Nasmyth smiled rea.s.suringly; but one of Violet's companions approached them just then, and when she leaned upon the back of the lounge and spoke to the girl, Nasmyth rose. He crossed the room, and a few minutes later, in the big cedar hall, came upon a man connected with the Crown land agency. There was an open fire in the hall, and the man, who sat down by it, offered Nasmyth a cigar.

"Mrs. Acton will excuse us for a few minutes," the Stranger remarked.

"You are evidently fresh from the Bush. How are you getting on there?"

Nasmyth told him, and the man looked thoughtful.

"You don't hold all the valley," the man said. "I wonder if you know that folks are taking an interest in the land that's still unrecorded?"

"I don't," said Nasmyth. "It's mostly heavy timber that would cost a deal to clear. Any way, as we couldn't take up any more than we hold, it doesn't appear to affect me at all."

"Well," returned his companion, "that's a point I'm not quite sure about. You only hold a provisional charter to lower the river. There's only one unworked holding near the valley, and, as you couldn't injure anybody's property, we permitted you to go ahead. Still, if any parties supplied us with a sufficient reason for withdrawing that permission, we might have to listen to them." He broke off for a moment and waved his hand. "Of course, I'm not speaking officially.

I'm merely giving you a hint that may be useful. Some persons might take up that land with the object of putting the screw on you. You see, it would be possible to get over any difficulty they might raise by buying them out."

Nasmyth's lips closed firmly. He was quite aware that, in view of the state of his finances, the course suggested was not one that he could adopt.

"What kind of people are they?" he inquired.

His companion laughed in an ominous fashion. "Small ranchers, though it's just possible that there may be some of the big men connected with the land business behind them. The big promoters occasionally prefer to act through a dummy. Our object is, of course, to get men who will cultivate the land, and keep it out of the hands of anyone who merely wants to hold it. Now, while I'm far from sure my superiors would be pleased to hear I'd said so much to you, there's one piece of advice I can offer." He leaned forward and looked at Nasmyth confidentially. "Get that work through as soon as you can. Once you lower the level of the river, n.o.body could compel you to put it back again. Any man who wanted land would have to buy it as it was."

"A man who wished to start a ranch would naturally prefer it with the water run out of it."

"Precisely!" argued Nasmyth's informant. "That is why you got the charter. Still, I wasn't contemplating the man who merely wished to ranch."

His smile suggested that he intended to say no more upon that subject, and when he turned and glanced through the doorway into the lighted room, Nasmyth saw that he was looking at Violet Hamilton. Nasmyth also noticed that Carshalton was once more seated beside the girl.

"I rather like that Englishman," declared the stranger. "Acton apparently gets on with him, too. He seems to have been here some time. In fact, while it's n.o.body else's business, I've been inclined to wonder what Miss Hamilton thinks of him."

Nasmyth made no reply, but the observation slightly troubled him. A little later Acton crossed the hall.

"If you can give us a few minutes, your uncle and I have something to put before you," he said. "I'll go along with you to my room."

CHAPTER XXV

NASMYTH DECIDES

A shaded lamp stood on the table of Acton's room, and, as Nasmyth entered, he saw Wisbech, whom he had not met since his arrival, sitting just inside the light of it in a lounge-chair. He strode forward and shook hands with his uncle.

"Until I got your letter I almost fancied you were in j.a.pan," he said.

Wisbech smiled at him. "I shall probably start very shortly. In fact, I never expected to stay here half so long as I have done, but I found a good deal to interest me in this country, and it's twenty years since I have been away from business for more than a week or two. The works were mine until very recently, but there are times now when I'm not altogether sorry I'm merely a director of the company."

Acton laid a handful of cigars on the table, and drew out a chair for Nasmyth.

"Well," he replied reflectively, "there is a good deal in this country that would interest a sensible man, but I'm not sure that's exactly what has kept Mr. Wisbech so long in Victoria. I've a point or two to mention later, but I'll let him speak first. It's his affair."

Nasmyth sat down, and he did not immediately notice that while Acton had placed his chair where the light struck full upon his face, Wisbech sat a little farther back in the shadow cast by the shade of the lamp. After a moment Acton sought the dimmer part of the room.

Wisbech turned to Nasmyth.

"I understand that you expect to marry Miss Hamilton by-and-by," he said. "No doubt you have thought over the question of what you're going to keep a wife on?"

"I admit that it's one that has caused me a good deal of anxiety;" and Nasmyth leaned forward, with his elbows on the table. "Still, it hasn't troubled me quite so much of late. If I succeed with the scheme I have in hand, it will bring me money enough to make a start with a larger venture of the kind, or to enable me to undertake ranching on a reasonably extensive scale. When the land is ready for cultivation, and you haven't to face the initial cost of getting rid of heavy timber, the business is a profitable one."

"It is possible that Miss Hamilton would not care to live at even a tolerably extensive ranch. She has been accustomed to comfort of every kind and cheerful society, and there can't be very much of either in the Bush; while, if you undertake any further work of the kind you suggest, it would be a few years before you made your mark. Now, I'm not sure it would be reasonable to expect a young woman like Miss Hamilton to wait indefinitely."

Nasmyth flushed a little. "I think," he replied, "that is a question which concerns Miss Hamilton and me alone."

Acton leaned forward in his chair. "Mrs. Acton seems to fancy it concerns her, too. In fact, that's one reason why I wrote to you.

Well, I'm going to lay before you a business proposition. You have probably heard of the Hecla Mineral Exploitation concern? It's run by two friends of mine, who have made a great deal of money out of their claims. They're getting elderly, and are open to take in a younger man--a man of education, who has some acquaintance with the work that's done in the Bush. He must take hold now, and hold stock in the concern. Here's the last letter they wrote me."

He pa.s.sed it across to Nasmyth, whose face grew eager, and then suddenly hardened again. The concern in question was, as he had heard, one of excellent repute, and supposed to be carrying on a profitable mining business.

"It's out of the question that I should raise the capital," he said.

"The money can be raised," Wisbech broke in quietly. "I'll buy that stock for you, and, if you insist on it, you can treat it as a loan."

Nasmyth sat very still for a moment or two, and slowly closed one hard hand. He had never expected such an offer from Wisbech, and he recognized that it would free him of all his difficulties if he accepted it. There was, however, an obstacle in the way.

"Well," asked Wisbech very dryly, "isn't the Hecla Minerals good enough for you?"

Nasmyth looked at Acton. "I must go there--now?"

"That is one of the conditions. They want to fix the thing before Kekewich, who hasn't been well lately, starts East on a trip to Montreal. I promised to wire if you were willing to go down and see them to-morrow."

Nasmyth turned to Wisbech, and his voice was strained.

"I am under many obligations to you already, sir, but I'm sorry I can't profit by your generosity in this case," he said.

"Why?" queried Wisbech sharply.

"It's a little difficult to explain. You see, the idea of lowering the river was mine. Some of the boys up yonder have mortgaged their ranches, and put every dollar they could raise in that way into the scheme. They look to me to put the thing through; so that they may get their money back again."

"Is there no one else who could do that?" Acton asked. "It seems to me there's nothing wrong with that man Gordon. I guess you could leave it to him."

Nasmyth felt that Wisbech was watching him with a curious intentness.

"Gordon," he answered slowly, "is at least as well fitted to lead the boys as I am. In fact, I might go farther than that. After all, however, there is a little more to be said."

He stopped abruptly, and sat silent a moment or two, leaning with one elbow on the table, and the light full upon his face. There was trouble in his expressive eyes, but his mouth was tense and grimly resolute. He remembered the pleasant summer days that he and Violet Hamilton had spent together, but he also heard the roar of the river in the misty depths of the canon, and the crash of stream-driven pines. The familiar sounds rang in his ears, rousing him to action, and something in his nature responded. In the meanwhile there was a heavy silence in the room. His companions watched him closely, and Acton, who looked round for a moment, noticed the suggestive glint in Wisbech's eyes.

Nasmyth straightened himself suddenly. "I know what I am turning my back upon," he added. "It is very probable that I shall never get another opportunity of this kind again. Still, I owe the boys something, and I feel I owe a little to myself. This scheme in the canon is the first big thing I have ever undertaken. I can't quite make the way that I look at it clear to you, but"--and he brought one hand down on the table in an emphatic fashion--"I feel that I must go on until it breaks me or I put it through."

Wisbech noisily thrust his chair back, and Acton laughed--a laugh that had a faint ring in it.

"Well, I guess I partly expected this," said Acton. "Mr. Nasmyth, it's a sure thing that river's not going to break you."