The Gold Trail

nk, came upon Weston sitting with his back to a tree. He wore no boot on one foot which was wrappe

ot in the te

arp-voiced mart who had ordered her to put on his jacket early on the previous morning. Now he was smiling languidly, and there was a graceful carelessnes

me out. The major has gone fishing; Mrs. Kinnaird ha

on n

e said. "How is Mis

ow is your foot? It doesn't see

n lau

see, for once in a while, it's rather nice to have nothing to do, and know that o

converse with his employers or their friends on familiar terms, and it occurred to her that it was a trifle superfluous for him to insist on reminding her of his status whe

al experience wit

on. "Anyway, during

sitting still in the shadow, she looked up between the dark fir branches at th

p so high before

hink some of the ranges we crossed on the gold trail must have been con

Every now and then it seems that the rancher must leave his clearing and wander off into the bush. As you ad

in a rather c

es, snow-shoe meets, and sleigh-rides to keep you amused, that it was all growing tiresome and very stale? Haven't you fe

had supposed him capable, though she was not altogether unacquainted with

oes he goes up into the bush-prospecting. Still, I think you were wrong when you said that we seldom bring back anyth

own that apparently endless slope in the darkness. The feat looked almost impossible, by daylight. Then she remembered also how her nerves had tingled, and the curious sense of exaltation that had come over her as she crept along the dizzy edge of the

ht down something, or rather it a

t his hands with

l, though the prospector knows it, everybody can't feel it

mprehension between her and this stranger; but she was not prepared to admit it

up on the high peaks, the bush is full of i

of the river, and the faint elfin si

inctions. It was the same to camp-packer and rich contractor's daughter. As Ida listened it seem

she asked. "It leads to

n admitted. "After all, I think, one has to be a

ty to know more of him would not permi

r-mill. The people for whom I worked seemed quite pleased with the way I did it, and paid me reasonably. I lived in a big boarding-house like a rabbit-warren. Through the thin partitions I could hear

out?" s

getting sick for room and air. I presented the concern with my last

id you

d leagues of them between me and the city. I drove a team for a farmer most of that season. Then I went on to a track that they were strengthening and straightening in this province. It ran between the rock and the river, and the snow hadn't gone. We worked waist-

to be back in the offi

n lau

g-rinks, and even the trips west in your fa

t remember that I have n

le. It's quite certain that you wo

ue the subject further, though she w

r energy after you left

ashing outfit, hewed logs for bridges-but haven't I talked t

ed a cha

the same as the one your people lead in England. It does

oiled he

ite think it is; but perhaps I'm prejudiced. I wheeled

as pleasant to appear as a modern Ulysses in the eyes of a very pretty girl,

ou going nex

he money. That is partly why I hope that Major Kinnai

laug

ith you. In fact, I heard him say that if he'd had you

t it there, for she did not know that in his younger days he had t

"Arabella is pro

e fancied, sense enough to refrain from allowing his thoughts to wander in her direction too frequently, and, soothed by

e, for he had as usual traveled with feverish haste. He stayed until the next day, which was rather longer than any of them expected; and it was not by accident that

ing better

it is," s

ing n

to these people; and they're my daughter's friend

eston, "I don't

ed at him steadily

here's no reason why you shouldn't let me kn

s eyes

t think

ts to climb mountains or shoot rapids, it's to be done; but you'll fix things so

mincing matters, but Weston c

le difficult if Major Kinnai

e doesn't. You can fix it

ore to be said, and then as he move

oved up a grade

. He had never seen his employer before; but it was evident that the latte

oadside station. Major Kinnaird was apparently counting the pile of baggage some little distance away, his wife and daughter were in the station-room, and Ida and Wes

we are going to Vancouver," she said. "This"-and she indicat

nodded

ks, and you'll never quite forget them, even in the citi

would remain with her. She also remembered that he had said that the stillness among

at case we shall certainly ask for you as guide. I want to say, as Major Kinna

Weston supposed that she was unwil

little discomforts

ose there are. However, I shall probably

oment, and then turn

em to feel that I shall

the light was fading fast, Ida saw the glint

said, "that wou

en said; and it was a slight relief when the shriek of a whistle came ringing down the track and a roar of wheels grew louder among the shadowy pines. Then the great mountain locomotive and the dusty cars came clanking into the station, sto

Arabella Kinnaird looked up at her companion as she sat in a lurch

s been puzzling me. His face was familiar. The sa

Ida, a little t

panion

e has, in a way. You remember his talking about the old North Country Hall he took for the shooting? Well, the ow

Weston's face as he sat in the firelight listening to Kinnaird's description

he inquir

ird made a sig

ph unless he had been a friend of the family or a r

didn

is Weston, and that is the name of the people who own the place.

" ask

y poor, but a certain number of them have something that the people who have only money would give a go

laug

te with you English people. Didn't the Roman emperors claim to have the Imperial purple in

e color of pac

red the white-faced man who had limped out of camp

know. When he went back up the range f

ird came back from the smoking end of the car just then, and wh

stopping them, and one came near braining him with a deftly-flung bottle when he retaliated. There were a good many more men perched on the other cars, and Weston concluded, from the burst of hoarse laughter that reached him through the roar of wheels, that all of them were not wholly sober. They had been recruited in Vancouver, and inclu

oining car, he reluctantly grappled with the man and succeeded in throwing him into a corner. Then one of the ot

s going on," he said gruffly. "Mak

ecided to lie still, and h

them tally out right to-morrow," he observed, "We

w and then odd bursts of harsh laughter or discordant singing broke through the roar of wheels. It was very different from the deep tranquillity of the wilderness and the quiet composure of the people with whom he had spent the last few weeks, but, as Ida Stirling had