graham was sitting on the veranda of his house at the landing after supper one evening when andrew joined him. the veranda was broad, and covered with mosquito-netting, and furnished with a table and one or two chairs; the wooden house was small but pretty. in front a plot of grass, kept green throughout the hot summer by an automatic sprinkler, ran, unfenced, to the edge of the dusty road. across this a belt of blackened fir stumps stretched back to the stacks of lumber by the sawmill, and beyond that the lake lay shining in the evening light.
a window was open and andrew could hear a girl singing. a rattle of crockery which suggested that mrs. graham was busy with domestic duties also reached him now and then; and a lad who had greeted him pleasantly as he passed sat on the nearest fir stump talking with a companion. graham seemed to indicate it all with a movement of his pipe as he turned to andrew.
"my world, mr. allinson," he said. "a happy one, but narrow."
"i feel inclined to envy you," andrew replied.
"i am to be envied; i admit it with gratitude." graham glanced half wistfully at a map on the table. "for all that, i remember the wide spaces up yonder now and then."
[pg 90]"if i were in your place, i wouldn't study that map too much."
"ah! it isn't an amusement that i often indulge in; but sometimes, when i've spent a week making up trumpery lumber bills or getting in five-dollar accounts, i find it a solace to recall what i used to do. however, i've inconsistently practised prudent self-denial in other ways. there was a moose head—a beast i shot—i took off its stand and gave to the institute; an old pair of snowshoes that hung above the mantel i gave my boy. he said they were very poor things and sadly out of date."
andrew glanced at the map and noticed the lines penciled across it. he felt that he was not acting considerately in tempting graham, but he could not resist.
"those marks show the marches you have made?" he asked.
graham laid his finger on the map, moving it from spot to spot.
"yes. i don't need a diary; i can see it all again. we started here one winter and made three hundred miles on half rations, with wind and snow ahead all the way. there we camped three days in a blizzard among a clump of willows, while the snow piled up six feet deep to lee of us. i made this line through a country new to me; two hundred miles over soft snow, with the dogs playing out and the timber wolves on my trail for the last few days. this lake ends in a big muskeg, and we snagged our canoe there one fall. as she'd ripped her bilge open, we left her and spent a day and a half floundering through two or three feet of water and tall reeds, and carrying loads of sixty pounds." he paused and indicated a line that[pg 91] broke off abruptly in a wide bare space. "the lode lies south of here, and i believe i'm the only survivor of the few who knew of it. one half-breed was drowned in a rapid, another lost in a blizzard; the agent, so i heard afterward, left the factory to visit some indians three or four miles off and they found him next day in a snowdrift, frozen to death."
"a grim country," andrew said thoughtfully, "one to make a man afraid, and yet——"
graham laughed, rather harshly.
"yes; i think you know! well, i'm glad that for twenty years i've mastered the longing and kept my head. now, however, my children have made a fair start, with prospects of going farther than i have done, and my responsibility is lightening. a winter up there would satisfy me—i'm afraid it would be all i could stand now—and though it's still out of the question, i've a feeling that a way may be found before i grow too old."
he rolled up the map resolutely and laid it aside, and soon afterward mrs. graham's voice reached them.
"bring mr. allinson in. it's getting chilly."
andrew rose and followed graham into his sitting-room. it was very small and there were signs of economy in its appointments, but it had a homelike charm. two or three sketches in color which showed some talent hung on the varnished board walls. the lamp, though obviously cheap, was of artistic design; the rug on the stained floor and the hangings were of harmonious hue. mrs. graham, a little, faded woman with a cheerful air, sat sewing at a table, and opposite her a girl was busy with some papers. both greeted andrew cordially, and a few minutes later the[pg 92] young man he had seen outside came in with a humorous tale he had heard.
he was a handsome lad, quicker of speech and more assertive than his father, and the girl, who now and then made a remark, had a decided air. though graham would occasionally talk without reserve, he was as a rule quiet and dreamy. it was not from him that his children had acquired a trace of the somewhat aggressive smartness which characterizes the inhabitants of the new western cities: he had more in common with the silent dwellers in the lonely wilds. these are, for the most part, sentimentalists of a kind; loving the wilderness, not for what can be made out of it, and untouched by the materialistic ideas of the towns, where the business chance is the chief thing sought. their gifts become most manifest when the ice breaks up on the rivers across which they must get the dog-sleds, and when all the powers of mind and body are taxed to traverse the frozen waste before starvation cuts short the march. it struck andrew that graham, dressed in shabby clothes, listening good-humoredly while his children talked, had somehow the look of a captive eagle, conscious of crippled wings, though the simile was a bad one because there was no predatory fierceness in him.
"one of you might shut the door," said mrs. graham. "the nights are getting colder fast; we'll soon have to light the basement heater." she turned to andrew. "this is a hard country in winter. i've seen the thermometer stand a week at fifty below."
"don't be scared, mr. allinson," laughed the lad, as he closed the door. "it's not often too fierce, and in a place like the landing there's generally something going on. will the frost interfere with your mining?"
[pg 93]"not underground," said andrew. "i understand that nothing can be done on the surface, but we expect to send off a good lot of ore for experimental reduction in the next week or two. then we'll have something to base our plans on."
"mappin's going to handle the transport, i guess. that man's surely on to a soft thing. i s'pose you know he's making his pile out of the rain bluff?"
mrs. graham glanced at her son in rebuke.
"i don't think you should talk to mr. allinson in that manner, jim. he's a good deal older and more experienced than you are."
"your ideas are out of date, mother; we've grown ahead of them. mr. allinson doesn't look as if he minded. anyway, he doesn't know as much as i do about the canadian contractor." he turned to andrew. "do you like it up yonder?"
"yes," andrew answered good-humoredly; "i like the work better than anything i remember having done."
"a matter of taste. now, i can't see much amusement in rolling rocks about or standing in wet slickers in a dark pit watching the boys punch the drills."
"mr. allinson is not doing it for amusement," said his mother.
"well, money isn't often made that way. you don't get rich by knowing how to use the hammer and giant-powder."
"i believe that's true," andrew responded with a smile.
"a sure thing! money is made by sitting tight in your office and hiring other fellows to do the rough work. they break up the rocks and cut the milling logs; you take the profit. it's business, first and last, for mine!"
[pg 94]"then it's fortunate there are people with different views," his sister interposed. "if nobody were willing to live in the logging camps all winter and go prospecting in the bush, you would be badly off."
"but so long as there are people who like doing that kind of thing, we're glad to let them."
"this is a favorite pose of his," the girl explained to andrew. "it's the latest fashion among the boys; they're afraid of being thought altruistic."
"now that everything is controlled by mergers and they make all we need so dear, one is forced to be practical," mrs. graham remarked feelingly. "for all that, it jars on me to hear our young people talk as they do."
"we're realists, with no use for sentiment," jim replied. "we don't let our imagination run away with us. it doesn't pay."
"you may be wrong in that," said andrew, smiling, "i'm not much of a philosopher, but it seems to me that imagination's now and then a useful thing. i've seen it help a man through tight places. take your prospectors, for example; they often face risks that couldn't be justified by a return in money. i heard of one fellow crossing a lake in a savage storm in a leaky canoe, to keep the time he'd allowed for his journey, because he wouldn't be beaten; and of another making two hundred miles on snowshoes with very little food, because a party he'd promised to meet was expecting him."
"that," said the lad, "is the kind of thing father would do; he's given to impractical idealism. there's a mine up in the barrens he has talked about as long as i remember; but if he found it i believe he'd be content with that and sell the claim to any one for a few hun[pg 95]dred dollars. getting yourself frozen for an abstract idea isn't good business."
graham laughed and changed the subject, and soon afterward andrew took his leave. he spent the next evening with frobisher, whom he had now visited several times, and on the following morning set out for the mine, where he worked very hard for a few weeks. they were still using the old adit, though the new one was being driven toward the lower level. then he and carnally left the camp in a canoe to hurry forward some stores and, after arranging for their quicker transport, stood on a little promontory, looking down the river, late one gloomy afternoon.
winter had set in with unusual rigor. the gray sky was barred with leaden cloud; the pines, which looked strangely ragged and somber, stood out with harsh distinctness against the first thin snow; and the river flowed, a dark-colored riband, through a clean-cut channel in the ice. a nipping wind blew down the gorge, and now and then light flakes of snow fell.
"we had better push on," carnally suggested. "it looks as if the messenger hadn't got through, and we'll hardly make the mine before midnight. there's heavy snow coming and we have no provisions or camp outfit."
"wait an hour," said andrew. "the smelter people promised to let me know the results they got and the letter was due yesterday. i'm anxious about the thing."
carnally agreed. they had sent out a quantity of ore for reduction, and particulars of the yield in refined metal would throw a useful light on the prospects of the mine. the last analysis of specimens selected to represent the bulk had not been encouraging, but this test was unsatisfactory because the ore was variable.
[pg 96]"let's get out of the wind," carnally said. "if i'd expected this kind of weather, i'd have brought my fur-coat along."
they found a sheltered spot among a clump of pines, where they sat down; but andrew felt disturbed and apprehensive. the company had spent money freely, the mine was expensive to work, and of late watson had grown morose and reserved. even when andrew pressed him, he had avoided giving his opinion. the report of the smelting company would, however, show how matters stood, and andrew looked out anxiously for the expected messenger.
it got dark, though they could still see the glimmer of the ice, and at length they heard a faint, regular splashing, made by canoe poles. a shout answered their hail, and when they ran down the bank a man came cautiously across the fringe of ice.
"here's your mail," he said, handing andrew some letters. "now that i've given it to you, we'll get back."
"won't you come on to the mine with us?"
"no, sir! it's steep chances you don't get there to-night and we can make a mappin camp in about three hours down-stream."
"it would be wiser to follow him," carnally suggested. "we'll have heavy snow before long."
"i'm going on," said andrew doggedly. "i must compare the report with our books and get watson to tell me what he thinks as soon as possible."
launching their canoe, they poled her laboriously against the current, which ran fast between its banks of ice. andrew was thankful that the snow on the frozen surface threw up a faint light and they could see the glimmer of the floes that drifted down, though it[pg 97] was not always possible to avoid them. once or twice there was a crash as a heavy mass struck the canoe, which was too lightly built to stand much of this buffeting. andrew had thick mittens, but they soon got wet and his hands grew numbed. he was not clad for rigorous weather, and his exertions failed to keep him warm.
still, they were making progress, and they met with no serious difficulty until they entered a slacker reach. it had been open when they came down, but now the channel made by the current was glazed with thin ice, through which they could hardly drive the canoe. indeed, in some places carnally was forced to break the crust with the pole while andrew paddled.
"if there's much more of this, it will be late to-morrow before we make camp," andrew remarked.
"we'll have to leave the river pretty soon, but we'll stick to it as long as we can," carnally replied. "it's rough traveling through the bush, and the shore ice is hardly safe yet."
they got through the reach, paddled laboriously against a swifter stream, and dragged the canoe over a portage, stumbling among big stones and across frozen pools. during this passage andrew fell and hurt himself; but stopping was out of the question. launching the craft on the upper edge of the rapid, they drove her out. for a minute or two they made no progress, and andrew, straining at his pole, feared that they would be swept down the wild, foaming rush; but they found slacker water and the ominous roar of the rapid died away. then snow began to fall, making it difficult to see, though they had the faint glimmer of the shore-ice for a guide. in the reach up which they were poling, it did not run out far because the stream[pg 98] was strong, and they had gone some distance when there was a heavy thud and a curious crunch at the bows.
"in with her!" cried carnally. "head for the slack behind the point!"
they ran in through crackling ice and had reached the thicker strip along the bank when andrew felt his knees grow wet. feeling with his hand, he found there was an inch or two of water in the bottom of the craft.
"skin's punched through," carnally explained. "we can't bale her and use the pole. you'll have to get out."
andrew did so hastily, but the ice on which he landed cracked as he moved, and he had gone several yards before it seemed strong enough to bear him. carnally dragged the canoe out, and then turned cautiously up-stream.
"we'll have to chance the ice for the next mile or two," he said. "it's rough country—steep rock and very thick scrub—on this side."
as they moved forward andrew noticed that the snow was falling faster and the wind freshening. the cold flakes drove into his tingling face and he had to brace himself against the gusts. the gorge they followed was wrapped in obscurity and filled with the roar of water and the wailing of the trees. however, he held on for some time; and then suddenly felt no support for his foot. it was too late to stop; the next moment he was in the water. the shock took his breath away; he had a horrible fear of being drawn under the ice, and it was with vast relief that he found he could stand up waist-deep. moving cautiously, he got his knee upon the ice, but it broke away; then he[pg 99] saw that carnally was lying down near the edge and holding out his hand.
"get your arms on it, and catch hold," he said. as he obeyed, andrew heard the ice crack, but his weight was now well distributed and he crawled forward, clutching carnally's hand. then he got up, dripping and shaking with cold.
"thanks!" he said. "that's a risk i don't mean to run again. if it had been a foot deeper i'd never have got out."
carnally turned toward the bank and, in thick darkness, they scrambled up a steep slope among stunted pines. leaving its summit, they floundered over the rounded surfaces of outcropping rocks and plunged into hollows filled with thick brush. the pines were smaller farther on, which made things worse, for they had to force a passage through the snow-laden needles. some had been partly blown down and leaned on one another in tangles which would have been difficult to traverse in daylight. how carnally kept his line andrew could not tell, for they had lost the sound of the river, and the snow was thick; but he steadily pushed on and after a while the country grew more open. here the wind was worse and andrew, who was getting worn out, struggled forward stupidly with lowered head and labored breath. he could not remember how long he kept it up, but at last a light blinked among the trees and he recognized joyfully that it came from a shack at the mine.
