THE SUITORS
The day started well, with Big Jack, Shand, and Joe all on their good
behaviour. But it was too good to last. Watching Bela's graceful
movements before the fire, and eating the delicious food she put
before them, the same thoughts passed through each man's mind.
What a treasure to enrich the cabin of a lonely pioneer! What would
hard work and discouragements matter if a man had that to welcome him
home at the end of the day? How could a man endure to live alone,
having known such a woman? How could he hope to succeed without her
help?
Each seeing the same thoughts revealed in the faces of his companions,
realized that two men stood between him and his desire, and the
baleful fires of jealousy were lighted again.
Each afraid one of the others might steal a march on him, watched his
mates like a detective. The consequence was that hating each other,
they nevertheless stuck together like burs.
They followed Bela round in company like dogs contending for scraps,
ready upon no occasion at all to bare their teeth and snarl at each
other.
Bela, perceiving her power, and being only a human woman, naturally
abused it a little. Thus to see white men, whom all her life she had
revered, cringing for her favour, went to her head a little.
She made them fetch and carry for her like women, she would have said.
Thus the situation was reversed from that of her first appearance in
the shack.
"Bring me sewing," she said. "I not lak do not'ing."
A variety of damaged garments was pressed upon her.
"I sew one for each man," she said.
Having made Husky comfortable, she took her work out into the
sunshine. Jack, Shand, and Joe lounged in front of her smoking,
watching her covertly; each privately making up his mind to secure
that charming sewing-machine for his own household, whatever the cost.
"Ain't you got not'ing to do?" asked Bela coolly.
"This is a holiday," replied Jack.
"The stable is dirty," she persisted.
"That's Shand's job," said Joe.
"Well, I ain't goin' to leave you two here," growled Shand. "There's
plenty of other work, if it comes to that."
"All go clean the stable," commanded Bela. "I lak a clean stable."
"Now go cut plenty wood, so I can cook good," she ordered when they
came back. "I want pine or birch. No poplar."
With Sam the case was a little different. When Bela addressed him it
was with perhaps a heightened arrogance, but for the most part he
managed to keep out of her way.
Not that he was indifferent; far from it. This new aspect of her
exasperated him mightily. "She needs a master," he thought. The idea
of taming her was delicious, seductive. "I could do it," he told
himself, sneering at the obsequiousness of Big Jack _et al._
Meanwhile he attended strictly to his own duties.
Sam, when he chose, had command of a face as wooden as Bela's. More
than once Bela, when she was unobserved, flashed a hurt and angry look
at his indifferent back in the distance. For several hours during the
afternoon Sam disappeared altogether. During his absence the other men
had an uneasy time at Bela's hands.
With all her haughty airs she did not relax any of her care of Husky.
The others envied him his wound. Hour by hour he was visibly growing
better. The fever had left him. He had got over his fear of Bela.
Now, by a twisted course of reasoning, characteristic of him, he
adopted a proprietary air toward her. She was his, he seemed to say,
because forsooth, he had been shot by her. This, it need not be said,
was highly offensive to the other men.
In the middle of the afternoon, Bela desiring a pail of water, Jack
and Shand fell into a wrangle over who should get it. The fact that
each felt he was making a fool of himself did not lessen the
bitterness of the dispute.
Joe attempted to take advantage of it by sneaking out of the door with
another pail. He was intercepted, and the argument took on a
three-cornered aspect. Another endless, futile jawing-match resulted.
Each was restrained from striking a blow by the knowledge that the
other two would instantly combine against him.
Bela finally got the water herself, and ordering the three of them
outside, bolted the door after them. The last sound they heard was
Husky's triumphant laugh from the bed, whereupon they patched up their
differences, and joined in cursing him, and expressing the hope he
might yet die of his wound.
They were not allowed inside again until Sam returned and the supper
was started. Their tempers had not improved any, and the situation
grew steadily worse. Throughout the meal a sullen silence prevailed.
Bela maintained the air of a haughty mistress of an unruly school.
They all deferred to her uneasily, except Sam, who kept himself
strictly to himself. His face was as blank of expression as a
wax-work.
As soon as Bela finished eating she rose.
"I go now," she said coolly. "Come back to-morrow."
Three of the faces fell absurdly. Sam did not look up. A tiny flash in
Bela's dark eyes showed that she observed the difference. She moved
toward the door. Involuntarily Young Joe started to rise.
"Sit down," snarled Jack and Shand simultaneously.
Bela went.
Left to themselves, none of the men were disposed to talk except
Husky. Like sick men generally, his fibres were relaxed, and his
tongue loosened.
"I feel fine to-night," he announced at large.
"A hell of a lot we care!" muttered Joe.
"It's great to feel your strength coming back," Husky went on,
unabashed. "She's a wonderful fine nurse. Takes care of me like a
baby. I'd trust myself to her sooner than the highest-priced doctor in
the city."
"You sung a different tune yesterday morning," sneered Joe.
"Lord! you're a fool, Husky!" added Shand.
"Ah! you're only jealous!" returned Husky. "You wish you was me, I
bet. She's got rare good sense, too. You fellows with your quarrelling
and all, you don't know her. This afternoon when she put you out we
had a real good talk. You ought to heard the questions she asked.
About the city and everything. Like a child, but better sense like.
She thinks things out for herself all right. Me and her's gettin' real
good friends."
"Ah! shut your silly head!" snarled Joe. "Be thankful you're laid out
on your back or you'd get it busted in for less than that. To hear you
talk, one would think you had a mortgage on the girl just because she
plugged you! You fool! You got no chance at all. You've already got
your turn-down good and proper!"
"You're jealous!" retorted Husky. "Wouldn't you give something to know
what passed between us when you was locked out? You wait and see."
Husky was in no condition to keep up his end with a well man. His
voice trailed off into a whine and ceased.
Sam unconcernedly rolled up and went to sleep. The other three smoked
and glowered into the fire. No sleep for them. No telling how near she
might be. The heart of each man was outside the shack. Each knew that
any attempt to follow it would only result in a fresh wrangle.
Finally Big Jack remarked very casually: "Let's go outside for a bit."
The other two arose with alacrity and they issued out in a body. The
sky was still bright. They covertly looked about, hoping to discover a
sign of her presence, or some indication of the way she had gone.
Together they loafed down to the creek, and, crossing by the
stepping-stones, walked out on the point beyond, whence they could see
a long way down the shore. Toward the east the lake was like a sheet
of armour-plate. Behind them the sky was paling from amber to clear
jade.
Without confessing what was in his mind, each man searched the shore
for a tell-tale wisp of smoke. Nothing was to be seen. Each wondered
if she were watching him from concealment, laughing in her sleeve.
Returning at last, unsatisfied and irritable, a senseless dispute
arose at the door over who should be the last to enter. Shand,
suddenly losing his temper, gave Joe a push that sent the youth
sprawling inside on his hands and knees. He sprang up livid and insane
with rage.
Jack and Shand instinctively drew together. Joe, seeing the odds
against him, leaped without a word toward the corner of the shack
where the guns were kept. The other two paling, measured the distance
back to the door. But Joe was held up in mid career.
"They're gone!" he cried blankly.
Following his eyes, they saw that the corner was empty. Their thoughts
took a sharp turn. They glanced at each other suspiciously.
Joe's anger blazed up afresh.
"You did it, you traitor!" he cried, whirling around on Shand.
"You made way with the guns so you could pick us off one by one! You
keep quiet, don't you, and work behind our backs! Jack, are you going
to stand for it? He'll get you, too!"
Jack moved a little away from Shand, grim and suspicious.
"What grounds have you?" he demanded of Joe.
Joe had no grounds--except his anger. "I see it in his face!" he
cried.
"It's a damned lie!" said the dark man thickly. "I play fair."
Joe renewed and enlarged his accusations. Husky, from the bed, merely
to be on the stronger side, added his voice. Big Jack's silent anger
was more dangerous than either. Once more the little shack was like a
cauldron boiling over with the poisonous broth of hate.
Sam sat up in his bed, blinking--and angry, too. He felt he had been
wakened once too often by their imbecile quarrelling.
"For Heaven's sake, what's the matter now?" he demanded.
"Shand stole the guns!" cried Joe.
"He didn't," said Sam. "I hid them."
All four turned on him in astonishment. "What did you do that for?"
demanded Joe, open-mouthed.
"I hid them to keep you from blowing the tops of each other's heads
off before morning," said Sam coolly. "Turn in and forget it."
Joe took a step toward him. "By George, we don't need no cook to tell
us what to do!" he cried. "I'll teach you----"
"You fool!" said Sam scornfully. "It's nothing to me if you want to
shoot each other. I'll tell you where they are. Only I'll move on by
your leave. I don't want to be mixed up in any wholesale murders. The
guns are altogether--they're----"
"Stop!" cried Jack in a great voice. "He's right," he said, turning to
the others. "Let the guns be till morning. Let every man turn in. Are
you with me, Shand?"
"Sure!" he muttered.
"Me, too," added Husky from the bed, somewhat unnecessarily. "I need
sleep."
The storm blew over. Joe went to his corner, muttering. Jack and Shand
lay down between him and Sam. Sam fell asleep calmly. By and by Husky
began to snore. The others lay feigning sleep, each ready to spring up
at the slightest move from one of his fellows.
Shortly after dawn they arose simultaneously from their wretched beds
with muttered curses. They looked at each other blackly. In the
uncompromising light of morning all were alike weary, sore, and
dispirited.
"Hell!" muttered Big Jack, the wisest and the most outspoken of the
three. "This can't go on. Inside a week we'll all be loony or under
the ground!"
"Well, what are you going to do about it?" snarled Joe.
"It's no good our fighting over her," said Big Jack. "She'll take the
one she wants, anyway. You never can tell about women. Soon as she
comes to-day I'll offer myself to her straight out and stand by her
answer."
"Do you think you'll be let do all the talking?" asked Joe. "Eh,
Shand?"
"Every man is at liberty to speak for himself," replied Jack. "Every
man here is welcome to hear what I say to her."
"Jack is right," growled Shand. "I agree."
"Well, how about the order?" demanded Joe. "Who'll speak first?"
"Last word is supposed to be best," said Jack. "We'll give that to
you," he added scornfully. "If she's got the sense I credit her with
I'm not afraid of you."
"Fat chance you have! Twice her age!" snarled Joe.
"I take my chance," returned Big Jack calmly. "Already I feel better
since I thought of putting it up to her. Whichever man she chooses can
draw his share out of the concern, and go on with her. Husky speaks
first, me second, Shand third, and Joe last--or we can match for
chances."
"I'm satisfied," said Shand with a sidelong look at Jack. It appeared
as if these two felt that the other was the only one to be feared.
Joe, suspicious of both, refused to commit himself.
"He's got to be satisfied," declared Big Jack indifferently.
Bela arrived with the sun and peeped in the window. Seeing them up and
dressed, she came around to the door. In the meantime Husky had
awakened, and Jack had told him what was planned.
It was almost too much for Husky. His objections and entreaties were
unnoticed. Fully dressed but somewhat shaky, he was now sitting on the
edge of his bed. Sam still slept in the corner.
From the character of the silence that greeted her, Bela instantly
apprehended that something was in the wind.
"What for you get up so early?" she demanded.
"Bela, we got something to say to you," Big Jack began portentously.
"More talk?" asked Bela.
"This is serious."
"Well, say it."
"Let's go outside," said Joe nervously. "It's suffocating in here."
Filing out of the shack, they stood against the wall in a row--Big
Jack, Black Shand, Husky, and Young Joe. Bela stood off a little way,
watching them warily.
It had a good deal the look of a spelling-bee with a teacher who meant
to stand no nonsense. But each of the men was taking it very
seriously. Each was pale, tight-lipped, and bright-eyed with
excitement, excepting poor Husky, whose eyes were harassed, and whose
mouth kept opening and shutting.
"'Tain't fair! 'Tain't fair!" he kept muttering. "Look at me, the
state I'm in, and all!"
"Well, what you want say?" demanded Bela.
Big Jack stood up straight and brought his heels together. He had been
a soldier in his time. He felt that it was a great moment. An honest
bluntness gave him dignity.
"I got to open this matter," he said, "before each man speaks for
himself." He glanced at his companions. "If any man here thinks he can
explain it better, let him speak out."
"Ah, go ahead, and cut it short!" muttered Shand.
"Yesterday," Jack resumed, "it may have seemed as if we acted like a
parcel of unlicked schoolboys. I own I am sorry for my part in it. But
I don't see how I could have done different. A man can't let another
man get ahead of him when there's a woman in the case. It can't go on
with the four of us here, and nobody knowing where he stands. So I
proposed that we end it this morning by putting it up to you."
The other men were moving impatiently.
"Ah, cut out the preliminaries!" growled Joe.
Jack was direct enough when he got ready to be. "Are you married?" he
asked Bela point-blank.
Bela was a stranger to the tremors and blushes imposed upon civilized
women at such a crisis. "No," she said with her inscrutable face.
"Do you want to be?"
She shrugged with fine carelessness. "I suppose I got get 'osban' some
tam."
"Well, take your pick of the four of us," said Jack. "I ain't sayin'
we're prize specimens, mind you. But you'll hardly do better at that
up here. Anyhow, look us over."
She proceeded to do so. Under her glance each man bore himself
according to his nature. Her eyes showed no change as they moved along
the line. None of them could tell what thoughts lay behind that
direct, calm glance. Having inspected each one, her eyes returned to
Jack as if inviting him to speak further.
"Husky speaks first, according to arrangement," said Jack, waving his
hand.
Husky's speech was moist, incoherent, and plaintive.
"They fixed this up when I was asleep," he stuttered. "Sprung it on me
unawares. Me just out of a sick-bed, not shaved nor slicked up nor
nothin'. 'Tain't fair! I ain't had no chance to think of anything to
say. Made me speak first, too. How do I know what they're goin' to say
after me? Tain't fair! I'm as good as any man here when I got my
strength. Don't you listen to anything they say. Take it from me, I'm
your friend. You know me. I'm a loving man. A woman can do anything
with me if she handles me right. I won you from them fair, and now
they want to go back on it. That shows you what they are. Don't you
listen to them. You and me, we had our scrap, and now it's all right,
ain't it? Look at what I suffered for you!"
There was a lot more of this. The other men became impatient. Finally
Jack stepped forward.
"Time!" he said. "You're beginning all over. It's my turn now."
Husky subsided.
"Now I speak for myself," said Jack. It was the voice of what men call
a good sport--cheerful, determined, weary, not unduly confident. "I am
the oldest man here, but not an old man yet by a long shot. I am boss
of this outfit. I got it up."
Joe angrily interrupted him. "Hold on there! You ain't proved the best
man yet."
"Shut your head!" growled Shand. "Your turn is coming."
"Forty per cent of this outfit belongs to me," Jack went on. "That
is, I got twice as much property as any man here. I can make a good
home for you. A girl has got to think of that. But that ain't all of
it, neither. You got to take me with it, ain't yeh? Well, I'm old
enough to realize how lucky I'd be if I got you. I'd treat you good.
Wherever you come from, you're a wonderful woman. You taught us a
lesson. I'm man enough to own it. I say I take off my hat to you. Will
you have me?"
Bela's face never changed. She turned to Shand.
"What you got say?" she asked.
Shand's dead white face made a striking contrast with his raven hair.
His heavy head was thrust forward, his big hands clenched. He spoke in
an oddly, curt, dry voice, which, however did not hide the feeling
that made his breast tight.
"I am no talker," he said. "I'm at a disadvantage. But I got to do the
best I can. I want you as much as him, though I can't tell you so
good. I'm five years younger. That's something. I'm the strongest man
here. That's something, too, in a land where you get right down to
tacks. But that ain't what I want to say. If you come to me, you'll be
the biggest thing in my life. I ain't had much. I'll work for you as
long as I draw breath. All that a man can do for a woman I will do for
you!"
The three others scowled at Shand, astonished and a little dismayed
that the dumb one should prove so eloquent.
Young Joe plunged into the silence. A particular confidence animated
him. With his curly hair, his smooth face, and his herculean young
body, he had a kind of reason for it.
He showed off his charms before her as naively as a cock-grouse. But
somehow the fire of his eyes and voice was a lighter, flashier blaze
than that of the men who had last spoken.
"Sure, they'd be lucky to get you!" he said. "Any of them. Jack is
twenty years older than you. Shand and Husky fifteen, anyhow. I guess
you want a young husband, don't you? How about me? I'm twenty-four.
We're young together. They've had their day. Girls have their own way
of picking out what they want. Jack says look us over. I stand by
that. Look us over good, and say which one you want."
She deliberately did as he bid her. The suspense was unbearable to
them.
"You've heard us all now?" said Jack. "What do you say?"
Bela was the picture of indifference.
"There's anot'er man here," she said.
Jack stared. "Another? Who? Oh, the cook! He ain't one of us. He ain't
got nothing but the shirt on his back!"
Bela shrugged. "You say you want mak' all fair. Let me hear what he
got say."
Here was an unexpected turn to the situation. They glowered at her
with increasing suspicion and anger. Was it possible there was a dark
horse in the race?
"If you want him, I guess you can say so right out, can't you?"
growled Jack.
Bela tossed her head. "I not want him," she said quickly. "I jus' want
hear what he got say."
It was difficult for them to think of the despised grub-rider in the
light of a rival, so they decided it was just a freak of
coquettishness in Bela.
"All right," said Jack. "Anything to oblige." Turning, he opened the
door and shouted for Sam.
Sam presently appeared, tousled and flushed with sleep, his blue eyes
scornfully resentful.
"What do you want now?" he demanded. "You made me lose sleep last
night."
"Well," said Jack, "all that is over. We're askin' Bela here to choose
between us and settle the thing for good. We've all said our say, but
she allowed she wanted to hear what the cook had to offer before she
closed. Speak up."
Sam was efficaciously startled into wakefulness. He became very pale,
and fixed Bela with a kind of angry glare. It seemed to him like a
horrible burlesque of something sacred. He hated her for allowing it.
He did not reflect that she might not have been able to prevent it.
She did not look at him.
"Do I understand right?" he said stiffly. "You're all proposing to her
in a body?"
"That's right," said Jack. "And out of goodness of heart she gives you
a chance, too."
Sam's jaw snapped together, and his mouth became a hard line.
"Much obliged," he said. "I resign my chance. I'm not looking for a
wife." He went back into the house.
It was not what the other men expected to hear. Suspecting an insult
to the object of their own desires, they turned on him angrily. They
would never have allowed him to have her, but neither should he turn
her down.
"And a good thing for you, too!" cried Joe.
"By George, I've a good mind to thrash him for that!" muttered Jack.
His attention was attracted in the other direction by a laugh from
Bela. It had anything but a merry sound, but their ears were not sharp
enough to detect the lack. Bela's nostrils were dilated, and her lip
oddly turned back. But she laughed.
"He is fonny cook!" she said. "I got laugh!"
"Oh, never mind him!" said Big Jack. "He doesn't count! What is your
answer?"
Bela stopped laughing. "Well, I got think about it," she said. "I tell
you to-morrow."