JORDAN'S SCHEME
Carnforth had been gone some twenty minutes when Eleanor stood among the
orchard grass, from which the ranks of blackened fir-stumps rose outside
the ranch. She had recovered her composure, and was looking toward the
dusty road which wound, a sinuous white ribbon, between the somber firs.
Jordan, whom she had not expected to see just then, was walking along it
with Forster, and, since it was evident that he must have met Carnforth,
she was wondering, with a somewhat natural shrinking from doing so, how
far it would be necessary to take him into her confidence. This, as she
recognized, must be done eventually; but she was not sure that her
legitimate lover would be in a mood to understand or appreciate her
course of action when fresh from a meeting with the one she had
discarded. Jordan had laid very little restraint upon her, but he was,
after all, human and had a temper.
She lost sight of the two men for a few minutes when they passed behind
a great colonnade of fir-trunks that partly obscured her view of the
road, but she could see them plainly when they emerged again from the
shadow. Instead of turning toward the house they came toward her, and
there was, she noticed, a curious red mark on Jordan's cheek, as well as
a broad smear of dust on his soft hat, which appeared somewhat crushed.
His attire was also disordered, and his face was darker in color than
usual. Forster, who walked a pace or two behind him, because the path
through the grass was narrow, also appeared disturbed in mind, and when
they stopped close by the girl it was he who spoke first.
"I had gone down the road to see whether there was any sign of Mrs.
Forster when I came upon Mr. Jordan; and, considering how he was
engaged, it is perhaps fortunate that I did," he said. "Although it is
not exactly my business, I can't help fancying that you have something
to say to him."
He went on, but he had said enough to leave Eleanor with a tolerably
accurate notion of what had happened, and to make it clear that he was
not altogether pleased. The rancher and his wife were easy-going, kindly
people, with liberal views, but it was evident that their toleration
would not cover everything. Then she turned to Jordan, who stood looking
at her steadily with a certain hardness in his face, and the red mark
showing very plainly on his cheek.
"Well," she said, "how did you get here?"
"On my feet," said Jordan. "There was little to do this afternoon in the
city, and two or three things were worrying me. It struck me that I'd
walk it off, and I'm glad I did."
"Ah!" said Eleanor, "won't you go on a little?'"
"It's what I mean to do. I met Carnforth driving away from here, and
since the fact that he has been here quite often has been troubling me
lately, I invited him to pull up right away. When he didn't do it I
managed to get hold of the horses' heads, and went right across the road
with them. Still, I stopped the team, and I was getting up to talk to
Carnforth when Forster came along. I hated to see him then."
Somewhat to his astonishment, Eleanor laughed softly. "Forster persuaded
you to abandon the--discussion?"
"He did. If there's a split up the back of my jacket, as I believe there
is, he made it. Anyway, he wasn't quite pleased, and I don't blame him.
He and his wife have let you do 'most whatever you like, but, after all,
you couldn't expect them to put up with everything."
"Or expect too much from you? You feel you have borne a good deal,
Charley? Well, Forster was right in one respect. We have something to
say to each other, and it may take a little time. There is a big fir he
has just chopped yonder."
She walked slowly toward the fallen tree, and seated herself on a great
branch before she turned to the man who was about to take a place beside
her.
"No," she said, "you can stand there, Charley, where I can see you. To
commence with, how much confidence have you in me?"
"All that a man could have;" and there was no doubt about Jordan's
sincerity. "Still, I don't like Carnforth. He's not fit for you to talk
to, and I can't have him coming here. In fact, I'll see that he doesn't.
I've wanted to say this for quite a while, but it would have pleased me
better to say it first to him. That's one reason why I feel it's
particularly unfortunate Forster didn't stay away a minute or two
longer."
A faint tinge of color crept into Eleanor's cheek, but she looked at him
with a smile.
"Charley," she said, "I am a little sorry too that Forster came along
when he did. I don't know that it's what every girl would say, but I
think if you had thrashed that man to within an inch of his life it
would have pleased me."
She stopped for a moment, and the color grew a trifle plainer in her
face, though there was no wavering in her gaze. "I want you to
understand that I knew just what that man was--and still I led him on.
It is a little hard to speak of; but one has to be honest, and when it
is necessary I think both of us can face an unpleasant thing. Well, I
encouraged him because I couldn't see how I was to attain my object any
other way. Still, you mustn't suppose it cost me nothing. It hurt all
the time--hurt me horribly--and now I almost feel that I shall never
shake off the contamination."
The man, who did not know yet what her purpose was, realized that the
task she had undertaken must have heavily taxed her strength and
courage. He knew that she was vindictive, and one who was not addicted
to counting the cost, but he also knew that there was a certain
Puritanical pride in her which must have rendered the part she had
played almost insufferably repulsive. His face burned as he thought of
it, and he drew in his breath with a curious little gasp while he gazed
at her with a look in his eyes that sent a thrill of dismay through her.
"Oh!" she said, "don't ask, Charley. I couldn't bear that from you. I--I
kept him at a due distance all the time."
Jordan's tense face relaxed. "I can't forgive Forster for coming along
when he did," he said. "Eleanor, you have courage enough for anything.
In one way, it isn't natural."
"You have felt that now and then?"
The man said nothing for almost a minute, for he was still a little
shaken by what she had told him. It had roused him to fierce resentment
and brought the blood to his face, but he now recognized that there were
respects in which the momentary dismay of which he had been sensible was
groundless. She had given him sympathy and encouragement freely, and at
times had shown him a certain half-reserved tenderness, but very little
more, and he felt that it should have been quite clear to him that she
had unbent no further toward the stranger. Then he straightened himself
as he looked at her.
"My dear," he said, "I needn't tell you there is nobody on this earth I
would place beside you."
Eleanor smiled wistfully. "Ah!" she said, "I like to hear you say that,
though it is, of course, foolish of you; and perhaps I shall change and
be gentler and more like other women some day. Still, that wouldn't be
advisable just now. We must wait, and in the meanwhile there are other
things to think of. Listen for a minute, and you will understand why I
led Carnforth on. He is, of course, never coming here again."
She told him quietly all she had heard respecting Merril's affairs, and
when at last she stopped, Jordan made an abrupt gesture.
"It's a pity I can't act upon what you have told me," he said.
"You can't act upon it?"
"No," said Jordan firmly. "You should never have done it--it cost you
too much. Oh, I know the shame and humiliation it must have brought you.
You can't make things like these counters in a business deal."
"You must;" and Eleanor's eyes grew suddenly hard again. "Is all I have
gained by doing what I loathed to be thrown away? Listen, Charley. I
loved my father, and looked up to him until Merril laid a trap for him.
Then he went downhill, and I had to watch his courage and control being
sapped away. He lost it all, and his manhood, too, and died crazed with
rank whisky."
She rose, and stood very straight, pale in face and quivering a little.
"Could anything ever drive out the memory of that horrible night? You
could hardly bear what had to be done, and you can fancy what it must
have been to me--who loved him. Can I forgive the man who brought that
on him?"
Jordan shivered a little with pity and horror, as the scene in the room
where the burned man gasped out his life in an extremity of pain rose up
before him. Then he was conscious that Eleanor had recovered herself and
was looking at him steadily.
"Charley," she said, "you must stand by me in this, or go away and never
speak to me again. There is no alternative. Only support me now, and
afterward I will obey you for the rest of our lives."
The man realized that she meant it, and though it cost him an effort, he
made a sign of resignation.
"Then," he said, "it must be as you wish. And I guess, after what you
have told me, we hold Merril in our hand. That is, if Jimmy and I can do
our part."
Both of them had felt the tension, and now that it had slackened they
said nothing for several minutes as they walked toward the house. Then
Eleanor turned to her companion.
"I am glad I can depend on you," she said. "When the pinch comes Jimmy
will fail us."
"Jimmy," said Jordan quietly, "is your brother as well as my friend."
"Ah!" said Eleanor, "don't misunderstand. Jimmy would flinch from
nothing on a steamer's bridge. Still, it isn't nerve of that kind that
will be needed, and Miss Merril has a hold on him."
Jordan saw the faint sparkle in her eyes. "After all, you can't hold the
girl responsible for her father?"
"I do," said Eleanor, with a curious bitter smile. "At least, I would
keep her away from Jimmy."
Jordan said nothing, but there was trouble in his face, for he had seen
how things were going, and though he was Eleanor's lover he was Jimmy's
friend. When they reached the ranch they found that Mrs. Forster had
come back, and she glanced at Jordan with a smile in her eyes when he
crossed the room.
"Do you know that you have split your jacket up the back?" she asked.
Jordan looked reproachfully at Forster. "Well," he said, "I almost think
that your husband does."
"Then he will lend you another one while I sew it for you."
"One would fancy that Eleanor would prefer to do it," said the rancher
dryly.
His wife pursed up her face. "It is possible that she may bring herself
to do such things by and by. Still, I can't quite imagine Eleanor
quietly sitting down and mending a man's clothes."
Jordan laughed. "It's quite likely that she'll have to. It depends on
how the _Shasta_ pleases the miners. Forster, I'll trouble you to lend
me a jacket. I guess you owe it to me."
Forster promised to get him the garment, and when they went away
together his wife asked Eleanor a plain question or two. It was some
time before she said anything to her husband about that interview, but
she appeared somewhat thoughtful until supper was brought in. Shortly
after it was over Jordan, who borrowed a horse from Forster, rode away,
and the rancher, who was sitting on the veranda, smiled at his wife when
Eleanor walked back from the slip-rails toward the house.
"Well," he said reflectively, "though I'm rather fond of Miss Wheelock,
I can't help thinking that Jordan is an unusually courageous man. It is
fortunate that he is so, considering everything."
Mrs. Forster flashed a keen glance at him, but it said a good deal for
her capability of keeping a promise that she contented herself with a
simple question.
"Why?" she asked.
"He expects to marry her," said Forster dryly.
In the meanwhile Jordan was riding down the dusty road, and thinking out
a scheme which, though he had been reluctant to adopt it in the first
case, was now commencing to compel his attention. As the result of this,
he spent most of the evening in certain second-rate saloons where
sailormen and wharf-hands congregated, which, though he had been well
acquainted with such places in his struggling days, was a thing he had
not done for several years. However, he came across one or two men there
who, while they were probably not aware of it, gave him a little useful
information, and he had a project in his mind when he went on board the
_Shasta_ on the following morning. She was then in the hands of the
ship-carpenters, for, although the treasure-seekers in their haste to
reach the auriferous north would if necessary have gone in a canoe, it
was evident that the _Shasta_ Company must offer them at least some kind
of shelter in view of the opposition of larger vessels. Jordan also knew
that niggardliness is not always profitable, and the new passenger deck
that was being laid along the beams was well planned and comfortable. He
drew Jimmy into the room beneath the bridge, and taking out his
cigar-case laid it on the table.
"Take one. We have got to talk," he said. "Now, the _Shasta_'s out after
money, and it 'most seems to me that Merril is going to have an
opportunity for providing some of it. You don't know any reason why you
shouldn't get what he screwed out of your father, and, perhaps, a little
more, out of him?"
"No," said Jimmy grimly, though there was a shadow on his face; "I could
find a certain pleasure in making him feel the screw in turn."
"Then I'll show you how it can be done. But first of all we'll go back a
little. Merril has had to make the road to his pulp-mill, and it's
costing him and the other men a lot of money. His particular share is
quite a big one. Then he's saddled with an old-type steamer that can't
be run economically, and, as you know, we'll have to come down in
freight and passage rates now that the other people are putting on new
boats. Besides, Carnforth, who was to take a big share in the concern,
is going to leave him."
"How do you know that?"
Jordan hesitated for a moment. "Well," he said, "I do, and that's about
all I mean to tell you. Anyway, I've cause for believing that Merril is
tightly fixed for money, and can't lay his hands on it. There are
reasons why he couldn't let up on the pulp-mill if he wanted. Still,
there is one way he could get the money, and that is by making the
underwriters, who hold the steamboat covered, provide it."
"Ah!" said Jimmy, "it wouldn't be very difficult either."
His companion smiled dryly. "I have a notion how she is insured, and, so
far as I can gather, it's under an economical policy. Underwriters face
total constructive loss, but don't stand in for minor damage or salvage.
Well, I've ground for believing the thing is to be done by the engineer,
and he is a man who has to do just what Merril tells him. You and
Fleming could figure out how he will probably manage. But one thing is
clear: when that steamboat's engines give out you have got to be
somewhere round to salve her."
"You are sure of this?" asked Jimmy. "What makes you so?"
Jordan did not answer him for a moment, and once more there was
hesitation in his manner.
"Well," he said, "that is my affair, and I've been worrying over it
quite a while now. Anyway, I think it's a sure thing."
"What do you purpose if I salve that steamer and we find anything wrong
on board her?"
"In that case I'm not sure the salvage will content the _Shasta_
Company. It's admissible to break your trading opponent. As I tried to
show you, Merril's tightly fixed, and while the man's quite clever
enough to wriggle loose, it will be our business to see that he
doesn't."
Jimmy sat still for a few moments with trouble in his face, which was
hard and grim, until his comrade turned to him again.
"Jimmy," he said quietly, "that man had no pity on your father. The
thing has to be done, and the _Shasta_ Company stood by you. We have got
to have that salvage, and you're not going to go back on us now."
Jimmy stood up and straightened himself in a curious slow fashion. "No,"
he said, "I'm with you. As you say, the thing has to be done--and it
naturally falls to me. Well, though it'll probably cost me a good deal,
I'm ready. When do you expect him to try it?"
"I don't quite know--you couldn't expect me to. Still, I should figure
it won't be until she goes north, after the lay-off, in spring. Guess
he'll hold on as long as he can. Freights won't drop much before then."
He rose and laid his hand on his comrade's shoulder as they went out. "I
think I understand how you are fixed, but you have to face it," he went
on. "There's another thing I want to mention. If you can, get hold of
Merril's engineer, and scare him into some admission."