Prescott of Saskatchewan Part 25

"I did think something of the kind; but won't you begin your supper? What shall I hand you?"

"Wait a little. You haven't told me very much yet." Then her eyes sparkled with amus.e.m.e.nt. "Mr. Kermode, I'd better say that my brother will be responsible for the expenses of this journey. I suppose you haven't paid for the horse?"

"It's unfortunately true. The trouble was that your brother lives a long way off, and you led me to believe that your money was running out."

"I have," she said calmly, "fifty cents left."

Kermode began on a sandwich she handed him.

"And I've three or four dollars. You see our difficulty needed a drastic remedy."

"But you were at work on the railroad. I understand wages are high."

"That's so; but it's some time since the pay car came along."

"But you will get what is due you, when you go back?"

"Have another sandwich," said Kermode. "You have made them very well."

Then seeing that she meant to have an answer, he added: "I'm not going back."

A little color crept into her face as she looked at him. Kermode had for a time led a dissipated life, but there had been a change during the last few months. He had practised abstinence, and in new surroundings found it easier than he had expected; severe labor had healed and hardened him.

His brown skin was clear, his pale-blue eyes were bright and steady, his figure was spare and finely lined.

"So," she said, "you sacrificed your wages to a.s.sist a stranger?"

He made her a whimsical bow.

"I'd like to think we'll be better acquainted before we part."

"But what will you do now?"

"Oh," he responded lightly, "that's hardly worth talking about. I'll strike something. So long as you're pretty active there's generally work to be had, and when it grows monotonous you pull out and go on again."

Miss Foster mused.

"After all," she said, "life must have a good deal to offer a strong man with the ability to make the most of things. He can set off, when he likes, in search of new and interesting experiences."

"It has its drawbacks now and then," declared Kermode, smiling. "Anyway, you needn't imagine you're shut off from everything of the kind. You took a big risk and faced a startling change when you came out here."

"So I felt. Though I had misgivings, the thought of it drew me."

"I understand. You have courage, the greatest gift, and you felt circ.u.mscribed at home. No doubt, the love of adventure isn't confined to one s.e.x. It's a longing many of us can't overcome; but it doesn't seem to meet with general sympathy, and it's apt to get one into difficulties."

"Yes," Miss Foster a.s.sented with some bitterness; "particularly a woman."

After that, she went on with her meal while dusk crept up about the lonely camp. The sky was pale green in the west and the hills stood out against it, black and calm; not a breath of wind was stirring and it was very still, except that out of the distance came the murmur of falling water. When the air grew damper, Kermode brought her a blanket which she wrapped about her shoulders and they talked on for an hour in a casual manner. Then he got up.

"You will be quite safe in the tent," he said. "I've found a comfortable berth in the wood. We'll get off as soon as it's light to-morrow."

He disappeared into the shadows and she noticed that he had left her the two blankets he had brought from the settlement. She hesitated about taking them both, but decided not to call him back. A little later she entered the tent, while Kermode sc.r.a.ped out a hollow in a bank of fallen leaves and went to sleep.

The gra.s.s was white with frost when Miss Foster left the tent in the morning, but a fire of branches crackled cheerfully near-by and Kermode was busy with a frying-pan. A light cloud of smoke rose into the still, cold air, and day was breaking on the eastern horizon.

"This looks pretty good," he said, taking out a greasy cake and several strips of pork. "If you will make the tea, I'll water the horse."

He was back in a few minutes. His companion enjoyed the simple meal, and when it was finished they resumed the march. During most of the day their pathway led over high, treeless ridges which lay in bright suns.h.i.+ne, though a delicate haze dimmed the encircling hills. Then they dipped to a valley where they had trouble among the timber and the girl was forced to dismount. The winter gales had swept the forest and great pines lay piled in belts of tangled ruin, through which Kermode found it difficult to lead the horse, while as they floundered over branches and through crackling brush his companion's limp grew more p.r.o.nounced. Afterward there were several rapid creeks to be forded, and Kermode was wet and Miss Foster very tired when they camped at sunset, in a grove of spruce.

Little was said during the evening meal and soon after it was over the girl sought her tent, while Kermode found a resting-place among the withered sprays at the foot of a tree.

They spent the next morning toiling up a long ascent, and from its summit a prospect of majestic beauty burst upon them. The great peaks had grown nearer, the air was clear, and the girl sat, rapt, in the saddle, gazing at the vast snow-fields that glittered with ethereal brilliance, very high up against a cloudless sky. Then the wonderful blue coloring of the shadows streaking the white slopes caught her glance, and she found it unutterably lovely. Kermode, however, had an eye for other things and carefully searched the wide valley that stretched away beneath them.

"What are you looking for?" the girl asked at length.

"Smoke; I thought I saw a faint streak, but it has gone. I suppose you didn't notice it?"

"Oh no!" she told him with a smile. "I'm afraid I shouldn't have noticed such a commonplace thing, even if it had been very plain."

He made a sign of comprehension.

"Then what have you seen?" he asked.

"Unapproachable, stainless whiteness, touched with an unearthly glory that daunts the mind!" Then her expression changed. "But the sight is too overpowering to talk about. I would have been more useful had I looked for smoke, as that would mean a house."

Kermode nodded.

"We have stores enough for another meal or two and had better get on. I believe I've kept pretty near the line I was told to take, but I'd be glad to see the first ranch in the Drummond district by supper time."

They went down into the valley, struggling through belts of timber and clumps of brush, until they reached a broad expanse of gra.s.s broken by small bluffs. After camping for a meal, they pushed on steadily while the girl grappled with a growing fatigue, until the white peaks faded into dusky blue and the waste grew shadowy. Kermode had seen no sign of life and he was getting anxious when, as they approached a bluff, he pulled up the horse.

"Listen!" he exclaimed. "I think I heard something!"

There was silence for a moment or two, and then he caught a soft drumming and a rattle that might have been made by wheels.

"Yes," he said. "It's a team and wagon."

The sound grew plainer, and when Kermode shouted, an answer came out of the gathering darkness. Then a moving shape appeared from behind the bluff, and a minute or two later the newcomer pulled up his team.

"Well," he said, "what do you want?"

"Tom!" cried the girl excitedly.

The man sprang down, and Kermode needed no explanation. After his companion had dismounted and run forward, he stood quietly holding the horse, until she beckoned him.

"This is Mr. Kermode, who brought me here," she said. "My brother, Tom Foster."

"Indebted to you," responded the man. "I was driving home when you shouted; my place is about six miles off. If you'll follow, I'll take my sister in the wagon."

Kermode thought it better that she should explain the reason for their journey, and he got into the saddle and contented himself with keeping the vehicle in sight until it stopped at a wooden house that stood near a sod stable and rude log barn. When he entered the dwelling after putting up the horse, the lamp was lighted and the stove burning. He saw that Foster was a young man with a good-humored brown face.

"I understand that I owe you more than I thought at first," he said.