THE OPENING OF THE LINE
During the weeks that followed I saw neither Grace nor Colonel
Carrington--though the latter fact did not cause me unnecessary grief, and
we heard much about his doings. From what the independent miners who
strolled into our camp at intervals told us, the Day Spring shaft had
proved a costly venture, and had so far failed to lay bare any traces of
payable milling ore. Still, the redoubtable Colonel continued with his
usual tenacity, and was now driving an adit into the range side to strike
the quartz reef at another level.
"There's a blamed sight more gold going into them diggings than they'll
ever get out, and the man who is running them will make a big hole in
somebody's bank account," said one informant meditatively. "However,
there's no use wasting time trying to give him advice. I strolled round
one morning promiscuous, and sat down in his office. 'See here, Colonel,
you're ploughing a bad patch,' I says, 'and having a knowledge of good
ones I might tell you something if I prowled through your workings.'"
"What did he say?" asked Harry, smiling at me. And the narrator
expectorated disgustedly as he answered:
"Just turned round and stared--kind of combine between a ramrod and an
icicle. 'Who the perdition are you?' he said--or he looked it, anyway. So,
seeing him above a friendly warning, I lit out, feeling sheep-faced; and
I've bluffed some hard men in my time. Since then I've been rooting
round, and I'm concluding there is good ore in that mountain, if he could
strike it."
"Do you know the sheep-faced feeling, Ralph?" asked Harry mischievously.
And probably my frown betrayed me, because I knew it well, though there
was some consolation in the thought that this reckless wanderer of the
ranges knew it also.
In any case, I had small leisure just then to trouble about the affairs of
Colonel Carrington. My duty to my partners and the men who worked for us
was sufficiently onerous, for we had almost daily to grapple with some
fresh natural difficulty. Twice a snow-slide awakened majestic thunders
among the hills at night and piled the wreckage of the forests high upon
the track. Massy boulders charged down the slopes and smashed the
half-finished snow-shed framing into splinters; but, rod by rod, the line
stretched on, and the surveyor's good-will increased toward us. So the
short weeks passed, until at last the metals led into the mining town, and
its inhabitants made preparations to provide a fitting reception for the
first train, the arrival of which would mark a turning-point in the wooden
city's history. I can remember each incident of that day perfectly,
because it also marked the change from ebb to flood in the tide of our own
affairs. We sat up late the previous night calculating the amount to our
debit, which proved sufficiently discouraging, and endeavoring to value on
the credit side work we had done in excess of contract; but this, Harry
said, was reckoning without our host, as represented by the surveyor, who,
when we approached him on the subject, displayed a becoming reticence.
It was a glorious afternoon when we stood waiting beside the track,
attired for once in comparatively decent garments. Harry and I had spent
several hours in ingenious repairs, one result of which was that certain
seams would project above the surface in spite of our efforts to restrain
them. Beneath us the foaming river made wild music in its hidden gorge,
and the roar of a fall drifted up with the scent of cedars across the
climbing pines, while above the hill-slopes led the gaze upward into the
empyrean. But there is no need for description; we were in the mountains
of British Columbia, and it was summertime.
Near at hand many banners fluttered over the timber city, and discordant
strains announced the last rehearsal of the miner's band, while a throng
of stalwart men laughed and jested as they gazed expectantly up the line.
They had cause for satisfaction. All had waited long and patiently, paying
treble value for what they used or ate, and struggling with indifferent
implements to uncover the secret treasure of the ranges. Now their
enterprise would not be handicapped by the lack of either plant or
capital, for the promise given had been redeemed, and with the advent of
the locomotive they looked for the commencement of a great prosperity.
My face, however, was somber, for Harry made some jesting comparison
between it and that of a mourner at a funeral. We, too, had done our share
in the building of the road, but, as far as we could see, it had signally
failed to bring us prosperity.
"You can console yourself with the feeling that it's good to be a public
benefactor, even if you don't get any money," said Harry cheerfully. "Did
it ever strike you, Ralph, that the people who subscribe for statues make
a bad choice of their models? Instead of the frock-coated director they
should set up the man with the shovel--Ralph Lorimer, rampant, clad in
flour bags, and heaving aloft the big axe, for instance, with the
appropriate motto round the pedestal under him, 'Virtue is its own
reward.' No, I'm in charge of the pulpit this afternoon, Lee."
What the shoemaker intended to say did not appear, for he smilingly
abandoned the opportunity for improving the occasion. He had put on flesh
and vigor, and now, instead of regarding him as a flippant worldling,
which was formerly his plainly expressed opinion, he even looked up in a
curious way toward my partner, and once informed me that there was a
gradely true soul in him under his nonsense. The spell of the mountains
and the company of broad-minded cheerful toilers had between them done a
good deal for Lee. Then up on the hillside a strip of bunting fluttered
from the summit of a blighted pine, the cry "She's coming!" rolled from
man to man, and there was a thunderous crash as some one fired a heavy
blasting charge. A plume of white vapor rose at the end of the valley, and
twinkling metal flashed athwart the pines, while a roar of voices broke
out and my own heart beats faster in the succeeding stillness. Enthusiasm
is contagious, and a feeling of elation grew upon me. Nearer and nearer
came the cars, and when they lurched clattering up the last grade the
snorting of the huge locomotive and the whir of flying wheels made very
sweet music to those who heard them.
Then as, with the red, quartered ensign fluttering above the head-lamp and
each end platform crowded, the train passed the last construction camp, a
swarm of blue-shirted toilers cast their hats into the air, and the scream
of the brakes was drowned in a mighty cheer, while I found myself cheering
vehemently among the rest. The blasts ceased at the funnel, and as the
slackening couplings clashed while the cars rolled slowly through the
eddying dust I started in amaze, for there were two faces at the unglazed
windows of the decorated observation car which I knew well, but had never
expected to see there. Martin Lorimer waved his hand toward me as the
train stopped, my cousin Alice stood beside him smiling a greeting, and
with shame I remembered how long it was since I had sent news to her.
"Have you seen a ghost?" asked Harry. "You are a regular Don Juan. Who is
that dainty damsel you are honoring with such marked attention, to the
neglect of your lawful business. Don't you see the surveyor is beckoning
you?"
This was true, for, standing among a group of elderly men who I supposed
were railway magnates or guests of importance, the surveyor, to my
astonishment, called me by name.
"I have been looking for you all along the track," he said. "Must present
you to these gentlemen. We have been discussing your work."
Several of the party shook hands with me frankly, while the names the
surveyor mentioned were already well-known in Winnipeg and Montreal, and
have since become famous throughout the Dominion. One with gray hair and
an indefinable stamp of authority touched my shoulder with a friendly
gesture. "I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Lorimer before," he said.
"We have some business together, and expect you to join us in the opening
ceremony. Meantime, you will excuse me--Jardine, I'm thankful it is your
turn. There is evidently a deputation coming."
Preceded by tossing banners, and a band which made up in vigor what it
lacked in harmony, a procession approached the train, and its leader
commenced reading something awkwardly from a written paper in time to an
undercurrent of semi-ironical encouragement. I saw some of the visitors'
eyes twinkle at his sentiments, but for the most part they listened with
becoming gravity; and when a man with gold eyeglasses had suitably
replied, there was a wild scuffle for even a foothold on the train. One
musician smote another, who strove to oust him from a platform, with his
cornet, which promptly doubled in; the big drum rolled down a declivity
with its owner hurling back wild language in frantic chase of it; then the
locomotive snorted, and, with the bell clanging, it hauled the first train
into the wooden town amid the acclamations of the populace. After this I
had an opportunity for greeting my uncle, and we looked at each other with
mutual curiosity. Martin Lorimer seemed thinner and older. His hair was
freely sprinkled with white now, but his eyes were as keen as ever, and I
could read approval in them. Then as Alice came toward us from an
adjoining car he laughed boisterously.
"What do you think of your cousin, lass?" he said. "He left us an
obstinate stripling, and this country has hammered him into a man. Thou
art a credit to the land that bred thee, lad. Ralph, I wronged thee
sorely, like the blundering fool I am, and first of all I ask thy
forgiveness."
Martin Lorimer could speak excellent modern English when he liked, and
usually did so, but, and in this he resembled others of his kind, in times
of excitement he used the older form which is still the tongue of
Lancashire. I made some haphazard answer, but it seemed appropriate, for
Alice smiled upon us as we shook hands heartily. When I turned toward her
a feeling of pity came upon me--she looked so wan and frail. Still her
eyes were bright with good-will, and her voice seemed to tremble a little
as she said, "I am so glad to see you and your uncle good friends again.
He was very stupid, and I told him so."
"You did, lass," said Martin Lorimer, "many a time, and we had words upon
it. We're a thick-headed people, Ralph, except for our womenkind, and if
we're slow to think evil we're slow to change. The Lord forgive me for
pig-headed folly."
"May I show you this wonderful township?" interrupted one of the railroad
magnates approaching with a bow. "Mr. Ralph Lorimer, I am desired to
invite you to the celebration dinner. It's the chief's especial wish that
you should be present," and he drew Alice away, leaving my uncle and
myself alone.
"We'll go and see the city, too," said the former. "Already the air of
your mountains makes me young again. Never heard how I cheated the
doctors, eh?--they badly wanted to bury me, but I'll tell you all about it
another time. Now I feel like a school lad out for a holiday."
He seemed in excellent spirits, and with me the bright sunshine, the
uproarious rejoicings of the crowd, and the events of the past half-hour
combined to banish all depression, while many an acquaintance smiled as he
glanced at the grizzled man in tourist tweeds who chatted gaily and gazed
about him with wondering eyes.
"You breed fine men over here," he said. "Never saw a finer set anywhere.
Bless me! look at that one striding toward us with the air of a general;
stamp of blood about him; where did he get it? And yet by the look of him
that fellow could do a hard day's work with any British navvy."
"He can," I answered smiling, "and he was taught at a British university.
Now he hews logs for a living, and sometimes works for me. Let me
introduce you to my uncle from Lancashire, Martin Lorimer--Lance
Chisholm."
"Very glad to meet you, sir," said the latter. "I promised to look in on
Morgan in the saloon; will you join us?"
When we elbowed our way through the noisy room toward the bar Chisholm
proffered the usual refreshment, and with a comprehensive wave of his hand
bade the tender, "Set them up!"
Martin Lorimer stared bewilderedly at the row of glasses deftly flung in
front of him, and there was a roar of laughter when, glancing at me
appealingly, he said, "It's a hospitable country; but, bless us, Ralph!
are we expected to drink all of this? And I'm a churchwarden!"
A bearded giant in blue jean smote him on the shoulder. "You've got the
right grit in you, stranger," he said. "Start right in, and do the best
you can," while the old man joined in the merriment when I explained that
the invitation included all in the vicinity who cared to accept it. I left
him with Harry and Johnston presently because one of the guests brought
word that Alice desired to see me, and I found her on the veranda of the
best house the citizens could place at the strangers' disposal. There were
ladies among them. I drew two chairs into a corner where a flowering
creeper screened half the trellis, and from where we sat a wonderful vista
rolled away before us. Alice had changed but little, save that she seemed
even more delicate. I had changed much, and now as we chatted with a
resumption of ancient friendliness I wondered how it was that her innate
goodness and wisdom had never impressed me more in the old days. Few would
have called her handsome at first sight, but she was dowered with
qualities that were greater than beauty.
"You will wonder what brought us here," she said at length, "and your
uncle forgot to tell you. Ever after that--unfortunate mistake--he talked
constantly about our headstrong lad, but when he lay dangerously ill for
weeks together I was unable to write you. The doctors had little hope most
of the time, and one said he recovered chiefly because he had made his
mind up he would not die, and when they forbade all thought of business
and recommended travel he made me buy the latest map of Canada, and we are
now staying at the new mountain chalet. My own health has not improved
latterly, and that helped to decide him. We left the main line on the
prairie and went south in search of you, and when we could only discover
that you had gone to British Columbia I am sorry to say that my father
expressed his disappointment very forcibly--but you know his way. Then
while we stayed at the chalet we read about the opening of the new line,
and he grew excited at a mention of your name. 'We'll go right down and
see that opening, lass,' he said. 'I've a letter to one of the railroad
leaders, and I'll make him invite us;' and so we came. When my father sets
his heart on anything he generally obtains it. Now we will talk about
Canada."
The flowering creeper partly hid us, but it left openings between, framing
the prospect of glittering peak and forest-filled valley with green
tracery, while warm sunlight beat through. So, in contrast to the past, I
found it comforting to lounge away the time there with a fair companion,
while glancing down the glistening metals I told how we had built the
line. Alice was a good listener, and the tale may have had its interest,
while--and this is not wholly due to vanity--no man talks better than when
he speaks to a sympathizing woman of the work that he is proud of. It was
no disloyalty to Grace, but when once or twice she laid her thin hand on
my arm I liked to have it there, and see the smile creep into her eyes
when I told of Lee's doings. So the minutes fled, until at last a shadow
fell upon us, and I saw Grace pass close by with her father. For an
instant her eyes met mine, then I felt that they rested on my companion,
whose head was turned toward me confidentially and away from Grace, and I
fumed inwardly, for she spoke to the Colonel and passed on without a
greeting.
"That is surely Miss Carrington," said Alice looking up later with a
faintly perceptible trace of resentment. "Why did she not speak to either
of us?"
It was a troublesome question, because I could not well explain what my
exact relations were with Grace, nor how her father's presence might
perhaps restrain her, so that I was glad when Martin Lorimer suddenly
joined us. It seemed fated that circumstances should array themselves
against me. The rest of the afternoon was spent in hilarious merriment,
and, though as a rule the inhabitants of that region are a peaceful folk,
a few among them celebrated the occasion by breaking windows with pistol
shots and similar vagaries. Still, even those who owned the glass took it
in good part; and, as darkness fell, considerably more of the populace
than it was ever intended to hold squeezed themselves into the wooden
building which served as city hall, while the rest sat in the dust outside
it, and cheered for no particular reason at regular intervals.
The best banquet the district could furnish was served in the hall, and I
sat opposite the surveyor near the head of one table, with my uncle and
Alice close by, and Grace and Colonel Carrington not far away. Cedar
sprays and branches of balsam draped the pillars, the red folds of the
beaver ensign hung above our heads, and as usual the assembly was
democratic in character. Men in broadcloth and in blue jean sat side by
side--rail-layer, speculator, and politician crowded on one another, with
stalwart axe-men, some of whom were better taught than either, and perhaps
a few city absconders, to keep them company; but there was only
good-fellowship between them. The enthusiasm increased with each orator's
efforts, until the surveyor made in his own brusque fashion, which was
marked by true Western absence of bashfulness, the speech of the evening.
Some one who had once served the English press sent a report to a Victoria
journal, of which I have a copy, but no print could reproduce the essence
of the man's vigorous personality which vibrated through it.
"What built up the Western Dominion, called leagues of wheat from the
prairie, and opened the gate of the mountains--opened it wide to all, with
a welcome to the Pacific Slope paradise?" he said. "The conundrum's
easy--just the railroad. Good markets and mills, say the city men, but
where do the markets come in if you can't get at them? What is it that's
binding London over the breadth of Canada with China and Japan--only the
level steel road. You said, 'We've gold and silver and timber, but we're
wanting bread, machines, and men.' We said, 'We'll send the locomotives;
it will bring you them;' and this railroad keeps its promise--keeps it
every time. So we cut down the forest, and we blew up the mighty rocks, we
drove a smooth pathway through the heart of the ranges--and now its your
part to fill the freight cars to the bursting.
"We'll bring you good men in legions; we'll take out your high-grade ore,
but you'll remember that the building of this railroad wasn't all luxury.
Some of those who laid the ties sleep soundly beside them, some lost their
money, and now when you have thanked the leaders in Ottawa, Montreal, and
Victoria, there are others to whom your thanks are due--the men who stayed
right there with their contracts in spite of fire and snow, staking dollar
after dollar on a terribly risky game. There were considerable of them,
but most of you know this one--I'm sharing my laurels with him--" and as a
thunder of applause which followed the halt he made died away he turned
toward me. "Stand right up, Contractor Lorimer--they're shouting for
you."
There was further clamor, but I scarcely heard it, and I longed that the
floor of the hall might open beneath me. Still, there was clearly no
escape, and I stood up under the lamplight, noticing, as one often notices
trifles at such times, how like a navvy's my right hand was as it trembled
a little on the white tablecloth. A sea of faces were turned toward me
expectantly, and I pitied their owners' disappointment, but I saw only
four persons plainly--my uncle, and Alice, who flashed an encouraging
glance at me, Colonel Carrington looking up with a semi-ironical smile,
and Grace. I could not tell what her expression meant.
I should sooner have faced a forest fire than that assembly, but at least
my remarks were brief, and I felt on firmer ground when memories of the
rock-barred track and the lonely camps rose up before me, and there was a
shout at the lame conclusion, "We gave our bond and we tried to keep it,
as the rest did too. We were poor men, all of us, and we are poor men
still; but every one owes something to the land that gives him bread. So
we tried to pay back a little, and perhaps we failed; but at least the
road is made, and we look forward hoping that a full tide of prosperity
will flow into this country along the rails we laid."
The applause swelled and deepened when Harry Lorraine stood up,
silver-tongued, graceful, smiling, and called forth roars of laughter by
his happy wit; and when he had finished Martin Lorimer, who was red in the
face, stretched his arm across the table toward me, and held up a goblet,
saying: "For the honor of the old country! Well done, both of you!"
"The fun is nearly over. We can talk business," said the gray-haired man
from Winnipeg, on my right side. "I may say that we are satisfied with the
way you have served us, and, though a bargain is a bargain, we don't wish
to take an unfair advantage of any one; so the surveyor will meet you over
the extras. He is waiting with the schedule, and by his advice we're open
to let you this contract for hewn lumber supplies. Here's a rough memo;
the quantity is large, and that is our idea of a reasonable figure."
I glanced at the paper with open pleasure, but the other checked me as I
began to speak.
"Glad you will take it! It's a commercial transaction, and not a matter of
thanks," he said. "Settle details with the surveyor."
I spent some time with the latter, who smiled dryly as he said, "Not quite
cleaned out yet? Well, it's seldom wise to be too previous, and you can't
well come to grief over the new deal. Wanted again, confound them! Sail in
and prosper, Lorimer."
He left a payment order which somewhat surprised me, and when I stood
under the stars wondering whether all that had happened was not too good
to be true, Harry came up in search of me. I grabbed him by the shoulder
and shook the paper before him.
"Our friend has acted more than fairly," I said. "We can pay off all
debts, and I have just concluded a big new, profitable deal!"
"That will keep," said Harry, laughing; "another matter won't. They're
going to haul out the visitors' picnic straight away, and they show good
judgment. A sleeper on the main line will form a much more peaceful
resting-place than this elated hamlet to-night. Your uncle wants to see
you, and Miss Carrington is waiting beside the cars."
I found Alice and Martin Lorimer beside the track, the latter fuming
impatiently, while the locomotive bell summoned the passengers; and as I
joined them Grace walked into the group before she recognized us. Alice
was the first to speak, and I saw the two faces plainly under the lighted
car windows, as she said:
"I am glad to meet you again, Miss Carrington, and am sorry I missed you
this afternoon. I was too busy giving my cousin good advice--it's a
privilege I have enjoyed from childhood--to recognize you at first."
Grace's expression changed, and I thanked Alice in my heart for what I
believe few women would have done. Then there was a shriek of the whistle,
and a bustle about the train; and as Grace moved toward the car she said
softly in passing:
"It was a fitting consummation. Better times are coming, Ralph, and I am
proud of you."
"Am I never to speak to thee, lad?" said Martin. "There's nothing would
please me better than to wait and see the fun out; but Alice, she won't
hear of it. Come to see us, and stay a month if you can. Anyway, come
to-morrow or the day after. I have lots to tell thee. Oh, hang them!
they're starting. Alice, wouldn't that lady take charge of thee while I
stay back?"
"Get into the car, father," said the girl, with a laugh. "You mustn't
forget you're the people's warden. Good-bye, Ralph, until we see you at
the chalet."
"All aboard!" called a loud voice; the couplings tightened; and I waved my
hat as, followed by a last cheer, the train rolled away.
"Is it true that all has been settled satisfactorily?" asked Harry,
presently, and when I answered, he added: "Then we're going back to finish
the evening. Johnston's to honor the company with stump speeches and all
kinds of banjo eccentricities. You are getting too sober and serious,
Ralph; come along."
I refused laughingly, and spent at least an hour walking up and down
through the cool dimness that hung over the track to dissipate the
excitement of a day of varied emotions. Then I went back to our shanty and
slept soundly, until about daybreak I was partly wakened by the feasters
returning with discordant songs, though I promptly went to sleep again. I
never heard exactly what happened in the wooden town that night, but there
was wreckage in its streets the next morning, and when I opened my eyes
the first thing I saw was our partner Johnston slumbering peacefully with
his head among the fragments of his shattered banjo.