"I'm afraid we have been very remiss," apologized Nasmyth, when they joined her. "Still, we didn't know, and we had some business to talk about."

"There will be plenty of time for that to-morrow."

"The trouble is that I shall be in the city then," said Gordon.

Mrs. Acton laughed. "Oh, no!" she contradicted. "We are all going for a sail on the straits to-morrow, and we certainly expect you to join us. In the meanwhile, I believe there are two young women waiting for partners."

She silenced Gordon's objections as they turned back towards the house. They found the dancing had commenced, and Nasmyth failed to secure Miss Hamilton as a partner for any time in the evening. He could not help a fancy that she had taken some little trouble to bring about this result.

CHAPTER XIX

NASMYTH HEARS THE RIVER

Darkness had settled down on Bonavista next evening when Nasmyth lay in a canvas chair on the veranda, while Gordon leaned against the bal.u.s.trade in front of him with a cigar in his hand. A blaze of light streamed out from one of the long open windows a few yards away, and somebody was singing in the room behind it, while the splash of the gentle surf came up from the foot of the promontory in a deep monotone. Now and then a shadowy figure strolled into the veranda or crossed it to the terrace below, but for the time being n.o.body disturbed the two men.

"I haven't had a word with you since last night," said Nasmyth. "How are the boys at the settlement?"

"Hustling along as usual." Gordon laughed. "Is there anybody else you feel inclined to ask about?"

"Yes," said Nasmyth, "there certainly is. How is Miss Waynefleet?"

Gordon looked down at his cigar. "Well," he said, "I'm a little worried on her account. She was attempting to do a great deal more than was good for her when I last saw her. They have no longer a hired man at the ranch. Waynefleet, I understand, is rather tightly fixed for money, and, as you know, he isn't the kind of man who would deny himself. He was talking of selling some stock."

Nasmyth suddenly straightened himself, and closed one hand rather hard on the arm of his chair.

"What right have you and I to be lounging here when that girl is working late and early on the ranch?" he asked. "Gordon, you will have to buy two or three head of that stock at double value for me."

"It's rather a big question;" and Gordon's tone was serious. "In fact, I fancy it's one that neither you nor I can throw much light upon.

Anyway, I may as well point out that I arrived here only yesterday, and I'm going on again in the morning. As to the other matter, Laura Waynefleet has friends who will stand by her."

"Don't you count me one of them?" Nasmyth demanded. "That girl saved my life for me."

Gordon glanced round sharply, for there were light footsteps on the veranda, and he almost imagined that a white figure in filmy draperies stopped a moment. It, however, went on again and vanished in the shadow.

"I believe she did," he admitted. "Well, if there's anything that can be done, you may rely on me." He made an abrupt gesture, and as he turned, the light from the window fell upon his face, showing the curious smile on it. "What are you doing here?"

He flung the question at his comrade, and Nasmyth, who knew what he meant, sat for a moment or two with wrinkled forehead. There was no reason why he should not stay there so long as Mr. and Mrs. Acton desired his company, but it did not seem fitting that he should spend those summer days in luxurious idleness while Laura Waynefleet toiled late and early at the lonely ranch. Again, he seemed to see her steady eyes with the quiet courage in them, and the gleam of her red-gold hair. Even then she was, he reflected, in all probability occupied with some severe drudgery. It was a thing he did not like to contemplate, and he almost resented the fact that Gordon should have brought such thoughts into his mind. His comrade had broken in upon his contentment like a frosty wind that stung him to action. Still, he answered quietly.

"I am within easy reach of the city here," he explained. "Acton, who has once or twice given me good advice, is acquainted with most of the folks likely to be of any use to us, and has laid the scheme before one or two of them. That, at least, is one reason why I am staying at Bonavista. It's perfectly evident that it wouldn't be any benefit to Miss Waynefleet if I went back to the Bush."

"No," agreed Gordon grimly; "if you were likely to be of any use or consolation to her, you'd go, if I had to drag you."

Nasmyth smiled. He was too well acquainted with his comrade's manner to take offence at this remark, and the man's devotion to the girl who, he knew, would never regard him as more than a friend also had its effect.

"Well," he said, "since plain speaking seems admissible, you are probably aware that Laura Waynefleet has nothing beyond a kindly interest in me. She is, I needn't point out, a remarkably sensible young lady."

He stopped somewhat abruptly, for Wisbech emerged from the shadows beneath the pillars, and sat down in a chair close by.

"Yes," said Wisbech, "I heard, and it seems to me Derrick's right in one respect. Though I don't know how far it accounts for the other fact he has just impressed on you, Miss Waynefleet certainly possesses a considerable amount of sense. She is also a young lady I have a high opinion of. Still, if he had gone back to the Bush merely because you insisted on it, I think I should have cast him off."

Gordon appeared to ponder over this, and he then laughed softly. "It's quite natural, and I guess I sympathize with you," he remarked. "In one way, however, your nephew's acquitting himself creditably, considering that there are apparently three people anxious to exert a beneficent influence upon him. The effect of that kind of thing is apt to become a trifle bewildering, especially as it's evident their views can't invariably coincide."

"Three?" said Wisbech, with a twinkle in his eyes. "If you count me in, I almost fancy there are four."

Nasmyth said nothing, though he felt his face grow hot. Gordon smiled.

"As a matter of fact," he admitted, "I had a notion that Miss Hamilton resented my being here. Any way, she didn't take any very noticeable trouble to be pleasant to me to-day. No doubt she considers any influence she may choose to exert should be quite sufficient."

"It should be," said Nasmyth. "That is, to any man who happened to be a judge of character, and had eyes in his head."

Gordon waved one hand. "Oh," he averred, "she's very dainty, and I think there's a little more than prettiness there, which is a very liberal admission, since I'm troubled with an impression that she isn't quite pleased with me. Still, when the woods are full of pretty girls, I guess it's wisest of a man who has anything worth while to do in front of him to keep his eyes right on the trail, and go steadily ahead." He turned to Wisbech deprecatingly. "We don't mind you, sir.

We regard you as part of the concern."

"Thanks," said Wisbech, with a certain dryness. "I believe I am interested in it--at least, financially."

"Well," said Gordon, "when I break loose, as I do now and then, I quite often say a little more than is strictly advisable without meaning to. It's a habit some folks have. Your observation, however, switches us off on to a different matter. I've been telling your nephew we leave him to handle the thing and stand by our offers."

"That is precisely what I mean to do. The affair is Derrick's. He must take his own course," declared Wisbech.

Gordon grinned as he turned to Nasmyth. "There will be no reinforcements.

You have to win your spurs." Then he looked at Wisbech. "If you will not be offended, sir, I would like to say I'm pleased to notice that your ideas coincide with mine. He'll be the tougher afterwards if you let him put up his fight alone."

"The a.s.surance is naturally satisfactory," said Wisbech with quiet amus.e.m.e.nt. Then he held up one hand. "It seems to me the person at the piano is playing exceptionally well."

They sat silent while the crashing opening chords rang out from the lighted room, and then Nasmyth, who was a lover of music, found himself listening with a strained attention as the theme stole out of them, for it chimed with his mood. He had been restless and disturbed in mind before Gordon had flung his veiled hints at him, and the reality underlying his comrade's badinage had a further unsettling effect. He did not know what the music was, but it seemed in keeping with the throb of the sea against the crag and the fitful wailing of the pines. There was a suggestion of effort and struggle in it, and, it seemed to him, something that spoke of a great dominant force steadily pressing on; and, as he listened, the splash of the sea grew fainter, and he heard instead the roar of the icy flood and the crash of mighty trees driving down upon his half-built dam. These were sounds which sometimes haunted him against his will, and once or twice he had been a little surprised to find that, now that they were past, he could look back upon the months of tense effort with a curious, half-regretful pleasure. He was relieved when the music, that swelled in a sonorous crescendo, stopped, and he saw Gordon glance at Wisbech.

"I think that man has understanding and the gift of expressing what he feels," said Wisbech. "The music suggested something to you?"

"The fast freight," confessed Gordon.--"When she's coming down the big canon under a full head of steam. I don't know if that's quite an elegant simile, in one way. Still, if you care to think how that track was built, it's not difficult to fancy there's triumph in the whistles and the roar of the freight-car wheels."

Wisbech made a sign of comprehension, and Gordon looked hard at Nasmyth. "It's your call."

"I heard the river," said Nasmyth. "In fact, I often hear it, and now and then wish I didn't. It's unsettling."

Gordon laughed in a suggestive fashion. "Well," he declared, "most of us hear something of that kind at times, and no doubt it's just as well we do. It's apt to have results if you listen. You have been most of a month in the city one way or another. You took to it kindly?"

"I didn't," Nasmyth answered, and it was evident that he was serious.

"I came back here feeling that I had had quite enough of it."

"Bonavista is a good deal more pleasant?" And there was a certain meaning in Gordon's tone. "You seemed to have achieved some social success here, too."

He saw the flush in Nasmyth's face, and his gaze grew insistent.

"Well," he said, "you're not going to let that content you, now you can hear the river. You'll hear it more and more plainly frothing in the black canon where the big trees come down. You have lived with the exiles, and the wilderness has got its grip on you. What's more, I guess when it does that it never quite lets go."

He broke off abruptly, and just then Acton stepped out from the window. "Mr. Gordon," he said, "it's my wife's wish that you should come in and sing."