Time passed by, as time is rather apt to do, and still the feud between
the rival fur companies continued, to the detriment of the Indians and
the fur-trade, the unsettling of Red River Settlement, and the
demoralisation more or less of all concerned.
Men who would gladly have devoted all their energies to the arts of
peace, became more or less belligerent in spirit, if not in act, and
many were forced to take sides in the controversy--some siding with the
Nor'-Westers and others with the Hudson's Bay Company.
With the merits of their contentions we do not propose to meddle. We
confine ourselves to facts.
One important fact was that our hero Daniel Davidson took the side of
the Hudson's Bay Company. Being a stout fellow, with a good brain, a
strong will, an independent spirit, and a capable tongue, he was highly
appreciated by the one side and considerably hated by the other,
insomuch that some of the violent spirits made dark suggestions as to
the propriety of putting him out of the way. It is not easy, however,
or safe, to attempt to put a strong, resolute man out of the way, and
his enemies plotted for a considerable time in vain.
The unsettled state of the colony, and the frequent failure of the crops
had, as we have seen, exerted an evil influence for a long time on poor
Dan's matrimonial prospects, and at last, feeling that more settled
times might yet be in the remote future, and that, as regarded defence
and maintenance, it would be on the whole better both for Elspie and
himself that they should get married without delay, he resolved to take
the important step, and, as old McKay remarked, have it over.
"You see, Taniel," said the old man, when the subject was again
broached, "it iss of no use hangin' off an' on in this fashion.
Moreover, this nasty stiff leg o' mine is so long of getting well that
it may walk me off the face o' the earth altogether, an' I would not
like to leave Elspie till this matter iss settled. Tuncan also iss a
little better just now, so what say you to have the weddin' the month
after next? Mr Sutherland will be back from the Whitehorse Plains by
then, an' he can tie the knot tight enough--whatever. Anyway, it iss
clear that if we wait for a munister o' the Auld Kirk, we will hev to
wait till doomsday. What say you, Taniel?"
It need hardly be said that Dan had nothing whatever to say in objection
to this scheme. It was therefore settled--under the proviso, of course,
that Elspie had no objection. Dan went off at once to see Elspie, and
found that she had no objection, whereupon, after some conversation,
etcetera, with which we will not weary the reader, he sought out his
friend Fred Jenkins, to whom he communicated the good news, and treated
him to a good many unanswerable reasons why young people should not
delay marriage when there was any reasonable prospect of their getting
on comfortably in life together.
The sailor agreed with effusive heartiness to all that he said, and Dan
thought while he was speaking--orating--as one of the American settlers
would have expressed it--that Jenkins wore a peculiar expression on his
manly countenance. Attributing it to unusual interest in the event, he
continued--
"Now, Fred, I want you to be my best-man--"
"Unpossible--quite unpossible," interrupted the seaman with a grave
shake of the head.
"How--impossible!"
"Ab-so-lutely unpossible."
"But why? Explain yourself, Fred."
"'Cause it's only a bachelor as can be a best-man to a bachelor--ain't
it?"
"I believe so, though I'm no authority in such matters; but surely that
is a matter of no importance, for _you_ are a bachelor, you know."
"True, that's what I am to-day, but I won't be that long, for I am goin'
to be married next month, so I won't be available, d'ee see, the month
after."
"You--married!--to whom?" exclaimed Dan in amazement.
"Well, that's a point blank shot right between wind an' water.
Hows'ever, I suppose I can't go wrong in tellin' you, Dan, for it's all
settled, though not a soul knows about it except Little Bill, an'
yourself, an' her brother."
"But I _don't_ know about it yet," returned Dan. "Who is it?"
"A angel--pure an' unmixed--come straight down from heaven a-purpus to
marry poor, unedicated, sea-farin' Fred Jenkins, an' her terrestrial
name is Elise Morel!"
Dan laughed while he congratulated the modest seaman, and admitted the
strength of his difficulty.
"D'you know, Fred, I've had a suspicion for some time past that you had
a leaning in that direction?"
"So have I, Dan, had an uncommon strong suspicion for a very long time
past, not only that I had a leanin' that way, but a regular list to
port, an' now I'm fairly over on my beam-ends!"
"But, surely, it must have come upon you very sudden at last," said Dan.
"How was it?"
"Sudden! I should just think it did--like a white squall in the
Mediterranean, or a hurricane in the China seas. This is how it was.
I'd bin cruisin' about her--off an' on--for a considerable time, tryin'
to make up my mind to go into action, an' screwin' my courage up to the
stickin' pint by recallin' all the fine sentiments that has carried
Jack-tars through fire an' smoke, shot and shell since the world
began--`England expects every man to do his dooty,'--`Never say
die,'--`Hookey Bunkum,' an' such like. But it warn't no manner o' use,
for I'm an' outrageous coward wi' the gals, Dan. So, in a sort o'
despair, I sailed away this very mornin' into the plantation at the futt
o' your garden, intendin' to cool myself an' think over it, when, who
should I see almost hull down on my lee bow but the enemy--Elise
herself!
"Well, I changed my course at once; bore straight down on her, an' soon
overhauled her, but the nearer I came the more did my courage run out,
so I gradooally begun to take in sail an drop astarn. At last I got
savage, `You're a fool, Jenkins!' says I to myself. `That's a fact!'
says su'thin' inside o' me.
"Now, if that su'thin' had kep' quiet, I do believe that I'd have gone
about-ship an' showed her my heels, but that su'thin', whatever it was,
set up my dander. `Now then,' says I, `haul taut the main brace! Up
wi' the t'gall'nt-s'ls an' sky-scrapers! "England expects," etceterer!'
"Afore you could say Jack Robinson, I was along side--grapplin'-irons
hove into her riggin', and a broadside fired. The way I gave it her
astonished even myself. Nelson himself could scarce ha' done it better!
Well, she struck her colours at the first broadside, an' somehow--I
never could make out exactly how--we was sittin' on the stump of a tree
with her head on my rough unworthy buzzum. Think o' that! Dan, _her_
head--the head of a Angel! Give us your flipper, mate."
"I congratulate you, Jenkins, with all my heart," said Dan, grasping the
seaman's flipper, and giving it a hearty shake. "So now, I must look
out for another best-man. Morel will do for me, I think, and you can
have my brother Peter, no doubt. But could we not manage to have both
weddings on the same day?"
"Impossible," answered the seaman, promptly. "Couldn't wait."
"But we might compromise the matter. I might have mine a little sooner
and you could have yours a little later."
Still Jenkins shook his head. "Not fair-play," he said. "All the
advantage on your side. However, we might consider it. Hold a sort o'
drum-head court-martial over it, with Elise and Elspie as judges."
When the said court-marital--as Dan called it--was held, the compromise
was agreed to, and it was finally fixed that six weeks thereafter the
two couples should be united in Ben Nevis Hall.
But the current of these parallel streams of true love was not yet
destined to run smooth--as the next chapter will show.