Part 30 (1/2)
Carroll made no comment. It was not worth while to object, when Vane was obviously determined.
CHAPTER XVI
THE BUSH
It was a quiet evening, nearly a fortnight after the arrival of the sloop. Pale suns.h.i.+ne streamed into the cove, and little glittering ripples lapped lazily along the s.h.i.+ngle. The placid surface of the inlet was streaked with faint blue lines where wandering airs came down from the heights above, and now and then an elfin sighing fell from the ragged summits of the firs. When it died away, the silence was broken only by the pounding of a heavy hammer and the crackle of a fire.
Carroll sat beside the latter, alternately holding a stout plank up to the blaze and dabbling its hot surface with a dripping mop. His face was scorched, and he coughed as the resinous-scented smoke drifted about his head and floated in heavy, blue wisps half-way up the giant trunks behind him. A big sea canoe lay drawn up not far away, and one of its copper-skinned Siwash owners lounged on the s.h.i.+ngle, stolidly watching the white men. His comrade was then inside the sloop, holding a big stone against one of her frames, while Vane crouched outside, swinging a hammer. Her empty hull flung back the thud of the blows, which rang far across the trees.
Vane was bare-armed and stripped to s.h.i.+rt and trousers. He had arrived from Comox across the straits at dawn that morning. It was a long trip and they had had wild weather on the journey, but he had set to work with characteristic energy as soon as he landed. Now, though the sun was low, he was working harder than ever, with the flood tide, which would shortly compel him to desist, creeping up to his feet.
It is a difficult matter to fit a new plank into the rounded bilge of a boat, particularly when one is provided with inadequate appliances. One requires a good eye for curves, for the planks need much shaping. They must also be driven into position by force. Two or three stout sh.o.r.es were firmly wedged against the side of the boat, and these enc.u.mbered Vane in the free use of his arms. His face was darkly flushed and he panted heavily and now and then flung vitriolic instructions to the Siwash inside the craft. Carroll, watching him with quiet amus.e.m.e.nt, was on the whole content that the tide was rising, for his comrade had firmly declined to stop for dinner, and he was conscious of a sharpened appet.i.te. It was comforting to reflect that Vane would be unable to get the plank into place before the evening meal, for if there had been any prospect of his doing so, he would certainly have postponed his dinner.
Presently he stopped a moment and turned to Carroll.
”If you were any use in an emergency, you'd be holding up for me, instead of that wooden image inside! He will back the stone against any frame except the one I'm nailing.”
”The difficulty is that I can't be in two places at the same time,”
Carroll retorted good-naturedly. ”Shall I leave this plank? You can't get it in to-night.”
”I'm going to try,” Vane answered grimly.
He turned around to direct the Siwash and then cautiously hammered in one of the wedges a little farther. Swinging back the hammer, he struck a heavy blow. The result was disastrous, for there was a crash and one of the sh.o.r.es shot backward, striking him on the knee. He jumped with a savage cry, and the next moment there was a sharp snapping, and the end of the plank sprang out. Then another sh.o.r.e gave way; and when the plank fell clattering at his feet, Vane whirled the hammer round his head and hurled it violently into the bush. This appeared to afford him some satisfaction, and he strode up the beach, with the blood dripping from the knuckles of one hand.
”That's the blamed Siwash's fault!” he muttered. ”I couldn't get him to back up when I put the last spike in.”
”Hadn't you better tell him to come out?” Carroll suggested.
”No!” thundered Vane. ”If he hasn't sense enough to see that he isn't wanted, he can stay where he is all night! Are you going to get supper, or must I do that, too?”
Carroll merely smiled and set about preparing the meal, which the two Siwash partook of and afterward departed with some paper currency. Then Vane, walking down the beach, came back with the plank. Lighting his pipe, he pointed to one or two broken nails in it. The water was now rippling softly about the sloop, and the splash of canoe paddles came up out of the distance in rhythmic cadence.
”That's the cause of the trouble,” he explained. ”It cost me a week's journey to get the package of galvanized spikes--I could have managed to split a plank or two out of one of these firs. The storekeeper fellow a.s.sured me they were specially annealed for heading up. If I knew who the manufacturers were, I'd have pleasure in telling them what I think of them. If they set up to make spikes, they ought to make them, and empty every keg that won't stand the test out on to the sc.r.a.p-heap.”
Carroll smiled. The course his partner had indicated was the one he would have adopted. He was characterized by a somewhat grim idea of efficiency, and never spared his labor to attain it, though the latter fact now and then had its inconveniences for those who cooperated with him, as Carroll had discovered. The latter had no doubt that Vane would put the planks in, if he spent a month over the operation.
”I wouldn't have had this trouble if you'd been handier with tools,”
Vane went on. ”I can't see why you never took the trouble to learn how to use them.”
”My abilities aren't as varied as yours; and the thing strikes me as bad economy,” Carroll replied. ”Skill of the kind you mention is worth about three dollars a day.”
”You were getting two dollars for shoveling in a mining ditch when I first met you.”
”I was,” Carroll a.s.sented good-humoredly. ”I believe another month or two of it would have worn me out. It's considerably pleasanter and more profitable to act as your understudy; but a fairly proficient carpenter might have bungled the matter.”
Vane looked embarra.s.sed.
”Let it pa.s.s. I've a pernicious habit of expressing myself unfortunately.