When John McNabb read Wentworth's report, he reached for his telephone
and called Detroit. "That you, Beekman?" he asked, recognizing the
voice of the senior partner of one of the foremost engineering firms in
the country. "How about you--all set for that Gods Lake job? Just got
the preliminary report. Everything O. K. Plenty of water, plenty of
head, and we can get it without spreading the reservoir over the whole
country. Hustle that road through as fast as you can. Hundred miles
of it--only about eight or ten miles of swamp. We can truck the
material in quicker than by shipping it clear around through the Bay
and track-lining it up the river. Few small bridges, and one motor
ferry. Make it good for heavy work. Put on men enough to complete the
road in a month at the outside. Most if it will only be clearing out
timber and stumps. As soon as the road is done we'll begin to shoot in
the cement. Get at it on the jump now, an' I'll see you in a day or
two."
The days following the return of Wentworth and Hedin from the survey of
the rapids were busy ones at the little post on Gods Lake. For it was
the time of the spring trading, and from far and near came the men of
the outlands, bringing in their harvest of fur.
The post flag floated gaily at the staff head, and in the broad
clearing about its base were pitched the tepees of the fur bringers.
Each rising sun brought additional wilderness gleaners from afar, and
additional children, and many additional starving dogs. For these days
were the gala days of the Northland; days of high feast and plenty, of
boastings, and recountings, and the chanting of weird chants.
The crudity, the primitive savagery of the scene gripped Hedin as
nothing had gripped him before. He was astonished that the setting
held for him so little of surprise. He fitted into the life naturally
and perfectly as though to the manner born. But his own astonishment
was as nothing as compared to the astonishment of Murchison, who stood
close as Hedin broke open and sorted the packs of fur. Time and again
his swift appraisal of a skin won a nod of approval from the factor,
who received the skins from his hands and paid for them in tokens of
made beaver.
"I do not understand it," said Murchison, between puffs of his pipe, as
at the end of a day he and Hedin sat in the doorway of the trading room
and watched the yellow flames from a hundred campfires stab the black
darkness of the night, and send wavering shadows playing in grotesque
patterns upon the walls of the tepees. The harsh din of the encampment
all but drowned the factor's words, and Hedin smiled.
"Do not understand what?" he asked.
"'Tis yourself I do not understand. Ye've never handled raw fur, yet
in the handling of thirty packs I have not changed the rating of a
skin. By your own word, 'tis your first venture into the North, yet
since the day of your coming ye have behaved like a man of the North.
The Indians distrust a new-comer. They are slow to place confidence in
any white man. An' yet, they have accepted your judgment of fur
without question. An' a good half of them ye call by name. 'Tis a
combination unheard of, an' to be believed only when one sees it."
"And yet it is very simple," explained Hedin. "For years I have
studied fur--finished fur--and in the study I have read everything I
could find about fur, from the habits of the animals up through their
trapping, and the handling of the skins in every step of their
preparation. And as for the Indians themselves, I have merely moved
about among them and got acquainted, as I would do in a city of white
men."
Murchison interrupted him with a snort. "An' a thousand would try it,
an' one succeed! 'Tis no explanation ye've given at all. Ye cannot
explain it. 'Tis a something ye have that's bred in the bone. Ye're a
born man of the North--an' God pity ye for the job ye've got! Cooped
up in a store all day with the fanfare of a city dingin' your ears from
dawn till midnight, an' beyond! An' what's the good of it? When ye
might be living up here in the land that still lays as God made it.
The Company can use men like you. You could have a post of your own in
a year's time."
For many minutes Hedin puffed at his pipe. "I am glad to hear that,"
he said at length, "for I am not going back."
"Not going back!" cried Murchison. "D'ye mean it? An' what about that
lass of John McNabb's?"
"That lass of John McNabb's has chosen another," answered Hedin in a
dull tone.
It was the seventh of June when Wentworth had dispatched the Indian
with the reports to McNabb and to Orcutt, and thereafter he settled
himself for three weeks of waiting. The activity at the post bored and
annoyed him. He complained of the noisy yapping of the night-prowling
dogs, cursed the children that ran against his legs in their play, and
when necessity compelled him to cross the encampment, he passed among
the tepees, obviously avoiding and despising their occupants.
Upon the fifth or sixth day, to rid himself of annoyance, Wentworth
essayed a journey to the rapids, and because no one could be spared
from the post, he ventured forth alone. When not more than ten miles
from the post, he turned his head, as he topped a rock-ribbed ridge for
a casual survey of the broad _brule_ he had just crossed. The next
instant he brought up rigidly erect as his eye caught a swift blur of
motion far back on his trail at the opposite edge of the _brule_. He
looked again but could make out only an army of blackened stumps.
Entering the scrub with a vague sense of uneasiness, he circled among
the stunted trees and took up a position under cover of a granite
outcropping that gave him a view of his back trail. He had hardly
settled himself before a man stepped from behind a stump and struck out
rapidly upon his trail. The man was traveling light, apparently
studying the ground as he walked. Wentworth glanced about him and
noted that the rocky ridge would give the man scant opportunity for
trailing him to his position. The figure was coming up the ridge now.
As it passed a twisted pine, Wentworth got a good look into his face,
and the sight of it sent cold shivers up his spine that prickled
uncomfortably at the roots of his hair. For the face was that of Alex
Thumb, and at close range Wentworth could see that the black eyes
glittered evilly. Icy fingers gripped the engineer's heart. He felt
suddenly weak and cold.
Raising a shaking hand to his forehead, Wentworth withdrew it wet and
glistening with sweat. His brain conjured fantastic stories of the
powers of the Indian tracker, and fearfully he scanned the rocks over
which he had come. Suddenly it occurred to him that if the man were
still upon his trail, he would have come up with him before this.
Evidently the tracker was wasting no time on the broad rocky ridge, but
taking it for granted that his quarry would proceed on his way, figured
on picking up the trail again in the softer ground of the next valley;
in which case he would soon discover his error and circle to correct
it. Discarding his pack, the terrified man swiftly descended the ridge
and crossed the _brule_ at a run. Gaining the shelter of the forest he
paused and looked back. The wide clearing was tenantless, and
regaining his breath, he resumed his flight, crashing through patches
of underbrush, and splashing through streams until, just at dusk, the
lights of the Gods Lake campfires came into view.
Completely done up, he staggered into his cabin and, closing the door,
fell sprawling upon his bunk, where for an hour he lay while his
overtaxed muscles slowly regained their strength. Then he stood up,
lighted his candle, and proceeded to remove the record of his mad
flight from his scratched skin and torn clothing.
That evening at supper he was surprised to find that Downey had
returned to the post. And he wondered if he only fancied that the
officer eyed him meaningly.
He said nothing of his experience, but thereafter he was content to
remain at the post, never venturing alone beyond the boundaries of the
clearing. He became more and more nervous with the passing of the
days. One by one, he checked them off, and during the latter days of
June he spent hours pacing restlessly up and down, or making the round
of the clearing, shunned by Indian dogs and Indian children, and
ignored by their elders. And always three questions were uppermost in
his mind: Would Orcutt come? Would McNabb come? Would they both come?
And finding no answer, he would continue his restless pacing, or raise
the imaginary stakes in his game of solitaire to stupendous proportions.
He became more and more irritable as the tension increased. The
breaking of a shoe lace called forth a flow of profanity, and when the
mainspring of his watch snapped, he hurled the instrument against the
log wall in his senseless rage.