The Lure of the North

ing breeze blew up the river from the Laurentian wilds, but Montreal, shut in by the wooded mountain, sweltered in humid heat. Then the streets were being torn up to lay electric m

success. Now this looked difficult. Money was scarce, and he found credit strangely hard to get. The mining speculators he called upon received him coldly, and although he had a warmer welc

refining. The rich strike in Ontario had not been made yet, and the prospectors who pushed into the forests with drill and dynamite were re

rattle of the Grand Trunk trains. Poisoned flies dropped upon the tables and an electric fan made an unpleasant whirring as

to reject Sir James's offer. He had thrown away a chance of winning prosperity and perhaps fame in England, for he knew he had some talent and he was ambitious. Instead he had chosen exhausting labor and stern self-denial in

ooden building, and the air in the shade was cool and sweet with resinous smells. The lake glittered, smooth as glass, in the hot sun, but her

elt some curiosity about the girl whom he had arranged to meet. They had corresponded and he had brought a photograph he thought she would like to see, but on the whole he

tor he had met in the North. Strange had worked spasmodically at the mine, where he was employed because labor was scarce. He was not a good workman, and when he had earned a small sum generally bought provisio

ul profit by selling the Indians liquor, which perhaps accounted for his journeys with Strange. As they returned from the last expedition their canoe capsized in a rapid near the mining camp, and although Driscoll reached land exhausted, Strange's body was never found. Thirlwe

ell watched her drowsily, noting her light, well-balanced movements and the grace of her tall figure. She wore a big white hat and a thin summer dress that he thought was very artistically m

lf-control. She had brown hair with a ruddy tint that caught the light, gray eyes that met his with a calm, inquiring glance, and firm red

ll, I suppos

I must thank you for coming here

e wondered with some embarrassment whether he had succeeded

and I wanted to see the lake," h

lotches of bright color among the gray rocks. Out on the lake, a young man knelt in the stern of a canoe, swinging a paddle that flashed in the sun, while a girl trailed her hand in the sparkl

id slowly. "Different, one ima

took out a photograph. "You will see t

and some leaned across each other, while the gloomy sky was smeared by the smoke of a forest-fire. In the foreground, angry waves broke in foami

You can see the Grand Rapid. I have m

relieved. He saw she felt keenly, but she was calm. In

," she said by and by, and gave him a level

trange's habits. Perhaps the girl knew her father's weakness, and if not, it was better that

sh, but not when he lived at home with

it is

ng, you have been kind-" She paused, and when she resumed there was a faint

long the trail to the mine, but this did not lessen his sympathy for the g

ou believe in the si

plied. "It's a country of surprises; you don't know what you m

e gift of humor. The smile softened

you are rather like the picture I ma

d nothing, as was his prudent rule

y had to make a long journey, and were coming back, short of food, when they camped one evening beside a frozen creek. The water had worn away the face of a small cliff, and the frost had recently split off a large slab. That left the strata cleanly exposed, and my father notice

gravity; so has lead. Someti

packet. "My father gave it me when I was a child, and I

e that her decision to show him the ore was a compliment. He looked honest, and st

ces of lead, and perhaps copper, too; you seldom fi

ep snow covered the ground, but my father made what he called a mental photograph of the spot. It was a little hollow among the rocks, with a willow grove by the creek, and i

to tell me this?"

I could tell would be of much use to you. My father, al

nt, who said they were worthless and laughed at him. But it was perhaps significant that he was not sen

didn't want miners with dynamite and noisy machines to i

d business in a new wooden town. He did not like the towns, and I know when I got older that he often longed for the wild North, but although the place grew and the business pro

mself up, added: "If you take proper appliances, a prospecting exp

nless it w

tell you and n

d sympathy that he did not get. I think now my mother knew he longed for the North, and was afraid the longing might grow too stron

ning water towards the faint blur of a pine forest on a distant point, and T

e has much to bear; but it calls. One fears

etly, but he noted t

g town; then there was the dream of riches that might be his. He was not greedy, and my brother did not need money. George had a talent for business and his empl

e cost. You see, you only knew him in the bush, and after he went back I noted a difference in his letters. They

plied: "Disappointment is often numbing; but

s well; then my mother died, and nobody had any further claim on him. His duty was done, and though he wa

e," said Thirlwell,

or years carried on his disliked task for his wife and children's sake. Longing for the woods and the silent trail, Strange must have found it irksome to count dollar bi

up. "Thank you," she said. "I will take the photog

t I wonder why you

u to believe in it, too. You are a mining engineer a

to the hotel veranda and