THE MEN OF THE BUSH
A cool shadow fell upon the descending trail that wound in among the
towering firs, and Nasmyth checked his jaded horse as he entered on
the last league of his long ride from the railroad. The red dust had
settled thick upon his city clothes, and for the first time he found
the restraint of them irksome. The band of his new hat had tightened
unpleasantly about his forehead, and in scrambling up the side of the
last high ridge which he had crossed, one neatly-fitting boot had
galled his foot, while he smiled with somewhat sinister amusement as
he felt the grip of the tight jacket on his shoulders. These were, as
he recognized, petty troubles, and he was rather astonished that he
should resent them, as he certainly did. He remembered that a little
while before he had made no complaint against the restraints of
civilization, and had, indeed, begun to shrink from the prospect of
going back to the untrammelled life of the wilderness.
But, as he straightened himself in his saddle and gazed down the deep
valley through which the trail twisted, he felt the shrinking melt
away. After all, there was something in the wilderness that appealed
to him. There was vigour in the clean smell of it, and the little
breeze that fanned his face was laden with the scent of the firs. The
trees rolled away before him in sombre battalions that dwindled far up
the rocky sides of the enfolding hills, and here and there a flood of
sunlight that struck in through the openings fell in streams of
burning gold upon their tremendous trunks. Beyond them the rugged
heights rose, mass on mass, against the western sky.
He rode into the shadow, and, though he thought of her, it was curious
that Violet Hamilton seemed to become less real to him as he pushed on
down the valley. He vaguely felt that he could not carry her with him
into the wilderness. She was a part of the civilization upon which he
had once more, for a time at least, turned his back, and he could not
fit her into the environment of that wild and rugged land. Indeed, he
remembered with a compassionate tenderness how she had shrunk from it
and clung to him--a forlorn, bedraggled object, in her tattered
dress--the day they floundered through the dripping Bush, and he
subconsciously braced himself for conflict as he thought of it. The
sooner his work was over, the sooner he could go back to her; but
there was, as he remembered, a great deal to be accomplished first.
Wrapped in thought as he was, he was surprised when he saw a faint
blue cloud of wood-smoke trailing out athwart the sombre firs in the
hollow beneath him. Then two figures became visible, moving upwards
along the strip of trail, and he drove the jaded horse forward as he
recognized them. He lost sight of them for a few minutes as he turned
aside to avoid a swampy spot, but when he had left it behind they were
close ahead in the middle of the trail, and it was with a thrill of
pleasure that he swung himself stiffly from the saddle.
With a smile on his bronzed face, Gordon stood looking at him. Gordon
was dressed in soil-stained garments of old blue duck, with a patch
cut from a cotton flour-bag on one of them. Laura Waynefleet stood a
little nearer, and there was also a welcome in her eyes. Nasmyth
noticed how curiously at home she seemed amidst that tremendous
colonnade of towering trunks. He shook hands with her, but it was
Gordon who spoke first.
"You have come back to us. We have been expecting you," he said.
"After all, store clothes and three well-laid meals a day are apt to
pall on one."
Nasmyth turned to Laura. "I should like to point out that this is the
man who urged me to go," he said. "One can't count on him."
"Oh, yes," admitted Gordon, "I certainly did urge you, but I guess I
knew what the result would be. It was the surest way of quieting you.
Anyway, you don't seem sorry to be back again?"
Nasmyth glanced at Laura.
"No," he said; "in some respects I'm very glad."
He became suddenly self-conscious as he saw Gordon's significant
smile. It suggested that he had, perhaps, made too great an admission,
and he wondered for the first time, with a certain uneasiness, whether
Gordon had mentioned Miss Hamilton to Laura, and, if that was the
case, what Miss Waynefleet thought about the subject.
Laura talked to him in her old friendly fashion as they walked on
towards the settlement, until Gordon broke in.
"I've called the boys together, as you suggested, and fixed up the
meeting for to-night," he said. "They'll be ready to give you a
hearing, after supper, in the hotel."
Laura left them on the outskirts of the settlement, and Gordon,
stopping a moment, looked hard at Nasmyth.
"I suppose you pledged yourself to that girl at Bonavista before you
came away?" he said.
"I did," Nasmyth admitted.
Gordon was silent for a moment or two. "Of course, I partly expected
it," he observed. "In fact, when I was talking to Miss Waynefleet
about you, I ventured to predict something of the kind."
The two men looked at each other for a moment, and then Nasmyth
smiled.
"You haven't anything else to say," he suggested.
"No," answered Gordon,--"at least, nothing that's very material.
Anyway, until we're through with the business we have on hand, you'll
have to put that girl right out of your mind."
They went on towards the little wooden hotel, and Nasmyth felt
unusually thoughtful as he walked beside his jaded horse. He
recognized that his comrade's last observation was more or less
warranted, and it was to some extent a relief to him when they reached
the veranda stairway and Gordon led the horse away toward the
stables.
It was rather more than an hour later when a specially invited company
of men who had, as they said, a stake in the district assembled in the
big general room of the hotel. There was about a dozen of them, men of
different birth and upbringing, though all had the same quiet brown
faces and steadiness of gaze. For the most part, they were dressed in
duck, though Waynefleet and the hotel-keeper wore city clothes. The
room was barely furnished, and panelled roughly with cedar-boards; but
it had wide casements, from which those who sat in it could look out
upon a strip of frothing river and the sombre forest that rolled up
the rocky hills. The windows were wide open, and the smell of
wood-smoke and the resinous odours of the firs flowed in. A look of
expectancy crept into the men's faces, and the murmur of their
conversation suddenly fell away, when Nasmyth sat down at the head of
the long table with Gordon at one side of him.
"Boys," said Nasmyth, "one or two of you know why Gordon asked you
here to meet me, but I had better roughly explain my project before I
go any further. I'll ask you to give me your close attention for the
next three or four minutes."
When he stopped speaking there was a very suggestive silence for a
moment. Those who heard him had not the quick temperament of the men
of the Western cities. They lived in the stillness of the Bush, and
thought before they undertook anything, though, when they moved, it
was usually to some purpose. One of the men stood up with a
deprecatory gesture.
"Well," he declared, "it's a great idea. Boys, wouldn't you call us
blame fools for not thinking of it before?"
He sat down suddenly, before anybody answered him, and the men were
still again until another of them rose.
"Nasmyth's not quite through yet," he said. "We'll ask him to go
ahead."
Gordon leaned forward, and touched his comrade's arm.
"Pitch it to them strong. You're getting hold," he whispered
encouragingly.
For another five minutes Nasmyth spoke as he felt that he had never
spoken before. He was intent and strung up, and he knew that a great
deal depended upon the effect he could make. He had failed with the
men of the cities, who wanted all the profit. He felt sure that he
would henceforward have one or two of them against him, and it was
clear that he must either abandon his project or win over these
hard-handed men of the Bush. With them behind him, there was, he felt,
little that he need shrink from attempting. A ring crept into his
voice as he went on, for he knew that he was getting hold as he saw
their lips set and the resolute expression of their eyes. They were
men who, by strenuous toil, wrung a bare living out of the forest, and
now there was laid before them a scheme that in its sheer daring
seized upon their attention.
"Boys," Nasmyth concluded, "I am in your hands. This thing is too big
for me to go into alone. Still, it's due to you to say that, while I
meant to give you an option of standing in, it seemed to me it would
simplify the thing if I raised most of the money before I came to you.
Money is usually scarce in the Bush."
"That's a fact," agreed the shrewd-faced hotel-keeper, who also
conducted the store. "Anyway, when you have to trade with folks who
take twelve months to square up their bills in."
Nobody seemed to heed him, and Nasmyth added:
"Well, I found I couldn't do it--that is, if I wanted to keep anything
for myself. I want you to come in, and as soon as I hear you're ready
to give it your attention, I'll lay a proposition before you."
He sat looking at them, in a state of tense anxiety, until one of them
rose to his feet.
"I guess you can count upon every one of us," he announced.
A reassuring murmur ran along the double row of men, and Nasmyth felt
a thrill of exultation.
"Thank you, boys," he said with evident gratitude. "Now, there are
difficulties to be grappled with. To begin with, the Crown authorities
would sooner have leased the valley to me, and it was some time before
they decided that as a special concession they would sell it in six
hundred and forty acre lots at the lowest figure for first-class
lands. The lots are to be laid off in rectangular blocks, and as the
valley is narrow and winding, that takes in a proportion of heavy
timber on the hill bench, and will not include quite a strip of
natural prairie, which remains with the Crown. The cost of the land
alone runs close on twenty thousand dollars, of which, one way or
another, I can raise about eight thousand."
He looked at Wheeler, who sat near the lower end of the table, and he
nodded.
"My offer stands," he said.
"You want another twelve thousand dollars," said the hotel-keeper
dubiously. "It's quite a pile of money."
There was a little laughter from the men. "Well," said one of them, "I
guess we can raise it somehow among us, but it's going to be a pull."
"Then," said Nasmyth, "we have provided for the cost of the land, but
before we lower the fall and cut the drainage trenches in the valley
we will run up a big bill--that is, if we hire hands. My notion is
that we undertake the work ourselves, and credit every man with his
share in it to count as a mortgage on the whole land that belongs to
us."
Waynefleet stood up and waved his hand. "I want to point out that this
is very vague," he objected. "The question will arise where the labour
is to be applied. It would, for instance, be scarcely judicious to
give a man a claim on everybody else for draining his own land."
He would have said more, but that Tom of Mattawa laid a hard hand on
his shoulder and jerked him back into his chair.
"Now," Tom admonished, "you just sit down. When Nasmyth takes this
thing in hand he'll put it through quite straight. What you'd do in a
month wouldn't count for five dollars, anyway."
Everybody laughed, and Wheeler spoke again. "We'll get over that
trouble by cutting so many big trenches only for the general benefit.
In the meanwhile Mr. Nasmyth said something about trustees."
"I did," said Nasmyth. "The Crown will sell in rectangular six hundred
and forty acre blocks. My proposition is that we take them up in three
separate names. You have to understand that the man who registers in
the Crown deed is legal owner."
"Then we're sure of two of them," declared the hotel-keeper. "Nasmyth
takes the first block, and Wheeler the other."
Wheeler laughed. "I guess I stand out. As a United States citizen, I'm
not sure I'm eligible to record Crown lands. Still, since Nasmyth and
I are putting up a good many of the dollars, I'll nominate Gordon."
As one man they decided on that, but there appeared to be a difficulty
about the third trustee until Nasmyth turned to them.
"As you don't seem sure about him, I would like to suggest Mr.
Waynefleet, boys," he said. "He is a man who has an extensive
acquaintance with business and legal affairs."
There was dead silence for several moments, and the men looked at one
another uneasily. It was evident that the suggestion was unwelcome to
most of them, and Nasmyth was quite aware that he was doing an
unpopular thing. In the meanwhile dusk had crept up the valley, and
the room was growing dim. Perhaps Waynefleet could not see his
companions' faces very well, but it is also possible that, had he been
able to do so, he would not have troubled himself about the hesitation
in most of them. There are men of his kind who appear incapable of
recognizing the fact that they are not regarded with general favour.
Finally one of the men spoke. "Seeing that the scheme is Nasmyth's, I
guess it's only reasonable to fall in with his views as far as we
can," he said. "We'll fix on Waynefleet."
There was a murmur of very dubious agreement, and Waynefleet, who
stood up, smiled on the assembly patronizingly. His manner suggested
that he was about to confer a favour.
"Our friend was warranted in mentioning that I have been accustomed to
handling affairs of a somewhat similar nature, but of considerably
greater magnitude," he said. "I have pleasure in placing what
abilities I possess at your disposal, gentlemen."
Though it was growing dark, Nasmyth saw the amused light in Gordon's
eyes. "I'm with you in this," said Gordon. "Still, I scarcely figured
the boys would have stood him."
They discussed the scheme at length, and when the assembly broke up,
Waynefleet approached the table where Gordon, Nasmyth and Wheeler sat
under a big lamp.
"There is a point I did not mention at the time. It seemed to me it
was one that could, perhaps, be arranged," said Waynefleet. "It is, of
course, usual for a director of any kind to hold a certain financial
interest in the scheme."
He looked at Nasmyth, and made a significant gesture. "Unfortunately
there are not at the moment more than a very few dollars at my
disposal. The fact, you will recognize, is likely to hamper my efforts
in an administrative capacity."
"Precisely!" said Nasmyth. "It is a matter I have provided for. You
will be placed in possession of a holding of the size the others fixed
upon as convenient when the blocks are divided off."
"No larger?"
"No," answered Nasmyth; "I am afraid you will have to be content with
that."
Waynefleet went out, and Gordon turned to Nasmyth. "It's going to cost
you something," he said. "You can't charge it on the scheme. I'll
divide it with you."
There was a slight restraint in Nasmyth's manner. "I'm afraid I can't
permit it. It will be charged against my claim. Considering
everything, it was a thing I felt I had to do."
Then Wheeler, who had been quietly watching them, broke in.
"What did you put that image up for, anyway?" he asked.
Gordon smiled in a significant fashion. "It's our friend's affair, and
I guess he's not going to tell you why he did it. Still, in one sense,
I 'most think it was up to him."
Wheeler let the matter drop, and in a few more minutes they went out,
and Nasmyth and Gordon turned into the trail that led to Gordon's
ranch.