Four Flush Island

Taranaki Daily News, 25 March 1935, Page 11

Four Flush Island

(by

CHAPTER VII (continued.) She turned to discover the doctor’s wife looking emused, but resigned. “Of course I think you’re crazy,” she said pleasantly. “But you’re not the first girl who’s lived in the wilds and made good. Maybe you’ll get to like it; there’s lot do, even if our asylums are full of homesteader’s wives that loneliness has sent there. Only you’ll be better fixed than them. If you feel your nerves giving out you don’t need to stay, and they have to . . . But as for any person trying to put one over you just because you’re living out of the beaten track, why, my dear, you’ll be safe oh that island as in an apartment house in Montreal; maybe safer. You’d only have to mention to the first trapper or prospector who happened along that you’d been, molested,, and believe me there’d be a posse out after the man that wouldn’t let up until he was behind the bars—and glad to be there at that,” she added significantly. Reassuring enough in it’s way, though it occurred to Natalie that between the arrival of an undesirable Visitor and the ■first opportunity to complain a lot of Things, might happen, for which subsequent reprisal would fail lamentably to compensate. Nor did ■ a glimpse of Stagsden disappearing through the, door 'that led to the smoke-room bar contribute to optimism. • It was chiefly through him that originally she had clung so tightly to the Malcolms. She felt them to be a shield against any attempt on his part to renew either their conversation or acquaintance.

By ths time they Were three days Out of'. Liverpool, however, she had began to doubt-if in any case he had had any ihtentioh of doing so. As she passed from the gangway to the well-deck on the day of embarkation he had gone out of his way to catch her eye, and then, as though to emphasise recognition, had raised his hat With a flourish. Since then, though each morning he had repeated the gesture, he had made no attempt to get oh terms. Curiously,. she found no reassurance in this. Evefi''though’he kept'aWay from her she had.. the ieOling. of being under ; his close observation. Subtle’ and intangibly he conveyed the suggestion of there being some common interest be-, tween them, .and this his silence rendered only the more disturbing. It was as if he was—well—waiting. CHAPTER VIII. < ’ LtfRGENS LANDING. After landing at Montreal Natalie caiight only a glimpse Oi Stagsden in the custom shed. By yirtue of Df< Malcolm’s acquaintance with the officials, her baggage was passed with the minimum of time and trouble, and het bete noir being heavily engaged in . argument with the custom’s officer, he did not look up as she passed out of the shed to the waiting car. - Montreal, that city .of strange contrasts of old and new;. French, British and American; Protestantism and Catholicism; dignity and blatancy; riches and squalour, was like nd other she had seen. Indeed, apart from Quebec and Washington and the older portions of Los Angeles, probably it ..is the mdst individual city on the North American Continent. Her mood, when at nine o’clock in the morning Of the third day after landing she boarded the tfain for Toronto, was a blend of regret and excitement, the former at parting from the Malcolms, to whom she had become genuinely attadhed, the latter at being actually On her Way towards the great adventure. Indeed, it Was only upon the insistahce of her friends that she travelled by the Toronto route. The doctor, however, pointed out that eVen if she went direct she would miss the twice weekly connection frdm Winnipeg to Lurgeh’S Landing, and hence it would be as well to fill in the interval by a sight of the Ontario city. ' She discovered it to be a model of the new order of town-planning and architecture; clean,, prosperous, and up-to-date minute modern. Which was why it did not appeal td her so much as had done the more tradition-worn Montreal. Biit in Lake Ontario, Which is like ah inland sea, she discovered an unexpected beauty. The train left dot Winnipeg at nine in the evening and she arrived at the Prairie City abdUt half-past four ih the afterhodn three days later. She stayed at the C.P.R. hotel there only the one night, occupying the evening with exploring the city, which she found as clean, though hardly so established-looking, as Toronto. At nine the next morning she boarded the train fof Lurgen’s Landing. ’ It did hot take her long to realise that she had begun the first of the rougher stages of her jdurney. It was a Government line, and the coaches neither so clean, the food so good, dor the track so level as upon the one by which she had arrived in’ Winnipeg. As the train progressed the country became more wild and so densely wObded that the engine seemed to be shouldering its way through virgin forest of spruce and fir and tamrac. More than once during the night she was awakened by the howling of wolves, which appeared to come from directly beneath the window of her coach.

Had she not known that, except for a stop for water, the train had travelled unceasingly through the night, she would have said on awakening that they had remained stationary, for the country was an exact replica of that upon which she had closed her eyes; the same narrow cut through the encroaching trees that, as she stood on the rear observation car platform, seemed in perspective a solid wall, across the track. But presently the woods thinned to low bushes of raspberry and sage until an isolated tree was here and there to be seen. Quite suddenly a water-tank appeared in the distance; low-built wooden station-house-cum-telegraph office loomed to the left; a heavy grinding

L. C. Douthwaite)

of brakes and the coach drew to a standstill.

“Lurgen’s Landing, missie,” announced the conductor, and Natalie swung to the narrow platform to receive the baggage he handed down. She looked out to see if the Indian to whom Eat had cabled, and subsequently written, was there to meet her.

She saw him at once, a gaunt figure skirting the outer fringe of the locals assembled for the bi-weekly thrill of train meeting. He saw her. at the same time, and approached her with the distinctive gait of those more accustomed to snowshoes than boots. As, a battered Stetson in his hand, he came to a halt, her first impression of him was of utter impassivity. He stood, not so much like a statue, as of a man struck to immobility. His eyes rested upon her; dark, fathomless and as unreadable as though they were self-con-tained entities, incapable, because so wholly remote, bf registering the thoughts of his brain. The Cred are not “red” in the accepted sense, nor have their features the hawk-like quality of, for instance, the Blackfoot. His colouring was that of a rather dark Cingalese, though the flattened nose wSS more negroid than Asiatic. Indeed, the only indications of What, previously, she had imagined an American Indian, was the black coarse hair and high cheek bones. A perceptible pause followed his abrupt confrontation of her, and she had time to wonder exactly what would be his accent. When, eventually, he greeted her, it was in good though rather clipped English. And in spite of a costume which consisted of a soiled and rather tom canvas shirt; jean trousers held in place by. a frayed near-leather strap, and weair-and-water-stained mocassins worn without the adventitious addition of socks, he spoke aS he carried himself, with dignity. “You miss . . He hesitated, apparently he had forgotten her name. “Mr. Champy’s fr’en’ frO the Old Cbimtry?” . Natalie held out her hand which, rather wonderingly, and for the briefest possible moment he took in his own. But somehow she had an idea that her courtesy pleased him. “I’m Miss Wayne,” she said with a smile.

“I Johnnie Bill,” he said simply, and without waiting for comment collected her baggage, Whlfch. consisted of a corpulent pigskin kit-bag, a smaller suit case and’ a hold-all. “Mister Champ’y say for mete met you,” he said gravely. “You follow. I look after you good.” Apparently it did not occur to him that she might like td ask any further questions, for without further speech he set off down the long narrow platform. They crossed a strip of Waste ground to ah uhfhetailed road, and from thence at right angles to the raised board walk of what Was obviously the main Street of the “city,” .and whifeh Was linjed on either side With wooden shacks arid. dWellihg-houses. “Can’t We get a conveyance of somd kind?” Natalie inquired, for having tested the weight of her luggage she knew She herself could ndt have carried it twenty yards. Johnnie Bill Stopped; Idoked at her impassively. “You mean horse and rig?” he inquired. She nodded. “You can’t carry all that,” she protested. “Not far,” he said, ahd promptly set off again. As they progressed the buildings changed ih character. “Prospectors’ Supplies,” “Pat Doolan’s Pool Room,” “Li Yen’s Eats Parlour,” Jake “Bradall’s Barber Shdp” were among the signs; beside which there were drug stores, “Lotions,” several blocks of offices, various ide-cream parlours, and a Hudson’s Bay Store. Half a mile of this, during which Jbhnhie Bill continued in the same unchanged gAit without any evidence of fatigue, add they turned down a narrower street where stood a Wooden building which bbfe the sign, in large but badly executed lettering, “Nawidjawauk Hotel.” “In,” said Johnnie Bill, and followed by Natalie mounted the hollow-sdUnding Wooden steps and passed through a light fly-screened door to the bare vestibule beyond. At the far end a thin widemouthed woman Was knitting in front of a large open book that was clamped to a pivot on the counter behind which she was seated. She looked up as the two came in, following them with curious eyes as they approached. “Mister Champ’y’s fr’eh. She register,” announced Johnnie Bill impassively. “Sure!” said the wide-mouthed woman, swung the book round td face Natalie, and handed her a corroded pen. “Sign here,” she instructed, indicating the place with her forefinger. § Natalie did so, and as she laid down the pen the woman turned the book round to gaze avidly at the signature. Englishwomen were few in Lurgen’s Landing.

“From London, eh?” she repeated, taking in every detail of Natalie’s appearance.

“From Ldndon,” confirmed Natalie. “May I see fny room, please?” Lowefifig herself froth her stool the woman unhooked a key from the wall. “You come right along,” she said. “Johnnie Bill, lend a hand with the grips, Would you mind? Jake’s out huntin’.” She turned to Natalie. “Jake's my husband. I’m Mrs. Conners. Him and me fun this ho-tel between us, goin fifty-fifty.” Hef mobile lips brdke into a smile so wide and unexpected as to transfigure her face to a kind of impish radiance. “Fifty-fifty,” she repeated. “1 do the work an’ Jake takes the money.’ Natalie laughed, and decided that, inquisitive Of not, she rather liked Mrs Conners.

They passed through! a door to the left and up a flight of wooden stairs to a corridor which ran the full length of the building, and upon one side of which

was a row of bedrooms. Mrs. Conners stopped at the fourth of the doors, flung it open and stood aside for Natalie to pass through. “Best room in Lufgen’s Landing,” she announced not without pride. If there was no luxury at least there Was cleanliness a blue couhterparied bed, a dressing table, a deal washstand, one angle of the wall curtained off as a wardrobe, and thin linoleum on the floor. “Splendid!” Natalie said with a longing glance towards the bed, for owing to the rough track the sleep she had obtained during the night was negligible. Johnnie Bill, who had deposited the luggage conveniently for her use, and was standing impassively near the door, turned, his hand on the handle. “I go now,” he said. “I come back s’aftemoon.” (To be continued.)