Part 34 (2/2)
”What can the matter be with Carlin?” asked Harding. ”He has been half wild all day and altogether different from his usual self.”
”He will be home sometime to-night,” replied Ashley. ”He has been absent a long time, and I do not wonder at his unrest. I expect to have my attack next week when the southern hills of Pennsylvania lift up their crests, and the old familiar haunts begin to take form.”
”Look! Look!” said Harding. ”Carlin's unrest is taking a delicious form, truly.”
Two ladies were standing on the platform. Carlin had leaped from the train while yet it was moving quite rapidly. He bent and kissed the first lady, but the second one he caught in his arms, held her in a long embrace and kissed her over and over again.
”He has struck a bonanza,” said Ashley.
”And the formation is kindly,” said Harding.
”The indications are splendid,” said Ashley. ”Mark the trend of the vein; it is exquisite.”
”It does not seem to be rebellious or obstinate ore to manipulate either. Carlin's process seems to work like a fire a.s.say,” said Harding.
”Just by the surface showing the claim is worth a thousand dollars a share,” said Ashley. ”I wonder if Carlin has secured a patent yet?”
”And I wonder,” said Harding, ”if we are not a pair of blackguards to be talking this way. Let us go and meet them.”
The friends arose and started for the platform, but were met half way by Carlin and the ladies. There were formal introductions to Mrs. and Miss Richards. Under the blushes of the young lady could be traced the lineaments of the ”Susie d.i.c.k” that Carlin had shown to the Club in the photograph.
Crimson, but still smiling, the young lady said: ”Gentlemen, did you see Mr. Carlin at the station, before a whole depot of giggling ninnies, too? Was ever anything half so ridiculous?” Then glancing up at Carlin with a forgiving look, but still in a delicious scolding tone, she added: ”I really had hoped that the West had partly civilized him.”
Harding and Ashley glanced at each other with a look which said plainly enough, ”Carlin has proved up without any contest; even if the patent is not already issued, his t.i.tle is secure.”
The friends had the drawing room and a section outside. With a quick instinct Ashley seated the elder lady in the section, bade Harding entertain her, then swinging back the drawing room door, said: ”Miss Richards, I know that you want to scold Carlin for the next hour, and he deserves it. Right in here is the best place on the car for the purpose.
Please walk in.” Saying which he stepped back and seated himself beside Harding.
The elder lady was a charming traveling companion. She wanted to know all about the West. She knew all about the region they were pa.s.sing through, and the whole afternoon ride was a delight.
During the journey Harding and Ashley had been begging Carlin to accompany them to Ma.s.sachusetts, and he had finally promised to give them a positive answer that day. After a while he emerged from the drawing room and said: ”I am sorry, but I cannot go East with you. These ladies have been good enough to come out and meet me. We will all go on as far as Chicago and see you off, but we cannot very well extend the journey further. Indeed, Miss Susie intimates that I am too awkward a man to be safe east of Chicago.”
The others saw how it was and did not further importune him. Next day they separated, Carlin's last words being, ”If you ever come within five hundred miles of Peoria stop and stay a month.”
The grand city was pa.s.sed. The train swung around the end of Lake Michigan, leaving the magical city in its wake. Through the beautiful region of Southern Michigan it hurried on. Detroit was reached and pa.s.sed; the arm of the Dominion was crossed, and finally, when in the early morning the train stopped, the boom of Niagara filled the air, and the enchantment of the picture which the river and the sunlight suspend there before mortals, was in full view. Next the valley of the Genesee was unfolded, and with each increasing mile more and more distinct grew the clamors of toiling millions, jubilant with life and measureless in energy. Swifter and more frequent was the rush of the chariots on which modern commerce is borne, and all the time to the eyes of the men of the desert the lovely homes which fill that region flitted by like the castles of dreamland.
Later in the day the panorama of the Mohawk Valley began to unroll and was drawn out in picture after picture of rare loveliness.
Ashley and Harding were enchanted. It was as though they had emerged into a new world.
”Think of it, Ashley,” said Harding. ”It is but eight days--at this very hour--since we were having that wrestle with death in the depths of the Bullion mine. Think of that and then look around upon these serene homes and the lavish loveliness of this scenery.”
”I know now how Moses felt, when from the crest of Pisgah he looked down to where the Promised Land was outstretched before him,” was the reply.
”I feel as I fancy a soul must feel, when at last it realizes there is a second birth.”
Said Harding: ”I dread more and more to meet these people where we are going. How uncouth we will seem to them and to ourselves.”
<script>