Part 31 (1/2)
They shut down when the frost came, but we figured we'd stay on, and took over part of the supplies. The boss had more truck than he could pack down to the other camps.”
”Then there's n.o.body else about the place?”
”No, sir,” said the first man; ”they're all gone. It's kind of lonely, but we're doing some chopping for the road, and we'll be right here with money saved when work begins in spring. Bought a piece of fruit land, part on mortgage, at a snap, and with good luck we'll have it clear when we go back.”
The short explanation supplied a clue to the characters of the men, who with an eye to the future preferred to face the rigors of the north rather than to spend the winter hanging round the saloons on the warmer coast.
”Well,” inquired the other, ”where did you come from?”
Prescott mentioned the last camp he had visited and gave them a few particulars about his journey.
”And so you came down the Long Bench--pretty tough proposition that! And kept the trail on short rations!” one of his hosts remarked. ”Suppose you take a smoke, and I'll get supper a little earlier.”
Before long he was given a share of a simple but abundant meal, and after it was over sat talking with his hosts. It was dark outside now, but although the men had run out of oil for the lamp, the fire gave them light, and pungent odors issued from the resinous logs. The room was warm and, by comparison with the frozen wilderness, supremely comfortable.
”What's the matter with your foot?” one of the men asked when Prescott took off his boot.
Prescott described how it felt, though he explained that he could find no sign of injury, and the other nodded.
”Ricked it a bit; got one of the ligaments or something kinked,” he said.
”Known that happen when there wasn't much to show. You had better lie off for a while.”
It occurred to Prescott that he might be in much worse quarters, though he shrank from the delay a rest would entail.
”What took you up the gully and over the Bench, anyway?” the man went on.
Prescott explained and then asked: ”Have you come across my partner or the other fellow, Hollin?”
”Never seen your partner.” The man looked at his comrade and laughed.
”But we know Hollin, all right. Got an idea that he's a boss prospector and froze on to the railroad job because it took him into the mountains.
Been all round looking for minerals; got fired for it at one or two camps, and never struck anything worth speaking of. It's a point on which he's certainly a crank.”
It was characteristic of Kermode, Prescott thought, that he should be willing to accompany a man with a craze of the kind.
”I'd expected to find them here. I understood they didn't mean to go back to the camp at Butler Ridge,” he said.
”We haven't seen their tracks, and if they were heading west, they'd have to come down this valley; but I guess n.o.body could tell where Hollin would make for. Of course, you can't prospect much in winter with everything frozen up and the snow about, but so long as he can trail through the mountains and find a few clean rocks the man will be happy; and I'll allow that he's smart at it. Knows how to fix a camp, and find a deer, if there's one in the country. It's a sure thing he'll have to strike for a camp or store sooner or later; but it's likely he has crossed the line south and is trying to make the Fraser and the settlements along the Canadian Pacific railroad.”
It was bad news to Prescott. He knew enough about the Pacific Province to realize that if his host's suppositions were correct, he would have a vast area to search; a region of stony uplands, mountain chains, and rock-walled valleys.
”Would it be possible for me to get through?” he asked.
”No, sir! You don't want to think of it. Guess your partner will be pretty safe with Hollin; but you're a plainsman and you'd sure get lost in a day or two and starve when your grub ran out.”
”That's right,” agreed the other man. ”The thing can't be done.”
Prescott fell in with his opinion. It would, he thought, require a number of expert mountaineers to trace the men he sought through the desolation of rock and forest to the south. Besides, British Columbia was well populated along the Canadian Pacific line, from which many avenues of communication opened up, and there would be a strong probability of his missing Kermode.
”Well,” he said reluctantly, ”perhaps, I had better stop round here in case they keep this track; and my foot's too sore to let me move. Could you put me up for a week or two? I'll try to make it worth your while.”