, glazed with ice in some places, and he doubted whether he +could get up; but a foot or two of the pole rose above the top. +Following up the gully, he looked for an easier ascent, but he could +not find one. Fearing to lose the pole, he stopped and shouted on the +chance that Carnally might be in the neighborhood. Presently a cry +answered him, and when Carnally came scrambling down the hollow Andrew +took him back and pointed out the pole.</p> + +<p>"A dead fir!" cried Carnally. "Looks as if somebody had broken the +branches off, and there are no other trees about! The trouble is, we +can't get up from here."</p> + +<p>"We will have to!" declared Andrew. "If you could give me a lift up +over the worst bits, I'd help you when I had found a hold. Anyway, we +must try!"</p> + +<p>Carnally consented dubiously. The rock was about thirty feet in height +and very steep, though there were several crevices and broken edges. +Andrew ascended one of the latter, gripping it with hands and knees. +Reaching a narrow ledge, he leaned down and gave his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> hand to +Carnally, and when he had helped him up they stopped for a minute or +two. They were weak and hungry, and there was an awkward bulge above.</p> + +<p>"Steady me up," said Andrew. "If I can find a crack for my hand, I can +get up there."</p> + +<p>For a few moments he rested his foot on Carnally's back; then he +pressed his toes against the stone and his comrade watched him +disappear beyond the bulging rock with unpleasant sensations, knowing +that he would have to follow. Presently, however, the bottom of +Andrew's fur coat fell over the edge and Carnally, seizing it, +scrambled up three or four feet, until the projecting stone forced him +outward. Losing hold with his feet, he hung by his hands for a moment +or two, in a state of horrible fear.</p> + +<p>"Throw one arm over the projection!" Andrew shouted.</p> + +<p>Carnally found a hold; Andrew seized his arm; and after an arduous +struggle he stood, gasping, on a snowy knob. The sharp edge of a big +slab rose eight or nine feet above him.</p> + +<p>"Take a rest," advised Andrew. "If you go slowly, you ought to get up +this last bit."</p> + +<p>"I'll have to try. It's a sure thing I can't get down. But how d'you +come to be so smart at this work?"</p> + +<p>"I used to do something like it in Switzerland."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Carnally, "you're a curious kind of man: I guess you +didn't have to climb. I'd find it a bit too exciting if I wasn't doing +it for money."</p> + +<p>"We're not climbing for money now," Andrew grimly reminded him. +"There's food ahead of us and we must get on!"</p> + +<p>They made the ascent, though it tried their nerve severely. When they +finally crawled up to the summit Andrew stopped, growing suddenly +white in the face.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>"Look!" he said hoarsely.</p> + +<p>Carnally sat down heavily in the snow.</p> + +<p>"A dead tree! Nobody put it there; it grew!"</p> + +<p>With an effort he pulled himself together.</p> + +<p>"Come! We'll try farther on!"</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE EMPTY FLOUR-BAG</span></h2> + + +<p>When it was getting dark Andrew and Carnally gave up the useless +search. A red glow, flickering among the spruce trunks, guided them +down the pass, and they saw Graham's figure, black against the +firelight, as they approached the camp. He was standing up, looking +out for them, but they came on in silence and after a quick glance at +their faces he turned away and busied himself getting supper. He knew +they had failed and words were superfluous.</p> + +<p>They ate the small bannock he took from the frying-pan, and Andrew +glanced about the camp when he had lighted his pipe. Graham had been +at work while they were away, laying down spruce branches and raising +a wall to keep off the wind. It was warm beside the fire, and the +place looked comfortable.</p> + +<p>"There wouldn't be much to complain of if we had enough to eat," said +Andrew. "It's surprising how soon one gets grateful for such a shelter +as this, and I believe I've slept as soundly in the snow as I ever did +in bed."</p> + +<p>"I tried to fix things neatly, though I wouldn't have been sorry if +I'd wasted my labor," Graham replied and glanced at Carnally. "It +struck me we might be here a day or two."</p> + +<p>Carnally's smile was rather grim.</p> + +<p>"It's very likely. S'pose I ought to play up to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> Allinson, but he's +put it a notch too high. I've been doing some hard thinking while I +was on the hill. We're certainly up against a tough proposition."</p> + +<p>"You're still convinced the grub is here?"</p> + +<p>"That is a sure thing—all we have to do is to find it; but it's going +to be a big job. I expect both of you want me to talk?"</p> + +<p>Their willingness to hear his views was obvious.</p> + +<p>"The trouble is," he explained, "you can get down from the neck a +number of different ways—there are the spurs one could break a trail +along and there are the ravines. We may try them all before we strike +the right one; but we'll have a better chance if we work up instead of +down."</p> + +<p>"Why?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p>"Because the packers would start from the low ground, and the benches +look different from below."</p> + +<p>"Do you think Mappin told them to pick any particular place?"</p> + +<p>"I've been figuring on that. He's learned something about the ground, +and my idea is that the provisions are dumped in a hollow that looks +like a good road up to the gap; that is, as you would see it from the +creek. What we don't know is where his boys would strike the ice. It +might be anywhere within three or four miles."</p> + +<p>Andrew knit his brows.</p> + +<p>"It's a puzzling question and we have only a day or two to find the +answer. The worst of it is that we're worn out and famishing; I feel +that my wits would be quicker if I could come at it fresh from a +square meal."</p> + +<p>"No, sir! A man's brain is keenest when he's working on short +rations."</p> + +<p>"I believe that's true," Graham said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>"Our rations," contended Andrew, "couldn't be much shorter; but I +couldn't think of anything intelligently as I stumbled along through +the snow to-day. And yet——"</p> + +<p>He broke off, remembering that once or twice of late he had become +capable of a strange clarity of thought, accompanied by an unusual +emotional stirring. It had passed, but it had left its mark on him. +After all, it was in the stern North that he had first seen things in +their true proportions; it was there that the duty he had vaguely +realized had grown into definite shape, and Leonard's treachery to +Allinson's had been clearly perceived. Moreover, he had somehow gained +a new and unexpected sense of power. Then as the fire blazed up he +glanced with sudden interest at the faces of his comrades. They were +worn and haggard, and Graham's was stamped with lines of pain; but +there was something in them he could best describe as fine. Hunger and +toil, instead of subduing the men, had given them new strength and an +elusive dignity. Andrew remembered having seen that puzzling look in +the lean, brown faces of tired and thirsty soldiers as a brigade went +by through the rolling dust of the African veldt. It had been flung +back, shattered, from a rock fortress, and was pressing on, undaunted, +to a fresh attack. Andrew's heart had throbbed faster at the sight, +and he now felt something of the same thrill again; but these things +were not to be spoken of.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Carnally, "I might feel content if I thought Mappin was +as hungry as we are; but there's not much fear of that. The blasted +hog has sense enough to keep out of the bush; going about the country +getting his hands on other men's money pays him better. He's no use +for eating supper behind a bank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> of snow; the Place Viger and the +Windsor in Montreal are more his style."</p> + +<p>This was far from heroic, but Andrew laughed; the minor weaknesses of +human nature seldom jarred on him.</p> + +<p>"I think," he suggested lightly, "you might, for a change, call him +the swine. It's a term we sometimes use and it sounds grosser than the +other. The hogs I've seen running in the Ontario bush were thin and +not repulsive."</p> + +<p>"I'll admit it's foolish; but when I think of that man studying the +menu, I get mad! Can't you see him picking out the dollar dishes, on +the European plan? Canvasbacks and such, if they're in season."</p> + +<p>"They wouldn't give him much canvasback for a dollar," Graham +objected.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't count. The point is—where does he get the dollar?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid he has got a few of them out of us," said Andrew. "He has +got more out of the Rain Bluff shareholders; though I'm glad to think +that supply will be stopped. Anyhow, our first business is to find the +cache."</p> + +<p>"That's so," assented Carnally, as he threw some branches on the fire. +"We'll try again at sun-up. Though it makes you feel easier now and +then, talking doesn't do much good."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later they were all asleep, and when day broke Andrew +and Carnally descended a steep, snow-covered bank below the neck. +Their search proved unsuccessful, and they were very silent after they +returned to camp in the evening. The next morning Graham gave them a +very small bannock for breakfast, and then threw an empty flour-bag +into the snow.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>"Boys," he said gravely, "you have got to find the cache to-day."</p> + +<p>Spurred on by the imminence of starvation, they started off again, +beating their way against a driving snowstorm, stumbling often and +rising each time with greater difficulty; always, however, keeping +eager watch for the pole that should mark the spot of the cache.</p> + +<p>After three days of fruitless search, they could not bear to talk when +they met in camp in the evening. They knew that starvation was upon +them; their last strength was fast running out. They were not the men, +however, to give up easily; and once more they set off grimly at +sunrise.</p> + +<p>It was snowing hard when Andrew, knowing that he could drag himself no +farther, crawled into the shelter of a rock on the desolate hillside +and sat down shivering. There was an intolerable pain in his left +side, he was faint with hunger, and his muscles ached cruelly. His fur +coat was ragged, his moccasins were cut by the snow-shoe fastenings +and falling to pieces; his face was pinched and hollow. It was some +hours since he had seen Carnally. He was physically unable to continue +the search, but he shrank from going back to camp, where there was +nothing to eat, and facing his famishing comrade. Indeed, as he grew +lethargic with cold, it scarcely seemed worth while to make the effort +of getting on his feet again. He sat still, listlessly looking down +across the white slopes; Carnally would probably pass near the spot, +though there was now no expectation of his finding the cache. During +the last few days they had sometimes met while they searched and +exchanged a brief "Nothing yet," or a dejected shake of the head. It +would be the same again, though Andrew felt that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> his comrade might +have succeeded if they could have held out.</p> + +<p>He could not see far through the snow, which swept along the hillside +before a savage wind. Blurred clumps of spruce marked the edge of the +lower ground, but the river was hidden and the straggling junipers on +the spurs were formless and indistinct. At last, however, Andrew +noticed something moving near the end of a long ridge and, as it must +be a man, he concluded it was Carnally returning. Then he imagined +that the hazy figure stopped and waved an arm, as if signaling to +somebody below; that was curious, for his comrade would be alone.</p> + +<p>Andrew decided that he had been mistaken, and bent down to brush the +gathering snow from his torn moccasins; but he started when he looked +up. There were now two men on the slope below, and while he gazed at +them a third emerged from among the rocks.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A WOMAN'S WAY</span></h2> + + +<p>They had not been forgotten while they journeyed through the wilds. +Frobisher thought of them now and then, and his daughter more often; +indeed, her mind dwelt a good deal on Andrew after he left and she +found herself looking forward eagerly to his return. She spent some +weeks in an American city with her father, but its gaieties had less +attraction for her than usual, and she was glad when they went back +for a time to the Lake of Shadows. On the day after her arrival she +drove across the ice to the Landing and inquired at a store where news +circulated whether anything had been heard of the Allinson expedition. +The proprietor had nothing to tell her, but while she spoke to him a +man crossed the floor, and she saw with annoyance that it was Mappin. +She left while he made his purchases, but he joined her when she was +putting some parcels into the sleigh, and did not seem daunted by the +coldness of her manner.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know you were coming back so soon," he greeted her.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you?" she asked indifferently. "When my father had finished +his business we suddenly made up our minds to leave, without +consulting Mrs. Denton. I suppose that explains your ignorance."</p> + +<p>"You're smart," he said. "As soon as you're ready to receive people I +must make my call."</p> + +<p>It was getting dark, but the lights from the store<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> window fell on his +face, and Geraldine saw a glitter in his eyes. She thought he meant to +defy her.</p> + +<p>"You are excused, so far as I am concerned," she replied +uncompromisingly.</p> + +<p>Mappin stood silent a moment or two, looking at her hard, and she felt +half afraid of him.</p> + +<p>"You would rather see Allinson! But that's a pleasure you may find +deferred. You didn't get much news of him just now!"</p> + +<p>"I don't doubt that you heard me ask for it, though there were two +teamsters waiting to buy things, who had the good manners to keep +away."</p> + +<p>"Certainly I heard," he answered coolly; "that's the kind of man I am. +I don't let chances pass."</p> + +<p>Geraldine knew that he would make unscrupulous use of those he seized, +but his candor had its effect on her. He was overbearing, but there +was force in the man, and she grew uneasy. Though she shrank from him, +she admitted his power; unless she roused herself to fight, he might +break her will.</p> + +<p>"One could hardly consider it an admirable type," she said, getting +into the sleigh. "However, it's too cold to stand talking."</p> + +<p>Mappin was obliged to step back when she started the team, and she +drove off in some confusion, glad to escape, but feeling that she had +run away. It had seemed the safest course, though she did not think +she was a coward. Then as the team trotted across the frozen lake she +remembered Mappin's curious tone when he had spoken of Andrew +Allinson. He had suggested with an unpleasant hint of satisfaction +that Andrew's return might be delayed, and she grew troubled as she +thought of it. Still, she reasoned, as no news had reached the +Landing, Mappin could know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> nothing about the matter, and the men +Andrew had with him were accustomed to the bush. Dismissing the +subject, she urged the horses and drew the thick driving-robe close +about her. It was very cold and she shivered as she wondered how +Andrew and his comrades were faring in the North.</p> + +<p>Some days later she met Mrs. Graham at the post-office and inquired +about her husband. Geraldine thought she looked anxious.</p> + +<p>"He's a little behind time; but soft snow or storms might delay the +party."</p> + +<p>"Then he mentioned a time when you could expect him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Graham. "He warned me that he might be a week late; +but they thought out the journey very carefully, because it was a +question of carrying enough food."</p> + +<p>"You mean that helped to fix the time of their return?"</p> + +<p>"Of course! They couldn't get food anywhere except at a Hudson Bay +factory, and they couldn't take a large quantity. That means they knew +within a week or so when they must reach the provision caches that +were to be made for them north of the mine."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Geraldine. "They wouldn't delay when they came to +the caches, except, perhaps, for a day's rest. I suppose the food was +taken up?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I saw the packers leave and come down. They were good +bushmen and one of them knew the country. He made the caches at the +places decided on."</p> + +<p>"Then the expedition should be quite safe," said Geraldine cheerfully; +but when she left Mrs. Graham she grew thoughtful.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>Andrew was late and Geraldine saw that delay might be dangerous. The +men would lose no time in coming south, because, considering the +difficulty of transport, the margin of provisions would not be large. +Nothing but a serious accident would detain them, which was +disconcerting to reflect upon. Then she reasoned that their provisions +would be nearly exhausted when they reached the caches, and her mind +dwelt on the point, because it was essential that they should obtain +fresh supplies. She felt uneasy as she remembered a remark of +Mappin's, which she did not think he had made casually. There had been +a significant grimness in his manner when he had spoken of Allinson. +After all, however, it was possible that there was no ground for +anxiety: the prospectors might turn up in the next few days.</p> + +<p>As there was no news of them, however, Geraldine drove to the +settlement one evening and called on Mrs. Graham. She found her +seriously disturbed.</p> + +<p>"A man came down from the mine this morning, and my husband hadn't +arrived," she said. "I'm afraid something has gone wrong!"</p> + +<p>"What can have gone wrong?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know; I've been thinking about it all the last few days and +trying not to be afraid. Of course, they would be safe if they reached +the food caches."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Geraldine; "those caches are important. But as nobody has +turned up I don't think you need be alarmed. The worst would be if one +came back alone."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Graham did not seem much comforted when Geraldine left her; and +the girl, driving home in the moonlight, tried to face the situation +calmly. She admitted, without reserve for the first time, that she +loved Andrew Allinson; and he was in danger. Something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> must be done +to extricate him, and while she wondered how she ought to set about it +her thoughts turned to Mappin. It dawned on her that he knew what +peril threatened the party, and this suggested that he had either +allowed the men to involve themselves in unsuspected difficulties, or +had brought the difficulties about. They had depended on him in some +way and he had betrayed them. Geraldine shuddered at the thought, but +she roused herself, for it was obvious that if her suspicions were +correct, the man's designs must be combated. Mappin was strong and +cunning; but she had ready wits and her lover's safety was at stake.</p> + +<p>The next evening Mappin came to the house, and Geraldine carefully +made some changes in her dress before she entered the drawing-room, +where he was talking with Mrs. Denton. He rose with a challenging +smile as she came in, and Geraldine was glad to feel that she was +looking her best. It was humiliating to dress to please this man, but +there was a struggle before her and she must use such weapons as she +had.</p> + +<p>"You're surprised to see me?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I didn't doubt your boldness."</p> + +<p>Mappin glanced at her sharply, for there was nothing ungracious in her +tone. Her manner hinted at a change of mood; but he understood that +women were variable.</p> + +<p>"Then I have your permission to remain?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure that you need it, and it would be inhospitable to refuse +it," Geraldine replied, as if amused.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Denton looked from one to the other in a puzzled way, but she +said nothing, and Mappin began to talk, relating scraps of news picked +up at the Landing. Geraldine showed some interest, and after a while +Mrs. Denton, seeing them apparently on good terms, judiciously left +them. Then the girl ceased to respond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> to her companion's remarks, and +Mappin, never a brilliant conversationalist, found it hard to go on. +He began to show impatience, and Geraldine enjoyed his embarrassment. +At last he glanced toward the piano.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would play or sing something," he begged.</p> + +<p>Geraldine rose good-humoredly and opened the piano.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know you cared for music."</p> + +<p>"I don't, as a rule."</p> + +<p>"That sounds like a compliment," she answered, smiling. "It's a pity I +haven't any jingling rag-time tunes."</p> + +<p>"They're what I like—my taste isn't classical; but I don't mind your +taking a shot at me. One doesn't want music to make one serious."</p> + +<p>"You think one should be serious only where money is concerned?"</p> + +<p>"Well," he said grimly, "I haven't found trying to get it very +amusing; but I can be in earnest in other matters."</p> + +<p>"So I suppose," responded Geraldine, turning over the music. "Here's +something that might please you. Will you light the candles?"</p> + +<p>Her amiability had cost her an effort, and it grew harder as she +opened the song. It was pointed with witty coquetry, and she hesitated +for a moment with a feeling of humiliation, though she meant to play +out her part. Andrew and his friends were in peril in the icy wilds; +somehow they were at the mercy of this cruel, gross-natured man; and, +hateful as her task was, she must not shrink. She thought he could be +led on to betray himself. Tingling with shame, she sang with all the +fire and art she could command, and Mappin was swept off his feet.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>Music had no great charm for him, but the ballad was one he could +appreciate, and the girl's beauty had a stronger effect. The light of +the shaded candles fell on her face, which was slightly flushed, and +forced up gleams in her hair. She looked inexpressibly alluring; her +fine voice and arch smile well brought out the half-tender mockery of +the song. He noticed the supple shapeliness of her figure and the +polished whiteness of her skin, and his heart began to throb fast and +his eyes to glisten. Turning over a leaf, he came near shaking down +the music, and he drew back thrilled when she made a gesture of amused +rebuke. There was, he felt, something very friendly in it.</p> + +<p>When she stopped he leaned on the piano looking down at her, and +Geraldine knew that she had gone far enough. After having treated him +with cold indifference, she must not be too gracious, lest his +suspicions be aroused. The man was in her hands, but he was not a +fool. She hated him as she saw the crude desire in his face.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he said hoarsely, and picked out another song at random. +"Won't you try this? I've never heard it."</p> + +<p>"No," she answered firmly; "not that one."</p> + +<p>It was the ballad which Andrew had told her helped to send him up into +the wilds where his duty lay. Henceforward it was sacred—not to be +sung to such a man as Mappin.</p> + +<p>"Why?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"I sing that only to people who I know will appreciate it."</p> + +<p>"And you don't think I would?"</p> + +<p>"It strikes me as very doubtful," she said with a smile in which there +was a touch of scorn.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>His color deepened. She had shown signs of yielding, and how he +wondered whether she had after all been amusing herself with him. +Stirred as he was by passion he was in no reasoning mood; savage +jealousy filled his heart.</p> + +<p>"It's the kind of thing you keep for sentimental fools like Allinson!" +he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Geraldine had expected some such outbreak. Indeed it was what she +desired.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said with a tenderness which was meant to disturb her +companion, "I sang it to him once."</p> + +<p>"It will be a long while before you sing it to him again!"</p> + +<p>The voice rang harsh with exultant fierceness and Geraldine knew that +she had gained her object in rousing the brute in him. She had learned +the truth—for whatever danger threatened her lover this man was +responsible. But there was more she must know.</p> + +<p>"As he's a friend of ours, you're not very considerate," she said. +"What makes you speak with so much certainty?"</p> + +<p>Mappin saw that he had been rash, and he was instantly on his guard.</p> + +<p>"It was a fool thing to go North in winter. It's no country for a raw +tenderfoot, and Allinson should have taken a stronger party. I know +something about transport work in the bush."</p> + +<p>"I suppose food would be their greatest difficulty," Geraldine +remarked with a thoughtful air.</p> + +<p>"No. Fresh snow and blizzards would trouble them worse."</p> + +<p>"Still, food would be a consideration," Geraldine persisted. "I know +they thought a good deal about the matter and had some caches made. If +they couldn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> find them coming back, it would be serious, wouldn't +it?"</p> + +<p>Mappin's jealousy was heightened by her interest, but he regretted his +haste and meant to be cautious. Unfortunately for him, the charm +Geraldine had exercised had carried him away. He could not think as +clearly as usual.</p> + +<p>"The provisions were carefully packed and sent up in charge of good +men," he declared hotly. "They were properly cached; every precaution +was taken."</p> + +<p>"Were they your men?"</p> + +<p>Mappin glanced at her sharply, but read nothing in her face. He could +not evade the question without rousing suspicion.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said; "that's why I know they could be relied on to do their +work."</p> + +<p>Geraldine sat silent a moment, struggling to preserve her calm. She +had found out what she wished to know. She understood now why Mappin +had insisted on the dangers of the journey and made light of the +question of food. He had, with scarcely conceivable cruelty, cut off +the party's supplies. Still, he must not suspect that she knew this. +With an effort she took up another piece of music.</p> + +<p>"We are anxious for news of the expedition, and it's comforting to +remember that they had an excellent guide," she said. "But I'll play +you something."</p> + +<p>Before the piece was finished, her father came in and she left him to +entertain their guest. Seeking her room she sat down, feeling suddenly +limp from strain. That she was humbled and ashamed did not matter; she +was filled, on the one hand, with hatred and loathing for the man she +had led on, and, on the other, with anxiety for Andrew.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE RESCUE PARTY</span></h2> + + +<p>When Mappin left, Frobisher went to his smoking-room, where he was +surprised to find Geraldine waiting for him.</p> + +<p>"I think," he said with mock severity, "it was mean of you to leave +Mr. Mappin on my hands, particularly as I don't suppose his visit was +made on my account."</p> + +<p>"Did he bore you very badly?" Geraldine inquired.</p> + +<p>"We have had guests here whom I'd rather entertain; but for your +aunt's sake I try to be civil. After all, we have known the man for a +long while."</p> + +<p>"I feel that we have been very patient in putting up with him! He's +insufferable!"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Frobisher, taking out a cigar. "Then you didn't happen to +be here by accident? Sit down and we'll have a talk."</p> + +<p>Geraldine took the chair he indicated.</p> + +<p>"I have something to tell you," she said with an effort. "Mappin asked +me to marry him a little while ago."</p> + +<p>"It strikes me as curious that this is the first I've heard of it."</p> + +<p>"I was ashamed to tell you," Geraldine admitted, shyly. "I felt +degraded. Besides, you must have guessed——"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I had some idea of the man's ambitions; in my opinion, he's too +cold-blooded to be influenced by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> any more tender sentiment. We'll +take it for granted that you refused him. Nowadays it seems to be a +father's business to sanction and not to interfere; but I really think +if you had wanted to marry the fellow I'd have been as firm as +adamant. However, this is not to the purpose. Why do you tell me about +it now?"</p> + +<p>"You'll see presently. But try to remember that he has other feelings +than avarice. The man's unscrupulous and full of savage cruelty."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"To begin with, will you read this? It's from Ethel Hillyard, whom I +met in London. You have heard me speak of her."</p> + +<p>She gave him a letter containing sufficient information about the +house of Allinson to explain why Andrew had gone to Canada. His +character and his relations with Hathersage and the rest of the family +were cleverly sketched. Frobisher studied it carefully before he +looked up.</p> + +<p>"All this is not exactly new to me, though Miss Hillyard, who seems to +be a shrewd young lady, speaks strongly in Allinson's favor. From odd +things he let fall, I'd formed a pretty good idea of the situation. +Now that you have cleared the ground, you had better go on."</p> + +<p>"Father," said Geraldine, "so far, you have done nearly everything I +asked you, and that is why I'm not afraid to ask for something else. I +want you to send up a party to look for Mr. Allinson. He and the +others are in danger of starving in the snow."</p> + +<p>Frobisher looked at her searchingly, and she met his gaze for a +moment, though a flush crept into her face.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said simply, "he is a straight man."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>"And a friend of yours. But you will send him help at once?"</p> + +<p>"First of all, tell me why you think it is needful."</p> + +<p>Geraldine spent some time over the explanation and concluded:</p> + +<p>"You must see that their safety depends on their finding the +provisions, and Mappin has had the caches made at the wrong places."</p> + +<p>For the next few minutes Frobisher sat silent, the smoke curling up +from his neglected cigar, while Geraldine watched him in suspense.</p> + +<p>"You have reasoned the matter out remarkably well," he said, "and it +strikes me that you're near the truth. However, I don't understand how +you led Mappin into making the dangerous admissions that gave you a +clue; he's a brute, but I thought him a cunning one. Perhaps I'd +better not inquire."</p> + +<p>Geraldine's embarrassment was obvious and there were signs of +amusement on her father's face.</p> + +<p>"After all," he resumed, "when you play a game for high stakes with a +man like Mappin, you can't be fastidious."</p> + +<p>"But what about the relief party?" Geraldine asked.</p> + +<p>"I think the situation is serious enough to need one. I'll drive over +to the Landing and see about it the first thing to-morrow."</p> + +<p>He got up, and as he reached the door Geraldine, following, put her +arms about his neck and kissed him. Then she went past swiftly and +vanished down the passage.</p> + +<p>The next morning Frobisher learned that Mappin had gone east by an +early train and that there was not a man capable of undertaking a +difficult journey into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> wilds disengaged. Mappin had hired all the +available choppers and packers and sent them into the bush to cut some +lumber he required for his railroad contract. Frobisher could not +determine whether this had been done with the object of preventing +their being employed on a relief expedition, but it looked suspicious. +Being in a difficulty, he called on the owner of the sawmill and told +him as much as he thought advisable.</p> + +<p>"As it happens, I can help you," said the lumber-man. "There are two +or three fellows on our pay roll whom we haven't much work for at +present, though we'll need them later. They're good bushmen, and I +might raise one or two more by sending up to our logging camp."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Frobisher; "it will be a favor. It's lucky I thought of +coming to you."</p> + +<p>"Never mind that. I feel that I ought to help Graham out: he's an old +and valued servant. But I don't see how you are interested in the +thing."</p> + +<p>Frobisher smiled.</p> + +<p>"It's one's duty to help a fellow creature who's in serious danger. +Then I believe I may call myself a friend of Allinson's."</p> + +<p>"There's a point to be considered. The most likely place to meet the +party would be in the neighborhood of the food caches. You intimate +that there's a risk of Allinson's missing them; but he must have a +rough idea as to about where they are. As Mappin's out of town, +wouldn't it be well to wire and ask him exactly where they were to be +made?"</p> + +<p>"On the whole, I'd rather get the information from Mrs. Graham. No +doubt she knows her husband's plans."</p> + +<p>The mill-owner gave him a searching glance. He was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> a shrewd man and +suspected that there was a good reason for his visitor's preference.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said pointedly, "that might be wiser."</p> + +<p>"There may have been some misunderstanding about the precise location +of the caches," Frobisher explained. "Mrs. Graham will know where her +husband meant them to be made—which of course is the most important +thing."</p> + +<p>"Just so," agreed the other. "Excuse me for a few minutes."</p> + +<p>He went out, and returning a little later announced that three men +would be ready to start up-river during the afternoon and that some +more from the logging camp would follow in a few days. Frobisher left +him and, after calling on Mrs. Graham, went to the store, where he +ordered a quantity of provisions to be prepared. It was evening when +he reached home. Finding Geraldine waiting for him, he smiled at her +as he took off his furs.</p> + +<p>"I've had a busy day, but I've got things satisfactorily fixed," he +said.</p> + +<p>"You have found men to take up provisions?" Geraldine asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Better than that," replied Frobisher. "I've sent them off."</p> + +<p>Seeing the pleasure in his daughter's face, he nodded reassuringly and +left her.</p> + +<p>The relief expedition had orders to lose no time. Two of the men, as +it happened, had themselves narrowly escaped starvation in the wilds, +and their experience led them to urge the pace. It was afterward +admitted that they made an excellent march, which was fortunate, +because a few hours meant much to the starving men.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>As Andrew crouched at the side of the rock, half-dazed with fatigue +and want of food, it was a moment or two before he could believe that +he was not the victim of a disordered imagination as he stared at the +three figures on the hillslope. But the figures moved and grew more +distinct. He could not doubt that they were men, and they were coming +up the hill! With his heart beating painfully fast, he staggered up +and raised a wild, hoarse cry.</p> + +<p>It was answered. One of the men waved to him. They came on faster, +though he could see that they were heavily loaded, stumbling now and +then in their haste. He could not imagine what had brought them into +the wilds, but they were obviously well supplied, and he could +purchase their provisions and recompense them for an abandoned +journey. When they were close to him, the leader stopped a moment and +called back to the others:</p> + +<p>"We've struck it right! It's Mr. Allinson!"</p> + +<p>Andrew, recognizing the man, whom he had seen at the Landing, stumbled +forward and shook hands with him.</p> + +<p>"I'm uncommonly glad to see you; but what brought you here?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Where's the rest of you?" the other asked.</p> + +<p>"Carnally's down the hill somewhere; Graham's in camp beyond the gap."</p> + +<p>The man looked relieved.</p> + +<p>"That's good. We felt scared when we saw you were alone. Thought we +might have come too late, though we hurried some."</p> + +<p>"Then you knew we were here?"</p> + +<p>"Sure! Frobisher sent us up with provisions for you. We made a few +caches as we came along, and there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> ought to be three more of the boys +on the trail behind us. You don't want to worry; we'll see you down."</p> + +<p>Andrew felt shaky. Relief had come so unexpectedly; his troubles were +over. But there was more than this. Frobisher had despatched the men; +he might have done so at his daughter's request; at least it showed a +very friendly feeling. Andrew began to wonder how Frobisher could have +known he needed help; but this was a matter of much less importance, +and he turned to the packers.</p> + +<p>"If one of you would go down the next spur and look for Carnally, I'd +be glad," he said. "I expect he's near the river and he's pretty +hungry."</p> + +<p>A man threw off his load and set off rapidly downhill, while Andrew +climbed with the others toward the neck, scarcely able to keep on his +feet. His companions slackened their pace and glanced at him +compassionately. Crossing the gap, they saw the light of Graham's fire +in the gathering dusk, and when they neared the belt of timber Andrew +waved his hand to a dark figure that appeared in an opening among the +trunks.</p> + +<p>"No more trouble!" he cried. "Help has arrived!"</p> + +<p>A few minutes later Graham shook hands with the newcomers, whom he +knew.</p> + +<p>"Boys," he said hoarsely, "now that I see who you are, I know you made +good time; and you hadn't much to spare. When did you leave?"</p> + +<p>One of them told him, and he and Andrew looked astonished, while the +packer laughed.</p> + +<p>"We certainly hustled," he said with a deprecatory air. "But I've been +four years at the mill and never had trouble over charging my time. +Your pay-sheet was square."</p> + +<p>"That's so," agreed his companion. "They might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> have laid me off a +while last summer when we ran out of logs, but Mr. Graham fixed it so +I kept my job."</p> + +<p>Andrew smiled at Graham, who looked confused.</p> + +<p>"If you do these things, you must take the consequences; but I've met +people with shorter memories."</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, we've got here ahead of the logging crowd and I'm mighty +glad," said the first packer. "Those fellows think nobody can break a +trail unless he lives in the woods. Now you sit by quiet while we get +supper."</p> + +<p>Before the meal was ready Carnally arrived with the man who had gone +to look for him, and the party feasted royally. When they had +finished, Carnally sighed with deep content.</p> + +<p>"I just don't want to move," he remarked. "I feel most too good to +talk; but if the rest of you have anything to say, I'll try to +listen."</p> + +<p>"What's your program?" one of the men asked. "We have food enough to +take us down, going easy."</p> + +<p>"I want two days' rest," said Andrew. "Until they're up, we'll do +nothing but eat and lie about the fire and smoke."</p> + +<p>Carnally looked up lazily.</p> + +<p>"That sounds nice, but I'm going to locate Mappin's cache before we +start."</p> + +<p>The others began to talk to Graham, but Andrew did not know how long +they continued, for he was soon fast asleep.</p> + +<p>They broke camp on the third morning and when they crossed the neck +Carnally divided the party, which had been joined by the loggers. Some +he told to follow down one or two ravines at a distance, which he had +not searched, and then meet the others, who would work along the +ridge. Toward evening a man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> hailed him and Andrew from a slope some +way off, and when they joined him he led them into a deep hollow. In +the middle of it a small, barked fir projected from a snowy mound.</p> + +<p>"It's the kind of place you'd break a trail up if you were trying to +make the neck," the packer explained.</p> + +<p>"It looks a good road from here," Carnally assented. "We didn't get so +far along, but we'll climb up a piece."</p> + +<p>The hollow died out into a snow slope, and when they had walked on +farther they lost sight of it. Then Carnally stopped and carefully +looked about.</p> + +<p>"We might have struck that gulch first shot, but the chances were +against it; you can only see it from below. You want to remember that +the line the fellows who made the cache would take would depend on +where they left the big loop of the lower river. Mappin was smart +enough to see that. Now we'll have a look at the provisions."</p> + +<p>They proved to be sufficient in quantity and in excellent order when +the cache was opened; but Carnally had expected that.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how Mappin will feel when he sees us come marching in?" +Andrew said lightly. They could laugh now.</p> + +<p>"Not very comfortable, I'll promise you!" Carnally declared with a +glint in his eyes.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A BUSHMAN'S SATISFACTION</span></h2> + + +<p>Andrew reached the Landing physically exhausted and troubled by a +heavy depression. The long-continued strain had left its mark on him, +for, having proposed the expedition, he felt responsible for the +safety of his friends; and his strength and endurance deserted him +shortly after the arrival of the rescue party. Relief had been +followed by a severe reaction, which left him limp and nerveless; and +the homeward march proved long and toilsome. As they had food, there +was no longer the same necessity for haste, but the rigor of the +weather forced the men to push on as fast as possible, and Andrew +found it difficult to emulate his rescuers' pace. Moreover, he was +seriously troubled about Graham, whose foot appeared to be getting +worse, and he was deeply disappointed with the result of his search. +He had found the lode, but, so far as he had been able to test it, the +ore did not promise much.</p> + +<p>Dusk was falling when they saw the lights of the settlement, and as +they passed the first house a man greeted them. After a word or two, +he ran on ahead; and the party, following slowly, worn with the march, +found most of the inhabitants gathering in the street. Eager helpers +took their packs from them and seized the traces of the sled; +questions and congratulations were showered on them, and, to Andrew's +annoyance, they entered the town in a triumphal procession. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> was +plodding along, too tired and listless to notice the remarks of the +curious and sympathetic crowd, when Carnally touched his arm.</p> + +<p>"You can go straight to the hotel," he said. "I'll take Graham home."</p> + +<p>"No," said Andrew firmly; "that's my business and it can't be shirked. +You might send the doctor."</p> + +<p>Carnally disappeared among the crowd and Andrew went on, shrinking +from the meeting with his comrade's wife, though when the time came he +found it less trying than he had feared. As they turned into a side +street there was a shout:</p> + +<p>"Make room; let her pass! It's Mrs. Graham!"</p> + +<p>The men in the traces stopped and Graham spoke to them.</p> + +<p>"You might help me up, boys."</p> + +<p>They got him on his feet and fell back as a woman hurried toward him. +She flung her arms about his neck and it was several moments before +she saw Andrew.</p> + +<p>"We have brought him back, but I'm afraid he's a little the worse for +wear," he said.</p> + +<p>"You have brought him back!" she cried. "That is the greatest thing."</p> + +<p>Graham walked along with her for a few yards, and then stopped, his +face contorted.</p> + +<p>"If you don't mind, I'll finish the journey on the sled. My foot's +rather sore."</p> + +<p>When they reached his house, he insisted on getting up, and after +telling Andrew to follow, limped in unhelped, but he sat down heavily +on a couch.</p> + +<p>"I suppose this moccasin had better come off now, though it's going to +give me trouble," he said with a rueful smile.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>"No," advised Andrew, "not until the doctor comes; he should be here +directly. I'd like to see him, Mrs. Graham, but you'll want to talk to +your husband. May I wait in the other room?"</p> + +<p>She let him go and he spent an anxious half-hour. He heard the doctor +arrive and Mrs. Graham hurry about the house—getting water and +bandages, he thought. Then there was silence for a while, until the +doctor entered the room where he was sitting.</p> + +<p>"His foot's in a very bad state," he reported. "There's some risk of +mortification, though I think it can be averted. I'll be able to tell +you more in a day or two."</p> + +<p>"Do you know of any surgeon in Winnipeg or Toronto you would like to +bring out?"</p> + +<p>"There's a good man in Winnipeg, which is much nearer. On the whole, +it might be advisable to get his opinion."</p> + +<p>"Then wire for him," said Andrew, "and send for a trained nurse if one +can be had."</p> + +<p>The doctor left and Andrew rose as Mrs. Graham came in.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you'll find it hard to forgive me," he said.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Graham looked troubled.</p> + +<p>"I must try to be fair. You are really not to blame; even if he hadn't +met you, he would have gone to look for the lode some day. Then I'm +confident you took every care of him. But, after all——"</p> + +<p>"I know," Andrew sympathized. "He was well and strong when I took him +away, and I have brought him back disabled. That can't be got over." +He paused and resumed in a diffident tone: "I feel responsible. There +are things I can't put right—your distress,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> the pain your husband +suffers, his regret at being laid up helpless while his foot gets +better—but I must insist on making what amends are in my power. I +think you understand."</p> + +<p>"Yes." Mrs. Graham gave him a grateful glance. "But we'll talk of that +later." Then she smiled. "He sent you a message—you are to mail the +specimens to an assayer the first thing."</p> + +<p>"I'll do so," Andrew promised, turning toward the door. "I'll come +back and see how he's getting on early to-morrow."</p> + +<p>On reaching the hotel he sought Carnally.</p> + +<p>"Jake," he said, "you might fix things with the packers; give them any +bonus you think fit over regulation wages. Then, because we owe them +more than we can pay in money, you had better get up a supper and +dance they could bring their wives to."</p> + +<p>"It's a good idea! They'll like that. I'll see about it to-morrow. I +need a rest to-night, and there's a job I want to be fit for in the +morning."</p> + +<p>Andrew was too weary to ask him what it was and after sending a +message to Frobisher and getting supper he went off to bed. Rising +late the next day, he went to Graham's and then took a sleigh drive, +and by doing so missed a scene which caused some sensation in the +town.</p> + +<p>About the middle of the morning Mappin was sitting in his office, +which was situated above a store opposite the second-class hotel. The +hotel was full, for some loggers had come in the previous night, and a +number of railroad carpenters, whose work had been interfered with by +a snowstorm, were staying there. Mappin had heard of Andrew's return +and he was in a thoughtful mood, though he had so far avoided meeting +with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> any of the party. He could not, however, continue to do so, and +he felt that he might as well get the interview with Allinson over as +soon as possible. Even if Allinson suspected treachery, he had no +proof, and the worst charge he could make would be one of +carelessness. On the whole, it had been a relief to see that the man +had escaped: he had acted in the heat of passion when he cut off his +supplies and had afterward experienced a twinge of remorse. Mappin +felt that he was a match for the fellow, and he had gone a needless +length in plotting to destroy him.</p> + +<p>He was thinking over the matter when he heard some one ask for him in +the store, through which it was necessary to pass to reach his office. +Then there were footsteps on the stairs and he looked up in surprise +as Carnally came in. It was Allinson he had expected to see.</p> + +<p>Carnally was smartly dressed, and though his face was thin and worn it +wore a look of satisfaction that puzzled Mappin.</p> + +<p>"Where's your boss this morning?" Mappin inquired. "I've been waiting +for him."</p> + +<p>"At Graham's," said Carnally, sitting down. "I've come instead. Mr. +Allinson's got into a habit of leaving matters to me. There are things +I do better than he can. I'm not so fastidious as he is."</p> + +<p>"Then let me know what you want."</p> + +<p>"It's about those provisions you sent up. Mr. Allinson told you where +to make the caches?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I carefully put it down."</p> + +<p>"Got the paper or the notebook?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say where the notebook is, but I believe I could find it."</p> + +<p>Carnally smiled, as if he were enjoying the situation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>"If you produce the book, it will be because it doesn't agree with +what Mr. Allinson says he told you; but that wouldn't prove much. +You're capable of writing down what you meant to do and not what he +said. If you're not able to find it, the reason is that you thought of +the trick you played us after you saw him."</p> + +<p>"Then you didn't find the provisions I sent as easily as you +expected?"</p> + +<p>"No; you know we didn't."</p> + +<p>Mappin had plenty of courage.</p> + +<p>"Well, what about it?" he asked with a little smile of scorn.</p> + +<p>"I know the hand you're playing from; it's a pretty good one. Mr. +Allinson believes he gave you orders to make the caches in certain +places; you contend he told you somewhere else, and there was nobody +about when you were talking to decide the thing. Somehow an +unfortunate mistake was made."</p> + +<p>"It looks like that," said Mappin, feeling uneasy at the man's ready +acquiescence in the situation.</p> + +<p>"Sure thing!" Carnally cheerfully assented. "You fixed it all so +neatly that you left only one way of getting after you; but I won't +grumble, because it's the one I like." He rose and his expression +changed. "The mistake you meant to make came mighty near starving +three men to death. Stand up and answer for it, you blasted hog!"</p> + +<p>"So that's your line?"</p> + +<p>Mappin did not move as he rapidly considered his course. Overbearing +as he was, he did not often give way to anger unless his passions were +strongly roused. A brawl with Carnally could lead to no useful result, +and it would attract undesirable attention.</p> + +<p>"You have hit it first time! Got feet, haven't you?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> You seem to want +some stirring up!" Carnally reached for an inkwell and flung it across +the office at Mappin's head. "Sorry I missed," he said. "But I've +spoiled your clothes."</p> + +<p>Mappin rose with a savage frown.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to go on with this fooling?"</p> + +<p>"Sure!" replied Carnally. "If I can't wake you any other way, I'll +fire your office fixings out of the window. Guess that will bring the +boys around and I'll be glad to tell them what the trouble's about."</p> + +<p>A heavy account-book, deftly thrown, swept Mappin's desk, scattering +pens and papers across the room. Seeing that a struggle was +unavoidable, he sprang forward. Caution had hitherto held him back, +but his patience had its limits, and he was the heavier man. He missed +Carnally with his first two blows, but the third took effect with +sledge-hammer force, flinging him back upon the office-table, and +during the next few minutes Carnally gasped and dodged. He saw that he +must try to wear out his antagonist, and he watched his chance before +he clinched. For a while they grappled in the middle of the floor, +swaying, breaking ground with heavy feet, striking when they could; +and then as Mappin freed himself the door was flung open and the +storekeeper and several of his customers ran in.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" he cried. "What's the trouble? I thought you were coming +through my ceiling!"</p> + +<p>Carnally looked around, flushed and breathless.</p> + +<p>"Stand back! This business has to be got through, with! It's pretty +well known that the fellow's smart at stealing his boys' time, but he +took on too big a contract when he played a low-down trick on me." He +turned to Mappin. "Are you ready, you fat swine, or must I fire you +down the stairs?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>"Leave them to it," advised a big logger with an appreciative grin. +"I'll put a dollar on the bushman!"</p> + +<p>"You're wrecking the place!" objected the storekeeper, indicating the +dislodged stove, from which thick smoke was pouring, and a broken +chair.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't matter," Carnally replied. "Mappin can meet the bill. He +seems a bit slow in moving: they've been too liberal with the corn."</p> + +<p>One or two of the men laughed; but Mappin looked dangerous. The +struggle that occupied the next few minutes was a determined and +strenuous one, and the spectators watched it with frank delight. +Mappin was powerful and could use his strength, but he had lived +indulgently, a prey to his appetites. Carnally lived for the most part +in the wilds, and hard toil and plain fare had toughened him. +Moreover, as a matter of necessity, he frequently taxed his endurance +to the limit, and this stood him in good stead now. He was quicker +than his enemy, and recovered sooner; when they broke away from a +grapple he was the fresher.</p> + +<p>Mappin began to show distress. He panted hard, his face grew suffused, +the perspiration dripped from him. His collar had burst open, and his +torn sleeve hung loose about his arm; he looked strangely brutish and +his eyes had a murderous expression. By comparison, Carnally seemed +cool. His thin, brown face was quietly intent, resolute without +passion; he fought cautiously, avoiding his antagonist's furious +rushes, breaking away from an occasional grapple. Endurance was his +strongest point, and he meant to tire his man. Mappin, guessing this, +saw the advisability of bringing the struggle to a speedy conclusion. +He clinched again, trying to throw his agile opponent by sheer force, +and for a moment or two Carnally seemed helpless in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> grasp. He +could not get free and Mappin drove him backward across the narrow +floor, while the spectators, who had increased in number, looked on in +tense excitement.</p> + +<p>In the West personal combat is hampered by few of the rules of the +boxing ring; but there is a rough notion of fair play and there are +limits which may not be exceeded. Thus when Carnally, driven hard +against the edge of the table, seemed to grow limp, there was a shout +of protest as Mappin, reaching out with free right arm, seized a heavy +poker from the wood-box. He was ready to strike when Carnally, +realizing his peril, rallied his strength for a decisive effort. The +poker struck the table with a resounding crash. Carnally secured a +firm hold before Mappin recovered his shaken balance, and lifted him +from his feet. He lurched forward, while the spectators scattered, and +reeling through the doorway plunged down the stairs.</p> + +<p>Mappin was undermost. He struck the steps half-way down, but it did +not stop them. They rolled into the store amid a confused outcry. None +of those who watched could tell whether Mappin scrambled up or +Carnally lifted him from the floor, but in a moment they were on their +feet, Carnally driving the other toward the door. With a last effort +he hurled him backward, and Mappin went down headlong into the snow.</p> + +<p>He got up in a half-dazed manner and Carnally leaned against the +doorpost, breathing hard and regarding him with a grim smile.</p> + +<p>"You can do what you like about it, but if you're wise, you'll keep +out of my sight," he said. "It won't hurt me to let people know what +made the trouble."</p> + +<p>Carnally turned back into the store and sat down on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> a barrel, hot, +disheveled, and generally the worse for wear.</p> + +<p>"It's a long while since I felt so good, boys," he grinned.</p> + +<p>Mappin slunk away to his hotel, knowing that a grave misfortune had +befallen him. He was a hard master and accustomed to get more than the +full equivalent of their wages out of his men, but in this his +overbearing manner had assisted his cunning. In logging camps and on +new roads, courage and muscular strength command respect; but now that +he had been ignominiously thrown out of the store before a derisive +crowd, his prestige had gone. Henceforward there would be serious risk +of his mutinous subordinates following Carnally's example.</p> + +<p>The man, however, was far from a coward. It would be pleasanter to +leave the town, where he was not held in much esteem, until the matter +blew over, and he had work going on in other places; but he did not +mean to run away from Allinson. The latter, of course, now understood +that he had been tricked over the location of the food caches, and +Mappin wondered what he would do. It was, however, obvious that there +was no really effective course open to Allinson. Carnally had been +shrewd enough to take the only possible means of obtaining redress, +but his primitive methods were not likely to be adopted by his +employer.</p> + +<p>After removing the signs of battle, so far as he could, from his +clothes and person, Mappin returned to his office and spent the day +there, waiting for a visit from his rival. Allinson, however, did not +come; it looked as though he meant to do nothing, and this caused +Mappin some uneasiness. The man was cleverer and perhaps, more to be +feared than he had thought.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">FRESH PLANS</span></h2> + + +<p>Geraldine Frobisher, sitting by the hearth in her drawing-room, +glanced compassionately at Andrew. He looked gaunt and very weary, and +she noticed a significant slackness in his pose. There was no one else +in the room; the lamps were lighted and a log fire diffused a pleasant +glow and an aromatic odor.</p> + +<p>"You are quiet to-night," she said.</p> + +<p>Andrew looked up with a deprecatory smile.</p> + +<p>"I fear I'm disgracefully dull; but I don't seem able to think of +anything except that it's very pleasant to be here again."</p> + +<p>"You consider that a good excuse?"</p> + +<p>"I can't judge; I felt that I needed one. In fact, I don't know what +is the matter with me since I came down-river."</p> + +<p>Geraldine had some idea; a glance at the man supplied an explanation.</p> + +<p>"You are worn out, for one thing," she answered sympathetically.</p> + +<p>He mused for a few moments, and the girl was not displeased. From the +first she had felt on curiously confidential terms with him. He was +direct and sincere and, though by no means shallow, he seldom puzzled +her.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "it's not altogether that. We had a rather bad time +before the relief party arrived, but I felt up to my work—anxious, of +course, but not troubled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> by the slackness that has since got hold of +me. All this, however, isn't of much consequence. I'm very grateful to +you and your father for sending help—we were in a very tight place +when it came. But I don't understand how you knew we needed it."</p> + +<p>Geraldine looked down, to hide her confusion.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why you associate me with my father?"</p> + +<p>"I can't tell you clearly, but I feel that you had something to do +with the matter. Indeed, it made the relief more welcome. But you +haven't given me an explanation."</p> + +<p>"Do you understand why you failed to find the food?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Andrew grimly. "I've a suspicion that you know as much +about it as I do, though it's hard to see how you came by the +knowledge."</p> + +<p>Geraldine looked up with a forced smile. He must not guess how she had +led Mappin to betray himself.</p> + +<p>"It is rather astonishing, isn't it? The search gave you trouble, and +you have some respect for your thinking powers."</p> + +<p>"I've more respect for Carnally's; he found the clue. But he was on +the spot."</p> + +<p>"And I was handicapped by being at home? Do you know I sometimes think +I'm not altogether stupid?"</p> + +<p>"You're exceptionally clever," said Andrew warmly. "You have a gift +for seizing on the truth and sticking to it. I think it's because the +truth is in you that you recognize it. That's different from +smartness."</p> + +<p>She checked him with a gesture of mocking rebuke.</p> + +<p>"You should have learned that I don't expect you to pay me labored +compliments."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't labored; I believe it was a flash of insight," Andrew +declared. He glanced at her face and laughed, looking baffled.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>There was silence for the next few moments. Geraldine knew what the +man thought of her, but she approved of the respectful diffidence he +generally displayed. Now that he was safe, she preferred that they +remain on a purely friendly footing for a time; he was hers, but she +shrank with a fluttering timidity from an open surrender. It was not +difficult to repulse him gently when he grew too bold. Nevertheless +his wan and downcast appearance roused a deep and tender pity. She +longed to hear his troubles and comfort him.</p> + +<p>"You suddenly changed the subject we began," she said. "Were you not +going to tell me why you feel depressed?"</p> + +<p>"Something of the kind," replied Andrew. "It didn't seem a very happy +topic."</p> + +<p>"That was a mistake," declared Geraldine reproachfully. "You shouldn't +have doubted my interest, and it lightens one's troubles to confide in +a friend."</p> + +<p>Andrew, in his dejected mood, felt a longing for sympathy and +encouragement.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "failure is hard to bear, and I've a strong suspicion +that I've undertaken more than I'm able to carry out. So far, I've +made a deplorable mess of things. We reached the neighborhood of the +lode with no time to search the ground, and, for all the results we +got, we might as well have stayed at home."</p> + +<p>"But it's something to have proved that the lode exists."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure it's worth proving. The value of the ore is the most +important point, because a mine could not be worked up there unless it +was very rich. Then there's a risk of Graham's being lamed for life. +Mappin has beaten us badly at the beginning of the fight."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>"It's only a small reverse. You would not use the means he employed. +They were infamous!"</p> + +<p>"The trouble is that other opponents I shall have to meet may use +similar methods, and unless I do the same, I'll be further +handicapped. As it happens, I'm carrying weight enough already."</p> + +<p>Geraldine looked thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"In a way, you're right. I've learned something about the situation."</p> + +<p>"If we had proved the lode to be rich, I should have had something to +fall back on; but I've failed. Now I must attack strong vested +interests, with the whole influence of my conservative relatives +against me. My chief antagonist enjoys a high prestige, and has made +an excellent profit on the money handed him." Andrew laughed in a +rueful manner. "And I'm the fool of the family, who has lately taken +to upsetting a very satisfactory state of affairs. Can you imagine the +surprise and disgust of everybody concerned?"</p> + +<p>"But your people are upright, aren't they?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; there's no doubt of that. But, with one or two unimportant +exceptions, they're conventional and prejudiced. They believe in what +they see; the prosperity of Allinson's, the dividends coming in. They +distrust anything that seems out of the usual course, and they +couldn't bring themselves to think there should be anything wrong with +the firm. I, whom they good-naturedly look down on, have to convince +them to the contrary."</p> + +<p>"It will be hard; one can understand that. But the feeling of +helplessness that troubles you now will pass. You must remember that +you have borne enough to exhaust you."</p> + +<p>"My body's tired," Andrew admitted. "One can get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> over that. The real +difficulty is that my mind feels sick."</p> + +<p>"Is there no connection between the two?" Geraldine smiled at him. +"You make me think it's the first time you have had any serious +difficulties."</p> + +<p>"That's true. It looks as if there were some benefit in being dull. +You're saved a good deal of trouble if you don't notice things."</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean that," Geraldine objected. "You're not really dull, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Then I'm something like it. But you don't think I've been foolish in +starting on this campaign?"</p> + +<p>"No!" said Geraldine promptly. "I think you are doing what is fine! +You must go on; I want you to win. The difficulties won't look so +serious if you attack them one by one, and it must be worth something +to have the right on your side. There is so much injustice everywhere +and few people seem to mind. No doubt it's dangerous to interfere, but +it's encouraging to find a man here and there who is not afraid."</p> + +<p>She looked up at a sound and saw her father standing in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"One here and there?" smiled Frobisher. "You're not exacting. In +France, they once asked for a hundred men who knew how to die, and +found them in one southern town."</p> + +<p>Geraldine's color was higher than usual, but she laughed.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I am a bit of a sentimentalist; but you're too cynical. I +don't see why you should be proud of your detached and critical +attitude. You look on as if the sight of people struggling amused +you."</p> + +<p>"I don't think I really am proud of it, but perhaps there's something +to be said for the intelligent spectator who knows his limitations and +is content with trying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> to see fair play. However, I came to take +Allinson away for a smoke. If I leave him to you, you'll be sending +him off on some new chivalrous adventure."</p> + +<p>Seeing that his host was waiting for him, Andrew rose, but as he +reached the door Geraldine looked at him with a smile.</p> + +<p>"What I said was rather crude, but I meant it."</p> + +<p>"She generally does mean things; it's a habit that has its drawbacks," +Frobisher said, as he led Andrew to his smoking-room, where he gave +him a cigar and pointed to an easy-chair.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do about Mappin?" the American asked bluntly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing. As he has only to deny what I told him to clear himself, +there's no means of punishing him. I can't see any use in making a +fuss that can have no result. It would simply show I was the weaker +party."</p> + +<p>"You're wise," Frobisher agreed. Then his eyes twinkled. "Carnally, +however, seems to have seen a way out of the difficulty. You haven't +heard what happened at the settlement?"</p> + +<p>"No; I hired a sleigh and went for a drive. After that I slept until I +came here. I tried to keep out of people's way."</p> + +<p>"You missed a dramatic scene at the store. I'm told Carnally threw +Mappin downstairs and out into the snow."</p> + +<p>Andrew shook his head dubiously.</p> + +<p>"It's a pity, but I might have been prepared for something of the +kind. I can hardly grudge him any satisfaction he derived from it."</p> + +<p>"It was a good stroke; Mappin will find it damaging."</p> + +<p>"But I understood he was a friend of yours," Andrew said with some +awkwardness.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>"He came to my house. I put up with him, which I think describes it +best, though I fail to see much reason for doing so any longer. But +what are you going to do about the lode?"</p> + +<p>"Go back and investigate it thoroughly. We'll wait until the spring."</p> + +<p>"Then you mean to proceed with your scheme? I see trouble, but I +mustn't discourage you. Now I guess the situation warrants some +candor. Has it struck you that Mappin is working hand in hand with +your brother-in-law?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's true." Andrew's face was grave. "You can see how it +complicates things."</p> + +<p>"But you mean to go on?"</p> + +<p>"I must," said Andrew simply.</p> + +<p>Frobisher leaned forward and touched his arm.</p> + +<p>"You have grit, Allinson. It will be a tough fight, but I feel that +you'll make good."</p> + +<p>He changed the subject abruptly, and they talked of other matters +until they went back to the drawing-room. Some time afterward there +was a knock at the door, and Geraldine, opening it, held out a +telegram to Andrew.</p> + +<p>"It's from the assayer; I left word at the settlement for the message +to be sent on," he explained. "You will excuse my opening it?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Geraldine. "May it bring you good news!"</p> + +<p>Andrew tore open the envelope, and there was an exultant tone in his +voice as he read out:</p> + +<p>"<i>Specimens unpromising.</i>"</p> + +<p>Frobisher and Geraldine looked puzzled.</p> + +<p>"But you seem satisfied," the girl said.</p> + +<p>"I am. I asked the man to let me have his general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> opinion as soon as +he could; he's to send a regular analysis later. He has been quick, +but perhaps he has some rough preliminary test."</p> + +<p>"But he tells you they're unpromising!"</p> + +<p>"I'm beginning to think Mr. Allinson is a bit of a genius," Frobisher +observed. "No doubt he'll explain his mysterious proceedings."</p> + +<p>"I gave the man a three-word code, reversing the meaning, and his +answer puts the quality of the ore, so to speak, in the comparative +degree. It shows that we have struck the edge of the lode, and careful +prospecting should give us better results."</p> + +<p>He broke off, standing still, the message in his hand and a look of +marked relief in his face, and Frobisher turned to his daughter.</p> + +<p>"It was a maxim of Napoleon's that one should use every means of +misleading the enemy, and Mr. Allinson seems to know that telegrams +are handled rather casually in these small places. A mineral claim +doesn't belong to its discoverer until it's duly staked off and +recorded; and if all the formalities are not complied with it can be +jumped."</p> + +<p>He was called away a few minutes later, and Andrew took his place by +the hearth with Geraldine sitting opposite him.</p> + +<p>"I'm very glad you got such good news," she said, with a curious +softness in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Thank you. It was you who brought it to me; but that wasn't all you +did. I came here dejected, and now I'm cheerful again."</p> + +<p>"But that isn't surprising, after the message."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't the message. I was bracing up before it came; you and your +father made me feel that I needn't despair. In fact, I was getting +ashamed of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> being downcast, after the confidence you seemed to have in +me."</p> + +<p>Geraldine smiled at him.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said. "It must need a good deal of courage to lead a forlorn +hope, and one could imagine that your undertaking looked like that. It +must be much pleasanter to feel that you have some chance of winning. +But what will you do next?"</p> + +<p>"Go home, I think. I want to see how I stand there."</p> + +<p>"For long?" Geraldine asked quietly.</p> + +<p>"No; for a month or so. I shall be eager to get back." Andrew paused +and asked with a hint of tension in his voice: "Will I be missed?"</p> + +<p>"Of course!" Geraldine looked up with friendly candor. "But will you +be able to make the double journey and do all that's needful in a few +weeks?"</p> + +<p>Andrew felt gently rebuffed. Geraldine had a way of checking him when +he tried to draw closer to her, and her unembarrassed frankness was +deterring.</p> + +<p>"I'll try," he said doggedly.</p> + +<p>Frobisher came in then, and they chatted about various matters until +Andrew took his leave. When he reached his hotel he wrote a letter +home, announcing his return, and the next morning he had a long talk +with Carnally, whom he empowered to act as his deputy while he was in +England. Then he went to Graham's and found the Winnipeg surgeon +leaving. His report was favorable: Graham's foot could be saved, +though it would be some time before he recovered the use of it.</p> + +<p>Andrew was shown into a room where his comrade lay on a couch.</p> + +<p>"I've heard the news and I'm very glad," he said. "I was troubled +about you."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>"You couldn't hide it." Graham smiled at him. "It wasn't your fault I +got frost-bitten, anyway. But have you heard about the specimens?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; the first report's encouraging. Of course, I haven't learned the +full results yet."</p> + +<p>Graham's eyes glistened, and he moved into a comfortable pose with a +look of deep content.</p> + +<p>"That's good. Now I must try to get about again as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"There's no hurry. As you know, you needn't go back to the mill until +you're able. Then as Carnally and I know where the lode is, it isn't +strictly necessary that you should come with us."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it! I've been thinking about that lode for twenty years, and do +you suppose I could let another man locate it? Besides, we must stake +three claims on the best frontage."</p> + +<p>"That would be better; but what about Mrs. Graham? Haven't you given +her enough anxiety?"</p> + +<p>Graham looked disturbed.</p> + +<p>"I can't predict what line she'll take, but I venture to believe +she'll let me go, knowing I'll be satisfied for good when I have +finished my work."</p> + +<p>Andrew told him about his trip home and the arrangements he had made +with Carnally, and left soon afterward. During the next week he came +in daily and spent two evenings with the Frobishers, and then he left +the Landing early one morning by the Montreal express.</p> + +<p>The Atlantic passage was short and uneventful, and late one afternoon +he alighted from a local train at a wayside station among the English +hills. Wannop and Hilda were waiting on the platform, and after the +first greetings were over, the girl regarded her brother critically.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>"Andrew," she exclaimed, "you haven't come back the same! How did you +get those lines on your forehead?"</p> + +<p>"Are there some?" Andrew asked with a smile. "I suppose I was anxious +now and then. Not knowing whether you'll get enough to eat makes one +think."</p> + +<p>Hilda shook her head.</p> + +<p>"No; that's not it. My dear boy, you have been <i>developing</i> since you +went to Canada."</p> + +<p>"If you're right," laughed Andrew, "it was getting time I did; but +you're standing in the way of the baggage truck."</p> + +<p>They moved on, and when they drove off in Wannop's trap Andrew sat +silent for a while, looking about delightedly. It was open weather; by +comparison with the Canadian cold, the air was soft and mild. A gray +sky hung above the hills, but there was a glimmer of pale red and +saffron low in the west, and the rugged slopes, clothed with withered +fern, shone a rich, warm brown. Then they dipped into a valley which +struck Andrew, accustomed to the monotonous snow-glare, as wonderfully +green. The shining riband of a river wound through its midst; clover +growing among the stubble and broad strips of raw-red soil where +sheep, netted in, stood about the turnip-cutters, checkered the +pasture land. They passed climbing woods where the leafless branches +formed blurs of blue and gray; and here and there a white thread of +foaming water streaked the heights above.</p> + +<p>It was a countryside that Andrew loved, but now, while softly +beautiful, it looked strangely small—a narrow green strip, shut in by +lofty moors. Then there were many tall hedgerows and big stone walls; +one could not wander there at will. The wide horizons and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> the +limitless stretch of trackless woods were missing. It was curious, +Andrew thought, with what content he had once searched stubble and +turnips for partridges, and stood with gun ready outside the woods +from which the pheasants broke on clattering wings. Now all that +seemed tame; he had lost his zest for it in a sterner chase.</p> + +<p>Hilda broke in upon his reflections.</p> + +<p>"You haven't spared me much attention yet," she said. "How do you +think I'm looking?"</p> + +<p>"Now that I think of it, you're growing rather pretty; though that is +what I expected."</p> + +<p>"I'm aware of it." Hilda made him the best curtsey that space allowed. +"But don't you notice that I'm looking more mature and intellectual?"</p> + +<p>"Steady!" Wannop cautioned. "You nearly knocked the whip out of my +hand. Keep that kind of thing for the ballroom—it's wasted on your +brother."</p> + +<p>"The maturity didn't strike me; but you used to show signs of +intelligence now and then," Andrew answered.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's better to be pretty. Cleverness is open to any one who +is willing to study. But did you see any girl as nice-looking as I am +while you were in Canada?"</p> + +<p>"Even at the risk of giving offense, I can think of one—though of +course beauty is largely a matter of taste."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Hilda delightedly. "I had my suspicions! I suppose you +mean the girl who wrote to Ethel about you?"</p> + +<p>Andrew started and Wannop laughed.</p> + +<p>"I knew she was up to something. That is what she has been leading you +on to."</p> + +<p>"How did you hear about her?" Andrew asked. "Did Ethel tell you?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>"As a matter of fact, she wasn't very communicative, but I elicited a +few scraps of information. It's surprising how one can follow up a +clue."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," said Andrew. "Whether it leads you right or not is +another matter. I'm thankful I haven't your fervid imagination."</p> + +<p>"How he puts it off!" Hilda said to Wannop. "He's been learning +diplomacy in Canada."</p> + +<p>Wannop chuckled.</p> + +<p>"I always knew he wasn't a fool. But I wish you would keep still. The +horse is fresh and this is a steep bit of road."</p> + +<p>Hilda changed the subject, for she had learned enough from her +brother's start to give her food for thought.</p> + +<p>"Leonard will be down to-morrow with Florence," Wannop said when they +approached the house. "I suppose you'll have something to tell us. I +needn't remind you that if there's any difficulty you can count on +me."</p> + +<p>Andrew gave him a grateful nod, and a few minutes later they drove up +to Ghyllside.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">UNEXPECTED SUPPORT</span></h2> + + +<p>The day after Andrew's return he was sitting in the library at +Ghyllside, waiting for dinner. Though a fire burned on the hearth by +which he lounged, cigarette in hand, two of the tall windows were open +and the air that flowed in was soft and muggy. He had spent most of +the day in shooting, and after a long walk across wet meadows and a +boggy moor he now felt very comfortable and somewhat drowsy. He would +have to bestir himself when the guests he expected arrived, and he was +enjoying a few minutes' rest. His cigarette was, however, only half +smoked when Wannop walked in.</p> + +<p>"As I didn't see you downstairs I came up to look for you; Gertrude's +with Hilda. Haven't Florence and Leonard arrived yet?"</p> + +<p>"Train seems to be late," Andrew replied. "I suppose I should have +gone to meet them, but I felt lazy."</p> + +<p>"Was that all?"</p> + +<p>"It wasn't my only reason. To tell the truth, I shirked the drive home +with Leonard. I'm a poor dissembler and our relations are rather +strained. It will be easier to meet him when there are others about."</p> + +<p>"They'll be on his side."</p> + +<p>"I expect so; but I'm not afraid of direct opposition. It's beating +about a delicate subject and trying to keep on safe ground that +bothers me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>"I know; it's embarrassing. You won't be able to broach matters of any +importance to-night."</p> + +<p>"No. We'll have one or two outside people here and I want my +homecoming to be harmonious. We'll let things stand over till +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Feeling nervous about it?" Wannop suggested with a grin.</p> + +<p>"I'll confess that I do. It's the preliminary tussle, and I haven't +many backers."</p> + +<p>"You needn't be downhearted. I don't know that your people are +remarkably broad-minded, but they're straight—I'll say that even for +Robert. They'll come round if they think you're right. But don't be +apologetic; take a firm tone. Manner goes a long way and, after all, +you are the head of Allinson's."</p> + +<p>"The trouble is that I've allowed Leonard to usurp my place and he'll +be hard to depose."</p> + +<p>Andrew rose, for there were voices and footsteps below, and they went +down to meet the arriving guests. The hall was large and square, with +seats in recesses and one or two small tables and comfortable chairs +scattered about. Mrs. Fenwood had come with Robert Allinson, who shook +hands with Andrew heartily, though there was a hint of constraint in +his manner afterward. He was not quite satisfied with Andrew's conduct +before leaving England, and could not forget that his interference in +the matter of Mrs. Olcott's house had been thwarted. He regarded +Wannop, who was saying something humorous to Mrs. Fenwood, with a +suspicious eye.</p> + +<p>Then there was a rattle of wheels outside and Florence Hathersage came +in with Leonard. He expressed his pleasure at Andrew's safe return and +after a few friendly words hurried off to his room. When he came down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +again three more guests arrived, and Andrew went eagerly to meet them. +Ethel Hillyard and Mrs. Olcott were foremost, and after welcoming them +Andrew turned toward a man with a lined, brown face, bearing the stamp +of the soldier. It was with marked cordiality that they shook hands.</p> + +<p>"It's good to see you, Tom," Andrew said. "I heard you had just got +home, and though it's an unhealthy country, you're looking very fit."</p> + +<p>"A little fever now and then, though I escaped fairly well," rejoined +the other with a friendly smile. "I have a good deal to say to you +when we get a chance." He lowered his voice as he added: "I'm deeply +grateful."</p> + +<p>The meeting had a dramatic interest to the onlookers. Every eye had +been fixed on the stranger. As he had come with Mrs. Olcott his +identity was obvious; and the good-will both men had shown had its +significance. Then Andrew led the Olcotts forward and presented them +to the elderly unmarried relative who managed his household and looked +after Hilda. Mrs. Olcott's color was slightly heightened, though she +smiled, for she understood the interest she had aroused and this was +her triumph. She had produced the husband whose absence had excited +comment and whose existence some had ventured to doubt. Moreover, he +was a man to be proud of, and nobody who had witnessed their meeting +could doubt that he was Andrew's trusted friend. Robert Allinson +looked at him earnestly and then turned to Leonard with a frown. He +was narrow and censorious, but he was just, and he felt that he had +been mistaken, or perhaps misled.</p> + +<p>They went in to dinner and Andrew sat at the head of his table, saying +enough to keep conversation going, but content to give Leonard the +lead. Considering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> how he stood toward his host, Hathersage showed +admirable tact. He skilfully turned every topic which might prove +difficult and kept the others on safe ground; he was witty in a +polished manner, but if anything a little too obviously at ease. For +the first time it struck one or two of the party with surprise that +there was something in Andrew's bearing which his more brilliant +brother-in-law lacked. The soldier from tropical Africa bore the same +elusive stamp of command, sincerity and steadfastness. Ethel Hillyard, +studying them carefully, decided that Leonard was, by comparison, +cheap and superficial.</p> + +<p>Still, it was largely due to his efforts that dinner was a pleasant +function without an awkward pause in it; and afterward the guests +dispersed through several rooms to amuse themselves. When Andrew found +a place by Ethel Hillyard in a recess in the hall, she surveyed him +with smiling scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"I think you did well in going to Canada," she said. "Though I can't +quite express what I mean, you look bigger."</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact, I'm a good deal lighter."</p> + +<p>Ethel laughed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, I don't want to make you embarrassed! I believe you had a +trying time. Looking after the silver mine didn't prove as easy as you +expected?"</p> + +<p>"I don't remember what I expected, but I found it very difficult."</p> + +<p>"So I gathered. Antony Wannop seems to think the reforms you have in +view won't be popular. I suppose you have been summoned home to +explain?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Andrew; "I came. There's a difference."</p> + +<p>"It's marked," Ethel answered. "But we are old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> friends, Andrew; +follow your own bent, stick to your guns. Whatever plans you have +determined on will be fair. Once before I told you not to be daunted; +but it strikes me that you need less encouragement now."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Andrew. "I'm sorry I can't tell you much about the +matter. You see——"</p> + +<p>"It's a family affair, and after all I have my ideas. But you made +some new friends by the Lake of Shadows, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; staunch ones. They showed their friendship in a very practical +way. That's something I owe to you; I suspect that you have been +prejudicing them in my favor."</p> + +<p>"Then you have a good opinion of Geraldine?"</p> + +<p>Andrew colored as he met her inquiring glance.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said simply, "the highest I'm capable of forming."</p> + +<p>Ethel smiled rather curiously. Two or three years earlier she had +contemplated the possibility of Andrew's seeking her for his wife, but +her feelings had not been deeply stirred, and when she saw that she +had taken too much for granted she quietly submitted and retained a +very friendly interest in him. Now, however, there was something +grimly amusing in the thought that she had given him to Geraldine.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "I'm sure she merits it. But to speak of something +else, I'm glad you asked the Olcotts here."</p> + +<p>"That's another matter in which I'm indebted to you. What do you think +of Olcott? He sat next to you."</p> + +<p>"A delightful man." Ethel, who was direct and fearless, looked up at +her companion. "No one could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> doubt Mrs. Olcott's devotion to him, and +I think it's warranted." Then she rose. "You must have a good deal to +say to the others and I mustn't monopolize you."</p> + +<p>Andrew went to the smoking-room, which proved to be unoccupied, but as +he was leaving it Olcott came in.</p> + +<p>"I stole away and followed you," he said. "Sit down a minute and light +up."</p> + +<p>"Cigars in that drawer," said Andrew, lighting a cigarette. "Drinks in +the cupboard below."</p> + +<p>Olcott took out two glasses and filled them.</p> + +<p>"It's your house, but I feel at home."</p> + +<p>"So you ought!"</p> + +<p>Olcott raised his glass.</p> + +<p>"Here's to you, old friend, and may you get with full measure, as you +give! I can't wish you anything better." He put down his glass and +continued: "And now we'll proceed to business. As soon as I'd had a +talk with Clare I paid a check into your bank."</p> + +<p>"Sure it's convenient?"</p> + +<p>"Quite: I had my duties increased and, what was much less usual, a +corresponding increase of pay. I'd rather have come over when you were +alone, and I only got home yesterday, but Clare insisted on my +appearing to-night. Can you guess the reason?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." Andrew flushed but looked at his friend with steady eyes. "I +got very savage about the matter, and wondered whether I'd been in any +way to blame. Still, you left things pretty mixed when you went +away—your wife needed somebody to straighten them out, and I'm not a +tactful person."</p> + +<p>"I'd only a day or two's notice, and there wasn't time to arrange +matters properly. But it's hard to imagine that people who knew you +could be such credulous fools. I mustn't say anything stronger of your +relatives."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>"I don't think being my relatives makes them any brighter," Andrew +replied with a grin. "My father was the last genius in the family; +talent often skips a generation. But we'll let the matter drop."</p> + +<p>"If you find gratitude hard to put up with. It seems that your sister +Hilda has told Clare something about your adventures. You had some +rough experiences in Canada?"</p> + +<p>"One or two. I shouldn't imagine they were uncommon in West Africa."</p> + +<p>"You're right," returned Olcott grimly. "We must have a long talk; but +here's the clergyman coming in search of you and he looks as if he had +something important to say."</p> + +<p>He withdrew and Robert Allinson sat down with a confused but resolute +air.</p> + +<p>"Andrew," he said, "I have come to express my regret at having wronged +you by suspicions which I am now ashamed of."</p> + +<p>"After all, perhaps you had some excuse. I wasn't as careful as I +should have been; but I'm getting tired of the subject."</p> + +<p>"It's painful, but I must go on. I knew what a mistake I had made as +soon as I saw Olcott come in; but you don't understand yet how far my +suspicions led me. I felt it my duty to see Judson about Mrs. Olcott's +lease."</p> + +<p>"Ah! You mean you put the screw on him? I'm glad your plot seems to +have failed."</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Robert. "I'll confess that I was disappointed at first +and suspected Wannop of interfering. As you know, he's lax in his +views."</p> + +<p>"It's unfortunate the laxity you complain of isn't more common." +Andrew broke into a smile. "No<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> doubt Wannop was too clever for you; +but I don't bear you any grudge. I believe you meant well, and good +intentions seem to excuse a good deal of harshness."</p> + +<p>"I did what I thought was my duty," Robert said with dignity, and +moved away.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterward Andrew entered the drawing-room, where he was +surprised to see Robert talking to Mrs. Olcott. The clergyman looked +unusually solemn and Mrs. Olcott's expression was resigned. Hilda, +joining her brother, glanced toward the other two.</p> + +<p>"Isn't he amusing?" she said with a soft laugh. "He's doing penance +and feeling as awkward as he deserves. No doubt Mrs. Olcott feels +horribly bored."</p> + +<p>"What do you know about the matter?" Andrew asked sharply.</p> + +<p>"More than you think. Robert believes he's making full amends by +countenancing Mrs. Olcott as he's doing. After this, of course, nobody +need fight shy of her."</p> + +<p>Andrew knew that reproof would be useless; Hilda would laugh at him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I've a higher opinion of Robert now than I've had +for some time."</p> + +<p>"He's pompous and silly," Hilda declared. "Sometimes I feel sorry for +him, sometimes he makes me positively wicked; but after all he has his +good points. For one thing, he's not afraid."</p> + +<p>She went away when Andrew joined his elder sisters, and the evening +passed pleasantly. When the party broke up Andrew strolled out to the +terrace and leaned on the low wall. There was no moon, but the night +was clear and mild. Bare trees rose in shadowy masses across the dark +stretch of lawn; the ghyll beyond it was filled with mist, out of +which there rose the gurgle of running water. In the distance a ridge +of moor cut darkly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> against the sky. The lights in the house went out +one by one; the stillness was soothing and Andrew became lost in +thought.</p> + +<p>He knew and loved every wood and field in the dim countryside he +looked out upon. He had spent happy, healthful days on the purple +moors when the grouse came flitting across the heather; among the +turnips and yellow stubble in the valley where the partridge coveys +lay; and by deep pools in the ghyll where the silver sea-trout gleamed +through the brown peat water. It was a harmless life he had led there, +but he felt that it had been a wasted one. Its peaceful sounds had +dulled his ears to the clamor of the busy world where the work he had +neglected badly needed doing. He was not a prig and felt no call to be +a general reformer, but the Allinson honor was tainted and it was his +business to remove the stain. He might fail, but he must concentrate +upon the task all the power he possessed.</p> + +<p>Then he began to consider ways and means. A good deal depended on his +relatives' attitude. They could hamper him by their resistance and he +wanted their support, though he was prepared to go on without it. +To-night they had obviously acquitted him of a supposititious folly, +which was something to the good; indeed, he had been especially +pleased by Robert's frank expression of regret. He had looked for +determined opposition from the clergyman, but now he did not despair +of winning him. Though prejudiced and conventional, Robert was +sincere, and that was a great thing.</p> + +<p>To-morrow evening the family council must be held. He imagined that +Leonard was clever enough to have put him in the wrong beforehand. He +would, no doubt, be called on to explain his rash interference with +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> company's Canadian affairs, and he must make the best defense he +could. Indeed, he must bear with a good deal, if needful, to make his +defense effective; but, if this could not be done, there was another +line he meant to take. He would let those who misjudged him know that +he was the head of Allinson's and would go on as he had begun.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE TRUTH ABOUT RAIN BLUFF</span></h2> + + +<p>Dinner was a solemn function the next evening. Andrew, who had been +shooting with Wannop and Olcott all day, was quietly thoughtful, and +the rest of the party felt a sense of constraint. Conversation +dragged; once or twice it nearly died away and Leonard prevented an +awkward pause by his polished wit. Between whiles, however, Wannop +jested bravely and Hilda seconded him, occasionally at Robert's and +Leonard's expense. The others talked without much point when they +could think of anything to say; but, preoccupied as they were, it was +a relief to all when they dispersed for half an hour before meeting +Andrew in the library. He spent the interval in his smoking-room, +thinking hard, but he looked up when Hilda came in and sat down on the +lounge beside him.</p> + +<p>"Feeling very bad, old boy?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I have spent more cheerful moments," Andrew replied.</p> + +<p>Hilda nodded.</p> + +<p>"It must be trying—the pause before the battle! But you'll shake off +the sinking feeling when you get into action. Don't let them bully +you, Andrew. They can look very wise, but there's none of them you +need be afraid of, unless it's Leonard. Antony, of course, will back +you all he can."</p> + +<p>"Thanks for the encouragement; but I'm not sure you have any right to +talk about these things.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't be silly! Can't you realize that I've grown up? And if I +hadn't as much sense as Robert and Mrs. Fenwood, I'd feel very sorry +for myself. But we had better be practical—I suppose you see what you +ought to do?"</p> + +<p>"No," Andrew admitted, "not as clearly as I could wish."</p> + +<p>"Then what troubles the others is that they can't think for +themselves. They must have a lead, as Leonard knows, and he has +cleverly given them one. So far, they have followed him docilely; now +you must make them follow you."</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me how it should be done?"</p> + +<p>"I'll admit that it's easier to sketch out a general plan than to fit +in the details; but that's your business," said Hilda. Then her tone +changed and grew tinged with haughtiness. "First of all, remember that +you're fighting for Allinson's! I'm glad the others are nearly as +proud of the name as we are. It's unthinkable that Leonard should drag +it down and sell it for what he can gain. You stand for what we hold +precious; you must beat him."</p> + +<p>"I'll try," Andrew promised soberly; and Hilda kissed him and went +hastily from the room.</p> + +<p>Andrew remained for a few minutes, feeling cheered. Geraldine, Ethel, +and now Hilda had urged him on. They thought he was right, and it +looked as if all had some confidence in his ability. He was not sure +that it was well founded, for he knew his limitations, the worst of +which was ignorance. Still, he must try not to discredit his +supporters, and his task could not be shirked. He went to the library, +where his relatives were waiting, and gravely asked them to be seated. +Though two pillar lamps were lighted, the large room<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> was shadowy. A +silver stand with candles burning occupied the middle of the great oak +table round which the party gathered, flinging a clear illumination on +their faces.</p> + +<p>Andrew took the head of the table, and there was something the others +had not expected in his quiet manner. He did not look as if he had +come to make excuses or ask their forbearance. Leonard, sitting +opposite, eyed him sharply; Florence and Gertrude did not seem at +ease. Mrs. Fenwood and Robert Allinson were heavily serious; Wannop +waited with amused expectancy.</p> + +<p>"I asked you to meet me here because you all have a large interest in +Allinson's and the Rain Bluff mine," Andrew began. "I thought it fit +that you should hear why I have made some changes in our Canadian +plans."</p> + +<p>"It would be better not to confuse Allinson's with the mine," Leonard +interposed. "The Rain Bluff is, of course, an independent company."</p> + +<p>"No," said Andrew sternly; "in a very real sense that is not correct. +The two must stand together. The Rain Bluff shares were largely taken +up by the family and our customers. The mine cannot prove a failure +without discrediting the firm which launched and tacitly guaranteed +it. A pledge given by Allinson's must be redeemed."</p> + +<p>"That is obvious," Robert solemnly agreed.</p> + +<p>"Andrew is begging the question in speaking of the mine as being +guaranteed by the firm," Leonard persisted. "The shares were offered +to the public on the inducements stated in the prospectus."</p> + +<p>"They were subscribed for because it was an Allinson venture; but +we'll leave that point for a while. I feel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> justified in asking your +attention as Rain Bluff shareholders—though I have learned that +Leonard has lately reduced his holding."</p> + +<p>Several of the others showed surprise and Leonard looked disconcerted, +but Wannop broke into a deep chuckle.</p> + +<p>"I felt tempted to do the same, after what I learned at the Lake of +Shadows," he remarked. "However, when I'd had a few words with Andrew +I decided to hold on. Though he's carrying a good bit of my money, I +felt he was worth backing."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Andrew, "I was sent out to look into Canadian matters, +and I have done so. The discoveries I made are by no means +reassuring."</p> + +<p>He paused with a dry smile, and his listeners felt uncomfortable. He +had not been sent out to investigate the mining operations, but to +keep him out of harm. Leonard was conscious that he had made a +mistake; Andrew had developed unsuspected capabilities.</p> + +<p>"A large proportion of the company's work is done by contract, and I +found that newly arrived immigrants, ignorant of their rights, were +mainly employed. They were badly fed, though in Canada the rudest +laborers are given a generous diet, worse housed, paid less than +standard wages, and cheated of part of their due. It is not by such +means that Allinson's should make money."</p> + +<p>"It is not," Robert firmly declared.</p> + +<p>He was the last ally Andrew had looked for; but Robert had been +thinking to some purpose. Leonard had deceived him about Mrs. Olcott; +he had been led into conduct which savored of cruelty and which he +regretted. Leonard having played false in one matter, might do so in +another. Robert's faith in him had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> been rudely shaken and he felt +that the man must be watched.</p> + +<p>"After all, we are not responsible for the evils Andrew mentions," +Mrs. Fenwood broke in. "It must be the contractor's fault."</p> + +<p>"Responsibility," said Robert, "cannot be shuffled off, though what +one may call the impersonal nature of a public company seems to make +it easier. The money is yours and you expect to draw the dividends. It +is a pernicious idea that one may make a profit by investing in a +company whose business is harmful, and go free from blame. I may say +that I was once urged to apply for shares in a new brewery a little +before they were put on the market, and I felt that I had done right +in declining, though they went to a handsome premium shortly +afterward."</p> + +<p>The tone in which he concluded suggested keen regret, and Wannop +laughed.</p> + +<p>"Andrew is probably mistaken in what he alleges," Leonard said.</p> + +<p>"I'll give you a few figures." Andrew read from a notebook particulars +of the wages paid by Mappin as compared with other contractors. "I +have seen the rest of the things; there can be no doubt about them. I +presume Leonard was ignorant of the contractor's character and the +methods he employs."</p> + +<p>Andrew stopped, having scored a point. Leonard could not profess a +knowledge of Mappin's doings, although to admit his ignorance of them +was to acknowledge his antagonist's superiority.</p> + +<p>"It seems that I have been somewhat mistaken about the man," he said.</p> + +<p>"Now that you have been informed, you cannot feel that we ought still +to entrust our work to him?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>Wannop gave Andrew an approving smile, recognizing that he had taken a +very judicious line. Leonard must respect the opinions of the others, +and he knew that they would not sanction anything flagrantly unjust +and discreditable.</p> + +<p>"No," he conceded; "not in a general way. At the same time, sudden and +severe changes should be avoided. The man is carrying out his duties +efficiently and economically."</p> + +<p>"I think not," said Andrew. "I'll have to tax your patience with some +more figures. They show that we could do the work cheaper without +wronging anybody we employ."</p> + +<p>Opening his notebook, he supported his claim, and there was a brief +silence when he had finished. Then Florence broke in angrily.</p> + +<p>"As a shareholder in my own right, I am entitled to speak. Leonard was +satisfied with the arrangements, and you all know his long experience +and business ability. It's absurd that Andrew should presume to +question what Leonard has done. His judgment cannot be as good."</p> + +<p>"That is obvious," Mrs. Fenwood said.</p> + +<p>Andrew realized that his relatives' prejudices had still to be +reckoned with. In their eyes he was a rash beginner, liable to be +misled.</p> + +<p>"I spent some time on the spot, investigating things," he reminded +them. "You have heard our contractor's charges, and I have given you +the cost of cutting rock and supplying props at regulation wages. Is +Leonard inclined to challenge the figures?"</p> + +<p>"After all," said Leonard, "the subject is not of the first +importance. It is more serious that you have taken upon yourself to +reduce the output of the mine."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>"It is undoubtedly a grave matter. Unfortunately, there seems to be no +prospect of the mine's paying."</p> + +<p>The announcement caused some sensation, but while the others looked at +him in surprise and concern, Leonard flushed.</p> + +<p>"There is a risk in jumping to conclusions!" he said. "The all-round +quality of the ore can only be proved by extensive working, and you +must be aware that to increase the quantity of the output reduces the +cost per ton!"</p> + +<p>"That is a maxim which requires some thinking over," Wannop observed. +"To begin with, I don't see how you can cut down the cost when you +have a good deal of the work done by a contractor at a fixed price. +Then if there's a loss on every ton, it puzzles an outsider like +myself to understand how you expect to make a profit by producing a +very large quantity."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it would take me some time and trouble to explain the +thing," Leonard said with a polished sneer.</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt you'd find it difficult," Wannop retorted.</p> + +<p>"Are we to understand that there will be no dividends?" Mrs. Fenwood +interposed, in alarm. "If so, I feel that I have been cruelly +deceived. I was promised a handsome profit in the prospectus."</p> + +<p>"I have much the same feeling," said Robert Allinson. "The matter is +one of importance to me. My stipend is not large; the expenses which +my work in this parish entails are heavy. I bought the shares because +I expected they would pay."</p> + +<p>"It's the usual reason for buying shares; but investors are +disappointed now and then," Wannop said genially.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>"You took a business hazard, Robert, as did Mrs. Fenwood," Leonard +contended. "Even if our Canadian prospects were as bad as Andrew +imagines, which I do not admit, you would have no grievance."</p> + +<p>"You're mistaken!" exclaimed Mrs. Fenwood. "I have heard that mining +shares are risky, but I had every reason to believe that Allinson's +never took up anything that was not perfectly sound."</p> + +<p>"That was true, until recently," Andrew said quietly, looking steadily +at his brother-in-law. "I think I may say that it will again be the +rule in the future."</p> + +<p>Leonard smiled and turned to the others.</p> + +<p>"I agree with Andrew, but I must suggest more caution on his part. +After careful investigations in Canada, I made arrangements for the +working of the new company. Everything promised well, there was no +prospect of any difficulty, and I must confess to some astonishment +when Andrew told me we were threatened by serious trouble. If he is +right, I feel that he is to some extent responsible. In his +inexperience, he has, I fear, acted with more zeal than discretion."</p> + +<p>"It's the only conclusion one can come to," Mrs. Fenwood remarked +severely.</p> + +<p>"Is it seriously suggested that Andrew's inexperience has had some +effect on the nature of the rock we are working?" Wannop inquired.</p> + +<p>"After all," continued Leonard, "I think I may say that there is no +cause for alarm. If the mining is proceeded with on the lines I laid +down and no rash experiments are made, we shall no doubt presently +reach excellent ore. I must deprecate the undertaking of any new +ventures such as Andrew seems to have in view."</p> + +<p>The listeners showed relief. One or two questions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> were asked, and +Leonard, feeling that he was getting the better of the situation, went +on gravely.</p> + +<p>"His favorite scheme, I understand, is the exploitation of a lode far +to the north, which was discovered by a sawmill clerk twenty years +ago; though in the place where he lives the thing is looked on as a +delusion of the man's. Indeed, it is said that he is crazy on the +subject. It strikes me as highly injudicious that the Company's +capital should be wasted upon a search for imaginary minerals."</p> + +<p>"I will engage that not a penny shall be unprofitably spent," said +Andrew. "If the thing prove a failure, I will bear the expense."</p> + +<p>No one spoke for a few moments, and then Robert looked up.</p> + +<p>"I feel that we are entitled to ask for a few particulars," he said.</p> + +<p>"There we must disagree," Andrew replied. "If I am right about the +lode, you and the other shareholders will be told all you wish to +know; if I am wrong, the loss will be mine."</p> + +<p>They were puzzled by his resolute air. He was placing himself at a +disadvantage by refusing an explanation, but this did not seem to +trouble him. He had all along adopted a strangely masterful tone, +without a hint of doubt or hesitation.</p> + +<p>"I hardly think you are treating us fairly by keeping us in the dark," +Robert protested.</p> + +<p>Andrew smiled.</p> + +<p>"Then I must ask your forbearance. I was given full authority as a +director when I went to Canada, and I must try to use it as I think +best for the shareholders' benefit. Moreover, it cannot be rescinded +until the next general meeting of the Company. When that is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> held, I +shall be ready to give an account of what I have done."</p> + +<p>"Then it looks as if we had been brought here for nothing," Mrs. +Fenwood complained.</p> + +<p>"Hardly so. You have learned that the mine cannot be profitably worked +on the present system and that I am making changes which may improve +the Company's prospects. You have had an opportunity for condemning my +policy, which you have not done. I venture to believe you are +reserving your judgment, which is all I can ask."</p> + +<p>There was a pause for the next few moments. Andrew had changed his +tone to one of grave appeal, and as he leaned back, waiting, with the +light of the candles on his face, it struck one or two of them that he +looked very much like his father, who had retrieved and added to the +fortunes of the firm. Robert glanced at him in frank sympathy, which +touched Andrew, for he had not expected it. Then Leonard broke the +silence.</p> + +<p>"Andrew is asking you to trust him with extensive powers; in fact, he +demands something of the nature of a blank check, without explaining +what use he means to make of it. I willingly admit that the position +he holds by right is a strong one, and we have no direct means of +restraining him; his interest in the firm gives him more authority +than any of us individually holds. For all that, it must be remembered +that he could not stand against the unanimous family vote, and I have +no doubt he will agree that you are now called upon to act as a kind +of informal jury. Whatever course you decide on the directors must +adopt. Your position is accordingly a serious and important one. +Andrew is young and inexperienced;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> the affairs of a Company like the +Rain Bluff demand careful and skilful handling."</p> + +<p>"Leonard has stated the situation fairly. I have nothing to add," +Andrew said quietly.</p> + +<p>His relatives hesitated, looking irresolute, with the exception of +Florence and Mrs. Fenwood, who regarded Andrew with distrustful +severity. After a few moments Wannop addressed them.</p> + +<p>"My suggestion is that we do nothing at present, but wait, as Andrew +asks, until a meeting of the shareholders is held, when he must give a +full account of his plans. Then we will see our course more clearly; +but if he finds he can take us into his confidence sooner, so much the +better."</p> + +<p>Florence and Mrs. Fenwood dissented, but the others acquiesced, +including Leonard, who knew how far it was prudent to go, and the +party broke up. Andrew, however, remained in his place, and Leonard +lingered to light a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"I must congratulate you," he said. "You handled the thing better than +one could have anticipated. I suppose you are going back shortly, to +look for the lode?"</p> + +<p>"I am going back. I cannot tell you what I shall do until I arrive."</p> + +<p>Leonard winced.</p> + +<p>"You're not disposed to be confidential, but I won't complain of +that." He added quietly: "Be careful, Andrew; it's easy to make +trouble, and hard to put it right. You haven't accomplished much yet, +and there are serious difficulties ahead."</p> + +<p>"That's true," admitted Andrew with a direct glance. "I am, however, +not making trouble. It's all round me and must be grappled with."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>"Then I wish you luck," said Leonard, and went out.</p> + +<p>Andrew lighted a cigar; he deeply distrusted Leonard, whose +confederate, perhaps with his knowledge, had plotted to starve him to +death; it was irksome that he should be forced to treat the man as an +honored guest. Of late he had been subject to fits of savage anger as +he remembered how his attempt to find the lode was thwarted. So far as +it was possible, he must play out the game correctly in accordance +with conventional rules. His relatives would insist on this; an +outbreak would shock them and cost him their support. Nevertheless, it +was hard to dissemble and treat Leonard courteously.</p> + +<p>Flinging his cigar into the grate, Andrew rose with a frown. His +brother-in-law was right: there was trouble ahead. He had not only +Leonard but the unscrupulous Mappin to grapple with.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A DELICATE POINT</span></h2> + + +<p>The afternoon was drawing to a close when Andrew, Olcott, and a friend +of the latter's, carrying guns and spread out in line, entered a +stretch of rough, boggy pasture near the river. Clumps of reeds and +rushes grew along the open drains, water gleamed among the grass, and +the bare trees on the high bank across the stream stood out sharp and +black against a glow of saffron light. The men were wet to the knees, +and a white setter, splashed with mire, trotted in front of them. +Murray, Olcott's friend, who was on Andrew's right, sprang across a +broad drain and laughed when he alighted.</p> + +<p>"Over my boots, but my feet can't get any wetter," he remarked. "I +don't know that this is a judicious amusement after being invalided +home from the tropics; but it looks a likely place for a mallard."</p> + +<p>Allinson had met Murray for the first time that morning, and noticed +that the man, a government official in a West African colony, looked +at him rather intently when they were introduced. They had, however, +spent a pleasant day, and Andrew was going to Olcott's to dinner.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid the plover will put up any ducks there are about," he +said. "They're a nuisance and you're not allowed to shoot them here. +It will be bad to keep our line over this rough ground."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>Four or five lapwings, screaming shrilly, wheeled in wide circles +overhead, showing sharply black and white as the light struck them, +and fading into indistinct gray patches as they turned in erratic +flight. The men advanced cautiously, searching the ground with eager +eyes, and keeping their positions as closely as possible. This was +needful for the safety of the party in case a bird got up and crossed +their line of march, when the right to first shot would be determined +by the code of shooting etiquette.</p> + +<p>Andrew was plodding through a belt of rush with a plover circling +close above his head when the setter, after creeping slowly forward +for a few paces, suddenly stopped. Then a small gray object sprang up +from a drain and Andrew threw his gun to his shoulder. He dropped it +the next moment, with a low call to Murray:</p> + +<p>"Your bird!"</p> + +<p>The snipe had swung a little to the right in its swift flight, +swerving in sharp corkscrew twists, and Murray's gun twice flashed. +The bird, however, held on and faded against the dusky background of +the river bank. Murray stopped and turned to Andrew with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I'm hardly up to snipe," he said. "It's a pity you were +generous enough to give me the shot."</p> + +<p>"It was yours by right."</p> + +<p>"That," Murray disputed, "is an open point. If I had been in your +place and could have hit the bird, I wouldn't have let it go. However, +if the firing hasn't made them wild, you may get another chance."</p> + +<p>The sun had sunk behind the tall bank and the pale yellow light that +lingered was confusing when the setter flushed a second snipe, which +went away at long range in front of Andrew. During a part of each +quick gyration he could not see it, but when it was outlined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> for a +second, black against the light, his gun flashed and the bird fell +among the reeds. When the setter had found it Murray looked surprised.</p> + +<p>"Considering the bad light and the distance, it was a remarkably clean +shot," he said. "I expected to see that you had hit it with only a +stray pellet or two."</p> + +<p>"I used the left barrel," Andrew explained, smiling. "It's a +half-choke; an old gun. That accounts for the charge hanging +together."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't account for your killing your bird at a long range with +shot which wouldn't spread. But it's getting dark and we've had +enough."</p> + +<p>They turned back to the nearest road, and an hour or two after +reaching home Andrew walked across to Olcott's. Ethel Hillyard was +there, and when they went into dinner Murray, sitting next to her, +glanced at Andrew near the other end of the table.</p> + +<p>"I was out with Mr. Allinson to-day," he said. "As he's a neighbor of +yours, I've no doubt you know him pretty well. He struck me as a +particularly straight man."</p> + +<p>"He is so," declared Ethel warmly. "I don't know a straighter. Still, +I don't see how you came to that conclusion by watching his shooting."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem very obvious," Murray responded with a smile. +"However, so far as my experience goes, a man who's scrupulous in one +thing is very apt to prove the same in another. When we were out this +afternoon, a snipe got up in front of him and he let me have the +shot."</p> + +<p>"But how does that prove his general honesty?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure I was entitled to the shot, though as the bird headed +slightly toward me there was some doubt about the matter. Allinson +gave me the full benefit,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> though I think he must have known that I +would miss."</p> + +<p>"Is it a great sacrifice to give up a shot?"</p> + +<p>"A snipe," said Murray, "is very hard to hit, though Allinson showed +us afterward that he is capable of bringing one down. Now when you +know you can do a difficult thing neatly, it's not easy to refrain."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps that's true," Ethel agreed. "No doubt the temptation's +stronger when you have an appreciative audience."</p> + +<p>"Mine," said Murray, "was too polite to laugh."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott asked him a question and they changed the subject, but +after dinner Murray found an opportunity for a word with Andrew, whom +Olcott had left alone in his smoking-room.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's hardly correct to talk to you on business here, and I +won't press you, but there's some information you may be able to give +me," he said.</p> + +<p>Andrew looked at the man more carefully than he had hitherto done. +Murray's face was thin and rather haggard, but it bore the stamp of +authority. His manner was grave but pleasant.</p> + +<p>"I am at your service," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Then I want to ask about the Rain Bluff mine. A little time ago a +stock-jobbing friend told me it ought to turn out a good thing. He +said that whatever Allinson's took up could be relied on, and it was +clear that he had a high opinion of your house. On the strength of it, +I put some money into the venture." He paused with a smile. "Now, you +are wondering why a man with means enough to speculate should go to +West Africa?"</p> + +<p>"Something like that was in my mind."</p> + +<p>"Well, I learned that I'd the knack of getting on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> with primitive +peoples; in fact, it's my only talent, and I felt that I had to make +use of it. Then it's a mysterious country, that gets hold of one, and +perhaps is hardly so bad as it's painted. As a rule, I don't have +fever more than half a dozen times a year. What's more to the purpose, +part of the money was lately left to me. But I'm getting away from the +point."</p> + +<p>Andrew was favorably impressed by the man. They had something in +common, for both were imbued with a sense of responsibility. Murray +had lightly indicated this, and Andrew knew that West Africa is far +from a desirable place to live.</p> + +<p>"You have a reason for feeling anxious about those shares?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. In my district, the risk of getting permanently disabled by the +climate or shot by an ambushed nigger has to be considered. Stipend +and pension are small, and I felt that I needed something to fall back +on. That was why I bought the Rain Bluff stock. Now my friend tells me +that the shares are being quietly sold in small lots, which he seems +to think ominous. If you can tell me anything about the matter, I'll +be grateful."</p> + +<p>Andrew was silent for a minute or two, feeling troubled. He did not +pity the regular stock-jobbers and speculators who had bought Rain +Bluff stock, for they were accustomed to playing a risky game. It was, +however, different with such investors as Murray—men of small means, +who had carefully saved something to provide for old age, and women +left with just enough to keep them from want. These, he thought, +formed a numerous class and demanded his sympathy. They had, no doubt, +avoiding ventures which offered a larger return, been influenced by a +desire for security,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> which would seem to be promised by Allinson's +connection with the mine.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said at last, "I believe it is true that shares have been +parted with by a man who has a say in the management of the company."</p> + +<p>"That sounds discouraging. If I sell out, I'll lose three or four +shillings on every share."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and if others follow your example, it will weaken the Company's +position. However, I think you can venture to keep your stock."</p> + +<p>"You can't expect me to take the risk of holding, in order to support +a concern in which I'm badly disappointed. I must ask you frankly what +is wrong at the mine?"</p> + +<p>"In strict confidence, I may say that the ore we are working does not +promise well."</p> + +<p>Murray looked at him in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"You are remarkably candid; but you give me a curious reason for +holding on to my shares."</p> + +<p>"Here's a better one," said Andrew. "We have another mine in view; but +whether it turns out rich or not, no holder of Rain Bluff stock shall +lose a penny by his confidence in Allinson's."</p> + +<p>"Though I don't know much about stock-jobbing, that strikes me as an +extraordinary promise."</p> + +<p>"I dare say it is," Andrew replied. "I offer you no guarantee; you +must use your judgment."</p> + +<p>Murray looked up sharply.</p> + +<p>"I believe your word is good enough. You have taken a load off my +mind, Mr. Allinson. I'll hold those shares. May I add that if my proxy +is likely to be of any value at your meetings, you may count on it?"</p> + +<p>"Thanks! And now, did I tell you that Olcott<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> promised to bring you +out again to-morrow? There's a cover I want to beat and the pheasants +ought to be plentiful."</p> + +<p>They went down together and Murray joined Ethel Hillyard in the +drawing-room.</p> + +<p>"I've had a talk with Mr. Allinson which confirms your opinion of +him," he said. "But I must say that he doesn't fit in with my idea of +a Company director."</p> + +<p>Ethel laughed.</p> + +<p>"Andrew's new to the business, and undertook it with reluctance from a +sense of duty. For all that, though his ignorance of commercial +matters must be a handicap, I expect him to make a success of it."</p> + +<p>"One would imagine that a desire to make money is the more usual +object, but I think you're right. In fact, you have touched upon a pet +idea of mine."</p> + +<p>The girl turned and studied him. There was a trace of gravity in his +manner, and she understood that he had done with credit difficult and +dangerous work.</p> + +<p>"What is the idea?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"To put it roughly, something like this—more depends on character +than specialized training; determination and strong sincerity often +carry one farther than a knowledge of the rules of the game. One sees +people who rely on the latter come to grief."</p> + +<p>"Even in Company floating?"</p> + +<p>"That," said Murray, smiling, "is a subject about which I'm ignorant. +I was speaking of the general principle."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that right must prevail?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sanguine enough to believe it often does in the end."</p> + +<p>"One would like to think so. But as we seem to be getting serious, +isn't the question whether it prevails<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> or not another matter from an +altruistic point of view?"</p> + +<p>Murray pondered this and then looked up with a twinkle.</p> + +<p>"So long as I'm not priggish, I don't mind being serious. You see, I'm +fresh from the shadowy bush, where life is solemn enough, and when I +came home not long ago after a three years' absence I felt strangely +out of place. You're at a disadvantage when you can't talk about the +latest musical comedy or popular dancer, and it's as bad not to know +the favorite for an approaching steeplechase. However, to stick to our +subject, I see what you mean. One must do one's work and not worry +about the result?"</p> + +<p>Olcott was passing and he stopped beside them.</p> + +<p>"Murray seems to be moralizing," he laughed. "I must warn you that he +spends his evenings in Africa sitting behind a mosquito-netting +studying the early Victorian philosophers. It's some excuse for him +that when the niggers are quiet he has nothing else to do and nobody +to talk to except a colored official."</p> + +<p>"Don't you get any newspapers?" Ethel asked.</p> + +<p>"They're often too wet and pulpy to read, and now and then the +sporting natives bag the mail-carrier. I've known them try to stalk +the white officer responsible for too drastic reforms."</p> + +<p>Ethel regarded Murray with heightened interest. There was something +that both amused and touched her in the thought of the lonely man, +shut in by the black, steamy forest, spending his evenings reading +philosophy.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she said, "whether you find any practical application of +the great thinkers' theories?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>"One old favorite of mine strikes me as rather grim and singularly +hard to please; but so far as I can judge, he hits the mark now and +then. It's a pet theme of his that only that which stands on justice, +and is better than what it displaces, can endure. You see that worked +out in a primitive country like West Africa."</p> + +<p>"But isn't the progress of civilization assisted by machine-guns and +followed by gin?"</p> + +<p>"A fair shot!" laughed Olcott. "Our rule's often faulty, but it's a +good deal better than the natives had before. Murray knows a creek +that mutilated corpses used to drift down after each big palaver and +celebration of Ju-Ju rites."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he had some trouble in putting a stop to it?"</p> + +<p>Olcott broke into a grim smile.</p> + +<p>"One would imagine so, from what I heard of the matter. An army of +savages with flintlocks took the bush on the other side; there were +about two dozen colored Mohammedan soldiers, a white lieutenant, +carried in a hammock because he was too ill to walk, and a civil +officer who wasn't authorized to fight, to carry out the reforms. +Though it didn't look encouraging at the start, they were effected."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Ethel, "one could be proud of things like that! After all, +Mr. Murray's philosopher may be right. It's cheering to find a man +ready to put his belief in justice to the test."</p> + +<p>"There's one," said Olcott, indicating Andrew. "I shouldn't wonder if +it costs him something."</p> + +<p>The group broke up and some time later Andrew walked home with Ethel. +The distance was not great, the road was dry, and a half moon threw +down a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> silvery light. Thin mist filled the hollows, the murmur of the +river rose from a deep valley, and the air was soft.</p> + +<p>"It's very open weather," Ethel remarked. "I suppose it's different in +Canada?"</p> + +<p>"In the part I'm best acquainted with the thermometer is now +registering forty degrees below zero, and it would need a charge of +dynamite to break the ice on the lakes."</p> + +<p>"Prospecting must be stern work," said Ethel speculatively. "It's +curious that you haven't thought it worth while to give me an account +of your adventures. Won't you do so?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you mustn't blame me if you find them tedious. As a matter of +fact, I haven't said much about them to anybody yet."</p> + +<p>He began with a few rather involved explanations, but his style became +clearer as he followed up the main thread of the tale, and Ethel +listened with close interest.</p> + +<p>"So it was the Frobishers who saved you by sending off a rescue +party!" she exclaimed when he had finished. "But how did they know you +were in danger?"</p> + +<p>"That's more than I can tell. Of course, we were behind our time, but +that doesn't account for all. I've a suspicion that Miss Frobisher had +some means of finding out the most serious risk we ran."</p> + +<p>Ethel thought this indicated that Geraldine took a marked interest in +the man. She wondered if it had occurred to him.</p> + +<p>"And you believe the fellow really meant to starve you?" she said.</p> + +<p>"He didn't intend us to find the food. It comes to the same thing."</p> + +<p>"But his conduct seems so inhuman! Surely, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> would not have let you +die of hunger with no better reason than to prevent you from +interfering with his contract?"</p> + +<p>Andrew hesitated. He could not tell her that Mappin might have been +actuated by jealousy; modesty prevented his doing so.</p> + +<p>"The fellow is greedy and unscrupulous enough for anything," he +replied evasively.</p> + +<p>"But you hinted that he was clever," Ethel persisted. "Only a fool +would commit a serious crime for a small advantage."</p> + +<p>"It's certainly puzzling," Andrew admitted.</p> + +<p>Then he was surprised and disconcerted when Ethel turned on him a +searching glance.</p> + +<p>"Andrew," she said, "the man must have been given a hint by some one +more powerful. His is not the strongest interest you are opposed to."</p> + +<p>The color crept into Andrew's face. He suspected Leonard, but it was +unthinkable that he should declare his brother-in-law's infamy. This +was a matter that lay between the culprit and himself.</p> + +<p>"It's an unpleasant topic and the fellow's a rascal," he answered. +"It's hard to say what might influence such men. They're not quite +normal; you can't account for them."</p> + +<p>"But you're going back to look for the lode, aren't you?" Ethel laid +her hand on his arm. "Be careful; you have had a warning. I suppose +you must do what you have fixed your mind on and, knowing you are +right, I dare not dissuade you."</p> + +<p>"I'll run no risks that can be avoided and, in particular, trust no +outsider to look after the supplies for our next trip," Andrew said +grimly. "One experience like the last is enough."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>For a few minutes they walked on in silence. Ethel knew her +companion's character and admired it; and now she had met Murray, who +in some respects resembled him, as did Olcott. All were men of action, +and there was the same indefinite but recognizable stamp on them. They +were direct, simple in a sense which did not imply foolishness, free +from petty assumption and incapable of suave diplomacy; but one could +rely on them in time of stress. Leonard was a good example of the +opposite type; but she found the other more pleasant to think about. +When she reached the gate she gave Andrew her hand.</p> + +<p>"You know you have my good wishes," she said.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER</span></h2> + + +<p>Andrew returned to Canada satisfied with his English visit. He had not +convinced his relatives that his judgment was entirely to be trusted, +but he knew that he stood higher in their esteem than he had done; and +that was something to be thankful for. Leonard, he thought, would find +it more difficult to prejudice them against his plans. On reaching the +Lake of Shadows, he found Graham recovering and learned that the +Frobishers had left for their home in Denver. After remaining a few +days at the Landing he went up to the mine, where the ore showed no +sign of improvement. For all that, he spent a month there, waiting +until the thaw came and maturing his plans for his second journey to +Dream Mine.</p> + +<p>At last the rotting ice began to yield, and Andrew sat outside +Watson's shack one day, watching an impressive spectacle. The river +broke up with violence, the ice ripping and rending with a sound like +the roar of artillery, and as the great torn masses swept away, the +water pent up in the higher reaches poured into the gorge, swollen +with melting snow. It rolled by in savage flood, laden with tremendous +blocks of ice, some of which, cemented together near falls and rapids, +were the size of small frame houses. Among them drove huge floes into +which the floating cakes had solidified during the earlier frosts. +Here and there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> one stranded upon a point, or swung in an eddy, until +another crashed into it and both were shattered amid a bewildering +uproar. Then, for a while, the stream was filled with massive, driving +sheets of ice, which ground the banks with a tremendous din and scored +the tops of projecting boulders, while waterlogged pines and stumps +sunk in the river-bed were crushed to pulp.</p> + +<p>Andrew had never seen any display of natural forces to equal this, and +when he went into the shack for supper he found that he could not get +the recollection of it out of his mind. The lonely North is a savage +country, very grim and terrible in some of its moods. Andrew, however, +had carefully considered and endeavored to guard against its dangers, +and when a canoe which had been especially built for him in Toronto +arrived, he set out on his journey with Carnally and Graham. There was +now no risk of frostbite and the gray trout would help out their food +supply, but they knew the trip would cost them much exhausting labor.</p> + +<p>For some days they poled and paddled up the swollen river, spending +hours in dragging the canoe and provisions across rocky portages to +avoid furious rapids, and often wading waist-deep in icy water with +the tracking line. At night they slept, generally wet through, among +the stones, though there was often sharp frost and the slack along the +bank was covered with fresh ice in the morning; but they made steady +progress until the stream broke up into small forks and they must +cross the height of land. This was singularly toilsome work. In some +places they were forced to hew a path through scrub spruce bush; in +others there were slippery rocks to be scrambled across, while two in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +turn carried the canoe, borne upside-down upon the shoulders. Then +there were the provisions to be brought up, and in relaying them each +difficult stage had to be traversed several times, so that once or +twice, when they had made only a mile or two in an exhausting day, +Andrew almost despaired of getting any farther.</p> + +<p>At last, however, they found a creek rushing tumultuously down the +back of the divide. They followed it, one of them checking the canoe +by the tracking line while the others kept her off the rocks with pole +and paddle. Their provisions were secured, so far as possible, from +damage by water, but there was danger of losing them in a capsize, and +boiling eddies and roaring rapids made caution needful. For a while +the creek led them roughly where they wished to go, and then turned +off, and they crossed a high ridge in search of another. Lakes and +rivers abound in those wilds, which are almost impassable on foot +during the short summer. As they worked north the sun grew warmer, but +the temperature fell sharply at night, and now and then the waste was +swept by piercing winds.</p> + +<p>One of these was raging when they scudded down a lake on a cold and +lowering evening. Gray vapor blurred the rocky shore, but here and +there a few dark pines stood out, harshly distinct. The water was +leaden-colored between the lines of foam, and short, slashing seas +broke angrily about the canoe, which ran before them with a small +lugsail set. Carnally knelt astern, holding the steering paddle; +Andrew lay down amidships, out of the wind; and Graham, crouching +forward, fixed his eyes ahead.</p> + +<p>"There seems to be a creek abreast of us," Carnally said. "We're in +shoaling water; watch out for snags."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>A violent gust struck them and the canoe drove on furiously, lifting +her bows on a foaming ridge while the water lapped level with her +stern.</p> + +<p>"Shoot her up!" Graham called out sharply. "Log right ahead!"</p> + +<p>Andrew seized the sheet and Carnally plied the paddle; but the warning +had come too late. While the canoe slanted over until her lee side was +under water as she altered her course, there was a sharp crash. Her +speed slackened for a moment or two. Then she lifted as a white wave +surged by; and when she drove on again the water poured in through a +rent in her side.</p> + +<p>"Can't be kept under by baling," Carnally remarked. "We'll have to put +her on the wind and make the beach."</p> + +<p>He hauled the sheet, but she would not bear the pressure when she +brought the wind abeam, and seeing the water pouring in over her +lowered side, Carnally let her fall off again.</p> + +<p>"Looks as if we had to keep her running," he said.</p> + +<p>"The end of the lake can't be far off and the water's too rough to do +much with the paddle."</p> + +<p>They scudded on, Andrew and Graham baling as fast as possible, while +the rising water gained on them, until blurred trees and rocks began +to grow out of the haze ahead. Then as a strip of beach became +distinguishable they lowered the sail, and soon afterward jumped over +and carried her out across the jagged driftwood that hammered on the +pebbles. There was a small promontory near at hand, and Carnally +walked across it while the others made camp. Supper was ready when he +returned, and after the meal was finished he lay down near the fire.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>"The canoe wants a patch on her bilge," he said. "Could you sew on a +bit of the thin cedar with the copper wire, Graham? There's some +caulking gum in the green can."</p> + +<p>"It would take me a day to make a neat job."</p> + +<p>"No hurry," replied Carnally. "The outlet from the lake's just beyond +that rise and it looks pretty good. When you have finished the canoe, +you and Andrew could take her down and wait for me where the creek +runs into the river we're looking for."</p> + +<p>"It would be hard work at the portages. But why aren't you coming with +us?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p>"I ought to make the creek where Mappin cached the first lot of stores +for our other trip in about two days' march."</p> + +<p>"We have enough without them."</p> + +<p>"That's so. Anyhow, I want to look at the cache. Stores are a +consideration on a trip like this; the less you have to pack over the +portages, the quicker you can travel. Though we didn't find it, Mappin +knows where the cache was made."</p> + +<p>"I don't see the drift of this," Andrew said.</p> + +<p>Carnally smiled.</p> + +<p>"Hasn't it struck you that we might be followed? Sending up the canoe +and camp truck would show the people at the Landing that we were ready +to start, and Mappin knows our line roughly as far as the cache. You +can't make camp and haul across brush portages without leaving a +trail."</p> + +<p>"Ah! That makes one think. Of course, we would have no legal claim to +the lode unless we got our stakes in before anybody else."</p> + +<p>"It's not enough. You have to get back to a government office and file +your record before you're safe.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> Well, considering everything, I guess +I'll start for the cache at sun-up."</p> + +<p>The others agreed to this and after he left the next morning they set +to work on the canoe and repaired her satisfactorily. Then they +launched her on the outflowing stream and a few days later made camp +on the bank of a larger river, where they sat beside their fire late +at night. The gorge was filled with the clamor of rushing water, but +the night was very still, and they could hear sounds in the bush +through the deep-toned roar of the flood. Outside the glow of the +fire, which fell on the straight spruce trunks, there was nothing to +be seen; but they sat listening, for Carnally had been longer than he +expected and Andrew was anxious.</p> + +<p>At last, Graham raised his hand.</p> + +<p>"I heard something!"</p> + +<p>Andrew turned his head, but for a while could hear only the hoarse +turmoil of the river. Then he started as a faint crackle came out of +the shadows. It rose again, more clearly, and presently a man's dark +shape emerged from the gloom. A few moments later Carnally threw off +his pack and sat down by the fire, his boots badly ripped and his +clothing tattered.</p> + +<p>"I struck some pretty rough country," he explained. "The creek winds a +lot and I came across the range."</p> + +<p>"Did you find the cache?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p>"Sure! It had been opened not long before and provisions taken out."</p> + +<p>Graham moved abruptly.</p> + +<p>"I suppose the things couldn't have been taken by Indians?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir! Indians would have cleaned out the whole lot. Whoever found +the cache left some food to pick up when coming back. There were three +or four<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> white men in the party; I learned that when I struck their +empty camp. Looks as if the hog was still getting after us."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so," said Andrew, frowning. "What's to be done to shake +off his men?"</p> + +<p>"The fellows were heading down-stream, and I guess they'd hold on +until they struck this river, where they'd make a base camp and look +for our trail. Well, instead of keeping to the water, as they'd +expect, we'll strike across the divide, though it will be an awkward +traverse."</p> + +<p>His companions approved the plan, and the next day they found a spot +where smooth rocky slabs dropped gently to the water. Here they took +off their boots, to avoid leaving tell-tale scratches, and then they +hauled out the canoe. They were able to carry her some distance before +they met with much brush, and when they had brought up the provisions, +Carnally looked about with a satisfied air.</p> + +<p>"This wouldn't strike one as an easy place to portage across, and the +stream runs smartly past the stones we landed on," he chuckled. "I +guess Mappin's boys will go straight on, and it may be some time +before they get suspicious."</p> + +<p>His opinion was reassuring, as far as it went, but Andrew felt daunted +as he studied the rise ahead. The ravines were filled with brushwood, +the spurs clothed with spruce, and he failed to see how the canoe was +to be conveyed to the top. It must, however, be tried, and they set to +work, laboriously carrying her up the steep slopes, a few yards at a +time, until they reached a gully choked with brush, where progress +became almost impossible. They were forced to drag her through thick +bushes, stopping every two or three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> minutes for breath, while on the +steeper pitches they buried knees and toes in the gravel as they +passed her from hand to hand. The light was fading when they reached +the crest, exhausted, and it cost Andrew a determined effort to go +back some distance with Carnally for the provisions. Indeed, it was +only hunger forced him to do so.</p> + +<p>The nights had been getting lighter rapidly, but the soft dimness was +puzzling when the two men faced the ascent. They could not judge the +steepness of the slope; they plunged into bushes they had not noticed, +and there were spots where they narrowly escaped dangerous falls. +Slipping, scrambling, floundering, Andrew struggled up with his load, +and sank down, worn out and aching, beside Graham's fire.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to cook; I can't make another move," he said. "It strikes +me that the man who finds a mine in this country deserves all he gets. +That raises the question—how is it that Mappin can trust the rascals +he has sent after us? Suppose they found the lode, why couldn't they +stick to it?"</p> + +<p>"A mineral vein is of little use to a man without money," Graham +explained. "It would cost him a good deal in transport of provisions +and tools before he got his legal development work done; and then he +wouldn't be much farther on, because he'd have to put up expensive +plant and clear a trail to bring the ore out. As a matter of fact, the +fortunate prospector is forced to look for a capitalist."</p> + +<p>"That," remarked Carnally, "is how we are fixed. You needn't worry +about our going back on you."</p> + +<p>"Rot!" said Andrew. "You know I'd trust either of you with my last +penny!"</p> + +<p>"It's your trouble that you're a confiding man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> But I guess you have +learned that it doesn't pay to take any chances when you deal with +Mappin."</p> + +<p>"I'm convinced of it. One experience of his tricks is enough."</p> + +<p>"I'll confess it wasn't enough for me. When I'd fired him out of the +store I felt so good that I set up drinks for all the thirsty slouches +in the hotel; but I made a mistake I've been sorry for ever since. +Instead of letting him walk off, I ought to have punched the hog until +they had to take him to a Winnipeg hospital. For one thing, it would +have saved us portaging over this blamed divide."</p> + +<p>The others laughed, and though Andrew admitted that Carnally's methods +were primitive, he thought there was some excuse for them. Mappin +might be considered an outlaw, against whom any weapons could be used.</p> + +<p>They went to sleep soon after supper, and resuming the march the next +morning, they spent two arduous days transporting the canoe to the +nearest water, and paddled down it, seeing nothing of Mappin's men. +The canoe received some damage when running a rapid into a lake and it +cost them a day to repair her, though Carnally showed much impatience +at the detention. When dusk fell they sat smoking by the fire, for the +night was cold. The wild cry of a loon rang at intervals across the +palely gleaming water; the resinous smell of the spruces was in the +air; and the soft splash of ripples upon the shingle accentuated the +stillness.</p> + +<p>The loon's call suddenly broke off in the middle, and Carnally got up +sharply. A little later he pointed to a dark speck which appeared out +on the lake.</p> + +<p>"The loon," he commented. "It was in the shadow by the big stone and +must have swum a good piece<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> under water. Somebody scared the bird; +now it's gone again!"</p> + +<p>The black spot vanished and Carnally stood still in fixed attention +while Andrew's heart began to beat quickly. He could hear nothing, but +he knew that Carnally was seldom mistaken in matters of this kind. +Some minutes passed, and then as footsteps broke the silence, Carnally +beckoned Graham to give him a rifle they had brought.</p> + +<p>"Come out of the bush so we can see you!" he cried.</p> + +<p>A shadowy form appeared against the gleaming water and stopped.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" Carnally asked. "Are you alone?"</p> + +<p>"Something to eat," said the stranger. "There's nobody with me."</p> + +<p>"One of the Mappin crowd, I guess. Where's the rest of you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. It's three or four days since I left them."</p> + +<p>"Then you can come along. I see you have a gun. If you're wise, you'll +keep it at the trail."</p> + +<p>"Don't be scared," said the other, advancing, "I'm not looking for +trouble."</p> + +<p>In a few moments he entered the firelight and stopped at a motion from +Carnally—a ragged and very weary man, with a pinched and eager look +in his face.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Carnally, "what brought you here?"</p> + +<p>"I'm starving," the man replied; and Andrew thought his appearance +bore it out.</p> + +<p>He sat down, with the rifle he had carried across his arm, and +Carnally indicated the frying-pan.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>"There's a bannock and some pork yonder. It won't take long to warm +up, but before you get any, we must have a talk. Why did you leave the +rest of Mappin's hobos?"</p> + +<p>"We wrecked our canoe in a rapid and lost all the grub. There was some +trouble about it, and when the others turned back to make the cache I +allowed I'd follow you. Missed your trail once or twice, but I figured +on the line you'd take and picked it up again."</p> + +<p>Andrew thought the tale was plausible, and a bruise on the man's face +seemed to corroborate it, as it hinted at the reason for his leaving +his comrades.</p> + +<p>"Will they follow us up?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Can't tell," said the stranger. "They'd be mighty hungry when they +made the cache. Anyhow, I'd had enough of them."</p> + +<p>"Give him some supper," said Andrew.</p> + +<p>Graham put on the frying-pan, and in a few minutes the man fell upon +the food ravenously. When he had finished he felt for his pipe and +ruefully put it back. Andrew laughed and threw him a pouch of cut +tobacco.</p> + +<p>"You're white," said the stranger with a curious look.</p> + +<p>While he lighted his pipe Carnally, leaning quickly forward, picked up +his rifle and flung it into the lake.</p> + +<p>"Why did you do that?" the fellow asked in anger.</p> + +<p>"You'll have something else to carry and one gun's enough for this +crowd," Carnally significantly replied.</p> + +<p>"Then you don't mean to fire me out?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! I guess we'll engage you as packer, but I must speak to the +boss first," and Carnally led Andrew a short distance back into the +shadow.</p> + +<p>"Is it wise to take the rascal with us?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>"It seems the only thing to do. You don't want him to starve?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not; but couldn't we give him a few provisions and let him +go?"</p> + +<p>"If he had a little grub to go on with, he might catch a trout in the +shallows or snare something that he could eat. Then he'd either follow +us or join his friends and put them on our track. I prefer to have him +under our eye."</p> + +<p>"But he'll see where the lode is!"</p> + +<p>"Sure! I'll take care he does no prospecting. Three claims on the best +of the vein will give you all you want to work, and as soon as your +record's filed you'll have prospectors coming up by dozens."</p> + +<p>"Well," concluded Andrew, "you must do what you think fit."</p> + +<p>They went back to the fire, and Carnally turned to the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Your engagement begins to-morrow. If you do your work, you'll get +your grub, and nothing else." Then he added: "If that doesn't seem +good enough, you can quit when you like."</p> + +<p>It was, as both recognized, an impossible alternative, because if the +fellow left their service he must starve.</p> + +<p>"Call it a deal," he said. "You have got me safe."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Carnally. "You want to remember that the moment you +give us any cause for suspicion you get fired. Now what about your +partners? How long would it take them to make the cache?"</p> + +<p>"Two or three days."</p> + +<p>"Then they'd have to come back and find our trail. I reckon we're six +days ahead, and that ought to be enough. You have a blanket; you can +choose your place and sleep when you like."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>The man, who was obviously worn out, gathered some spruce twigs and +lay down on them, but the others sat a while beside the fire before +they followed his example.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ANDREW STAKES HIS CLAIM</span></h2> + + +<p>Soon after daybreak they launched the canoe, and though she was now +rather deeply loaded they made good progress down the outflowing +creek. When it was necessary for one to wade and check her with the +tracking line, their new companion was allotted the task, and at the +portages Carnally took care to give him the heaviest load. Though it +was obvious that he had not recovered from his long, forced march, he +seemed a good-humored rascal and resigned himself to the situation +philosophically.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon they came to a rapid and spent some time hauling the +canoe round it, and then they went back for the stores. Turner, as the +newcomer was called, was first despatched with a load which contained +nothing eatable, and Andrew was the last to set off. Dark spruces on +the high bank cut off the wind, the sun was very hot, and the +perspiration dripped from Andrew as he floundered across the stones. +They were large and uneven, and he had to proceed cautiously to save +himself from falling into the hollows between. Graham and Carnally +were some distance ahead, but after a while he overtook Turner, who +was moving slowly. Shortly before Andrew came up the man dropped the +things he carried and turned with signs of distress in his hot face.</p> + +<p>"I'm not trying to kick," he said. "Guess you've<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> got a pull on me and +I have to work, but I'm a bit played out yet, and your partner piled +more weight on me than I can stand."</p> + +<p>"Stop and take a smoke," said Andrew, handing him his tobacco pouch. +"I don't feel very fresh, but I could carry those blankets. Let me +have them."</p> + +<p>"I'll have to do that or leave them. It was a tough march I made with +nothing to eat." He filled his pipe before he resumed: "There's no +meanness in you."</p> + +<p>"Never mind that. What was Mappin to give you for this job?"</p> + +<p>"Three dollars a day while I was out on it. Four hundred dollars when +I'd staked the claim, if the specimens assayed right."</p> + +<p>"But how could he tell whether you would do the square thing by him?"</p> + +<p>Turner grinned.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be safe to do anything else. Supposing I'd gone round, +looking for another buyer, he'd have had me doped or sandbagged before +I'd made the sale. You can't fool Mappin. You have to put your job +through when you deal with him."</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that you haven't made a success of this particular +business," Andrew remarked.</p> + +<p>"I certainly haven't," the other admitted with a rueful air. "Your +partner has me fixed—he's a smart man. There'll be no three dollars a +day for mine when I go home."</p> + +<p>"You have struck bad luck," said Andrew with a smile. "I'm not sure +you don't deserve it, but that's another matter. And now give me the +blankets: we'll take the things along."</p> + +<p>They went on, and when they reached the next wild stream where +tracking was necessary Andrew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> got into the water. Turner gave him a +grateful glance, but he afterward did his share of the heaviest work, +and when they made camp in the evening he soon went to sleep. When the +firelight, leaping up, fell on his shadowy form, Carnally chuckled.</p> + +<p>"A handy man; he's going to save us a lot of trouble, and we got him +cheap."</p> + +<p>"He's a bit of a rogue, and claim-jumping isn't a creditable +profession," Andrew replied. "Still, I don't think we ought to take +too much advantage of the fellow's necessity. After all, he's only a +tool. It's his employer who's really responsible."</p> + +<p>"Just so," Graham agreed. "The pity is that he should find men willing +to do his dirty work on very moderate pay; but there's no lack of +them. There are men you can only dynamite out of the mire, because if +you pull them out by gentler means they crawl straight back again. +It's unfortunate, because you meet some with a few likable qualities; +I think our new packer is one of these."</p> + +<p>"Their trouble generally begins when they get into the clutches of +such a hog as we're up against," Carnally said. "He knows how to +handle them and it needs some grit to break away from him. We'll get +Turner to tell us some of his claim-jumping experiences to-morrow +night. You'll find them interesting."</p> + +<p>Supper was finished and they were sitting in camp after a hard day's +toil when Carnally cleverly drew the packer out. He was not unwilling +and, warming to his subject, recounted incidents that filled Andrew +with surprise and disgust. Sitting in the shadow with his eyes fixed +on the ragged adventurer, he heard how small sawmill owners had been +jockeyed out of the timber leases they were not rich enough to +defend;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> how dams and flumes had been tampered with until their +harassed proprietor sold out his water rights; and the means by which +impecunious owners of minerals had been robbed of their claims. Turner +occasionally chuckled over the memory of some roguish trick, but, for +the most part, his manner was impressively matter-of-fact. Andrew did +not think he was drawing much upon his imagination; but it seemed +incredible that such things should be done without the men who plotted +them and reaped the benefit incurring general odium. After Turner had +strolled away, he said something of the kind to Graham.</p> + +<p>"The point is," Graham explained, "the low-down rascals who are used +as tools daren't talk where they'll be heard, and nobody attaches much +importance to what is said in third-rate saloons. Respectable people +don't ask too many questions when they see a prospect of dividends; +there may be something not quite straight, but so long as it's well +hidden, they don't want to know. Still, I'll say this: if you put the +ugly facts square before them, they'll quite often act, even if they +have to make some sacrifice to set matters right."</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented Andrew; "I believe that's true. There's a reason why I +find it encouraging."</p> + +<p>"Now we'll talk of something else," Carnally interposed. "It's my +opinion that we ought to leave the water soon, perhaps to-morrow, and +push straight across the last height of land for the lode. We want to +keep well ahead of the Mappin boys."</p> + +<p>They discussed it until they went to sleep, and the next day they +carried the canoe some distance back from the river and carefully hid +her in the brush. Farther on they cached part of their stores, and +then plunged into a desolate, stony waste. Their journey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> across it +proved uneventful, and at length they came down into the hollow where +the lode lay. As it was noon, they ate a meal before anything was +said; and then Carnally gave Turner a fishing-line with a trolling +bait on it.</p> + +<p>"You go back to the last creek we crossed and catch some trout," he +ordered. "Stay there until supper, whether you get any or not."</p> + +<p>Turner winked.</p> + +<p>"If I catch one with this outfit, it will be a mighty silly trout; the +thing's made for spinning behind a canoe on a lake. Don't you want +help with your prospecting? I know something about minerals."</p> + +<p>"So do we," Carnally replied. "I'd rather hear that you were fond of +fishing, because you're going to get a good deal of it. Every day +we're here you'll light out after breakfast and not come back till +dark. If we see you from the camp, we'll fire you on the spot."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Turner. "Guess I'll stay out. I've no use for +taking the trail without any grub."</p> + +<p>He left them and Carnally turned to Graham.</p> + +<p>"We must get our prospecting done before the Mappin gang arrives, and +the sooner we start the better. We'll begin where we fired the shot +last time, and follow up the vein."</p> + +<p>It proved to be fairly well defined when they set to work with the +light tools they had brought, and their task was rendered easier +because the small but rapid creek had exposed the strata in scouring +out its channel. In some places they picked a hole, in others they +fired a charge of giant-powder, carefully separating the specimens +they obtained; and when evening came they sat in camp, examining +several heaps of stones.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>"They're promising," said Graham. "The weight is a good rough test, +and though it doesn't tell us much about the proportion of lead to +silver, I can find out something about that to-morrow. Jake, you might +pound this handful of stuff as fine as you can."</p> + +<p>He opened a small box which he had taken great care of during the +journey, and Andrew was surprised to see it contained a delicate +balance and several phials.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know you were an assayer," he said.</p> + +<p>"I'm not," Graham answered, smiling. "But you must remember that for +twenty years I've clung to the idea that I might find the lode, and +perhaps it isn't astonishing that I should try to learn something +about minerals and chemistry. In fact, it's been my only recreation; +but I didn't bring this outfit last trip because the frost would have +prevented my making much use of it."</p> + +<p>There was something that touched Andrew in the thought of the sawmill +clerk, patiently discharging his monotonous duties year after year and +preparing himself for the search which was the great object of his +life, though he knew he might never be able to make it. It was, +however, obvious that he had studied to some purpose, because he had +shown skill in tracing the vein, and Andrew had noticed that Carnally, +who knew a good deal about minerals, deferred to him.</p> + +<p>"I was lucky in getting hold of you and Jake," he said.</p> + +<p>Soon afterward Turner appeared with one trout, which he confessed he +had caught with his hands, and Graham carefully put away the box and +specimens.</p> + +<p>They began again at sunrise and worked with determined activity. +Before noon it grew very hot; there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> was no wind in the sheltered +basin, and the smell of the scattered spruces filled the listless air. +By degrees the men stripped off most of their clothing, and the strong +sun burned Andrew's bare arms and neck as he swung the pick. They +stopped only a few minutes for dinner, and continued with no +slackening of exertion until the shadows of the rocks covered the +hollow. Then Andrew, throwing down his tools, glanced with a curious +satisfaction at the pile of stones which marked the course of the +vein. He had accomplished something that day; the result of his toil +could be seen.</p> + +<p>"You look pleased," Carnally commented.</p> + +<p>"I feel so," declared Andrew. "We haven't improved the appearance of +the place from an artistic point of view; but I don't know when I felt +so content with what I've done. I used to feel proud when I'd helped +to fill the game cart at home; but this is different. Somehow it's +more bracing."</p> + +<p>"I understand; though I'm not much of a sport and when I work it isn't +for fun."</p> + +<p>Andrew slept as soon as he lay down on his bed of spruce twigs, and +awakened, fresh and sanguine, ready for another day's determined toil. +There was something strangely exhilarating in the resin-scented air; +Andrew felt vigorous and cheerful. Graham had expressed his +satisfaction with the rough tests he had made, and the more they +exposed the reef the better the ore looked. It would undoubtedly pay +for working and might yield a handsome profit, and Andrew felt that +the first half of the battle had been won. The other half would no +doubt entail some stubborn fighting, but he looked forward to it with +new courage. He had proved his ability and gained confidence in +himself; it was no longer a forlorn hope he was leading.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> He would +meet his cunning antagonist on fairly equal terms.</p> + +<p>Apart from all this, he found a keen pleasure in his work. It was good +to get up in the bracing cold of dawn and smell the aromatic wood +smoke as he renewed the fire. He had never enjoyed his breakfast as he +did in the desolate North; there was satisfaction in using the drill +with a dexterity he had painfully acquired. He could bring down the +hammer squarely upon the head of the tool, and swing the pick all day +with delight in the strength of his muscles instead of exhaustion. It +was gratifying to find that he had chosen the right line of cleavage +in the stone when the great fragments leaped up through the vapor of +the exploding charge. Judgment as well as strength was needed in these +things—all were worth doing and made for health and tranquillity of +mind.</p> + +<p>Turner seemed to recognize that Carnally was not to be trifled with. +He gave them no trouble, remaining away until the day's work was done. +Then as they lounged about the fire in the sharp cold of the evening, +he told stories, amusing and grim, and Andrew listened, divided +between admiration of the man's ingenuity and daring, and disgust at +his frank rascality.</p> + +<p>When the claims had been carefully staked and the last evening came, +Andrew was sensible of a keen regret. He had been happy in the +wilderness, and it was hardly probable that he would use the pick and +drill again. Henceforward his duty would lie in a different sphere; it +was the last time he would lie down in soil-stained clothes, healthily +tired after a day of bodily labor. The air was wonderfully clear; +scattered spruces and towering rocks stood out with sharp distinctness +against a glow of transcendental green. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> smoke of the fire rose +straight up; the splash of the creek came musically out of the shadow.</p> + +<p>"I think we're all ready to start south at sunrise," Graham said +presently, and looked at Turner. "Can you guess why your partners +haven't turned up?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered the man. "I'll allow that I've been expecting them the +last day or two. Perhaps they couldn't strike your trail, and there's +a chance that when they made the cache, starving, they found there +wouldn't be grub enough to take them up and down."</p> + +<p>"It's possible," said Andrew, and looked at the others. "Though I +think we've staked off the best of the vein, it seems a pity that you +couldn't secure some of the rest."</p> + +<p>"It can't well be done," Carnally explained. "A man can locate only +one claim on the same lode; but if the ore pans out as good as it +looks, I'll be content with the terms you promised me."</p> + +<p>"I'm the one who's got left," Turner broke in. "I've packed your truck +and done your hardest work, and don't get five cents for it. It +wouldn't rob you if you let me stake a claim."</p> + +<p>"The difficulty is that you'd have to sell it to Mappin," Andrew +reminded him.</p> + +<p>"That's so," Turner admitted. "If I tried to go back on that man, it +would be the worse for me. The way I'm fixed is mighty rough."</p> + +<p>"You got your grub," said Graham; "you ran a big risk of being left to +starve; and you might have got shot. It strikes me you had better quit +Mappin's service and try how honesty pays."</p> + +<p>They left camp at sunrise and met with no misadventures on their +journey south. It was nearly com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>pleted and they expected to reach the +mine in a few more days when Carnally called Turner as he was loading +the canoe one morning.</p> + +<p>"You can let up on that job. We won't want you any more," he said +bluntly.</p> + +<p>Turner looked at him dismally.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to fire me here?"</p> + +<p>"You've hit it," said Carnally. "We'll give you grub for two meals, +and if you hustle you ought to make the camp back at the awkward +portage by noon to-morrow. You'll find a cache with provisions that +should last you to the mine by the water's edge. As I'll give Watson +orders you're not to have a canoe, we should be down at the settlement +a week before you get there."</p> + +<p>"Well," Turner acquiesced, "I guess it's no use grumbling."</p> + +<p>He was leaving the camp when Andrew called to him.</p> + +<p>"Though I suppose you would have jumped our claim without hesitation, +I don't want to be too hard, and we have found you a useful help. If +you will call on me at the Landing, I think I can promise you three +dollars for every day you have been with us. But it's conditional on +your playing no tricks!"</p> + +<p>"Your partner doesn't leave me many chances," Turner grinned.</p> + +<p>They launched the canoe and were paddling down-stream when Carnally +alluded to the matter.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that the fellow could make trouble for us; but he's +safer up here until we get our records filed," he said.</p> + +<p>Then he swung his paddle and the canoe drove faster toward a rapid.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">GERALDINE</span></h2> + + +<p>On reaching the Landing Andrew learned that Frobisher had returned and +he rowed across to visit him. It was evening when he disembarked at +the little pier. Geraldine came down across the lawn, and Andrew's +heart beat fast as he watched her. She was wonderfully graceful, he +thought, her white summer dress and light hat became her, there was a +tinge of color in her face, and she was obviously eager to hear his +news. She gave him a quick glance before they met, and then smiled in +cordial welcome, for the man's expression was suggestive. He had lost +his strained and anxious look, there was now an assured tranquillity +in his bearing; he had not come back disappointed, and, for his sake, +she rejoiced at this. Then as she gave him her hand and noticed the +eager light in his eyes she grew suddenly disturbed.</p> + +<p>"You have been successful; I'm very glad," she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded Andrew, holding her hand; "things have gone well with +us, but except for the mineral recorder you are the first person I've +told the good news to. That strikes me as particularly appropriate."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose I'd ever have found the lode if you hadn't encouraged +me. I felt daunted once or twice. Then I ventured to think that you'd +be interested."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>"I am interested," Geraldine assured him, gently withdrawing her hand. +"You needn't doubt that. But won't you come up to the house?"</p> + +<p>Andrew laughed with a trace of awkwardness as he realized that he had +been standing at the top of the uncomfortably narrow steps by which +one reached the pier.</p> + +<p>"It might be better, if you and Mr. Frobisher are not engaged."</p> + +<p>"He's writing letters, though I think he'll have finished soon. +Wherever he is, he's generally busy; but I can answer for his being +glad to see you."</p> + +<p>"That's good to hear. I'm heavily in your father's debt; but I'd like +to think he's not the only one in the family to feel the pleasure."</p> + +<p>Geraldine smiled at him mockingly.</p> + +<p>"How delightfully formal, Mr. Allinson! Besides, you seem to need a +good deal of assuring."</p> + +<p>"A fair shot," Andrew laughed. "I'm afraid, when I'm really in +earnest, I'm apt to be stilted; but perhaps it isn't an altogether +unusual fault. The correct light touch seems hard to acquire."</p> + +<p>"Not stilted; that's too harsh. Now and then you're rather too +serious."</p> + +<p>Looking at her steadily, he saw amusement in her eyes, but he had not +wit enough to read all it covered and he felt slightly chilled. The +girl knew his love for her and had thought of him often and anxiously +in his absence; but now that he had come back safe and successful she +was seized by a strange timidity. She shrank from the drastic change +in their relations which his attitude threatened; he must be kept at a +distance until she had become more used to the situation.</p> + +<p>"It's very possible. Wouldn't it be pleasanter here?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> he hinted, as +they approached a seat which stood in the shadow of the firs. "We +might disturb your father by going in."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Geraldine assented, somewhat dubiously, though the house, which +faced the west, was uncomfortably hot.</p> + +<p>They sat down and she glanced at him unobtrusively. She was now very +cool and free from embarrassment, while the man seemed to be suffering +from constraint. Moreover, he looked disappointed, and she felt sorry +for him.</p> + +<p>"So you found the lode and recorded your claims?" she said. "That must +have been a great relief; but what will you do next?"</p> + +<p>Andrew grew impatient. He would have preferred to discuss something +more personal than his mining affairs.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he exclaimed, "you must have heard enough about the lode to make +you tired of it! However, I expect I shall have to go back to England +before long."</p> + +<p>Geraldine wondered whether the curt announcement was meant to alarm +her, and decided that it was not. The man was too modest to make sure +of her affection for him. Nevertheless it caused her some concern.</p> + +<p>"Will it be a visit, or do you think of staying there?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I can't tell," said Andrew moodily. "If I can get things straightened +up, I may come back to the new mine; but I shall not know until I +arrive."</p> + +<p>"Do you wish to come back?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered emphatically, "very much indeed."</p> + +<p>"Then you will no doubt find an excuse for doing so. It shouldn't be +difficult to a fertile mind."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>"Unfortunately, mine often seems to suffer from sterility. It has been +subjected to stimulating influences here, and I'll miss them on the +other side."</p> + +<p>"If needful, couldn't you take Carnally with you?" Geraldine spoke +with a touch of raillery.</p> + +<p>"Carnally's useful, as far as he goes, but I'm not sure that he'd be +much help in England; and he's not the only person I've, so to speak, +come to lean on."</p> + +<p>Geraldine regarded him with faint amusement.</p> + +<p>"Then perhaps it's better that all outside support should be withdrawn +and you learned to stand on your own feet. Don't you think you could +do so, if you made an effort?"</p> + +<p>"It's possible; I've no doubt I'll have to try. But when it's been +generously given, one gets into a habit of looking for help and +applause."</p> + +<p>"That's unfortunate. Criticism's much more bracing. I'm afraid you +haven't had enough of it."</p> + +<p>"Haven't I?" said Andrew. "I got nothing else at home, and it's +damping to have somebody always ready to point out how much better you +might have managed things. If I do any good when I get back it will be +because of the encouragement I've had here."</p> + +<p>"That's a very poor reason. You ought to do what you intend because +you feel it's right."</p> + +<p>"No doubt," said Andrew with a stern smile. "Still, you see, it needs +a good deal of nerve."</p> + +<p>Geraldine mused for a few moments. He had played up to her, as she +thought of it, but in his half-humorous manner there had been a touch +of gravity, and she knew what her commendation had been worth to him. +She was glad that he valued it, but she could not have him guess this, +and she shrank from showing too much earnestness.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>"Well," she said, "the mail must be sent across to the Landing soon; +I'd better tell my father."</p> + +<p>She got up, and a few minutes afterward Frobisher appeared and took +Andrew to his smoking-room. When they had talked for a while, Andrew +took out a few specimens.</p> + +<p>"So far as we were able," he said, "we picked out the best of the +lode, but I believe much of the ore is of excellent quality. I brought +you these specimens to look at, and the assayer's report on those we +sent him after the first trip."</p> + +<p>Frobisher examined them with care.</p> + +<p>"A good business proposition; this stuff should pay for smelting. I +suppose you realize that your knowledge of the locality is valuable?"</p> + +<p>"That's what I am coming to. If the thing's in your line, any +information I can give you is at your service."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Frobisher. "Let us understand each other. Do you want to +sell?"</p> + +<p>"Not to you. We have staked three claims, which is all we can legally +hold, and our records were only filed an hour and a half ago. By using +my map of our route and a sketch of the vein, you or anybody you may +send could reach the spot and have some days for prospecting before +anybody else could find it."</p> + +<p>"Then you're offering me this out of friendship?"</p> + +<p>"Not altogether. I don't forget that you saved us from starving; but +apart from that, I'd rather have somebody I know as owner of an +adjacent claim. You'll excuse my saying that I can't tolerate Mappin +there. I understand it isn't difficult to get up disputes over +boundaries and water-rights, and he'd find some means of attacking +us."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>"You're wise, and I appreciate your generosity. There's every reason +to believe you have put me on to a good thing. But I'm getting too old +to make the journey, and there's no time to be lost. The trouble is to +fix on the right men to send, because they'll have to be reliable. I +know two or three boys in Colorado who would see the thing through, +but it would take a week to bring them here and only a British subject +can file a record."</p> + +<p>He broke off and sat silent a few moments. "I have it!" he exclaimed. +"There's a fellow at the Landing who, I think, would deal honestly; +but he must get off with some packers to-morrow. If you'll excuse me, +I'll go across."</p> + +<p>Andrew went to a writing-table and hastily filled up a sheet of paper; +then took a map from his pocket and wrote some directions on the back +of it.</p> + +<p>"Here's an order on Watson at the mine for any provisions and tools he +can supply. It will save your men some transport and that means a +quicker journey. Now listen carefully for a minute."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Frobisher, when he had finished, and left him on the +word.</p> + +<p>Andrew laughed as he sat down to finish his cigar. The American's +promptness was characteristic, and he was glad to feel that he had +been of some service to him.</p> + +<p>When he went out he found Geraldine on the lawn.</p> + +<p>"What have you told my father?" she asked. "He ran past me without +speaking and nearly fell into the water as he jumped on board the +launch. I can't remember having seen him go so fast."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's not surprising. I told Mr. Frobisher about the lode and +where the best locations were."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>"The information ought to be valuable. The ore is rich, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I think so, but of course it isn't mine to give away. All I did was +to give your father some information which should help him to find it +before anybody else. He means to send up a prospecting party at once."</p> + +<p>Geraldine pondered this. The man was too modest to make much of the +affair, but her father's eager haste had its significance. His +judgment on business matters was unusually good, and she had no doubt +that the minerals were worth locating. It was, however, more important +that Andrew had been able to place him under an obligation, because, +in a sense, his power to confer a favor proved his value. She had +believed in him from the first, but it was pleasant to feel that +others must recognize his merits.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, smiling, "you have made some progress in his esteem. +He's inclined to judge people by what they have done, and you have +found a rich mine."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be fairer to judge them by what they would like to do? +It's often better than the other."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! Liking's easy; one often gets no farther. Accomplishment is +hard, but it counts."</p> + +<p>Strolling to the beach, they found a seat on the pier. There was not a +breath of wind and the languid ripples splashed softly on the shingle. +Near the land the dark shadow of the pines floated on the glassy +water, but farther out it gleamed with silvery light. To the west the +black rocks and ragged trees cut sharp against a glow of vivid green. +Andrew was silent for a while. Geraldine had quietly checked him +whenever he bordered on the sentimental, and it was disconcerting,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +though he felt that it would be wiser to make no effort to come to +closer quarters until she tacitly gave him encouragement.</p> + +<p>"What a beautiful country this is!" he said at length, feeling that +the topic was safe.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Geraldine, "it is beautiful and rugged, very different +from your well-cared-for England, and I suppose it gets wilder as you +travel north."</p> + +<p>"It's the wildness that gets hold of one. I don't know when I was so +happy as I was when hauling the canoe over portages, tracking her up +rapids, and blowing rocks to bits. There must be a primitive strain in +us that shows itself in the waste."</p> + +<p>"It may be useful now and then, but indulging it doesn't make for +progress. Even our Indians have found that out, and those who still +cling to their primitive customs live miserably in skin tepees by +catching fish. I dare say any of them could take a canoe up a rapid +better than you."</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt of that," Andrew responded. "But I don't see your +drift."</p> + +<p>"One gets impatient now and then with the cult of the physical, which +they're so proud of here. It's good in a way, but it doesn't lead to +much. For example, you can't continue finding valuable claims, and +there must be something for you to do besides drilling holes for +dynamite."</p> + +<p>"Shooting pheasants is easier," Andrew smiled; "I can't say it's more +useful."</p> + +<p>"And is there nothing else?"</p> + +<p>Andrew grew suddenly thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I'll confess to a hazy idea that if I succeeded in straightening up +the Allinson affairs, I'd retire from the business while my laurels +were fresh, and turn miner.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> The claims will need attention, and it +would be more in my line than the management of the firm."</p> + +<p>"You mean you would like it better?"</p> + +<p>"I'm beginning to understand." Andrew looked at her gravely. "If +anybody else had hinted as much, I'd have felt it was exacting and I +was being driven too hard. With you it's different. Once or twice +already you have given me the impetus I needed, and you're right now. +But if I'm not required by Allinson's why shouldn't I attend to the +claims?"</p> + +<p>Looking up he saw the launch, which had rounded a neighboring islet, +heading for the pier, and shortly afterward Frobisher joined them.</p> + +<p>"I've got everything fixed," he said jubilantly. "Three men will start +at sunrise. But you look as if you had been discussing something +important. What's it all about?"</p> + +<p>"Give us your opinion, Father. Mr. Allinson seems to think he can make +a few drastic reforms in his firm, and then leave such matters alone. +My idea is that he will find it harder than he expected."</p> + +<p>Frobisher laughed with quiet amusement.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Allinson has still a good deal to learn and I'm afraid he's much +mistaken in this matter." He turned to Andrew. "Once you take an +active interest in a big business you'll find you can't let go. +Instead of your directing the concern, it will come to own and drive +you unmercifully hard. For the last ten years I've been trying to take +life easier and escape from the pressure of affairs, but I'm still a +long way from doing so. In fact, in spite of my good resolutions, it's +only an hour since I launched out on another new venture."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it largely a matter of temperament?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>"No doubt; but not quite in the way you think—that is, it's not +always a question of making money. If a man has what we'll call the +constructive genius, he can't stand and look on when he sees anything +that needs to be done. He feels that he must take his coat off and get +to work."</p> + +<p>Andrew had an uncomfortable feeling that Geraldine and her father were +right. One thing led to another, and he might be drawn irresistibly +into a long series of business complications, which was by no means +what he had at first contemplated. Nevertheless, if his services were +of any value, Allinson's had the first claim on them. He dismissed the +matter when Frobisher suggested that they go in to supper. Frobisher +was witty, Geraldine charmingly cordial, and it was with regret that +Andrew took his leave. Geraldine walked to the pier with him and he +noticed a gentleness in her face that set his heart to beating. He +thought the soft dusk emphasized her beauty by etherealizing it. When +they reached the steps she turned to him with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I feel as if I'd presumed too far," she said. "After all, I'm only a +girl and younger than you are, which doesn't seem to justify my +imposing my half-formed views on you."</p> + +<p>"I don't think that matters," returned Andrew. "I believe those views +are right."</p> + +<p>"Then, though you had better test them thoroughly, you don't feel +offended?"</p> + +<p>"I am grateful; but there's one point that disturbs me. I shouldn't +like to think you were reconciled to the idea of getting rid of me."</p> + +<p>Geraldine smiled at him.</p> + +<p>"That would be a wrong conclusion. If it's any comfort, we shall miss +you; but it isn't such a very long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> journey from England to the Lake +of Shadows. You will find it needful to come over and see how the +mines are working now and then."</p> + +<p>"Whether the mines need me or not, I shall come."</p> + +<p>She gave him her hand.</p> + +<p>"We'll consider it a promise; but you're not going yet, and you +needn't neglect us before you start."</p> + +<p>When she turned away Andrew got into his canoe and paddled back to the +Landing. He had, he felt, been firmly held off at arm's length, but +for all that he had noticed faint hints of tenderness in the girl's +manner which were highly encouraging, and she undoubtedly took a +strong interest in him. He must proceed cautiously and avoid alarming +her by being precipitate. That, after all, was the course he +preferred, for he was strangely diffident in love.</p> + +<p>A day or two later he saw Turner in the bar at the hotel, where +several others were lounging; but the man gave him a careless +greeting. Andrew went into the lobby and Turner presently sauntered +in.</p> + +<p>"Can you come down to the beach behind the sawmill dump in a few +minutes?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Andrew nodded, and when Turner went out he put some bills into his +wallet and made for the beach. It was a quiet place, hidden between a +rocky head and a bank of sawdust, and Turner was waiting for him.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you have come for the money I promised you?" Andrew said.</p> + +<p>"That's not the only thing, though I'd be glad to have it."</p> + +<p>Andrew counted out several bills.</p> + +<p>"I didn't want to be seen talking to you at the hotel," Turner +explained. "It mightn't have been safe for me if Mappin got to hear of +it. But there's some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>thing you ought to know. The boys he sent after +you heard about the strike you made when they came down here for grub, +and are on the trail again."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how that matters. When Mappin's rascals reach the lode +they'll find we have staked off the best, and it looks as if every man +about the settlement who can get away is going up to prospect."</p> + +<p>"Those fellows," persisted Turner, "are old hands at the game. I don't +know their plans, but there's one thing you can depend on—they mean +to make trouble. They might shift some of your stakes and then claim +that your record wasn't correct, which would give Mappin a chance of +getting after you. It takes a smart surveyor to lay out boundaries and +frontage in such a way that they can't be questioned. I want to warn +you to be on the lookout."</p> + +<p>Andrew considered. He knew there was sometimes litigation over mineral +claims, and he had to deal with a clever and unscrupulous man.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why you told me this?"</p> + +<p>"You treated me like a white man," Turner answered with a trace of +awkwardness, and then broke into a grin. "Besides, I was getting tired +of the business, anyhow; there wasn't a dollar in it for me. Now I +guess I'll light out before somebody comes along."</p> + +<p>Andrew thanked him, and then went off in search of Carnally, feeling +glad that he had treated Turner leniently. The man was a rogue, but he +had the virtue of gratitude.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE JUMPERS</span></h2> + + +<p>The sun was rising when Joe Thorpe made a hasty breakfast with his two +companions in their camp beside the lode. He was a logger by +profession, though he had an extensive experience in prospecting for +timber-rights and minerals. Big Joe was known as an honest man; that +was why Frobisher had selected him to stake off a claim, and he had +arrived late on the previous night after a forced march.</p> + +<p>"We ought to have a clear day or two before the first of the crowd +that's following us comes in, but that's all," he said. "We want to +get our prospecting done and the best locations picked before the rush +begins, and we'll start as soon as you've finished."</p> + +<p>"I'll be through in a minute," said one of the others with his mouth +full. "It's a pretty fair deal Frobisher made with us and he's not the +man to go back on one."</p> + +<p>"That's more than I'd say of Mappin," remarked the third of the party. +"He's in this somehow, isn't he? What was it Carnally said to you when +we were getting ready to start, Joe?"</p> + +<p>"Told me to watch out for the Mappin crowd. It seems Mappin's put +Scaith, who made the trouble over the Newark timber-rights, on to the +job. The fellow's a crook, and two of the others have been mixed up in +jumping rows. Now we like Carnally, and he allowed he was on to a good +thing in the Allinson claims. Any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>how, Watkins, you've had enough for +one man. Let up on the pork and bring along the drill."</p> + +<p>They set to work, and it was late in the afternoon when, stripped to +shirt and trousers and dripping with perspiration, Joe stopped for a +few moments to look about. Thirty feet behind him the creek swirled +furiously around a rocky head, the steep face of which was fumed and +scarred by giant-powder. A stake was driven into the crest of the +promontory, another could be seen a short distance back, and +straggling jack-pines and spruces followed the edge of the bank. The +ground had been disturbed all round and was strewn with piles of soil +and stones.</p> + +<p>"I guess the Allinson outfit know their business," he observed. "It +looks a curious way to pitch a claim, but if you come to figure out +the thing, it gives them the best frontage they could get. This corner +post's just where I'd have put it. If they'd located it a bit to the +right, it would have swung their line off the richest stuff. There's +no room for us here on pay dirt: we'll move higher up."</p> + +<p>He took a few steps forward but stopped suddenly at a sharp crash +followed by a puff of vapor that curled up among the rocks ahead. +Great fragments leaped out of it, and Joe ran for his life as one +large piece that turned over as it sped came toward him. It fell short +with a heavy thud and he swung around angrily.</p> + +<p>"What in thunder are you firing two sticks for where you weren't +told?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Watkins likes a big charge," grinned his companion. "He's surely +rough on giant-powder."</p> + +<p>The third man came toward them and explained.</p> + +<p>"That blamed Allinson corner post shoves us back, and I wanted to see +if we could squeeze in a block<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> beside them and keep on the ore, +though I guess there's not much use in it. If I was a jumper, I'd +shift that stake."</p> + +<p>"You can't do it!" Joe replied promptly. "We're acting square! But +when the fumes have cleared, we'll look at what you've got."</p> + +<p>The examination confirmed his opinion that they were shut out by the +Allinson claim, which must be respected, and they moved farther up the +lode. It was dusk when they stopped work, and they spent the following +morning digging holes and firing shots before deciding on their +locations. These they roughly marked with piles of stones, but there +were distances to be carefully measured and bearings verified before +their stakes were driven, and while they were getting dinner another +party arrived. The men were ragged and weary, and the appearance of +several was far from prepossessing.</p> + +<p>"There's Scaith and Nepigon Jim," Watkins exclaimed. "Brought four +other fellows with them. They're a tough-looking crowd."</p> + +<p>The newcomers lighted a fire, and while they prepared a meal their +leader strolled across to the other camp. He was a short, wiry man, +with keen eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, Joe," he said, "you've been over the ground; what's it like?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty good," Joe answered. "The Allinson gang got first pick and +we've had the next, but there's plenty pay dirt left. I suppose you're +up here for Mappin? You want to keep off our blocks."</p> + +<p>"Sure we will," said the other genially. "We'll take a look round +after grub and see where we can begin. You got away from the Landing +mighty smart."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>"We wanted to keep ahead of the crowd. I suppose the boys were getting +ready when you left?"</p> + +<p>"They were quitting work all round the settlement; one or two outfits +would get off soon after us. We made pretty good time over the +Allinson trail. But I guess our dinner's ready."</p> + +<p>He moved away and Joe turned to his companions with a meaning glance.</p> + +<p>"That's a man who'll want some watching," he warned them.</p> + +<p>During the afternoon he and the others drove in their stakes, and +there was apparently nothing to prevent their return to record the +claims, but Joe declared that he was tired and they would not get far +enough before dark to make it worth while to start. Accordingly, they +lounged in camp while the newcomers wandered about the neighborhood, +testing the ground. It struck Joe as suspicious that they seemed to +find it necessary to cross the Allinson claims very frequently. Toward +evening the sky grew overcast and rain began to fall, but Joe's camp +was sheltered, and when it grew cold after supper they made a bigger +fire.</p> + +<p>"Some of the boys from the settlement should get through by morning, +and they're a straight crowd," Joe said. "We'll take the trail first +thing after breakfast."</p> + +<p>A raw wind sprang up, the rain got heavier, and dusk fell early; but +when the others went to sleep Joe sat up a while. He had done what he +had been sent to do and would receive a good reward for it, besides +retaining an interest in the claims when Frobisher took them over +after the development work had been done. The thought of it excited +him, but after a while he laid his blanket in a hollow and went to +sleep.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>It was, however, not sound sleep, for every now and then he opened his +eyes, and at last raised himself to a sitting position and looked +about. The fire had burned very low, so that its light did not dazzle +him, and he could see the shadowy trunks that ran up into the gloom. +Heavy drops fell among the red embers, the wind wailed dolefully about +the branches, and he could hear the rain beat upon the stones. Though +it was darker than usual, the sky was visible and rocks and trees +stood out black against the surrounding obscurity. Knowing that he had +a long march before him, Joe felt irritated because of his +restlessness; but as he did not feel at all sleepy he lighted his pipe +and began to think of his return journey.</p> + +<p>Presently Scaith's camp-fire caught his eye. It was burning brightly, +which seemed to indicate that the party had sat up very late or that +somebody had risen and thrown on fresh fuel. This struck him as +curious, and he watched the flickering glow. Before he had smoked out +his pipe he imagined that he saw a blurred figure among the smoke. It +vanished, though he did not think the fellow had left the camp. He sat +for a few minutes, pondering the matter. Although they had given him +no reason for doing so, he suspected Scaith's party and felt uneasy, +wishing that the night were clearer. Large objects were faintly +distinguishable, but Joe did not think he could see a man except at a +very short distance, and the wind among the spruce tops would prevent +his hearing footsteps. It was raining very hard, trickles of water ran +down the trunks, and cold draughts eddied about him. He would be more +comfortable lying down under his blanket but he was troubled by vague +suspicions and felt that he must keep watch.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>At last he got up and picked his way toward the newly staked claims. +The ground was rough and he fell over a heap of stones, but he +reflected that the darkness which prevented his seeing anything would +also prevent his being seen. He had flung his blanket over his +shoulders, and though it impeded his movements it kept him drier. He +wandered about for some time before he could find the first stake, but +it was easier afterward because he knew the line and had only to count +his paces. The other posts were all in their proper positions; it +looked as if he had wasted his pains, for no attempt had been made to +tamper with the boundaries.</p> + +<p>This was satisfactory, but Joe did not feel quite at ease. He wished +that some of the other parties from the Landing had arrived, because +he knew the men, and knew that they would keep a keen lookout for any +trickery. Claim-jumping is sternly discountenanced by honest miners, +who are apt to deal with the jumpers in a drastic manner. Joe, +however, could not delay his departure. The filing of an application +form in the recorder's office is the first proof a discoverer of +minerals can advance of his right to them.</p> + +<p>He stopped a few moments by the last stake, feeling that he could now +return to camp, but still irresolute. It would be dark for some time +yet and mischief might be on foot. Then it dawned on him that the +Allinson claims would be better worth attacking than his, and he moved +toward the corner post, which was the key to their position. Their +safety was no direct concern of his, and he was getting wet; but +Carnally was his friend and Allinson was held in much esteem at the +Landing as a just and considerate employer. With difficulty he found +the post, which seemed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> have been undisturbed; but he felt +suspicious and reluctant to leave the spot. Finding a hollow to lee of +a rock, he sat down.</p> + +<p>For a while nothing disturbed him. He could hear the creek roaring +among the stones below, for the steep edge of the bank was only a few +yards away. Scaith's fire glowed in the distance, and the rain blew in +sheets past the edge of his shelter. Joe thought he was foolish for +waiting, but he stayed. Then all at once a dim figure was outlined +against the sky only a few paces from him.</p> + +<p>Joe had heard nobody approach and he was startled; but the next moment +he became cool and intent. A man was moving toward the Allinson corner +post. He had his hands on it when Joe sprang forward. But he was too +late to surprise the fellow. Joe closed with him in a savage grapple; +but he could not throw him, and glancing sideways at a sound, he saw +that he would shortly have to deal with a second enemy. Another man +was running hard toward them.</p> + +<p>It was obvious that he would be overpowered unless he could disable +the fellow he had seized before his confederate arrived; and with a +tense effort he drove him backward. Clutching each other, they +staggered a few yards through the darkness, until Joe felt the ground +slant sharply beneath his feet. Then, using all his force, he flung +off his adversary. The man disappeared and there was a splash in the +creek below. Then Joe turned breathlessly to meet the other man.</p> + +<p>He was near at hand, but, instead of attacking him, the fellow stopped +and cried out. This, however, did not trouble Joe, because the shout +would bring his companions upon the scene as well as the other party. +Moving cautiously in search of clearer ground on which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> to meet the +rush he expected, his foot caught in his blanket, which had fallen +off, and he swiftly picked it up. He had hardly done so when the +fellow ran at him, and Joe, meeting him with a staggering blow, flung +the heavy blanket over his head. He stumbled, unable to see, and Joe, +leaping upon him, bore him to the ground. There he had the advantage +of being uppermost; and, getting his knee on the other's chest, +managed to hold him down. This was satisfactory, so far as it went, +but he did not know what to do with his captive, and shouts now broke +out in the darkness. The rest of Scaith's friends were evidently +coming to the rescue, but he could hear Watkins' voice, and wondered +anxiously which would arrive first.</p> + +<p>He spent a minute or two holding the fellow down and thumping him as a +hint to keep still, while hurrying footsteps rapidly drew nearer. A +voice he did not know reached him, and he remembered that although +there was a rifle in camp he was unarmed and, if he stuck to his +prisoner, there would be two of his friends to four of Scaith's. That +was long odds; it looked as if he must be driven off the field, but he +determined to give the other side all the trouble he could.</p> + +<p>A moment or two later a man appeared.</p> + +<p>"Scaith!" he called, and the fellow under the blanket struggled as if +he had heard.</p> + +<p>"Quit it!" warned Joe, striking him hard; and then shouted: "Stand off +before you get hurt!"</p> + +<p>The newcomer stopped, no doubt trying to make out the meaning of what +he indistinctly saw, and Joe, hearing two or three more running, did +not get up. If the fellow attacked him, he would resist, but he wished +to keep his captive out of action as long as possible. They waited, +both expecting help, until Watkins and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> third of Joe's party came +upon the scene. Behind them appeared three others, and both parties +paused. In the darkness it was difficult to discover what was going +on.</p> + +<p>"Where's our boss?" the first of the strangers asked.</p> + +<p>"I can't say," Joe answered. "One of your crowd's in the gulch, and +I've another here who'll sure get damaged if he don't keep still. I +don't know which is which."</p> + +<p>Scaith's friends seemed disconcerted at the news.</p> + +<p>"What's to be done about it, Joe?" Watkins broke in.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Joe coolly, "I guess we'll give them a chance to quit." +He addressed the opposite party. "You had better look for your +partner, boys. There'll be no stakes pulled up to-night."</p> + +<p>"We can wipe you out!" was the answer. "We've got a gun!"</p> + +<p>"So've we," replied Watkins. "I've got something else that will fix +you as quick. Get a hustle on; we've no use for jumpers!"</p> + +<p>Nobody stirred. Joe knew that he must confine himself to a defensive +course; Scaith's was the stronger party, but they were apparently +daunted by the loss of their leader.</p> + +<p>"You want to be reasonable," argued one. "What we're out for has +nothing to do with you. This isn't your claim."</p> + +<p>"We're going to watch it," Joe said.</p> + +<p>"Run them off!" cried one of the others. "We've talked enough!"</p> + +<p>They seemed ready for a rush, and Watkins quickly struck a match in +the shelter of his jacket. The next<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> moment a slight hissing became +audible and he held up something which emitted small red sparks.</p> + +<p>"I guess you know what this is," he remarked. "The fuse is pretty +short and there's a stick of giant-powder at the end of it. You had +better quit before I pitch it into the midst of you." He added +sharply: "Get up, Joe!"</p> + +<p>They were startled by his cold-blooded daring, and though it may have +been discharged by accident, a pistol flashed. Then, as Joe sprang to +his feet, Watkins yelled in mockery and flung the dynamite cartridge +into the air. A train of sparks marked its flight, but the others did +not wait, and while Joe and his comrades ran off there was a flash and +a detonation.</p> + +<p>It was followed by a shout some distance off and a sound of men +running hard. Joe called his friends back. It was not Scaith's party +he heard: the footsteps were too numerous.</p> + +<p>"What's the trouble?" somebody shouted.</p> + +<p>"Jumpers!" Joe answered, and turned to his companions. "It's the first +of the boys up from the settlement."</p> + +<p>In a minute or two the newcomers arrived and Joe explained the matter.</p> + +<p>"We were making for your fire when we heard the shot and hastened on +our fastest hustle," said one. "Now we'll go along and bounce the +blamed jumpers out."</p> + +<p>Dawn was breaking when they reached Scaith's camp. They found several +men very busy, but they stopped a moment when the party came up.</p> + +<p>"You have to get off the ground!" ordered one of the men from the +Landing. "The sooner you quit the better for you!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>"We're going," was the sullen answer. "I reckon we know when you've +got the best of us."</p> + +<p>"Then," said the other man, "we'll wait till you start—and we won't +wait long!"</p> + +<p>Shortly afterward Scaith's party took the trail to the south, and as +there were six of them Joe concluded that his first assailant had not +been seriously damaged by his fall into the ravine. When they had +gone, one of the new arrivals turned to Joe.</p> + +<p>"Carnally and Graham should be here before night," he said. "They were +getting ready to come up when we left. Jake allowed he wanted to be on +the ground."</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE EVE OF BATTLE</span></h2> + + +<p>It was evening when the big liner which had left Montreal at daybreak +steamed slowly past the ramparts of Quebec, the roar of her whistle +echoing among the rocks. The tide which had floated her across the +shoals of Lake St. Peter was running low, the great river was +unruffled, and Andrew leaned on her saloon-deck rails, watching the +city open up as she swung inshore with the slack stream. Behind the +wharves and warehouses at the waterside old buildings and loftier +modern ones, stores, banks and churches, rose in picturesque +confusion, tier above tier, to the heights girdled by Dufferin Avenue, +and the huge Frontenac Hotel. It struck him as a beautiful city, +viewed from the river, but it bore an exotic stamp. In spite of the +sooty smoke of the locomotives and the rattle of steamboat winches, it +had a stronger resemblance to the old romantic towns of France than +the business centers of essentially modern Canada.</p> + +<p>A feeble scream answered the sonorous whistle, and the engines stopped +for a few minutes as a tug steamed out from the wharf. She brought a +dozen passengers besides a number of mailbags, and when she cast off +the screw throbbed again and the liner forged ahead. It was with mixed +feelings that Andrew watched the city drop behind and the white thread +of Montmorency Falls disappear behind a long green island. Be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>yond it +the river widened, the shores were falling back, and dusk was creeping +across the oily water. Open sea was still far away, but Andrew felt +that he had parted from Canada, and though he was going home with his +work successfully done, the thought filled him with wistful regret. In +spite of many hardships and difficulties, he had been happy in the +northern wilds, and happier with Geraldine by the Lake of Shadows. He +meant to come back when he had finished his fight for Allinson's and +he thrilled as he wondered how Geraldine would welcome him. She had +given him a gracious farewell and her sincere good wishes; but she had +with gentle firmness prevented his making any direct appeal. This he +determined should not be the same again. When he returned she should +hear him out; but there was still much to be done before he could +prove his right to claim her, for the possibility of ignominious +failure confronted him.</p> + +<p>Before the next few weeks had passed he might be beaten and +discredited—jeered at as a rash fool who, undertaking a task beyond +his powers, had brought disaster upon those he meant to benefit and +wrecked an honored firm. But apart from such considerations, he knew +that he had turned his back upon the strenuous life of the wilderness. +Even if he returned to the lode for a month or two, he would travel by +well-marked roads, surrounded by some degree of civilized comfort. +There would be no more of the zest of the unknown trail; the charm of +the lonely North would be broken by the crash of machinery and the +voices of busy men.</p> + +<p>The dinner bugle broke his reverie, and when he was leaving the saloon +a steward gave him a letter the tender had brought. Recognizing +Carnally's writ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>ing, he opened it eagerly in a quiet corner of the +smoking-room, and as he read it he felt a faint envy of his comrade +who was using pick and powder in the wilds. This, however, gave place +to more practical considerations. Carnally related the jumpers' +defeat, which he described as Mappin's last attempt to trouble them. +The claims, he said, were safe from any fresh attack, and there was a +marked improvement in the ore as they opened up the lode. He thought +Andrew could devote himself to his English business with undisturbed +confidence.</p> + +<p>Andrew realized that the latter would need all his attention, and +during the short voyage he had little to say to his fellow-passengers. +Revolving schemes in his mind, he found weak points in all of them, +for it was a serious problem he had to attack. He could see several +ways of regulating the Rain Bluff Company's affairs, if Leonard would +agree, and he could bring charges against his brother-in-law which +would cost him his relatives' support; but this course was not +admissible. Leonard must be deprived of all control over Allinson's +but it must be done without suspicion being cast upon the integrity of +the firm. That would be difficult. Then Florence's position required +thought. Andrew wished the unraveling of the matter had been left to +somebody else with more tact and acuteness, but it was his duty and he +must do the best he could.</p> + +<p>On landing he traveled straight to London, and after taking a room at +a hotel went on foot to the Allinson offices. It was a sultry day with +rain at intervals; the streets were miry, and smoke thickened the +listless air. As he walked eastward along the Strand the roar of +traffic jarred on his ears and he noticed the streaky grime on the wet +buildings; but it was the intent, pallid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> faces of the passers-by that +impressed him most when he approached the city. Some were pinched and +hungrily eager, some were gross and fleshy, but the steady, direct +frankness of the Canadian glance was missing, and there was a more +marked difference in the movements of Andrew's city countrymen. All +were in a hurry, bolting into and out of dingy offices, but they had +not the free virile grace of the men who followed the lonely Canadian +trails. Nor had they, so far as their expressions hinted, the +optimistic cheerfulness that is common in the West.</p> + +<p>Though he was glad to be at home, Andrew was sensible of a faint +depression. The people he saw about him were those he would +henceforward work among; he must change the drill and canoe paddle for +the pen, and breathe the close air of offices instead of the fragrance +of the pines. Had the option been his, he would have turned away from +the city; but, as the head of Allinson's, he was not free to choose. +Doggedly, as when he had followed the frozen trail on a morsel of +food, he held on eastward past the Law Courts.</p> + +<p>At the office he learned that Leonard was away at a German health +resort, but would be back in a few days, and that Florence was staying +at Ghyllside. Andrew was sorry for Florence and felt guilty when he +thought of her. Though she had always taken her husband's view and +refused to consider him a person of any importance, she was his eldest +sister. Had she been less prejudiced, she might have helped him to +come to some understanding with Leonard which would have prevented a +direct conflict, but he feared he could look only for opposition and +bitterness. Next he learned that the Rain Bluff shareholders' meeting, +which he had suggested, had been fixed for an unexpectedly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> early +date. He surmised that Leonard, having his plans ready, meant to get +them adopted before his own were prepared.</p> + +<p>Summoning Sharpe, the elderly chief accountant who had served his +father, Andrew spent some hours with him, mastering so far as possible +the state of the firm's affairs. With a few exceptions, they were +prospering; there was no doubt that, in a sense, Leonard had done his +work well. In particular, the returns from foreign ventures were +excellent, and though Sharpe could not tell him precisely how the +profits had been made, Andrew with wider knowledge on some points +could guess. He feared that a full explanation would not redound to +the honor of the firm. He knew of lands to which Allinson's money had +been sent, where the high interest was wrung out of subject races with +fiendish cruelty.</p> + +<p>At last, when the electric lights were burning in the +lavishly-decorated office, Sharpe closed his books.</p> + +<p>"I think that is all I can tell you, Mr. Allinson," he said. "On the +whole, I venture to believe you must find our position eminently +satisfactory. The one weak point, if I may say so, is the Rain Bluff +mine. You will have seen that the shares are quoted down."</p> + +<p>"I've noticed it. What's the reason? The directors wouldn't let any +information that might have a depressing effect leak out."</p> + +<p>"There has been some selling," Sharpe answered with a shrug. "It's +possible that things have been kept too close. A little encouraging +news given to the press now and then goes a long way, but silence +tends to uneasiness." He hesitated. "I suppose I must not ask about +the Company's prospects until you have met the Board?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>"You have been investing?"</p> + +<p>Sharpe admitted it.</p> + +<p>"I bought in the open market, with no favor shown. The firm has +treated me liberally, but I may have to make room for a younger man by +and by, and I had two boys to start. One at law, the other as surgeon; +but they are only beginning to stand on their own feet, and it was a +drain. What was left went into the Rain Bluff. I felt I was safe in a +venture organized by us."</p> + +<p>He looked at Andrew eagerly, but for a few moments the latter mused. +It was, he thought, such men as this old servant, patient, highly +trained toilers, who would have been hardest hit by the failure of the +mine. When he answered, his expression was unusually grave.</p> + +<p>"I think I can say that you have no cause for anxiety."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Sharpe. "Your assurance is a great relief. I wonder +whether I may mention that you have your father's manner; it was his +habit to make a curt statement without an explanation, but it always +carried weight. You remind me of him strongly, though I never noticed +the resemblance until to-day."</p> + +<p>"You have paid me a sincere compliment," said Andrew quietly.</p> + +<p>He spent the evening studying figures in his hotel, with no thought of +the attractions the city had to offer, and the next day he proceeded +to call on as many of the Rain Bluff directors as he could find in +their offices. They were city men, ignorant of any but the financial +side of mining, and he saw that the first two regarded him as an +inexperienced meddler. These, he thought, had been given a hint by +Leonard, though he did not question their honesty. Another insisted on +talking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> about Canadian sport, with the fixed impression that he had +really gone out to shoot and fish, and Andrew abandoned the attempt to +undeceive him. The fourth, however, heard what he had to say with +close attention.</p> + +<p>"To divulge this news would bring about a dangerous crisis," he warned +Andrew. "I must strongly urge you to consult with Hathersage and defer +any mention of new arrangements until after the meeting."</p> + +<p>"Then I should have you gentlemen united against me."</p> + +<p>"You do us injustice," Rahway protested. "On some of the points +involved our judgment is necessarily better than yours, and we would +no doubt insist on following it, but you will not find us neglectful +of the real interests of the Company."</p> + +<p>"They can be served only by a radical change of plans. As it stands, +the Company is rotten!"</p> + +<p>"Grave language, Mr. Allinson."</p> + +<p>"It's warranted. You must submit a report to the shareholders. Is it +prepared?"</p> + +<p>The director handed him some sheets of paper which Andrew studied with +rising indignation.</p> + +<p>"I recognize Hathersage's work!" he exclaimed. "There's no hint of the +difficulties that confront us. He wrote this?"</p> + +<p>"It's a draft I have just received from him."</p> + +<p>"And after what I've told you about the mine, you think it should +stand?"</p> + +<p>Rahway looked disturbed. "With a few exceptions, I must say that I do. +You are new to these matters, and don't realize how undesirable it is +that we should make our troubles public. Give us time to consider and +mature fresh schemes, and, if matters are really so serious as they +seem to you, we may find some judi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>cious remedy. Undue haste can only +have disastrous results."</p> + +<p>Andrew lost his patience.</p> + +<p>"You want to tinker with the situation, to keep the shareholders in +the dark, while you try to patch up a tottering concern? It's an +impossible course! The truth must be faced boldly and the Company +reorganized from the start!'</p> + +<p>"If that is so, it must be done by the directors, with great caution. +I must beg you not to force our hands."</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Andrew, "I have nothing more to say. I shall attend +the meeting and do what seems advisable."</p> + +<p>He left the office, convinced that he could take only a bold, +independent course, for no help could be expected from the men he had +called on. Leonard's influence over them could not be combated. He +thought they might honestly doubt that the state of affairs was as +serious as he had represented; but if they were convinced of this, +their chief desire would be to keep the mine going long enough to save +their credit, and to make disclosure gradually. He was glad he had +told them nothing about the richness of the Graham lode and that the +claims on it were held under his personal control. On reaching his +hotel, he wrote to the directors he had not been able to see, though +he did not expect much result from this, and the next morning he left +for his home.</p> + +<p>Though he had a cordial welcome, he did not explain his plans to his +relatives, and Florence seemed to regard him with suspicion. A week +later Leonard came down to take her home, and asked for a private +interview after dinner on the night of his arrival. Andrew went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> with +him to the library and waited calmly until he began.</p> + +<p>"We must understand each other," Leonard said. "I hear you have found +the lode. Will you tell me your plans?"</p> + +<p>"Not to begin with. I want some information about yours first. No +doubt Mappin cabled you news of our discovery?"</p> + +<p>"He did. I might retort that you have seen my colleagues and tried to +gain them over, in my absence, instead of waiting for my return; but +that is not an important matter. What is it you wish to know?"</p> + +<p>Andrew's voice was quietly steady as he asked the test question upon +which their future relations turned:</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to submit the report to the Rain Bluff shareholders as it +stands?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Leonard answered curtly, and Andrew knew that there could be no +compromise. It was now a trial of strength; one of them must be driven +off the field.</p> + +<p>"Knowing it to be misleading?" he said. "Very well; I can't prevent +its issue. I suppose you have heard that your confederate has been +beaten in what must be his last attempt to thwart me?"</p> + +<p>"I heard that an attempt had been made to jump the Company's claims."</p> + +<p>"My claims," said Andrew.</p> + +<p>"The Company's, I think. You were our representative when you found +them."</p> + +<p>"We'll let that go; it's not a point that's likely to be raised."</p> + +<p>As the question of the ownership of the claims seemed to be of +importance, Leonard looked puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," he said, "I've told you that, if needful, Mappin must be +sacrificed."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>"That is not what you told him. You must have meant to trick one of us +or play false to both."</p> + +<p>"I can't tolerate such words!"</p> + +<p>Leonard lost the indulgent air he had so far assumed, and Andrew, +leaning forward with elbows on the table, fixed his eyes on him.</p> + +<p>"We'll drop all disguises. You have plotted against me ever since I +went to Canada, and I'm showing you more consideration than you +deserve in speaking of these things in private instead of before the +family. It is for Florence's sake I'm doing so." He raised his hand. +"Let me finish! You would have ruined the Rain Bluff Company sooner +than allow me to reorganize it; you conspired with Mappin to starve me +and my friends to death."</p> + +<p>Leonard sat back in his chair with a harsh laugh.</p> + +<p>"That is ridiculous! If we are to talk the matter out, try to be calm. +I'll admit that I would have been glad to prevent your wasting the +Company's time and money on an absurd adventure, and gave Mappin a +hint to that effect. If he went farther, for his own ends, I'm not +responsible."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to believe that you speak the truth. Apart from this, you +have persuaded the directors that my suggestions are not to be +considered seriously and what's worse, you have from the beginning +prejudiced my relatives against me. It's your doing that they think me +a fool."</p> + +<p>A smile crept into Leonard's eyes.</p> + +<p>"It looks as if you mean to force a quarrel," he said.</p> + +<p>"In a sense, you're right. We can't go on as we have been doing."</p> + +<p>"Very well. What do you suggest?"</p> + +<p>"In the first place, I ask for your resignation from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> Rain Bluff +Board. That shouldn't be difficult; you have been selling your +shares."</p> + +<p>Leonard considered for a minute.</p> + +<p>"I might agree. Three of the directors must retire, and the Company +isn't likely to prosper if you get control."</p> + +<p>"I understand your reasons. The concern has got into trouble, for +which I'm to be held responsible, and you clear out because you find +it impossible to curb my recklessness. You expect to save your credit +in that way."</p> + +<p>"Have it so, if you like," said Leonard coolly.</p> + +<p>His answer convinced Andrew that Leonard did not know of the richness +of the lode. Andrew thought he had honestly disbelieved in it, and +Mappin, who had informed him of its discovery, which had not yet been +widely mentioned in the Canadian papers, might not have made him +understand its importance. Indeed, it was possible that Mappin meant +to throw over his English confederate.</p> + +<p>"I have another demand to make. I want your consent to a dissolution +of your partnership in Allinson's."</p> + +<p>Leonard started and his face grew hard; though it seemed impossible +that Andrew, whom he had genuinely looked down on, should urge the +matter.</p> + +<p>"This is too much!" he exclaimed. "Have you lost your senses?"</p> + +<p>"I think not. You have betrayed the trust my father had in you; you +have started Allinson's on a downward course. That you have, with the +exception of the Rain Bluff speculation, so far made money for the +firm does not count, because you can't continue doing so. There's a +code of business morality; they are not fools in the city, and your +methods would be found out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> Then the reputation we trade upon would +be gone. But enough of this. Put your price on your position and I'll +pay it if possible."</p> + +<p>Leonard clenched his hands.</p> + +<p>"No!" he answered. "I hold my place! You cannot get rid of me!"</p> + +<p>"Is that your last word?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! I've tried to be forbearing, but you push me too hard. It has +come to an open fight, which may as well begin at the shareholders' +meeting. I shall not resign from the Board."</p> + +<p>"It was bound to come," said Andrew. "We know how we stand."</p> + +<p>Leonard rose.</p> + +<p>"Florence and I leave to-morrow! There is no train to-night."</p> + +<p>"That must be as you wish," responded Andrew, as he went out.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later Florence found him on the terrace. Her face was +flushed and her eyes were angry.</p> + +<p>"Andrew," she cried, "do you mean to persist in this madness? Shall I +try to make peace with Leonard before it is too late?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry it's too late already. I can't think he sent you."</p> + +<p>"No; I came because I felt I must. Can't you see that you are bent on +ruining yourself and bringing discredit on the firm?"</p> + +<p>"I think not; but it's a point on which we can't agree. I can't blame +you for taking Leonard's side."</p> + +<p>"Oh," she cried, "try to be sensible! Think how Leonard has developed +the business and earned the money that you have spent. Try to remember +all you owe to him."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>A queer smile crept into Andrew's eyes. He knew what he owed to +Leonard, but Florence must not guess. She should keep her faith in her +husband, if she could.</p> + +<p>"At the worst, he would leave the firm with a very much larger capital +than when he joined it, and there are, no doubt, other firms which +would welcome him."</p> + +<p>Florence turned upon him with a mocking laugh.</p> + +<p>"But Leonard is not going to leave the firm! Tell me, for one thing, +why you wish him to?"</p> + +<p>It was far from Andrew's intention that she should ever learn.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said slowly, "our views are so different on almost every +point that it's impossible we should get on. I'm very sorry, Florence, +but you can't mend the matter. The split was inevitable."</p> + +<p>"And you venture to set your immature judgment against Leonard's?"</p> + +<p>"I'm forced to. Don't say any more, Florence. I suppose the thing must +trouble you. Forgive me, if you can."</p> + +<p>"I'll try, when you have found out your folly," she said, and left +him.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ALLINSON'S MAKES GOOD</span></h2> + + +<p>It was with a strange sense of detachment that Andrew attended the +first meeting of the shareholders in the Rain Bluff mine. He had +thought of the event with great anxiety, made numerous plans and +abandoned them, and now he had come, in a sense, unprepared, +determined to submit two general propositions and let the shareholders +decide for themselves. Ignorant of the usual mode of procedure at such +meetings, he had consulted nobody better informed, and realized that +he might be ruled out of order or shouted down; but he was sensible of +a coolness that somewhat surprised him.</p> + +<p>The room hired for the occasion was large and handsome, with a floor +of inlaid hardwood, frescoed walls and lofty roof. It had something of +the look of a chapel. At one end a group of well-groomed frock-coated +directors were seated at a fine oak table, with the Company's +secretary behind an array of books and papers. All that the eye rested +on suggested stable prosperity, for Leonard knew the effect that +imposing surroundings had on the small provincial investor. It would +be difficult for inexperienced and unorganized malcontents to +disregard the air of severe formality which he meant to cast over the +proceedings.</p> + +<p>Andrew missed nothing as he entered. To face a crisis had a steadying +effect on him, and his manner was very tranquil as he walked up the +long room.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>Carefully scanning the assembled shareholders, he surmised from their +dress and appearance that a number of them were people of small means +from country towns. There were a few women, who looked nervous, as if +they felt themselves out of place. He was surprised to see Gertrude +and Mrs. Fenwood; and then as his glance roved farther he caught sight +of Wannop, who gave him an encouraging grin. Robert Allinson was +nearby, looking unusually grave; but Murray caught Andrew's eye and +smiled. On the whole, he was glad that he had made no attempt to win +over his relatives since his return: it was better that they should +judge and vote like the rest of the shareholders. Then as he took his +place he looked at his fellow-directors, whom he had not seen since +his futile interviews. They wore an air of staid formality, and he +suspected that before the meeting was finished they would regard him +as a traitor to his class; but that did not matter. He had given them +their opportunity and they would not seize it. Leonard, dressed with +fastidious taste, looked, as usual, suave and well-bred, but the quick +glance he gave Andrew seemed to hint at anxiety.</p> + +<p>He made a short speech, calculated to reassure, but containing very +little definite information. His audience listened in an apathetic +manner, and it struck Andrew that a curious, matter-of-fact dullness +characterized the proceedings. Leonard stated that the business of the +meeting was to adopt the report and elect new members of the Board in +place of those who retired, though they were, he added, eligible for +re-election. Then there was a discordant note, for a short man in +badly cut clothes, with spectacles and upstanding red hair, rose in +the body of the hall.</p> + +<p>"I take it that our chairman has made an error," he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> said. "Our +business is to consider the report; not necessarily to adopt it."</p> + +<p>"That is correct," said Leonard, smiling. "We invite your best +consideration. I will now ask the secretary to read the document."</p> + +<p>The secretary did so in a monotonous voice, as if it were a matter +which must be got through with out of respect to custom, and Andrew +felt that it would be a bold shareholder who ventured to disturb the +tranquillity of the meeting. Moreover, he recognized the cleverness of +the report. It said a good deal that was not to the point and avoided +every loophole for adverse criticism. There was only one weak spot—no +dividend was declared, though it was hinted that a satisfactory profit +might be anticipated when the Company's property had been further +developed.</p> + +<p>Somebody proposed that it be adopted, a seconder appeared; and then, +while Andrew felt that his time to speak had come, the short man with +the red hair got up again.</p> + +<p>"I move as an amendment that the report be held over until we are +supplied with more details," he said. "What I want to know is—why +there is no dividend, and when we may expect one?"</p> + +<p>One or two of the directors looked supercilious, the others amused, +and Leonard smiled indulgently. He was used to dealing with objectors.</p> + +<p>"The question," he explained, "is complicated, but I think we have +answered it already. I may add that it is unreasonable to expect a +dividend on the first year's operations. Preliminary expenses are +large, and a mine is not like a factory. The ground must, so to speak, +be cleared before you can get to work. Headings must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> be driven and +timbered, pumps and machines of various kinds have to be put up."</p> + +<p>"Were you ever in a mine?" the red-haired man interrupted amid some +laughter.</p> + +<p>"I hardly think that is to the point," Leonard answered lightly. +"Though I must admit that I have not been down a shaft, I have a +knowledge of the commercial side of the subject, which is all that +concerns me."</p> + +<p>"So I thought!" exclaimed the other. "You can't know much about your +work unless you have put up pitprops and used the pick. Now the +chairman of a mining company ought——"</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by cries of "Sit down!" and some ironical +encouragement, and Leonard frowned. It might be dangerous to allow the +meeting to get out of hand, and this troublesome fellow was giving +Andrew, of whom he was half afraid, his opportunity.</p> + +<p>"May I inquire whether the gentleman is a practical miner himself?" +one of the directors interposed.</p> + +<p>"I was, when I was young. Now I keep a shop and deal with pitmen. But +I came here expecting to be told about a dividend. I put three hundred +pounds into the Company, because lawyer Jesmond said one could rely on +anything that was started by Allinson's. The money wasn't easily +saved, but there was no opening in my business—what with the +co-operatives cutting into a small man's trade——"</p> + +<p>"That's enough!" said somebody; and there was a shout of "Don't waste +our time!" But the shopkeeper sturdily stood his ground.</p> + +<p>"I'm not here for myself alone," he resumed. "I came up, by excursion, +to speak for other people in our town. Jesmond did their business, and +he said——"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>There was loud interruption. The meeting was getting unruly, but +Wannop's voice broke through the uproar:</p> + +<p>"Go on, man!"</p> + +<p>"I mean to," replied the speaker calmly. "What's more, I have signed +proxies in my pocket to be filled up as I think fit."</p> + +<p>"It's doubtful how far that's in order," the secretary objected.</p> + +<p>"Let him fill them up by all means!" exclaimed a stockjobber +ironically. "If all his friends gave him proxies, they wouldn't count +for much! There are individual holders present whose votes——"</p> + +<p>He broke off at a touch from a neighbor, and Andrew cast a keen glance +at the quieter portion of the audience. It was composed of city men +who seemed inclined to support the directors. They were, perhaps, not +satisfied with the report, for several had been whispering together; +but Andrew thought they would prefer to avoid a disturbance and +disclosures that might injure the Company. If the meeting could be got +through safely, they could afterward sell out at once and cut their +loss. Andrew's sympathies, however, were strongly with such investors +as the determined shopkeeper. He could imagine the patient drudgery +and careful frugality which had enabled them to buy their shares.</p> + +<p>"I must ask the gentleman to find a seconder for his motion," Leonard +broke in.</p> + +<p>There was a pause and the shopkeeper looked eagerly round the hall, +where he seemed to have no friends. Then Andrew got up and quietly +faced the assembly.</p> + +<p>"I second the amendment," he said.</p> + +<p>A murmur of astonishment greeted the speech.</p> + +<p>"A director!" exclaimed somebody, and a whisper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> ran through the hall. +"Mr. Allinson—the company's agent in Canada!"</p> + +<p>Deep silence followed, and Andrew saw that every eye was fixed on him. +He was acting against all precedent—opposing his colleagues on the +Board, who were, in a manner, entitled to his support.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I'm taking an unusual line in offering the gentleman who +has been speaking information which the chairman has refused him," he +said. "He asked when he might expect a dividend. The answer is—never, +unless a radical change is made in the Company's policy."</p> + +<p>The plain words made a sensation, and after an impressive pause an +uproar began.</p> + +<p>"What about the prospectus with your name on it?"</p> + +<p>"What changes would you make?"</p> + +<p>"Keep quiet and let him speak!"</p> + +<p>"No, it's a case of collusion; there's some trick in it!"</p> + +<p>The meeting raged confusedly until Leonard got up. He looked shaken by +the storm of indignation.</p> + +<p>"Order, gentlemen! There is a motion before you."</p> + +<p>"The amendment first!" somebody shouted.</p> + +<p>"The amendment," said Leonard. "A show of hands will serve. 'That the +report be held over, pending the furnishing of further details.'"</p> + +<p>The audience appeared to be unanimous as the hands went up, and +Leonard sought to turn the matter to his advantage.</p> + +<p>"Carried," he said. "We will now adjourn the meeting until the +information which is asked for can be supplied."</p> + +<p>"That," Andrew stated firmly, "is not needful. I can give now an +accurate outline of the Company's position."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>The secretary protested that this was informal and one of the +directors requested Leonard to rule it out of order; but the meeting +had got beyond the chairman's control. There were poor men present who +thought they had lost their all, as well as rich men who believed they +had been deceived, and Leonard's words were greeted with angry clamor.</p> + +<p>Murray jumped to his feet.</p> + +<p>"I suggest that we hear Mr. Allinson. We will learn the truth from +him!" he said.</p> + +<p>"Let him speak!" shouted some one.</p> + +<p>Andrew, standing very still and intent of face, raised his hand and +the turmoil ceased.</p> + +<p>"I ask your attention. First, I must show you the worst of things, as +I learned it on the spot in Canada. The mine is threatened with +inundation, which can be prevented only by the use of powerful pumping +machinery; the rock is unusually broken up and faulty, which +necessitates expensive timbering and impedes the work. These +difficulties, however, need not be enlarged upon, because, if the +quality of the ore justified it, they could be overcome. Instead, I +will tell you roughly how much capital we have expended, the quantity +of ore raised, the cost of its extraction, and the value of the yield +in refined metal."</p> + +<p>He quoted from his notebook, and there was a strange quietness as he +proceeded:</p> + +<p>"Though the figures might be challenged and slightly modified by +experts, the conclusion is inevitable—the ore turned out at the Rain +Bluff can pay only a small interest on the cost of labor. The capital +spent in acquiring the mine has irretrievably gone."</p> + +<p>Then the storm broke. Questions, reproaches and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> insulting epithets +were hurled at the directors, some of whom tried to smile +forbearingly, while others grew red, and Leonard sat grim and silent +with his hand clenched. Andrew waited unmoved, and seized on a pause +to continue:</p> + +<p>"There is every reason to believe that your directors acted, as they +thought, in your interests, but they have been misled."</p> + +<p>"So have we!" exclaimed a furious investor.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that's true," Andrew agreed. "It's an important point, but +I must ask you to consider the remedies. In the first place, I will, +if necessary, redeem every Rain Bluff share which has been allotted; +that is, my brokers will buy up all that are brought to them."</p> + +<p>He was heard with astonishment. Some of those present knew a good deal +about commercial companies, but that a director of one should make +such an offer was unprecedented in their experience. On the surface, +it was surprisingly fair, but they suspected a trick.</p> + +<p>"At what price?" cried one. "The shares will fall to a few shillings +as soon as the truth about the mine is known."</p> + +<p>"At par," said Andrew. "You will be returned every penny you have paid +in."</p> + +<p>It was obvious that the greater part of his audience did not know what +to make of this. That he should be in earnest scarcely seemed +possible, as his offer seemed the extremity of rashness. No one spoke +for a moment or two; and then Robert Allinson rose.</p> + +<p>"If any guarantee is needed, I shall be glad to supply it, so far as +my means allow. My name is Allinson, a member of the family +controlling the firm which promoted this Company. I may perhaps +remark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> without undue pride that it is a point of honor with +Allinson's to keep its promises."</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Bob!" cried a loud, hearty voice.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Robert, in a tone of grave rebuke, "that is not +altogether seemly at a public meeting."</p> + +<p>Wannop got up with a laugh in which a number of the listeners joined.</p> + +<p>"And I am prepared to back my relative, Andrew Allinson, to my last +shilling—in which Mrs. Wannop joins me. Between us we hold a good +deal of stock."</p> + +<p>There was applause mixed with expressions of relief, but some still +suspected knavery.</p> + +<p>"What is Mr. Allinson's object?" a man blurted out. "What does he +expect to gain?"</p> + +<p>Andrew flushed, but answered quietly.</p> + +<p>"If you close with my offer, I shall undoubtedly benefit; but I do not +urge you to do so. Listen to the alternative, and then decide. But I +must ask for patience while I tell you the story of another mine."</p> + +<p>"As chairman, I must raise a point of order," Leonard objected; but +they silenced him with shouts, and he sat down, baffled, knowing that +the game was up.</p> + +<p>"Go on!" they ordered Andrew, and with a steady voice he began to tell +them of Graham's discovery of the lode.</p> + +<p>He paused once or twice, but they encouraged him, and as he proceeded +nobody felt that the narrative was out of place. A few, indeed, forgot +what they had come for and listened with a sense of romance and high +adventure, while he told them of the sawmill clerk's steadfast, +long-deferred purpose. Here and there women who had been keenly +anxious a few minutes earlier watched him with fixed, sympathizing +eyes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> and Andrew, cheered by the close attention, was conscious of a +new power. He could hold these people, and take them with him into the +frozen wilds.</p> + +<p>They followed the march of the starving men across the Northern snow, +saw them blasting icy rocks, and searching with desperate eagerness +for the food caches. Then, as he told of the hard-won triumph, when +the vein was at last disclosed, a hoarse murmur that had something of +a cheer in it filled the room. It was forced upon those who had +doubted him that they were listening to an exceptional man, who had +borne and done things that needed the staunchest courage, for honor +and not for gain.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said with an abrupt change of tone, "I have told you how we +found the Graham Lode, on which three of the richest claims have been +contracted to me. Let me read you the reports of different assayers to +whom I submitted specimens." He did so, and added: "The original +documents are here; you may examine and pass them round. But I must +get on. These claims are mine, though my right to them might be +contested by the directors of this Company—the cost of finding and +proving them has been borne by myself—but, if you agree to their +development and the abandoning of the Rain Bluff, I propose to hand +them over as your property."</p> + +<p>There was confused applause, in the midst of which Leonard rose.</p> + +<p>"In face of the want of confidence you have shown in us and the +extraordinary course Mr. Allinson has taken, my colleagues and I feel +compelled to resign in a body."</p> + +<p>"Let them go! We're well rid of them!" exclaimed the shopkeeper. "You +don't join them?" he said anxiously to Andrew.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>"I had better do so and offer myself for re-election."</p> + +<p>"Then I have much pleasure in proposing Mr. Allinson," said Murray. "I +should like to mention that I remained a shareholder in this Company +because I preferred his bare word to the strong recommendations of +experienced stockjobbing friends."</p> + +<p>Several men rose to second him, and when every hand went up amidst a +burst of applause, Andrew said with some emotion:</p> + +<p>"Thank you for this mark of trust. My first offer stands—anybody +anxious to have his shares redeemed at par need only apply to my +brokers, whose address is here." He laid an envelope on the table in +sight of all.</p> + +<p>"We'll go on with the election," resumed the shopkeeper. "With the +permission of the meeting, I'll ask Mr. Allinson whom he'd like to +have on the Board."</p> + +<p>Andrew smiled.</p> + +<p>"You're giving up your rights and offering me a very unusual +privilege."</p> + +<p>"Never mind that," rejoined a stockjobber dryly. "These proceedings +have been remarkably unusual from the start. In fact, I imagine we +have reached the limit of irregularity for a company meeting. For all +that, I support our spokesman's plucky offer."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Andrew. "I would suggest the nomination of three of +your previous directors. I believe they would serve you well, and +their appointment might act as a judicious check on me."</p> + +<p>The gentlemen he named looked irresolute and somewhat embarrassed, but +after a word or two with him they expressed their willingness to +serve. They were elected without dissent, and then Robert Allinson +stood up.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>"I have pleasure in proposing Mr. Antony Wannop, who is a large +shareholder and Mr. Allinson's brother-in-law. Though I may be +prejudiced, I feel that I may say that your interest may safely be +trusted to the Allinson family."</p> + +<p>"After what we have heard here, that is an opinion with which I +heartily agree," a man at the back declared. "None of us can doubt +that Allinson is a justly respected name."</p> + +<p>Wannop was chosen and several more; and then a man got up.</p> + +<p>"If it's necessary to hold an adjourned meeting, it will be attended +as a matter of form," he said. "I propose that we instruct Mr. +Allinson to push on with the development of the new lode as fast as +possible, giving him, with confidence, full authority to do what he +thinks fit."</p> + +<p>Though the secretary tried to point out that the Board must act as a +body, the proposal was carried with acclamation, and as the meeting +broke up Andrew leaned forward rather heavily on the big oak table. He +was filled with confused emotions and the strain had told on him. When +he looked up the room was almost empty and Leonard had gone, but the +reappointed directors whom he had suggested remained.</p> + +<p>"We have something to regret," said one awkwardly. "It's unfortunate +we didn't quite grasp your intentions. We feel that although you took +us unprepared, you have treated us with exceptional fairness."</p> + +<p>"You may remember that you wouldn't listen when I tried to explain +matters," Andrew answered with a twinkle in his eyes. "However, your +greater experience should be valuable to me and I've no doubt we'll +get on well in future."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>After a few cordial words they withdrew, and one of them turned to his +companion.</p> + +<p>"Though I'm glad we rejoined, I dare say you noticed the personal tone +he took. It's clear that he expects us to play second fiddle."</p> + +<p>"Well, after all, Allinson has shown that he's capable of leading the +tune."</p> + +<p>When they had gone Wannop came up to Andrew.</p> + +<p>"It's a compliment when I tell you I wasn't a bit surprised," he said. +"I'd expected something of the kind from you. The Allinson strain +showed up well to-day. You got hold of them and swept them off their +feet. Robert, too, proved himself a brick; but he's waiting in the +passage and we must try to shunt him. He'll lecture me on my new +duties and I want a big, long drink. In fact, half a dozen would be +better."</p> + +<p>Andrew laughed, and they went out, Wannop talking excitedly.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE</span></h2> + + +<p>On the day after the meeting Andrew returned to Ghyllside, and Hilda +met him at the station, her eyes sparkling with delight.</p> + +<p>"You have won!" she cried. "Antony came down last night and brought us +the news. Then Gertrude was over this morning and could talk of +nothing else. She said you were splendid, and she got quite vexed when +I told her she needn't speak as if she hadn't expected it."</p> + +<p>"After all, my position was a strong one," Andrew said. "It doesn't +need much skill to win the game when you hold the best cards, and of +course Dream Mine was the ace of trumps. Leonard could only throw down +his hand when I brought it out."</p> + +<p>"Ah! but how did you get the ace? It wasn't by chance; you searched +for it, starving, in the snow. But it's a silly metaphor—one isn't +allowed to choose one's cards."</p> + +<p>"That's true," Andrew replied with a trace of gravity. "It was dealt +to me—I think not by accident. Without it, I should not have won the +game."</p> + +<p>Hilda's manner changed, for she was seldom serious long.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, when he had helped her into the waiting trap, "in +the future you'll be called on to play a different one. You can't +reasonably expect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> to find another mine, and you'll have no excuse for +tramping through the wilds on snow-shoes, after this. Instead of furs +and moccasins, you'll have to wear a silk hat and a Bond street coat, +and write things in ledgers instead of firing off dynamite. How will +you like it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. However, I suppose it will have to be done; though I +might, perhaps, hire somebody to do the writing for me."</p> + +<p>"That would be better," Hilda laughed; "your writing isn't good. But +I'm afraid there's a bit of a trial in store for you to-night. All +your friends and relatives in the neighborhood are coming to dinner +and of course they'll congratulate you and try to look as if you +hadn't astonished them. In a way, the situation is distinctly +humorous."</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>Hilda broke into a delighted laugh.</p> + +<p>"Can't you see it's the triumph of the foolish and looked-down-upon +members of the family? You're a popular hero; Antony's a director; and +I'm no longer a person who needn't be considered!"</p> + +<p>"But what had you to do with it?" Andrew asked with unflattering +frankness.</p> + +<p>"I believe I pulled some strings in a humble way. You know you're not +really brilliant, Andrew, and I'm afraid you never will be. Perhaps +that's why you can't see the large part we women had in your triumph. +Of course, you can walk a long distance in snow-shoes and use a +pickax; but who led you to think of putting the snow-shoes on?"</p> + +<p>"Graham, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Try to use some imagination! Go back a little farther. Who made you +see that Allinson's had a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> claim on you, encouraged you to go to +Canada, and prompted you to right that horrid contractor? Can you deny +that I, and Ethel, and the girl in Canada, now and then gave you the +push you needed? Indeed, I think Miss Frobisher must have been very +firm with you."</p> + +<p>"You're right," Andrew admitted. "Am I to understand that you propose +to continue your supervision and assistance in my duties as the +company's manager?"</p> + +<p>"You might do worse than consult me sometimes; but you must get a good +partner who knows the things you haven't learned, when Leonard +leaves." Hilda looked up anxiously. "I suppose he is going to leave?"</p> + +<p>"I'm inclined to think so," Andrew replied with some severity. "Still, +I haven't seen him since the meeting. It's fortunate I know of a +partner who'll make up for my deficiencies—I mean our old accountant, +Sharpe."</p> + +<p>"But surely he has no money!"</p> + +<p>"No. You may have heard that money can be valued too highly, and I +believe it's true."</p> + +<p>Hilda chatted on general topics during the remainder of the drive, and +soon after he got home Andrew went down to receive his guests. Ethel +Hillyard was the first to arrive, and she smiled at him as she gave +him her hand.</p> + +<p>"I have heard the news and am very glad," she said. "But it was only +what I had confidently looked forward to."</p> + +<p>"Then you had a narrow escape of being badly disappointed. As a matter +of fact, I owe a great deal to the staunchness of my friends. I should +hardly have pulled through if they hadn't cheered me on."</p> + +<p>"That's an easy task. It was you who made the fight."</p> + +<p>"I had no choice," said Andrew humorously.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> "There was no retreat. +Then I was well supported—by Olcott's friend, upon whom I had no +claim, among others."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Murray? I don't suppose you know that you won him over by letting +him miss a snipe you could have shot. It's a curious reason for giving +you his confidence, isn't it? But it has struck me that in many ways +you and he are alike."</p> + +<p>"After that, I can hardly say that Murray's a good sort," Andrew +laughed. "However, we must drop the subject, for here he comes."</p> + +<p>He saw that Murray had not noticed him but was advancing straight +toward Ethel, and that a faint tinge of color showed in her face. Then +after a word of welcome to the man he turned away.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fenwood appeared next and greeted him with more cordiality than +he could remember her displaying.</p> + +<p>"It's a gratification to see you following in your father's steps at +last, though I must say that for a long time we doubted your ever +doing so. One recognized that you were influenced by a very proper +sense of your responsibility yesterday, and though I thought you were, +perhaps, somewhat rash, Robert assures me that you showed signs of +business acumen."</p> + +<p>"The trouble is that I may not be able to keep on doing so. If +Robert's capable of judging on such a matter, I'm afraid you'll have +to be patient with me and make allowance for my wasted years."</p> + +<p>"Don't be flippant. It isn't becoming," Mrs. Fenwood rebuked him. "You +have begun well, and it would be a grief to all of us if you relapsed +again."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Olcott came to his rescue and soon afterward they went in to +dinner. Andrew was quiet during the meal, though he felt content. The +strain he had long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> borne had told on him, and a mild reaction, which +brought a sense of fatigue, had set in. He wanted to rest and he had +not finished with Leonard yet.</p> + +<p>It was a calm, warm evening, and though a few shaded candles threw a +soft light over the table, the windows were wide open and the smoky +red of the dying sunset gleamed above the shadowy hills. Wannop was in +a boisterous mood and Hilda abetted him, apparently to Robert's +irritation. Ethel talked to Murray, who seemed gravely interested; +Mrs. Olcott was patiently listening to Mrs. Fenwood; Gertrude now and +then made furtive attempts to check her husband. Andrew looked on with +languid satisfaction, and joined in only when it was necessary. +Presently, to his annoyance, Wannop filled his glass and got up.</p> + +<p>"You have all heard what happened in London yesterday," he said. "Now +that we are here together and those who have joined us are our host's +good friends, it seems opportune to wish a long and useful career to +the Head of the House."</p> + +<p>They rose with lifted glasses, and Andrew felt a thrill as he read the +good-will in their faces and knew his victory over his relatives' +prejudices was complete. The toast they drank with hearty sincerity +was, in a sense, an act of homage—a recognition of his authority. +Instead of bearing with and trying to guide him, they would +henceforward follow where he led. There was a moment's silence after +they sat down, and then he thanked them awkwardly.</p> + +<p>As they left the table Mrs. Fenwood remarked to Hilda, who was nearest +her.</p> + +<p>"It's your brother's rightful place, but he was a long time claiming +it; and, after all, I don't see what Leonard can have done that he +should be deposed."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>"That lies between him and Andrew," Hilda replied. "I think he's the +only one who knows and he will never tell."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I haven't appreciated Andrew as he deserves," Mrs. Fenwood +observed with a thoughtful air.</p> + +<p>The remainder of the evening passed pleasantly, and the next day +Andrew received a telegram, requesting him to call on Leonard at the +Company's offices. He declined to do so, feeling that if Leonard +wished to make terms, he must come to him; and he smiled when another +message stated that his brother-in-law would arrive that evening. It +was getting dark when Leonard reached Ghyllside and was shown into the +library, where Andrew was waiting for him.</p> + +<p>"If you will let your man keep the horse ready I could catch the new +night train back from the junction," he said. "That would, perhaps, +suit both of us best."</p> + +<p>"As you wish," responded Andrew.</p> + +<p>Leonard laid some papers on the table.</p> + +<p>"You made me an offer a little while ago."</p> + +<p>"Which you refused," said Andrew.</p> + +<p>"I did; things have changed since then."</p> + +<p>"They have. Though I told the secretary to take care that only a very +brief notice of the meeting was sent to the papers, news of what took +place has, no doubt, leaked out. It was impossible to prevent this +from happening, and it must have had some effect in the city. You are +afraid it will damage your prestige and weaken your position."</p> + +<p>"I'm not prepared to admit that altogether."</p> + +<p>"It can't be denied. You no longer command public confidence as you +did. You'll find it has been rudely shaken."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>"We'll let that subject drop. I must remind you that your father's +will and the partnership deed prevent your getting rid of me unless +I'm willing to go."</p> + +<p>Andrew regarded him with amusement.</p> + +<p>"I can't deny it, but I think you will be willing. However, I'd better +say that I don't wish to take an undue advantage of the situation. +What do you propose?"</p> + +<p>"That you buy me out, as you offered. I've sketched out the +terms—you'll find them here, with an estimate of my average profits +and what my interest in the firm is worth."</p> + +<p>He pushed the papers across the table and Andrew carefully studied +them before he looked up.</p> + +<p>"The fairest way would be to submit these figures to an outside +accountant. As soon as he has made up a statement, I'll meet you at +Carter & Roding's office and get them to draw up any documents that +are needed to annul our partnership. Are you agreeable?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; we'll consider the thing decided." Leonard hesitated for a +moment. "I don't see," he added, "that you will gain anything by +letting Florence and the others know exactly what we differed about."</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with you. There are reasons enough to account for the +split—the incompatibility of our views on business matters, your +objection to taking a subordinate place. Even at the cost of allowing +Florence to blame me, the truth must be kept from her."</p> + +<p>"Thank you!" said Leonard. "I believe I've said all that's needful, +and I may as well be off. It's a long drive to the junction."</p> + +<p>Andrew let him go. He had accomplished all that he had laid himself +out to do: gained his relatives' confidence, reorganized the mining +company, and got<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> rid of Leonard, who had been a menace to the good +name of Allinson's. It had been easier than he expected; the task he +had shrunk from had become less formidable when boldly attacked, +though he admitted that fortune had favored him. Henceforward he was +his own master, the acknowledged head of Allinson's, and that brought +with it a deep sense of responsibility. Nevertheless, he no longer +felt daunted, for he had gained self-confidence. There were many +things of which he was ignorant; but they could be learned. Then he +remembered that he must go back to Canada for a while after he had +arranged matters with Leonard and had thoroughly informed himself +about Allinson's affairs.</p> + +<p>It was a month before he could get away, and Wannop drove to the +station with him. When he shook hands as the train came in he smiled.</p> + +<p>"Bring her back with you. Then the credit of the Allinson family will +be in safe hands."</p> + +<p>"I'll try," Andrew promised. "I wish I felt more sure of succeeding; +but I wasn't thinking of the credit of the family."</p> + +<p>"That's the proper line to take," Wannop answered, smiling, as he +stood with his hand on the carriage door. "Don't be timid. I'm +inclined to think you have done more difficult things."</p> + +<p>He made room for Hilda and pulled her back as the train started, and +they stood waving their hands until the last carriage vanished into a +tunnel.</p> + +<p>"Andrew needs some encouraging," he remarked. "When there's anything +to be gained for himself, he's too diffident; but perhaps it's a good +fault, and by no means common."</p> + +<p>"Though he talked a good deal about the mine, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> all know why he's +going back," said Hilda. "I suppose you are satisfied about this Miss +Frobisher?"</p> + +<p>"So far as my opinion goes, she's what you might call eminently +suitable. If I had any doubt on the matter Andrew's firm conviction +would decide me. Though it was a long time before the family realized +it, his judgment is to be relied on."</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed Hilda; "in some things, he is really very sensible."</p> + +<p>When Andrew reached the Lake of Shadows he found Carnally awaiting him +with a satisfactory account of the progress of development work on the +lode, and they spent some time talking over it in Andrew's room at the +hotel.</p> + +<p>"Jake, are you willing to take the post of our general manager in +Canada?" Andrew asked.</p> + +<p>"Under Hathersage, as boss director?"</p> + +<p>"No, under me. Hathersage has left the firm for good."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll be proud to take it," said Carnally quietly.</p> + +<p>"It's yours. You haven't asked about the stipend."</p> + +<p>"That's so," Carnally drawled. "I guess I can leave you to do the +square thing." Then his eyes twinkled. "I've kept you here some time +talking business, and it strikes me you're anxious to get away. You'll +find a skiff ready, and I'd like to wish you good luck."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," responded Andrew soberly. "Perhaps you had better wait until +I come back."</p> + +<p>He hurried to the beach and rowed across the lake with steady, +determined strokes, and it happened, but not by accident, that +Geraldine was waiting on the lawn. She had seen a trail of engine +smoke drift across the pines an hour earlier, and at last a skiff +shoot out across the sparkling water. As it drew near the landing she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +felt tempted to retreat to the house, but she waited, and the color +crept into her face when Andrew took her hand in a masterful grasp.</p> + +<p>"I think you know why I have come," he said at once.</p> + +<p>"No doubt you had mining matters to arrange," she answered with an +attempt at light raillery, though her heart was beating fast.</p> + +<p>"I had; they have kept me since the train came in, and I never grudged +loss of time so much; but I felt that I required something to steady +me before I rowed across. The fact is, I felt extremely anxious."</p> + +<p>"Anxious? You knew you would be welcome."</p> + +<p>"To be welcomed as I was sent away didn't seem enough." Andrew held +fast the hand she had given him. "You were very gracious and I knew +what I owed to you, but you kept something back, and it was that I +wanted. I told you how I had got on in England, but I'm afraid I +haven't learned to stand on my own feet yet. You know how you have +helped me so far; won't you do so altogether?"</p> + +<p>"If I remember, I said it was criticism you needed," Geraldine +answered softly, looking down.</p> + +<p>"That or censure; whatever it is, it will be right if it comes from +you." Andrew's voice grew tense as he drew her nearer. "I ask for the +greatest gift; I need you, Geraldine."</p> + +<p>She yielded, looking up at him swiftly with eyes that shone, and then +turned her head, which sank until it rested on his shoulder. It was +getting dusk; the scent of the pines stole out of the shadows and the +call of a loon came ringing to them over the water, as if in blessing.</p> + + +<p class="newchapter center">THE END</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="bigtext">JOHN FOX, JR'S.</span><br /> +STORIES OF THE KENTUCKY MOUNTAINS</p> + +<p class="center"><b>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list.</b></p> + + +<p class="advert"><span class="u">THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE.</span><br /> +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 151px;"> +<img src="images/trail.png" width="151" height="200" alt="book" title="The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" /> +</div> + +<p>The "lonesome pine" from which the story takes its name was a tall +tree that stood in solitary splendor on a mountain top. The fame of +the pine lured a young engineer through Kentucky to catch the trail, +and when he finally climbed to its shelter he found not only the pine +but the <i>foot-prints of a girl</i>. And the girl proved to be lovely, +piquant, and the trail of these girlish foot-prints led the young +engineer a madder chase than "the trail of the lonesome pine."</p> + + +<p class="advert"><span class="u">THE LITTLE SHEPHERD OF KINGDOM COME</span><br /> +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.</p> + +<p>This is a story of Kentucky, in a settlement known as "Kingdom Come." +It is a life rude, semi-barbarous; but natural and honest, from which +often springs the flower of civilization.</p> + +<p>"Chad." the "little shepherd" did not know who he was nor whence he +came—he had just wandered from door to door since early childhood, +seeking shelter with kindly mountaineers who gladly fathered and +mothered this waif about whom there was such a mystery—a charming +waif, by the way, who could play the banjo better that anyone else in +the mountains.</p> + + +<p class="advert"><span class="u">A KNIGHT OF THE CUMBERLAND.</span><br /> +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.</p> + +<p>The scenes are laid along the waters of the Cumberland, the lair of +moonshiner and feudsman. The knight is a moonshiner's son, and the +heroine a beautiful girl perversely christened "The Blight." Two +impetuous young Southerners' fall under the spell of "The Blight's" +charms and she learns what a large part jealousy and pistols have in +the love making of the mountaineers.</p> + +<p>Included in this volume is "Hell fer-Sartain" and other stories, some +of Mr. Fox's most entertaining Cumberland valley narratives.</p> + + +<p class="advert center"><i>Ask for complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction</i></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap, 526 West 26th St., New York</span></p> + + + + +<p class="newchapter center">STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY<br /> +<span class="bigtext">GENE STRATTON-PORTER</span></p> + +<p class="center"><b>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list.</b></p> + + +<p class="advert"><span class="u">THE HARVESTER</span><br /> +Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 144px;"> +<img src="images/harvester.png" width="144" height="200" alt="book" title="The Harvester" /> +</div> + +<p>"The Harvester," David Langston, is a man of the woods and fields, who +draws his living from the prodigal hand of Mother Nature herself. If +the book had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man, with +his sure grip on life, his superb optimism, and his almost miraculous +knowledge of nature secrets, it would be notable. But when the Girl +comes to his "Medicine Woods," and the Harvester's whole sound, +healthy, large outdoor being realizes that this is the highest point +of life which has come to him—there begins a romance, troubled and +interrupted, yet of the rarest idyllic quality.</p> + + +<p class="advert"><span class="u">FRECKLES.</span> Decorations by E. Stetson Crawford</p> + +<p>Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in which +he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the great +Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him succumbs +to the charm of his engaging personality; and his love-story with "The +Angel" are full of real sentiment.</p> + + +<p class="advert"><span class="u">A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST.</span><br /> +Illustrated by Wladyslaw T. Brenda.</p> + +<p>The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, lovable type of +the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and kindness +towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the sheer beauty +of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from barren and +unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage.</p> + +<p>It is an inspiring story of a life worth while and the rich beauties +of the out-of-doors are strewn through all its pages.</p> + + +<p class="advert"><span class="u">AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW.</span><br /> +Illustrations in colors by Oliver Kemp. Design and decorations by +Ralph Fletcher Seymour.</p> + +<p>The scene of this charming, idyllic love story is laid in Central +Indiana. The story is one of devoted friendship, and tender +self-sacrificing love; the friendship that gives freely without +return, and the love that seeks first the happiness of the object. The +novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of nature, and +its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all.</p> + + +<p class="advert center"><i>Ask for complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction</i></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap, 526 West 26th St., New York</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors, present in the +original edition, have been corrected.</p> + +<p>In Chapter I, a period was added after "firing as they got a chance".</p> + +<p>In Chapter III, a missing period was added after "<i>I think you should +stay here and fight it out until he comes back,</i> he said".</p> + +<p>In Chapter VII, "a man siezing it swung him across" was changed to "a +man seizing it swung him across".</p> + +<p>In Chapter VIII, a comma was changed to a period after "I'd feel less +diffident", and "be busied himself" was changed to "he busied +himself".</p> + +<p>In Chapter IX, "the hangings where of harmonious hue" was changed to +"the hangings were of harmonious hue".</p> + +<p>In Chapter X, "from a neigboring stack" was changed to "from a +neighboring stack".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XI, a missing quotation mark was added after "it would be +too late".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XII, "its wiser to let one's friends have them" was changed +to "it's wiser to let one's friends have them".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XVI, "The blasted, hog" was changed to "The blasted hog", +and a missing quotation mark was added after "before dark".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XVII, a quotation mark was removed before "We'll have +mighty keen appetites".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XIX, a missing period was added after "the prospectors +might turn up in the next few days".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXI, a missing quotation mark was added after "what the +trouble's about".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXIV, a missing quotation mark was added after "right to +talk about these things".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXV, "I am at your sevice" was changed to "I am at your +service", and "actuated by jealously" was changed to "actuated by +jealousy".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVII, "some stubborn fight, ing" was changed to "some +stubborn fighting".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVII, "<i>Oh,</i> he exclaimed <i>you must have heard enough</i>" +was changed to "<i>Oh,</i> he exclaimed, <i>you must have heard enough</i>", and +"Mr Allinson" was changed to "Mr. Allinson" in two places.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVII, a comma was changed to a period after "another new +venture".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVI, "coppper wire" was changed to "copper wire".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXX, "the Company is rotton" was changed to "the Company is +rotten".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXXII, a missing quotation mark was added after "a long and +useful career to the Head of the House", and "he said a once" was +changed to "he said at once".</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's For the Allinson Honor, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR *** + +***** This file should be named 34415-h.htm or 34415-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/4/1/34415/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You 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: For the Allinson Honor + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: Cyrus Cuneo + +Release Date: November 23, 2010 [EBook #34415] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: "TWO MORE APPEARED ... DRAGGING ALONG A THIRD'"--Page 48] + + + + +FOR THE +ALLINSON HONOR + +BY +HAROLD BINDLOSS + +AUTHOR OF +PRESCOTT OF SASKATCHEWAN, +WINSTON OF THE PRAIRIE, ETC. + +FRONTISPIECE +BY CYRUS CUNEO + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK +GROSSET & DUNLAP +PUBLISHERS + +_Copyright, 1913, by +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY_ + +_All rights reserved_ + +SECOND PRINTING + +[Illustration: FAS Co logo] + +_September, 1914_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE +I. THE TENANT AT THE FIRS 1 +II. THE FAMILY PRIDE 13 +III. A COUNCIL 23 +IV. THE LAKE OF SHADOWS 35 +V. THE FIRST SUSPICIONS 46 +VI. DREAM MINE 55 +VII. THE AMATEUR MINER 66 +VIII. THE ISLAND OF PINES 77 +IX. AMONG THE ICE 89 +X. A CRISIS 100 +XI. THE REAL BOSS 110 +XII. INTERRUPTED PLANS 123 +XIII. LOVE'S ENCOURAGEMENT 134 +XIV. TREACHERY 143 +XV. THE SILVER LODE 154 +XVI. THE CACHE 167 +XVII. THE GAP IN THE RIDGE 175 +XVIII. THE EMPTY FLOUR-BAG 188 +XIX. A WOMAN'S WAY 194 +XX. THE RESCUE PARTY 203 +XXI. A BUSHMAN'S SATISFACTION 212 +XXII. FRESH PLANS 222 +XXIII. UNEXPECTED SUPPORT 235 +XXIV. THE TRUTH ABOUT RAIN BLUFF 245 +XXV. A DELICATE POINT 257 +XXVI. A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER 269 +XXVII. ANDREW STAKES HIS CLAIM 282 +XXVIII. GERALDINE 292 +XXIX. THE JUMPERS 304 +XXX. THE EVE OF BATTLE 315 +XXXI. ALLINSON'S MAKES GOOD 328 +XXXII. THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE 341 + + + + + +FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TENANT AT THE FIRS + + +It was a hot autumn afternoon. Mrs. Olcott, a young and attractive +woman, reclined in a canvas chair beside a tea-table on the lawn in +front of the cottage she had lately taken in the country. Her thin +white dress displayed a slender and rather girlish form; her dark hair +emphasized the delicate coloring of her face, which wore a nervous +look. As a matter of fact, she felt disturbed. Clare Olcott needed +somebody to take care of her; but she had few friends, and her husband +held a government appointment in West Africa. His pay was moderate and +he had no private means. His relatives justified their neglect of his +wife by the reflection that he had married beneath him; and this was +why he had commended her, with confidence, to the protection of a +friend. + +Andrew Allinson, who had made Olcott's acquaintance when serving as +lieutenant of yeomanry during the Boer campaign, sat on a grassy bank +near by with a teacup in his hand. He was strongly built and +negligently dressed, in knickerbockers and shooting jacket. The +bicycle he had just ridden leaned against the hedge. Andrew had lately +reached his twenty-ninth year. He had large blue eyes that met you +with a direct glance, a broad forehead, and a strong jaw. On the +whole, he was a good-looking man, but his characteristic expression +was one of rather heavy good-humor. Though by no means stupid, he had +never done anything remarkable, and most of the Allinsons thought him +slow. + +Raising himself a little, he looked slowly round. Beyond the hedge the +white highroad climbed a bold ridge of moor that blazed in the strong +sunshine with regal purple; farther back, smooth-topped hills faded +into an ethereal haziness through varying shades of gray. The head of +the deep valley near the house was steeped in blue shadow, but lower +down oatfields gleamed with ocher and cadmium among broad squares of +green. There were flowers in the borders about the tiny lawn, and +creepers draped the front of the house. The still air was filled with +the drone of bees; all was eminently peaceful. + +"How do you like the place?" he asked. "It's nicer than London in +weather like this, and you're looking better than you did when I saw +you there." + +Mrs. Olcott gave him a grateful smile. + +"I haven't regretted leaving town. I was miserable and scarcely saw +anybody after Tom sailed. Our small flat was too far from the few +people I knew; and even if it had been nearer, I couldn't entertain. I +was feeling very downhearted the day you called." + +Andrew remembered having found her looking very forlorn in a dingy and +shabbily furnished room. She was sitting at a writing-table with a +pile of bills before her, about which she had made a naive confession. + +"I'm glad you find things pleasant here; I thought you would," he +said. + +"It's so fresh and green. In the morning and at sunset the moorland +air's like wine. Then the house is very pretty and remarkably cheap." + +She looked at him sharply, for he had found the house for her; but he +answered with heavy calm. + +"I don't think it's dear." + +After that there was a few moments' silence, during which they heard +the soft splash of a stream falling into the valley. Then he turned to +her with a resolute air. + +"And now, about those bills? You have put me off once or twice, but I +want to see them." + +Mrs. Olcott colored and hesitated, but she opened a drawer in the +table and took out a bundle of papers, which she handed to him. To her +surprise and consternation, he counted them before he put them into +his pocket. + +"These are not all. Give me the others." + +"I can manage about the rest," she protested. + +"Let me have them; you can't begin here in difficulties." + +Mrs. Olcott rose and he watched her enter the house with quiet pity. +She was not a capable woman, and he was thankful that she had not got +into worse embarrassments. She came back, still somewhat flushed, and +gave him a few more papers. + +"I'm afraid I'm a wretchedly bad manager," she confessed. "As soon as +my next remittance comes, I will send you a check." + +"When it suits you," he said, and added thoughtfully: "One of us +should tell your husband about this; perhaps it had better be you." + +She smiled, for he was now and then boyishly ingenuous. He sat +directly opposite the gate, where all passers-by could see him, and he +had somehow an unfortunate air of being at home in the place. + +"Yes," she said, "I will write by the first mail. I feel less +embarrassed because Tom told me that if I was ever in any difficulty I +might consult you. He described you as the right sort--and I have +found it true." + +"I suppose you know that I owe a good deal to your husband," Andrew +answered awkwardly. + +"He told me that you and he were in the field hospital together for a +time, and before then he helped you in some way when you were wounded, +but he never said much about it. What did he do? You may smoke while +you tell me." + +"I think you ought to know, because it will show the claim Tom has on +me." + +Andrew lighted a cigarette and began in a disjointed manner, for he +was not a fluent speaker: + +"It was a dazzlingly bright morning and getting very hot--our side had +been badly cut up in the dark, and we were getting back, a mixed crowd +of stragglers, a few miles behind the brigade. Tom and Sergeant +Carnally, the Canadian, had no proper business with the wreck of my +squadron, but there they were. Anyhow, only half of us were mounted, +and when we found ourselves cut off we tried to hold a kopje--the +horses back in a hollow, except mine, which was shot as I dismounted. +I was fond of the poor faithful brute, and I suppose that made me +savage, for I felt that I must get the fellow who killed it." + +He paused and his face hardened. + +"There we were, lying among the stones, with the sun blazing down on +us; faint puffs of smoke on the opposite rise, spirts of sand jumping +up where the Mauser bullets struck. Now and then a man dropped his +rifle and the rest of us set our teeth. It wasn't a spectacular +fight, and we kept it up in a very informal way; two or three +commissioned officers, dismounted troopers, and a few lost line +Tommies, firing as they got a chance. The man I wanted had gone to +earth beside a big flat stone, and I dropped the bullets close about +it; a hundred yards I made it and the light good. I suppose I was so +keen on my shooting that I didn't pay much attention when somebody +said they were flanking us; and the next thing I knew a Boer had put a +bullet in my leg. Anyhow, I couldn't get up, and when I looked round +there was no one about. Then I must have shouted, for Tom came running +back, with the sand spirting all round. Carnally was behind him. It +looked like certain death, but Tom got hold of me, and dragged me a +few yards before Carnally came up. Then we all dropped behind a big +stone, and I'm not clear about the rest. Somebody had heard the firing +and detached a squadron with a gun. But I can still picture Tom, +running with his face set through the spirting sand--one doesn't +forget things like that." + +The blood crept into Clare Olcott's pale cheeks and her eyes shone. No +one could have doubted that she admired and loved her absent husband. + +"Were you not with Carnally when he broke out of the prison camp?" she +asked presently. + +"I was. Our guard was friendly and careless, and we picked up a hint +of a movement we thought our army ought to know about. We were caged +in behind a very awkward fence, but I'd found a wire-nipper in the +sand--they were used to cut defense entanglements. Then we held a +council and decided that somebody must break out with the news, but +while two men might do so, more would have no chance to dodge the +guard. Carnally and I were picked, and after waiting for a dark night +we cut the wire and crawled out, close behind a sentry we hadn't seen. +Of course, knowing what we did about the Boers' intentions, we +couldn't give up our plan." + +Mrs. Olcott recognized that Andrew Allinson was not the man to abandon +a duty, though he was unarmed and the sentry carried a magazine rifle. + +"Well," he resumed, "I crept up and seized the fellow by the leg. He +dropped his rifle, and Carnally slipped away. We'd arranged that if we +got out one was not to stop for the other." + +"But what happened to you? Did the Boer pick up his rifle?" + +"No," said Andrew quietly; "I got it first." + +"But----" said Mrs. Olcott, and stopped. + +Andrew smiled. + +"You see, he had called out when I grabbed him and several of his +friends were running up. I didn't think he'd noticed Carnally, who had +got clear off, and there was a chance of its being some time before +they missed him. Then the fellow had shown us one or two small +favors--given me some tobacco, among other things he might have got +into trouble for." + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Olcott expressively. "So you let them take you back to +prison. But what about the Canadian?" + +"He got through safely and they made a fuss over him. Offered him a +commission, which he was too sensible to take." + +"Tom came home promoted and got his West African appointment; Carnally +could have had a commission; and you went back to prison. Though of +course they deserved it, didn't it strike you that the rewards were +not very fairly shared out?" + +"I believe my people were disappointed when I returned as +undistinguished as I went out, though I don't know that they were +surprised. So far as I was concerned, it was an inglorious +campaign--twice in a hospital, and some months in a prison camp. And +yet, I'll admit that I left England determined on doing something +brilliant." + +Mrs. Olcott made no remark. He did not seem to attach much importance +to the incident that had secured his comrade's escape. His conduct was +not of the kind that catches the public eye, but her husband, whose +opinion was worth having, believed in Allinson. + +"Well," he resumed, "I've stayed some time. Are you sure you're quite +comfortable here? There's nothing you feel short of?" + +"Oh, no," she said. "I ought to be happy. It's perhaps a trifle quiet: +nobody has called on me yet." + +"I dare say that can be altered," he replied; and though she did not +suppose her solitude was likely to be enlivened at his request, she +gave him her hand gratefully and let him go. + +Picking up his bicycle, he wheeled it up the road, which wound between +yellow harvest fields and dark-green clover to the long ascent of the +moor. Here the gray stone walls broke off and the open heath ran up, +steeped in strong color: the glowing crimson of the ling checkered +with the purple of the heather, mossy patches showing lemon and +brightest green, while the gaps from which peat was dug made blotches +of rich chocolate-brown. Andrew noticed it all with quiet +appreciation, though he was thinking hard as he slowly climbed the +hill. He had made Mrs. Olcott a promise, and he meant to keep it, but +the thing was beginning to look more difficult than he had imagined. +His sisters might have helped him by recognizing the lonely woman, +but they had shown some prejudice against her, and this was +unfortunate, for their attitude would have its effect on their +neighbors. + +The Allinsons were people of importance in the countryside and the +history of the family was not without romance. Long ago an Andrew +Allinson had become possessed, by violence most probably, of a strong +stone peel, half fortress, half farmstead, that commanded a fertile +dale up which the Scots moss-troopers often rode to the foray. Little +was known of his descendants, except that they held the peel for +several generations and were buried with a coat of arms roughly cut +upon their tombstones in a moorland kirkyard. Then had come a break, +when they were perhaps driven out by economic changes, for the family +vanished from the dale and next appeared as London goldsmiths in Queen +Anne's reign. Later, Andrew's grandfather, retiring from his banking +business, resumed the coat of arms, bought back the peel and built a +commodious house about it. On his death it was discovered that his +property had shrunk in value owing to changing times, and his shrewd +north-country widow gave up the hall and coat of arms and made her son +reopen the family business. He had prospered and maintained the best +traditions of the ancient firm, for Allinson & Son was noted for +caution, decorum and strict probity. The firm was eminently sound and +carried on its business in an old-fashioned, austere way. + +To its head's keen disappointment, his only son, Andrew, showed no +aptitude for commerce, and after two years in the counting-house was +allowed to follow his own devices. Then on the marriage of Andrew's +sister to a clever young business man, the latter was made a partner. +Soon after this Andrew's father died, leaving him a large share of his +money, which was, however, to remain in the business, over which his +brother-in-law, Leonard Hathersage, now had control. + +When the gradient grew easier Andrew mounted, but got down again with +a frown a few minutes later. The Boer's nicked bullet had badly torn +the muscles of his thigh, and now and then the old wound troubled him. +Though he loved horses, he could no longer ride far with pleasure, +and, being of active temperament, had taken to the bicycle. + +He had not gone far before he saw a girl ride out from behind a grove +of gnarled spruce firs and he joined her when she pulled up her horse +to wait for him. Ethel Hillyard looked well in the saddle: tall and +rather largely built, she was nevertheless graceful and generally +characterized by an air of dignified repose. Now, however, there was +amusement in the fine gray eyes she fixed on Andrew. + +"You look moody, and that's not usual," she said. + +They were old friends, and Andrew answered her confidentially. + +"I've been thinking and, for another thing, I found I couldn't get up +this bit of a hill. I suppose it oughtn't to worry me, but it does. +You see, a lameness that comes on when I least expect it is all I +brought back from South Africa." + +Ethel gave him a sympathetic nod as she started her horse. + +"It's a pity, but you might have suffered worse; and, after all, +distinction is sometimes cheaply gained." + +"You don't win it by keeping people busy curing you and seeing that +you don't break out of prison camps," Andrew retorted grimly. + +"But what else were you thinking of that disturbed you?" + +"My thoughts were, so to speak, all of a piece--one led to another. I +did nothing in South Africa, and it has struck me lately that I +haven't done much anywhere else, except to catch salmon in Norway and +shoot a few Canadian deer. Now there's Leonard, who's not an Allinson, +making money for all of us and managing the firm." + +"Leonard got money and the opportunity for making more from +Allinson's." + +"That's true, but it doesn't excuse me. I ought to be a power in the +firm, and I don't suppose I could even keep one of its books +properly." + +He walked on in silence for the next minute or two and his companion +watched him with interest. His brows were knit, his brown face looked +strong as well as thoughtful, and Ethel did not agree with his +relatives, who thought him a bit of a fool. She was inclined to +believe that Leonard had spread that impression and the others had +adopted it without consideration. Andrew had been idle, but that was +his worst fault, and he might change. There was, however, nothing +significant in his taking her into his confidence; he had often done +so, though she realized with half regretful acquiescence that it was +only as a confidante that he thought of her. He could not have chosen +a better one, for Ethel Hillyard was a girl of unusual character, and +she now determined to exert her influence for his benefit. + +"Isn't Allinson's rather branching out of late?" she asked. + +"It is. The West African goldfield was a new kind of venture, though +it's paying handsomely; and we're now taking up a mine in Canada. Of +course, the old private banking business has gone under and one must +move with the times; but, in a sense, it's a pity." + +Ethel understood him. Her father had dealt with Allinson's and she +knew the firm had hitherto been dignified and conservative, while +Leonard was essentially modern in his methods and what is known as +pushing. She foresaw disagreements if Andrew ever took an active part +in the business, which he had a right to do. + +"Perhaps it isn't necessary that you should be good at bookkeeping," +she said. "Is there no place for you in these new foreign schemes? You +have traveled in the Canadian bush to shoot deer, and you seemed to +like it; wouldn't it be as interesting if you went there to look for +minerals or manage a mine? You would have the free life in the wilds, +but with an object." + +"There's something in that," Andrew replied thoughtfully. "I happen to +know the country where the mine is and it's unusually rough. It's +curious that you have made a hazy idea I've had a little clearer. I'll +think over the thing." + +Ethel knew that she had said enough. She would miss the man if he went +away, but it would be better for him and she knew that she would never +have more than his liking. + +"Where is the mine?" she asked. + +"It's among the rocks some distance back from the Lake of Shadows in +western Ontario." + +"The Lake of Shadows!" Ethel exclaimed. "A friend I made in London +used to go there with her father for fishing and shooting; but that's +not important." + +"Well," said Andrew, "I've talked enough about myself. There's a +favor I want to ask. Will you call on Mrs. Olcott?" + +Ethel started. Mrs. Olcott was young and pretty; nobody knew anything +about her husband; Andrew's visits had already excited comment. + +"Why should I call?" she inquired. + +He gave her the best reasons he could think of for befriending the +lonely woman, and she pondered them for a moment or two. Then she +asked bluntly: + +"How was it that Mrs. Olcott chose this neighborhood, where she knows +nobody?" + +"I suggested it," said Andrew, simply. "The Firs was empty, and she +has few friends anywhere." + +Though she had attached no importance to the remarks that had been +made about him, Ethel found his unembarrassed candor reassuring. He +had, however, asked her to do something that was harder than he +imagined, and she hesitated. + +"Very well," she said; "I will call." + +"Thanks. I knew I could count on you." + +They had now reached the top of the hill, and Ethel took a crossroad +while Andrew mounted his bicycle, but she turned her head, and watched +him ride across the moor. Andrew, however, did not look back at her, +and by and by she urged her horse to a trot. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FAMILY PRIDE + + +The hall which Andrew's grandfather had built around the peel had for +years been let with its shooting rights. Ghyllside, however, where +Andrew lived, was a commodious house, and Leonard Hathersage was +frequently glad to spend a week-end there. He and his wife had arrived +on the previous evening, and he was now busy in the library while +Andrew sat talking to his sisters on the terrace. + +Though the light was fading, it was not yet dark, and the air was +still and fragrant with flowers. Yew hedges and shrubberies were +growing indistinct; a clump of firs in a neighboring meadow loomed up +black and shadowy, but a band of pale saffron light still shone behind +the hall on the edge of the moorland a mile away. The square peel +stood out harsh and sharp against the glow, the rambling house with +its tall chimneys trailing away into the gloom on its flanks. + +Andrew, who had early lost his mother, had three sisters. Florence, +Leonard's wife, his senior by several years, was a tall, prim and +rather domineering woman; Gertrude, who had married Antony Wannop, a +local gentleman, was gentler and less decided than her sister; Hilda, +the youngest of all, was little, dark, and impulsive. + +Wannop leaned on the terrace wall between the flower urns with a cigar +in his mouth. He was stout and generally marked by a bluff geniality. + +"Where did you go this afternoon, Andrew, when you wouldn't come with +us to the Warringtons'?" Hilda asked. + +Andrew would have preferred to evade the question, but that seemed +impossible. + +"I went to see Mrs. Olcott." + +"Again!" exclaimed Hilda, who prided herself on being blunt. + +Wannop chuckled softly, but Florence claimed Andrew's attention. + +"Don't you think you have been there often enough?" + +"It hasn't struck me in that light." + +"Then," replied Florence, "I feel it's time it did." + +"Come now!" Wannop broke in. "Three to one is hardly fair. Don't be +bullied, Andrew; a bachelor can be independent." + +"How do you make it three?" Hilda asked. "Only Florence and I +mentioned the matter." + +"I am, of course, acquainted with Gertrude's views," Wannop explained. + +Hilda laughed. Antony, with his characteristic maladroitness, had +somehow made things worse, and Andrew's face hardened. His sisters +were generally candid with him, but they had gone too far. With a +thoughtlessness he sometimes showed, he had told them nothing about +his acquaintance with Clare Olcott's husband. + +"You're not much of an ally," he said with a dry smile. "Anyway, as +there's no reason why I shouldn't go to The Firs, I'm not likely to be +deterred. I may as well mention that I met Ethel Hillyard and begged +her to call." + +"On Mrs. Olcott?" Florence cried. "What did she say?" + +"She promised." + +The astonishment of the others was obvious, but Hilda was the only one +who ventured to express it. + +"Andrew, you're a wonder! You haven't the least idea of scheming, and +you'd spoil the best plot you took a hand in, and yet you have a +funny, blundering way of getting hard things done." + +"You have hinted that I was a bit of a fool," said Andrew; "but I +don't see why this should be hard." + +As an explanation was undesirable, Hilda let his remark pass and +addressed the others. + +"He has beaten us and we may as well give in gracefully. If Ethel +goes, all the people who count will follow her." + +"There's more in Andrew than his friends suspect," Wannop observed, +laughing. + +They let the subject drop, and Florence went in search of her husband. + +"What's your opinion of Allinson's new policy, Andrew?" Wannop asked. + +"I don't know what to think. One can be too conservative nowadays, but +I'll confess that I liked the firm's old-fashioned staidness better. +Even the old dingy offices somehow made you feel that the Allinsons +were sober, responsible people. The new place with its brass-work, +plate-glass and gilding was somewhat of a shock to me; but the +business is flourishing. Mining speculation was quite out of my +father's line, but Leonard makes it pay." + +"I've a few thousands in the African concern," Wannop remarked with +complacent satisfaction. "As it looks as if I'd get my money back in +about seven years, I wish I'd put in twice as much." + +Hilda let her eyes rest on the fading outline of the grim old peel. + +"Well," she said, "I don't agree with Leonard's methods. They're +vulgarly assertive, and the new offices strike me as being out of +place. Allinson's ought to be more dignified. Even when we stole +cattle from the Scots in the old days we did so in a gentlemanly way." + +"Is stealing ever gentlemanly?" Wannop inquired. + +"It's sometimes less mean than it is at others. Though I've no doubt +that we robbed the Armstrongs and the Elliots, I can't think that we +plundered our neighbors or took a bribe to shut our eyes when the +Scots moss-troopers were riding up the dale. The Allinsons couldn't +have betrayed the English cause, as some of the Borderers did." + +"No," said Wannop, "it would certainly have been against their +traditions. And in times that we know more about, nobody has ever +questioned the honor of the House." + +Andrew looked up with a reserved smile. + +"I don't think it's likely that anybody ever will." + +He got up and started toward the house. + +"I must have a talk with Leonard," he said. + +When he had left them, Wannop turned to the others. + +"Now and then you can see the old stock in Andrew; and, after all, he +has a controlling interest in the firm." + +"Andrew may not do much good," Hilda declared, "but he'll do +Allinson's no harm. He'll stick to the best of the old traditions." +She paused with a laugh. "Perhaps we're silly in our family pride and +sometimes think ourselves better than our neighbors with very little +reason; but it's a clean pride. We're a mercantile family, but +Allinson's has always ranked with the Bank of England." + +When Andrew reached the library, his brother-in-law sat at a +writing-table on which stood a tall silver lamp. The light fell in a +sharply defined circle on the polished floor, which ran back beyond it +into shadow. The windows at the western end were open and, for it was +not quite dark yet, the long rows of bookcases, dimly visible against +the wall, emphasized the spaciousness of the room. The scent of +flowers that drifted in was mingled with the smell of a cigar, and as +Andrew's footsteps echoed through the room Leonard laid down his pen. +The strong light fell upon him, showing his thin face and tall, spare +figure. His hair receded somewhat from his high forehead, and he had +the colorless complexion of a man who lives much indoors; but his eyes +were singularly penetrating. Dressed with fastidious neatness he had +an air of elegance and, by comparison, made Andrew, who was of +robuster build, look heavy and awkward. + +"I'm glad of an excuse for stopping," he said. "Will you sit down and +smoke?" + +"What are you doing? I thought you came here for a rest," said Andrew, +lighting a cigarette. + +"The firm is a hard task-master, and it's difficult to get a few +minutes undisturbed in town. That's why I brought these papers down. +Writing a prospectus is a business which demands both caution and +imagination. Would you like to see the draft?" + +"I thought a boundless optimism was the most essential thing," Andrew +replied, taking the paper handed him. "You're moderate," he continued +when he had read it. "Ten per cent. is all you promise, though as far +as my experience goes, twenty's the more usual thing." + +"Allinson's does not promise more than it can fulfill." + +"That's true and quite in accordance with my views. Until lately, +however, prospectuses were very much out of our line." + +Leonard was surprised and annoyed. Andrew was associating himself with +the business in an unusual manner; although he had a right to do so. + +"If there's anything you wish to ask, I shall be glad to explain it." + +"These underwritten shares--I suppose you're letting the fellows have +them below par? Is that because you expect any difficulty in getting +the money?" + +"No; any project we're connected with will be taken up. Still, when +you launch a good thing, it's policy to let a few members of the ring +in at bottom and give them a share of the pickings." + +Andrew frowned. + +"It sounds like a bribe. But these pickings? They must come out of the +shareholders' pockets." + +"In the end, they do." + +"Though I'm not a business man, it seems to me that capital put into +shafts and reducing plant stands a fair chance of being productive. +That spent in starting the concern is largely wasted." + +"We are spending less than usual. May I ask what your idea of the +object of floating a company is?" + +"Mine would be the expectation of getting a good dividend on the stock +I took in it." + +Leonard looked amused. + +"Excellent, so far as it goes; but there's sometimes a little more +than that." + +Andrew sat silent a while. Then he said: + +"I gather that this new scheme will be subscribed for because +Allinson's guarantees it." + +"It's impossible to guarantee a mining scheme, but, in a sense, you're +right. The firm's name will count." + +"Well," said Andrew, "I'd like to go to Canada and take some share in +starting things--you see, I know the country. Then, as I suppose some +of my money will be put into the business, you might, perhaps, make me +a director. I'd be of no use in London, but I might do something in +Canada." + +Leonard was surprised, but the suggestion pleased him. The name of +Andrew Allinson would have its influence on investors. + +"It is not a bad idea," he said. "We'll see what can be done." + +Andrew then changed the subject. + +"How's business generally?" + +"Pretty fair; we have made some profitable ventures in South America. +You will remember my bringing Senor Pinola down? We made some money +out of him." + +"How?" Andrew asked without much interest. "The fellow had a dash of +the nigger or Indian in him." + +"He was Dictator Valhermosa's secret agent." + +"Then you supported Valhermosa's administration during the +unsuccessful revolution?" + +"We did. They wanted to re-arm the troops quietly in preparation; +Pinola came over to buy new rifles and machine-guns, and as he +couldn't pay ready money we arranged the matter. There was a risk, but +we got some valuable concessions as security, and turned them over +afterward to a German syndicate on excellent terms." + +Andrew's face was grim when he looked up. + +"And I gave Pinola two days' shooting instead of pitching him into the +nearest bog! To think of Allinson's backing that brute Valhermosa is +somewhat of a shock." + +"What do you know about him?" + +"A good deal. Warren, the naturalist who was with me in Canada, spent +some time in his country and has friends there. He used to talk about +the things he'd seen, and the memory of his stories makes me savage +yet, because I believe them. I have other acquaintances who have lived +in parts of the world that business men don't often reach. If you +don't know how rubber's collected and minerals are worked in countries +where there's a subject native population, you'd better not find out." +Andrew broke into a harsh laugh. + +"You didn't suspect that while the firm helped the Dictator, I, its +sleeping partner, gave Warren a check for the rebels, and I'd like to +think that every cartridge my money bought accounted for one of the +brutes who flog women to death and burn Indians at the stake when the +revenue falls off." + +Leonard looked grieved. + +"I'm sorry to hear this; though it's possible that Warren was +exaggerating. Anyway, we're out of it now. The deal was a matter of +business--we couldn't be expected to know what was being done in the +back-country, and after all it's no concern of ours." + +Lighting another cigarette, Andrew smoked half of it in silence. + +"The thing will hardly bear speaking of," he said finally; "and the +fault is partly mine for not taking the interest in the firm I should +have done." + +He paused and looked Leonard steadily in the face. + +"From what I've heard, those concessions may be good for another two +or three years; and then, when Valhermosa's victims revolt again, if +Allinson's can take any hand in the matter, it will be on the other +side. Now we'll let the subject drop." + +Leonard acquiesced with a tolerant gesture, though he was disconcerted +by Andrew's tone. It implied that his opinions would have to be +considered in the future. + +"By the way," Leonard said, "there's a matter I must mention, though +it's delicate. I saw Judson this morning and he grumbled about the +liberality you have shown of late." + +"Judson's niggardliness has lost me one or two good tenants." + +"It's possible; but he told me that you had let The Firs to Mrs. +Olcott for ten pounds less than he could easily have obtained. As he's +a talkative fellow and nothing is kept secret here, do you think you +were wise in letting her have the place below its value?" + +"You have been given a hint, Leonard. What do you know about Mrs. +Olcott?" + +"Nothing. The point is that nobody else seems to know anything. I +merely wished to suggest that it might be well to be more cautious." + +The color crept into Andrew's face. + +"The next time you hear Mrs. Olcott mentioned you may say that her +husband is a friend of mine; that he served with credit as captain +through the recent war; and that he now holds a government post in +West Africa, though the climate compelled him to leave his wife at +home. Now, would you like a game of pool?" + +Leonard said that he would be busy for a while, and when Andrew went +out he leaned back in his chair to think. On the death of Andrew's +father, he had been left in control of the business, though, as he had +not brought much capital into the firm, his share of the profits was +not large. There was a good deal to be paid over to members of the +family and, getting tired of slow and steady progress, he had of late +launched out into bold speculations. + +Since his first advancement he had looked on his brother-in-law as an +obstacle in his way, and had quietly strengthened his own position. He +had made Andrew's brief business experience distasteful to him, by +seeing that the young man was kept busy at monotonous tasks that he +could take no interest in. Afterward, when Andrew retired from the +counting-house, he had missed no opportunity for suggesting that he +was right in doing so, because he was obviously unfitted for a +commercial career. Now and then he went farther and hinted that the +young man was not gifted with much intelligence. It was, however, done +cleverly; nobody realized that the impression that Andrew was +something of a fool had originated with his brother-in-law, but in +time it was generally held. This promised to make Leonard's position +safer, because the firm was a family one, and though Andrew held a +good deal of the capital, his opinion would not have much weight with +his relatives. + +Nevertheless, to some extent, Leonard was honest in what he had done. +Andrew was undoubtedly not clever and Leonard believed that for him to +have any say in matters would be detrimental to the firm. Now that he +was inclined to assert his rights, it would be well to send him to +Canada. This implied some risk, as there were matters connected with +the mine which Leonard preferred to conceal, but it was unlikely that +Andrew would make any undesirable discovery. However, as Andrew's +inaptitude for business was taken for granted, it might be wise to +give the family a reason for entrusting him with the post, and Leonard +thought it could be supplied by making the most of his acquaintance +with Mrs. Olcott. Having arrived at this conclusion, he dismissed the +matter and busied himself with the prospectus. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A COUNCIL + + +Hot sunshine flooded the Ghyllside lawn, but there was a belt of +shadow beneath a copper beech, where a family group had gathered. +Leonard sat in a basket-chair, talking to Mrs. Fenwood, an elderly +widow with an austere expression; his wife and Gertrude Wannop were +whispering over their teacups; Wannop, red-faced and burly, stood +beside Robert Allinson, a solemn-looking clergyman. + +"We have been here half an hour and not a word has been said yet upon +the subject everybody's itching to talk about. We're a decorous lot," +Wannop remarked, surveying the others with amusement. "Personally, I +should be glad if we were allowed to go home without its being +broached. It's hardly the thing to discuss Andrew's shortcomings round +his table." + +"There are times when it's a duty to overcome one's delicacy," Robert +replied. "If I have been correctly informed, the matter demands +attention. Hitherto the Allinsons have never given their neighbors +cause to criticize their conduct." + +"None of them? I seem to remember----" + +"None of them," Robert interposed firmly. "There was once a malicious +story about Arthur, but I am glad to say it was disproved. But this +Mrs. Olcott, whom I haven't seen--I suppose she's attractive?" + +Wannop smiled. + +"Distinctly so; what's more, she has a forlorn and pathetic air which +is highly fetching. Still, I'm convinced that there's no harm in her." + +"A married woman living apart from her husband!" Robert exclaimed +severely. "I understand that Andrew is at her house now, and I must +confess that after walking some distance I feel hurt at his not being +here to receive us." + +"He didn't know you were coming," Wannop pointed out, and added with a +roguish air: "We have all been young and I don't suppose you used to +look the other way when you met a pretty girl; but I'll go bail Andrew +only visits her out of charity. However, if you are determined to have +your say, you may as well begin and get it over." + +Robert left him and addressed Leonard in a formal tone. + +"I am told that Andrew is going out to assist in the development of +the new mine and wishes to be made a director. As a relative and a +shareholder, may I ask if you consider him fit for the post?" + +Leonard had been waiting for an opening, and he welcomed the inquiry. + +"Andrew has every right to demand the position, which I could not +refuse." He paused, for the next suggestion must be skilfully +conveyed. "As it happens, his abilities hardly enter into the +question. It is merely needful that we should have a representative on +the spot to whom we can send instructions, and I dare say he will get +a good deal of the fishing and shooting he enjoys. All matters of +importance will be decided in London." + +"Then I take it that his inexperience and inaptitude can do the +company no harm?" + +Leonard was grateful to him for so plainly expressing his meaning. + +"Oh, no! Besides, I imagine that the change will be beneficial in +several ways." + +Glancing at the others, he knew that he had said enough. It would have +been difficult for any of the family to cite a remark of his in open +disparagement of his brother-in-law, though he had cunningly fostered +their disbelief in him. His wife, however, was endowed with courage as +well as candor. + +"There is nothing to be gained by shutting one's eyes to the truth," +she observed. "We all know that Andrew's visits to this woman are +being talked about. What is more serious is that he induced her to +come here, and let her have The Firs on purely nominal terms." + +"Is it so bad as that?" Mrs. Fenwood, with a shocked look, turned to +the clergyman, as if begging him to deal with the painful situation. + +"The thing must be stopped; nipped in the bud," said Robert firmly. "I +agree with Leonard that our infatuated relative should be sent to +Canada at once." + +Wannop smiled. + +"It strikes me as fortunate that Andrew is willing to go." + +"It's a favorable sign," said Mrs. Fenwood. "He may be struggling +against the creature's influence, in which case it's our duty to +assist him." + +"That wasn't what I meant. I've a suspicion that we have fallen into a +habit of underestimating Andrew's abilities and determination." Wannop +looked hard at Leonard. "You are going to put him into a position of +responsibility and teach him to use his power. Are you prepared for +the possible consequences?" + +Nobody paid much attention to this, and Leonard after a moment's +hesitation dismissed the matter. The Allinsons regarded Wannop as a +thoughtless person whose moral code was somewhat lax. Nevertheless, he +was shrewd and had read Andrew's character better than Leonard. + +"If Andrew ever wishes to have his say in business matters, I should +have neither the desire nor the authority to object," Leonard said. + +"Then we may rest assured that everything will be done to facilitate +his departure for Canada," Robert said decidedly. "There is only +another point--I wonder whether Mrs. Olcott could by any means be +induced to leave the neighborhood." + +Wannop's eyes sparkled angrily. He was easy-going, but there was a +chivalrous vein in him. + +"It would be wiser to leave the hatching of the plot until Andrew has +sailed!" he said indignantly. + +"Plot is not the right word; and you are mistaken if you imagine that +any fear of Andrew's displeasure would deter me in a matter of duty. +With the welfare of the parish at heart----" + +Wannop checked him. + +"Duty's a good deal easier when it chimes with one's inclinations; and +the welfare of the parish isn't threatened by Mrs. Olcott. There are, +however, one or two abuses you could put your finger on to-morrow if +you liked, though I dare say it would get you into trouble." + +Robert reddened and Mrs. Wannop made her husband a peremptory sign to +stop. + +"I think we needn't talk about the matter any more," she said. "It is +decided that Andrew shall be sent to Canada." + +They changed the subject, and a few minutes later Wannop left them. +Crossing the lawn, he met Hilda in a shrubbery walk. + +"Where have you been?" he asked. "I haven't seen you since we came." + +"Florence found me an errand that kept me out of the way," said Hilda +pointedly. "Now what have you and the others been talking about?" + +"I mustn't betray a confidence," answered Wannop with twinkling eyes. +"Still, I dare say you can guess." + +"Of course! They were discussing my erring brother. Aren't they +silly?" + +"I think so. It's curious that you and I, whose opinions don't count +for much, should venture to differ with the rest." + +Hilda gave him a grateful glance. + +"But we are the ones who see most clearly. I have always felt that you +are to be trusted." + +He made her a humorous bow. + +"I must try to deserve such confidence." + +"Don't be foolish; this is serious. They mean well, but they're all +wrong about Andrew. Of course, I make fun of him now and then, but I'm +very fond of him. It's a mistake to think he's stupid; and Leonard's +responsible for it." + +"I'll admit that something of the kind has occurred to me," Wannop +said. + +Hilda hesitated. + +"Well," she said, "I have never had much confidence in Leonard, though +the others think him perfect. I've an idea that all along he has been +gently pushing Andrew aside, making him look silly, and undermining +the influence he ought to have. Now he's sending him to Canada--I very +much wonder why? He has some reason." + +Wannop started. + +"My dear, your suspicions go a trifle farther than mine. You may be +right, though it's not nice to think so. But where does all this +lead?" + +"Andrew may need supporters who don't altogether believe in the +immaculate Leonard some day. I think, if needful, he could count on +us." + +"And on nobody else?" + +"Not until the others understood; and it would be hard to make them +see." + +"Uncommonly hard," Wannop admitted. "Well, Hilda, you and I will be +allies. We can conspire together unsuspected, because we are the two +who are not supposed to count--you because you're too young and +charming; I because I haven't the fine moral fastidiousness and air of +distinction that marks the Allinsons. But I'll let you into a +secret--Gertrude's wavering in her ideas about Andrew: I'm perverting +her." + +"There's something I'd better tell you. I met Mrs. Olcott half an hour +ago and I stopped and spoke. I like her--there isn't the least reason +why I shouldn't--and I'm sorry for her. I know she feels being left +alone, and we're going to be friends. Now if the others should try to +make things unpleasant?" + +"I imagine Robert means mischief." + +"I was afraid of it," said Hilda. "Of course, he's as silly and unable +to see things properly as an owl in daylight, but solemn stupid people +often pass for being wise, and he might do harm. If he tries, can you +stop him? I know Andrew would like it." + +Wannop made a sign of rather dubious assent. + +"As I'm unromantically stout, getting elderly, and devoid of personal +charm, I might perhaps venture to interfere in this matter. After +all, there's a sense in which Andrew is undoubtedly to blame. Why do +you let him go to The Firs so often?" + +"If I should give him a hint that people are talking, it would only +make him angry. You know he really is slow at understanding now and +then." + +They strolled back to the party, which soon afterward broke up, for +although Hilda begged them to wait for dinner nobody seemed anxious to +meet Andrew. When they had gone, Hilda turned to Leonard with a smile. + +"Had an interesting talk?" she asked. "You all looked so serious that +I was afraid to join you." + +Leonard glanced at her sharply. + +"As you grow older you'll find that there are matters which can't be +treated humorously." + +"It's possible," Hilda agreed. "Still, that remark is too much in +Robert's style. Improving conversation is apt to get tiresome." + +She moved away and Leonard watched her with thoughtful eyes. He +believed he enjoyed her sisters' confidence, but he was doubtful of +Hilda. + +Three weeks later Andrew sailed, and soon after he had done so Wannop +called one afternoon at The Firs, where he was received by Mrs. Olcott +in the garden. He thought she looked harassed, but he had expected +this. + +"I believe you have met my wife," he began, taking the canvas chair +she indicated. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Olcott. "She called on me and, if I remember right, +stayed five minutes." + +This was not encouraging. + +"You know my sister-in-law, Hilda, better?" Wannop ventured. + +Mrs. Olcott's expression softened. + +"That is true; I have reason to be grateful to her." + +"Hilda is a very nice girl. I verily believe that we are fond of each +other, and as I am more than double her age, she now and then favors +me with her confidence. In fact, she suggested that I might be able to +help you out of a difficulty." + +His hostess studied him carefully. He was burly and looked hot after +his walk, but he had a reassuring smile and his red face seemed to +indicate good-nature. She thought that he could be trusted. + +"It's about the house," she said. "I don't know where else to go and +it looks as if I might be turned out." + +That this should distress her hinted at some degree of poverty, and +Wannop felt compassionate. She was young and inexperienced, and had +been coldly treated by her neighbors. + +"How is that?" he asked. + +After a moment of irresolution Mrs. Olcott decided to tell him. + +"Mr. Allinson arranged about the house. Perhaps I shouldn't have +allowed this, but when he was wounded in the war my husband carried +him out of reach of the Boer fire." + +"Ah! Andrew ought to have made that clear. But won't you go on with +the explanation?" + +"Mr. Allinson told me that no papers were needed, I was to pay the +rent to a man called Judson. He came here and said that there had been +some mistake. The rent was ten pounds more and I must share the cost +of the alterations, while the field adjoining, which must go with The +Firs, would be another extra. When I declared I couldn't pay all this +he said I was undoubtedly liable, but he could find another tenant +who would take the house off my hands." + +"I see a clerical finger in this pie," said Wannop half aloud, and +smiled at his hostess. "I beg your pardon. I suppose you didn't know +that this is Andrew Allinson's house." + +Mrs. Olcott started and colored. + +"I did not know. But if it is, I can't understand why his agent--" + +"Somebody is back of him. Now we had better be candid. I venture to +believe you can confide in me." + +"What proof can I have of that? You are a connection of the Allinsons, +who seem bent on persecuting me. Have they sent you here?" + +"Hilda did," Wannop replied with quiet good-humor. "Perhaps I had +better say that on some points she and I are not quite in accord with +the rest of the family. I suppose Andrew promised your husband to look +after you until his return?" + +Mrs. Olcott agreed, for her suspicions about his errand had vanished. +Wannop mused for a few moments. + +"I think you should stay here and fight it out until he comes back," +he said. "After all, your neighbors are honest as far as they see, and +you'll find them ready to make amends." + +Mrs. Olcott's eyes sparkled, but she hesitated. + +"I'm afraid I can't hold out. They have attacked me where I'm +weakest." + +"Will you leave the matter of the house to me? It can be put right." + +"Why are you willing to take the trouble?" + +Wannop laughed. + +"For one thing, I enjoy putting a spoke in the parson's wheel; for +another, Andrew made you a promise, and the Allinsons like to keep +their word." + +He got up and held out his hand. + +"I'll have a talk with Mr. Judson. Show your courage and hold your +ground. You'll be glad you did so by and by." + +The next morning Wannop called at the agent's office in a neighboring +town. He was shown into a dingy room, where an elderly man with +spectacles received him with deference. + +"I've been looking into accounts, Judson," Wannop began abruptly. +"After deducting your commission and the cost of the repairs you +agreed to, I find that the return on my property for the past year is +small. Now I met Maxwell the other day and he hinted that it might be +managed to better advantage." + +The agent looked alarmed. + +"I understood you didn't wish to put the screw on your tenants; and it +isn't good policy." + +"No," said Wannop; "I want to be fair. I don't think Andrew Allinson +would wish any undue pressure put on his tenants either. As we talk +over things now and then, I know his views." + +Judson pondered this without answering, and Wannop resumed: + +"My business and Andrew's should be worth a good deal to you, though +Maxwell seemed to think that both could be improved." + +"Maxwell couldn't get you a penny more than I have got," Judson +declared. "I should be very sorry if you contemplated a change." + +"I shouldn't do so without a strong reason. You look after the +Reverend Robert Allinson's property, but your commission on it can't +be large." + +"It is not," said Judson, beginning to understand where the other's +remarks led. + +"Well," went on Wannop, "I saw Mrs. Olcott yesterday, and she +mentioned the misunderstanding about her lease. I may tell you that +Mrs. Wannop and Miss Allinson are friends of hers." + +Judson was surprised, but decided that if he must offend either Wannop +or the clergyman, it would better be the latter. + +"Mr. Andrew called here in a hurry and said he had got a tenant for +The Firs and I was to have some alterations made. He was driving, and +as his horse was restive he ran out before we could talk over +details." + +Wannop thought this was correct, for Andrew was sometimes careless. + +"Atkinson will take the field off your hands. It's not usual to charge +a tenant with needful repairs; and you mustn't be hard on Mrs. Olcott +about the rent. Perhaps you had better go over and put things straight +with her." + +Judson promised to do so and Wannop took out some papers. + +"Here's a more important matter. I've decided to buy Bell's place, and +you can see his agent and the architect as soon as convenient." + +He rode away, knowing that his hints would be attended to. During the +evening he met Hilda. + +"I've seen Mrs. Olcott and Judson," he told her. "It's very unlikely +that she'll have any more trouble about The Firs." + +"That's splendid!" cried Hilda. "But how did you manage it?" + +Wannop chuckled. + +"My dear girl, an explanation isn't always desirable. When you know +how a thing's done it spoils the trick." + +"Oh, well," said Hilda, "it doesn't matter, but you have a +suspiciously complacent look. One could imagine that you felt +satisfied with yourself." + +"There's some truth in that," Wannop laughed. "I feel that we have +held our own against the more brilliant members of the family. But +here's Robert!" + +The clergyman appeared around a turn in the road and joined them. + +"You seem amused," he remarked. "May I share the joke?" + +"The point's involved," Wannop said. "However, you'll agree that the +wisest people's plans sometimes fail." + +"I can't deny it," said Robert, looking puzzled. "Still, I fail to +understand what the failure of wise people's plans has to do with us." + +"As a modest man," said Wannop, "I'll admit that it doesn't seem to +have much to do with me." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE LAKE OF SHADOWS + + +The evening was gloomy and there was a boisterous onshore wind when +Jake Carnally stood on a sawmill dump, looking out across the Lake of +Shadows. Its troubled waters reflected the color of the leaden clouds +above, though they were laced with tumbling foam, and short, +white-topped waves broke angrily upon the sweating sawdust at +Carnally's feet. The tall pines that rolled back from the beach had +faded to a deep somber hue; the distance was blurred and gray. The +lake is a large one, stretching many leagues to the south, but it is +strewn with forest-clad islets, and those inshore obstructed +Carnally's view. On the nearest of them wisps of smoke drifted out +from among the shadowy trunks and an aromatic smell of burning cedar +reached him across the spray-swept sound. Holiday-makers from Winnipeg +had pitched a summer camp there. + +Seeing nothing out on the lake, he turned and glanced past the tall +iron chimney-stacks toward a row of pretty wooden houses beside the +river mouth. A moving cloud of sooty smoke floated above them, and he +knew that a west-bound train was pulling out of the station. Then a +man came up to him. + +"Why, Jake!" he cried. "You look as if you'd been up against it! When +did you come down?" + +Carnally smiled. He was tall, and sparely but strongly built. His +knee-boots were dilapidated; his brown overalls badly torn. + +"This afternoon," he answered. "Took the river for it with two of the +boys, and a mighty tough time we had in getting through. Water was on +the rock portages and we had to shove round through the bush. It +didn't seem worth while getting out my glad rags, as I have to take +the new boss up early to-morrow." + +"Looks as if he'd got lost," said the other. "I guess you heard he +left for Duck Island with two of the Company's roustabouts day before +yesterday. They hadn't much grub with them, but he allowed he'd be +back this morning." + +"What did he go to Duck Island for?" + +"To prospect the fireclay bed. Seemed to think the Company might put +up a smelter." + +"It's early for that," said Carnally with a grin. "They've got to +raise milling ore and pack it down first. I suppose you've seen him; +what's he like? I don't even know his name." + +"Big man, about your age. Kind of slow, thinks before he speaks, but +for an English sucker he shows some sense. It's my notion he's a +stayer." + +"Were they river-jacks he took along?" + +"Struck me as more like railroad shovelers, though they could paddle +in smooth water. As there's a nasty sea running in the open, you'd +better look for him. If those fellows wreck his canoe and he has to +spend the night on an island with nothing to eat while you sit in the +hotel, it's steep chances he fires you." + +"I don't care two bits whether I get fired or no. The Rain Bluff +Mining Company is the meanest business proposition I've ever run up +against, except the Mappin Transport, which is worse. All the same, I +guess I'll have to go. If you're going back to the hotel, you might +tell the boys to bring my canoe and blankets." + +The man promised to do so, and Carnally sat down out of the wind to +smoke until the craft arrived. He was tired by an arduous journey down +a river swollen by heavy rain, which, throughout a good deal of its +course, poured over ledges and ran furiously between fangs of rock. It +had needed nerve and skill to shoot the rapids, and to force a passage +over the rugged portages had taxed the party's strength. Now he must +launch out again and paddle, perhaps all night, in search of his +missing chief. + +The canoe came lurching to the foot of the dump, and as there was a +chance of swamping her alongside it, Carnally ran out on a treacherous +drift-log and sprang on board. A man untrained to river work would +have upset the craft or gone through her bottom, but Carnally came +down safely and seized the steering paddle. + +"This is rough on us, boys, but it has to be done," he said. "Shove +her straight out for the gap." + +His companions were wiry, dark-faced and dark-haired men whose +French-Canadian blood had in it a strain of the Indian--hard to beat +at river work or travel through the wilds. Toiling strenuously, they +drove the light craft over the short seas, with the spray whipping +their faces and the foam washing in at the bows. Now and then they +made no headway for a minute or two against a savage gust, but when it +lulled they slowly forged on again, though they knew that to find a +canoe among the maze of islands was as difficult a task as could be +set them. When they labored out into the more open spaces of the lake +as dusk was closing in, Carnally roused himself to keen alertness. +Here the waves were dangerously high and an error of judgment might +involve a capsize. + +As it happened, the craft they sought was battling with the breeze +some distance offshore, and Andrew Allinson, kneeling astern, glanced +anxiously to leeward when he dared take his eyes off the threatening +seas ahead. They rolled down on the canoe, ridged with foam, and it +needed quick work with the paddle to help her over them. To make +things worse, she was half full of water, and nobody could spare a +hand to bale it out. Andrew was not an expert at canoeing, but he had +once made a journey up the Canadian waterways and had been a yachtsman +at home; and when the breeze freshened and the waves got steeper it +had become evident that neither of his companions was capable of +managing the craft in broken water. He had accordingly taken the +helmsman's post and after running before the sea for the greater part +of the day without a meal, had discovered at dusk a long ridge of +rocks and pines looming up not far ahead. + +They lost it in the growing darkness, for Andrew knew the risk of +trying to land among big boulders on which the surf was breaking. He +must paddle out and clear the end of the island, in the hope of +finding a harbor on its sheltered side; but it still lay to lee of +him, and breaking waves and savage gusts drove them nearer the +threatening shore. He was wet through and very tired, one galled hand +bled freely, and the party had consumed the last of their provisions +at breakfast. This was the cause of the distressful stitch in his +side, and he was painfully cramped, but he knew that he had to choose +between paddling and trying to crawl out of the surf on a rugged beach +amid the wreckage of the canoe. So far as the other two could judge, +he was still serene, and now and then his voice reached them, hoarse +but cheerful: + +"A bit of a lull, boys; drive her at it in the smooth!" + +He could see nothing to leeward except flying spray, but he was not +deceived by the emptiness. The island must be close to them. He did +not think he could clear it, but he meant to fight until the last +moment. + +"Put some weight into the stroke! We'll make a few yards now!" he +cried. + +"Hold on!" shouted one of the others. "What's that?" + +A hail reached them faintly and, when they answered, rose again, a +little nearer. + +"Are you the Rain Bluff crowd?" + +"Sure we are!" + +"Then follow us!" cried a voice, as the blurred shape of a canoe +appeared ahead. "Don't let her sag to lee; keep right astern!" + +They got the canoe round, stern to sea, in some peril of being +overturned, and drove away at a furious pace, with the other craft +lurching before them through the spray. In a few minutes shadowy pines +appeared, then a strip of foam-swept beach, at which Andrew glanced +anxiously. He could not turn back now; the dark, froth-ridged seas +drove him on, but in a few more minutes the end of the beach slipped +past and a narrow strip of water with pines about it opened up. They +ran in, the wild lurching ceased, and they paddled through smooth +water, until the craft ahead gently took the beach. Andrew now +realized that he had mistaken two islands for one, and was in the +sound between them. It was very dark among the trees when he came +ashore, but he heard one of the strangers asking for the boss, and +answered him. + +"Sit down out of the wind while we make a fire and get supper," said +the other. "I understood that your grub might be running out, so we +brought some along." + +The man's voice sounded familiar, but Andrew was too tired and cold to +exert his memory. Finding a sheltered place among the rocks, he waited +until he was called. Then he saw that a fire had been lighted, a +shelter of bark and branches made, and a meal which looked very +inviting laid out beside it. All had been done with remarkable +neatness as well as celerity, and Andrew recognized the experienced +bushman's skill. Then the firelight fell on his pilot's face, and he +started. + +"Carnally, by all that's wonderful!" he cried. + +Carnally gazed at him in astonishment for a moment or two, and then +his expression grew reserved. + +"Yes," he said; "that's my name." + +"Then you ought to remember me!" + +"Sure! You're Lieutenant Allinson, late of the Imperial Yeomanry, and, +I understand, in charge of the Rain Bluff mining operations. I'm the +mine boss's assistant, at your service." + +It was the greeting of a subordinate to his superior, and Andrew was +puzzled. He owed a good deal to the man and they had treated each +other as comrades in South Africa when, as had happened once or twice, +the accidents of the campaign had enabled them to sink the difference +of rank. Now it was the inferior who obviously meant to bear their +relative positions in mind; and that is not the Canadian employee's +usual attitude toward his master. The man he had known and liked as +Sergeant Carnally had rather pointedly declined to see that he wished +to shake hands. + +"I'm very glad to run across you again and to find that we shall be +working together," Andrew said. + +"Mutual pleasure," Carnally replied. "Sit right down; supper will be +getting cold." + +The united party gathered round the fire, sharing the meal, but Andrew +failed in his attempts to lead Carnally into friendly talk. The man +answered readily, but he would not continue a conversation and there +was a strange reserve about him. Indeed, Andrew was glad when the meal +was over; and soon afterward he lay down, wrapped in damp blankets, +and went to sleep. The next morning the wind had fallen, the lake lay +shimmering with light under a cloudless sky, and they paddled smoothly +between islands covered with dusky pines whose reflections quivered in +the glassy water, until they reached the little wooden town. When they +landed, Andrew touched Carnally's arm. + +"Will you have supper with me to-night at my hotel?" he asked. + +"Sorry I can't," said Carnally. "Got to meet a man at the other place. +If it will suit, I'll come over during the evening." + +Andrew told him to do so, though he was piqued. He took supper with +Mappin, the head of a transport and contracting company with which it +seemed he was to have business relations. Mappin, he thought, was +about thirty years of age; a powerfully built man of city type, with +sleek black hair and a fleshy but forceful face. His manner to the +waitresses jarred on Andrew, for he gazed at one who was pretty with +insolent admiration, and bullied another who was nervous and plain. In +conversation he was brusque and opinionated; but Andrew was soon +convinced that he possessed marked business ability. After supper they +sat smoking on a wooden balcony while the clean fragrance of the pines +and the murmur of running water filled the cooling air. Andrew, who +was by no means oversensitive, was unpleasantly affected by the way +Mappin bit off the end of his cigar. He had large and very white +teeth, but his lower lip was unusually thick, and there was something +suggestive of an animal in the trifling action which made it +repulsive, though on the whole the fellow was coarsely handsome. + +"I noticed a very pretty wooden house on one of the islands we passed +this morning," Andrew said. "Whom does it belong to?" + +"You must mean Frobisher's place. Calls it a summer camp, though it's +fitted up luxuriously. He's from across the frontier and a bit of a +sport; the Americans are coming north largely now for shooting and +fishing. However, as he'll be here soon, you're sure to meet him." + +"A pleasant man?" + +Mappin laughed. + +"He can be very dry and you'd find it hard to get ahead of him; but +he's hospitable, and you can't get a dinner like he puts up out of +Montreal. I'll take you across some evening; he's by way of being a +friend of mine. Then Geraldine Frobisher's a picture: figure like +classical sculpture, face with each feature molded just as it ought to +be. It's a feast for the eyes to watch that girl walk." + +Andrew had occasionally listened to similar descriptions of young +women, but he resented something in Mappin's appreciation of Miss +Frobisher. It struck him as wholly physical and gross. + +"Well," he said curtly, "I'll think over the matters we have talked +about and let you know my decision." + +Mappin looked surprised, as if he had taken Andrew's assent to his +suggestions for granted. + +"No hurry, but you'll have to write," he said. "As you're going up to +the mine, I'll pull out on the Toronto express in the morning. And now +there are some letters I must get off by the mail." + +Andrew was not sorry to have him go; and when Carnally entered the +balcony a few minutes later he was struck by the contrast between the +two men. The bushman was lean and wiry; there was a lithe grace in his +quick movements, and a hint of the ascetic in his keen, bronzed face. +One could imagine that this man's body was his well-trained servant +and would never become his pampered master. + +"Sit down, Jake," said Andrew, determined to penetrate his reserve. +"Take a cigar. Now, we got on pretty well in the hospital and the +prison camp, didn't we?" + +Carnally's eyes twinkled when he had lighted his cigar. + +"That's so; I wasn't in your squadron then. Besides, you've got moved +up since; you're colonel now." + +"In a sense, I am. I don't know how you rank yet, but I have some say +in choosing my officers. But we'll drop this fencing. Why did you hold +off last night when I meant to be friendly?" + +Carnally considered before he answered. + +"I know my place; you're my boss. If my attitude didn't please you, +tell me what you expect." + +"I'll try. To begin with, when I speak as the Company's +representative, I must have what I want done." + +"That's right. I'm agreeable, so long as I hold my job." + +"Don't you mean to hold it?" + +"That depends. I haven't made up my mind yet." + +"Then I want a man that I can rely on to help me through any trouble +I meet," Andrew went on. "One that I can consult, when it's needful, +with confidence." + +"It's quite likely that we might look at things from a different point +of view." + +Andrew was frankly puzzled by his companion's manner. His reserve and +lack of response were not in accordance with what he knew of Carnally. + +"Well," he asked, "what are you going to do?" + +"We might give the thing a trial. Do you know much about mining?" + +"Nothing," said Andrew. "I'll admit that to you. I don't think you'll +take advantage of it." + +"But how did you come to be sent over in charge of the mine if you +don't know your work?" + +"I'm a director of the Company, and a good deal of the family money +has gone into it." + +Carnally looked grave at this, and sat silent a few moments studying +his companion. + +"Did you have anything to do with fixing up things on this side?" he +asked. + +"No. My brother-in-law, Hathersage, came over and made all +arrangements. I'm rather ignorant about them." + +"Then he didn't take you much into his confidence about this mining +proposition?" + +"No; I can't say that he did." + +"And you expect a fair return on your money and mean to see that your +friends who have invested don't get left? That's all?" + +"Of course; I've no claim to anything else." + +"That," said the Canadian dryly, "is a point on which there might be +some difference of opinion. You want the shareholders to make a good +thing?" + +"Yes. The firm has backed this mine; I believe the name helped to +float the scheme. That makes me responsible to the people who found +the money." + +Carnally gave him a long searching glance, and his expression changed. + +"Well," he said with an air of quiet resolve, "I guess I'll have to +see you through." + +When Carnally left a half-hour later he met a storekeeper of the town +outside the hotel. + +"You're looking serious, Jake," the man remarked. "Been with your new +boss, I heard. What do you think of him?" + +"Well," Carnally answered gravely, "it's my idea he's white." + +"Then you're not going to quit, as you talked of doing?" + +"No, sir; I guess the new boss and I will pull along." + +"If he's square, why's he working with Mappin and the other grafters?" + +Carnally laughed. + +"That's a point I don't understand yet. But it's my notion there's +going to be less graft about this Rain Bluff proposition than you +fellows think." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FIRST SUSPICIONS + + +Trails of mist floated among the pines that stretched their ragged +branches across the swollen river. Though there had been rain in +abundance, it flowed crystal clear out of the trackless wilderness of +rock and forest that rolls north from the Lake of Shadows toward +Hudson Bay. This rugged belt, which extends from Ottawa River to the +fertile prairie, had until very recent days been regarded as valueless +to man, except for the purpose of trapping fur-bearing animals. The +pines are, for the most part, too small for milling, and there is +little soil among the curiously rounded rocks. Moreover, the agents of +the Hudson Bay Company, which long held dominion over the Canadian +wilds, did not encourage the intrusion of adventurous settlers into +their fur preserves. At last, however, the discovery that there were +valuable minerals in the rocks was made, and hardy treasure-seekers +braved the rigors of the North. + +Andrew and Carnally knelt in the bottom of their canoe, plying the +paddle, while a big half-breed stood upright, using an iron-shod pole +when the nature of the bottom permitted it. The stream ran strong +against them; they were wet, and had laboriously forced a passage +between big boulders, up rapids, and a few slacker reaches, since +early morning. A fine drizzle obscured their view, but so far as they +could see, the prospect was far from cheerful. Ahead, stony ledges +broke the froth-streaked surface of the flood; the pines were green by +the waterside, growing with vigor where they could find a hold among +the rocks, but farther back they were small and tangled, leaning +athwart each other, stripped of half their branches. Some had been +blackened by fire, and there were unsightly avenues of tottering +charred logs. The picture was dreary and desolate. + +"Isn't it getting time for supper?" Andrew asked as they rounded a +bend in the river. + +"Not quite. Besides, there's a Mappin camp not far ahead, and if we +can make it we'll be saved some trouble." + +Andrew nodded, for he had discovered that cooking supper and arranging +a shelter for the night is a tiresome business when one is wet and +worn out by a long day's journey. + +"Then we'd better go on. I suppose Mappin's boys are road-making?" + +"Yes," said Carnally. "Transport is going to be one of the Company's +biggest expenses. Though the river is available it pays to cut out the +worst of the portages. Packing ore over a mile or two of slippery rock +costs money, and the river makes a big bend full of rapids a little +higher up." + +"I remember now. The road is to go straight across by the old +fur-trade traverse, and when it's finished we'll put wagons on. From +the looks of the country it will be an undertaking." + +"Sure!" agreed Carnally. "Still, if you get it done at a reasonable +figure, it ought to pay." + +"It has struck me that we're giving a good deal of work to Mappin. +Ever since we left the landing we have come across his men." + +"It's usual to put jobs you're unable to attend to into a contractor's +hands," Carnally replied. + +The men were now on more friendly terms, but Andrew had noticed that +his companion was generally content with answering questions and +seldom made a suggestion. Moreover, he had an idea that Carnally was +quietly studying him. The man's attitude was puzzling, but he thought +he would in due time find an explanation. + +They paddled on for another half-hour, and then a sharp report rang +out of the mist ahead. It was followed by a succession of heavy +crashes that might have been made by falling rock, and Carnally turned +the canoe's head toward the bank. + +"Giant-powder," he explained. "The camp's near by, and the boys +haven't quit for supper yet." + +On landing, they left the half-breed to look after the canoe, while +they followed a narrow track through a belt of dismal tottering pines. +A low log-building stood in a clearing and beyond it the new road led +up a ravine with rocky slopes. In one place they had been violently +rent, for the ground was strewn with great fragments, over which a +cloud of dust still floated. A group of men stood a short distance +away, as if afraid to approach nearer, and their attitude suggested +that something unusual was going on. As Andrew hurried toward them, +two more appeared, staggering out of the dust and vapor in a curious +drunken manner and dragging along a third. His limpness and the slack +way his arms hung down were unpleasantly suggestive. + +"What's happened? Has he been hit by a stone?" Andrew asked the +nearest man; but the tall, light-haired fellow shook his head as if he +did not understand. + +Andrew questioned another, with no better success, and then noticed +two others moving cautiously toward the dust and smoke. Their care +seemed uncalled for, as the explosion had already occurred; but it was +obvious that somebody was lying in need of assistance among the stones +brought down by the shot, and Andrew ran forward. + +Plunging into the dust he noticed that it had an acrid smell, and a +moment later he felt dizzy. Then he was conscious of an intolerable +headache and a feeling of nausea. He could hardly see; he was losing +control of his limbs; but he struggled on and, overtaking the others, +helped to drag out an unconscious man. Then he sat down, gasping, and +found it difficult to prevent himself from slipping off the stone. + +"I'm sorry," said Carnally, coming up at that moment. "I stopped +behind to talk to one of the boys and as I didn't know what you were +doing I couldn't warn you. You'll feel better presently." + +"What is it?" Andrew asked. "What knocked me and the other fellows +over?" + +"Giant-powder gas. Some kinds are worse than others, though they're +all poisonous. Sit quiet while it works off." + +After a while Andrew's head got clearer and the pain less severe, and +then Carnally took him to the log-building, where supper was ready. +Finding him a seat at the end of a long table, he handed him a +pannikin of strong tea. Andrew felt better when he had drunk it, and +he began to look about. + +The building was a wretched, decrepit hovel. The logs were small and +sagged in the middle; one could hardly stand up in the room; and the +rain that had run in through the leaking roof stood in pools on the +earthen floor. The bunks consisted of two split-board ledges against +the walls, littered with dirty, damp blankets and miry clothing which +filled the place with a sour, unpleasant smell. The long table which +ran up the middle of the one room was crowded with unkempt men, eating +voraciously and talking in what Andrew presently recognized as +Norwegian, though he thought he caught a word or two of German +occasionally. A very neat Chinaman laid a plate before him; but, +hungry as he had been before he breathed the powder fumes, he revolted +from the food. The greasy pork smelt rancid; the potatoes were rotten. + +"I couldn't eat this if I were feeling fit," he said disgustedly. + +Carnally called the Chinaman, who took the plate away and substituted +a piece of pie and one or two desiccated apricots. This was better, +and Andrew ate a little, although he suspected that there was +something wrong with the lard used in the pie, and the fruit was small +and worm-eaten. + +"Let's get out," he said. "I don't think I'm dainty, but this place is +too much for me." + +Leaving the building, they sat down at the foot of a rock which kept +the drizzle off them. Andrew breathed the clean fragrance of the pines +with delight. + +"This is a great improvement," he declared. "Will you tell Lucien to +pitch our tent where there's shelter?" + +"As you wish," said Carnally. "I had figured on our sleeping and +getting breakfast in the shack." + +"Heavens, no!" + +Andrew lighted his pipe. + +"I've recovered enough to feel curious. How did the accident happen? +The men who use it must know that the fumes of giant-powder are +dangerous; why didn't they wait?" + +"It might be better if I let the man responsible explain." + +Carnally beckoned the foreman. + +"Mr. Allinson wants to know why you didn't keep the boys back until +the fumes had cleared." + +"I gave them about the usual time; but it looks as if I'd cut it too +fine. Guess the damp and there being no wind stopped the gas from +getting away. Besides, we're not using a high-grade powder." + +"But if there was any doubt, couldn't you have given them another few +minutes?" Andrew asked. + +The foreman smiled. + +"I had to hold up a dozen men while that shot was fired, and the rain +has kept us back lately. Now a boss contractor knows how many yards of +dirt a man can move in a day and how much rock you ought to shift with +a stick of giant-powder. It's easy figuring how far the road should be +pushed ahead for the money spent, and I've got to keep up to +schedule." + +Andrew studied the man. He looked hard, capable of getting the most +out of his subordinates, but not brutal. + +"Then no allowances are made?" he suggested. + +"No, sir; not on a Mappin job. You have to put through the work or +get!" + +He left them and Andrew turned to Carnally. + +"Is the shack these fellows live in better or worse than the average?" +he asked. + +"Worse. The boys are often quite comfortably fixed." + +"What about the food?" + +"You can judge for yourself," Carnally drawled. "It's the meanest hash +I ever struck; and you want to remember it's no fault of the cook's. +The stuff is mighty bad when a Chinaman can't dish it up fit to eat." + +"Are the men boarded free?" + +"Not much! They pay about six dollars a week; and it's enough. Now, as +a rule, an employer doesn't look for a profit on the grub; taking +camps all round, the boys get pretty good value for their money." + +"Then it looks as if this one were an exception," said Andrew. "Why do +they employ so many Scandinavians?" + +"They get them cheap: catch them newly landed, anxious for a job, +before they find out what they ought to have. A dollar looks big after +a kroner. That's my notion, but we'll see if it's right." He called a +Canadian workman. "What would you fix a road-maker's wages at, Jim?" + +"You ought to know. A good chopper and shoveler would get up to +two-fifty, so long as he was west of cleared Ontario." + +"Two dollars and a-half a day," Carnally repeated to Andrew in +emphasis, and addressed the man again: "What are you making now?" + +"Dollar, seventy-five. I was cleaned out when I took the job. These +blamed Dutchmen get one-fifty. The Mappin crowd's the meanest I've +ever been up against." + +"That leaves them three dollars a week for clothing and all expenses," +Andrew observed, when the workman went away. "Considering what things +cost in Canada, it isn't a great deal. Mappin seems a hard master. Do +you know anything about him?" + +"He's a smart man," said Carnally with a smile. "I met him for the +first time when I hired out with your Company, but I heard that he +hadn't a dollar a few years ago." He paused and added: "In fact, I've +wondered where he got the capital to finance this job." + +When they moved off to the camp which the half-breed had pitched, +Andrew sat thoughtfully smoking outside the tent while the mist +gathered thicker about the dripping pines and the roar of the river +rang in his ears. He had been unfavorably impressed by Mappin, and had +since learned that he treated his workmen with marked injustice; +indeed, he had suffered in person from the fellow's greed. Andrew felt +that a Company of which he was a director ought not to make a profit +by trickery and oppression; but that was taking something for granted, +for he had not ascertained that the Rain Bluff Company received the +benefit. He must reserve the question for future consideration. +Moreover, he had been struck by the manner in which Carnally had +explained how the contractor conducted his business. He had called in +outsiders to check his statements, and allowed them to supply the most +damaging particulars. It had been done with some skill. Andrew felt +that Carnally was anxious that he should learn the truth about Mappin, +though his object was far from clear. + +Then he began to think about Carnally. He had learned in South Africa +that the man had courage and keen intelligence; and that he was to be +trusted. Though fond of the vernacular, his intonation was clean; he +had good manners; and there were signs that he had enjoyed an +excellent education. + +"Jake," he said at last, "is there any reason why the Company +shouldn't do its own transport work?" + +"I don't know of any. You would have to let Mappin get through with +his contracts first." + +"Of course. What I mean is, could we do it as cheaply as he does and +pay regulation wages?" + +"It would take some figuring to answer that. Speaking without the +book, you ought to do the work at the contractor's prices and have a +profit. He must make one; and you can buy plant and tools on as good +terms as he can." + +"That's obvious. Then, on the whole, it ought to pay the Company?" + +"What do you mean by the Company?" + +"Well, the shareholders." + +"It might pay--them," said Carnally with suggestive emphasis. + +Andrew smoked his pipe out before he answered. + +"I'll consider it when I've a little more to go on. It strikes me that +I'm learning things. And now I think I'll get to sleep; my head's +aching." + +He lay down on a bed of spruce twigs and soon sank into restful +slumber, but Carnally sat a while in the tent door, watching the dark +river roll by. Allinson evidently meant to make him his confidential +adviser, and he felt his responsibility. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +DREAM MINE + + +The next morning the party broke camp, and after toiling hard with +pole and paddle reached, toward evening, a forest-shrouded gorge +through which the flood swept furiously. A quarter of a mile ahead +steep rocks pent in the raging water, which was veiled in spray; but +nearer at hand the stream widened into a pool at which Andrew gazed +with misgivings. Evidently Carnally meant to cross it. A wall of crag +formed one bank; the opposite beach was strewn with massy boulders, +over which the pine branches stretched; and in between there ran a +great wedge-shaped track of foam. No canoe, Andrew thought, could live +through that tumult of broken water; but it ran more slackly near the +boulder bank, and a short distance higher up an angry eddy swung back, +close inshore, to the head of the pool, where it joined the main +downward rush. At the junction a spur of rock ran out into the wild +side-swirl of the flood. Shut in as it was by dripping pines, the +place had a forbidding look. + +"It strikes me that the Company will find carrying up its stores and +plant very costly work," Andrew remarked, as they rested in an eddy +behind a stone. "I'm beginning to understand why Leonard asked for so +much capital. My idea is that we'll have to do some preliminary +reducing on the spot to save mineral transport." + +Carnally nodded. For a novice in such matters, Allinson was showing an +unusual grasp of details. + +"It's a question of the quality of the ore. In the North you must have +a high-grade product that can be handled at a profit in small +quantities. It doesn't pay to work rock that carries a low percentage +of metal." + +"What grade of stuff are we turning out? I've been unable to learn +anything about it since I saw the results of the first assays." + +"So far, the Company has not got up much ore: the boys have been kept +busy at development work. But you'll be able to judge for yourself +shortly, and we had better get on. There's a slack along the edge of +the spur at the head of the pool which we ought to make, and it will +save us some trouble in portaging. I'll land you if you'd rather, but +I want a hand, and Lucien must give us a lift by tracking." + +"If you can take the canoe up, I'll go with you," said Andrew quietly. + +They headed for the boulder beach, where they landed the half-breed. +He made a line fast to the craft and went up-stream with the end of +it, while Carnally thrust the canoe out and, with Andrew's help, +forced her up against the current, aided by the line. It was arduous +work. The foam stood high about the bows; eddies swirling up from the +rough bottom swung them to and fro and, although they strained every +muscle, now and then brought them to a standstill. Angry waves broke +on board freely, and Andrew realized that if Lucien lost his footing +or slackened his efforts the line would be torn from him and they +would be swept back to the tail of the pool. This, however, would be +better than being sucked into the cataract close outshore, which +would no doubt result in the canoe's capsizing. At last they reached a +spot where they must stem the main rush, which swung in nearer the +bank. + +"Can we get through there?" Andrew asked breathlessly. + +"I'll try," said Carnally. "If we fail, I guess you'll have to swim." + +Andrew said nothing, but the swollen veins rose on his forehead as he +strained upon his pole. Frothing water broke into the canoe; Lucien +was knee-deep in the foam, braced tensely against the drag of the +line. Spray lashed their hot faces, and the air was filled with the +roar of the torrent. For nearly a minute they hung stationary, their +strength taxed to the utmost, the pole-shoes gripping the bottom. Then +they moved a foot or two, and the work was a little easier when they +next dipped the poles. They made a few yards. With a cry to the +half-breed, Carnally loosed the line, and they shot forward up-stream +with a back-eddy. It swirled about them in curious green upheavals, +streaked with lines of foam, and they sped with it past boulder and +shingle at a furious pace. This was exhilarating; but when steep rocks +dropped to the water Andrew glanced anxiously toward the white +confusion where the eddy reunited with the downward stream. Its +descent was not to be thought of, but he could see no alternative +except being dashed against the crag. + +Carnally, however, did not seem disturbed. He knelt in the stern, his +eyes fixed ahead, quietly dipping the steering paddle, for they had +laid down the poles. + +"Use all your strength when I give the word," he said. + +They slid on, a tall, projecting spur of rock drawing nearer, with +furious waves leaping down-stream a yard or two outshore of it. It +seemed to Andrew that destruction surely awaited them. The turmoil +grew closer, the rock was only a yard or two away; in another few +moments the bow of the canoe would plunge into the tumbling foam. Then +came a cry from Carnally: + +"Now, with your right! Shoot her in!" + +Andrew felt the stout paddle bend and afterward thought he had never +made a stronger effort. The bow swung inshore, the rock unexpectedly +fell back, and as they drove past its end a narrow basin opened up. +The next moment they had entered it and, gliding forward, grounded on +a gravelly bank. A man scrambled down a ledge and helped them to drag +out the canoe. + +"I've been watching you; didn't think you would make it," he said. +"The stream's stronger than usual. Come along to my camp; I'll put you +up to-night." + +"Thanks," responded Carnally. "This is Mr. Allinson, of the Rain Bluff +Mine." He turned to Andrew. "Mr. Graham, from the Landing." + +Andrew saw that the man was studying him with quiet interest. Graham +was elderly; his hair was gray, and his face and general appearance +indicated that he led a comfortable, domestic life. Andrew supposed he +was in business, but when they reached his camp he recognized that it +had been laid out by a man with some knowledge of the wilds. + +Graham gave them a supper of gray trout and bannocks and they +afterward sat talking while the half-breed went fishing. The rain had +ceased, though the mist still drifted heavily down the gorge, and the +aromatic smell of wood-smoke mingled with the scent of the pines. +Somewhere in the shadows a loon was calling, its wild cry piercing +through the roar of water. + +"A rugged and beautiful country," Graham remarked. "Is this your first +visit to it, Mr. Allinson?" + +"No," Andrew replied. "I was once some distance north, looking for +caribou. I'm glad of an opportunity for seeing it again. It gets hold +of one." + +"So you know that; you have felt the pull of the lonely North! Curious +how it draws some of us, isn't it?" + +"Have you been up there?" + +"Oh, yes; as a young man I served the Hudson Bay. I've been through +most of the barrens between Churchill and the Mackenzie. Perhaps +that's the grimmest, hardest country white men ever entered; but it's +one you can't forget." + +"It's undoubtedly hard," said Andrew. "We scarcely reached the fringe +of it, but I was dressed in rags and worn very thin when we struck +Lake Manitoba. I suppose you live at the Landing now?" + +"I've been there twenty years; built my house myself when there was +only a shack or two and a Hudson Bay store. The railroad has changed +all that." + +"Mr. Graham is treasurer for the sawmill," Carnally explained. + +"Didn't you find it tamer than serving the fur company?" Andrew asked. + +A curious smile crept into Graham's eyes. + +"One can't have everything, Mr. Allinson. I've been content, a willing +slave of the desk, only seeing the wilds for a week or two in summer. +But I've thought I might make another trip before I get too old." + +"I think I understand," Andrew replied; "if I've a chance, I'm going +before I return home. There's so much up yonder that impresses +me--the caribou, the timber wolves, the lake storms, and the break up +of the rivers in the spring. What a tremendous spectacle the last must +be!--six-foot ice, piled up in wild confusion, thundering down the +valleys. I've only followed the track of it in summer, but I've seen +the wreckage of rubbed-out buttes and islands, and boulders smashed to +rubble." + +"It is grand," said Graham quietly. + +"I wonder if you'd mind telling Mr. Allinson about the silver lode you +found?" Carnally suggested. "I guess he'd be interested." + +Graham needed some persuasion before he began his tale. + +"It happened a long time ago and I seldom mention it now; in fact, +I'll confess that the lode is looked upon as a harmless illusion of +mine. My friends call it my Dream Mine. When I was a young man I was +stationed at a Hudson Bay factory about four hundred miles north of +here and was despatched with two half-breeds and a canoe to carry +stores to a band of Indians. No doubt you know that the great Company +held sovereign authority over the North for a very long time and the +Indians depended on it for their maintenance. Well, we set off with +the canoe, paddling and portaging up rivers and across the height of +land, toward the south." + +"Then you were working across country toward the headwaters of this +river," Andrew remarked. + +"We didn't get so far, but I did my errand, and one day when crossing +a divide we nooned beside a little creek. As I filled the kettle I +noticed something peculiar about the pebbles and picked up a few. They +were unusually heavy and dully lustrous, which made me curious. +Following the creek back, I found a vein of the same material among +the rocks. I filled a small bag with specimens and took the bearings +of the spot, though we had to get on without loss of time because the +rivers would soon be freezing up. On reaching the fort I showed the +agent the specimens. I can remember his look of disgust. He was a grim +old Scot. + +"Just pebbles; I'm no saying but they might be pretty,' he remarked, +and opening the door threw them out. 'Ye'll think nae mair o' them. +The Company's no collecting precious stones, and ye should ken a +souter's expected to stick till his last.'" + +"I wonder," said Andrew, "which of you hailed from the Border." + +"Both," laughed Graham. "He was a Hawick terry; I was born between +Selkirk and Ettrick shaws. The official language of the Company was +Caledonian; but that's beside the point. I was young enough to feel +hurt; though I knew my man and how staunch he was to the Company's +traditional policy." + +"What was that policy?" + +"The North for the Hudson Bay. As you know, in Canada all minerals +belong to the Crown. The first discoverer can claim the right to work +them, so long as he complies with the regulations." + +"I see," said Andrew. "Prospectors might scare away animals with skins +worth a good deal of silver. But I didn't mean to interrupt you." + +"A day or two later I thought I would look for the stones, but there +had been a heavy fall of snow and I found only a few of them. I never +got the rest, because I was away when the thaw came. About a year +later I was sent back with the same companions to the band of Indians. +It was winter, they were starving, and the agent recognized their +claim. There was no oppression of native races in the Hudson Bay +domains; not a yard of the Indians' land was taken from them, and +drink could not be bought at the factories. The Company offered them a +higher standard of comfort if they would work for it, but there was no +compulsion. If they found English guns and stores and blankets better +than the articles they had used, the agents were there to trade." + +Graham paused with a smile. + +"I'm discursive, Mr. Allinson, but I've a grievance against the Hudson +Bay, and I want to be fair." + +"I'm interested," Andrew declared. "It's a clean record for a +commercial monopoly, considering how cocoa, rubber, and one or two +other things, are often procured." + +"We reached the Indian camp, handed over the supplies, and started +back, with rations carefully weighed out to see us through. In winter +starvation stalks one closely across the northern wilds. Now I had +meant to visit the creek where I'd found the stones, but there was the +difficulty that, as the Indians had changed their location, it would +mean a longer trip. I couldn't rob the starving trappers of anything +that had been sent them, and I must make our provisions cover an extra +three or four days. There was a danger in this, because an unexpected +delay might be fatal, and the dogs were already in poor condition. I +faced the risk. We set off, the sledge running heavily over soft snow, +and we reached the neighborhood of the creek in a raging blizzard, and +camped for twenty-four hours. I could not find the creek, it was +impossible to wait, and we went on through the bitterest weather I +have known. Gales and snowstorms dogged our steps all the way to the +fort and we reached it, starving, four days late. One of the +half-breeds had a badly frozen foot and I'll carry a memento of that +march for the rest of my life." + +Graham held up his left hand, which was short of two fingers. + +"The result of a small ax cut and putting on a damp mitten, when we +were near the creek." + +"That put an end to your prospecting?" + +"It did. I think the agent suspected me, for he took care that I was +not sent south again, and during the next year I left the Company's +service. I kept the stones and after some time took them to an +American assayer. He found them rich in lead and silver, which are +often combined, and his estimate of the value of the matrix rock +startled me. It was beyond anything I had imagined." + +"Then there's a fortune awaiting exploitation beside that creek," +exclaimed Andrew. "Did you do nothing about it?" + +Graham smiled at him. + +"I was married then, Mr. Allinson; a clerk in a small sawmill. What +could I do? Stories of such strikes in the wilderness are common, and +I had nothing but two or three bits of stone to show a capitalist. The +country's difficult to traverse; it would have needed a well-equipped +party to carry up stores and haul a canoe over the divides. In winter, +provisions and sledge dogs could be obtained only from the Hudson Bay +agents. The Company had to be reckoned with, and it was too strong for +me." + +"They couldn't have forbidden you to prospect in their territory." + +"Oh, no; after all, it belongs to Canada. But their agents could +refuse me the assistance and supplies I couldn't do without. It was +impossible to hire an Indian guide or packer without their consent. If +I'd been able to raise a thousand dollars, I might have beaten them; +but that was out of the question." + +"You tried, I've no doubt?" + +"I spent a year's savings on a visit to Montreal and made the round of +the banks and financiers' offices. Here and there a man listened with +some interest, but nobody would venture five dollars on the project." + +"And then?" said Andrew. + +"I gave up all idea of developing the mine. I had two children to +bring up; my salary was small. From the beginning, my wife made light +of my discovery--I dare say she feared I might go back to the +North--the children as they grew up took her view, and my silver mine +became a joke among us. For twenty years I've led a happy, domestic +life; but I've never forgotten the lode and I've thought of it often +the last year or two. My girl is teaching, the boy has got a post, and +I have a few dollars accumulating in the bank." + +Graham, breaking off, filled his pipe and laughed softly before he +went on. + +"That's my story, Mr. Allinson; but perhaps it isn't finished yet. I +may take the trail again some day, but it will have to be soon. The +North is a hard country, and I'm getting old." + +Andrew was moved. Loving adventure as he did, he could imagine what +Graham's self-denial had cost him while he had cheerfully carried out +his duty to his family. + +"Prospecting would no doubt be easier now?" he suggested. + +"Much easier," said Graham. "The railroad has opened up the country, +and the Company finds miners very good customers. Only, when you get +back a short distance from the track, the North is still unsubdued. To +grapple with its snow and ice, its rapids and muskegs, is mighty tough +work." + +They talked about other matters, until the chilly mist, gathering +thicker round the camp, drove them into the tent. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE AMATEUR MINER + + +It was afternoon, and hot sunshine poured down into the little valley. +Andrew stood at the foot of a low range, looking about with keen +interest. The strip of level ground between rock and river was strewn +with small fir stumps, among which lay half-burned logs and branches. +On the edge of the clearing stood two log shacks and a smith's shop, +with an unsightly heap of empty cans, broken boots and discarded +clothing in front of them. A bank of shattered stone stretched toward +the stream, and on a scarped slope of the hillside where the rocks +shone a warm pink there was a black hole. A stream of water flowing +out of it ran down a trench. This was the Rain Bluff Mine. Andrew felt +disappointed. There was not much to show for the capital that had been +subscribed. He supposed, however, that the pieces of machinery which +lay in disorder about the waterside were expensive, and he meant to +ascertain their cost. + +"Why don't they get those things fitted up and working?" he asked +Carnally, who stood near him. + +"They're not complete. We're waiting until the Mappin people bring the +rest of them." + +Andrew pointed to several stacks of small logs. + +"I suppose those are props? You seem to use a good many. Do you cut +them on the spot?" + +"The Mappin boys do. The Company pays for them by the foot." + +"It strikes me that Mappin's doing a good deal of the Company's work. +However, it looks as if we meant to dig the ore out." + +Carnally saw impatience and suspicion in his face. + +"I'm asking a good many questions, Jake," Andrew went on: "but I'm in +the unfortunate position of having to look after matters I know +nothing about. That's a rather remarkable qualification for a +director." + +"It isn't altogether unusual," Carnally replied. "I could point out +one or two men who couldn't tell a pump from a rock drill, and control +mining concerns." + +"It sounds surprising. How's it done?" + +"By hiring subordinates with brains and keeping a careful eye on +them." + +"I'm serious, Jake. The Company pays my expenses and two hundred +dollars a month while I'm in Canada. It's the shareholders' money; I +feel that I ought to earn it." + +"You may have trouble." + +"That won't matter. I've had only a few words with the mine boss, +Watson. What kind of man is he?" + +"He's straight; a smart manager underground, good at timbering and +getting ore out; but that's as far as he goes." + +"Well, we'll look at the workings." + +As they approached the adit Watson came to meet them. He was a short, +wiry man, clad in wet, soil-stained overalls. Andrew indicated the +drainage trench. + +"There seems to be a good deal of water in the mine." + +"That's so," said Watson. "We want to get rid of it. I've several boys +in the sump, baling it up with coal-oil cans." + +"You mean the five-gallon drums you get your kerosene in?" Andrew +asked in surprise. "Why don't you order a pump?" + +"We've got half of one and the engine's fixed. Guess we'll get the +rest when Mappin's ready." + +"I'll send down word about it to the Landing." + +"You needn't. One of the river bosses is up here; he's getting his +dinner now." + +"But dinner has been finished some time." + +"That don't count. We had pork to-day and the Mappin man figured he'd +like trout, so I had to tell Yan Li to cook him some. If you want your +plant brought up, you have to be civil to the transport people." + +The color swept into Andrew's face. + +"Bring the fellow here!" + +Watson grinned and called to a miner at work on the dump. The miner +disappeared and presently came back with a man. + +"You sent for me, Mr. Allinson?" he said, as if he resented it. + +"I did," answered Andrew curtly. "You have a pump of ours which has +been in your hands some time. I want it delivered here immediately." + +The man looked surprised at his tone. + +"We'll do what we can, but most of the boys are busy on the road." + +"Then you had better send them back to the canoes. Our supplies must +not be stopped." + +"It's awkward," said the other. "You don't quite understand yet how +things are run here, Mr. Allinson. You want to give and take." + +"I expect to understand them better soon," Andrew dryly rejoined. +"What we want at present is the pump, and if it isn't here by next +week I'll charge your employer with the extra expense we're being put +to." + +"The office wouldn't allow your claim." + +"I won't make one," said Andrew. "I'll knock it off your bill. No +accounts will be paid without my sanction." + +"Oh, well," said the other, "since you make a point of it, I'll get +down the river right away and see where that pump is." + +He left them, and Watson looked at Carnally as they entered the mine. + +"And I thought he was an English sucker!" he remarked. + +"You were wrong," said Carnally. "You'll know Mr. Allinson better in a +little while." + +Seeing that Andrew was waiting, Watson gave him a small flat lamp to +hook in his hat, and they went down a narrow gallery. By the uncertain +smoky light Andrew could see that it was strongly timbered: stout +props were ranged along its sides, and beams, some cracked and +sagging, spanned the roof between. The floor was wet and strewn with +large fragments, which seemed to have fallen lately. Watson explained +that they were working through treacherous rocks. Presently they +stopped at the top of a dark hole, where a man was busy at a primitive +windlass. + +"Lode dips sharply here," Watson explained. "We had to go down a bit, +but we'll push on this heading. Pay dirt's badly broken up, but we'll +fix things different when we strike it fair. It's pretty wet in the +lower level; do you feel like going down?" + +Andrew put on the waterproof jacket that had been given him, and +looked at the pit. A rough ladder ran down its side, but the man at +the windlass turned to him as he emptied a big can into the drainage +trench. + +"The rope's quicker and quite as safe," he said. "One of the Mappin +boys made that ladder and fixed it wrong. Catch hold here and get a +turn round your foot; you don't want to go through the bottom of the +can." + +Andrew having done as he was directed, the man called a warning to +somebody beneath and then let him go. When he had descended a short +distance, the rope was checked, and a man seizing it swung him across +a murky pool, in which the reflection of faint lights quivered; then +springing down, he found himself in a short gallery. A smoky lamp +burned here and there among the timbering, and shadowy figures were +busy in recesses with hammer and drill. The floor was strewn with +broken rock, damming back the stream that ran along it, and water +freely trickled in. Near at hand three or four men were building up a +square pillar of timber and rock toward the roof. They wore no +clothing above the waist, and the drips from the stone splashed on +their wet skin. Watson spoke to one of them before he turned to +Andrew. + +"Ore's pretty good, here," he said. "We had to make a show for the +people in Montreal to do some figuring on--that is why I cut so much +stuff without leaving more support, though I didn't know the roof was +quite so bad. We'll have her shored up in a day or two, but the worst +trouble's the water." + +Andrew asked him a few questions, and presently went back to the +surface, where he sat down in the sunshine and lighted his pipe. A +good deal of capital had already been expended, and the result looked +discouragingly small. The Company owned a short tunnel, driven into +what was evidently inferior ore, and another at the bottom of a pit, +which might be choked up by a fall of roof and was threatened with +inundation. Still, Andrew supposed that success depended upon the +quality of the main body of the ore, which they had hardly reached as +yet. When he had finished his pipe, he joined Carnally, who was busy +among the machinery by the river. + +"Jake," he said, "I want you to go to the Landing and see that the +Mappin people send up the plant Watson expects as soon as it's off the +cars. I shall stay here a while and try to learn something about my +business." + +"Well," drawled Carnally with signs of amusement, "there is a good +deal to learn." + +He set off early the next morning, and Andrew, putting on a suit of +overalls, went down into the mine and insisted on being given +practical instruction in the use of the drill. It was a painful +process: he was forced to kneel on sharp stones and sometimes in water +while he held the steel bar, which jarred his hands when his companion +struck it. Nor did he find the work easier when he came to strike, +standing in a cramped position without room to swing the hammer, his +eyes fixed upon the end of the drill, which must be squarely hit. To +miss might result in the other man's knuckles being smashed. The inch +of metal which glimmered in the lamplight formed a perplexing mark. +Andrew had an accurate eye, however, and did not often miss; and he +forgave his instructor for hitting him on the wrist, though this +necessitated its being bound up for several days. He learned the quick +twist of the drill which brings the cutting edge to bear, and how to +wedge up the roof by setting a prop, sawed a little too long for the +position, slantwise beneath a beam and hammering it straight; and then +he turned his attention to more advanced subjects. + +"Watson," he commented one morning, "this mine strikes me as being +badly arranged. The best ore's on the lower level, the lode dips, and +having the shaft underground must give you extra trouble in getting +the stone and water out." + +"It does," Watson assented. "You want to remember that we took over +Rain Bluff after work had been begun, and the fellows who locate these +bush mines often don't know much about their job. If they think the +ore's there, they start to get it out the best way they can. I've seen +that we'll have to drive a lower adit right in from outside sooner or +later, but I'm shy of the expense." + +"It seems to me that the money will be profitably spent," Andrew said +when they had discussed it for a while. "You'll get it back by saving +labor and pumping, while the extra cost you're put to now would +probably increase. You'd better start the work at once; I'll be +responsible." + +Watson was beginning to understand that the resident director +possessed abilities which he had by no means suspected at first. He +did as he was told, and for the next few weeks Andrew was pleasantly +occupied. He learned to nip detonators on to fuses, and how a stick of +giant-powder should be inserted into a firing hole. He studied the +lines of cleavage in the rock, calculated the cost in labor and +explosives of the stone brought down, and found it all interesting. As +a matter of fact, it was the first time he had seriously interested +himself in anything except sport, and there was encouragement in +feeling that he possessed some useful powers. Watson spoke to him as +to one who could understand; the miners did not seem to notice his +clumsiness. He had expected some banter from them, but none was +offered, and he remembered that it was Leonard and his relatives who +had shown an amused disbelief in his capabilities. + +One day he descended to the lower level, where the men were having +trouble in the manager's absence. A number of lamps were burning and +the place looked wetter than usual in the unsteady light. Water +trickled down the end wall, the rows of props were dripping, and the +half-naked men splashed through pools when they moved to and fro. They +were feverishly busy: one group building a massive pillar, others +putting up fresh props; only two or three were breaking out ore at the +working face. Then Carnally came toward him, and his wet face showed +tense and anxious in the light of Andrew's lamp. + +"The blamed roof's very shaky," he said. "We've had two ugly cave-ins. +I wish Watson was back. And I'm getting scared about the water; expect +we're tapping a tank-pot in the hill, but there's nothing to help us +in locating it. You might give the boys a hand with the pillar." + +Andrew stripped to shirt and overall trousers, and hurried toward the +spot. He saw that the men needed help, for the cracked roof was +bulging downward ominously and there were several heaps of freshly +fallen stones. They were constructing a square frame of logs, crossed +at the ends, and filling it in with broken rock as fast as they could; +but there remained a wide gap between its top and the roof it was +meant to support. For an hour he worked savagely, wet with falling +water and dripping with perspiration, passing up heavy beams and +stones to the men who laid them in place. He grew breathless and tore +his hand, but the flakes of rock which fell at intervals urged him on. +Once or twice there was a crash farther down the tunnel and he saw +shadowy figures scatter and others run in with props, but for the most +part he fixed his attention on his task, because it looked as if they +had no time to lose. When a gush of water flowing down the heading +splashed about his boots, he called Carnally. + +"Is this tunnel going to cave in?" he asked. + +"That's more than I can tell," Carnally replied. "We may be able to +shore her up, but if it's not done soon, the chances of her crushing +in are steep." + +"I see," said Andrew, and turned to his companions. "Boys, I'll stand +for a ten-dollar bonus if this job's finished in half an hour." + +One of them laughed, but there was no other response and they did not +seem to increase their exertions much. This suggested that they had +been doing their utmost already, with a clear recognition of the risk +they ran. Their pay was good, but something besides their interest +urged them to keep the mine open. These were men who would not easily +be beaten by inpouring water or crushing rock: they had braced +themselves for a grapple with their treacherous natural foes. + +Andrew, however, was feeling the strain. His injured hand was painful, +the stones he had to lift were heavy, his arms and back ached; but he +meant to hold out, for the gap between roof and pillar was getting +narrow. He had raised a ponderous piece of rock and was holding it up +to a man who reached for it when there was a smashing sound above and +a dark mass rushed past him. The tunnel echoed with a crash, and +Andrew received a violent blow on his head. The pain of it turned him +dizzy, but he heard a clamor of voices and harsh warning cries. They +were followed by a smashing of timber; he saw two or three props crush +in; and then half the lights went out and he felt the water washing +past his boots. + +The next moment his legs were wet, and he set off for the shaft, +knee-deep in a rushing flood. There was a confused uproar behind him: +stones falling, timber breaking; and then the last of the lamps went +out. It cost him an effort to keep his head. Hurrying men jostled him; +he struck his feet against sharp stones and was thankful that he did +not fall. While he battled with a growing horror, he made for the +feeble glimmer which marked the bottom of the shaft. It was a short +distance, and he presently stood in the gathering water among a group +of half-seen men, watching one being slowly drawn up toward the +brighter light above. Another was hurriedly climbing the ladder, while +a comrade waited to follow as soon as he was high enough. Then Andrew +felt a hand on his arm. + +"I was looking for you," Carnally said. "You had better get up. Take +the rope as soon as it drops." + +Andrew felt a strong desire to do so, but he mastered it. + +"No," he returned calmly; "not yet. In a sense, it's my mine; I must +see the boys out." + +A man near him raised a shout. + +"What's the matter with the winch! Can't you heave on it?" + +A deepening rush of water swirled about them and there were sharp +cries: + +"You above, get on to the handles! When's that rope coming? She ought +to carry two!" + +A man clutched at the rope, which fell among them but when another +grasped it Andrew interfered. + +"Steady, boys!" he said. "The winch won't lift you both. Being heaved +up is too slow. Tell them to make the rope fast, and then climb; it's +strong enough to carry two or three." + +There was a growl of approval; instructions were shouted up; and while +the water rapidly deepened, the group at the foot of the shaft +decreased. Andrew, however, was above his waist before he clutched the +ladder, while Carnally seized the rope. There was a man above him +whose feet he must avoid, and he felt the timber shake, but it was +with vast relief that he climbed out of the flood. He was near the top +when a cross-batten broke and Grennan, the fellow above him, slipping +down a foot or two, bruised Andrew's fingers with his heavy boot. For +a brief moment Andrew clung by one hand, and then, his overtired arm +suddenly relaxing, his fingers loosed their grasp and he fell, half +dazed from pain and horror, into the swirling flood below. A crash of +the timbers somewhere in the shaft preceded a fresh onrush of water. +The flood was neck-deep and rapidly rising. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ISLAND OF PINES + + +When Carnally crawled out, wet and breathless, into the open air with +the last of the men, he turned to speak to Andrew. + +"Where's the boss?" he demanded quickly of Grennan. + +Just then the roar of a fresh rushing of waters was borne up to them, +and Carnally was filled with anxiety as he leaned over the edge of the +pit. + +"Allinson!" he shouted. + +No answer came, and before the scared miners could fully realize what +had happened, Carnally was sliding down the rope. In the feeble light +at the bottom he saw Andrew's arms reaching above his head grasping +desperately on to the ladder. He seemed unable to pull himself up, but +held on with a vise-grip. + +"All right, Allinson!" Carnally called across reassuringly. + +Letting go of the rope, a few strokes in the water brought him to the +ladder. + +"My knee!" explained Allinson, his face gray with pain. "Struck a +sharp ledge at the bottom!" + +With Carnally's assistance, he managed to climb to the top of the +ladder, where a dozen arms were extended to pull him to safety. He had +a bad gash on his knee, his fingers on one hand were bruised and +bleeding, and there was a large welt on his head where the cross-beam +had struck him; but there seemed to be nothing serious. + +He held out his hand to Carnally, and they gripped in silence. Words +were unnecessary. + +"The cross-pieces of the ladder could not have been properly notched +in," Andrew said after a while. "I think it was supplied by Mappin?" + +"Yes," answered Carnally; "and it's a rough job!" + +"I must endeavor to see that Mappin does his work better. But what's +to be done about the flooded level?" + +"Try to pump it out; it's fortunate that with a wood-burning engine +fuel costs you nothing. I expect Watson will start all the boys at the +new heading as soon as he gets back." + +They discussed the mine until Yan Li called them to supper, and for +the next two weeks they worked very hard. Then Andrew went down to the +Landing on business, and one day he sat lazily in a rowing skiff on +the Lake of Shadows. A blaze of sunshine fell upon the shimmering +water, which farther on was streaked with deep-blue lines, but close +at hand it lay dim and still, reflecting the somber pines. The skiff +was drifting past the shore of a rocky island, on which a few maples, +turning crimson, made patches of glowing color among the dusky +needles, when Andrew saw a girl sitting on the shore. She was near +when he noticed her, and it struck him that she was remarkably pretty. +The thin white dress, cut in the current American fashion, left her +finely molded arms uncovered to the elbow and revealed her firm white +throat. Her hands were shapely; and, for her hat lay beside her, he +noticed the warm coppery tones in her hair. She had gray eyes and her +face pleased him, though while observing the regularity of her +features, he could not clearly analyze its charm. Then feeling that he +had gazed at her as long as was admissible, he dipped his oars, but, +somewhat to his astonishment, she called to him. + +"Did you see a canoe as you came?" she asked. + +"No," Andrew answered. "Have you lost yours?" + +"It floated away; I didn't notice until it was too late. It went +toward the point." + +She indicated the end of the island, and Andrew nodded. + +"It would drift to leeward. I'll go and look for it." + +As he swung the skiff round it struck him that she had kept curiously +still. Her pose was somewhat unusual, for she sat with her feet drawn +up beneath her skirt, and skirts, as he remembered, were cut decidedly +short. He rowed away and presently saw the canoe some distance off. On +running alongside, he noticed a pair of light stockings in the bottom, +and laughed as the reason for the girl's attitude became apparent. +Pulling back with the canoe astern, he loosed the light craft and +drove it toward the beach with a vigorous push. + +"Thank you," said the girl, and he tactfully rowed away. + +He had not gone far when he heard a hail and saw her standing on the +point, waving her hand. For a moment or two he hesitated. As the canoe +had grounded within her reach, he could not see what she wanted; and, +in view of the discovery he had made, he had imagined that she would +have been glad to get rid of him. Still, she had called him and he +pulled back. + +"Can I be of any further assistance?" he asked, noticing with some +relief that she now had her shoes on. + +"Yes," she said frankly. "I am marooned here; there's no paddle in the +canoe." + +"No paddle? But how could it have fallen out?" + +"I don't know; and it doesn't seem an important point. Perhaps the +canoe rocked, and it overbalanced." + +"I could tow you to the Landing," Andrew suggested. + +His manner was formally correct and she felt half amused. This young +man was obviously not addicted to indiscriminate gallantry. + +"I don't want to go to the Landing, and the canoe would tow easier +with no one on board. Your skiff should carry two." + +He ran the craft in, made fast the canoe, and then held out his hand. +When she was seated, he pushed off. + +"Where shall I take you?" he asked gravely. + +"To the large island yonder--the Island of Pines," she said, +indicating it; and he knew that this was Geraldine Frobisher, whom +Mappin had discussed. Andrew admitted that his description of her was +warranted. + +"You have been unlucky," he remarked. + +"I've been careless and have had to pay for it. We got breakfast early +and I've missed my lunch." + +"It's nearly three o'clock," said Andrew, pulling faster. "But how is +it no one came to look for you?" + +"My aunt goes to sleep in the afternoon; my father had some business +at the Landing--if he had been at home it would have taken him some +time to find me. He would have searched the nearer islands first, +systematically and in rotation." She smiled. "That's the kind of man +he is. I suppose you have guessed who I am?" + +"Miss Frobisher?" + +"And you're Mr. Allinson. It wasn't hard to identify you. Perhaps you +know that your doings are a source of interest to the people at the +Landing." + +"I can't see why that should be so." + +"For one thing, they seem to think you are up against what they call +'a tough proposition'." + +Andrew's face grew thoughtful. Since the collapse of the heading, he +had spent a fortnight in determined physical toil, as his scarred +hands and broken nails testified. It had been a time of stress and +anxiety, and during it he had realized that the mine would be a costly +one to work. The ore must carry a high percentage of metal if it were +to pay for extraction. + +"I'm afraid that's true," he said. + +"Then you won't get much leisure for hunting and fishing?" + +Andrew laughed. + +"After all, those were not my objects in coming out, though you're not +the only person who seems to have concluded that they were." + +"I have no opinion on the matter," Geraldine declared. "But at the +Landing you are supposed to be more of a sportsman than a miner--isn't +it flattering to feel that people are talking about you? Then you are +really working at the mine?" + +"So far, I've saved the Company about two dollars and a-half a day." + +"But isn't your voice in controlling things worth more than that?" + +"No," Andrew replied; "I'm afraid it isn't." + +"Then you don't know much about mining?" + +"I believe," Andrew answered dryly, "I know a little more than I did." + +Geraldine was pleased with him. The man was humorously modest, but he +looked capable and resolute. + +"Well," she said, "it can't be easy work; though one understands that +getting the ore out is not always the greatest difficulty." + +"It's hard enough when the roof comes down, and the props crush up, +and the water breaks in. Still, I believe you're right." + +"I know something about these matters," she said, and then surprised +him by a sudden turn of the subject. "There's one man you can trust. I +mean Jake Carnally." + +"Do you know him?" + +"He built our boat pier and cleared the bush to make our lawn. We +often made him talk to us; and I know my father, who's a good judge, +thought a good deal of him." + +"Jake," said Andrew cautiously, "rather puzzles me: I can get so +little out of him, though I like the man. As you seem to know the +people I have to deal with, is there anybody else whose +trustworthiness you would vouch for?" + +Geraldine's face hardened. + +"No, I don't know of anybody else; but you will soon be able to form +your own opinion." + +This struck Andrew as significant, because she must have heard of his +connection with Mappin, who visited the house. Just then he caught +sight of a boat that swung around the end of an island and headed +toward them with bows buried in foam. + +"A gasoline launch," he said. "She's traveling very fast." + +"It's ours," explained Geraldine. "My father must have got back from +the Landing and has come to look for me." + +The launch was soon abreast of them and stopped near the skiff. A man +of middle age, in light clothes, held the tiller and looked at +Geraldine inquiringly. + +"I suppose you have been dreadfully worried," she said with a smile at +him. "I was cast away on a desolate island when the canoe went adrift, +and should have been there still, only that Mr. Allinson came to my +rescue." She turned to Andrew. "My father, Henry T. Frobisher." + +Andrew noticed that Frobisher glanced at him keenly when he heard his +name, but he started the engine and ran the launch alongside. + +"Come on board and see our island," he said. "I'll take you back to +the Landing afterward." + +Andrew followed Miss Frobisher into the craft and made the skiff and +canoe fast astern, and they set off and presently reached a short pier +which ran out into still, clear water. A lawn stretched down to the +shore, bordered with flowers, and at the end of it a wooden house +stood against a background of somber pines. A veranda ran across the +front, the rows of slender columns braced by graceful arches; above +were green-shuttered windows, steep roofs, and gables. Moldings, +scrolls and finials had been freely and tastefully used to adorn the +building, though Andrew understood that Frobisher used it only +occasionally as a summer resort. + +Andrew was taken in and presented to Frobisher's sister, Mrs. Denton, +a lady with a languid expression and formal manners. Then tea was +served in artistic china, and after some general conversation +Frobisher led Andrew to a small room on the upper story, which looked +out upon the lake, and gave him an excellent cigar. Noticing him +glance at the maps unrolled on a table, he smiled. + +"I find that I can't get away from business," he explained. "It +follows me down here; and in a new country like this there's generally +some interesting project cropping up. I go off into the bush hunting, +and see something that looks like an opportunity; the idea sticks to +me and begins to develop." + +"So far, I haven't found the prospects here very encouraging; but I +suppose mining's slow," Andrew responded. "What do you deal in?" + +"Land, lumber, waterfalls that will drive turbines--anything in the +shape of natural resources. But how are you getting on at Rain Bluff?" + +Andrew reflected that as the Company's operations would be freely +discussed at the Landing, there was no reason why he should be +reticent. Besides, he felt inclined to trust his host. The man had a +keen, thoughtful face, but its seriousness was relieved by his genial +smile. + +"I'm afraid we're not getting on very fast," he said, and related the +mishaps they had met with. + +"You seem to find the work harder than you expected." + +"I must admit it," said Andrew. "If it were merely a question of +propping up the roof, getting rid of the water, and cutting out the +ore, I'd feel less diffident. It's the business complications that I +have the most trouble in understanding." + +Frobisher gave him a keen glance. + +"That side's generally involved. Rain Bluff, however, has a good big +capital, I understand." + +"Which means big liabilities. We're naturally expecting to pay +dividends on it." + +"It's an expectation that's not invariably realized," Frobisher +remarked dryly. "You feel that your shareholders ought to be +satisfied?" + +"Of course. That's why I'm here." + +"Our acquaintance is short, but if you don't feel that I'm too much of +a stranger, I might perhaps be able to throw some light on any points +that you're puzzled about. I've had a pretty extensive experience in +these matters." + +He was mildly gratified by his guest's ready confidence, but Andrew +had been endowed with a quick and accurate judgment of character. He +talked without reserve as Frobisher drew him out; and the American +listened with unusual interest. The affairs of the Rain Bluff Company +were no concern of his, but the working of Allinson's mind fixed his +attention. Allinson was obviously a novice in such matters, but, for +an untrained man, he showed a grasp of the salient points and a +boldness in attacking difficulties which Frobisher thought remarkable. +Lighting a fresh cigar when Andrew had finished, he smoked a while in +silence. With a few words he might explain the Company's situation in +a manner that would fill his guest with astonishment and perhaps +dismay, but on the whole it did not seem advisable that they should be +spoken. It would be better that Allinson should find out for himself +how matters stood. Frobisher felt strongly curious about what he would +do then. + +Andrew presently looked up, as if he expected some comment. + +"There are one or two suggestions I might make," said Frobisher. + +They were not of much moment, though they promised to save Andrew some +time and trouble, and after discussing them he rose to go. When they +reached the hall Geraldine met them. + +"If you are going to the Landing, I'll come with you," she said. +"There are a few things I want from the stores." + +"Then if Mr. Allinson will excuse me, I'll let you take him. I have +some matters to consider before the mail to-morrow; and waiting while +you buy millinery is a tedious business." + +Frobisher shook hands with Andrew cordially. + +"Come back to the Island of Pines whenever you feel inclined," he +said, and Andrew and Geraldine walked down to the pier. + +She started the engine and stood aft, holding the helm, while Andrew +sat on a locker, looking about while the launch swept noisily away. +The days were rapidly getting shorter and the sunlight had faded off +the lake. The breeze had fallen and the water lay gleaming, smooth as +oil, with the shadow of the rocks and trees floating on it. Here and +there a clump of pines to the westward stood out, black and rugged, +against a glow of pink and green; the air was cold and filled with a +resinous fragrance. But Geraldine occupied most of Andrew's attention. +She stood, gracefully poised, her light dress fluttering in the +draught made by the launch's speed, and a clear warm color glowing in +her face. Fine spray leaped about the bows, around which there curled +a wisp of foam, and the froth streamed back far across the lake. + +Andrew was inclined to be sorry the launch was so fast: it was not far +to the Landing, and he could have spent an hour or two pleasantly on +board. Miss Frobisher was not the first attractive young woman he had +met, and she had neither said nor done anything in particular to +excite his admiration. Indeed, when he came to think of it, she had +said little to him; but somehow she impressed him as no other girl had +done. When presently she made some remark which demanded an answer, +they chatted gaily until she ran the launch alongside the wharf. There +Andrew left her and went to his hotel. + +After making her purchases, Geraldine returned to the island, where +she found her father sitting on the pier with a notebook in his hand. + +"You landed your passenger safely, I see. What did you think of him?" + +"He didn't give me much opportunity for forming an opinion, except +that he's rather serious," Geraldine answered with a smile. "Besides, +I don't suppose my opinion would be worth as much as yours." + +"That's a very modest admission; I thought you imagined yourself a +good judge of young men. Anyway, I'm interested in this one; perhaps +because he has upset the ideas I had about him." + +"How?" + +"For one thing, he's straight--straight as a plumb-line, which isn't +altogether what I expected. Then, for a man engaged in business, he's +a type that's new to me." + +"Are those remarks connected?" Geraldine asked with a laugh. "You're +in business and nobody could be straighter than you are." + +Frobisher looked at her with appreciation. + +"I'm afraid there have been occasions when I had to sail dangerously +near the wind; but that's outside the question. I'm sorry for this +young fellow--there's trouble ahead of him." + +"You mean financial trouble? Of course, I've heard people talking +about the mine." + +"Not altogether; anyway, if I'm right about him, I don't think he'll +find that the worst." Frobisher broke into a thoughtful smile. "After +all, I have met business men who didn't consider their money the most +important thing they could lose. But I'm inclined to think the people +who sent Allinson over here have made a mistake." + +Geraldine was unwilling to betray too great an interest in the man; +and, indeed, her curiosity about him did not go very far. + +"Oh, well," she said, "it really doesn't concern us." + +She turned toward the house, and Frobisher looked out across the +water. From what he knew about Rain Bluff Mine he had concluded that +Allinson must be either a clever and somewhat unscrupulous exploiter +of such ventures, or a guileless ignoramus who could be made a tool +of. Now, having met him, he was convinced that the man was neither of +these. However, he had other things to think about; and opening the +notebook he busied himself with a scheme for utilizing some +water-power. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AMONG THE ICE + + +Graham was sitting on the veranda of his house at the Landing after +supper one evening when Andrew joined him. The veranda was broad, and +covered with mosquito-netting, and furnished with a table and one or +two chairs; the wooden house was small but pretty. In front a plot of +grass, kept green throughout the hot summer by an automatic sprinkler, +ran, unfenced, to the edge of the dusty road. Across this a belt of +blackened fir stumps stretched back to the stacks of lumber by the +sawmill, and beyond that the lake lay shining in the evening light. + +A window was open and Andrew could hear a girl singing. A rattle of +crockery which suggested that Mrs. Graham was busy with domestic +duties also reached him now and then; and a lad who had greeted him +pleasantly as he passed sat on the nearest fir stump talking with a +companion. Graham seemed to indicate it all with a movement of his +pipe as he turned to Andrew. + +"My world, Mr. Allinson," he said. "A happy one, but narrow." + +"I feel inclined to envy you," Andrew replied. + +"I am to be envied; I admit it with gratitude." Graham glanced half +wistfully at a map on the table. "For all that, I remember the wide +spaces up yonder now and then." + +"If I were in your place, I wouldn't study that map too much." + +"Ah! It isn't an amusement that I often indulge in; but sometimes, +when I've spent a week making up trumpery lumber bills or getting in +five-dollar accounts, I find it a solace to recall what I used to do. +However, I've inconsistently practised prudent self-denial in other +ways. There was a moose head--a beast I shot--I took off its stand and +gave to the Institute; an old pair of snowshoes that hung above the +mantel I gave my boy. He said they were very poor things and sadly out +of date." + +Andrew glanced at the map and noticed the lines penciled across it. He +felt that he was not acting considerately in tempting Graham, but he +could not resist. + +"Those marks show the marches you have made?" he asked. + +Graham laid his finger on the map, moving it from spot to spot. + +"Yes. I don't need a diary; I can see it all again. We started here +one winter and made three hundred miles on half rations, with wind and +snow ahead all the way. There we camped three days in a blizzard among +a clump of willows, while the snow piled up six feet deep to lee of +us. I made this line through a country new to me; two hundred miles +over soft snow, with the dogs playing out and the timber wolves on my +trail for the last few days. This lake ends in a big muskeg, and we +snagged our canoe there one fall. As she'd ripped her bilge open, we +left her and spent a day and a half floundering through two or three +feet of water and tall reeds, and carrying loads of sixty pounds." He +paused and indicated a line that broke off abruptly in a wide bare +space. "The lode lies south of here, and I believe I'm the only +survivor of the few who knew of it. One half-breed was drowned in a +rapid, another lost in a blizzard; the agent, so I heard afterward, +left the factory to visit some Indians three or four miles off and +they found him next day in a snowdrift, frozen to death." + +"A grim country," Andrew said thoughtfully, "One to make a man afraid, +and yet----" + +Graham laughed, rather harshly. + +"Yes; I think you know! Well, I'm glad that for twenty years I've +mastered the longing and kept my head. Now, however, my children have +made a fair start, with prospects of going farther than I have done, +and my responsibility is lightening. A winter up there would satisfy +me--I'm afraid it would be all I could stand now--and though it's +still out of the question, I've a feeling that a way may be found +before I grow too old." + +He rolled up the map resolutely and laid it aside, and soon afterward +Mrs. Graham's voice reached them. + +"Bring Mr. Allinson in. It's getting chilly." + +Andrew rose and followed Graham into his sitting-room. It was very +small and there were signs of economy in its appointments, but it had +a homelike charm. Two or three sketches in color which showed some +talent hung on the varnished board walls. The lamp, though obviously +cheap, was of artistic design; the rug on the stained floor and the +hangings were of harmonious hue. Mrs. Graham, a little, faded woman +with a cheerful air, sat sewing at a table, and opposite her a girl +was busy with some papers. Both greeted Andrew cordially, and a few +minutes later the young man he had seen outside came in with a +humorous tale he had heard. + +He was a handsome lad, quicker of speech and more assertive than his +father, and the girl, who now and then made a remark, had a decided +air. Though Graham would occasionally talk without reserve, he was as +a rule quiet and dreamy. It was not from him that his children had +acquired a trace of the somewhat aggressive smartness which +characterizes the inhabitants of the new western cities: he had more +in common with the silent dwellers in the lonely wilds. These are, for +the most part, sentimentalists of a kind; loving the wilderness, not +for what can be made out of it, and untouched by the materialistic +ideas of the towns, where the business chance is the chief thing +sought. Their gifts become most manifest when the ice breaks up on the +rivers across which they must get the dog-sleds, and when all the +powers of mind and body are taxed to traverse the frozen waste before +starvation cuts short the march. It struck Andrew that Graham, dressed +in shabby clothes, listening good-humoredly while his children talked, +had somehow the look of a captive eagle, conscious of crippled wings, +though the simile was a bad one because there was no predatory +fierceness in him. + +"One of you might shut the door," said Mrs. Graham. "The nights are +getting colder fast; we'll soon have to light the basement heater." +She turned to Andrew. "This is a hard country in winter. I've seen the +thermometer stand a week at fifty below." + +"Don't be scared, Mr. Allinson," laughed the lad, as he closed the +door. "It's not often too fierce, and in a place like the Landing +there's generally something going on. Will the frost interfere with +your mining?" + +"Not underground," said Andrew. "I understand that nothing can be done +on the surface, but we expect to send off a good lot of ore for +experimental reduction in the next week or two. Then we'll have +something to base our plans on." + +"Mappin's going to handle the transport, I guess. That man's surely on +to a soft thing. I s'pose you know he's making his pile out of the +Rain Bluff?" + +Mrs. Graham glanced at her son in rebuke. + +"I don't think you should talk to Mr. Allinson in that manner, Jim. +He's a good deal older and more experienced than you are." + +"Your ideas are out of date, Mother; we've grown ahead of them. Mr. +Allinson doesn't look as if he minded. Anyway, he doesn't know as much +as I do about the Canadian contractor." He turned to Andrew. "Do you +like it up yonder?" + +"Yes," Andrew answered good-humoredly; "I like the work better than +anything I remember having done." + +"A matter of taste. Now, I can't see much amusement in rolling rocks +about or standing in wet slickers in a dark pit watching the boys +punch the drills." + +"Mr. Allinson is not doing it for amusement," said his mother. + +"Well, money isn't often made that way. You don't get rich by knowing +how to use the hammer and giant-powder." + +"I believe that's true," Andrew responded with a smile. + +"A sure thing! Money is made by sitting tight in your office and +hiring other fellows to do the rough work. They break up the rocks and +cut the milling logs; you take the profit. It's business, first and +last, for mine!" + +"Then it's fortunate there are people with different views," his +sister interposed. "If nobody were willing to live in the logging +camps all winter and go prospecting in the bush, you would be badly +off." + +"But so long as there are people who like doing that kind of thing, +we're glad to let them." + +"This is a favorite pose of his," the girl explained to Andrew. "It's +the latest fashion among the boys; they're afraid of being thought +altruistic." + +"Now that everything is controlled by mergers and they make all we +need so dear, one is forced to be practical," Mrs. Graham remarked +feelingly. "For all that, it jars on me to hear our young people talk +as they do." + +"We're realists, with no use for sentiment," Jim replied. "We don't +let our imagination run away with us. It doesn't pay." + +"You may be wrong in that," said Andrew, smiling, "I'm not much of a +philosopher, but it seems to me that imagination's now and then a +useful thing. I've seen it help a man through tight places. Take your +prospectors, for example; they often face risks that couldn't be +justified by a return in money. I heard of one fellow crossing a lake +in a savage storm in a leaky canoe, to keep the time he'd allowed for +his journey, because he wouldn't be beaten; and of another making two +hundred miles on snowshoes with very little food, because a party he'd +promised to meet was expecting him." + +"That," said the lad, "is the kind of thing father would do; he's +given to impractical idealism. There's a mine up in the barrens he has +talked about as long as I remember; but if he found it I believe he'd +be content with that and sell the claim to any one for a few hundred +dollars. Getting yourself frozen for an abstract idea isn't good +business." + +Graham laughed and changed the subject, and soon afterward Andrew took +his leave. He spent the next evening with Frobisher, whom he had now +visited several times, and on the following morning set out for the +mine, where he worked very hard for a few weeks. They were still using +the old adit, though the new one was being driven toward the lower +level. Then he and Carnally left the camp in a canoe to hurry forward +some stores and, after arranging for their quicker transport, stood on +a little promontory, looking down the river, late one gloomy +afternoon. + +Winter had set in with unusual rigor. The gray sky was barred with +leaden cloud; the pines, which looked strangely ragged and somber, +stood out with harsh distinctness against the first thin snow; and the +river flowed, a dark-colored riband, through a clean-cut channel in +the ice. A nipping wind blew down the gorge, and now and then light +flakes of snow fell. + +"We had better push on," Carnally suggested. "It looks as if the +messenger hadn't got through, and we'll hardly make the mine before +midnight. There's heavy snow coming and we have no provisions or camp +outfit." + +"Wait an hour," said Andrew. "The smelter people promised to let me +know the results they got and the letter was due yesterday. I'm +anxious about the thing." + +Carnally agreed. They had sent out a quantity of ore for reduction, +and particulars of the yield in refined metal would throw a useful +light on the prospects of the mine. The last analysis of specimens +selected to represent the bulk had not been encouraging, but this test +was unsatisfactory because the ore was variable. + +"Let's get out of the wind," Carnally said. "If I'd expected this kind +of weather, I'd have brought my fur-coat along." + +They found a sheltered spot among a clump of pines, where they sat +down; but Andrew felt disturbed and apprehensive. The Company had +spent money freely, the mine was expensive to work, and of late Watson +had grown morose and reserved. Even when Andrew pressed him, he had +avoided giving his opinion. The report of the smelting company would, +however, show how matters stood, and Andrew looked out anxiously for +the expected messenger. + +It got dark, though they could still see the glimmer of the ice, and +at length they heard a faint, regular splashing, made by canoe poles. +A shout answered their hail, and when they ran down the bank a man +came cautiously across the fringe of ice. + +"Here's your mail," he said, handing Andrew some letters. "Now that +I've given it to you, we'll get back." + +"Won't you come on to the mine with us?" + +"No, sir! It's steep chances you don't get there to-night and we can +make a Mappin camp in about three hours down-stream." + +"It would be wiser to follow him," Carnally suggested. "We'll have +heavy snow before long." + +"I'm going on," said Andrew doggedly. "I must compare the report with +our books and get Watson to tell me what he thinks as soon as +possible." + +Launching their canoe, they poled her laboriously against the current, +which ran fast between its banks of ice. Andrew was thankful that the +snow on the frozen surface threw up a faint light and they could see +the glimmer of the floes that drifted down, though it was not always +possible to avoid them. Once or twice there was a crash as a heavy +mass struck the canoe, which was too lightly built to stand much of +this buffeting. Andrew had thick mittens, but they soon got wet and +his hands grew numbed. He was not clad for rigorous weather, and his +exertions failed to keep him warm. + +Still, they were making progress, and they met with no serious +difficulty until they entered a slacker reach. It had been open when +they came down, but now the channel made by the current was glazed +with thin ice, through which they could hardly drive the canoe. +Indeed, in some places Carnally was forced to break the crust with the +pole while Andrew paddled. + +"If there's much more of this, it will be late to-morrow before we +make camp," Andrew remarked. + +"We'll have to leave the river pretty soon, but we'll stick to it as +long as we can," Carnally replied. "It's rough traveling through the +bush, and the shore ice is hardly safe yet." + +They got through the reach, paddled laboriously against a swifter +stream, and dragged the canoe over a portage, stumbling among big +stones and across frozen pools. During this passage Andrew fell and +hurt himself; but stopping was out of the question. Launching the +craft on the upper edge of the rapid, they drove her out. For a minute +or two they made no progress, and Andrew, straining at his pole, +feared that they would be swept down the wild, foaming rush; but they +found slacker water and the ominous roar of the rapid died away. Then +snow began to fall, making it difficult to see, though they had the +faint glimmer of the shore-ice for a guide. In the reach up which they +were poling, it did not run out far because the stream was strong, +and they had gone some distance when there was a heavy thud and a +curious crunch at the bows. + +"In with her!" cried Carnally. "Head for the slack behind the point!" + +They ran in through crackling ice and had reached the thicker strip +along the bank when Andrew felt his knees grow wet. Feeling with his +hand, he found there was an inch or two of water in the bottom of the +craft. + +"Skin's punched through," Carnally explained. "We can't bale her and +use the pole. You'll have to get out." + +Andrew did so hastily, but the ice on which he landed cracked as he +moved, and he had gone several yards before it seemed strong enough to +bear him. Carnally dragged the canoe out, and then turned cautiously +up-stream. + +"We'll have to chance the ice for the next mile or two," he said. +"It's rough country--steep rock and very thick scrub--on this side." + +As they moved forward Andrew noticed that the snow was falling faster +and the wind freshening. The cold flakes drove into his tingling face +and he had to brace himself against the gusts. The gorge they followed +was wrapped in obscurity and filled with the roar of water and the +wailing of the trees. However, he held on for some time; and then +suddenly felt no support for his foot. It was too late to stop; the +next moment he was in the water. The shock took his breath away; he +had a horrible fear of being drawn under the ice, and it was with vast +relief that he found he could stand up waist-deep. Moving cautiously, +he got his knee upon the ice, but it broke away; then he saw that +Carnally was lying down near the edge and holding out his hand. + +"Get your arms on it, and catch hold," he said. As he obeyed, Andrew +heard the ice crack, but his weight was now well distributed and he +crawled forward, clutching Carnally's hand. Then he got up, dripping +and shaking with cold. + +"Thanks!" he said. "That's a risk I don't mean to run again. If it had +been a foot deeper I'd never have got out." + +Carnally turned toward the bank and, in thick darkness, they scrambled +up a steep slope among stunted pines. Leaving its summit, they +floundered over the rounded surfaces of outcropping rocks and plunged +into hollows filled with thick brush. The pines were smaller farther +on, which made things worse, for they had to force a passage through +the snow-laden needles. Some had been partly blown down and leaned on +one another in tangles which would have been difficult to traverse in +daylight. How Carnally kept his line Andrew could not tell, for they +had lost the sound of the river, and the snow was thick; but he +steadily pushed on and after a while the country grew more open. Here +the wind was worse and Andrew, who was getting worn out, struggled +forward stupidly with lowered head and labored breath. He could not +remember how long he kept it up, but at last a light blinked among the +trees and he recognized joyfully that it came from a shack at the +mine. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A CRISIS + + +It was late at night when Andrew entered Watson's office at the mine +with the letters he had brought. Though a bitter wind blew the snow +about it, the little wooden building was hot and filled with the smell +of pine boarding. A stove, glowing a dull red, stood at one end, and a +kerosene lamp hanging from a beam threw a bright light on the faces of +the men. They were eager and expectant, but Andrew's bore the stamp of +fatigue, for the journey up-river had tried his strength. Moreover, he +shrank from learning what the smelting company's report might reveal. +Drawing a chair to the table, he sat for a few moments lost in +troubled thought. + +When he first reached the mine he had found a keen and scarcely +expected pleasure in his work. Its difficulties seized his interest, +and for a while he enjoyed the grapple with them. Then misgivings +crept in; he felt that there was something wrong. Watson displayed no +enthusiasm about the Company's prospects, and Carnally let fall +disturbing hints. Andrew, however, steadily occupied himself with his +task, which gained a stronger hold on him, until he realized that all +his mind was bent upon its successful accomplishment. Now he must put +his half-formed plans and surmises to a searching test. Bracing +himself, he opened a large sealed envelope with a steady hand. + +As he took out the first of its contents he made an abrupt movement, +but he read on through several sheets while his face hardened; and +then he sat very still, with the papers scattered about the table. + +"Well?" said Watson, in harsh inquiry. + +Gathering up the papers, Andrew passed them to him without a word, +while Carnally waited as if he knew what to expect. When he in turn +took the report from Watson, there was an oppressive silence in the +shack. Andrew could hear the billets snap in the stove and the murmur +of the river among the ice. + +"It seems to me that this report leaves us no room for doubt," he +said, when Carnally had finished reading the papers. "We can't keep +the mine working on such returns as these. But I want your honest +opinion." + +Watson made a sign of agreement. + +"Well," he said frankly, "you have got to have the truth, though I +guess it will cost me my job. Rain Bluff will never pay its +shareholders." + +"You knew this some time ago?" + +"I was afraid of it; but it wasn't my business. I was sent here to get +out as much ore as I could, and I've done so." + +"Have you any suggestion to make?" + +"If you wrote down your capital, got rid of Mappin, and did your +transport work yourselves, you might keep going. The ore's there, +though its hard to get at and not worth much." + +Andrew turned to Carnally. + +"You suspected how matters stood from the beginning. I see now that +you meant to warn me." + +"I guessed. I couldn't speak plainly without proof." + +"Oh," said Andrew in a strained voice, "you knew; so did Watson, and +no doubt every man who works for us. I and the unfortunate people who +found the money were the only ones deceived." He turned to the manager +sharply. "What did you mean when you said the mine would never pay its +shareholders? Do you imply that somebody else may make a profit out of +it?" + +"You've hit it. Mappin's making his pile, and I guess there's a man +with money backing him; but that's no concern of mine. I'm sorry for +you, Mr. Allinson, but I suppose I must hand you my notice and tell +the boys to quit?" + +"No," said Andrew; "not yet. Let them go on as usual, until I speak to +you again." + +"I'm not anxious to leave your service--you're square," Watson replied +with an air of relief. "Now, if you don't want me any more, I'll go to +bed." + +He left them and Andrew quietly filled his pipe, while Carnally +watched him with interest. Andrew had had a shock, but he had borne it +well. Instead of unnerving, it had braced him to grapple with a +difficult situation. He had courage and determination; but there was +something else he must be told. + +"Jake," Andrew said at length, "this has been a blow. I put a good +deal of money into the Company and will lose it, but that's only half +the trouble--the rest will hardly bear thinking of. My firm put its +stamp on this venture, backed it with its name; and it was rotten from +the first!" His face suddenly darkened with suspicion. "How Leonard +came to take it up I can't imagine." + +"If he's the man who fixed things in Montreal, I guess he'd tell you +it was a fair business risk; but you don't quite understand the matter +yet. It's clear that Mappin has the support of Mr. Hathersage; he +finds him the money, gives him the job at prices higher than you need +pay, and no doubt takes a share of the profit." + +Andrew started. + +"It's hard to admit, but I believe you're right!" Then his mind leaped +to a wider conclusion. "I dare say the Company was started solely for +Hathersage's benefit!" + +"I guess there's some foundation for that," Carnally said pointedly. + +Neither spoke for the next few moments; and then Andrew looked up with +a grim smile. + +"I'm beginning to understand your attitude toward me when I first +came. You thought I was in the ring--one of the people who, knowing +how bad it was, led investors into this rotten scheme!" + +"I allow I did think something of the kind." + +"And afterward? My guess isn't flattering, but I can't blame you, +Jake. You believed I was what you call a sucker, sent here because I +was too big a fool to find things out." + +Carnally looked embarrassed. + +"I figured it out like this," he said: "the people who sent you +expected you'd spend your time hunting and fishing, without taking +much interest in the mine. Then, if trouble came, they'd leave you to +face it. Being on the spot, it would be your fault for not learning +what was wrong." + +"A clever plan. After all, it's possible they took too much for +granted." + +"They did," Carnally declared. "You have shown a grip of things they +didn't look for. In my opinion they picked the wrong man for the part: +but you're in a pretty tight place. You can't make this mine pay." + +"No," said Andrew; "I don't mean to try. If I can get his consent, I'm +going to look for Graham's lode." + +Carnally started. + +"It's a great plan! Will you want me?" + +"Of course! I'd be helpless without you." + +"No," Carnally corrected him with a smile. "So far, I've given you +hints about things you couldn't be expected to know; but I've taught +you all I can, and you take your right place now. You're boss in this +new proposition, and I'll be glad to be your second." + +"Thank you," said Andrew. "We'll start for the Landing to-morrow and +see Graham." + +They left the mine at daybreak, and on reaching the town Andrew had +first of all an interview with Graham's employer. The president of the +lumber company sat at a desk in his office at the mill and listened +attentively while Andrew explained the object of his visit. He was an +elderly man with a keen but good-humored expression, and once or twice +he glanced at Andrew as if surprised. When the latter had finished, +the mill-owner took a box from a shelf. + +"Have a cigar," he said. + +Andrew lighted one and looked round the room. It was dusty and dingy, +with a rough board floor; and a cloud of steam from a neighboring +stack obscured the light that entered the windows. A rusty stove stood +at one end, with a desk near it which Graham had occupied for twenty +years. + +"So the mine has not turned out all you expected?" commented the +lumber-man. + +"Far from it," Andrew acknowledged. + +"And you feel it a duty to do something to protect the interests of +the shareholders?" + +"Yes," said Andrew, and added with a direct glance: "Are you +surprised?" + +A smile crept into his companion's eyes. + +"I guess we can let that go. You have done the square thing in coming +to me before you spoke to Graham. He's a man we value and he has +served us well, but I've now and then felt sorry for him. It's +possible he hasn't found it easy to spend the best part of his life +here, keeping our accounts on a very moderate salary, though we pay +him more than we could get another man for." + +"It's strange he didn't break loose from it long ago." + +"I guess it cost him something to stay. We're an optimistic people, +Mr. Allinson, with a hankering after adventure; but Graham could never +put by money enough to make the plunge. He had his children to bring +up and he spared nothing to give them a fair start. I suppose this +isn't quite the line you thought I would take?" + +Andrew admitted it with some embarrassment, and the lumber-man looked +amused. + +"There are plenty of big mills run entirely on the laws of supply and +demand, where men are scrapped as freely as obsolete plant, and the +one thing looked for is the maximum output. Still, you see, our +isolated position gives us a monopoly, and we're small enough to take +a personal interest in our older hands. As a matter of fact, we find +it pays; but that is not the point. You are willing to guarantee +Graham against any loss if your search is unsuccessful?" + +"Yes," Andrew promised; "he shall not suffer." + +"Then we'll do our share in keeping his place open as long as may be +needful. As it happens, things are slack just now; and to make this +journey will set his mind at rest. He'll be content with the old +routine when he comes back." + +"Then you count on his coming back to the mill?" + +The lumber-man looked sympathetic. + +"I don't wish to discourage you, but if Graham finds that lode I shall +be surprised." + +Andrew thanked him and returned to his hotel, where he wrote some +letters and afterward decided to visit Frobisher, who was staying at +the Island of Pines for a week or two. Graham was away on business +down the line and would not return until the next day, and Andrew, +being in a restless mood, felt that a talk with Frobisher or his +daughter might soothe him. They were intelligent and sympathetic +people; and he had thought a good deal about Geraldine of late. + +Fine snow was driving before a stinging breeze when he walked out upon +the frozen lake. Here and there its surface had been swept clear by +the wind, leaving stretches of smooth ice, but, for the most part, its +white covering offered good foothold. It was dark and bitterly cold; +Andrew's hands grew stiff in his thick mittens and he shivered as he +faced the stronger gusts, guiding himself by the loom of the rocks and +trees that now and then showed faintly through the snow. The walk was +far from pleasant, and he realized that things would be much worse +when he went up into the trackless spaces of the frozen North. + +Reaching the house without misadventure, he was received by Geraldine. +Mrs. Denton, she explained, was invalided by a cold caught on the +train, and her father had driven across to the Landing for his mail, +but would be back soon. She led Andrew into a room which looked +delightfully bright and comfortable after the shack at the mine, and +made him sit down by the hearth, on which a pine-log fire burned +gaily. + +"You are thinner than you were when we last saw you, and you don't +look so cheerful," she said, taking a low chair opposite him. + +"I think both things are explainable," Andrew replied with a rueful +smile. + +Geraldine quietly studied him. He was troubled and could not hide it, +and he interested her. The man was honest and forceful in an untrained +way. She could imagine his grappling with unaccustomed difficulties, +clumsily, perhaps, but resolutely. Though several years his junior, +she knew that she had the keener intelligence; but this did not make +her attitude contemptuous. He had shown signs of qualities which +sometimes carried one farther than superficial smartness. + +"I suppose you have had some trouble at the mine?" + +"Yes," he said, though he could not account for his candor; "I've had +an experience that has rudely shaken me. After all, it's possible that +one needs something of the kind now and then; and until lately I've +escaped it." + +"I wonder whether that's unfortunate?" + +"It is, beyond a doubt. I've taken life easily, generally getting what +I wanted without much trouble, and now, when I've no experience to +fall back on, I'm landed in a maze of difficulties. But all this is +too personal; forgive me for boring you." + +"But I'm interested," she declared. She felt that he would find a way +out, though it might not be the easiest one. "As you came over to +Canada, I suppose you must have found the smooth life you led grow +monotonous." + +"Not exactly. I liked it; but I'd a feeling now and then that it might +be more bracing to do something useful; make things, for instance, or +even go into business." + +Geraldine laughed, and it struck Andrew that she was very pretty as +she looked at him with sparkling eyes. + +"You're delightfully matter-of-fact. You might have hinted at a +longing for high adventure or something romantic." + +"The worst of adventure is that you often get a good deal more than +you bargain for," said Andrew soberly. + +"You learned that in the North?" + +"Yes," he answered with a moody air; "that and other things. For +example, I learned how money's sometimes made, and it was a shock." + +"Ah! The money was yours?" + +"That's where the trouble lies. So far, I've been content with +spending it." + +"And you now feel that your responsibility doesn't end there? But if +you wished to go into business, why didn't you do so?" + +"That is rather more than I can tell. Still, whenever I hinted at it, +I was quietly discouraged. I suppose it wasn't expected of me, and the +general opinion was that I was incapable." + +Geraldine thought that his friends were mistaken in this conclusion, +but she could imagine his yielding to the representations of cleverer +people, without questioning the accuracy of their views about him. He +had, however, obviously broken loose from his tutelage, and now stood +firm, ignorant perhaps of much that men who worked for their living +knew, confronting with undisciplined courage troubles new to him. She +had no doubt that he had courage and strong sincerity. + +"I'm afraid I'm not very entertaining," he apologized with a smile. + +"It's a compliment that you're natural," Geraldine said graciously. +"One doesn't always expect to be amused. But you have Carnally to help +you at the mine. What do you think of him?" + +"I have a high opinion of Jake." + +"I believe you're right; he's a favorite of mine. What he undertakes +he carries out. You feel that he can be relied on; that he would do +the square thing, however difficult it is. After all, one couldn't say +much more of any man." + +"No," Andrew responded gravely. "The trouble often is to see how the +square thing should be done." + +There were footsteps in the hall, and Frobisher came in and greeted +Andrew cordially. + +"I heard you were at the Landing, and I'm not sorry you'll have to +stay all night," he said. "It's snowing so hard that I had some +difficulty in getting home with the team." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE REAL BOSS + + +"How have you been getting on in the bush?" Frobisher asked his guest +when they sat talking in his smoking-room. "You look worried." + +"There's a reason for it--the mine's no good." Andrew looked Frobisher +steadily in the face. "I dare say you knew that some time ago." + +"I had my suspicions. I wasn't singular in that." + +"So it seems. I must ask you to believe that it was only during the +last few days that I found out the truth." + +Frobisher smiled. + +"After that, I'd better say that I exonerated you--I think it's the +right word--as soon as we'd had our first talk. I saw that you were +being made a tool of." + +"You were right," said Andrew. "It isn't a pleasant situation. I don't +mind its not being flattering; that's the least trouble." + +"What are you going to do about it?" + +"The square thing, so far as I'm able. Allinson's, so to speak, +guaranteed the undertaking." + +There was some extra color in Andrew's face and pride in his voice, +though he spoke quietly, and Frobisher sat silent a moment or two. + +"Have you made any plans yet?" the American then asked. + +Andrew told him that he proposed to take Carnally and Graham north to +search for the silver lode; and Frobisher looked grave. + +"There's a point to be remembered," he cautioned. "Minerals in Canada +belong to the State, which makes a grant of them to the discoverer on +certain terms. The lode will therefore become the property of whoever +first locates and records it, which will be open to any member of your +party." + +"I've thought of that. The expedition will be financed by me, and I'll +have an understanding with Graham and Carnally as to their share +before we start." + +"Three claims could be staked, and your companions could make them +over to you when the development work was done. If properly patented, +you would be the legal owner." + +"I intend to become the owner." + +Frobisher looked as if the statement surprised him. + +"Then you'd better cut your connection with Rain Bluff before you set +off," he advised. "It might prevent some complications. The directors +might contend that you were not entitled to undertake private mining +operations while you represented the Company and drew its pay." + +"I don't think you understand. I mean to hold the claims in my own +name, so as to strengthen my position, which will need it. I expect to +have serious trouble over the Company's affairs." + +Frobisher laughed softly. + +"You're no fool! You feel that you undertook to look after the +shareholders' interests when you came over, and you have to make +good?" + +"Yes," Andrew assented; "I feel something of the kind." + +"Then we'll assume that you find the lode and that it's as rich as +Graham believes--which is taking a good deal for granted. Your +shareholders, learning that Rain Bluff is worthless, would probably +jump at a proposition that would give them back their money, or even +part of it. You could buy them out and afterward repay yourself +handsomely by developing the new mine." + +Andrew's face hardened. + +"When these people gave us their money, they did so expecting to get +any profit that could be made. It's their due and, so far, Allinson's +has never broken faith with those who trusted it." + +Frobisher was not surprised at the answer. There was, he had seen, a +clean pride in the man, whom he felt disposed to pity. Allinson had +obviously little knowledge of business, and would have to meet the +determined opposition of the clever tricksters who had floated the +Company. He was entering on a hard fight with unaccustomed weapons. +Nevertheless, Frobisher would not venture to predict his defeat. +Courage such as Allinson showed often carried one a long way, and he +had the right upon his side. Frobisher's business experience had not +made him an optimist, but he was prepared to watch this altruistic +champion's struggles with friendly interest and to assist him as far +as he could. + +"You have undertaken a pretty big thing," he said. "To begin with, +it's a lonely country that you're going into, and though having the +lakes and rivers frozen may simplify traveling, you'll find it tough +work living in the open with the thermometer at forty below. Winter's +a bad time for prospecting; but as timber's plentiful, you may be able +to thaw out enough of the surface to test the lode, and something +might be done with giant-powder. Provisions will be your chief +difficulty. You will need a number of packers." + +"If possible, I must make the trip with no companions except Carnally +and Graham. Everybody at the Landing has heard about the lode, and if +we took up a strong party and failed to locate it, we'd have shown +them roughly where it lay. That would give the packers a chance for +forestalling our next attempt. Their right to record the minerals +would be as good as ours." + +Frobisher was somewhat surprised. Allinson had thought out the matter +in a way that would have done credit to a more experienced man. + +"Suppose we go down now," he suggested after a while. "I'll get +Geraldine to sing for us." + +Andrew agreed, and was glad he had done so when Miss Frobisher opened +the piano. He was not a musician, but there was a sweetness in her +voice that greatly pleased him. He sat listening with quiet enjoyment +to her first song, watching her with appreciation. The light from a +shaded lamp forced up the strong warm coloring of her hair and fell on +her face, which was outlined in delicate profile against a background +of ebony. Her figure lay half in shadow, but the thin evening-dress +shimmered in places, flowing about her in graceful lines. + +He grew more intent when she sang again. It was a ballad of toil and +endeavor, and the girl had caught its feeling. Andrew wondered whether +she had chosen it by accident, for the words chimed with his mood, and +he was stirred and carried away as he listened. Obscure feelings deep +in his nature throbbed in quick response. After wasted years of +lounging, he had plunged into the struggle of life and become a +citizen of the strenuous world. Ingenuous as he was, some of his lost +youthful fervor awoke again; he would never sink back into his former +state of slothful ease; bruised, beaten perhaps, he must go on. The +duty to which he had long been blind now burned like a beacon through +the mists ahead. Yet it was no evanescent, romantic sentiment. Andrew +was a solid and matter-of-fact person. + +When Geraldine closed the piano he rose and looked at her with a gleam +in his eyes. + +"Thank you; I mean it sincerely," he said. "It's a very fine song." + +"It's stirring," she replied. "I dare say it's true--one would like to +think so." + +There was some color in her face, and his heart throbbed at the +knowledge that she had meant the song for him. + +Then Frobisher broke in humorously: + +"That kind of thing appeals more to young folk. When one gets to my +age, one would rather be soothed. We've had enough of the +rough-and-tumble scuffle; it's time to retire from the ring and sit +comfortably in a front seat, looking on." + +"It would soon get tiresome," declared Geraldine. "You would want to +take a side and instruct the combatants," she added with an +affectionate smile. "The temptation would be irresistible if somebody +whom you thought didn't deserve it were getting badly hurt." + +"I don't know. Interfering is a dangerous habit, and people aren't +always grateful." Frobisher's glance rested for a moment on his guest. +"However, I might still step into the ring if the provocation were +very strong." + +Then they engaged in casual talk until it got late, and when Geraldine +and her father wished him goodnight Andrew said diffidently: + +"I'm grateful to you for keeping me here. I'll go back feeling +brighter than when I came." + +He left them and Frobisher looked after him with a humorous +expression. + +"That young man has chosen a hard row to hoe, though I don't think he +quite sees all he's up against. It's safer to take a bone from a +hungry dog than to do a business man out of the pickings he thinks +he's entitled to, especially if he's engaged in floating companies." + +"But that is part of your business." + +"Sure!" said Frobisher. "It's wiser to speak of the things you know. +I've picked up one or two good bones." + +"But you had a right to them," Geraldine declared confidently. + +Frobisher's eyes twinkled. + +"I believe there was a difference of opinion on the point, but I'd got +my teeth in first. However, I'll admit that unless Allinson was +convinced the bone belonged to him he'd let it go. That's the kind of +man he is, and he's not likely to grow more prudent if you let him see +that you agree with him." + +"Do you think I've done so?" Geraldine asked. + +"I don't know," Frobisher smiled. "It seems possible; but I've no +doubt your intentions were excellent. You're a bit of an idealist. +However, the fellow will do you credit. He has sense and grit, though +he's what one might perhaps call superfluously honest." + +"How could his virtues reflect any credit on me?" Geraldine retorted. +"Besides, your cynicism is assumed. I don't believe you ever took a +dollar you were not entitled to. Why do you always make a joke of +things?" + +"It's true that my ventures have generally paid a dividend, but I've a +suspicion that it was a lucky accident that one or two of them did so. +When I was young, I was as serious as Mr. Allinson, but people +sometimes grow more humorous as they get older. They don't expect so +much and they learn to make allowances." + +"That's a mistake," said Geraldine. "I should never be content with +the mediocre." + +She left him with a smile, but Frobisher looked thoughtful as he +lighted a last cigar. He had led a strenuous life, stubbornly +struggling upward from a humble beginning, and the years of effort had +tried him hard. He had taken big risks, and exacted every dollar he +could, but after all he did not think he had wronged anyone badly. Now +that he had acquired power and influence, he regarded human nature +with whimsical forbearance, but he was glad that his daughter seemed +to demand conformity with higher standards, thought she was free from +the cant and prudery he hated. Then he thought of Allinson, for whom +he had a warm liking. He had fought many a stern battle before he was +Allinson's age, but this did not make him contemptuous. Allinson was +late in beginning, but he showed a determination and, what was more +remarkable, a sagacity that pleased Frobisher well. Besides this, the +purity of his motives and his fastidious honesty roused the American's +admiration. Frobisher would not have embarked on a long struggle for a +principle, but he could respect a man who did so. Allinson and +Geraldine had apparently the same ideals, they had rapidly fallen +into confidential terms--but that was a subject on which it was +premature to speculate. + +Andrew left the house the next day, and on entering his hotel in the +afternoon he found Mappin sitting in the unoccupied general-room. He +laid down his newspaper as Andrew came in and looked up with a +truculent expression in his heavy face. + +"I got your letter at Fort William as I was coming here," he said. "It +seemed to need an explanation. What d'you mean by giving me warning to +quit?" + +His tone was offensive, but Andrew sat down quietly, knowing it was +desirable to keep cool. + +"I thought I'd better send you notice that we may terminate our +arrangements in three months, as we have the option of doing," he +replied. + +"But why do you want to terminate them?" + +"We may shut down the Rain Bluff. It's not paying." + +Mapping gave a snorting laugh. + +"What has that to do with it?" + +"It ought to be obvious," Andrew said curtly. "If the mine won't pay, +it must be closed. Allinson's is not in the habit of carrying on a +business for its private benefit at the investors' expense." + +"I shouldn't have thought it," Mappin sneered, and looked hard at +Andrew. "You seem to be taking a pretty decided line. May I ask whom +you are speaking for?" + +"For myself, in the first place, but I believe the shareholders would +support me. Though I haven't interfered much so far, I'm the head of +the firm." + +Mappin was impressed by Andrew's manner, and his tone became more +conciliatory. + +"I'm afraid you have kept out of business so long that you don't quite +understand matters. Your brother-in-law has arranged things here much +better than you, in your inexperience, could do. This proposition's +too big and complicated for a beginner to meddle with; you'd only +involve yourself and everybody concerned in a deplorable mess. Be +warned and let up. Make any small improvements and economies you can, +but leave the main points of Hathersage's scheme alone." + +There was some ground for Mappin's opinion, and his air of conviction +had weight; but Andrew had no thought of yielding. + +"So far, I can't tell what changes may be necessary, but I expect to +make them, whatever they are, as occasion arises." + +"Then hadn't you better wait until you know?" + +Mappin took a letter from his pocket. "Suppose you tear this thing +up?" + +"No," Andrew said firmly; "the notice stands." + +There was a moment's silence while their glances met, and each +recognized that there should be no compromise: henceforward they must +be enemies. + +"Oh, well," said Mappin, with an air of ironic resignation, "I'll +continue to look after your transport until the time expires. Now that +we understand things, let's talk of something else. Have you seen +Frobisher lately? I'm going across to his place after supper." + +A sudden anger seized Andrew, though he scarcely realized that it +sprang from jealousy. This coarse fellow with his low cunning and +sensual nature had no right to enter the house that sheltered +Geraldine Frobisher. It was repugnant to think of his meeting her on +friendly terms and, having heard that he had been a frequent visitor, +he wondered what had induced Frobisher to tolerate him. An unpleasant +suspicion crept into his mind--perhaps the man had a friend in Mrs. +Denton, who differed from her brother in many ways. However, Andrew +concealed his annoyance. + +"It will be a fine night, though the snow's rather deep," he said. +"Now what about the provisions I ordered?" + +They discussed the matter for a while, and then Andrew went out to +look for Graham. He found him alone in the mill office, and the elder +man listened eagerly to what he had to say. Then Graham jumped up and +strode excitedly up and down the room. + +"After all the years of waiting, I can hardly realize that I'm to have +my chance!" he exclaimed. "I feel dazed; the thing's--overwhelming!" + +"There's no doubt about it," said Andrew. "I've arranged matters +satisfactorily with your president. You have only to say that you will +come." + +"Come!" Graham's eyes glowed; but he paused in sudden hesitation. +"Still, I don't know how my wife will face it. She must be told at +once. Come with me and explain--I think you will do it better than I +can." + +He threw a book into the desk, shut the desk noisily, and took out his +watch. + +"Mr. Allinson," he said, "I believe this office has never been closed +five minutes before the proper time since I first entered it, but the +habits of twenty years have lost their grip to-night. I feel like a +man unexpectedly let out of prison." + +Andrew went out with him and nothing was said until they reached his +house. The table was neatly laid for supper, and Mrs. Graham was +cheerfully bustling about it. She stopped and looked at her husband +with a start when he came in. The man was trying hard to maintain his +usual calm, but his expression was strained and eager, and his manner +deprecatory, as if he were half ashamed. Andrew thought Mrs. Graham +knew. + +"Can you spare me a few minutes?" Andrew asked. "I have something to +say." + +She sat down with forced quietness, though her color faded. + +"I'm afraid it will be a shock, Martha," Graham broke in; "he means to +tell you that I am going north to look for the lode with him." + +The woman did not flinch. She looked at her husband gravely, with no +sign of reproach; and Andrew saw that she had courage. + +"I have expected this; I knew it must come sooner or later," she said +quietly. "But go on, Mr. Allinson; I will listen." + +Andrew felt relieved. She would give no trouble, but her tense +expression caused him a sense of guilt. He explained the arrangements +he had made and handed her two or three documents, which included an +order on a bank for certain payments to be made her if the expedition +did not return by a specified date. + +Mrs. Graham took the papers with a gesture of repugnance, but a moment +later she looked up quietly. + +"It's fair; it's generous, Mr. Allinson. I am getting old and my +daughter is very young." Then her lips quivered and she broke into a +pitiful smile. "You have done what you can, but it doesn't cover the +greatest risk I run." + +"I know," responded Andrew gently; "I am asking a great deal from +you." + +"Well," she said, "for his sake, perhaps for my sake, I must try to +let him go." She paused for a moment and then asked with an effort: +"When do you start?" + +"As soon as we can." Andrew felt that it would be tactful to take his +leave. "But I have a letter I must mail." + +"Come back, please," she said. "Supper will be ready in about ten +minutes." + +When Andrew had gone out Graham turned to his wife. + +"I'm sorry, Martha. I feel that I must go." + +She came to him and put her hands on his shoulders, smiling bravely. + +"Why, of course, dear! I wouldn't stop you." + +Graham threw his arms around her. + +"It isn't all restlessness, Martha--there is a chance! What have I +done so far but keep you poor? It has hurt me to see you always hard +at work at some drudgery, living in this poor little house, planning +to save a few cents wherever you could. Now there may be a change; our +life will be very different and the children's future brighter if I +can find the lode. But if I am to find it, I must go now. In a few +more years it would be too late." + +"Yes," she said softly. "But, after all, we have been happy here." + +He kissed her, protesting that he had been far happier than he +deserved; but she drew away from him. + +"Still, you have had your bad hours. Do you think I don't know? It +wasn't easy to go to the office day after day and keep accounts, with +the longing you couldn't get over, and dreams of riches in your +mind." + +"I'm afraid I let you guess it. But they're not dreams. I found a lode +rich in silver; I may locate it again." + +Mrs. Graham smiled rather wearily. + +"Dear, I hardly care whether you find the lode or not. You will be +content when you have looked for it, and I shall be happier knowing +that the restlessness you couldn't master has gone and will never +trouble us again." + +When Jim and his sister came in for supper, Andrew joined them, and +found that he was expected to talk over his plans. It was obvious that +Graham had not strained his authority: his was a harmonious household +and its younger members expressed their opinions with freedom. Andrew +was, however, amused to see that their father had risen in their +esteem. They had never attached much importance to his belief in the +lode; but since he had gained the support of a man of means, it looked +as if there might be something in the project. Nevertheless, they +bantered Andrew freely and he took it in good part. When he left, Mrs. +Graham accompanied him to the door. + +"You'll try to forgive me?" he begged, stopping a moment in the +narrow, shabby hall. + +"Yes," she said. "I can't fairly blame you, and I have been prepared +for what has happened." Then she laid her hand on his arm. "I am +trusting you with a great deal, Mr. Allinson. It's a heavy +responsibility." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +INTERRUPTED PLANS + + +Mrs. Denton reclined in an easy-chair in her room at Frobisher's +house. A shawl of beautiful texture covered her shoulders, her feet +rested on a stool, and the lamp on a neighboring table was carefully +shaded. The dull pallor of her skin and the gauntness of her face +suggested the invalid, but her health, while far from good, had +suffered from the thought she bestowed on it. She was a reserved and +selfish woman, and her mean ambitions were responsible for much of the +trouble that had befallen her. Geraldine and she were generally at +variance, Frobisher bore with her, but there was one person for whom +she cherished a somewhat misguided tenderness. Mappin had been her +favorite from his earliest years. + +His father had been her lover when the Frobishers were poor, and she +had returned his affection. Nevertheless she had thrown him over when +a richer suitor appeared, and her marriage had turned out +disastrously. Urged by a desire for social prominence and love of +ostentation, she had driven her husband into hazardous, speculations, +for which he had weakly reproached her when the crash came. He escaped +total ruin by Frobisher's help, but he afterward went downhill fast, +wrangling with his wife until his death set her free. Her old lover +had also married, and died a widower, leaving one son, and Mrs. Denton +had shown a benevolent interest in the boy. He was bold and +ambitious, which was what she liked, and she was not deterred by the +lack of principle he early displayed. Success was the one thing she +respected, and as he grew up young Mappin promised to attain it. Now +she was expecting him, for he came to see her whenever he was in the +neighborhood, and Frobisher made him welcome for her sake. + +When Mappin came in he was red-faced from the frosty air. + +"This place is stiflingly hot," he said. "I'm afraid that's because +you're not feeling very fit yet." + +Mrs. Denton told him she could not get rid of her cold, and he had the +tact to listen with a show of interest while she talked about her +health. + +"You will stay all night?" she asked. + +"Yes, I'm sorry I must get back to-morrow." + +"Then I've no doubt it's necessary," she remarked in a suggestive +tone. + +Mappin laughed as if he understood her. + +"It is. As things are going, business must come first. Besides, I +can't flatter myself that I gained much by my last visit." + +"That's a point I can't speak upon, but you're not likely to lose your +head. There's a cold-blooded, calculating vein in you. I wonder +whether that was why you came straight to my room, though the society +of a crotchety old invalid can't have much charm for you." + +The man's heavy face grew a trifle redder than usual. + +"No," he protested, "it wasn't. I'm not dirt mean." + +"Oh, well," said Mrs. Denton, looking at him gently, "you know I'm +your friend. But I never pretended not to guess what brought you +here." + +"And I haven't made a secret of it. I mean to marry Geraldine." + +"She'll have a good deal of money some day." + +Mappin looked up angrily. + +"I'll admit that my interest generally comes first; but I'd be mighty +glad to take Geraldine without a cent." + +"Then you had better bestir yourself. Allinson has been here pretty +often and she seems to like him. Besides, he's made a good impression +on her father." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Mappin, "that confounded Englishman again! It's only a +few hours since he threatened to cut my connection with the Rain +Bluff; and one way and another that's a bad set-back." He frowned and +the veins showed on his forehead. "I was coining money out of my +contract, and I need it, because I have my feelings and I won't ask +Frobisher for Geraldine like a beggar. He has a cool, smiling way of +saying unpleasant things that makes me mad. I want to show him I'm as +smart as he is and can give the girl as much as he can." + +When they were detached from his business, Mappin's ideas were crude, +but Mrs. Denton was not refined and found no fault with them. +Moreover, she had an interest in his success. For a long time she had +been the mistress of her brother's house and directed his social +affairs. The position was a desirable one, especially as she had been +left without means; but it was threatened. It was inevitable that +Geraldine would take the power she enjoyed out of her hands, unless +she married. Had Mappin not entered the field, Mrs. Denton would have +furthered the claims of any suitor, to get the girl out of her way. + +"I suppose money would gratify your pride, but you may find waiting +risky," she said. "If you're wise, you'll make all the progress with +Geraldine you can." + +He smiled ruefully. + +"I sometimes feel that I'm making none. She looks at me half amused +and half astonished when I express my opinions; I have to keep a curb +on myself when I talk to her. In fact, I've once or twice got mad. I +can take a joke, but her condescending smile is riling." + +"Then why do you want to marry her?" + +"It puzzles me when I think it over coolly, but that's difficult. When +she's near me I only know that I want her." His eyes gleamed and his +face grew flushed as he proceeded. "Guess it must be her wonderful +eyes and hair and skin; the shape of her, the way she stands, the grit +she shows. Once when I said something she flashed out at me in a fury, +and I liked her for it." He clenched a big hand. "Somehow I'm going to +get her!" + +Mrs. Denton smiled. The savagery of his passion did not jar on her; +she admired his determined boldness. She respected force that was +guided by capacity; she liked a man who was strong or cunning enough +to take what he desired. Her niece, however, held different views. + +"That sounds genuine," she said. "Still, you had better talk to +Geraldine in a more polished strain." + +"No; I'd do it badly, and it wouldn't pay. There's red blood in me, +and I haven't found much difference in men and women. If you hit +straight at their human nature, you can't go wrong. A girl's never +offended because you like her for being pretty." + +He was wise, in that he knew his limitations and never pretended to be +what he was not. His knowledge of human weaknesses had been +profitable, for he had not scrupled to prey upon them, but he erred in +assuming that his was the only rule of life. Virtue he frankly +regarded as either absence of desire or a sentimental pose. + +"You're too coarse, too crude in your methods," Mrs. Denton persisted. +"If you're not careful, you'll disgust Geraldine. You don't seem to +see that she's different from the girls you are accustomed to." + +Mappin laughed. + +"Oh," he said, "at heart, they're all the same." + +"In a sense, you're wrong. Allinson lets Geraldine see that he puts +her on a higher plane, and she likes it. If you can't imitate him, you +had better watch him." + +"If Allinson's likely to make trouble, I'll fix him quick. Pretty talk +and finicking manners, that's all there is to him, except a few fool +notions about the mining business which he hasn't the grit or ability +to carry out. But you look as if you had a headache and I guess I've +talked enough." + +She let him go, fearing to strain the consideration he sometimes +showed her, for he was the only person for whom she had a scrap of +affection. Mappin left her with half-contemptuous pity. He owed her +some gratitude, because it was on her account that he had been +received in the house; but he knew how little her support was worth, +for he was shrewd enough to see that her brother and her niece held +her in no great esteem. Indeed, he knew his position was not +encouraging. Geraldine had shown him no favor, and Frobisher's +attitude was more marked by forbearance than friendliness; but Mappin +was not deterred. He had stubborn courage and a firm belief in his +powers. + +Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he stopped in the shadow of a heavy +curtain as Geraldine came out of a door at the farther end of the +large hall. The girl did not see him and, prompted by curiosity to +learn what effect his sudden appearance would have, he stood watching +her. She looked thoughtful, and moved slowly, but with a grace he did +not miss. The soft rustle of her dress stirred him, he noticed with +greedy eyes the fine outline about which the light material flowed, +the bloom of her complexion, the beauty of her pose. Indeed, he forgot +why he had waited, for his heart was beating fast and he felt his +nerves tingle. He was filled with a burning desire to possess her. + +Then she saw him and recoiled. There was a glitter in his eyes from +which she shrank, his face was stamped with gross sensual passion. It +alarmed her and filled her with disgust. Mappin, however, could not +guess her feelings. She was obviously startled; perhaps he had shown +what he thought of her too plainly and shocked her prudishness; but +this after all was no great matter. Delicacy was unknown to him; he +could hardly have been made to understand that Geraldine regarded him +with downright loathing. Still, as he could think of nothing to say, +he was not sorry that she turned back without a word; and with a harsh +laugh he opened an adjoining door to look for Frobisher. Geraldine +returned to the room she had left, and sat down with a sense of +repulsion that presently gave place to burning anger. She felt that +she had received an outrageous insult. + +She did not see Mappin again until the next morning, when she was +coldly polite, and he left in a state of half-puzzled irritation, +thinking more about Allinson than he had done. The man might prove a +dangerous rival, unless something were done to prevent it. Mappin, +however, thought that he could deal with him and was glad he had +written to Hathersage, giving him a hint that Allinson threatened to +make trouble for them both. + +As a result of Mappin's letter Andrew was handed a cablegram one +evening when he was discussing the preparations for the journey with +Carnally and Graham in the latter's house. When he had opened it he +frowned. + +"This promises to complicate matters. It's from my brother-in-law," he +explained and read out the message: + +"_Do nothing until I arrive; sailing Sylvitanian._" + +Graham took up a Montreal paper. + +"One of the fast boats. He should be here in nine days." Then he +looked disturbed. "It may prevent your going North." + +"No," Andrew said resolutely; "it shall not do that; but I'll have to +see him. It's strange he should come, though I told him the mine +wasn't paying." + +"You want to remember that Mappin's a friend of his," Carnally +interposed. "There's another thing: you can't tell him about the lode, +which, so far, doesn't belong to you. I guess the less you say about +your plans the better." + +"I believe that's true," Andrew agreed. "Well, our start must be put +off a while." + +Leonard arrived, accompanied by Wannop, who explained that he had come +to see the country and look up one or two old friends. Soon after they +reached the Landing, Leonard had an interview with Watson, who had +been summoned to meet him; then he went with Andrew to his room at the +hotel. It was small and scantily furnished, but a galvanized pipe +which ran up through the floor from the basement heater made it +comfortably warm; and Leonard, sitting in a rickety chair, watched +his brother-in-law closely while he talked about the mine. Andrew had +acquired a quickness of thought and a decision of manner which were +new to Leonard. There was a pause after he had finished his +explanation, for both felt that the next few minutes might prove +momentous. They held widely different views and an unconsidered remark +might bring them into open collision. Leonard waited, ready to profit +by any mistake the other made, until Andrew spoke. + +"I was surprised to hear you were coming over; though perhaps it's as +well you did so." + +"When I got your letter the matter seemed serious enough to require my +personal attention." + +"You may tell me what you think," said Andrew, "and I'll consider it +carefully." + +"To begin with, why did you give Mappin notice to terminate his +contract?" + +"It seemed the best thing to be done in the shareholders' interest." + +There was something impressive in Andrew's tone. Leonard knew that a +conflict, which he wished to avoid, was imminent. + +"I won't mince matters," he replied. "You have no business experience +and know nothing about mining. You have acted rashly. I made the +arrangements with Mappin and considered them satisfactory." + +"I'm sorry to hear it. I wish it had been somebody less closely +connected with Allinson's who concluded the deal with him. The man's +making a good thing out of his contract at the Company's expense." + +"You mustn't be hypercritical. Opportunities for picking up a few +dollars are often attached to operations like ours, and its wiser to +let one's friends have them and look for favors in return. Besides, +the man does his work well." + +"No," corrected Andrew, "he does it badly, with a cool assurance that +no fault will be found and we'll pass his bills. In fact, for the firm +to take any favors from him would savor of corruption. In the end, the +shareholders would have to pay for them." + +"Be careful," Leonard warned him. "You may cause a good deal of +trouble without doing any good. Remember that you're only here on +trial and accountable to the rest of the directors. If necessary, the +power you're overstraining could be withdrawn." + +"I think not," said Andrew. "In a sense, I'm Allinson's; it would be a +difficult matter to get rid of me. I have neglected my duties, but +it's not too late to make a change." + +Leonard paused to light a cigarette. He had been met with a firmness +he had not expected, and he realized that Andrew might prove a +formidable antagonist. + +"Very well," he conceded, "if you insist on our giving no more work to +Mappin, I suppose he must be sacrificed, though you place me in an +unpleasant position. After all, he's comparatively unimportant; we +must talk about the mine. You seem to think it ought to be closed, +which is out of the question for the present. You have, no doubt, +learned that it often takes time to reach payable ore; all sorts of +preliminary difficulties have to be overcome, and investors have +frequently to exercise patience and put up with disappointments." + +"You promised a good dividend in the prospectus." + +"We didn't promise it on the first six months' working. Besides, one +makes allowances for prospectus statements." + +"It shouldn't be needful where Allinson's is concerned. But what do +you suggest?" + +"That we keep the mine open, and do everything possible to increase +the output and strike better ore. In the meanwhile, we won't say too +much about our troubles." + +"When you increase the output you increase expenses. This doesn't +matter so long as the refined metal will pay for it, but it's a +ruinous policy where the ore's no good. Then, you can't hide our +difficulties. The shareholders will expect a dividend, and if it isn't +forthcoming they'll demand an explanation at their meeting." + +"That might be prevented. The family vote could be relied on, and it's +often possible to control a meeting and silence objectors. These are +matters you can leave to me." + +"The objectors have a right to be heard; they could be silenced only +by trickery. If we have made a mistake, we must admit it and consider +how we can cut the loss." + +"Admit our mistake?" Leonard laughed. "You're talking at random." + +Andrew leaned forward, his eyes fixed on his brother-in-law. + +"This Company should never have been floated. We'll let it go at that: +the less said upon the point the better. The question is--what is to +be done now? Well, I've decided on two things--we'll keep a few men +working at the mine, because the yield will cover their wages, while I +go into the bush and look for a richer lode I've heard about. If I'm +successful, we'll consider the new situation." + +Seeing that objections would be useless, Leonard reluctantly +acquiesced, and it was a relief to both when Wannop came in. + +"There's a friend of yours asking for you, Andrew; I brought him up," +he explained, and stood aside as Frobisher entered. + +"I came to ask you over for a day or two, and I shall be glad if your +relatives will come as well," he said. "We have plenty of room and +have been rather dull lately. Besides, the hotel is too full to be +comfortable." + +After some demur they agreed to go, and Andrew felt grateful to +Frobisher, for the visit would relieve the strain that Leonard's +society threatened to impose on him. Half an hour later they took +their places in Frobisher's sleigh. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +LOVE'S ENCOURAGEMENT + + +It was after dinner and Wannop, lounging comfortably over his cigar in +Frobisher's smoking-room, smiled at Andrew, who sat opposite. + +"This is a very nice house and I like your friend," he commented. +"It's lucky he invited us, because I don't know how they'd have put us +up at the hotel." + +"What brought you over with Leonard?" Andrew asked bluntly. + +"Gertrude wanted to make some visits this winter, which set me free. +I've never been much away from home, and it struck me as a good chance +for seeing Canada; then Jack Cartwright--you may remember him--is in +Toronto. It's twelve years since I've met him, though he has often +urged me to come over; and there's another man I know in Winnipeg." + +"I wonder whether that was all?" + +Wannop looked amused. He was stout and clumsy, but he had his jovial +air. + +"You seem to have been getting smarter since you came to Canada," he +said. "Perhaps I'd better admit that I was anxious to see how you were +getting on." + +"Didn't Leonard tell you?" + +"Leonard was as guarded and diplomatic as usual. He informed us that +there had been some trouble at the mine and he was afraid you hadn't +experience enough to deal with the situation. Then he gave us the +impression that you were inclined to be rash and might make a mess of +things unless he came over and put you right." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Andrew; "I expected something of the sort." + +They looked at each other with mutual comprehension. + +"Can matters be straightened out?" Wannop asked. + +"Not in the few days that Leonard intends to devote to it. It's most +unlikely that the Rain Bluff will ever pay." + +"I'm sorry to hear it. A good deal of my money and Gertrude's has gone +into the mine." + +"You needn't be alarmed. I don't think the shareholders will suffer." + +Andrew's tone was impressive, and Wannop looked at him sharply. + +"That doesn't seem to agree with your last remark." + +"I've a plan for working a richer lode, but I can't tell you anything +further, because the secret belongs to another man until the minerals +have been recorded; and it wouldn't be fair to Leonard and the +directors, who haven't been consulted about the project yet. When my +plans are ready, they will be disclosed. Perhaps I'm straining your +confidence." + +"It will stand some strain. But are you sure that Leonard will be fair +to you?" + +"That is another matter," Andrew said quietly. + +"Well, I'm glad you have told me something: it gives me a lead. It was +obvious that you and Leonard were at variance. In fact, I've foreseen +a split for some time, and if a side must be taken, I'd rather stand +by you." + +"Thanks! But it may get you into trouble." + +Wannop lighted another cigar and then looked up with a chuckle. + +"We're neither of us sentimentalists, but there's something to be +said. You and I have always got on well, and when I married Gertrude +you didn't lay such stress on the favor shown me in being allowed to +enter the family as your estimable relatives did. Then we're the two +whose abilities aren't held in much esteem, which is some reason why +we should stick together. With all respect for the others, I sometimes +think they're wrong." + +Andrew laughed. + +"We'll come to business," Wannop went on. "While the Rain Bluff shares +were well taken up by outside investors, a good many are held by the +family; these count as a compact block, a strong voting power--though +it's remarkable that Leonard holds less than any of the rest of us. So +if there's to be a fight between you and him, it will begin among your +relatives; their opinion is more important than that of the general +shareholders." + +"Yes," assented Andrew, "Leonard would be powerful if backed by the +solid family vote." + +"The point is that he may not get it. Anyhow, Gertrude and I will +support you, and we hold a good deal of stock between us." + +"Thanks!" said Andrew. "Still, it may not come to a struggle of that +kind, after all. It must be avoided if possible." + +Then Frobisher came in and interrupted them. + +Leonard spent a week with Frobisher, driving across to the Landing +each morning on business. He and Andrew now and then discussed the +Company's affairs without open disagreement. His attitude toward +Andrew was friendly, but marked by a tone of good-humored forbearance, +and when he spoke of him to Frobisher it was with a trace of +amusement, as if Andrew were erratic and needed judicious guidance. It +was done cleverly, for Leonard carefully avoided detraction, but his +remarks conveyed the impression that Andrew was something of a +simpleton. + +"If Allinson hasn't much judgment, why did you send him over to look +after the mine?" Frobisher once asked him bluntly. + +Leonard smiled at this. + +"We didn't give him much responsibility; to tell the truth, we wanted +to get him away for a while. There was a young grass-widow that it +seemed possible he might make a fool of himself about. Rather a +dangerous woman, I believe, and Andrew's confiding." + +When his guests had returned to the Landing, Frobisher remarked to his +daughter: + +"Mr. Hathersage doesn't seem to think much of his brother-in-law." + +"So it seems," said Geraldine, with an angry sparkle in her eyes. "He +never missed an opportunity for cunningly disparaging him." + +"Then you don't agree with his opinion?" + +"I don't know that it was his real opinion," Geraldine replied. "I +wouldn't trust the man." She paused and asked sharply: "Would you?" + +"If I had to choose, I think I'd rather put my confidence in +Allinson." + +He looked thoughtful when his daughter left him, for he had not spoken +to her without an object, and her indignation had its significance. On +the whole, however, Frobisher saw no cause for uneasiness. He liked +Andrew, and though Leonard's explanation might have had a deterrent +effect, he disbelieved it. + +Before returning to England, Leonard had an interview with Mappin at +the hotel. + +"Do you know anything of the lode Allinson talks about?" he asked him. + +"Nothing except that it lies up in the northern barrens, a mighty +rough country, and that people think it's a delusion of the man who +claims to have discovered it. But didn't your brother-in-law talk it +over with you, if he's interested in the thing?" + +"He did not. I may as well admit that there are points upon which his +views don't agree with mine." + +"So I imagined," Mappin remarked pointedly. + +"He's in favor of closing the Rain Bluff. If that were done, it would, +of course, cost you your contract." + +Mappin looked thoughtful. Leonard had already sketched out a plan by +which the notice Andrew had given Mappin might be rendered of no +effect. + +"Well," he said, "I'd much rather keep it; but we had better be frank. +You would prefer that Allinson didn't find the lode?" + +"I don't want him to waste the Company's time and money on a journey +into the wilds, and expensive prospecting work which will probably +lead to nothing. It would be wiser to keep the Rain Bluff going and +get out as much ore as possible. I needn't point out that this would +be more to your interest." + +"That's so," chuckled Mappin. "I begin to see. I'm to make all the +difficulties I can for Allinson?" + +Leonard hesitated. He was asked to give his confederate dangerous +powers, but he thought the safety of his position required it. There +did not seem to be much likelihood of Andrew's discovering valuable +minerals, but he might perhaps find somewhat better ore than the Rain +Bluff was turning out, and with a practical scheme for working it gain +support enough to embarrass the directors. If, however, Andrew failed +in his search, it would be easier to discredit him, and the demand he +would no doubt make for the abandoning of the mine could be withstood. + +"I think that's what I meant," he said. "You are in charge of our +transport and I expect he'll need a quantity of food and prospecting +tools sent up into the bush. I can leave you to work out details." + +Mappin's eyes flashed. + +"I guess I can fix it; let it go at that. Now there's another matter I +want to mention." + +Leonard acquiesced in the change of subject, feeling that he had done +all that was possible to counteract Andrew's projects. He left with +the Montreal express the next morning. + +Two days later Mappin was summoned to Andrew's room at the hotel and +found him studying a list of provisions. + +"We shall get off in the next few days," he said. "I want you to send +these supplies up to the mine, where we'll call for them." + +"What about the rest of your truck?" Mappin inquired. + +"Carnally has sent it off already." + +Mappin saw that he could not do as much as he had expected to delay +the party. + +"Is there anything else?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Andrew. "As we can't transport stores enough for the whole +march, provisions will have to be cached for use on our return. Do you +know where Whitefish Creek is?" + +"It's a very long way up and said not to be indicated very correctly +on the map. Two forks, aren't there?" + +Andrew nodded. + +"A lake lies about two days' march up the east branch, and there's an +island in it with a sandy tongue at one end. Take this list of +provisions and have a cache made there. Get them up in a month from +now. You can do that?" + +"Oh, yes; I've some smart packers." + +"Then here's another list. To get to the Whitefish you cross the +height of land and there's a low neck in the middle of the long ridge. +I want another cache made at the bottom of the gap. You understand +that? It's important." + +"I'll make a careful note of it," Mappin promised. "Your idea is to +travel with light loads, and replenish your stores at the caches as +you come back?" + +"Precisely. Carnally and Graham have been calculating our supplies +closely and we shall not have much left when we reach the first cache. +You had better put a barked fir-pole on the top of it; there are trees +about." + +"The boys I'll send up will see to it," said Mappin, and after a few +questions took his leave. + +A day or two later Andrew walked across the ice in the evening to see +the Frobishers before he started on his journey, and when he had spent +some time with them Geraldine went down with him to the hall. They +were alone, for her father was searching for a compass he wished to +give Andrew. Geraldine stopped when she reached the foot of the stairs +and stood with her hand on the balustrade. Her unstudied pose was +graceful, she made a very attractive picture, and though she saw +Andrew's admiration she was not displeased. It was different from +that which Mappin had bestowed on her. + +"I think you are doing a very fine thing," she said diffidently. "You +see, I know something, besides what you have told me, about the mine +and Allinson's. Ethel Hillyard wrote to me not long ago--I knew her in +England--and she said several nice things about you." + +"Did she?" said Andrew, with some embarrassment. "Ethel's a good +friend. But it's rather trying to have things said about you." + +"Now you're curious," Geraldine replied, "and I'll be indiscreet +enough to mention one. She said you were always sincere, and to be +relied on." She paused a moment and added: "I think that's true; your +going to search for the lode proves it." + +Andrew looked at her steadily, his heart throbbing. + +"Would you be surprised to hear that you are largely responsible for +the search?" + +"I! What could I have to do with it?" + +"I'll try to explain. There was a time when I was half afraid to go on +with my plans; I could see nothing but trouble ahead. Then one day +when you were speaking of Carnally you said something about doing the +square thing. That and the song you sang one evening soon afterward +decided me." + +"Then I'm afraid I've been very rash; it's a responsibility I should +not have assumed. After all, I know nothing about the difficulties you +may meet with." + +"And I know very little, except that they'll certainly be plentiful. +Ignorance is a heavy handicap, and it doesn't make things better when +it's your own fault. Still, whether you meant it or not, you showed me +that there was only one course open--to go straight ahead and leave +the rest to Fate." + +His words awoke a responsive thrill in Geraldine, for she knew his +worth. There was courage in him and sterling honesty; he was entering +on a hard fight for the sake of people unknown to him who had trusted +to the honor of his house. He would, she believed, be opposed by +clever trickery, prejudice and strong commercial interests, but if the +world were ruled by right, as she tried to believe, it was unthinkable +that he should be beaten. + +"Well," she said, with the color in her face and sympathy in her eyes, +"I wish you good luck. But be careful up there among the rocks and +muskegs. Don't run too many risks. Come back safe." + +"Thank you! It would be something to you if we kept out of trouble?" + +His gaze was steadily searching and for a moment she turned her head. +Then, though there was a slight change in her manner, she looked +around with a smile. + +"Yes, of course," she answered. "I shall be anxious while you are away +and eager for news." + +Andrew saw that there was nothing more to be said, and he was glad +that Frobisher came down the stairs with the compass in his hand. + +"It's one of the cutest things of the kind I've seen," said the +American. "There's very little oscillation, the card can't come +unshipped, and you can take a bearing correctly with the sights on +this sliding ring." + +When Andrew had thanked him for the gift, he left the house. It was a +still night and bitterly cold, but he walked back across the ice to +the Landing with a glow at his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TREACHERY + + +The afternoon was nearly over and the frost intense when Andrew +plodded up the frozen river with Carnally and Graham. The snow +crunched with a squeaking sound beneath their moccasins, which Andrew +had had specially made because ordinary boots are not adapted to the +extreme cold of the North. On their western hand the pines stood out +sharp and black against a coppery glare, and as they passed the wider +openings the light struck dazzlingly into their aching eyes. Ahead the +white riband of river led into a wilderness of rocks and stunted +trees, but there was no sign of life in all the picture, and +everything was very still. + +The men were not heavily loaded, for most of their supplies had been +sent on to the mine, but Andrew had found his pack a bad enough +handicap on the long march up-river and had noticed with some concern +that Graham seemed to feel the weight more than he did. The old man +had lagged behind, but he now came up breathless. + +"You want to get a move on," Carnally advised. "It's 'most six miles +yet to Rain Bluff and I'm feeling ready for my supper." + +"So am I," said Graham; "but it was too cold to rest by the greenwood +fire when we nooned, and I'm not so young as you are. Then it is +remarkable how twenty years of domestic life soften one." + +"Sure!" grinned Carnally. "You don't find the man who gets his dinner +every day leading in a long, hard march. That was Allinson's trouble +when he first took the trail with me." + +"There may be disadvantages in having regular meals, but I know from +painful experience what an ache in the side you get when forced to go +without," Andrew returned. "It's one of the things I've learned in +Canada." + +"You'll learn a few more of the same kind before you're through," +Carnally drawled. "But how do you like your moccasins?" + +"They're comfortable; the American shoe people have made them well; +but I'm not sure they'll last the journey through. It's lucky we have +some spare pairs among the provisions Mappin has sent up." + +"It might have been better if we'd hired two or three boys at the +Landing and packed the truck up along with us," Carnally remarked. + +"Mappin engaged to forward the things. It's his business." + +Carnally looked unconvinced. + +"I never deal with a man who's not straight if I can help it. You +can't tell when he may go back on you, unless you can fix it so that +his interest is the same as yours; and you and Mappin don't agree." + +"That's a fact," Andrew admitted. "However, we'll soon find out about +the provisions." + +He forced the pace, but it slackened again. He was tired; the red +glare, which grew more lurid, hurt his eyes, and he was thankful when +it suddenly faded, leaving the wilderness wrapped in soft blue shadow. +The pack-straps galled his shoulders, his fur-cap was thick with rime, +and its fringe of frosted hair stung his forehead. They came to a +narrow reach where the stream ran fast and the ice was thrown up in +ragged hummocks. It was difficult to pick their way in the dim light; +they slipped and stumbled, breaking through the treacherous snow +bridges between the blocks; and when they came out upon a better +surface it was dark. Shadowy firs rose about them; here and there an +ice-crusted rock showed above the gray level of the stream. Except for +their soft footsteps there was a deathly silence. Graham was now some +distance behind them, and after a while he made protest. + +"Hold on!" he cried. "I'm not toughened up to your mark yet." + +Andrew was glad to wait for him, though the frost bit keenly when he +stopped and he was anxious to finish the long day's march. The ranks +of stunted pines looked inexpressibly dreary looming out of the +darkness, and, fatigued as he was, the savagery of the surrounding +desolation oppressed him. They would reach warmth and shelter in +another hour, but when they went on again Andrew thought with a heavy +heart of the leagues of travel through the grim solitudes of the +frozen North. Up there, their only resting-place would be a hollow +behind a rock or a trench scooped out of the snow. Still, he was not +daunted. He had undertaken a big thing, and he meant to carry it out. + +At last a twinkle of light showed among the trees, and when they +approached one of the shacks at the mine the door opened and a dark +figure appeared against the brightness of the interior. + +"Is that you, Watson?" Andrew asked. "Has Mappin sent up some +provisions for us?" + +"Nothing has turned up lately except some tools," Watson answered. +"But come right in." + +They entered the shack, which for the first few minutes felt +intolerably hot. + +"Did those tools come in cases with a Toronto freight tag?" Carnally +asked. + +"They did," said Watson. + +Carnally looked at Andrew. + +"That's what misled me. I found out the cases had left the Landing and +thought they held our truck. What I wasn't sure about was whether +they'd reach here." + +"The provisions haven't come, and a day or two's rest will do us +good," Andrew replied. "I suppose the fellow will send some +explanation." + +"That's certain. He won't want you to go down and look him up; you'll +get word from him before long. Whether you'll get your provisions or +not is another matter." + +"Let it drop," Andrew advised; and soon afterward they sat down to +supper. In an hour or two they were all asleep; but the next day +passed before they heard anything about the missing supplies. They +were sitting round the stove in the evening when Watson came in with a +letter. + +"One of Mappin's boys has brought you this," he said. + +Andrew opened it and looked up with a frown. + +"No answer. Let him go back when he likes." + +When Watson left them he turned to the others. + +"Mappin regrets to say that our stores have been lost in transit, and +though he is trying to trace them, there may be some delay. He thinks +I would like to know this at once--which looks like ironical wit. If +needful, he will order a duplicate lot." + +"Is it worth while to go down and see him?" Graham asked. + +"I'd enjoy it," said Andrew grimly. "However, now that we have come so +far, we can't waste time in going back, and I've no doubt it would be +a week or two before I could get the goods. We'll have to do without +them, which is unfortunate." + +His anger was justified. Travel in the North, where food is scarce, is +a question of transport. As the traveler must take all he needs with +him, his supplies must be carefully regulated in accordance with the +distance and his power of carrying them, while an error in his +calculations may result in starvation. Knowing this, Carnally and +Graham had considered how the weight could be cut down by the use of +certain condensed foods, as well as clothing and camp equipment made +to combine the greatest warmth with lightness. The goods were +expensive, but their value could hardly be reckoned in money. + +"Then we had better push on at once," Graham suggested. "We have the +things Carnally sent up and we ought to get some provisions at the +Hudson Bay factory, where I expect to hire the sledge dogs. It will +add to our loads and shorten our stay, but we'll have to put up with +that." + +"You should have cut Mappin right out of this business," Carnally said +to Andrew. "His first trick hasn't stopped us, but I feel uneasy about +leaving him to handle the food we'll need when coming down." + +Andrew looked grave. + +"The man's treacherous; but he has gone as far as is safe already. +Taking it for granted that he wishes to prevent our finding the lode, +one can understand his trying to hinder our outward journey. He would, +however, gain nothing by delaying our return, and he's too clever to +risk getting himself into trouble without a good reason." + +"That sounds right; I can find no fault with it," Carnally agreed. +"We'll pull out to-morrow, but I'd feel easier if the making of those +caches wasn't in Mappin's hands." + +They left Rain Bluff the next morning and it was a week later when +Mappin learned that he had failed to detain them. He had just returned +to the Landing from a business visit, and was sitting in his room at +the hotel when the messenger came in. + +"Did Mr. Allinson seem annoyed?" he asked. + +"Can't say," the man replied. "He didn't say a word to me; told Watson +there was no answer, and pulled out with the other fellows next day." + +"I suppose they went off with pretty heavy loads?" + +"That's so. Took some of Watson's blue camp blankets, and I guess +they'll soon get tired. Two of them are tenderfoots at the job." + +"Carnally's a smart bushman, isn't he?" + +"Sure! But he'd all he could carry." + +Mappin was surprised at the turbulence of his feelings. Though of +gross nature, ambition and avarice had hitherto dominated him, and he +was generally marked by a cold-blooded calm. Now, however, his +passions were aroused, and he was filled with an anger which he +thought must be subdued before it led him into rashness. He had done +all he could to delay Allinson, and though he had failed it was not +his habit to grow savage at a reverse; moreover, it was unlikely that +the prospectors would get very far. For all that, he was disturbed. +Allinson, whom he had regarded with contempt as a fastidious +tenderfoot, might prove a dangerous rival. That he had refrained from +sending down an angry remonstrance suggested strong self-control and +a suspicion of Mappin's motives. He must be careful, and must make all +the progress he could with Geraldine while Allinson was away. + +During the next three weeks he saw the Frobishers often, though he had +undertaken an important railroad contract for which his men were +cutting lumber in the bush. Geraldine treated him with a conventional +politeness which misled him, for he was inexperienced in dealing with +girls of her character. Indeed, except for his business capacity, +Mappin was undeveloped and primitive. For all that, he felt that he +was not advancing much in Geraldine's favor and he made up his mind to +press his suit without delay. Allinson would be back before very long, +and the provisions he would need for his return journey must shortly +be sent off. + +After waiting for an opportunity, he found Geraldine alone one evening +in her drawing-room and sat down feeling unusually diffident as well +as eager, though he forced himself to talk about matters of no +importance. For one thing, the room had a disturbing effect on him. It +was furnished with refined taste and all its appointments seemed +stamped with its owner's personality; a faint perfume that she was +fond of clung about it. All this reacted on the man, and the girl's +beauty worked on his passions. + +She listened with indifference, now and then glancing toward him. He +was smartly dressed, but he looked out of place--too big and gross for +his surroundings. Then by degrees she grew more intent; there was a +hint of strain in his voice and a gleam in his eyes which caused her +vague alarm. His face was slightly flushed, he looked coarser than +usual, and when he was silent his lips set in an ugly, determined +fashion. At last, when she was thinking of an excuse for leaving him, +he rose. + +"Geraldine," he said, "I have something to tell you." + +She looked up quickly; somewhat frightened, he thought, and he was not +displeased. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Is it necessary?" + +"I think so; you shall judge. For a long while I've been very fond of +you." + +His ardent glance repelled her. She resented it and this gave her +courage. + +"I wonder what you mean by that?" she asked coldly. + +The man failed to understand her. Love was not a complex thing to him. + +"It ought to be pretty simple. You're the girl I mean to marry; I set +my heart on it some time ago." + +"_Mean_ to marry? You're not diffident." + +Mappin laughed and his amusement filled her with repulsion. She was +not encouraging, he thought; but he had not expected her to be so. + +"No," he replied, "I'm not. Bashfulness doesn't pay, and I haven't had +time to study saying pretty things. I want you--there it is." + +"It's a pity you didn't tell me this earlier. It might have saved you +some disappointment," said Geraldine. + +She was angry and alarmed, but keenly interested. She had not expected +that her first offer would take this abrupt form; but there was no +doubting the strong primitive passion in the man. It was a force to be +reckoned with; one could not treat it with indifference. He looked big +and clumsy as he stood with his eyes fixed on her, but his face and +pose suggested power. + +"Well," he explained, "there was a reason. I was pretty low down in +the world; I hadn't much to offer, and I wouldn't have you think I +wanted you for your money. Now I've got on; I begin to see how I'm +going to make a big success. There's no longer anything to stop my +claiming you." + +This sounded sincere, but it was unthinkable that she should feel any +tenderness for the man, and he must be made to understand. + +"Mr. Mappin," she began; but he checked her. + +"Let me get through. You shall have all you want: a house in Montreal +or Toronto, as you like, smart friends and position--guess if I set my +mind on it I can get them. In fact, you shall have what you +wish--you'll only need to ask for it. I want my wife to take a leading +place, and I'll see she gets there." + +"I'm sorry, but it's impossible for me to marry you," said Geraldine +firmly. + +Mappin regarded her with a grim smile. + +"You look as if you meant it." + +"I do." Geraldine tried hard to preserve her calm. "Please understand +that my mind is made up." + +"Oh," he replied tolerantly, "I didn't expect to get you first try. +Guess I'll have to wait until you get used to the idea." + +"I shall never get used to it!" + +He had held himself in hand, but as he heard the decision in her tone +his passion mastered him. + +"Never is a mighty long time; you have got to yield sooner or later. I +can make you!" + +Geraldine rose with all the dignity she could assume; but he moved +between her and the door. + +"Wait a bit," he said with a harsh laugh. "Now, what's the matter with +me?" + +"I think I need only say that you're very far from being the kind of +man I could marry. Let me pass!" + +Mappin barred her way. + +"Well," he said, "I know my value. I'll stand comparison with that +finicking Englishman!" + +Her blush told that this shot had reached the mark and he turned on +her with fury. + +"You'll never get him! Count on that; I'll break the fellow!" + +Geraldine recoiled. She thought that he meant to seize her; he was +capable of it. Indeed, he moved a pace or two, but this gave her an +opportunity for reaching the door. There she turned and saw that he +was watching her with a curious grim smile. + +"The subject is closed," she said. "You have behaved hatefully!" + +Escaping into the hall, she sought her room and shut herself in. She +felt humiliated, and, although there had once or twice been something +ludicrous in the situation, the man's overbearing boldness had +strongly impressed her. She was afraid of him; he would not readily be +beaten. + +Mappin left the house without speaking to Frobisher and returned to +the Landing. The next day he sent for the packer who was to lead the +party taking up Andrew's supplies. The fellow was some time in coming +and Mappin waited for him in a threatening mood. Geraldine's blush had +filled him with jealous hatred. Allinson was a dangerous rival. Let +him beware! + +"You know the Whitefish Creek," he said to the man he had summoned. +"What lies between the forks?" + +"A piece of high and very rough country; muskegs full of little pines +mussed up with blown trees in the hollows." + +"Well," said Mappin, "you'll cache the supplies for Allinson where +I've put the cross on this map. Think you've got it right?" + +"Yes," answered the packer. "It must be near the tall butte, a piece +up the creek. That's a pretty good mark." + +"Then there's the other lot of supplies. You can see the place for +them on the height of land, south of the Whitefish." + +The man glanced at the map and nodded. + +"We'll dump those first. Everything's ready. We'll pull out as soon as +I can get the boys together." + +He left the room and Mappin lighted a cigar. He felt somewhat nervous, +as if he had undergone a strain. + +"If Allinson gets through, I'll allow he's the better man," he mused. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SILVER LODE + + +A half-breed stood on the river bank beside his dog-team while Andrew +handed Carnally the packs from the sled. It was late in the afternoon, +the valley was swept by driving snow, and the men's hands were so +numbed that they found it difficult to strap on their heavy loads. The +ice was several feet in thickness on the deeper pools, but the stream +ran strong along the opposite shore, and its frozen surface was rough, +and broken in places by pools of inky water. + +"It would save some trouble if we made our caches among these +boulders," Graham suggested. + +"That's so," agreed Carnally. "Still I guess it would be safer on the +other side, where we'll strike it sooner coming back. It's wise to +take no chances in this country." + +They were loaded at last, and the gorge looked very desolate when the +half-breed vanished with his dogs beyond the summit of the bank. He +was not a man of much conversational powers, but they had found his +company pleasant in the grim solitudes. Andrew had hired him at an +outlying Hudson Bay factory, where he had had no trouble in obtaining +food. The fur trade was languishing thereabout, and prospectors for +timber and minerals were made welcome. The Scot in charge of the +lonely post had, however, no dogs for sale, though he engaged to +transport a limited quantity of provisions to a point which one of the +company's half-breeds, despatched on another errand, would pass with +his team. + +Andrew considered Carnally's caution well justified. Their supply of +food was scanty, and the journey attended by risks enough; but he +could sympathize with Graham. It was snowing hard, the wind was +rising, and there was no sign of a camping-place in all the +desolation. They had gone a long way since sunrise, and were too tired +to think of lengthening the journey by looking for a better place to +cross the river. They went forward, carefully avoiding the hummocks, +and winding around the larger cracks. Andrew was too occupied in +picking his way to notice that Graham had fallen some distance behind; +but when he had skirted a tall hummock, a sharp cry reached him, and +he stopped in alarm. He could see nothing except a stretch of rugged +ice and a high white bank fading into the driving snow. Their +companion had disappeared. + +"Guess he was straight behind us!" cried Carnally, as they turned +back, running. + +Andrew fell over a block of ice, but he was up in a moment, for the +cry came again, and when they had passed a black pool he saw what +seemed to be the head and shoulders of a man projecting from a +fissure. He sprang across a dangerous crack and as he ran he saw +Graham's face turned toward him, with a strained, tense look. Carnally +was a pace or two in front and had seized Graham's arm when Andrew +came up and grasped his collar. They dragged him out of the crevice +and set him, gasping breathlessly, on the ice, with the water running +from one of his moccasins. + +"You were only just in time," he said after a moment or two. "There +was snow across the crack and it broke under me. Couldn't crawl out, +with my pack dragging me down." + +"It's blamed unfortunate you got your moccasin wet," Carnally +remarked. "It ought to come off right away, but we haven't another. +Think the water has got through?" + +"I'm afraid it has; the back seam opened up a bit yesterday. But my +feet are so cold I can hardly feel." + +"If Mappin hadn't played that trick on us, you'd have a sound dry pair +to put on. But you want to keep moving, and it's getting dark." + +They crossed the ice without further misadventure, toiled up a steep +bank where short brush that impeded them badly rose out of the snow, +and an hour afterward found a hollow among the rocks sheltered by a +few junipers and tottering firs. Carnally loosed the load from his +aching shoulders and threw it down with relief. + +"It's that hog Mappin's fault we're packing a pile of unnecessary +weight along," he said. "I'm looking forward to a talk with him when I +get back." + +He set to work, hacking rotten branches from a leaning fir, while +Andrew scraped away the snow and built a wall of it between them and +the wind. Graham lighted a fire, filled the kettle with snow, and +spread branches and twigs to lay their blankets on. It took time, and +Andrew knew of no labor so irksome as making camp after an exhausting +march; but no pains could be spared if they wished to sleep without +freezing. At last they gathered about a crackling fire which threw an +uncertain light upon their faces, and Carnally cooked a frugal supper. + +"I guess we could eat more, but it wouldn't be prudent," he said as he +shared out the food. "Your lode's about a hundred miles off yet, isn't +it, Graham?" + +"Yes, as near as I can calculate." + +"Call it six days; a fortnight anyhow before we get back here, and +that won't allow much time for thawing out and shot-firing. Then we'll +have to reach our first cache before the grub runs out. It's going to +be a blamed tight fit." + +Andrew consumed his portion and glanced regretfully at the empty +frying-pan. Then, for fatigue had soured his temper, he broke out: + +"I'd like to have the brute who cut our rations short up here +to-night! Blast his greed! It's an infamous thing that a man should +make money by starving his fellow creatures!" + +"They seem to consider it legitimate in the cities," said Graham +dryly. "We have mergers controlling almost everything we eat and +drink, and men get rich by bull deals in the wheat pits. However, your +sentiments are not exactly new. What do you think, Jake? I haven't +heard you on politics." + +Carnally grinned. + +"As it looks as if I'm going to be hungry, I'm a hard-shelled +grit--something like your Radicals," he explained to Andrew. "But if I +thought we could get a good one, I'd prefer being governed by an +emperor. So far as my experience goes, one live man can run things +much better than a crowd, and it's a poor mine or railroad boss who +can't beat a board of directors." + +"That's so," Graham assented. "They're most capable when they let one +of them drive the lot. But there's the trouble that you might get the +wrong kind of emperor. It's hard to tell a good man until he gets to +work." + +"Sure!" agreed Carnally. "If you're not pleased with the Laurier gang, +you can fire them out, and then you might not find the other crowd +much better. But if a bad emperor meant to stay with it, you'd have to +use dynamite." + +The others laughed, but Andrew, awkwardly filling his pipe with numbed +fingers, looked serious. There was a truth in his companion's remarks +that touched him personally. It was undoubtedly difficult to get rid +of an able man entrusted with power which he abused. To attack him +might imply the break-up of the organization which had appointed him; +one might have to use destructive methods, and Andrew wished to build +up the Rain Bluff Company, not pull it down. For all that, Leonard +must be stripped of the authority he had wrongly used, though the task +would be extremely troublesome. With one or two unimportant +exceptions, he enjoyed the confidence of the Allinson family, as well +as the support of the directors; and Andrew knew what his relatives +thought of him. In the first place, however, he must find the lode, +and he was glad to think it lay within a week's march from camp. + +"Have you got that wet moccasin off yet?" Carnally asked Graham. + +Graham confessed that he had been too tired and hungry to remember it, +and after drawing it off with some trouble he spent a while in chafing +his foot, which he afterward wrapped in a blanket. Then while the men +sat silent a long howl came faintly down the bitter breeze. + +"A timber wolf," said Carnally. "I saw some tracks this morning and +the half-breed told me they'd had a number of the big gray fellows +near the factory. They get pretty bold when there's no caribou about, +and it's unlucky we haven't struck any caribou. It would help out the +grub." + +"Three men with a camp-fire going are safe enough," said Graham. + +"Oh, yes," Carnally assented. "Still, a timber wolf is a beast I've no +kind of use for in winter." + +They lay down soon afterward, but Andrew heard the wolves again before +he went to sleep. He was very cold when he awakened the next morning +and found Carnally busy about the fire. There was no wind, the smoke +went straight up, and the snow stretched back from the camp, +glistening a faint silvery gray. The firs were very black but +indistinct in the growing light. + +"Get a move on; we should have been off long ago," Carnally said; and +Andrew, rising with cramped limbs and sore shoulders, awkwardly set +about rolling up his pack. + +He shivered as he did so. The cold bit through him, his mittened hands +would hardly bend, but he strapped up his bundle and helped Graham to +put on his frozen moccasin. They were careful to hang up their +footwear in a warm place at night, but the fire had sunk while they +slept. Then they ate a hurried meal and struck out into the white +wilderness as the light grew stronger. They made, by estimation, +eighteen miles by nightfall, finding a creek and one or two small +lakes over which traveling was easy, but most of the way led across +hillocks of rounded rock and through tangles of tottering pines, where +snow-shoes could not be used. Some of the trees had been partly +burned, and others were slanted and distorted by the savage winds. + +Toward the end of the march Graham dragged behind, and when they made +camp he spent some time rubbing his foot. + +"It feels dead," he told them. "I'm afraid I got it nipped a bit, but +I don't think it's bad." + +"See that you get your moccasin properly dry to-night," Carnally +warned him. + +The next morning he felt lame and the country was rougher, but they +made thirty miles in two days, and set out again on the third dawn +with thick snow driving into their faces. Fortunately, the ground was +smoother, and they plodded on stubbornly with a short halt at noon, +Carnally breaking the trail for the two behind. Graham had trouble in +keeping up with his companions; but they had no thought to spare for +him during the laborious march. It needed all their resolution to +press forward against the searching wind. At nightfall they camped in +a sheltered ravine and when supper was over Graham got Carnally to +help him off with his moccasin. While they pulled at it he made an +abrupt movement, and Carnally, stopping, glanced at a dark stain on +the leather. + +"That looks like blood!" + +"I think it is," said Graham. "I slept with the thing on last night. +To tell the truth, I was afraid to take it off." + +"It will have to come off now." + +Carnally's face turned grave when Graham removed his stocking. Part of +his foot felt cold and lifeless; the rest was inflamed, and there was +a red patch, rubbed raw by the frozen moccasin. + +"Looks bad," Carnally said. "Have you got an old handkerchief or +anything to wrap round it?" + +"I couldn't walk with a bandage under my stocking." + +"You're not going to walk; you ought to know what trouble that might +make." Carnally turned to Andrew. "He can't go on. It's a dangerous +thing to gall a frostnipped foot. I don't see how it got so bad in +four days' time." + +Graham broke into a wry smile. + +"It began to hurt soon after I left the factory, and getting it wet +didn't improve things; but I thought I could hold out until we made +the lode." + +There was silence for a few moments. Graham's foot was throbbing +painfully, and having gone on until compelled to stop, he knew his +helplessness. His comrades realized that they were burdened with a +crippled man, far from shelter and assistance in an icy waste. +Dejection seized them; and Andrew, glancing at the darkness round +about, felt a sudden horror of the desolation. This, however, was a +dangerous feeling to yield to, and he strove to overcome it. + +"We're two days' march from the lode," he said. "It's unthinkable that +we should turn back without trying to locate it. Graham may be better +after a rest. It might be possible, Carnally, that by forcing the pace +we could knock a day off the double journey." + +"I'll give you six days," Graham said. "I can stay here; but if you +don't start the first thing to-morrow, I'll crawl on myself." + +"No," Andrew declared; "whether we strike the lode or not, we'll be +back before the fourth morning. The next thing is to consider what to +do then. Provisions aren't plentiful." + +They discussed the matter at length, for even the finding of the lode +was, by comparison unimportant. It would be some time before Graham +could walk far, and, with each day's journey seriously curtailed there +was grave danger of their food running out. At first, Carnally was in +favor of trying to reach the factory, where they would find shelter, +but yielded to the objection that it was farther off than the nearer +of the caches which Mappin had been engaged to make. He agreed that +they would save several days by cutting the back trail between the +mine and the spot where they had diverged to reach the factory, and +they would then pick up a hand sled they had used for a time and +abandoned when the country grew very rough and their load lighter. If +Graham's foot was still troublesome, they could haul him on the sled +and still make a good day's march. The plan was agreed on, and after +carefully arranging their packs for the expedition and getting the +clearest instructions that Graham could give them, they went to sleep. + +The next morning long before daylight Andrew and Carnally were getting +together a supply of branches and logs so that Graham might keep a +fire going night and day until their return: for the double purpose of +warmth and of protection against the timber wolves. When they had made +Graham comfortable, they set off. They had heard no wolves of late, +which was reassuring, but they had grave misgivings about leaving the +crippled man, and meant to save every possible minute on the march. It +was comparatively open country, they could use their snow-shoes, and +they pressed on until dusk without stopping, though the last league +taxed Andrew's strength. He was badly tired when at noon the next day +they reached a hillside commanding a rocky basin filled with stunted +pines. A shallow ravine ran at their feet. + +Carnally stopped suddenly. + +"I believe we've struck it!" he cried. "That must be the creek Graham +talks about!" + +Forgetting their weariness, they ran down the hill and stopped beside +a frozen stream hemmed in by ice-glazed rocks. + +"I guess we're somewhere about the spot, and we'll fire a dump shot +on yonder ridge where there's not much snow," Carnally said. "That's +all we can do." + +"Can't we stake three claims?" Andrew suggested. "The recorder might +allow Graham one if things were explained." + +"It can't be done. You get the frontage you apply for on the reef, but +its extent is limited and full particulars must be supplied, while a +man can hold only one claim on the same vein. Then a record isn't +secret. If you don't stake off the best of the lode, you give the +thing away, and send off every prospector who hears of it to locate +what you have missed." + +The situation was clear to Andrew, and it was daunting. After all the +fatigue and dangers of the journey, he must go back without +accomplishing anything useful; but there was no help for it. + +"I suppose if we had a week we might form some idea of what is worth +staking off, even with the snow on the ground," he said. "However, as +it is, we have got about two hours. We had better make the most of +them." + +They lighted a fire and sat beside it, thawing two sticks of dynamite, +a proceeding attended by some risk, which Carnally seriously increased +when he crimped the powerful detonating caps on the fuses with numbed +and clumsy fingers. Both men were moody and dejected, but they did not +express their feelings, for they were capable of meeting reverses with +silent fortitude. Carnally stood to lose more money than he had ever +had a prospect of earning until his companion took him north; Andrew +knew at what a disadvantage his failure would place him in the +struggle with Leonard. He was sincere in his purpose to see justice +done, but he had no romantic ideas about it. His task was based on +common honesty: Allinson's had guaranteed the undertaking and +Allinson's must make good. Andrew was, however, troubled by two +conflicting claims. He had a duty to the shareholders which could best +be discharged by remaining near the lode until he proved its value; +and a duty to Graham, whom he had promised to bring home safe and +sound. Graham, most unfortunately, was crippled, and the scarcity of +provisions made it doubtful whether he could be taken back to the +Landing, unless they started without delay. The shareholders must +wait. + +Carnally kneaded the softening dynamite round the detonators. + +"Try to scrape down to the rock on the spot I marked," he said. "I'll +come when you're ready and we'll fire the shot." + +Andrew had some trouble in carrying out his instructions, but when he +had done so Carnally laid the cartridges on the stone and covered them +with snow carefully pressed down. Then they dragged up a small fallen +spruce and, laying it on the spot, lighted the fuses and hastily +retired. In a minute there was a flash, a sharp report; and a shower +of flying fragments plunged into the snow, while a cloud of vapor +curled up. Andrew sprang from his shelter, but Carnally seized his +arm. + +"Hold on!" he cried. "You don't want the fumes to knock you over. I +guess we'll get dinner while we wait. You can't expect any startling +results from one shot." + +Eager as he was, Andrew ate his share of the scanty meal; he could +practise self-control and he had marched a long way on short rations +in bitter frost. + +When they had examined the cavity made by the explosion, Carnally +covered it with snow, and picked up the broken bits of rock. They had +gathered a small heap, and Carnally, carefully selecting a few, +looked at Andrew with a smile. + +"I suppose you feel that you'd like to take the whole lot?" + +"I thought we might carry half of them," Andrew admitted. + +"Unless you're willing to dump your blankets, these will be enough. +It's a long way to the Landing and we have to make the first food +cache quick." + +"You're right," said Andrew. "Besides, we must reach Graham's camp by +to-morrow night." + +"Rough on you!" Carnally sympathized; "I haven't as big a stake." + +Nothing more was said while they rolled up their packs and set off +grimly on the return trail. + +It had been dark for several hours the next night when Andrew wearily +toiled up a long rise dotted with ragged spruces. He was hungry and +very cold, though he panted with the exertion he was forced to make. +There was no feeling in his feet, which were bound to big snow-shoes; +his hands were powerless in his thick mittens, and he carried a light +ax under his arm. Fortunately, the trail they had broken when coming +out led straight up the rise, and Carnally pressed on in front, a gray +shape outlined against the glitter of the snow. A half-moon hung above +them in a cloudless sky, the frost was intense, and the white +desolation lay wrapped in an impressive silence. Not a breath of wind +stirred the tops of the spruces. + +Andrew's knees were giving way, and it seemed to him that the ascent +they were laboriously mounting ran on for ever. He felt as if they had +spent hours on it, though the frozen river at its foot was not far +behind them. It was discouraging to fix his eyes on the black shape +of a spruce ahead and see how slowly it grew nearer, but he felt +unequal to contemplating the long trail to the summit, and he divided +the distance into stages between tree and tree. + +At last they crossed the ridge and it was a relief to go downhill, +though the spruces grew in thicker belts and there was half a mile of +timber that they were forced to traverse in their moccasins. Fallen +logs obstructed their passage, they plunged into tangles of blown-down +branches, the snow was loose among the slender trunks and here and +there they sank deep in it. Andrew was, however, consumed by an +anxiety which would brook no delay, and when he had with difficulty +replaced his snow-shoes he looked up at his companion. + +"We can't be far from camp?" he queried. + +"About three miles. We ought to see it when we're through the timber +on the lower bench. Graham had wood enough to keep a good fire going." + +They pressed on, slipping down the steeper slopes, stumbling now and +then, for both had regretted the necessity for leaving Graham alone, +and at sunset they had seen the tracks of wolves. At last they plunged +into a thick belt of spruce, where the trees were fairly large and +there was not much fallen wood. Here and there a broad patch of +moonlight glittered on the snow, confusing after the deep gloom, but +the men could get through on their snow-shoes and avoid the trunks. +They made good speed and when they broke out into the open Andrew +stopped. Where a bright blaze should have marked Graham's fire there +were only a few dying embers. The old man was nowhere to be seen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE CACHE + + +The two prospectors forgot their weariness as they rushed to the dying +fire. Carnally looked at the embers. + +"Can't have been gone long," he declared. + +"Shout, Jake!" cried Andrew. "I'm out of breath." + +Carnally called, and Andrew's heart throbbed when a faint cry rose in +answer. His anxiety had not been groundless: a lonely man runs many +risks in the frozen North. Following the sound, they hastened up the +ravine, and as they rounded a projecting boulder, a red glow flashed +out a little distance ahead, died down, and rose more clearly. + +"That's mighty good to see!" Carnally exclaimed. + +Graham met them as they entered the firelight. + +"Had any trouble?" Andrew asked anxiously. + +"No; and the foot's feeling better. The rest has done it good. I've +been pretty comfortable since you left, though the wolves got so +friendly last night that I thought I'd better shift my camp a bit +to-night. I didn't allow you could get back before to-morrow, and I +knew I'd hear you shout if you did. I left the other fire burning as a +beacon." + +Andrew breathed deeply. + +"It's a wonderful relief!" he said. + +Carnally looked hard at Graham's face. + +"Guess you didn't sleep well, but we'll get a good rest to-night, now +there are three of us. A timber wolf is a cussed mean brute. +Government ought to supply the bush settlers with free arsenic." + +There was a brief silence, while Graham waited, intent and eager, +until Carnally broke into a soft laugh. + +"We struck it, partner! Guess your lode's right there, but we couldn't +do enough prospecting to tell you what it's worth." + +Graham turned his head for a moment, and his eyes glittered when he +looked around. + +"That is my misfortune and Mappin's fault. But you must have your +supper, and then we'll talk." + +Carnally glanced at Andrew, who had thrown off his pack and sat down +on it in an attitude of exhaustion. + +"Allinson allowed we'd be back to-night, and he hustled me along +pretty lively for a tenderfoot." + +They laughed at this and began the meal which Graham soon had ready. +Then, sitting close beside the fire, they filled their pipes and +Graham carefully examined the bits of stone Carnally produced. He +poised them in his hands, because the weight is a rough test, before +he looked up. + +"What do you think of them, Jake?" he asked. + +"My idea is that they're pretty good, though they are not carrying a +remarkable quantity of metal. Of course, we may have struck only the +edge of the lode. There wasn't time to find how it ran." + +Graham sat silent a while, and then turned to Andrew with a strained +expression. + +"I agree with Carnally. So far as I can judge, these specimens are not +very rich, though the ore might pay for reduction. That I feel +disappointed after waiting twenty years for this chance doesn't need +saying; but I've brought you here at a big expense and risk and I +can't blame you if you let the matter drop." + +"Nothing is farther from my mind," declared Andrew, smiling. "It's +unpleasant to feel beaten; and I'm partly responsible for our failure +by confiding in Mappin. If you and Carnally still think I'm to be +trusted as a partner, we'll come back again, though I'd prefer waiting +until the ice breaks up in the spring." + +Graham's relief carried him away. + +"I'd trust you with my life, Allinson! It's hard to express what I +feel, but I've got to talk. If we had failed to find the lode, I'd +have gone home, content, I think, to forget it; but to have struck it +and got no farther would have been maddening! The thing would have +haunted me for the rest of my days; but I hardly expect any one would +have put up the money for another search. I can see myself hanging +round mining men's offices, laughed and sneered at, neglecting my work +until the sawmill people turned me out--they'll tell you at the +Landing that I'm a crank. But the silver's there, Allinson! You have +only to look for it!" + +"We'll have a good try," Andrew promised cheerfully. "But the first +thing we have to do is to get home, and I'm afraid it won't be easy. I +wish the Hudson Bay factory weren't so far off." + +They discussed their return, Graham declaring that his foot was much +better and that he ought to have no difficulty in keeping up with +them, and soon afterward they went to sleep. + +At daybreak they set off in a haze of driving snow, and Andrew long +remembered the march with a shudder. There was only one thing in their +favor--the raging wind which drove the loose snow in clouds along the +frozen creeks blew behind them. The cold was intense; even when no +snow fell the light was dim; but they stumbled on, making the best +progress they could. On the second day out Graham sat down among the +willows on an island trying to alter the fastenings of his snow-shoe. +Carnally, turning back with Andrew through a cloud of drifting flakes +glanced sharply at the sitting man. + +"Ah!" he said, indicating a broad smear on his moccasin; "that's fresh +and bigger than before." + +"Broken out again," said Graham, curtly. "There's no use in talking +about it. I can't nurse it now." + +"Can you walk?" Andrew asked. + +"I'll have to," Graham answered, getting up. + +The truth of this was obvious, for the alternative was to freeze to +death. He managed to keep up with the others, though Carnally +slackened the pace all the afternoon. When they camped at nightfall, +Graham would not let him examine his foot. + +"If the moccasin comes off, I'll never get it on again," he declared. + +After this, the distance traversed daily was reduced and rations were +cut down to match. One day when the wind raged behind them, they made +fourteen miles along a frozen creek; but more often they made eight or +nine; and part of the time Graham carried his snowshoes and limped in +his moccasins. His companions helped him as much as they could over +the roughest ground; but the only effectual way of assisting a +crippled man is to carry him, which they could not do. Their faces +grew sterner and gaunter, but with grim restraint they husbanded the +rapidly running out provisions, and one blustering morning they came +upon the sled they had left on their outward journey, half covered +with snow. + +The traces, though frozen hard, were still attached to it, and Andrew +slipped them over his shoulders when Graham, wrapped in all their +blankets, sat down on the sled. It was a relief to get rid of their +loads, and for a while Andrew made a moderate pace. The wind had +hardened the surface of the snow, and the runners slid along easily, +but he found it different when he came to the next ascent. The trace +hurt his chest, the weight he was hauling seemed to increase, his +breathing got harder, his knees and shoulders ached. + +"You had better let me have hold," Carnally suggested. + +"I'll get off," said Graham. "I could hobble along if you fixed the +back posts so I could lean on them." + +"Stay where you are!" Carnally bade him curtly. "We have to make good +time and we're going faster with you on the sled." + +They altered the traces and plodded forward side by side, until the +sled overturned on a steep slope and flung Graham off. For the next +hour he had to walk while they struggled across rocky hummocks and +through belts of small spruces, and his face was gray with pain when +he resumed his place. Still, they made progress and felt more cheerful +when they camped at night. + +"I allow we're four miles to the good on this stage," Carnally said. +"That's a quarter of a day knocked off. With luck and a smooth trail, +we're going through." + +Somehow they maintained the speed, though the struggle was almost +unbearably hard, and one afternoon they nerved themselves to an extra +effort as they toiled up a creek. It ran between rugged hills and the +snow was good. They were badly worn out and Andrew had a distressing +pain in his side, but he braced himself against the drag of the +trace, watching the white hill-shoulders change their shapes ahead. +They were on the Whitefish Creek, and the first provision cache was +not far off. When they reached it they would rest and feast +luxuriously. + +"Keep her going," urged Carnally "We want to make the island where the +cache is before dark." + +For an hour they struggled on in a state of tension, the snow +crunching beneath their shoes, large flakes blowing past them. A heavy +gray sky hung over head, and the cold was biting. Then the hills in +front grew dimmer, the scattered spruces lost their sharpness of form; +dusk was falling when they came to a narrow lake. Here the snow was +very firm and the pace grew faster. They broke into a run when a +blurred mass of willows came into sight. The cruel aches in joints and +muscles were no longer felt; the food they craved was close at hand. +They drew near the willows rapidly, though Andrew was panting with +exhaustion; the first of the bushes slipped behind, but more rose +ahead, and he grew savage as he glanced at them. He knew that the +island was small, but they seemed to be getting no nearer to its +upstream tongue where he had arranged with Mappin that the cache +should be made. + +"Get on!" he cried hoarsely. "I can stand a little more yet." + +A few minutes later they dropped the traces, and the sled, driving in +among the willows, stopped with a crash. Leaving Graham to hobble +after them, Andrew and Carnally plunged through the branches and came +out on a short level strip. It was nearly dark now, but the snow +glimmered faintly and only a few clumps of brush broke its surface. +Andrew stopped, breathing hard, and dismay seized him as he glanced +about. + +"This is the place," he said hoarsely. "I can't see the cache." + +"Search round here; I'll try farther on," Carnally said, and vanished +among the willows. + +Pulling himself together, Andrew spent a few anxious minutes hurrying +up and down the open space, but found nothing to suggest that it had +lately been visited by a transport party. When he stopped, Graham +awkwardly hobbled toward him. + +"Haven't you found it yet?" he asked. + +"No," said Andrew, as calmly as he could. "There may have been a +mistake about the spot. Carnally's gone back to look." + +They stood still for a few moments while the willows rustled harshly +in the bitter wind. A little snow blew about them and it was very +cold. Then Andrew broke away from his companion and, plunging into the +bushes that grew thickly up the middle of the island, savagely +floundered through them. He could not see where he was going, +snow-laden branches whipped him, and he stuck fast now and then; but +he thought that nobody could have traversed those thickets without +leaving traces of his passage, and, finding none, he presently +returned to the clear space. Graham was still standing in the middle +of it, but they waited in silence until Carnally appeared. He was +walking heavily, and they knew he had been unsuccessful. + +"Nothing; not a sign of a cache," he reported in a strained voice. "So +far as I can see, this is the only place on the island where one could +have been made. I found a few small spruces on a higher patch. We'll +pack the truck along and camp there." + +It took them some time and they had trouble in helping Graham through +the brush, but scarcely a word was spoken until they gathered about +their fire. Then Carnally broke into a harsh laugh as he laid three +morsels of pork in the frying-pan and took out a very small bannock +baked the previous night. + +"This isn't the kind of supper I looked forward to but we'll get less +to-morrow," he said. "The blasted hog has played another trick on +us!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE GAP IN THE RIDGE + + +The scanty supper was finished before the three men held a council. + +"We'll have another search in the morning, but you can take it for +granted that there's no cache here," Carnally said grimly. + +"Could Mappin have made a mistake about the place?" Graham suggested. + +"No, sir! That's a sure thing. But wait a minute. I think I see!" +Carnally lighted his pipe before he resumed: "Now, you want to +remember that we're up against a clever man. He didn't mean us to find +the food but he'd see that there was a chance of our getting through +without it and try to fix things so Allinson wouldn't have much ground +for making trouble. So he sent the supplies up." + +"Then where are they?" Andrew broke in. + +"Let me finish. I guess there was nobody else about when you told him +where to make the cache?" + +Andrew nodded, and Carnally went on: + +"You said the east Whitefish, and he sent the truck to the west fork. +It's a point where one might go wrong, and he'll claim that he +misunderstood you and you didn't make your instructions clear." + +"I believe you're right!" Andrew had a savage glitter in his eyes. +"But the brute's cold-blooded cunning is devilish! He meant to starve +us to death because I threatened his contract!" + +"That's not all. Mappin's dirt mean, but I guess he has a stronger +count against you." + +"Ah!" said Andrew sharply, as a light dawned on him. "I wonder whether +you have hit the mark?" + +In spite of the peril to which he was exposed he felt a thrill of +satisfaction. It looked as if Mappin, whom he suspected of seeking +Geraldine's favor, had some ground for believing him a successful +rival. Perhaps the girl had inadvertently betrayed a preference for +him. Mappin would not be driven into a risky course by impulse; he +must have believed his jealousy well-founded. This was comforting; but +Andrew had now to consider how he and his comrades were to escape from +their difficulties. + +"Couldn't we get across to the west fork?" he suggested. + +"We'll try," said Carnally. "It's a rough bit of country." + +"Very rough," Graham agreed. "A low range with steep rock on this side +runs through it. I've no doubt Mappin knew that when he decided to +make the cache on the other fork." + +"Then suppose we can't get over?" + +Carnally looked thoughtful. + +"If that's so, we'll push on for the second cache." + +They looked at him in astonishment and he smiled. "The cache is +there--somewhere about the neck you told him of--though I guess he'll +have had it put where we won't find it easily. Anyhow, it will have to +be found and, when it comes to bush work, my head's as good as +Mappin's." + +Andrew made a gesture of assent. Apart from his knowledge of the +wilds, Carnally had shown a power of close and accurate reasoning +which had surprised him. Indeed, Andrew was inclined to think him a +match for Mappin all round, and was glad of it, because there was no +doubt that he needed a keen-witted supporter. + +"There's another thing," Carnally remarked presently "Has it struck +you that Hathersage may have given the hog a hint?" + +Andrew flushed. + +"No," he said sternly. "It's unthinkable! I can't discuss the point." + +"Oh, well," acquiesced Carnally. "Now that we've decided what to do, +we'd better get to sleep. We have to look for a way across the range +the first thing to-morrow." + +At noon the next day Andrew stood, breathless, half-way up a gully +filled with hard snow. Walls of ice-glazed rock shut it in, but it led +straight up the face of a towering crag toward an opening high above. +Andrew carried a thick, sharp-pointed stick with which he had +laboriously broken holes for his feet, because soft moccasins are +treacherous things on a steep snow-slope. He and Carnally had spent +half an hour over the ascent, and Andrew, looking up with a sinking +heart, thought it would take them as long to reach the summit, +provided they could avoid slipping, which was doubtful. + +The gully lay in shadow, a long, deep rent, widening toward the +bottom, in which the snow gleamed a soft blue-gray, though a ray of +sunlight struck the beetling crag so that it flashed with steely +brightness. Here and there a spur of rock broke the smooth surface and +offered a resting-place, but some of the spaces between them seemed +dangerously precipitous. Andrew, worn with hunger and fatigue, frowned +at the sight. + +"This looked the quickest way up and we haven't much time to lose," +he said. "I'll feel very savage if we don't get a clear view from the +top." + +"You'll get that," replied Carnally, finding a precarious seat near +by. "Whether you'll see a way through the rocks on the other side or +not is another matter, and I'm doubtful. Better get a move on, hadn't +you?" + +Andrew placed his foot in a hole he had made, but the snow broke as he +rested on it, and he slipped down several yards before the stick +brought him up. He shuddered as he glanced below, for it struck him +that had he slid a little farther he would not have stopped until he +reached the bottom. + +"This is an abominable slope," he exclaimed. "I've been on worse in +Switzerland, but I had an ice-ax and wasn't half starved then. +However, we'll have another try." + +He got up twenty yards, clawing at the snow, and then stopped for +breath, glancing ruefully at his mittens, which showed signs of +wearing through. + +"It means frost-bitten hands if these things give out, and they won't +stand much more," he said. "The worst of it is that you think we'll +find we have wasted our labor when we get to the top. I believe I +could feel cheerful if I could see Mappin crawling up after us." + +"Mappin has more sense. He stays in his office, which is how money is +made. You don't, as a rule, get much for doing this kind of thing. +Still, he has to take some chances, and one he didn't size up right is +going back on him. When I'm feeling tired and hungry I like to think +of my meeting with that man." + +"When you're feeling tired and hungry!" Andrew exclaimed. "I feel both +all the time!" + +"Well," returned Carnally, "what can you expect? If you will make +trouble instead of letting things alone, you must take the +consequences. Now, if you had been a sensible man and not worried +about shareholders you have never seen, you might have been sitting +down to your lunch at home. Think of it! A nice warm room, a butler, +or somebody of the kind, bringing you a menu as long as your hand. Put +you there right now, and you'd take the whole lot. Say, what do you +have as a rule?" + +"Stop!" said Andrew. "It won't bear thinking of! I know what I'll get +for supper, and that's an inch or two of flinty bannock, burned black +outside." + +It was surface jesting and forced upon them, because they would not +face the tragic possibilities of the situation before it was +necessary. It was easier to do what could be done with a laugh. Still, +they had not laughed much lately, until the imminence of disaster +braced them to it. + +Changing places now and then to relieve the leader of the work of +breaking footholds, they reached the summit, and Andrew's heart sank +as he gazed at the landscape which stretched away before him. The air +was clear, bright sunshine glittered on the high rocks, but the snow +in the shadow was steeped in ethereal blue; dark spruces broke the +gleaming surface with a delicate intricacy of outline. The scene had a +wild grandeur, but from Andrew's point of view it was inexpressibly +discouraging. They had laboriously scaled the first and largest +rampart, but beyond it lay a series of lower ridges with rugged and +almost precipitous sides. The hollows, so far as he could see, were +filled with spruce muskeg--the small rotting trees falling across each +other with underbrush pushing up between. To traverse these places +would be a very difficult matter. + +"It looks pretty bad," he said slowly. "Mappin knew his business when +he had the cache made on the wrong side of the range." + +"He's smart," Carnally agreed. "A hard man to beat, and you want to +use a full-sized club when you stand up to him; but I guess he'd go +down if he got the right knock-out." + +Andrew, tired and hungry, failed to see how the decisive blow could be +given: there did not seem to be much probability of his ever coming to +close quarters with his enemy. So far as his brief experience went, +injustice was singularly hard to vanquish and the reformer's path +rough. + +"Couldn't we work around the hills to the other fork?" he asked. + +"The grub would run out before we got there." + +"I suppose we couldn't push straight across, leaving Graham until we +came back?" + +"We might, if we had time enough. I believe there's forty miles of +this broken country. Look at it!" + +Andrew had already done so, and it had daunted him. He remembered that +they had been since sunrise reaching the top of the first ridge. + +"Then what must be done?" + +"My advice is to look for the second cache." + +They turned back, following the crest until they found an easier but +longer way down. Graham glanced at them sharply when they reached the +camp, and guessed the truth, though Andrew tried to smile. + +"Leave me behind," he urged. + +"No," said Andrew firmly; "not while we have strength enough to haul +the sled. There's no more to be said on that point. We're going on +together to the gap in the long ridge." + +"When do you mean to start?" + +"Right now!" Carnally broke in. "Get the camp truck rolled up. We'll +have mighty keen appetites before we make the cache." + +In quarter of an hour they crossed the creek and toiled up a broken +slope, and when they gained the top Andrew looked back at the island +with a grim smile. + +"Yesterday afternoon I came up that river at four miles an hour, +looking forward to my supper like an epicure. Now I'm glad to see the +last of the place." + +"Quit talking!" said Carnally. "We can make a few minutes by a hustle +down the pitch ahead." + +They went down, stumbling and sliding, while Graham clung tightly to +the lurching sled. Time was of vital importance to them now, for its +flight could be measured by the exhaustion of their food supply. For +the hour or two of daylight that remained Carnally drove his comrade +hard, and it was with a strange savage hilarity that they rushed the +sled down declivities and dragged it with many a crash and bump +through thickets. Their course was roughly south and any deviation was +intolerable. Night closed in, but it was far from dark and they held +on until Andrew stumbled and fell. The sled struck him before he could +get up, but a hard smile was on his lips when he rose shakily and +looked about. There was an uncovered rock not far off with a few +junipers growing beside it. + +"This is far enough, Jake," he said. "You're bad to tire, but I don't +suppose you feel equal to hauling another passenger." + +They broke camp in the dark the next morning, and the forced marches +they made during the next seven days wore the half-starved men +terribly. Sometimes they had to contend with fresh snow, in which the +sled runners sank; sometimes they plodded doggedly with lowered heads +while a raging wind drove the stinging flakes into their pinched +faces; and there were days of bitter frost when they could not keep +warm. Still, they crept on across the rugged desolation, and one +evening reached a belt of timber beneath a low range that stretched +across their path. The ridge was broken by a gap a mile or two ahead, +and it was there that Andrew had instructed Mappin to make the second +cache. A crescent moon rose above the dark tree-tops as they lighted a +fire. Andrew glanced at the hillside irresolutely. + +"There's food up yonder, if we could get our hands on it, and I would +enjoy a good supper, Heaven knows; but I don't feel equal to facing +another disappointment," he said. "I'm afraid we'll have to wait until +to-morrow." + +"That's my feeling," Carnally agreed. "I've gone as far as I'm able, +and that grub won't be found easily. You may as well gather some wood +and fill the kettle." + +When they had eaten the few morsels he allowed them they sat smoking +beside the fire. The thin spruce boughs above them were laden with +snow which now and then fell upon the brands; a malignant wind swept +between the slender trunks and blew the smoke about the men. After a +while the casual talk, which had cost them an effort to keep up, died +away, and there was a long silence until Carnally spoke. + +"I guess we're all thinking about those provisions. We'll look for +them at sun-up. What I've been trying to do for several days is to put +myself in Mappin's place." + +"It must have been difficult," Andrew remarked. "If I thought you +could do so, I'd disown you. But go on." + +"Well," said Carnally, "we have agreed that he meant to make it hard +for us to find the cache; but he'd try to fix things so the packers he +sent up with the truck shouldn't guess his object. He wouldn't tell +them to pick a place where nobody would think of looking." + +"You're assuming that he'd employ honest men," Graham objected. +"What's to prevent his hiring three or four toughs and bribing them to +say nothing?" + +"He's too smart," said Carnally promptly. "He'd know that if we got +lost up here the fellows could keep striking him for money and he'd +have to pay; while if we got through, there'd be a risk of our finding +them and buying them over. Besides, men of the kind he'd want are +scarce in the bush. If they're to be found, it's hanging round the +saloons in the cities." + +"Then we'll assume that the boys were square. That would make it +harder for him and easier for us. What follows?" + +Carnally drank some tea from a blackened can before he answered. + +"This matter needs a lot of thinking out, and it looks as if our lives +depended on our thinking right. Allinson's instructions to the hog +seem to have been pretty clear, and he wouldn't plant the cache too +far from the gap. Then he'd have to arrange things so the boys would +think they'd dumped the truck in a handy place for a party coming down +from the north." + +"I believe he has never been up here," Andrew argued. "Are there any +good maps? I couldn't get one." + +"They're sketchy," Graham said. "My idea is that Mappin would get +hold of a prospector who knows the country and have a good talk with +him; but he wouldn't send him up with the other men." + +"It's probable," agreed Carnally. "Well, in my opinion the provisions +are lying south of the pass in one of the gulches leading down from +the height of land, but not directly on our line of march. You can +come up from Rain Bluff several ways, and the hog would mark a route +for the boys which would bring them in, so far as he could figure, a +bit outside the shortest track. We've got to find the gulch they'd +pitch on. It's our brains against Mappin's." + +"Your brains," Andrew corrected him. + +Carnally knocked out his pipe. + +"I allow I'll want a clear head to-morrow and I'm going to sleep." + +He and Andrew left camp in the dark the next morning; but day had +broken when they stood in the gap of the neck, looking down on the +broken country beneath. For a short distance the descent from the pass +was clearly defined, leading down a hollow among the rocks, but after +that it opened out on to a scarp of hillside from which a number of +ravines branched off and led to the banks of a frozen creek. They +seemed to be filled with brush, and the spurs between them were rough. +It was a difficult country to traverse, and Andrew realized with +concern that the search might last several days. + +"Take that right hand gulch," Carnally directed. "Follow it right down +to the creek and come back up the next farther on, while I prospect +east. If we find nothing in the ravines, we'll try the spurs." + +"The obvious place is the gap we're standing in," Andrew pointed out. +"How would Mappin get over that without making his packers +suspicious?" + +"I thought of it," said Carnally. "He'd contend that he was afraid the +cache might get snowed up; and it would be a pretty good reason. The +drifts pile up deep in a gap like this." + +Andrew left him and spent a long while climbing down a rough ravine +which led him to the river. It was noon when he came back up another +and the exertion had told on him, but they had long ago dispensed with +a midday meal and he held on at a dragging pace until a thrill ran +through him at the sight of a tall pole among the rocks ahead. He made +for it in haste, floundering over the snow-covered stones, and lost it +once or twice at a bend in the gully. At last he stopped in the bottom +of the hollow, looking up at a steep face of rock. It was ragged and +broken, glazed with ice in some places, and he doubted whether he +could get up; but a foot or two of the pole rose above the top. +Following up the gully, he looked for an easier ascent, but he could +not find one. Fearing to lose the pole, he stopped and shouted on the +chance that Carnally might be in the neighborhood. Presently a cry +answered him, and when Carnally came scrambling down the hollow Andrew +took him back and pointed out the pole. + +"A dead fir!" cried Carnally. "Looks as if somebody had broken the +branches off, and there are no other trees about! The trouble is, we +can't get up from here." + +"We will have to!" declared Andrew. "If you could give me a lift up +over the worst bits, I'd help you when I had found a hold. Anyway, we +must try!" + +Carnally consented dubiously. The rock was about thirty feet in height +and very steep, though there were several crevices and broken edges. +Andrew ascended one of the latter, gripping it with hands and knees. +Reaching a narrow ledge, he leaned down and gave his hand to +Carnally, and when he had helped him up they stopped for a minute or +two. They were weak and hungry, and there was an awkward bulge above. + +"Steady me up," said Andrew. "If I can find a crack for my hand, I can +get up there." + +For a few moments he rested his foot on Carnally's back; then he +pressed his toes against the stone and his comrade watched him +disappear beyond the bulging rock with unpleasant sensations, knowing +that he would have to follow. Presently, however, the bottom of +Andrew's fur coat fell over the edge and Carnally, seizing it, +scrambled up three or four feet, until the projecting stone forced him +outward. Losing hold with his feet, he hung by his hands for a moment +or two, in a state of horrible fear. + +"Throw one arm over the projection!" Andrew shouted. + +Carnally found a hold; Andrew seized his arm; and after an arduous +struggle he stood, gasping, on a snowy knob. The sharp edge of a big +slab rose eight or nine feet above him. + +"Take a rest," advised Andrew. "If you go slowly, you ought to get up +this last bit." + +"I'll have to try. It's a sure thing I can't get down. But how d'you +come to be so smart at this work?" + +"I used to do something like it in Switzerland." + +"Well," said Carnally, "you're a curious kind of man: I guess you +didn't have to climb. I'd find it a bit too exciting if I wasn't doing +it for money." + +"We're not climbing for money now," Andrew grimly reminded him. +"There's food ahead of us and we must get on!" + +They made the ascent, though it tried their nerve severely. When they +finally crawled up to the summit Andrew stopped, growing suddenly +white in the face. + +"Look!" he said hoarsely. + +Carnally sat down heavily in the snow. + +"A dead tree! Nobody put it there; it grew!" + +With an effort he pulled himself together. + +"Come! We'll try farther on!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE EMPTY FLOUR-BAG + + +When it was getting dark Andrew and Carnally gave up the useless +search. A red glow, flickering among the spruce trunks, guided them +down the pass, and they saw Graham's figure, black against the +firelight, as they approached the camp. He was standing up, looking +out for them, but they came on in silence and after a quick glance at +their faces he turned away and busied himself getting supper. He knew +they had failed and words were superfluous. + +They ate the small bannock he took from the frying-pan, and Andrew +glanced about the camp when he had lighted his pipe. Graham had been +at work while they were away, laying down spruce branches and raising +a wall to keep off the wind. It was warm beside the fire, and the +place looked comfortable. + +"There wouldn't be much to complain of if we had enough to eat," said +Andrew. "It's surprising how soon one gets grateful for such a shelter +as this, and I believe I've slept as soundly in the snow as I ever did +in bed." + +"I tried to fix things neatly, though I wouldn't have been sorry if +I'd wasted my labor," Graham replied and glanced at Carnally. "It +struck me we might be here a day or two." + +Carnally's smile was rather grim. + +"It's very likely. S'pose I ought to play up to Allinson, but he's +put it a notch too high. I've been doing some hard thinking while I +was on the hill. We're certainly up against a tough proposition." + +"You're still convinced the grub is here?" + +"That is a sure thing--all we have to do is to find it; but it's going +to be a big job. I expect both of you want me to talk?" + +Their willingness to hear his views was obvious. + +"The trouble is," he explained, "you can get down from the neck a +number of different ways--there are the spurs one could break a trail +along and there are the ravines. We may try them all before we strike +the right one; but we'll have a better chance if we work up instead of +down." + +"Why?" Andrew asked. + +"Because the packers would start from the low ground, and the benches +look different from below." + +"Do you think Mappin told them to pick any particular place?" + +"I've been figuring on that. He's learned something about the ground, +and my idea is that the provisions are dumped in a hollow that looks +like a good road up to the gap; that is, as you would see it from the +creek. What we don't know is where his boys would strike the ice. It +might be anywhere within three or four miles." + +Andrew knit his brows. + +"It's a puzzling question and we have only a day or two to find the +answer. The worst of it is that we're worn out and famishing; I feel +that my wits would be quicker if I could come at it fresh from a +square meal." + +"No, sir! A man's brain is keenest when he's working on short +rations." + +"I believe that's true," Graham said. + +"Our rations," contended Andrew, "couldn't be much shorter; but I +couldn't think of anything intelligently as I stumbled along through +the snow to-day. And yet----" + +He broke off, remembering that once or twice of late he had become +capable of a strange clarity of thought, accompanied by an unusual +emotional stirring. It had passed, but it had left its mark on him. +After all, it was in the stern North that he had first seen things in +their true proportions; it was there that the duty he had vaguely +realized had grown into definite shape, and Leonard's treachery to +Allinson's had been clearly perceived. Moreover, he had somehow gained +a new and unexpected sense of power. Then as the fire blazed up he +glanced with sudden interest at the faces of his comrades. They were +worn and haggard, and Graham's was stamped with lines of pain; but +there was something in them he could best describe as fine. Hunger and +toil, instead of subduing the men, had given them new strength and an +elusive dignity. Andrew remembered having seen that puzzling look in +the lean, brown faces of tired and thirsty soldiers as a brigade went +by through the rolling dust of the African veldt. It had been flung +back, shattered, from a rock fortress, and was pressing on, undaunted, +to a fresh attack. Andrew's heart had throbbed faster at the sight, +and he now felt something of the same thrill again; but these things +were not to be spoken of. + +"Well," said Carnally, "I might feel content if I thought Mappin was +as hungry as we are; but there's not much fear of that. The blasted +hog has sense enough to keep out of the bush; going about the country +getting his hands on other men's money pays him better. He's no use +for eating supper behind a bank of snow; the Place Viger and the +Windsor in Montreal are more his style." + +This was far from heroic, but Andrew laughed; the minor weaknesses of +human nature seldom jarred on him. + +"I think," he suggested lightly, "you might, for a change, call him +the swine. It's a term we sometimes use and it sounds grosser than the +other. The hogs I've seen running in the Ontario bush were thin and +not repulsive." + +"I'll admit it's foolish; but when I think of that man studying the +menu, I get mad! Can't you see him picking out the dollar dishes, on +the European plan? Canvasbacks and such, if they're in season." + +"They wouldn't give him much canvasback for a dollar," Graham +objected. + +"That doesn't count. The point is--where does he get the dollar?" + +"I'm afraid he has got a few of them out of us," said Andrew. "He has +got more out of the Rain Bluff shareholders; though I'm glad to think +that supply will be stopped. Anyhow, our first business is to find the +cache." + +"That's so," assented Carnally, as he threw some branches on the fire. +"We'll try again at sun-up. Though it makes you feel easier now and +then, talking doesn't do much good." + +A few minutes later they were all asleep, and when day broke Andrew +and Carnally descended a steep, snow-covered bank below the neck. +Their search proved unsuccessful, and they were very silent after they +returned to camp in the evening. The next morning Graham gave them a +very small bannock for breakfast, and then threw an empty flour-bag +into the snow. + +"Boys," he said gravely, "you have got to find the cache to-day." + +Spurred on by the imminence of starvation, they started off again, +beating their way against a driving snowstorm, stumbling often and +rising each time with greater difficulty; always, however, keeping +eager watch for the pole that should mark the spot of the cache. + +After three days of fruitless search, they could not bear to talk when +they met in camp in the evening. They knew that starvation was upon +them; their last strength was fast running out. They were not the men, +however, to give up easily; and once more they set off grimly at +sunrise. + +It was snowing hard when Andrew, knowing that he could drag himself no +farther, crawled into the shelter of a rock on the desolate hillside +and sat down shivering. There was an intolerable pain in his left +side, he was faint with hunger, and his muscles ached cruelly. His fur +coat was ragged, his moccasins were cut by the snow-shoe fastenings +and falling to pieces; his face was pinched and hollow. It was some +hours since he had seen Carnally. He was physically unable to continue +the search, but he shrank from going back to camp, where there was +nothing to eat, and facing his famishing comrade. Indeed, as he grew +lethargic with cold, it scarcely seemed worth while to make the effort +of getting on his feet again. He sat still, listlessly looking down +across the white slopes; Carnally would probably pass near the spot, +though there was now no expectation of his finding the cache. During +the last few days they had sometimes met while they searched and +exchanged a brief "Nothing yet," or a dejected shake of the head. It +would be the same again, though Andrew felt that his comrade might +have succeeded if they could have held out. + +He could not see far through the snow, which swept along the hillside +before a savage wind. Blurred clumps of spruce marked the edge of the +lower ground, but the river was hidden and the straggling junipers on +the spurs were formless and indistinct. At last, however, Andrew +noticed something moving near the end of a long ridge and, as it must +be a man, he concluded it was Carnally returning. Then he imagined +that the hazy figure stopped and waved an arm, as if signaling to +somebody below; that was curious, for his comrade would be alone. + +Andrew decided that he had been mistaken, and bent down to brush the +gathering snow from his torn moccasins; but he started when he looked +up. There were now two men on the slope below, and while he gazed at +them a third emerged from among the rocks. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A WOMAN'S WAY + + +They had not been forgotten while they journeyed through the wilds. +Frobisher thought of them now and then, and his daughter more often; +indeed, her mind dwelt a good deal on Andrew after he left and she +found herself looking forward eagerly to his return. She spent some +weeks in an American city with her father, but its gaieties had less +attraction for her than usual, and she was glad when they went back +for a time to the Lake of Shadows. On the day after her arrival she +drove across the ice to the Landing and inquired at a store where news +circulated whether anything had been heard of the Allinson expedition. +The proprietor had nothing to tell her, but while she spoke to him a +man crossed the floor, and she saw with annoyance that it was Mappin. +She left while he made his purchases, but he joined her when she was +putting some parcels into the sleigh, and did not seem daunted by the +coldness of her manner. + +"I didn't know you were coming back so soon," he greeted her. + +"Didn't you?" she asked indifferently. "When my father had finished +his business we suddenly made up our minds to leave, without +consulting Mrs. Denton. I suppose that explains your ignorance." + +"You're smart," he said. "As soon as you're ready to receive people I +must make my call." + +It was getting dark, but the lights from the store window fell on his +face, and Geraldine saw a glitter in his eyes. She thought he meant to +defy her. + +"You are excused, so far as I am concerned," she replied +uncompromisingly. + +Mappin stood silent a moment or two, looking at her hard, and she felt +half afraid of him. + +"You would rather see Allinson! But that's a pleasure you may find +deferred. You didn't get much news of him just now!" + +"I don't doubt that you heard me ask for it, though there were two +teamsters waiting to buy things, who had the good manners to keep +away." + +"Certainly I heard," he answered coolly; "that's the kind of man I am. +I don't let chances pass." + +Geraldine knew that he would make unscrupulous use of those he seized, +but his candor had its effect on her. He was overbearing, but there +was force in the man, and she grew uneasy. Though she shrank from him, +she admitted his power; unless she roused herself to fight, he might +break her will. + +"One could hardly consider it an admirable type," she said, getting +into the sleigh. "However, it's too cold to stand talking." + +Mappin was obliged to step back when she started the team, and she +drove off in some confusion, glad to escape, but feeling that she had +run away. It had seemed the safest course, though she did not think +she was a coward. Then as the team trotted across the frozen lake she +remembered Mappin's curious tone when he had spoken of Andrew +Allinson. He had suggested with an unpleasant hint of satisfaction +that Andrew's return might be delayed, and she grew troubled as she +thought of it. Still, she reasoned, as no news had reached the +Landing, Mappin could know nothing about the matter, and the men +Andrew had with him were accustomed to the bush. Dismissing the +subject, she urged the horses and drew the thick driving-robe close +about her. It was very cold and she shivered as she wondered how +Andrew and his comrades were faring in the North. + +Some days later she met Mrs. Graham at the post-office and inquired +about her husband. Geraldine thought she looked anxious. + +"He's a little behind time; but soft snow or storms might delay the +party." + +"Then he mentioned a time when you could expect him?" + +"Yes," said Mrs. Graham. "He warned me that he might be a week late; +but they thought out the journey very carefully, because it was a +question of carrying enough food." + +"You mean that helped to fix the time of their return?" + +"Of course! They couldn't get food anywhere except at a Hudson Bay +factory, and they couldn't take a large quantity. That means they knew +within a week or so when they must reach the provision caches that +were to be made for them north of the mine." + +"I understand," said Geraldine. "They wouldn't delay when they came to +the caches, except, perhaps, for a day's rest. I suppose the food was +taken up?" + +"Oh, yes! I saw the packers leave and come down. They were good +bushmen and one of them knew the country. He made the caches at the +places decided on." + +"Then the expedition should be quite safe," said Geraldine cheerfully; +but when she left Mrs. Graham she grew thoughtful. + +Andrew was late and Geraldine saw that delay might be dangerous. The +men would lose no time in coming south, because, considering the +difficulty of transport, the margin of provisions would not be large. +Nothing but a serious accident would detain them, which was +disconcerting to reflect upon. Then she reasoned that their provisions +would be nearly exhausted when they reached the caches, and her mind +dwelt on the point, because it was essential that they should obtain +fresh supplies. She felt uneasy as she remembered a remark of +Mappin's, which she did not think he had made casually. There had been +a significant grimness in his manner when he had spoken of Allinson. +After all, however, it was possible that there was no ground for +anxiety: the prospectors might turn up in the next few days. + +As there was no news of them, however, Geraldine drove to the +settlement one evening and called on Mrs. Graham. She found her +seriously disturbed. + +"A man came down from the mine this morning, and my husband hadn't +arrived," she said. "I'm afraid something has gone wrong!" + +"What can have gone wrong?" + +"I don't know; I've been thinking about it all the last few days and +trying not to be afraid. Of course, they would be safe if they reached +the food caches." + +"Yes," said Geraldine; "those caches are important. But as nobody has +turned up I don't think you need be alarmed. The worst would be if one +came back alone." + +Mrs. Graham did not seem much comforted when Geraldine left her; and +the girl, driving home in the moonlight, tried to face the situation +calmly. She admitted, without reserve for the first time, that she +loved Andrew Allinson; and he was in danger. Something must be done +to extricate him, and while she wondered how she ought to set about it +her thoughts turned to Mappin. It dawned on her that he knew what +peril threatened the party, and this suggested that he had either +allowed the men to involve themselves in unsuspected difficulties, or +had brought the difficulties about. They had depended on him in some +way and he had betrayed them. Geraldine shuddered at the thought, but +she roused herself, for it was obvious that if her suspicions were +correct, the man's designs must be combated. Mappin was strong and +cunning; but she had ready wits and her lover's safety was at stake. + +The next evening Mappin came to the house, and Geraldine carefully +made some changes in her dress before she entered the drawing-room, +where he was talking with Mrs. Denton. He rose with a challenging +smile as she came in, and Geraldine was glad to feel that she was +looking her best. It was humiliating to dress to please this man, but +there was a struggle before her and she must use such weapons as she +had. + +"You're surprised to see me?" he said. + +"Oh, no! I didn't doubt your boldness." + +Mappin glanced at her sharply, for there was nothing ungracious in her +tone. Her manner hinted at a change of mood; but he understood that +women were variable. + +"Then I have your permission to remain?" + +"I'm not sure that you need it, and it would be inhospitable to refuse +it," Geraldine replied, as if amused. + +Mrs. Denton looked from one to the other in a puzzled way, but she +said nothing, and Mappin began to talk, relating scraps of news picked +up at the Landing. Geraldine showed some interest, and after a while +Mrs. Denton, seeing them apparently on good terms, judiciously left +them. Then the girl ceased to respond to her companion's remarks, and +Mappin, never a brilliant conversationalist, found it hard to go on. +He began to show impatience, and Geraldine enjoyed his embarrassment. +At last he glanced toward the piano. + +"I wish you would play or sing something," he begged. + +Geraldine rose good-humoredly and opened the piano. + +"I didn't know you cared for music." + +"I don't, as a rule." + +"That sounds like a compliment," she answered, smiling. "It's a pity I +haven't any jingling rag-time tunes." + +"They're what I like--my taste isn't classical; but I don't mind your +taking a shot at me. One doesn't want music to make one serious." + +"You think one should be serious only where money is concerned?" + +"Well," he said grimly, "I haven't found trying to get it very +amusing; but I can be in earnest in other matters." + +"So I suppose," responded Geraldine, turning over the music. "Here's +something that might please you. Will you light the candles?" + +Her amiability had cost her an effort, and it grew harder as she +opened the song. It was pointed with witty coquetry, and she hesitated +for a moment with a feeling of humiliation, though she meant to play +out her part. Andrew and his friends were in peril in the icy wilds; +somehow they were at the mercy of this cruel, gross-natured man; and, +hateful as her task was, she must not shrink. She thought he could be +led on to betray himself. Tingling with shame, she sang with all the +fire and art she could command, and Mappin was swept off his feet. + +Music had no great charm for him, but the ballad was one he could +appreciate, and the girl's beauty had a stronger effect. The light of +the shaded candles fell on her face, which was slightly flushed, and +forced up gleams in her hair. She looked inexpressibly alluring; her +fine voice and arch smile well brought out the half-tender mockery of +the song. He noticed the supple shapeliness of her figure and the +polished whiteness of her skin, and his heart began to throb fast and +his eyes to glisten. Turning over a leaf, he came near shaking down +the music, and he drew back thrilled when she made a gesture of amused +rebuke. There was, he felt, something very friendly in it. + +When she stopped he leaned on the piano looking down at her, and +Geraldine knew that she had gone far enough. After having treated him +with cold indifference, she must not be too gracious, lest his +suspicions be aroused. The man was in her hands, but he was not a +fool. She hated him as she saw the crude desire in his face. + +"Thank you," he said hoarsely, and picked out another song at random. +"Won't you try this? I've never heard it." + +"No," she answered firmly; "not that one." + +It was the ballad which Andrew had told her helped to send him up into +the wilds where his duty lay. Henceforward it was sacred--not to be +sung to such a man as Mappin. + +"Why?" he demanded. + +"I sing that only to people who I know will appreciate it." + +"And you don't think I would?" + +"It strikes me as very doubtful," she said with a smile in which there +was a touch of scorn. + +His color deepened. She had shown signs of yielding, and how he +wondered whether she had after all been amusing herself with him. +Stirred as he was by passion he was in no reasoning mood; savage +jealousy filled his heart. + +"It's the kind of thing you keep for sentimental fools like Allinson!" +he exclaimed. + +Geraldine had expected some such outbreak. Indeed it was what she +desired. + +"Well," she said with a tenderness which was meant to disturb her +companion, "I sang it to him once." + +"It will be a long while before you sing it to him again!" + +The voice rang harsh with exultant fierceness and Geraldine knew that +she had gained her object in rousing the brute in him. She had learned +the truth--for whatever danger threatened her lover this man was +responsible. But there was more she must know. + +"As he's a friend of ours, you're not very considerate," she said. +"What makes you speak with so much certainty?" + +Mappin saw that he had been rash, and he was instantly on his guard. + +"It was a fool thing to go North in winter. It's no country for a raw +tenderfoot, and Allinson should have taken a stronger party. I know +something about transport work in the bush." + +"I suppose food would be their greatest difficulty," Geraldine +remarked with a thoughtful air. + +"No. Fresh snow and blizzards would trouble them worse." + +"Still, food would be a consideration," Geraldine persisted. "I know +they thought a good deal about the matter and had some caches made. If +they couldn't find them coming back, it would be serious, wouldn't +it?" + +Mappin's jealousy was heightened by her interest, but he regretted his +haste and meant to be cautious. Unfortunately for him, the charm +Geraldine had exercised had carried him away. He could not think as +clearly as usual. + +"The provisions were carefully packed and sent up in charge of good +men," he declared hotly. "They were properly cached; every precaution +was taken." + +"Were they your men?" + +Mappin glanced at her sharply, but read nothing in her face. He could +not evade the question without rousing suspicion. + +"Yes," he said; "that's why I know they could be relied on to do their +work." + +Geraldine sat silent a moment, struggling to preserve her calm. She +had found out what she wished to know. She understood now why Mappin +had insisted on the dangers of the journey and made light of the +question of food. He had, with scarcely conceivable cruelty, cut off +the party's supplies. Still, he must not suspect that she knew this. +With an effort she took up another piece of music. + +"We are anxious for news of the expedition, and it's comforting to +remember that they had an excellent guide," she said. "But I'll play +you something." + +Before the piece was finished, her father came in and she left him to +entertain their guest. Seeking her room she sat down, feeling suddenly +limp from strain. That she was humbled and ashamed did not matter; she +was filled, on the one hand, with hatred and loathing for the man she +had led on, and, on the other, with anxiety for Andrew. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE RESCUE PARTY + + +When Mappin left, Frobisher went to his smoking-room, where he was +surprised to find Geraldine waiting for him. + +"I think," he said with mock severity, "it was mean of you to leave +Mr. Mappin on my hands, particularly as I don't suppose his visit was +made on my account." + +"Did he bore you very badly?" Geraldine inquired. + +"We have had guests here whom I'd rather entertain; but for your +aunt's sake I try to be civil. After all, we have known the man for a +long while." + +"I feel that we have been very patient in putting up with him! He's +insufferable!" + +"Ah!" said Frobisher, taking out a cigar. "Then you didn't happen to +be here by accident? Sit down and we'll have a talk." + +Geraldine took the chair he indicated. + +"I have something to tell you," she said with an effort. "Mappin asked +me to marry him a little while ago." + +"It strikes me as curious that this is the first I've heard of it." + +"I was ashamed to tell you," Geraldine admitted, shyly. "I felt +degraded. Besides, you must have guessed----" + +"Yes. I had some idea of the man's ambitions; in my opinion, he's too +cold-blooded to be influenced by any more tender sentiment. We'll +take it for granted that you refused him. Nowadays it seems to be a +father's business to sanction and not to interfere; but I really think +if you had wanted to marry the fellow I'd have been as firm as +adamant. However, this is not to the purpose. Why do you tell me about +it now?" + +"You'll see presently. But try to remember that he has other feelings +than avarice. The man's unscrupulous and full of savage cruelty." + +"Well?" + +"To begin with, will you read this? It's from Ethel Hillyard, whom I +met in London. You have heard me speak of her." + +She gave him a letter containing sufficient information about the +house of Allinson to explain why Andrew had gone to Canada. His +character and his relations with Hathersage and the rest of the family +were cleverly sketched. Frobisher studied it carefully before he +looked up. + +"All this is not exactly new to me, though Miss Hillyard, who seems to +be a shrewd young lady, speaks strongly in Allinson's favor. From odd +things he let fall, I'd formed a pretty good idea of the situation. +Now that you have cleared the ground, you had better go on." + +"Father," said Geraldine, "so far, you have done nearly everything I +asked you, and that is why I'm not afraid to ask for something else. I +want you to send up a party to look for Mr. Allinson. He and the +others are in danger of starving in the snow." + +Frobisher looked at her searchingly, and she met his gaze for a +moment, though a flush crept into her face. + +"Well," he said simply, "he is a straight man." + +"And a friend of yours. But you will send him help at once?" + +"First of all, tell me why you think it is needful." + +Geraldine spent some time over the explanation and concluded: + +"You must see that their safety depends on their finding the +provisions, and Mappin has had the caches made at the wrong places." + +For the next few minutes Frobisher sat silent, the smoke curling up +from his neglected cigar, while Geraldine watched him in suspense. + +"You have reasoned the matter out remarkably well," he said, "and it +strikes me that you're near the truth. However, I don't understand how +you led Mappin into making the dangerous admissions that gave you a +clue; he's a brute, but I thought him a cunning one. Perhaps I'd +better not inquire." + +Geraldine's embarrassment was obvious and there were signs of +amusement on her father's face. + +"After all," he resumed, "when you play a game for high stakes with a +man like Mappin, you can't be fastidious." + +"But what about the relief party?" Geraldine asked. + +"I think the situation is serious enough to need one. I'll drive over +to the Landing and see about it the first thing to-morrow." + +He got up, and as he reached the door Geraldine, following, put her +arms about his neck and kissed him. Then she went past swiftly and +vanished down the passage. + +The next morning Frobisher learned that Mappin had gone east by an +early train and that there was not a man capable of undertaking a +difficult journey into the wilds disengaged. Mappin had hired all the +available choppers and packers and sent them into the bush to cut some +lumber he required for his railroad contract. Frobisher could not +determine whether this had been done with the object of preventing +their being employed on a relief expedition, but it looked suspicious. +Being in a difficulty, he called on the owner of the sawmill and told +him as much as he thought advisable. + +"As it happens, I can help you," said the lumber-man. "There are two +or three fellows on our pay roll whom we haven't much work for at +present, though we'll need them later. They're good bushmen, and I +might raise one or two more by sending up to our logging camp." + +"Thanks," said Frobisher; "it will be a favor. It's lucky I thought of +coming to you." + +"Never mind that. I feel that I ought to help Graham out: he's an old +and valued servant. But I don't see how you are interested in the +thing." + +Frobisher smiled. + +"It's one's duty to help a fellow creature who's in serious danger. +Then I believe I may call myself a friend of Allinson's." + +"There's a point to be considered. The most likely place to meet the +party would be in the neighborhood of the food caches. You intimate +that there's a risk of Allinson's missing them; but he must have a +rough idea as to about where they are. As Mappin's out of town, +wouldn't it be well to wire and ask him exactly where they were to be +made?" + +"On the whole, I'd rather get the information from Mrs. Graham. No +doubt she knows her husband's plans." + +The mill-owner gave him a searching glance. He was a shrewd man and +suspected that there was a good reason for his visitor's preference. + +"Yes," he said pointedly, "that might be wiser." + +"There may have been some misunderstanding about the precise location +of the caches," Frobisher explained. "Mrs. Graham will know where her +husband meant them to be made--which of course is the most important +thing." + +"Just so," agreed the other. "Excuse me for a few minutes." + +He went out, and returning a little later announced that three men +would be ready to start up-river during the afternoon and that some +more from the logging camp would follow in a few days. Frobisher left +him and, after calling on Mrs. Graham, went to the store, where he +ordered a quantity of provisions to be prepared. It was evening when +he reached home. Finding Geraldine waiting for him, he smiled at her +as he took off his furs. + +"I've had a busy day, but I've got things satisfactorily fixed," he +said. + +"You have found men to take up provisions?" Geraldine asked eagerly. + +"Better than that," replied Frobisher. "I've sent them off." + +Seeing the pleasure in his daughter's face, he nodded reassuringly and +left her. + +The relief expedition had orders to lose no time. Two of the men, as +it happened, had themselves narrowly escaped starvation in the wilds, +and their experience led them to urge the pace. It was afterward +admitted that they made an excellent march, which was fortunate, +because a few hours meant much to the starving men. + +As Andrew crouched at the side of the rock, half-dazed with fatigue +and want of food, it was a moment or two before he could believe that +he was not the victim of a disordered imagination as he stared at the +three figures on the hillslope. But the figures moved and grew more +distinct. He could not doubt that they were men, and they were coming +up the hill! With his heart beating painfully fast, he staggered up +and raised a wild, hoarse cry. + +It was answered. One of the men waved to him. They came on faster, +though he could see that they were heavily loaded, stumbling now and +then in their haste. He could not imagine what had brought them into +the wilds, but they were obviously well supplied, and he could +purchase their provisions and recompense them for an abandoned +journey. When they were close to him, the leader stopped a moment and +called back to the others: + +"We've struck it right! It's Mr. Allinson!" + +Andrew, recognizing the man, whom he had seen at the Landing, stumbled +forward and shook hands with him. + +"I'm uncommonly glad to see you; but what brought you here?" he cried. + +"Where's the rest of you?" the other asked. + +"Carnally's down the hill somewhere; Graham's in camp beyond the gap." + +The man looked relieved. + +"That's good. We felt scared when we saw you were alone. Thought we +might have come too late, though we hurried some." + +"Then you knew we were here?" + +"Sure! Frobisher sent us up with provisions for you. We made a few +caches as we came along, and there ought to be three more of the boys +on the trail behind us. You don't want to worry; we'll see you down." + +Andrew felt shaky. Relief had come so unexpectedly; his troubles were +over. But there was more than this. Frobisher had despatched the men; +he might have done so at his daughter's request; at least it showed a +very friendly feeling. Andrew began to wonder how Frobisher could have +known he needed help; but this was a matter of much less importance, +and he turned to the packers. + +"If one of you would go down the next spur and look for Carnally, I'd +be glad," he said. "I expect he's near the river and he's pretty +hungry." + +A man threw off his load and set off rapidly downhill, while Andrew +climbed with the others toward the neck, scarcely able to keep on his +feet. His companions slackened their pace and glanced at him +compassionately. Crossing the gap, they saw the light of Graham's fire +in the gathering dusk, and when they neared the belt of timber Andrew +waved his hand to a dark figure that appeared in an opening among the +trunks. + +"No more trouble!" he cried. "Help has arrived!" + +A few minutes later Graham shook hands with the newcomers, whom he +knew. + +"Boys," he said hoarsely, "now that I see who you are, I know you made +good time; and you hadn't much to spare. When did you leave?" + +One of them told him, and he and Andrew looked astonished, while the +packer laughed. + +"We certainly hustled," he said with a deprecatory air. "But I've been +four years at the mill and never had trouble over charging my time. +Your pay-sheet was square." + +"That's so," agreed his companion. "They might have laid me off a +while last summer when we ran out of logs, but Mr. Graham fixed it so +I kept my job." + +Andrew smiled at Graham, who looked confused. + +"If you do these things, you must take the consequences; but I've met +people with shorter memories." + +"Anyhow, we've got here ahead of the logging crowd and I'm mighty +glad," said the first packer. "Those fellows think nobody can break a +trail unless he lives in the woods. Now you sit by quiet while we get +supper." + +Before the meal was ready Carnally arrived with the man who had gone +to look for him, and the party feasted royally. When they had +finished, Carnally sighed with deep content. + +"I just don't want to move," he remarked. "I feel most too good to +talk; but if the rest of you have anything to say, I'll try to +listen." + +"What's your program?" one of the men asked. "We have food enough to +take us down, going easy." + +"I want two days' rest," said Andrew. "Until they're up, we'll do +nothing but eat and lie about the fire and smoke." + +Carnally looked up lazily. + +"That sounds nice, but I'm going to locate Mappin's cache before we +start." + +The others began to talk to Graham, but Andrew did not know how long +they continued, for he was soon fast asleep. + +They broke camp on the third morning and when they crossed the neck +Carnally divided the party, which had been joined by the loggers. Some +he told to follow down one or two ravines at a distance, which he had +not searched, and then meet the others, who would work along the +ridge. Toward evening a man hailed him and Andrew from a slope some +way off, and when they joined him he led them into a deep hollow. In +the middle of it a small, barked fir projected from a snowy mound. + +"It's the kind of place you'd break a trail up if you were trying to +make the neck," the packer explained. + +"It looks a good road from here," Carnally assented. "We didn't get so +far along, but we'll climb up a piece." + +The hollow died out into a snow slope, and when they had walked on +farther they lost sight of it. Then Carnally stopped and carefully +looked about. + +"We might have struck that gulch first shot, but the chances were +against it; you can only see it from below. You want to remember that +the line the fellows who made the cache would take would depend on +where they left the big loop of the lower river. Mappin was smart +enough to see that. Now we'll have a look at the provisions." + +They proved to be sufficient in quantity and in excellent order when +the cache was opened; but Carnally had expected that. + +"I wonder how Mappin will feel when he sees us come marching in?" +Andrew said lightly. They could laugh now. + +"Not very comfortable, I'll promise you!" Carnally declared with a +glint in his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A BUSHMAN'S SATISFACTION + + +Andrew reached the Landing physically exhausted and troubled by a +heavy depression. The long-continued strain had left its mark on him, +for, having proposed the expedition, he felt responsible for the +safety of his friends; and his strength and endurance deserted him +shortly after the arrival of the rescue party. Relief had been +followed by a severe reaction, which left him limp and nerveless; and +the homeward march proved long and toilsome. As they had food, there +was no longer the same necessity for haste, but the rigor of the +weather forced the men to push on as fast as possible, and Andrew +found it difficult to emulate his rescuers' pace. Moreover, he was +seriously troubled about Graham, whose foot appeared to be getting +worse, and he was deeply disappointed with the result of his search. +He had found the lode, but, so far as he had been able to test it, the +ore did not promise much. + +Dusk was falling when they saw the lights of the settlement, and as +they passed the first house a man greeted them. After a word or two, +he ran on ahead; and the party, following slowly, worn with the march, +found most of the inhabitants gathering in the street. Eager helpers +took their packs from them and seized the traces of the sled; +questions and congratulations were showered on them, and, to Andrew's +annoyance, they entered the town in a triumphal procession. He was +plodding along, too tired and listless to notice the remarks of the +curious and sympathetic crowd, when Carnally touched his arm. + +"You can go straight to the hotel," he said. "I'll take Graham home." + +"No," said Andrew firmly; "that's my business and it can't be shirked. +You might send the doctor." + +Carnally disappeared among the crowd and Andrew went on, shrinking +from the meeting with his comrade's wife, though when the time came he +found it less trying than he had feared. As they turned into a side +street there was a shout: + +"Make room; let her pass! It's Mrs. Graham!" + +The men in the traces stopped and Graham spoke to them. + +"You might help me up, boys." + +They got him on his feet and fell back as a woman hurried toward him. +She flung her arms about his neck and it was several moments before +she saw Andrew. + +"We have brought him back, but I'm afraid he's a little the worse for +wear," he said. + +"You have brought him back!" she cried. "That is the greatest thing." + +Graham walked along with her for a few yards, and then stopped, his +face contorted. + +"If you don't mind, I'll finish the journey on the sled. My foot's +rather sore." + +When they reached his house, he insisted on getting up, and after +telling Andrew to follow, limped in unhelped, but he sat down heavily +on a couch. + +"I suppose this moccasin had better come off now, though it's going to +give me trouble," he said with a rueful smile. + +"No," advised Andrew, "not until the doctor comes; he should be here +directly. I'd like to see him, Mrs. Graham, but you'll want to talk to +your husband. May I wait in the other room?" + +She let him go and he spent an anxious half-hour. He heard the doctor +arrive and Mrs. Graham hurry about the house--getting water and +bandages, he thought. Then there was silence for a while, until the +doctor entered the room where he was sitting. + +"His foot's in a very bad state," he reported. "There's some risk of +mortification, though I think it can be averted. I'll be able to tell +you more in a day or two." + +"Do you know of any surgeon in Winnipeg or Toronto you would like to +bring out?" + +"There's a good man in Winnipeg, which is much nearer. On the whole, +it might be advisable to get his opinion." + +"Then wire for him," said Andrew, "and send for a trained nurse if one +can be had." + +The doctor left and Andrew rose as Mrs. Graham came in. + +"I'm afraid you'll find it hard to forgive me," he said. + +Mrs. Graham looked troubled. + +"I must try to be fair. You are really not to blame; even if he hadn't +met you, he would have gone to look for the lode some day. Then I'm +confident you took every care of him. But, after all----" + +"I know," Andrew sympathized. "He was well and strong when I took him +away, and I have brought him back disabled. That can't be got over." +He paused and resumed in a diffident tone: "I feel responsible. There +are things I can't put right--your distress, the pain your husband +suffers, his regret at being laid up helpless while his foot gets +better--but I must insist on making what amends are in my power. I +think you understand." + +"Yes." Mrs. Graham gave him a grateful glance. "But we'll talk of that +later." Then she smiled. "He sent you a message--you are to mail the +specimens to an assayer the first thing." + +"I'll do so," Andrew promised, turning toward the door. "I'll come +back and see how he's getting on early to-morrow." + +On reaching the hotel he sought Carnally. + +"Jake," he said, "you might fix things with the packers; give them any +bonus you think fit over regulation wages. Then, because we owe them +more than we can pay in money, you had better get up a supper and +dance they could bring their wives to." + +"It's a good idea! They'll like that. I'll see about it to-morrow. I +need a rest to-night, and there's a job I want to be fit for in the +morning." + +Andrew was too weary to ask him what it was and after sending a +message to Frobisher and getting supper he went off to bed. Rising +late the next day, he went to Graham's and then took a sleigh drive, +and by doing so missed a scene which caused some sensation in the +town. + +About the middle of the morning Mappin was sitting in his office, +which was situated above a store opposite the second-class hotel. The +hotel was full, for some loggers had come in the previous night, and a +number of railroad carpenters, whose work had been interfered with by +a snowstorm, were staying there. Mappin had heard of Andrew's return +and he was in a thoughtful mood, though he had so far avoided meeting +with any of the party. He could not, however, continue to do so, and +he felt that he might as well get the interview with Allinson over as +soon as possible. Even if Allinson suspected treachery, he had no +proof, and the worst charge he could make would be one of +carelessness. On the whole, it had been a relief to see that the man +had escaped: he had acted in the heat of passion when he cut off his +supplies and had afterward experienced a twinge of remorse. Mappin +felt that he was a match for the fellow, and he had gone a needless +length in plotting to destroy him. + +He was thinking over the matter when he heard some one ask for him in +the store, through which it was necessary to pass to reach his office. +Then there were footsteps on the stairs and he looked up in surprise +as Carnally came in. It was Allinson he had expected to see. + +Carnally was smartly dressed, and though his face was thin and worn it +wore a look of satisfaction that puzzled Mappin. + +"Where's your boss this morning?" Mappin inquired. "I've been waiting +for him." + +"At Graham's," said Carnally, sitting down. "I've come instead. Mr. +Allinson's got into a habit of leaving matters to me. There are things +I do better than he can. I'm not so fastidious as he is." + +"Then let me know what you want." + +"It's about those provisions you sent up. Mr. Allinson told you where +to make the caches?" + +"Yes; I carefully put it down." + +"Got the paper or the notebook?" + +"I can't say where the notebook is, but I believe I could find it." + +Carnally smiled, as if he were enjoying the situation. + +"If you produce the book, it will be because it doesn't agree with +what Mr. Allinson says he told you; but that wouldn't prove much. +You're capable of writing down what you meant to do and not what he +said. If you're not able to find it, the reason is that you thought of +the trick you played us after you saw him." + +"Then you didn't find the provisions I sent as easily as you +expected?" + +"No; you know we didn't." + +Mappin had plenty of courage. + +"Well, what about it?" he asked with a little smile of scorn. + +"I know the hand you're playing from; it's a pretty good one. Mr. +Allinson believes he gave you orders to make the caches in certain +places; you contend he told you somewhere else, and there was nobody +about when you were talking to decide the thing. Somehow an +unfortunate mistake was made." + +"It looks like that," said Mappin, feeling uneasy at the man's ready +acquiescence in the situation. + +"Sure thing!" Carnally cheerfully assented. "You fixed it all so +neatly that you left only one way of getting after you; but I won't +grumble, because it's the one I like." He rose and his expression +changed. "The mistake you meant to make came mighty near starving +three men to death. Stand up and answer for it, you blasted hog!" + +"So that's your line?" + +Mappin did not move as he rapidly considered his course. Overbearing +as he was, he did not often give way to anger unless his passions were +strongly roused. A brawl with Carnally could lead to no useful result, +and it would attract undesirable attention. + +"You have hit it first time! Got feet, haven't you? You seem to want +some stirring up!" Carnally reached for an inkwell and flung it across +the office at Mappin's head. "Sorry I missed," he said. "But I've +spoiled your clothes." + +Mappin rose with a savage frown. + +"Do you mean to go on with this fooling?" + +"Sure!" replied Carnally. "If I can't wake you any other way, I'll +fire your office fixings out of the window. Guess that will bring the +boys around and I'll be glad to tell them what the trouble's about." + +A heavy account-book, deftly thrown, swept Mappin's desk, scattering +pens and papers across the room. Seeing that a struggle was +unavoidable, he sprang forward. Caution had hitherto held him back, +but his patience had its limits, and he was the heavier man. He missed +Carnally with his first two blows, but the third took effect with +sledge-hammer force, flinging him back upon the office-table, and +during the next few minutes Carnally gasped and dodged. He saw that he +must try to wear out his antagonist, and he watched his chance before +he clinched. For a while they grappled in the middle of the floor, +swaying, breaking ground with heavy feet, striking when they could; +and then as Mappin freed himself the door was flung open and the +storekeeper and several of his customers ran in. + +"Hold on!" he cried. "What's the trouble? I thought you were coming +through my ceiling!" + +Carnally looked around, flushed and breathless. + +"Stand back! This business has to be got through, with! It's pretty +well known that the fellow's smart at stealing his boys' time, but he +took on too big a contract when he played a low-down trick on me." He +turned to Mappin. "Are you ready, you fat swine, or must I fire you +down the stairs?" + +"Leave them to it," advised a big logger with an appreciative grin. +"I'll put a dollar on the bushman!" + +"You're wrecking the place!" objected the storekeeper, indicating the +dislodged stove, from which thick smoke was pouring, and a broken +chair. + +"That doesn't matter," Carnally replied. "Mappin can meet the bill. He +seems a bit slow in moving: they've been too liberal with the corn." + +One or two of the men laughed; but Mappin looked dangerous. The +struggle that occupied the next few minutes was a determined and +strenuous one, and the spectators watched it with frank delight. +Mappin was powerful and could use his strength, but he had lived +indulgently, a prey to his appetites. Carnally lived for the most part +in the wilds, and hard toil and plain fare had toughened him. +Moreover, as a matter of necessity, he frequently taxed his endurance +to the limit, and this stood him in good stead now. He was quicker +than his enemy, and recovered sooner; when they broke away from a +grapple he was the fresher. + +Mappin began to show distress. He panted hard, his face grew suffused, +the perspiration dripped from him. His collar had burst open, and his +torn sleeve hung loose about his arm; he looked strangely brutish and +his eyes had a murderous expression. By comparison, Carnally seemed +cool. His thin, brown face was quietly intent, resolute without +passion; he fought cautiously, avoiding his antagonist's furious +rushes, breaking away from an occasional grapple. Endurance was his +strongest point, and he meant to tire his man. Mappin, guessing this, +saw the advisability of bringing the struggle to a speedy conclusion. +He clinched again, trying to throw his agile opponent by sheer force, +and for a moment or two Carnally seemed helpless in his grasp. He +could not get free and Mappin drove him backward across the narrow +floor, while the spectators, who had increased in number, looked on in +tense excitement. + +In the West personal combat is hampered by few of the rules of the +boxing ring; but there is a rough notion of fair play and there are +limits which may not be exceeded. Thus when Carnally, driven hard +against the edge of the table, seemed to grow limp, there was a shout +of protest as Mappin, reaching out with free right arm, seized a heavy +poker from the wood-box. He was ready to strike when Carnally, +realizing his peril, rallied his strength for a decisive effort. The +poker struck the table with a resounding crash. Carnally secured a +firm hold before Mappin recovered his shaken balance, and lifted him +from his feet. He lurched forward, while the spectators scattered, and +reeling through the doorway plunged down the stairs. + +Mappin was undermost. He struck the steps half-way down, but it did +not stop them. They rolled into the store amid a confused outcry. None +of those who watched could tell whether Mappin scrambled up or +Carnally lifted him from the floor, but in a moment they were on their +feet, Carnally driving the other toward the door. With a last effort +he hurled him backward, and Mappin went down headlong into the snow. + +He got up in a half-dazed manner and Carnally leaned against the +doorpost, breathing hard and regarding him with a grim smile. + +"You can do what you like about it, but if you're wise, you'll keep +out of my sight," he said. "It won't hurt me to let people know what +made the trouble." + +Carnally turned back into the store and sat down on a barrel, hot, +disheveled, and generally the worse for wear. + +"It's a long while since I felt so good, boys," he grinned. + +Mappin slunk away to his hotel, knowing that a grave misfortune had +befallen him. He was a hard master and accustomed to get more than the +full equivalent of their wages out of his men, but in this his +overbearing manner had assisted his cunning. In logging camps and on +new roads, courage and muscular strength command respect; but now that +he had been ignominiously thrown out of the store before a derisive +crowd, his prestige had gone. Henceforward there would be serious risk +of his mutinous subordinates following Carnally's example. + +The man, however, was far from a coward. It would be pleasanter to +leave the town, where he was not held in much esteem, until the matter +blew over, and he had work going on in other places; but he did not +mean to run away from Allinson. The latter, of course, now understood +that he had been tricked over the location of the food caches, and +Mappin wondered what he would do. It was, however, obvious that there +was no really effective course open to Allinson. Carnally had been +shrewd enough to take the only possible means of obtaining redress, +but his primitive methods were not likely to be adopted by his +employer. + +After removing the signs of battle, so far as he could, from his +clothes and person, Mappin returned to his office and spent the day +there, waiting for a visit from his rival. Allinson, however, did not +come; it looked as though he meant to do nothing, and this caused +Mappin some uneasiness. The man was cleverer and perhaps, more to be +feared than he had thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FRESH PLANS + + +Geraldine Frobisher, sitting by the hearth in her drawing-room, +glanced compassionately at Andrew. He looked gaunt and very weary, and +she noticed a significant slackness in his pose. There was no one else +in the room; the lamps were lighted and a log fire diffused a pleasant +glow and an aromatic odor. + +"You are quiet to-night," she said. + +Andrew looked up with a deprecatory smile. + +"I fear I'm disgracefully dull; but I don't seem able to think of +anything except that it's very pleasant to be here again." + +"You consider that a good excuse?" + +"I can't judge; I felt that I needed one. In fact, I don't know what +is the matter with me since I came down-river." + +Geraldine had some idea; a glance at the man supplied an explanation. + +"You are worn out, for one thing," she answered sympathetically. + +He mused for a few moments, and the girl was not displeased. From the +first she had felt on curiously confidential terms with him. He was +direct and sincere and, though by no means shallow, he seldom puzzled +her. + +"No," he said, "it's not altogether that. We had a rather bad time +before the relief party arrived, but I felt up to my work--anxious, of +course, but not troubled by the slackness that has since got hold of +me. All this, however, isn't of much consequence. I'm very grateful to +you and your father for sending help--we were in a very tight place +when it came. But I don't understand how you knew we needed it." + +Geraldine looked down, to hide her confusion. + +"I wonder why you associate me with my father?" + +"I can't tell you clearly, but I feel that you had something to do +with the matter. Indeed, it made the relief more welcome. But you +haven't given me an explanation." + +"Do you understand why you failed to find the food?" + +"Yes," said Andrew grimly. "I've a suspicion that you know as much +about it as I do, though it's hard to see how you came by the +knowledge." + +Geraldine looked up with a forced smile. He must not guess how she had +led Mappin to betray himself. + +"It is rather astonishing, isn't it? The search gave you trouble, and +you have some respect for your thinking powers." + +"I've more respect for Carnally's; he found the clue. But he was on +the spot." + +"And I was handicapped by being at home? Do you know I sometimes think +I'm not altogether stupid?" + +"You're exceptionally clever," said Andrew warmly. "You have a gift +for seizing on the truth and sticking to it. I think it's because the +truth is in you that you recognize it. That's different from +smartness." + +She checked him with a gesture of mocking rebuke. + +"You should have learned that I don't expect you to pay me labored +compliments." + +"It wasn't labored; I believe it was a flash of insight," Andrew +declared. He glanced at her face and laughed, looking baffled. + +There was silence for the next few moments. Geraldine knew what the +man thought of her, but she approved of the respectful diffidence he +generally displayed. Now that he was safe, she preferred that they +remain on a purely friendly footing for a time; he was hers, but she +shrank with a fluttering timidity from an open surrender. It was not +difficult to repulse him gently when he grew too bold. Nevertheless +his wan and downcast appearance roused a deep and tender pity. She +longed to hear his troubles and comfort him. + +"You suddenly changed the subject we began," she said. "Were you not +going to tell me why you feel depressed?" + +"Something of the kind," replied Andrew. "It didn't seem a very happy +topic." + +"That was a mistake," declared Geraldine reproachfully. "You shouldn't +have doubted my interest, and it lightens one's troubles to confide in +a friend." + +Andrew, in his dejected mood, felt a longing for sympathy and +encouragement. + +"Well," he said, "failure is hard to bear, and I've a strong suspicion +that I've undertaken more than I'm able to carry out. So far, I've +made a deplorable mess of things. We reached the neighborhood of the +lode with no time to search the ground, and, for all the results we +got, we might as well have stayed at home." + +"But it's something to have proved that the lode exists." + +"I'm not sure it's worth proving. The value of the ore is the most +important point, because a mine could not be worked up there unless it +was very rich. Then there's a risk of Graham's being lamed for life. +Mappin has beaten us badly at the beginning of the fight." + +"It's only a small reverse. You would not use the means he employed. +They were infamous!" + +"The trouble is that other opponents I shall have to meet may use +similar methods, and unless I do the same, I'll be further +handicapped. As it happens, I'm carrying weight enough already." + +Geraldine looked thoughtful. + +"In a way, you're right. I've learned something about the situation." + +"If we had proved the lode to be rich, I should have had something to +fall back on; but I've failed. Now I must attack strong vested +interests, with the whole influence of my conservative relatives +against me. My chief antagonist enjoys a high prestige, and has made +an excellent profit on the money handed him." Andrew laughed in a +rueful manner. "And I'm the fool of the family, who has lately taken +to upsetting a very satisfactory state of affairs. Can you imagine the +surprise and disgust of everybody concerned?" + +"But your people are upright, aren't they?" + +"Oh, yes; there's no doubt of that. But, with one or two unimportant +exceptions, they're conventional and prejudiced. They believe in what +they see; the prosperity of Allinson's, the dividends coming in. They +distrust anything that seems out of the usual course, and they +couldn't bring themselves to think there should be anything wrong with +the firm. I, whom they good-naturedly look down on, have to convince +them to the contrary." + +"It will be hard; one can understand that. But the feeling of +helplessness that troubles you now will pass. You must remember that +you have borne enough to exhaust you." + +"My body's tired," Andrew admitted. "One can get over that. The real +difficulty is that my mind feels sick." + +"Is there no connection between the two?" Geraldine smiled at him. +"You make me think it's the first time you have had any serious +difficulties." + +"That's true. It looks as if there were some benefit in being dull. +You're saved a good deal of trouble if you don't notice things." + +"I didn't mean that," Geraldine objected. "You're not really dull, you +know." + +"Then I'm something like it. But you don't think I've been foolish in +starting on this campaign?" + +"No!" said Geraldine promptly. "I think you are doing what is fine! +You must go on; I want you to win. The difficulties won't look so +serious if you attack them one by one, and it must be worth something +to have the right on your side. There is so much injustice everywhere +and few people seem to mind. No doubt it's dangerous to interfere, but +it's encouraging to find a man here and there who is not afraid." + +She looked up at a sound and saw her father standing in the doorway. + +"One here and there?" smiled Frobisher. "You're not exacting. In +France, they once asked for a hundred men who knew how to die, and +found them in one southern town." + +Geraldine's color was higher than usual, but she laughed. + +"I suppose I am a bit of a sentimentalist; but you're too cynical. I +don't see why you should be proud of your detached and critical +attitude. You look on as if the sight of people struggling amused +you." + +"I don't think I really am proud of it, but perhaps there's something +to be said for the intelligent spectator who knows his limitations and +is content with trying to see fair play. However, I came to take +Allinson away for a smoke. If I leave him to you, you'll be sending +him off on some new chivalrous adventure." + +Seeing that his host was waiting for him, Andrew rose, but as he +reached the door Geraldine looked at him with a smile. + +"What I said was rather crude, but I meant it." + +"She generally does mean things; it's a habit that has its drawbacks," +Frobisher said, as he led Andrew to his smoking-room, where he gave +him a cigar and pointed to an easy-chair. + +"What are you going to do about Mappin?" the American asked bluntly. + +"Nothing. As he has only to deny what I told him to clear himself, +there's no means of punishing him. I can't see any use in making a +fuss that can have no result. It would simply show I was the weaker +party." + +"You're wise," Frobisher agreed. Then his eyes twinkled. "Carnally, +however, seems to have seen a way out of the difficulty. You haven't +heard what happened at the settlement?" + +"No; I hired a sleigh and went for a drive. After that I slept until I +came here. I tried to keep out of people's way." + +"You missed a dramatic scene at the store. I'm told Carnally threw +Mappin downstairs and out into the snow." + +Andrew shook his head dubiously. + +"It's a pity, but I might have been prepared for something of the +kind. I can hardly grudge him any satisfaction he derived from it." + +"It was a good stroke; Mappin will find it damaging." + +"But I understood he was a friend of yours," Andrew said with some +awkwardness. + +"He came to my house. I put up with him, which I think describes it +best, though I fail to see much reason for doing so any longer. But +what are you going to do about the lode?" + +"Go back and investigate it thoroughly. We'll wait until the spring." + +"Then you mean to proceed with your scheme? I see trouble, but I +mustn't discourage you. Now I guess the situation warrants some +candor. Has it struck you that Mappin is working hand in hand with +your brother-in-law?" + +"I'm afraid it's true." Andrew's face was grave. "You can see how it +complicates things." + +"But you mean to go on?" + +"I must," said Andrew simply. + +Frobisher leaned forward and touched his arm. + +"You have grit, Allinson. It will be a tough fight, but I feel that +you'll make good." + +He changed the subject abruptly, and they talked of other matters +until they went back to the drawing-room. Some time afterward there +was a knock at the door, and Geraldine, opening it, held out a +telegram to Andrew. + +"It's from the assayer; I left word at the settlement for the message +to be sent on," he explained. "You will excuse my opening it?" + +"Of course," said Geraldine. "May it bring you good news!" + +Andrew tore open the envelope, and there was an exultant tone in his +voice as he read out: + +"_Specimens unpromising._" + +Frobisher and Geraldine looked puzzled. + +"But you seem satisfied," the girl said. + +"I am. I asked the man to let me have his general opinion as soon as +he could; he's to send a regular analysis later. He has been quick, +but perhaps he has some rough preliminary test." + +"But he tells you they're unpromising!" + +"I'm beginning to think Mr. Allinson is a bit of a genius," Frobisher +observed. "No doubt he'll explain his mysterious proceedings." + +"I gave the man a three-word code, reversing the meaning, and his +answer puts the quality of the ore, so to speak, in the comparative +degree. It shows that we have struck the edge of the lode, and careful +prospecting should give us better results." + +He broke off, standing still, the message in his hand and a look of +marked relief in his face, and Frobisher turned to his daughter. + +"It was a maxim of Napoleon's that one should use every means of +misleading the enemy, and Mr. Allinson seems to know that telegrams +are handled rather casually in these small places. A mineral claim +doesn't belong to its discoverer until it's duly staked off and +recorded; and if all the formalities are not complied with it can be +jumped." + +He was called away a few minutes later, and Andrew took his place by +the hearth with Geraldine sitting opposite him. + +"I'm very glad you got such good news," she said, with a curious +softness in her voice. + +"Thank you. It was you who brought it to me; but that wasn't all you +did. I came here dejected, and now I'm cheerful again." + +"But that isn't surprising, after the message." + +"It wasn't the message. I was bracing up before it came; you and your +father made me feel that I needn't despair. In fact, I was getting +ashamed of being downcast, after the confidence you seemed to have in +me." + +Geraldine smiled at him. + +"Ah!" she said. "It must need a good deal of courage to lead a forlorn +hope, and one could imagine that your undertaking looked like that. It +must be much pleasanter to feel that you have some chance of winning. +But what will you do next?" + +"Go home, I think. I want to see how I stand there." + +"For long?" Geraldine asked quietly. + +"No; for a month or so. I shall be eager to get back." Andrew paused +and asked with a hint of tension in his voice: "Will I be missed?" + +"Of course!" Geraldine looked up with friendly candor. "But will you +be able to make the double journey and do all that's needful in a few +weeks?" + +Andrew felt gently rebuffed. Geraldine had a way of checking him when +he tried to draw closer to her, and her unembarrassed frankness was +deterring. + +"I'll try," he said doggedly. + +Frobisher came in then, and they chatted about various matters until +Andrew took his leave. When he reached his hotel he wrote a letter +home, announcing his return, and the next morning he had a long talk +with Carnally, whom he empowered to act as his deputy while he was in +England. Then he went to Graham's and found the Winnipeg surgeon +leaving. His report was favorable: Graham's foot could be saved, +though it would be some time before he recovered the use of it. + +Andrew was shown into a room where his comrade lay on a couch. + +"I've heard the news and I'm very glad," he said. "I was troubled +about you." + +"You couldn't hide it." Graham smiled at him. "It wasn't your fault I +got frost-bitten, anyway. But have you heard about the specimens?" + +"Yes; the first report's encouraging. Of course, I haven't learned the +full results yet." + +Graham's eyes glistened, and he moved into a comfortable pose with a +look of deep content. + +"That's good. Now I must try to get about again as soon as possible." + +"There's no hurry. As you know, you needn't go back to the mill until +you're able. Then as Carnally and I know where the lode is, it isn't +strictly necessary that you should come with us." + +"Isn't it! I've been thinking about that lode for twenty years, and do +you suppose I could let another man locate it? Besides, we must stake +three claims on the best frontage." + +"That would be better; but what about Mrs. Graham? Haven't you given +her enough anxiety?" + +Graham looked disturbed. + +"I can't predict what line she'll take, but I venture to believe +she'll let me go, knowing I'll be satisfied for good when I have +finished my work." + +Andrew told him about his trip home and the arrangements he had made +with Carnally, and left soon afterward. During the next week he came +in daily and spent two evenings with the Frobishers, and then he left +the Landing early one morning by the Montreal express. + +The Atlantic passage was short and uneventful, and late one afternoon +he alighted from a local train at a wayside station among the English +hills. Wannop and Hilda were waiting on the platform, and after the +first greetings were over, the girl regarded her brother critically. + +"Andrew," she exclaimed, "you haven't come back the same! How did you +get those lines on your forehead?" + +"Are there some?" Andrew asked with a smile. "I suppose I was anxious +now and then. Not knowing whether you'll get enough to eat makes one +think." + +Hilda shook her head. + +"No; that's not it. My dear boy, you have been _developing_ since you +went to Canada." + +"If you're right," laughed Andrew, "it was getting time I did; but +you're standing in the way of the baggage truck." + +They moved on, and when they drove off in Wannop's trap Andrew sat +silent for a while, looking about delightedly. It was open weather; by +comparison with the Canadian cold, the air was soft and mild. A gray +sky hung above the hills, but there was a glimmer of pale red and +saffron low in the west, and the rugged slopes, clothed with withered +fern, shone a rich, warm brown. Then they dipped into a valley which +struck Andrew, accustomed to the monotonous snow-glare, as wonderfully +green. The shining riband of a river wound through its midst; clover +growing among the stubble and broad strips of raw-red soil where +sheep, netted in, stood about the turnip-cutters, checkered the +pasture land. They passed climbing woods where the leafless branches +formed blurs of blue and gray; and here and there a white thread of +foaming water streaked the heights above. + +It was a countryside that Andrew loved, but now, while softly +beautiful, it looked strangely small--a narrow green strip, shut in by +lofty moors. Then there were many tall hedgerows and big stone walls; +one could not wander there at will. The wide horizons and the +limitless stretch of trackless woods were missing. It was curious, +Andrew thought, with what content he had once searched stubble and +turnips for partridges, and stood with gun ready outside the woods +from which the pheasants broke on clattering wings. Now all that +seemed tame; he had lost his zest for it in a sterner chase. + +Hilda broke in upon his reflections. + +"You haven't spared me much attention yet," she said. "How do you +think I'm looking?" + +"Now that I think of it, you're growing rather pretty; though that is +what I expected." + +"I'm aware of it." Hilda made him the best curtsey that space allowed. +"But don't you notice that I'm looking more mature and intellectual?" + +"Steady!" Wannop cautioned. "You nearly knocked the whip out of my +hand. Keep that kind of thing for the ballroom--it's wasted on your +brother." + +"The maturity didn't strike me; but you used to show signs of +intelligence now and then," Andrew answered. + +"Perhaps it's better to be pretty. Cleverness is open to any one who +is willing to study. But did you see any girl as nice-looking as I am +while you were in Canada?" + +"Even at the risk of giving offense, I can think of one--though of +course beauty is largely a matter of taste." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Hilda delightedly. "I had my suspicions! I suppose you +mean the girl who wrote to Ethel about you?" + +Andrew started and Wannop laughed. + +"I knew she was up to something. That is what she has been leading you +on to." + +"How did you hear about her?" Andrew asked. "Did Ethel tell you?" + +"As a matter of fact, she wasn't very communicative, but I elicited a +few scraps of information. It's surprising how one can follow up a +clue." + +"I suppose so," said Andrew. "Whether it leads you right or not is +another matter. I'm thankful I haven't your fervid imagination." + +"How he puts it off!" Hilda said to Wannop. "He's been learning +diplomacy in Canada." + +Wannop chuckled. + +"I always knew he wasn't a fool. But I wish you would keep still. The +horse is fresh and this is a steep bit of road." + +Hilda changed the subject, for she had learned enough from her +brother's start to give her food for thought. + +"Leonard will be down to-morrow with Florence," Wannop said when they +approached the house. "I suppose you'll have something to tell us. I +needn't remind you that if there's any difficulty you can count on +me." + +Andrew gave him a grateful nod, and a few minutes later they drove up +to Ghyllside. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +UNEXPECTED SUPPORT + + +The day after Andrew's return he was sitting in the library at +Ghyllside, waiting for dinner. Though a fire burned on the hearth by +which he lounged, cigarette in hand, two of the tall windows were open +and the air that flowed in was soft and muggy. He had spent most of +the day in shooting, and after a long walk across wet meadows and a +boggy moor he now felt very comfortable and somewhat drowsy. He would +have to bestir himself when the guests he expected arrived, and he was +enjoying a few minutes' rest. His cigarette was, however, only half +smoked when Wannop walked in. + +"As I didn't see you downstairs I came up to look for you; Gertrude's +with Hilda. Haven't Florence and Leonard arrived yet?" + +"Train seems to be late," Andrew replied. "I suppose I should have +gone to meet them, but I felt lazy." + +"Was that all?" + +"It wasn't my only reason. To tell the truth, I shirked the drive home +with Leonard. I'm a poor dissembler and our relations are rather +strained. It will be easier to meet him when there are others about." + +"They'll be on his side." + +"I expect so; but I'm not afraid of direct opposition. It's beating +about a delicate subject and trying to keep on safe ground that +bothers me." + +"I know; it's embarrassing. You won't be able to broach matters of any +importance to-night." + +"No. We'll have one or two outside people here and I want my +homecoming to be harmonious. We'll let things stand over till +to-morrow." + +"Feeling nervous about it?" Wannop suggested with a grin. + +"I'll confess that I do. It's the preliminary tussle, and I haven't +many backers." + +"You needn't be downhearted. I don't know that your people are +remarkably broad-minded, but they're straight--I'll say that even for +Robert. They'll come round if they think you're right. But don't be +apologetic; take a firm tone. Manner goes a long way and, after all, +you are the head of Allinson's." + +"The trouble is that I've allowed Leonard to usurp my place and he'll +be hard to depose." + +Andrew rose, for there were voices and footsteps below, and they went +down to meet the arriving guests. The hall was large and square, with +seats in recesses and one or two small tables and comfortable chairs +scattered about. Mrs. Fenwood had come with Robert Allinson, who shook +hands with Andrew heartily, though there was a hint of constraint in +his manner afterward. He was not quite satisfied with Andrew's conduct +before leaving England, and could not forget that his interference in +the matter of Mrs. Olcott's house had been thwarted. He regarded +Wannop, who was saying something humorous to Mrs. Fenwood, with a +suspicious eye. + +Then there was a rattle of wheels outside and Florence Hathersage came +in with Leonard. He expressed his pleasure at Andrew's safe return and +after a few friendly words hurried off to his room. When he came down +again three more guests arrived, and Andrew went eagerly to meet them. +Ethel Hillyard and Mrs. Olcott were foremost, and after welcoming them +Andrew turned toward a man with a lined, brown face, bearing the stamp +of the soldier. It was with marked cordiality that they shook hands. + +"It's good to see you, Tom," Andrew said. "I heard you had just got +home, and though it's an unhealthy country, you're looking very fit." + +"A little fever now and then, though I escaped fairly well," rejoined +the other with a friendly smile. "I have a good deal to say to you +when we get a chance." He lowered his voice as he added: "I'm deeply +grateful." + +The meeting had a dramatic interest to the onlookers. Every eye had +been fixed on the stranger. As he had come with Mrs. Olcott his +identity was obvious; and the good-will both men had shown had its +significance. Then Andrew led the Olcotts forward and presented them +to the elderly unmarried relative who managed his household and looked +after Hilda. Mrs. Olcott's color was slightly heightened, though she +smiled, for she understood the interest she had aroused and this was +her triumph. She had produced the husband whose absence had excited +comment and whose existence some had ventured to doubt. Moreover, he +was a man to be proud of, and nobody who had witnessed their meeting +could doubt that he was Andrew's trusted friend. Robert Allinson +looked at him earnestly and then turned to Leonard with a frown. He +was narrow and censorious, but he was just, and he felt that he had +been mistaken, or perhaps misled. + +They went in to dinner and Andrew sat at the head of his table, saying +enough to keep conversation going, but content to give Leonard the +lead. Considering how he stood toward his host, Hathersage showed +admirable tact. He skilfully turned every topic which might prove +difficult and kept the others on safe ground; he was witty in a +polished manner, but if anything a little too obviously at ease. For +the first time it struck one or two of the party with surprise that +there was something in Andrew's bearing which his more brilliant +brother-in-law lacked. The soldier from tropical Africa bore the same +elusive stamp of command, sincerity and steadfastness. Ethel Hillyard, +studying them carefully, decided that Leonard was, by comparison, +cheap and superficial. + +Still, it was largely due to his efforts that dinner was a pleasant +function without an awkward pause in it; and afterward the guests +dispersed through several rooms to amuse themselves. When Andrew found +a place by Ethel Hillyard in a recess in the hall, she surveyed him +with smiling scrutiny. + +"I think you did well in going to Canada," she said. "Though I can't +quite express what I mean, you look bigger." + +"As a matter of fact, I'm a good deal lighter." + +Ethel laughed. + +"Oh, well, I don't want to make you embarrassed! I believe you had a +trying time. Looking after the silver mine didn't prove as easy as you +expected?" + +"I don't remember what I expected, but I found it very difficult." + +"So I gathered. Antony Wannop seems to think the reforms you have in +view won't be popular. I suppose you have been summoned home to +explain?" + +"No," said Andrew; "I came. There's a difference." + +"It's marked," Ethel answered. "But we are old friends, Andrew; +follow your own bent, stick to your guns. Whatever plans you have +determined on will be fair. Once before I told you not to be daunted; +but it strikes me that you need less encouragement now." + +"Thank you," said Andrew. "I'm sorry I can't tell you much about the +matter. You see----" + +"It's a family affair, and after all I have my ideas. But you made +some new friends by the Lake of Shadows, didn't you?" + +"Yes; staunch ones. They showed their friendship in a very practical +way. That's something I owe to you; I suspect that you have been +prejudicing them in my favor." + +"Then you have a good opinion of Geraldine?" + +Andrew colored as he met her inquiring glance. + +"Yes," he said simply, "the highest I'm capable of forming." + +Ethel smiled rather curiously. Two or three years earlier she had +contemplated the possibility of Andrew's seeking her for his wife, but +her feelings had not been deeply stirred, and when she saw that she +had taken too much for granted she quietly submitted and retained a +very friendly interest in him. Now, however, there was something +grimly amusing in the thought that she had given him to Geraldine. + +"Well," she said, "I'm sure she merits it. But to speak of something +else, I'm glad you asked the Olcotts here." + +"That's another matter in which I'm indebted to you. What do you think +of Olcott? He sat next to you." + +"A delightful man." Ethel, who was direct and fearless, looked up at +her companion. "No one could doubt Mrs. Olcott's devotion to him, and +I think it's warranted." Then she rose. "You must have a good deal to +say to the others and I mustn't monopolize you." + +Andrew went to the smoking-room, which proved to be unoccupied, but as +he was leaving it Olcott came in. + +"I stole away and followed you," he said. "Sit down a minute and light +up." + +"Cigars in that drawer," said Andrew, lighting a cigarette. "Drinks in +the cupboard below." + +Olcott took out two glasses and filled them. + +"It's your house, but I feel at home." + +"So you ought!" + +Olcott raised his glass. + +"Here's to you, old friend, and may you get with full measure, as you +give! I can't wish you anything better." He put down his glass and +continued: "And now we'll proceed to business. As soon as I'd had a +talk with Clare I paid a check into your bank." + +"Sure it's convenient?" + +"Quite: I had my duties increased and, what was much less usual, a +corresponding increase of pay. I'd rather have come over when you were +alone, and I only got home yesterday, but Clare insisted on my +appearing to-night. Can you guess the reason?" + +"Yes." Andrew flushed but looked at his friend with steady eyes. "I +got very savage about the matter, and wondered whether I'd been in any +way to blame. Still, you left things pretty mixed when you went +away--your wife needed somebody to straighten them out, and I'm not a +tactful person." + +"I'd only a day or two's notice, and there wasn't time to arrange +matters properly. But it's hard to imagine that people who knew you +could be such credulous fools. I mustn't say anything stronger of your +relatives." + +"I don't think being my relatives makes them any brighter," Andrew +replied with a grin. "My father was the last genius in the family; +talent often skips a generation. But we'll let the matter drop." + +"If you find gratitude hard to put up with. It seems that your sister +Hilda has told Clare something about your adventures. You had some +rough experiences in Canada?" + +"One or two. I shouldn't imagine they were uncommon in West Africa." + +"You're right," returned Olcott grimly. "We must have a long talk; but +here's the clergyman coming in search of you and he looks as if he had +something important to say." + +He withdrew and Robert Allinson sat down with a confused but resolute +air. + +"Andrew," he said, "I have come to express my regret at having wronged +you by suspicions which I am now ashamed of." + +"After all, perhaps you had some excuse. I wasn't as careful as I +should have been; but I'm getting tired of the subject." + +"It's painful, but I must go on. I knew what a mistake I had made as +soon as I saw Olcott come in; but you don't understand yet how far my +suspicions led me. I felt it my duty to see Judson about Mrs. Olcott's +lease." + +"Ah! You mean you put the screw on him? I'm glad your plot seems to +have failed." + +"So am I," said Robert. "I'll confess that I was disappointed at first +and suspected Wannop of interfering. As you know, he's lax in his +views." + +"It's unfortunate the laxity you complain of isn't more common." +Andrew broke into a smile. "No doubt Wannop was too clever for you; +but I don't bear you any grudge. I believe you meant well, and good +intentions seem to excuse a good deal of harshness." + +"I did what I thought was my duty," Robert said with dignity, and +moved away. + +Shortly afterward Andrew entered the drawing-room, where he was +surprised to see Robert talking to Mrs. Olcott. The clergyman looked +unusually solemn and Mrs. Olcott's expression was resigned. Hilda, +joining her brother, glanced toward the other two. + +"Isn't he amusing?" she said with a soft laugh. "He's doing penance +and feeling as awkward as he deserves. No doubt Mrs. Olcott feels +horribly bored." + +"What do you know about the matter?" Andrew asked sharply. + +"More than you think. Robert believes he's making full amends by +countenancing Mrs. Olcott as he's doing. After this, of course, nobody +need fight shy of her." + +Andrew knew that reproof would be useless; Hilda would laugh at him. + +"Well," he said, "I've a higher opinion of Robert now than I've had +for some time." + +"He's pompous and silly," Hilda declared. "Sometimes I feel sorry for +him, sometimes he makes me positively wicked; but after all he has his +good points. For one thing, he's not afraid." + +She went away when Andrew joined his elder sisters, and the evening +passed pleasantly. When the party broke up Andrew strolled out to the +terrace and leaned on the low wall. There was no moon, but the night +was clear and mild. Bare trees rose in shadowy masses across the dark +stretch of lawn; the ghyll beyond it was filled with mist, out of +which there rose the gurgle of running water. In the distance a ridge +of moor cut darkly against the sky. The lights in the house went out +one by one; the stillness was soothing and Andrew became lost in +thought. + +He knew and loved every wood and field in the dim countryside he +looked out upon. He had spent happy, healthful days on the purple +moors when the grouse came flitting across the heather; among the +turnips and yellow stubble in the valley where the partridge coveys +lay; and by deep pools in the ghyll where the silver sea-trout gleamed +through the brown peat water. It was a harmless life he had led there, +but he felt that it had been a wasted one. Its peaceful sounds had +dulled his ears to the clamor of the busy world where the work he had +neglected badly needed doing. He was not a prig and felt no call to be +a general reformer, but the Allinson honor was tainted and it was his +business to remove the stain. He might fail, but he must concentrate +upon the task all the power he possessed. + +Then he began to consider ways and means. A good deal depended on his +relatives' attitude. They could hamper him by their resistance and he +wanted their support, though he was prepared to go on without it. +To-night they had obviously acquitted him of a supposititious folly, +which was something to the good; indeed, he had been especially +pleased by Robert's frank expression of regret. He had looked for +determined opposition from the clergyman, but now he did not despair +of winning him. Though prejudiced and conventional, Robert was +sincere, and that was a great thing. + +To-morrow evening the family council must be held. He imagined that +Leonard was clever enough to have put him in the wrong beforehand. He +would, no doubt, be called on to explain his rash interference with +the company's Canadian affairs, and he must make the best defense he +could. Indeed, he must bear with a good deal, if needful, to make his +defense effective; but, if this could not be done, there was another +line he meant to take. He would let those who misjudged him know that +he was the head of Allinson's and would go on as he had begun. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE TRUTH ABOUT RAIN BLUFF + + +Dinner was a solemn function the next evening. Andrew, who had been +shooting with Wannop and Olcott all day, was quietly thoughtful, and +the rest of the party felt a sense of constraint. Conversation +dragged; once or twice it nearly died away and Leonard prevented an +awkward pause by his polished wit. Between whiles, however, Wannop +jested bravely and Hilda seconded him, occasionally at Robert's and +Leonard's expense. The others talked without much point when they +could think of anything to say; but, preoccupied as they were, it was +a relief to all when they dispersed for half an hour before meeting +Andrew in the library. He spent the interval in his smoking-room, +thinking hard, but he looked up when Hilda came in and sat down on the +lounge beside him. + +"Feeling very bad, old boy?" she said. + +"I have spent more cheerful moments," Andrew replied. + +Hilda nodded. + +"It must be trying--the pause before the battle! But you'll shake off +the sinking feeling when you get into action. Don't let them bully +you, Andrew. They can look very wise, but there's none of them you +need be afraid of, unless it's Leonard. Antony, of course, will back +you all he can." + +"Thanks for the encouragement; but I'm not sure you have any right to +talk about these things." + +"Oh, don't be silly! Can't you realize that I've grown up? And if I +hadn't as much sense as Robert and Mrs. Fenwood, I'd feel very sorry +for myself. But we had better be practical--I suppose you see what you +ought to do?" + +"No," Andrew admitted, "not as clearly as I could wish." + +"Then what troubles the others is that they can't think for +themselves. They must have a lead, as Leonard knows, and he has +cleverly given them one. So far, they have followed him docilely; now +you must make them follow you." + +"Can you tell me how it should be done?" + +"I'll admit that it's easier to sketch out a general plan than to fit +in the details; but that's your business," said Hilda. Then her tone +changed and grew tinged with haughtiness. "First of all, remember that +you're fighting for Allinson's! I'm glad the others are nearly as +proud of the name as we are. It's unthinkable that Leonard should drag +it down and sell it for what he can gain. You stand for what we hold +precious; you must beat him." + +"I'll try," Andrew promised soberly; and Hilda kissed him and went +hastily from the room. + +Andrew remained for a few minutes, feeling cheered. Geraldine, Ethel, +and now Hilda had urged him on. They thought he was right, and it +looked as if all had some confidence in his ability. He was not sure +that it was well founded, for he knew his limitations, the worst of +which was ignorance. Still, he must try not to discredit his +supporters, and his task could not be shirked. He went to the library, +where his relatives were waiting, and gravely asked them to be seated. +Though two pillar lamps were lighted, the large room was shadowy. A +silver stand with candles burning occupied the middle of the great oak +table round which the party gathered, flinging a clear illumination on +their faces. + +Andrew took the head of the table, and there was something the others +had not expected in his quiet manner. He did not look as if he had +come to make excuses or ask their forbearance. Leonard, sitting +opposite, eyed him sharply; Florence and Gertrude did not seem at +ease. Mrs. Fenwood and Robert Allinson were heavily serious; Wannop +waited with amused expectancy. + +"I asked you to meet me here because you all have a large interest in +Allinson's and the Rain Bluff mine," Andrew began. "I thought it fit +that you should hear why I have made some changes in our Canadian +plans." + +"It would be better not to confuse Allinson's with the mine," Leonard +interposed. "The Rain Bluff is, of course, an independent company." + +"No," said Andrew sternly; "in a very real sense that is not correct. +The two must stand together. The Rain Bluff shares were largely taken +up by the family and our customers. The mine cannot prove a failure +without discrediting the firm which launched and tacitly guaranteed +it. A pledge given by Allinson's must be redeemed." + +"That is obvious," Robert solemnly agreed. + +"Andrew is begging the question in speaking of the mine as being +guaranteed by the firm," Leonard persisted. "The shares were offered +to the public on the inducements stated in the prospectus." + +"They were subscribed for because it was an Allinson venture; but +we'll leave that point for a while. I feel justified in asking your +attention as Rain Bluff shareholders--though I have learned that +Leonard has lately reduced his holding." + +Several of the others showed surprise and Leonard looked disconcerted, +but Wannop broke into a deep chuckle. + +"I felt tempted to do the same, after what I learned at the Lake of +Shadows," he remarked. "However, when I'd had a few words with Andrew +I decided to hold on. Though he's carrying a good bit of my money, I +felt he was worth backing." + +"Well," said Andrew, "I was sent out to look into Canadian matters, +and I have done so. The discoveries I made are by no means +reassuring." + +He paused with a dry smile, and his listeners felt uncomfortable. He +had not been sent out to investigate the mining operations, but to +keep him out of harm. Leonard was conscious that he had made a +mistake; Andrew had developed unsuspected capabilities. + +"A large proportion of the company's work is done by contract, and I +found that newly arrived immigrants, ignorant of their rights, were +mainly employed. They were badly fed, though in Canada the rudest +laborers are given a generous diet, worse housed, paid less than +standard wages, and cheated of part of their due. It is not by such +means that Allinson's should make money." + +"It is not," Robert firmly declared. + +He was the last ally Andrew had looked for; but Robert had been +thinking to some purpose. Leonard had deceived him about Mrs. Olcott; +he had been led into conduct which savored of cruelty and which he +regretted. Leonard having played false in one matter, might do so in +another. Robert's faith in him had been rudely shaken and he felt +that the man must be watched. + +"After all, we are not responsible for the evils Andrew mentions," +Mrs. Fenwood broke in. "It must be the contractor's fault." + +"Responsibility," said Robert, "cannot be shuffled off, though what +one may call the impersonal nature of a public company seems to make +it easier. The money is yours and you expect to draw the dividends. It +is a pernicious idea that one may make a profit by investing in a +company whose business is harmful, and go free from blame. I may say +that I was once urged to apply for shares in a new brewery a little +before they were put on the market, and I felt that I had done right +in declining, though they went to a handsome premium shortly +afterward." + +The tone in which he concluded suggested keen regret, and Wannop +laughed. + +"Andrew is probably mistaken in what he alleges," Leonard said. + +"I'll give you a few figures." Andrew read from a notebook particulars +of the wages paid by Mappin as compared with other contractors. "I +have seen the rest of the things; there can be no doubt about them. I +presume Leonard was ignorant of the contractor's character and the +methods he employs." + +Andrew stopped, having scored a point. Leonard could not profess a +knowledge of Mappin's doings, although to admit his ignorance of them +was to acknowledge his antagonist's superiority. + +"It seems that I have been somewhat mistaken about the man," he said. + +"Now that you have been informed, you cannot feel that we ought still +to entrust our work to him?" + +Wannop gave Andrew an approving smile, recognizing that he had taken a +very judicious line. Leonard must respect the opinions of the others, +and he knew that they would not sanction anything flagrantly unjust +and discreditable. + +"No," he conceded; "not in a general way. At the same time, sudden and +severe changes should be avoided. The man is carrying out his duties +efficiently and economically." + +"I think not," said Andrew. "I'll have to tax your patience with some +more figures. They show that we could do the work cheaper without +wronging anybody we employ." + +Opening his notebook, he supported his claim, and there was a brief +silence when he had finished. Then Florence broke in angrily. + +"As a shareholder in my own right, I am entitled to speak. Leonard was +satisfied with the arrangements, and you all know his long experience +and business ability. It's absurd that Andrew should presume to +question what Leonard has done. His judgment cannot be as good." + +"That is obvious," Mrs. Fenwood said. + +Andrew realized that his relatives' prejudices had still to be +reckoned with. In their eyes he was a rash beginner, liable to be +misled. + +"I spent some time on the spot, investigating things," he reminded +them. "You have heard our contractor's charges, and I have given you +the cost of cutting rock and supplying props at regulation wages. Is +Leonard inclined to challenge the figures?" + +"After all," said Leonard, "the subject is not of the first +importance. It is more serious that you have taken upon yourself to +reduce the output of the mine." + +"It is undoubtedly a grave matter. Unfortunately, there seems to be no +prospect of the mine's paying." + +The announcement caused some sensation, but while the others looked at +him in surprise and concern, Leonard flushed. + +"There is a risk in jumping to conclusions!" he said. "The all-round +quality of the ore can only be proved by extensive working, and you +must be aware that to increase the quantity of the output reduces the +cost per ton!" + +"That is a maxim which requires some thinking over," Wannop observed. +"To begin with, I don't see how you can cut down the cost when you +have a good deal of the work done by a contractor at a fixed price. +Then if there's a loss on every ton, it puzzles an outsider like +myself to understand how you expect to make a profit by producing a +very large quantity." + +"I'm afraid it would take me some time and trouble to explain the +thing," Leonard said with a polished sneer. + +"There's no doubt you'd find it difficult," Wannop retorted. + +"Are we to understand that there will be no dividends?" Mrs. Fenwood +interposed, in alarm. "If so, I feel that I have been cruelly +deceived. I was promised a handsome profit in the prospectus." + +"I have much the same feeling," said Robert Allinson. "The matter is +one of importance to me. My stipend is not large; the expenses which +my work in this parish entails are heavy. I bought the shares because +I expected they would pay." + +"It's the usual reason for buying shares; but investors are +disappointed now and then," Wannop said genially. + +"You took a business hazard, Robert, as did Mrs. Fenwood," Leonard +contended. "Even if our Canadian prospects were as bad as Andrew +imagines, which I do not admit, you would have no grievance." + +"You're mistaken!" exclaimed Mrs. Fenwood. "I have heard that mining +shares are risky, but I had every reason to believe that Allinson's +never took up anything that was not perfectly sound." + +"That was true, until recently," Andrew said quietly, looking steadily +at his brother-in-law. "I think I may say that it will again be the +rule in the future." + +Leonard smiled and turned to the others. + +"I agree with Andrew, but I must suggest more caution on his part. +After careful investigations in Canada, I made arrangements for the +working of the new company. Everything promised well, there was no +prospect of any difficulty, and I must confess to some astonishment +when Andrew told me we were threatened by serious trouble. If he is +right, I feel that he is to some extent responsible. In his +inexperience, he has, I fear, acted with more zeal than discretion." + +"It's the only conclusion one can come to," Mrs. Fenwood remarked +severely. + +"Is it seriously suggested that Andrew's inexperience has had some +effect on the nature of the rock we are working?" Wannop inquired. + +"After all," continued Leonard, "I think I may say that there is no +cause for alarm. If the mining is proceeded with on the lines I laid +down and no rash experiments are made, we shall no doubt presently +reach excellent ore. I must deprecate the undertaking of any new +ventures such as Andrew seems to have in view." + +The listeners showed relief. One or two questions were asked, and +Leonard, feeling that he was getting the better of the situation, went +on gravely. + +"His favorite scheme, I understand, is the exploitation of a lode far +to the north, which was discovered by a sawmill clerk twenty years +ago; though in the place where he lives the thing is looked on as a +delusion of the man's. Indeed, it is said that he is crazy on the +subject. It strikes me as highly injudicious that the Company's +capital should be wasted upon a search for imaginary minerals." + +"I will engage that not a penny shall be unprofitably spent," said +Andrew. "If the thing prove a failure, I will bear the expense." + +No one spoke for a few moments, and then Robert looked up. + +"I feel that we are entitled to ask for a few particulars," he said. + +"There we must disagree," Andrew replied. "If I am right about the +lode, you and the other shareholders will be told all you wish to +know; if I am wrong, the loss will be mine." + +They were puzzled by his resolute air. He was placing himself at a +disadvantage by refusing an explanation, but this did not seem to +trouble him. He had all along adopted a strangely masterful tone, +without a hint of doubt or hesitation. + +"I hardly think you are treating us fairly by keeping us in the dark," +Robert protested. + +Andrew smiled. + +"Then I must ask your forbearance. I was given full authority as a +director when I went to Canada, and I must try to use it as I think +best for the shareholders' benefit. Moreover, it cannot be rescinded +until the next general meeting of the Company. When that is held, I +shall be ready to give an account of what I have done." + +"Then it looks as if we had been brought here for nothing," Mrs. +Fenwood complained. + +"Hardly so. You have learned that the mine cannot be profitably worked +on the present system and that I am making changes which may improve +the Company's prospects. You have had an opportunity for condemning my +policy, which you have not done. I venture to believe you are +reserving your judgment, which is all I can ask." + +There was a pause for the next few moments. Andrew had changed his +tone to one of grave appeal, and as he leaned back, waiting, with the +light of the candles on his face, it struck one or two of them that he +looked very much like his father, who had retrieved and added to the +fortunes of the firm. Robert glanced at him in frank sympathy, which +touched Andrew, for he had not expected it. Then Leonard broke the +silence. + +"Andrew is asking you to trust him with extensive powers; in fact, he +demands something of the nature of a blank check, without explaining +what use he means to make of it. I willingly admit that the position +he holds by right is a strong one, and we have no direct means of +restraining him; his interest in the firm gives him more authority +than any of us individually holds. For all that, it must be remembered +that he could not stand against the unanimous family vote, and I have +no doubt he will agree that you are now called upon to act as a kind +of informal jury. Whatever course you decide on the directors must +adopt. Your position is accordingly a serious and important one. +Andrew is young and inexperienced; the affairs of a Company like the +Rain Bluff demand careful and skilful handling." + +"Leonard has stated the situation fairly. I have nothing to add," +Andrew said quietly. + +His relatives hesitated, looking irresolute, with the exception of +Florence and Mrs. Fenwood, who regarded Andrew with distrustful +severity. After a few moments Wannop addressed them. + +"My suggestion is that we do nothing at present, but wait, as Andrew +asks, until a meeting of the shareholders is held, when he must give a +full account of his plans. Then we will see our course more clearly; +but if he finds he can take us into his confidence sooner, so much the +better." + +Florence and Mrs. Fenwood dissented, but the others acquiesced, +including Leonard, who knew how far it was prudent to go, and the +party broke up. Andrew, however, remained in his place, and Leonard +lingered to light a cigarette. + +"I must congratulate you," he said. "You handled the thing better than +one could have anticipated. I suppose you are going back shortly, to +look for the lode?" + +"I am going back. I cannot tell you what I shall do until I arrive." + +Leonard winced. + +"You're not disposed to be confidential, but I won't complain of +that." He added quietly: "Be careful, Andrew; it's easy to make +trouble, and hard to put it right. You haven't accomplished much yet, +and there are serious difficulties ahead." + +"That's true," admitted Andrew with a direct glance. "I am, however, +not making trouble. It's all round me and must be grappled with." + +"Then I wish you luck," said Leonard, and went out. + +Andrew lighted a cigar; he deeply distrusted Leonard, whose +confederate, perhaps with his knowledge, had plotted to starve him to +death; it was irksome that he should be forced to treat the man as an +honored guest. Of late he had been subject to fits of savage anger as +he remembered how his attempt to find the lode was thwarted. So far as +it was possible, he must play out the game correctly in accordance +with conventional rules. His relatives would insist on this; an +outbreak would shock them and cost him their support. Nevertheless, it +was hard to dissemble and treat Leonard courteously. + +Flinging his cigar into the grate, Andrew rose with a frown. His +brother-in-law was right: there was trouble ahead. He had not only +Leonard but the unscrupulous Mappin to grapple with. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A DELICATE POINT + + +The afternoon was drawing to a close when Andrew, Olcott, and a friend +of the latter's, carrying guns and spread out in line, entered a +stretch of rough, boggy pasture near the river. Clumps of reeds and +rushes grew along the open drains, water gleamed among the grass, and +the bare trees on the high bank across the stream stood out sharp and +black against a glow of saffron light. The men were wet to the knees, +and a white setter, splashed with mire, trotted in front of them. +Murray, Olcott's friend, who was on Andrew's right, sprang across a +broad drain and laughed when he alighted. + +"Over my boots, but my feet can't get any wetter," he remarked. "I +don't know that this is a judicious amusement after being invalided +home from the tropics; but it looks a likely place for a mallard." + +Allinson had met Murray for the first time that morning, and noticed +that the man, a government official in a West African colony, looked +at him rather intently when they were introduced. They had, however, +spent a pleasant day, and Andrew was going to Olcott's to dinner. + +"I'm afraid the plover will put up any ducks there are about," he +said. "They're a nuisance and you're not allowed to shoot them here. +It will be bad to keep our line over this rough ground." + +Four or five lapwings, screaming shrilly, wheeled in wide circles +overhead, showing sharply black and white as the light struck them, +and fading into indistinct gray patches as they turned in erratic +flight. The men advanced cautiously, searching the ground with eager +eyes, and keeping their positions as closely as possible. This was +needful for the safety of the party in case a bird got up and crossed +their line of march, when the right to first shot would be determined +by the code of shooting etiquette. + +Andrew was plodding through a belt of rush with a plover circling +close above his head when the setter, after creeping slowly forward +for a few paces, suddenly stopped. Then a small gray object sprang up +from a drain and Andrew threw his gun to his shoulder. He dropped it +the next moment, with a low call to Murray: + +"Your bird!" + +The snipe had swung a little to the right in its swift flight, +swerving in sharp corkscrew twists, and Murray's gun twice flashed. +The bird, however, held on and faded against the dusky background of +the river bank. Murray stopped and turned to Andrew with a laugh. + +"I'm afraid I'm hardly up to snipe," he said. "It's a pity you were +generous enough to give me the shot." + +"It was yours by right." + +"That," Murray disputed, "is an open point. If I had been in your +place and could have hit the bird, I wouldn't have let it go. However, +if the firing hasn't made them wild, you may get another chance." + +The sun had sunk behind the tall bank and the pale yellow light that +lingered was confusing when the setter flushed a second snipe, which +went away at long range in front of Andrew. During a part of each +quick gyration he could not see it, but when it was outlined for a +second, black against the light, his gun flashed and the bird fell +among the reeds. When the setter had found it Murray looked surprised. + +"Considering the bad light and the distance, it was a remarkably clean +shot," he said. "I expected to see that you had hit it with only a +stray pellet or two." + +"I used the left barrel," Andrew explained, smiling. "It's a +half-choke; an old gun. That accounts for the charge hanging +together." + +"It doesn't account for your killing your bird at a long range with +shot which wouldn't spread. But it's getting dark and we've had +enough." + +They turned back to the nearest road, and an hour or two after +reaching home Andrew walked across to Olcott's. Ethel Hillyard was +there, and when they went into dinner Murray, sitting next to her, +glanced at Andrew near the other end of the table. + +"I was out with Mr. Allinson to-day," he said. "As he's a neighbor of +yours, I've no doubt you know him pretty well. He struck me as a +particularly straight man." + +"He is so," declared Ethel warmly. "I don't know a straighter. Still, +I don't see how you came to that conclusion by watching his shooting." + +"It doesn't seem very obvious," Murray responded with a smile. +"However, so far as my experience goes, a man who's scrupulous in one +thing is very apt to prove the same in another. When we were out this +afternoon, a snipe got up in front of him and he let me have the +shot." + +"But how does that prove his general honesty?" + +"I'm not sure I was entitled to the shot, though as the bird headed +slightly toward me there was some doubt about the matter. Allinson +gave me the full benefit, though I think he must have known that I +would miss." + +"Is it a great sacrifice to give up a shot?" + +"A snipe," said Murray, "is very hard to hit, though Allinson showed +us afterward that he is capable of bringing one down. Now when you +know you can do a difficult thing neatly, it's not easy to refrain." + +"Perhaps that's true," Ethel agreed. "No doubt the temptation's +stronger when you have an appreciative audience." + +"Mine," said Murray, "was too polite to laugh." + +Mrs. Olcott asked him a question and they changed the subject, but +after dinner Murray found an opportunity for a word with Andrew, whom +Olcott had left alone in his smoking-room. + +"Perhaps it's hardly correct to talk to you on business here, and I +won't press you, but there's some information you may be able to give +me," he said. + +Andrew looked at the man more carefully than he had hitherto done. +Murray's face was thin and rather haggard, but it bore the stamp of +authority. His manner was grave but pleasant. + +"I am at your service," he replied. + +"Then I want to ask about the Rain Bluff mine. A little time ago a +stock-jobbing friend told me it ought to turn out a good thing. He +said that whatever Allinson's took up could be relied on, and it was +clear that he had a high opinion of your house. On the strength of it, +I put some money into the venture." He paused with a smile. "Now, you +are wondering why a man with means enough to speculate should go to +West Africa?" + +"Something like that was in my mind." + +"Well, I learned that I'd the knack of getting on with primitive +peoples; in fact, it's my only talent, and I felt that I had to make +use of it. Then it's a mysterious country, that gets hold of one, and +perhaps is hardly so bad as it's painted. As a rule, I don't have +fever more than half a dozen times a year. What's more to the purpose, +part of the money was lately left to me. But I'm getting away from the +point." + +Andrew was favorably impressed by the man. They had something in +common, for both were imbued with a sense of responsibility. Murray +had lightly indicated this, and Andrew knew that West Africa is far +from a desirable place to live. + +"You have a reason for feeling anxious about those shares?" + +"Yes. In my district, the risk of getting permanently disabled by the +climate or shot by an ambushed nigger has to be considered. Stipend +and pension are small, and I felt that I needed something to fall back +on. That was why I bought the Rain Bluff stock. Now my friend tells me +that the shares are being quietly sold in small lots, which he seems +to think ominous. If you can tell me anything about the matter, I'll +be grateful." + +Andrew was silent for a minute or two, feeling troubled. He did not +pity the regular stock-jobbers and speculators who had bought Rain +Bluff stock, for they were accustomed to playing a risky game. It was, +however, different with such investors as Murray--men of small means, +who had carefully saved something to provide for old age, and women +left with just enough to keep them from want. These, he thought, +formed a numerous class and demanded his sympathy. They had, no doubt, +avoiding ventures which offered a larger return, been influenced by a +desire for security, which would seem to be promised by Allinson's +connection with the mine. + +"Well," he said at last, "I believe it is true that shares have been +parted with by a man who has a say in the management of the company." + +"That sounds discouraging. If I sell out, I'll lose three or four +shillings on every share." + +"Yes; and if others follow your example, it will weaken the Company's +position. However, I think you can venture to keep your stock." + +"You can't expect me to take the risk of holding, in order to support +a concern in which I'm badly disappointed. I must ask you frankly what +is wrong at the mine?" + +"In strict confidence, I may say that the ore we are working does not +promise well." + +Murray looked at him in astonishment. + +"You are remarkably candid; but you give me a curious reason for +holding on to my shares." + +"Here's a better one," said Andrew. "We have another mine in view; but +whether it turns out rich or not, no holder of Rain Bluff stock shall +lose a penny by his confidence in Allinson's." + +"Though I don't know much about stock-jobbing, that strikes me as an +extraordinary promise." + +"I dare say it is," Andrew replied. "I offer you no guarantee; you +must use your judgment." + +Murray looked up sharply. + +"I believe your word is good enough. You have taken a load off my +mind, Mr. Allinson. I'll hold those shares. May I add that if my proxy +is likely to be of any value at your meetings, you may count on it?" + +"Thanks! And now, did I tell you that Olcott promised to bring you +out again to-morrow? There's a cover I want to beat and the pheasants +ought to be plentiful." + +They went down together and Murray joined Ethel Hillyard in the +drawing-room. + +"I've had a talk with Mr. Allinson which confirms your opinion of +him," he said. "But I must say that he doesn't fit in with my idea of +a Company director." + +Ethel laughed. + +"Andrew's new to the business, and undertook it with reluctance from a +sense of duty. For all that, though his ignorance of commercial +matters must be a handicap, I expect him to make a success of it." + +"One would imagine that a desire to make money is the more usual +object, but I think you're right. In fact, you have touched upon a pet +idea of mine." + +The girl turned and studied him. There was a trace of gravity in his +manner, and she understood that he had done with credit difficult and +dangerous work. + +"What is the idea?" she asked. + +"To put it roughly, something like this--more depends on character +than specialized training; determination and strong sincerity often +carry one farther than a knowledge of the rules of the game. One sees +people who rely on the latter come to grief." + +"Even in Company floating?" + +"That," said Murray, smiling, "is a subject about which I'm ignorant. +I was speaking of the general principle." + +"Do you mean that right must prevail?" + +"I'm sanguine enough to believe it often does in the end." + +"One would like to think so. But as we seem to be getting serious, +isn't the question whether it prevails or not another matter from an +altruistic point of view?" + +Murray pondered this and then looked up with a twinkle. + +"So long as I'm not priggish, I don't mind being serious. You see, I'm +fresh from the shadowy bush, where life is solemn enough, and when I +came home not long ago after a three years' absence I felt strangely +out of place. You're at a disadvantage when you can't talk about the +latest musical comedy or popular dancer, and it's as bad not to know +the favorite for an approaching steeplechase. However, to stick to our +subject, I see what you mean. One must do one's work and not worry +about the result?" + +Olcott was passing and he stopped beside them. + +"Murray seems to be moralizing," he laughed. "I must warn you that he +spends his evenings in Africa sitting behind a mosquito-netting +studying the early Victorian philosophers. It's some excuse for him +that when the niggers are quiet he has nothing else to do and nobody +to talk to except a colored official." + +"Don't you get any newspapers?" Ethel asked. + +"They're often too wet and pulpy to read, and now and then the +sporting natives bag the mail-carrier. I've known them try to stalk +the white officer responsible for too drastic reforms." + +Ethel regarded Murray with heightened interest. There was something +that both amused and touched her in the thought of the lonely man, +shut in by the black, steamy forest, spending his evenings reading +philosophy. + +"I wonder," she said, "whether you find any practical application of +the great thinkers' theories?" + +"One old favorite of mine strikes me as rather grim and singularly +hard to please; but so far as I can judge, he hits the mark now and +then. It's a pet theme of his that only that which stands on justice, +and is better than what it displaces, can endure. You see that worked +out in a primitive country like West Africa." + +"But isn't the progress of civilization assisted by machine-guns and +followed by gin?" + +"A fair shot!" laughed Olcott. "Our rule's often faulty, but it's a +good deal better than the natives had before. Murray knows a creek +that mutilated corpses used to drift down after each big palaver and +celebration of Ju-Ju rites." + +"I suppose he had some trouble in putting a stop to it?" + +Olcott broke into a grim smile. + +"One would imagine so, from what I heard of the matter. An army of +savages with flintlocks took the bush on the other side; there were +about two dozen colored Mohammedan soldiers, a white lieutenant, +carried in a hammock because he was too ill to walk, and a civil +officer who wasn't authorized to fight, to carry out the reforms. +Though it didn't look encouraging at the start, they were effected." + +"Ah," said Ethel, "one could be proud of things like that! After all, +Mr. Murray's philosopher may be right. It's cheering to find a man +ready to put his belief in justice to the test." + +"There's one," said Olcott, indicating Andrew. "I shouldn't wonder if +it costs him something." + +The group broke up and some time later Andrew walked home with Ethel. +The distance was not great, the road was dry, and a half moon threw +down a silvery light. Thin mist filled the hollows, the murmur of the +river rose from a deep valley, and the air was soft. + +"It's very open weather," Ethel remarked. "I suppose it's different in +Canada?" + +"In the part I'm best acquainted with the thermometer is now +registering forty degrees below zero, and it would need a charge of +dynamite to break the ice on the lakes." + +"Prospecting must be stern work," said Ethel speculatively. "It's +curious that you haven't thought it worth while to give me an account +of your adventures. Won't you do so?" + +"Well, you mustn't blame me if you find them tedious. As a matter of +fact, I haven't said much about them to anybody yet." + +He began with a few rather involved explanations, but his style became +clearer as he followed up the main thread of the tale, and Ethel +listened with close interest. + +"So it was the Frobishers who saved you by sending off a rescue +party!" she exclaimed when he had finished. "But how did they know you +were in danger?" + +"That's more than I can tell. Of course, we were behind our time, but +that doesn't account for all. I've a suspicion that Miss Frobisher had +some means of finding out the most serious risk we ran." + +Ethel thought this indicated that Geraldine took a marked interest in +the man. She wondered if it had occurred to him. + +"And you believe the fellow really meant to starve you?" she said. + +"He didn't intend us to find the food. It comes to the same thing." + +"But his conduct seems so inhuman! Surely, he would not have let you +die of hunger with no better reason than to prevent you from +interfering with his contract?" + +Andrew hesitated. He could not tell her that Mappin might have been +actuated by jealousy; modesty prevented his doing so. + +"The fellow is greedy and unscrupulous enough for anything," he +replied evasively. + +"But you hinted that he was clever," Ethel persisted. "Only a fool +would commit a serious crime for a small advantage." + +"It's certainly puzzling," Andrew admitted. + +Then he was surprised and disconcerted when Ethel turned on him a +searching glance. + +"Andrew," she said, "the man must have been given a hint by some one +more powerful. His is not the strongest interest you are opposed to." + +The color crept into Andrew's face. He suspected Leonard, but it was +unthinkable that he should declare his brother-in-law's infamy. This +was a matter that lay between the culprit and himself. + +"It's an unpleasant topic and the fellow's a rascal," he answered. +"It's hard to say what might influence such men. They're not quite +normal; you can't account for them." + +"But you're going back to look for the lode, aren't you?" Ethel laid +her hand on his arm. "Be careful; you have had a warning. I suppose +you must do what you have fixed your mind on and, knowing you are +right, I dare not dissuade you." + +"I'll run no risks that can be avoided and, in particular, trust no +outsider to look after the supplies for our next trip," Andrew said +grimly. "One experience like the last is enough." + +For a few minutes they walked on in silence. Ethel knew her +companion's character and admired it; and now she had met Murray, who +in some respects resembled him, as did Olcott. All were men of action, +and there was the same indefinite but recognizable stamp on them. They +were direct, simple in a sense which did not imply foolishness, free +from petty assumption and incapable of suave diplomacy; but one could +rely on them in time of stress. Leonard was a good example of the +opposite type; but she found the other more pleasant to think about. +When she reached the gate she gave Andrew her hand. + +"You know you have my good wishes," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER + + +Andrew returned to Canada satisfied with his English visit. He had not +convinced his relatives that his judgment was entirely to be trusted, +but he knew that he stood higher in their esteem than he had done; and +that was something to be thankful for. Leonard, he thought, would find +it more difficult to prejudice them against his plans. On reaching the +Lake of Shadows, he found Graham recovering and learned that the +Frobishers had left for their home in Denver. After remaining a few +days at the Landing he went up to the mine, where the ore showed no +sign of improvement. For all that, he spent a month there, waiting +until the thaw came and maturing his plans for his second journey to +Dream Mine. + +At last the rotting ice began to yield, and Andrew sat outside +Watson's shack one day, watching an impressive spectacle. The river +broke up with violence, the ice ripping and rending with a sound like +the roar of artillery, and as the great torn masses swept away, the +water pent up in the higher reaches poured into the gorge, swollen +with melting snow. It rolled by in savage flood, laden with tremendous +blocks of ice, some of which, cemented together near falls and rapids, +were the size of small frame houses. Among them drove huge floes into +which the floating cakes had solidified during the earlier frosts. +Here and there one stranded upon a point, or swung in an eddy, until +another crashed into it and both were shattered amid a bewildering +uproar. Then, for a while, the stream was filled with massive, driving +sheets of ice, which ground the banks with a tremendous din and scored +the tops of projecting boulders, while waterlogged pines and stumps +sunk in the river-bed were crushed to pulp. + +Andrew had never seen any display of natural forces to equal this, and +when he went into the shack for supper he found that he could not get +the recollection of it out of his mind. The lonely North is a savage +country, very grim and terrible in some of its moods. Andrew, however, +had carefully considered and endeavored to guard against its dangers, +and when a canoe which had been especially built for him in Toronto +arrived, he set out on his journey with Carnally and Graham. There was +now no risk of frostbite and the gray trout would help out their food +supply, but they knew the trip would cost them much exhausting labor. + +For some days they poled and paddled up the swollen river, spending +hours in dragging the canoe and provisions across rocky portages to +avoid furious rapids, and often wading waist-deep in icy water with +the tracking line. At night they slept, generally wet through, among +the stones, though there was often sharp frost and the slack along the +bank was covered with fresh ice in the morning; but they made steady +progress until the stream broke up into small forks and they must +cross the height of land. This was singularly toilsome work. In some +places they were forced to hew a path through scrub spruce bush; in +others there were slippery rocks to be scrambled across, while two in +turn carried the canoe, borne upside-down upon the shoulders. Then +there were the provisions to be brought up, and in relaying them each +difficult stage had to be traversed several times, so that once or +twice, when they had made only a mile or two in an exhausting day, +Andrew almost despaired of getting any farther. + +At last, however, they found a creek rushing tumultuously down the +back of the divide. They followed it, one of them checking the canoe +by the tracking line while the others kept her off the rocks with pole +and paddle. Their provisions were secured, so far as possible, from +damage by water, but there was danger of losing them in a capsize, and +boiling eddies and roaring rapids made caution needful. For a while +the creek led them roughly where they wished to go, and then turned +off, and they crossed a high ridge in search of another. Lakes and +rivers abound in those wilds, which are almost impassable on foot +during the short summer. As they worked north the sun grew warmer, but +the temperature fell sharply at night, and now and then the waste was +swept by piercing winds. + +One of these was raging when they scudded down a lake on a cold and +lowering evening. Gray vapor blurred the rocky shore, but here and +there a few dark pines stood out, harshly distinct. The water was +leaden-colored between the lines of foam, and short, slashing seas +broke angrily about the canoe, which ran before them with a small +lugsail set. Carnally knelt astern, holding the steering paddle; +Andrew lay down amidships, out of the wind; and Graham, crouching +forward, fixed his eyes ahead. + +"There seems to be a creek abreast of us," Carnally said. "We're in +shoaling water; watch out for snags." + +A violent gust struck them and the canoe drove on furiously, lifting +her bows on a foaming ridge while the water lapped level with her +stern. + +"Shoot her up!" Graham called out sharply. "Log right ahead!" + +Andrew seized the sheet and Carnally plied the paddle; but the warning +had come too late. While the canoe slanted over until her lee side was +under water as she altered her course, there was a sharp crash. Her +speed slackened for a moment or two. Then she lifted as a white wave +surged by; and when she drove on again the water poured in through a +rent in her side. + +"Can't be kept under by baling," Carnally remarked. "We'll have to put +her on the wind and make the beach." + +He hauled the sheet, but she would not bear the pressure when she +brought the wind abeam, and seeing the water pouring in over her +lowered side, Carnally let her fall off again. + +"Looks as if we had to keep her running," he said. + +"The end of the lake can't be far off and the water's too rough to do +much with the paddle." + +They scudded on, Andrew and Graham baling as fast as possible, while +the rising water gained on them, until blurred trees and rocks began +to grow out of the haze ahead. Then as a strip of beach became +distinguishable they lowered the sail, and soon afterward jumped over +and carried her out across the jagged driftwood that hammered on the +pebbles. There was a small promontory near at hand, and Carnally +walked across it while the others made camp. Supper was ready when he +returned, and after the meal was finished he lay down near the fire. + +"The canoe wants a patch on her bilge," he said. "Could you sew on a +bit of the thin cedar with the copper wire, Graham? There's some +caulking gum in the green can." + +"It would take me a day to make a neat job." + +"No hurry," replied Carnally. "The outlet from the lake's just beyond +that rise and it looks pretty good. When you have finished the canoe, +you and Andrew could take her down and wait for me where the creek +runs into the river we're looking for." + +"It would be hard work at the portages. But why aren't you coming with +us?" Andrew asked. + +"I ought to make the creek where Mappin cached the first lot of stores +for our other trip in about two days' march." + +"We have enough without them." + +"That's so. Anyhow, I want to look at the cache. Stores are a +consideration on a trip like this; the less you have to pack over the +portages, the quicker you can travel. Though we didn't find it, Mappin +knows where the cache was made." + +"I don't see the drift of this," Andrew said. + +Carnally smiled. + +"Hasn't it struck you that we might be followed? Sending up the canoe +and camp truck would show the people at the Landing that we were ready +to start, and Mappin knows our line roughly as far as the cache. You +can't make camp and haul across brush portages without leaving a +trail." + +"Ah! That makes one think. Of course, we would have no legal claim to +the lode unless we got our stakes in before anybody else." + +"It's not enough. You have to get back to a government office and file +your record before you're safe. Well, considering everything, I guess +I'll start for the cache at sun-up." + +The others agreed to this and after he left the next morning they set +to work on the canoe and repaired her satisfactorily. Then they +launched her on the outflowing stream and a few days later made camp +on the bank of a larger river, where they sat beside their fire late +at night. The gorge was filled with the clamor of rushing water, but +the night was very still, and they could hear sounds in the bush +through the deep-toned roar of the flood. Outside the glow of the +fire, which fell on the straight spruce trunks, there was nothing to +be seen; but they sat listening, for Carnally had been longer than he +expected and Andrew was anxious. + +At last, Graham raised his hand. + +"I heard something!" + +Andrew turned his head, but for a while could hear only the hoarse +turmoil of the river. Then he started as a faint crackle came out of +the shadows. It rose again, more clearly, and presently a man's dark +shape emerged from the gloom. A few moments later Carnally threw off +his pack and sat down by the fire, his boots badly ripped and his +clothing tattered. + +"I struck some pretty rough country," he explained. "The creek winds a +lot and I came across the range." + +"Did you find the cache?" Andrew asked. + +"Sure! It had been opened not long before and provisions taken out." + +Graham moved abruptly. + +"I suppose the things couldn't have been taken by Indians?" + +"No, sir! Indians would have cleaned out the whole lot. Whoever found +the cache left some food to pick up when coming back. There were three +or four white men in the party; I learned that when I struck their +empty camp. Looks as if the hog was still getting after us." + +"I'm afraid so," said Andrew, frowning. "What's to be done to shake +off his men?" + +"The fellows were heading down-stream, and I guess they'd hold on +until they struck this river, where they'd make a base camp and look +for our trail. Well, instead of keeping to the water, as they'd +expect, we'll strike across the divide, though it will be an awkward +traverse." + +His companions approved the plan, and the next day they found a spot +where smooth rocky slabs dropped gently to the water. Here they took +off their boots, to avoid leaving tell-tale scratches, and then they +hauled out the canoe. They were able to carry her some distance before +they met with much brush, and when they had brought up the provisions, +Carnally looked about with a satisfied air. + +"This wouldn't strike one as an easy place to portage across, and the +stream runs smartly past the stones we landed on," he chuckled. "I +guess Mappin's boys will go straight on, and it may be some time +before they get suspicious." + +His opinion was reassuring, as far as it went, but Andrew felt daunted +as he studied the rise ahead. The ravines were filled with brushwood, +the spurs clothed with spruce, and he failed to see how the canoe was +to be conveyed to the top. It must, however, be tried, and they set to +work, laboriously carrying her up the steep slopes, a few yards at a +time, until they reached a gully choked with brush, where progress +became almost impossible. They were forced to drag her through thick +bushes, stopping every two or three minutes for breath, while on the +steeper pitches they buried knees and toes in the gravel as they +passed her from hand to hand. The light was fading when they reached +the crest, exhausted, and it cost Andrew a determined effort to go +back some distance with Carnally for the provisions. Indeed, it was +only hunger forced him to do so. + +The nights had been getting lighter rapidly, but the soft dimness was +puzzling when the two men faced the ascent. They could not judge the +steepness of the slope; they plunged into bushes they had not noticed, +and there were spots where they narrowly escaped dangerous falls. +Slipping, scrambling, floundering, Andrew struggled up with his load, +and sank down, worn out and aching, beside Graham's fire. + +"You'll have to cook; I can't make another move," he said. "It strikes +me that the man who finds a mine in this country deserves all he gets. +That raises the question--how is it that Mappin can trust the rascals +he has sent after us? Suppose they found the lode, why couldn't they +stick to it?" + +"A mineral vein is of little use to a man without money," Graham +explained. "It would cost him a good deal in transport of provisions +and tools before he got his legal development work done; and then he +wouldn't be much farther on, because he'd have to put up expensive +plant and clear a trail to bring the ore out. As a matter of fact, the +fortunate prospector is forced to look for a capitalist." + +"That," remarked Carnally, "is how we are fixed. You needn't worry +about our going back on you." + +"Rot!" said Andrew. "You know I'd trust either of you with my last +penny!" + +"It's your trouble that you're a confiding man. But I guess you have +learned that it doesn't pay to take any chances when you deal with +Mappin." + +"I'm convinced of it. One experience of his tricks is enough." + +"I'll confess it wasn't enough for me. When I'd fired him out of the +store I felt so good that I set up drinks for all the thirsty slouches +in the hotel; but I made a mistake I've been sorry for ever since. +Instead of letting him walk off, I ought to have punched the hog until +they had to take him to a Winnipeg hospital. For one thing, it would +have saved us portaging over this blamed divide." + +The others laughed, and though Andrew admitted that Carnally's methods +were primitive, he thought there was some excuse for them. Mappin +might be considered an outlaw, against whom any weapons could be used. + +They went to sleep soon after supper, and resuming the march the next +morning, they spent two arduous days transporting the canoe to the +nearest water, and paddled down it, seeing nothing of Mappin's men. +The canoe received some damage when running a rapid into a lake and it +cost them a day to repair her, though Carnally showed much impatience +at the detention. When dusk fell they sat smoking by the fire, for the +night was cold. The wild cry of a loon rang at intervals across the +palely gleaming water; the resinous smell of the spruces was in the +air; and the soft splash of ripples upon the shingle accentuated the +stillness. + +The loon's call suddenly broke off in the middle, and Carnally got up +sharply. A little later he pointed to a dark speck which appeared out +on the lake. + +"The loon," he commented. "It was in the shadow by the big stone and +must have swum a good piece under water. Somebody scared the bird; +now it's gone again!" + +The black spot vanished and Carnally stood still in fixed attention +while Andrew's heart began to beat quickly. He could hear nothing, but +he knew that Carnally was seldom mistaken in matters of this kind. +Some minutes passed, and then as footsteps broke the silence, Carnally +beckoned Graham to give him a rifle they had brought. + +"Come out of the bush so we can see you!" he cried. + +A shadowy form appeared against the gleaming water and stopped. + +"What do you want?" Carnally asked. "Are you alone?" + +"Something to eat," said the stranger. "There's nobody with me." + +"One of the Mappin crowd, I guess. Where's the rest of you?" + +"I don't know. It's three or four days since I left them." + +"Then you can come along. I see you have a gun. If you're wise, you'll +keep it at the trail." + +"Don't be scared," said the other, advancing, "I'm not looking for +trouble." + +In a few moments he entered the firelight and stopped at a motion from +Carnally--a ragged and very weary man, with a pinched and eager look +in his face. + +"Now," said Carnally, "what brought you here?" + +"I'm starving," the man replied; and Andrew thought his appearance +bore it out. + +He sat down, with the rifle he had carried across his arm, and +Carnally indicated the frying-pan. + +"There's a bannock and some pork yonder. It won't take long to warm +up, but before you get any, we must have a talk. Why did you leave the +rest of Mappin's hobos?" + +"We wrecked our canoe in a rapid and lost all the grub. There was some +trouble about it, and when the others turned back to make the cache I +allowed I'd follow you. Missed your trail once or twice, but I figured +on the line you'd take and picked it up again." + +Andrew thought the tale was plausible, and a bruise on the man's face +seemed to corroborate it, as it hinted at the reason for his leaving +his comrades. + +"Will they follow us up?" he asked. + +"Can't tell," said the stranger. "They'd be mighty hungry when they +made the cache. Anyhow, I'd had enough of them." + +"Give him some supper," said Andrew. + +Graham put on the frying-pan, and in a few minutes the man fell upon +the food ravenously. When he had finished he felt for his pipe and +ruefully put it back. Andrew laughed and threw him a pouch of cut +tobacco. + +"You're white," said the stranger with a curious look. + +While he lighted his pipe Carnally, leaning quickly forward, picked up +his rifle and flung it into the lake. + +"Why did you do that?" the fellow asked in anger. + +"You'll have something else to carry and one gun's enough for this +crowd," Carnally significantly replied. + +"Then you don't mean to fire me out?" + +"Oh, no! I guess we'll engage you as packer, but I must speak to the +boss first," and Carnally led Andrew a short distance back into the +shadow. + +"Is it wise to take the rascal with us?" Andrew asked. + +"It seems the only thing to do. You don't want him to starve?" + +"Certainly not; but couldn't we give him a few provisions and let him +go?" + +"If he had a little grub to go on with, he might catch a trout in the +shallows or snare something that he could eat. Then he'd either follow +us or join his friends and put them on our track. I prefer to have him +under our eye." + +"But he'll see where the lode is!" + +"Sure! I'll take care he does no prospecting. Three claims on the best +of the vein will give you all you want to work, and as soon as your +record's filed you'll have prospectors coming up by dozens." + +"Well," concluded Andrew, "you must do what you think fit." + +They went back to the fire, and Carnally turned to the stranger. + +"Your engagement begins to-morrow. If you do your work, you'll get +your grub, and nothing else." Then he added: "If that doesn't seem +good enough, you can quit when you like." + +It was, as both recognized, an impossible alternative, because if the +fellow left their service he must starve. + +"Call it a deal," he said. "You have got me safe." + +"That's so," said Carnally. "You want to remember that the moment you +give us any cause for suspicion you get fired. Now what about your +partners? How long would it take them to make the cache?" + +"Two or three days." + +"Then they'd have to come back and find our trail. I reckon we're six +days ahead, and that ought to be enough. You have a blanket; you can +choose your place and sleep when you like." + +The man, who was obviously worn out, gathered some spruce twigs and +lay down on them, but the others sat a while beside the fire before +they followed his example. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +ANDREW STAKES HIS CLAIM + + +Soon after daybreak they launched the canoe, and though she was now +rather deeply loaded they made good progress down the outflowing +creek. When it was necessary for one to wade and check her with the +tracking line, their new companion was allotted the task, and at the +portages Carnally took care to give him the heaviest load. Though it +was obvious that he had not recovered from his long, forced march, he +seemed a good-humored rascal and resigned himself to the situation +philosophically. + +In the afternoon they came to a rapid and spent some time hauling the +canoe round it, and then they went back for the stores. Turner, as the +newcomer was called, was first despatched with a load which contained +nothing eatable, and Andrew was the last to set off. Dark spruces on +the high bank cut off the wind, the sun was very hot, and the +perspiration dripped from Andrew as he floundered across the stones. +They were large and uneven, and he had to proceed cautiously to save +himself from falling into the hollows between. Graham and Carnally +were some distance ahead, but after a while he overtook Turner, who +was moving slowly. Shortly before Andrew came up the man dropped the +things he carried and turned with signs of distress in his hot face. + +"I'm not trying to kick," he said. "Guess you've got a pull on me and +I have to work, but I'm a bit played out yet, and your partner piled +more weight on me than I can stand." + +"Stop and take a smoke," said Andrew, handing him his tobacco pouch. +"I don't feel very fresh, but I could carry those blankets. Let me +have them." + +"I'll have to do that or leave them. It was a tough march I made with +nothing to eat." He filled his pipe before he resumed: "There's no +meanness in you." + +"Never mind that. What was Mappin to give you for this job?" + +"Three dollars a day while I was out on it. Four hundred dollars when +I'd staked the claim, if the specimens assayed right." + +"But how could he tell whether you would do the square thing by him?" + +Turner grinned. + +"It wouldn't be safe to do anything else. Supposing I'd gone round, +looking for another buyer, he'd have had me doped or sandbagged before +I'd made the sale. You can't fool Mappin. You have to put your job +through when you deal with him." + +"It seems to me that you haven't made a success of this particular +business," Andrew remarked. + +"I certainly haven't," the other admitted with a rueful air. "Your +partner has me fixed--he's a smart man. There'll be no three dollars a +day for mine when I go home." + +"You have struck bad luck," said Andrew with a smile. "I'm not sure +you don't deserve it, but that's another matter. And now give me the +blankets: we'll take the things along." + +They went on, and when they reached the next wild stream where +tracking was necessary Andrew got into the water. Turner gave him a +grateful glance, but he afterward did his share of the heaviest work, +and when they made camp in the evening he soon went to sleep. When the +firelight, leaping up, fell on his shadowy form, Carnally chuckled. + +"A handy man; he's going to save us a lot of trouble, and we got him +cheap." + +"He's a bit of a rogue, and claim-jumping isn't a creditable +profession," Andrew replied. "Still, I don't think we ought to take +too much advantage of the fellow's necessity. After all, he's only a +tool. It's his employer who's really responsible." + +"Just so," Graham agreed. "The pity is that he should find men willing +to do his dirty work on very moderate pay; but there's no lack of +them. There are men you can only dynamite out of the mire, because if +you pull them out by gentler means they crawl straight back again. +It's unfortunate, because you meet some with a few likable qualities; +I think our new packer is one of these." + +"Their trouble generally begins when they get into the clutches of +such a hog as we're up against," Carnally said. "He knows how to +handle them and it needs some grit to break away from him. We'll get +Turner to tell us some of his claim-jumping experiences to-morrow +night. You'll find them interesting." + +Supper was finished and they were sitting in camp after a hard day's +toil when Carnally cleverly drew the packer out. He was not unwilling +and, warming to his subject, recounted incidents that filled Andrew +with surprise and disgust. Sitting in the shadow with his eyes fixed +on the ragged adventurer, he heard how small sawmill owners had been +jockeyed out of the timber leases they were not rich enough to +defend; how dams and flumes had been tampered with until their +harassed proprietor sold out his water rights; and the means by which +impecunious owners of minerals had been robbed of their claims. Turner +occasionally chuckled over the memory of some roguish trick, but, for +the most part, his manner was impressively matter-of-fact. Andrew did +not think he was drawing much upon his imagination; but it seemed +incredible that such things should be done without the men who plotted +them and reaped the benefit incurring general odium. After Turner had +strolled away, he said something of the kind to Graham. + +"The point is," Graham explained, "the low-down rascals who are used +as tools daren't talk where they'll be heard, and nobody attaches much +importance to what is said in third-rate saloons. Respectable people +don't ask too many questions when they see a prospect of dividends; +there may be something not quite straight, but so long as it's well +hidden, they don't want to know. Still, I'll say this: if you put the +ugly facts square before them, they'll quite often act, even if they +have to make some sacrifice to set matters right." + +"Yes," assented Andrew; "I believe that's true. There's a reason why I +find it encouraging." + +"Now we'll talk of something else," Carnally interposed. "It's my +opinion that we ought to leave the water soon, perhaps to-morrow, and +push straight across the last height of land for the lode. We want to +keep well ahead of the Mappin boys." + +They discussed it until they went to sleep, and the next day they +carried the canoe some distance back from the river and carefully hid +her in the brush. Farther on they cached part of their stores, and +then plunged into a desolate, stony waste. Their journey across it +proved uneventful, and at length they came down into the hollow where +the lode lay. As it was noon, they ate a meal before anything was +said; and then Carnally gave Turner a fishing-line with a trolling +bait on it. + +"You go back to the last creek we crossed and catch some trout," he +ordered. "Stay there until supper, whether you get any or not." + +Turner winked. + +"If I catch one with this outfit, it will be a mighty silly trout; the +thing's made for spinning behind a canoe on a lake. Don't you want +help with your prospecting? I know something about minerals." + +"So do we," Carnally replied. "I'd rather hear that you were fond of +fishing, because you're going to get a good deal of it. Every day +we're here you'll light out after breakfast and not come back till +dark. If we see you from the camp, we'll fire you on the spot." + +"I understand," said Turner. "Guess I'll stay out. I've no use for +taking the trail without any grub." + +He left them and Carnally turned to Graham. + +"We must get our prospecting done before the Mappin gang arrives, and +the sooner we start the better. We'll begin where we fired the shot +last time, and follow up the vein." + +It proved to be fairly well defined when they set to work with the +light tools they had brought, and their task was rendered easier +because the small but rapid creek had exposed the strata in scouring +out its channel. In some places they picked a hole, in others they +fired a charge of giant-powder, carefully separating the specimens +they obtained; and when evening came they sat in camp, examining +several heaps of stones. + +"They're promising," said Graham. "The weight is a good rough test, +and though it doesn't tell us much about the proportion of lead to +silver, I can find out something about that to-morrow. Jake, you might +pound this handful of stuff as fine as you can." + +He opened a small box which he had taken great care of during the +journey, and Andrew was surprised to see it contained a delicate +balance and several phials. + +"I didn't know you were an assayer," he said. + +"I'm not," Graham answered, smiling. "But you must remember that for +twenty years I've clung to the idea that I might find the lode, and +perhaps it isn't astonishing that I should try to learn something +about minerals and chemistry. In fact, it's been my only recreation; +but I didn't bring this outfit last trip because the frost would have +prevented my making much use of it." + +There was something that touched Andrew in the thought of the sawmill +clerk, patiently discharging his monotonous duties year after year and +preparing himself for the search which was the great object of his +life, though he knew he might never be able to make it. It was, +however, obvious that he had studied to some purpose, because he had +shown skill in tracing the vein, and Andrew had noticed that Carnally, +who knew a good deal about minerals, deferred to him. + +"I was lucky in getting hold of you and Jake," he said. + +Soon afterward Turner appeared with one trout, which he confessed he +had caught with his hands, and Graham carefully put away the box and +specimens. + +They began again at sunrise and worked with determined activity. +Before noon it grew very hot; there was no wind in the sheltered +basin, and the smell of the scattered spruces filled the listless air. +By degrees the men stripped off most of their clothing, and the strong +sun burned Andrew's bare arms and neck as he swung the pick. They +stopped only a few minutes for dinner, and continued with no +slackening of exertion until the shadows of the rocks covered the +hollow. Then Andrew, throwing down his tools, glanced with a curious +satisfaction at the pile of stones which marked the course of the +vein. He had accomplished something that day; the result of his toil +could be seen. + +"You look pleased," Carnally commented. + +"I feel so," declared Andrew. "We haven't improved the appearance of +the place from an artistic point of view; but I don't know when I felt +so content with what I've done. I used to feel proud when I'd helped +to fill the game cart at home; but this is different. Somehow it's +more bracing." + +"I understand; though I'm not much of a sport and when I work it isn't +for fun." + +Andrew slept as soon as he lay down on his bed of spruce twigs, and +awakened, fresh and sanguine, ready for another day's determined toil. +There was something strangely exhilarating in the resin-scented air; +Andrew felt vigorous and cheerful. Graham had expressed his +satisfaction with the rough tests he had made, and the more they +exposed the reef the better the ore looked. It would undoubtedly pay +for working and might yield a handsome profit, and Andrew felt that +the first half of the battle had been won. The other half would no +doubt entail some stubborn fighting, but he looked forward to it with +new courage. He had proved his ability and gained confidence in +himself; it was no longer a forlorn hope he was leading. He would +meet his cunning antagonist on fairly equal terms. + +Apart from all this, he found a keen pleasure in his work. It was good +to get up in the bracing cold of dawn and smell the aromatic wood +smoke as he renewed the fire. He had never enjoyed his breakfast as he +did in the desolate North; there was satisfaction in using the drill +with a dexterity he had painfully acquired. He could bring down the +hammer squarely upon the head of the tool, and swing the pick all day +with delight in the strength of his muscles instead of exhaustion. It +was gratifying to find that he had chosen the right line of cleavage +in the stone when the great fragments leaped up through the vapor of +the exploding charge. Judgment as well as strength was needed in these +things--all were worth doing and made for health and tranquillity of +mind. + +Turner seemed to recognize that Carnally was not to be trifled with. +He gave them no trouble, remaining away until the day's work was done. +Then as they lounged about the fire in the sharp cold of the evening, +he told stories, amusing and grim, and Andrew listened, divided +between admiration of the man's ingenuity and daring, and disgust at +his frank rascality. + +When the claims had been carefully staked and the last evening came, +Andrew was sensible of a keen regret. He had been happy in the +wilderness, and it was hardly probable that he would use the pick and +drill again. Henceforward his duty would lie in a different sphere; it +was the last time he would lie down in soil-stained clothes, healthily +tired after a day of bodily labor. The air was wonderfully clear; +scattered spruces and towering rocks stood out with sharp distinctness +against a glow of transcendental green. The smoke of the fire rose +straight up; the splash of the creek came musically out of the shadow. + +"I think we're all ready to start south at sunrise," Graham said +presently, and looked at Turner. "Can you guess why your partners +haven't turned up?" + +"No," answered the man. "I'll allow that I've been expecting them the +last day or two. Perhaps they couldn't strike your trail, and there's +a chance that when they made the cache, starving, they found there +wouldn't be grub enough to take them up and down." + +"It's possible," said Andrew, and looked at the others. "Though I +think we've staked off the best of the vein, it seems a pity that you +couldn't secure some of the rest." + +"It can't well be done," Carnally explained. "A man can locate only +one claim on the same lode; but if the ore pans out as good as it +looks, I'll be content with the terms you promised me." + +"I'm the one who's got left," Turner broke in. "I've packed your truck +and done your hardest work, and don't get five cents for it. It +wouldn't rob you if you let me stake a claim." + +"The difficulty is that you'd have to sell it to Mappin," Andrew +reminded him. + +"That's so," Turner admitted. "If I tried to go back on that man, it +would be the worse for me. The way I'm fixed is mighty rough." + +"You got your grub," said Graham; "you ran a big risk of being left to +starve; and you might have got shot. It strikes me you had better quit +Mappin's service and try how honesty pays." + +They left camp at sunrise and met with no misadventures on their +journey south. It was nearly completed and they expected to reach the +mine in a few more days when Carnally called Turner as he was loading +the canoe one morning. + +"You can let up on that job. We won't want you any more," he said +bluntly. + +Turner looked at him dismally. + +"Are you going to fire me here?" + +"You've hit it," said Carnally. "We'll give you grub for two meals, +and if you hustle you ought to make the camp back at the awkward +portage by noon to-morrow. You'll find a cache with provisions that +should last you to the mine by the water's edge. As I'll give Watson +orders you're not to have a canoe, we should be down at the settlement +a week before you get there." + +"Well," Turner acquiesced, "I guess it's no use grumbling." + +He was leaving the camp when Andrew called to him. + +"Though I suppose you would have jumped our claim without hesitation, +I don't want to be too hard, and we have found you a useful help. If +you will call on me at the Landing, I think I can promise you three +dollars for every day you have been with us. But it's conditional on +your playing no tricks!" + +"Your partner doesn't leave me many chances," Turner grinned. + +They launched the canoe and were paddling down-stream when Carnally +alluded to the matter. + +"I don't know that the fellow could make trouble for us; but he's +safer up here until we get our records filed," he said. + +Then he swung his paddle and the canoe drove faster toward a rapid. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +GERALDINE + + +On reaching the Landing Andrew learned that Frobisher had returned and +he rowed across to visit him. It was evening when he disembarked at +the little pier. Geraldine came down across the lawn, and Andrew's +heart beat fast as he watched her. She was wonderfully graceful, he +thought, her white summer dress and light hat became her, there was a +tinge of color in her face, and she was obviously eager to hear his +news. She gave him a quick glance before they met, and then smiled in +cordial welcome, for the man's expression was suggestive. He had lost +his strained and anxious look, there was now an assured tranquillity +in his bearing; he had not come back disappointed, and, for his sake, +she rejoiced at this. Then as she gave him her hand and noticed the +eager light in his eyes she grew suddenly disturbed. + +"You have been successful; I'm very glad," she said. + +"Yes," responded Andrew, holding her hand; "things have gone well with +us, but except for the mineral recorder you are the first person I've +told the good news to. That strikes me as particularly appropriate." + +"Why?" + +"I don't suppose I'd ever have found the lode if you hadn't encouraged +me. I felt daunted once or twice. Then I ventured to think that you'd +be interested." + +"I am interested," Geraldine assured him, gently withdrawing her hand. +"You needn't doubt that. But won't you come up to the house?" + +Andrew laughed with a trace of awkwardness as he realized that he had +been standing at the top of the uncomfortably narrow steps by which +one reached the pier. + +"It might be better, if you and Mr. Frobisher are not engaged." + +"He's writing letters, though I think he'll have finished soon. +Wherever he is, he's generally busy; but I can answer for his being +glad to see you." + +"That's good to hear. I'm heavily in your father's debt; but I'd like +to think he's not the only one in the family to feel the pleasure." + +Geraldine smiled at him mockingly. + +"How delightfully formal, Mr. Allinson! Besides, you seem to need a +good deal of assuring." + +"A fair shot," Andrew laughed. "I'm afraid, when I'm really in +earnest, I'm apt to be stilted; but perhaps it isn't an altogether +unusual fault. The correct light touch seems hard to acquire." + +"Not stilted; that's too harsh. Now and then you're rather too +serious." + +Looking at her steadily, he saw amusement in her eyes, but he had not +wit enough to read all it covered and he felt slightly chilled. The +girl knew his love for her and had thought of him often and anxiously +in his absence; but now that he had come back safe and successful she +was seized by a strange timidity. She shrank from the drastic change +in their relations which his attitude threatened; he must be kept at a +distance until she had become more used to the situation. + +"It's very possible. Wouldn't it be pleasanter here?" he hinted, as +they approached a seat which stood in the shadow of the firs. "We +might disturb your father by going in." + +"Yes," Geraldine assented, somewhat dubiously, though the house, which +faced the west, was uncomfortably hot. + +They sat down and she glanced at him unobtrusively. She was now very +cool and free from embarrassment, while the man seemed to be suffering +from constraint. Moreover, he looked disappointed, and she felt sorry +for him. + +"So you found the lode and recorded your claims?" she said. "That must +have been a great relief; but what will you do next?" + +Andrew grew impatient. He would have preferred to discuss something +more personal than his mining affairs. + +"Oh," he exclaimed, "you must have heard enough about the lode to make +you tired of it! However, I expect I shall have to go back to England +before long." + +Geraldine wondered whether the curt announcement was meant to alarm +her, and decided that it was not. The man was too modest to make sure +of her affection for him. Nevertheless it caused her some concern. + +"Will it be a visit, or do you think of staying there?" she asked. + +"I can't tell," said Andrew moodily. "If I can get things straightened +up, I may come back to the new mine; but I shall not know until I +arrive." + +"Do you wish to come back?" + +"Yes," he answered emphatically, "very much indeed." + +"Then you will no doubt find an excuse for doing so. It shouldn't be +difficult to a fertile mind." + +"Unfortunately, mine often seems to suffer from sterility. It has been +subjected to stimulating influences here, and I'll miss them on the +other side." + +"If needful, couldn't you take Carnally with you?" Geraldine spoke +with a touch of raillery. + +"Carnally's useful, as far as he goes, but I'm not sure that he'd be +much help in England; and he's not the only person I've, so to speak, +come to lean on." + +Geraldine regarded him with faint amusement. + +"Then perhaps it's better that all outside support should be withdrawn +and you learned to stand on your own feet. Don't you think you could +do so, if you made an effort?" + +"It's possible; I've no doubt I'll have to try. But when it's been +generously given, one gets into a habit of looking for help and +applause." + +"That's unfortunate. Criticism's much more bracing. I'm afraid you +haven't had enough of it." + +"Haven't I?" said Andrew. "I got nothing else at home, and it's +damping to have somebody always ready to point out how much better you +might have managed things. If I do any good when I get back it will be +because of the encouragement I've had here." + +"That's a very poor reason. You ought to do what you intend because +you feel it's right." + +"No doubt," said Andrew with a stern smile. "Still, you see, it needs +a good deal of nerve." + +Geraldine mused for a few moments. He had played up to her, as she +thought of it, but in his half-humorous manner there had been a touch +of gravity, and she knew what her commendation had been worth to him. +She was glad that he valued it, but she could not have him guess this, +and she shrank from showing too much earnestness. + +"Well," she said, "the mail must be sent across to the Landing soon; +I'd better tell my father." + +She got up, and a few minutes afterward Frobisher appeared and took +Andrew to his smoking-room. When they had talked for a while, Andrew +took out a few specimens. + +"So far as we were able," he said, "we picked out the best of the +lode, but I believe much of the ore is of excellent quality. I brought +you these specimens to look at, and the assayer's report on those we +sent him after the first trip." + +Frobisher examined them with care. + +"A good business proposition; this stuff should pay for smelting. I +suppose you realize that your knowledge of the locality is valuable?" + +"That's what I am coming to. If the thing's in your line, any +information I can give you is at your service." + +"Ah!" said Frobisher. "Let us understand each other. Do you want to +sell?" + +"Not to you. We have staked three claims, which is all we can legally +hold, and our records were only filed an hour and a half ago. By using +my map of our route and a sketch of the vein, you or anybody you may +send could reach the spot and have some days for prospecting before +anybody else could find it." + +"Then you're offering me this out of friendship?" + +"Not altogether. I don't forget that you saved us from starving; but +apart from that, I'd rather have somebody I know as owner of an +adjacent claim. You'll excuse my saying that I can't tolerate Mappin +there. I understand it isn't difficult to get up disputes over +boundaries and water-rights, and he'd find some means of attacking +us." + +"You're wise, and I appreciate your generosity. There's every reason +to believe you have put me on to a good thing. But I'm getting too old +to make the journey, and there's no time to be lost. The trouble is to +fix on the right men to send, because they'll have to be reliable. I +know two or three boys in Colorado who would see the thing through, +but it would take a week to bring them here and only a British subject +can file a record." + +He broke off and sat silent a few moments. "I have it!" he exclaimed. +"There's a fellow at the Landing who, I think, would deal honestly; +but he must get off with some packers to-morrow. If you'll excuse me, +I'll go across." + +Andrew went to a writing-table and hastily filled up a sheet of paper; +then took a map from his pocket and wrote some directions on the back +of it. + +"Here's an order on Watson at the mine for any provisions and tools he +can supply. It will save your men some transport and that means a +quicker journey. Now listen carefully for a minute." + +"Thanks," said Frobisher, when he had finished, and left him on the +word. + +Andrew laughed as he sat down to finish his cigar. The American's +promptness was characteristic, and he was glad to feel that he had +been of some service to him. + +When he went out he found Geraldine on the lawn. + +"What have you told my father?" she asked. "He ran past me without +speaking and nearly fell into the water as he jumped on board the +launch. I can't remember having seen him go so fast." + +"Perhaps it's not surprising. I told Mr. Frobisher about the lode and +where the best locations were." + +"The information ought to be valuable. The ore is rich, isn't it?" + +"I think so, but of course it isn't mine to give away. All I did was +to give your father some information which should help him to find it +before anybody else. He means to send up a prospecting party at once." + +Geraldine pondered this. The man was too modest to make much of the +affair, but her father's eager haste had its significance. His +judgment on business matters was unusually good, and she had no doubt +that the minerals were worth locating. It was, however, more important +that Andrew had been able to place him under an obligation, because, +in a sense, his power to confer a favor proved his value. She had +believed in him from the first, but it was pleasant to feel that +others must recognize his merits. + +"Well," she said, smiling, "you have made some progress in his esteem. +He's inclined to judge people by what they have done, and you have +found a rich mine." + +"Wouldn't it be fairer to judge them by what they would like to do? +It's often better than the other." + +"Oh, no! Liking's easy; one often gets no farther. Accomplishment is +hard, but it counts." + +Strolling to the beach, they found a seat on the pier. There was not a +breath of wind and the languid ripples splashed softly on the shingle. +Near the land the dark shadow of the pines floated on the glassy +water, but farther out it gleamed with silvery light. To the west the +black rocks and ragged trees cut sharp against a glow of vivid green. +Andrew was silent for a while. Geraldine had quietly checked him +whenever he bordered on the sentimental, and it was disconcerting, +though he felt that it would be wiser to make no effort to come to +closer quarters until she tacitly gave him encouragement. + +"What a beautiful country this is!" he said at length, feeling that +the topic was safe. + +"Yes," answered Geraldine, "it is beautiful and rugged, very different +from your well-cared-for England, and I suppose it gets wilder as you +travel north." + +"It's the wildness that gets hold of one. I don't know when I was so +happy as I was when hauling the canoe over portages, tracking her up +rapids, and blowing rocks to bits. There must be a primitive strain in +us that shows itself in the waste." + +"It may be useful now and then, but indulging it doesn't make for +progress. Even our Indians have found that out, and those who still +cling to their primitive customs live miserably in skin tepees by +catching fish. I dare say any of them could take a canoe up a rapid +better than you." + +"There's no doubt of that," Andrew responded. "But I don't see your +drift." + +"One gets impatient now and then with the cult of the physical, which +they're so proud of here. It's good in a way, but it doesn't lead to +much. For example, you can't continue finding valuable claims, and +there must be something for you to do besides drilling holes for +dynamite." + +"Shooting pheasants is easier," Andrew smiled; "I can't say it's more +useful." + +"And is there nothing else?" + +Andrew grew suddenly thoughtful. + +"I'll confess to a hazy idea that if I succeeded in straightening up +the Allinson affairs, I'd retire from the business while my laurels +were fresh, and turn miner. The claims will need attention, and it +would be more in my line than the management of the firm." + +"You mean you would like it better?" + +"I'm beginning to understand." Andrew looked at her gravely. "If +anybody else had hinted as much, I'd have felt it was exacting and I +was being driven too hard. With you it's different. Once or twice +already you have given me the impetus I needed, and you're right now. +But if I'm not required by Allinson's why shouldn't I attend to the +claims?" + +Looking up he saw the launch, which had rounded a neighboring islet, +heading for the pier, and shortly afterward Frobisher joined them. + +"I've got everything fixed," he said jubilantly. "Three men will start +at sunrise. But you look as if you had been discussing something +important. What's it all about?" + +"Give us your opinion, Father. Mr. Allinson seems to think he can make +a few drastic reforms in his firm, and then leave such matters alone. +My idea is that he will find it harder than he expected." + +Frobisher laughed with quiet amusement. + +"Mr. Allinson has still a good deal to learn and I'm afraid he's much +mistaken in this matter." He turned to Andrew. "Once you take an +active interest in a big business you'll find you can't let go. +Instead of your directing the concern, it will come to own and drive +you unmercifully hard. For the last ten years I've been trying to take +life easier and escape from the pressure of affairs, but I'm still a +long way from doing so. In fact, in spite of my good resolutions, it's +only an hour since I launched out on another new venture." + +"Isn't it largely a matter of temperament?" Andrew asked. + +"No doubt; but not quite in the way you think--that is, it's not +always a question of making money. If a man has what we'll call the +constructive genius, he can't stand and look on when he sees anything +that needs to be done. He feels that he must take his coat off and get +to work." + +Andrew had an uncomfortable feeling that Geraldine and her father were +right. One thing led to another, and he might be drawn irresistibly +into a long series of business complications, which was by no means +what he had at first contemplated. Nevertheless, if his services were +of any value, Allinson's had the first claim on them. He dismissed the +matter when Frobisher suggested that they go in to supper. Frobisher +was witty, Geraldine charmingly cordial, and it was with regret that +Andrew took his leave. Geraldine walked to the pier with him and he +noticed a gentleness in her face that set his heart to beating. He +thought the soft dusk emphasized her beauty by etherealizing it. When +they reached the steps she turned to him with a smile. + +"I feel as if I'd presumed too far," she said. "After all, I'm only a +girl and younger than you are, which doesn't seem to justify my +imposing my half-formed views on you." + +"I don't think that matters," returned Andrew. "I believe those views +are right." + +"Then, though you had better test them thoroughly, you don't feel +offended?" + +"I am grateful; but there's one point that disturbs me. I shouldn't +like to think you were reconciled to the idea of getting rid of me." + +Geraldine smiled at him. + +"That would be a wrong conclusion. If it's any comfort, we shall miss +you; but it isn't such a very long journey from England to the Lake +of Shadows. You will find it needful to come over and see how the +mines are working now and then." + +"Whether the mines need me or not, I shall come." + +She gave him her hand. + +"We'll consider it a promise; but you're not going yet, and you +needn't neglect us before you start." + +When she turned away Andrew got into his canoe and paddled back to the +Landing. He had, he felt, been firmly held off at arm's length, but +for all that he had noticed faint hints of tenderness in the girl's +manner which were highly encouraging, and she undoubtedly took a +strong interest in him. He must proceed cautiously and avoid alarming +her by being precipitate. That, after all, was the course he +preferred, for he was strangely diffident in love. + +A day or two later he saw Turner in the bar at the hotel, where +several others were lounging; but the man gave him a careless +greeting. Andrew went into the lobby and Turner presently sauntered +in. + +"Can you come down to the beach behind the sawmill dump in a few +minutes?" he asked. + +Andrew nodded, and when Turner went out he put some bills into his +wallet and made for the beach. It was a quiet place, hidden between a +rocky head and a bank of sawdust, and Turner was waiting for him. + +"I suppose you have come for the money I promised you?" Andrew said. + +"That's not the only thing, though I'd be glad to have it." + +Andrew counted out several bills. + +"I didn't want to be seen talking to you at the hotel," Turner +explained. "It mightn't have been safe for me if Mappin got to hear of +it. But there's something you ought to know. The boys he sent after +you heard about the strike you made when they came down here for grub, +and are on the trail again." + +"I don't see how that matters. When Mappin's rascals reach the lode +they'll find we have staked off the best, and it looks as if every man +about the settlement who can get away is going up to prospect." + +"Those fellows," persisted Turner, "are old hands at the game. I don't +know their plans, but there's one thing you can depend on--they mean +to make trouble. They might shift some of your stakes and then claim +that your record wasn't correct, which would give Mappin a chance of +getting after you. It takes a smart surveyor to lay out boundaries and +frontage in such a way that they can't be questioned. I want to warn +you to be on the lookout." + +Andrew considered. He knew there was sometimes litigation over mineral +claims, and he had to deal with a clever and unscrupulous man. + +"I wonder why you told me this?" + +"You treated me like a white man," Turner answered with a trace of +awkwardness, and then broke into a grin. "Besides, I was getting tired +of the business, anyhow; there wasn't a dollar in it for me. Now I +guess I'll light out before somebody comes along." + +Andrew thanked him, and then went off in search of Carnally, feeling +glad that he had treated Turner leniently. The man was a rogue, but he +had the virtue of gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE JUMPERS + + +The sun was rising when Joe Thorpe made a hasty breakfast with his two +companions in their camp beside the lode. He was a logger by +profession, though he had an extensive experience in prospecting for +timber-rights and minerals. Big Joe was known as an honest man; that +was why Frobisher had selected him to stake off a claim, and he had +arrived late on the previous night after a forced march. + +"We ought to have a clear day or two before the first of the crowd +that's following us comes in, but that's all," he said. "We want to +get our prospecting done and the best locations picked before the rush +begins, and we'll start as soon as you've finished." + +"I'll be through in a minute," said one of the others with his mouth +full. "It's a pretty fair deal Frobisher made with us and he's not the +man to go back on one." + +"That's more than I'd say of Mappin," remarked the third of the party. +"He's in this somehow, isn't he? What was it Carnally said to you when +we were getting ready to start, Joe?" + +"Told me to watch out for the Mappin crowd. It seems Mappin's put +Scaith, who made the trouble over the Newark timber-rights, on to the +job. The fellow's a crook, and two of the others have been mixed up in +jumping rows. Now we like Carnally, and he allowed he was on to a good +thing in the Allinson claims. Anyhow, Watkins, you've had enough for +one man. Let up on the pork and bring along the drill." + +They set to work, and it was late in the afternoon when, stripped to +shirt and trousers and dripping with perspiration, Joe stopped for a +few moments to look about. Thirty feet behind him the creek swirled +furiously around a rocky head, the steep face of which was fumed and +scarred by giant-powder. A stake was driven into the crest of the +promontory, another could be seen a short distance back, and +straggling jack-pines and spruces followed the edge of the bank. The +ground had been disturbed all round and was strewn with piles of soil +and stones. + +"I guess the Allinson outfit know their business," he observed. "It +looks a curious way to pitch a claim, but if you come to figure out +the thing, it gives them the best frontage they could get. This corner +post's just where I'd have put it. If they'd located it a bit to the +right, it would have swung their line off the richest stuff. There's +no room for us here on pay dirt: we'll move higher up." + +He took a few steps forward but stopped suddenly at a sharp crash +followed by a puff of vapor that curled up among the rocks ahead. +Great fragments leaped out of it, and Joe ran for his life as one +large piece that turned over as it sped came toward him. It fell short +with a heavy thud and he swung around angrily. + +"What in thunder are you firing two sticks for where you weren't +told?" he cried. + +"Watkins likes a big charge," grinned his companion. "He's surely +rough on giant-powder." + +The third man came toward them and explained. + +"That blamed Allinson corner post shoves us back, and I wanted to see +if we could squeeze in a block beside them and keep on the ore, +though I guess there's not much use in it. If I was a jumper, I'd +shift that stake." + +"You can't do it!" Joe replied promptly. "We're acting square! But +when the fumes have cleared, we'll look at what you've got." + +The examination confirmed his opinion that they were shut out by the +Allinson claim, which must be respected, and they moved farther up the +lode. It was dusk when they stopped work, and they spent the following +morning digging holes and firing shots before deciding on their +locations. These they roughly marked with piles of stones, but there +were distances to be carefully measured and bearings verified before +their stakes were driven, and while they were getting dinner another +party arrived. The men were ragged and weary, and the appearance of +several was far from prepossessing. + +"There's Scaith and Nepigon Jim," Watkins exclaimed. "Brought four +other fellows with them. They're a tough-looking crowd." + +The newcomers lighted a fire, and while they prepared a meal their +leader strolled across to the other camp. He was a short, wiry man, +with keen eyes. + +"Well, Joe," he said, "you've been over the ground; what's it like?" + +"Pretty good," Joe answered. "The Allinson gang got first pick and +we've had the next, but there's plenty pay dirt left. I suppose you're +up here for Mappin? You want to keep off our blocks." + +"Sure we will," said the other genially. "We'll take a look round +after grub and see where we can begin. You got away from the Landing +mighty smart." + +"We wanted to keep ahead of the crowd. I suppose the boys were getting +ready when you left?" + +"They were quitting work all round the settlement; one or two outfits +would get off soon after us. We made pretty good time over the +Allinson trail. But I guess our dinner's ready." + +He moved away and Joe turned to his companions with a meaning glance. + +"That's a man who'll want some watching," he warned them. + +During the afternoon he and the others drove in their stakes, and +there was apparently nothing to prevent their return to record the +claims, but Joe declared that he was tired and they would not get far +enough before dark to make it worth while to start. Accordingly, they +lounged in camp while the newcomers wandered about the neighborhood, +testing the ground. It struck Joe as suspicious that they seemed to +find it necessary to cross the Allinson claims very frequently. Toward +evening the sky grew overcast and rain began to fall, but Joe's camp +was sheltered, and when it grew cold after supper they made a bigger +fire. + +"Some of the boys from the settlement should get through by morning, +and they're a straight crowd," Joe said. "We'll take the trail first +thing after breakfast." + +A raw wind sprang up, the rain got heavier, and dusk fell early; but +when the others went to sleep Joe sat up a while. He had done what he +had been sent to do and would receive a good reward for it, besides +retaining an interest in the claims when Frobisher took them over +after the development work had been done. The thought of it excited +him, but after a while he laid his blanket in a hollow and went to +sleep. + +It was, however, not sound sleep, for every now and then he opened his +eyes, and at last raised himself to a sitting position and looked +about. The fire had burned very low, so that its light did not dazzle +him, and he could see the shadowy trunks that ran up into the gloom. +Heavy drops fell among the red embers, the wind wailed dolefully about +the branches, and he could hear the rain beat upon the stones. Though +it was darker than usual, the sky was visible and rocks and trees +stood out black against the surrounding obscurity. Knowing that he had +a long march before him, Joe felt irritated because of his +restlessness; but as he did not feel at all sleepy he lighted his pipe +and began to think of his return journey. + +Presently Scaith's camp-fire caught his eye. It was burning brightly, +which seemed to indicate that the party had sat up very late or that +somebody had risen and thrown on fresh fuel. This struck him as +curious, and he watched the flickering glow. Before he had smoked out +his pipe he imagined that he saw a blurred figure among the smoke. It +vanished, though he did not think the fellow had left the camp. He sat +for a few minutes, pondering the matter. Although they had given him +no reason for doing so, he suspected Scaith's party and felt uneasy, +wishing that the night were clearer. Large objects were faintly +distinguishable, but Joe did not think he could see a man except at a +very short distance, and the wind among the spruce tops would prevent +his hearing footsteps. It was raining very hard, trickles of water ran +down the trunks, and cold draughts eddied about him. He would be more +comfortable lying down under his blanket but he was troubled by vague +suspicions and felt that he must keep watch. + +At last he got up and picked his way toward the newly staked claims. +The ground was rough and he fell over a heap of stones, but he +reflected that the darkness which prevented his seeing anything would +also prevent his being seen. He had flung his blanket over his +shoulders, and though it impeded his movements it kept him drier. He +wandered about for some time before he could find the first stake, but +it was easier afterward because he knew the line and had only to count +his paces. The other posts were all in their proper positions; it +looked as if he had wasted his pains, for no attempt had been made to +tamper with the boundaries. + +This was satisfactory, but Joe did not feel quite at ease. He wished +that some of the other parties from the Landing had arrived, because +he knew the men, and knew that they would keep a keen lookout for any +trickery. Claim-jumping is sternly discountenanced by honest miners, +who are apt to deal with the jumpers in a drastic manner. Joe, +however, could not delay his departure. The filing of an application +form in the recorder's office is the first proof a discoverer of +minerals can advance of his right to them. + +He stopped a few moments by the last stake, feeling that he could now +return to camp, but still irresolute. It would be dark for some time +yet and mischief might be on foot. Then it dawned on him that the +Allinson claims would be better worth attacking than his, and he moved +toward the corner post, which was the key to their position. Their +safety was no direct concern of his, and he was getting wet; but +Carnally was his friend and Allinson was held in much esteem at the +Landing as a just and considerate employer. With difficulty he found +the post, which seemed to have been undisturbed; but he felt +suspicious and reluctant to leave the spot. Finding a hollow to lee of +a rock, he sat down. + +For a while nothing disturbed him. He could hear the creek roaring +among the stones below, for the steep edge of the bank was only a few +yards away. Scaith's fire glowed in the distance, and the rain blew in +sheets past the edge of his shelter. Joe thought he was foolish for +waiting, but he stayed. Then all at once a dim figure was outlined +against the sky only a few paces from him. + +Joe had heard nobody approach and he was startled; but the next moment +he became cool and intent. A man was moving toward the Allinson corner +post. He had his hands on it when Joe sprang forward. But he was too +late to surprise the fellow. Joe closed with him in a savage grapple; +but he could not throw him, and glancing sideways at a sound, he saw +that he would shortly have to deal with a second enemy. Another man +was running hard toward them. + +It was obvious that he would be overpowered unless he could disable +the fellow he had seized before his confederate arrived; and with a +tense effort he drove him backward. Clutching each other, they +staggered a few yards through the darkness, until Joe felt the ground +slant sharply beneath his feet. Then, using all his force, he flung +off his adversary. The man disappeared and there was a splash in the +creek below. Then Joe turned breathlessly to meet the other man. + +He was near at hand, but, instead of attacking him, the fellow stopped +and cried out. This, however, did not trouble Joe, because the shout +would bring his companions upon the scene as well as the other party. +Moving cautiously in search of clearer ground on which to meet the +rush he expected, his foot caught in his blanket, which had fallen +off, and he swiftly picked it up. He had hardly done so when the +fellow ran at him, and Joe, meeting him with a staggering blow, flung +the heavy blanket over his head. He stumbled, unable to see, and Joe, +leaping upon him, bore him to the ground. There he had the advantage +of being uppermost; and, getting his knee on the other's chest, +managed to hold him down. This was satisfactory, so far as it went, +but he did not know what to do with his captive, and shouts now broke +out in the darkness. The rest of Scaith's friends were evidently +coming to the rescue, but he could hear Watkins' voice, and wondered +anxiously which would arrive first. + +He spent a minute or two holding the fellow down and thumping him as a +hint to keep still, while hurrying footsteps rapidly drew nearer. A +voice he did not know reached him, and he remembered that although +there was a rifle in camp he was unarmed and, if he stuck to his +prisoner, there would be two of his friends to four of Scaith's. That +was long odds; it looked as if he must be driven off the field, but he +determined to give the other side all the trouble he could. + +A moment or two later a man appeared. + +"Scaith!" he called, and the fellow under the blanket struggled as if +he had heard. + +"Quit it!" warned Joe, striking him hard; and then shouted: "Stand off +before you get hurt!" + +The newcomer stopped, no doubt trying to make out the meaning of what +he indistinctly saw, and Joe, hearing two or three more running, did +not get up. If the fellow attacked him, he would resist, but he wished +to keep his captive out of action as long as possible. They waited, +both expecting help, until Watkins and the third of Joe's party came +upon the scene. Behind them appeared three others, and both parties +paused. In the darkness it was difficult to discover what was going +on. + +"Where's our boss?" the first of the strangers asked. + +"I can't say," Joe answered. "One of your crowd's in the gulch, and +I've another here who'll sure get damaged if he don't keep still. I +don't know which is which." + +Scaith's friends seemed disconcerted at the news. + +"What's to be done about it, Joe?" Watkins broke in. + +"Well," said Joe coolly, "I guess we'll give them a chance to quit." +He addressed the opposite party. "You had better look for your +partner, boys. There'll be no stakes pulled up to-night." + +"We can wipe you out!" was the answer. "We've got a gun!" + +"So've we," replied Watkins. "I've got something else that will fix +you as quick. Get a hustle on; we've no use for jumpers!" + +Nobody stirred. Joe knew that he must confine himself to a defensive +course; Scaith's was the stronger party, but they were apparently +daunted by the loss of their leader. + +"You want to be reasonable," argued one. "What we're out for has +nothing to do with you. This isn't your claim." + +"We're going to watch it," Joe said. + +"Run them off!" cried one of the others. "We've talked enough!" + +They seemed ready for a rush, and Watkins quickly struck a match in +the shelter of his jacket. The next moment a slight hissing became +audible and he held up something which emitted small red sparks. + +"I guess you know what this is," he remarked. "The fuse is pretty +short and there's a stick of giant-powder at the end of it. You had +better quit before I pitch it into the midst of you." He added +sharply: "Get up, Joe!" + +They were startled by his cold-blooded daring, and though it may have +been discharged by accident, a pistol flashed. Then, as Joe sprang to +his feet, Watkins yelled in mockery and flung the dynamite cartridge +into the air. A train of sparks marked its flight, but the others did +not wait, and while Joe and his comrades ran off there was a flash and +a detonation. + +It was followed by a shout some distance off and a sound of men +running hard. Joe called his friends back. It was not Scaith's party +he heard: the footsteps were too numerous. + +"What's the trouble?" somebody shouted. + +"Jumpers!" Joe answered, and turned to his companions. "It's the first +of the boys up from the settlement." + +In a minute or two the newcomers arrived and Joe explained the matter. + +"We were making for your fire when we heard the shot and hastened on +our fastest hustle," said one. "Now we'll go along and bounce the +blamed jumpers out." + +Dawn was breaking when they reached Scaith's camp. They found several +men very busy, but they stopped a moment when the party came up. + +"You have to get off the ground!" ordered one of the men from the +Landing. "The sooner you quit the better for you!" + +"We're going," was the sullen answer. "I reckon we know when you've +got the best of us." + +"Then," said the other man, "we'll wait till you start--and we won't +wait long!" + +Shortly afterward Scaith's party took the trail to the south, and as +there were six of them Joe concluded that his first assailant had not +been seriously damaged by his fall into the ravine. When they had +gone, one of the new arrivals turned to Joe. + +"Carnally and Graham should be here before night," he said. "They were +getting ready to come up when we left. Jake allowed he wanted to be on +the ground." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE EVE OF BATTLE + + +It was evening when the big liner which had left Montreal at daybreak +steamed slowly past the ramparts of Quebec, the roar of her whistle +echoing among the rocks. The tide which had floated her across the +shoals of Lake St. Peter was running low, the great river was +unruffled, and Andrew leaned on her saloon-deck rails, watching the +city open up as she swung inshore with the slack stream. Behind the +wharves and warehouses at the waterside old buildings and loftier +modern ones, stores, banks and churches, rose in picturesque +confusion, tier above tier, to the heights girdled by Dufferin Avenue, +and the huge Frontenac Hotel. It struck him as a beautiful city, +viewed from the river, but it bore an exotic stamp. In spite of the +sooty smoke of the locomotives and the rattle of steamboat winches, it +had a stronger resemblance to the old romantic towns of France than +the business centers of essentially modern Canada. + +A feeble scream answered the sonorous whistle, and the engines stopped +for a few minutes as a tug steamed out from the wharf. She brought a +dozen passengers besides a number of mailbags, and when she cast off +the screw throbbed again and the liner forged ahead. It was with mixed +feelings that Andrew watched the city drop behind and the white thread +of Montmorency Falls disappear behind a long green island. Beyond it +the river widened, the shores were falling back, and dusk was creeping +across the oily water. Open sea was still far away, but Andrew felt +that he had parted from Canada, and though he was going home with his +work successfully done, the thought filled him with wistful regret. In +spite of many hardships and difficulties, he had been happy in the +northern wilds, and happier with Geraldine by the Lake of Shadows. He +meant to come back when he had finished his fight for Allinson's and +he thrilled as he wondered how Geraldine would welcome him. She had +given him a gracious farewell and her sincere good wishes; but she had +with gentle firmness prevented his making any direct appeal. This he +determined should not be the same again. When he returned she should +hear him out; but there was still much to be done before he could +prove his right to claim her, for the possibility of ignominious +failure confronted him. + +Before the next few weeks had passed he might be beaten and +discredited--jeered at as a rash fool who, undertaking a task beyond +his powers, had brought disaster upon those he meant to benefit and +wrecked an honored firm. But apart from such considerations, he knew +that he had turned his back upon the strenuous life of the wilderness. +Even if he returned to the lode for a month or two, he would travel by +well-marked roads, surrounded by some degree of civilized comfort. +There would be no more of the zest of the unknown trail; the charm of +the lonely North would be broken by the crash of machinery and the +voices of busy men. + +The dinner bugle broke his reverie, and when he was leaving the saloon +a steward gave him a letter the tender had brought. Recognizing +Carnally's writing, he opened it eagerly in a quiet corner of the +smoking-room, and as he read it he felt a faint envy of his comrade +who was using pick and powder in the wilds. This, however, gave place +to more practical considerations. Carnally related the jumpers' +defeat, which he described as Mappin's last attempt to trouble them. +The claims, he said, were safe from any fresh attack, and there was a +marked improvement in the ore as they opened up the lode. He thought +Andrew could devote himself to his English business with undisturbed +confidence. + +Andrew realized that the latter would need all his attention, and +during the short voyage he had little to say to his fellow-passengers. +Revolving schemes in his mind, he found weak points in all of them, +for it was a serious problem he had to attack. He could see several +ways of regulating the Rain Bluff Company's affairs, if Leonard would +agree, and he could bring charges against his brother-in-law which +would cost him his relatives' support; but this course was not +admissible. Leonard must be deprived of all control over Allinson's +but it must be done without suspicion being cast upon the integrity of +the firm. That would be difficult. Then Florence's position required +thought. Andrew wished the unraveling of the matter had been left to +somebody else with more tact and acuteness, but it was his duty and he +must do the best he could. + +On landing he traveled straight to London, and after taking a room at +a hotel went on foot to the Allinson offices. It was a sultry day with +rain at intervals; the streets were miry, and smoke thickened the +listless air. As he walked eastward along the Strand the roar of +traffic jarred on his ears and he noticed the streaky grime on the wet +buildings; but it was the intent, pallid faces of the passers-by that +impressed him most when he approached the city. Some were pinched and +hungrily eager, some were gross and fleshy, but the steady, direct +frankness of the Canadian glance was missing, and there was a more +marked difference in the movements of Andrew's city countrymen. All +were in a hurry, bolting into and out of dingy offices, but they had +not the free virile grace of the men who followed the lonely Canadian +trails. Nor had they, so far as their expressions hinted, the +optimistic cheerfulness that is common in the West. + +Though he was glad to be at home, Andrew was sensible of a faint +depression. The people he saw about him were those he would +henceforward work among; he must change the drill and canoe paddle for +the pen, and breathe the close air of offices instead of the fragrance +of the pines. Had the option been his, he would have turned away from +the city; but, as the head of Allinson's, he was not free to choose. +Doggedly, as when he had followed the frozen trail on a morsel of +food, he held on eastward past the Law Courts. + +At the office he learned that Leonard was away at a German health +resort, but would be back in a few days, and that Florence was staying +at Ghyllside. Andrew was sorry for Florence and felt guilty when he +thought of her. Though she had always taken her husband's view and +refused to consider him a person of any importance, she was his eldest +sister. Had she been less prejudiced, she might have helped him to +come to some understanding with Leonard which would have prevented a +direct conflict, but he feared he could look only for opposition and +bitterness. Next he learned that the Rain Bluff shareholders' meeting, +which he had suggested, had been fixed for an unexpectedly early +date. He surmised that Leonard, having his plans ready, meant to get +them adopted before his own were prepared. + +Summoning Sharpe, the elderly chief accountant who had served his +father, Andrew spent some hours with him, mastering so far as possible +the state of the firm's affairs. With a few exceptions, they were +prospering; there was no doubt that, in a sense, Leonard had done his +work well. In particular, the returns from foreign ventures were +excellent, and though Sharpe could not tell him precisely how the +profits had been made, Andrew with wider knowledge on some points +could guess. He feared that a full explanation would not redound to +the honor of the firm. He knew of lands to which Allinson's money had +been sent, where the high interest was wrung out of subject races with +fiendish cruelty. + +At last, when the electric lights were burning in the +lavishly-decorated office, Sharpe closed his books. + +"I think that is all I can tell you, Mr. Allinson," he said. "On the +whole, I venture to believe you must find our position eminently +satisfactory. The one weak point, if I may say so, is the Rain Bluff +mine. You will have seen that the shares are quoted down." + +"I've noticed it. What's the reason? The directors wouldn't let any +information that might have a depressing effect leak out." + +"There has been some selling," Sharpe answered with a shrug. "It's +possible that things have been kept too close. A little encouraging +news given to the press now and then goes a long way, but silence +tends to uneasiness." He hesitated. "I suppose I must not ask about +the Company's prospects until you have met the Board?" + +"You have been investing?" + +Sharpe admitted it. + +"I bought in the open market, with no favor shown. The firm has +treated me liberally, but I may have to make room for a younger man by +and by, and I had two boys to start. One at law, the other as surgeon; +but they are only beginning to stand on their own feet, and it was a +drain. What was left went into the Rain Bluff. I felt I was safe in a +venture organized by us." + +He looked at Andrew eagerly, but for a few moments the latter mused. +It was, he thought, such men as this old servant, patient, highly +trained toilers, who would have been hardest hit by the failure of the +mine. When he answered, his expression was unusually grave. + +"I think I can say that you have no cause for anxiety." + +"Thank you," said Sharpe. "Your assurance is a great relief. I wonder +whether I may mention that you have your father's manner; it was his +habit to make a curt statement without an explanation, but it always +carried weight. You remind me of him strongly, though I never noticed +the resemblance until to-day." + +"You have paid me a sincere compliment," said Andrew quietly. + +He spent the evening studying figures in his hotel, with no thought of +the attractions the city had to offer, and the next day he proceeded +to call on as many of the Rain Bluff directors as he could find in +their offices. They were city men, ignorant of any but the financial +side of mining, and he saw that the first two regarded him as an +inexperienced meddler. These, he thought, had been given a hint by +Leonard, though he did not question their honesty. Another insisted on +talking about Canadian sport, with the fixed impression that he had +really gone out to shoot and fish, and Andrew abandoned the attempt to +undeceive him. The fourth, however, heard what he had to say with +close attention. + +"To divulge this news would bring about a dangerous crisis," he warned +Andrew. "I must strongly urge you to consult with Hathersage and defer +any mention of new arrangements until after the meeting." + +"Then I should have you gentlemen united against me." + +"You do us injustice," Rahway protested. "On some of the points +involved our judgment is necessarily better than yours, and we would +no doubt insist on following it, but you will not find us neglectful +of the real interests of the Company." + +"They can be served only by a radical change of plans. As it stands, +the Company is rotten!" + +"Grave language, Mr. Allinson." + +"It's warranted. You must submit a report to the shareholders. Is it +prepared?" + +The director handed him some sheets of paper which Andrew studied with +rising indignation. + +"I recognize Hathersage's work!" he exclaimed. "There's no hint of the +difficulties that confront us. He wrote this?" + +"It's a draft I have just received from him." + +"And after what I've told you about the mine, you think it should +stand?" + +Rahway looked disturbed. "With a few exceptions, I must say that I do. +You are new to these matters, and don't realize how undesirable it is +that we should make our troubles public. Give us time to consider and +mature fresh schemes, and, if matters are really so serious as they +seem to you, we may find some judicious remedy. Undue haste can only +have disastrous results." + +Andrew lost his patience. + +"You want to tinker with the situation, to keep the shareholders in +the dark, while you try to patch up a tottering concern? It's an +impossible course! The truth must be faced boldly and the Company +reorganized from the start!' + +"If that is so, it must be done by the directors, with great caution. +I must beg you not to force our hands." + +"Well," replied Andrew, "I have nothing more to say. I shall attend +the meeting and do what seems advisable." + +He left the office, convinced that he could take only a bold, +independent course, for no help could be expected from the men he had +called on. Leonard's influence over them could not be combated. He +thought they might honestly doubt that the state of affairs was as +serious as he had represented; but if they were convinced of this, +their chief desire would be to keep the mine going long enough to save +their credit, and to make disclosure gradually. He was glad he had +told them nothing about the richness of the Graham lode and that the +claims on it were held under his personal control. On reaching his +hotel, he wrote to the directors he had not been able to see, though +he did not expect much result from this, and the next morning he left +for his home. + +Though he had a cordial welcome, he did not explain his plans to his +relatives, and Florence seemed to regard him with suspicion. A week +later Leonard came down to take her home, and asked for a private +interview after dinner on the night of his arrival. Andrew went with +him to the library and waited calmly until he began. + +"We must understand each other," Leonard said. "I hear you have found +the lode. Will you tell me your plans?" + +"Not to begin with. I want some information about yours first. No +doubt Mappin cabled you news of our discovery?" + +"He did. I might retort that you have seen my colleagues and tried to +gain them over, in my absence, instead of waiting for my return; but +that is not an important matter. What is it you wish to know?" + +Andrew's voice was quietly steady as he asked the test question upon +which their future relations turned: + +"Do you mean to submit the report to the Rain Bluff shareholders as it +stands?" + +"Yes," Leonard answered curtly, and Andrew knew that there could be no +compromise. It was now a trial of strength; one of them must be driven +off the field. + +"Knowing it to be misleading?" he said. "Very well; I can't prevent +its issue. I suppose you have heard that your confederate has been +beaten in what must be his last attempt to thwart me?" + +"I heard that an attempt had been made to jump the Company's claims." + +"My claims," said Andrew. + +"The Company's, I think. You were our representative when you found +them." + +"We'll let that go; it's not a point that's likely to be raised." + +As the question of the ownership of the claims seemed to be of +importance, Leonard looked puzzled. + +"Oh, well," he said, "I've told you that, if needful, Mappin must be +sacrificed." + +"That is not what you told him. You must have meant to trick one of us +or play false to both." + +"I can't tolerate such words!" + +Leonard lost the indulgent air he had so far assumed, and Andrew, +leaning forward with elbows on the table, fixed his eyes on him. + +"We'll drop all disguises. You have plotted against me ever since I +went to Canada, and I'm showing you more consideration than you +deserve in speaking of these things in private instead of before the +family. It is for Florence's sake I'm doing so." He raised his hand. +"Let me finish! You would have ruined the Rain Bluff Company sooner +than allow me to reorganize it; you conspired with Mappin to starve me +and my friends to death." + +Leonard sat back in his chair with a harsh laugh. + +"That is ridiculous! If we are to talk the matter out, try to be calm. +I'll admit that I would have been glad to prevent your wasting the +Company's time and money on an absurd adventure, and gave Mappin a +hint to that effect. If he went farther, for his own ends, I'm not +responsible." + +"I'd like to believe that you speak the truth. Apart from this, you +have persuaded the directors that my suggestions are not to be +considered seriously and what's worse, you have from the beginning +prejudiced my relatives against me. It's your doing that they think me +a fool." + +A smile crept into Leonard's eyes. + +"It looks as if you mean to force a quarrel," he said. + +"In a sense, you're right. We can't go on as we have been doing." + +"Very well. What do you suggest?" + +"In the first place, I ask for your resignation from the Rain Bluff +Board. That shouldn't be difficult; you have been selling your +shares." + +Leonard considered for a minute. + +"I might agree. Three of the directors must retire, and the Company +isn't likely to prosper if you get control." + +"I understand your reasons. The concern has got into trouble, for +which I'm to be held responsible, and you clear out because you find +it impossible to curb my recklessness. You expect to save your credit +in that way." + +"Have it so, if you like," said Leonard coolly. + +His answer convinced Andrew that Leonard did not know of the richness +of the lode. Andrew thought he had honestly disbelieved in it, and +Mappin, who had informed him of its discovery, which had not yet been +widely mentioned in the Canadian papers, might not have made him +understand its importance. Indeed, it was possible that Mappin meant +to throw over his English confederate. + +"I have another demand to make. I want your consent to a dissolution +of your partnership in Allinson's." + +Leonard started and his face grew hard; though it seemed impossible +that Andrew, whom he had genuinely looked down on, should urge the +matter. + +"This is too much!" he exclaimed. "Have you lost your senses?" + +"I think not. You have betrayed the trust my father had in you; you +have started Allinson's on a downward course. That you have, with the +exception of the Rain Bluff speculation, so far made money for the +firm does not count, because you can't continue doing so. There's a +code of business morality; they are not fools in the city, and your +methods would be found out. Then the reputation we trade upon would +be gone. But enough of this. Put your price on your position and I'll +pay it if possible." + +Leonard clenched his hands. + +"No!" he answered. "I hold my place! You cannot get rid of me!" + +"Is that your last word?" + +"Yes! I've tried to be forbearing, but you push me too hard. It has +come to an open fight, which may as well begin at the shareholders' +meeting. I shall not resign from the Board." + +"It was bound to come," said Andrew. "We know how we stand." + +Leonard rose. + +"Florence and I leave to-morrow! There is no train to-night." + +"That must be as you wish," responded Andrew, as he went out. + +Half an hour later Florence found him on the terrace. Her face was +flushed and her eyes were angry. + +"Andrew," she cried, "do you mean to persist in this madness? Shall I +try to make peace with Leonard before it is too late?" + +"I'm sorry it's too late already. I can't think he sent you." + +"No; I came because I felt I must. Can't you see that you are bent on +ruining yourself and bringing discredit on the firm?" + +"I think not; but it's a point on which we can't agree. I can't blame +you for taking Leonard's side." + +"Oh," she cried, "try to be sensible! Think how Leonard has developed +the business and earned the money that you have spent. Try to remember +all you owe to him." + +A queer smile crept into Andrew's eyes. He knew what he owed to +Leonard, but Florence must not guess. She should keep her faith in her +husband, if she could. + +"At the worst, he would leave the firm with a very much larger capital +than when he joined it, and there are, no doubt, other firms which +would welcome him." + +Florence turned upon him with a mocking laugh. + +"But Leonard is not going to leave the firm! Tell me, for one thing, +why you wish him to?" + +It was far from Andrew's intention that she should ever learn. + +"Well," he said slowly, "our views are so different on almost every +point that it's impossible we should get on. I'm very sorry, Florence, +but you can't mend the matter. The split was inevitable." + +"And you venture to set your immature judgment against Leonard's?" + +"I'm forced to. Don't say any more, Florence. I suppose the thing must +trouble you. Forgive me, if you can." + +"I'll try, when you have found out your folly," she said, and left +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +ALLINSON'S MAKES GOOD + + +It was with a strange sense of detachment that Andrew attended the +first meeting of the shareholders in the Rain Bluff mine. He had +thought of the event with great anxiety, made numerous plans and +abandoned them, and now he had come, in a sense, unprepared, +determined to submit two general propositions and let the shareholders +decide for themselves. Ignorant of the usual mode of procedure at such +meetings, he had consulted nobody better informed, and realized that +he might be ruled out of order or shouted down; but he was sensible of +a coolness that somewhat surprised him. + +The room hired for the occasion was large and handsome, with a floor +of inlaid hardwood, frescoed walls and lofty roof. It had something of +the look of a chapel. At one end a group of well-groomed frock-coated +directors were seated at a fine oak table, with the Company's +secretary behind an array of books and papers. All that the eye rested +on suggested stable prosperity, for Leonard knew the effect that +imposing surroundings had on the small provincial investor. It would +be difficult for inexperienced and unorganized malcontents to +disregard the air of severe formality which he meant to cast over the +proceedings. + +Andrew missed nothing as he entered. To face a crisis had a steadying +effect on him, and his manner was very tranquil as he walked up the +long room. + +Carefully scanning the assembled shareholders, he surmised from their +dress and appearance that a number of them were people of small means +from country towns. There were a few women, who looked nervous, as if +they felt themselves out of place. He was surprised to see Gertrude +and Mrs. Fenwood; and then as his glance roved farther he caught sight +of Wannop, who gave him an encouraging grin. Robert Allinson was +nearby, looking unusually grave; but Murray caught Andrew's eye and +smiled. On the whole, he was glad that he had made no attempt to win +over his relatives since his return: it was better that they should +judge and vote like the rest of the shareholders. Then as he took his +place he looked at his fellow-directors, whom he had not seen since +his futile interviews. They wore an air of staid formality, and he +suspected that before the meeting was finished they would regard him +as a traitor to his class; but that did not matter. He had given them +their opportunity and they would not seize it. Leonard, dressed with +fastidious taste, looked, as usual, suave and well-bred, but the quick +glance he gave Andrew seemed to hint at anxiety. + +He made a short speech, calculated to reassure, but containing very +little definite information. His audience listened in an apathetic +manner, and it struck Andrew that a curious, matter-of-fact dullness +characterized the proceedings. Leonard stated that the business of the +meeting was to adopt the report and elect new members of the Board in +place of those who retired, though they were, he added, eligible for +re-election. Then there was a discordant note, for a short man in +badly cut clothes, with spectacles and upstanding red hair, rose in +the body of the hall. + +"I take it that our chairman has made an error," he said. "Our +business is to consider the report; not necessarily to adopt it." + +"That is correct," said Leonard, smiling. "We invite your best +consideration. I will now ask the secretary to read the document." + +The secretary did so in a monotonous voice, as if it were a matter +which must be got through with out of respect to custom, and Andrew +felt that it would be a bold shareholder who ventured to disturb the +tranquillity of the meeting. Moreover, he recognized the cleverness of +the report. It said a good deal that was not to the point and avoided +every loophole for adverse criticism. There was only one weak spot--no +dividend was declared, though it was hinted that a satisfactory profit +might be anticipated when the Company's property had been further +developed. + +Somebody proposed that it be adopted, a seconder appeared; and then, +while Andrew felt that his time to speak had come, the short man with +the red hair got up again. + +"I move as an amendment that the report be held over until we are +supplied with more details," he said. "What I want to know is--why +there is no dividend, and when we may expect one?" + +One or two of the directors looked supercilious, the others amused, +and Leonard smiled indulgently. He was used to dealing with objectors. + +"The question," he explained, "is complicated, but I think we have +answered it already. I may add that it is unreasonable to expect a +dividend on the first year's operations. Preliminary expenses are +large, and a mine is not like a factory. The ground must, so to speak, +be cleared before you can get to work. Headings must be driven and +timbered, pumps and machines of various kinds have to be put up." + +"Were you ever in a mine?" the red-haired man interrupted amid some +laughter. + +"I hardly think that is to the point," Leonard answered lightly. +"Though I must admit that I have not been down a shaft, I have a +knowledge of the commercial side of the subject, which is all that +concerns me." + +"So I thought!" exclaimed the other. "You can't know much about your +work unless you have put up pitprops and used the pick. Now the +chairman of a mining company ought----" + +He was interrupted by cries of "Sit down!" and some ironical +encouragement, and Leonard frowned. It might be dangerous to allow the +meeting to get out of hand, and this troublesome fellow was giving +Andrew, of whom he was half afraid, his opportunity. + +"May I inquire whether the gentleman is a practical miner himself?" +one of the directors interposed. + +"I was, when I was young. Now I keep a shop and deal with pitmen. But +I came here expecting to be told about a dividend. I put three hundred +pounds into the Company, because lawyer Jesmond said one could rely on +anything that was started by Allinson's. The money wasn't easily +saved, but there was no opening in my business--what with the +co-operatives cutting into a small man's trade----" + +"That's enough!" said somebody; and there was a shout of "Don't waste +our time!" But the shopkeeper sturdily stood his ground. + +"I'm not here for myself alone," he resumed. "I came up, by excursion, +to speak for other people in our town. Jesmond did their business, and +he said----" + +There was loud interruption. The meeting was getting unruly, but +Wannop's voice broke through the uproar: + +"Go on, man!" + +"I mean to," replied the speaker calmly. "What's more, I have signed +proxies in my pocket to be filled up as I think fit." + +"It's doubtful how far that's in order," the secretary objected. + +"Let him fill them up by all means!" exclaimed a stockjobber +ironically. "If all his friends gave him proxies, they wouldn't count +for much! There are individual holders present whose votes----" + +He broke off at a touch from a neighbor, and Andrew cast a keen glance +at the quieter portion of the audience. It was composed of city men +who seemed inclined to support the directors. They were, perhaps, not +satisfied with the report, for several had been whispering together; +but Andrew thought they would prefer to avoid a disturbance and +disclosures that might injure the Company. If the meeting could be got +through safely, they could afterward sell out at once and cut their +loss. Andrew's sympathies, however, were strongly with such investors +as the determined shopkeeper. He could imagine the patient drudgery +and careful frugality which had enabled them to buy their shares. + +"I must ask the gentleman to find a seconder for his motion," Leonard +broke in. + +There was a pause and the shopkeeper looked eagerly round the hall, +where he seemed to have no friends. Then Andrew got up and quietly +faced the assembly. + +"I second the amendment," he said. + +A murmur of astonishment greeted the speech. + +"A director!" exclaimed somebody, and a whisper ran through the hall. +"Mr. Allinson--the company's agent in Canada!" + +Deep silence followed, and Andrew saw that every eye was fixed on him. +He was acting against all precedent--opposing his colleagues on the +Board, who were, in a manner, entitled to his support. + +"I suppose I'm taking an unusual line in offering the gentleman who +has been speaking information which the chairman has refused him," he +said. "He asked when he might expect a dividend. The answer is--never, +unless a radical change is made in the Company's policy." + +The plain words made a sensation, and after an impressive pause an +uproar began. + +"What about the prospectus with your name on it?" + +"What changes would you make?" + +"Keep quiet and let him speak!" + +"No, it's a case of collusion; there's some trick in it!" + +The meeting raged confusedly until Leonard got up. He looked shaken by +the storm of indignation. + +"Order, gentlemen! There is a motion before you." + +"The amendment first!" somebody shouted. + +"The amendment," said Leonard. "A show of hands will serve. 'That the +report be held over, pending the furnishing of further details.'" + +The audience appeared to be unanimous as the hands went up, and +Leonard sought to turn the matter to his advantage. + +"Carried," he said. "We will now adjourn the meeting until the +information which is asked for can be supplied." + +"That," Andrew stated firmly, "is not needful. I can give now an +accurate outline of the Company's position." + +The secretary protested that this was informal and one of the +directors requested Leonard to rule it out of order; but the meeting +had got beyond the chairman's control. There were poor men present who +thought they had lost their all, as well as rich men who believed they +had been deceived, and Leonard's words were greeted with angry clamor. + +Murray jumped to his feet. + +"I suggest that we hear Mr. Allinson. We will learn the truth from +him!" he said. + +"Let him speak!" shouted some one. + +Andrew, standing very still and intent of face, raised his hand and +the turmoil ceased. + +"I ask your attention. First, I must show you the worst of things, as +I learned it on the spot in Canada. The mine is threatened with +inundation, which can be prevented only by the use of powerful pumping +machinery; the rock is unusually broken up and faulty, which +necessitates expensive timbering and impedes the work. These +difficulties, however, need not be enlarged upon, because, if the +quality of the ore justified it, they could be overcome. Instead, I +will tell you roughly how much capital we have expended, the quantity +of ore raised, the cost of its extraction, and the value of the yield +in refined metal." + +He quoted from his notebook, and there was a strange quietness as he +proceeded: + +"Though the figures might be challenged and slightly modified by +experts, the conclusion is inevitable--the ore turned out at the Rain +Bluff can pay only a small interest on the cost of labor. The capital +spent in acquiring the mine has irretrievably gone." + +Then the storm broke. Questions, reproaches and insulting epithets +were hurled at the directors, some of whom tried to smile +forbearingly, while others grew red, and Leonard sat grim and silent +with his hand clenched. Andrew waited unmoved, and seized on a pause +to continue: + +"There is every reason to believe that your directors acted, as they +thought, in your interests, but they have been misled." + +"So have we!" exclaimed a furious investor. + +"I'm afraid that's true," Andrew agreed. "It's an important point, but +I must ask you to consider the remedies. In the first place, I will, +if necessary, redeem every Rain Bluff share which has been allotted; +that is, my brokers will buy up all that are brought to them." + +He was heard with astonishment. Some of those present knew a good deal +about commercial companies, but that a director of one should make +such an offer was unprecedented in their experience. On the surface, +it was surprisingly fair, but they suspected a trick. + +"At what price?" cried one. "The shares will fall to a few shillings +as soon as the truth about the mine is known." + +"At par," said Andrew. "You will be returned every penny you have paid +in." + +It was obvious that the greater part of his audience did not know what +to make of this. That he should be in earnest scarcely seemed +possible, as his offer seemed the extremity of rashness. No one spoke +for a moment or two; and then Robert Allinson rose. + +"If any guarantee is needed, I shall be glad to supply it, so far as +my means allow. My name is Allinson, a member of the family +controlling the firm which promoted this Company. I may perhaps +remark without undue pride that it is a point of honor with +Allinson's to keep its promises." + +"Bravo, Bob!" cried a loud, hearty voice. + +"I think," said Robert, in a tone of grave rebuke, "that is not +altogether seemly at a public meeting." + +Wannop got up with a laugh in which a number of the listeners joined. + +"And I am prepared to back my relative, Andrew Allinson, to my last +shilling--in which Mrs. Wannop joins me. Between us we hold a good +deal of stock." + +There was applause mixed with expressions of relief, but some still +suspected knavery. + +"What is Mr. Allinson's object?" a man blurted out. "What does he +expect to gain?" + +Andrew flushed, but answered quietly. + +"If you close with my offer, I shall undoubtedly benefit; but I do not +urge you to do so. Listen to the alternative, and then decide. But I +must ask for patience while I tell you the story of another mine." + +"As chairman, I must raise a point of order," Leonard objected; but +they silenced him with shouts, and he sat down, baffled, knowing that +the game was up. + +"Go on!" they ordered Andrew, and with a steady voice he began to tell +them of Graham's discovery of the lode. + +He paused once or twice, but they encouraged him, and as he proceeded +nobody felt that the narrative was out of place. A few, indeed, forgot +what they had come for and listened with a sense of romance and high +adventure, while he told them of the sawmill clerk's steadfast, +long-deferred purpose. Here and there women who had been keenly +anxious a few minutes earlier watched him with fixed, sympathizing +eyes, and Andrew, cheered by the close attention, was conscious of a +new power. He could hold these people, and take them with him into the +frozen wilds. + +They followed the march of the starving men across the Northern snow, +saw them blasting icy rocks, and searching with desperate eagerness +for the food caches. Then, as he told of the hard-won triumph, when +the vein was at last disclosed, a hoarse murmur that had something of +a cheer in it filled the room. It was forced upon those who had +doubted him that they were listening to an exceptional man, who had +borne and done things that needed the staunchest courage, for honor +and not for gain. + +"Now," he said with an abrupt change of tone, "I have told you how we +found the Graham Lode, on which three of the richest claims have been +contracted to me. Let me read you the reports of different assayers to +whom I submitted specimens." He did so, and added: "The original +documents are here; you may examine and pass them round. But I must +get on. These claims are mine, though my right to them might be +contested by the directors of this Company--the cost of finding and +proving them has been borne by myself--but, if you agree to their +development and the abandoning of the Rain Bluff, I propose to hand +them over as your property." + +There was confused applause, in the midst of which Leonard rose. + +"In face of the want of confidence you have shown in us and the +extraordinary course Mr. Allinson has taken, my colleagues and I feel +compelled to resign in a body." + +"Let them go! We're well rid of them!" exclaimed the shopkeeper. "You +don't join them?" he said anxiously to Andrew. + +"I had better do so and offer myself for re-election." + +"Then I have much pleasure in proposing Mr. Allinson," said Murray. "I +should like to mention that I remained a shareholder in this Company +because I preferred his bare word to the strong recommendations of +experienced stockjobbing friends." + +Several men rose to second him, and when every hand went up amidst a +burst of applause, Andrew said with some emotion: + +"Thank you for this mark of trust. My first offer stands--anybody +anxious to have his shares redeemed at par need only apply to my +brokers, whose address is here." He laid an envelope on the table in +sight of all. + +"We'll go on with the election," resumed the shopkeeper. "With the +permission of the meeting, I'll ask Mr. Allinson whom he'd like to +have on the Board." + +Andrew smiled. + +"You're giving up your rights and offering me a very unusual +privilege." + +"Never mind that," rejoined a stockjobber dryly. "These proceedings +have been remarkably unusual from the start. In fact, I imagine we +have reached the limit of irregularity for a company meeting. For all +that, I support our spokesman's plucky offer." + +"Very well," said Andrew. "I would suggest the nomination of three of +your previous directors. I believe they would serve you well, and +their appointment might act as a judicious check on me." + +The gentlemen he named looked irresolute and somewhat embarrassed, but +after a word or two with him they expressed their willingness to +serve. They were elected without dissent, and then Robert Allinson +stood up. + +"I have pleasure in proposing Mr. Antony Wannop, who is a large +shareholder and Mr. Allinson's brother-in-law. Though I may be +prejudiced, I feel that I may say that your interest may safely be +trusted to the Allinson family." + +"After what we have heard here, that is an opinion with which I +heartily agree," a man at the back declared. "None of us can doubt +that Allinson is a justly respected name." + +Wannop was chosen and several more; and then a man got up. + +"If it's necessary to hold an adjourned meeting, it will be attended +as a matter of form," he said. "I propose that we instruct Mr. +Allinson to push on with the development of the new lode as fast as +possible, giving him, with confidence, full authority to do what he +thinks fit." + +Though the secretary tried to point out that the Board must act as a +body, the proposal was carried with acclamation, and as the meeting +broke up Andrew leaned forward rather heavily on the big oak table. He +was filled with confused emotions and the strain had told on him. When +he looked up the room was almost empty and Leonard had gone, but the +reappointed directors whom he had suggested remained. + +"We have something to regret," said one awkwardly. "It's unfortunate +we didn't quite grasp your intentions. We feel that although you took +us unprepared, you have treated us with exceptional fairness." + +"You may remember that you wouldn't listen when I tried to explain +matters," Andrew answered with a twinkle in his eyes. "However, your +greater experience should be valuable to me and I've no doubt we'll +get on well in future." + +After a few cordial words they withdrew, and one of them turned to his +companion. + +"Though I'm glad we rejoined, I dare say you noticed the personal tone +he took. It's clear that he expects us to play second fiddle." + +"Well, after all, Allinson has shown that he's capable of leading the +tune." + +When they had gone Wannop came up to Andrew. + +"It's a compliment when I tell you I wasn't a bit surprised," he said. +"I'd expected something of the kind from you. The Allinson strain +showed up well to-day. You got hold of them and swept them off their +feet. Robert, too, proved himself a brick; but he's waiting in the +passage and we must try to shunt him. He'll lecture me on my new +duties and I want a big, long drink. In fact, half a dozen would be +better." + +Andrew laughed, and they went out, Wannop talking excitedly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE + + +On the day after the meeting Andrew returned to Ghyllside, and Hilda +met him at the station, her eyes sparkling with delight. + +"You have won!" she cried. "Antony came down last night and brought us +the news. Then Gertrude was over this morning and could talk of +nothing else. She said you were splendid, and she got quite vexed when +I told her she needn't speak as if she hadn't expected it." + +"After all, my position was a strong one," Andrew said. "It doesn't +need much skill to win the game when you hold the best cards, and of +course Dream Mine was the ace of trumps. Leonard could only throw down +his hand when I brought it out." + +"Ah! but how did you get the ace? It wasn't by chance; you searched +for it, starving, in the snow. But it's a silly metaphor--one isn't +allowed to choose one's cards." + +"That's true," Andrew replied with a trace of gravity. "It was dealt +to me--I think not by accident. Without it, I should not have won the +game." + +Hilda's manner changed, for she was seldom serious long. + +"Well," she said, when he had helped her into the waiting trap, "in +the future you'll be called on to play a different one. You can't +reasonably expect to find another mine, and you'll have no excuse for +tramping through the wilds on snow-shoes, after this. Instead of furs +and moccasins, you'll have to wear a silk hat and a Bond street coat, +and write things in ledgers instead of firing off dynamite. How will +you like it?" + +"I don't know. However, I suppose it will have to be done; though I +might, perhaps, hire somebody to do the writing for me." + +"That would be better," Hilda laughed; "your writing isn't good. But +I'm afraid there's a bit of a trial in store for you to-night. All +your friends and relatives in the neighborhood are coming to dinner +and of course they'll congratulate you and try to look as if you +hadn't astonished them. In a way, the situation is distinctly +humorous." + +"How so?" + +Hilda broke into a delighted laugh. + +"Can't you see it's the triumph of the foolish and looked-down-upon +members of the family? You're a popular hero; Antony's a director; and +I'm no longer a person who needn't be considered!" + +"But what had you to do with it?" Andrew asked with unflattering +frankness. + +"I believe I pulled some strings in a humble way. You know you're not +really brilliant, Andrew, and I'm afraid you never will be. Perhaps +that's why you can't see the large part we women had in your triumph. +Of course, you can walk a long distance in snow-shoes and use a +pickax; but who led you to think of putting the snow-shoes on?" + +"Graham, I believe." + +"Try to use some imagination! Go back a little farther. Who made you +see that Allinson's had a claim on you, encouraged you to go to +Canada, and prompted you to right that horrid contractor? Can you deny +that I, and Ethel, and the girl in Canada, now and then gave you the +push you needed? Indeed, I think Miss Frobisher must have been very +firm with you." + +"You're right," Andrew admitted. "Am I to understand that you propose +to continue your supervision and assistance in my duties as the +company's manager?" + +"You might do worse than consult me sometimes; but you must get a good +partner who knows the things you haven't learned, when Leonard +leaves." Hilda looked up anxiously. "I suppose he is going to leave?" + +"I'm inclined to think so," Andrew replied with some severity. "Still, +I haven't seen him since the meeting. It's fortunate I know of a +partner who'll make up for my deficiencies--I mean our old accountant, +Sharpe." + +"But surely he has no money!" + +"No. You may have heard that money can be valued too highly, and I +believe it's true." + +Hilda chatted on general topics during the remainder of the drive, and +soon after he got home Andrew went down to receive his guests. Ethel +Hillyard was the first to arrive, and she smiled at him as she gave +him her hand. + +"I have heard the news and am very glad," she said. "But it was only +what I had confidently looked forward to." + +"Then you had a narrow escape of being badly disappointed. As a matter +of fact, I owe a great deal to the staunchness of my friends. I should +hardly have pulled through if they hadn't cheered me on." + +"That's an easy task. It was you who made the fight." + +"I had no choice," said Andrew humorously. "There was no retreat. +Then I was well supported--by Olcott's friend, upon whom I had no +claim, among others." + +"Mr. Murray? I don't suppose you know that you won him over by letting +him miss a snipe you could have shot. It's a curious reason for giving +you his confidence, isn't it? But it has struck me that in many ways +you and he are alike." + +"After that, I can hardly say that Murray's a good sort," Andrew +laughed. "However, we must drop the subject, for here he comes." + +He saw that Murray had not noticed him but was advancing straight +toward Ethel, and that a faint tinge of color showed in her face. Then +after a word of welcome to the man he turned away. + +Mrs. Fenwood appeared next and greeted him with more cordiality than +he could remember her displaying. + +"It's a gratification to see you following in your father's steps at +last, though I must say that for a long time we doubted your ever +doing so. One recognized that you were influenced by a very proper +sense of your responsibility yesterday, and though I thought you were, +perhaps, somewhat rash, Robert assures me that you showed signs of +business acumen." + +"The trouble is that I may not be able to keep on doing so. If +Robert's capable of judging on such a matter, I'm afraid you'll have +to be patient with me and make allowance for my wasted years." + +"Don't be flippant. It isn't becoming," Mrs. Fenwood rebuked him. "You +have begun well, and it would be a grief to all of us if you relapsed +again." + +Mrs. Olcott came to his rescue and soon afterward they went in to +dinner. Andrew was quiet during the meal, though he felt content. The +strain he had long borne had told on him, and a mild reaction, which +brought a sense of fatigue, had set in. He wanted to rest and he had +not finished with Leonard yet. + +It was a calm, warm evening, and though a few shaded candles threw a +soft light over the table, the windows were wide open and the smoky +red of the dying sunset gleamed above the shadowy hills. Wannop was in +a boisterous mood and Hilda abetted him, apparently to Robert's +irritation. Ethel talked to Murray, who seemed gravely interested; +Mrs. Olcott was patiently listening to Mrs. Fenwood; Gertrude now and +then made furtive attempts to check her husband. Andrew looked on with +languid satisfaction, and joined in only when it was necessary. +Presently, to his annoyance, Wannop filled his glass and got up. + +"You have all heard what happened in London yesterday," he said. "Now +that we are here together and those who have joined us are our host's +good friends, it seems opportune to wish a long and useful career to +the Head of the House." + +They rose with lifted glasses, and Andrew felt a thrill as he read the +good-will in their faces and knew his victory over his relatives' +prejudices was complete. The toast they drank with hearty sincerity +was, in a sense, an act of homage--a recognition of his authority. +Instead of bearing with and trying to guide him, they would +henceforward follow where he led. There was a moment's silence after +they sat down, and then he thanked them awkwardly. + +As they left the table Mrs. Fenwood remarked to Hilda, who was nearest +her. + +"It's your brother's rightful place, but he was a long time claiming +it; and, after all, I don't see what Leonard can have done that he +should be deposed." + +"That lies between him and Andrew," Hilda replied. "I think he's the +only one who knows and he will never tell." + +"I'm afraid I haven't appreciated Andrew as he deserves," Mrs. Fenwood +observed with a thoughtful air. + +The remainder of the evening passed pleasantly, and the next day +Andrew received a telegram, requesting him to call on Leonard at the +Company's offices. He declined to do so, feeling that if Leonard +wished to make terms, he must come to him; and he smiled when another +message stated that his brother-in-law would arrive that evening. It +was getting dark when Leonard reached Ghyllside and was shown into the +library, where Andrew was waiting for him. + +"If you will let your man keep the horse ready I could catch the new +night train back from the junction," he said. "That would, perhaps, +suit both of us best." + +"As you wish," responded Andrew. + +Leonard laid some papers on the table. + +"You made me an offer a little while ago." + +"Which you refused," said Andrew. + +"I did; things have changed since then." + +"They have. Though I told the secretary to take care that only a very +brief notice of the meeting was sent to the papers, news of what took +place has, no doubt, leaked out. It was impossible to prevent this +from happening, and it must have had some effect in the city. You are +afraid it will damage your prestige and weaken your position." + +"I'm not prepared to admit that altogether." + +"It can't be denied. You no longer command public confidence as you +did. You'll find it has been rudely shaken." + +"We'll let that subject drop. I must remind you that your father's +will and the partnership deed prevent your getting rid of me unless +I'm willing to go." + +Andrew regarded him with amusement. + +"I can't deny it, but I think you will be willing. However, I'd better +say that I don't wish to take an undue advantage of the situation. +What do you propose?" + +"That you buy me out, as you offered. I've sketched out the +terms--you'll find them here, with an estimate of my average profits +and what my interest in the firm is worth." + +He pushed the papers across the table and Andrew carefully studied +them before he looked up. + +"The fairest way would be to submit these figures to an outside +accountant. As soon as he has made up a statement, I'll meet you at +Carter & Roding's office and get them to draw up any documents that +are needed to annul our partnership. Are you agreeable?" + +"Yes; we'll consider the thing decided." Leonard hesitated for a +moment. "I don't see," he added, "that you will gain anything by +letting Florence and the others know exactly what we differed about." + +"I quite agree with you. There are reasons enough to account for the +split--the incompatibility of our views on business matters, your +objection to taking a subordinate place. Even at the cost of allowing +Florence to blame me, the truth must be kept from her." + +"Thank you!" said Leonard. "I believe I've said all that's needful, +and I may as well be off. It's a long drive to the junction." + +Andrew let him go. He had accomplished all that he had laid himself +out to do: gained his relatives' confidence, reorganized the mining +company, and got rid of Leonard, who had been a menace to the good +name of Allinson's. It had been easier than he expected; the task he +had shrunk from had become less formidable when boldly attacked, +though he admitted that fortune had favored him. Henceforward he was +his own master, the acknowledged head of Allinson's, and that brought +with it a deep sense of responsibility. Nevertheless, he no longer +felt daunted, for he had gained self-confidence. There were many +things of which he was ignorant; but they could be learned. Then he +remembered that he must go back to Canada for a while after he had +arranged matters with Leonard and had thoroughly informed himself +about Allinson's affairs. + +It was a month before he could get away, and Wannop drove to the +station with him. When he shook hands as the train came in he smiled. + +"Bring her back with you. Then the credit of the Allinson family will +be in safe hands." + +"I'll try," Andrew promised. "I wish I felt more sure of succeeding; +but I wasn't thinking of the credit of the family." + +"That's the proper line to take," Wannop answered, smiling, as he +stood with his hand on the carriage door. "Don't be timid. I'm +inclined to think you have done more difficult things." + +He made room for Hilda and pulled her back as the train started, and +they stood waving their hands until the last carriage vanished into a +tunnel. + +"Andrew needs some encouraging," he remarked. "When there's anything +to be gained for himself, he's too diffident; but perhaps it's a good +fault, and by no means common." + +"Though he talked a good deal about the mine, we all know why he's +going back," said Hilda. "I suppose you are satisfied about this Miss +Frobisher?" + +"So far as my opinion goes, she's what you might call eminently +suitable. If I had any doubt on the matter Andrew's firm conviction +would decide me. Though it was a long time before the family realized +it, his judgment is to be relied on." + +"Yes," agreed Hilda; "in some things, he is really very sensible." + +When Andrew reached the Lake of Shadows he found Carnally awaiting him +with a satisfactory account of the progress of development work on the +lode, and they spent some time talking over it in Andrew's room at the +hotel. + +"Jake, are you willing to take the post of our general manager in +Canada?" Andrew asked. + +"Under Hathersage, as boss director?" + +"No, under me. Hathersage has left the firm for good." + +"Then I'll be proud to take it," said Carnally quietly. + +"It's yours. You haven't asked about the stipend." + +"That's so," Carnally drawled. "I guess I can leave you to do the +square thing." Then his eyes twinkled. "I've kept you here some time +talking business, and it strikes me you're anxious to get away. You'll +find a skiff ready, and I'd like to wish you good luck." + +"Thanks," responded Andrew soberly. "Perhaps you had better wait until +I come back." + +He hurried to the beach and rowed across the lake with steady, +determined strokes, and it happened, but not by accident, that +Geraldine was waiting on the lawn. She had seen a trail of engine +smoke drift across the pines an hour earlier, and at last a skiff +shoot out across the sparkling water. As it drew near the landing she +felt tempted to retreat to the house, but she waited, and the color +crept into her face when Andrew took her hand in a masterful grasp. + +"I think you know why I have come," he said at once. + +"No doubt you had mining matters to arrange," she answered with an +attempt at light raillery, though her heart was beating fast. + +"I had; they have kept me since the train came in, and I never grudged +loss of time so much; but I felt that I required something to steady +me before I rowed across. The fact is, I felt extremely anxious." + +"Anxious? You knew you would be welcome." + +"To be welcomed as I was sent away didn't seem enough." Andrew held +fast the hand she had given him. "You were very gracious and I knew +what I owed to you, but you kept something back, and it was that I +wanted. I told you how I had got on in England, but I'm afraid I +haven't learned to stand on my own feet yet. You know how you have +helped me so far; won't you do so altogether?" + +"If I remember, I said it was criticism you needed," Geraldine +answered softly, looking down. + +"That or censure; whatever it is, it will be right if it comes from +you." Andrew's voice grew tense as he drew her nearer. "I ask for the +greatest gift; I need you, Geraldine." + +She yielded, looking up at him swiftly with eyes that shone, and then +turned her head, which sank until it rested on his shoulder. It was +getting dusk; the scent of the pines stole out of the shadows and the +call of a loon came ringing to them over the water, as if in blessing. + + +THE END + + + + +JOHN FOX, JR'S. +STORIES OF THE KENTUCKY MOUNTAINS + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list. + + +THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE. + +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +[Illustration] + +The "lonesome pine" from which the story takes its name was a tall +tree that stood in solitary splendor on a mountain top. The fame of +the pine lured a young engineer through Kentucky to catch the trail, +and when he finally climbed to its shelter he found not only the pine +but the _foot-prints of a girl_. And the girl proved to be lovely, +piquant, and the trail of these girlish foot-prints led the young +engineer a madder chase than "the trail of the lonesome pine." + + +THE LITTLE SHEPHERD OF KINGDOM COME + +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +This is a story of Kentucky, in a settlement known as "Kingdom Come." +It is a life rude, semi-barbarous; but natural and honest, from which +often springs the flower of civilization. + +"Chad." the "little shepherd" did not know who he was nor whence he +came--he had just wandered from door to door since early childhood, +seeking shelter with kindly mountaineers who gladly fathered and +mothered this waif about whom there was such a mystery--a charming +waif, by the way, who could play the banjo better that anyone else in +the mountains. + + +A KNIGHT OF THE CUMBERLAND. + +Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + +The scenes are laid along the waters of the Cumberland, the lair of +moonshiner and feudsman. The knight is a moonshiner's son, and the +heroine a beautiful girl perversely christened "The Blight." Two +impetuous young Southerners' fall under the spell of "The Blight's" +charms and she learns what a large part jealousy and pistols have in +the love making of the mountaineers. + +Included in this volume is "Hell fer-Sartain" and other stories, some +of Mr. Fox's most entertaining Cumberland valley narratives. + + +_Ask for complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26TH ST., NEW YORK + + + + +STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY +GENE STRATTON-PORTER + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list. + + +THE HARVESTER + +Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs + +[Illustration] + +"The Harvester," David Langston, is a man of the woods and fields, who +draws his living from the prodigal hand of Mother Nature herself. If +the book had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man, with +his sure grip on life, his superb optimism, and his almost miraculous +knowledge of nature secrets, it would be notable. But when the Girl +comes to his "Medicine Woods," and the Harvester's whole sound, +healthy, large outdoor being realizes that this is the highest point +of life which has come to him--there begins a romance, troubled and +interrupted, yet of the rarest idyllic quality. + + +FRECKLES. Decorations by E. Stetson Crawford + +Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in which +he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the great +Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him succumbs +to the charm of his engaging personality; and his love-story with "The +Angel" are full of real sentiment. + + +A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. + +Illustrated by Wladyslaw T. Brenda. + +The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, lovable type of +the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and kindness +towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the sheer beauty +of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins from barren and +unpromising surroundings those rewards of high courage. + +It is an inspiring story of a life worth while and the rich beauties +of the out-of-doors are strewn through all its pages. + + +AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. + +Illustrations in colors by Oliver Kemp. Design and decorations by +Ralph Fletcher Seymour. + +The scene of this charming, idyllic love story is laid in Central +Indiana. The story is one of devoted friendship, and tender +self-sacrificing love; the friendship that gives freely without +return, and the love that seeks first the happiness of the object. The +novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of nature, and +its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all. + + +_Ask for complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26TH ST., NEW YORK + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors, present in the +original edition, have been corrected. + +In Chapter I, a period was added after "firing as they got a chance". + +In Chapter III, a missing period was added after "_I think you should +stay here and fight it out until he comes back,_ he said". + +In Chapter VII, "a man siezing it swung him across" was changed to "a +man seizing it swung him across". + +In Chapter VIII, a comma was changed to a period after "I'd feel less +diffident", and "be busied himself" was changed to "he busied +himself". + +In Chapter IX, "the hangings where of harmonious hue" was changed to +"the hangings were of harmonious hue". + +In Chapter X, "from a neigboring stack" was changed to "from a +neighboring stack". + +In Chapter XI, a missing quotation mark was added after "it would be +too late". + +In Chapter XII, "its wiser to let one's friends have them" was changed +to "it's wiser to let one's friends have them". + +In Chapter XVI, "The blasted, hog" was changed to "The blasted hog", +and a missing quotation mark was added after "before dark". + +In Chapter XVII, a quotation mark was removed before "We'll have +mighty keen appetites". + +In Chapter XIX, a missing period was added after "the prospectors +might turn up in the next few days". + +In Chapter XXI, a missing quotation mark was added after "what the +trouble's about". + +In Chapter XXIV, a missing quotation mark was added after "right to +talk about these things". + +In Chapter XXV, "I am at your sevice" was changed to "I am at your +service", and "actuated by jealously" was changed to "actuated by +jealousy". + +In Chapter XXVII, "some stubborn fight, ing" was changed to "some +stubborn fighting". + +In Chapter XXVII, "_Oh,_ he exclaimed _you must have heard enough_" +was changed to "_Oh,_ he exclaimed, _you must have heard enough_", and +"Mr Allinson" was changed to "Mr. Allinson" in two places. + +In Chapter XXVII, a comma was changed to a period after "another new +venture". + +In Chapter XXVI, "coppper wire" was changed to "copper wire". + +In Chapter XXX, "the Company is rotton" was changed to "the Company is +rotten". + +In Chapter XXXII, a missing quotation mark was added after "a long and +useful career to the Head of the House", and "he said a once" was +changed to "he said at once". + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's For the Allinson Honor, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE ALLINSON HONOR *** + +***** This file should be named 34415.txt or 34415.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/4/1/34415/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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