Part 28 (2/2)
AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
Daly was not at Banff, and Foster, whoto indicate that he had been there Indeed, he began to weigh the possibility of Car deceived hiirl was clever at intrigue, but he did not think she had acted a part She had really lost her self-control and told hie On the other hand, it was possible that Daly had deceived her, but there was no obvious reason for his doing so
The felloever, was not in Banff, which is a small place, frequented mostly by tourists and invalids who come there in summer, and Foster took a west-bound train He was once , he had no tients got on Daly's track before hiht, with a ticket for Vancouver, which he had bought on speculation, partly because the seaboard city is a clearing-house for travelers to all parts of the Pacific coast, but did not sleep h theof the cars and the roar of wheels that echoed aloohts He had promised Alice Featherstone that he would clear her brother; but he had also to clear himself, and in order to do so must find Lawrence as well as Daly Just now he had not ue belief in his luck, and it was unthinkable that he should neglect any chance of justifying the girl's confidence He was ready to follow Daly round the world, sooner than lose that The trouble was that he could not tell if he was following the fellow or not
He went to sleep at last, and getting up rather late, spent an hour or two trying to knit up broken clews and looking for a light It was a profitless but absorbing occupation and he vacantly glanced at theforest that rolled past the s of the car When his thoughts wandered fro with stately cal in the orchard with the sunset shi+ning on her face He recalled the grace of her tall figure and how her dress harmonized with the mossy trunks, but he loved to dwell upon the look of trust in her steady eyes Then theup the track and there was a jar of brakes
Foster hurried out to the platfor to the engineer and passengers ju down into the snow Pete joined him as he followed them, but he stopped for some moments and looked about There was no station near The track, which wasa desolate mountainside Dark pines that looked as if they had been dusted with icing-sugar rolled in curiously rigid ranks up the slope, getting se that bit into a vast sweep of white This ended in a row of jagged peaks whose suainst the blue sky Below the track, the ground fell away to a trereen river dotted with drifting ice The sun struck warh the snoas dry
”We'll find out why they've stopped,” he said to Pete and walked forward past the cars
The engineer stood on the step of the huge locoone down not far ahead; snow-slide, I guess”
He shrugged when Foster asked if it would be a long job ”You can see for yourself, if you like,” he re a plume of s at work round the bend It's a sure thing on't pull out before you're back”
Foster set off with Pete and several passengers, and the Scot gazed about onder
”I was born aht like this!” he exclaimed ”Man, it passes dreamin' o'; it's just stupenjious! But I wouldna' say they'llhere”
”They have some bench tablelands and pretty rich alluvial valleys,”
Foster answered with a sely on its lanced back up the track that wound down between rock and forest froh, white ra the men who built yon line had stout hearts”
”It wasn't an easy job,” Foster agreed ”They were up against savage Nature, and she's still too strong for the engineer now and then, as I expect you'll shortly see”
They walked through a gap in the pines and stopped with a sense of awe on the edge of a great red furrow in the ed by shattered trees, and here and there a giant splintered trunk rested precariously aments Far beneath, a vast pile of earth and snow dammed the river, and half-way up an overturned loco the wreckage The end of a s flood For a hundred yards the track had vanished, but gangs of ap Farther back, there was clang of flung-down rails and a ringing of ha, they'll be lucky,”
Foster re past with an ax on his shoulder ”Is there any settlement not too far ahead?”
”There's a s station about six ht walking if you keep to the track and watch out you don't meet the construction train in the snowshed”
Foster, who kneould find waiting tedious, went back to the car for his s, after which he and Pete set off for the hotel They had some trouble to cross the path of the avalanche and then spent so a row of flat cars The single-line track was cut out of the rock and one ran a risk of glissading down to the river by venturing outside its edge Once, indeed, a heavy bea from a rock's crest splashed into the flood The men on the cars worked in furious haste, and it was difficult to avoid the clanging rails they threw off
Foster got past, but did not find walking easy when he had done so
The track wound a the folds of the hills, and where the sun had struck the snow there was a slippery crust, through which he broke
Where it ran past tall crags and between the trees, the snoas dry and loose as dust Theyover two miles in the first hour and soon afterwards caslope, for the roof was pitched at a very sle to the declivity and the snow passed down hill over it with scarcely a wrinkle
It was only when they entered they saw signs of ers that braced the structure These were presently lost in the gloole ballast rolled under his feet; where he found a tie to step on it was generally by stubbing his toe, and once or twice he struck the side of the shed