Part 30 (1/2)

”If you want Frank, he's your man and he might be useful,” he remarked.

”Then I reckon Miss Laura's willing for him to help. Your friends are good.”

”That is so,” said Jimmy, looking at Deering hard. ”My friends are better than I deserve. But what about Douglas? Did you find out much?”

Deering admitted that he did not, but when he talked about Neilson he used some caution. Since Jimmy trusted Stannard, there was no use in trying to warn him; some time he would get enlightenment.

”On the whole, I think the police knew I was at Vancouver,” he said.

”Their plan was to hit my trail when I started back. I don't expect they did so, but it's possible. Anyhow, now the Indian's gone, and a cold snap threatens, we have got to quit. My plan's to start for your ranch.”

”The ranch is not far from the railroad.”

”Its being near the track has some advantages. Since the police searched the spot, I guess they're satisfied. Then we want food, and packing supplies for a long distance is a strenuous job. The Indian could move a useful load, but to carry fifty pounds across rocks and fallen trees makes me tired.”

”A rifle, a blanket, and twenty pounds is my load,” said Jimmy and resumed in a thoughtful voice: ”Yet I started for the plains----”

Deering used some control and let Jimmy's remark go.

”You could not have made it,” he said quietly. ”But what about our jumping off?”

”We'll talk about it again,” Jimmy replied. ”I suppose we must go, but now you're back, I don't want to bother. You brace me up. Until I heard your step, I felt down and out.”

He threw fresh wood on the fire, and soon afterwards they went to sleep.

Jimmy's sleep was broken, and when he woke at daybreak he s.h.i.+vered. He did not want to get up, but he must fetch water. The kettle handle stung his skin, the pools on the creek were frozen, and he saw the snow had moved five or six hundred feet down the rocks. Rose-pink light touched the high peaks and h.o.a.r frost sparkled on the pines, but the stern beauty of the wilds was daunting. Jimmy wanted the deep valleys up which the soft Chinook blew.

When he went back, Deering was occupied at the fire. He looked up and remarked with a twinkle: ”The cold is pretty fierce. If we're going to stay, you'll want a skin coat and another blanket.”

”When we have got breakfast we'll start for the ranch,” Jimmy replied.

XXIII

MARGARET TAKES A PLUNGE

For a time Jimmy was not disturbed at the ranch. On the high rocks the frost was keen, but in the deep valley a gentle wind from the Pacific melted the snow. Jimmy dared not order sawed lumber, but Jardine got him a door and windows and the house was warm. Sometimes he went shooting and sometimes he went to Kelshope. Jardine was friendly, but when the rancher had gone to look after his stock Jimmy was resigned. To sit by the fire and talk to Margaret was a delightful occupation.

At the beginning he had remarked her beauty, but now he knew beauty was not all her charm. Margaret was clever; she saw his point of view, and when she did not agree her argument was logical and keen. Then she was proud and fearless, and he sensed in her something primitive. Margaret was his sort and sprang from stock like his. Yet he felt her physical charm. Her eyes were sea-blue, and in the firelight her hair was like red California gold. She had a bushman's balance, and her unconscious pose was Greek. Although she was frank, with something of a great lady's frankness, Jimmy soon knew her fastidious.

But for his part in the shooting accident, his satisfaction would have been complete. It looked as if the police had resolved to leave him alone, and Deering had made one or two excursions to the cities, but Jimmy doubted. He knew the Royal North-West do not forget. Moreover, somebody shot Douglas, and on the whole he thought he had done so.

Sometimes he wondered whether he ought to go to Kelshope, but all the same he went.

When Deering was at Calgary, Margaret one afternoon rode home from the station as fast as possible. At the ranch she took down the load of groceries but left the horse tied to a post. Jardine was by the fire and had pulled off his boot. In the morning he had cut his foot with his ax.

He gave Margaret a keen glance and saw she had ridden fast.

”Weel?” he said. ”Is something bothering ye?”

”Two troopers and their horses came in on the freight train. I expect they're looking for Mr. Leyland.”