BAD TIDINGS
The dust was rolling about the cars and the gaunt poles whirled past
before I could recover breath to answer the astonished conductor. Then
it was with a gasp I said: "Won't you get me a little water?"
The man vanished, and I sat still vacantly noticing how the prairie
reeled behind me until the door slid open and he returned with a tin
vessel and a group of curious passengers behind him. A piece of ice
floated in the former, and a man held out a flask. "I guess it won't
hurt him, adulterated some," he said.
Never before had I tasted so delicious a draught. Hours of anxiety and
effort under a blazing sun had parched and fouled my lips, and my throat
was dry as unslaked lime. The tin vessel was empty when I handed it
back, and the railroad official looked astonished as he turned it upside
down for the spectators' information. "I guess a locomotive tank would
hardly quench that thirst of yours," he said.
"Thanks. I'll get up. It was not for amusement I boarded your train as I
did," I said, and the rest opened a passage for me into the long
Colonist car. There was a mirror above the basins in the vestibule, and
a glance into it explained their curiosity. The white shirt had burst in
places; the grime of alkali had caked on my face, leaving only paler
circles about the eyes. Hardened mire crusted the rest of my apparel,
and each movement made it evident to me that portions of the epidermis
had been abraded from me.
"It's not my business how passengers board these cars, so long as
they're tolerably decent, and can pay their fare," observed the
conductor. "Still, although we're not particular, we've got to dress you
a little between us; and it mightn't be too much to ask what brought
you here in such an outfit?"
It was evident that the others were waiting to ask the same question,
and I answered diplomatically: "I have money enough to take me to
Empress at Colonist fare, and was half way to the depot to catch the
cars on the old schedule before I discovered you had commenced the
accelerated service. Then I flung off every ounce of weight that might
lose me the race."
"You must have had mighty important business," somebody said; and the
door at the opposite end opened as I answered dryly: "I certainly had."
"Hallo! Great Columbus! Is that you, Ormesby?" a voice which seemed
familiar said; and, turning angrily, I saw a storekeeper with whom I had
dealt staring at me in bewilderment.
"Ormesby!" the name was repeated by several passengers, and I read
sudden suspicion in some of the faces, and sympathy in the rest, while
one of them, with Western frankness, asked: "You're the Rancher Ormesby
we've been reading about?"
"Yes," I answered, making a virtue of necessity. "I am on my way to
surrender for trial, and redeem my bail. Now you can understand my
hurry."
Several of the passengers nodded, and the dealer said: "It's tolerably
plain you can't go like that; they're that proud of themselves in
Empress they'd lock you up. So I'll try to find you something in my
gripsack. Still, while I concluded you never done the thing, I'd like to
hear you say straight off you know nothing about the burning of
Gaspard's Trail."
"Then listen a second," I answered. "You have my word for it, that I
know no more what caused the fire than you do. You will be able to read
my defense in the papers, and I need not go into it here."
"That's enough for me," was the answer. "Now, gentlemen, if you have got
anything you can lend my friend here in your valises, I'll guarantee
they're either replaced or returned. Some of you know me, and here's my
business card."
It may be curious, but I saw that most of those present, and they were
all apparently from parts of the prairie, fully credited my statement,
and one voiced the sentiments of the rest when he said: "I'll do the
best I can. If Mr. Ormesby had played the fire-bug, he wouldn't be so
mighty anxious to get back to court again."
The position was humiliating, but no choice was left me. I must either
accept the willing offers or enter Empress half naked, and accordingly I
made a hasty selection among the garments thrust upon me. Twenty minutes
spent in the lavatory, with the colored porter's assistance, produced a
comforting change, and when I returned to the car, one of the most
generous lenders surveyed me with pride as well as approval.
"You do us credit, Rancher, and you needn't worry about the thanks.
We've no use for them," he said. "Hope you'll get off; but if you are
sent up for burning down that place, I'll be proud of having helped to
outfit a famous man."
Perhaps my face was ludicrous with its mingled expressions of gratitude
and disgust at this naive announcement, for a general laugh went up
which I finally joined in, and that hoarse merriment gave me the freedom
of the Colonist car. Rude burlesque is interspersed amid many a tragedy,
and I had seen much worse situations saved by the grace of even coarse
humor. Thereafter no personal questions were asked, and most of my
fellow-travelers treated me with a delicacy of consideration which is
much less uncommon than one might suppose among the plain, hard-handed
men who wrest a living out of the prairie.
Night had closed in some time earlier when I strolled out across the
platform of the car and leaned upon the rails of the first-class before
it. Tired physically as I was, the nervous restlessness which followed
the mental strain would, I think, have held me wakeful, even if there
had been anything more than a bare shelf of polished maple, which finds
out every aching bone, to sleep on. This, however, was not the case, for
those who travel Colonist must bring their own bedding, or do without
it. It was a glorious summer night, still and soft and effulgent with
the radiance of the full moon which hung low above the prairie, while
the sensation of the swift travel was bracing.
There was no doubt that the Accelerated was making up lost time; and the
lurching, clanking, pounding, roar of flying wheels, and panting of
mammoth engines both soothed and exhilarated me. They were in one sense
prosaic and commonplace sounds, but--so it seemed to me that night--in
another a testimony to man's dominion over not only plant and beast upon
the face of the earth, but also the primeval forces which move the
universe. Further, the diapason of the great drivers and Titanic
snorting, rising and falling rhythmically amid the pulsating din, broke
through the prairie's silence as it were a triumphant hymn of struggle
and effort, and toil all-conquering, as dropping the leagues behind it
the long train roared on. I knew something of the cost, paid in the
sweat of tremendous effort, and part in blood and agony, of the smooth
road along which the great machines raced across the continent.
Perhaps I was overstrung, and accordingly fanciful; but I gathered fresh
courage, which was, indeed, badly needed, and I had grown partly
reassured and tranquil, when the door creaked behind me and there was a
light step on the platform. Then, turning suddenly, I found myself
within a foot of Lucille Haldane. She was bareheaded. The moon shone on
her face, which, as I had dreamed of it, looked at once ethereal and
very human under the silvery light. This, at least, was not a fancy born
of overtaxed nerves, for while given to heartsome merriment, daring, and
occasionally imperious, there was a large share of the spiritual in the
character of the girl. Shrewd, she certainly was, yet wholly fresh and
innocent, and at times I had seen depths of pity and sympathy which it
seemed were not wholly earthly in her eyes. When one can name and number
all the mysterious forces that rule the heart or brain of man, it may be
possible to tell why, when Beatrice Haldane's idealized image was ever
before me, I would have done more for her sister than for any living
woman.
We were both a little surprised at the encounter, and I fancied I had
seen a momentary shrinking from me in the eyes of the girl. This at once
furnished cause for wonder, and hurt me. She had shown no shrinking at
our last meeting.
"I did not expect to meet you when I came out for the sake of coolness.
Are you going East?" I said.
Lucille Haldane was usually frank in speech, but she now appeared to be
perplexed by, and almost to resent, the question. "Yes. I have some
business which cannot be neglected in that direction," she said.
"Is Miss Haldane or your father on board the train?" I asked, and
Lucille seemed to hesitate before she answered:
"No. My father is in Winnipeg, and Beatrice has gone to Montreal; but
Mrs. Hansen, our housekeeper, is here with me."
I was partly, but not altogether, relieved by this information. It was
no doubt foolish, but I had been at first afraid that every one of my
friends from Bonaventure had seen in what manner I boarded the train. I
would have given a good deal to discover whether Lucille had witnessed
the spectacle, but I did not quite see how to acquire the knowledge.
"It must be important business which takes you East alone," I said
idly--to gain time in which to frame a more leading question; but the
words had a somewhat startling effect. A trace of indignation or
confusion became visible in the girl's face as she answered: "I have
already told you it is business which cannot be neglected; and if you
desire any further information I fear I cannot give it to you. Now,
suppose we reverse the positions. What has made you so unusually
inquisitive to-night, Mr. Ormesby?"
The positions were reversed with a vengeance, somewhat to my disgust. I
had neither right nor desire to pry into Lucille Haldane's affairs, and
yet felt feverishly anxious to discover how much or how little she had
seen at the station. It was no use to reason with myself that this was
of no importance, for the fact remained.
"I must apologize if I seemed inquisitive," I said. "It would have been
impertinence, but I will make a bargain with you. If you will tell me
whether you boarded the cars immediately the train came in, and what
seat you took, I will tell you the cause of it."
This struck me as a clever maneuver, for if, as I hoped, she had seen
nothing, the story would certainly reach Bonaventure, and it seemed much
better that she should hear it first, and carefully toned down, from my
own lips. Lucille Haldane's face cleared instantaneously, and there was
a note of relief in her laugh.
"Must you always make a bargain? You remember the last," but here she
broke off suddenly and favored me with a wholly sympathetic glance. "I
did not mean to recall that unfortunate night. You should come to the
point always, for you are not brilliant in diplomacy, and shall have
without a price the information you so evidently desire. I was standing
on the car platform when you rode up to the station."
We are only mortal, and I fear I ground one heel, perhaps audibly, but
certainly viciously, into the boards beneath me. Still, I am certain
that my lips did not open. Nevertheless, I was puzzled by the sparkle in
Lucille Haldane's eyes which the radiant moonlight emphasized. There was
more than mischief in it, but what the more consisted of I could not
tell. "Have you forgotten the virtues of civilized self-restraint?" she
asked demurely.
I could see no cause for these swift changes, which would probably have
bewildered any ordinary man, and I made answer: "It may be so; but on
this occasion, at least, I said nothing."
Lucille Haldane laughed, and laid her hand lightly on my arm as the cars
jolted. "Then you certainly looked it; but I am not blaming you. I saw
you ride into the station, and I hardly grasp the reason for so much
modesty. I do not know what delayed you, but I know you were trying to
redeem the trust your neighbors placed in you."
I was apparently a prey to all disordered fancies that night, for it
seemed a desecration that the little white hand should even bear the
touch of another man's jacket, and I lifted it gently into my own hard
palm. Also, I think I came desperately near stooping and touching it
with my lips. Be that as it may, in another second the opportunity was
lacking, for Lucille grasped the rails with it some distance away from
me, and leaned out over them to watch the sliding prairie, her light
dress streaming about her in the whistling draught.
"The cars were very stuffy, and I am glad I came out. It is a perfectly
glorious night," she said.
The remark seemed very disconnected, but she was right. The prairie
there was dead-level, a vast, rippling silver sea overhung by a spangled
vault of softest indigo. In spite of the rattling ballast and puffs of
whirled-up dust the lash of cool wind was grateful, and the rush of the
clanking cars stirred one's blood. Still, in contrast to their bulk and
speed, the slight figure in the fluttering white dress seemed very frail
and insecure as it leaned forth from the rails, and I set my teeth when,
with a sudden swing and a giddy slanting, we roared across a curving
bridge. Before the dark creek whirled behind us I had flung my arm
partly around the girl's waist and clenched the rails in front of her.
"I am quite safe," she said calmly, after a curious glance at me. "You
look positively startled."
"I was so," I answered, speaking no more than the truth, for the fright
had turned me cold; and she once more looked down at the whirling
prairie.
"That was very unreasonable. You are not responsible for me."
Perhaps the fright had rendered me temporarily light-headed, for I
answered, on impulse: "No; on the other hand, you are responsible for
me."
"I?" the girl said quietly, with a demureness which was not all mockery.
"How could that be? Such a responsibility would be too onerous for me."
"Why it should be I cannot tell you; but it is the truth," I said.
"Twice, when a crisis had to be faced, it was your opinions that turned
the scale for me; and I think that, growing hopeless, I should have
allowed Lane to rob me and gone elsewhere in search of better fortune
had it not been for the courage you infused into me. Once or twice also
you pointed the way out of a difficulty, and the clearness of your views
was almost startling. The most curious thing is that you are so much
younger than I."
I had spoken no more than the truth, and was conscious of a passing
annoyance when Lucille Haldane laughed. "There is no overcoming
masculine vanity; and I once heard my father say you were in some
respects very young for your age," she said. "I am afraid it was
presumption, but I don't mind admitting I am glad if any chance word of
mine nerved you to continue your resistance." Her voice changed a little
as she added: "Of course, that is because your enemy's work is evil, and
I think you will triumph yet."
Neither of us spoke again for a time, and I remember reflecting that
whoever won Lucille Haldane would have a helpmate to be proud of in this
world and perhaps, by virtue of what she could teach him, follow into
the next. I could think so the more dispassionately because now both she
and her sister were far above me, though, knowing my own kind, I
wondered where either could find any man worthy.
So the minutes slipped by while the great express raced on, and blue
heavens and silver prairie unrolled themselves before us in an
apparently unending panorama. There had been times when I considered
such a prospect dreary enough, but it appeared surcharged with a strange
glamour that moonlit night.
"Will Miss Haldane return to Bonaventure?" I asked, at length.
"I hardly think so," said the girl. "We have very different tastes, you
know; and as father will not keep more than one of us with him, we can
both gratify them. Beatrice will leave for England soon, and in all
probability will not visit Bonaventure again."
She looked at me with a strange expression as she spoke, and when her
meaning dawned on me I was conscious of a heavy shock. I had braced
myself to face the inevitable already, but the knowledge was painful
nevertheless, and my voice was not quite steady when I said: "You imply
that Miss Haldane is to be married shortly?"
"It is not an impossible contingency."
Lucille spoke gravely, and I wondered whether she had guessed the full
significance of the intimation. Perhaps my face had grown a little
harder, or the tightening of my fingers on the rail betrayed me, for she
looked up very sympathetically. "I thought it would be better that you
should know."
There was such kindness stamped on her face that my heart went out to
her, and it was almost huskily I said: "I thank you. You have keen
perceptions."
Lucille smiled gravely. "One could see that you thought much of
Beatrice--and I was sorry that it should be so."
Her tone seemed to challenge further speech, and presently I found words
again: "It was an impossible dream, almost from the beginning; but I
awakened to the reality long ago. Still, nothing can rob me of the
satisfaction of having known your sister and you, and your influence has
been good for me. One can at least cherish the memory; and even a wholly
impossible fancy has its benefits."
The girl colored, and said quietly: "It is not our fault that you
overrate us, and one finds the standard others set up for one irksome.
And yet you cannot be easily influenced, from what I know."
"Heaven knows how weak and unstable I have been at times, but I learned
much that was good for me at Bonaventure, and should, whatever happens,
desire to keep your good opinion," I said.
"I think you will always do that," said the girl, moving towards the
door. "It is growing late, but before I go I want to ask you to go to
your trial to-morrow with a good courage, and not to be astonished at
anything you hear or see. If you are, you must try to remember that we
Canadians actually are, as our orators tell us, a free people, and that
the prairie farmers do not monopolize all our love of justice."
She brushed lightly past me, and the prairie grew dim and desolate as
the door clicked to. I had long dreaded the news just given me, but such
expectations do not greatly lessen one's sense of loss. Still, it may
have been that my senses were too dulled to feel the worst pain, and I
sat down on the top step of the platform with my arm through the railing
in a state of utter weariness and dejection, which mercifully acted as
an anesthetic. How long I watched the moonlit waste sweep past the
humming wheels I do not know; but tired nature must have had her way,
for it was early morning when a brakeman fell over me, and by the time
the resultant altercation was concluded, the clustered roofs of Empress
rose out of the prairie.