Part 107 (1/2)
flowed by the idler on the bank.
”You seem to have a lot to do,” Seymour would now and then say with a laugh.
”So I have.”
”What do you call it?”
”Takin' stock.”
”Of us?”
”Of things in general.”
”What did you mean by that?” demanded the Colonel suspiciously when the Superintendent had pa.s.sed up the line.
The shovelling in was done for the time being. The water was to be regulated, and then the clean-up as soon as the owner came down.
”Better not let Austin hear you say you're takin' stock. He'll run you out o' the creek.”
The Boy only smiled, and went on fillipping little stones at Nig.
”What did you mean?” the Colonel persisted, with a look as suspicious as Scowl Austin's own.
”Oh, nothin'. I'm only thinkin' out things.”
”Your future, I suppose?” he said testily.
”Mine and other men's. The Klond.y.k.e's a great place to get things clear in your head.”
”Don't find it so.” The Colonel put up his hand with that now familiar action as if to clear away a cloud. ”It's days since I had anything clear in my head, except the lesson we learned on the trail.”
The Boy stopped throwing stones, and fixed his eyes on his friend, as the Colonel went on:
”We had that hammered into us, didn't we?”
”What?”
”Oh, that--you know--that--I don't know quite how to put it so it'll sound as orthodox as it might be, bein' true; but it looks pretty clear even to me”--again the big hand brus.h.i.+ng at the unmoted suns.h.i.+ne--”that the only reason men got over bein' beasts was because they began to be brothers.”
”Don't,” said the Boy.
”Don't what?”
”I've always known I should have to tell you some time. I won't be able to put it off if I stay ... and I hate tellin' you now. See here: I b'lieve I'll get a pack-mule and go over to Indian River.”
The Colonel looked round angrily. Standing high against the sky, Seymour, with the gateman up at the lock, was moderating the strong head of water. It began to flow sluggishly over the gravel-clogged riffles, and Scowl Austin was coming down the hill.
”I don't know what you're drivin' at, about somethin' to tell. I know one thing, though, and I learned it up here in the North: men were meant to stick to one another.”
”Don't, I say.”