TWO MEN OF THE NORTH
North, south, east, west. There was, perhaps, no better known name in
the wide northern wilderness than that of John Kars. In his buoyant
way he claimed for himself, at thirty-two, that he was the "oldest
inhabitant" of the northland.
Nor was he without some justification. For, at the age of thirteen,
accompanying his father, he had formed one of the small band of gold
seekers who fought their way to the "placers" of Forty-mile Creek years
before the great Yukon rush.
He was one of those who helped to open the gates of the country. His
child's muscles and courage had done their duty beside those of far
older men. They had taken their share in forcing the icy portals of a
land unknown, and terror-ridden. He had endured the agony of the first
great battle against the overwhelming legions of Nature. He had
survived, all unprepared and without experience. It was a struggle
such as none of those who came later were called upon to endure. For
all that has been told of the sufferings of the Yukon rush they were
incomparable with those which John Kars had been called upon to endure
at an age when the terror of it all might well have overwhelmed him.
But he had done more than survive. Good fortune and sanity had been
his greatest assets. The first seemed to have been his all through.
Sanity only came to him at the cost of other men's experience. For all
his hardihood he was deeply human. The early temptations of Leaping
Horse had appealed to the virile youth in him. He had had his falls.
But there was something in the blood of the youth which quickly
convinced him of the folly of the life about him. So he, to use his
own expression, "quit the poultry ranch" and "hit the bank roll trail,"
and good fortune followed hard behind him like a faithful spouse.
He became rich. His wealth became a byword. And later, when, out of
disorder and vice, the city of Leaping Horse grew to capital
importance, he became surfeited with the accumulations of wealth which
rolled in upon him from his manifold interests.
Then it was that the man which the Yukon world now knew suddenly
developed. He could have retired to the pleasant avenues of
civilization. He could have entered public life in any of the great
capitals of the world. But these things had no appeal for him.
The battle of the trail had left a fever in his blood. He was smitten
with the disease of Ishmael. Then, before all, and above all, he
counted the northland his home. So, when everything the world could
yield him lay at his feet, the drear, silent north trail only knew him.
His interests in the golden world of Leaping Horse were left behind
him, while he satisfied his passion in the far hidden back countries
where man is a mere incident in the world's unbroken silences.
Oh, yes, his quest was gold, frankly gold. But not in relation to
values. He sought gold for the joy of search, to provide excuse. He
sought gold for the romance of it, he sought it because adventure lay
in the track of virgin gold as it lies nowhere else. Besides, the
battle of it suited the man's hardihood.
Once, to his philosopher friend, Dr. Bill Brudenell of Leaping Horse,
he said, "Life's just a shanty most every feller starts right in to set
up for himself. And I guess more than half of 'em couldn't set two
bricks right. It seems to me if you're going to make life a reasonable
proposition you need to start in from the beginning of things, and act
the way you see clearest. It's no use groping around in a fog just
because folks reckon it's up to you to act that way. If you can't set
two bricks right, then set one. Anyway, do the things you can do, and
don't kick because you can't do more. The trail I know. Gold I know.
The Yukon I know. Then what's the use in quittin' it fer something I
don't know, and don't care a cuss for anyway?"
This was the man, simple, direct. Wealth meant nothing to him. It was
there. It sometimes seemed like snowing him under. He couldn't help
it. Life was all he wanted. The life he loved, the life which gave
him room in which to stretch his great body. The life which demanded
the play of his muscles of steel. The life which absorbed every mental
faculty in its simple preservation. He was, as Bill once said: "A
primitive, an elemental creature, a man destined for the altar of the
gods of the wilderness when the sands of his time ran out."
What wonder then that Jessie Mowbray's eyes should shine with a light
such as only one man can inspire.
Her delight was unrestrained as the flotilla drew near, and she
descried the familiar figure of its leader. Then came the ringing
greeting across the water. Nor could the manner of her response be
mistaken. Murray saw, he heard and understood. And so the fixity of
his smiling greeting which completely masked his feelings.
John Kars' manner owed nothing to convention. But it was governed by a
sureness of touch, a perfect tact, and a great understanding of those
with whom he came into contact. To him man was simply man. Woman was
just woman. The latter claimed the last atom of his chivalrous regard
at all times. The former possessed only the distinction which his
qualities entitled him to.
He grasped the warm, soft hand outheld to him as he leaped out of his
canoe. The girl's shining eyes looked up into his bronzed, clean-cut
features with the confidence of one who understands the big spirit
stirring behind them. She listened responsively to the simple greeting
which fell so naturally from his firm lips.
"Say, it's good to see you all again. Home?" He glanced swiftly round
at the scene about them. "This is home, I guess." Then he laughed.
"The other," he went on, with a backward jerk of the head to indicate
Leaping Horse, whence he had just come, "why, the other's just a sort
of dumping ground for the waste left over--after home's finished with
things. Bill, here, don't feel that way. He guesses we're on an
unholy vacation with home at the other end. You can't get the same
sense out of different heads."
He turned to Murray with a cordiality which was only less by reason of
the sex of its object. "And Murray, too. Well, say, it's worth while.
It surely is."
The trader's response was all sufficient. But his smile contained no
added warmth, and his hand-shake lacked the grip it received.
In five minutes John Kars had made his explanations. But they were
made to Jessie. Murray was left on the fringe of their talk.
He told her in his rapid, easy fashion that he was out for the whole
open season. That he'd practically had to kidnap Bill from his beloved
Leaping Horse. That his old friend was just recovering from his
consequent grouch, and, anyway, folks mustn't expect anything more than
common civility from him as yet. He said that he hoped to make Fort
Wrigley on the Mackenzie River some time in the summer, and maybe even
Fort Simpson. But that would be the limit. By that time, he guessed
Bill would have mutinied and probably murdered him. He said he hoped
to appease the said Doctor with a good bag of game. But even that was
problematical, as Bill had never been known to hit anything smaller
than a haystack in his life.
So he talked with the daughter of his old friend Allan Mowbray, knowing
of the man's murder by the Indians, but never by word or sign reminding
the girl of her loss.
Meantime Bill Brudenell deliberately completed the work of
superintending the "snugging" of the canoes for the night. He heard
his friend's charges, and smiled his retorts with pointed sarcasm. And
Jessie understood, for she knew these two, and their great friendship.
And Dr. Bill--well, she regarded him as a sort of delightful uncle who
never told her of her faults, or recommended his own methods of
performing the difficult task of getting through life successfully.
When all was ready they moved off the landing towards the Mission
clearing.
Ailsa Mowbray was preparing supper. The scones were nearly ready in
the oven, and she watched them with a skilful eye.
She looked still older in her moments of solitude. The change in her
wrought by the last seven months must have been heart-breaking to those
who had not seen her since that dreadful night of tragedy. But her
spirit was unimpaired. There were her two children left, and a
merciful Providence had bestowed upon her a world of maternal devotion.
For all her grief, she had not been entirely robbed of that which made
life possible. Her husband lived again in the children he had blessed
her with.
Had she so chosen she might have severed herself forever from the life
which had so deeply wounded her. Her fortune made it possible to seek
comfort in the heart of the world's great civilization. But the
thought of it never entered her simple head. She was a born housewife.
The love of her home, and its care, was part of her. That home which
had yielded her her greatest joys and her greatest trial.
Sometimes the thought would obtrude that Jessie deserved something more
than the drear life of the northland. But the girl herself dispelled
these thoughts. Like her mother, she had no desire beyond the home she
had always known.
When Jessie hurried into the spotless kitchen her mother glanced
quickly up from her cook-stove.
"What is it?" she demanded, at the sight of the eager eyes and parted
lips. "You're----" She broke off with a smile. "There, child," she
added, "you don't need to tell it. Your face does that. John Kars has
come up the river."
The girl flushed scarlet. Her eyes were horrified.
"Why, mother," she cried dismayed, "am I so easy to read? Can--can
anybody read me like--you can?"
The mother's eyes were very tender.
"I don't believe John Kars can anyway," she said reassuringly. "You
see, he's a man. Is he coming along over?"
Jessie's relief was as obvious as her momentary dismay. The flush of
shame faded from her pretty cheeks. Her eyes were again dancing with
delight.
"Why, sure, mother," she cried. "He's coming right over--after they've
fixed things with Father José. I don't think they'll be to supper.
Dr. Bill's with him, of course. And say, aren't they just two dears?
To see them together, and hear their fool talk, you'd think them two
kids instead of two of the big men of the country. It must be good to
keep a heart so young all the time. I think, mother, they must be good
men. Real good men. I don't mean like Father José. But the sort who
do things square because they like square living. I--I wish they lived
here all the time. I--I don't know which I like best."
"I do."
The mother set the scones on the table and glanced over it with
approving eyes. The girl's protest came swiftly but playfully.
"Be quiet, you mother dear," she cried, her ready blushes mounting
again. "Don't you dare to say--things. I----"
The mother only smiled the more deeply.
"Best go and round Alec up. Supper's ready."
But the girl hesitated.
"He's at the barns fixing his outfit with Keewin," she said. "He
reckons to break trail in a few days. Say, Murray's gone across to
Father José with them. Will I get him, too?" Then she added
thoughtfully, "Do you know, mother, I don't think Murray's glad to see
John Kars. He's sort of quiet with him around. I don't know. I don't
reckon he likes him. I wonder why?"
The mother's eyes searched her daughter's face. Her smile must have
been full of meaning for any one less simple than the girl before her.
"There's no accounting the way men feel for each other," she said at
last. "Maybe Murray guesses John Kars is butting into our trade.
Maybe he's anxious to keep the country to ourselves. You see, these
folks aren't traders, and we are."
The girl became indignant at once.
"But he's no right to feel that way," she cried. "The country's free.
It's big enough for us all. Besides, if John Kars isn't a trader,
where's the trouble? I think Murray's mean. That's all."
The mother shook her head.
"Best go and call the men-folk," she said, in her direct fashion.
"Murray can see to his likes and dislikes the same as he can see to
most things he's set on." Then she smiled. "Anyway, I don't suppose
it figgers any with you around. John Kars isn't likely to suffer from
it."
Just for one instant the girl's eyes answered the mother's gentle
challenge. Then she went off firing her parting shot over her shoulder
as she vanished through the doorway.
"I've always thought Murray mean--for--for all his fat smile. I--just
hate meanness."
Ailsa Mowbray was startled. Nothing could have startled her more. In
all the years of their association with Murray she had never before
heard so direct an expression of dislike from either of her children.
It troubled her. She had not been blind to Alec's feelings. Ever
since the boy had grown to manhood she had known there had been
antagonism between them. She was never likely to forget the scene on
the night her husband's appeal for help reached her. But Jessie.
She was disquieted. She was wondering, too. And, wondering, the
memory of her promise to Murray rose up threateningly before her. She
turned slowly back to the stove for no definite purpose, and, so
turning, she shook her head.
Later, Jessie returned, the last sign of her ill-humor completely gone.
Behind her came the two men of her mother's household. And so the
evening meal progressed to its conclusion.
Later still Father José and his two visitors foregathered in the
hospitable living-room, and, for the time at least, Ailsa Mowbray gave
no further thought to her disquiet, or to the appeal Murray had made to
her.