Part 32 (1/2)

”The Indian camp he sent Strange to was in thin bush, close under the broken range, on the north side.”

Thirlwell turned to Agatha. ”Then we oughtn't to have much trouble in locating the ore. We know where the factory stood, and if we can find the thin bush, I can follow the line your father took.”

Agatha's eyes shone and her color came and went, but with an effort she preserved her calm.

”After all, the bush may have grown.”

”I think not,” said Thirlwell. ”It's probably rocky ground where the trees are small.”

”But how was it my father did not see the gap?”

”That is easily accounted for. The gap's not large, and I expect you can only see it when you're directly opposite, at a right angle to the line of the high ground. If you moved back a mile or two, the rocks and trees would shut it in. Drummond didn't see it as we came up the lake.”

”I suppose we must wait until to-morrow?”

”Yes,” said Thirlwell. ”We must leave the water, and can't get through the bush in the dark.”

Agatha made a sign of agreement. ”Very well; I am glad the nights are very short. But I would like to start at daybreak.”

Then they turned and went back silently to camp. Thirlwell was conscious of a keen disturbance that he would not a.n.a.lyze and saw that Agatha did not want to talk. As a matter of fact, Agatha could not talk. She felt a curious exaltation: her heart was full.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE LODE

At daybreak next morning Thirlwell sent the _Metis_ up the lake to make a _cache_ of the provisions he did not need, and hide the canoes in the brush. In the meantime, he scattered the ashes of the fire and buried the empty cans and all the chips he could find. There was another party in the neighborhood, and he wanted to leave nothing to indicate that the spot had been recently occupied by a camp. When the men returned the party set off along the beach, loaded with food and tools. Walking across the stones and ledges was laborious, but he did not mean to leave a trail, and kept to the water's edge for some distance before he plunged into the bush.

After this, their progress was very slow. The small trees grew close together and in places the ground was covered with rotting trunks and branches. Moreover the line he took led steadily upwards towards the break in the range. It did not look very far off when they started, but dusk was falling and the packers were nearly exhausted when they threw down their loads at the bottom of the gap. Thirlwell's back ached and the straps had galled his shoulders, but he noted with some surprise that Agatha did not look tired. She dropped behind as they toiled up the last rough stony slope, but she helped to pitch camp. Her movements were not languid and her eyes were bright.

By and by she took out the worn paper from the tobacco-box and asked Thirlwell a few questions. He answered rather moodily, and as soon as he could picked up his blanket and went off to the bed he had made of twigs. The hollow he had found was sheltered and the twigs were soft, but it was long before he slept. They were near the spot where Strange claimed to have seen the ore, and he was now persuaded that they would find the vein. If the ore carried as much silver as the specimens indicated, Agatha would be rich. She would go back to the cities, and if her riches were not to separate them altogether, he must enter her employment. Somehow he shrank from this.

But the ore might prove poorer than one thought and the mine cost much to work. He would not admit that he hoped so, since he wanted Agatha to enjoy all the happiness that wealth could give. Indeed, he did not know what he hoped; he was physically tired and although he felt strangely restless his brain was dull. At length his eyes closed and for some hours he slept brokenly.

Getting up at daybreak, he scrambled along the bottom of the gap until he could look down on the other side, and presently turned with a start as he heard a rattle of stones. Agatha, whom he had thought asleep, advanced with a smile. She looked very fresh, and although he imagined she was highly strung, her face was calm. For a few moments she said nothing, but stood close by, gazing fixedly in front.

There was some mist on the low ground, but, for the most part, the tops of the pines rose above the haze. The sky in the east was getting red, and here and there one saw gleams of water and the gray backs of rocks.

That was all, for the landscape was blurred to the north, where a vague gray line hinted at another range.

”The haze is tantalizing,” she remarked by and by. ”One could not see when we got here and I have been waiting for the dawn.”

”I hoped you slept. We made a long march yesterday.”

”Did you sleep?”

”No,” said Thirlwell. ”Anyhow, not very much.”

Agatha smiled. ”Yet you haven't been thinking about the lode as I have--thinking of nothing else for ever so long! Can't you imagine what it means to feel I am near the place at last?”