_Cameron Outlines His Policy._
The Winter drew on apace. At Laughing Donald’s carpenters and workmen
had been busily employed within and without the house for weeks. Soon
the premises took on a finished look, and the workmen departed as
mysteriously as they had come. In the new home, the wife of Laughing
Donald presided, directing her servants with that natural grace and
dignity which is the certain indication of a lady born. Andy Cameron
since his return had not spent a night at his house at The Nole, and
now LeClare and Dan also joined the family at Laughing Donald’s.
Soon after the return of Cameron, Bill Blakely and he drove to the
county town and to Donald Ban’s, the lawyer’s. Together they climbed
the stairway to the office each had sought before. Bill leading the way.
“Morning to ye, Donald Ban,” said Bill, in a voice unusually soft for
him. The lawyer asked his callers to be seated. “You know, don’t ye,”
continued Bill, as he clutched his cloth cap, “that I said he’d be back
soon,”—nodding toward Cameron, who had seated himself comfortably by
the table, apparently having no uneasiness about the outcome of the
consultation.
“Yes, Bill,” answered Donald Ban. “You have the right stuff in you to
make any man proud to be called your friend, and you not only outwitted
your old acquaintance, Nick Perkins from The Gore, causing him the
most bitter disappointment of his unenviable career, but you performed
a service which, at the time, you did for a poor but honest neighbor.
We have all understood your motives thoroughly, and in acting for Mr.
Cameron, when I return to you the amount of money which you advanced
to save for him his home and good name, I can truthfully say that with
it you have the gratitude of the wealthiest and most distinguished
citizen of the County Glengarry.”
Blakely looked from one to the other, not knowing whether he had heard
or understood aright. Cameron smiled assuringly as he slapped his old
fighting friend upon the shoulder. “Bill,” he said, “we will be very
busy this Winter and all next Summer, you and I. We will let the waters
of the creek flow on to The Gore unmolested. We will let Fraser, the
carpenter, go on with his tattling about the neighbors. We will keep
them all guessing, Bill. My friend LeClare and I want to see you very
soon at Laughing Donald’s—and, by the way, Bill, don’t mention the
remark you heard Donald Ban make about some friend of yours having a
little spare money.”
Bill looked at Andy with the old mischievous twinkle in his eye, his
goatee began to move up and down, and he was in his old time mood
again. “Well, Andy,” he replied, “they say these lawyers often tell
more than the truth, but anyhow, when you and your friend run a little
short, you know where Bill Blakely lives,” and he went out of the door,
telling Cameron he could find him at the grocery when he was ready to
return.
Cameron and his friend were left to themselves for the first time since
their home-coming. His visit to the lawyer was for a twofold purpose:
the first, to fulfill the legal requirements necessary in discharging
his money obligations to Blakely; that disposed of, he proceeded to lay
before the lawyer the plans he intended at once to put into execution.
“Donald Ban, with your approval and under your suggestion, and also
urged by necessity, I made the venture against overwhelming odds which
fate has seen fit to reward by giving me the possession of a great
wealth in gold. You also know that in the obtaining of one coveted
means by which I am enabled to relieve the suffering and discomfort
of others, I have sacrificed the companionship of her through whom
the blessing to accrue from this new-found wealth would have been
dispensed; and now that my life has been clouded by sorrow, and
I shall no longer enjoy the home where together we strove in an
atmosphere hallowed by an unselfish love to help carry the burdens of
our fellow beings, this same injustice of things—the uncharitableness,
the unkindness from those of whom we expect comfort while in reverses,
only to be by them the most neglected—has aroused within me emotions
that have been the means of bringing before you to-day a different Andy
Cameron from the one who before was acting merely by the suggestion of
others. My purpose in the future at The Front and in Glengarry will be
to see justice charitably dispensed: the weak shall be made strong, and
from him at The Gore, who has grown powerful by his artful practices
against the unfortunates in our community, I will take and return to
them whom he has so oppressively wronged.”
Donald Ban was astonished at the change in the man before him, but he
was quick to recognize the genius of a quickly developing brain.
“I presume, Cameron, you have made reference to Nick Perkins, who has
been more or less successful in bringing a great deal of unhappiness
into the families residing in your neighborhood.”
“Remarkably true you have guessed, Donald Ban, and as my legal adviser,
you are entitled to my confidence in so far as it pertains to the
expenditures I have in contemplation at my homestead on The Nole and
among some of my neighbors at The Front. Roughly speaking, you have
deposited for me in the several banks down in the city three hundred
thousand dollars. As nearly as LeClare and myself can figure, that
amount represents our individual worth. Donald Ban,” continued Cameron,
thoughtfully tapping the leathern topped desk at which they sat, “Nick
Perkins has extracted from the people of our town at The Front in the
neighborhood of thirty thousand dollars. That amount he shall pay back
to these same farmers during the present Winter and the coming Summer.
With fifty thousand dollars I can erect a mansion upon the site of my
farmhouse at The Nole. Upon its completion Nick Perkins will buy this
palace. He shall buy it, Donald Ban!”—Cameron banged the table with his
clenched fist—“and eighty thousand dollars will be my price. At that
time thirty thousand of the amount will already be in the pockets of
the people whom he has harassed for years, and the actual cost of the
house you will deposit for me again in the bank from which we will draw
for expenses during construction. This much you are to know from me,
and I am aware my confidence in you leaves it a secret between us. I
will bid you good morning, and thank you, Donald Ban. My home is with
Laughing Donald.”
[Illustration: You know where Bill Blakely Lives.]