The Foreigner
by
Ralph Connor
Part 5 out of 6
youth and play the hypocrite?"
"Who asks you to?" said Brown, with a touch of scorn. "Be honest
in the matter."
"Oh, come now, Brown, let us not chop words. Look at the thing
reasonably. I came for help and not--"
"Count on me for all the help I can give," said Brown promptly,
"but let's look at your part."
"Well," said French, "we will divide up on this thing. I will
undertake to look after the boy's physical and--well--secular
interests, if you like. I will teach him to ride, shoot, box, and
handle the work on the ranch, in short, educate him in things
practical, while you take charge of his moral training."
"In other words, when it comes to morals, you want to shirk."
French flushed quickly, but controlled himself.
"Excuse me, Brown," he said, in a quiet tone. "I came to talk this
over with you as a friend, but if you do not want to--"
"Old man, I apologize for the tone I used just now, but I foresee
that this is going to be serious. I can see as clearly as light
what I ought to say to you now. There is something in my heart
that I have been wanting to say for months, but I hate to say it,
and I won't say it now unless you tell me to."
The two men were standing face to face as if measuring each other's
strength.
"Go on," said French at length; "what are you afraid of?" His tone
was unfortunate.
"Afraid," said Brown quickly, "not of you, but of myself." He
paused a few moments, as if taking counsel with himself, then, with
a sudden resolve, he spoke in tones quiet, deliberate, and almost
stern. "First, be clear about this," he said; "I stand ready to
help you with Kalman to the limit of my power, and to assure you to
the full my share of responsibility for his moral training. Now
then, what of your part in this?"
"Why, I--"
"But wait, hear me out. For good or for evil, you have that boy's
life in your hands. Did you ever notice how he rides,--his style,
I mean? It is yours. How he walks? Like you. His very tricks of
speech are yours. And how else could it be? He adores you, you
know that. He models himself after you. And so, mark me, without
either of you knowing it, YOU WILL MAKE HIM IN SPITE OF YOURSELF
AND IN SPITE OF HIM. And it is your fate to make him after your
own type. Wait, French, let me finish." Brown's easy good nature
was gone, his face was set and stern. "You ask me to teach him
morals. The fact is, we are both teaching him. From whom, do you
think, will he take his lesson? What a ghastly farce the thing is!
Listen, while the teaching goes on. 'Kalman,' I say, 'don't drink
whiskey; it is a beastly and degrading habit.' 'Fudge!' he says,
'Jack drinks whiskey, and so will I.' 'Kalman,' I urge, 'don't
swear.' 'Rot,' says he, 'Jack swears.' 'Kalman, be a man,
straight, self-controlled, honourable, unselfish.' The answer is,
but no! the answer never will be,--'Jack is a drunken, swearing,
selfish, reckless man!' No, for he loves you. But like you he
will be, in spite of all I can say or do. That is your curse for
the life you are leading. Responsibility? God help you. Read
your letter again. That woman sees clearly. It is God's truth.
Listen, 'The responsibility for what you make him you must take.
God puts it there, not I.' You may refuse this responsibility, you
may be too weak, too wilful, too selfish to set upon your own
wicked indulgence of a foolish appetite, but the responsibility is
there, and no living man or woman can take it from you."
French stood silent for some moments. "Thank you," he said, "you
have set my sins before me, and I will not try to hide them; but by
the Eternal, not for you or for any man, will I be anything but
myself."
"What kind of self?" enquired Brown. "Beast or man?"
"That is not the question," said French hotly. "I will be no
hypocrite, as you would have me be."
"Jack French," said Brown, "you know you are speaking a lie before
God and man."
French stepped quickly towards him.
"Brown, you will have to apologize," he said in a low, tense voice,
"and quick."
"French, I will apologize if what I have said is not true."
"I cannot discuss it with you, Brown," said French, his voice thick
with rage. "I allow no man to call me a liar; put up your hands."
"If you are a man, French," said Brown with equal calm, "give me a
minute. Read your letter again. Does she ask you to be a
hypocrite? Does she not, do I not, only ask you to be a man, and
to act like a man?"
"It won't do, Brown. It is past argument. You gave me the lie."
"French, I wish to apologize for what I said just now," said Brown.
"I said you knew you were speaking a lie. I take that back, and
apologize. I cannot believe you knew. All the same, what you said
was not the truth. No one asks you, nor does that letter ask you,
to be a hypocrite. You said I did. That was not true. Now, if
you wish to slap my face, go on."
French stood motionless. His rage well-nigh overpowered him, but
he knew this man was speaking the truth. For some moments they
stood face to face. Then, impulsively offering his hand, and with
a quick change of voice, Brown said, "I am awfully sorry, French;
let's forget it."
But ignoring the outstretched hand, French turned from him without
a word, mounted his horse, and rode away.
Brown stood watching him until he was out of sight. "My God,
forgive me," he cried, "what a mess I made of that! I have lost
him and the boy too;" and with that he passed into the woods,
coming home to his wife and baby late at night, weary, spent, and
too sad for speech or sleep.
CHAPTER XV
THE MAIDEN OF THE BROWN HAIR
Rumours of the westward march of civilization had floated from time
to time up the country from the main line as far as the Crossing,
and had penetrated even to the Night Hawk ranch, only to be allayed
by succeeding rumours of postponement of the advance for another
year.
It was Mackenzie who brought word of the appearance of the first
bona fide scout of the advancing host.
"There was a man with a bit flag over the Creek yonder," he
announced one spring evening, while the snow was still lying in the
hollows, "and another man with a stick or something, and two or
three behind him."
"Ah, ha!" exclaimed French, "surveyors, no doubt; they have come at
last."
"And what will that be?" said Mackenzie anxiously.
"The men who lay out the route for the railroad," replied French.
Mackenzie looked glum. "And will they be putting a railroad across
our ranch?" he asked indignantly.
"Right across," said French, "and just where it suits them."
"Indeed, and it wouldn't be my land they would be putting that
railroad over, I'll warrant ye."
"You could not stop them, Mack," said French; "they have got the
whole Government behind them."
"I would be putting some slugs into them, whateffer," said
Mackenzie. "There will be no room in the country any more, and no
sleeping at night for the noise of them injins."
Mackenzie was right. That surveyor's flag was the signal that
waved out the old order and waved in the new. The old free life,
the only life Mackenzie knew, where each man's will was his law,
and where law was enforced by the strength of a man's right hand,
was gone forever from the plains. Those great empty spaces of
rolling prairie, swept by viewless winds, were to be filled up now
with the abodes of men. Mackenzie and his world must now disappear
in the wake of the red man and the buffalo before the railroad and
the settler. To Jack French the invasion brought mingled feelings.
He hated to surrender the untrammelled, unconventional mode of
life, for which twenty years ago he had left an ancient and, as it
seemed to his adventurous spirit, a worn-out civilization, but he
was quick to recognize, and in his heart was glad to welcome, a
change that would mean new life and assured prosperity to Kalman.
whom he had come to love as a son. To Kalman that surveyor's flag
meant the opening up of a new world, a new life, rich in promise of
adventure and achievement. French noticed his glowing face and
eyes.
"Yes, Kalman, boy," he said, "it will be a great thing for you,
great for the country. It means towns and settlements, markets and
money, and all the rest."
"We will have no trouble selling our potatoes and our oats now,"
said the boy.
"Not a bit," said French; "we could sell ten times what we have to
sell."
"And why not get ten times the stuff?" cried the boy.
French shrugged his shoulders. It was hard to throw off the old
laissez faire of the pioneer.
"All right, Kalman, you go on. I will give you a free hand.
Mackenzie and I will back you up; only don't ask too much of us.
There will be hundreds of teams at work here next year."
"One hundred teams!" exclaimed Kalman. "How much oats do you think
they will need? One thousand bushels?"
"One thousand! yes, ten thousand, twenty thousand."
Kalman made a rapid calculation.
"Why, that would mean three hundred acres of oats at least, and we
have only twenty acres in our field. Oh! Jack!" he continued, "let
us get every horse and every man we can, and make ready for the
oats. Just think! one hundred acres of oats, five or six thousand
bushels, perhaps more, besides the potatoes."
"Oh, well, they won't be along to-day, Kalman, so keep cool."
"But we will have to break this year for next," said the boy, "and
it will take us a long time to break one hundred acres."
"That's so," said Jack; "it will take all our forces hard at it all
summer to get one hundred acres ready."
Eagerly the boy's mind sprang forward into plans for the summer's
campaign. His enthusiasm stirred French to something like vigorous
action, and even waked old Mackenzie out of his aboriginal
lethargy. That very day Kalman rode down to Wakota to consult his
friend Brown, upon whose guidance in all matters he had come more
and more to depend. Brown's Canadian training on an Ontario farm
before he entered college had greatly enriched his experience, and
his equipment for the battle of life. He knew all about farming
operations, and to him, rather than to French or to Mackenzie,
Kalman had come to look for advice on all practical details
connected with cattle, horses, and crops. The breach between the
two men was an unspeakable grief to the lad, and all the greater
because he had an instinctive feeling that the fault lay with the
man to whom from the first he had given the complete and unswerving
devotion of his heart. Without explaining to Kalman, French had
suddenly ceased his visits to Wakota, but he had taken care to
indicate his desire that Kalman continue his studies with Brown,
and that he should assist him in every way possible with the work
he was seeking to carry on among the Galicians. This desire both
Brown and Kalman were only too eager to gratify, for the two had
grown into a friendship that became a large part of the lives of
both. Every Sunday Kalman was to be found at Wakota. There, in
the hospitable home of the Browns, he came into contact with a
phase of life new and delightful to him. Brown's wife, and Brown's
baby, and Brown's home were to him never-ending sources of wonder
and joy. That French was shut out from all this was the abiding
grief of Kalman's life, and this grief was emphasized by the all-
too-evident effect of this exclusion. For with growing frequency
French would ride off on Sunday afternoon to the Crossing, and
often stay for three or four days at a time. On such occasions
life would be to Kalman one long agony of anxiety. Through the
summer he bore his grief in silence, never speaking of it even to
Brown; but on one occasion, when French's absence had been extended
from one Sunday to the next, his anxiety and grief became
unsupportable, and he poured it forth to Brown.
"He has not been home for a week, Mr. Brown, and oh! I can't stand
it any longer," cried the distracted boy. "I can't stay here while
Jack is over there in such a terrible way. I must go to him."
"He won't like it, Kalman," said Brown; "he won't stand it, I am
afraid. I would go, but I know it would only offend him."
"I am going down to the Crossing to-day," said Kalman. "I don't
care if he kills me, I must go."
But his experience was such that he never went again, for Jack
French in his madness nearly killed the boy, who was brought sadly
battered to Brown's hospital, where he lay for a week or more.
Every day, French, penetrated with penitence, visited him,
lavishing on the boy a new tenderness. But when Kalman was on his
feet again, French laid it upon him, and bound him by a solemn
promise that he should never again follow him to the Crossing, or
interfere when he was not master of himself. It was a hard promise
to give, but once given, that settled the matter for both. With
Brown he never discussed Jack French's weakness, but every Sunday
afternoon, when in his own home Brown prayed for friends near and
dear, committing them into the Heavenly Father's keeping, in their
minds, chiefly and before all others was the man whom they had all
come to love as an elder brother, and for whose redemption they
were ready to lay down their lives. And this was the strongest
strand in the bond that bound Kalman and his friend together. So
to Brown Kalman went with his plans for the coming summer, and with
most happy results. For through the spring and summer, following
Brown's advice and under Kalman's immediate directions, a strong
force of Galicians with horse teams and ox teams were kept hard at
work, breaking and back-setting, in anticipation of an early sowing
in the following spring. In the meantime Brown himself was full
of work. The addition to his hospital was almost always full of
patients; his school had begun to come back to him again, for the
gratitude of his warm-hearted Galician people, in return for his
many services to their sick and suffering, sufficed to overcome
their fear of the Polish priest, whose unpriestly habits and whose
mercenary spirit were fast turning against him even the most loyal
of his people. In the expressive words of old Portnoff, who, it is
to be feared, had little religion in his soul, was summed up the
general opinion: "Dat Klazowski bad man. He drink, drink all
time, take money, money for everyting. He damn school, send doctor
man hell fire," the meaning of which was abundantly obvious to both
Brown and his wife.
So full of work were they all, both at the ranch and at Wakota,
that almost without their knowing it the summer had gone, and
autumn, with its golden glorious days, nippy evenings, and
brilliant starry nights, Canada's most delightful season, was upon
them. Throughout the summer the construction gangs had steadily
worked their way north and west, and had crossed the Saskatchewan,
and were approaching the Eagle Hill country. Preceding the
construction army, and following it, were camp followers and
attendants of various kinds. On the one hand the unlicensed trader
and whiskey pedlar, the bane of the contractor and engineer; on the
other hand the tourist, the capitalist, and the speculator, whom
engineers and contractors received with welcome or with scant
tolerance, according to the letters of introduction they brought
from the great men in the East.
Attached to the camp of Engineer Harris was a small and influential
party, consisting of Mr. Robert Menzies of Glasgow, capitalist,
and, therefore, possible investor in Canadian lands, mines, and
railroads,--consequently, a man to be considered; with him, his
daughter Marjorie, a brown-haired maid of seventeen, out for the
good of her health and much the better of her outing, and Aunt
Janet, maiden sister to Mr. Menzies, and guardian to both brother
and niece. With this party travelled Mr. Edgar Penny, a young
English gentleman of considerable means, who, having been a year in
the country, felt himself eminently qualified to act as adviser and
guide to the party. At present, however, Mr. Penny was far more
deeply interested in the study of the lights that lurked in Miss
Marjorie's brown eyes, and the bronze tints of her abundant hair,
than in the opportunities for investments offered by Canadian
lands, railroads, and mines.
With an elaborate equipment, this party had spent three months
travelling as far as Edmonton, and now, on their way back, were
attached to the camp of Engineer Harris, in order that the Scotch
capitalist might personally investigate methods of railway
construction as practised in Western Canada. At present, the party
were encamped at a little distance from the Wakota trail, and upon
the sunny side of a poplar bluff, for it was growing late in the
year.
It was on a rare October morning that Kalman, rising before the
sun, set out upon his broncho to round up the horses for their
morning feed in preparation for the day's back-setting. With his
dogs at his horse's heels, he rode down to the Night Hawk, and
crossed to the opposite side of the ravine. As he came out upon
the open prairie, Captain, the noble and worthy son of Blucher,
caught sight of a prairie wolf not more than one hundred yards
distant, and was off after him like the wind.
"Aha! my boy," cried Kalman, getting between the coyote and the
bluff, and turning him towards the open country, "you have got your
last chicken, I guess. It is our turn now."
Headed off from the woods that marked the banks of the Night Hawk
Creek, the coyote in desperation took to the open prairie, with
Captain and Queen, a noble fox-hound bitch, closing fast upon him.
Two miles across the open country could be seen the poplar bluff,
behind which lay the camp of the Engineer and his travelling
companions. Steadily the gap between the wolf and the pursuing
hounds grew less, till at length, fearing the inevitable, the
hunted beast turned towards the little bluff, and entered it with
the dogs only a few yards behind. Alas! for him, the bluff
afforded no shelter. Right through the little belt of timber
dashed the wolf with the dogs and Kalman hard upon his trail. At
the very instant that the wolf came opposite the door of Aunt
Janet's tent, Captain reached for the extreme point of the beast's
extended tail. Like a flash, the brute doubled upon his pursuer,
snapping fiercely as the hound dashed past. With a howl of rage
and pain, Captain clawed the ground in his effort to recover
himself, but before he could renew his attack, and just as the wolf
was setting forth again, like a cyclone Queen was upon them. So
terrific was her impact, that dogs and wolf rolled under the tent
door in one snarling, fighting, snapping mass of legs and tails and
squirming bodies. Immediately from within rose a wild shriek of
terror.
"Mercy sakes alive! What, what is this? Help! Help! Help!
Where are you all? Will some one not come to my help?" Kalman
sprang from his horse, rushed forward, and lifted the tent door. A
new outcry greeted his ear.
"Get out, get out, you man!" He dropped the flap, fled aghast
before the appalling vision of Aunt Janet in night attire, with a
ring of curl-papers round her head, driven back into the corner of
the tent, and crouched upon a box, her gown drawn tight about her,
while she gazed in unspeakable horror at the whirling, fighting
mass upon the tent floor at her feet. Higher and higher rose her
shrieks above the din of the fight. From a neighbouring tent there
rushed forth a portly, middle-aged gentleman in pyjamas, gun in
hand.
"What is it, Katharine? Where are you, Katharine?"
"Where am I? Where but here, ye gowk! Oh, Robert! Robert! I
shall be devoured alive."
The stout gentleman ran to the door of the tent, lifted the flap,
and plunged in. With equal celerity he plunged back again,
shouting, "Whatever is all yon?"
"Robert! Robert!" screamed the voice, "come back and save me."
"What is this, sir?" indignantly turning upon Kalman, who stood in
bewildered uncertainty.
"It is a wolf, sir, that my dogs--"
"A wolf!" screamed the portly gentleman, springing back from the
door.
"Go in, sir; go in at once and save my sister! What are you
looking at, sir? She will be devoured alive. I beseech you.
I am n no state to attack a savage beast."
From another tent appeared a young man, rotund of form and with a
chubby face. He was partly dressed, his night-robe being stuffed
hastily into his trousers, and he held the camp axe in his hand.
"What the deuce is the row?" he exclaimed. "By Jove! sounds like a
beastly dog fight."
"Aunt Janet! Aunt Janet! What is the matter?" A girl in a
dressing-gown, with her hair streaming behind her, came rushing
from another tent, and sprang towards the door of the tent, from
which came the mingled clamour of the fighting dogs and the terror-
stricken woman. Kalman stepped quickly in front of her, caught her
round the waist, and swung her behind him.
"Go back!" he cried. "Get away, all of you." There was an
immediate clearance of the space in front of the tent. Seizing a
club, he sprang among the fighting beasts.
"Oh! you good man! Come here and save me," cried Aunt Janet in a
frenzy of relief. But Kalman was too busy for the moment to give
heed to her cries. As he entered, a fiercer howl arose above the
din. The wolf had seized hold of Captain's upper lip and was
grimly hanging on, while Queen was gripping savagely for the
beast's throat. With his club Kalman struck the wolf a heavy blow,
stunning it so that it released its hold on the dog. Then,
catching it by the hind leg, he hauled wolf and hounds out of the
tent in one squirming mass.
"God help us!" cried the stout gentleman, darting into his own tent
and poking his head out through the door. "Keep the brute off.
There's my gun."
The girl screamed and ran behind Kalman. The young man with the
chubby face dropped his axe and jumped hastily into a convenient
wagon.
"Shoot the bloomin' brutes," he cried. "Some one bring me my gun."
But the wolf's days were numbered. Queen's powerful jaws were
tearing at his throat, while Captain, having gripped him by the
small of the back, was shaking him with savage fury.
"Oh! the poor thing! Call off the dogs!" cried the girl, turning
to Kalman.
"No! No! Don't you think of it!" cried the man from the tent door
"He will attack us."
Kalman stepped forward, and beating the dogs from their quarry,
drew his pistol and shot the beast through the head.
"Get back, Captain! Back! Back! I say. Down!" With difficulty
he drew the wolf from the jaws of the eager hounds, and swung it
into the wagon out of the dogs' reach.
"My word!" exclaimed the young man, leaping from the wagon with
precipitate haste. "What are you doing?"
"He won't hurt you, sir. He is dead."
The young man's red, chubby face, out of which peered his little
round eyes, his red hair standing in a disordered halo about his
head, his strange attire, with trailing braces and tag-ends of his
night-robe hanging about his person, made a picture so weirdly
funny that the girl went off into peals of laughter.
"Marjorie! Marjorie!" cried an indignant voice, "what are ye
daein' there? Tak' shame to yersel', ye hizzie."
Marjorie turned in the direction of the voice, and again her peals
of laughter burst forth. "Oh! Aunt Janet, you do look so funny."
But at once the head with its aureole of curl-papers was whipped
inside the tent.
"Ye're no that fine to look at yersel', ye shameless lassie," cried
Aunt Janet.
With a swift motion the girl put her hand to her head, gathered her
garments about her, and fled to the cover of her tent, leaving
Kalman and the young man together, the latter in a state of
indignant wrath, for no man can bear with equanimity the ridicule
of a maiden whom he is especially anxious to please.
"By Jove, sir!" he exclaimed. "What the deuce did you mean,
running your confounded dogs into a camp like that?"
Kalman heard not a word. He was standing as in a dream, gazing
upon the tent into which the girl had vanished. Ignoring the young
man, he got his horse and mounted, and calling his dogs, rode off
up the trail.
"Hello there!" cried Harris, the engineer, after him. Kalman
reined up. "Do you know where I can get any oats?"
"Yes," said Kalman, "up at our ranch."
"And where is that?"
"Ten miles from here, across the Night Hawk Creek." Then, as if
taking a sudden resolve, "I'll bring them down to you this
afternoon. How much do you want?"
"Twenty-five bushels would do us till we reach the construction
camp."
"I'll bring them to-day," said Kalman, riding away, his dogs
limping after him.
In a few moments the girl came out of the tent. "Oh!" she cried to
the engineer, "is he gone?"
"Yes," said Harris, "but he'll be back this afternoon. He is going
to bring me some oats." His smile brought a quick flush to the
girl's cheeks.
"Oh! has he?" she said, with elaborate indifference. "What a
lovely morning! It's wonderful for so late in the year. You have
a splendid country here, Mr. Harris."
"That's right," he said; "and the longer you stay in it, the better
you like it. You'll be going to settle in it yourself some day."
"I'm not so sure about that," cried the girl, with a deeper blush,
and a saucy toss of her head. "It is a fine country, but it's no'
Scotland, ye ken, as my Aunt would say. My! but I'm fair starving."
It happened that the ride to the Galician colony, planned for that
afternoon by Mr. Penny the day before, had to be postponed. Miss
Marjorie was hardly up to it. "It must be the excitement of the
country," she explained carefully to Mr. Penny, "so I'll just bide
in the camp."
"Indeed, you are wise for once in your life," said her Aunt Janet.
"As for me, I'm fair dune out. With this hurly-burly of such
terrible excitement I wonder I did not faint right off."
"Hoots awa', Aunt Janet," said her niece, "it was no time for
fainting, I'm thinking, with yon wolf in the tent beside ye."
"Aye, lassie, you may well say so," said Aunt Janet, lapsing into
her native tongue, into which in unguarded moments she was rather
apt to fall, and which her niece truly loved to use, much to her
Aunt's disgust, who considered it a form of vulgarity to be avoided
with all care.
As the afternoon was wearing away, a wagon appeared in the distance.
The gentlemen were away from camp inspecting the progress of the
work down the line.
"There's something coming yonder," said Miss Marjorie, whose eyes
had often wandered down the trail that afternoon.
"Mercy on us! What can it be, and them all away," said her Aunt
in distress. "Put your saddle on and fly for your father or Mr.
Harris. I am terrified. It is this awful country. If ever I get
out alive!"
"Hoots awa', Aunt, it's just a wagon."
"Marjorie, why will you use such vulgar expressions? Of course,
it's a wagon. Wha's--who's in it?"
"Indeed, I'm not caring," said her niece; "they'll no' eat us."
"Marjorie, behave yourself, I'm saying, and speak as you are
taught. Run away for your father."
"Indeed, Aunt, how could I do this and leave you here by yourself?
A wild Indian might run off with you."
"Mercy me! What a lassie! I'm fair distracted."
"Oh, Auntie dear," said Marjorie, with a change of voice, "it is
just a man bringing some oats. Mr. Harris told me he was to get a
load this afternoon. We will need to take them from him. Have you
any money? We must pay him, I suppose."
"Money?" cried her Aunt. "What is the use of money in this
country? No, your father has it all."
"Why," suddenly exclaimed her niece, "it's not the man after all."
"What man are you talking about?" enquired her Aunt. "What man is
it not?"
"It's a stranger. I mean--it's--another man," said Marjorie,
distinct disappointment in her tone.
"Here, who is it, or who is it no'?"
"Oh," said Marjorie innocently. "Mr. Harris is expecting that
young man who was here this morning,--the one who saved us from
that awful wolf, you know."
"That man! The impudent thing that he was," cried her Aunt. "Wait
till I set my eyes on him. Indeed, I will not look at any one
belonging to him." Aunt Janet flounced into the tent, leaving her
niece to meet the stranger alone.
"Good afternoon! Am I right in thinking that this is the engineer's
camp, for which a load of oats was ordered this morning?" Jack
French was standing, hat in hand, looking his admiration and
perplexity, for Kalman had not told him anything of this girl.
"Yes, this is the camp. At least, I heard Mr. Harris say he
expected a load of oats; but," she added in slight confusion, "it
was from another man, a young man, the man, I mean, who was here
this morning."
"Confusion, indeed!" came a muffled voice from the closed tent.
Jack French glanced quickly around, but saw no one.
"Oh," said Miss Marjorie, struggling with her laughter, "it's my
Aunt; she was much alarmed this morning. You see, the wolf and the
dogs ran right into her tent. It was terrible."
"Terrible, indeed," said Jack French, with grave politeness. "I
could only get the most incoherent account of the whole matter. I
hope your Aunt was not hurt."
"Hurt, indeed!" ejaculated a muffled voice. "It was nearer killed,
I was."
Upon this, Miss Marjorie ran to the tent door. "Aunt," she cried,
lifting up the flap, "you might as well come out and meet Mr.--"
"French, Jack French, as I am known in this free country."
"My Aunt, Miss Menzies."
"Very happy to meet you, madam." Jack's bow was so inexpressibly
elegant that Aunt Janet found herself adopting her most gracious,
Glasgow society manner.
French was profuse in his apologies and sympathetic regrets, as he
gravely listened to Aunt Janet's excited account of her warm
adventure. The perfect gravity and the profuse sympathy with which
he heard the tale won Aunt Janet's heart, and she privately decided
that here, at last, she had found in this wild and terrible country
a man in whom she could entirely confide.
Under Miss Marjorie's direction, French unloaded his oats, the girl
pouring forth the while a stream of observations, exclamations, and
interrogations upon all subjects imaginable, and with such an
abandonment of good fellowship that French, for the first time in
twenty years, found himself offering hospitality to a party in which
ladies were to be found. Miss Menzies accepted the invitation with
eager alacrity.
"Oh! it will be lovely, won't it, Aunt Janet? We have not yet seen
a real ranch, and besides," she added, "we have no money to pay for
our oats."
"That matters not at all," said French; "but if your Aunt will
condescend to grace with her presence my poor bachelor's hall, we
shall be most grateful."
Aunt Janet was quite captivated, and before she knew it, she had
accepted the invitation for the party.
"Oh, good!" cried Miss Marjorie in ecstasy; "we shall come to-
morrow, Mr. French."
And with this news French drove back to the ranch, to the disgust
of old Mackenzie, who dreaded "women folks," and to Kalman's
alternating delight and dismay. That short visit had established
between the young girl and Jack French a warm and abiding
friendship that in a more conventional atmosphere it would have
taken years to develop. To her French realized at once all her
ideals of what a Western rancher should be, and to French the
frank, fresh innocence of her unspoiled heart appealed with
irresistible force. They had discovered each other in that single
hour.
CHAPTER XVI
HOW KALMAN FOUND HIS MINE
The girl's enthusiasm for her new-found friend was such that the
whole party decided to accept his invitation. And so they did,
spending a full day and night on the ranch, exploring, under
French's guidance, the beauty spots, and investigating with the
greatest interest, especially on Miss Marjorie's part, the farming
operations, over which Kalman was presiding.
That young man, in dumb and abashed confusion of face, strictly
avoided the party, appearing only at meals. There, while he made
a brave show, he was torn between the conflicting emotions of
admiration of the easy nonchalance and self-possession with
which Jack played the host, and of furious rage at the air of
proprietorship which Mr. Edgar Penny showed towards Miss Marjorie.
Gladly would he have crushed into a shapeless pulp the ruddy,
chubby face of that young man. Kalman found himself at times with
his eyes fixed upon the very spot where his fingers itched to grip
that thick-set neck, but in spite of these passing moments of fury,
the whole world was new to him. The blue of the sky, the shimmer
of the lake, the golden yellow of the poplars, all things in earth
and heaven, were shining with a new glory. For him the day's work
had no weariness. He no longer trod the solid ground, but through
paths of airy bliss his soul marched to the strains of celestial
music.
Poor Kalman! When on that fateful morning upon his virgin soul
there dawned the vision of the maid, the hour of fate struck for
him. That most ancient and most divine of frenzies smote him. He
was deliciously, madly in love, though he knew it not. It is
something to his credit, however, that he allowed the maiden to
depart without giving visible token of this divine frenzy raging
within his breast, unless it were that in the blue of his eyes
there came a deeper blue, and that under the tan of his cheek a
pallor crept. But when on their going the girl suddenly turned in
her saddle and, waving her hand, cried, "Good-by, Kalman," the
pallor fled, chased from his cheek by a hot rush of Slavic blood as
he turned to answer, "Good-by." He held his hat high in a farewell
salutation, as he had seen Jack do, and then in another moment she
was gone, and with her all the glory of that golden autumn day.
To Kalman it seemed as if months or years must have passed since he
first saw her by her Aunt's tent on that eventful morning. To take
up the ordinary routine was impossible to him. That very night,
rolling up his blankets and grub for three days, and strapping on
to his saddle an axe and a shovel, Kalman rode off down the Night
Hawk Creek, telling Mackenzie gruffly, as he called his dogs to
follow, that he purposed digging out a coyote's den that he knew
lay somewhere between the lake and the Creek mouth.
The afternoon of the second day found him far down the Creek,
where it plunged headlong into the black ravine below, not having
discovered his wolf den and not much caring whether he should or
not; for as he rode through the thick scrub he seemed to see
dancing before him in the glancing beams that rained down through
the yellow poplar leaves a maiden's face with saucy brown eyes that
laughed at him and lured him and flouted him all at once.
At the edge of the steep descent he held up his broncho. He had
never been down this way before. The sides of the ravine pitched
sharply into a narrow gorge through which the Night Hawk brawled
its way to the Saskatchewan two miles farther down.
"We'll scramble down here, Jacob," he said to his broncho,--so
named by Brown, for that he had "supplanted" in Kalman's affection
his first pony, the pinto.
He dismounted, drew the reins over the broncho's head, and began
the descent, followed by his horse, slipping, sliding, hanging on
now by trees and now by jutting rocks. By the edge of what had
once been a small landslip, he clutched a poplar tree to save
himself from going over; but the tree came away with him, and horse
and man slid and rolled down the slope, bringing with them a great
mass of earth and stone. Unhappily, Jacob in his descent rolled
over upon the boy's leg. There was a snap, a twinge of sharp pain,
and boy and horse lay half imbedded in the loose earth. Kalman
seized a stick that lay near at hand.
"Get up, Jacob, you brute!" he cried, giving him a sharp blow.
Jacob responded with a mighty plunge and struggled free, making it
possible for Kalman to extricate himself. He was relieved to
discover that he could stand on his feet and could walk, but only
with extreme pain. Upon examination he could find no sign of
broken bones. He took a large handkerchief from his neck, bound it
tightly about his foot and ankle.
"I say, Jacob, we're well out of that," he said, looking up at the
great cave that had been excavated by the landslip. "Quite a hole,
eh? A great place to sleep in. Lots of spruce about, too. We'll
just camp here for the night. I guess I'll have to let those
coyotes go this trip. This beastly foot of mine won't let me dig
much. Hello!" he continued, "that's a mighty queer rock. I'll
just take a look at that hole."
He struggled up over the debris and entered the cave. Through the
earth there showed a glistening seam slanting across one side and
ending in a broken ledge.
"By Jove!" he cried, copying Jack French in his habit of speech as
in other habits, "that looks like the coal we used to find along
the Winnipeg tracks."
He broke off a piece of the black seam. It crumbled in his hands.
"I guess not," he said; "but we'll get the shovel at it."
Forgetting for the time the pain of his foot, he scrambled down
over the soft earth, got his shovel, and was soon hard at work
excavating the seam. Soon he had a very considerable pile lying at
the front of the cave.
"Now we'll soon see," he cried.
He hurriedly gathered some dry wood, heaped the black stuff upon
it, lighted it, and sat down to wait the issue. Wild hopes were
throbbing at his heart. He knew enough of the value of coal to
realize the importance of the discovery. If it should prove to be
coal, what a splendid thing it would be for Jack and for him! How
much they would be able to do for Mrs. French and for his sister
Irma! Amid his dreams a new face mingled, a face with saucy brown
eyes, but on that face he refused to allow himself the rapture of
looking. He dared not, at least not yet. Keenly he watched the
fire. Was it taking hold of the black lumps? The flames were
dying down. The wood had nearly burned itself out. The black
lumps were charred and dead, and with their dying died his hopes.
He glanced out upon the ravine. Large soft flakes of snow were
falling lazily through the trees.
"I'll get my blankets and grub under cover, and get some more wood
for the night. It's going to be cold."
He heaped the remains of the wood he had gathered upon the fire,
and with great difficulty, for his foot was growing more and more
painful with every move, he set about gathering wood, of which
there was abundance near at hand, and making himself snug for the
night. He brought up a pail of water from the Creek, and tethered
his broncho where there was a bunch of grass at the bottom of the
ravine. Before he had finished these operations the ground was
white with snow, and the wind was beginning to sigh ominously
through the trees.
"Going to be a blizzard, sure," he said. "But let her blow. We're
all right in here. Hello! where are those dogs? After the wolves,
I'll be bound. They'll come back when they're ready."
With every moment the snow came down more thickly, and the wind
grew toward a gale.
"If it's going to be a storm, I'd better lay in some more wood."
At the cost of great pain and labour, he dragged within reach of
the cave a number of dead trees. He was disgusted to find his
stock of provisions rather low.
"I wish I'd eaten less," he grumbled. "If I'm in for a three days'
storm, and it looks like that, my grub will run out. I'll have a
cup of tea to-night and save the grub for to-morrow."
As he was busy with these preparations, a sudden darkness fell on
the valley. A strange sound like a muffled roaring came up the
ravine. In a single minute everything was blotted out before him.
There hung down before his eyes a white, whirling, blinding,
choking mass of driving snow.
"By Jove! that's a corker of a blizzard, sure enough! I'll draw my
fire further in."
He seized his shovel and began to scrape the embers of his fire
together. With a shout he dropped his shovel, fell on his knees,
and gazed into the fire. Under the heap of burning wood there was
a mass of glowing coal.
"Coal!" he shouted, rushing to the front of the cave. "Coal!
Coal! Oh, Jack! Dear old Jack! It's coal!"
Trembling between fear and hope, he broke in pieces the glowing
lumps, rushed back to the seam, gathered more of the black stuff,
and heaped it around the fire. Soon his doubts were all at rest.
The black lumps were soon on fire and blazed up with a blue flame.
But for his foot, he would have mounted Jacob and ridden straight
off for the ranch through all the storm.
"Let her snow!" he cried, gazing into the whirling mist before his
eyes. "I've got the stuff that beats blizzards!"
He turned to his tea making, now pausing to examine the great black
seam, and again going to the cave entrance to whistle for his dogs.
As he stood listening to the soft whishing roar of the storm, he
thought he heard the deep bay of Queen's voice. Holding his
breath, he listened again. In the pause of the storm he heard, and
distinctly this time, that deep musical note.
"They're digging out a wolf," he said. "They'll get tired and come
back soon."
He drank his tea, struggled down the steep slope, the descent made
more difficult by the covering of soft snow upon it, and drew
another pail of water for evening use. Still the dogs did not
appear. He went to the cave's mouth again, and whistled loud and
long. This time quite distinctly he caught Queen's long, deep bay,
and following that, a call as of a human voice.
"What?" he said, "some one out in that storm?"
He dropped upon his knees, put his hands up to his ears, and
listened intently again. Once more, in a lull of the gale, he
heard a long, clear call.
"Heavens above!" he cried, "a woman's voice! And I can't make a
hundred yards with this foot of mine."
He knew enough of blizzards to realize the extreme danger to any
one caught in those blinding, whirling snow clouds.
"I can't stay here, and I can't make it with this foot, but--yes--
By Jove! Jacob can, though."
He seized his saddle and struggled out into the storm. Three paces
from the door he fell headlong into a soft drift, wrenching his
foot anew. Choking, blinded, and almost fainting with the pain, he
got to his feet once more and fought his way down the slope to
where he knew his horse must be.
"Jacob!" he called, "where are you?"
The faithful broncho answered with a glad whinny.
"All right, old boy, I'll get you."
In a few minutes he was on the broncho's back and off down the
valley, feeling his way carefully among the trees and over stones
and logs. As he went on, he caught now and then Queen's ringing
bugle-note, and as often as he caught it he answered with a loud
"Halloo!" It was with the utmost difficulty that he could keep
Jacob's head toward the storm. Yard by yard he pressed his way
against the gale, holding his direction by means of the flowing
stream. Nearer and nearer sounded the cry of the hound, till in
answer to his shouting he heard a voice call loud and clear. The
valley grew wider, the timber more open, and his progress became
more rapid. Soon, through the drifting mass, he caught sight of
two white moving figures. The dogs bounded toward him.
"Hello there!" he called. "Here you are; come this way."
He urged forward his horse till he was nearly upon them.
"Oh, Kalman! Kalman! I knew it was you!"
In an instant he was off his horse and at her side.
"You! You!" he shouted aloud above the howling gale. "Marjorie!
Marjorie!" He had her in his arms, kissing her face madly, while
sobbing, panting, laughing, she sank upon his breast.
"Oh, Kalman! Kalman!" she gasped. "You must stop! You must stop!
Oh! I am so glad! You must stop!"
"God in Heaven!" shouted the man, boy no longer. "Who can stop me?
How can I stop? You might have died here in the snow!"
At a little distance the other figure was hanging to a tree,
evidently near to exhaustion.
"Oh, Kalman, we were fair done when the dogs came, and then I
wouldn't stop, for I knew you were near. But my! my! you were so
long!"
The boy still held her in his arms.
"I say, young man, what the deuce are we going to do? I'm played
out. I cawn't move a blawsted foot."
The voice recalled Kalman from heaven to earth. He turned to the
speaker and made out Mr. Edgar Penny.
"Do!" cried Kalman. "Why, make for my camp. Come along. It's up
stream a little distance, and we can feel our way. Climb up,
Marjorie."
"Can I?"
"Yes, at once," said Kalman, taking full command of her. "Now,
hold on tight, and we'll soon be at camp."
With the gale in their backs, they set off up stream, the men
holding by the stirrups. For some minutes they battled on through
the blizzard. Well for them that they had the brawling Creek to
guide them that night, for through this swaying, choking curtain of
snow it was impossible to see more than a horse length.
In a few minutes Mr. Penny called out, "I say, I cawn't go a step
further. Let's rest a bit." He sat down in the snow. Every
moment the wind was blowing colder.
"Come on!" shouted Kalman through the storm. "We must keep going
or we'll freeze."
But there was no answer.
"Mr. Penny! Mr. Penny!" cried Marjorie, "get up! We must go on!"
Still there was no answer. Kalman made his way round to the man's
side. He was fast asleep.
"Get up! Get up, you fool, or you will be smothered!" said Kalman,
roughly shaking him. "Get up, I say!"
He pulled the man to his feet and they started on once more, Mr.
Penny stumbling along like a drunken man.
"Let me walk, Kalman," entreated Marjorie. "I feel fresh and
strong. He can't go on, and he will only keep us back."
"You walk!" cried Kalman. "Never! If he can't keep up let him
stay and die."
"No, Kalman, I am quite strong."
She slipped off the horse, Kalman growling his wrath and disgust,
and together they assisted Mr. Penny to mount. By this time they
had reached the thickest part of the woods. The trees broke to
some extent the force of the wind, but the cold was growing more
intense.
"Single file here!" shouted Kalman to Marjorie. "You follow me."
Slowly, painfully, through the darkness and drifted snow, with
teeth clenched to keep back the groans which the pain of his foot
was forcing from him, Kalman stumbled along. At length a misstep
turned his foot. He sank with a groan into the snow. With a cry
Marjorie was beside him.
"Oh, Kalman, you have hurt yourself!"
"It is this cursed foot of mine," he groaned. "I twisted it and
something's broken, I am afraid, and it IS rather sore."
"Hello there! what's up?" cried Mr. Penny from his saddle. "I'm
getting beastly cold up here."
Marjorie turned wrathfully upon him.
"Here, you great lazy thing, come down!" she cried. "Kalman, you
must ride."
But Kalman was up and once more leading the way.
"We're almost there," he cried. "Come along; he couldn't find the
path."
"It's just a great shame!" cried Marjorie, half sobbing, keeping by
his side. "Can't I help you? Let me try."
Her arm around him put new life into him.
"By Jove! I see a fire," shouted Mr. Penny.
"That's camp," said Kalman, pausing for breath while Marjorie held
him up. "We're just there."
And so, staggering and stumbling, they reached the foot of the
landslip. Here Kalman took the saddle off Jacob, turned him loose,
and clambered up to the cave, followed by the others. Mr. Penny
sank to the ground and lay upon the cave floor like one dead.
"Well, here we are at last," said Kalman, "thank God!"
"Yes, thank God!" said Marjorie softly, "and--you, Kalman."
She sank to her knees on the ground, and putting her face in her
hands, burst into tears.
"What is it, Marjorie?" said Kalman, taking her hands down from her
face. "Are you hurt? What is it? I can't bear to see you cry
like that." But he didn't kiss her. The conventionalities were
seizing upon him again. His old shyness was stealing over his
spirit. "Tell me what to do," he said.
"Do!" cried Marjorie through her sobs. "What more can you do? Oh,
Kalman, you have saved me from an awful death!"
"Don't speak of it," said the boy with a shudder. "Don't I know
it? I can't bear to think of it. But are you all right?"
"Right?" said Marjorie briskly, wiping away her tears. "Of course
I'm all right, an' sair hungry, tae."
"Why, of course. What a fool I am!" said Kalman. "I'll make you
tea in a minute."
"No, let me," cried Marjorie. "Your poor foot must be awful.
Where's your teapot? I'm a gran' tea maker, ye ken." She was in
one of her daft moods, as Aunt Janet would say.
Never was such tea as that which they had from the tin tea pail and
from the one tin cup. What though the blizzard howled its loudest
in front of their cave? What though the swirling snow threatened
now and then to douse their fire? What though the tea boiled over
and the pork burned to a crisp? What though a single bannock stood
alone between them and starvation? What cared they? Heaven was
about them, and its music was ringing in their hearts.
Refreshed by their tea, they sat before the blazing fire, all
three, drying their soaked garments, while Mr. Penny and Marjorie
recounted their experiences. They had intended to make Wakota, but
missed the trail. The day was fine, however, and that gave them no
concern till the storm came up, when suddenly they had lost all
sense of direction and allowed their ponies to take them where they
would. With the instinct bred on the plains, the ponies had made
for the shelter of the Night Hawk ravine. Up the ravine they had
struggled till the darkness and the thick woods had forced them to
abandon the ponies.
"I wonder what the poor things will do?" interjected Marjorie.
"They'll look after themselves, never fear," said Kalman. "They
live out all winter here."
Then through the drifts they had fought their way, till in the
moment of their despair the dogs came upon them.
"We thought they were wolves," cried Marjorie, "till one began to
bay, and I knew it was the foxhound. And then I was sure that you
would not be far away. We followed the dogs for a while, and I
kept calling and calling,--poor Mr. Penny had lost his voice
entirely,--till you came and found us."
A sweet confusion checked her speech. The heat of the fire became
suddenly insupportable, and putting up her hand to protect her
face, she drew back into the shadow.
Mr. Penny, under the influence of a strong cup of boiling tea and a
moderate portion of the bannock and pork,--for Kalman would not
allow him full rations,--became more and more confident that they
"would have made it."
"Why, Mr. Penny," cried Marjorie, "you couldn't move a foot further.
Don't you remember how often you sat down, and I had just to pull
you up?"
"Oh," said Mr. Penny, "it was the beastly drift getting into my
eyes and mouth, don't you know. But I would have pulled up again
in a minute. I was just getting my second wind. By Jove! I'm
strong on my second wind, don't you know."
But Marjorie was quite unconvinced, while Kalman said nothing.
Over and over again they recounted the tale of their terrors and
their struggle, each time with some new incident; but ever and anon
there would flame up in Marjorie's cheek the flag of distress, as
if some memory smote her with a sudden blow, and her hand would
cover her cheek as if to ward off those other and too ardent kisses
of the dancing flames. But at such times about her lips a fitful
smile proclaimed her distress to be not quite unendurable.
At length Mr. Penny felt sleepy, and stretching himself upon the
dry earth before the fire, passed into unconsciousness, leaving the
others to themselves. Over the bed of spruce boughs in the corner
Kalman spread his blankets, moving about with painful difficulty at
his task, his groans growing more frequent as they called forth
from his companion exclamations of tender commiseration.
The story of those vigil hours could not be told. How they sat
now in long silences, gazing into the glowing coals, and again
conversing in low voices lest Mr. Penny's vocal slumbers should be
disturbed; how Marjorie told the short and simple story of her
life, to Kalman all wonderful; how Kalman told the story of his
life, omitting parts, and how Marjorie's tender eyes overflowed and
her rosy cheeks grew pale and her hand crept toward his arm as he
told the tragedy of his mother's death; how she described with
suppressed laughter the alarms of her dear Aunt Janet that morning--
was it a month ago?--how he told of Jack French, what a man he was
and how good; how she spoke of her father and his strength and his
tenderness, and of how he spoiled her, against which Kalman
vehemently protested; how he told of Brown and his work for the
poor ignorant Galicians, and of the songs they sang together; how
she made him sing, at first in undertones soft and low, lest poor
Mr. Penny's sleep should be broken, and then in tones clear and
full, the hymns in which Brown and French used to join, and then,
in obedience to her peremptory commands, his own favourite
Hungarian love-song, of which he shyly told her; how her eyes shone
like stars, her cheeks paled, and her hands held fast to each other
in the ecstasy of her rapture while he told her what it all meant,
at first with averted looks, and then boldly pouring the passion of
his soul into her eyes, till they fell before the flame in his as
he sang the refrain,
"While the flower blooms in the meadow,
And fishes swim the sea,
Heart of my heart, soul of my soul,
I'll love and live for thee";
how then shyness fell on her and she moved ever so little to her
own side of the fire; how he, sensitive to her every emotion, rose
at once to build the fire, telling her for the first time then of
his wonderful discovery, which he had clean forgot; how together on
tiptoe they examined, with heads in close proximity and voices
lowered to a whisper, the black seam that ran down a side of the
cave; how they discussed the possible value of it and what it might
mean to Kalman; and then how they fell silent again till Kalman
commanded her to bed, to which she agreed only upon condition that
he should rouse Mr. Penny when his watch should be over; how she
woke in broad daylight to find him with breakfast ready, the
blizzard nearly done, and the sun breaking through upon a wonderful
world, white and fairylike; how they vainly strove to simulate an
ease of manner, to forget some of the things that happened the
night before, and that neither could ever forget till the heart
should cease to beat.
All this might be told, had one the art. But no art or skill of
man could tell how, as they talked, there flew from eye to eye,
hers brown and his blue-grey, those swift, fluttering signals of
the heart; how he watched to see on her cheek the red flush glow
and pale again, not sure whether it was from the fire upon the cave
floor or from the fire that burns eternal in the heart of man and
maid; how, as he talked and sang, she feared and loved to see the
bold leap of passion in his eyes; and how she speedily learned what
words or looks of hers could call up that flash; how, as she slept,
he piled high the fire, not that she might be warm, but that the
light might fall upon her face and he might drink and drink till
his heart could hold no more, of her sweet loveliness; how, when
first waking, her eyes fell on him moving softly about the cave,
and then closed again till she could dream again her dream and
drink in slow sips its rapture; how he feared to meet her waking
glance, lest it should rebuke his madness of the night; how, as her
eyes noted the haggard look of sleepless watching and of pain, her
heart flowed over as with a mother's pity for her child, and how
she longed to comfort him but dared not; how he thought of the
coming days and feared to think of them, because in them she would
have no place or part; how she looked into the future and wondered
what like would be a life in this new and wonderful land--all this,
no matter what his skill or art, no man could tell.
It was still morning when Jack French and Brown rode up the Night
Hawk ravine, driving two saddled ponies before them. Their common
anxiety had furnished the occasion for the healing of the breach
that for a year and more had held these friends apart.
With voluble enthusiasm Mr. Penny welcomed them, plunging into a
graphic account of their struggle with the storm till happily they
came upon the dogs, who led them to Kalman and his camp. But
French, brushing him aside, strode past to where, trembling and
speechless, Marjorie stood, and then, taking her in his arms, he
whispered many times in her ears, "Thank God, little girl, you are
safe."
And Margaret, putting her arms around Jack's neck, whispered
through radiant tears, "It was Kalman, Jack. Don't listen to yon
gommeril. It was Kalman saved us; and oh, Jack, he is just
lovely!"
And Jack, patting her cheek, said, "I know all about him."
"Do you, indeed?" she answered, with a knowing smile. "I doubt.
But oh! he has broken his foot or something. And oh, Jack, he has
got a mine!"
And Jack, not knowing what she meant, looked curiously into her
face and wondered, till Brown, examining Kalman's foot and finding
a broken bone, exclaimed wrathfully, "Say, boy, you don't tell me
you have been walking on this foot?"
But Kalman answered nothing.
"He came for me--for us, Mr. Brown, through that awful storm,"
cried Marjorie penitently; "and is it broken? Oh, Kalman, how
could you?"
But Kalman still answered nothing. His dream was passing from him.
She was restored to her world and was no longer in his care.
"And here's his mine," cried Marjorie, turning Jack toward the
black seam.
"By Jove!" cried Mr. Penny, "and I never saw it. You never showed
it to me."
But during those hours spent in the cave Kalman and Marjorie had
something other to occupy their minds than mines. Jack French
examined the seam closely and in growing excitement.
"By the Lord Harry! Kalman, did you find this?"
Kalman nodded indifferently. Mines were nothing to him now.
"How did you light upon it?"
And Kalman told him how.
"He's just half dead and starved," said Marjorie in a voice that
broke with pity. "He watched all last night while we slept away
like a pair o' stirks."
At the tone in her voice, Jack French turned and gave her a
searching look. The quick, hot blood flamed into her cheeks, and
in her eyes dawned a frank shyness as she gave him back his look.
"I don't care," she said at length; "he's fair dune oot."
But Jack only nodded his head sagely while he whispered to her,
"Happy boy, happy boy! Two mines in one night!"
At which the red flamed up again and she fell to examining with
greater diligence the seam of black running athwart the cave side.
In a few minutes they were mounted and away, Brown riding hard to
bring the great news to the engineer's camp and recall the hunting
parties; the rest to make the ranch, Marjorie in front in happy
sparkling converse with Jack French, and Kalman, haggard and
gloomy, bringing up the rear. A new man was being brought to birth
within him, and sore were the parturition pangs. For one brief
night she had been his; now back to her world, she was his no more.
It was quite two days before the shining sun and the eager air had
licked up from earth the drifts of snow, and two days before
Marjorie felt quite sure she was able to bear again the rigours of
camp life, and two days before Aunt Janet woke up to the fact that
that foreign young man was altogether too handsome to be riding
from morning till night with her niece. For Jack, meanwhile, was
attending with assiduous courtesy the Aunt and receiving radiant
looks of gratitude from the niece. Two days of Heaven, when Kalman
forgot all but that she was beside him; two days of hell when he
remembered that he was but a poor foreign boy and she a great
English lady. Two days and they said farewell. Marjorie was the
last, turning first to French, who kissed her, saying, "Come back
again, little girl," and then to Kalman, sitting on his broncho,
for he hated to go lame before them all.
"Good-by, Kalman," she said, smiling bravely, while her lips
quivered. "I'll no forget yon awful and," leaning slightly toward
him as he took her hand, "yon happy night. Good-by for now. I'll
no forget."
And Kalman, looking straight into her eyes, held her hand without a
word till, withdrawing it from his hold, she turned away, leaving
the smile with him and carrying with her the quivering lips.
"I shall ride a bit with you, little girl," said Jack French, who
was ever quick with his eyes.
She tried to smile at him, but failed piteously. But Jack rode
close to her, talking bright nothings till she could smile again.
"Oh, Jack, but you are the dear!" she said to him as they galloped
together up the trail, Mr. Penny following behind. "I'll mind this
to you."
But before they took the descent to the Night Hawk ravine, they
heard a thunder of hoofs, and wheeling, found Kalman bearing down
upon them.
"Mercy me!" cried Aunt Janet, "what's wrang wi' the lad?"
"I have come to say good-by," he shouted, his broncho tearing up
the earth by Marjorie's side.
Reaching out his hands, he drew her toward him and kissed her
before them all, once, again, and yet again, with Aunt Janet
screaming, "Mercy sakes alive! The lad is daft! He'll do her a
hurt!"
"Hoots! woman, let the bairns be," cried Marjorie's father. "He
saved her for us."
But having said his farewell, Kalman rode away, waving his hand and
singing at the top of his voice his Hungarian love-song,
"While the flower blooms in the meadow,
And fishes swim the sea,
Heart of my heart, soul of my soul,
I'll love and live for thee,"
which none but Marjorie could understand, but they all stood
watching as he rode away, and listening,
"With my lances at my back,
My good sword at my knee,
Light of my life, joy of my soul,
I'll fight, I'll die for thee!"
And as the song ceased she rode away, and as she rode she smiled.
CHAPTER XVII
THE FIGHT FOR THE MINE
The early approach of winter checked the railroad construction
proper, but with the snow came good roads, and contractors were
quick to take advantage of the easier methods of transportation
furnished by winter roads to establish supply depots along the
line, and to open tie camps up in the hills. And so the old
Edmonton Trail was once more humming with life and activity far
exceeding that of its palmiest days.
As for Kalman, however, it was the mine that absorbed his attention
and his energies. By day and by night he planned and dreamed and
toiled for the development of his mine. With equal enthusiasm
Brown and French joined in this enterprise. It was French that
undertook to deal with all matters pertaining to the organization
of a company by which the mine should be operated. Registration of
claim, the securing of capital, the obtaining of charter, all these
matters were left in his hands. A few weeks' correspondence,
however, revealed the fact that for Western enterprises money was
exceedingly difficult to secure. French was eager to raise money
by mortgaging his ranch and all his possessions, but this proposal
Kalman absolutely refused to consider. Brown, too, was opposed to
this scheme. Determined that something should be done, French then
entered into contracts with the Railroad Company for the supply of
ties. But though he and Mackenzie took a large force into the
woods, and spent their three months in arduous toil, when the
traders and the whiskey runners had taken their full toll little
was left for the development of the mine.
The actual working of the mine fell to Kalman, aided by Brown.
There was an immediate market for coal among the Galicians of the
colony, who much preferred it to wood as a fuel for the clay ovens
with which they heated their houses. But they had little money to
spare, and hence, at the beginning of the work, Kalman hit upon the
device of bartering coal for labour, two days' work in the mine
entitling a labourer to a load of coal. Brown, too, needed coal
for his mill. At the Crossing there was large demand for coal,
while correspondence with the Railroad Company discovered to Kalman
a limitless market for the product of his mine. By outside sales
Kalman came to have control of a little ready money, and with this
he engaged a small force of Galicians, who, following lines
suggested by Brown, pushed in the tunnel, ran cross drifts, laid
down a small tramway, and accomplished exploration and development
work that appeared to Kalman's uninstructed eyes wonderful indeed.
The interest of the whole colony centred in the mine and in its
development, and the confidence of the people in Kalman's integrity
and efficiency became more and more firmly established.
But Brown was too fully occupied with his own mission to give much
of his time to the mine. The work along the line of construction
and in the camps meant sickness and accident, and consequently his
hospital accommodation had once more to be increased, and this
entailed upon himself and his wife, who acted as matron, a heavy
burden of responsibility and of toil.
It was a happy inspiration of Jack French's that led Brown to
invoke the aid of Mrs. French in securing the services of a nurse,
and Mrs. French's proposal that Irma, who for two years had been in
regular training, should relieve Mrs. Brown of her duties as
matron, was received by all concerned with enthusiastic approval.
And so, to the great relief of Mrs. Brown and to the unspeakable
joy of both Kalman and his sister, Irma and Paulina with her child
were installed in the Wakota institution, Irma taking charge of the
hospital and Paulina of the kitchen.
It was not by Brown's request or even desire that Paulina decided
to make her home in the Wakota colony. She was there because
nothing could prevent her coming. Her life was bound up with the
children of her lord, and for their sakes she toiled in the kitchen
with a devotion that never flagged and never sought reward.
The school, too, came back to Brown and in larger numbers than
before. Through the autumn and early winter, by his drunkenness
and greed, Klazowski had fallen deeper and deeper into the contempt
of his parishioners. It was Kalman, however, that gave the final
touch to the tottering edifice of his influence and laid it in
ruins. It was the custom of the priest to gather his congregation
for public worship on Sunday afternoon in the schoolhouse which
Brown placed at his disposal, and of which he assumed possession as
his right, by virtue of the fact that it was his people who had
erected the building. On a Sunday afternoon, as the winter was
nearing an end, Klazowski, under the influence of a too complete
devotion to the beer barrel that stood in his host's kitchen, spent
an hour in a furious denunciation of the opponents of his holy
religion, and especially of the heretic Brown and all his works,
threatening with excommunication those who in any degree would dare
after this date to countenance him. His character was impugned,
his motives declared to be of the basest. This was too much for
his congregation. Deep murmurs rose among the people, but
unwarned, the priest continued his execrations of the hated
heretic.
At length Kalman, unable any longer to contain his indignation,
sprang to his feet, gave the priest the lie direct and appealed to
the people.
"You all know Mr. Brown," he cried, "what sort of man is he? And
what sort of man is this priest who has spoken to you? You, Simon
Simbolik, when your child lay dead and you sought help of this
Klazowski, what answer did he give you?"
"He asked me for ten dollars," said Simon promptly, "and when I
could not give it he cursed me from him. Yes," continued Simbolik,
"and Mr. Brown made the coffin and paid for it, and would take no
money. My daughter is in his school, and is learning English and
sewing, beautiful sewing, and she will stay there."
"You, Bogarz," cried Kalman, "when your children were down with
scarlet fever and you went to the priest for help, what was his
reply?"
"He drove me from his house. He was afraid to death."
"Yes," continued Kalman, "and Mr. Brown came and took the children
to his hospital, and they are well to-day."
"Yes," cried Bogarz, "and he would take nothing for it all, but I
paid him all I could, and I will gladly pay him more."
And so from one to another went the word. The friends of Klazowski,
for he still had a following, were beaten into silence. Then rose
more ominous murmurs.
"I would not have Klazowski in my house with my family," cried one,
"a single day. It would not be safe. I need say no more."
Others were found with similar distrust of Klazowski's morals.
Klazowski was furious, and sought with loud denunciations and
curses to quell the storm of indignation that had been roused
against him. Then Kalman executed a flank movement.
"This man," he cried, his loud, clear voice gaining him a hearing,
"This man is promising to build us a church. He has been
collecting money. How much money do you think he has by this time?
I, myself, gave him ten dollars; Mr. French gave him twenty-five."
At once cries came from all parts of the building. "I gave him
twenty-five." "And I ten." "And I five." And so on, Kalman
keeping count.
"I make it nearly two hundred dollars," he cried. "Has any one
seen the books? Does any one know where the money is?"
"No, no," cried the crowd.
"Then," cried Kalinan, "let us enquire. We are not sheep. This is
a free country, and we are free men. The days of the old tyranny
are gone." The house rocked with the wild cheers of the excited
crowd. "Let us examine into this. Let us appoint a committee to
find out how much money has been paid and where it is."
With enthusiasm Kalman's suggestion was carried into effect. A
committee was appointed and instructed to secure the information
with all speed.
Next day Klazowski was not to be found in the colony. He had
shaken the Wakota snow from off his feet, and had departed,
carrying with him the people's hard-earned money, their fervent
curses, and a deep, deep grudge against the young man upon whom he
laid the responsibility for the collapse of his influence among the
faithful and long-suffering people of Wakota.
A few days later, to an interested and devout congregation in the
city of Winnipeg, he gave an eloquent account of his labours as a
missionary in the remote colony of Wakota, depicted in lurid
colours the persecutions he had endured at the hands of the heretic
Brown, reserving his most fervid periods for the denunciation of
the unscrupulous machinations of an apostate and arch traitor,
Kalman Kalmar, whose name would forever be remembered by his people
with infamy.
Among those who remained to congratulate and sympathize with the
orator, none was more cordial than Mr. Rosenblatt, with whom the
preacher went home to dine, and to whom, under the mellowing
influence of a third bottle, he imparted full and valuable
information in regard to Wakota, its possibilities as a business
centre, its railroad prospects, its land values, its timber limits,
and especially in regard to the character and work of Kalman
Kalmar, and the wonderful mine which the young man had discovered.
The information thus obtained Rosenblatt was careful to impart to
his friend and partner, Samuel Sprink. As a result of further
interviews with the priest and of much shrewd bargaining with
railroad contractors and officials, in early spring, before the
break up of the roads, Mr. Samuel Sprink had established himself
along the line of construction as a vendor of "gents' furnishings,"
working men's supplies, tobaccos and cigars, and other useful and
domestic articles. It was not announced, however, in the alluring
posters distributed among the people in language suited to their
comprehension, that among his stores might be found a brand of
whiskey of whose virtues none could speak with more confidence than
Mr. Sprink himself, for the sufficient reason that he was for the
most part the sole manufacturer thereof.
Chief among Mr. Sprink's activities was that of "claim jumping,"--
to wit, the securing for himself of homesteads for which patents
had not been obtained, the homesteaders for one reason or another
having not been able to complete the duties required by Government.
In the prosecution of this business Mr. Sprink made a discovery,
which he conveyed in a letter to Mr. Rosenblatt, who was still in
charge of the Winnipeg end of the Company's business.
"You must come at once," wrote Mr. Sprink. "I save a great business
on hand. I have discovered that no application has been made for
the coal mine claimed by young Kalmar, and this means that the mine
is still open. Had I the full description of the property, I should
have jumped the claim at once, you bet. So get a move on and come.
Get the description of the land on the quiet, and then do some work
among the Galician people to prepare for the change of ownership,
because there will be trouble, sure. So, come along. There is
other big business too, so you must come."
Rosenblatt needed no further urging. In a week he was on the
ground.
Meanwhile, Kalman was developing his mine, and dreaming great
dreams as to what he should do when he had become a great mine
owner. It was his custom, ever since Irma's coming, to spend the
Sunday evening with her at the hospital. His way to the mine lay
through scrub and sleugh, a heavy trail, and so he welcomed the
breaking up of the ice on the Eagle River. For, taking Brown's
canoe, he could paddle down to the Saskatchewan, and thence to the
mouth of the Night Hawk Creek, from which point it was only a short
walk to camp.
It was a most fortunate thing for old Pere Garneau that Kalman had
adopted this method of transportation on the very night the old
priest had chosen for his trip down the Eagle. Pere Garneau, a
pioneer priest of the North Saskatchewan country, had ministered
for twenty years, by river and by trail, to the spiritual and
temporal needs of the half-breeds and the Indians under the care of
his church. A heroic soul was the old Father, not to be daunted by
dangers, simple as a child, and kindly. But the years had done
their work with him on eye and hand. The running ice in the spring
flood of the Eagle River got itself under the nose of the good
Father's canoe, and the current did the rest. His feeble cry would
have brought no aid, had not Kalman, at the very moment, been
shoving out his canoe into the current of the Eagle. A few strong
sweeps of the paddle, and Kalman had the old priest in tow, and in
a few minutes, with Brown's aid, into the hospital and snugly in
bed, with his canoe, and what of his stuff could be rescued, safe
under cover. Two days of Irma's nursing and of Brown's treatment,
and the ill effects of his chilly dip had disappeared sufficiently
to allow the Father to proceed on his way.
"Eet will be to me a pleasant remembrance of your hospitalite," he
said to Brown on the morning of the third day.
"And to us of your stay, Father Garneau," replied Brown. "But you
need not go to-day. You are not strong enough, and, besides, I
have some work for you. There is a poor Galician woman with us
here who cannot see the morning. She could not bear the priest
Klazowski. She had trouble with him, and I think you could comfort
her."
"Ah, dat Klazowski!" exclaimed Pere Garneau. "Eet ees not a good
man. Many peep' tell me of dat man. He will be no more priest,
for certainly. I would see dis woman, poor soul!"
"To-night Kalman will be here," said Brown, "and he will interpret
for you."
"Ah, he ees a fine young man, Kalman. He mak' troub' for dat
priest, ees eet not?"
"Well, I am afraid he did," said Brown, laughing. "But I fancy it
was the priest made trouble for himself."
"Yes, dat ees so, and dat ees de worse troub' of all," said the
wise old man.
The poor woman made her confession, received her Sacrament, and
thus comforted and at peace, made exit from this troubled life.
"My son," said the priest to Kalman when the service was over, "I
would be glad to confess you."
"Thank you, Father," said Kalman. "I make my confession to God."
"Ah, my son, you have been injured in your faith by dat bad priest
Klazowski."
"No, I think not," said Kalman. "I have for some years been
reading my Bible, and I have lived beside a good man who has taught
me to know God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I seek to
follow him as Peter and the others did. But I am no longer of the
Galician way of religion, neither Greek nor Roman."
"My son," exclaimed the old priest in horror, "you are not an
apostate? You have not denied your faith?"
"No, I have not. I try to please Christ."
Long and painfully, and with tears, did the old priest labour with
Kalman, to whom his soul went out in gratitude and affection, but
without making any change in the young man's mind. The teaching,
but more the life, of his friend had not been lost, and Kalman had
come to see clearly his way.
Next morning the good Father was ready for his journey.
"I leave to you," he said to Brown, "my double blessing, of the
stranger whom you received, and of the sick to whom you served.
Ah! what a peety you are in the darkness of error," he continued
with a gentle smile; "but I will pray for you, for you both, my
children, many times."
"Thank you, thank you," said Brown warmly. "The prayers of a good
man bring blessing, and I love to remember the words of our Master,
'He that is not against us is on our part.'"
Ah! dat ees true, dat ees true. Dat ees like Heem. Adieu."
For some days Rosenblatt had been at work quietly in the colony,
obtaining information and making friends. Among the first who
offered their services was old Portnoff and a friend of his, an old
man with ragged beard, and deep-set, piercing eyes looking out from
under shaggy brows, to whom Portnoff gave the name of Malkarski.
As Portnoff seemed to be a man of influence among his people,
Rosenblatt made him foreman over one of the gangs of workmen in his
employ. It was through Portnoff he obtained an accurate description
of the mine property. But that same night Portnoff and Malkarski
were found at Brown's house.
"There is a man," said Portnoff, "who wishes to know about the
mine. Perhaps he desires to purchase."
"His name?" enquired Brown.
"Rosenblatt."
"Rosenblatt? That name has a familiar sound. It would be wise,"
he continued, "to carry your information to Kalman at once."
"It shall be done to-night," said Malkarski in a deep voice. "It
is important. Portnoff will go." Portnoff agreed.
The following morning brought Kalman to Wakota. The arrival of
Rosenblatt in the country had changed for him the face of heaven
and earth. Before his eyes there rose and remained the vision of a
spot in a Russian forest where the snow was tramped and bloody.
With sobs and execrations he poured forth his tale to Brown.
"And my father has sworn to kill him, and if he fails I shall take
it up."
"Kalman, my boy," said Brown, "I cannot wonder that you feel like
this. Killing is too good for the brute. But this you cannot do.
Vengeance is not ours, but God's."
"If my father fails," said Kalman quietly, "I shall kill him."
"You must not think like that, much less speak so," said Brown.
"This is Canada, not Russia. You are a Christian man and no
heathen."
"I can't help it," said Kalman; "I can only see that bloody snow."
He put his hands over his eyes and shuddered violently. "I must
kill him!"
"And would you ruin your own life? Would you shut yourself off
forever from your best and holiest thoughts? And what of your
sister, and Jack, and me? And what of--of--all your friends? For
this one fierce and sinful passion--for it is sinful, Kalman--you
would sacrifice yourself and all of us."
"I know all that. It would sacrifice all; but in here," smiting
his breast, "there is a cry that will not cease till I see that
man's blood."
"God pity you, Kalman. And you call yourself a follower of Him who
for His murderers prayed, 'Father, forgive them.'" Then Brown's
voice grew stern. "Kalman, you are not thinking clearly. You must
face this as a Christian man. The issue is quite straight. It is
no longer between you and your enemy; it is between you and your
Lord. Are you prepared to-night to reject your Lord and cut
yourself off from Him? Listen." Brown took his Bible, and turning
over the leaves, found the words, "'If ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses'; and
remember, these are the words of Him who forgave those who had done
their worst on Him, blighting his dearest hopes, ruining His cause,
breaking His heart. Kalman, you dare not."
And Kalman went his way to meet his Gethsemane in the Night Hawk
ravine, till morning found him on his face under the trees, with
his victory still in the balance. The hereditary instincts of
Slavic blood cried out for vengeance. The passionate loyalty of
his heart to the memory of his mother and to his father cried out
for vengeance. His own wrongs cried out for vengeance, and against
these cries there stood that single word, "Father, forgive them,
they know not what they do."
Before a week was gone old Portnoff came hot foot to Brown to
report that early that morning Rosenblatt had ridden off in the
direction of the Fort, where was the Government Land Office.
"It is something about the mine. He was in good spirits. He
offered me something good on his return. If this were only
Russia!" said the old Nihilist.
"Yes, yes," growled his friend Malkarski, in his deep voice, "we
should soon do for him."
"Left this morning?" said Brown. "How long ago?"
"Two hours."
Brown thought quickly. What could it mean? Was it possible the
registration had been neglected? Knowing French's easy-going
methods of doing business, he knew it to be quite possible. French
was still away in his tie camp. Kalman was ten miles off at the
mine. It was too great a chance to take.
"Throw the saddle on my horse, Portnoff," he cried. "I must ride
to the Fort."
"It would be good to kill this man," said old Malkarski quietly.
"What are you saying?" cried Brown in horror. "Be off with you."
He made a few hurried preparations, sent word to Kalman, and
departed. He had forty miles before him, and his horse was none of
the best. Rosenblatt had two hours' lead and was, doubtless, well
mounted. There was a chance, however, that he would take the
journey by easy stages. But a tail chase is a long chase, especially
when cupidity and hate are spurring on the pursued. Five hours' hard
riding brought Brown to the wide plain upon which stood the Fort.
As he entered upon the plain, he discovered his man a few miles
before him. At almost the same instant of his discovery, Rosenblatt
became aware of his pursuer, and the last five miles were done at
racing speed. But Brown's horse was spent, and when he arrived at
the Land Office, it was to find that application had been made for
one hundred and sixty acres of mining land, including both sides of
the Night Hawk ravine. Brown stared hard at the entry.
"Is there no record of this claim having been entered before?" said
Brown.
"None," said the agent.
"This man," Brown said at length to the agent, "never saw the mine.
He is not the discoverer."
"Who is?"
"A young friend of mine, Kalman Kalmar. To that I can swear." And
he told the story of the discovery, adding such details as he
thought necessary in regard to Rosenblatt's character.
The official was sympathetic and interested.
"And how long is it since the discovery was made?" he enquired.
"Six months or so."
"And why was there no application sent in?"
Brown was silent.
"The Government cannot be responsible for neglect," he said. "You
have yourselves to blame for it. Nothing can be done now."
The door opened, and Brown turned to find Rosenblatt with a smile
of triumph upon his face. Before he was aware, his open hand had
swung hard upon the grinning face, and Rosenblatt fell in a huddled
heap into the corner. He rose up sputtering and spitting.
"I will have the law on you!" he shouted. "I call you as witness,"
he continued to the agent.
"What's the matter with you?" said the agent. "I didn't see
anything. If you trip yourself up and pitch into the corner, that
is your own business. Get out of this office, you disorderly
beast! Hurry up!" The agent put his hand upon the counter and
leaped over.
Rosenblatt fled, terrified.
"Brute!" said the agent, "I can't stand these claim jumpers. You
did that very neatly," he said to Brown, shaking him warmly by the
hand. "I am awfully sorry, but the thing can't be helped now."
Brown was too sick at heart to reply. The mine was gone, and with
it all the splendid castles he and Kalman had been building for the
last six months. He feared to meet his friend. With what heart
now could he ask that this brute, who had added another to the list
of the wrongs he had done, should be forgiven? It was beyond all
human strength to wipe out from one's mind such an accumulation of
injuries. Well for Brown and well for his friend that forty miles
lay before him. For forty miles of open country and of God's sun
and air, to a man whose heart is open to God, work mighty results.
When at last they came together, both men had won their victory.
Quietly Brown told his story. He was amazed to find that instead
of rousing Kalman to an irrepressible fury, it seemed to make but
little impression upon him that he had lost his mine. Kalman had
faced his issue, and fought out his fight. At all costs he could
not deny his Lord, and under this compulsion it was that he had
surrendered his blood feud. The fierce lust for vengeance which
had for centuries run mad in his Slavic blood, had died beneath the
stroke of the Cross, and under the shock of that mighty stroke the
loss of the mine had little effect upon him. Brown wondered at
him.
The whole colony was thrown into a ferment of indignation by the
news that Kalman had been robbed of his mine. But the agents of
Rosenblatt and Sprink were busy among the people. Feast days were
made hilarious through their lavish gifts of beer. Large promises
in connection with the development of the mine awakened hopes of
wealth in many hearts. After all, what could they hope from a
young man without capital, without backing, without experience?
True, it was a pity he should lose his mine, but men soon forget
the losses and injuries of others under the exhilaration of their
own ambitions and dreams of success. Kalman's claims and Kalman's
wrongs were soon obliterated. He had been found guilty of the
unpardonable crime of failure. The new firm went vigorously to
work. Cabins were erected at the mine, a wagon road cut to the
Saskatchewan. In three weeks the whole face of the ravine was
changed.
It was in the end of April before French returned from his tie
camp, with nothing for his three months' toil but battered teams
and empty pockets, a worn and ill-favoured body, and with a heart
sick with the sense of failure and of self-scorn. Kalman, reading
at a glance the whole sordid and heartbreaking story, met him with
warm and cheery welcome. It was for French, more than for himself,
that he grieved over the loss of the mine. Kalman was busy with
his preparations for the spring seeding. He was planning a large
crop of everything the ranch would grow, for the coming market.
"And the mine, Kalman?" enquired French.
"I've quit mining. The ranch for me," exclaimed Kalman, with
cheerful enthusiasm.
"But what's up?" said French, with a touch of impatience.
"Jack, we have lost the mine," said Kalman quietly. And he told
the story.
As he concluded the tale, French's listlessness vanished. He was
his own man again.
"We will ride down and see Brown," he said with decision.
"No use," said Kalman, wishing to save him further pain. "Brown
saw the entry at the Land Office, and the agent plainly told him
nothing could be done."
"Well, we won't just lie down yet, boy," said Jack. "Come along--
or--well, perhaps I'd better go alone. You saddle my horse."
In half an hour French appeared clean shaven, dressed in his
"civilization clothes," and looking his old self again.
"You're fine, Jack," said Kalman in admiration. "We have got each
other yet."
"Yes, boy," said Jack, gripping his hand, "and that is the best.
But we'll get the mine, too, or I'm a Dutchman." All the old,
easy, lazy air was gone. In every line of his handsome face, in
every movement of his body, there showed vigour and determination.
The old English fighting spirit was roused, whose tradition it was
to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and despair.
Four weeks passed before Kalman saw him again. Those four weeks he
spent in toil from early dawn till late at night at the oats and
the potatoes, working to the limit of their endurance Mackenzie and
the small force of Galicians he could secure, for the mine and the
railroad offered greater attractions. At length the level black
fields lay waiting the wooing of the sun and rain and genial air.
Then Kalman rode down for a day at Wakota, for heart and body were
exhausted of their vital forces. He wanted rest, but he wanted
more the touch of a friend's hand.
At Wakota, the first sight that caught his eye was French's horse
tethered on the grassy sward before Brown's house, and as he rode
up, from within there came to his ear the sound of unusual and
hilarious revelry.
"Hello there!" yelled Kalman, still sitting his horse. "What's
happened to you all?"
The cry brought them all out,--Brown and his wife, French and Irma,
with Paulina in the background. They crowded around him with
vociferous welcome, Brown leading in a series of wild cheers.
After the cheering was done, Brown rushed for him.
"Congratulations, old boy!" he cried, shaking him by the hand.
"It's all right; we've won, after all! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"
Brown had clearly gone mad.
Then Irma came running toward him.
"Yes, it's all true, Kalman dear," she cried, pulling down his head
to kiss him, her voice breaking in a sob and her eyes radiant with
smiles and tears.
"Don't be alarmed, old man," said French, taking him by the hand
when Irma had surrendered her place. "They are all quite sane.
We've got it, right enough. We've won out."
Kalman sat still on his horse, looking from one to the other in
utter bewilderment. Brown was still yelling at intervals, and
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