[COMPLETE STORY.] The Tale of the Bluebird Mine

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIV, Issue 23, 10 June 1905, Page 41

[COMPLETE STORY.] The Tale of the Bluebird Mine

By

Harold Bindloss

VyV~V HE white peaks were fading into <«T"i darkening east, and the 'j[~ mist which rises at sunset rol- ’’ led like steam among the pines, tvhen Henry Jardine sat talking with Eva Tourmaine on a hillside of British Columbia outside her father's ranch. Tourmaine own'd lands and eattle, as well as mining stock, and at first was not pleased when his only daughter, who might have made a brilliant match in Victoria smiled upon Jardine. The hitter had studied, engineering theoretically before he left the old country, and after a mixed experience in the Canadian dominion hail purchased a small holding on mortgage in that valley. Tourmaine hinted that it would take him ten years to clear it sufficiently to make a poor living, but Jardine said he did not intend to try. He expected there would be mineral developments presently. The rancher slowly changed his opinions when Jardine creditably executed contracts for building rude bridges and blowing rocks clear of new waggon roads, and finally agreed that when Jardine could accumulate -lOOOdol. and build a decent house he might claim. Eva. who would not go to him portionless.

’My daughter shall not wear herself down trying to do a man’s work in the bush as her poor mother did. It’s better to do without the good things than get them too late,” - he said, with a sigh. “So if you want her, use all. the grit that’s in you. You can’s get much for nothing in this world, Harry.” Jardine had done his best, and as he leaned over the back of Eva’s chair hard, and lean, and brown, but a handsome man and vigorous from the clean life of the woods withal, he looked back on the struggl • as well as out across the valley. One snow peak still Hamed crimson in the last glow from the west, but intensified by the song of the river the hush of the summer evening brooded hiavily over the darkening earth lielow. "What are you thinking of, Harry? You are quiet." said the girl, looking up at him from under long, dark lashes, while the light from an oren window touched her winsome face, ripened into warm bloom by mountain wind and sun. "1 was thinking of the first day I saw you. and remembering how you hired me at the railway to pack in a box for you.” answered Jardine, smiling, and Eva" coloured. "Don’t. That isn’t kind,” she said. “How was I to know, Harry? And you really looked so—” "Like a wandering hobo. Well, that was what 1 was.” interposed Jardine. And this time Eva laughed as she answered : “No. I was going to say,—hungry.” "I was hungry often in those days,” said Jardine, a, little grimly. “I am sometimes tired now. Things have gonr dead against me lately, but We have our legal improvements on the mine almost complete. There is no doubt about the richness of the oTe. and the Vancouver folks will finance me as soon' as I get the patent. Then ” Eva blushed prettily and turned away her head. Biu she had inherited her father’s shrewdness, and said: “It is ~ pity you did not take my advice instead of delaying the development work so long.” "We hardly thought the claim worth exploiting- until that Vancouver broker came along and offered us 500dol. to clear out. That gave us a hint, for we guessed the old Kootenay miner who drilled for us knew him. As you know, it was shortly afterwards we found —- what we did. I hadn’t a chance to tell you that the broker fellow offered 2000 dol. recently. Il’s a dose race to get the legal improvements in. but nobody about here would jump us.” “No,” and Eva looking serious. “I don't think they would, but 1 would lie afraid of that city man, Harry.” “I am afraid of waiting any longer for Eva Tourmaine,” was Jardine’s answer. “The mine will give me a fair start towards prosperity, and it would break my heart to lose it. We have be n working night and day and only need to put in the timber ready to constitute sufficient improvement. In fact, I must stiiy with the work until I get

the Crown grant, and come back to claim you—victorious.” He straightened his tall frame wearily, and then, as he stooped to kiss her, Eva said: “You look worn. Harry. I shall count the hours until 'the work is done.”

Jardine tramped back down the winding valley, blundering over fir roots and into thickets, for he had toiled with shovel and cross-cut saw all the preced-

ing night, and his eyes were heavy from want of sleep. This, perhaps, explained why he did not notice that a thicker vapour than the mist rolled up above the dark pines on a shoulder of a hill. The ail- was also heavy with the smell of burning, but bush fires were common at that season. At last, however, he halted with a shock of consternation, for the great trunks on the rise before him were silhouetted in ebony against a sea of flame, and then, forgetting his fatigue, he broke into a breathless run. A bush fire of the fiercest kind raged about the Bluebird mine. When he reeled panting into the clearing where his camp had been tent and tool shed had gone, while heaps of glowing embers tanned into flame mark-

ed where the great hewn down trunks had lain in swaths. The timber had been intended for use in the mine. The forest crackled all around, streamers of flame flung themselves from resinous branch to branch, and red tongues of fire licked up to the topmost sprays of the giant cedars. The heat was'that of a furnace, but Jardine pushed on through it until he found his grizzled partner standing blackened ail over, shaking his clinched fist at the blaze and choking out strange expletives. “Are the sawn props safe?” he asked, hoarsely. “Gone!” growled Miner ’Marston. “Every blame one of them. We’re burnt out, ‘ruined, busted. The drills use melting, and there’s a jam of 200 foot hemlocks right over the adit. 1 lit out to meet Freighter Davis bringing the powder iu, and when I eame back the whole bush was blazing.” “It’s all up,” said Jardine, whose face turned a curious grey under the fitful glare as he sat down limply, mopping the sweat from his forehead, and for several minutes there was only th? roar of the fire. Then, because he was a sanguine man who had faced disaster before, he caught at a faint hope, adding: “It’s cruel hard luck. Still, none of the folks round here would be mean enough to jump us before we’ve straightened things up. Accidents will happen, and ” “Accidents be bln med!” growled Marston. “IThis isn’t an accident. Some of them thieves who gave out they were hunting timber rights have burnt us out, and the company man at Vancouver started them in. Can't you

smell kerosene on this?” And see here!” Marston held out a half-burnt ray and a couple of unused matches before he continued: “Storekeeper Pierre don't sell that kind. We use silent smellers here. Crown mining recorders stand like cast iron by the law, and says the law: If you’ve not put your legal improvements on your claim iu time anybody can relocate it. Begin to catch on, eh? Bush fires arc common. aren’t they? And them scoundrels knowing it have burnt us out so we can't put through the improvements before they jump us.” Jardine said nothing for a space, only set his teeth and clinched his hard aight hand, recognising that a cunning enemy had outwitted him. He also knew that the poor man who fights an unscrupulous capitalist over a disputed claim generally goes under. But he was a stubborn man, who, dealing justly

with others, clung grimly to his- rights, and there was an ominous flash in his grey eyes when he answered at last: "Then they shall fight for it. I’m not going to lie down while any man robs me. and if they want the claim they must take it—the best way they can. Start now for Vancouver, borrow $5OO from our friends there, and pay it into crown offices as composition for work not done. Then get hold of Lawyer Elmore and stand by to strike the rascally broker for conspiracy.” “And what are you figuring to do?” asked Marston, and Jardine answered quietly: “Stay here and stand all jumpers off the claim.” The elder man looked at the speaker approvingly, but he shook his head. "There’s sand in you. but it won’t work out that way, and the law's too strong to buck ugainst.” he said. “H’s forty miles to the railway, and by the time I got there the Pacific express would be through. It’s too late for the composition already. You’re young and innocent, Harry, or I guess you'd know how the case would go if you started to bluff off with two matches mine riggers who could put down $lO for every cent we show.” “Then.” said Jardine, hoarsely, “is there nothing we ean do?” “Not much, ’eept to sleep over it. Maybe we’ll see light in the morning; we’re badly played out now.” It sounded absurd counsel, but Marston was right, for suspense with hope is torture, while a beneficent providence decrees that definite disaster often brings with it a mental numbness whieh blunts the victim’s senses. Therefore, when Jardine, who had mocked at the thought of sleep, rolled the thick blan-

kef round him among a hnnh ek's mots, he found tile scent of cedars even mors soothing than th? boom of the river whieh seemed drifting him awav to a peaceful region wherein claim pimpera were unknown. When he awoke golden sunlight touched the cold white peaks, dew glinted like diamonds < n every cedar spray, and the world seemed fresh and beautiful tint I he remembered what he had to do; then all the brightness faded. Neither of the partners ate much breakfast, while, when the talk

that followed it was finished, Jardine plodded moodily towards Tourmaim's ranch and found Eva under the verandah. The sunlight kissed her face into brighter colour, heightened the shy pleasure in her eyes and the sparkle in het hair, and the man groaned inwardly. Then Eva started as she saw h’s face. “You have had a misfortune with the mine?” she said. “We have lost it- ¥>'• are going to make a last stand, hut all hope has gone!” said Jardine, huskily. Then the girl listened breathlessly to his hurried words until she clinched one hand as he concluded: “I shall stay until the curtain conies down and then go away to some place where a poor man has better 1 chalices than in this valley. How could I stay here to be a reproach to you?—and it may be years before I have a home to offer you. Some day I shall win the dollars, perhaps too la ■?, but. meantime, after the loss oyer !•'.oler’s dam. 1 am a hopelessly j uiiu'o Heaven knows how this hurls pie. Cat I must do the right thing, and, Eva, can’t you see?” “What would you do if you won those dollars?” asked the girl, with a wave o’ colour in her face. “Come back, if it was from across the world, to Tourmaine’s ranch.” said the man, in a voice that was strained and hoarse. “And find inc waiting,” sad Eva. with a catch in her breath, “whether you come soon or late. It is perhaps well you should go, Harry, but when you return, with or without the dollars, it will make no difference. Two to mnk* a bargain, sweetheart, and two to break it—and I hold yon fast. There, you can let your exaggerated sense of lion-

Dur rest. It is all decided. Bu. pro Duse, even if those unprincipled mci rob you. you wiii use no violence” "Rub me!” sa d Jardine presently •*Arc they not robbing you?*’ And Eva said, softly: “I lush I Haw yon nut forced me t< ►peak plainly eno: gh? You arc ra<l uni -tunborn, Harry, hut the mm be hind them are t- o -» tong for you. Yoi promise.” * I promise, unless hey use force.’ said Jardine, reluctantly. "Heaver bless you. Eva, for your faith in me!" And presently, comforted. but still un certain if he had acted justly, h? rod< bark to camp on one of Toiirma tnv': b?st horses hr had a reason for borrow iltg. I hr partners held a counsel, ami Jar dine -aid: “Our time runs out at mid night, and Evans has promised to re stake th * claim for us. He would tak< his chances with the jumpers, and whei wc had fought the lawsuit step oill again.” 'Mighty poor chances!” said Marston “They’ll have all fixed ready—fast horst relay, if wanted, a locomotive. and s< they’d l»eat our man to the recorder’s easih. Lawsuit 1 They’ll buy enougl witnesses and bring them along tn breal Us before we’d almost begun.” Jardine, answering nothing, starei across the valley. A swift, snow-fei river came roaring down between tin long ranks of climbing pines, swung ii a mad. white streaked whirling round ; deep, rock-walled pool, and then plungec with a muffled thunder into a great rifi b<‘tween the ranges. Eight leagues ovei the high pass on the further side the rail way stretched back to civilisation. Ini’ ford there was none, and the trail woum round several leagues further by a nidi log bridge. ” 1 be claim is recorded in your name there is nothing to prevent me relocatin' it.” he said; and Marston nodded. ”Xo. Tiie fact that you found tin money don’t count. But what’s the dif ference lietween you and the other fel lows we could trust to?” "Just this.” said Jardine. "If 1 cat record first the claim is mine, and Would take risks no money could temp' them to. I could get a long start b\ swimming the river.” "Have you gun * mad?” asked Marston *‘lt is a flood, not a river, and no livin’ man has ever swum it here.” ” I hat is probably because no man ha? a v?r tried to.” Jardine answered, quietly "1 in tired of failing, and I’m tired o being poor. Besides, you ought to knov my prize is worth any man staking hi? life for.” !• urthei dßcussron followed, until Mar <>n agreed that there was method in hicomrmle’s madness, and walked out t< meet the scattered neighbours who ha< promised to attend as witnesses, <»r allies in case of necessity. ft was dusk whet he returned with them, and found hi? partner carefully rubbing down Tour maine’s horse, a big. staunch I »east <> pedigree. Then, as the lingering darklesfell, Jardine lav down, to rest, but no l to sleep. This time every nerve wa* strung up and the suspense intense. Tin neighbours and Marston sat smokin' about a tire, ami the red light whicl flickered athwart the charred trunk? showed their faces were expectant unti it paled as a broad, silver disk sailed iq liehiml a shoulder of the range. Tin whole misty valley seemed to vibrate with the roar of the river, for the drain nge of leagues of snow fields was pour ing that way in mad hurry to the sea Jardine, as he noticed the sidelong glance? towards him. felt he could understam the feelings of a condemned felon tin night liefore be played a leading part ii the spectacle of a public execution. A hist a thud of horse hoofs tr<*mble< through the woods, and there was sound of wheels crunching over rock out crop, also wild language, apparently when they sank in the softer places. ” I he jumpers are coming.’’ slid some body. I wo men rode into the moonlight pre Reiitly. leaving shadowy figures a bun th<‘ waggon behind them, and Mar.-toi stood up. leaning on his rille. “Gr| of our claim before we put you off.” h ti.'iti. "Anything to oblige! ’ was the an swer. "Ikui’t want a fuss. It’s your for half an hour or so. -and then wi purpose to retake it for you. Ther nn» six of us. all cer‘ified miners. :.m quite readx to maintain our right-.” "Miners!” repealed Marston, with un trite ruble scorn. “A common thief’ roustabouts, you mean. Anyway, you’ l wail until the lime’s up. or well bur one nr *wo of you.” “We want to save you trouble.” an fWercd the other, with a grin. “The firs

man to get this reread in will win. and we ve an express service ready laid on. Do you hold anything to la at it” "Get off the claim.” sa’d Mar-ton. sullenly. Jardine rose a- the others withdrew, carefully tightening tie saddle girtli, then look up four square pegs ami a hammer, and stood quivering with suspense byside a man who held out a watch. Shortly his turn would come. The minutes passed slowly; the others whispered hoarsely about him until there were footsteps in the bush, ami a strained voice said: "’rime! Pull the stakes up!” There was a rush for the first boundary post, but as Marston pulled one peg out Jardine drove another, marked "No. 1 Discovery.” in. A scuffle took place at the next, but he was first again, and the remaining corners were staked simultaneously. Then, amid a derisive howling, he shouted: "Bear witness. I. Henry Jardine, free miner, have legally relocated the Bluebird claim.” One man flung himself into the saddle. Jardine did the same, two leaped into the waggon, and. as with a quickening beat of hoofs and whirr of wheels the cavalcade -wept recklessly down the trail. Marston’s roar broke through the mocking cries of the rest and the ranchers’ cheers: "Ride for your life, Harry. Good luck to you!” For a space friend and foe rode level, muzzle to muzzle, and tail to tail, dropping the jolting waggon behind: then Jardine, driving his beast at a screen of bracken, vanished among the pines, leaving his rivals bewildered. "1 figured he’d have made a better race for it,’’ said ore. It was a steep slope to the river, matted with salmon berry, slippery with shale; but he went down it at a gallop, swaying low in the saddle to clear odd branches drooping between the great columnar trunks. Then he was out on the shingle under the moon with the flood ' roaring past him towards the pool, and the snorting beast went in with a plunge, as be drove the red spurs homo. Jardine, who cleared his feet from the stirrup-, slipped from the saddle when the battering hoofs lost their grip on the stone, loosened the bridle, ami twined one hand in the mane, shitted it to the saddle, : ml saw nothing but frothing ridges while l.c trusted the brute’s instinct to take it safe across. Whether lie swam or was merely towed he was never ceriain. but at lea-t the water supported him. and the hor.se. which was used to shallower rivers, managed the steering, though now and then when they swung tog-rher across a smoother t ddy lie could see the dark pines sliding quickly up stream, and knew the big whirlpool lay • ominously close below. But most of the time troth and water beat into his eyes, ami the water was cold with the deathly chill of the glaciers: so at last it was with a **asp of fervent 1 hankfulnses that he heard sliding shingle rattle beneath the hoofs, and dropping his own feet, he gripped the bridle an 1 floundered shorewards waist deep in water. He was in the saddle next moment, era-hi ng at headlong gallop through the narsh swamp grasses toward the forest, while, when he swept into a narrow, tunnel-like trail, a half-seen man dragged two horses clear of it. and a voice cried: "Well done, well done! Don’t spare the beast. Jardine.” As he rushed past like a whirlwind a slender, white-robed figure waved a hand to him. and tl < i ii < r ’s chilled blood stirred within him. for it was I ourmaine s voice, which encouraged him. and he spared neither, the beast nor himself. All trials are bad in that region, but the one in question led over a hogbacked spur which no mounted man could pass in broad daylight. while every minute was precious. Jardin? ha<l calculated that he couhl just catch the Pacific express ami reach Yale at least before hi- rivals made the long horseback journey to another mining recorder’s station. T’.iey had taken it for granted no in a : <.< u«<. swim the river. At last he dismouehd. and. so he afterwards said, pulle I the horse up almost vertically a mile, and once, when he tried Io shove it. was badly kicked for his pains. Anyone not used to them would find it difficult to negotiate most British (’oluinbiaii pas-cs without a rop? and alpenstock: but they went up. over slippery outcrop and under climbing pines, through stunted juniper, ami across broad Iwlts of Ireaclierous shale, until the spectral peaks now bare of timber loomed out al»ove them in umvirlhly majesty, and Jardiuc wondered in the pale light of

<H«>i lnm he was ever to get down into the valiey. Neither did he reineniher how it was itene. though onee a branch dung him out of the saddle heavily, and tlie horse rolled over, nearly ciushing him, but at Its. smashing through thickets and floundering amid giant bracken, they gained a narrow trail, and the beast respondeu gallantly to his last appeal. The .unlight was clear on the valley, ami low. shingled roofs rose up ahead, when a trail of white vapour that moved saviftly appeared round the shoulder of a hill, ami -Jardine, who dare show no mercy, drove the clotted spurs in again, the roofs rose higher and higher among the sombre lirs; twinkling inetal and lines of glass showed beneath the aaivancing plume of smoke, and the rattle of dying wheels quivered across the pines, while the horse was blundering in its stride and the sweat stood beadeil on the rider’s forehead. But just as the «reat mountain locomotive came snorting into the little station they reeled, smoking, panting, whitened by lather and flecked red by dust, through the street of the wooden settlement, and Jardine, dropping from the saddle, flung the bridle into a, startleu lounger’s hand. ’ ten dollars if you feed and take the beast back to Tourmaine of Red Cedar.” he shouted. His knees felt useless under him. but just as the cars lurched out he charged into the depot at a shambling run. and. clutching at a handrail, swung himself on to the platform of the last one, where he sat down, and for nearly’ a minute fancied he was choking. "Is it a wager or a fortune you were riding for? ’ asked the conductor, grinning. "Something worth more than a fortune.’’ gasped Jardine. The big express stopped some minutes at Yale, and Jardine, who learned that no mining official was present, had time to send a telegram to the Crown oflices at. \ ancouver lx‘fore he went on there with the train. He hurried straight to the chief recorder’s office when lie reached the seaport city, and a soldierly-looking gentlemen stared with mild surprise as the haggard, dishevelled and travel-stain-ed miner was ushered in. “Mr Jardine, who wired us? A d sputed claim, I presume?” he said. “I am ready to consider any particulars you can give me.” Jardine told the whole story unreservedly. and the listener made a few notes during the narrative. It was a fairly common story to him, for there is frequently litigation over a successful mine, and perhaps as often as not over those that fail. He had also a long experience of the miner’s character, and. though he did not say so, fully believed Jardine. "Me shall doubtless hear from your rivals through the district recorder.” he said, with a quiet smile. “You did well to come direct to me. But the application may require consideration. for while one’s sympathy may be with the discoverers, the law is stringent, and you were carelessly negligent in postponing legal developments. I will advise you later if we can grant a record-” For several days Jardine wandered about Vancouver in anxious suspense before be was informed that the authorities had registered him as d scoverer of the claim, after whiclk he called upon a certain honourable mine financier and a lawyer. There are honourable exploiters of mining ventures, though the opposite kind are perhaps more numerous. The one agreed to send an expert back with him and the latter said: ‘-’You haven’t proof enough against your rivals and it night be better to leave the—er, gentleman yon mention alone. His cat’spaws are hardly likely lo ask an injunction against you now, and I could resist it successfully if they did.” Jardine returned to his partner exultant. and the expert in due time to Vancouver satisfied, one result of which was that a few days later Jardine laid a letter from the latter c’ty before Tourmaine. "It’s a fair offer, and I intend accenting it,” he said. “Unless that sur-

voyur is far wrong the stojk they offer me should provide a reasonable income, and there will be the director’s fee. So 1 venture to vlaim the fulfilment ot your promise.” "Build your house, and you shall have it,” said Tourmaine. smiling. "When you took my horse through the r ver I was willing to climb down. 1 figured you’d get the dollars some day, and most things you set your heart upon* Oh. yes. you have won her fairly, and 1 s?e her in the orchard. Eva, come in!” Eva came in fresh and dainty, a cluster of red roses at the waist of her white dre&s. and a smile upon her face, until a flush of colour surpassing that of the roses burnt in either cheek as she noticed the letter and the expression of the two men. “W e never back down on a bargain, and I suppose you haven’t changed your mind since you asserted your right to choose for yourself?” said Tourmaine, with a twinkle in his eyes. “Well, then, 1 wish you good luck with him. and I guess he has shown himself the kind of man I can trust you to. You’re starting fair. Eva, and it was only remembering what your poor mother went through made me try to do my best for you. Well. well. I’m getting an old man; but I think, maybe, she is pleased, too. And may heaven make the long trail you’re beginning smooth for both of vou.”