But his thoughts were on the girl at Fort Mowbray and this man who was his friend.
"Why not take her?" he urged. "Take her away from this storm-haunted land, and set her on the golden throne you"d set up for her, where there"s warmth and beauty. Where there"s no other care for her than to yield you the wifely companionship you"re yearning for. I guess she"s the one gal can hand you those things. If you don"t do it, and do it quick, you"ll find the fruit in the pouch of another. Say, the harvest comes along in its season, and it"s got to be reaped. If the right feller don"t get busy--well, I guess some other feller will. There"s not a thing waits around in this world."
The braying of the band deadened the sound of laughter, and the rattle of gla.s.ses, and the talk going on below. Kars was still gazing down upon the throng of pleasure seekers, basking in the brilliant glare of light which searched the pallid and unhealthy, and enhanced the beauty where artificiality concealed the real. His mood was intense. His thoughts were hundreds of miles away. Quite suddenly he turned his strong face to his friend. There was a deep light in his steady eyes, and a grim setting to his lips.
"I"m going to collect that harvest," he said, with a deliberate emphasis. "If you don"t know it you should. But I"m collecting it my way. I"m going to marry Jessie, if your old friend Prov don"t b.u.t.t in.
But I"m going to cut the ground under the feet of the other feller my own way, first. I"ve got to do that. I"ve a notion. It"s come to me slow. Not the way notions come to you, Bill. I"m different. I can act like lightning when it"s up to me, but I can"t see into a brick wall half as far as you--nor so quick. I"ve bin looking into a brick wall ever since we hit Bell River, and I"ve seen quite a piece into it.
I"m not going to hand you what I"ve seen--yet. I"ve got to see more.
I won"t see the real till I make Bell River again. If what I guess I"m going to see is right, after that I"m going to marry Jessie right away, and she, and her _mother_, and me--well, we"re going to quit the north.
There won"t be a long trail in this country can drag me an inch from the terminals of civilization after that."
A deep satisfaction shone in the doctor"s smiling eyes as he gazed at the serious face of his friend. But there was question, too.
"You"ve laid a plain case but I don"t see the whole drift," he said.
"Still you"ve fixed to marry Jessie, and quit this darnation country.
For me it goes at that--till you fancy opening out. But you"re still bent on the Bell River play. I"ve got all you said to me on the trail down. You figger those folks are to be robbed by--some one. Do you need to wait for that? Why not marry that gal and get right out taking her folks with her? Let all the pirates do as they darn please with Bell River. I don"t get any other view of this thing right."
"No. But I do." There was a curious, obstinate thrust to this big man"s jaw. "By heaven, Bill! The feller responsible for the murder of my little gal"s father, a father she just loved to death, don"t git away with his play if I know it. The feller that hands her an hour"s suffering needs to answer to me for it, and I"m ready to hand over my life in seeing he gets his physic. There"s no one going to get away with the boodle Allan gave his life for--not if I can hold him up.
That"s just as fixed in my mind as I"m going to marry Jessie. Get that good. And I hold you to your word on the trail. You"re with me in it.
I"ve got things fixed, and I"ve set "em working. I"m quitting for Seattle in the morning. You"ll just sit around lying low, and doping out your physic to every blamed sinner who needs it. Then, with the spring, you"ll stand by ready to quit for the last long trail with me.
Maybe, come that time, I"ll hand you a big talk of all the fool things I"ve got in my head. How?"
The other drew a deep sigh. But he nodded.
"Sure. If you"re set that way--why, count me in."
"The man that can "ante" blind maybe is a fool. But he"s good grit anyway. Thanks, Bill. I--what"s doing?"
The sharpness of Kars" inquiry was the result of a startled movement in his companion. Dr. Bill was leaning forward. But he was leaning so that he was screened by the heavy curtain of the box. He was craning.
In his eyes was a profound look of wonder, almost of incredulity.
The vaudeville act had come to an end with a brazen flourish from the orchestra, and a waltz had been started on the instant. The eyes of the man were staring down at the floor below, where, already, several couples were gliding over its polished surface.
"Look," he said, in a suppressed tone of voice. "Keep back so he don"t see you. Get a look at Chesapeake Maude."
Kars searched the room for the beautiful red-gold head. He looked amongst the crowd. Then his gaze came to the few dancers, their numbers already augmenting. The flash of jewels caught his gaze. The wonderful smiling face with its halo of red-gold. An exclamation broke from him.
"Alec Mowbray!"
But it was left to Bill to find expression for the realization that was borne in on them both.
"And he"s half soused. The crazy kid!"
Maude seemed to float over the gleaming floor. Alec Mowbray, for all the signs of drink he displayed, was no mean partner. His handsome face, head and shoulders above the tall woman he was dancing with, gazed out over the sea of dancers in all the freshness of his youthful joy, and triumph. He danced well, something he had contrived to learn in the joyless country from which he hailed. But there was no reflection of his joy in the faces of the two men gazing down from the shelter of the curtained box. There were only concern and a grievous regret.
Bill rose with a sigh.
"I quit," he said.
Kars rose, too.
"Yes."
The two men stood for a moment before pa.s.sing out of the box.
"It looks like that shriek"s coming," Bill said. "G.o.d help that poor darn fool if Pap and Maude get a hold on him."
"He came down with Murray," Kars said pondering.
"Yes. He ought to have come around with his mam."
Kars nodded.
"Get a hold on him, Bill, when I"m gone. For G.o.d"s sake get a hold on him. It"s up to you."
CHAPTER XVIII
ON THE NORTHERN SEAS
The mists hung drearily on snow-crowned, distant hilltops. The deadly gray of the sky suggested laden clouds bearing every threat known to the elements. They were traveling fast, treading each other"s heels, and overwhelming each other till the gloom banked deeper and deeper.
It was the mockery of an early spring day. It had all the appearance of the worst depths of winter, except that the intense cold had given place to a fierce wind of higher temperature.
The seas were running high, and the laden vessel labored heavily as it pa.s.sed the sharp teeth of the jaws of the wide sound which marked the approach to the northern land.
There was no sheltering bar here. The only obstruction to the fierce onslaught of the North Pacific waters was the almost submerged legion of cruel rocks which confined the deep water channel. It was a deadly approach which took years of a ship"s captain"s life to learn. And when he had learned it, so far as it was humanly possible, it quickly taught him how little he knew. Not a season pa.s.sed but some unfortunate found for himself a new, uncharted rock.
The land rose up to overwhelming heights on either side, and these vast barriers narrowed the wind channel till the force of the gale was trebled. It swept in from the broad ocean with a roar and a boom, bearing the steamer along, floundering through the racing waters, with a crushing following sea.
There were twelve hours of this yet ahead of him, and John Dunne paced his bridge with every faculty alert. He watched the skies. He watched the breaking waters. He watched the sh.o.r.es on either side of him, as he might watch the movements of a remorseless adversary about to attack him. He had navigated this channel for upwards of fifteen years, and understood to-day how small was his understanding of its virtues, and how real and complete his fears of its vices. But it was his work to face it at all times and all seasons, and he accepted the responsibility with a cheerful optimism and an equal skill.
Once or twice he howled a confidence to his chief officer, who occupied the bridge with him. There were moments when his lips were at the speaking tubes, and his hand on the telegraph. There were moments when he stood with his arms folded over the breast of his thick pea-jacket, and his half-closed eyes searched the barren sh.o.r.es while he leaned against the shaking rail.
He had been on the bridge the whole night, and still his bodily vigor seemed quite unimpaired. His stocky body concealed a power of endurance which his life had hardened him to. He rarely talked of the dangers through which he had journeyed on the northern seas. He feared them too well to desire to recall them. He was wont to say he lived only in the present. To look ahead would rob him of his nerve. To gaze back over the manifold emergencies through which he had pa.s.sed would only undermine his will. The benefit of his philosophy was displayed in his habitual success. In consequence he was the commodore of his company"s fleet.
He pa.s.sed down from his bridge at last. And it was almost with reluctance. It was breakfast time, and he had been summoned already three times by an impatient steward. At the door of his cabin he was met by John Kars who was to be his guest at the meal. These men were old friends, bound by the common ties of the northland life. They had made so many journeys together over these turbulent waters. To Kars it would have been unthinkable to travel under any other sea captain.
"Still watching for those jaws to snap?" said Kars, as he pa.s.sed into the little room ahead of his host, and sniffed hungrily at the fragrant odor of coffee.
"Why, yes," he said. "Jaws that"s always snapping generally need watching, I guess. A feller needs the eyes of a spider to get to windward of the things lying around Blackrock Sound. Say, I guess it wouldn"t come amiss to dump this patch into the devil"s dugout fer fool skippers, who lost their ships through "souse," to navigate around in.
It has you guessin" most of the time. And you"re generally wrong, anyway."
The men sat down at the table, and the steward served the coffee. For a few moments they were busy helping themselves to the grilled kidneys and bacon. Presently the steward withdrew.
"It"s been a better trip than usual this time of year," Kars said.
"It"s a pity running into this squall just now."