CHAPTER XXIV--THE GIRL IN THE BOAT
Trade was slack in the Pacific province, and men from the interiorflocked down to the coast and overflowed the employment bureaus. Thismade it unusually hard for Jimmy and his friends to find work. For amonth they had done almost nothing, only an odd job now and then; theywere in arrears with their hotel bill; and the future looked anythingbut bright to them.
After supper one evening they sat in the lobby of their shabby hotel ina gloomy mood. Jimmy had found temporary work, and since early morninghad been loading a vessel with lumber in a pouring rain. All day he hadbeen wet through, and he was tired and sore. He had grown thin, and hada gaunt, determined look.
"What's this?" he exclaimed, examining Clay's envelope, which had justbeen handed to him. "I have no acquaintances in Vancouver who useexpensive stationery." He read the note and then looked up with asurprised frown. "It's from Clay! He asks me to meet him in thesmoking-room of his hotel. It's the big, smart place they've latelyopened."
"Oho!" said Bethune. "I've been expecting this. I suppose you mean togo?"
"What's your opinion?"
"Perhaps it might be wiser to take no notice of the invitation; but Idon't know. I'd like to see the fellow and hear what he has to say. It'scurious that we haven't met him yet, though we have felt his influence."
"Anyway, I'm not going alone. I might make a mess of things; he'sevidently a cunning rogue. If you think it's wise to see him, you'llhave to come."
"We'll all go," said Bethune with a grin. "I believe he knows usalready, and he won't get much out of Hank."
"I'm sure not great at talking," Moran agreed. "Now, if he tried to haveus sandbagged, and you told me to get after him--"
"It hasn't come to that yet," Bethune laughed. "The fellow's morerefined in his methods, but they're quite as dangerous." He looked atthe note. "However, it's nearly time, and we may as well make a start."
Clay looked up in surprise from his seat at a small table when the threewalked in, and he felt half amused at Moran's steady, defiant stare.This, he thought, was a strange companion for Bethune, whom he at oncerecognized as the business leader of the party. Jimmy he dismissed,after a searching glance, as less dangerous. He was the practicalseaman, no doubt, but it was his partner's intelligence that directedtheir affairs.
"Sit down," Clay said, taking out his cigar-case. "I wrote to Mr.Farquhar, but I'm glad to see you all. Will you have anything to drink?"
"No, thanks," Jimmy answered quickly; and added, "I'm afraid it's ratheran intrusion, but as we go together, I thought I might bring myfriends."
Clay understood his refusal as a declaration of hostility, but hesmiled.
"As you prefer," he said, lighting a cigar and quietly studying hiscallers.
The room was large and handsome, with an inlaid floor, massive pillars,and pictures of snow-clad mountains on the walls. It was then almostunoccupied, and that added to the effect of its size and loftiness, buttwo very smart and somewhat supercilious attendants hovered in thebackground. Farquhar and his friends were shabbily dressed, and Clay hadhoped that they might feel themselves out of place and perhapsembarrassed by his silence, but there was no sign of this. Indeed, theyseemed very much at ease. Bethune's expression was slightly bored, whileMoran glanced about with naive curiosity. For all that, they lookedworn, and there was something about them which suggested tension. Theyhad felt the pressure he had skilfully brought to bear, but whether ithad made them compliant or not remained to be seen.
"Well," Clay began, "we must have a talk. You have undertaken somesalvage operations at a wreck in the North?"
"Yes," Jimmy answered concisely.
"You don't seem to have been very successful."
"I dare say our appearance proves it," Bethune smiled. "As a matter offact, we haven't cleared our expenses yet."
Clay did not know what to think of this frankness; he imagined that ifthe man had any wish to extort the best terms he could, he would havebeen less candid. He saw that he must be cautious, for he had done arisky thing in asking Farquhar to meet him. He would rather have leftthe fellow alone and tried to destroy the wreck before they reached it;but he knew that he might not live to do so. He had had his warnings andhe could not leave the matter open.
"It's obvious that, as the salvage people abandoned the vessel,something has happened to give you a chance," he said. "However, as youcan't have money enough to buy a proper outfit, you're not likely tomake much use of the opportunity. You want steam and the best divinggear, and I guess you found them too expensive."
"We might do better if we had them," Bethune admitted.
"Very well; are you willing to take a partner?"
There was uncompromising refusal in Jimmy's face, but he did not speak,and Clay surmised that Bethune had given him a warning kick under thetable. Bethune, in fact, had done so, and was thinking hard. To refusewould imply that they expected to succeed and that the salvage could beeasily accomplished with such poor apparatus as they could obtain; butthis was not advisable, because it would encourage Clay to anticipatethem.
"We might consider a sleeping partner who'd be content with his profiton the money he supplied," he said.
"That means you intend to keep the practical operations in your ownhands?"
"Yes," Bethune answered; "you can take it that it does."
"Then the arrangement wouldn't suit me. I know more about the vesselthan you do, and I've been accustomed to directing things. But I'll bidyou five thousand dollars for your interest in the wreck."
"Strictly speaking, we have no interest that we could sell."
"That's true; but I'll buy your knowledge of how she lies and the bestway of getting at her cargo. Of course, after you have taken the moneyyou'll leave her alone."
"It's tempting," Bethune said thoughtfully. "But perhaps we had betterbe frank. I understand that you were one of the owners, and, as theunderwriters paid you, I don't see what you would gain."
"All the gold on board her wasn't insured."
Bethune looked hard at him and Clay smiled. "It's true. Then, there's noreason why I shouldn't have a try at the salvage. I'm open to make ashot at anything that promises a moderate profit."
"I suppose there is no reason," Bethune agreed slowly. "Would you go upto ten thousand dollars?"
"No, sir!" Clay said firmly. "I stick to my bid."
"Then I'm sorry we can't make a deal." Bethune turned to the others. "Isuppose that's your opinion?"
"Of course," said Jimmy; and Moran nodded.
Clay was silent for a few moments. He would gladly have given tenthousand dollars to settle the matter, but he doubted whether Bethunewould take it; and to bid high would rouse suspicion. It looked as if hehad accomplished nothing, but he had found out that his opponents weremore capable than he had imagined, and he decided that it would be saferto put no further pressure on them. He did not wish them to learn thathe was the cause of the trouble they had had in finding employment, asit would indicate that he had some strong reason for preventing theirreturn to the wreck.
"Well," he said, "it's a pity we can't come to terms, but I can make nofresh suggestion. You're up against a pretty big undertaking."
"So it seems," Bethune answered pleasantly. "We'll have to do the bestwe can. And now, as we mustn't take up your time, I'll bid yougood-night."
Clay let them go, and as they went down the street Jimmy turned toBethune.
"What do you think of the interview?" he asked.
"A drawn game. Neither side has scored; but I've learned two things. Thefirst is that he has no suspicion that we have found the bogus case."
"How do you infer that?"
"From his view of our character. You must recollect that we're hard-upadventurers whom he wouldn't expect to be scrupulous. He'd conclude thatif we had found anything suspicious we'd have let him know and tried tosell our secret. He was waiting for some hint, and I was careful to givehim none."
"What's the next thing?"
; "That he'll try to clean out the wreck before we get there. It was theonly reason he let us go. I dare say you noticed how careful he was notto show any anxiety to buy us off. It's curious, but I really think hespoke the truth when he said all the gold was not insured."
"If it had been a straight deal, with nothing behind it, I think I'dhave taken the five thousand dollars," Jimmy said. "He won't have muchtrouble in getting ahead of us when the ice breaks up. It will costsomething to fit out the sloop, and our pockets are empty."
"Oh, there's time yet," Bethune replied with a cheerful laugh."Something may turn up."
Fortune favored them during the next week, for Bethune secured a post ashotel clerk, and Moran went inland to assist in repairing a railroadtrack which a snowslide had wrecked. Soon afterward Jimmy shipped asdeck-hand on a Sound steamboat and was lucky in attracting the attentionof one of the directors who was on board by the cool promptness withwhich he prevented an accident when a passenger gangway broke. Thedirector had a talk with him, and, learning that he was a steamshipofficer, placed him in charge of a gasolene launch which picked uppassengers at unimportant landings and took them off to the boats. Thework was easy, and paid fairly well; and Jimmy had held his post for amonth with some satisfaction when he went off to meet a north-boundsteamer at dusk one evening.
He had no passengers and it was blowing fresh with showers of sleet.Savage gusts whipped the leaden water into frothing white, and as hedrew out from the shore the ripples which chased the launch grew larger.When he passed a headland they changed into short, breaking seas, andthe craft plunged wildly as she crossed a strong run of tide. Here andthere an island loomed up dimly, but the shore had faded into the haze.When Jimmy first joined her, the boat had carried another hand, but theman had gone and had not been replaced because trade was slack inwinter. Jimmy thought that he might have trouble in getting hispassengers on board; but they were not likely to be numerous, and thesteamer would run into shelter behind an island.
He was late, for his engine was not working well, but there was no signof the steamer when he stopped, and the boat lay rolling with the sprayblowing across her rail. It rattled on Jimmy's slickers and stung hisface, but the cold was mild by comparison with what he had endured inthe North, and he sat in the shelter of the coaming, glancing up theSound every now and then. Presently a sleet-storm broke upon him, andwhen it blew away a blinking white light and a colored one broke out ofthe driving cloud. Jimmy lighted a blue flare and, starting the engine,headed for the end of the island. When he stopped, the steamer was closeahead, a lofty, gray mass, banded with rows of lights. She rolled as shecrossed the tide-stream, and he could see the foam about her bigside-wheels and the smoke that swept from her inclined stacks. It didnot look as if she were stopping, and he was about to get out of her waywhen a deep blast of her whistle broke through the turmoil of the sea.In another minute he was abreast of the gangway and caught the ropethrown down, though he kept the launch off at a few yards' distance.
The ladder was lowered, and hung banging awkwardly against the vessel'sside; and while Jimmy waited with his hand on the tiller a deck-hand randown to the lowest step and flung a valise into the boat, and thenturned to assist a woman who followed him. Jimmy could not see her well,but he noticed that she was active and not timid, which was reassuring,and he cautiously sheered the launch closer in.
"Give me your hand and jump!" he cried.
She did as he directed, and when she was safe on board he stood lookingup at the gangway.
"That's all!" somebody shouted; and when he let the rope go, theside-wheels churned and the steamer forged ahead while the launch slidclear of her with propeller rattling.
Jimmy pulled up a canvas hood which covered part of the cockpit andlighted a lantern under it before he turned to his passenger.
"If you sit here, you'll be out of the wind and spray. Where are yougoing?"
"To Pine Landing." She gave a start when Jimmy stooped over the enginewhere the light fell upon him. "You!" she cried. "Mr. Farquhar!"
He gazed at her in surprise, with his heart throbbing. Though she hadturned her head quickly and the light was not good, he thought he hadseen a flush of color in her face.
"It was too dark to recognize you until you spoke, Miss Osborne," hesaid as coolly as he could. "Then, I didn't expect to see you here."
"Our house is scarcely a mile from the Landing."
"The pretty place in the woods? I didn't know it was yours. I've seen itfrom a distance, but have never been there."
"I think you are to blame for that," she said.
"Until a few weeks ago, I was living on the Canadian side." Jimmylaughed as he added: "Besides, I hadn't many opportunities for makingvisits."
Ruth glanced at him with quick sympathy, remembering how he had lookedwhen she had last seen him; but he was doing something to the engine andhis face was hidden.
"How did you come to be in this boat?" she asked.
"I'm her captain, but just now I wish I were an engineer," he answeredhumorously. "She's not running as she ought to do, and I'm afraid you'llhave rather a long trip. In fact, I think we had better go round behindthe island where there's smoother water. Will your people be anxiousbecause you're late?"
"They don't expect me until to-morrow. Some friends were traveling bythe boat, and I thought I could get home before it was dark."
Jimmy thrilled at her nearness, but he knew that he must steel himselfagainst her charm. Her friends were his enemies and he could not involveher in any difficulties with them. He must wait until fortune favoredhim, if it ever did so. But the waiting was hard.
"You didn't tell me how you happen to be running this boat," shereminded him with a smile.
"Well, you see, I didn't want to leave this neighborhood," Jimmyexplained slowly, picking his words. "My partners and I have a planwhich we can't put into execution yet, and it prevents us from going toofar from Vancouver. I'm not sure that anything will come of it, but itmight. One lives in hope."
Ruth was relieved by his answer. It had been painful to think of hisfollowing some rough occupation, and, worse still, wandering about thecity in search of work. Though she felt sorry for him, it made herindignant. She hated to imagine his being content to live among thebroken men she had seen hanging about the dollar hotels.
"Mr. Farquhar," she said, "even in this country it is hard for a man tostand alone, and I think there are times when one is justified in takinga favor from one's friends. Now, you were very kind on board the_Empress_, and I'm sure my father--"
He made an abrupt movement, and she stopped, and just then the launchplunged her bows into a breaking sea and a shower of spray blew insidethe hood.
"It's impossible," he said firmly a few moments later. "I suppose I'mstupidly independent; but there are my partners to consider. They expectme to see our plans through. After all, they may turn out as we hope."
"And then?"
"Then," he answered carelessly, "I don't think I'll carry any morelumber or drive this kind of boat."
Ruth felt baffled and inclined to be angry. She had had impecuniousadmirers who did not consider her father's money a disadvantage. Jimmy'swas, of course, a more becoming attitude, but she thought he adhered toit too firmly. Then, as she remembered his worn look and his threadbareclothes when she met him in Vancouver, she was moved to pity. Thetrouble was that it could not be shown. She could not offer him sympathywhich he did not seem to want.
"I hope that you will succeed in your venture," she said.
"Thank you," he answered; "we'll do our best. Now I must keep alook-out, for there's a rock in the channel."
There was strain in his voice, and she was glad to see that his reservecost him something; but she saw the need for caution when a gray mass ofstone loomed out of the darkness close at hand with the sea spoutingabout it. After that she made no further attempt to talk, and they wenton in silence, both sensible of constraint and yet not wishing thevoyage at an end.
When they swung round a
rocky point, Jimmy stopped the engine, and thelaunch ran in toward a small wooden pier. Dark pines rolled down to thewater, and the swell broke angrily upon the beach and surged among thepiles. There was nobody about, but Jimmy caught a trailing rope abreastof a few steps where the water washed up and down, while the launchground against the weedy timber.
"I'll get out and help you up," he said.
Ruth hesitated when she saw him stand knee-deep on the lowest step,holding out his hand; but there was no way of getting ashore dry withouthis assistance. The next moment he had thrown his arm about her andstood, tense and strung up, trying to preserve his balance. She knewthat it would be ridiculous to let herself fall into the sea, and sheyielded to his grasp, sinking down into his arms with her head on hisshoulder. He staggered as he reached the next slippery step, and sheclung closer to him in alarm; then, as she thrilled at the contact, shefelt his heart beat and his muscles suddenly grow tense. He caught hisbreath with a curious gasp, and Ruth knew that it was not caused by thephysical effort he had to make. She lay still, not inert but yielding,until he gently set her down out of reach of the water. She was gladthat the darkness hid her burning face; and Jimmy stood curiously quiet,with his hand clenched.
No words were needed. Both knew that something had happened to themduring the last few moments; something which might be ignored but couldnot be forgotten. They were no longer acquaintances; the tie offriendship had broken with the strain and could be replaced only by astronger bond.
Ruth was the first to recover.
"My valise is in the boat," she said, with a strange little laugh.
For a tense moment Jimmy was silent. Then:
"Yes," he replied; "I forgot it." He sprang down and returned with thebag. "I'm afraid you'll have to send for it and go home alone. Thelaunch would get damaged if I left her here, and I couldn't take heralongside your landing to-night."
"It isn't very far through the woods," Ruth said, and hesitated a momentbefore she gave him her hand. "I'm glad I met you, and I will lookforward to hearing of your success."
Jimmy dropped her hand quickly and jumped back on board, but Ruth stoodstill until the launch vanished into the darkness. Then she startedhomeward with her nerves tingling and her heart beating fast. She knewwhat Jimmy felt for her, and she wondered when the time would come whenhe could avow it openly.
The Secret of the Reef Page 24