Part 23 (1/2)

They followed her to the mound, and after an inspection of it, Flett nodded.

”You'd make a mighty smart tracker, Miss Grant. I was against this mound being the firing place, because, to get to it, the fellow would have to come out into the open.”

”Would that count? It was a bull he was after.”

”It was,” Flett agreed. ”This fixes the thing.”

George looked at him meaningly.

”Have you made up your mind about anything else?”

”Oh, yes,” said Flett. ”It was done with malicious mischief. If a poor white or an Indian meant to kill a beast for meat, he wouldn't pick a bull worth a pile of money, at least while there was common beef stock about.”

”Then what do you mean to do?”

Flett smiled.

”Sooner or later, I'm going to put handcuffs on the man who did this thing. If you'll give me the sketch, Miss Grant, I'll take it along.”

Flora handed it to him, and he and Edgar went away shortly afterward, leaving George with the girl. She sat still, looking down at him when he had helped her to the saddle.

”I'm afraid you have a good many difficulties to face,” she said.

”Yes,” a.s.sented George. ”A dry summer is bad for wheat on my light soil, and that is why I thought of going in for stock.” He paused with a rueful smile. ”It doesn't promise to be a great improvement, if I'm to have my best beasts shot.”

She pointed to the west. The gra.s.s about them was still scorched with fierce suns.h.i.+ne, but leaden cloud-ma.s.ses, darkly rolled together with a curious bluish gleam in them, covered part of the sky.

”This time it will rain,” she said. ”We will be fortunate if we get no more than that. Try to remember, Mr. Lansing, that bad seasons are not the rule in western Canada, and one good one wipes out the results of several lean years.”

Then she rode away, and George joined Edgar. He felt that he had been given a warning. On reaching home, he harnessed a team and drove off to a sloo to haul in hay, but while he worked he cast anxious glances at the clouds. They rolled on above him in an endless procession, opening out to emit a pa.s.sing blaze of suns.h.i.+ne, and closing in again.

The horses were restless, he could hardly get them to stand; the gra.s.ses stirred and rustled in a curious manner; and even the little gophers that scurried away from the wagon wheels displayed an unusual and feverish activity. Yet there was not a drop of rain, and the man toiled on in savage impatience, wondering whether he must once more resign himself to see the promised deluge pa.s.s away.

It was a question of serious import. A night's heavy rain would consolidate the soil that blew about with every breeze, revive the suffering wheat and strengthen its abraded stalks against any further attack by the driving sand. Indeed, he thought it would place the crop in security.

He came home for supper, jaded, dusty, and morose, and found that he could scarcely eat when he sat down to the meal. He could not rest when it was over, though he was aching from heavy toil; nor could he fix his attention on any new task; and when dusk was getting near he strolled up and down before the homestead with Edgar. There was a change in the looks of the buildings--all that could be done had been effected--but there was also a change in the man. He was leaner, his face was getting thin, and he looked worn; but he maintained a forced tranquillity.

The sky was barred with cloud now; the great breadth of grain had faded to a leaden hue, the prairie to shadowy gray. The wind had dropped, the air was tense and still; a strange, impressive silence brooded over everything.

Presently Edgar looked up at the clouds.

”They must break at last,” he said. ”One can't help thinking of what they hold--endless carloads of grain, wads of dollar bills for the storekeepers, prosperity for three big provinces. It's much the same weather right along to the Rockies.”

”I wasn't considering the three provinces,” said George.

”No,” retorted Edgar. ”Your attention was confined to the improvement the rain would make in Sylvia Marston's affairs. You're looking forward to sending her a big check after harvest.”

”So far, it has looked more like facing a big deficit.”

”You mean your facing it.”