A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER
Andrew returned to Canada satisfied with his English visit. He had not
convinced his relatives that his judgment was entirely to be trusted,
but he knew that he stood higher in their esteem than he had done; and
that was something to be thankful for. Leonard, he thought, would find
it more difficult to prejudice them against his plans. On reaching the
Lake of Shadows, he found Graham recovering and learned that the
Frobishers had left for their home in Denver. After remaining a few
days at the Landing he went up to the mine, where the ore showed no
sign of improvement. For all that, he spent a month there, waiting
until the thaw came and maturing his plans for his second journey to
Dream Mine.
At last the rotting ice began to yield, and Andrew sat outside
Watson's shack one day, watching an impressive spectacle. The river
broke up with violence, the ice ripping and rending with a sound like
the roar of artillery, and as the great torn masses swept away, the
water pent up in the higher reaches poured into the gorge, swollen
with melting snow. It rolled by in savage flood, laden with tremendous
blocks of ice, some of which, cemented together near falls and rapids,
were the size of small frame houses. Among them drove huge floes into
which the floating cakes had solidified during the earlier frosts.
Here and there one stranded upon a point, or swung in an eddy, until
another crashed into it and both were shattered amid a bewildering
uproar. Then, for a while, the stream was filled with massive, driving
sheets of ice, which ground the banks with a tremendous din and scored
the tops of projecting boulders, while waterlogged pines and stumps
sunk in the river-bed were crushed to pulp.
Andrew had never seen any display of natural forces to equal this, and
when he went into the shack for supper he found that he could not get
the recollection of it out of his mind. The lonely North is a savage
country, very grim and terrible in some of its moods. Andrew, however,
had carefully considered and endeavored to guard against its dangers,
and when a canoe which had been especially built for him in Toronto
arrived, he set out on his journey with Carnally and Graham. There was
now no risk of frostbite and the gray trout would help out their food
supply, but they knew the trip would cost them much exhausting labor.
For some days they poled and paddled up the swollen river, spending
hours in dragging the canoe and provisions across rocky portages to
avoid furious rapids, and often wading waist-deep in icy water with
the tracking line. At night they slept, generally wet through, among
the stones, though there was often sharp frost and the slack along the
bank was covered with fresh ice in the morning; but they made steady
progress until the stream broke up into small forks and they must
cross the height of land. This was singularly toilsome work. In some
places they were forced to hew a path through scrub spruce bush; in
others there were slippery rocks to be scrambled across, while two in
turn carried the canoe, borne upside-down upon the shoulders. Then
there were the provisions to be brought up, and in relaying them each
difficult stage had to be traversed several times, so that once or
twice, when they had made only a mile or two in an exhausting day,
Andrew almost despaired of getting any farther.
At last, however, they found a creek rushing tumultuously down the
back of the divide. They followed it, one of them checking the canoe
by the tracking line while the others kept her off the rocks with pole
and paddle. Their provisions were secured, so far as possible, from
damage by water, but there was danger of losing them in a capsize, and
boiling eddies and roaring rapids made caution needful. For a while
the creek led them roughly where they wished to go, and then turned
off, and they crossed a high ridge in search of another. Lakes and
rivers abound in those wilds, which are almost impassable on foot
during the short summer. As they worked north the sun grew warmer, but
the temperature fell sharply at night, and now and then the waste was
swept by piercing winds.
One of these was raging when they scudded down a lake on a cold and
lowering evening. Gray vapor blurred the rocky shore, but here and
there a few dark pines stood out, harshly distinct. The water was
leaden-colored between the lines of foam, and short, slashing seas
broke angrily about the canoe, which ran before them with a small
lugsail set. Carnally knelt astern, holding the steering paddle;
Andrew lay down amidships, out of the wind; and Graham, crouching
forward, fixed his eyes ahead.
"There seems to be a creek abreast of us," Carnally said. "We're in
shoaling water; watch out for snags."
A violent gust struck them and the canoe drove on furiously, lifting
her bows on a foaming ridge while the water lapped level with her
stern.
"Shoot her up!" Graham called out sharply. "Log right ahead!"
Andrew seized the sheet and Carnally plied the paddle; but the warning
had come too late. While the canoe slanted over until her lee side was
under water as she altered her course, there was a sharp crash. Her
speed slackened for a moment or two. Then she lifted as a white wave
surged by; and when she drove on again the water poured in through a
rent in her side.
"Can't be kept under by baling," Carnally remarked. "We'll have to put
her on the wind and make the beach."
He hauled the sheet, but she would not bear the pressure when she
brought the wind abeam, and seeing the water pouring in over her
lowered side, Carnally let her fall off again.
"Looks as if we had to keep her running," he said.
"The end of the lake can't be far off and the water's too rough to do
much with the paddle."
They scudded on, Andrew and Graham baling as fast as possible, while
the rising water gained on them, until blurred trees and rocks began
to grow out of the haze ahead. Then as a strip of beach became
distinguishable they lowered the sail, and soon afterward jumped over
and carried her out across the jagged driftwood that hammered on the
pebbles. There was a small promontory near at hand, and Carnally
walked across it while the others made camp. Supper was ready when he
returned, and after the meal was finished he lay down near the fire.
"The canoe wants a patch on her bilge," he said. "Could you sew on a
bit of the thin cedar with the copper wire, Graham? There's some
caulking gum in the green can."
"It would take me a day to make a neat job."
"No hurry," replied Carnally. "The outlet from the lake's just beyond
that rise and it looks pretty good. When you have finished the canoe,
you and Andrew could take her down and wait for me where the creek
runs into the river we're looking for."
"It would be hard work at the portages. But why aren't you coming with
us?" Andrew asked.
"I ought to make the creek where Mappin cached the first lot of stores
for our other trip in about two days' march."
"We have enough without them."
"That's so. Anyhow, I want to look at the cache. Stores are a
consideration on a trip like this; the less you have to pack over the
portages, the quicker you can travel. Though we didn't find it, Mappin
knows where the cache was made."
"I don't see the drift of this," Andrew said.
Carnally smiled.
"Hasn't it struck you that we might be followed? Sending up the canoe
and camp truck would show the people at the Landing that we were ready
to start, and Mappin knows our line roughly as far as the cache. You
can't make camp and haul across brush portages without leaving a
trail."
"Ah! That makes one think. Of course, we would have no legal claim to
the lode unless we got our stakes in before anybody else."
"It's not enough. You have to get back to a government office and file
your record before you're safe. Well, considering everything, I guess
I'll start for the cache at sun-up."
The others agreed to this and after he left the next morning they set
to work on the canoe and repaired her satisfactorily. Then they
launched her on the outflowing stream and a few days later made camp
on the bank of a larger river, where they sat beside their fire late
at night. The gorge was filled with the clamor of rushing water, but
the night was very still, and they could hear sounds in the bush
through the deep-toned roar of the flood. Outside the glow of the
fire, which fell on the straight spruce trunks, there was nothing to
be seen; but they sat listening, for Carnally had been longer than he
expected and Andrew was anxious.
At last, Graham raised his hand.
"I heard something!"
Andrew turned his head, but for a while could hear only the hoarse
turmoil of the river. Then he started as a faint crackle came out of
the shadows. It rose again, more clearly, and presently a man's dark
shape emerged from the gloom. A few moments later Carnally threw off
his pack and sat down by the fire, his boots badly ripped and his
clothing tattered.
"I struck some pretty rough country," he explained. "The creek winds a
lot and I came across the range."
"Did you find the cache?" Andrew asked.
"Sure! It had been opened not long before and provisions taken out."
Graham moved abruptly.
"I suppose the things couldn't have been taken by Indians?"
"No, sir! Indians would have cleaned out the whole lot. Whoever found
the cache left some food to pick up when coming back. There were three
or four white men in the party; I learned that when I struck their
empty camp. Looks as if the hog was still getting after us."
"I'm afraid so," said Andrew, frowning. "What's to be done to shake
off his men?"
"The fellows were heading down-stream, and I guess they'd hold on
until they struck this river, where they'd make a base camp and look
for our trail. Well, instead of keeping to the water, as they'd
expect, we'll strike across the divide, though it will be an awkward
traverse."
His companions approved the plan, and the next day they found a spot
where smooth rocky slabs dropped gently to the water. Here they took
off their boots, to avoid leaving tell-tale scratches, and then they
hauled out the canoe. They were able to carry her some distance before
they met with much brush, and when they had brought up the provisions,
Carnally looked about with a satisfied air.
"This wouldn't strike one as an easy place to portage across, and the
stream runs smartly past the stones we landed on," he chuckled. "I
guess Mappin's boys will go straight on, and it may be some time
before they get suspicious."
His opinion was reassuring, as far as it went, but Andrew felt daunted
as he studied the rise ahead. The ravines were filled with brushwood,
the spurs clothed with spruce, and he failed to see how the canoe was
to be conveyed to the top. It must, however, be tried, and they set to
work, laboriously carrying her up the steep slopes, a few yards at a
time, until they reached a gully choked with brush, where progress
became almost impossible. They were forced to drag her through thick
bushes, stopping every two or three minutes for breath, while on the
steeper pitches they buried knees and toes in the gravel as they
passed her from hand to hand. The light was fading when they reached
the crest, exhausted, and it cost Andrew a determined effort to go
back some distance with Carnally for the provisions. Indeed, it was
only hunger forced him to do so.
The nights had been getting lighter rapidly, but the soft dimness was
puzzling when the two men faced the ascent. They could not judge the
steepness of the slope; they plunged into bushes they had not noticed,
and there were spots where they narrowly escaped dangerous falls.
Slipping, scrambling, floundering, Andrew struggled up with his load,
and sank down, worn out and aching, beside Graham's fire.
"You'll have to cook; I can't make another move," he said. "It strikes
me that the man who finds a mine in this country deserves all he gets.
That raises the question--how is it that Mappin can trust the rascals
he has sent after us? Suppose they found the lode, why couldn't they
stick to it?"
"A mineral vein is of little use to a man without money," Graham
explained. "It would cost him a good deal in transport of provisions
and tools before he got his legal development work done; and then he
wouldn't be much farther on, because he'd have to put up expensive
plant and clear a trail to bring the ore out. As a matter of fact, the
fortunate prospector is forced to look for a capitalist."
"That," remarked Carnally, "is how we are fixed. You needn't worry
about our going back on you."
"Rot!" said Andrew. "You know I'd trust either of you with my last
penny!"
"It's your trouble that you're a confiding man. But I guess you have
learned that it doesn't pay to take any chances when you deal with
Mappin."
"I'm convinced of it. One experience of his tricks is enough."
"I'll confess it wasn't enough for me. When I'd fired him out of the
store I felt so good that I set up drinks for all the thirsty slouches
in the hotel; but I made a mistake I've been sorry for ever since.
Instead of letting him walk off, I ought to have punched the hog until
they had to take him to a Winnipeg hospital. For one thing, it would
have saved us portaging over this blamed divide."
The others laughed, and though Andrew admitted that Carnally's methods
were primitive, he thought there was some excuse for them. Mappin
might be considered an outlaw, against whom any weapons could be used.
They went to sleep soon after supper, and resuming the march the next
morning, they spent two arduous days transporting the canoe to the
nearest water, and paddled down it, seeing nothing of Mappin's men.
The canoe received some damage when running a rapid into a lake and it
cost them a day to repair her, though Carnally showed much impatience
at the detention. When dusk fell they sat smoking by the fire, for the
night was cold. The wild cry of a loon rang at intervals across the
palely gleaming water; the resinous smell of the spruces was in the
air; and the soft splash of ripples upon the shingle accentuated the
stillness.
The loon's call suddenly broke off in the middle, and Carnally got up
sharply. A little later he pointed to a dark speck which appeared out
on the lake.
"The loon," he commented. "It was in the shadow by the big stone and
must have swum a good piece under water. Somebody scared the bird;
now it's gone again!"
The black spot vanished and Carnally stood still in fixed attention
while Andrew's heart began to beat quickly. He could hear nothing, but
he knew that Carnally was seldom mistaken in matters of this kind.
Some minutes passed, and then as footsteps broke the silence, Carnally
beckoned Graham to give him a rifle they had brought.
"Come out of the bush so we can see you!" he cried.
A shadowy form appeared against the gleaming water and stopped.
"What do you want?" Carnally asked. "Are you alone?"
"Something to eat," said the stranger. "There's nobody with me."
"One of the Mappin crowd, I guess. Where's the rest of you?"
"I don't know. It's three or four days since I left them."
"Then you can come along. I see you have a gun. If you're wise, you'll
keep it at the trail."
"Don't be scared," said the other, advancing, "I'm not looking for
trouble."
In a few moments he entered the firelight and stopped at a motion from
Carnally--a ragged and very weary man, with a pinched and eager look
in his face.
"Now," said Carnally, "what brought you here?"
"I'm starving," the man replied; and Andrew thought his appearance
bore it out.
He sat down, with the rifle he had carried across his arm, and
Carnally indicated the frying-pan.
"There's a bannock and some pork yonder. It won't take long to warm
up, but before you get any, we must have a talk. Why did you leave the
rest of Mappin's hobos?"
"We wrecked our canoe in a rapid and lost all the grub. There was some
trouble about it, and when the others turned back to make the cache I
allowed I'd follow you. Missed your trail once or twice, but I figured
on the line you'd take and picked it up again."
Andrew thought the tale was plausible, and a bruise on the man's face
seemed to corroborate it, as it hinted at the reason for his leaving
his comrades.
"Will they follow us up?" he asked.
"Can't tell," said the stranger. "They'd be mighty hungry when they
made the cache. Anyhow, I'd had enough of them."
"Give him some supper," said Andrew.
Graham put on the frying-pan, and in a few minutes the man fell upon
the food ravenously. When he had finished he felt for his pipe and
ruefully put it back. Andrew laughed and threw him a pouch of cut
tobacco.
"You're white," said the stranger with a curious look.
While he lighted his pipe Carnally, leaning quickly forward, picked up
his rifle and flung it into the lake.
"Why did you do that?" the fellow asked in anger.
"You'll have something else to carry and one gun's enough for this
crowd," Carnally significantly replied.
"Then you don't mean to fire me out?"
"Oh, no! I guess we'll engage you as packer, but I must speak to the
boss first," and Carnally led Andrew a short distance back into the
shadow.
"Is it wise to take the rascal with us?" Andrew asked.
"It seems the only thing to do. You don't want him to starve?"
"Certainly not; but couldn't we give him a few provisions and let him
go?"
"If he had a little grub to go on with, he might catch a trout in the
shallows or snare something that he could eat. Then he'd either follow
us or join his friends and put them on our track. I prefer to have him
under our eye."
"But he'll see where the lode is!"
"Sure! I'll take care he does no prospecting. Three claims on the best
of the vein will give you all you want to work, and as soon as your
record's filed you'll have prospectors coming up by dozens."
"Well," concluded Andrew, "you must do what you think fit."
They went back to the fire, and Carnally turned to the stranger.
"Your engagement begins to-morrow. If you do your work, you'll get
your grub, and nothing else." Then he added: "If that doesn't seem
good enough, you can quit when you like."
It was, as both recognized, an impossible alternative, because if the
fellow left their service he must starve.
"Call it a deal," he said. "You have got me safe."
"That's so," said Carnally. "You want to remember that the moment you
give us any cause for suspicion you get fired. Now what about your
partners? How long would it take them to make the cache?"
"Two or three days."
"Then they'd have to come back and find our trail. I reckon we're six
days ahead, and that ought to be enough. You have a blanket; you can
choose your place and sleep when you like."
The man, who was obviously worn out, gathered some spruce twigs and
lay down on them, but the others sat a while beside the fire before
they followed his example.