UNDER THE MAPLE LEAF, OR A FAIR CANADIAN.

Evening Star, Issue 12008, 3 October 1903, Page 3

UNDER THE MAPLE LEAF, OR A FAIR CANADIAN.

[All Rights Rewrred.]

By Harold BrxDLos>» Author of 'For Eva's Sake,* 'ln the Nlg?r Country.' 'A Wide Dominion,' 'Ainslie'a Ju-Ju,' ' A Sower of Wheat,' etc.

CHAPTER XIII. ii AT LOW-WATER MARK t It was a lovely morning, and already the I Ban shons hot, drawing sweet resinous I odors from the cprn'ferae, when Legh sat 1 ■moodily hcfore the twinkling furnace on. T board the scow. The sky above him was , * crystallinsly clear, for the" few white cloud- I ■» lets whbh floated across the Cedar Valley ' E before a warm breeze from the Pacific only j ( emphasised the brightness of the azure, ] »nd all Nature, awakening from its winter I ' sleep, rejoiced with, the freshness of the ' spring. \ But the man's face was sombre, as well J as smeared with soot, as he watched the, | boiler which, when the pressure increased, ) shed steam and hot water from each pipe- * collar, while there was an ominous fizzling under the Sre-bars. The passage of the canon made small difference to him. He j had heard that Lilian was not only plighted * to marry the surveyor, but, to use her step- ; mother's words, practically worshipped him, , and that banished the last hope from Legh. ' He must once more resume his wanderings, \ leaving no trace behind; but first—and ' chiefly he thought, for his partner's sake—they must win a little gold, though as the ' days passed he began to wonder whether when the time came he could force himself ' to go at all. Meantime he carefully avoided the Cedar Ranche, and though they scraped 'the river bed yard by yard their crude appliances had returned them scarcely any gold, and it became evident that very shortly they must either leave the valley or starve. The last provision bill at the railroad settlement remained unpaid; they had lived as plainly and forked considerably harder than the average British tramp, besides risking life and limb whenever it was necessary to tax the groaning machinery; but the result was practically nil. "Feeling mean this morning, partner V Morsley s voice broke in upon his reverie; *nd flinging billets into the furnace recklessly he answered : " I am. It's almost a pity' that boiler doesn't take ns skyward with it. as it has long threatened to do. and end the whole struggle. I'm sick of everything." "You mightn't be much better off then," said the American, scraping the rust and grease from his expressive countenance, for he had been overhauling the machinery. " T guess I wouldn't let up on my grip just yet. Seems to me, as I once heard an actor fellow say, one's life is like the tide. It has been running spring ebb steodily with us for a long time, and we're at dead low-water now. Yes, partner, right down in the black mud below low-water line. Hut when it Lis run out to the last drain the flood starts in, and the man who can hold on goes up with it whooping. Meantime, now we're here we're nowhere else, and when these blame potatoes play out the Lord knows where we will be, unless it's at the summit of the tallest kind of tree. Still, potatoes get monotonous when one has lived three weeks on nothing else but them." Legh laughed mirthlessly before, he said : " You're mixing your similes, but we'll test your theory, and it's about time we did, for the furnace crown show 3 serious signs of blowing in Look out you don't get scalded when I give her steam." The crazy engine hammered under a cloud of glistening vapor, there was a grinding of rnsty chain, and after several times sluicing down what the dredge brought up they found only white-streaked pebbles and ptream-worn gravel. " They're mighty pretty," said the American, " but not much use to ns. You can't live in luxury- without a dollar; at least, not unless you've learned how to do it; -md we couldn't get a dollar for a ton of these. Anyway, there's no use stopping for dinner when you've nothing to cook. Heave the old rake over. We'll try her -.wain.".' Once more the chains rattled and the winch vomited steam; but this time the

j dredge brought tip small gritty'fragments and fine sand, while after operating with the washer Morsley flung down his shovel and danced about the deck. i " Stand by with the bucket, partner, to : pour ice water down my neck," he said. i "Struck it—struck it rich at last, and it's just when he's done that a man goes out on the war trail and-makes an everlasting fool of himself. Come along with the ice water, can't you?—look!" Legh bent over the little pan he raised out of the trough, and his own blood coursed fast There were several ounces ' of stream gold in it; and, forgetting his other troubles, he was filled with triumph. "Perhaps it ? s only a small pocket in an , eddy," he said, thickly. " Still, it will

give ns a fair start if there is any more of j r it. Can't you quit that fooling and lower i j the dredge?" | j When the contrivance was emptied again c both men bent over its load almost breath- i less while the water ran gnrgling from j trough to trough, then Legh's eyes glittered , too, for there was even more gold in it. i It meant so much—prosperity in place of j semi-starvation, a vindication in the eyts ( of his English relatives; and more just now he would not think. So they labored ( in feverish haste, forgetting the pangs of j hunger, until the shadows lengthened acros.-, , the Cedar River, while as a net result ] Morsley had scalded his leg. Legh was \ grimed all over, and the value of some thirty pounds sterling had been collected into a little bag. The partners also knew i that a second washing would add to it. Then Morsley hauled up a sack from below, and with infinite satisfaction in his face carefully shook out the sprouting potatoes it contained, saying as he did so: ' " Into the river, every blame one you go— I'm almost eternally sick of you! Why should we live like, digger Indians when there's all kinds of tinned poison in the , land? Here's the flour I was saving for our last meal, and the rcrrmant of the pork —it's not that bad if you eat it in the dark. For once, we'll feast in luxury, and then, because too much virtue gets monotonous, march all night for the settlement and start the boys whooping to-morrow. Must do something; the flood tide's running strong." Legh shook his head as his comrade emptied the last of their store into the fryingpan. "I think I'd try tho hydropathic cure instead," he said. The excitement had passed, and the depression returned upon him tenfold. What was the use of this gold? flood fortune had come too late for him, he reflected bitterly. A few weeks earlier it wonld have brought him hope, hut now hope was dead. Lilian was to marry the surveyor, and he must drag out a life c r regret. Nevertheless, because he was ravenous, he ate what Morsley set before him, and then sat on the cordwood, while the American fired the boiler, with an unlighfed pipe on his knee, , trying to plan out a future that seemed j black and empty. ; Blue wood smoke hung in gauzy wreaths ' about the Chinamen's camp ashore, the ! sunlight had faded off the valley, and chiming melodiously as the stock com- i menced their evening journey the jangle of cow-hells came out of the darkening bush. | All this reminded h:sa of the eveninz ! Kermody first brought him news of Lilian's i presence; and he. rubbed his eyes, for. ; smiling at him from the stern of a Si wash canoe, here was that versatile damsel again. She dismissed the two Chinamen who brought her off, swung a basket on to tiie deck, and followed it, then gathering her skirts about her seated herself on the cordwuod, saying coquettishly: " If you ain't frightened you can sit bv me. Larry's somewhere back there looking for a steer; he'll come round breathless from blessing it by-and-bye—and I gues>s Mr Morsley will play propriety." Legh bowed ironically as he obeyed, and he was glad of the visit as a relief from gloomy thoughts. Besides, he had learned that, in spite of her occasionally overwhelming frankness, there was much to admire in Miss Kermody, since she had honored him with her patronage. " Jake said you two had lost yonr appetites through too much bad luck." she said. " I allowed it was another trouble was the matter -with you, and when our Chinee baked morn we could in a fortnight I wondered if I could tempt you with some. It's a blue month since you came near the ri.nche, and I don't allow that's neighborly. If you don't care for these you can pais them along to Morsley. He's got sense enough to take nice things when he can get them." She lifted the cover, and saw a roll of golden butter daintily packed in white-

wood shavings', a block of maple sugar, creamy cakes and snowy bread, and he was touched by this expression of Western kindness, though doubtful as to whether.they had been made by the Chinaman. "It is very kind of you ; but what made you bring me these?" he said. "I happened round FraseT's store," commenced the damsel, then stopped, seeing a sudden contraction in her listener's face. " Now, don't get angry; it's the custom to spread round one's good things—not to eat them all one's self in this country—and I can't figure why you should be an exception."

Legh recovered in an instant, though momentarily the reflection that she had learned at'Fraser's store he had neither money nor credit left hurt him. It was an incongruous position for the heir to wealth in England to depend upon a bush maiden's charity, the more so when a possible fortune lav undar his feet. Then he was only grateful, and half ashamed that such a thing should trouble him, and answered: "So Fraser has been talking, and I daresay he told the truth. You must believe I appreciate your kindness, Miss Carrie." "That's considerably better," said the damsel. " Somebody else did some talking that made Fraser jump. I guess I forgive you—got to forgive a man a good deal when "he's pining. Now, what's the use of being bashful —I wonder if it's me? Go away—what are you smiling at, Mr Morsley?" Legh stared at her aghast a moment. Of late he had lost his former appreciation of badinage, and took everything in grim earnest. Then he began to grow uncomfortable, for this was stretching a joke, if joke it was, beyond all limits, and meantime Miss Kermody sat watching him sideways with an air of shyness which Morsley, who withdrew directly, apparently found irresistible It really seemed that she was in earnest.

"If unequalled kind-heartedness and a pretty face could tempt me," he commenced and halted, while Miss Kcrmodv, who nodded approval, said: " That's real nice ; go on,'" which was just what the man did not know how to do. "But even genuine worth and beauty is not everything," he added in desperation. "And " Legh felt himself growing red in face with embarrassment, and almost angry, j until, noticing a suspicious twitching of the ' corners of his companion's mouth, he laughed outright, saying : "' And I feel nivself utterly unworthy but might with diffidence recommend Morsley. Miss Carrie, how dare yon make a fool of me?" The mad-cap girl, who also broke out into such a mtrry peal that he could not help [orgiving her, answered -. "It was so easy. No, I coudn't have Morsley—he's way too old and ugly, but you're not half the smart man I thought you were. Ought to have seen a nicer way to climb out, without letting a lady think—well, that you wouldn't have her with a ranche thrown in. But if it isn't me it's somebody, and it's a month since you've been to see her." Legh ground his heel into the deck, and answered abruptly: "Hasn't yonr usual penetration for once failed you? I wouldj do my best to amuse you, Carrie, but in this case you must excuse me. There are ■ subject.« one doesn't like to jest about." ! " No, - ' was tho answer. "My penetral tion is right where it generally lives. You ; men can't hide your ftelings, and I just guessed correctly. You were longing to see her, but daren't come, weren't yon? I also guessed something else."

Legh startd hard at her, hut the speaker. ; vouchsafing no explanation, nodded with the air of an oracle, and the man felt a slight tremor run through him before he said : " There is only one inference, and you are mistaken." "I was," said Carrie. "I'm not now. \ You don't cheat this infant twice at the same game. There, a hint's as good as a clubbing, and that's quite enough for you." " But Miss Crighton is to marry the sur-. veyor," said Legh, startled out of his caution, for the visitor had certainly said enough; but the latter showed Ivr white teeth again as she answered: " Who told i ycu so?" j "You hinted it yourself; Mrs Crighton told me—said she was devoted to him." After a puzzled stare the girl answered reflectively : " Then I guess she was lying. Yes, I just mean lying. She can do it ; with a big brush when she wants to." ' "But -why should she tell-me if it wasn't ; trne?" ssiid Legh. ! The trirl answered : " My ! how slow you are. Well, you can think over it. Larry has quit growling and found his cow." i There was a hail from the forest, and while Legh told about their find Lawrence Kermody came off in- a canoe to say: " I

met Robert Crighton, "and he wondered what had become of yotL Asked some of the boys to a shooting match at his ranche week on Wednesday, 6 and expects you- j What fresh nonsense nasf-Sis'been up to?" j "Mr Lea has been telling me all about mining. He has struck a famous pocket," said Carrie demurely; and added aside to ; Legh, " I would go to that match and keep both eyes on Mrs Crighton. She's a mighty j smart woman—and she doesn't like you." j She departed with congratulations, leaving Legh bewildered by what he had | heard. As he had said, there was only ; one inference; or why should Mrs Crighton have boldly lied to him? That he might j abandon the mining and leave the valley i in the first place most probably; but again ' he asked why? If-could not be to save him sorrow, for he felt that lady would not j waste a breath on his behalf; there was ) only one answer: She, too, must have guessed that Lilian was—he dare go no ■■ further than hope she was interested in i him. j So for the third time his mood changed, and with a thrilling sense of elation ho , fingered the gold that was trebly precious ' now. If Liban were free and—interested ' he felt be could win her. The said elation j showed itself in voice and gesture, and when late that night they hove up the last load of gravel under the moon Morsley said: "I guess Miss Kermody has been telling you something nice, but I'd sit tight and keep my head, if I were you. I've seen good men who could stand low-wnter shipwrecked when they went up with the flood." In due time Legh presented himself at the shooting match. Mrs Crighton received him with a cordiality that made him think of Judas; Lilian was quietly friendly, nnd Robert Crighton frank in "his congratulations on his success. It was a representative gathering, for Crighton was a democrat in "the bush—a few professional purveyors of

peltries, and the brown-skinned Siwash who assisted them; other men who. while they made war upon the forest, lived for the most part on what they shot; and one or two owners of valuable timber rights able to handle a rifle with the best of them. The shooting commenced at a hundred yards at a deer's head target, and Huntington tried hard to hide nis frown when Lilian chose Legh's rifle, of the two offered her, to open the competition with. There was a hum of approval from rancher and axeman when, as she chopped the butt of the smoking weapon, a black patch appeared on the side of the rudely sketched mark, and she smiled at the miner, saying graciously : " I am indebted to you for the use of the rifle. You see it has brought me luck." "It is only justice," said Legh. "Do you remember telling me to hold on and wait? Well, I have done so, and you were right, I believe the tide is turning."' " I was very pleased to hear that," said Lilian, with a sudden coldness. " My father told me—he said you had mado a plucky fight, and deserved success. May I hope that the tide will flow with you until—until you reach the happiness you hinted was not possible ?" Her eyes fell under the man's eager gazo, but remembering his words—" the one vomau I could sorrow for would benefit by my death " —it was almost anger that stirred her as he answered with a vibration in his voice : " I even venture to hope it will, as you say, carry me until I win a hapoiness as far beyond most men's deserts ' as it is beyond my own."

Then his elation ebbed utterly away, for the girl said, chillingly, with a hint at an- j noyance: " Then you deserve more con- | gratulations—and I hope you will achieve I it. But isn't this sentimental discussion j rather out of place at a very- prosaic shooting match?" Legh, who could shoot tolerably, was , beaten, as the range increased, by the | hunters and drifted towards an empty chair I beside Mrs Crighton. She beckoned him | graciously, and though he distrusted' her ! he came of a family which with all its fail- j ings had seldom avoided either a distressed friend or a powerful enemy. So, instead of seeking safety in a graceful- retreat, he settled himself in the chair, cool, on guard —as he thought—and debonnaire, trusting to his own keenness, which was distinctly foolish, for the first few sentences placed him at her meicy. t " I must congratulate you, Mr Lea." ' she said, sweetly. " No one was better j pleased to hear of your discovery. May I ask, however, if you expect it is more j than a mere chance pocket? Such finds, which in our expressive phraseology peter out in a few days, are common, you know." Now Legh, bearing in mind her covert

hostility, considered this an attempt to damp Lis efforts; and because, being weak in diplomacy, he could not resist the temptation to repel each attack to prove its '. futility, answered: "In our case I don't think so. Morsley, who has had an extensive mining experience, predicts even ; more gold. We have worked a week at' that pocket and it grows richer all the i time." | "I am more pleased," said Mrs CrightI ton. " But, as a friend and the wife of I a man who has large mining investments, i I might suggest that you don't plunge too ! deeply, say with borrowed capital. Yon i will take my advice in good part—won't ! you? It might be wiser to sell theiclaim before you have exhausted the pocket, and let other men take the risk; have you coni sidered that?" ) Legh glanced with longing eyes towards I where Lilian sat evidently listening with small interest to what Huntington was' sayj ing, and the sight of her comeliness filled him with indignation against the woman I who had striven to separate them. So, ! determined to throw - down the gauntlet, ,he answered: "We have not, nor do we ini tend to leave the valley until we have | worked out every ounce of gold. Indeed, we have heard already from Vancouver that it is possible to raise any captial advisable by accepting a controlling interest ' in a new hydraulic company to work on an i extensive scale." | " Ah!" said Mrs Crighton. " I have \ whether you acquired all your experience in sealing schooners. But are there no preliminary difficulties proving value of work done for your Crown papers, etc., before you can dispose of your claim? Besides, you will require an extended concession. It is not always possible to linger the shareholders' dollars so easily." She asked it with an assumption of indifference and a spice of sarcasm which stung the man, as it was meant to do, and Legh was guilty of grave indiscretion when he answered lightly : " They are not numerous. A more definite concession from the mining commissioner is the first, I think, and we have already applied for it. To convince you. madam, and in return for well-meant advice, may I have the pleasure of presenting you with a few paidup shares in the new company?"

"It's your turn at the swinging mark, Lea," called somebody; and as the miner withdrew Mrs smiled with ironical compassion. "You may, when you float the company," she said, half aloud. " But there's an adage about counting chickens, and I see the necessity of another move. A note to mine-stock broker Randle might be opportune." A silver dollar suspended under a hemlock limb was set slowly swinging, a mark very hard to hit even at short range with the single bullet, but Legh, who had been a quick snipe killer with the double-barrel at home, struck it. Of the others some did the same, some missed, until when the range was increased, because the previous winners were barred, there remained but him and Huntington. There was friendly banter between their partisans, and one of the latter said : "Mr Lea's rirle is easy on the trigger, and that's in his favor at a moving mark. So. to make things dead even, maybe he'd try another weapon with a free sighting shot." Lea glanced towards Huntington, who lounged close by among the sis-foot cedai stumps, but the surveyor, who was nevertheless eager to win, said carelessly : "It don't count for much; he will probably beat me either way." Then Legh saw that Lilian stood before the other spectators watching bim, a dainty figure within the thin red furrows of the oatiand and wall of sombre forest behind her. " Have I the queen of the tourney's permission to change my rifle?" he asked. " Give him the first of those standing yonder," said Lilian to the man nearest her. "Mr Lea, you will take that rifle, i ! nd in return for your fairness. I wish yoti success with if; and the miner, balancing the weapon, bowed in her direction, while LawTence Kermody at his elbow said : " 1 guess I'd a>-k for another. She's badh leaded in the rifling, and these strong new powders miL'ht try her some. Wait, any way, until I get one of the old rflaek cart ridges she's used to." | Legh, opening the breech, glanced dowi the barrel, and saw the hint was a gooc ; one, but just then Lilian, who heard no thing of what passed, asked : "Are you no ; satisfied with my choice? May I remint you that I had implicit faith in the rill you gave me?"

"Perfectly," answered the miner. "So much so that I will relinquish the sighting |. shot. It is your turn, Huntington." - ! • His answer appealed to the fair unpire ' as well as the spectators, and she did not hide her appreciation, for the surveyor said , : loftily, half in jest and half in earnest: j i " You have a way of doing things I envy, , : Lea. You have pleased her—and for that | I mean to beat you." . ! I A week earlier this would have roused; ! the miner to white indignation. y Now . , Carrie's hint had rendered him tolerant i again, and Huntington afterwards remem- ' bered his courteous answer: "We have ! played out the game fairly, and may the ; best man win." The surveyor stood a few minutes rigid and intent, with his eyes fixed on the glinting dollar, gripping the weapon with a tight forward clench of his 'eft hand. Then the barrel went up, swayed a little twice, % and the muzzle tilted with a flash, while the coin swung suddenly into a wider arc, and there was the whine of a bullet gyrating in its flight. A murmur of applause followed, and the surveyor said: " One point ahead! Everything depends upon your J shot." I The words were even more true than he , I thought, for as Legh stretched his left | I foot forward Lilian smiled at him. He ; I saw that, and for a moment it almost j unsteadied him, for he read good wishes lin her eyes. Then he saw only the glint , | of silver as the coin swayed to and fro, ; j until, having ascertained the balance, he , j flung the rifle up gun fashion, felt every ', J muscle stiffen as the tiny foresight found ' \ the mark, swung the barrel with it, and : , restraining his breath pressed the trigger' '_ j Then Lilian Crightou broke out into a , ] stifled scream, for instead of a ringing crack there vas a dull explosion, red flame blazed ribout the marksman's face, followed by , i filmy vapor, and Huntington leaped aside ! to avoid a whirring splinter of the barrel. J The vapor thinned, and she ran forward t to find standing with a visage that j vas speckled with powder grains and small blood spots looking about him stupidly. " Are you hurt? Please tell me? No? j - oh, how thankful I am you escaped! s But are you quite sure you are not injured \ I at all ?" she panted. Legh, looking down upon her from his

superior height, saw what the others failed to see—something that was more to him than all the gold in the Dominion in her i ' gaze. She had been startled off her j I guard, and eyes betrayed her. That- | anxiety and the relief which followed it j was for neither friend nor stranger. I " No," he said. " Not hurt in the least, j only startled a little" ; but the thickness : in his voice ivn not connected with tne , shock, while Lilian, whose hands trembled. | was turself agi'in. "If you had been I I should naver have forgiven myself for mak- I | inj yon use that gun," she explained. "I j I felt cons-ience-stricken as well as naturally j frightened." | ' " I hav-i had enough shooting. The prize j is your, Huntington," said Legh, who want?.! time to recover, but not from the accident; and the surveyor, who seemed troub! d answered : " Congratulate you on your e3cape! Wish you had won. As it is, in your failure you have beaten me." Legh rode back to the scow radiant. A j : garish sunset cast a glory athwart the j darkening woods, but its glow was equalled j by the brightness within him. The song I of the river seemed exultant music, and at | times, stirred into speech by feelings that j demanded relief, he repeated softly : " She j loves me. I have seen it. At last I ] know that she loves me." ' It was about this time that Miss Carrie Kermody said to her friend on parting: " I guess miner Lea is a tolerably strongnerved man. It was Larry's old Marlin you gave him, and Larry's too lazy to wire-brush her; grooving was leaded so badly the bullet couldn't get through. Larry hasn't sense enough to come in out of the rain; or he would have taken it from him. instead of warning him." "Do you mean that Mr Lea knew the gun might burst before he fired it?" asked Lili-'in, gripping the girl's arm; and Carrie smiled wickedly as she answered: "I do. Saw him look down the barrel, and anybody could tell it wouldn't stand the new " quick powder. Wonder why he did it—- . I guess he's less sense than Larry." i Miss Kermody withdrew smiling to herI self, but Lilian did not wonder. With a • shock that brought pain and pleasure with ; it, at last she knew definitely. And to her I also there was an unearthly radiance in the i sunset glow. (To be continued.)