"I guess you can count upon every one of us," he announced.

A rea.s.suring murmur ran along the double row of men, and Nasmyth felt a thrill of exultation.

"Thank you, boys," he said with evident grat.i.tude. "Now, there are difficulties to be grappled with. To begin with, the Crown authorities would sooner have leased the valley to me, and it was some time before they decided that as a special concession they would sell it in six hundred and forty acre lots at the lowest figure for first-cla.s.s lands. The lots are to be laid off in rectangular blocks, and as the valley is narrow and winding, that takes in a proportion of heavy timber on the hill bench, and will not include quite a strip of natural prairie, which remains with the Crown. The cost of the land alone runs close on twenty thousand dollars, of which, one way or another, I can raise about eight thousand."

He looked at Wheeler, who sat near the lower end of the table, and he nodded.

"My offer stands," he said.

"You want another twelve thousand dollars," said the hotel-keeper dubiously. "It's quite a pile of money."

There was a little laughter from the men. "Well," said one of them, "I guess we can raise it somehow among us, but it's going to be a pull."

"Then," said Nasmyth, "we have provided for the cost of the land, but before we lower the fall and cut the drainage trenches in the valley we will run up a big bill--that is, if we hire hands. My notion is that we undertake the work ourselves, and credit every man with his share in it to count as a mortgage on the whole land that belongs to us."

Waynefleet stood up and waved his hand. "I want to point out that this is very vague," he objected. "The question will arise where the labour is to be applied. It would, for instance, be scarcely judicious to give a man a claim on everybody else for draining his own land."

He would have said more, but that Tom of Mattawa laid a hard hand on his shoulder and jerked him back into his chair.

"Now," Tom admonished, "you just sit down. When Nasmyth takes this thing in hand he'll put it through quite straight. What you'd do in a month wouldn't count for five dollars, anyway."

Everybody laughed, and Wheeler spoke again. "We'll get over that trouble by cutting so many big trenches only for the general benefit.

In the meanwhile Mr. Nasmyth said something about trustees."

"I did," said Nasmyth. "The Crown will sell in rectangular six hundred and forty acre blocks. My proposition is that we take them up in three separate names. You have to understand that the man who registers in the Crown deed is legal owner."

"Then we're sure of two of them," declared the hotel-keeper. "Nasmyth takes the first block, and Wheeler the other."

Wheeler laughed. "I guess I stand out. As a United States citizen, I'm not sure I'm eligible to record Crown lands. Still, since Nasmyth and I are putting up a good many of the dollars, I'll nominate Gordon."

As one man they decided on that, but there appeared to be a difficulty about the third trustee until Nasmyth turned to them.

"As you don't seem sure about him, I would like to suggest Mr.

Waynefleet, boys," he said. "He is a man who has an extensive acquaintance with business and legal affairs."

There was dead silence for several moments, and the men looked at one another uneasily. It was evident that the suggestion was unwelcome to most of them, and Nasmyth was quite aware that he was doing an unpopular thing. In the meanwhile dusk had crept up the valley, and the room was growing dim. Perhaps Waynefleet could not see his companions' faces very well, but it is also possible that, had he been able to do so, he would not have troubled himself about the hesitation in most of them. There are men of his kind who appear incapable of recognizing the fact that they are not regarded with general favour.

Finally one of the men spoke. "Seeing that the scheme is Nasmyth's, I guess it's only reasonable to fall in with his views as far as we can," he said. "We'll fix on Waynefleet."

There was a murmur of very dubious agreement, and Waynefleet, who stood up, smiled on the a.s.sembly patronizingly. His manner suggested that he was about to confer a favour.

"Our friend was warranted in mentioning that I have been accustomed to handling affairs of a somewhat similar nature, but of considerably greater magnitude," he said. "I have pleasure in placing what abilities I possess at your disposal, gentlemen."

Though it was growing dark, Nasmyth saw the amused light in Gordon's eyes. "I'm with you in this," said Gordon. "Still, I scarcely figured the boys would have stood him."

They discussed the scheme at length, and when the a.s.sembly broke up, Waynefleet approached the table where Gordon, Nasmyth and Wheeler sat under a big lamp.

"There is a point I did not mention at the time. It seemed to me it was one that could, perhaps, be arranged," said Waynefleet. "It is, of course, usual for a director of any kind to hold a certain financial interest in the scheme."

He looked at Nasmyth, and made a significant gesture. "Unfortunately there are not at the moment more than a very few dollars at my disposal. The fact, you will recognize, is likely to hamper my efforts in an administrative capacity."

"Precisely!" said Nasmyth. "It is a matter I have provided for. You will be placed in possession of a holding of the size the others fixed upon as convenient when the blocks are divided off."

"No larger?"

"No," answered Nasmyth; "I am afraid you will have to be content with that."

Waynefleet went out, and Gordon turned to Nasmyth. "It's going to cost you something," he said. "You can't charge it on the scheme. I'll divide it with you."

There was a slight restraint in Nasmyth's manner. "I'm afraid I can't permit it. It will be charged against my claim. Considering everything, it was a thing I felt I had to do."

Then Wheeler, who had been quietly watching them, broke in.

"What did you put that image up for, anyway?" he asked.

Gordon smiled in a significant fashion. "It's our friend's affair, and I guess he's not going to tell you why he did it. Still, in one sense, I 'most think it was up to him."

Wheeler let the matter drop, and in a few more minutes they went out, and Nasmyth and Gordon turned into the trail that led to Gordon's ranch.

CHAPTER XXII

NASMYTH SETS TO WORK

It was a scorching afternoon on the heights above, where rocky slope and climbing firs ran far up towards the blue heavens under a blazing sun, but it was dim and cool in the misty depths of the canon. There was eternal shadow in that tremendous rift, and a savage desolation rolled away from it; but on this afternoon the sounds of human activity rang along its dusky walls. The dull thud of axes fell from a gully that rent the mountain-side, and now and then a ma.s.s of shattered rock came crashing down, while the sharp clinking of the drills broke intermittently through the hoa.r.s.e roar of the fall. Wet with the spray of the fall, Nasmyth, stripped to blue shirt and old duck trousers, stood swinging a heavy hammer, which he brought down upon the head of the steel bar that his companion held so many times a minute with rhythmic precision. Though they changed round now and then, he had done much the same thing since early morning, and his back and arms ached almost intolerably; but still the great hammer whirled about his head, and while he gasped with the effort, came down with a heavy jar upon the drill. So intent was he that he did not notice the three figures scrambling along the narrow log-work staging pinned against the rocky side above the fall, until his companion flung a word at him. Turning with a start, he dropped his hammer.

He saw Gordon hold out a hand to Laura Waynefleet, who sprang down from the staging upon the strip of smooth-worn stone that stretched out from the wall of the canon above the fall. Wheeler was a few paces behind them. Nasmyth looked around for his jacket, and, remembering that he had left it in the gully, he moved forward to shake hands with his visitors.

"I scarcely expected to see any of you here. You must have had a hard scramble," he said.

Gordon waved his hand. "You don't say you're pleased, though after the trouble we've taken, it's a sure thing that you ought to be," he declared. "Anyway, I'm not going back up that gully until I've had supper. Wheeler's held up because his folks haven't sent him some machines, and I came along to see if I'd forgotten how to hold a drill. I don't quite know what Miss Waynefleet came for."

Laura laughed good-humouredly. "Oh," she said, "I have my excuse. My father is at Victoria, and I have been staying with Mrs. Potter for a day or two. She lent me a cayuse to ride over to Fenton's ranch, and the trail there leads close by the head of the gully."

Mattawa looked up at Gordon with a grin. "If you want to do some drilling, you can start right now," he remarked. "Guess Nasmyth doesn't know he has a back on him."

Gordon took up the hammer, and, when Wheeler went back to the gully to inquire whether one of the men at work there would undertake some timber-squaring he wanted done at the mill, Laura Waynefleet and Nasmyth were left together. It was wetter than was comfortable near the fall, and, scrambling back across the staging, they sat down among the boulders near the foot of the rapid that swirled out of the pool.

Nasmyth looked at Laura, who smiled.

"I am afraid I have taken you away from your work, and I haven't Gordon's excuse," she said. "He, at least, is able to drill."

Nasmyth laughed. "I observe that Tom seems very careful of his hands," he returned. "As to the other matter, I am very glad you did come. After all, drilling isn't exactly a luxurious occupation; and while, as Tom remarked, I'm a little uncertain about my back, I'm quite sure I'm in possession of a pair of arms, because they ache abominably. Besides"--and his gaze was whimsically reproachful--"do you really think any excuse is needed for coming to see me?"

"In any case, I have one; there is something I want to say. You see, I have not come across you since the meeting at the settlement."

"I suppose you object to your father taking any share in our crazy venture?"