LISLE TURNS AUTOCRAT
On the morning after his arrival, Lisle called the company together and
first of all addressed Millicent.
"It's your wish that I should act as guide to this expedition?"
Millicent answered in the affirmative and he went on:
"The guide must be commander-in-chief, with undisputed authority. Before
we start, I must ask if any one objects to that?"
They gave him full power, with acclamation, and he nodded.
"Well," he continued, "I'd better explain that the main difficulty
attending any expedition into an almost uninhabited region is to keep it
supplied with food and means of shelter; it's a question of transport.
There are two ways of getting over the difficulty--by reducing the
weight, or by increasing the number of packers; and the latter are useful
only when each man can transport more than will satisfy his personal
requirements. I think that's clear?"
They assented with some curiosity mixed with a slight uneasiness.
"Then," he proceeded, "I'll exercise my authority by asking you to lay
out in front of each tent everything you have brought with you."
"Including our clothes?" Bella asked.
"Assuredly," said Crestwick. "You can put them in a heap; it's the
quantity and not the cut that counts."
It was evident that the leader's first instructions were received with
little favor. Millicent looked dubious and Miss Hume alarmed; but the
orders were carried out, and Lisle accompanied by Crestwick made a tour
of inspection. Stopping in front of Bella's and Carew's tent, he pointed
to their rather imposing pile of baggage.
"Two-thirds of this will have to be left behind, though we'll try to pick
it up again. You can make your selection." He went on to Millicent's and
Miss Hume's collection. "We can't take more than half of this," he
informed them. Then he addressed the company in general. "The three
ladies must occupy Miss Gladwyne's tent, and the men Carew's; Nasmyth's
must be abandoned. Each man's outfit must be cut down to one change of
clothes and his blanket."
The announcement was received with open murmurs. They had all been
accustomed to every comfort with which a high civilization could provide
them; they had already cut down their belongings to the lowest limit at
which, in their estimation, life could be made endurable; and many of the
articles they were told must be left behind were costly and artistic. It
was a severe test of obedience and even Nasmyth, who knew the wilderness,
desiring to safeguard the women, was not inclined to yield. Lisle had
only Crestwick to support him until Bella touched his arm.
"Stand fast," she urged, somewhat to his surprise. "If you give way an
inch now, you'll be sorry."
Lisle smiled and then raised his voice.
"I'm afraid I must insist. Since you object, Carew, are you willing to
carry forty pounds upon your back while you break a trail through thick
timber, where we find it needful to leave the water?"
"Certainly not," said Carew decidedly.
"Then," Lisle advised dryly, "you had better leave as much as possible of
the weight behind; there's no likelihood of our getting more packers. You
have to choose between a camp-chair or a suitcase, for example, and your
daily dinner."
For a moment or two they hesitated. Lisle had, straining his new
authority to the utmost, asked them a very hard thing, for in their
regard some degree of luxury was less an accidental favor than a
prescriptive right. Then Bella took up a long garment and with a little
resolute gesture flung it from her.
"That," she laughed, "is the first sacrifice to the stern guardians of
the wilds. It ought to satisfy them, considering who made it and what it
cost." She seized a small valise and hurled it after the dress. "There's
the next; I'm thankful my complexion will stand the weather."
Millicent looked up at Lisle, indicating a small easel, a bulky
sketch-book, and a box of water-colors.
"Are these to go?" she asked with indignant eyes.
"No," he answered gravely; "they're the reason for the whole expedition,
and their transport is provided for. But you'll have to jettison
something else."
The selections were made and Lisle summoned one of the packers.
"Roll these things up in Mr. Nasmyth's tent, Pete," he bade him. "You'll
have to make a cache of them."
"Like burying money, isn't it?" remarked the man, regarding the pile of
sundries with a grin. "Guess they won't be worth much when they're dug up
again."
Half an hour later, three deeply-laden canoes left the beach; and all day
the party paddled up the gleaming lake and crept with poles going up a
slow, green river. Sunset was near when they landed and ate supper among
a clump of cedars; and after the meal most of them, cramped with the
canoe journey, climbed the steep hill-bench or strolled away along the
shingle. Lisle was lying, smoking, beside the fire when Millicent
sauntered toward him and sat down upon a neighboring stone.
"You were right, of course," she apologized. "Am I forgiven? It was only
a momentary revolt."
He smiled, though his bronzed coloring deepened, for there was an unusual
gentleness in her voice.
"It was very natural," he replied. "I had expected more determined
opposition; but I didn't go farther than was necessary."
"No; I think the others realize that now."
"They'll be more convinced of it later," he responded with a trace of
grimness.
"I don't think they'll give you any trouble; but since you got rid of
Nasmyth's tent, where will you and Crestwick sleep?"
"Jim and I can make a shelter of some kind; we're used to the bush."
"What have you done to the lad?" Millicent asked. "I can hardly realize
the change in him; he's a different being."
"I've merely given him a chance he would hardly have had in England. The
country has done the rest. You can ask him how much advice or
admonishment he got."
"Oh," she explained, "I shouldn't expect you to give him advice; it's
cheap!"
He made no reply, and her eyes rested with quiet approval on his rather
embarrassed face. She had no doubt that close contact with this man had
had more to do with the change in Crestwick than the influence of the
country; and then she recollected that the lad's degeneration had been
marked and rapid while he had taken Clarence for a model. It was a
troublesome thought and she banished it with an effort.
"You didn't get here without difficulty; and our journey will keep you
away from your business for some time," she observed.
"As to that, I've earned a little leisure; and I've been looking forward
to this trip ever since I left England. Now it's almost like being back
there again, only that in some ways it's even better."
So far as their surroundings might explain his satisfaction, Millicent
could frankly agree with him. The black spires of the cedars, towering
far above them, cut in rigid tracery against the splendors of the sunset
sky; one stretch of the river still shone with a saffron light; the rest,
which had grown dim, flowed through deepening shadow. Filmy mist trails
streaked the rugged hills and the hoarse clamor of a rapid quivered in
the cool air. Behind it all, there was something that set the lonely
scene apart from any other that the girl had looked upon--one could
realize that this was as yet an untamed and unsullied region. But her
companion was accustomed to the wilderness, so there must be, she
thought, another cause for his content.
"I am glad you do not grudge the time you may have to spend with us," she
said.
"Grudge it!" he exclaimed; and then, restraining himself, he broke into a
soft laugh. "You may accuse me of that feeling when you hear me grumble."
The ring in his voice had its meaning and it left her thoughtful. The
revelation was not altogether new; she had guessed his regard for her,
but she imagined that she could hold him at arm's length if it were
necessary. It was with him as it was with Nasmyth, and they were alike in
their self-restraint. Nasmyth had quietly accepted his dismissal when she
had shown him that it was irrevocable; and the Canadian would not trouble
her with futile complaints. She wondered if out of three suitors she had
not chosen the least desirable in some respects; but this could not be
admitted and she resolutely thrust the idea aside.
"There's a point I'd better mention," Lisle resumed in a matter-of-fact
tone. "I'm not going to follow the route of the first expedition from the
beginning. I've thought of a shorter and easier one; we'll strike the
other by the big portage and then follow it down."
"Are you afraid of wearing out your untried followers?"
"Well," he admitted, "I'm taking no risks that can be avoided this
journey."
She smilingly commended his caution, though she was conscious of a
desire, which must be held in check, to see what he would do if he could
be shaken out of his self-control. She approved of his restraint, because
only while it was exerted could she meet him on friendly terms; but, as
had happened on his last afternoon in England, it piqued her. She
wondered how much it cost him.
"After all," she said with a forced laugh, "it's better to keep carefully
clear of danger."
"Yes," he agreed; "but there's now and then a temptation to face the
hazard. One feels that it's worth while."
"Never mind that. I think I'd rather enjoy the wildness of this scene
than to philosophize. Tell me about the bear and deer we are likely to
come across."
He discoursed at length, and she sat listening while the light faded and
the cedars grew blacker. Then the others approached and they went back to
camp.
"Breakfast will be at seven prompt," he informed them. "The packers will
strike tents while you eat, so have everything ready. There are two
awkward portages to be tackled to-morrow."
They started in a clammy mist which clung about them until they reached
the foot of the first wild rapid, where the green and white flood came
roaring over ledges and between huge boulders, with wisps of spray
tossing over it. This was Millicent's first sight of the river in anger,
and she watched, at first almost appalled and then thrilled with strong
excitement, when Lisle and one packer took the leading canoe up the
lowest rush. They stood upright in the unloaded, unstable craft, long
pole in hand, guiding her with what seemed wonderful skill across
madly-whirling eddies and through tumbling foam, while Nasmyth and
another man, floundering deep in water, assisted them at intervals with
the tracking-line. Once Nasmyth's companion lost his footing and
disappeared, but he rose and Millicent saw that instead of clinging to
the line for safety he loosed it, and swimming down a wild white tumult,
came dripping ashore. This, she thought, was bracing work that made for
more than physical vigor; but she could not imagine Clarence indulging in
it. It was too elemental, too barbarous for him. He was fond of exertion
in the form of sport, but he required somebody to saddle and lead out his
horse and to load his second gun. There was a difference between him and
those who delighted to grapple at first hand with nature.
She was astonished to see Crestwick get a heavy flour bag upon his back
and move away with it over very rough stones, and she joined in Bella's
laugh when Carew attempted to shoulder another and dropped it.
"It's the first time he's ever tried such a thing in his life," Bella
remarked. "There's nothing like personal experience. You don't realize
that it isn't easy when you give a porter sixpence to lift your biggest
trunk at a station."
"The difference is that the porter's used to it," Carew, who was
red-faced and breathless, pointed out.
"It looks as if that would apply to you before we've finished," Bella
retorted. "If you can't do anything else, why don't you help those men in
the river?"
Carew made a gesture of resignation and resolutely plunged in.
"That," laughed Bella, to Millicent and Miss Hume, "is excellent
discipline; after a little of it, I believe he'll do me credit. I can
think of a few overfed men that I'd like to put through a drastic course
of it, only in their case I'd go in the canoe and take my heaviest
luggage with me."
"It wouldn't be wise," asserted Millicent. "When they reached broken
water they'd probably let you go."
She collected an armful of odds and ends and set off up-stream over the
portage. The men spent several hours bringing the canoes and stores
across, and there followed some laborious poling before they reached the
second rapid, which was safely passed. The party was quieter than usual
after supper that night. They had had their first glimpse of the
strenuous life of the wilderness and it had impressed them. The effect
passed off, however, as they pushed on day after day without mishap.
Millicent, in particular, delighted in all she saw--the fresh green of
the birches among the somber cedars, the lonely heights that ever
surrounded them, the gleaming lakes, the broad green flood that here and
there filled the gorges with its thunder.
She suffered no discomfort she could not laugh at; there was something
that braced her in mind and body in the mountain air; and Clarence no
longer held a leading place in her memory. She realized now that the
thought of him had hitherto occasioned her a vague uneasiness. Indeed,
she was almost glad that he was far away; liberty was unexpectedly sweet,
and though she had a few misgivings, she meant to enjoy it while it
lasted.
Then one afternoon when they were stopped by a fall, she slipped away
from the others with her sketch-book, and wandering back through
straggling bush, climbed a rocky ridge. The ascent was steep, but by
clambering up a gully she reached the summit, and after strolling along
it she sat down to sketch the gorge below. The work absorbed her
attention and some time had passed when the lengthening shadows warned
her that she would better retrace her steps to camp.
It proved difficult. She could not find the gully she had climbed up and
the side of the ridge was almost precipitous and was clothed with
brushwood. At last, however, she reached a spot from which it seemed
possible to make the descent; but after scrambling and sliding for some
distance she was suddenly stopped by a sheer drop of several yards to a
ledge. Being agile, she might have reached the ledge by lowering herself
by her hands, but it was narrow and slanted outwards, so that she feared
to slip off in alighting and fall over the crag below. She attempted to
climb back to the summit and found it impossible, for the stones she
seized were loose and came away when she disturbed them. She could only
stay where she was and call for assistance, though the clamor of the
fall, ringing up the valley, almost drowned her voice.
By and by the sunlight faded off the rocks above, the trees below grew
shadowy, and Millicent began to feel anxious and to envy the others who
would, no doubt, be sitting down to their evening meal. They would miss
her and set out in search; but they might not reach her until it was
dark, when it would be difficult to extricate her, and she had no desire
to spend the night among the rocks. She made another determined attempt
to get up, but slid back, nearly slipping over the edge, while her
sketch-book went clattering far below. Then she sat still, calling out at
intervals.
The light grew dimmer, white mists began to trail about the heights
above, and Millicent was getting cold. She was also getting angry--it
looked as if the others were too busy eating or talking to care what had
become of her; some of them ought to have come in search. She felt a
grievance against Lisle in particular. Why she should blame him more than
Nasmyth or Carew was not very clear, except that he was more used to the
country; but she felt that he ought to have come to her rescue. Then,
fearing that she would have to spend the night on the hillside, she
carefully crept toward a small level space near a jutting rock and sat
down, shivering, while dusk slowly crept across the bush.