RAPPROCHEMENT
The train roared away into the night on its long trail to the West, the
noise of it lessening to a rumble off among the never-ending waste of
trees and rock ridges. Gradually the little night birds recovered from
their fright and their plaintive chorus resumed among the swamp grasses
and underbrush.
Kendrick had landed luckily and except for the shaking up and a few
bruises he was little the worse for his tumble. Still sitting where he
had plowed up the ballasting, he rubbed his arm tenderly and tried to
penetrate the gloom, his eyes not yet accustomed to the starlight after
the bright interior of the observation car. With his suitcase receding
at the rate of thirty miles an hour this was going to be a fine pickle
as a result of his haste! They were miles from Nowhere, he knew, but
that did not worry him much; he was used to walking--had walked that
very piece of track with the Rutland party not so long ago. However,
there was the girl----
He scrambled to his feet, put his hands on either side of his mouth and
shouted. The unexpected loudness of the call startled him a little; it
went echoing around and in the dead solitude of the low-lying hills
seemed to carry for miles. But although he listened intently there was
no answer other than the echo which soon drifted far away and got lost
somewhere. The silence returned like a heavy blanket; even the little
birds listened in fear.
He called again. Again there was the echo; then the heavy silence.
"Funny," grumbled Phil. "She's either mighty badly hurt or she's
deliberately hiding on me. Where are you, Miss Wil----Miss Lawson, I
mean?" he shouted.
"--awson, I mean--mean," mocked the double echo. The bellow flung away
to distant cadences which settled softly into the night mysteries.
There was dankness in the air and the smell of skunk cabbage from a
short stretch of swamp and brule directly opposite. Through the velvet
gloom the fire-flies trailed. Rocky ridges were scattered around in
the background and high on the right was a huge rounded pile of rock
with a few white-stemmed birches clinging to it for all the world like
thinning gray hairs on an almost-bald head. It was too dark to see the
birches clearly, but the ex-chainman for the Rutland survey party knew
they were there and how they looked; he had seen hundreds of such
growths. Behind the big rock formation probably there was a lake.
Kendrick snatched up some pebbles and hurled them into the underbrush
in anger at those pesky little birds with their mournful monotony of
note. He knew she could not be far away and started down the track
slowly, scrutinizing the ground on each side. He found her at last,
lying very still among the bog reeds.
Gently he lifted her out onto the dry sandy ballast, greatly alarmed at
her unconsciousness, and went in search of water. He located a tiny
pool just off the right-of-way and realized for the first time that he
was hatless. Hastily he sat down and removing one of his boots, dipped
it in the water and came hobbling back with it as fast as he could go
in an attempt to reach her before it had leaked out. He was so intent
upon this that he was quite close before he realized that she was
sitting up. She greeted him with an exclamation.
"Good!" cried Phil with satisfaction. "That's the stuff!" He sat down
on the end of a sleeper embedded in the sand, and peered at her
anxiously; but the light was rather uncertain and he was glad to note
that eastward the tree-tops blackened against a silvering sky. The
arrival of the moon would help a lot. "How badly hurt are you, Miss
Lawson? Do you know that people have got killed, jumping from trains?"
he reproved.
"Then whatever possessed you to do it?" she retorted. "I am not dense
enough to believe it is just coincidence that you are here. You had no
business to follow me, Mr. Kendrick, and I resent it very much."
"At least credit me with a sincere desire to be of service to you, Miss
Lawson," said Phil, with a half humorous touch of opprobrium in his
tone.
"Are you in the habit of changing people's names to suit the dictates
of your own disordered fancy?" she demanded sarcastically. "I should
think you would find that very confusing."
"I do--sometimes, Miss Williams-Lawson."
"In these days of neurasthenia it is indeed refreshing to meet one of
such healthy nerve as you appear to possess," she said icily. "Since
you have chosen to play the bell-boy in this large country hotel in
which we find ourselves, I shall assume that I am now in my room and
that you have received your tip. In other words, that will be all,
_garçon_. I shall be able to manage very nicely, thank you. You may
go! I really mean that!"
"I hope you will not find it too drafty with the window open so wide,"
ventured Phil, standing up at once and bowing elaborately. "You will
find water just over the fence there and the passenger trains go by
twice a day with a supply of clean linen. I am sorry that I cannot
turn out the fireflies for you, but it is the strict rule for them to
burn all night. You may find some rather ambitious bugs in the ballast
of the road-bed; they belong to the order _Hemiptera_, and have beaked
or sucking mouths. For downright earnestness of purpose, however, I
would recommend the mosquitoes which will have the number of your room
shortly. If the growling of the bears in the woods disturbs you, all
you have to do is to light a fire in the very open grate."
"Are you trying to frighten me, Mr. Kendrick?"
"Sorry I can't ask you to ring if you want anything," Phil pursued with
exaggerated politeness, "but this is a pretty large hotel, as you said,
and I shall be about five miles away--at the Thorlakson siding where
breakfast is served at five-thirty. Good-night, madam."
"Pardon my presumption for making the suggestion, Mr. Kendrick," she
said sweetly as he bowed a second time and was turning away, "but with
a five-mile walk ahead of you, don't you think it would be advisable
to--put on your other boot?"
The moon, which had floated free of the tree-tops, was bathing their
faces and for an instant they gazed at each other with ponderous
gravity. Suddenly Phil sat down again and they joined in a peal of
laughter.
The echo of it was still knocking for admittance among the hills when a
strange wild laugh floated unexpectedly abroad from a point off to the
right. Involuntarily the girl shrank closer to him.
"For pity's sake!" she gasped. "What was that?"
"Just a loon on the lake over there--a harmless goose of a thing," and
Phil grinned at her reassuringly as he laced his boot. "But he isn't
as crazy as his laugh. That's just his way of singing 'I Hear You
Calling Me.'"
"Then give me John McCormack." He smiled as he caught her
surreptitiously opening the silver-meshed reticule and powdering her
nose, but pretended that he had not seen this bit of feminine
incongruity. "My, how still everything is!" she said a moment later in
a subdued voice as she swept a glance around at the silver landscape
and up at the stars, fixed and dim in the infinite leagues of distance.
"It would be possible to go crazy here very quickly, I suppose."
"You'd soon get used to the quiet; then the racket of the city would
drive you crazy. Say, speaking of wild geese, Miss Lawson, reminds me
that as soon as I learned where you had gone and what for, I followed
you to tell you that this is a wild-goose chase you're on. That
envelope contains a package of stage money. It's just a dummy,
prepared by Mr. Wade to duplicate the one stolen not long ago from the
Alderson Construction Company. Object: to fool that fellow, Podmore.
Before we make any more mistakes, hadn't we better try to understand
each other's position? As a starter I'm going to ask you to read this
letter from the Chief. Wait, I'll scratch a match for you."
Before this speech was half completed he had Miss Cristy Lawson's
undivided attention. She gazed at him in amazement, and as he shielded
the burning match with glow-reddened fingers her eyes raced eagerly
over the introduction of Mr. Philip Kendrick as the private secretary
of the President of the Canadian Lake Shores Railway with the latter's
full authority to act as his representative. There was no doubting the
authenticity of it.
To relieve her embarrassment Kendrick hastened to explain in detail.
It was only natural that she should have supposed him to be in league
with Podmore. Had he but known she was on that train he could have
told her everything and have saved her the inconveniences of the
present predicament; but he had supposed her to be already at her
destination.
She told him how her train had been held up by a freight wreck between
Toronto and North Bay; so that she had missed connections there and had
been forced to wait over for twenty-four hours.
"Hadn't we better be moving, Miss Lawson?" he suggested. "We'll have
to hoof it to Thorlakson's and it's a good five miles from here. We
can talk as we walk along."
He took her arm to assist her to her feet, but when she attempted to
stand up she sat down again so suddenly that Kendrick thought she was
going to faint.
"You are hurt!" he cried in alarm and was down beside her in a trice.
"Oh, it's nothing--just a turned ankle. It can't be very bad."
Nevertheless he would not let her stand on it until he had gone back to
the rill to dip in the cold water the sleeve which he tore from his
shirt; with this he bandaged the ankle tightly. As he steadied her to
her feet again he could see that in spite of her attempt to smile the
pain was acute for a moment. She tried the injured foot gingerly and
presently was able to limp without his support.
"There, you see! It's getting stronger every minute," she laughed.
"You are a brave girl," he said.
"You wouldn't say that if you knew how dreadfully frightened I am of
bugs. Are there really any bears in the woods here, Mr. Kendrick?"
She shuddered slightly in spite of herself.
"Bugbears!" growled Kendrick. "I apologize for that, Miss Lawson. I
should have known better. You're shivering," he cried with concern.
"Are you cold?"
"I am a li--ittle chi--illy," she admitted as she put a hand to her
chin to keep her teeth from chattering.
He grasped her other hand.
"It's like ice!" he reproached. "Why didn't you tell me? The nights
are cold in these northern latitudes even in summer, and I'm a proper
chump to have allowed you to sit still so long." He clucked his tongue
in self-abasement. "You're chilled right through."
In spite of her protests he took off his coat, slipped it across her
shoulders and tucked her arms into the sleeves. When he had buttoned
it and turned up the collar he locked arms with her and together they
hopped up the roadbed till they had to stop finally, out of breath with
exertion and laughter. But the exercise was warming and he kept her at
it for another few rods.
"How's that?"
"Warm--as toast," she panted. "Oh, what a picture!"
They had rounded a curve and found themselves unexpectedly opposite a
lake vista that lay steeped in the moonlight. It was from here the
loon had called. There was a chain of little lakes, clustered with
wide openings between. The shores were thickly wooded close down to
the water's edge and the land ran out in long arms that threw inky
shadows in sharp contrast to the panorama of silver water spaces. Out
in the centre was an islet where a great rock, rearing above the
surface, had gathered moss and a few clinging cedars, one of which
stood out in solitary silhouette against the bright sky. The scene was
like some artistic conception in black and white,--high lights and deep
shadows,--and the cold beauty of it held them silent.
"Isn't that a glorious moon? What a wonderful night it is!" she
breathed.
"Wonderful!" he agreed, but as he smiled at her he was not referring to
the landscape or the moon. Far be it from him to dispute the wonder of
a night the exigencies of which worked such magic in their
acquaintanceship. He gave her his arm to lean on and they limped off
up the track, each glad of the other's presence in the solitude that
encompassed them. The moon was well up above the rock ridges now, and
its white light was gleaming along the steel rails that stretched
lonesomely away into the miles of spruce and Laurentian outcroppings.
At her request he began at the beginning and related the happenings of
the past three weeks--at least, he began with his surveying experiences
along this very track. Then he told how he had encountered Podmore and
met the railroad president and about Wade's plan for discovering
certain facts concerning Podmore and Nickleby. He realized how
impossible it was for him to make first mention of what had happened on
that foggy night that he had paddled her across the bay; he was not
supposed to know that she was the girl and the bare thought of
introducing such a dangerous topic filled him with trepidation, so that
he was careful to give it a wide berth. He referred to the pleasant
evening he had spent with her father and the way in which he had found
out that she was both Miss Cristy Lawson and Miss Margaret Williams and
how he had backed Stiles into a corner and questioned him.
In her turn she told him how she had taken up her newspaper work in the
hope of unearthing, under the guidance of her editor, evidence that
would help to restore her father to his place at the head of the
Interprovincial Loan & Savings Company. McAllister, editor of the
_Recorder_, suspected a political deal in regard to some government
bids and thought that Nickleby and--and some others were mixed up in a
bold attempt at graft. If the _Recorder's_ plans did not miscarry
there would be a sensational exposure one of these days which would
shock the whole country.
She went on to speak of President Wade, of the Canadian Lake Shores
Railway, in the warmest terms. She had known him all her life as a
close friend of her father and he was a frequent visitor at the Lawson
home.
She stumbled on a cross-tie and would have fallen but for the strength
of his supporting arm. She winced a little.
"Here, Miss Lawson, try putting your arm across my back and your hand
on my left shoulder for a while. That's it."
With a thrill he slipped his arm about her waist, but she smiled up at
him without protest. They made better progress after that. The steel
rails streaked away in the moonlight endlessly before them, endlessly
behind with uncompromising sameness.
"I suppose I deserve a good scolding for jumping off the train so far
from this Thorlakson place; but the sleeping-car conductor told me the
train would not stop on any account, short of a damaged track, until it
reached--Indian Creek, I think he said it was. My best plan, he said,
was to get off there and ride back to Thorlakson on a handcar. I was
warned not to try any moving-picture stunts; but when I found out we'd
have to slow up on the grade near the siding, I made up my mind to risk
it. So when we slowed up back there, I thought it was the place, and
sneaked to the back platform without being seen by anyone but you."
Kendrick shook his head at her, marvelling at her nerve and the
foolishness of the whole thing. Not many girls would have dared it.
Lucky for her he had seen her or she might have been in a pretty bad
plight along these lonely reaches of track before any section hands
chanced to find her. He studied her anxiously and decided that it was
best to keep her talking while they trudged along.
"Will you tell me how you came to be masquerading as Miss Williams?" he
asked. "Or is that something you'd rather not----?"
"Oh, no," she laughed. "That was Mr. Wade's bright suggestion. You
know, he's been helping me in my work quite a lot. I have had to keep
Daddy in the dark about it for fear he'd put his foot down on the whole
thing; so I made a confidant of Mr. Wade."
"Then I've got a bone to pick with him," said Phil. "Why in the
dickens didn't he tell me about you being at Ferguson's office when we
were both on the same trail?"
"It's just like him not to, Mr. Kendrick. Probably he thought your
work and my own would not cross at all and the less either of us knew
about the other the safer it would be. Why, he even refused pointblank
to tell me what he was going to do with that money--the envelope--that
is----"
He saw that she hesitated as if she had said too much.
"You mean the fifty thousand dollars, stolen from the Alderson
concern?" asked Phil quickly. "I was going to ask you about that. You
mean that Mr. Wade _really_ has that money? You can trust me, Miss
Lawson. Surely you know that," he urged. "He said he was piecing
together a puzzle of some kind and would tell me all about it soon.
How did he come to have that money?"
She studied him keenly before she spoke.
"I gave it to him to take care of," she said slowly.
"You! And where did you get it?"
"From Jimmy Stiles."
"Jim--my Stiles? Great Scott! And where did he get it?"
"He--stole it."