ORMOND'S LAST JOURNEY
"Launch her down handy. Bring the sick man along!" called some one
outside; and when we carried Ormond out I saw the others running a big
Siwash canoe down over the shingle, and the dark pines rising spires of
solid blackness against the coming day. It was bitterly cold, and white
mist hung about them, while huge masses of rock rose through the smoke of
the river, whose clamor filled all the hollow. None of us quite liked the
task before us, for man's vigor is never at its highest in the chilly
dawn; but I remembered Ormond's eagerness to continue the journey. So we
laid him gently on our blankets in the waist, and thrust out the long and
beautifully modeled craft, which was of the type that the coastwise Siwash
use when hunting the fur seals. I knelt grasping the forward paddle until
Hector, who held the steering blade, said: "If ye'll follow my bidding
I'll land ye safe across. Together! Lift her all!"
The light shell surged forward to the sturdy stroke, for several of those
behind me were masters of the paddle, and as I plied my blade I felt with
a thrill that it was good to fight the might of the river in such a
company. Snowy wreaths boiled high about the shearing prow, I could hear
the others catch their breath with a hiss, and once more after a heavy
thud the cedar floor seemed to raise itself beneath me and leap to the
impulse, while, with a hardening of every muscle, I swept the leaf-shaped
blade outward ready for the dip. There was spray in my eyes, and bearing
down on us through it a boulder, with dim trunks opening and closing
beyond; then I saw only the bird's head on the prow, for some one cried
behind that my stroke was slow, and by the rush of foam and the shock of
thudding blow I knew that the others' blades were whirling like flails.
The rock loomed nearer, the river piled against its battered feet, and I
hazarded a glance over my shoulder, which showed me a row of set faces
turned toward the bow, with stout arms and the flats of redwood blades
swung out before them, until with a swing of shoulders the heads went
down, and a white wave burst apart before the stern. Looking forward the
next instant I saw that the rock lay right athwart our way; but the others
had blind confidence in our pilot.
"Back ye on the up-stream; drive her yere hardest, down!" he called.
Then the current strove to wrest my dipped blade away, as with the paddles
on one side held fast by sinewy wrists the craft turned as on a pivot, and
lurching on the backwash whirled past the stone, after which the cry was:
"Drive her all!" and we shot away on the eddy with our faces turned
slantwise up-stream. This was well, for close below the whole weight of
the current hurled itself in fury upon a ragged barrier, and I understood
that Hector had calculated our impetus to a quarter fathom. There was a
fight to reach the landing, and with any other than the crew behind me the
river might have won; but four of the lean hard men had fought many such
battles, and though the trunks raced up-stream we closed with the shore
until the shock of the bows on shingle flung me backward.
Our next proceeding was to portage a smaller craft several hundred yards
up the river, for Hector to make the return passage, and then, as we
thanked him for the food and the small comforts for Ormond that he forced
on us, the old man said:
"Ye're very welcome, an' I'm not wanting yere dollars. Will I take payment
for a bit of dried venison, when the Almighty freely gives me all the good
fish in the river an' the deer in the woods? Go, an' haste ye; yon man is
needing the aid of science."
Then he turned away, and watched us from the shingle as we took up
Ormond's litter, and the last that we ever saw of him was a tall lonely
figure which vanished into the gray smoke of the river as we plodded up
the climbing trail. Still, even now, that lonely figure rises up before
me.
"Old Hector tells strange things when the fit takes him. Used to speak our
language--it's curious, he talks like some of them emigrants from the old
country now," a man beside me said. "But you can stake your last dollar he
isn't mad. No, sir, it's quaint he is. I've had my voyageur training in
the frozen country under the H. B. C, but when it's dead knowledge of a
rapid he'll beat me easy. Some day the river will get him, and then we'll
miss him bad."
In due time we reached a shingle-roofed settlement, where a man who had
some local reputation for skill in healing horses examined our companion.
"He's pretty well played out," he said. "Ship him straight down to
Vancouver in a sleeping-car, and don't you let any of them bush-doctors
get their claws on him. I know when a job's too big for me, and this is
one. You'll fetch up in time for the Pacific mail if you start now in a
wagon."
"What did that fellow say?" asked Ormond, and when I judiciously modified
the horse-doctor's verdict he smiled understandingly.
"That's a wise man," he said, "and I can guess what he told you. Lorimer,
I know I'm sinking fast, and if you leave me here I'll die before you can
send a doctor up. Probably I'll also die in Vancouver, but every man is
justified in making a fight for his life--and there's another reason why I
should get there first."
We hired a light wagon, for a passable trail led to the railroad, and
perhaps because time was scanty, or the jolting of the wagon was more
trying than the swing of the litter, our patient grew worse, and I was
thankful at last to see him safe in a berth of the sleeper on the Pacific
express. I had grown almost as impatient as Ormond, and I recollect
nothing of the journey except that when the lights of Port Moody glittered
across the forest-shrouded inlet he said: "Lorimer, I've a stupid
prejudice against a hospital. Please take me to Wilson's instead. He lives
alone, and I did him several services--you can tell him that it will not
be for long."
So when we reached the station Harry volunteered to find the best doctor
in the timber city--for hewn stone had only begun to replace sawn lumber
then--and arrange for transit to Wilson's house; because he said that it
was my particular duty to tell Colonel Carrington and Grace. An hour
passed before I traced them, and then I found them at a function given to
celebrate the starting of some new public enterprise, and it was with
hesitation that, followed by Calvert, I entered the vestibule of the
brilliantly lighted hall. We gave a message to a bland Chinese attendant,
and waited until returning he beckoned us through a crimson curtain, which
swung to behind, and I found myself standing bewildered under a blaze of
light in a ball-room.
There was a crash of music, a swishing of colored dresses, and then, as
the orchestra ceased, we stood before the astonished assembly just as we
had left the bush, in tattered fur wrappings and torn deerskin, with the
stains of leagues of travel on our leggings, while I recollect that a
creeper-spike on my heel made holes in the polished marquetry. All eyes
were turned toward us.
"This is considerably more than I bargained for," growled Calvert. "I feel
guiltily like the man who brought the news to Edinburgh after Flodden.
What did you play this confounded trick upon us for, John?"
"John savvy Miss Callington," said the unblushing Mongolian; and Calvert
added savagely:
"Then hide us somewhere, and tell her, before I twist your heathen neck
for you."
I noticed Martin Lorimer moving toward me; but before he reached us Grace
came up, a dazzling vision of beauty.
"I am thankful to see you back safe, Ralph, and hear you have news for
me," she said. "Lawrence Calvert, the same applies to you."
It was bravely done, for few women would have cared to link themselves
publicly with such a gaunt and tattered scarecrow as I undoubtedly was
then; but Grace was born with high courage and a manner which made all she
did appear right. When Calvert said that he would send for Colonel
Carrington, she calmly placed her hand within my arm, and added:
"We will find quietness yonder in the empty supper-room. You have made me
anxious."
Then, doubtless to the wonder of many citizens' daughters and wives, we
passed together, a sufficiently striking couple, across the hall; and when
at length we escaped the curious eyes, Grace held me back at arm's
length.
"You look thin and haggard, Ralph," she said. "Something has happened. Now
begin, and tell me clearly all about it."
I did not know how to commence, and I proceeded awkwardly to temporize,
though I really meant what I said.
"It was the fault of that stupid Chinaman, Grace, and I am sorry. It was
so courageous of you to come to me before them all."
She looked at me with a curious mingling of pride and humor. "Am I, then,
so little as to fear a few inquisitive women? And do you fancy that I
loved you for your prepossessing exterior? Now, sir, before you offend me
further, at once begin."
I placed a lounge for her, and leaned over it as I said, "It is about
Geoffrey. We went up prospecting, and found his party in difficulties.
Geoffrey is--"
"Not dead!" she said with a shudder, clutching the arms of the chair. And
I laid my hand soothingly on one of hers as I answered:
"No, but he is hurt, and he is longing to see you. He is in Vancouver now.
Listen, I will tell you about it."
"Poor Geoffrey!" she said when I had finished, while a tear glistened on
her long lashes. "Geoffrey, my old playmate! I can hardly believe it.
Ralph, there are very few like him. He is in all things a true-hearted
gentleman. He stood between us; but how many others would have played
their part so chivalrously when he had the power through my father to
force me to his will. And--may I be forgiven for it--more than once I had
hard thoughts of him. And now he is dying! Take me at once to see him."
Shortly afterward a voice reached us through an open door. It was
Calvert's, saying, "I want you to understand, sir, that if we had not
struck Lorimer's camp we should have starved to death. I saw the accident
from a distance, and again it's my firm opinion that he ran the utmost
risk to extricate Ormond. If the latter were my own brother I should
consider myself indebted to him for life."
"I am glad to hear it," answered an unseen person, whom it was easy to
recognize as the footsteps drew nearer. "Still, one must take precautions;
and, as I observed, in the circumstances some people might have
suspicions. I may say that, indirectly, Lorimer knew that he would profit
by my partner's death."
I started, and would have risen, burning with wrath, but Grace's clasp
held me fast. The next moment her father and Calvert entered the room. The
former glanced toward us in cold surprise; and then, in a hard, ringing
tone, Grace said:
"There is still, I hope, a little charity left in the world. The reference
is hardly becoming. There are others beside Mr. Lorimer who would benefit,
directly, by Geoffrey Ormond's death."
I would have spoken, but she prevented me; and her father stood for a
moment speechless with astonishment. Grace was a dutiful daughter, and,
though he must have tried her patience hardly now and then, I fancied that
this was the first time she had ever openly defied him; while I saw that
the shaft had gone home. Colonel Carrington was not, however, to be shaken
into any exhibition of feeling, for he turned to me with his usual
chilliness:
"I congratulate you on your lucky escape," he said. "Calvert has told me.
If you are quite ready, Grace, and will get on your wrappings, we will
drive over and visit the sick man immediately."
So, seeing that my presence was by no means desired, I saluted the Colonel
with stiffness, and hurried on foot in the direction of Wilson's house. He
was a bachelor, it appeared, who dealt in mining gear, and during their
business intercourse had made friends with Ormond. Now he was absent
inland, but his housekeeper had placed the pretty wooden dwelling at our
patient's disposal. What passed between the latter and Colonel Carrington
I do not know, but when Grace met me on the stairway as I entered she
said:
"He told us how much you had done for him, and made my father believe it
even against his will."
Presently the surgeon came down.
"I can do little for him," he said. "There are internal injuries--I
needn't describe them--which practically leave no hope of recovery. You
can't get a trained woman nurse for love or money, and it rests between
yourselves and a Chinaman. I fancy that he would prefer you. I don't know
how he stood the journey."
"We did our best, and he was very patient," I said. And the surgeon
answered:
"I have no doubt you did, and it speaks well for your comrade's fortitude.
You need not blame yourselves, however, for from the first he could not
have got better."
"I'll take first watch," said Harry, when, after giving us full
instructions, the surgeon departed. "Miss Carrington has already insisted
on helping. I've sampled Wilson's wardrobe, but his things would split up
if you tried to get into them. Go out and borrow or buy some anywhere. You
can't expect to meet Miss Carrington in that most fantastic disarray. I've
taken quarters at the Burrard House, and it's not your turn until
to-morrow. The Colonel has graciously signified his approval of our
arrangements."
When my watch commenced the next day Ormond seemed pleased to see me, and
Grace, who was spreading southern flowers in the room, withdrew. Then
Calvert and Colonel Carrington came in with a lawyer, and I raised Ormond
so that he could see them. Outside, and not far below the window, bright
sunlight beat down upon the sparkling inlet, and across it the mountains
rose in a giant wall. Ormond glanced at them and sighed. Then he said with
slow distinctness:
"Put it down in your own fashion. This is the gist of it: I, Geoffrey
Ormond, being now at least perfectly sound in mind, bequeath my gray
horse at Day Spring, all my guns and rifles, with my silver harness and
two pedigree hunters at Carrington, to Ralph Lorimer, in token of
friendship and gratitude for a courageous attempt at my rescue when by
accident I fell from a rock. I especially desire this inserted, Mr.
Solicitor. You quite understand what I am saying, Colonel Carrington?"
There was a significant smile in his eyes as they met mine, and something
rose in my throat threatening to choke me when he added aside: "You will
accept these things as a memento of our last march, I hope? With this
exception, I bequeath my property in stocks and lands of all and every
kind--I do not enumerate, or appoint other executor--to Colonel Carrington
of Carrington Manor, the balance remaining after his death to revert to
his daughter Grace. Set it all out in due form, and give me the paper to
sign."
Remembering what Grace once told me I fancied that an expression of
unutterable relief smoothed out the wrinkles of anxiety on the legatee's
brow, but I may have been mistaken in this. There was a curious look in
Ormond's face, and I understood the depth of his loyalty to Grace. It
struck me with a shock that Ormond, in spite of his apparent carelessness,
realized how far matters had drifted, and hoped to spare her the painful
discovery. Then he lay back struggling for breath, when, after the will
was signed, at a signal from the doctor the others withdrew. Perhaps an
hour passed while I kept watch alone before he spoke again, saying very
faintly:
"It's strange, Lorimer, that circumstances should constitute you my
protector. It's not the usual ending of a very old story. A rich man and a
poor man loved the same woman, and--this is where the strangeness happens,
perhaps because of all women she was most worthy to be loved--she looked
kindly upon the poorer man. The other had all that fortune could give him
save what he most desired, and being older he waited patiently, trusting
her heart would turn toward him, and when at last he learned the truth he
had not courage to give her up, but waited still, hoping, he hardly knew
for what, against hope. Then circumstances held them closer together in a
bond that even for her sake he dare not break, until at last the knot was
cut. Lorimer, we fought it out fairly, you and I. Now you have won, and I
am dying. I only ask you to be good to her."
I turned my head aside, for I could say nothing appropriate, and he
added:
"I should like you to keep those rifles, and when some day Grace receives
the reversion she will find it but little. We made some heavy losses in
joint ventures, her father and I--you will tell her to remember that. I
think now all is settled. God bless her!"
He slept or lay quite still for some time, and once more, knowing what I
knew, I wondered at the greatness of his nature, for it was evident that,
realizing that his love was hopeless, he had stood by her father only to
serve her. Then he said feebly:
"Lift me a little, Lorimer, so that I can see the moonrise on the snow.
Before another nightfall I shall have followed your partner on the unknown
trail."
I raised him on the pillows, and then sat by the window, from
which--because the lamp that tired his eyes had been turned very low--I
could see the shimmer of stars on the dark breast of the inlet, which was
wrapped in shadow, and a broad band of silver radiance grow wider across
the heights of snow, until Grace came in softly with more blossoms from
sunny Mexico.
Ormond saw her, and he had probably forgotten me, for there was a great
longing in his voice as he said huskily: "Will you kiss me, Grace, for
the first and last time since we were innocent children?"
She bent over him a compassionate figure, etherealized by the pale light
that touched her through the eastern window, and I went out and waited on
the stairway until, after the surgeon went in, she passed me, sobbing, and
stilled an expression of sympathy with a lifted hand. That was the last I
saw of Geoffrey Ormond in this life, for when next I looked at him he lay
very white and still with the seal of death upon him, and I knew that a
very clean and chivalrous soul had gone to its resting-place. I touched
his cold forehead reverently, and then turned away, mourning him, heaven
knows, sincerely, and feeling thankful that when tempted sorely I had kept
my promise that day in the bush as I remembered his words, "We have fought
it out fairly."