"I guess the thing's not serious," he commented.

"Well," said Nasmyth ruefully, "in one way, I think it is. You see, store clothes are dear, and this is the only pair of trousers I've got."

There was a little laugh from the others, and he knew he had done wisely, when they clumsily expressed their satisfaction at his escape.

He had, at least, discredited Jake, and it was evident that if the man made any more a.s.sertions of a similar nature, which was very unlikely, no one would listen to them.

In the meanwhile, n.o.body else seemed to be aware that anything unusual was going on. All had happened in a minute or two, and the clanging of the fiddle and the patter of the dancers' feet had drowned any sound that rose from the dynamo-room. Nasmyth had not long to wait before Gordon stepped in and quietly set about his surgical work, after someone had dipped up a little water from the sluice.

"Yes," said Gordon, "it's quite a nice clean slice, and I guess it's not going to trouble you much, though you won't walk very far for a week or two. As soon as we can get you to the dam, I'll put a proper dressing on." Then he looked up sharply. "In the meanwhile, I don't quite see how you cut yourself like that."

"As a matter of fact, I didn't," said Nasmyth, with evident reluctance. "I suppose you will have to be told." He looked round at the others. "Boys, I particularly don't want this thing to go any further."

He related what had happened, and one of the men stood up. "I wouldn't worry over that," he replied. "We're not going to talk, and if Jake does, one of us will pound a little sense into him. Now I'll slip out and get Highton's team."

After that they gave Nasmyth some cider, and a few minutes later he limped out through the opening in the wall and across the plank they laid above the sluice to the waiting waggon. It was not far to the dam, and before very long Gordon was back again at the mill. It naturally happened, though he was anxious to avoid her, that Laura Waynefleet was the first person who accosted him.

"Have you seen Mr. Nasmyth?" she asked.

"Oh, yes," said Gordon. "I saw him a little while ago. You are wanting him?"

Laura laughed. "I believed I promised him another dance. It's a little curious he hasn't come for it."

"In one way it's deplorably bad taste."

The girl was quick to notice that his gaze was not quite frank, and he winced when for a moment she laid her hand upon his arm, for he saw the veiled anxiety in her eyes.

"Something has been going on," she said. "You don't want to tell me where Mr. Nasmyth is."

"He has just gone back to the dam. He got hurt--a trifling cut--nothing more than that. Still, I insisted on tying it up."

"Ah," cried Laura sharply, "you evidently don't wish me to know how he got it!"

"It is just what I don't mean to do. Any way, it's not worth while troubling about. Nasmyth's injury isn't in the least serious."

"It doesn't seem to strike you that I could ask him myself."

Gordon would have liked to warn her to keep away from the dam, but he did not see how it could be done unless he offered some reason, and that was a thing he shrank from.

"Oh, yes," he said, "you certainly could." Then he glanced down at her hands. "Those are unusually pretty gloves you have on."

His answer was, as it happened, almost as injudicious as he could have rendered it, since it left the girl determined to sift the matter thoroughly. She, however, only smiled just then.

"I think there isn't a nicer pair of gloves in Canada than these," she said.

Gordon took himself away, wondering what she could have meant by that; and Laura waited until next day, when, although there was, as usual, a good deal to be done about the ranch, she went down to find out what was the matter with Nasmyth.

The injured man was sitting in his shanty, with his foot upon a chair, but he rose when she came in, and stood leaning rather hard upon the table.

"It is very kind of you to come," he said, taking her hand. He made shift to limp to the door, whence he called for Mattawa.

"Bring those two chairs out, Tom, and put them in the sun," he said.

The old axeman shook his head severely. "You sit right down again.

What in the name of wonder are you on your legs for, any way?" he asked. Then he saw Laura, and made a little gesture of resignation.

"Well, I guess it will have to be done."

The sudden change in his att.i.tude was naturally not lost upon the girl, but she kept her astonishment to herself, and waited until Mattawa had made Nasmyth as comfortable as possible. Then she turned to him.

"I am very sorry you are hurt," she said. "I understand it was an axe cut. How did it happen?"

Nasmyth appeared to reflect. "Well," he answered, "I suppose I was a little careless--in fact, I must have been. You see, some of the building gang had left their axes in the dynamo-room."

"That," said Laura dryly, "certainly accounts for the axe being there.

I'm not sure it goes very much further."

"It really wasn't very much of a cut." Nasmyth's desire to escape from the topic was a trifle too plain, as he added, "Isn't it nice out here?"

It occurred to Laura that it was uncomfortably cold, for there was a nip of frost in the air, though the sun hung coppery red above the sombre pines.

"I almost fancied you were not overjoyed to see me," she remarked.

Nasmyth appeared momentarily embarra.s.sed, but his expression suddenly changed, and Laura felt a faint thrill when he laid his hand upon her arm.

"That," he said, "is a fancy you must never entertain again."

In one respect Laura was fully satisfied, and, though there was still a great deal upon which she meant to be enlightened, she talked about other matters for almost half an hour, and then rose with a little shiver.

"I must get back to the settlement, where I have left the team," she said, and glanced down at him for a moment with solicitude in her eyes. "You will be very careful."

Nasmyth let her go, but he did not know that she signed to Mattawa, who was then busy hewing out a big redwood log. The axeman strolled after her into the Bush, and then stopped to look hard at her as he uttered an inquiring, "Well?"

"Tom," said the girl, "can't you understand that it would be very much wiser if somebody told me exactly how Mr. Nasmyth got hurt?"

The axeman nodded. "Yes," he admitted, with a wink, "that's just how it strikes me, and I'm going to. The boss has no more arms and legs than he's a use for anyway."

Laura gazed at him in bewilderment, but the man's expression was perfectly grave. "Now," he added, "I guess one can talk straight sense to you, and the fact is I can't have you coming round here again. Just listen about two minutes, and I'll try to make the thing clear to you."

He did so with a certain graphic force that she had not expected from him, and the colour crept into her cheeks. Then, to Mattawa's astonishment, she smiled.

"Thank you," she said simply. "But the other man?"

"Well," replied Mattawa, "if he goes round talking, somebody will 'most pound the life out of him."

Then he swung round abruptly, for he was shrewd, and had his primitive notions of delicacy; and Laura went on through the stillness of the Bush, with a curious softness in her eyes. Mattawa had been terse, and, in some respects, his observations had not been tactful, but n.o.body could have impressed her more in Nasmyth's favour. Indeed, at the moment, she scarcely remembered how the aspersions Jake had made might affect herself. As it happened, she met Gordon near the settlement, and he stopped a moment. He had come upon her suddenly, and had looked at her with a suggestive steadiness, but she smiled.

"Yes," she said, "I have been to the dam. After the way in which you made it evident that you didn't want me to go there, it was, perhaps, no more than you could have expected."

"Ah!" rejoined Gordon, with a look of anxiety, "you probably got hold of Mattawa. Well, after all, I guess he has done the wise thing." Then after a pause he observed, "There is very little the matter with your courage."