The Iron Trail

by Rex Beach

  XVI

  THE FRUIT OF THE TEMPEST

  Neither O'Neil nor his host was in sight when the girls came tobreakfast. The men had risen early, it seemed, and were somewhere outin the storm. A wilder day would be hard to imagine; a hurricane wasraging, the rain was whirled ahead of it like charges of shot. Themountains behind Kyak were invisible, and to seaward was nothing but adimly discernible smother of foam and spray, for the crests of thebreakers were snatched up and carried by the wind. The town was sodden;the streets were running mud. Stove-pipes were down, tents layflattened in the mire, and the board houses were shaking as if theymight fly to pieces at any moment. The darkness was uncanny, and thetempest seemed to be steadily growing in violence.

  When an hour or two had passed with no word from the men Elizaannounced her intention of looking them up. She had spent the time at awindow, straining her eyes through the welter, while Natalie had curledup cozily with a book in one of Trevor's arm-chairs.

  "But, dearie, you'll be drenched." Natalie looked up in surprise. "Mr.O'Neil is all right."

  "Of course he is. I'm not going out to spank him and bring him in. Iwant to look at the storm."

  "So do I, but it won't do any good. I can't make it blow any harder bygetting my feet wet."

  "You read your novel and talk to Mr. Trevor when he comes back. Heknows we're to blame for this storm, so you must be nice to him. Ican't." She clad herself in rain-coat, sou'wester, and boots, andhurried out. Walking was difficult enough, even in the shelter of thevillage, but not until she had emerged upon the beach did she meet thefull strength of the gale. Here it wrapped her garments about her limbsuntil she could scarcely move. The rain came horizontally and blindedher; the wind fairly snatched her breath away and oppressed her lungslike a heavy weight. She shielded herself as best she could, and byclinging to stationary objects and watching her chance she managed towork her way onward. At last she caught sight of O'Neil, standing highabove the surf, facing the wind defiantly, as if daring it to unfoothim. He saw her and came in answer to her signal; but to breast thatwind was like stemming a rushing torrent, and when he reached her sidehe was panting.

  "Child! What are you doing here?" he demanded.

  "I couldn't wait any longer," she shouted back. "You've been out sincedaylight. You must be wet through."

  He nodded. "I lay awake all night listening. So did Trevor. He'sbeginning to worry already."

  "Already? If the breakwater stands this--"

  "The storm hasn't half started! Come! We'll watch it together." He tookher hand, and they lunged into the gale, battling their way back to hispoint of vantage. He paused at length, and with his arm about herpointed to the milk-white chaos which marked Trevor's handiwork. Therain pelted against their faces and streamed from their slickers.

  The breakwater lay like a reef, and over it the sea was pounding inmighty wrath. High into the air the waters rose, only to disappear uponthe bosom of the gale. They engulfed the structure bodily, they racedalong it with thunderous detonations, bursting in a lather of rage. Outbeyond, the billows appeared to be sheared flat by the force of thewind, yet that ceaseless upheaval of spume showed that the ocean was infurious tumult. For moments at a time the whole scene was blotted outby the scud, then the curtain would tear asunder and the wild scenewould leap up again before their eyes.

  Eliza screamed a question at her companion, but he did not seem tohear; his eyes roved back and forth along that lace-white ridge of rockon the weakness of which depended his salvation. She had never seen himso fierce, so hawklike, so impassive. The gusts shook him, his garmentsslatted viciously, every rag beneath his outer covering was sodden, yethe continued to face the tempest as indifferently as he had faced itsince the dawn. The girl thrilled at thought of the issue these mightyforces were fighting out before her eyes, and of what it meant to theman beside her. His interests became hers; she shared his painfulexcitement. Her warm flesh chilled as the moisture embraced her limbs;but her heart was light, for O'Neil's strong arm encircled her, and herbody lay against his.

  After a long time he spoke. "See! It's coming up!" he said.

  She felt no increase in the wind, but she noted that particles of sandand tiny pebbles from the beach were flying with the salt raindrops.Her muscles began to tremble from the constant effort at resistance,and she was relieved when Murray looked about for a place of refuge.She pointed to a pile of bridge timbers, but he shook his head.

  "They'll go flying if this keeps up." He dragged her into the shelterof a little knoll. Here the blasts struck them with diminished force,the roaring in their ears grew less, and the labor of breathing waseasier.

  Rousing himself from his thoughts, the man said, gently:

  "Poor kid! You must be cold."

  "I'm freezing. But--please don't send me back." The face that met hiswas supplicating; the eyes were bluer than a spring day. He patted herdripping shoulder.

  "Not until you're ready."

  "This is grander than our trip past the glacier. That was merelydangerous, but this--means something."

  "There may be danger here if we expose ourselves. Look at that!"

  High up beyond reach of the surf a dory had been dragged and leftbottom up. Under this the wind found a fingerhold and sent it flying.Over and over it rolled, until a stronger gust caught it and sent it inhuge leaps, end over end. It brought up against the timber pile with acrash, and was held there as if by a mighty suction. Then the beamsbegan to tremble and lift. The pile was disintegrated bit by bit,although it would have required many hands to move any one of its parts.

  Even where the man and the woman crouched the wind harried them like ahound pack, but by clinging to the branches of a gnarled juniper bushthey held their position and let the spray whine over their heads.

  "Farther west I've seen houses chained to the earth with ships'cables," he shouted in her ear. "To think of building a harbor in aplace like this!"

  "I prayed for you last night. I prayed for the wind to come," said thegirl, after a time.

  O'Neil looked at her, curiously startled, then he looked out at the seaonce more. All in a moment he realized that Eliza was beautiful andthat she had a heart. It seemed wonderful that she should be interestedin his fortunes. He was a lonely man; beneath his open friendliness laya deep reserve. A curiously warm feeling of gratitude flamed throughhim now, and he silently blessed her for bearing him company in thedeciding hour of his life.

  Noon came, and still the two crouched in their half-shelter, drenched,chilled, stiff with exposure, watching Kyak Bay lash itself into aboiling smother. The light grew dim, night was settling; the air seemedfull of screaming furies. Then O'Neil noticed bits of driftwood racingin upon the billows, and he rose with a loud cry.

  "It's breaking up!" he shouted. "It's breaking up!"

  Eliza lifted herself and clung to him, but she could see nothing excepta misty confusion. In a few moments the flotsam came thicker.Splintered piling, huge square-hewn timbers with fragments of twistediron or broken bolts came floating into sight. A confusion of wreckagebegan to clutter the shore, and into it the sea churned.

  The spindrift tore asunder at length, and the watchers caught a briefglimpse of the tumbling ocean. The breakwater was gone. Over the placewhere it had stood the billows raced unhindered.

  "Poor Trevor!" said O'Neil. "Poor Trevor! He did his best, but hedidn't know." He looked down to find Eliza crying. "What's this? I'vekept you here too long!"

  "No, no! I'm just glad--so glad. Don't you understand?"

  "I'll take you back. I must get ready to leave."

  "Leave? Where--"

  "For New York! I've made my fight, and I've won." His eyes kindledfeverishly. "I've won in spite of them all. I hold the key to akingdom. It's mine--mine! I hold the gateway to an empire, and thosewho pass through must pay." The girl had never seen such fierce triumphin a face. "I saw it in a dream, only it was more than a dream." Thewind snatched O'Neil's words from his lips, but he ran on: "I saw adeserted fishing
-village become a thriving city. I saw the glacierspart to let pass a great traffic in men and merchandise. I saw theunpeopled north grow into a land of homes, of farms, of mining-camps,where people lived and bred children. I heard the mountain passes echoto steam whistles and the whir of flying wheels. It was a wonderfulvision that I saw, but my eyes were true. They called me a fool, and ittook the sea and the hurricane to show them I was right." He paused,ashamed of his outburst, and, taking the girl's hand in his, wentstumbling ahead of the storm.

  Their limbs were cramped, their teeth chattered, they wallowed throughmire, and more than once they fell. Nearing Trevor's house, they sawwhat the storm had done. Kyak was nearly razed. Roofs had been rippedoff, chimneys were down, glass was out. None but the most substantiallog cabins had withstood the assault, and men were busied in variousquarters trying to repair the damage.

  They found Natalie beside herself with anxiety for their safety, and anhour later Trevor came in, soaked to the skin. He was very tired, andhis face was haggard.

  "Well! She went out!" he said. "I saw a million dollars swallowed up inthat sea."

  They tried to comfort him, but the collapse of his work had left himdazed.

  "God! I didn't think it could blow like this--and it isn't over yet.The town is flat."

  "I'm sorry. You understand I sympathize?" said Murray; and the engineernodded.

  "You told me it blew here, and I thought I knew what you meant, butnothing could withstand those rollers."

  "Nothing."

  "You'll go East and see our people, I suppose?"

  "At once."

  "Tell them what you saw. They'll never understand from my reports.They're good people. If there's anything I can do--"

  O'Neil took his hand warmly.

  Two days later Murray bade the girls good-by, and left, travelinglight. They remained in Kyak so that Eliza might complete herinvestigations.

  Of all those who suffered by the storm Curtis Gordon took hismisfortune hardest. This had been a black season for him, indeed.Beginning with O'Neil's rivalry, everything had gone against him. Hehad dropped his coal interests at Kyak in favor of the copper-mine,because they failed to yield quick profits. Then he had learned thatthe mine was valueless, and realized that it could not serve him muchlonger as a means of raising funds. Still, he had trusted that bytaking a vigorous part in the railroad struggle he would be able eitherto recoup his fortunes or at least to effect a compromise in the shadowof which his fiasco at Hope would be forgotten. As yet the truth aboutHope Consolidated was not generally known to his stock-holders, but acertain restlessness among them had become troublesome. The stream ofmoney had diminished alarmingly, and it was largely because of thisthat he had bought the McDermott right-of-way and moved to Kyak. Andnow, just as he had his affairs in shape for another and a greatercampaign of stock-flotation, the storm had come to ruin him.

  The bitterest element in his defeat was the realization that O'Neil,who had bested him at every turn, was destined to profit by the veryblow which crushed him. Defeat at the hands of the Copper Trust hewould have accepted with a fairly good grace; but the mere thought thatMurray O'Neil, whom he considered in every way his inferior, had gainedthe upper hand was intolerable. It was in keeping with Gordon'scharacter that instead of blaming his own judgment he became furiouslyangry at the Trust for the mistake of its engineers, and held themresponsible for his desperate situation. That it was truly desperate hevery soon realized, since disaster to his railroad project meant thathis stock-holders would be around his ears like a swarm of hornets, andonce they understood the true state of affairs at Hope the completecollapse of his fortunes would surely follow.

  During the days succeeding the storm he scarcely knew where to turn, soharassed was he; yet he never for a moment wavered in his resolve tomake O'Neil pay for his interference and to exact a reckoning fromGloria Gerard.

  Natalie's presence in Kyak confirmed his belief that O'Neil wasinterested in her, and he began to plan a stroke by which he could takerevenge upon all three. It did not promise in any way to help him outof his financial straits, but at least it would give him a certainsatisfaction.

  He sent word to the girl that he would like to see her.