Part 39 (1/2)

It had cost them strenuous toil to drive that heading, but one could have fancied that they were satisfied with the terse a.s.surance he offered them. He had proved himself fit to lead them, and they had a steadfast confidence in him.

”Well,” commented one of the men, ”in that case, I guess all we have to do is to start right off at the other one.”

Nasmyth opened the door of the shanty. ”I felt you'd look at it that way, boys,” he said. ”I'll explain the thing later. I'm a little played out to-night.”

The men plodded away up the gully, and in another few minutes Nasmyth was sound asleep.

CHAPTER XXVII

TIMBER RIGHTS

They set to work on the new heading at sunrise next morning, but it was a week or two before they had made much of an opening in the rock beneath the fall. Though Nasmyth had lowered the level of the river a little, the smooth-worn stone still rose sheer from the depths of the whirling pool, and the blasting had obliterated every trace of their previous operations. They were compelled to make new approaches, and they toiled, drenched with the icy spray, on frail, slung stages, cutting sockets for the logs to hold a heavier platform for the little boring-machine Nasmyth had purchased in Victoria. When the platform was built, the working face was narrow, and the rock of a kind that yielded very slowly to the cutting-tool. They had no power but that of well-hardened muscle, and none of the workers had any particular knowledge of engineering.

They pushed the new heading toilsomely beneath the fall, working in rock fissured by the last explosion, through which the water poured in on them, while the river rose when the frost broke up and was succeeded by a week or two of torrential rain. The water swirled high among the boulders, and had crept almost to the mouth of the heading, when one evening Wheeler walked into the shanty. He said nothing of any consequence until supper was over, and he then took a newspaper out of his pocket.

”Have you had any strangers round?” he asked.

”No,” answered Nasmyth, with a dry smile. ”That is, they didn't get any farther than the head of the gully. Two of them turned up one wet day, and when they found they couldn't get down, they explained rather forcibly what they thought of me.”

Wheeler nodded, and handed the paper across to him.

”I guess you did quite right,” he said. ”This should make it clear that some of the city men with money are on our trail.”

Nasmyth glanced at the paper, and saw a notification that certain timber rights in the forest belt surrounding the valley had been applied for.

”The Charters people!” he declared. ”When I was in Victoria I had a talk with them. I partly expected something of the kind. By the way, I got a notification from the rancher I mentioned that, if I continued operations, proceedings would be begun against me.”

”They mean business,” commented Wheeler, with a snap in his dark eyes.

”It seems to me there are several of them in the thing, and they evidently expect to get their hands on the valley one way or another.

In all probability their idea is to let you get most of the work in, and then scare you into selling out for what they like to offer. Have you had any big trees coming along lately?”

”Yes,” answered Mattawa, ”one or two went over the fall this afternoon.”

”Drift logs?”

”Two had the branches chopped off them.”

Wheeler made a sign of comprehension. ”Well,” he predicted, ”you're going to see a good many more of that kind before very long.” He turned to Nasmyth. ”I'm going to stay over to-morrow. The mill's held up again. We had an awkward break, and I can't get the new fixings in.

You can tell me how you're getting on.”

They talked until late that night, and on awakening next morning found the river higher and thick with shattered ice. It had also crept into the heading, and the men who worked in it were knee-deep in water.

They, however, went on as usual, and it was in the afternoon that several great trees leapt the fall, and, driving down the rapid, whirled away into the black depths of the canon. Wheeler, who stood watching attentively, nodded as the trees drove by.

”Hemlock. That's not going to count for milling purposes,” he observed.

Nasmyth, who came up dripping wet, sat down on a boulder and took out his pipe.