859
 
 C9
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN
 
 THE HEART OF 
 CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 Jl Shovel 
 
 BY 
 
 DOUGLAS DURKIN 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES Of AMERICA
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER ONE - - 1 
 
 CHAPTER Two - - 16 
 
 CHAPTER THREE .... 37 
 
 CHAPTER FOUR - 54 
 
 CHAPTER FIVE - . - 67 
 
 CHAPTER Six - - 88 
 
 CHAPTER SEVEN - 107 
 
 CHAPTER EIGHT - 126 
 
 CHAPTER NINE - - 142 
 
 CHAPTER TEN - - 159 
 
 CHAPTER ELEVEN - - 172 
 
 CHAPTER TWELVE - - 192 
 
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN - - 207 
 
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN - ^ - 227 
 
 CHAPTER FIFTEEN - 247 
 
 CHAPTER SIXTEEN - - 264 
 
 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - 290 
 
 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ------ 314 
 
 81SS196
 
 THE HEART OF 
 CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 CHAPTER ONE 
 
 ALTHOUGH it was late afternoon it was 
 very hot hot even for August. The 
 horse ambled sleepily up the dusty trail, 
 his head low and his eyes not more than half 
 open. The rein hung loosely over his neck where 
 it had been tossed by the rider who sat dozing 
 in the saddle, his two hands folded across the 
 pommel in front of him. The only alert member 
 of the group, for there were three of these com- 
 panions of the road, was the dog, a mongrel collie 
 that trotted ahead with tongue hanging, or waited 
 panting in the middle of the trail for the horse 
 and rider to come up. 
 
 Suddenly the horse stumbled clumsily and the 
 rider came to himself with a start. 
 
 "Steady up, you fool !" he said, and then, as if 
 he regretted the tone in which he had spoken, he 
 leaned forward slightly and passed his hand 
 along the hot neck shining with sweat, and 
 brushed away the big brown flies that clustered 
 about the horse's ears.
 
 2 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 He picked up the rein and looked about him. 
 A few yards ahead the trail dipped slowly away 
 to the east in a long winding curve that circled 
 the brow of a little hill. Bringing the horse to a 
 stand, he turned and glanced behind him. To 
 the west the trail fell away and lost itself in a 
 wide valley out of which he had ridden during the 
 afternoon. He got down from the saddle, and 
 tossing the rein over the horse's head to the 
 ground, snapped his fingers to the dog and 
 scrambled up the side of the little hill on his right 
 to where a pile of tumbled tamaracs lay just as 
 they had fallen during a fire that had scorched 
 the hills a year or two before. In a minute he 
 had clambered upon the topmost timber and 
 stood hat in hand looking down into the valley. 
 
 As he stood there in the full light of the late 
 afternoon sun anyone catching a glimpse of him 
 from a distance would have been impressed most 
 with the bigness of the man. But with all his 
 bigness he was not heavy-footed nor awkwardly 
 poised. The ease with which he had sprung up 
 the side of the hill, and had leaped from one 
 fallen timber to another until he had reached the 
 spot where he stood, was only possible where 
 strong muscles are well co-ordinated and work
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 3 
 
 together in perfect harmony. And yet as he drew 
 himself up to his full height there was but little 
 there that bespoke agility. He looked heavy ex- 
 cept, perhaps, about the hips. His broad shoul- 
 ders appeared too broad, partly because of the 
 slight stoop forward that seemed to lengthen the 
 line that marked the curve from shoulder to 
 shoulder across the back. His face was the face 
 of a youth but of a youth grown serious. There 
 was a set to the jaw that seemed to hint at a past 
 in which grim determination had often been his 
 sole resource, and there were lines about the 
 mouth that told of hard living. His eyes were the 
 eyes of a man who has wondered much about 
 things and was still wondering. 
 
 For it had occurred to King Howden as it 
 has probably occurred to every man sometime or 
 other that the game was not worth the candle. 
 The significant thing about King's wondering, 
 however, was the fact that it had gone on for 
 months without leading to any other conclusion. 
 In a little less than a month he would be twenty- 
 eight, and he couldn't help feeling that life should 
 be taking shape. Ten years ago, when he had 
 struck out into the world alone, a serious-faced 
 boy whose heart swelled at the prospect of living 
 a great free life in the open places of the world, he
 
 4 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 had thought that by the time he reached twenty- 
 eight he would have seen some of his dreams, 
 at least, approaching realization. Now as he 
 thought it over, he knew that he had failed, and 
 the knowledge had a strange effect upon him. 
 
 Down there where the valley lay filled with the 
 blue haze of late summer, a haze that was 
 touched with silver from the sun a little village 
 stood hidden among the trees that lined the 
 banks of a small creek that chattered noisily over 
 its shingly bed. It was an odd kind of a village, 
 that. To begin with it had no name. It was 
 known simply as The Town, having sprung into 
 being in a single season as the gathering place of 
 the scores of new settlers from "the outside," the 
 vanguard of the army of nation-builders, 
 eager to secure desirable locations before the rail- 
 road should enter and link up the valley with the 
 world at large. For months the settlers had gone 
 in over a hill trail of a hundred and twenty-five 
 miles or more. Gathering their equipment to- 
 gether, they had hitched their teams of sleepy- 
 eyed oxen to prairie schooners and had poked 
 toilsomely along for days over a trail that only 
 the bravest hearts would ever have followed for 
 its entire length. But the reward was a worthy 
 one a generous plot of virgin soil as fertile as
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 5 
 
 anything the prairies of Western Canada could 
 show. 
 
 And so the town had sprung into being at a 
 spot chosen by the men who had blazed the trail. 
 There was a certain native beauty about the 
 place, in its pretty stream that brought the cool, 
 fresh water from the springs in the hills, and in 
 the full-bosomed elms and rustling silver poplars 
 and fragrant balm-o'-gilead that dappled with 
 shadows the surface of the creek, and made a 
 cool retreat for weary travellers coming in hot 
 and dusty from the long trail. Some day it 
 could not be long now the steel ribbons of one 
 of Canada's great transcontinental railways 
 would bind the village to the world that lay be- 
 yond the hills and then The Town would be no 
 more. Its proud successor would rise up some- 
 where along the line, and the old place would be 
 forgotten. 
 
 In the meantime the place had a distinctive ex- 
 istence of its own. In short as is the manner 
 with small towns the world over it had a way 
 with it. King Howden, who had been among the 
 first to come, had watched it grow and had come 
 to know it very well. He knew that, young 
 though the village was, it had its secrets, and 
 when a town talks behind its hand, someone must
 
 6 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 needs feel uneasy. King's face had grown grave 
 on many occasions during his few months of life 
 in this little frontier town. The villagers were 
 evidently concerned about this big, slow-moving 
 fellow who had nothing much to say to anyone, 
 and who, after delivering his weekly bag of mail 
 into the hands of old man Hurley, the kindly old 
 Government Agent in the place, habitually beat 
 a shy retreat to the little cabin he had built on a 
 quarter section of land that lay west of the town. 
 
 And King's face was grave now as he shaded 
 his eyes with one hand in an effort to pierce the 
 haze and get a glimpse of the white tents and the 
 roughly-built huts that stood down there among 
 the trees. 
 
 He did not know exactly where he should look 
 to find the town, for it was his first trip over a 
 new trail that led from the railway construction 
 camp to the town. Once every two weeks or so 
 during the summer he had gone out by the long 
 trail and returned with a bag of mail slung be- 
 hind him. On those longer trips he had often 
 perched himself upon some hill overlooking the 
 valley and dreamed away an hour or so as he 
 thought of the future and of the past. 
 
 Now he was on a new trail. The "end-of-the- 
 steel" had daily crept closer to the valley and at
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 7 
 
 last he had been notified that future deliveries of 
 mail for the settlement would be made at the 
 railway supply camp at the end of the line. 
 
 King Howden had loitered during that sum- 
 mer afternoon, and the loitering was not all on 
 account of the heat. There is romance in a new 
 trail that has been freshly-blazed and newly- 
 cleared, and King Howden though he never 
 would have admitted it even to himself liked the 
 romance that springs to meet one at every bend 
 in a newly-made roadway. 
 
 On a bright day he might have seen the white 
 tents and log cabins of The Town quite easily. 
 But to-day it was quite hidden behind a smoky 
 blue-white curtain that obscured everything be- 
 yond a radius of only a few miles. 
 
 'Too thick to-day, Sal," he said, addressing the 
 dog as he prepared to get down. 
 
 At the sound of her name the dog edged up a 
 little closer along the log and rubbed her nose 
 affectionately against his knee. King smiled 
 slowly and then, instead of getting down to the 
 ground immediately, he squatted low and took 
 the dog's ears in his hands. 
 
 "Sal, you old cuss," he said slowly, "look me 
 in the eye. D'you remember the day I took you 
 in? You common old purp, I saved your life
 
 8 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 when you were nothing but just plain, ornery 
 pup. If I hadn't come along that day and given 
 promises to take you away, gunnysack and all 
 splash ! you'd been a dead dog, Sal." 
 
 He turned the dog's head sideways as he spoke 
 and thrust it downwards violently in imitation 
 of what might have occurred early in the dog's 
 history and so have terminated her career sud- 
 denly had he not happened along at the critical 
 moment. The dog blinked her eyes and licked 
 her jaws by way of reply. 
 
 "And a dead dog ain't worth speaking about, 
 Sal," he continued. "But you're a sure 'nough 
 live dog even if you are common stuff and not 
 much account. And I like you, Sal, sure, I like 
 you. I like you for staying round. I like you 
 because you don't squeal. If you were a squealer 
 now I'd shoot you in a minute." 
 
 He bent over and rubbed his head against the 
 animal's face. Then he sprang up. 
 
 "Come on, you lazy old cuss, you," he ex- 
 claimed quickly. "Don't you know there's a long 
 bit o' trail ahead yet? Come on!" 
 
 In a moment he was mounted again and on his 
 way. About twenty miles of trail lay ahead of 
 him before he should come to the end of his jour- 
 ney. Although the afternoon was rapidly wear- 
 ing away and the westering sun already turning
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 9 
 
 red above the valley there was no special cause 
 for hurry. King loved the trail in the long 
 northern evenings when the scent of spruce and 
 tamarac came down from the hills and mingled 
 with the delicate perfume of the prairie roses that 
 came up from the valley. He loved the chang- 
 ing colors deepening in the twilight. He loved 
 to hear the night voices awakening one after an- 
 other. Often he had taken the trail late in the 
 evening in midsummer to escape the heat of the 
 day and to watch the arc of daylight growing 
 smaller as it shifted its way round to the north 
 in the early night until it hung like the edge of a 
 huge grey disc just showing ab ve the northern- 
 most point of the horizon. He had often watched 
 the disc move eastward and grow again with the 
 hours until it spread out into the glorious dawn 
 of another day, and in his own way he loved it all 
 for it made him feel that he was a part of the 
 great scheme of things. For a while then he felt 
 sure of himself and that was a good feeling for 
 King Howden. 
 
 Only a few miles more and he would be out 
 on the right-of-way where stood old Keith Mc- 
 Bain's construction camp. It made a convenient 
 place for a pause half-way in the trip, and the 
 camp incidentally boasted the best cook on the
 
 10 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 line a fact that might have had some bearing 
 upon King's decision to make camp about supper 
 time. 
 
 A short three miles farther on, the trail took a 
 little dip to the left down the slope of a wooded 
 ridge and emerged upon the open right-of-way. 
 It was within half an hour of general quitting 
 time and the teamsters had already begun to 
 leave the grade, their sweating horses hurrying 
 quickly away in the dust, with trace-chains clink- 
 ing and harness rattling. The rest of the gang 
 were still at work clearing the ground of stumps 
 and logs, and roughly levelling the piles of earth 
 that had been thrown up by the "slushers" dur- 
 ing the afternoon. 
 
 King had stood upon right-of-ways before, but 
 the prospect fascinated him as much to-day as it 
 had done the first day he had ever looked along 
 the narrowing perspective of an open avenue can- 
 yoned between two rows of trees, and in the 
 centre a long straight line of grey-brown earth 
 heaped up into a grade. He slipped down from 
 the saddle and walked leisurely along the trail 
 that skirted the side of the right-of-way, his eyes 
 upon the men who went about their work quietly 
 and with no more enthusiasm than one might 
 expect from human beings whose thanks to a
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 11 
 
 benevolent Providence found daily expression in 
 the formula, "another day, another dollar." 
 
 King found a bit of innocent diversion in the 
 efforts of four grunting and expostulating work- 
 men who had lifted a log from the ground and 
 were stumbling clumsily with it towards the 
 right-of-way. The log was not so large that four 
 men could not have handled it easily. King 
 smiled as he watched them, and thought to him- 
 self that two men could have picked it up and 
 taken it away without great effort. Suddenly a 
 veritable torrent of profanity broke upon his 
 ears, and the foreman who had been standing 
 near rushed up, threw his arms about the log 
 and scattering all four of them, carried it off 
 alone and threw it upon a pile of stumps and 
 roots that stood a few feet back from the trail. 
 King found himself all at once wondering what 
 he himself could have done with a log of the same 
 size. 
 
 He came to himself suddenly again at the 
 sound of the foreman's voice and looked round 
 just in time to see Sal leap to one side and run 
 towards him to escape a stick that came hurtling 
 along the ground near the dog's feet. King 
 stepped out quickly to protect the dog. As he 
 did so he saw the foreman standing a few yards
 
 12 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 away, his face twisted into a grin. For a moment 
 the two men eyed each other. Then King spoke. 
 
 "Quit that," he said in a voice that trembled 
 with rising passion. 
 
 The foreman's only reply was a few muttered 
 words of profanity that King did not hear, or 
 hearing did not consider worthy of any account. 
 His concern was for the mongrel collie that had 
 narrowly escaped injury, and was now fawning 
 and whining about his legs. 
 
 "Don't do that," he said. "She's my dog." 
 
 The foreman grinned. "Your dog what the 
 devil do I care whose dog it is !" 
 
 King spoke without moving and his voice was 
 now clear and steady. "You don't need to care 
 you didn't hit her." 
 
 "Well, I tried, didn't I?" 
 
 **I say you didn't hit her," King replied 
 slowly, "and I I don't want you to." 
 
 For a moment the two men stood looking at 
 each other silently without moving. King's face 
 was grave and one corner of his mouth twitched 
 a little in anger. The grin never left the face of 
 the foreman; it was still there when he finally 
 turned away and strode towards the men who 
 were at work on the grade a short distance off. 
 
 King watched him closely for a while and then
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 13 
 
 stepped back and passed his hand soothingly 
 along the horse's shoulder. Getting down on one 
 knee he drew the dog towards him and patted her 
 head gently. 
 
 "Sal, you old mongrel pup, you," he said as if 
 he were on the point of bringing gentle chastise- 
 ment upon her but he said no more. Getting 
 up, he threw a backward glance in the direction 
 of the men working on the grade and went off 
 slowly down the trail towards the camp. 
 
 When he had gone some distance he stopped 
 suddenly and looked about him as if he feared 
 someone were watching him. On the ground 
 before him was a large, solid tamarac log. He 
 placed his foot upon it and measured it with his 
 eyes from end to end. He kicked the log two or 
 three times to assure himself that it was sound. 
 Then he glanced back again to where the men 
 were working in the distance. When he was sure 
 that no one was watching him he dropped the 
 bridle rein to the ground and bent over the log. 
 Working his great hands under it he closed his 
 arms slowly about the middle and set himself to 
 lift Gradually he straightened himself till he 
 stood erect, his arms clasped about the log. Then 
 swinging it round till he faced in the opposite di- 
 rection he carried it steadily to the other side of
 
 14 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 the trail and dropped it in the underbrush. 
 Measuring it again with his eyes, he kicked it 
 it was sound to the heart. 
 
 "I can do it," he said aloud to himself, "and I 
 believe if anything it's a bigger piece." 
 
 Even as he spoke he became aware of someone 
 watching him. Something suspiciously like a 
 chuckle came from the bushes near by and he 
 raised his eyes quickly. Not more than a dozen 
 paces away, half-hidden in the shrubbery, stood 
 a girl knee-deep in the matted vines, a sheaf of 
 wild roses in her arms. 
 
 For a moment King was unable to stir. It was 
 as if an apparition had suddenly broken in on his 
 imagination a riotous apparition of dark hair, 
 laughing eyes and delicate pink roses. 
 
 When he came to himself he moved back awk- 
 wardly and was in the act of lifting the bridle- 
 rein when he was arrested by a burst of laughter 
 that caused him to turn again and stand looking 
 at her, the bridle-rein hanging loosely in his 
 hand. His look was a question and her only 
 answer was a laugh as she came out from the 
 cover of the bushes and stood upon the log that 
 King had just moved from the other side of the 
 trail. From this position of advantage she looked 
 at him, her eyes almost on a level with his.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 15 
 
 "I saw it all," she declared, and King thought 
 the expression on her face was less mischievous 
 now. 
 
 "What?" he asked. 
 
 "You take a dare from a man and walk away 
 to have it out by yourself with a log." 
 
 There was a flash of fire in her eyes as she 
 spoke and King became the victim of mingled 
 anger and self-reproach. While he hesitated to 
 make a reply the girl hopped down from the log 
 and, brushing past him, walked quickly down the 
 trail towards the camp. 
 
 When she had gone almost out of easy hear- 
 ing distance he straightened himself suddenly. 
 
 "I didn't !" he called after her, but she paid not 
 the slightest heed. 
 
 A minute later he started off for the camp 
 afoot, his horse following behind him. And as he 
 went he thought over the words in which he 
 found nothing but reproach, and worst of all 
 contempt. 
 
 " 'You took a dare,' " he repeated, and then to 
 himself he said over and over again, "I didn't 
 I didn't!"
 
 CHAPTER TWO 
 
 A LITTLE more than an hour later King 
 left the cook-camp and went to the corral 
 where his horse, well rested from the first 
 half of the journey, stood ready and waiting for 
 him. 
 
 He was in the act of throwing the saddle onto 
 the horse when he stopped suddenly and listened. 
 From round the corner of the corral came the 
 sound of voices of men in dispute. 
 
 "Any man who tries to call Bill McCartney 
 had better be sure he holds a good hand," 
 the most emphatic of the speakers declared. 
 
 In affairs of this kind King Howden had a 
 kind of instinct that he invariably trusted. Some- 
 thing told him that the man whose name he heard 
 was the big foreman whom he had seen on the 
 grade before supper. He felt, too, that he him- 
 self was under discussion, and laying the saddle 
 down he walked quietly to the corner and listened 
 for a moment. He had no liking for eavesdrop- 
 ping, and yet he had not recovered from the 
 sting of the words that had fallen from the lips 
 
 16
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 17 
 
 of the girl ; the look of reproach in her dark eyes 
 was still vividly before him. But those words 
 were the words of a girl. When men speak dis- 
 paragingly of another, the case is a different 
 one. 
 
 He stepped round the corner of the corral and 
 stood before a half dozen of McBain's men 
 lounging upon bales of pressed hay, smoking 
 after-supper pipes. 
 
 For a moment there was a silence so tense that 
 even King, who might have been prepared for it, 
 began to feel uncomfortable. 
 
 "No use bluffin'," said one of the group at last. 
 "We were talkin' about you an' Bill McCartney. 
 Looked for a while like someone was in for a 
 lickin' this afternoon." 
 
 King looked at the speaker. He was an old 
 man, too old, really, to be combatting the rigors 
 of camp life. His voice was thin, even high- 
 pitched, but King could not help observing the 
 very apparent effort the old man was making to 
 be pleasant. And yet, the line where King's lips 
 met drew straight and tightened perceptibly. 
 
 "My boy," the old man went on, very pleas- 
 antly but not patronizingly, "don't bother Bill 
 McCartney. We don't love him none but we 
 talk when he ain't 'round." He was speaking
 
 18 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 very directly now and had begun to fill his pipe 
 deliberately. "The boys can tell you about him. 
 There's a Hardy youngster here in camp by the 
 name of Lush Currie " 
 
 The old man was interrupted suddenly by the 
 laughter of the other members of the group. At 
 first he seemed ready to join in the chorus he had 
 unwittingly provoked, but he glanced once at 
 King and checked himself immediately. Then 
 he turned to the men with a look in which there 
 was a mingling of anger and appeal. 
 
 "Well," he said abruptly, "what are you 
 laughin' at?" 
 
 If the remark relieved the old man's embar- 
 rassment it certainly did not check the hilarity of 
 the men. But when King stepped forward and 
 looked at them with a slow smile playing about 
 the corners of his lips and drawing the lines of 
 his mouth even more tensely, the laughing ceased 
 at once and the men waited in silence for him to 
 speak. 
 
 "Don't you go to making plans for me and this 
 man, McCartney," King said, and his steady 
 gaze seemed to take them all in at once as he 
 spoke. "You better get straight on this Mc- 
 Cartney hasn't done me a speck o' harm not 
 yet he hasn't."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 19 
 
 "Pray goddlemighty hard he don't!" replied 
 one of the men, but the remark elicited scarcely 
 more than a smile from the others and not even 
 so much as a smile from the old man. 
 
 "And I'm not going to lose time praying about 
 it, either," King observed, his eyes upon the 
 speaker. 
 
 He turned and went back to his horse, where 
 he proceeded in a leisurely way to adjust the 
 saddle. In a few minutes he was ready to leave, 
 and was on the point of getting up when he heard 
 a step approaching, and pausing to look behind 
 him observed the old man coming round the cor- 
 ner of the corral. He was alone, and as he came 
 forward he took his pipe from his mouth and 
 tapped the bowl gently against the palm of his 
 hand to empty it. 
 
 "My name's Gabe Smith," he said in his high, 
 thin voice, "an' yours ?" 
 
 King gave him his name. 
 
 The old man extended his hand cordially, and 
 King, recognizing at once that the overtures were 
 meant to be friendly, could not help feeling 
 warmly towards him. They exchanged a few 
 words that served to confirm King's opinion of 
 the sincerity of old Gabe Smith, and then, getting
 
 20 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 into his saddle, King turned his horse's head 
 down the trail. 
 
 Just once before he urged his horse into a gal- 
 lop he turned and looked behind him. 
 
 "Sal, you !" he called to his dog. 
 
 At the summons the dog leaped from the side 
 of the trail and the three went off together in the 
 gathering dusk. 
 
 It was, perhaps, only natural that King's mind 
 should dwell more or less upon the disturbing ele- 
 ment that, during the past few hours, had come 
 unbidden into his life. Early that afternoon his 
 mind had been occupied mainly with memories' 
 of a past that had been woven out of failure and 
 disappointment and shapeless motive. Now, 
 with an open trail before him, his mind was filled 
 with new hopes and strange misgivings. 
 
 His misgivings were not without good reason, 
 had he known the full truth. Bill McCartney, 
 the big foreman with Keith McBain's outfit, com- 
 manded the respect which hard-fisted men in- 
 variably pay to those whose reputation for heavy 
 hitting goes before them wherever they move. 
 When he came to Keith McBain's camp his repu^ 
 tation had preceded him by at least a week. By 
 some mysterious way, for which there is no ao. 
 counting, the men had been prepared for days
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 21 
 
 against the coming of one who could hit harder 
 than any man west of North Bay. It was not on 
 record that any of the citizens of the town that 
 set the eastern limit to the extent of McCartney's 
 reputation could actually hit harder, or even as 
 hard, as the formidable foreman. It probably 
 never occurred to anyone to carry his investiga- 
 tions so far. It was enough that North Bay 
 should be generally accepted as the point that 
 marked the division between two worlds, in one 
 of which the name of Bill McCartney had never 
 been known, in the other of which his name was 
 mentioned with the deference due to men of his 
 class. 
 
 There was probably no fear mingled with that 
 feeling of deference. The men simply knew what 
 Bill McCartney's reputation was, and after the 
 first few searching glances at the new foreman 
 they were prepared to believe what they had been 
 told, and, perhaps, to add something to it by way 
 of coloring it up a little. 
 
 Those who were disposed to think conserva- 
 tively of McCartney's abilities when they first 
 saw him were given an opportunity to correct 
 their estimates somewhere about the third day 
 after his arrival in camp, although only a few 
 were fortunate enough to be on hand when he
 
 22 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 first proved his ability to live up to his reputation. 
 Before McCartney's arrival the name of "Lush" 
 Currie, a thick-set, bony fellow who had carried 
 off the honors in many a fight to the finish, had 
 always been mentioned with something of the 
 same deference that was now accorded the new 
 foreman. In fact, Currie was one of the few 
 doubters who were unwise enough to have ex- 
 pressed openly their own personal contempt for 
 reputations that were unproved. He spoke once, 
 however, when McCartney was within hearing. 
 The small group who had witnessed the affair 
 afterwards said that "Lush" had spoken very un- 
 wisely. No one at the time knew exactly what 
 had occurred though they worked out all the 
 details with great care later. All agreed that only 
 one blow had been struck, and that blow was Mc- 
 Cartney's. Before Currie had a chance to defend 
 himself he was lying in a heap on the ground. 
 Though McCartney waited for him to get up, 
 "Lush" could not find his feet without the help 
 of a couple of men who were standing near, who 
 lifted him and helped him off to his bunk, where 
 for a few days he nursed a broken jaw. 
 
 The incident had caused no end of discussion. 
 Some felt that Currie had not been given a square 
 deal there was such a thing as a fair fight
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 23 
 
 Currie should have been given some warning. 
 The affair proved nothing so far as Bill McCart- 
 ney's fighting ability was concerned; it should 
 be fought over again, and undoubtedly would. 
 Others protested that Currie had no right to talk 
 about McCartney unless he wanted to fight that 
 he should have been prepared for what had hap- 
 pened. He had been warned he got only what 
 was coming to him, and would probably know 
 better than to seek further trouble. 
 
 But "Lush" Currie gave neither promise nor 
 explanation a fact that, in the opinion of the 
 great majority of Keith McBain's men, proved 
 his wisdom, if it did not acj^anything to his repu- 
 tation for courage. 
 
 But these were things that King did not know. 
 He only wondered about the man McCartney, in 
 whom he found though he could not have told 
 why the embodiment of a new and sinister an- 
 tagonism. He could not help feeling that some- 
 how powers over which he had no control were 
 dealing the cards, and he had to play the game. 
 
 Had it not been for the fact that another 
 
 His mind went back to the laughing eyes of 
 the girl that had spoken to him from the cover 
 of the bushes beside the trail. 
 
 Overhead the night-hawks whistled and
 
 24 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 swooped down with whirring wings above the 
 tree-tops. The damp scent of low mist-filled hol- 
 lows came to him on the motionless air, mingled 
 with the cool fresh fragrance of the spruce. Little 
 waves of warm air rose from the trail that had 
 lain all day under a burning sky. The occasional 
 call of a distant coyote whined across the plains, 
 and returned in numberless echoes till it broke 
 and died into silence. 
 
 Suddenly Sal stopped in the trail and stood 
 looking back, her head up, her ears pricked for- 
 ward, her tail brushing from side to side. King 
 reined his horse in to a walk and listened. He 
 could hear the rhythmic beat of hoofs on the 
 trail some distance behind him. From the sound 
 they made he knew the rider was coming fast. 
 Curiosity overcame him, and he turned about 
 and waited at a point in the trail from which he 
 could look from cover across a deep hollow to 
 where the trail was visible winding along near the 
 base of the hill. He had been waiting only a few 
 moments when the horse and rider came into 
 view. The ligEt Had almost gone by now, but 
 there was still enough left of the long northern 
 summer twilight to make it possible for him to 
 follow the dimly-outlined figures of horse and 
 rider until they suddenly vanished whv 2 the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 25 
 
 trail ran hidden through a stretch of evergreens. 
 When they emerged they were only a few yards 
 away and in full sight. The rider was none other 
 than the girl whose image he had kept before him 
 in the failing twilight. 
 
 His first impulse was to turn his horse's head 
 across the trail he could not believe that the girl 
 he had seen that afternoon was actually in con- 
 trol of the animal she rode. But not more than 
 a dozen paces away the horse planted his feet be- 
 fore him suddenly, stopped with a jerk, and rose 
 on his hind legs. Then with front feet still in the 
 air he pivoted round and bolted away in the op- 
 posite direction. King was amazed to see the girl 
 keep her seat, but his amazement increased when, 
 just before reaching the turn, the horse stopped 
 suddenly as he had done before, and wheeling 
 about came up the trail towards him again at the 
 same wild pace. King stood aside this time and 
 caught a glimpse of the girl's face as she shot past 
 him. The expression he saw there was enough 
 to dispel any fears that he might have enter- 
 tained for her safety. A few yards down the trail 
 the horse turned again, and he saw the girl strike 
 him across the nose with her quirt. 
 
 Then for fully ten minutes he watched a battle 
 royal between a slender girl and a horse whose
 
 26 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 spirit had never been broken. He had seen men 
 breaking horses to the saddle, and he had thrilled 
 to the excitement of it. But this fight was dif- 
 ferent. The girl who held her seat in the battle 
 that was being fought out before him did her 
 work fearlessly, firmly, and without speaking a 
 word, and King took off his hat and sat watching 
 in silence. 
 
 Back and forth they went on the trail, the horse 
 leaping and rearing at the turns, the girl wearing 
 him down gradually with sharp strokes of her 
 quirt across the nose. The horse shook his head 
 at every stroke and came back after each turn 
 with as much apparent determination as ever. 
 The girl kept her place without a smile, her eyes 
 steadily before her, intent on every move. ; 
 
 The end came suddenly. A quick stroked 
 caught the animal just as his front feet were 
 about to leave the ground, and he stood quivering 
 in every limb, champing his bit and shaking his 
 head in an effort to slacken the bridle rein that 
 the girl held firmly in her hand. Then as he 
 stood, trembling and subdued, the girl spoke for 
 the first time, and turning him slowly round 
 brought him down the trail at a walk. 
 
 King wanted to cry out in admiration of the 
 superb manner in which the girl had conducted
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 27 
 
 herself in the struggle, but when she came to 
 where he stood she brought her horse to a stand- 
 still and turned to him with a smile and King 
 was dumb. 
 
 Women had never been a concern of King 
 Howden's. He had never been able to quite un- 
 derstand their ways, and he had come to the con- 
 clusion that if success in life depended upon a 
 man's ability to succeed with women and he 
 had known many who had advanced such a 
 theory in all seriousness then nothing in the 
 world was more inevitable than that he should 
 fail, and fail miserably, sooner or later. He had 
 avoided women generally, and for years had de- 
 liberately sought for conditions of living in which 
 he could reasonably hope for a chance to make 
 good without them. 
 
 But here was a woman no man could avoid. 
 In one slow glance again he noted the lightning 
 that played in her dark eyes ; he caught the wild 
 witchery of her tumbled hair and the beauty of 
 her cheeks, flushed from the excitement of the 
 fight she had just won, and he lost himself in con- 
 templation of the smile that lent an indescribable 
 sweetness to her firm mouth. She was dressed 
 plainly even roughly in a waist that revealed 
 the soft whiteness of her neck and throat and the
 
 28 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 firm round curve of her shoulders and breast, and 
 in a skirt that clung closely to her limbs. But of 
 these things King Howden was only vaguely con- 
 scious. He could not take his eyes from her face, 
 with its strange contradiction of flashing eyes and 
 gently smiling mouth. 
 
 The girl was the first to speak. 
 
 "You must have been riding hard," she said. 
 "I thought I'd never catch up with you." 
 
 "Catch up?" King thought to himself, and was 
 at a loss to understand. 
 
 "Come on," she said quickly, and before he was 
 able to reply, "I'm going to ride a little way with 
 you." 
 
 She drew her rein back, pulled her horse about, 
 touched him lightly on the flank with her quirt, 
 and was off at an easy canter along the trail, 
 leaving King to follow or not as he pleased. With 
 a slow smile of recognition of the somewhat ano- 
 malous position he was in, he turned into the 
 trail and rode after her. 
 
 When he came up with her he drew his horse 
 in a little and together they rode for the next half 
 hour through little valleys aftd over gently round- 
 ing hills dimly outlined in the failing twilight. 
 
 Here and there a rabbit started up in the trail 
 before them and ran its foolish frightened race
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 29 
 
 ahead of them until the dog came and put it to 
 cover in the low underbrush beside the roadway. 
 Occasionally a partridge or a prairie chicken got 
 up suddenly from its dust bath in the middle of 
 the trail and hurried off with much clucking and 
 beating of the wings. Once a coyote stood with 
 pricked ears before them on the trail until the 
 sight of Sal sent him off with a lazy, half defiant 
 lope to a little knoll, where he perched himself 
 and waited while they rode past. They caught 
 the delicate aroma of dew on the grass, and 
 brushed a warm fragrance from the foliage as 
 they swept close to where the trees leaned a little 
 over the trail. Frequently they splashed through 
 little hurrying streams where the cold water ran 
 only a few inches deep, or rode through low mea- 
 dows where the mist lay like white shrouds and 
 settled lightly above the long grass that carpeted 
 the hollows. And behind them the sky had 
 deepened to a blood-red hue with long ribbons of 
 pale gold stretching along the horizon already far 
 to the north of where the sun had gone down. 
 
 They had rounded the brow of a hill and had 
 come out of cover to a point in the trail where it 
 afforded them a wide outlook across a meadowy 
 valley. The girl brought her horse to a stand and 
 King reined in beside her.
 
 30 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "I like this," she said, waving her hand toward 
 the valley. 
 
 King looked at her, but she had not so much 
 as turned her head towards him. For the first 
 time he was able to look at her without embar- 
 rassment. He was no artist to analyze the fine 
 points of symmetry in face and figure. But he 
 was a man and the man in him told him that 
 she was beautiful. What he liked best about her 
 was the strength of her beauty. He knew at a 
 glance that she was not of the delicate, clinging 
 kind that practise a languid air and never forget 
 their sex. Here was a girl whose heart-beat was 
 strong with the confidence and the reliance she 
 had learned to place in herself and every line of 
 her face, every movement of her body, bore evi- 
 dence to the fact. And yet, as she sat and looked 
 out over the valley half hidden under the mists, 
 there was a soft warmth in her dark eyes that 
 made her presence luminous. For King the girl 
 who sat before him embodied in tangible form, it 
 seemed, all he had ever aspired to, all he had ever 
 even vaguely dreamed of. 
 
 Her voice, when she spoke, was not the voice of 
 reproach that she had used earlier in the after- 
 noon. Now it was soft, quiet, even deep. 
 
 "I like it, too," he said, in response to her
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 31 
 
 simple expression of admiration for what lay be- 
 fore them. "But you haven't come all this way 
 for that" he waved his hand gently in the direc- 
 tion of the valley. 
 
 She turned to him quickly. "No I have seen 
 it before though I don't remember when it was 
 ever so beautiful." 
 
 "Nor I," thought King, though he kept his 
 thoughts to himself. 
 
 "What is- your name?" she asked suddenly and 
 with a directness that brought a smile to King's 
 face. 
 
 He told her. 
 
 "And I am Cherry McBain my father is 
 Keith McBain 'Old Silent,' the men call him," 
 she replied. "I came to tell you that I need your 
 help not for me for my father." 
 
 King looked at her strangely. "But a man," 
 he said slowly, "a man who takes a dare " 
 
 "Don't be silly!" she broke in suddenly. "I 
 only half believed that." 
 
 "Don't you think that's bad enough?" replied 
 King. 
 
 "Can you fight?" asked the girl abruptly, dis- 
 regarding his reply. 
 
 The smile that had rested upon King's face 
 during the conversation vanished all at once be-
 
 32 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 fore the old grave look that was habitual with 
 him. He did not answer at once he turned the 
 question over and over again in his mind. 
 
 "Cherry McBain," he said at last, "I'm not 
 used to women and women's ways." His eyes 
 were looking off across the valley when he spoke, 
 and his voice was like that of a man speaking to 
 himself. "I've known some women a few but 
 no woman ever asked me if I could fight only 
 once but she was a foolish woman she wasn't 
 good. No good woman ever asked me that be- 
 fore." 
 
 He turned his face towards her slowly and 
 looked at her with searching eyes. 
 
 "But you," he said hesitatingly, "you're good, 
 Cherry McBain." 
 
 He was silent as he looked at her now, and his 
 Kps tightened before he spoke again. "Years 
 ago," he said at last, "I fought, and the man 
 I struck we were boys then was a brother. 
 I was not myself I struck him in anger. When 
 I understood what I had done I left him left my 
 home and all and came west. That was ten 
 years ago. I wrote him a letter and he asked 
 me to come back. He said he had forgotten 
 but I I could never go back." 
 
 "Do you think that's silly too?"
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "I have not hit any man since that day," he 
 said with emphasis. "I can fight I would fight 
 quicker for a good woman than anything else." 
 
 Cherry McBain held out her hand to him. "I 
 needn't have asked you that," she said. "I didn't 
 know. But promise me that you will come and 
 see my father when you are on your way back 
 old Gabe has told me you are carrying the mail 
 for the settlement." 
 
 King pressed her hand gently. 
 
 "I guess I'll come," he said. 
 
 A smile brightened the girl's face. 
 
 "Come," she said. "We'll have raspberries for 
 tea." 
 
 "If it rains wildcats," he declared as he released 
 her hand. 
 
 "To-morrow afternoon, then," she said, and 
 the next moment she was gone. 
 
 King stood and watched her, hat in hand, until 
 she had vanished from his sight. When the beat 
 of the hoofs on the hard trail was no longer 
 audible he shook his horse's bridle gently and re- 
 sumed his way, 
 
 King did not cease to think of his brother when 
 the last sound of hoof-beats had died in the dis- 
 tance. His conversation with Cherry McBain
 
 34 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 had started in his mind a train of thought that 
 he could not control. 
 
 As long as King could remember, his best 
 friend in all the world, the one he had loved the 
 most even during that one mad regrettable mo- 
 ment of passion was his younger brother, Dick. 
 As boys at home in eastern Canada, Dick had al- 
 ways been the lucky one King's pranks had al- 
 ways been discovered. In the ten long years that 
 had elapsed since King had struck west in shame 
 and humiliation, it was the thought of having left 
 Dick that weighed most heavily upon him. It 
 was the memory of Dick's laughing face that had 
 made his heart burn with remorse whenever he 
 remembered how weak, how foolish he had been. 
 During those ten years his heart had quailed be- 
 fore one fear only the fear that something might 
 happen to Dick before he could see him again. 
 
 And now as he rode alone over the trail that 
 was all but hidden in the heavy dusk, this fear 
 had gripped his heart so fiercely that he was help- 
 less to shake himself free. A nameless dread, a 
 pressing sadness brooded over him. He was 
 seized with a sense of utter loneliness. 
 
 Some will say that there is no such thing as 
 presentiment. But when King Howden reached 
 the end-of-the-steel that night and found among
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 35 
 
 the mail a letter for himself announcing the death 
 of his brother, Dick Howden, he was convinced, 
 whether reasonably or not, that voices had spoken 
 to him out of the silence had been speaking to 
 him, indeed, for years, if he had only heard and 
 tried to understand. 
 
 King knew no rest that night. Early in the 
 morning he left the bunkhouse where he had been 
 lying during the night and went out into the open 
 where the light of another day was growing in an 
 eastern sky all rose and gold. He found a path 
 leading into the woods and followed it for some 
 distance among the trees to a spot where it led 
 across a little stream. Here he sat down and for 
 a long time looked at the water and the trees and 
 the changing colors of the sky. 
 
 When the red sun pushed its way at last above 
 the tree-tops, there came the sound of men stir- 
 ring in the camp, and the distant sharp rattle of 
 the wheels of a wagon bumping along over a 
 rough trail. A new day had begun a day when 
 strong men would go out to work, singing and 
 bantering as they went. 
 
 King got up from his place beside the stream 
 and stood with his face to the east. Slowly he 
 lifted his right hand and closed his fingers. Then 
 he laid his left hand over it.
 
 36 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 In the east the day was springing. 
 
 In his heart there was a prayer a prayer such 
 as big men speak when they have seen the wrong 
 they have done. And who shall say that the 
 prayer was not heard? 
 
 In his face there was a resolve a resolve that 
 expressed itself in the tightening of the fingers 
 that closed over his right hand. And who shall 
 say that the resolve was not recorded ?
 
 CHAPTER THREE 
 
 IN a country where women are seldom seen, the 
 presence of a pretty girl of twenty-one is a 
 matter worthy of record even if she is the 
 daughter of a railway construction boss. For 
 Keith McBain, reticent, profane to a frankly 
 amazing degree on those rare occasions when he 
 did speak to his men, was a seasoned old man of 
 his class. Silent and unapproachable as is the 
 manner of camp bosses Keith McBain seemed 
 at times the least human of them all. "Old Silent" 
 the men called him, partly on account of an in- 
 stinctive grudge they all bore him for his mode 
 of hard dealing, and partly, too, on account of a 
 kind of unreasoned affection which they cher- 
 ished for him because of his rough-handed 
 honesty and his indomitable will. When Old 
 Silent spoke no man spoke back. Not that he 
 was a man to fear physically he was a small, 
 dyspeptic, nervous man whom anyone of his deep- 
 chested camp-followers could have brushed aside 
 with one hand. It was rather the man's face that 
 they feared, with its black piercing eyes that 
 
 37
 
 38 
 
 never shifted their glance when he spoke, and its 
 black sardonic smile that made an impenetrable 
 mask for a soul that no man had ever seen re- 
 vealed. His men all feared him some of them 
 hated him and yet they never left him, once 
 their names had 'been placed on the pay-roll. 
 
 Once only in the memory of those who worked 
 for him had the hope ever arisen that the old con- 
 tractor's manner might soften and his hard face 
 relax in the presence of the men. Just a year ago, 
 nearly a hundred miles back along the line, Keith 
 McBain had lost his wife after a long illness. She 
 had lingered for weeks in a pathetic fight for life, 
 and the old camp boss had watched by her bed- 
 side almost continuously, leaving the oversight of 
 the work wholly in the hands of his foremen. 
 Never had a gang of men worked so hard as those 
 men had worked day after day while Old Silent 
 was absent from his place, not only out of defer- 
 ence to the frail woman who was struggling 
 gamely against too great odds, but out of sheer re- 
 spect for their old boss whose burden of sorrow 
 was daily growing heavier. And when at last the 
 word came that the struggle was over, the men 
 had sat about very late into the night and had 
 spoken in whispers. Keith McBain had made 
 the grave with his own hands, just off the right-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 39 
 
 of-way, and had marked the spot with a pile of 
 stones and a rough-hewn cross. Then in the days 
 that followed he had been more silent than ever, 
 more unremitting in his dealing with the men, 
 and, if possible, more profane. And yet every 
 last one of his men could not help knowing that 
 Keith McBain's heart was breaking. His light 
 had burned late into the night and every night 
 for months following the day that had brought 
 him his great sorrow. 
 
 Cherry McBain had come unannounced into 
 the camp. In fact the men had not known of 
 her existence until she rode into camp one after- 
 noon a couple of weeks before the death of Mrs. 
 McBain. Only a few of the more fortunate among 
 them had had a glimpse of her as she came up the 
 trail escorted by McBain's timekeeper, who had 
 gone out to meet her and bring her to the camp. 
 But the few that had seen her knew at once that 
 she was the daughter of the woman who was 
 dying in Keith McBain's cabin so striking was 
 the resemblance between mother and daughter. 
 
 During the days that immediately followed her 
 arrival Cherry was never seen abroad except late 
 in the evenings when she walked out with her 
 father and came back with her arms laden with 
 wild flowers and fern. But when Keith McBain
 
 40 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 turned again to resume his duties after the dark- 
 est episode of his life had been closed, Cherry Mc- 
 Bain wandered alone along the new grade or 
 saddled her horse and explored the trails wher- 
 ever they led in both directions from the camp. 
 
 Men who work a whole season in the woods 
 or on a right-of-way, and at the end of the season 
 fling their total earnings away in one hilarious 
 week or two in the nearest city, are likely to 
 classify women roughly and perhaps quickly, even 
 if for ten months out of every twelve they never 
 hear the sound of a woman's voice. They may 
 sometimes make errors in their classifications, 
 but not often. The first morning that Cherry Mc- 
 Bain strolled along the edge of the works and 
 paused here and there to watch the men as they 
 swung their teams round in the ever moving circle 
 that carried the earth away from both sides of 
 the right-of-way to the centre where it was graded 
 up into the first rough form of a road-bed that 
 morning the men registered their own judgments 
 concerning the daughter of Old Silent. In her 
 dark eyes there was the fearless look of her father, 
 the look that pierced through the surface and saw 
 through the veneer to what lay behind. In her 
 smile there was the essence of her mother's gentle 
 nature a nature before which men down
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 41 
 
 through the centuries have bowed in silent wor- 
 ship. 
 
 But there was something more, something that 
 was her own. Men saw it in her lightning glance 
 and in the quick toss she gave her head when she 
 shook back her wind-blown, dark-brown hair. 
 Not one of the men had been able to tell exactly 
 what it was that was there, but all alike were con- 
 vinced that while Keith McBain might command 
 obedience in his men and squelch even his fore- 
 man with a look or an explosive word or two, he 
 had no look that could have served him in a con- 
 test with the will of Cherry McBain. 
 
 It was six o'clock by the time King reached 
 McBain's camp on his return trip. In the dis- 
 tance he saw the men leaving the grade and 
 making their way towards the camp, the sound 
 of their voices coming to him with heartening ef- 
 fect after his long silent trip, during which his 
 mind had gone back irresistibly to the days when 
 he and his brother had romped together as boys. 
 
 When he came to where the path led from the 
 trail to MacBain's cabin he turned abruptly, and 
 getting down from the saddle allowed his horse 
 to follow him while he made his way on foot along 
 the narrow path. The little cabin was built of
 
 42 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 logs and stood well back from the trail, in the 
 protecting shade of a clump of tamaracs. 
 
 Keith McBain was sitting by the doorway, his 
 pipe in his mouth, his eyes turned to the hills that 
 rose up, scraggly and covered with fallen and 
 charred timbers, to the south of the cabin. 
 
 King's first feeling was one of pity. The old 
 man who sat- there smoking his pipe and musing 
 was a broken man, and every line on his face 
 showed it. There was in his eyes the look of a 
 man whose power of will was almost gone. There 
 was a look of fear in them, a fear lest he should 
 reveal his weakness to others. He had an odd 
 trick of glancing quickly about him as if he 
 wished to assure himself that no one was coming 
 upon him unannounced. His mouth was tight- 
 lipped, his face covered with a short-clipped beard 
 that once had been black but now showed gray 
 and pale against the bloodless cheeks. 
 
 And yet, for all the face showed of weakness, 
 King was at once struck by the intensity and the 
 unswerving directness of his gaze when Keith 
 McBain turned to look at him. At first there 
 seemed to be a shadow of suspicion in the grizzled 
 old face, but King could not help observing the 
 slow change to something almost kindly that
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 43 
 
 showed deep in the old man's eyes as he got up 
 and extended his hand. 
 
 "Come and sit down," he said. "The girl told 
 me you were coming. She's off somewhere in the 
 hills after berries come and sit down." 
 
 When they had talked a little King was so 
 much moved by the note of pathos that crept into 
 the voice of Keith McBain that he determined 
 at once to share with him the news that he had 
 received only the night before. Evidently Old 
 Silent was in a pensive mood, and King inwardly 
 longed for someone to whom he could speak con- 
 cerning what had lain heavily on his heart all 
 day. 
 
 For a long time after King had spoken, Keith 
 McBain sat without uttering a word. 
 
 "Aye, boy, you've suffered a great loss," he said 
 at last, and his gaze was straight before him to- 
 wards the hill-tops in the distance. As he con- 
 tinued he seemed to be talking to himself rather 
 than to King. "It's hard for men to know what 
 a thing like this means until they have tasted it 
 themselves. For years I have gone out in the 
 morning with men when the light was scarce 
 showing through the swamp and have come in 
 again at night tired after the work of the day to 
 sleep and make ready for the next day. And
 
 44 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 I've watched them all ready for the 'roll out' 
 when the call came at daybreak. And I've mar- 
 velled at their punctuality and their willing- 
 ness. And then a day would come when one of 
 them wouldn't be in his place. He'd heard the 
 call but couldn't go out. And later perhaps a 
 few days just he didn't hear it and the rest of 
 us were quieter for a while a little less given to 
 talking; and then things went on very much as 
 usual and we forgot. It's very good to forget." 
 
 King was pleased with the complete freedom 
 from restraint that now marked the old man's 
 manner. He talked well, with the merest trace of 
 Scotch accent recognizable in the way he rolled 
 his r's. He paused a moment and King made no 
 attempt to interrupt. Finally he began again. 
 
 "Aye it's good to forget when you can. But 
 there are times when a man can't forget not al- 
 together. You and I know that, my boy we 
 know it too well. And we won't talk about it 
 either except to mention it in passing. And in 
 passing I want to say that I am very sorry. 
 Where's the use trying to say more a man 
 can't." 
 
 He tapped his pipe gently against his hand and 
 went leisurely about the task of filling it again. 
 
 "A straight man and a clean man," he said
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 45 
 
 gently, "is a rare enough article. As men go, I 
 haven't seen many that could answer to that de- 
 scription. The world is full of good women, my 
 boy I've seen a few they told me weren't 
 straight and weren't clean, but I've never known 
 any such myself though I've known a lot of 
 women, too. But the men I've known " 
 
 He paused as if in contemplation of how he 
 should express most effectively what was on his 
 mind. In the interval of silence there was a 
 sound of excited voices and hurried footsteps 
 coming down the path towards the cabin. Look- 
 ing up King recognized the two men approaching 
 as the camp cook and his assistant. Their differ- 
 ences had apparently reached a head, and they 
 were coming to thresh the matter out before the 
 boss. 
 
 In an instant Keith McBain was himself again. 
 Leaping up before the men had come within 
 speaking distance he met them in the pathway 
 and fell upon them with a flow of profanity that 
 not only reduced the two to impotent silence but 
 sent them back along the pathway and up the 
 trail to the camp, the picture of mute dejection 
 and defeat. 
 
 When the old contractor returned and took his 
 seat again, he lighted his pipe in bad mood and
 
 46 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 puffed at it vigorously without speaking a word. 
 It required only a glance at his face to realize 
 that a change had come over him. Keith Mc- 
 Bain was Old Silent again and nothing would 
 bring him out of his surly mood. 
 
 King got up slowly and started down the foot- 
 path that led to the hills back of the cabin. Some- 
 where back in the shambles of pitched timbers 
 and broken tree-trunks was Cherry McBain. 
 When he came finally to where the path was so 
 dimly marked that he could follow it no farther 
 he climbed to the top of a little knoll and looked 
 in every direction along the face of the hill to see 
 if Cherry were anywhere in sight. Finally, when 
 he had looked for some time in vain, he called 
 and waited until the echoes died away in silence. 
 There was no reply. Getting down from the knoll 
 he scrambled further up the hill. He had seen a 
 patch of grey ground away to the west where the 
 fires of the year before had swept the hills clear 
 of vegetation. In ten minutes he emerged from 
 the cover of the evergreens and looked across the 
 tangled mass of half-burned and fallen timbers. 
 The climb had not been an easy one, and it was 
 only with slight hope that he gave his call again 
 and stood tense and motionless as he listened for 
 a reply. From every side the echoes came back
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 47 
 
 and gradually died away in faint waves that 
 finally settled into stillness. He was about to 
 turn back again and make for the camp, but just 
 once more he called and waited. 
 
 Almost immediately and from a surprisingly 
 short distance away Cherry's voice came clear to 
 him across the patch of grey. Turning at once in 
 the direction of the voice he looked and saw her 
 waving her hand to him. In a few moments he 
 was beside her, where she was seated on the 
 ground picking twigs and leaves out of the small 
 pail of berries she held in her lap. She looked 
 up at him and laughed roguishly, then offered 
 him a large red berry which she held up to him 
 between stained finger and thumb. 
 
 "Didn't you hear me call the first time?" he 
 asked her. 
 
 She dropped her eyes and seemed very intent 
 upon rolling the berries about in a vain search for 
 more leaves. He waited for her answer. Ordin- 
 arily he would not have asked the question seri- 
 ously. Even now he had no thought of accusing 
 her. When she finally spoke he was at a loss to 
 know what was in her mind. 
 
 "I heard you," she said, very slowly, and 
 the tone of her voice was strange to King. 
 
 He waited, not knowing what to say in return,
 
 48 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 and hoping, too, that she might say something 
 without his prompting her. When he saw that 
 she was not going to speak, he asked another 
 question as directly as he had asked the first. 
 
 "Why didn't you answer?" 
 
 The next moment he wished with all his heart 
 that he had not spoken. The look she gave him 
 was one in which appeal and disappointment 
 were so deeply mingled that he cursed himself 
 inwardly for his own clumsiness. 
 
 "Don't ask me why," she said. Then as she 
 saw the grave look in King's eyes she got up and 
 placed her hand on his arm. "Oh, it has nothing 
 to do with you," she said in a voice that was all 
 softness. "I I didn't know at first that that it 
 was you." 
 
 Suddenly her manner changed. 
 
 "Let's go down now," she said quickly, picking 
 up her pail of berries. "We're going to have tea." 
 
 Almost as she spoke the words she was off 
 down the hill at a pace that made King exert 
 himself to keep up with her. She ran along the 
 smooth round timbers and leaped from one to, 
 another of the fallen logs so lightly and grace- 
 fully that King was put to it to save himself from 
 being completely outstripped. She carried her 
 berries in one hand and her hat in the other, and
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 49 
 
 her hair, blown loose by the breeze, shone in the 
 sunlight transparent gold against a mass of 
 black. 
 
 As he watched her, something of the wonder of 
 their first meeting came back to him. He had 
 never seen a girl so lithe, so wild, so beautiful. 
 There was exultation in her every movement, and 
 her laugh rippled musically as she leaped and 
 climbed and ran along over the most difficult 
 ground. Sometimes she looked back at him as if 
 to make sure that he was following, and he saw 
 her face radiant with life and youth. Once she 
 waited till he came up to her before venturing 
 along a dizzy bit of footing that required care in 
 passing. When he came to her she placed her 
 hand in his and together they went on. 
 
 From the look she gave him he scarcely knew 
 whether she wanted help herself or wished to help 
 him. But the clasp of her hand was so firm, so 
 throbbing with vitality, that he wished he might 
 still hold those fingers closed within his own af- 
 ter they had come to level footing. The thought 
 of it sent the blood coursing through his veins, 
 and an impulse started up within him an im- 
 pulse that came out of the very depths of his be- 
 ing and made him forget for the time being 
 everything in the world except this moment on a
 
 50 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 wild hillside with beauty and grace and youth 
 within his reach. 
 
 When they reached the evergreens Cherry 
 bounded ahead and left him to follow. The 
 ground was level and soft underfoot and carpeted 
 with cones and needles. Once she stopped sud- 
 denly in a little space open to the sky, and stoop- 
 ing down picked a wildflower and held it up to 
 him. 
 
 "Not often you find them growing in a place 
 so sheltered as this," she remarked as she gave 
 him the flower. 
 
 He took it and looked from the flower, pure, 
 white and soft, to her face. Unconsciously his 
 gaze shifted to her throat, as pure and white and 
 soft as the flower he held in his hand. Then she 
 turned quickly and hurried off again into the 
 cover of the evergreens. 
 
 Once she stopped so suddenly and turned so 
 unexpectedly to meet him that he had almost run 
 into her before he could check himself. Then as 
 he stood in questioning attitude she shook her 
 hair back from her face and with a ripple of a' 
 laugh was away again before he could speak. 
 
 As King followed her an unpleasant thought 
 came suddenly to him. There was one thing he 
 had always dreaded in women. He had ixever
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 51 
 
 been quite unconscious of the subtle power they 
 exerted but he had always been suspicious of 
 their motives. There was something so free, so 
 healthful, so simple in Cherry's manner that he 
 was almost disarmed of suspicion. And yet she 
 was so coy, so wilful, so roguish that instinctively 
 he felt himself assuming the defensive a defen- 
 sive, too, against himself and the impulses that 
 arose within him and clamored for expression. 
 
 Suddenly she stopped and looked down at a 
 small pool of cool fresh water fed from a little 
 spring that bubbled out of the earth just a few 
 yards away. A half dozen large stones lay touch- 
 ing the edge of the water, and before King real- 
 ized what she was about, she had dropped her 
 berries and hat and was on her knees with her 
 two hands resting on a small boulder, her lips 
 touching the surface of the water. As he looked 
 at her he could not help thinking what a child 
 she was and how very much older he was. Nor 
 could he think it any less when in a moment she 
 raised her head and glanced up at him with a rare 
 flush in her cheeks. 
 
 "Oh, this is good," she cried. "Look there's 
 a stone for you !" 
 
 He smiled slowly, but her spirit was irresist- 
 ible. He got down beside her, his hands upon a
 
 52 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 boulder almost touching the stone upon which 
 she was leaning for support. 
 
 When they had both drunk from the pool, in- 
 stead of getting up immediately, they remained 
 where they were, their hands upon the boulders, 
 their eyes fixed upon the smooth surface of the 
 water beneath them. For a moment only they 
 looked, a moment in which both felt a power like 
 a spell that held them gazing into the far depths 
 that lay mirrored in the quiet pool. They were 
 gazing like two children deep down into the 
 depths of the blue skies reflected far below 
 where the white clouds floated beyond the down- 
 ward pointing tops of evergreens. 
 
 All at once, however, King glanced at the face 
 of the girl where it was smiling up at him from the 
 water and in a moment he was conscious of a 
 change. Though her face was smiling it was 
 grave too, grave even as his, and he knew that in 
 the look each gave the other there were depths 
 that were more unfathomable than the skies 
 the depths of life itself in all its mystery and seri- 
 ous meaning. 
 
 They got up and walked off down the path to- 
 wards the cabin, strangely silent, both of them. 
 As they emerged from the cover of the woods and 
 came within sight of the cabin only a few yards
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 53 
 
 ahead of them, Cherry stopped and laid her hand 
 quickly upon King's arm. King glanced at her, 
 and then turned in the direction indicated by her 
 eyes. A man was just leaving the doorway of the 
 cabin where old Keith McBain was still sitting. 
 It was McCartney. , 
 
 For a moment Cherry stood silently watching 
 him, her hand still upon King's arm. Then she 
 started slowly towards the cabin, her eyes still 
 following the movements of the big foreman as 
 he walked down the path that led from the cabin 
 to the camp. 
 
 "You wanted to know why I didn't answer 
 when first you called me to-day," she said, air 
 most in a whisper. "Well I wasn't sure that it 
 was you I thought it might be him." 
 
 There came into her eyes a look of appeal 
 which changed quickly to the look that King 
 had seen there the night before when she had 
 asked him if he could fight. She seemed on the 
 point of speaking, but with an impatient toss of 
 her head she hurried down the pathway, King 
 following closely behind her.
 
 CHAPTER FOUR 
 
 IN another hour King was ready to take the 
 trail again. Beside him stood Cherry , her own 
 black horse waiting only a few yards away. 
 
 A dark cloud had risen in the north-east, and 
 King glanced quickly about him at the skies and 
 at the trees rustling noisily in the little breeze 
 that had sprung up. 
 
 "It's like rain," he warned her quietly. "Per- 
 haps you'd better not go this time." 
 
 The faintest suspicion of a frown passed quick- 
 ly over her face, but that was all the reply his 
 warning drew from her. Before he could help her 
 she had stepped upon a low-cut stump and had 
 sprung lightly into the saddle. 
 
 Keith McBain watched them from his seat 
 near the doorway. 
 
 "I'll be looking for you early, my girl," he said. 
 
 "I'll be back before it begins to rain," she re- 
 plied, and turning her horse about started to- 
 wards the trail. 
 
 King got up at once, pausing a moment to bid 
 the old man good-bye before he followed Cherry. 
 
 54
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 55 
 
 "Look after yourself," the old fellow replied, 
 "and come in next trip. It'll be dull for you now 
 and we'd be glad to see you." 
 
 "I'll come," King replied. "I'd like to come 
 and I'd like to hear you talk again." 
 
 "And send that girl of mine back before she 
 gets too far away," the old fellow called to King 
 who had already started down the pathway. 
 
 The clouds that were gathering behind them 
 as they rode westward seemed to hasten the 
 coming of the darkness, although the sun was just 
 setting when they started. Far up the right-of- 
 way, along which the trail ran for a little dis- 
 tance, the western sky was a blaze of glory be- 
 tween the rows of tall trees that stood back from 
 the grade on either side. Once or twice as they 
 rode along King turned in his saddle to look 
 again at the storm clouds gathering in the east. 
 There was little fear of their being overtaken by 
 the storm it was still a long way off and was 
 coming up very slowly. And yet King wondered 
 that the girl should be so keen upon taking a ride 
 when at any moment the dark bank of heavy 
 thunder clouds might suddenly rush up and force 
 her to ride back through a drenching rain, to say 
 nothing of the thunder and lightning. But such 
 a possibility apparently never entered the mind
 
 56 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 of Cherry McBain, or if it did she never showed 
 the least concern about it. She urged her horse 
 forward at a steady pace that made King hurry 
 to keep up. Not till they had covered the whole 
 length of the trail lying along the right-of-way 
 and had gone some distance beyond where it 
 turned into the woods and started up the hill did 
 she draw rein. Then she brought her horse 
 slowly to a walk and turned to look behind her. 
 She had not spoken since she left the cabin, and 
 as King drew up with her he ventured to ask if 
 she didn't think she had gone far enough. The 
 look she gave him by way of reply was enough to 
 make him wish he had not spoken. 
 
 "Are you really so anxious to have me go 
 back?" she asked. 
 
 It was King's turn to look at her in surprise. 
 There was something more than surprise in his 
 voice, however, when he spoke. 
 
 "I guess I must have said what wasn't in my 
 mind to say," he replied very quietly. "I don't 
 think you got me quite right there." 
 
 Suddenly she brought her horse to a standstill 
 and slipped out of the saddle to the ground. 
 
 "Get down and walk for a little while," she 
 said, looking about her as she spoke. "The rain 
 is a long way off yet and I'm not afraid."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 57 
 
 King responded by getting down at once. He 
 stood for a moment with the bridle in his hand 
 and waited for her to come up to him. Then they 
 walked slowly side by side along the trail. For a 
 few minutes they proceeded in silence, King wait- 
 ing for her to begin. 
 
 "I was afraid you might want to send me 
 back," she began at last, "and I didn't want to 
 go. I wanted to talk to you. I want to tell you 
 about my father. You saw him to-night, and 
 you know there is something wrong you 
 couldn't help knowing that as well as I do." 
 
 She was not asking a question. She was merely 
 stating a fact in which she confidently expected 
 King's concurrence. The pause was not to give 
 him an opportunity of replying. She wished only 
 to collect her thoughts, to marshal the parts of 
 the story she was about to tell him. 
 
 "My father is a railway construction contrac- 
 tor," she went on after she had walked a few yards 
 without speaking. "The men love him and 
 they hate him both at the same time. He's 
 generous and he's straight, and he's good but 
 he's hard in his dealings and he crushes everyone 
 who opposes him. For years he has taken rail- 
 way contracts and worked in the woods. I was 
 born in a mining camp out west, where my father
 
 58 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 was prospecting. When I began to grow up I 
 was allowed to spend only a few weeks each sum- 
 mer in camp with him and mother. The rest of 
 the summer I spent with my aunt in Winnipeg, 
 where I went to school. But I never liked it. I 
 always wanted to be with them in the camp. I 
 loved the life and I loved the men and their rough 
 ways. Most of all, I loved my father my 
 mother was very quiet and very sweet, but my 
 father and I have always been chums." 
 
 She paused a moment to pick up a small stick 
 from the road which she sent whirling along the 
 trail ahead of her. 
 
 "One day something happened. My mother 
 told me what she knew about it and my father 
 knows that she told me, but he has never spoken 
 to me about it. Two years ago he left my mother 
 and me in the city and went to the coast with 
 some others to look for gold. One of the men 
 was Bill McCartney, who was a teamster for my 
 father during the previous summer. In the 
 spring they came back unexpectedly. Father had 
 written us to tell us that he had made a good 
 strike, but when he came back there was a change. 
 McCartney was with him, and one night they sat 
 all night long and there were loud words between 
 them. In the morning my father told us that he
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 59 
 
 had lost everything and that McCartney was 
 going back to the coast again. He told 
 mother something that made her cry, but he 
 said, 'A bargain is a bargain and I count this 
 a good bargain.' Those are the only words I 
 ever heard him speak about the affair. McCart- 
 ney left that night. After that my mother grew 
 sick and she never got better. Later I came to 
 camp to be with her, and one night she told me 
 that she was dying she said her heart was break- 
 ing breaking for my father. She told me that 
 some day McCartney would be back that she 
 hoped she might die before he came. She died 
 last summer and McCartney came back just a 
 few weeks later." 
 
 The muscles in King's arms grew rigid and his 
 hands clenched fiercely as his mind rested upon 
 the fragmentary story that Cherry McBain had 
 told him. Instinctively he felt that Bill McCart- 
 ney had been in some way the cause of the death 
 of Keith McBain's wife. 
 
 "There was something more," she said, sud- 
 denly breaking in upon his musing. "When 
 McCartney came back my father made him fore- 
 man of the camp and ever since then the con- 
 trol of the work has been gradually passing out 
 of father's hands. To make matters worse,
 
 60 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 father has been drinking until his very mind is 
 going. Some day, I am afraid, he will drink 
 himself to death. And it is not all on account 
 of the loss of my mother. Thejje is something 
 else. The bargain he made with McCartney did 
 not work out satisfactorily. The claim turned 
 out badly and McCartney came back dissatisfied. 
 And now though he has never said so openly 
 he has plans of a different kind. Once he met me 
 alone on the trail he had followed me without 
 my knowing it and when he tried to be pleasant 
 to me in his own way, I told him to leave me. He 
 grinned and took me by the arm and then I 
 struck him with my hand across the face. His 
 expression never changed, but he warned me 
 never to do that again and he spoke of my 
 father. The next day father came to me his 
 voice broken his face haggard; he hadn't slept 
 all night. And he told me not to make McCart- 
 ney angry. He told me to stay away from him 
 go back to the city anything, but to keep out 
 of his way and give him no cause for anger. I 
 told my father that I would not leave him and 
 I won't. But I can't go anywhere without that 
 man shadowing me. I can't speak to one of the 
 men but he comes and forces his attentions upon 
 me, though he knows that I hate him. One thing
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 61 
 
 he has never offered to touch me again, and I 
 have never had the heart to tell him what I think. 
 I am always thinking of what may happen and 
 I can see the fear in my father's eyes." 
 
 She came a little closer to King and laid her 
 hand on his arm. 
 
 "Some day," she said slowly, and her breast 
 rose and fell fitfully as she spoke, "some day he 
 will not wait any longer. I shall have to make 
 my choice. Either I shall smile on him and 
 accept his attentions or I shall send him away 
 and bring upon myself the complete ruin of a 
 life that is already broken beyond hope of repair." 
 
 A faint rumbling of distant thunder caused 
 them both to stop and look behind them. 
 
 "It is something new for me to be afraid. I 
 never was afraid before only there has been a 
 change a change that I don't like because I 
 don't know how to meet it. The men in the camp 
 have always been good to me. My mother was 
 good to them and they liked her and I have 
 tried to be good to them. I have always thought 
 they liked me too. But there are some we 
 meet them once in a while who can't stand good 
 treatment. They weren't born for it. And 
 McCartney has got a few of that kind with him." 
 
 They had come to a ridge overlooking a valley,
 
 62 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 a sort of ravine, through which a small stream 
 picked its straggling course between the hills. 
 Dusk had already set in and the stream was only 
 faintly visible. 
 
 Without announcing her intentions, Cherry 
 dropped her bridle-rein and left her horse stand- 
 ing on the trail while she led the way to a knoll 
 that commanded a better view of the ravine. For 
 a long time she stood looking to the westward 
 where only a faint arc of light was still left low 
 upon the horizon. Her hat was in her hand and 
 the quiet breeze that came from the east blew a 
 few loose locks of her dark hair about her face. 
 King gazed at her intently, and thought of 
 McCartney. 
 
 He had picked up a stout tamarac stick on his 
 way to the knoll. It was almost as thick as his 
 wrist and was sound and dry. Without speak- 
 ing a word and without twitching a muscle of his 
 face he slowly bent the stick in his two hands 
 until it began to snap. Then he twisted it until 
 the frayed ends parted and he held the two ragged 
 bits of stick in his hands. These he flung 
 into a clump of bushes on the slope below. 
 
 Cherry looked at him quietly. 
 
 "No," she said slowly, "not that not that. 
 Some day it may have to come some day I may 
 call you but not yet."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 63 
 
 King smiled gravely. 
 
 "I told you last night about my brother, Dick," 
 He said. "Well Dick is dead." 
 
 "King!" 
 
 She had never before called him by his first 
 name. 
 
 "Yes I had a letter last night. It was wait- 
 ing for me when I got down. But that's all gone 
 now it's past and settled. But this other thing 
 it has mixed me some. I didn't think I'd ever 
 want to hit a man again. And I'm not looking 
 for McCartney not for any man," he said, and 
 his eyes turned to the spot where he had thrown 
 the broken stick. "But no man ever found me 
 running and Bill McCartney won't." 
 
 Cherry laid one hand on his arm and looked 
 at him. 
 
 "He has gone to town with a lot of men to- 
 night," she said. "They often ride in on Satur- 
 day night that's why we have been able to ride 
 and talk together. He will be there when you 
 get to town and all day to-morrow. And listen 
 I'm not afraid not afraid for you, nor for 
 me. But I don't want you to meet him yet." 
 
 King's reply came quietly and with great 
 deliberation. 
 
 "I've been in that town since the first tent was 
 pitched," he observed in a voice that was even
 
 64 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 and showed no excitement. "IVe watched it 
 grow up and I've gone pretty much where I 
 liked. I guess I'll go on in about the same way." 
 
 "Oh, I'm not afraid of that," Cherry replied. 
 "I've told you I'm not afraid for you and not 
 for myself. But if the break should come " 
 
 "I guess you don't need to worry about that," 
 King remarked. "There won't be any break be- 
 tween me and McCartney not till there's a rea- 
 son for it." 
 
 Cherry went back again to the trail and taking 
 the bridle-rein in her hand led the way down 
 towards the river. King followed her until 
 they came to the roughly-made bridge that 
 spanned the little stream, a hurriedly constructed 
 bridge of tamarac poles that had been thrown 
 into place by the advance parties of railway 
 workers. 
 
 "I have never gone farther than this," said 
 Cherry, when they had come to the centre of the 
 bridge. "I often ride out in the evenings and 
 stand here for a while before going back. Some 
 day I am going on to town, just to see what sort 
 of place you have." 
 
 "This is the White Pine," said King. "I have 
 crossed it often higher up. It gets very nasty 
 after two or three days' rain."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 65 
 
 Suddenly a flash of lightning reminded them 
 that the storm was approaching. While they 
 talked they had all but forgotten the black clouds 
 rolling up from the east. Cherry got up at once 
 upon the stout log that ran along the side of the 
 bridge to keep the poles in place, and putting one 
 foot into the stirrup drew herself up lightly into 
 the saddle. When she was seated she turned and 
 looked at King. 
 
 "We shall ride out again some time," she said, 
 and gave him her hand. 
 
 He closed his big hand over her fingers for a 
 moment without speaking. When he was about 
 to turn away she clung still to his hand and 
 looked at him very earnestly. 
 
 "Why don't you sometimes talk a little?" she 
 asked. 
 
 The abruptness with which she asked the ques- 
 tion brought the slow smile back to King's face. 
 
 "I'm not good at talking," he replied. "Besides 
 I like to hear you talk." 
 
 King had not ventured before in their short 
 acquaintance to offer a compliment. He did not 
 mean to compliment her now. He was speaking 
 his mind simply, directly, sincerely. 
 
 She regarded him strangely for a moment in 
 silence.
 
 66 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "Sometimes," she said at last, "sometimes I 
 think" 
 
 She paused a moment and then withdrew her 
 hand suddenly and wheeling her horse about went 
 off at a gallop down the trail, leaving him gazing 
 after her in wonderment. 
 
 When she had passed out of sight he looked 
 once at the clouds before getting into the saddle 
 and then, getting up, he gave a sharp whistle that 
 brought Sal bounding to him, and set off along 
 the trail that led to town. Behind him the storm 
 was coming up rapidly. 
 
 "It's you for it now," he said to his horse as he 
 leaned forward and stroked the warm neck. 
 
 Only once after that did his voice break the 
 silence of the long ride. The first drops of rain 
 brought him suddenly out of his dreaming. 
 
 "If you could only talk!" he said to himself, 
 and his voice was full of impatience. 
 
 But King Howden was no talker.
 
 CHAPTER FIVE 
 
 THE town was in a state of excitement that 
 was not altogether new. In fact, the 
 few score of permanent residents in the 
 place always looked to Saturday night to furnish 
 some little change from the humdrum existence 
 of the week. There is nothing very stirring 
 about sitting in a village even if it is an outpost 
 of civilization a hundred and twenty-five miles 
 from anywhere with nothing to do from day to 
 day except to greet the newcomers who arrive 
 from the outside to begin their search for land. 
 But when a couple of red-coated men wearing 
 blue breeches striped on either side with gold, 
 their heads covered with wide-brimmed Stetsons, 
 their feet stoutly booted and spurred when two 
 such men ride in from over the Saskatchewan 
 border and go clanking down the one street in 
 the place a certain amount of shuffling is almost 
 inevitable. 
 
 Nor was the flutter of excitement due to any 
 fear that the "Mounties" were on business bent. 
 Since the jurisdiction of the famous riders of the 
 
 67
 
 68 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 plains did not extend any farther than the border, 
 their sudden appearance set no one guessing as 
 to who, among the men of the town, was being 
 entertained, a criminal unawares. The place 
 had served as a week-end retreat for the men of 
 the force before, and all such occasions had 
 turned out more or less eventful. 
 
 No previous arrangement had been made that 
 would have explained the sudden influx of men 
 who came into town from all over the district to 
 spend the week-end together. But small groups 
 had begun to arrive before the sun had set some 
 of the settlers had come in during the day from 
 their shacks on lonely homesteads and made a 
 fair-sized reception committee to greet the later 
 arrivals. There were men there from Rubble's 
 survey gang, and a dozen or more from the camp 
 of Keith McBain. 
 
 That they should make their rendezvous late 
 in the evening at Mike Cheney's was only 
 natural. There was MacMurray's lodging house, 
 of course, that stood at the end of the street near 
 the river, but no one came to town to eat. 
 Cheney's place stood at the other end of the street 
 discreetly apart. And those who came and 
 went exercised considerable discretion and talked 
 very little when others were in hearing.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 69 
 
 Mike Cheney himself treated his business 
 very philosophically. In a man's country where 
 men were in the habit of taking life none too 
 seriously, there must needs be some place to fore- 
 gather so he thought on the days when the 
 rain drove everyone indoors, and on nights when 
 the rest of the town had gone to bed. Further- 
 more, there was need of a place of last call for 
 the men on their way to the railway camps or the 
 homesteads. Besides, what were men to do in 
 the winter, with the thermometer dancing back 
 and forth between thirty and forty degrees below 
 zero, if they had to depend solely upon bad tea 
 and weak coffee? Mike declared, and to all in- 
 tents and purposes he believed, that he served the 
 community in proportion as he was successful in 
 dispensing conviviality among its members. It 
 didn't occur to him to feel abashed that a few 
 held him and his business in abhorrence. Nor 
 did it worry him that he was conducting his busi- 
 ness without legal sanction. It would have 
 caused him as much trouble to win the regard of 
 such as held him in contempt as to procure an 
 official document setting the seal of the govern- 
 ment's approval on his business. He was con- 
 tent to give little or no heed to either. 
 
 And so, without any special announcement,
 
 70 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 and without any invitation, the visitors took their 
 way, when it was late enough, to the large room 
 at the back of Mike Cheney's place, where they 
 knew they would be made heartily welcome. 
 And to tell the truth, a welcome of some kind was 
 something the men felt the need of. Rain had 
 begun to fall quite heavily what had looked like 
 a mere thunder shower when it appeared first in 
 the north-east, had steadied down to an all-night 
 rain. And certainly MacMurray's lodging house 
 offered no cheer. No one, furthermore, even 
 cast his eyes a second time in the direction of 
 the two large log buildings the government had 
 erected for immigrants without shelter. 
 
 The room at the back of Cheney's place was 
 blue with smoke that rendered almost useless the 
 large kerosene lamp that hung from the ceiling. 
 In one corner of the room a small group were al- 
 ready well into a game of poker. 'Though the 
 stakes were of necessity low for what can men 
 do on a dollar a day? the interest in the game 
 was sufficiently high to attract a half dozen spec- 
 tators who watched the play in silence and 
 smoked incessantly. 
 
 In another corner three or four land-seekers 
 were exchanging opinions of the fine points of the' 
 law governing the rights of the "squatter," and-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 71 
 
 the rather intricate regulations that made pro- 
 vision for what is known as "jumping" a claim. 
 
 In the corner farthest from the door where 
 Mike Cheney stood at the service of his custom- 
 ers, Big Bill McCartney was listening to what one 
 of the red-coated visitors had to say about the 
 effect of solitude on a man's nerves. The sub- 
 ject was one that evidently appealed strongly to 
 one of MacDougalPs men, whose mood was 
 rather too jovial for so early in the evening and 
 whose literary instincts prompted him to attempt 
 the metrical flights of the lines beginning, 
 "I am monarch of all I survey." 
 
 McCartney pushed him back on the bench 
 where he had been sitting and turned to hear 
 something that Cheney was offering to the 
 discussion. 
 
 "There's another thing about this country," 
 said Mike, leaning towards McCartney and the 
 red-coat. "It's a-gettin' to some of the boys in 
 a way they never expected." 
 
 He paused a moment to wipe up a little water 
 from the table with his cloth.- 
 
 "Now there was old Bob Nason he was be- 
 fore your time here, Bill. He was one of the first 
 to come in here when the trail was opened into 
 the valley. There was a good fellow for you
 
 72 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 an' a good man too. No better ever put foot on 
 the ground. Saw him heave a barrel of salt into 
 the back end of his wagon just like that." 
 
 Mike used appropriate gestures to show how 
 easily the thing had been done. 
 
 "I'd like to have seen you an' him together, 
 Bill," he went on, and a broad smile accompanied 
 his remarks. "Could 'a' give you about all you 
 could handle, Bill, if size counts for anything. 
 Anyhow poor old Bob came in here one night 
 it was a night like this only there was a regular 
 howlin' wind and the rain was heavy. I hears 
 a poundin' at the door I was all alone an' I 
 gets up and opens it. An' there stands Old Bob 
 feet bare shirt gone head bare pants all in 
 rags an' mud an' water it was awful !" 
 
 He paused in an effort, evidently, to call the 
 picture more vividly to mind. 
 
 "An' I says, 'Bob, what's wrong?' An' then I 
 knew right away what it was from the grin he 
 gave me. But I says, 'Come in an' get some- 
 thing* An' poor old Bob comes in an' sits down 
 an' starts cryin' like a baby. An' I says, 'Bob, 
 you're lookin' bad,' but he wouldn't talk. I sat 
 with him all night an' the next day we sent him 
 out with a couple of boys that was totin' freight." 
 
 For a moment Mike paused while he turned to 
 pick up an empty glass and look at it.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 73 
 
 "My God," he said, looking into the glass, "to 
 think of old Bob losin' his head out there just 
 for the sake of someone to talk to. I'll never 
 forget it." 
 
 "It'll get to anyone if he's only left alone long 
 enough," commented the policeman, and he went 
 on to tell of a similar case that had come under 
 his observation in the West. 
 
 "There's just one thing this country needs 
 right now, Mike an' it needs it bad," McCart- 
 ney offered by way of supplementing what had 
 just been said. As he spoke he held a lighted 
 match in his hand ready to apply to a cigarette he 
 had just rolled. 
 
 "You mean " Cheney waited. 
 
 For a moment McCartney was silent while he 
 applied the match to his cigarette. 
 
 "I mean" 
 
 The door opened suddenly and a girl stepped 
 into the room. 
 
 " there's the answer," he concluded. 
 
 Several of the men glanced up as the door 
 closed and the girl came forward to where Cheney 
 was standing on the corner. He greeted her 
 quite casually. 
 
 "Hello, Anne," he said, "you sure picked a 
 good night for strollin'. What's the idea?" 
 
 For a moment she said nothing by way of reply
 
 74 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 as she shook the rain from the cloak that hung 
 loosely about her shoulders. Then she looked 
 round the room at the men. 
 
 "Nothin's the idea," she remarked. "It's my 
 night off and well, where can you go in this 
 place. Slingin' grub's all right ten hours a day 
 but you want a change, don't you? Give me 
 a smoke." 
 
 The request was addressed to McCartney, who 
 proceeded at once to roll a cigarette while she 
 looked on. 
 
 "Nobody in this town let's me in if they know 
 I'm comin'," she remarked in a tone that carried 
 not the slightest trace of regret. She wished 
 simply to record the fact merely. 
 
 And a fact it was, for Anne, who was the single 
 waitress at the lodging-house, had been placed in 
 a class by herself in the town, though not a man 
 in it or woman either had any facts upon 
 which to base their prejudice. 
 
 For a moment only during the process of roll- 
 ing the cigarette the eyes of McCartney and the 
 girl met. No one in the room saw the exchange 
 of glances and no one could have detected the 
 slightest change of expression in either face. 
 
 McCartney smiled oddly as he folded the edge 
 of the cigarette paper into place and tapped the 
 ends lightly against his hand.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 75 
 
 "Shouldn't have any trouble findin' a little en- 
 tertainment in this bunch," he observed. 
 
 She regarded him coldly. "You didn't hear 
 me sayin' anything about entertainment, did 
 you?" she returned. 
 
 Without making any immediate reply he gave 
 her the cigarette and offered his own for a light. 
 
 "Tell you what, Anne," he said at last, "I've a 
 hunch you've brought me luck to-night an' I'd 
 like to sit in to a game. I'd like to know if the 
 boys here play the kind of a game I'm used to. 
 Come on over, Anne, an' look on." 
 
 They walked over to the corner where the men 
 were playing cards. On the far side of the table 
 was Lush Currie, the pile of chips before him in- 
 dicating that he had held a few good hands dur- 
 ing the evening. As McCartney took his place 
 at the table, Currie hesitated for a moment and 
 acted as if he wanted to withdraw from the game. 
 McCartney received his pile of chips and arranged 
 them in three little piles under his right hand, 
 then scanned the faces of the men before him. 
 
 For men who take life as it comes, one day at 
 a time and little thought of the morrow, poker is 
 the game of games. It matters little whether it 
 is played in the Far North where men take for- 
 tunes from the beds of frozen creeks, or on the 
 quieter and less rugged frontiers where they build
 
 76 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 the nation's highways at a dollar a day and three 
 square meals always in sight. In one case the 
 stakes are for thousands, with a jack-pot some- 
 times growing into six figures. In the other the 
 limits are set by the meagre earnings of a season 
 of some six months or so between the spring and 
 the freeze-up. One man risks a fortune he may 
 retrieve in a single month of good luck with his 
 shovel and pan. The other lays a wager that 
 will take him a whole season to pay if he comes 
 off loser. But in any case, whatever the circum- 
 stances, the game is the same, and the men are 
 the same playing the game for the game's sake 
 and despising nothing so much as a poor loser 
 unless it be a crooked winner. 
 
 For the first half hour or so the game that 
 McCartney had just taken a hand in went along 
 very quietly like the first rounds of a match 
 with the boxers sparring for an opening. The 
 cards having been cut, the deal fell to the man on 
 McCartney's left. The round found them all 
 without openers and the pack was dealt again. 
 This time Lush Currie opened the game and the 
 others stayed. 
 
 "Cards ?" said the dealer, who was Dan Martin, 
 of Rubble's gang. 
 
 He came to Currie and looked at him question-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 77 
 
 "This is good enough for me," replied Currie 
 and left his cards where he had put them face 
 downwards on the table before him. 
 
 When Martin came to McCartney the latter 
 drew three cards, glanced at them and laying 
 them down smiled across the table at Anne. 
 Currie made a small bet which was raised by the 
 next man. Then they waited for McCartney. 
 He picked up his cards, glanced at them again 
 and tossed them to one side. Dan Martin 
 seemed about to raise the bet, but on second 
 thought decided to let it stand. The next man 
 followed McCartney's example and with three 
 men in the game Currie called and won with 
 three queens. 
 
 "Pretty easy pickin', Currie," he said. 
 
 "Why didn't you stay, then?" asked Martin. 
 "I didn't tell you to get out." 
 
 "I might 'a* stayed at that," McCartney 
 replied. 
 
 The next two games were won on a pair of aces 
 and two pairs, respectively. The cards then went 
 to the man on McCartney's left and he dealt. 
 McCartney picked up his cards one by one as 
 they came to him and arranged them in his hand. 
 
 "Comin' like trained pigs !" he said. "What'd 
 I tell you, Anne? You're my luck just see this 
 thing through an' I'll split the loot."
 
 78 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 There was nothing contagious in his pleasant- 
 ries. Though he appeared in high spirits, his 
 hilarity was so obviously artificial that no one 
 paid any particular attention to him except, per- 
 haps, Lush Currie, who glanced back at Anne 
 with his cards still in his hand. Then, as if a 
 thought suddenly struck him, he closed his hands 
 quickly over his cards and laid them down. 
 
 The girl, on her part, did not even so much as 
 look up either at McCartney or at Currie. She 
 appeared too busy with her own thoughts and 
 was unaware of the suspicions that were being 
 entertained regarding her. 
 
 When the round was completed McCartney 
 drew the chips towards him and reached for the 
 deck he had won on a show-down with three 
 fives and a pair of jacks. It was his deal. 
 
 "Now then, you're comin' to me, see?" he cried 
 as he slipped the cards one by one from the pack 
 and slid them to the players. "That makes first 
 blood an' the night's young !" 
 
 For a few moments there was silence while the 
 players looked at their cards. This time Currie 
 opened high and the others stayed. They took 
 their draws and settled down. No one bet until 
 it came round to McCartney. 
 
 "I'll just kick 'er along a little bit," he said, 
 and put in his chips.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 79 
 
 Two players threw their cards away, leaving 
 Currie, McCartney and two others in the game. 
 It was Currie's turn to bet. He picked up one 
 card that had been dealt to him in the draw and 
 was about to look at it. As he did so he hesitated 
 and looked across the table. McCartney's eyes 
 were on Anne. Something in the latter's face 
 made Currie postpone his bet for a moment. 
 
 "Anne," he said, glancing over his shoulder, 
 "you're sittin' too close to me. It ain't lucky 
 an' I don't like it." 
 
 His voice betrayed excitement and the girl was 
 not slow to catch the implication. 
 
 "Say, Lush Currie look here,", she protested, 
 "what are you tryin' to tell me?" 
 
 "Nothin' only what I said," Currie replied. 
 "Don't sit behind me in this game." 
 
 His voice was shaking as he spoke and he 
 fingered his cards nervously. 
 
 "Sit round here, Anne," said McCartney, his 
 voice full of sarcasm. "He's jealous he doesn't 
 like you lookin' at me so often." 
 
 McCartney's efforts to make a joke of the 
 whole affair were pathetically inadequate, and 
 served only to heighten Currie's suspicion. But 
 the girl stood up and faced McCartney with a 
 look that was as cold as it was direct. 
 
 "Say, Bill McCartney," she remarked in a
 
 80 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 voice that was cutting in its deliberateness, "does 
 Lush Currie think I'm tippin' you off to his hand ? 
 Well, listen to me. I've been lookin' a whole long 
 time for the kind of man I'd do that for an' you 
 ain't him." 
 
 McCartney's expression changed suddenly. 
 
 "What the hell are you anyhow?" he asked, 
 with a sneer, and turned to Currie. "Your bet, 
 Currie." 
 
 For answer Currie threw his cards into the 
 centre of the table and got up from his chair. 
 
 "This game can go on without me," he said, 
 and he moved his chair back and walked away 
 from the group. 
 
 A couple of the players put out restraining 
 hands and tried to persuade him to go on with 
 the game. Cheney came forward and invited 
 him to take a drink, but Currie was obstinate. 
 
 "I don't sit in to no game with a " 
 
 The epithet he used brought McCartney to his 
 feet. He pushed his chair to one side with his 
 foot and stepped towards Currie. 
 
 "You ain't big enough to say that to me," he 
 said, tossing his cigarette to one side. 
 
 The men showed no desire to interfere. The 
 history of Currie's previous encounter had gone 
 the rounds and left them all hoping that Currie
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 81 
 
 might some day have an opportunity to meet his 
 man fairly and have it out. They had little re- 
 spect for Currie, whose untimely accusations 
 against Anne were, they felt sure, not only out 
 of place but without foundation. The girl's re- 
 buff had rung true and no one doubted her 
 though they were convinced that Bill McCartney 
 would have used any advantage, had it been 
 offered to him. 
 
 They stood back to give room to the two men 
 who occupied a space near the centre of the floor. 
 They liked a fight and they wanted to see the 
 much-talked-of foreman in action. 
 
 McCartney bore down steadily on Currie, who 
 relied upon his quick, cat-like movements as his 
 sole means of defending himself against the 
 towering strength of his opponent. But wherever 
 Currie went McCartney followed relentlessly, 
 taking the short quick jabs of his antagonist with- 
 out showing the slightest uneasiness. He dis- 
 played the full confidence of one who knows that 
 if he can get his man into a corner he can end the 
 fight in a few seconds. But that was precisely 
 what Currie avoided. He danced about McCart- 
 ney and landed light blows almost at will. 
 Finally the big fellow began to show signs of ugly 
 temper and quickened his advance in an effort to
 
 82 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 get within fair striking distance. As he came 
 close Currie crouched near the door and then 
 leaped and sent his foot out in a vicious kick that 
 barely missed McCartney's chin. As it was, the 
 foreman took the full force of the blow on his 
 neck and for a few seconds staggered backwards, 
 shaking his head savagely and blinking his eyes 
 as if to clear his sight. Had Currie followed up 
 his advantage at once the affair might have been 
 ended right there. But while he hesitated Mc- 
 Cartney recovered sufficiently to size up the 
 situation afresh. 
 
 He stood for a few moments looking at Currie, 
 his face twisted into a smile. Those who 
 saw that smile began to feel pity for the smaller 
 man who had put up a good fight and a plucky 
 one. There was a look in Currie's face too, that 
 seemed to reveal for the first time his failing con- 
 fidence in the outcome. 
 
 "It's going to be stiff travellin' for Lush from 
 now on," murmured one of the men to Cheney in 
 a voice that was barely audible. 
 
 McCartney, who was near enough to the 
 speaker to overhear the remark, seemed about to 
 speak, but he shut his teeth hard and went to- 
 wards Currie crouching in an attitude of cautious 
 defence. His face was the face of an animal.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 83 
 
 Suddenly Cheney pushed his way forward, a 
 look of consternation on his face as he watched 
 Currie vainly shifting his position in a last effort 
 to get out of the way and gain the open space in 
 the middle of the floor. 
 
 "Ain't someone goin' to stop this before it's 
 gone too far?" he muttered to one of the men. 
 
 No one made reply. 
 
 There was a quick, sharp cry as Anne came out 
 of the semi-darkness of one corner and rushed 
 forward in a frantic effort to get between the two 
 men. 
 
 "Stop for God's sake! Oh, you damned 
 fools !" she cried, struggling vainly to break the 
 grip of a couple of men who held her back. Then 
 she was pushed gently into her place in the cor- 
 ner, where she sat down on the bench and covered 
 her face with her hands. 
 
 Currie was now in a narrow space between the 
 door and the table at which only a few minutes 
 before they had been playing poker. Twice he 
 made a quick move to get out, and twice McCart- 
 ney caught him before he was well started and 
 drove him back. In another moment it would 
 all be over. 
 
 Then something happened which no one among 
 the onlookers seemed altogether for the moment
 
 84 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 to understand. Currie crouched low as if pre- 
 paring for another spring but everyone knew it 
 would be a hopeless attempt. Suddenly he 
 straightened up his hand came quickly from be- 
 hind him and shot towards McCartney but not 
 for a blow. 
 
 "No no, sir," said Currie, his breath coming 
 short and labored, "no you can't you can't 
 get me like that. Get back I'll get you sure 
 as God I'll bore you. Now get back." 
 
 McCartney sprang back and looked at Currie 
 who had covered him. He knew they all knew 
 that Lush Currie was fool enough to shoot if 
 it came to a show-down. And no man can trust 
 a gun in the hands of a fool. The big foreman 
 turned in mute appeal to one of the mounted 
 policemen who stood near. 
 
 Suddenly the door opened and King Howden 
 stepped into the room, took off his hat, shook 
 the rain from it, and then looked around him. 
 His mind, usually slow at taking in a situa- 
 tion, seemed to react quickly to what he saw 
 on this occasion. He took a step farther down 
 the room and rubbed his eyes quickly with one 
 hand as if the light bothered him. Then he 
 looked again at the men and turned to Currie, 
 who was crouching near him. Something like a
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 85 
 
 smile played upon his face as he stepped to Currie 
 and extended his hand. 
 
 "You ain't clear on some things, I guess," he 
 said, in a voice that was unusually stern and 
 direct. "This ain't a gunning country." 
 
 Without another word he stepped deliberately 
 to where Currie stood, and taking the gun from 
 him, opened it and having emptied it into his 
 hand, returned it. Turning round, his eyes fell 
 upon Anne, who had got up again and was com- 
 ing forward. 
 
 "Anne," he said, "you better be getting along 
 home." 
 
 There was a note in his voice that the girl had 
 never heard before. This man was not the King 
 Howden she had talked to often during the sum- 
 mer. She drew her cloak about her shoulders 
 and went out. 
 
 Then King looked at Bill McCartney. He 
 was standing back against the table behind which 
 Mike Cheney had stood earlier in the evening 
 when there had been customers to serve. King 
 had been cool and deliberate now he felt the old 
 demon rising in him and he struggled to gain con- 
 trol of himself. He realized now that he hated 
 this man, though he could scarcely have told why. 
 With a supreme effort he mastered his rising
 
 86 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 temper and stood regarding McCartney in 
 silence. The latter, however, realizing that 
 Currie was now at his mercy, and mastered by an 
 uncontrollable desire to end the affair to his 
 advantage, stepped deliberately in the direction 
 of Currie who was cowering near the door. 
 
 "Stand back!" he roared, and the words were 
 meant more for King than for the two or three 
 men who made weak attempts to restrain him. 
 
 King, recognizing that McCartney was speak- 
 ing to him, stepped deliberately between the two 
 
 men. 
 tt 
 
 You'd better leave," he said, glancing behind 
 him, and even as he spoke Currie opened the 
 door and slipped out. 
 
 King was about to follow but turned as 
 McCartney's voice came to him, muttering some- 
 thing he only half heard. 
 
 "You're not talking to me, are you?" he said. 
 
 McCartney bellowed his reply: "I'm talkin' 
 to you, you son of a dog !" 
 
 King moved slowly towards McCartney. He 
 faced the big foreman for a moment, his arms 
 rigid at his sides. Suddenly McCartney's hand 
 shot out and King stepped back just in time to 
 avoid the full force of a blow that, as it was, 
 glanced from his cheek. Slowly King's two
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 87 
 
 hands came up and closed in a convulsive grip. 
 While the men waited breathlessly he stood trem- 
 bling from the struggle that was going on within 
 him then he wheeled quickly and going to the 
 door, opened it, and went out. 
 
 In the darkness, King, without any thought 
 of picking his way through the mud and water, 
 hurried round the corner of Cheney's place and 
 started down the roadway to where his horse 
 stood tethered in front of old man Hurley's office. 
 Only once did he pause. Just as he stepped into 
 the street a great burst of loud laughter came to 
 him from behind the door he had just closed. 
 He knew what it meant and for a moment his 
 grip upon himself weakened. He wanted to go 
 back he wanted to fight. For a moment he 
 hesitated. Then his mind was clear again and 
 he went on. All the way down the street, how- 
 ever, he could not help wondering how long he 
 would have to wait. 
 
 Then he got up into the saddle and went off 
 along the muddy trail that led west about half a 
 mile to where his little shack stood upon a low 
 ridge that ran in upon his land.
 
 CHAPTER SIX 
 
 WHEN King Howden awoke next morning 
 it was with a feeling that he was begin- 
 ning life in a new world. The feeling 
 was deepened when he looked out through the 
 small window and saw the pools of water left 
 by the night's rain glistening in the bright sun- 
 light. He had not slept well during the earlier 
 part of the night he had not slept at all. There 
 had been much to think about, much that was 
 perplexing and disquieting. And yet, as he 
 looked from his window at the new morning and 
 saw half a mile away the huts and white tents of 
 The Town flooded with sunlight, he was con- 
 scious not so much of the disappointments that 
 the week had brought him, as he was of the new 
 determination, the high resolve with which he 
 looked into the future. 
 
 When his mind went back to his brother as it 
 did frequently the memory struck pain to his 
 heart, but he was not melancholy. The lone- 
 liness he felt caused him to straighten his should- 
 ers and prepare himself to square away before the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 89 
 
 task that lay before him. What that task was he 
 could only vaguely define as yet. But he was 
 beginning to understand that there was a man's 
 work here and a big man's work it was await- 
 ing the coming of someone to do it. The fact had 
 dawned upon him slowly, but the first glimmer- 
 ings of light were visible just the same. He was 
 coming to see that a new country, even a small, 
 half-enclosed valley-district such as this one, 
 would become what the vital energies of its men 
 made it. He had not as yet had any clear vision 
 of what the country would be in years to come, 
 when little towns and villages would spring up 
 here and there along the railway, when hundreds 
 of men and women and their families would rush 
 in, hopeful that they might build again and 
 strongly build though their old lives in other 
 lands had crumbled into ruins. He had no con- 
 crete, complete conception of what lay ahead. 
 He had nothing but the vague hopes, the uncer- 
 tain dreams, the fleeting fancies that had come to 
 him often during the past summer only now 
 they were more vivid. 
 
 To the events of the night before he gave little 
 or no thought at least, to the events that had 
 brought him into conflict with Bill McCartney. 
 In fact in his new mood he wondered how he
 
 90 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 could have come so near to losing his temper 
 over an affair that didn't amount to anything 
 after all. He had been in Cheney's before, but 
 not often. As he thought it over he quietly (De- 
 termined that the less he had to do with Cheney 
 the better. His determination was stiffened as 
 he remembered the group of men he had seen 
 there the night before. It startled him to think 
 how near they had come to witnessing what 
 might easily have been a tragedy, because one of 
 them was bent upon settling a dispute in his own 
 ill-chosen way ; and out of all his thinking about 
 these things there grew up within him the clear 
 understanding that only upon order and good 
 judgment could men hope to build for the future 
 in a new community. 
 
 In all his wondering about these things and 
 much of it was very vague wondering there was 
 only one element of a personal kind. He con- 
 fessed to himself now for the first time that 
 Cherry McBain was as nearly indispensable to 
 him as anyone in his life had ever been. And 
 now with the birth of a new hope he did what any 
 man would have done under the circumstances 
 he threw his whole soul into a resolve that in the 
 game of life he was playing now, the prize was 
 the heart of Cherry McBain. Perhaps it was
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 91 
 
 this thought that helped to make the world a 
 good place for him to live in, and the future some- 
 thing to set store by. 
 
 It was something of this nature at any rate 
 that he confided to his sole companion in the 
 shack, old mongrel Sal, who had stood for some 
 time looking up into his face, her shaggy body 
 performing all kinds of contortions in vain at- 
 tempts to attract her master's attention. Sud- 
 denly he sat down on the side of his bed and 
 grasping her two ears with his hands drew her 
 head between his knees and looked into her eyes. 
 
 "Sal, you old cuss, you," he said, shaking her 
 head, "there's something I'm going to tell you." 
 
 He put his face down until his cheek was rest- 
 ing against the side of her head and murmured 
 something very quietly. Then he straightened 
 up and with his two hands closed the dog's mouth, 
 holding it shut a moment with one hand round 
 her muzzle. 
 
 Something in the mood that had come upon 
 King caused him to look critically round the 
 single room that made up the interior of his 
 shack. One golden shaft of sunlight fell from 
 the small window to the floor, but the light it gave 
 revealed a condition that, for some reason or 
 other, he had never been more than vaguely con-
 
 92 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 scious of before. The place was indescribably 
 dirty. His few days' absence from the place had 
 given it a heavy, musty smell that was anything 
 but pleasant. A litter of qdd bits of clothing and 
 old papers lay where he had thrown them prob- 
 ably weeks before. The heavy grey blankets on 
 the bunk which he had built into one corner of 
 the shack had not been washed for months they 
 had not even been spread out to the sun. The 
 table that stood near the window was covered 
 with unwashed tin plates and cups, dirty knives, 
 forks and spoons. A bit of bread, dried hard, 
 and some butter that had turned to grease in the 
 sun's rays lay where he had left them when he 
 went out on his last trip. Grey ashes covered 
 the floor beside the rusted sheet-iron stove. 
 
 King had once regarded this as belonging 
 essentially to the only place he knew as home. 
 It had been perfectly natural, and far from re- 
 volting. It had been even cosy. But in his pre- 
 sent mood he found it disquieting. He could not 
 help wondering to himself how Cherry McBain's 
 senses would react, if she were suddenly ushered 
 into the place. 
 
 He sprang up and threw open the door. The 
 fresh Sunday morning air swept in with its frag- 
 rance borne from the balm-o'-gileads that stood
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 93 
 
 near his door shaking their shining leaves in the 
 bright sunlight. As he drew himself up and 
 lifted his chest his huge frame almost filled the 
 doorway. With a word to Sal he went out and 
 made his way leisurely towards the roughly-made 
 stable that stood among the willows skirting the 
 ridge. The desire to put his shack into a present- 
 able condition was superseded by a yearning to 
 roam lazily about the place for a while and in- 
 dulge his fancies for the future. It was a day to 
 be free and forgetful of duties, and after the 
 crowded week he felt the need of a rest. The 
 general clean-up which he promised himself he 
 would give to his shack could wait as it had 
 waited during long months before he became con- 
 scious of any such need. In the meantime he 
 would feed his horse and then stroll down to the 
 town for some provisions. 
 
 When he returned to the shack he made him- 
 self a breakfast of oatmeal and fried bacon. The 
 meal was frugal but sufficient to supply his needs 
 for the time being, and he decided to postpone his 
 jaunt to town until late in the day. He wanted 
 to take a walk over his land and think over his 
 plans for the coming year. 
 
 King had a real affection for the place he had 
 chosen. He had filed his claim long before there
 
 94 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 was any competition in the field and had secured 
 what he considered a choice location within easy 
 distance of wood and water. The soil was very 
 rich, and the ridge with its clumps of poplars 
 offered an excellent spot for building. From in 
 front of his shack he could see not only The 
 Town, but beyond it to the blue hills rising to the 
 east and extending southward in a half circle 
 forming one rim of the valley. Between these 
 two ranges lay a wide plain spread out under the 
 blue sky, fertile, well watered and pleasantly 
 wooded. It was not the kind of country King 
 had been accustomed to hearing called "a man's 
 land" in the rugged interior of British Columbia, 
 where he had spent eight of the ten years since 
 he had come west. It was quieter milder 
 softer, maybe and of coloring less vivid. And 
 yet it was a man's country, too, a country with a 
 challenge for anyone who cared to hear it. 
 
 It was well on in the afternoon when King got 
 back from his tramp over his land. For a few 
 minutes he sat down upon the door-step and 
 rested before starting for The Town to get some- 
 thing to eat. Sal lay down near him, panting 
 lazily in the shade of the poplars. When he was 
 about to go the dog gave a sharp little bark and 
 stood ^up quickly with her ears pointed in the 
 direction of the ridge-trail leading to town.
 
 King got up and looked down the trail. 
 
 Soon there emerged from behind the clump of 
 willows the figure of a man coming towards him. 
 King sat down again and waited. In a few 
 moments he recognized the figure as that of Lush 
 Currie. As the latter approached him King re- 
 garded him with a questioning air. There was 
 something in Currie's face that he could not quite 
 understand. He offered to bring out a bench for 
 a seat, but Lush protested quite sincerely and sat 
 down on the grass under the poplars. When 
 Currie had rolled himself a fresh cigarette and 
 lighted it he lifted his eyes to King and looked at 
 him squarely for the first time. 
 
 "I'm gettin' out," he said abruptly. 
 
 King did not reply at first, but Currie's silence 
 prompted him to ask what he meant. 
 
 "Just that," said Currie. "I'm goin' outside 
 to-morrow an' I'll not be back." 
 
 It was no unusual thing for a member of a 
 railway construction gang to pack up his be- 
 longings and leave for the outside. King was 
 at a loss to know the exact significance of Currie's 
 announcement. 
 
 "Before. I went I wanted to see you," he con- 
 tinued, "an' to tell you I'm right sorry about last 
 night." 
 
 There was something so direct and sincere in
 
 96 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 the way Currie expressed himself that King felt 
 his heart warming towards the man in spite of 
 his recollections from the night before. 
 
 "An' that's the reason I'm gettin' out," he said 
 a little stiffly. "Hpwden, you came in on a bad 
 mess last night just about as bad as it could 'a* 
 been. If it hadn't 'a' been for you I'd 'a' been 
 lookin' for a place to hide to-day waitin' for 
 night to come on so I could walk around without 
 bein' scared." 
 
 King moved a little impatiently. He didn't 
 wish to have his interference on Currie's behalf 
 made so much of. 
 
 "For three years I've been with Old Silent's 
 outfit," Currie went on. "You know what it 
 means for a man to hitch up with his gang. You 
 stay that's all there is to it. I never did go 
 lookin' for trouble. An' I never went gunnin' 
 before. I got that thing when I left home back 
 east I thought I'd mebbe need it. I never had 
 trouble with Old Silent nor with any of his men. 
 There was a few fights mostly with boys from 
 other camps but they were all on the square. 
 This man McCartney was the first man who ever 
 tried anything like that. He's a four-flusher 
 I know that an' I could a' trimmed him, too 
 only now I can't. There won't be another 
 chance for me."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 97 
 
 He paused for a moment while he drew medi- 
 tatively at his cigarette. 
 
 "I lost my head an' I drew on him. There 
 wasn't room there to fight an' it was his size 
 that counted. Now I'm not going back. I 
 couldn't stay round camp with him on the job. 
 An', besides I ain't got the nerve any more 
 I'd be thinkin' all the time of last night." 
 
 When he ceased talking King asked him why 
 he couldn't stay in the valley and go on the land. 
 
 "No, Howden," he replied, "that's not my line. 
 I'm goin' west. There's more railroadin' out 
 there an' the world's big enough for two of us. 
 I'll go west an' look round a bit. But there's one 
 thing I want you to remember, Howden." He 
 got up as he spoke and King closed the door and 
 prepared to start down the trail. "Bill McCart- 
 ney's fight is over with me him an* me don't 
 come together again here but you an' him will, 
 an' don't forget it. He's a dirty dog he'll bite 
 when you're not lookin' but he's not afraid to 
 bite just the same. What's more he'll go on 
 bitin' unless he gets whipped. Then he'll stop 
 he'll get out then just like me." 
 
 The two men went off together down the trail, 
 and as King walked along in silence he felt the 
 optimism and the buoyancy that had filled him 
 during the earlier part of the day struggling
 
 98 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 against the melancholy that had haunted him 
 strangely for months. It was not his nature to 
 change his mood quickly, but the warning that 
 Currie had sounded brought upon him the full 
 consciousness that he had an enemy who would 
 never be quiet until he himself had brought him 
 to subjection by nothing but brute strength. He 
 was not afraid, but he had hoped that in the days 
 to come he would only have to take up the 
 struggle that men wage against nature in their 
 efforts to make a living. The thought of having 
 to fight it out with Bill McCartney before he 
 could have any peace weighed upon him in a way 
 that made him feel impatient with himself. He 
 made up his mind, however, that he would never 
 fight until the occasion arose that demanded it 
 then he would see it through to the bitter end. 
 The thought steadied him as he walked along the 
 trail, and his voice became more cheerful as he 
 chatted with Currie. 
 
 In the lodging house old man Rubble was dis- 
 cussing the affair of the night before with a half 
 dozen of the men of his own party. Word had 
 gone round that Lush Currie had decided to 
 leave, and it was generally agreed that he was 
 doing the only thing reasonable under the cir-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 99 
 
 cumstances. The real point of interest was the 
 relationship between King Howden and Bill 
 McCartney. As the latter, with a number of 
 Keith McBain's men had just left for camp, there 
 was no reason for postponing a discussion that 
 had been held up during the day, merely because 
 the presence of Bill McCartney made any refer- 
 ence to the question a little difficult. Now that 
 McCartney had gone, the question was raised at 
 once and the discussion had become very spirited. 
 One thing puzzled them all. Why had King 
 Howden not taken the challenge when it was 
 given to him and finished the fight right there? 
 The challenge had certainly been offensive 
 enough to have justified any man's accepting it at 
 once. And King would never again get an op- 
 portunity to fight McCartney when the latter was 
 just finishing one struggle. The advantage had 
 lain all with King, and to tell the truth, the men 
 were not a little disappointed that he had failed 
 to go in when the conditions were so much in his 
 favor. It was something more to increase the 
 wondering they had already felt concerning King 
 Howden. 
 
 "There's only one way to reason it out," said 
 old man Rubble, after various opinions had been 
 expressed. "The fact is Howden don't want to
 
 100 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 mix in with Bill at all. No one ever saw Howden 
 do anything yet. He's just a big, raw, over- 
 grown boy. He never did fight and I guess he 
 never will if he can get out of it." 
 
 Someone in the group murmured a word of 
 protest. 
 
 "Well," said Rubble, "I'm willing to wait till I 
 find out. But I'm telling you right now that no 
 man in any gang I've ever been with would have 
 let Bill McCartney get away with it. If King 
 Howden's got any stomach and if he's got any- 
 thing in it he'd 'a' hit Bill McCartney on the 
 jaw before he could have got the words out. I 
 may be wrong, but Howden's no good !" 
 
 But Rubble was not allowed to dismiss the 
 affair so summarily. There was a somewhat 
 thin voice that finally broke the long silence that 
 followed Rubble's words. Old Gabe Smith, who 
 had been a silent spectator during the events of 
 the night before and had given silent audience to 
 all the discussion of the day, ventured a remark 
 or two that he was inclined to think had a bearing 
 on the subject. 
 
 "An' what I would say is this," he observed in 
 his most philosophical manner, after he had given 
 due notice that he intended to opeak on the ques- 
 tion, "an' I have a feelin' that I'm not far wrong
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 101 
 
 what I would say is if anybody here is takin* 
 Mister Rubble's view of the matter an' he's a 
 right to his own opinion he'd better not make 
 up his mind for a little while not just yet. An' 
 I'll tell you why. In the first place we know 
 that when Bill McCartney first met Currie it 
 wasn't quite what you'd want to call reglar. He 
 got Lush but he got him foul. An' that ain't 
 the way a good man gets anybody. An' then 
 in the second place that affair last night was a 
 little off color Lush couldn't do anything there 
 he hadn't room. But " and Gabe pointed 
 the stem of his pipe at Rubble to emphasize his 
 words, "we haven't seen this boy Howden at work 
 yet." 
 
 "That's just it, Gabe," Rubble interrupted, 
 "and we never will." 
 
 "Just a minute, now," Gabe persisted. "We 
 haven't seen him workin' yet but we may we 
 may. An' I'm goin' to wait long enough to give 
 the boy a chance before I say my last word." 
 
 "Lord, Gabe, didn't he have a chance last 
 night?" 
 
 "Well, Mister Rubble," Gabe replied with great 
 deliberateness, "there might be a difference of 
 opinion on that point. You would say he had 
 I would say that we don't know exactly. If we
 
 102 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 give him a few weeks longer, Mister Rubble, we'll 
 both know pretty well which one of us is right. 
 But in my opinion this boy Howden is no coward 
 he may have acted a bit strange but he's not a 
 coward not to my way of thinkin' just yet." 
 
 Gabe was sitting with his back to the doorway 
 as he spoke and did not see the figure that was 
 standing there while he was engrossed in making 
 his opinion quite plain to Rubble. The other 
 men, however, forgot to listen to Gabe's exposi- 
 tion and were staring uneasily at King Howden, 
 who had appeared while the old man was talking 
 and had stopped suddenly on hearing his own 
 name. When Gabe had finished, he turned con- 
 fusedly to discover the cause of the change that 
 was so evident in the faces of the men, and met 
 the gaze that fell upon him from eyes that were 
 cold and unwavering. Then he saw the face 
 grow serious and the lines of his lips tighten. The 
 next moment he seemed conscious most of the 
 stillness that had fallen upon the group of men 
 who filled the room. His attempt to relieve his 
 own embarrassment as well as that of the men 
 was a little awkward, but he felt it was better 
 than nothing. 
 
 "No harm meant, Howden, my boy," he said, 
 and his voice was steady and quiet, "but we 
 were talkin' about you."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 103 
 
 "I guess it's all right, Gabe," said King, and he 
 took a step into the room. 
 
 "You heard what I said?" the old man asked. 
 
 "That ain't troubling me any," King replied, 
 " not any at all." 
 
 But even as he spoke, his face revealed the 
 struggle that was going on within him. He was 
 not concerned over the words that he had heard 
 from Gabe Smith. He knew, however, that 
 someone had spoken words that had prompted 
 Gabe to make a reply; and it rankled in his 
 heart that he should come to be looked upon as a 
 coward by anyone. 
 
 He went to a chair standing back against the 
 wall and sat down. The conversation dragged 
 along without interest, old man Rubble doing his 
 best to carry it into one field after another with- 
 out success until he finally gave up in despair and 
 went out. Before long the others followed him, 
 all except Gabe Smith, who remained alone with 
 King. 
 
 "I'm an older man than you," he began when 
 they were left alone, " older by nearly thirty 
 years. An' I've had some chances to look around 
 in the past thirty years. An' I'm goin' to tell you 
 right here some things you've got to know. I've 
 watched you an' I like you. An' when a man 
 likes another he wants him to get along."
 
 104 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 King's smile expressed the gratitude he felt. 
 
 "I watched that business last night in Cheney's 
 an' I want to tell you what I think. It wasn't 
 your fight to begin with Lush and McCartney 
 had been layin' for each other for quite a little 
 while. They had to settle it one way or the other. 
 It ain't settled yet an' what's worse you've got 
 yourself in for a part of that settlement, too." 
 
 King leaned forward a little and looked at 
 Gabe. "It's been settled between them two," 
 he said gravely. 
 
 "How settled?" 
 
 "Lush won't be goin' back to work any more. 
 He's goin' out to-morrow." 
 
 "He's leavin', then for sure?" 
 
 "Yes. He walked up to see me this afternoon 
 an' he says he can't stay here." 
 
 Gabe puckered his lips and was silent a 
 moment. "Then that means," he said very 
 thoughtfully, " that means he's handed it over 
 to you." 
 
 King made no reply. 
 
 "You've got to take it up from last night," Gabe 
 remarked again, and again King remained 
 silent. Gabe was silent, too, for a long time, and 
 when he spoke his words were so sudden and 
 direct that King was startled. "Why didn't you 
 finish it last night?"
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 105 
 
 King turned round slightly to meet Anno, who 
 came into the room and greeted him. He waited 
 until she left before he spoke. 
 
 "Gabe," he said at last, "it's been clear between 
 us up to now, hasn't it?" 
 
 Gabe nodded his head slowly without a word. 
 
 "I want it to be clear right on from now till 
 the end. I wanted to settle it an* I guess L 
 could, too." His voice was quiet, but no man 
 could have doubted King's confidence in himself. 
 "But there was a man once who said just what 
 Bill McCartney called me last night an' I killed 
 him." 
 
 It was Gabe's turn to be startled. He took his 
 pipe from his mouth quickly and looked at King 
 with consternation on his face. 
 
 "lou you killed him, boy?" 
 
 "It seems like I did," King replied slowly. "I 
 never can tell exactly. Something came up in 
 me something blinded me an' I struck. When 
 they lifted him up I knew I killed him I was 
 sure because I meant to that's what I tried to 
 do. They told me afterwards they told me he 
 came round again he was alive. But I couldn't 
 believe it he was my brother." King looked 
 out the open doorway for a moment. "I've won- 
 dered about that a lot," he said after a long 
 silence. "I think I've prayed about it, too but
 
 106 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 I can't get it just right. That's why I left that's 
 why I came here. I wanted to get away from it 
 and start in new. I wanted to to make that 
 right with myself." 
 
 Gabe Smith seemed puzzled to understand 
 clearly what King was saying to him. 
 
 "Last night," continued King, "it came back 
 again. I thought I was strong enough, but I 
 guess I ain't. When he called me that it all 
 came back. I went blind again and I wanted 
 to kill Bill McCartney only then I remem- 
 bered, and it took the heart out of me." 
 
 "Listen, boy," said Gabe. "Some day you are 
 goin' to forget that all of it. Some day you are 
 goin' out to fight an' to fight clean and to win. 
 and I'll tell you why. There's some of us countin' 
 on you, and you've got to make good that's 
 why." 
 
 King got up and going over to the old man 
 gripped his shoulder in his large powerful hand 
 and looked down into his face. 
 
 "You're the first man ever said it to me like 
 that," he said very gravely, and his lips were tight 
 as he spoke, "and I think I think you can count 
 on me from now on." 
 
 Gabe Smith gave him his hand and smiled.
 
 CHAPTER SEVEN 
 
 OLD man Hurley sat in his office alone and 
 looked out of the single window which the 
 place boasted. No other window was ne- 
 cessary, however, for it gave a clear view of the 
 west over the whole expanse of valley-plain that 
 was his one concern. It was his one concern in a 
 business way, for he had been sent in as Dominion 
 Land Agent just as soon as the new district had 
 begun to attract settlers, and he was the sole 
 member of the new community upon whom the 
 dignity of governmental office of any kind rested. 
 But it was his chief concern morally as well, for 
 he felt the full weight of the responsibility that 
 was his to carry the new adventure in settlement 
 to a gratifying and successful issue. 
 
 The dignity of office rested gracefully upon 
 Hugh Hurley. Genial and affable at the same 
 time that he was business-like and practical, he 
 was an unfailing source of healthy optimism and 
 unshaken confidence in the future. He was not 
 unaware of the stubborn difficulties that invar- 
 iably attend the building up of any new settle- 
 
 107
 
 108 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 ment. But he had vision and was possessed of a 
 spirit of idealism that read something of romance 
 into everything he did. 
 
 In the thick of daily routine, in the midst of a 
 confusion of maps and blue-prints and survey- 
 or's reports and governmental rules and regula- 
 tions, in his daily meeting with newcomers who 
 had as yet suffered no disillusionment, and with 
 disgruntled "old-timers" who had been in the 
 district for as long as six months or even longer, 
 in the thousand and one matters of detail that try 
 the patience of any conscientious servant of the 
 public, Hugh Hurley constantly cherished a vis- 
 ion. It was of a great fertile valley, flanked on 
 either side by rising blue hills, teeming with an 
 eager-hearted, virile population devoted to the 
 soil, and standing as one more outpost of empire, 
 one more living monument to high endeavour. 
 
 In the occasional hour of leisure that came to 
 him during the day and afforded him an oppor- 
 tunity of sitting before his window, he gave his 
 imagination free rein and allowed it to wander 
 unchecked. Then it was that he saw the broad 
 fields of grain swaying in the golden sun. He 
 saw men moving about over ploughed fields with 
 the rich, brown mould turned up to the light. 
 He heard the singing of women and the happy
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 109 
 
 laughter of children. He heard the ringing of 
 the bells and the busy hum of life in little towns 
 and villages that were as yet unborn. He saw 
 the hillsides, now virgin and wild under the after- 
 noon sun, blocked and squared and trimmed by 
 the hands of busy workers. He saw a valley full- 
 mantled and smiling, and mottled with shadows 
 thrown down from drifting clouds. And all 
 Hugh Hurley's energies were devoted to making 
 his dreams come true. 
 
 But dreams are only dreams, after all. And 
 to-day, as the old man sat before his window, he 
 was worried. Winding down the dusty trail 
 about a quarter of a mile away came a long line 
 of men in foreign attire, long-skirted coats drawn 
 in tightly at the belt, trouser-legs tucked into long 
 boots, and round caps that fitted closely to the 
 head. They were the Russian Doukhobors re- 
 turning from an expedition in search of land. 
 While they were still at a considerable distance 
 he could hear the solemn, almost weird chanting 
 of their hymn as they marched along in single file. 
 Hurley had seen them before in similar guise and 
 he had always been struck by the romance, the 
 other-worldness of the picture they presented. 
 To-day, however, the romance was not there. 
 His mind was occupied with something more
 
 110 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 actual, more immediate. These men, and their 
 wives and children too, would have to live during 
 the next eight or ten months, most of which would 
 be trying months of fiercely cold weather, and 
 they were without resources of any kind. What 
 was true of these men was true of hundreds of 
 new settlers in the valley, except that the Douk- 
 hobors' reliance on the Almighty to furnish them 
 with food and shelter was as complete as it was 
 pathetic. Hugh Hurley knew that he must im- 
 mediately constitute himself the elected agent 
 of Heaven itself for these people of a blind faith 
 and for the others a practical provider of 
 means whereby the winter could be met and 
 passed without regrets. 
 
 He was waiting now for Keith McBain, with 
 whom he had discussed the problem, and from 
 whom he hoped he might get some practical sug- 
 gestions. 
 
 Keith had promised, at their last meeting, to 
 see him as soon as he had made some investiga- 
 tions on his own part. Only half an hour ago he 
 had seen the old contractor come to town. But 
 Keith McBain's first place of call as it was also 
 his last was Mike Cheney's, and Hugh Hurley 
 knew that he could only wait till the old man was 
 ready to come. 
 
 One thing that had given Hurley cause for
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 111 
 
 anxiety was the fact that during the week a num- 
 ber of the younger homesteaders had bidden the 
 place good-bye, and had left for the outside, 
 where they were going to remain until it was time 
 to go on the land again in the spring. Hurley 
 knew what that meant. A little more of the same 
 kind of thing and the movement would become 
 general. The result would mean hardship and 
 even suffering for the few who remained isolated 
 from the outside during the long months of 
 winter. 
 
 Two young fellows entered the open doorway 
 behind Hurley and he turned to greet them. 
 
 "Hello, boys," he said cheerfully as he got up 
 and went to meet them. "You're looking good 
 homesteading evidently sets a man up, eh?" 
 
 They smiled and shook hands. 
 
 'We're sure feelin' good," said one of them, 
 "but we've had enough of homesteadin' for a little 
 while it gets on your nerves. We're goin' out 
 for the winter." 
 
 "Going out for the winter?" Hurley exclaimed 
 with a smile. "No no, you're not you're go- 
 ing to stay here this winter and help out." 
 
 "Help out at what?" 
 
 "Sit down there and smoke while I tell you a 
 story."
 
 112 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 When they were seated Hurley began. 
 
 "This reminds me of an argument I heard once 
 between a pioneer preacher and a member of his 
 congregation. This preacher was holding forth 
 on hell, and after the service he met up with one 
 of his freethinking brethren who didn't believe in 
 hell, or heaven, either. 'So you don't believe in 
 hell,' said the preacher. Well, mister, I'll tell 
 you how I size it up. I'm betting on hell an j 
 I'm betting for two reasons. In the first place it's 
 a good hunch and in the second place I'm plum 
 scared not to. It's like this,' he said. 'You say 
 there ain't no hell an' you put your money on 
 that hand. You just have to draw one card to 
 find out. I say there is a hell an' I'm playin' that 
 hand. An' I draw one. All right. You draw 
 your card an' you turn it up. If you've played 
 the right hunch what do you win? Nothin'. If 
 there ain't no hell or heaven you're no better off, 
 even if you ain't worse off. You're just where 
 you were. But if you're playing the wrong hunch 
 an' you turn up your card an' find there's a sure 
 'nough hell you're stuck. Ain't that right? You 
 stand to win nothin' an' lose everything. Now 
 look at me. I say there is a hell an' I draw an' 
 turn up. If I don't make it I don't lose any- 
 thing anyhow. I'm no better off but I'm sure
 
 no worse oft. But if I turn up an' find there is a 
 sure 'nough hell I win, because that's my hunch 
 an* I'm ready to play it, see? I stand to lose no- 
 thing an' there's just about one chance in two 
 that I'll clean up with eternal life in the stakes. 
 Any old way you look at it I got you beat ain't 
 that right? I'm bettin' on hell till the cows come 
 home!'" 
 
 Hurley went and stood for a moment before 
 the window and looked out across the valley. 
 
 "The point is this, boys," he said at last, turn- 
 ing quickly and looking at the two sturdy young 
 fellows before him, "you and I and the rest of 
 these people here" he waved his hand towards 
 the window "have come into this valley because 
 we believed in it. We're playing a kind of a 
 hunch, boys, that the place is a good place to live 
 in, an' when a man does what we've done he's 
 playing pretty heavily. If we throw up the game 
 now, we lose. That's all there is to it. And not 
 only do we lose but these people around us lose 
 too and lose heavily. We've got to play the 
 game through against hard luck and wait for the 
 next spring before we begin to take our win- 
 nings." 
 
 "But we've got to live, Mr. Hurley," one of the 
 men protested.
 
 114 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "Live yes and I've been working on that. 
 And I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll grub-stake the 
 whole caboodle of you for six months, beginning 
 the middle of October, and I'll pay you a dollar a 
 day for every day's work you put in if you hang 
 on." 
 
 The men looked doubtful but were interested. 
 "That looks all right," one of them offered, 
 "but" 
 
 "But nothing," interrupted Hurley. "I'll do 
 what I say and I can make money on it too. I 
 couldn't pay one man a dollar a day for a fore- 
 noon just now, but listen this country's got to 
 produce something if it's going to live, and it 
 might as well start in this year as next. And 
 when the rush comes in here next spring and it's 
 coming strong there'll be a crowd of people here. 
 I hear about it every time the mail comes in. This 
 town will be five times as big in a month. The 
 man who's on the ground with his eyes open will 
 take the winnings. The railway will be in before 
 July, and the towns will be springing up and busi- 
 ness will start and we'll be a part of the world 
 we've just left before we know it. And that's 
 only one side of it. You boys have registered 
 your claims here and started improvements be- 
 cause you want to live here sometime. If it's go-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 115 
 
 ing to be a fit place to live in we don't want any 
 set-backs. Start to stampede for the outside now 
 and by the time you get back you'll be where you 
 were when you first landed here. That's not my 
 idea. I'm going to stay right here and get ready 
 for the big rush." 
 
 All at once they were aware of someone enter- 
 ing the office, and turned to find Keith McBain 
 coming through the doorway. The young fel- 
 lows got up at once and with a word to Hurley, 
 promising to drop in the next day, left the office. 
 
 "Do you know what I've done?" said Hurley 
 as soon as they had gone. 
 
 Keith McBain merely waited for a reply. 
 
 "I've promised those two boys work for the 
 winter at a dollar a day and three square meals. 
 I had to do it, Keith they're good men, both of 
 them, and they were on their way out for the win- 
 ter. We can't let these men go. We've got to 
 give them something to do and hold them here till 
 spring." 
 
 "I've got it worked out," said Keith. "I was 
 talking last week to McKenzie, and we can put in 
 a camp just as soon as we can get a good location. 
 They want a quarter to a half million ties for con- 
 struction. There's a lot of stuff in there just 
 south of the camp. All we've got to do is to go
 
 116 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 and find it ana start right in. Any of your men 
 here know anything about cruising?" 
 
 As if by way of answer to this question King 
 Howden rode up to the door and without getting 
 down called for Hurley to bring out the mail bag. 
 Hurley went to the door and invited him in. 
 When King entered his eyes fell upon Keith Mc- 
 Bain, and for a moment he paused and held out 
 his hand. The old contractor's greeting was 
 pleasant, and King went in and stood waiting for 
 Hurley to speak. 
 
 "You did some work once in the lumber woods 
 at the coast, King, didn't you?" Hurley asked 
 him. 
 
 King's look expressed mild surprise. "A little," 
 he said. 
 
 "Done some timber-cruising?" 
 
 "About all I did for three years summer and 
 winter," he answered. 
 
 "Well, you'd better spend an extra day or two 
 on your trip this time. You'd better wait over 
 until to-morrow morning and get ready. Take 
 enough grub they'll fix you up at the lodging- 
 house and a couple of blankets, and get a good 
 start in the morning. We'd like you to take the 
 old trail into the hills and then work your way 
 east to the right-of-way. You might aim at com-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 117 
 
 ing out pretty close to the end of the steel. Use 
 your own judgment. Anyhow, we want you to 
 get a good location for a tie-camp for the winter. 
 We have a contract and want to open on it as 
 soon as the frost comes. What do you think 
 about it?" 
 
 "I guess I can do that, sir," King replied 
 quietly. "The mail will be a couple of days late, 
 but" 
 
 "Never mind about that, King," Hurley inter- 
 rupted. "The mail can afford to wait over. Just 
 get ready to spend as much time as it will take to 
 do it right." 
 
 King turned and went out to set about his 
 preparations for the trip into the hills. 
 
 As he started hastily down the street he 
 brushed against someone standing near the en-f 
 trance to Hurley's office. Looking back, he recog- 
 nized Tom Rickard, one of Keith McBain's men, 
 lounging lazily against the wall only a few feet 
 from the doorway. The circumstance held no 
 special significance for him at the time, and yet 
 he couldn't help wondering why Rickard was in 
 town. 
 
 In the office Hurley was standing before Keith 
 McBain, who had remained perfectly silent 
 during the interview with King. Hurley was re- 
 garding McBain seriously.
 
 118 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "What do you think of Howden?" 
 
 "He's a good boy," Keith remarked dryly. 
 
 "Couldn't he handle that camp for the winter 
 a little better than anyone around here?" 
 
 McBain did not say anything for some time, 
 but sat meditatively smoking his pipe. Finally 
 he seemed to have reached a conclusion. 
 
 "He's a good boy, Hugh," he remarked slowly, 
 "but he's got to be more than that before he can 
 handle a gang of men in a bush. He's got to have 
 the stomach!" 
 
 Hurley went to his window and looked out. In 
 his own mind he was turning over the possibility 
 of getting King to prove himself worthy of the 
 confidence he felt. He had heard the men talk 
 of the affair with McCartney, and he knew pretty 
 well what was in Keith McBain's mind. 
 
 King's preparations were made quickly, and 
 by supper time he was ready to take the trail next 
 morning. He had yet to go back to his cabin for 
 a couple of blankets, but he waited till later in the 
 evening, and decided that he would spend the 
 night in his shack and start from there early in 
 the morning. He took supper at the lodging- 
 house in company with Keith McBain, who was 
 in one of his silent moods, having already spent
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 119 
 
 too much time in the company of Mike Cheney 
 during the afternoon. With them was Tom Rick- 
 ard, as silent and uncommunicative as Keith Mc- 
 Bain. From the knowledge that King had of 
 the old contractor's ways he feared he was out on 
 another of his lengthy visits to town. And King's 
 mind went back immediately to Cherry, who was 
 probably even then waiting anxiously for her 
 father's return. 
 
 The first hours of such a visit on the part of 
 Keith McBain were usually spent in secret with 
 Mike Cheney, and invariably produced a mood in 
 which he refused to speak to anyone. When they 
 sat down to the table, King asked him when he 
 intended going back to camp. The old man of- 
 fered not a word by way of reply, and the meal 
 went forward without any further conversation 
 between the two. Anne came and went fre- 
 quently during the short half hour that King 
 spent at the table, or stood a little back from him 
 and offered a few words now and then which 
 King responded to briefly but pleasantly enough. 
 The two young fellows who had visited Hurley's 
 office earlier in the afternoon to announce their 
 intention of going out for the winter had eaten 
 earlier in the evening, and had apparently spoken 
 of their plans in Anne's hearing. She had some-
 
 120 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 thing to say about it herself but she waited till 
 Keith McBain had gone out and disappeared up 
 the street, followed by Tom Rickard. Then she 
 spoke of the thing that was on her mind. 
 
 "They're sure in luck," she remarked as if she 
 were thinking aloud. "This place gives me the 
 blues. Talk about a dead place this ain't no 
 town, it's a graveyard ! It's worse than that it's 
 a prayer-meetin' without the shoutin' !" 
 
 King laughed quietly to himself, and Anne 
 turned to him. "Honest, King, it ain't no place 
 for white people to live. It's been all right this 
 summer with everybody round and things movin' 
 a little but the winter an everybody away 
 God, you don't know how I hate the idea." 
 
 King got up from the table and went to the 
 doorway. It had already begun to grow dusk, 
 and the air was cool and inviting. For a moment 
 he stood looking into the street with its rambling 
 houses and squat little cabins on either side. 
 
 "Anne," he said slowly, "some of us have to 
 stay, I guess stay here and see it through. It 
 won't be easy but it's the right thing to do 
 that's how I see it. Besides, it may be better 
 than we think wait and see." 
 
 While he talked his eyes were still turned to- 
 wards the street. He did not look at the girl
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 121 
 
 until he was through. Then he turned to her 
 and looked at her where she stood, leaning 
 against the table. Her eyes were on his face, and 
 her gaze was Ifltfig and steady. He had a sus- 
 picion that thefC were tears ready to come there 
 was something deeper and more thoughtful in 
 them than he had ever seen there before. He 
 knew that the girl was lonely, and that she had 
 no friends. 
 
 "Anne," he said slowly, in a voice that was 
 kindness itself, "you ought to get out more you 
 ought to ride out a little. You ought to walk." 
 
 She smiled and gave an impatient shrug to her 
 shoulders. 
 
 "Walk Lord!" Then she set about clearing 
 the table and for a while both were silent. At last 
 she set down a dish she held in her hand and came 
 over to where King stood in the doorway. 
 
 "Haven't I walked?" she said in a voice that 
 was tense with emotion. "Haven't I spent hours 
 alone walking these trails up and down? That 
 doesn't help any. I came in here because I 
 wanted to get away by myself an' start all over 
 again. Lord, I sure did it I got away by myself 
 all right. An' I got sick of it. Then I wanted to 
 get out with people honest-to-God-people that 
 cared a little no matter who. But where can I
 
 122 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 go ? They think there's something wrong because 
 I got into Mike's place the night of the scrap. 
 They didn't like my way round here before that. 
 Well, it's my way, isn't it? It's aH I got. I don't 
 owe anything I'm square. But I want some 
 one that will talk to me an' talk right not like 
 a lot of these fellows want to talk. That's what I 
 want." 
 
 King put out his hand and took her arm. I 
 guess that's right, Anne," he said. "I've felt like 
 that. We'll talk you and I talk together 
 sometimes. And then maybe " he began to 
 think of the possibility of Anne coming to know 
 Cherry McBain. 
 
 "I've been wantin' to talk to you often," she 
 said, very quietly and very slowly. "But you 
 seemed to pass me up like the rest of them. Only 
 I liked you because you looked square. An' I 
 was afraid to talk to you because I wanted you 
 to like me." 
 
 For a moment King was silent as he weighed 
 the full meaning of her words. He felt the pres- 
 sure of her hand on his arm as she spoke, and 
 there crept over him a strange feeling of fear. 
 He liked the girl, he had the deepest sympathy for 
 her, he would do anything in his power to make 
 life more pleasant for her. And yet he shrank
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 123 
 
 slowly from her touch and was impatient to get 
 away. 
 
 "I guess it'll be late enough when I get back," 
 he said suddenly. "And I've got to make a good 
 start for the hills to-morrow." 
 
 He turned and looked at her for a moment, and 
 then laid his hand on her shoulder. "We've got 
 to face a lot of things in life, Anne," he said; "a 
 whole lot of things. It ain't always easy but it 
 pays to face up." 
 
 He stood before her in the doorway and looked 
 directly into her face as he spoke. For a moment 
 she returned the look and then suddenly bowed 
 her head before him. Putting his arm about her 
 shoulders he raised her head gently and looked 
 at her. 
 
 "Anne, girl," he said slowly, "I'm coming to 
 see you if it would help any when I get back. 
 So long!" 
 
 She looked at him squarely and he knew she 
 understood him. The fear he had entertained 
 only a moment before was gone now. He was 
 confident that everything between them was just 
 as he wanted it to be. In her heart was a deep 
 yearning for companionship in his, a feeling of 
 great pity for the girl who was struggling against 
 the demon of loneliness.
 
 124 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "King," she said at last, "you're right and I 
 like that." 
 
 A sound of hoofs came suddenly from the trail 
 only a few yards away. Anne stepped back 
 quickly from the doorway and fcing turned to 
 face Cherry McBain, who had brought her horse 
 to a standstill and was already looking down at 
 him from her place in the saddle. He was about 
 to express his surprise, but the look she gave him 
 caused the words to die on his lips. 
 
 "I'm looking for my father," she said in a voice 
 that to King's ears sounded like the voice of a 
 stranger. 
 
 The sound of men's voices came from farther 
 up the street, and looking out, King saw Hugh 
 Hurley and Keith McBain leaving the land-of- 
 fice. Cherry saw the men at the same moment, 
 and without a word rode away to join her father. 
 Just once King called after her, but received no 
 reply. He watched them till all three had van- 
 ished in the direction of Hurley's little house that 
 stood under the poplars at the end of the street. 
 Then he stepped out and went off down the trail 
 to where his horse, was tethered outside Hurley's 
 office, 
 
 When he had mounted into his saddle he turned
 
 125 
 
 and looked back along the street. In the dusky 
 frame of the lodging-house doorway he could see 
 Anne still standing where he had left her. She 
 waved her hand to him as he looked back at her, 
 and he waved in reply as he drew his horse's head 
 about and took the trail that led westward to his 
 cabin.
 
 CHAPTER EIGHT 
 
 KING HOWDEN was at a loss to under- 
 stand himself that night. Into a few short 
 days had been crowded more emotion, more 
 stirring experience than he had ever known be- 
 fore. The very fact that there had been nothing 
 spectacular, nothing especially thrilling, in what 
 had occurred only made the effects more far- 
 reaching and real. A change had come over him 
 that was the result of forces working so deeply 
 within him that he knew life from this time for- 
 ward was to mean something different, something 
 more serious than it had ever meant to him. 
 
 When he arrived at his cabin, after putting his 
 horse away for the night and making a few final 
 preparations for an early start in the morning, 
 he found his bunk strangely uninviting. His 
 mind, was unusually busy turning over and 
 over a host of thoughts that crowded upon one 
 another in a confusion that made sleep impos- 
 sible. He went to the doorway of his shack, and 
 sitting on the doorstep drew his dog down beside 
 him and tried to think himself clear of the con- 
 
 126
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 127 
 
 fusion. He recalled the night he had learned 
 of his brother's death it seemed as if a year had 
 gone since that night, instead of a week. His 
 imagination dwelt upon Cherry McBain as she 
 looked that night when she rode beside him on 
 the trail. His heart bounded again as he saw her 
 standing before him on the little bridge over the 
 White Pine and he felt again, as he had felt a 
 hundred times since, the ecstasy of that moment 
 when Cherry had asked him for his help against 
 a man he already hated. He smiled at the recol- 
 lection of his meeting with McCartney in 
 Cheney's place. Then his heart froze as he 
 thought of what had happened only within the 
 last hour. 
 
 As he sat alone on the doorstep the night came 
 down on the hills and the valley, but King had 
 no thought of the passing hours. His mind was 
 on the sudden appearance of Cherry McBain, 
 like an apparition out of the dusk, and the coldly 
 accusing note in her voice when she had spoken. 
 
 "She couldn't think " he murmured to him- 
 self and then stopped. 
 
 He wondered that he had not gone off to find 
 her to follow her and explain it all. And then 
 it occurred to him that words his words particu- 
 larlywere helpless things after all. Even if he
 
 128 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 had gone and found her, and spoken to her, what 
 would his words have done? And yet he clung 
 fiercely to a hope the hope that had so lately 
 been born in him. 
 
 "She can't think I'm wrong," he went on. "She 
 can't I couldn't stand that. I've been trying \ 
 I'm not right all through, but I'm not wrong like 
 that. She's got to believe me." 
 
 And then it came upon him came with crys- 
 tal clearness that the heart of Cherry McBain 
 could be won and held only by a man that was 
 not afraid of himself, a man who had a task so 
 great that it overshadowed petty problems and 
 made them insignificant by comparison. And so 
 King Howden renewed the covenant he had made 
 with himself only a few days before, that his 
 place in life was something more than the small 
 circle drawn about his narrow existence, with its 
 little weaknesses and discouragements and fail- 
 ures. Only this time the covenant was made 
 sacred because a man's love for a woman had set 
 its seal on it. 
 
 By the first streak of dawn King was already 
 well along the trail. He wanted to reach the top 
 of the hills by sunrise, and with a climb of some 
 five or six miles before him he urged his horse 
 forward at a good pace. From the low-lying
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 129 
 
 levels of the grassy plain and the deep meadows, 
 to the first rolling uplands he mounted while the 
 dawn was still gray, and from the uplands to the 
 hills and down through the valleys that lay be- 
 tween. The old trail had not been used much 
 during the latter part of the summer owing to 
 the steadily decreasing distance that now lay be- 
 tween the new settlement and the end of the steel. 
 On either side and in the centre of the trail where 
 ran the narrow ridge between the two tracks, the 
 grass was high and drenched the horse's legs with 
 dew. 
 
 And as he mounted higher, the coming of the 
 new day broke upon him like a benediction, so 
 that his very soul sang with the joy of the open 
 sky and the rolling hills, the free trail and the 
 throbbing pulse of youth. When he reached the 
 top of the first upstanding hill he emerged from 
 the fringe of trees that lined the crest just in time 
 to see the sun pushing its way above the horizon. 
 In the valley that lay before him the morning 
 mist was stretched low and motionless. On the 
 hillside opposite, where the sun's rays had not yet 
 found their way, the trees were hidden in the half- 
 dusk like ghosts waiting for some voice to waken 
 them. The trail that led before him lost itself 
 under cover of the white shroud, and over all was
 
 130 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 poured the rich glory of the rising sun. King took 
 off his hat and looked long and silently. Then 
 facing northward he dismounted and, taking the 
 bridle rein in one hand, left the trail and plunged 
 into the woods. 
 
 Early that night he found a circle of tamaracs 
 beside a little stream of cold water and decided 
 to put up for the night. The day had been a long 
 one, and had proven very heavy, but he had suc- 
 ceeded in his quest and was content with the re- 
 sults of his efforts. He was very tired, and after 
 removing the saddle and pack from his horse he 
 found a grassy plot not far away and tethered 
 him for the night. Then he prepared a little 
 smudge at the edge of the plot and returned to his 
 camp. When he had eaten his supper he un- 
 strapped his blankets and tossed them in a loose 
 roll upon the soft ground where it was covered 
 with brown needles and dry cones. Then he 
 rolled himself a cigarette and smoked it in silence 
 while he thought over the results of his day's 
 cruising. 
 
 The sun had already gone down when he got 
 up and went again to make sure that his horse 
 had received all the attention necessary for the 
 night. When he had satisfied himself that every- 
 thing was as it should be, and had partly smoth-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 131 
 
 ered the smudge in order that its usefulness might 
 last well through the night, he turned back up the 
 hill again to roll in for the night. A passing mood 
 caused him to circle about so that he came out 
 on a small elevation, clear of trees, that stood 
 back from his camp. 
 
 When he had reached the top of the hill he 
 could see clear away to the west over the broad 
 valley where lay the town and his own little 
 cabin that he had left early that morning. He 
 thought he could make out the place, off to the 
 north, where lay the right-of-way and Keith Mc- 
 Bain's construction camp. Then as his eyes swept 
 the intervening space something arrested his at- 
 tention. 
 
 Everywhere were the slow-forming mists of the 
 early evening. But down there to the right it 
 couldn't be more than a mile away there was 
 something that was not mist, though it was diffi- 
 cult to make it out, even at so short a distance, 
 with the shadows already beginning to deepen in 
 the lower places. What he saw was a slowly 
 rising, thin column of smoke, and his heart beat 
 faster as he began to realize slowly what it might 
 mean. Someone was down there making a camp 
 for the night. There was no reason in the world 
 for anyone wandering through the hills at such
 
 133 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 a time unless it was the same reason that had 
 brought King Howden himself there. It was not 
 easy to explain, but he was not slow in coming to 
 a decision to act. Merely as a matter of self- 
 defence he determined that he should at least 
 guard against being discovered. 
 
 He hurried down the hill, sliding, leaping, and 
 running by turns, and came in a few seconds to 
 the edge of the little meadow where his horse was 
 standing in the comfortable protection of the 
 cloud of smoke rising from the smudge. 
 
 "You poor old cuss," he said regretfully, 
 "you'll have to use your tail to keep the mos- 
 quitoes off to-night. No more smoke, if they eat 
 you alive." 
 
 With that he kicked the smudge-pile vigor- 
 ously, scattering it over the ground and leaving 
 the embers smoking feebly where they lay in the 
 grass. Then he went carefully from one spot to 
 another and stamped out the last traces of the 
 fire. Going back to the spot he had chosen for the 
 night he left Sal on guard with a word of warning 
 not to follow him, and set off again in the direc- 
 tion in which he had discovered the smoke. He 
 had no intention of attempting to satisfy his 
 curiosity by spying on strangers. He wanted to 
 be reasonably sure that he himself was not being 
 spied upon that was all.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 133 
 
 And so he moved about cautiously and waited 
 patiently for the first sound that would announce 
 the approach of anyone. When it was very late 
 and he had heard nothing to alarm him, he re- 
 turned, confident that he would not be molested, 
 and rolling himself in his blankets, pillowed his 
 head on the saddle and went to sleep. 
 
 The next morning he was awake at dawn, and 
 without waiting to prepare breakfast, he clam- 
 bered up the hill behind his camping place and 
 sat down to watch for the first signs of life in the 
 camp below. And as he sat and waited he 
 worked out in his own mind, now fresh from the 
 night's sound sleep under the open sky, what was 
 at least a tentative explanation of the new cir- 
 cumstance that had so suddenly forced itself into 
 his plans. He remembered now, with a new sense 
 of its possible significance, the unexpected ar- 
 rival in town of Cherry McBain late in the even- 
 ing. Why had she come for her father? Then 
 he recalled the fact that Keith McBain Had not 
 come to town alone. Was there any special signi- 
 ficance in the presence of Tom Rickard in town 
 at the same time? THere was nothing in KeitK 
 McBain's silence that was unusual to one who 
 knew him, but King felt that the old contractor 
 had been more than ordinarily silent and perhaps
 
 134 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 a little ill-natured. He could not help thinking 
 that something was brewing behind it all and, 
 right or wrong, his conviction was that the camp 
 down there a mile or so away had some connec- 
 tion with it all. 
 
 Suddenly he was aware of a column of white 
 smoke rising out of the trees. The traveller was 
 apparently making ready for an early start. King 
 sat watching the smoke for nearly an hour before 
 anything happened to which he could attach any 
 special importance. Then the figures of two men 
 appeared suddenly in the open space beside the 
 trees. They were leading a couple of horses. He 
 got to his feet as he saw them and then squatted 
 down suddenly and drew Sal towards him, lest 
 she should catch a glimpse of the strangers and 
 set up an alarm. 
 
 The figures were headed southward, in the 
 direction from which King had come the day be- 
 fore. For several minutes he watched them with- 
 out moving from his place. Then as they disap- 
 peared from view behind the shoulder of a hill he 
 scrambled down the slope to his camp and went 
 about leisurely to prepare his breakfast. If the 
 strangers were on a similar errand to his own 
 he was well ahead of them. Before evening he 
 would have completed his cruising in the hills
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 135 
 
 and with ordinary good luck would reach the end 
 of the steel by night-fall. When he had break- 
 fasted he completed a few preparations necessary 
 for the day's trip and was on his way again at 
 sunrise. 
 
 Late in the afternoon he emerged upon the 
 trail about half-way between McBain's camp and 
 the end of the steel. The air was heavy with a 
 promise of rain in it. For the last mile or so he 
 had followed a creek in which only a small stream 
 of water trickled over the stones, and now, the 
 wearisome part of the day's work done, he sat 
 down upon a log at the side of the road and sized 
 up the work he had done during the last two days 
 in the hills. The timber was there for the pur- 
 poses that Hurley and Keith McBain sought, the 
 supply was more than their needs called for, and 
 he had found an admirable site for a camp. 
 
 It was with a feeling of great satisfaction, 
 therefore, that he finally got into the saddle and 
 started for the end-of-the-steel. 
 
 Late that evening King strolled leisurely in the 
 direction of the railway siding where stood a long 
 line of cars that served as sleeping quarters for 
 the men who were attached to the bridge gang. 
 For a month or more they had been busy re^ 
 placing the old temporary bridge by a more per-
 
 136 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 manent structure. From a distance he had heard 
 the voices of the men chatting and laughing 
 among themselves. The two days spent alone in 
 the hills had awakened in him afresh the desire to 
 be with men and hear them talk. 
 
 He came upon them at an interesting moment. 
 Two men of the gang were matched in a wrestling 
 bout, the others standing round watching the 
 contest closely. King waited at some distance 
 until the affair was over before he made his pres- 
 ence known. Then he stepped forward and en- 
 tered the circle of men. Good nature pervaded 
 the group, and King was the recipient of pleasant 
 greetings from all sides. On the opposite side of 
 the circle stood Larkin, Keith McBain's freighter. 
 
 "Hey, you outsiders Larkin and Howden," 
 called one of the men; "you fellows can't sit in 
 on this game for nothin'. Give us a little action. 
 Even money that Howden can put Larkin on his 
 back in three minutes." 
 
 "Any takers?" asked Larkin, during the pause 
 that followed this outburst. 
 
 Almost immediately came a dozen responses, 
 whether from lack of confidence in King's ability 
 or from sheer desire for sport. 
 
 King felt himself pushed out into the centre of 
 the circle, where he stood smiling and looking 
 at Larkin.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 137 
 
 "Get in, Larkin," cried a voice. "No time now 
 for lettin' your blood freeze in your veins. I'm 
 
 backin' you to win and by you've got to step 
 
 lively." 
 
 Larkin was smiling as he got up, but the smile 
 gave place to a look of deadly earnestness as he 
 leaped suddenly at King in an effort to overcome 
 him at one rush. King was still smiling as he 
 braced himself and received the full force of Lar- 
 kin's rush without yielding more than half a step. 
 Then as Larkin bent low to get a hold, King 
 caught him quickly about the waist and, lifting 
 him off his feet, held him for a moment while he 
 kicked and lurched helplessly in an effort to free 
 himself. In another second he had Larkin on 
 the ground with his shoulders pinned down. 
 
 The whole thing had not occupied a minute, 
 and there was not a man in the group that did 
 not express his surprise at the sudden and unex- 
 pected outcome of the encounter. King, on his 
 part, felt a strange new thrill of pleasure as he 
 got up and looked round at the men. At no time 
 during his little set-to with Larkin had he 
 doubted his ability to take care of himself, but 
 the sharp action, though momentary, had exhil- 
 arated him and he was conscious of the renewed 
 vigor that had come to him during the two days 
 wandering in the hills.
 
 138 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 Back in the group of men stood one big fel- 
 low, a Spaniard of powerful build and hasty 
 temper, whom no one in the gang had ever pre- 
 tended to know. There was a look in his eyes 
 now, however, that attracted and even amused 
 King. Someone else apparently saw that look at 
 the same moment. 
 
 "You, Spain," came a voice. "Feelin' pretty 
 strong? Get in there and stack up. You and 
 Howden mate up pretty close." 
 
 "Go on get in, Spain," came from another 
 quarter, and at once the big Spaniard, serious and 
 struggling to control his excitement, became the 
 centre of interest. With a deal of urging, they 
 finally got him to step out not very reluctantly, 
 it seemed, for he came towards King rather 
 eagerly. 
 
 "I don't know, young fellow," he said seriously 
 as he came forward. "By golly, I t'ink I lika try 
 dat for once anyhow." 
 
 He advanced warily and tried to get his huge 
 arms about King's body. King, however, avoided 
 him by moving back a step at a time about the 
 enclosure until the look of seriousness in the 
 Spaniard's face became one of impatience, and 
 King knew that the moment had arrived when he 
 must close with his antagonist and fight it out.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 139 
 
 His decision had barely been made, however, 
 when the Spaniard made a quick movement to- 
 wards him and King had to leap to one side 
 quickly to avoid the powerful arms that came out 
 to encircle him. The movement left him slightly 
 in the rear and to one side of his opponent, and 
 stepping in quickly he sent his arm forward and 
 upward, and laying his hand on the back of the 
 Spaniard's neck brought his head down with a 
 snap. In another ten seconds he had doubled him 
 up and thrown him on the ground. 
 
 When the Spaniard got to his feet his black 
 eyes were flashing angrily, and he was muttering 
 incoherently as he looked at King. The latter, 
 however, was smiling with such genuine good na- 
 ture that at last the fire died in the black eyes 
 and the big fellow began to smile at his own de- 
 feat. 
 
 "By golly, young fellow," he said, "I lika know 
 dat little treek, jus' once." 
 
 King found a place for himself in the circle of 
 men and moved quietly to the outside where he 
 would be less in evidence. The centre of the 
 circle was taken almost immediately by a couple 
 of men who had come out to prove their prowess 
 at "squaw-wrestling." 
 
 While the interest in the match was at its
 
 140 "THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 height, King felt someone touch his arm, and 
 looking round, found himself face to face with 
 Lush Currie, who, with one finger on his lips as 
 a signal for silence, was beckoning King to come 
 out of the crowd and follow him. King withdrew 
 at once without attracting any attention, and fol- 
 lowed Currie until he came up with him just a 
 few yards off on the roadway. 
 
 When King had joined him he walked along in 
 silence for a short distance, expecting Currie to 
 speak. 
 
 "I just came from up the line," said Currie at 
 last. "I didn't know you were here where'd you 
 come from?" 
 
 King hesitated a moment before he replied. 
 The glimpses he had caught early that morning 
 of the two men in the hills set him thinking dur- 
 ing the day, and he was determined to be careful. 
 
 "I came from town," he said in reply to Cur- 
 rie's question. 
 
 "Yesbutbut when?" 
 
 "To-day. Got here in time for supper." 
 
 "Got here to-night? You didn't come from 
 McBain's camp to-day?" 
 
 King's reply was ready. "No I took another 
 way this time. But what " 
 
 "I think you'd better put back," Currie broke
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 141 
 
 in. "McCartney's got somethin' movin'. Old 
 Silent's in town been there for three days now 
 probably livin' at Cheney's. The girl went up 
 but came back this morning without him. I don't 
 know what's doin', but Gabe says Bill's got some 
 of Cheney's firewater an' there's goin' to be 
 trouble. Gabe was wishin' to-day you'd come 
 along. He expected you back when the girl came 
 and when you didn't turn up he was worried. He 
 says the girl's worried too." 
 
 They walked some distance before King made 
 any comment. At last he turned off in the direc- 
 tion of the corral where he had put his horse for 
 the night. 
 
 "I guess I'll be gettin* along back," he said 
 quietly. 
 
 Lush Currie stood and watched him until h6 
 had vanished in the darkness. And even as he 
 stood there, the rain that had been threatening 
 all day began to fall slowly.
 
 CHAPTER NINE 
 
 CHERRY McBAIN stood in the open door- 
 way of the cabin and looked out at the 
 heavy grey skies and the gathering dark- 
 ness. The air carried a chill reminder that sum- 
 mer was coming very rapidly to a close. All day 
 long there had been a cold wind and scudding 
 clouds that drifted low about tEe hill tops, and 
 hurried before a fitful eastern breeze that carried 
 dashes of mist and thin rain with it. 
 
 Now that evening had come the wind had gone 
 down, but the drizzling rain was falling steadily 
 and monotonously, as it does when it sets in for 
 a long downpour. Though it was still early even- 
 ing it was almost dusk, especially among the 
 heavy-limbed tamaracs where the cabin stood. 
 Cherry had lighted the lamp very early in an ef- 
 fort to bring some little cheer to the place, for the 
 heavy unbroken gloom of the skies, now growing 
 dark with the coming night, had filled her with a 
 sense of loneliness from which she could not free 
 herself. 
 
 It was not merely the fact that she was twenty- 
 
 143
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 143 
 
 one and that the day had been a dull one, tKough 
 perhaps a girl of Cherry McBain's temperament 
 needs no other excuse for being melancholy. She 
 was lonely, more indescribably lonely than she 
 had ever been in her life before. The distance 
 from happiness to despair is often a very short 
 one indeed, and Cherry had gone from one to 
 the other in what, to her, was an incredibly short 
 time. The latter weeks of the summer just 
 coming to a close had been the most supremely 
 happy time of her life. But the last two or three 
 days had been like long dreary months to her. It 
 seemed as if she had been given but one short 
 glimpse of bright hope only to be plunged again 
 into deepest darkness. At first it was wounded 
 pride that gave her pain. She loved King How- 
 den what hurt her most was the fact that she 
 loved him still in spite of herself. Now that she 
 recalled the way she had spoken to King, and 
 then recalled what she had seen when she came 
 unexpectedly upon Anne and King standing to- 
 gether in the deeper dusk of the doorway she 
 bit her lip and clenched her hands in anger at 
 herself that she should have allowed Herself to 
 be such a fool. 
 
 It was this wounded pride of hers that had un- 
 settled her so that she was unable to play, her
 
 144 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 wonted part when she had finally tried to make 
 her father come back to her. He had met her 
 suggestion with a stormy outburst worse than 
 any he had ever brought upon her before and 
 she had broken miserably before it, and had left 
 him and ridden back to the camp alone. What 
 did it matter that she had walked up and down 
 the crooked street of The Town for two days with 
 as firm a step and as erect a bearing as ever? 
 What did it matter that she had tossed her head 
 proudly and passed Anne without so much as a 
 word of recognition whenever the two met? What 
 did it matter that she had ridden into camp with 
 the same air of indifference that she had always 
 carried? Others might not know and she 
 vowed they would not know but she knew that 
 she had suffered a double defeat, and it hurt. 
 
 But Cherry McBain was not one to forget her 
 duty even in the hour of keenest disappointment. 
 Her sense of defeat had been partly relieved 
 during the day in the time-honored way that wo- 
 men have of relieving their feelings. Now as she 
 stood in the doorway of her cabin and looked out 
 at the grey world, she was the victim of a feeling 
 that she had never really experienced before. She 
 was afraid. 
 
 During the day she had spoken with old Gabe
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 145 
 
 Smith, who had come to get news from her of her 
 father. A change had come over the camp during 
 the past few days, the nature of which had made 
 Gabe very anxious to have Keith McBain back 
 again and asserting his old control. He did not 
 have to tell Cherry that Bill McCartney was the 
 cause of all the unrest he had reported to her. 
 She knew the meaning of it better than Gabe. 
 Cherry longed for her father's return. She even 
 upbraided herself for having left town without 
 him. 
 
 But even as she prayed for his coming, strange 
 doubts arose in her mind concerning her father's 
 power to combat the hostile forces of which Mc- 
 Cartney was not only the director but the creator 
 as well. She knew, in short, as others doubtless 
 knew, that Keith McBain was a broken man. His 
 power to break a man's will by a look or a word 
 was almost gone, and none knew it so well as his 
 own daughter. 
 
 And yet she wanted him back. After all, she 
 had always relied upon him in critical moments 
 in the past; it had come to be a habit with her. 
 Besides, there was no one else to whom she could 
 turn. Old Gabe Smith was kind and good, and 
 would always help to the extent of his ability, 
 but after all he was of no more use than any other 
 camp follower when a crisis had to be met.
 
 146 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 While she stood wondering what best to do she 
 saw Gabe himself coming down the pathway to- 
 wards her. All at once her mind was made up. 
 With a word or two to Gabe she went back into 
 the cabin and dressed herself preparatory to go- 
 ing out. In a few minutes she was back again in 
 the doorway waiting for Gabe, who reappeared 
 presently in the pathway leading Cherry's horse 
 behind him, saddled and bridled, ready for the 
 road. She allowed Gabe to help her into the 
 saddle, and then, leaving him to blow out the 
 light and close the door, she set off to the trail 
 and headed for The Town. This time she was 
 determined that her father's will should be no 
 match for her own. She would have her way with 
 him, no matter what he said, and he would re- 
 turn to camp with her and give commands. 
 
 No one saw her as she rode through the camp, 
 no one, at least, spoke to her, and in a couple of 
 minutes she was safely through with nothing be- 
 fore her but a long stretch of winding trail al- 
 ready wet from the rain. She went forward with 
 great caution though she knew every foot of the 
 trail she was traversing, and urged her horse only 
 in the higher stretches where the road was sandy 
 and still dry. The footing was very uncertain 
 in spots, and on account of the increasing inten-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 147 
 
 sity of the darkness she was forced to rely almost 
 wholly upon the instincts of her horse to guide 
 her. Fortunately there was but one trail, and 
 that one was flanked on either side by bushes and 
 trees and fallen logs that made an effective bar- 
 rier against her wandering from the beaten way. 
 One thing that caused her some concern as she 
 rode along was the fact that the little creeks she 
 had crossed countless times before, had crossed 
 scarcely twelve hours since, as a matter of fact, 
 had swollen considerably during the day. Every 
 time she attempted a fording she did so with an 
 increasing sense of surprise at the swirling of the 
 water about her horse's legs. She knew it had 
 been raining in the hills during the day, and she 
 had expected some little change in the size of the 
 streams, but nothing so formidable as the turbu- 
 lent rushing of these little creeks had presented 
 itself to her imagination. They were actually 
 vicious, she thought to herself, and once when the 
 water reached her foot and her horse stopped a 
 moment and leaned against the current before he 
 went on, she was more than a little anxious for 
 the outcome of her mission. She experienced a 
 strange thrill of something like fear, too, as she 
 looked down at the water beneath her, black un- 
 der the darkness of the night, and swirling and 
 rushing crazily onward in headlong haste.
 
 148 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 She had been on the way for nearly three hours 
 when she came at last to the little ridge overlook- 
 ing White Pine river. It was the prospect of hav- 
 ing to make this crossing that gave her most con- 
 cern. From the top of the ridge she could see no- 
 thing in the pitchy blackness of the night. Cau- 
 tiously she urged her horse down the gentle slope 
 of the ridge towards the river. She began to won- 
 der whether the little bridge of poles had been 
 swept out by the current. If the water had not 
 risen above the level of the bridge there was no 
 reason why a perfectly safe crossing could not be 
 made. With the instinct born of long contact 
 with the world out-of-doors she strove to mea- 
 sure the distance she had gone since she left the 
 ridge crest. The bridge was some distance off yet, 
 probably fifteen or twenty yards, when all at once 
 she thought she heard the sound of water running 
 about her horse's fore-feet. She urged him for- 
 ward a little, and found herself standing some ten 
 yards or so from the bridge with the water rush- 
 ing just beneath her. Dimly in the darkness she 
 could make out the form of the bridge. It was 
 still in its place with the water rushing past at 
 either end, though it had not gone over it as yet. 
 
 For a moment she stopped and faced the situa- 
 tion, and the new problems it presented to her.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 149 
 
 She had no doubt that she could cross the bridge 
 quite safely and finish her trip successfully. But 
 if it continued to rain during the night, there 
 would be no getting back again. With the camp 
 cut off from them, she and her father would 
 simply have to wait until the rain ceased and the 
 rivers went down sufficiently to allow a safe pas- 
 sage before they could think of returning. But 
 that was like enlisting Providence on the side of 
 the devil, for she knew it would be simply playing 
 into the hands of McCartney to leave the camp 
 in his charge, perhaps for days, while the wet 
 weather made it impossible for the men to work 
 on the grade. Though she did not know what she 
 could do if she were alone at the camp, she felt 
 intuitively that while her father was away her 
 duty was to fill the place he had left, if she could 
 do nothing but stand as a sort of symbol of the 
 leadership which her father had embodied. 
 
 She decided to abandon the trip to The 
 Town and to return to camp, there to match 
 her wits against those of McCartney, and 
 hope for the best. The decision quickly made 
 was suddenly shaken by the fear that her 
 father might even now be on the road. As 
 she thought of him attempting to cross the 
 White Pine alone with only his team to take
 
 150 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 care of him, she shrank with fear. She recalled 
 the nights during the summer when his team had 
 brought him safely home, though he himself had 
 never known anything about it until he awoke 
 the next morning. But good fortune cannot 
 bring a man through everything, and Cherry 
 knew her father could never cross the White Pine 
 in its present condition and under the heavy 
 darkness that hid everything within a few feet. 
 
 Turning her horse's head back she rode again 
 up the slope of the ridge and dismounted when 
 she was about half way to the crest. Here she 
 found a fallen log in the shelter of a closely grown 
 clump of trees and sat down. She was far enough 
 from the river to hear quite easily other sounds 
 than the rushing of the water. Above her the 
 trees brushed back and forth in the wind, with 
 boughs rustling and creaking and moaning in the 
 darkness. The sound from the river was like 
 the low, steady washing of a distant surf. Cherry 
 sat and strained her ears for the least noise from 
 the other side of the bridge. Time after time she 
 started up at what she thought was the striking 
 of a hoof or the scraping of a wheel upon a stone. 
 Once she got to her feet suddenly, her heart 
 thumping with expectancy. She was sure she 
 had heard her father's voice in a gruff word of
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 151 
 
 command to his team. But although she stood 
 with breath held and ears strained for the slight- 
 est sound, none came, and she sat down again, 
 feeling that she might have been dreaming. 
 
 When she at last arose |x> take the trail back to 
 the camp it was past midnight. Nothing had come 
 of her long wait and she felt it would be useless 
 to remain longer. No one would have allowed 
 even Keith McBain to leave town on such a night 
 and at an hour that would make the trip to camp 
 doubly hazardous. 
 
 But as she went over the top of the ridge and 
 rode along the trail she had come over earlier in 
 the night she began to estimate the difficulty of 
 the problem that awaited her if her fears concern- 
 ing McCartney's designs had any foundation in 
 fact. 
 
 She knew the hour must come sooner or later 
 when McCartney would give up his policy of 
 quiet waiting. She knew something of his deter- 
 mination and recklessness of consequences. She 
 knew he would strike when he thought the mo- 
 ment most opportune. And she was not blind to 
 the fact that the moment was perhaps at hand. 
 He would carry out his threat some time why 
 should he not do so to-night? 
 
 Cherry McBain had never been afraid of Bill
 
 152 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 McCartney; she had usually managed to meet 
 him when the other men were around, or when 
 her father was near, and she had successfully 
 avoided anything but the most casual passages 
 between them. Her chief security had lain in the 
 fact that she had always been on the best of terms 
 with the men of her father's camp. She liked 
 them and she knew they liked her. But she did 
 not fail to recognize that McCartney's chief con- 
 cern during the last few weeks had been to win 
 for himself the regard of the men and make them 
 his followers. That he had won a small group 
 through the fear he had inspired by his display 
 of brute strength Cherry well knew. Just how 
 far he had been successful among the more inde- 
 pendent men of the camp she did not know. Gabe 
 Smith had often spoken to her about it, and had 
 assured her of the loyalty of the great majority 
 of tflem, but she knew that Gabe's judgment on 
 such things was not always to be relied upon. It 
 was this uncertainty that made her afraid. She 
 was actually afraid for herself. Without the ac- 
 tive support of the men in her father's camp she 
 would be powerless against a man of McCart- 
 ney's temper, to say nothing of his size, and she 
 dreaded the moment when he would step up and 
 demand that she should do her part to make good 
 her father's bargain.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIX 153 
 
 She knew at any rate what the future held for 
 her if the worst came to the worst. She would 
 fight as long as she had strength left in her body 
 and wit in her mind. If she failed at last it 
 would be for her father's sake, at least, and she 
 would harbour no regrets and cherish no grudge. 
 
 Suddenly, as she rode along in deep thought, 
 she was awakened from her dreaming by the sight 
 of a red flare in the clouded night-sky. It 
 appeared directly ahead of her, a large spot of 
 ruby light glowing against the low clouds. She 
 knew what it meant only too w r ell, but the fear of 
 what its full meaning might be sent a chill to her 
 heart as she looked at it. Then she gave her 
 horse a sharp cut with her quirt and he was off 
 at a mad gallop along the muddy trail. 
 
 The caution she had exercised in picking her 
 way along through the darkness was suddenly 
 forgotten. The horse would have to do the best 
 it could to find a footing and keep the trail. One 
 thought only occupied her mind. The camp was 
 on fire and she must save it, if she could cover the 
 distance in time. 
 
 About half an hour of the maddest riding she 
 had ever done brought her to the edge of the 
 camp where the trail left the grade and emerged 
 from the bushes beside the corral. In the middle 
 of the camp the men were dancing about the
 
 154 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 flaming remnants of what had been the cook 
 camp. It had been nothing but a frame of logs 
 and canvas, and had gone up like so much dry 
 kindling in a few minutes. What she saw was 
 nothing more than a heap of burning debris, 
 about which the men were running and shouting 
 like beings half-crazed. 
 
 At first Cherry stood at a distance, scarcely 
 knowing what to do. Three workless days had 
 produced the kind of results that she had long 
 since learned to expect in construction camps. 
 With McCartney on the ground she knew the re- 
 sults were inevitable. The men were nearly all 
 drunk and many of them scarcely seemed to 
 know what they were doing. 
 
 All at once she saw the swaggering form of 
 McCartney in the light from the fire. The sight 
 maddened her and with a flash of her quirt she 
 sent her horse flying into the crowd, pulling him 
 back suddenly almost upon his haunches at the 
 very edge of the fire. 
 
 Her sudden appearance like an apparition out 
 of the night struck surprise into the hearts of the 
 men. They fell back, some of them with terror 
 on their faces as she struck, first on one side, then 
 on the other, at a couple who approached her in 
 threatening attitude.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 155 
 
 "Get to your bunks, you !" she cried in a voice 
 that all could hear and in a tone that none could 
 mistake. 
 
 Moving quickly about, she called to a half 
 dozen men whom she knew best and liked, among 
 them Gabe Smith. 
 
 "Stay here for a little while," she said after she 
 had got them together. "Look round at the 
 store and the corral and the bunkhouse to make 
 sure there is no more danger of fire. Gabe, you 
 take charge for to-night, and get these men to 
 help. Make the others go to bed." 
 
 In half an hour the camp was in a state of com- 
 parative quiet. Nothing was left of the cook- 
 camp but a heap of embers smouldering in the 
 rain which was still falling steadily. Cherry 
 found Gabe in the bunkhouse patiently arguing 
 with three or four of the men who had ill-tem- 
 peredly protested against going to bed at the com- 
 mand of anyone, much less that of a woman. 
 She called him out to her. 
 
 "Let them sit up if they like, Gabe," she said 
 with a smile. ' "The less trouble the better. Two 
 or three of you had better stay round till daylight 
 anyhow. I'm going to the cabin. I'll take my 
 horse along and tether him under the tamaracs. 
 If anything happens let me know, I'll lie down.
 
 156 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 The lamp will be lit, and I'll be ready to come 
 out at once if you need me. Some one must go 
 to town in the morning. 
 
 Gabe came up to her as she was about to leave. 
 
 "There's one thing, my girl," he said. "You'd 
 better not leave your door unlocked. I can 
 knock" 
 
 "Don't be silly, Gabe," she interrupted quickly. 
 "I'm not afraid." 
 
 "Well, take this," he said, drawing a revolver 
 from his pocket and holding it towards her. 
 
 "Why, Gabe," she exclaimed, laughing at him, 
 "what in the world are you going to do with 
 that?" 
 
 "Nothing, I hope," he replied a little sheep- 
 ishly. "Lush Currie left it with me as a kind of 
 remembrance and I've been keeping it by me." 
 
 "But you'd never use it, Gabe?" 
 
 "No," he replied with a slow smile as he slipped 
 it back again into his pocket, "but it does give a 
 man a comfortable feeling to have it on him, in 
 
 case." 
 
 She bade him good-night cheerfully and rode 
 off towards the cabin. Although she had been 
 amused at what she thought was an unnecessary 
 precaution for Gabe Smith to take, she could not
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 157 
 
 help admitting to herself that she shared some- 
 what in the feeling of comfort which the old 
 fellow protested was his chief reason for carrying 
 the weapon. She regretted, moreover, that she 
 had not asked him concerning the whereabouts of 
 McCartney. He had disappeared suddenly when 
 she had come upon the scene. The first glimpse 
 she had had of him was the last, and she felt a 
 little uneasiness at not knowing where he had 
 gone. It had come to her mind frequently dur- 
 ing her conversation with Gabe that she should 
 ask him to find McCartney and keep an eye on 
 him, but she did not wish the old man to know 
 what was in her mind. As she rode into the 
 tamaracs, however, and tethered her horse in a 
 sheltered spot, she wished with all her heart that 
 she had given at least a hint of her fears to Gabe. 
 But perhaps he had already guessed at them for 
 himself there was a little comfort in the hope 
 that he had done so; and with this thought in 
 her mind she entered the cabin. 
 
 When she had lighted her lamp she looked 
 about her to assure herself that everything was 
 just as she had left it. Then she smiled to her- 
 self as she remembered that she had probably 
 never done such a thing before. She was actually 
 nervous and the discovery really amused her.
 
 158 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 Quickly she removed her wet garments, and 
 having dressed again in warm, dry clothing, she 
 lowered the light and, drawing a heavy cover 
 about her, lay down on the couch and dropped to 
 sleep almost instantly.
 
 CHAPTER TEN 
 
 CHERRY awoke with a start and sat up 
 quickly, blinking her eyes in the dim light 
 and struggling to regain control of her 
 senses. Something had frightened her out of a 
 heavy sleep. Now that she was awake she 
 thought she remembered a sensation of a cold 
 breath of air on her cheek. Suddenly her eyes 
 fell upon a shadowy form standing beside the 
 door. At first she was not sure but that she had 
 been dreaming. Gradually her mind cleared, 
 however, and she sprang to her feet as she recog- 
 nized the face of Bill McCartney looking at her 
 from where he stood with his hand still upon the 
 door-latch. 
 
 At the first sight of the intruder her heart 
 seemed to stop beating and she faced him for a 
 moment in silence. Then she stepped swiftly to 
 the table and turned up the light. As she did so 
 McCartney took his hand from the latch and 
 turning his back to the door looked at her stead- 
 ily, smiling and folding his arms. 
 
 "What do you want here?" Cherry asked in a 
 
 159
 
 160 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 voice that betrayed her nervousness in spite of 
 her efforts to control herself. 
 
 McCartney remained silent, answering her 
 only with a smile. 
 
 "What have you come here for at this time of 
 night?" she asked again. Her voice was more 
 steady now and she straightened up defiantly as 
 she spoke. "Get out of here, or I'll have a dozen 
 men " 
 
 He took a step towards her and raised his hand 
 for silence. 
 
 "Cherry," he said, "there ain't any use of you 
 an' me disagreein'. You know that just as well 
 as me. I come here now because I want to tell 
 you something you ought to know for your own 
 good. You don't let me talk to you like some 
 others. I've got to take my own way of doin' 
 things or I won't get them done at all, see? You 
 go back there an' sit down. I'm goin' to talk an' 
 I want you to listen." 
 
 He waited for Cherry to go back to the couch 
 again, but she stood motionless by the table and 
 looked at him for some time before she spoke. 
 She knew she could gain nothing by rousing his 
 anger. From the look in his eyes and the tone of 
 his voice it was quite clear that he had been drink- 
 ing. If she vexed him he might resort to ugly
 
 tactics in which she would be no match for him. 
 Her only course was the one she had followed for 
 weeks. She must fight for time in the hope that 
 something might occur before she would have to 
 admit defeat. 
 
 "I shall not sit down till you do," she said, 
 pointing to a chair beside the door. 
 
 He looked behind him and then looked at her. 
 What he saw in her face was enough to convince 
 him that she was in earnest, at any rate, and he 
 turned slowly, and going to the chair, sat down, 
 taking his hat off as he did so and putting it on 
 the floor beside him. 
 
 "Now, then," he said, as he looked up at her. 
 
 For reply Cherry moved the lamp to one side 
 in order that it might not obstruct her view of 
 McCartney from where she intended to sit, and 
 going to the couch from which she had risen only 
 a few minutes before, sat down and waited for 
 him to speak. 
 
 "You ask me what brings me here so late," he 
 began. "Don't you think that's a strange ques- 
 tion to ask me? You an' me ain't talked much 
 together lately, but when we had our last long 
 talk together I thought you understood it clear 
 enough. An' I don't think you're the kind that 
 forgets easy, either."
 
 162 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 Cherry gave a little shrug of impatience and 
 looked away from him, letting her eyes rest upon 
 the floor at her feet. 
 
 "You asked me what I want what I came 
 here for," he went on. "Well, what's the use of 
 mixin' words? You know an' I ain't goin' to 
 tell you unless you've forgot. But listen to me, 
 Cherry." He lowered his voice as he spoke. 
 "Bill McCartney is the best friend you've got. 
 An' he's the best friend Keith McBain's got. 
 Your father's an old man, but he's a wise man 
 an' he knows some things his daughter can't 
 understand. You ain't got a better friend than 
 me, an' the sooner you get that straight the better 
 off you'll be." 
 
 He paused as Cherry looked at him with more 
 impatience than before. 
 
 "You don't need to tell me all this," she said. 
 "I've thought it all over a hundred times. I 
 want to know what you have come here for to- 
 night. The rest can wait for some other time." 
 
 The smile left his face as she spoke, and he 
 seemed on the point of getting up from his chair. 
 
 "Well," he began, in a voice that was pitched 
 much higher than before, "I'm here to tell you 
 this for one thing. There's a kind of arrange- 
 ment between you an' me. You know all about
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 163 
 
 that. There's goin' to be trouble for anyone who 
 tries to spoil that arrangement. You under- 
 stand?" 
 
 Cherry professed ignorance of the significance 
 of his words. 
 
 "Don't tell me you don't know," he protested 
 quickly. "I've got eyes to see with, an' if I hadn't 
 there's lot's more that has, an' it ain't hard to find 
 out what's goin' on. There's someone breakin' 
 into my game an' he's got to get out an' stay out." 
 
 "Who?" Cherry asked in a voice that was al- 
 most coquettish. 
 
 "Who?" he blustered. "For God's sake 
 who?" 
 
 "Yes," she insisted, "who?" 
 
 "Howden that's who." 
 
 She did not show the slightest disturbance, but 
 laughed a little to herself as she looked again at 
 the floor. 
 
 "No," she said, "you're wrong. King How- 
 den and I are not even good friends any more." 
 
 He looked at her in surprise. "That ain't 
 true," he said. 
 
 She raised her eyes quickly. "You have never 
 known me to lie over anything," she replied. 
 "You wouldn't expect me to lie over this." 
 
 He grunted to himself and regarded her
 
 164 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 strangely. "Then I'm goin' ahead with that in 
 mind," he said. "Am I doin' right?" 
 
 "I can only speak for myself," she replied. "I 
 don't know what's in King Howden's mind." 
 
 "I don't give a " He checked himself in an 
 effort, apparently, to be polite. "I don't worry 
 about what's in his mind," he said. "I'll look 
 after him, an* I'm goin' to settle with him my- 
 self." 
 
 He paused for some time and Cherry took ad- 
 vantage of the pause to draw about her shoulders 
 the cover that lay on the couch where it had fal- 
 len when she had first got up. 
 
 "And is that all?" she asked. 
 
 "That's all on that just now," he said. 
 "There's just one more thing I want to say just 
 a little warnin' I want to give you. I don't want 
 you interferin' with things in the camp. That's 
 no place for you. You jumped in to-night where 
 you wasn't wanted an' you got away with it 
 but it ain't goin' to happen again." 
 
 "But my father is away and " 
 
 "That's just the point, now," he broke in. "If 
 you just let things go along in their natural way 
 nothin' will happen. Everybody knows Keith 
 McBain ain't goin' to last for another year's con- 
 tractin'. Nobody's goin' to take his place but the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 165 
 
 one that has a right to take it. That's me all on 
 account of our understandin'." 
 
 Cherry got to her feet, her arms rigid, her 
 finger-nails biting into her palms. 
 
 "Keith McBain is still boss of this camp," she 
 said, "and if you want to know it, his daughter, 
 Cherry McBain, is still mistress of her own heart. 
 It's time you knew that you can't frighten either 
 of us." 
 
 She was fully aware of the hazardous game she 
 was playing. So long as his conversation turned 
 upon her alone she had been capable of keeping 
 her impatience well under control. After all, he 
 might tire of a game in which he was no match 
 for a wary opponent. But when he mentioned 
 her father's name she could stand it no longer. 
 The blood of Old Silent was hot in her veins, and 
 the fire that had flashed from his eyes was leap- 
 ing now in her own. She recalled the numberless 
 times when she had seen her father reduced to a 
 pitiful meekness before a word from Bill Mc- 
 Cartney. She had wept bitterly for the old man, 
 broken in body and will by a man whose only 
 title to recognition was brute force and the pos- 
 session of a life secret. All the injustice of it 
 came upon her like a flood. She would do no 
 more weeping. She would cringe no more. She
 
 166 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 would fight, whatever the consequences, and 
 bring her father to fight as well. 
 
 McCartney got up and looked at'her with his 
 customary sneer. "You talk that way because 
 you don't know," he said slowly, "because he 
 ain't here to stop you. But I ain't goin' to be 
 foolish about it. When Keith McBain wants to 
 fight Bill McCartney he's welcome. But he 
 won't fight because he can't fight. He's wanted 
 bad an' he knows the right hunch to play. An' 
 you ain't goin' to fight Bill McCartney neither, 
 for Bill McCartney ain't goin' to fight you. He's 
 goin' to love you !" 
 
 He left his place beside the chair and lurched 
 unsteadily towards her. Leaving the couch 
 quickly, Cherry moved till she got the table be- 
 tween herself and McCartney and then looked 
 at him steadily. For some reason her fear, her 
 nervousness was gone. She felt equal to any 
 emergency, and quite capable of matching any 
 move he should make. She made up her mind 
 that if she could reach the door she would make 
 a dash for the outside and call Gabe. But Mc- 
 Cartney, dazed though he was from drinking, was 
 sufficiently alert to anticipate any such move on 
 her part, and was careful to keep possession of the 
 side of the table nearest the door. After a couple
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 167 
 
 of futile attempts on McCartney's part to reach 
 Cherry, he stood for a moment and looked at her, 
 leaning forward with both hands on the table. 
 
 "There ain't a bit o' use in this an' you know 
 it!" he declared, and for the first time since he 
 had entered the cabin his look was sinister and 
 threatening. "Do you want me to go out o' 
 here?" 
 
 "I do get out !" Cherry replied. 
 
 "If I get out, Keith McBain '11 pay. He knows 
 that, if you don't." 
 
 "You can't frighten me and you can't 
 frighten him. Get out, 1 tell you !" 
 
 "If you mean that " he straightened up as he 
 spoke, as if he were about to leave. 
 
 "Get out, I tell you!" 
 
 Suddenly his manner changed. A smile of con- 
 tempt curled one corner of his mouth. 
 
 "You damn little fool !" he sneered. 
 
 Seizing the lamp quickly he placed it on the 
 chair behind him, and with one movement of his 
 powerful arms he swept the table to one side and 
 lurched clumsily towards her. Realizing that 
 she could not escape, Cherry set herself to meet 
 his rush. As he put out his arms to seize her she 
 closed her hand and swung with all the weight of 
 her body at his face. The blow went straight and
 
 quick, so quick that McCartney recoiled a little 
 in surprise, and paused a moment to look at her. 
 One moment was enough for Cherry. Before he 
 could clearly understand what had happened she 
 had darted for the door. Her hand was on the 
 latch before he came to himself, and in another 
 second she would have been out and away. But 
 McCartney's heavy hands clutched her shoulders 
 as she was on the point of opening the door, and 
 she felt herself lifted bodily from the floor. 
 
 Setting her upon her feet at a safe distance 
 from the door he turned her round, and raising 
 her face, looked at her with a smile. 
 
 "Ain't you the little fool ! I thought you had 
 
 sense." 
 
 He stopped suddenly and his hold upon Cherry 
 relaxed. 
 
 There was a sound of footsteps on the pathway 
 outside. Cherry listened with indrawn breath 
 the footsteps were familiar. When they stopped 
 before the door she turned quickly. 
 
 "Gabe! Gabe !" she called. 
 
 The door opened quickly and old Gabe stood 
 in the doorway and blinked wouderingly as he 
 looked into the cabin. 
 
 "Put this man out, Gabe !" Cherry said, quick- 
 ly, breaking away from McCartney, whose whole
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 169 
 
 attention was now on the old man who had come 
 to take a hand in an affair that he had thought 
 peculiarly his own. 
 
 Gabe continued to blink uncertainly, and 
 seemed to have difficulty in finding anything to 
 say. But the next moment the old man showed 
 a surprising quickness of movement. If he had 
 not moved quickly McCartney would have been 
 upon him. Stepping back suddenly through the 
 open doorway into the darkness outside he 
 avoided the kick that the big foreman aimed at 
 him. But before McCartney could recover him- 
 self to close the door, Gabe had leaped back into 
 the light again, only this time he was prepared to 
 take the aggressive. 
 
 In his right hand he held Lush Currie's "re- 
 membrance," the light from the lamp glinting on 
 the polished steel. Gabe's hand shook so percept- 
 ibly that, in spite of the critical situation all three 
 were facing, Cherry had all she could do to keep 
 from laughing. But if Gabe's hand shook, his 
 eyes were steady and it was Gabe's eye that Mc- 
 Cartney watched. 
 
 "Now, Bill," he said in a voice that expressed 
 grim determination even if it was a little thin, 
 "you git out an' move damn quick !" 
 
 Cherry watched the men closely for a moment
 
 170 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 while McCartney stood as if rooted to the spot 
 from sheer surprise at the old man's nerve. That 
 moment was like an hour to Cherry. She did not 
 think Gabe would actually carry out what he 
 threatened if his commands were not obeyed to 
 the last syllable, but there was a note in his voice 
 that was new to her. It meant simply that Gabe 
 Smith would stand for no trifling. 
 
 The next moment, however, brought relief. 
 McCartney moved round towards the door and 
 Gabe circled away from it very cautiously. By 
 the time McCartney had reached the doorway 
 Cherry was ready to laugh at the whole perfor- 
 mance. When he turned sulkily and stepped 
 quickly out, followed by Gabe, who waited a mo- 
 ment in the doorway before he came back into the 
 cabin and closed the door again behind him, she 
 did laugh. 
 
 Gabe stood and looked at her in silence and 
 surprise until she was through laughing, and then 
 sat down. 
 
 "Gabe, you dear old silly !" she said, going over 
 to him. "You might have hit me or even your- 
 self if you had put that thing off !" 
 
 Gabe made no reply. He was too serious, too 
 much occupied, perhaps, with the importance of 
 the thing he had done and the things it would 
 probably lead to in the very near future.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 171 
 
 The new day had already begun to dawn when 
 Gabe finally stole quietly out of the cabin and 
 took his way down the path. He had left Cherry 
 sleeping soundly and was himself very weary 
 after his night's vigil. But he knew a full day 
 awaited him, and he was determined to face it 
 with as much courage as his old heart could 
 muster. 
 
 Countless times that night he had prayed in- 
 wardly for help from somewhere. Even now, as 
 he plodded wearily from the cabin to the trail, he 
 was muttering something to himself that might 
 have passed for a petition to the Heavenly 
 Powers. 
 
 And as if in answer to his prayerful mutterings, 
 there came trudging heavily towards him round 
 the bend in the trail just where it left the trees 
 and entered the camp, a man leading a horse by 
 the bridle rein and followed by a tired-looked 
 dog. 
 
 "King, boy!" cried Gabe, and could say no 
 more.
 
 CHAPTER ELEVEN 
 
 KING'S first enquiry was concerning Cherry. 
 For reasons which were perhaps his own, 
 Gabe made no reference to what had oc- 
 curred in the cabin during the night, and after 
 briefly assuring him that she was all right, has- 
 tened to ask King where he had been and how 
 he had come to put in an appearance so unex- 
 pectedly. 
 
 King, in his turn, simply smiled at the old 
 man's curiosity, and asked Gabe to get him some- 
 thing to eat at once. Gabe met the request by 
 pointing to the pile of smoking ashes that now 
 lay where the cook-camp had stood. King made 
 no effort to conceal his surprise. As a result of 
 Currie's warning of the night before, he was pre- 
 pared to meet difficulty on arriving at the camp. 
 He had not lived for the best part of his life in 
 camps without knowing something of what a man 
 of McCartney's type could do if he were given a 
 free hand with a gang of men. He was prepared 
 to find the men carousing and perhaps fighting 
 among themselves. He expected to find the camp 
 
 172
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 173 
 
 in a state of general excitement. But the heap of 
 smouldering ashes was a concrete result that he 
 scarcely expected. 
 
 He looked for a few moments at the smoke 
 rising from the ashes and then turned to Gabe 
 with a questioning look in his eyes. Gabe's reply; 
 was brief but effective. 
 
 "Bill McCartney," he said. 
 
 When King had questioned him fully and had 
 learned all the details of the trouble that had cul- 
 minated in the burning of the cook-camp, he went 
 with Gabe to the camp-store and awakened the 
 timekeeper, who opened the door very warily at 
 first, until he was satisfied that the early morning 
 visitors had no design upon his person, nor any 
 upon his stores either except what might be ex- 
 pected of two very hungry men. 
 
 And for the next two hours or more the two 
 men held council seated upon a couple of pack- 
 ing boxes, and laid their plans for the day. Nor 
 were the plans easy to make. There were many 
 things to be done at once if the work that Bill 
 McCartney had started was to be undone before 
 it was too late. They went carefully over the 
 names of the camp-followers, using the pass-book 
 of the timekeeper for a guide, and divided the 
 men roughly into two groups, one composed of
 
 174 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 those to whom they could appeal for assistance 
 and the other of the men who had probably been 
 won over to the side of McCartney. This task 
 was not a difficult one, but it was not so easy to 
 organize their dozen qr so of picked men so that 
 they could effectively do the work that would 
 have to be done during the day. 
 
 In the first place Keith McBain must be 
 brought from town. Both King and Gabe were 
 firmly of the opinion that Keith's presence would 
 at once bring the men to their senses. They be- 
 lieved, moreover, that McCartney would back 
 down when called upon to face Old Silent. King 
 determined that they should wait until the after- 
 noon, with the hope that the old contractor might 
 come back of his own accord. In case he did not 
 put in an appearance, King decided that he should 
 go himself to town while there was yet light 
 enough to make travelling easy. The rain had 
 stopped during the night, and although the sky 
 was still heavy the clouds were showing signs of 
 breaking. 
 
 In the event of King having to go finally for 
 Keith McBain, the care of the camp was to be 
 left in the hands of old Gabe and the few men 
 they had picked to help him. King insisted upon 
 special provision being made to the end that no
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 175 
 
 harm should befall Cherry, and that the cabin 
 among the tamaracs should be left unmolested. 
 
 By the time they had perfected their plans and 
 were ready to go out to put them into effect, the 
 sun was already well above the horizon, and 
 when they stepped out of the narrow doorway it 
 was under a sky in which ragged edges of clouds 
 were torn apart and changed to silver where the 
 long shafts had broken through. The day was 
 dawning full of promise at any rate, and both 
 men felt its influence strike them as they turned 
 and walked down the trail. 
 
 As matters turned out, the day passed so 
 quietly that both King and Gabe were surprised. 
 During the morning scarcely anyone stirred in 
 camp, most of the men making good their op- 
 portunity to sleep off the effects of the night be- 
 fore. Three times King strolled off in the direc- 
 tion of the cabin to watch for the first indication 
 that Cherry was moving about. Not until it was 
 noon, however, did he see the smoke rising from 
 the pipe that served as a chimney and stuck out 
 from under the roof at one end of the cabin. 
 
 His first impulse was to go down and see 
 Cherry at once. He wanted to talk to her about 
 the affairs of the camp, and he hoped he might 
 have an opportunity to explain the misunder-
 
 176 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 standing that existed between them. On second 
 thought, however, he decided to get Gabe to go 
 with him and to confine whatever conversation 
 they might have to the business they had in 
 hand. 
 
 Accordingly the two men went to the cabin to- 
 gether early in the afternoon to acquaint Cherry 
 of the plans they had laid. She was standing 
 outside among the tamaracs when they arrived. 
 King noticed that her greeting, while courteous, 
 was without any enthusiasm. They went into the 
 house and sat down. 
 
 "We have some help, Cherry," Gabe said when 
 they had seated themselves. 
 
 "So I see," she responded without concern. 
 
 Gabe, however, was probably unaware of any 
 change in Cherry's manner. The change was 
 meant for King and it was not lost upon him. He 
 sat silently listening to Gabe and Cherry while 
 they discussed plans. 
 
 Only once did Cherry show anything of her 
 usual manner, and that was when Gabe men- 
 tioned the fact that King was about to start for 
 town to get her father. 
 
 "I was just getting ready to do that myself," 
 she protested. 
 
 "I think King had better go," Gabe insisted. 
 "Of course, if you would like to go along ."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 177 
 
 "Oh, no," she replied, "it isn't necessary. Be- 
 sides you might need some more help here, 
 Gabe." 
 
 She smiled at the recollection of what had oc- 
 curred the night before. 
 
 "Yes we might need you here," Gabe mused, 
 as if he were talking to himself. "I was just 
 thinkin' that things were so quiet now that per- 
 haps I could get along alone." 
 
 "No, Gabe," said Cherry, "one will be enough 
 to go for father. I'll stay in the camp." 
 
 A few minutes later when the two men were 
 walking down the pathway towards the camp 
 Gabe looked oddly at King. 
 
 "There's something gone the matter with that 
 girl," he said. "She ain't like she always is." 
 
 "Perhaps it's her father," King suggested, 
 but Gabe made no immediate response to the sug- 
 gestion. 
 
 "No, it ain't her father," he said after a few 
 minutes. "She was as much worried over her 
 father last night as she is to-day. There's some- 
 thing else." 
 
 King did not offer any further suggestions and 
 the two walked along in silence for some little 
 distance. At last Gabe stopped abruptly. 
 
 "Now I come to think of it," he said suddenly, 
 "what the devil was wrong with you? You
 
 ain't seen her for days and yet you sat there all 
 that time without speakin' a word." 
 
 The smile that started to King's face vanished 
 suddenly. "Gabe, there's little chance for us to 
 understand a woman," he said slowly. "I never 
 could they were always strange to me." 
 
 "I ain't thinkin' just now about her ways," 
 Gabe replied with a directness that he never 
 achieved except when he was very excited or very 
 much in earnest. "It's you your way ain't what 
 it always is." 
 
 "I guess you're right, Gabe," King replied. 
 "There's been something just a misunderstand- 
 ing that's all." 
 
 Gabe whistled to himself a very long, low 
 whistle. 
 
 Dinner was served in camp that day very much 
 as usual, with the exception that tables had to be 
 set in the bunk-house. The supply of dishes was 
 not all that might have been desired, but the 
 cook's ingenuity and the exigencies of the occa- 
 sion in which there was at least a little humour, 
 did much to make the dinner hour almost as 
 pleasant as it had ever been. The supply of eat- 
 ables was ample, with plenty still to spare in the 
 store. And although nothing was said about it 
 there was a tacit recognition, and it was pretty
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 179 
 
 general too, that the men had King to thank for 
 the fact that the first meal served since the burn- 
 ing of the cook-camp was ample and well- 
 ordered, even if it did come two hours late. 
 
 It was the middle of the afternoon before King 
 got away. With anything like good luck in tra- 
 velling he hoped he might reach town before dusk 
 and if the roads were in a condition that made his 
 return possible that night he would be on his 
 way back again by dawn the next day. He hoped 
 that he might be able to return again that night. 
 
 His hopes were not encouraged, however, as he 
 rode along. The trail was in bad shape and the 
 rivers had not yet begun to go down. A wish he 
 had entertained when he set out, that he might 
 perhaps meet Keith McBain somewhere along 
 the way, changed quickly to a fear lest the old 
 man should have set out by himself and have met 
 disaster on the way. For he knew that if the old 
 contractor's home-coming on this occasion was 
 anything like it had been on other occasions, 
 there was only one chance in a thousand that he 
 would get through. 
 
 There was still more than an hour of daylight 
 left when he reached the White Pine River. The 
 water had risen until now it was running over 
 the bridge in the middle where the logs that had
 
 180 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 been thrown across for main supports sagged 
 most. The bridge itself, however, was still intact. 
 The embankments that had been thrown up at 
 either end were still visible and appeared to offer 
 good footing, although King knew that the sub- 
 merged roadway leading away from the bridge- 
 head on either side was washed away by the 
 current. The only question that gave him any 
 concern was whether or not the poles that did ser- 
 vice for the bridge planking were still in their 
 places. So far as he could see not one of them 
 had moved out of place. Altogether he felt sure 
 that the crossing was worth trying at any rate. 
 The distance was not great, and if the worst 
 should happen he was confident of his ability to 
 bring himself safely to shore somewhere down 
 stream. The attempt to cross was not to be made 
 recklessly, at any rate, and getting down from his 
 horse King made as careful a survey of the con- 
 ditions as he could on foot. When he had looked 
 the place over thoroughly and considered the 
 different emergencies that might arise and what 
 he should do to meet each, he got back again into 
 the saddle, and turning his horse towards the 
 bridge-head urged him forward gently. 
 
 The horse stepped down very cautiously into 
 the water, proceeded a few yards and then
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 181 
 
 stopped. The water was almost up to animal's 
 flanks now and was rushing past in a dizzy whirl 
 that made the horse tremble in every muscle and 
 limb. The dog was still standing with two front 
 paws in the water, whining and yelping. For a 
 moment King waited to reconsider what he had 
 planned. He felt almost like turning back and 
 taking the affairs of the camp arbitrarily into his 
 own hands until Keith McBain turned up of his 
 own accord. But in that moment of hesitation 
 something happened that decided the whole ques- 
 tion for him at once. 
 
 Above the rushing of the water he heard the' 
 sound of wheels striking against stones, and look- 
 ing up he saw Keith McBain's horses coming on 
 the run towards him, the buckboard jumping 
 along behind them and rocking from side to side 
 in the trail empty. When the team came to the 
 opposite side of the stream, King shouted to them 
 and they stopped suddenly, but not before they 
 had plunged half way to the bridge-head and 
 stood in the deepest part of the current on the 
 other side of the bridge. For a moment only, 
 they stood and looked at King and then wheeling 
 about, and carried by the weight of the flood, 
 plunged back again out of the water and into the 
 poplars that stood at the side of the trail. There
 
 182 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 they were brought to a standstill in a tangle of 
 branches and underbrush. 
 
 All thought of turning back was now impos- 
 sible for King. Somewhere along the trail that 
 lay ahead Keith McBain was probably lying in- 
 jured at least, perhaps unconscious, possibly 
 dead. A word to his horse and they plunged 
 into the stream, at first quickly, then more care- 
 fully as the water became deeper. Once or twice 
 when the footing became uncertain King got 
 ready to dismount and hold to the horn of the 
 saddle with one hand while the horse brought him 
 to safety, but he realized that his own weight 
 helped the horse to keep its feet. Then suddenly 
 the ground seemed to give way under them, and 
 he swung his leg over and slipped into the water. 
 Just as he did so the horse gave a mad plunge for- 
 ward and King had all he could do to keep his 
 hold upon the saddle. But in that one leap the 
 animal found fresh footing and the next moment 
 was standing upon the bridge-head with King 
 beside him. 
 
 King looked back just in time to see Sal jump 
 into the water and come paddling towards him. 
 But the current was too much for the dog. In 
 spite of King's whistling and calling to her by 
 way of encouragement, she was carried down-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 183 
 
 stream past the embankment and King watched 
 her with grave doubts rising in his mind. Where 
 the stream took a quick turn to the right King 
 lost sight of the dog among partly submerged 
 tree-trunks, but in a moment he heard her bark 
 echoing through the woods and before long she 
 was standing on the trail beside him, shaking her- 
 self and yelping at him. 
 
 The next stage of the crossing was no less un- 
 certain, but King walked ahead and led his horse, 
 trying every pole with his foot to see that it was 
 secure before he went forward. At the middle of 
 the bridge the water was almost to his knees and 
 the force of the current was so great that King 
 marvelled that the bridge held against it. 
 
 When he came at last to the end of the bridge 
 he sent the horse in and walked along beside him 
 with his hand on the horn of the saddle. The 
 passage proved easier than before and presented 
 no special difficulty. 
 
 Having shaken the water from his clothes, 
 King left his horse standing in the trail and went 
 to extricate Keith McBain's team from the 
 woods. The task was not so difficult as he had 
 anticipated, for although the horses were excited 
 and nervous they seemed almost exhausted and 
 allowed King to move about them without show-
 
 184: THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 ing any ill temper. In less than fifteen minutes 
 he had unhitched them and led them out upon 
 the trail, where he tethered them securely in a 
 sheltered place under cover of a clump of poplars. 
 Then he brought the badly shaken buckboard out 
 and left it standing beside the trail. 
 
 This done, he adjusted the girths of his own 
 horse, and getting into the saddle went off at a 
 gallop. There was still almost an hour of day- 
 light left in which to find Keith McBain, bring 
 him back, and recross the White Pine. The 
 knowledge that he might have to go most of the 
 way to town before he should find the old man, 
 and the fact that Keith McBain was in all proba- 
 bility lying in a helpless condition with body 
 battered and bones broken, made King urge his 
 horse forward as fast as the slippery trail would 
 allow. 
 
 Fortunately, however, he had not far to go. 
 Mounting a little hill that he remembered quite 
 well from having stood there in the evening to 
 get a glimpse of the valley below with its little 
 stream of water and its wild meadows, King 
 thought he heard the sound of voices. When he 
 got to the top of the hill and looked down, he was 
 surprised to see the figure of a girl standing in 
 the middle of the trail and waving to him. It 
 was Anne.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 185 
 
 In a moment he was beside her and was follow- 
 ing her on foot to where Keith McBain was lying 
 upon the ground. 
 
 "Is he hurt?" King asked at once as he looked 
 at the old man. 
 
 "Not much nothing serious, I think," Anne 
 replied. 
 
 Keith McBain turned his head and looked at 
 King at the sound of a new voice. He seemed on 
 the point of speaking but simply shook his head 
 a little, and then with a great deal of effort 
 propped himself up on one elbow and regarded 
 King very thoughtfully. 
 
 "It's me King Howden Mr. McBain," King 
 said. 
 
 "I know that's all right," was the reply. 
 "Get me out of here I've got to get back I've 
 got to get to the camp and I've got to get back 
 to my girl." 
 
 He dropped his eyes as if he were looking him- 
 self over. Then he looked at King again. 
 
 "Is she all right?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes, sir everything's all right," King re- 
 plied ; "only we must get you back." 
 
 "Everything?" the old man asked, coming 
 suddenly to himself again, speaking in his sharp, 
 direct way. "Who asked about everything? 
 
 M
 
 186 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 WEat the hell do I care about everything? I 
 want to know about my girl." 
 
 "She's all right, Mr. McBain," King assured 
 him again. 
 
 "That's right, eh? Howden, don't lie to me!" 
 
 King smiled and put his arm under the old 
 man to raise him to a more comfortable position. 
 
 "Where's McCartney?" he asked as soon as 
 King had made him comfortable. 
 
 "He's at the camp, sir," King said, and he 
 guessed something of what was passing in Keith 
 McBain's mind. 
 
 "Then get me out of here I've got to get back 
 there. I've been too long away altogether too 
 long. But something happened the dirty 
 crooks. Here get me up." 
 
 King and Anne got him to his feet and helped 
 him out to the trail, where he stood for a moment 
 and looked about him. 
 
 'What's wrong here?" he asked when he had 
 looked round at the roadway and the woods. 
 "Where's my team? Didn't I leave them here a 
 minute ago? Where are they? Anne, bring the 
 team." 
 
 Anne looked at King. "He doesn't know 
 wEat's happened to him," she said. 
 
 "I've got the team waiting for you down the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 187 
 
 trail a little," King replied. "You'll have to get 
 up here and ride." 
 
 Without murmuring he allowed himself to be 
 lifted into the saddle. King, with Anne walking 
 beside him, helped him to keep his seat, and to- 
 gether the three went back the way King had 
 just come. 
 
 Only twice did Keith McBain speak a word 
 along the way. Once he addressed Anne. 
 "You're a good girl, Anne," he said. 
 
 A little later he leaned and touched King's 
 shoulder. "My boy," he said, nodding his head 
 towards Anne, "she got me out of this." 
 
 And in the meantime Anne was recounting for 
 King the circumstances that had led her to bring 
 Keith McBain away from town. 
 
 "There's something crooked about it," she told 
 King. "That scrub Rickard came to town the 
 same day. He's been hangin' round ever since 
 keepin' Old Silent under his eye. But the old 
 fellow seemed to catch on that he was not goin' 
 to have his little time all alone, and he came to me 
 last night and says, 'Anne, I want to go back in 
 the morning. No matter what happens,' he said, 
 'no matter what I say about it, take me back, will 
 you? Promise that!' I promised and he took 
 my hand. Then he went out. Late last night
 
 Mike Cheney and Rickard brought him in and 
 put him to bed. When I went to wake him this 
 morning I couldn't get him to answer. I opened 
 the door and he was lyin' dead to the world. I 
 didn't say anything to the house. I just worked 
 him out of it myself and when he came back a 
 little I went out and got the team. Old Hurley 
 came and helped me till we got started away. 
 Hurley didn't like the idea, but I told him what 
 he'd told me the night before, and he didn't say 
 anything against it. We slipped out without 
 anyone knowin' about it and was gettin' on great 
 until we come to high water back there under the 
 hill where you found us. The team had been 
 skittish all the way, but the high water put them 
 up in the air, and I just couldn't hold 'em and 
 look after the old man too. It might 'a' been all 
 right at that, but we hit something in the road 
 and he rolled out. I did everything I could, but 
 the team was runnin' their fool heads off and I 
 couldn't stop 'em. So I got over the seat and 
 dropped off behind and let them go. Then I went 
 back and found him lyin' beside the trail. I 
 thought he was dead, for, honest to God, he look- 
 ed it. But I rolled him over and got him lyin' out 
 flat and was workin' over him when I heard you 
 comin'. That's all there is to it."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 189 
 
 It had already begun to grow dusk when they 
 came to the White Pine crossing. Leaving Keith 
 McBain in Anne's care for the time being, King 
 busied himself with preparations for getting to 
 the other side. Though he had been gone only a 
 little more than an hour he was gratified to find 
 that the water had receded considerably as is 
 the way with mountain streams where the source 
 is only a few miles off and the surface of the 
 bridge was almost clear. 
 
 Quickly hitching the team to the buckboard, 
 King gave the reins to Anne and told her to get 
 up on the seat. Then, helping Keith McBain to 
 dismount, he led him to a place where he could 
 sit down and wait. Mounting his own horse, he 
 took hold of a short tethering rope fastened to 
 the bit of one of McBain's team, and led the way 
 with emphatic warnings to the girl to hang on. 
 The passage was not a difficult one for King, al- 
 though it had now grown dusk. His horse 
 managed to keep his feet in the current, though 
 once or twice he seemed to have all he could do. 
 For Anne the crossing must have been almost 
 nerve-shattering but she never spoke a word 
 until they were safely across. Then she got down 
 from the seat and stepped up to where King was 
 tethering the team. She looked at her dripping
 
 190 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 clothes and then at the stream rushing past in the 
 thickening darkness. 
 
 "Are you goin' back there again?" she asked. 
 
 King grunted an affirmative. 
 
 "Go ahead I'll do the prayin'," she replied. 
 
 A few minutes later King was beside Keith 
 McBain, helping him into the saddle. When he 
 got him up he bound him securely to the seat 
 and tied his feet so that they could not come out 
 of the stirrups. Then he sent the horse in and 
 walked alongside, his hand on the saddle horn. 
 The crossing was made without accident of any 
 kind and in a few minutes they were ready for 
 the road, Anne mounted in the saddle, and King 
 seated in the buckboard with Keith McBain be- 
 side him. At a sharp whistle from King, Sal 
 started from the bushes beside the trail and all 
 set off together. 
 
 A couple of hours later, as they drove through 
 the camp on the way to Keith McBain's cabin, 
 King noticed two dark figures on horseback rid- 
 ing into camp from the opposite direction. As 
 they passed him he looked them over very care- 
 fully. Though it was too dark to see clearly who 
 the men were, King's mind naturally reverted to 
 the two riders he had seen in the hills early in the 
 marning of the day before.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 191 
 
 And right there he decided that Anne had been 
 sent by heaven in a time of need. He would send 
 her back next day with full instructions to old 
 man Hurley to register the claim in the hills if 
 necessary under Anne's signature.
 
 CHAPTER TWELVE 
 
 FIVE minutes later King and Anne stood 
 before the door of the cabin, one on each 
 side of Keith McBain. The door was 
 closed, but there was a light within and the sound 
 of someone talking. King was about to knock 
 when the old man put his hand out abruptly and 
 pressing the latch pushed the door open. 
 
 "Cherry, girl!" he called. 
 
 In a moment Cherry was facing them, with her 
 hands out to her father, the form of old Gabe 
 Smith crowding into the doorway beside her. 
 Gabe apparently did not see that Keith McBain 
 was not alone, and expressed his eagerness to 
 assist his old boss. 
 
 "Wait, sir," he said, moving Cherry to one side 
 as he came forward, "I'll give you a hand." 
 
 "Get out of the way," commanded Keith Mc- 
 Bain in a voice that was very much like his own. 
 "I don't need your help." 
 
 Gabe had seen King and Anne and had al- 
 ready stepped back into the cabin with Cherry. 
 
 192
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 193 
 
 The old contractor lifted his chest, steadied him- 
 self a little, and then shook his shoulders impa- 
 tiently to be rid of the support that Anne and 
 King were giving him. Then he stepped reso- 
 lutely up and entered the doorway. For a mo- 
 ment he hesitated and looked straight before him 
 into the room, and then walked deliberately to- 
 wards the couch. King and Anne stood just in- 
 side the doorway and watched him as he made 
 his way uncertainly across the floor. Cherry was 
 beside him all the way, offering to help him, but 
 he gave her not the slightest heed. When at last 
 he reached the couch he turned and was in the 
 act of seating himself when his legs seemed to 
 give way under him and he collapsed in a heap. 
 They lifted him quietly and laid him on the 
 couch. For a long time he was silent and no 
 one in the room spoke. Finally he looked about 
 him until his eyes fell upon his daughter, and he 
 held out his hand to her. 
 
 "A little water, girl," he said, quite clearly, 
 and when she put the cup to his lips he gulped a 
 mouthful nervously and then pushed it away. 
 "There that'll do, my girl let me lie down for 
 a little." 
 
 He relaxed completely when they had set him 
 back, and in a few moments went off in a sound
 
 194 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 sleep. Scarcely a word had been spoken by any 
 member of the group, but as soon as they realized 
 that the old man had fallen asleep Gabe and King 
 withdrew quietly, leaving Anne with Cherry. 
 
 As soon as King had heard Gabe's report on 
 what had occurred during his absence he outlined 
 in brief form what he believed to be McCartney's 
 plan to register a timber claim in the hills and set 
 up a camp for the winter. For the first time he 
 felt it was necessary to reveal to Gabe the secrets 
 that lay behind McCartney's power and the ob- 
 jectives which he knew McCartney was aiming to 
 achieve. The old man listened intently and sur- 
 prise grew in his face as he heard what King had 
 to relate. The circumstances made it very clear 
 to Gabe that King must stay in camp for a couple 
 of days at any rate, or until such time as Keith 
 McBain could resume control of affairs. That 
 Anne should be sent back early in the morning 
 with instructions to Hurley seemed at once the 
 most feasible, and the most easily executed plan 
 they could adopt. Accordingly, after turning the 
 horses over to the care of the corral foreman, they 
 went at once to the store where they knew they 
 would probably be alone, where King, with the 
 help of roughly-sketched maps and memoranda 
 he had made during his trip in the hills, dreyv up
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 195 
 
 detailed information which Anne should place in 
 the hands of Hurley. 
 
 When the information was complete and all the 
 instructions carefully worked out, King took 
 Gabe with him to make the rounds of the camp 
 before laying plans for the night. The strenuous 
 life of the past week, with its days and many of its 
 nights crowded with activity, was beginning to 
 tell on King, and he was hoping that he might be 
 able to steal a few hours' rest before anything 
 further cropped up to claim his attention. 
 
 The camp was in darkness. A solitary light 
 shone from the window of the large 1 bunkhouse 
 where the men had eaten their meals during the 
 day. King, with Gabe following closely behind 
 him, went first to the corral to see that the horses 
 had not been neglected. They found the foreman 
 sitting on a bale of pressed hay, smoking quietly 
 by himself. He had attended personally to the 
 comfort of King's horse and Keith McBain's 
 team, and seemed pleased when King looked his 
 approval. 
 
 'They don't look bad at all," King remarked, 
 running his hand over the flank of one of Mc- 
 Bain's team. 
 
 "Huh they're all right," the foreman replied. 
 "They don't do enough to hurt them. No but 
 here's a couple that looks about all in."
 
 196 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 He led King and Gabe to two horses that stood 
 together munching lazily at the wisp of dry hay 
 that the foreman had placed before them. 
 
 "Them horses are too tired to eat," he said, as 
 he went between them and stroked their coats 
 still matted with rain and sweat. 
 
 King looked the horses over in silence. He 
 did not have to be told the reason for their con- 
 dition. When Gabe turned to him with ques- 
 tioning look, King nodded. After they had gone 
 the rounds of the corral and had found every- 
 thing in good order they left and went out again 
 to learn, if possible, what mood the men were in. 
 
 They had not gone more than a dozen steps 
 when the door of the large bunkhouse opened and 
 a flood of light fell from the open doorway upon 
 the wet ground immediately in front. Someone 
 appeared in the doorway for a moment and threw 
 a bottle that fell against a pile of stones a few 
 yards away. At the sound of the breaking glass 
 old Gabe grunted. 
 
 "They're at it again to-night," he said with 
 grim emphasis. 
 
 "I guess we'll have to go in and look round 
 anyhow," King replied quietly. 
 
 As he spoke the sound of laughter came from 
 the bunkhouse, and the voices of two or three 
 men speaking very loudly.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 197 
 
 King and Gabe paused when they came to the 
 door and listened for a moment to what was going 
 on within. There was the usual round of noisy 
 conversation without the slightest indication of 
 dissension of any kind, and King was of two 
 minds whether he should go in at all, or turn back 
 and go to the store, at the back of which he had a 
 cot prepared for a night's rest. While he hesi- 
 tated, however, Gabe stepped forward and opened 
 the door, and the next moment King followed 
 him into the bunkhouse. 
 
 Their coming created no surprise. They were 
 greeted casually and with no show of concern. 
 At the end of the open space that ran the length 
 of the bunkhouse from the door to the other end, 
 one of the camp hands, a mere boy, was just be- 
 ginning a song for the entertainment of the men, 
 who were lounging about on benches and in the 
 bunks, some of them already half asleep. 
 
 King and Gabe sat down on the edge of one of 
 the bunks and listened to the high falsetto that 
 piped through the whole length of twelve or fif- 
 teen verses that reeked with tragedy. During the 
 song King looked about him quietly at the men. 
 In the faces of most of them he could trace the 
 effects of two or three days' debauch. But they 
 all seemed quiet and gave no indication of bad 
 temper. In fact when the boy came to the last
 
 198 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 line of his song and spoke the words in the time- 
 honored manner that camp singers have of end- 
 ing a song, the applause that broke from the men 
 was so generous and their comments so good- 
 natured that King could not help feeling his sense 
 of security returning. He was confident that he 
 had nothing to fear from these men if they were 
 left alone. With the exception of three or four, 
 who looked as if they had been drinking a little 
 too freely during the evening, the men had 
 sobered up and were almost normal again. 
 
 King got up and walked the full length of the 
 open space between the bunks and sat down on a 
 bench near a group of men who were playing 
 cards. He spoke to no one except to return the 
 greetings he received here and there as he passed 
 among the men, and when he had sat down he 
 rolled himself a cigarette and watched the game 
 in silence. Gabe was still sitting near the door 
 talking to some of the men. 
 
 Gradually, as King sat watching the game, he 
 became conscious of a change in the atmosphere 
 of general good nature that had pervaded the 
 bunkhouse. The conversation grew noisy and he 
 thought he heard his own name mentioned once 
 or twice in a hoarse whisper. He did not e^en 
 turn his head, however, until he felt someone's
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 199 
 
 hand on his shoulder and looked round to see 
 Gabe leaning over him. The old fellow indicated 
 by a shake of his head that he was ready to go, 
 and King got up to follow him. 
 
 Immediately there was a disturbance behind 
 him, and he turned to see three of the men 
 struggling with a fourth. When they had suc- 
 ceeded in pushing him back into his bunk one of 
 them turned to King with a laugh. 
 
 "Your life ain't worth mor'n a bob-tailed flusK 
 round here, Howden," he said, "an' I'm givin' 
 you odds at that." 
 
 King looked at the man in the bunk. "What's 
 the matter?" he asked. 
 
 "Don't you bother about him, Howden," said 
 another, "he's drunk, an' he don't like you, 
 but " 
 
 "He just got in from the road," interrupted the 1 
 first speaker, "an' he ain't had much to eat. A 
 couple o' drinks was enough to put him out." 
 
 For a moment the hum of conversation ceased 
 and the men looked out from their bunks with 
 expectancy in their faces. And in that moment 
 the door opened and Bill McCartney stepped in. 
 
 King looked at him from the other end of the 1 
 long aisle. For some time McCartney appar- 
 ently didn't see him. Suddenly their eyes met
 
 200 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 and King noticed that McCartney swayed un- 
 steadily, and putting out his hand laid it upon 
 the edge of a bunk for support. 
 
 Someone standing close to King muttered in a 
 half whisper : 
 
 "Look out, Howden, he's drunk, an* he's ugly, 
 an' he's goin' to get you if he can." 
 
 But King continued looking at McCartney 
 without speaking a word. Gabe tugged a mo- 
 ment at King's arm, but King moved him gently 
 to one side. His whole attention was centred on 
 McCartney, who had taken his hand from the 
 bunk and was doing his best to stand erect and 
 return King's gaze. Once he took a couple of 
 steps towards King, but his knees wobbled and 
 he was forced to put a hand out again to keep 
 himself from falling. Then he looked at King 
 with a sneer on his lips. 
 
 "What the hell are you doin' here?" he 
 asked, in a voice that was thick and unsteady. 
 
 King did not reply. 
 
 "It won't do you no good comin' round here 
 interferin' between Keith McBain an' me," 
 McCartney went on. "That's my affair an' you 
 keep out." 
 
 Still King did not offer to say a word. 
 
 But someone else spoke up from behind King.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 201 
 
 "Go on back to your bunk, Bill," said the voice. 
 "You're too drunk to talk that way to-night." 
 
 "Drunk?" sneered Bill McCartney, and for a 
 moment he seemed suddenly to sober up. "Well, 
 I'll tell you this. I may be drunk but I know 
 what brings this son of a dog here where he ain't 
 wanted an' he knows. He's payin' a visit a 
 reg'lar visit." 
 
 King's frame straightened up and his jaw set 
 firmly. 
 
 "But he's welcome, he can have her," McCart- 
 ney continued. "He can ask her who was with 
 her last night ask Gabe there." 
 
 King took a half dozen steps towards Mc- 
 Cartney and thrust his face close. Conversation 
 had ceased and a deathly silence had come over 
 the place. Every man there had looked forward 
 to the time when these two should meet and settle 
 accounts. The fact that McCartney was clearly 
 under the influence of liquor gave some cause for 
 regret but, on the other hand, they felt that if 
 McCartney was going to play the game at all it 
 was strictly his own affair, and it was his business 
 to come prepared for a show-down whenever and 
 wherever the occasion arose. 
 
 "You don't give me a chance," King said very 
 slowly and in a tone of genuine regret. "You 
 
 N
 
 202 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 talk to me like that because you're drunk. But 
 you won't talk like that where I am, even if you 
 are drunk. Some day you'll be sober, and I'm 
 going to ask you about this. Then you'll have to 
 eat what you said. But I'm going to wait. Just 
 now I'm going to throw you out." 
 
 iven as he spoke, he stepped deliberately to- 
 wards McCartney, and the latter lurched heavily 
 to meet him, aiming a blow with his huge fist as 
 he came. The blow was badly directed and King 
 parried it without effort. The next moment he 
 had McCartney round the waist and had lifted 
 him bodily from the floor. 
 
 "Open the door, Gabe," he ordered, and as 
 Gabe swung the door open King half carried, half 
 pushed his struggling burden into the open door- 
 way and with a final effort, into which he put all 
 his strength, he lifted the drunken foreman and 
 threw him out into the darkness, where he 
 stumbled and fell clumsily to the ground. 
 
 King stood for a moment and watched him 
 while he scrambled awkwardly to his feet and 
 stood cursing. He would have come back at 
 King almost immediately had it not been for a 
 couple of the men who edged their way out 
 quickly past King and led McCartney away in the 
 darkness to his own quarters, cursing and shout- 
 ing threats as he went.
 
 Then King turned and looked behind him at 
 the men. 
 
 "I guess we'll be going on back, Gabe," he said 
 quietly. "There won't be any more trouble to- 
 night." 
 
 Together the two men left the bunkhouse and 
 started off down the trail towards the store. 
 
 When they had reached the door King stopped 
 and looked once round the camp, where it lay in 
 pitch darkness. 
 
 "Go on in, Gabe," he said to the old man. 
 "I'm going to take a walk over to the cabin and 
 see that everything is all right." 
 
 Gabe hesitated at the thought of letting King 
 go away alone, but knowing his protests would 
 be quite useless, he entered the store and King 
 went off. 
 
 At first King found it difficult to make up His 
 mind to go directly to the cabin. In his heart of 
 hearts he yearned for one look at Cherry. But 
 he knew Cherry's disposition. He knew that she 
 had resolved upon a course of action in her future 
 relations with him that he might just as well save 
 himself the trouble of trying to change. And 
 yet he wanted to hear her voice again ; he wanted 
 to speak to her and explain. He wondered if 
 Anne might not have already said something that
 
 204: THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 would make it easy for him to attempt to restore 
 himself to Cherry's confidence. 
 
 And so, as he strolled along in the darkness, his 
 mind was divided as to what he should do. By 
 the time he had come to within a dozen yards of 
 the cabin he had decided to allow his course of 
 action to grow out of the dictates of the moment. 
 One step at a time, he thought to himself, and 
 started off again towards the cabin. 
 
 The light still shone from the cabin window, 
 and the thought came to King that he might 
 creep up and perhaps get a glimpse of Cherry 
 through the window. But before he had covered 
 half the distance he became instinctively aware 
 of the presence of someone behind him. At first 
 he had only a vague presentiment such as conies 
 often to one moving about alone at night. But 
 soon the feeling took complete possession of him, 
 and he turned to see if he might not catch sight 
 of someone following him. His first thought 
 naturally was of McCartney, but he realized on 
 second thought that McCartney was at that mo- 
 ment in no condition to justify the suspicion. 
 
 As a precautionary measure he walked back 
 slowly along the pathway. He had gone not 
 more than a dozen yards, however, when he 
 stopped suddenly where the pathway was ob-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 205 
 
 scured by a clump of bushes that hung over from 
 one side. Directly in front of him a form was 
 moving towards him out of the darkness. When 
 it had come within three yards of him it stopped 
 and King thought he recognized the newcomer 
 as one of the two riders whom he had met coming 
 into camp earlier in the evening. 
 
 There was a quick movement that King could 
 scarcely discern in the darkness, and he threw up 
 his arms instinctively to ward off an attack. He 
 was too late, however. Something struck him 
 heavily upon the head and for a few moments he 
 swayed dizzily with his hands upon his face, his 
 teeth clenched in a struggle to beat back 
 by sheer will-power a flood of horrible darkness 
 that threatened to engulf his senses. For one 
 brief moment he thought how utterly ridiculous 
 it was that his legs should tremble so uncertainly 
 under him, and that the world about him should 
 seem to be moving in a dizzy circle. Then sud- 
 denly the realization came to him that he was in 
 danger of losing the fight, and he redoubled 
 his efforts to shake himself free from a power 
 that clutched him like some black monster 
 battling for his overthrow. He was vaguely 
 conscious of something warm creeping down his 
 cheek like a great bead of sweat. He put his
 
 206 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 hand slowly to his head and ran his fingers 
 through his hair. The sensation turned him sick. 
 
 In one last remaining moment of consciousness 
 he realized that the struggle was going against 
 him, and he summoned all the energy and power 
 of will that was left him in an effort to reach the 
 cabin before giving up. The noises in his ears 
 became suddenly more deafening he found it 
 impossible to place his feet where they should go 
 his knees became sickeningly weak then he 
 stumbled over nothing and put his hands out 
 blindly before him as he fell. 
 
 In a moment it was as if all the darkness that 
 brooded over the world had crowded into one 
 brain and blotted out the last ray of light. 
 
 '
 
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN 
 
 KING awoke and looked round him. There 
 had been a sound of a door closing some- 
 where and voices coming to him across a 
 great distance. He remembered the passing of a 
 cool breeze across his cheek with the fresh scent 
 of wet pine in it. 
 
 Raising himself on his elbow he turned his 
 head and took a quick survey of the room in 
 which he was lying. Across the room the door 
 was partly ajar above him the window was 
 wide open, letting in a flood of morning light. 
 He tried to remember what had occurred his 
 head was very heavy and his temples throbbed 
 with pain he became dizzy, and the arm with 
 which he supported himself became suddenly 
 weak. He lay back again heavily upon the cot. 
 For a moment he lay with his eyes closed, 
 struggling to beat off the sense of utter forgetful- 
 ness that crept into his brain. 
 
 Something touched his elbow and he turned 
 his head slightly on the pillow and opened his 
 eyes again. Sal was there, her two front paws 
 
 207
 
 208 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 upon the patch-quilt that covered him, her eyes 
 shining and her ears pricked forward in eager 
 concern. King lifted a hand wearily and placed 
 it upon the dog's paws, in response to which Sal 
 emitted an anxious whine that ended in some- 
 thing like a bark. 
 
 Immediately the door was pushed wide open, 
 and Gabe Smith stepped into the room. He was 
 in his shirt-sleeves, but his hat was on his head 
 and his pipe in his hand, ready, apparently, for 
 action of whatever kind the occasion might 
 prompt. 
 
 He moved over to the side of the cot and 
 looked down at King with an odd smile, half of 
 pity and half of amusement, lighting his old face. 
 
 "Tryin' to kick off?" he asked in an attempt to 
 appear cheerful, "or are you jist tryin' to scare 
 the rest of us to death?" 
 
 King's smile was too faint to be very assuring, 
 and Gabe leaned down and looked more closely 
 into his face. 
 
 "How do you feel?" he asked. 
 
 For reply King put one of his hands to his 
 head and sighed heavily. He seemed to be on 
 the point of speaking, but finding the effort too 
 great turned his head away impatiently and re- 
 laxed wearily against the pillows.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 209 
 
 Without speaking another word Gabe left the 
 room and returned in a few moments with 
 Cherry. He remained standing by the door 
 while the girl stepped over to the cot and laid her 
 hand gently on King's forehead. At the touch of 
 her hand he turned his head slowly again towards 
 them and opened his eyes. He looked bewildered. 
 
 "You're here with us in the cabin," Cherry 
 said, quietly. Then she got up quickly and left 
 the room. When she came back she carried a 
 jug of fresh water from the spring, and a white 
 cup. Filling the cup quickly, she placed one 
 hand under King's head and put the water to his 
 lips. 
 
 He drank till the cup was quite empty and then 
 lay back again upon the pillows and closed his 
 eyes. Cherry looked at him with a strange fear 
 gripping her heart. His face was pale and drawn, 
 with a bright red spot flaming on each cheek. 
 His brow was hot when she laid her hand on it, 
 and his arms lying powerless upon the bed-cover 
 were burning to the touch. She did not know 
 whether he was asleep or not he lay so still. 
 
 Getting up, she poured some water she had 
 just taken from the spring into a dish that stood 
 on a small table in one corner of the room. She 
 dipped a clean bit of white cloth in the water
 
 210 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 and wrung it dry. Then she stepped again to 
 the side of the cot, and brushing the hair back 
 gently from King's forehead, laid the cold cloth 
 on his brow. 
 
 For a moment she stood with her hand lying 
 lightly upon the cloth and looking into King's 
 face. Gabe came closer and stood looking down 
 at them, extending one of his hands towards Sal, 
 who was moving restlessly about and pawing at 
 Gabe's knees to get his attention. 
 
 Slowly King opened his eyes. He looked at 
 them a moment in silence. 
 
 "Would you like some more water?" Cherry 
 asked him. 
 
 He nodded his head slightly and Gabe filled 
 the cup and handed it to Cherry. This time he 
 drank more slowly and was satisfied when he 
 had taken but half of what was in the cup. 
 
 "I guess I'm I'm worrying you," he said, and 
 his voice was scarcely more than a hoarse whis- 
 per. "Sorry but I'll be all right soon. It's 
 my head I must have been hit hit hard. I re- 
 member I tried not to go down but I I had 
 to go." 
 
 Cherry brushed her hand lightly across his 
 hair. 
 
 "But you mustn't talk, King," she said quietly. 
 "You must be quiet for a while."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 211 
 
 He smiled up at her. 
 
 "Don't bother about me," he said. "I'll be bet- 
 ter right away." 
 
 His whole body seemed to relax suddenly as 
 he ceased speaking, and he closed his eyes again. 
 Cherry remained crouching upon one knee beside 
 the cot, her eyes upon his face, one of her hands 
 still under his head, where she had placed it when 
 she helped him to drink, the other hand on the 
 coverlet, her fingers touching his arm. 
 
 Half consciously she allowed her hand to creep 
 down until her fingers were pressing lightly 
 against the pulse in his wrist. It was very fast, 
 but quite strong. Even after she had ceased to 
 observe the pulse-beat she allowed her fingers to 
 remain half circling his stout wrist. Then she 
 moved her hand over his and caught his fingers 
 in her own. She glanced behind her old Gabe 
 had gone out of the room. For one long moment 
 she allowed her hand to rest upon his, and then 
 her fingers tightened slowly and her head bowed 
 towards him. 
 
 His lips moved, and Cherry listened breath- 
 lessly for any word he might speak. 
 
 "I'll go back stay here Anne," he muttered. 
 "Here you Sal come here. Steady up you 
 fool." " 
 
 His voice trailed off into incoherent mutter-
 
 212 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 ings. Then he lay still and his breathing became 
 even, though Cherry, in spite of her inexperience, 
 knew that it was very quick and weak. 
 
 Once more she removed the cloth from his 
 head, and washing it in cold water, replaced it 
 again and pressed it down softly with her fingers. 
 
 Then she went out to where old Gabe Smith 
 was standing in the doorway of the cabin. For a 
 long time they stood together in silence, their 
 eyes turned towards the trail where it came out 
 of cover of the shrubbery and entered the camp. 
 
 "There's no use looking for her yet," said 
 Cherry. 
 
 "No, she'll do well if she gets here much before 
 supper," Gabe replied. 
 
 Cherry and Gabe were thinking of the same 
 thing they had been thinking of it for hours. 
 Not long after King had stumbled and fallen un- 
 conscious in the darkness near Keith McBain's 
 cabin, Gabe had started out to learn, if possible, 
 what was delaying his return. When he came 
 to the cabin and found that King had not been 
 there, a hurried search was made, in which both 
 Anne and Cherry assisted, and in a very short 
 time they came across King's form lying a few 
 feet from the beaten pathway, all but hidden 
 among the grass and low brush into which he had 
 fallen.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 213 
 
 At first they had feared the very worst. He 
 seemed to show no signs of life whatever. They 
 got him into the cabin as quickly as possible, 
 however, and Cherry's cot was made ready to re- 
 ceive him. When they had laid him down and 
 bathed his head and face with cool water, old 
 Gabe placed his hand close upon King's breast, 
 while the two girls waited, fear and hope 
 struggling for mastery in their hearts. At last 
 Gabe drew a deep breath and nodded in the 
 affirmative. 
 
 At once both girls hurried to perform a dozen 
 small tasks, while Gabe removed King's outer 
 clothing and got him into bed. Then for an hour 
 or more Cherry and Anne, with a gentleness that 
 was native to them and went a long way to- 
 wards supplying what they wanted in the way 
 of experience, carefully washed the clots of blood 
 from his hair and cleaned the wound that gaped 
 viciously within a few inches of his left temple. 
 When they had bathed the wound thoroughly 
 and dressed it to the best of their ability, they 
 were relieved to find him breathing quite audibly. 
 His pulse was easily perceptible, and once or 
 twice he had sighed deeply, like one coming out 
 of a long sleep. 
 
 King's condition did not cease to cause them 
 anxiety, however, and all three admitted their
 
 214 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 own helplessness in the face of serious develop- 
 ments. 
 
 It was Anne who spoke the first words that 
 gave shape to their wondering. "We've got to 
 get the company doctor," she said. "I'm goin' 
 to the end-of-the-line. You can stay here and 
 look after things." 
 
 She asked no help in preparing for the trip. 
 A little after midnight she was off alone on 
 Cherry's horse on a trail more than half hidden 
 in darkness, a trail, moreover, that she had never 
 travelled before. After all, she told herself, there 
 was only one trail and it ended at the supply 
 camp. 
 
 The hours of waiting that followed passed very 
 slowly. Cherry had given her father all the at- 
 tention he required and had left him sleeping 
 soundly, with the hope that the morning would 
 find him ready, as usual, to get up and go about 
 the regular duties of the camp. During the hours 
 that were left between Anne's departure and day- 
 break Cherry watched by King's side, placing 
 cold cloths upon his fevered brow and bathing his 
 wrists and arms in cold water from the spring. 
 Gabe had stayed with her, dozing for a couple of 
 hours on the couch, where he was ready to answer 
 her call in case she wanted his assistance.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 215 
 
 When the sun was well up Keith McBain had 
 got up from his bed much as he had done every 
 morning for years. After eating his breakfast 
 and looking in for a brief moment upon King, he 
 had left the cabin without a word to anyone, ex- 
 cept Gabe Smith, whom he told to stay by Cherry 
 during the day and see that she got some rest. 
 During the early hours of the morning he had 
 not once come back to the cabin, nor sent any- 
 one to make inquiries. As many men as could 
 be used on the grade in work that could be done 
 in spite of the wet ground, were sent out under a 
 foreman to go about their tasks in the usual 
 manner. He himself had remained behind, with 
 a score of men and a couple of teams, to repair 
 the damage that had been done the night before. 
 Though there would be at most only a few 
 weeks during which there could be any use for a 
 cook camp, Keith McBain went about the work 
 of putting up a new camp with the same cool de- 
 termination and matter-of-fact oversight that he 
 would have given to the building of a camp that 
 was to last for the whole summer. Before he 
 had been on the ground an hour the men were 
 swinging along at their work' as evenly and as re- 
 gularly as the parts of a machine. 
 
 McCartney failed to put in an appearance at
 
 216 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 all during the day but Old Silent never made 
 the slightest reference to the fact. 
 
 As it turned out, it was already quite dark by 
 the time Anne returned, seated in a buckboard, 
 with the company doctor. The horse that she 
 had ridden away on trotted along behind them, 
 where they had tethered it to the rear axle. 
 
 Keith McBain met them at the door and 
 greeted the doctor with a handshake and a smile 
 that seemed for the moment to transform his 
 stern grey face, lighting it up with a rare sym- 
 pathy and a kindliness that seldom found expres- 
 sion in his work-a-day life. 
 
 "The roads must be bad," he remarked, after 
 they had exchanged greetings, and then, when 
 the doctor had removed his coat and looked 
 questitmingly at him, "He's in there. The girl's 
 with him." 
 
 The doctor, a young, energetic chap, whose 
 manner was efficiency itself, went at once into 
 the room that Keith McBain had indicated. No 
 sooner was he gone than Anne stepped quickly to 
 the old man and took him eagerly by the arm. 
 
 "How is he?" she said. 
 
 Keith McBain shook his head doubtfully. 
 
 "He may be some better," he replied. "He has 
 slept all day, except now and then when he asked
 
 for a drink. He talks all right when he's awake, 
 but " 
 
 Cherry came out of the room and closed the 
 door after her. Her face showed clearly the 
 effects of what she had been through in the last 
 few days, but no one could see the slightest in- 
 dication that she was ready to give up. The 
 light in her dark eyes shone stronger and more 
 steady than ever. She had entered a conflict 
 of which, for the time being at least, she felt her- 
 self the centre. The little world she had built 
 for herself, and in which she had lived so long 
 without giving more than a passing thought to 
 the evil forces that were moving about her, was 
 now in a state of chaos and disorder. She could 
 no longer say to herself, as she had done so often 
 before, that time would show the way. She knew 
 enough of McCartney's designs (he had revealed 
 enough to her himself) to know that unless some- 
 thing was done at once a very short time would 
 bring disaster upon her father of what nature 
 and by what means she had ceased trying to im- 
 agine and she knew not what misfortune upon 
 herself. 
 
 And this conflict was supplemented by another, 
 no less keen, that was being fought with her own 
 heart as a battleground. In the room she had
 
 218 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 just left lay the man in whom, for the first time 
 in her life, and for reasons she could not un- 
 derstand, she had imposed her fullest confidence 
 in the face of impending disaster. But he was 
 more than a protector. She had realized more 
 keenly than ever, while she watched beside his 
 cot, that a heart-hunger had seized her that only 
 this big boy of a man could satisfy. She prayed 
 for his recovery, for his own sake and for her 
 father's sake but passionately for the sake of 
 the woman that she was. 
 
 And now as she stood by the door she had just 
 closed and looked at Anne, who was talking to 
 her father, she felt as one who has awakened 
 jFrom a happy dream. In her pride she could not 
 think of showing any but the most casual regard 
 for Anne ; but in her riotous young heart she al- 
 most hated her. Even as these thoughts flashed 
 across her mind she saw her father place an arm 
 about Anne's shoulders. 
 
 "Anne," he said quietly, "you've done your 
 part, girl. But you've got to get some rest now. 
 Cherry make her go to bed as soon as she has 
 had a bite to eat." 
 
 For the next hour there were f e\fr words spoken. 
 Keith McBain sat by himself apart and smoked 
 incessantly. Occasionally the doctor opened the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 219 
 
 door of the room in which he was working and 
 asked for something to be brought him. But the 
 request was made without any exchange of 
 words beyond what was absolutely essential. 
 Even when Gabe Smith entered after seeing that 
 the horses had received the attention they re- 
 quired, there was little more than a questioning 
 look or two and an exchange of glances. 
 
 When after a long time the doctor finally 
 came out of the room the expression on his face 
 was so reassuring as to change the mood of every 
 one of them instantly. Keith McBain was the 
 first to speak. He got up quickly, taking his 
 pipe from his mouth as he stepped briskly to- 
 wards the doctor. 
 
 "Well," he said, "what's the verdict?" 
 
 The doctor smiled. 
 
 "If the same thing had happened to me, Mr. 
 McBain," the doctor replied, "my light would 
 have gone out for good. But this boy, Howden 
 he'll be out again for the mail in a week, if he 
 gets anything like careful handling in the mean- 
 time. There are some men in the world that you 
 can't kill and he seems to be one of them. But 
 give me something to eat. I can talk better on 
 a full stomach." 
 
 The conversation turned into another channel
 
 220 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 and finally followed a course that was of interest 
 only to the men. 
 
 The doctor did not stay long after he had eaten 
 his supper, but he gave his directions very speci- 
 fically to Cherry. The patient had to be kept 
 where he was for a few days, and Cherry herself 
 would have to give him all the attention possible. 
 He was not to talk nor become excited. The 
 dressings were explained thoroughly, and all the 
 details of the treatment he was to receive were 
 gone into briefly but pointedly. And then the 
 doctor was gone, and they were alone again. 
 
 The next morning Anne left for town. For 
 reasons which Cherry could not explain she had 
 been strangely drawn to the girl during the two 
 nights they had spent together in the cabin. 
 Fears and hopes that are shared in common are 
 powerful factors in shaping human lives and 
 moulding human sympathies. And Cherry had 
 actually come to look upon Anne with something 
 like pity. 
 
 It was this feeling that prompted her to ride a 
 little distance with her this and her father's sug- 
 gestion that she should go along to keep the girl 
 company as well as to get into the air a little 
 herself. 
 
 Their conversation had never turned to King
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 221 
 
 Howden, except when they had referred to his 
 condition. It was all the more surprising to 
 Cherry, then, when, after a long silence during 
 which they had been riding slowly and lost in 
 their own thoughts, Anne spoke very quietly and 
 with some feeling concerning King. 
 
 "I'm goin' back to town because there's nothin' 
 else to it for me," she said. "If I had my own 
 way I'd stay by that boy till he was ready to 
 come back." 
 
 Cherry was startled at the girl's words and her 
 face expressed something of what she felt. Anne 
 glanced at her and hastened to continue. 
 
 "Oh, don't get me wrong on that," she said 
 apologetically. "I know you'll do what's right 
 do it better than I could." 
 
 "I don't misunderstand you," Cherry replied, 
 and to herself she wished Anne's words could 
 have meant something different from the mean- 
 ing she had taken from them. 
 
 "He's right," Anne continued, without more 
 than a glance to satisfy Cherry; "he's right an' 
 that's sayin' something. I'm older than you 
 though twenty-five ought to be young enough for 
 anyone but I've seen a few men an' a mighty 
 lot of what passes for men an' I'll tell you this, 
 when you find a man that's on the level you
 
 222 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 can't help wantin' to keep him round. But 
 Lord, Anne's gettin' sentimental." 
 
 She broke off suddenly and gave her rein a 
 shake, and the next moment was off along the 
 trail with Cherry following at an easy, loping 
 gait behind her. 
 
 They rode thus in silence until they came to the 
 bridge over the White Pine, The water had gone 
 down almost as suddenly as it had risen, and 
 the crossing presented no difficulty whatever. 
 Cherry waited till Anne had got safely over to 
 the other side, and then, after an exchange of 
 farewells, turned back towards the camp. 
 
 Cherry's mind was busy every moment of the 
 ride home that morning. Anne was a strange 
 girl, behind whose jaunty manner, she felt sure, 
 were hidden heart-breaks and disappointments 
 that the outside world knew nothing of. Cherry 
 had talked with her only a very little, had never 
 really come to know her at all, in fact and had 
 never thought of her as anything more than just 
 Anne, the girl in MacMurray's lodging-house. 
 And yet, in her presence, Cherry felt a subtle 
 power the power that comes from long and hard 
 experience, that made it difficult even to talk 
 much. 
 
 But always, as Cherry thought about her, there
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 223 
 
 arose in the background an image of King 
 Howden standing in the open doorway of the 
 lodging-house with his arm about the girl, all 
 but hidden in the gathering dusk. And some- 
 how she could not resist the thought that Anne's 
 words fully confirmed what she had first feared 
 that evening when she rode so unexpectedly to 
 MacMurray's door. The single hope to which 
 she had clung in moments of depression, when 
 disaster seemed about to break upon her world, 
 was fast slipping away from her and she was be- 
 ing left to fight the battle alone. 
 
 And yet 
 
 Late that afternoon Cherry took King's clothes 
 from his room with the intention of hanging 
 them outside for an hour before laying them away 
 until he should be able to wear them again. It 
 was a small service and an insignificant one, and 
 yet she lingered over the task affectionately, 
 shaking the dust from them and spreading them 
 out flat upon the table, to smooth away the 
 wrinkles. Gabe Smith, grown garrulous again 
 because of renewed hopes of King's early re- 
 covery, was watching the process from beside the 
 doorway. 
 
 "Don't you think you're some tender with that 
 coat?" he asked. "Shake it well there's a sight 
 o' dust in that old jacket!"
 
 224 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 For reply she threw the coat towards him. 
 
 "Here, Gabe," she remarked dryly, "why sit 
 there and watch me do the dirty work?" 
 
 As he put out his hands to receive the coat 
 something fell from one of the pockets. Cherry 
 stooped to pick it up and then held it towards 
 Gabe. It was a small bundle of folded papers. 
 Gabe took it, and at the first glance his old face 
 almost went white. 
 
 "My God!" he whispered hoarsely. 
 
 "Why, Gabe, what's wrong?" Cherry asked. 
 
 "I forgot," he said, looking at the papers in his 
 hand. "It's the location the timber claim. 
 And McCartney McCartney's been away from 
 camp since I don't know. We're beat." 
 
 And even as Gabe Smith spoke those words 
 Hugh Hurley was sitting in his office in The 
 Town, looking through his little window to where 
 the valley lay smiling under the late afternoon 
 sun. He was troubled in spirit more troubled 
 than he had been for a long time. Less than an 
 hour had elapsed since an unwelcome visitor had 
 come to town. But already the visitor's name 
 was scrawled in the big registry book where 
 claims were officially recorded. The claim was 
 an extensive one in the hills that rose to the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 225 
 
 south of The Town, some ten or fifteen miles 
 away and the name on the record was the name 
 of Bill McCartney. 
 
 Besides Hugh Hurley there was but one other 
 person in that sleepy little town, more sleepy 
 and settled, it seemed, than ever whose spirit 
 was not all calm. McCartney had stepped out 
 of Cheney's place and was standing in the street 
 by himself, rolling a cigarette in a leisurely 
 manner that was contentment itself. He lifted 
 his eyes for a moment and caught sight of Anne 
 coming towards him. What was almost a frown 
 passed quickly across his face, but was imme- 
 diately replaced by a look of amusement, feigned 
 or genuine it would have been impossible to say, 
 and he continued to roll his cigarette without the 
 slightest indication that he knew of the girl's 
 approach. 
 
 Anne came up to him without as much as a 
 moment's pause and stood directly in front of 
 him. 
 
 "What are you doin' in town?" she asked. 
 
 McCartney grunted and ran the tip of his 
 tongue along the edge of the cigarette paper. 
 
 "Conductin' a revival meetin', Anne," he said, 
 folding the paper into place. "Why?" 
 
 "Wherever you are there's somethin' dirty
 
 226 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 gettin' under way, if it ain't already done that's 
 why," Anne replied. 
 
 McCartney's face still grinned, but his heart 
 was not in the smile with which he turned to her. 
 
 "Anne," he said, "you're a female lonse- 
 quence is you can say what you please. It ain't 
 nice to say it, but I wish you was a man." 
 
 "Lord !" Anne replied, "ain't I wished the same 
 thing about three million times in two years. An' 
 the wishes are all crowdin' each other right now, 
 Bill." 
 
 She walked away and McCartney struck a 
 match and touched it to his cigarette without 
 speaking a word.
 
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN 
 
 GABE SMITH'S one concern after he had 
 discovered his oversight, was to do every- 
 thing in his power to minimize the conse- 
 quences. He went at once in search of Keith 
 McBain. The old contractor was out on the 
 grade looking over the ground in the hope that 
 operations might be got under way again first 
 thing in the morning. 
 
 Gabe lost no time in unburdening his mind. 
 He gave the packet at once to Keith McBain and 
 then, as briefly and as pointedly as possible, ex- 
 plained to him what King had feared when he 
 made the papers out, and what his plan had been 
 in case anything of an unexpected nature should 
 occur. 
 
 Keith McBain took the papers, and opening 
 them, looked through them slowly and quietly, 
 while Gabe told his story. Had Gabe not been 
 accustomed to the ways of his old boss he might 
 have felt crestfallen at the apparent lack of effect 
 which his spirited exposition produced in Old 
 Silent. It is doubtful whether in Gabe's whole 
 
 227
 
 228 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 life he had ever been so excited his piping voice 
 was thinner and higher than ever. But when he 
 had finished, Keith McBain failed to respond by 
 so much as a single word. For some minutes he 
 continued to look at the roughly-drawn maps 
 that King had made. He seemed to be reading 
 the specifications over and over again to himself. 
 But Gabe, for all that he was excited, had not 
 failed to catch the look of concern that grew in 
 Keith McBain's face as he lingered over the 
 papers. 
 
 When the old contractor spoke at last his face 
 was more serious than it had ever been before, so 
 far as Gabe Smith's memory served him, and his 
 words came only with difficulty. 
 
 "You can leave these with me, Gabe," he said, 
 folding the papers again very slowly and allowing 
 his eyes to wander off along the narrowing per- 
 spective of the right-of-way as he spoke. 
 
 Keith McBain's mind had turned towards 
 things that were beyond Gabe Smith's ken, and 
 conversation was at an end. 
 
 Gabe turned and took his way alone back to 
 the camp, but as he was leaving the right-of-way 
 he looked behind him to see what had become of 
 his old boss. He was far up the right-of-way, 
 picking his way carefully along, his hands clasped
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 229 
 
 behind his back, never casting a look behind him. 
 
 It was very late that evening when Keith Mc- 
 Bain returned to the cabin and sat down to the 
 supper that Cherry had prepared for him. And 
 as he ate he was very silent. At last, when he 
 had finished eating, he spoke, and his voice was 
 very low and quiet. 
 
 "Cherry, my girl," he said, "come over here." 
 
 Cherry left the couch where she had been 
 sitting and hurried to her father, ready to serve 
 him, as she thought, with something she had for- 
 gotten to place on the table. Her face expressed 
 what was in her mind. 
 
 "No there's nothing I want, girl," he said, 
 with a little wave of his hand. "Just stand be- 
 side me here." 
 
 Cherry came close to his chair and laid her 
 hand across her father's shoulders. He put his 
 arm about her and drew her close to him, where 
 he held her for a moment without speaking. 
 Then he raised his face to her and Cherry saw 
 that his eyes were shining in the light from the 
 lamp there were tears in them. 
 
 "What is it, father?" she asked, and placed a 
 hand very tenderly on his forehead. 
 
 For answer he drew her down until she was on 
 her knees beside his chair, and then with one arm
 
 230 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 about her shoulders and one hand upon her 
 cheek he looked into her face. 
 
 "Cherry, girl." he said in a whisper that had a 
 touch of great tenderness in it, "you had a good 
 mother." 
 
 "Yes," she replied, and tried to smile at him. 
 
 "Your father " he began, and then stopped. 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 He bent low above her and kissed her hair. 
 "Your father loves you, girl," he spoke at last, 
 with tears in his voice as he spoke. 
 
 "Not more than I love him," Cherry replied, 
 with a brave effort to make her voice cheerful. 
 
 "That's it, girl," he replied. "And we're going 
 to stand together?" 
 
 Never before had he spoken thus from his heart 
 to her. Cherry tried to speak, but her voice 
 would not come. She put her two arms about 
 his neck and drawing his head down upon her 
 shoulder gave up the struggle to keep back the 
 tears. 
 
 For a long time they remained thus in each 
 other's arms, until at last there was a stirring in 
 the room where King lay, and Cherry got up. Be- 
 fore she left her father she pressed his head close 
 to her, and leaning over, kissed him on the cheek. 
 Then she hurried away to answer King's call.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 231 
 
 Keith McBain got up, and putting on his hat, 
 went out alone to look about the camp before 
 turning in for the night. Just before he started 
 back for the cabin he went to the corral and 
 looked over his team. He patted their flanks and 
 sides and rubbed their necks affectionately, and 
 then spoke to the corral foreman. 
 
 "I'll want the little team first thing in the 
 morning," he said, and went out again. 
 
 When he returned to the cabin Cherry was 
 standing in the doorway, 
 
 "I'll be going to town first thing in the morn- 
 ing," he said, as he went into the cabin with her. 
 
 "Father please " 
 
 There was pleading in her voice, the meaning 
 of which Keith McBain could not mistake. 
 
 "No," he said quickly, "there'll be nothing this 
 time to trouble you this time or any other 
 time. That's all past, my girl." 
 
 Cherry would have kissed her father again had 
 he not turned away too quickly and gone to his 
 room. 
 
 The next morning Keith McBain was early on 
 the grade and stayed long enough to see that the 
 work was going on very much as usual. Mc- 
 Cartney had come back to camp during the night 
 and was in his place as foreman when the men
 
 233 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 '.. . 
 
 took their accustomed places. Old Silent slipped 
 away and was not seen again during the day. 
 
 Late that night he drove into camp, gave his 
 team over to the care of the corral foreman and 
 went to his cabin without a word to any of the 
 men. His only word was to Cherry, to enquire 
 somewhat more eagerly than usual, she 
 thought concerning King's condition. Then he 
 ate his supper and went to bed. 
 
 During the days that followed, Cherry watched 
 her father with growing anxiety. The care that 
 was necessary to give King was growing less each 
 day so rapid was his recovery, and her mind 
 was more free to dwell upon other things. It 
 had become quite clear to her that a change was 
 coming over her father, though she could not ac- 
 count for it. Sometimes she found him unusu- 
 ally cheerful; he became even talkative at times 
 especially when he sat with King in the even- 
 ings after the day's work was done. On such oc- 
 casions, when her father's spirits were light, her 
 own joy scarcely knew limits. 
 
 But as a rule, he was silent, even morose at 
 times. He ate his meals without speaking. He 
 spent his evenings alone outside, where he sat 
 near the doorway and smoked incessantly, until 
 it was so dark he could not see. Often he left the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 233 
 
 cabin soon after supper and went off walking by 
 himself along the right-of-way, or into the hills, 
 coming back late, and apparently very tired. 
 Something was weighing very heavily upon his 
 mind every minute of the day. Sometimes at 
 night, long after he had gone to bed, Cherry heard 
 him coughing and tossing about restlessly, un- 
 able to go to sleep. 
 
 King, as he grew daily stronger, talked with 
 Cherry about her father. He had not failed to 
 notice the change that had come over him, and 
 was almost as anxious about him as Cherry her- 
 self was. The last conversation of any length 
 that he had had with Keith McBain was on the 
 first afternoon that King had walked from his 
 room to the chair that Cherry had placed for 
 him outside under the tamaracs. Once before, 
 while he was still lying in bed, he had asked the 
 old man about the claim in the hills. Keith Mc- 
 Bain had dismissed the subject at once by as- 
 suring him in the fewest possible words that 
 everything was all right. But when he came 
 down from the grade and found King sitting out- 
 side in the warm sunlight, and looking very much 
 as he had always looked, he had taken a seat 
 near him, lighted his pipe leisurely and had told 
 King the whole truth about the affair. King had
 
 234 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 received the news without comment, and Keith 
 McBain, after lingering a while, had left and 
 gone back to where the men were at work on the 
 grade. 
 
 Then followed a week' during which virtually 
 nothing was said, except what passed between 
 Cherry and King, and a word of quiet greet- 
 ing now and then when the old man came in to 
 eat his meals. 
 
 But during the week King Howden and Cherry 
 McBain faced together the strange problem that 
 life had set before them, not knowing exactly 
 what was hidden behind the silent bearing of the 
 man who was at the centre of it, conscious only 
 of the fact that they were pleased to face it to- 
 gether. 
 
 King regained strength very rapidly and was 
 soon able to take short walks in the afternoons 
 and evenings. He never went alone, except when 
 Cherry went riding. Then he strolled slowly 
 along the little path that led into the hills, the 
 path down which he had come with Cherry On 
 that afternoon when he had found her picking 
 berries and had come back to supper with her. 
 
 On one of these little strolls he had gone as 
 far as the pool beside which he had knelt with 
 her for a drink of fresh water. Once again he
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 235 
 
 knelt down, and placing his hands upon a small 
 boulder, leaned forward and took a drink. Again 
 he paused in the act of getting up and looked at 
 the reflection in the water. His face was thin 
 and his cheek showed pale under the tan. And 
 yet he was gloriously conscious of returning 
 vigor. The fresh air, fragrant with the sweetness 
 of the pine woods, filled him with new strength 
 at every breath, and his very blood was riotous 
 to be in action again and take up the challenge of 
 life in a young man's land. 
 
 And yet there was one lingering regret. The 
 days that were just coming to a close had been 
 days of sweet companionship with Cherry. Now 
 those days were almost at an end. In less than a 
 week he would get into his saddle again and ride 
 away, with nothing but a memory to carry with 
 him into the days that lay before him. 
 
 He sat down on a fallen timber that lay close 
 to the pool and afforded a natural resting-place, 
 wdl-shaded and conveniently near the path. In 
 the woods behind him he heard Sal leaping and 
 rushing about, giving chase to an imaginary rab- 
 bit, or barking a reply to a saucy fay. Already 
 the birds were beginning to flock. A few score 
 descended like a rush of wind and filled the 
 branches of a near-by poplar that had already
 
 236 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 taken on its autumn colors and stood like a yel- 
 low flame against the dark background of ever- 
 greens. It was a day and it was the time of 
 year when youth grows pensive and the melan- 
 choly of the year creeps into the veins of one. 
 
 For a long time King sat and gave himself 
 over to the season's food. How long he sat 
 he did not know. He had lost, for the time be- 
 ing, his sense of passing hours. But he was 
 awakened suddenly by the sound of someone 
 coming, and the next moment Cherry appeared 
 and came running down the pathway towards 
 him. 
 
 "Isn't it funny," she said, sitting down beside 
 him on the log, "but when I came back and 
 found you gone, I knew at once you would be 
 here. It seems the very place for such a day. 
 Isn't it glorious?" 
 
 "I think I'd like to be getting better for a long 
 time," King replied. "Don't you think you could 
 have someone hit me on the head again just 
 hard enough to lay me out for a few days and 
 give me a long time to get over it?" 
 
 Cherry laughed. 
 
 "No- I want to see you like yourself again," 
 she replied. "You look more like yourself to-day 
 than you have yet."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 237 
 
 She leaned towards him and scrutinized his 
 face. 
 
 "And you're beginning to get a little color 
 back, too," she commented in a very matter-of- 
 fact tone. 
 
 "Oh, I'm feeling fit ready for the mail any 
 day now," he replied. "And I guess I'll be going 
 back to it soon about the end of the week." 
 
 "Three more days," Cherry mused. 
 
 "It isn't long, is it?" he asked. 
 
 "No," Cherry replied, and the conversation 
 seemed to have come to an end. 
 
 At last King leaned forward a little and looked 
 into the little pool of water at their feet. 
 
 "If I could talk," he said, as if he were think- 
 ing aloud, "if I could only talk a little I'd tell 
 you that you have been very kind to me since " 
 
 "Don't talk about that, King," she said 
 quickly. "I have done nothing." 
 
 King was silent again for a moment. 
 
 "I guess I'm no talker, at all," he said. 
 
 <c You do very well sometimes when you're 
 delirious," she replied, laughing. 
 
 King was no longer proof against her playful 
 mood. And yet when he got up, and taking her 
 hand in his, announced that it was already time 
 for Eer to go back to the cabin if there was to be
 
 any supper for her father, she" got to her feet re- 
 luctantly enough and walked away with King 
 in a strange mood, and very silent. 
 
 After supper that night Keith McBain called 
 his daughter to him where he was sitting in his 
 accustomed place, just outside the doorway. In 
 a moment Cherry entered the cabin again and 
 donned a light jacket. 
 
 "Father wants me to walk with him a little," 
 she said to King. <c We'll be back again soon," 
 
 King went to the doorway and watched the two 
 as they walked away from the cottage, Cherry 
 leaning upon her father's arm. When they had 
 disappeared he sat down and allowed his mind 
 to wander at will over the events of the weeks 
 that were now coming to a close. He was more 
 anxious than ever, now that his plans in regard 
 to the timber claim in the hills had been frus- 
 trated, to get back as soon as he was able to ride, 
 and talk things over with Hugh Hurley. 
 
 It was quite dark by the time Cherry and her 
 father returned to the cabin. King noticed at 
 once the serious expression on Cherry's face and 
 the complete absence of any sign of the playful 
 mood she displayed before going out with her 
 father. She appeared not to notice King where 
 he was sitting a few feet from the doorway, 
 walked into the cabin without saying a word
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 239 
 
 Keith McBain, however, remained outside, 
 and drawing a chair towards King, sat down be- 
 side him and began to talk at once. 
 
 "You are just about well again, Howden," he 
 said, moving a little closer in order that he might 
 be able to see King's face in the darkness. "The 
 girl tells me that you will be leaving us in a few 
 days now about the end of the week." 
 
 "I think so, sir," King replied. "I have 
 wanted to tell you how much I owe " 
 
 "Tut, tut, man that's nothing 1" the old man 
 broke in. "No we all do such things any of 
 us when the need comes. You may have to take 
 me in some time who knows?" 
 
 "If the time ever comes " King began. 
 
 "I know, I know," he interrupted again. 
 "That's partly why I want to talk to you. How- 
 den, you're a young man yet about " 
 
 "Just past twenty-eight, sir," King interjected. 
 
 "Twenty-eight aye. I didn't think you were 
 so old even as that. Still that's young enough 
 for one of your experience." 
 
 He paused for a moment, during which he 
 seemed to be thinking very hard. 
 
 "There was something I have thought lately 
 I'd like to tell you," he went on at last. "I want 
 tq tell you because I think you can listen with a 
 ears and understand with a man's heart.
 
 Men don't go through life as a rule, Howden, 
 without carrying a few secrets along with them. 
 The most of us have memories that we'd gladly 
 forget if we could. All of us have our secrets 
 things we never tell, even to our best friends. 
 And there's nothing wrong with that it would 
 be wrong if we told it. The world is a pretty 
 fair sort, my boy, and life is worth living, in spite 
 of the wrongs we do. It isn't such a bad rule, 
 Pve found, to keep your mouth shut if opening 
 it is going to cause trouble for anyone." 
 
 He was silent for a while, as if he wished the 
 truth of his statement to sink deep into King's 
 mind. 
 
 "But there are times when it's best to speak 
 out," he went on. "A little trouble sometimes 
 saves a deal more later on. And that's the point 
 I'm coming to. There was a time in my life 
 when I had no secret. I went about my work 
 every day and had little to worry me besides the 
 day's work as it came. But I grew ambitious. 
 When you see a man that's over-ambitious you 
 can count on trouble lying somewhere waiting for 
 him. There are too many ambitious men in the 
 world, Howden, to make it easy for anyone to be 
 ambitious and He Kappy. There were two of us 
 a man I thought was a friend and I'm not
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 241 
 
 often fooled in men and myself. When we 
 found things were going too slow to satisfy us 
 we went west to the mines for one season and 
 staked some claims. We stayed the winter in a 
 little mining town that didn't live long enough to 
 get a name for itself. There isn't a man on the 
 ground now. But for one season it was a lively 
 place. Another man joined us after we'd been 
 there a short time and the three of us went pros- 
 pecting together. We were out for weeks on one 
 trip without any luck, until we gave up and 
 started back to camp. When men have tramped 
 for weeks together through blizzards, and broken 
 fresh trails against howling winds; they're either 
 going to be great friends, or they're going to 
 break. I was the oldest the other two were 
 young and better able to stand it than I was. 
 And it wasn't long before I began to feel as if I 
 was in the way. The grub was getting low, too, 
 and hungry men are not good companions on the 
 road. Last day out from camp the impossible 
 happened. After going for weeks without luck 
 of any kind we ran upon it when we were least 
 expecting it. The fact is, Howden, I ran upon 
 it. I found it and I claimed it for my own, for 
 the other two had told me they couldn't hold 
 back for me any longer and had gone on. That
 
 242 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 night I got into camp they had got in early in 
 the day. There was a lot of drinking going on, 
 and about midnight there was a fight." 
 
 Keith McBain placed his hand over his eyes 
 for a moment and then ran his fingers slowly 
 across his forehead. 
 
 "I never knew exactly what happened. All I 
 remember was some shots and a man lying on 
 the floor. I had a gun in my hand and it was 
 smoking. The thought of what I had done 
 sobered me at once, and my first fear was for my 
 wife and girl. Had it not been for them, How- 
 den, I swear I'd have given myself up right there. 
 But I couldn't do that. I asked the other man 
 the man I thought was my friend you may as 
 well know who it was big Bill McCartney I 
 asked him to get me out of it. At first he argued 
 with me, but at last I persuaded him and he 
 helped me get away. In a few days be joined me 
 again and we came back. Then one night I made 
 a bargain with him. The affair was to remain a 
 secret between us and he was to take the claim 
 and get what he could from it. He went west 
 again and I took to the construction and have 
 lived the life of the damned ever since. I told 
 my wife and she died. Then McCartney came 
 back. Now he wants everything. He knows he
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 243 
 
 has my life in his hands and he's going to make 
 me pay. I made him foreman. He's not satis- 
 fied with that. He wanted the claim in the hills 
 and got it. Sometimes I have been glad he did 
 get it. I have been afraid to stand before that 
 man, Howden the only man I have ever been 
 afraid of. And I'm not afraid for myself either. 
 But the girl there he wants her has wanted 
 her for a long time, and says he's going to get her. 
 To-night I told her the whole story just as I've 
 told it to you. And she says if the price has to 
 be paid she'll pay it. That's Cherry, my boy. 
 The hour has come for me, Howden. We can't 
 run camp very late this year. The weather's been 
 bad. When the break-up comes, there will be 
 plans to lay for next year. McCartney will speak 
 there will be words there are always words 
 whejQ we talk business. But this will be the last. 
 A man's life is nothing he can take me, but 
 God in heaven there's a limit!" 
 
 He got up from his chair and stood a moment 
 before King. Then he extended his hand and 
 King took it. 
 
 <e We shall speak of this again, Howden," he 
 said. "Now that there's nothing between us we 
 can talk without being afraid. There'll be plans 
 to talk ove*- -and I'd like to talk them over with 
 you."
 
 244 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 He turned and went into the cabin without giv- 
 ing King a chance to speak, and King sat down 
 again and went over in his own mind the details 
 of the story Keith McBain had told him. 
 
 It must have been an hour later King did not 
 know how long he had been there alone when 
 he heard Cherry's step in the cabin, and lifting 
 his eyes, saw her standing in the doorway. 
 
 "You must go to bed," she said, and her voice 
 betrayed the fact that she had been weeping. 
 
 He looked at her a moment without speaking. 
 Then he got up and turned towards her. 
 
 "Come out a minute, Cherry," he said, very 
 softly. 
 
 She stepped down, and coming to where he 
 stood, waited for him to speak. Taking her arm 
 he led her off a short distance along the path, 
 where they had walked together only a few hours 
 before. Neither of them spoke until they had 
 reached a point in the pathway from which only 
 the light of the cabin was visible through the 
 heavy, low-hanging branches of the trees. 
 
 Then King stopped and faced her, with his 
 two hands resting on her shoulders. 
 
 "Your father has told me the whole story, 
 Cherry," he said. 
 
 Cherry's head dropped and her shoulders shook 
 under King's hands.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 245 
 
 "I didn't think it was so bad," she sobbed. 
 
 "Cherry," he said abruptly, and in a voice so 
 commanding that it was almost harsh. 
 
 The sobbing ceased suddenly and Cherry 
 looked up expectantly. 
 
 "It ain't so bad," he said in a gentler voice. 
 
 "But what " she began. 
 
 "I don't know," he replied quickly. "One 
 thing at a time, I guess that's enough to think 
 about." 
 
 "But I can't let father " 
 
 "Wait," King interrupted again. "McCart- 
 ney's bad bad clean through. Some time 
 sooner or later a bad man makes a mistake. I 
 think Bill McCartney's mistake is about due. 
 He's made one bad mistake already maybe 
 more but one, anyhow." 
 
 "What has he done?" Cherry asked. 
 
 King, for once, found it easy to talk. 
 
 "He has made up his mind he'll have you," he 
 replied quickly. "But he's made a mistake. I'm 
 gomg to have you, Cherry !" 
 
 She took a step away from him and regarded 
 him seriously for a moment. 
 
 "There'll be some things to settle first," he 
 went on. "But when they're settled I'm com- 
 ing." 
 
 For a while Cherry allowed her mind to return
 
 246 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 to the doubts that had lurked there for many 
 days. She wanted to ask King the question that 
 had been in her mind ever since the evening she 
 had ridden into town in the dusk. Then she 
 heard King's voice again slow, resolute, and 
 touched with deep emotion. 
 
 "Just now," he said, "I'd like to kiss you but 
 I'll wait I'll wait till I deserve it more. Cherry 
 McBain, I'm going to fight for you." 
 
 He drew her towards him and looked long into 
 her eyes. Then he turned her about and started 
 towards the cabin. Together they walked in sil- 
 ence until they were within a few feet of the door, 
 and then Cherry paused and turned to King. 
 
 "King Howden," she said, looking up at him, 
 "you're you're stupid !" 
 
 Before King could make reply she threw her 
 arms suddenly around his neck and kissed him 
 once impulsively, passionately, and then fled into 
 the cabin. 
 
 After a while King Howden, wondering a great 
 deal about his own stupidity, passed into the 
 cabin and went to bed.
 
 CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
 
 OCTOBER set in as no other October had 
 done within the memory of Keith Mc- 
 Bain. 
 
 "It does nothing but rain in this country from 
 the looks of things," he said to old Gabe Smith, 
 who was going over the works with his old boss. 
 "There's nothing for us but an early close we 
 may as well shut down at once. Last night the 
 sun set clear and look at it now." 
 
 It was late afternoon and the whole sky was 
 heavy. The sun had broken through the clouds 
 in the west, but behind the clouds the sky was 
 red. The breeze that rustled in the poplars was 
 chill even cold and carried the yellow leaves 
 before it, or lifted them from the ground in little 
 eddying gusts that whirled sharply in the open for 
 a moment and then lost themselves in the closer 
 branches of the shrubbery. 
 
 'We've had frost nearly every night this 
 week," Gabe offered by way of corroborating 
 what Keith McBain had said. "A little more 
 
 247
 
 248 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 and there'll be no workin* with the slushers at 
 all." 
 
 McBain walked a short distance in silence and 
 then turned back towards the camp. 
 
 "No use going any farther," he remarked at 
 last, as if he were talking to himself. "This job's 
 about done, anyhow, and the next move will be 
 clear up to the valley just north of town. 
 Might as well hustle up the bit that's left here 
 and move the outfk into town for the winter. 
 It'll give us an early start for the spring, any- 
 how." 
 
 It required all of two weeks to complete what 
 was still left of the work Keith McBain had con- 
 tracted for at that point in the right-of-way 
 where his camp had stood for the months of 
 August and September. With good weather con- 
 ditions it would have been completed in three or 
 four days. But every morning found the ground 
 that had been wet the day before frozen into a 
 hard crust that made work impossible until noon. 
 The work dragged along at a rate that would 
 have tried the patience of anyone. It kept Keith 
 McBain in a state of ill-temper from which, dur- 
 ing the whole of the two weeks, he never re- 
 covered. 
 
 During those two weeks, however, the men who
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 249 
 
 worked for Keith McBain were conscious of a 
 change in the old contractor's manner that 
 pleased some quite as much as it displeased 
 others. In September it had been freely ad- 
 mitted by all that the old man was losing his 
 grip. His power was going. His commands 
 were not always obeyed, and no one retreated be- 
 fore his outbursts of profanity as they had once 
 done. 
 
 But now Old Silent was back on the job, 
 loved and hated as before, driving his men reck- 
 lessly in their labors and sparing himself ar little 
 as he spared his men, building from day to day, 
 as conditions permitted, as if the whole responsi- 
 bility of constructing a great national transcon- 
 tinental highway rested upon his shoulders alone. 
 The change was so complete, and so sudden, too, 
 that the men marvelled. At first they observed 
 it individually and thought it over quietly, with- 
 out offering any comment. Later they began to 
 discuss it in groups. Soon it became the chief 
 topic of conversation. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances little considera- 
 tion would have been given to Keith McBain's 
 return to his former habits. The men would 
 have observed it, mentioned it casually, perhaps, 
 and with smiles on their faces and gone back to
 
 250 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 their work. But the circumstances under which 
 the change had taken place were not ordinary. 
 No man in the camp not even McCartney 
 could account for it. The explanation was 
 hidden behind Old Silent's grey, inscrutable 
 countenance. As a matter of fact, the discussions 
 in which the men engaged during the long, chilly 
 evenings were not prompted solely nor in the. 
 main by any desire to find the explanation. 
 
 No one would have spoken at any length on 
 the subject had it not been for the fact that 
 among the men working for Keith McBain were 
 a number who for some time had refused to ad- 
 mit that Keith McBain was recovering from his 
 long period of inefficiency and weak manage- 
 ment. When they were finally forced to admit 
 what was so obvious that no one could remain 
 blind to it, they became violent in their dislike 
 for his harsh methods and intolerant moods. 
 When they could no longer discredit him they 
 began to denounce him. The group was a for- 
 midable element in camp and was led osten- 
 sibly by McCartney, who doubtless saw one of 
 his fondest hopes declining. 
 
 One incident that occurred during those two 
 weeks marked the turning point in all the dis- 
 cussions that were going on. The night had
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 251 
 
 been cold, with rain and a little snow, the first 
 of the season. The morning was wet, and under- 
 foot the ground was slushy. The men had risen 
 at the usual time and gone to breakfast at the 
 sound of the gong. When breakfast was almost 
 over, but before any man had yet risen from the 
 table, Keith McBain appeared in the doorway of 
 the cook-camp and ordered the men out as usual. 
 No word was spoken in reply and McBain, after 
 waiting a moment in the doorway of the camp, 
 went out to prepare for the day's work. No 
 sooner had he disappeared than protests broke 
 loose from fully half the men at once. They 
 appealed to McCartney, and leaving the table, 
 went off in a surly mood to the bunk house, con- 
 fident that, if anything could be done, McCartney 
 would do it. McBain himself was already out 
 on the grade, and McCartney strode over boldly 
 to apprise him of the temper of the men. 
 
 Not more than three of the men heard the in- 
 terview between Old Silent and his foreman. 
 But all three heard alike and the reports that 
 all three brought in concerning what they had 
 seen were sufficiently similar to leave no one in 
 doubt as to their being, in the main, correct. 
 McCartney's first word had brought Keith Mc- 
 Bain down on him like a hurricane, before which
 
 252 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 the foreman had capitulated, even cringed, and 
 had asked the old boss to speak to the men him- 
 self. 
 
 And Keith McBain had spoken to the men, 
 with the result that only two in the whole camp 
 refused to go to work'. These he promptly 
 handed over to the time-keeper, who gave them 
 their time, and Keith McBain personally super- 
 vised their departure from camp before he went 
 back to his men on the grade. 
 
 From that time forward there was no doubt- 
 ing that the old railroad boss was still to be 
 seriously reckoned with by any man who ques- 
 tioned his ability to look after his own affairs. 
 From that time forward, moreover, the question 
 was not so much one of whether Keith McBain 
 was as strong a man as Bill McCartney. It was 
 rather a question of which of the two men they 
 were prepared to follow. For McCartney had 
 sworn in the presence of everyone that night 
 that he was going to break Keith McBain, and 
 do it so completely that well, they were to 
 watch him and they would see for themselves. 
 
 That night the camp was split into two fac- 
 tions. The division had been creeping in for 
 months. It was now complete. On one side were 
 the men who had succumbed to McCartney's
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 253 
 
 loud boastings, and had found in certain dark 
 hints that he had given concerning the old con- 
 tractor's past, good food for fattening an old- 
 time grudge. On the other side were the men 
 who hated McCartney as much as they sym- 
 pathized with Keith McBain, and generally 
 speaking there was a strong affection for the old 
 contractor in spite of his harsh manner. Night 
 after night during those two weeks the breach 
 between the two factions broadened, and on a 
 half-dozen occasions threatened to end in a free 
 fight. 
 
 In the meantime King Howden rapidly re- 
 covered his normal condition. Twice he had 
 gone to the end-of-the-steel for the mail, and had 
 returned to town after his long trips in better 
 spirits than when he had left. On each trip he 
 managed to drop off at McBain's camp about 
 meal-time, and spend an hour or more talking 
 to Cherry and her father. But not once did the 
 difficult position in which Keith McBain was 
 placed come up for discussion. Nor did King 
 Howden drop as much as a hint to Cherry that 
 he still remembered the night when he had stood 
 alone under the tamaracs and had made known 
 his determination to win in the game he was 
 playing with Bill McCartney.
 
 254 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 The third trip, however, was different from the 
 others. Cherry had secretly been expecting King 
 all day long. He arrived finally late in the after- 
 noon, and with him Anne. Cherry received the 
 girl with as much cordiality as she could com- 
 mand. The four took supper together and King 
 went at once, leaving Anne with Cherry until 
 he returned. 
 
 That night Keith McBain retired early and 
 left the two girls alone together. In spite of her- 
 self, Cherry found her heart warming towards 
 Anne as the evening wore on. 
 
 "Don't you sometimes find it hard to be/ alone 
 so much, Anne?" she asked, when their conver- 
 sation had drifted into more or less personal 
 channels. 
 
 Anne's reply was at first non-committal. 
 
 "Ain't you alone, too?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes," Cherry replied, "and I feel some- 
 times as if I can't stand it any longer. But 
 then I have my father." 
 
 "Yes," Anne responded, "it's different. An' 
 when you ask me if I find it hard I do. Some- 
 times well, I just don't think about it. If I 
 started thinkin' I'd go crazy. But thinkin' 
 doesn't get you anywhere," 
 
 They were both silent for some time, Cherry
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 255 
 
 intent upon some sewing that she was doing, 
 Anne sitting watching her across the table. At 
 last Cherry made another effort. 
 
 "I hope you won't think it funny of me, Anne," 
 she remarked, looking up at the girl and smiling, 
 "but I have never known you by anything other 
 than just Anne. King never introduced us 
 properly." 
 
 "There's been mighty little time for introducin' 
 anyone," Anne replied. 
 
 "Yes ; but King has never even told me your 
 name," Cherry continued. 
 
 Anne was not quick to answer. "Reason is," 
 she said slowly, after a long pause, "he didn't 
 know it himself." 
 
 Cherry's face expressed surprise. 
 
 "But I thought you and he were good friends," 
 she remarked and something of the old Eve was 
 rising in her. She had been struggling all even- 
 ing to keep it down, but now she found herself 
 searching Anne's face for the slightest change of 
 color or expression that would betray her feel- 
 ings. 
 
 The girl spoke very quietly. "We are if you 
 want to put it like that," she replied. 
 
 There was a note in Anne's voice that was un- 
 mistakably cold, and Cherry reproached herself 
 at once.
 
 256 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "Really, Anne," she said, and she turned her 
 eyes away as she spoke ; "I didn't mean to be oer- 
 sonal. Please forgive me." 
 
 "That's nothin' !" replied Anne quickly. "Fact 
 is when I came to the settlement I wanted 
 nothin' better than to be left alone. When I 
 hired with McMurray he asked me my name an' 
 I told him 'Anne'. If he'd asked what else 
 I'd 'a' lied to him. But he didn't. An' no one 
 else ever asked till just now. I could lie about 
 it but I'm not goin' to. When I tell you I'll 
 tell you straight. Better leave it at that." 
 
 Though Anne's voice was cold and without 
 feeling, Cherry knew that at heart the girl was 
 tender, even affectionate. When Anne got up 
 from where she had been sitting and went to the 
 window where she stood looking out into the 
 night, Cherry set aside her sewing and followed 
 her. For a moment she stood behind Anne, 
 neither of them speaking a word. 
 
 At last Cherry put her arms about her and 
 Held her in a warm, impulsive embrace. 
 
 "Anne," she said, "let's be friends. I'm alone 
 and so are you. But you're older than I am, 
 and I want you to like me." 
 
 Anne turned to her and looked at her very 
 steadily for a long time before she spoke.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 257 
 
 "Ain't you like the rest of them?" she asked. 
 
 Cherry did not understand the question. 
 
 "What rest who?" she asked in surprise. 
 
 "Oh, the whole bunch," Anne jerked out im- 
 patiently; "the women in the town. They don't 
 like me an' they go out o' the way to show it. 
 God! sometimes I hate to think I belong to 
 them but they ain't women." 
 
 "Oh, yes, they are, Anne," Cherry replied, "but 
 they don't understand, that's all." 
 
 "Understand? Understand nothin'! I was 
 ready to like them before I understood them. 
 When I got to understand them I passed 'em 
 up. One good thing they ain't many so it 
 don't matter much." 
 
 "Well, don't put me with them, Anne," Cherry 
 returned. 
 
 Anne did not reply at once, but when she did 
 there was caution in her tone. 
 
 "Do you remember the first time you saw 
 me?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Cherry had remembered the memory of it 
 had burned itself into her brain. 
 
 "Did you speak to me then as if you under- 
 stood?" Anne questioned. 
 
 Cherry remained silent.
 
 258 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "An' then for two days," Anne continued, "did 
 you act like you understood and wanted to be 
 friends?" 
 
 Cherry could stand the questioning no longer. 
 
 "Anne, Anne," she pleaded, "don't talk like 
 that. Let me tell you can't you see what it all 
 means. Anne I love him I was jealous." 
 
 "Jealous ?" Anne stood back from her in sur- 
 prise. 
 
 "When I saw you standing ." 
 
 "You mean King?" Anne asked her suddenly. 
 
 Cherry nodded her head. 
 
 At first Anne seemed about to laugh, but the 
 smile died on her lips. 
 
 "Listen to me," she said. "Where'd you get 
 that? If I was goin' to pick someone right now 
 I'd pick King Howden. But I ain't pickin' any- 
 one, an* I'll tell you why. Now, you get this 
 straight. In the first place he wouldn't stand 
 for me, that's all there is to that. He never told 
 me, because we never talked about it but I 
 don't have to be told. Anyhow, all that don't 
 matter it's nowhere with me. There's another 
 reason I ain't lookin' for a partner. I wasn't 
 goin' to tell you this but you might as well 
 know." 
 
 She paused a moment and looked at Chgrry.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 259 
 
 "D'you know," she continued meditatively, 
 "1 didn't want to make this trip down here this 
 timfi, I wasn't comin', only King Howden told 
 me to come an' get on talkin' terms with you. I 
 didn't like you but I came because he wanted 
 me to. That's how much I like him, an' it's a' 
 whoje lot. But I'm glad I came. I think I'll get 
 to likin' you I like you now or I wouldn't tell 
 you what I never told another soul in this part o' 
 the world. The reason I ain't choosin' anythin* 
 particular among the legible gents that's hangin' 
 rouixd is that I I made a choice once. It was 
 sure a bad one, but I'm standin' by it." 
 
 "You're not married, Anne?" exclaimed 
 Cherry in surprise. 
 
 Anne nodded in the affirmative. 
 
 "I was once, anyhow," she commented with a 
 smile. 
 
 Cherry could say nothing in reply so com- 
 plete was her surprise. 
 
 "Just now," Anne added, after a moment of 
 silence, "I'm doin' what most women have to do 
 sooner or later I'm stayin* round to keep my 
 old man from makin* an ass of himself. The 
 most of 'em will do it if they're left alone." 
 
 "Then he's here?" Cherry exclaimed with fresK 
 surprise.
 
 260 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "Lord, yes he's here," Anne replied. 
 
 When Cherry did not reply Anne took her 
 hands and looked long and steadily into her 
 eyes. 
 
 "My name," she said slowly, "is Anne Anne 
 McCartney." 
 
 For once Cherry checked herself before she put 
 her thoughts into words. She drew Anne to- 
 wards her and held her close for a long time in 
 silence. 
 
 In her heart was a riot of confused emotions. 
 She could not resist the overwhelming satisfac- 
 tion she felt upon learning at last that her sus- 
 picions concerning King were foolish and without 
 foundation. She reproached herself inwardly for 
 having entertained such fears. Then her self-re- 
 proach vanished before the supreme joy that 
 came to her he was still the man she had known 
 him to be when first they rode together on the 
 trail. It was only natural that the hatred she 
 had for McCartney should now cause her some 
 uneasiness in the presence of the woman who 
 bore his name. In the end her heart went out in 
 pity to the girl who was struggling through life 
 with a burden such as she herself knew nothing 
 of. 
 
 It was this feeling that was strongest in her
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 261 
 
 heart as she pressed Anne very close to her and 
 kissed her. Anne sensed at once what was in 
 Cherry's mind, and drew back. 
 
 "Don't start pityin' me," she said abruptly. 
 "I did it an* I did it with my eyes open. An' 
 now that I've told you" she put her fingers to 
 her lips "don't muss everything. You got that 
 out o' me when I I forgot myself." 
 
 She spoke impatiently, but Cherry hurried to 
 reassure her. 
 
 "You can trust me, Anne," she said. 
 
 "When it comes to that," Anne replied, "there's 
 nobody like your own self. Still I'm goin* to 
 count on you not a word." 
 
 That night was the longest night Cherry Mc- 
 Bain had ever known. So many questions 
 chased each other through her mind that sleep 
 was impossible. She felt herself the plaything of 
 a score of different forces, at the mercy of cross- 
 currents over which she had no control and 
 against which it was useless for her to battle. 
 
 One thing especially troubled her. Should she 
 have told Anne all she knew about McCartney? 
 She had hesitated because her father was so 
 vitally involved. Besides, she didn't know what 
 plans were in King's mind. When the first grey 
 of the dawn came through her window she had
 
 263 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 come to a decision : she would tell Anne all about 
 it in the morning. 
 
 When they were alone together after they had 
 eaten their breakfast, Cherry summoned all her 
 courage and began her story. Anne stopped her 
 before she had spoken a dozen words. 
 
 You're not tellin' me a thing I don't know," 
 sEe said. "Didn't I say I was here to keep Bill 
 McCartney from playin* the damn fool? Well, 
 he'll do that in spite of me but I'm not goin' to 
 let him make as big a fool of others as he has of 
 me. Let's go and look at the horses." 
 
 Early that afternoon King arrived, and Anne 
 went back to town with him. Cherry stood on 
 the trail at the end of the pathway leading from 
 the cabin, and watched them until they were 
 out of sight. She was on the point of turjiing 
 back again to the cabin when she caught sight of 
 her father coming towards her. 
 
 "Well, girl," said Keith McBain when he had 
 joined her, "the work's over. We begin moving 
 the outfit to-morrow." 
 
 Cherry had been expecting the announcement 
 every day for the past week, but when it actually 
 came at last it found her sad in the though.! of 
 leaving the spot where all that had ever matured
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 263 
 
 mudi in her life save the death of her mother 
 had occurred. 
 
 "I can get ready any time, father," she re- 
 plied. "But I'll hate to leave my trees and 
 my cabin and my hills." 
 
 The old man looked down at his daughter and 
 smiled. Then he put his arm about her and the 
 two went off down the pathway together.
 
 CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
 
 THE next day Keith McBain's men began 
 to break up the old camp. By night the 
 first wagons were loaded and ready for the 
 trail in the morning. McBain's decision to store 
 his outfit in The Town rather than take it to the 
 end-bf-the-steel, met with the men's approval. It 
 meant a shorter haul, 'and it meant a foregather- 
 ing of the men from farther up the line, includ- 
 ing Rubble's gang, as a sort of final wind-up of 
 the season's 'activities. In three days there was 
 nothing left of the old camp, except a few walls 
 and foundations and the little log cabin in the 
 shelter of the tamaracs. Keith McBain had ac- 
 ceded to his daughter's wish to remain "just an- 
 other day," and had allowed his men, under the 
 supervision of McCartney and Gabe Smith, to go 
 ahead and complete the task of putting the outfit 
 under cover and preparing winter shelter for the 
 horses. 
 
 When Cherry and her father arrived just a day 
 after the last freight team, the place had already 
 
 264
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 265 
 
 begun to take on a holiday appearance. They 
 were met by Hugh Hurley, who took them at 
 once to his cottage, where he insisted upon their 
 staying until McBaih could have a cabin of his 
 own erected. Leaving Cherry with Mrs. Hurley, 
 Old Silent went out to see what had been accom- 
 plished by his men. Scarcely an hour's work had 
 been done, under either old Gabe or McCartney, 
 towards storing the equipment, and half the men 
 were already showing the effects of frequent visits 
 to Cheney's. Gabe was the first to meet Mc- 
 Bain when he arrived, and at once he confessed 
 that scarcely a thing had been accomplished. 
 The old contractor laid his plans carefully and 
 with quiet deliberation. He had a long talk with 
 Hugh Hurley, and together the two visited King 
 Howden in his shack on the ridge, where the three 
 talked late into the night. 
 
 Next morning Keith McBain was out at day- 
 break rounding up his gang and getting them 
 ready for the day's work. He found nearly half 
 of them unable to report for duty, but the others 
 responded readily, and were soon at work haul- 
 ing timbers and clearing spaces for the erection 
 of the corrals. When they were well under way 
 McBain went to Hurley's office, where he found 
 King Howden, and bringing him out, put him ia 
 charge of the men.
 
 266 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 UntU noon the work went along quite 
 smoothly, and Keith McBain watched King with 
 appro\sal growing in his heart. Noon, however, 
 brought the discovery to McCartney, and to those 
 who had not responded to McBain's call, that the 
 work was apparently proceeding successfully 
 without them. For an hour or so there were 
 petty councils here and there, in MacMurray's 
 and Cheney's places particularly, and one by 
 one the men stepped away and went to work, 
 though many of them took their directions from 
 King with ill enough grace. Keith McBain and 
 Hugh Hurley watched the process from the tat- 
 ter's office, and smiled to themselves at what they 
 saw. Before night a scant half dozen were all 
 that remained aloof from the operations these 
 and Bill McCartney, who had stayed discreetly 
 apart all day. 
 
 Nightfall found Cheney's place crowded to the 
 door. There was a feeling of expectancy in the 
 air and the men gathered quickly and fell to dis- 
 cussing the events of the day. But discussion led 
 nowhere. There seemed to be general disagree- 
 ment on almost every point that was raised. 
 McCartney stood back from the crowd with a 
 smile fixed on his face, apparently enjoying the 
 discomfiture and allowing the men to develop
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 267 
 
 their differences as they wished. What he wanted 
 just now was disorganization and confusion the 
 more of it the better. Any organization must of 
 necessity centre round Keith McBain, who was 
 the sole embodiment of authority of any kind in 
 the place. When disorder had broken McBain's 
 control McCartney's moment would arrive. And 
 he was confident that the card he would play was 
 sufficiently high to win the game. 
 
 The men were not altogether blind to the 
 strangely quiescent attitude that McCartney had 
 so suddenly assumed. Late that night, when the 
 discussion was at its highest, someone suddenly 
 turned upon him. 
 
 "Ain't you in on this, Bill McCartney?" asked 
 one of the men who had been a participant in 
 more than one heated argument during the 
 evening. 
 
 "Sure, I'm in on it," he replied, "but I'm not 
 talkin' just now." 
 
 "Not talkin' just now? Hell, when are you 
 goin* to do your talkin'?" 
 
 By this time the men had turned their atten- 
 tion to McCartney, and stood waiting for his 
 reply. 
 
 "Well, boys," he said, with a sneer, "I'll begin 
 talkin' when I'm good and ready to talk."
 
 268 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 There was a moment's silence and then, almost 
 in an instant, the confusion of voices was as great 
 as ever. 
 
 When the general hubbub was at its highest 
 Tom Rickard edged his way towards McCartney 
 and touched him on the shoulder. In a moment 
 the two were back against the wall where they 
 could talk without being overheard. 
 
 "You're playin' a fool's game, Bill," Rickard 
 said in a voice that was scarcely more than a 
 whisper. "You're lettin' go when you could 
 speak one word and the boys would back you up 
 to a man." 
 
 McCartney looked at Rickard a moment with 
 a puzzled expression. He seemed to be trying to 
 settle with himself whether or not Rickard was 
 to be trusted. At last he smiled, a little patron- 
 izingly, and laid a hand upon Rickard's shoulder. 
 
 "Tom," he said, quietly, "you'd better let me 
 play this hand the way I want to. I could get 
 them to-night I know that but I want them 
 later on. I've got something to say and when 
 the time comes I'm goin' to say it don't worry. 
 But there's something to be done first." 
 
 He paused and gave Rickard another search- 
 ing glance. 
 
 "Are you still playin' this game with me?" h? 
 asked pointedly.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 269 
 
 Rickard looked about him quickly. Then he 
 moved close to McCartney and put out his hand. 
 McCartney took it and nudged him gently with 
 his elbow. 
 
 "Come outside it's gettin' close in here." 
 
 They went out without attracting any special 
 attention, and when they had closed the door 
 behind them McCartney turned towards the 
 river. They walked the full length of the street 
 without speaking, stopping only once to take a 
 glance through the window at MacMurray's, 
 where a crowd of men were gathered in the front 
 room. When they stood at last on the bank of 
 the river, McCartney nodded his head towards 
 Hurley's office, standing back a short way from 
 the street. There was a light in the window. 
 
 "Old Hugh is workin' late," he said, with a 
 grunt of sarcasm. 
 
 Rickard followed McCartney along the bank, 
 until they came to the space the men had cleared 
 in the brush during the day. A half dozen large 
 timbers had already been hauled to the site of the 
 new corral, and the first four had been squared 
 and fitted together to make the foundation. A 
 little farther down a cut had been made in the 
 steep clay banks that ordinarily rose some fif- 
 teen feet above the water in the river, to provide
 
 a passage-way for the horses going to water. 
 From where they stood they could see the lantern 
 in the hands of the corral foreman, as he went 
 about taking a last look at the horses before retir- 
 ing for the night. Besides the stamping of the 
 horses' feet on the ground, there was not a sound 
 except the running of the water in the stream 
 below them, now swollen from the rains of the 
 past couple of weeks. 
 
 McCartney sat down quietly on one of the 
 timbers and beckoned Rickard to a place beside 
 him. 
 
 '*This looks like a bit of deep plottin'," Mc- 
 Cartney said when Rickard was seated. "Well, 
 forget the melodrama, Tom. It may look stagey, 
 but I'm real serious an' I'm goin' to be real 
 careful, too." 
 
 MacMurray's door opened, letting out a flood 
 of light, and McCartney ceased speaking till the 
 door was closed. 
 
 "You were with me on one bit of business a 
 few Weeks ago, Tom," he continued. "I've got 
 no kick comin' you did all you could, an' we 
 came pretty near to gettin' away with it at that. 
 If the old man could 'a' been kept in town an- 
 otHer day we'd 'a' swung the thing good. It 
 wouldn't 'a' mattered a damn whether he ever 
 came back."
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 271 
 
 "And we'd V done it, too, if it hadn't been for 
 just one thing Anne handed the old man an 
 ace an' he bobbed up in camp about twenty- 
 four hours too soon. And Anne's goin' to queer 
 this deal right through unless we can keep her 
 out. Now, listen to me. I know that girl just 
 between us, I knew her before I ever came here 
 an' I can tell you right now what she's goin' 
 to do. No use goin' into cases but I know. 
 Anne's got to be put away nothin' rough, y'un- 
 derstand " 
 
 The sound of someone approaching from be- 
 hind them caused McCartney to cease speaking 
 and get up. The corral foreman was returning 
 to MacMurray*s. 
 
 "Come on," McCartney whispered quickly, 
 and led the way, with Rickard following closely 
 behind him. They did not exchange a word until 
 they had gone some distance up the street in the 
 direction of Cheney's. The presence of a number 
 of men in the street made further conversation 
 impossible, and they entered Cheney's place, 
 where McCartney sought at once to make 
 amends for his previous aloofness during the 
 evening by inviting the men to come up and 
 "have one on him."
 
 In Hurley's office the three men, Keith Mo 
 Bain, King Howden and Hugh Hurley himself, 
 sat late that night reviewing the events of the day 
 and considering their possible bearing on the im- 
 mediate future. For the benefit of Hugh Hurley, 
 Keith McBain had gone to some length in tracing 
 the course of events during the past few weeks. 
 
 "But what's his idea what's his plan?" asked 
 Hurley, after McBain had completed his account. 
 
 Keith McBain was silent a moment before he 
 replied. 
 
 "Bill McCartney wants more more than I 
 can tell you, Hurley he wants " 
 
 King saw the struggle that the old man was 
 having and came at once to his relief. 
 
 "I guess he wants all he can get," he broke in. 
 "There's only one thing to do now, Mr. Hurley 
 we can't have him round this place he's got 
 to get out." 
 
 Hurley smiled. 
 
 "You're beginning to talk business, King," re- 
 plied Hurley. "If you believe what you say 
 you ought to be able to go where your faith 
 leads you." 
 
 King looked at him questioningly. 
 
 "I mean that McCartney will stay here till 
 he's put out," the old man continued.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 273 
 
 "That's what I mean," King replied quickly. 
 
 Hurley's smile broadened. "I can't put the 
 duffer out." 
 
 "I didn't expect you could," King responded. 
 
 "Can you?" 
 
 King had asked himself the same question 
 scores of times and had made his own reply. He 
 expressed it now as he had expressed it to him- 
 self every time the question had arisen in his 
 own mind. 
 
 "Bill McCartney and King Howden can't live 
 in the same place this winter," he said, looking 
 straight into Hurley's eyes. "And I ain't going 
 away." 
 
 When they had finished talking the three men 
 shook hands quietly. They had entered into a 
 covenant on behalf of a few hundred serious men 
 and women who had set their faces months be- 
 fore towards the setting sun and had followed the 
 trail over the hills and into the little valley, 
 where lay the only hopes that life had still to 
 offer them the hidden valley at the rainbow's 
 end. 
 
 And two of those three men slept as men sleep 
 who are without care and are content with the 
 day that is done. But Keith McBain could not 
 sleep for the thought of the price he had already
 
 274 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 paid and the price that he was even yet to pay 
 for his own folly. 
 
 The week that followed was one of unceasing 
 labor and careful vigilance on the part of Hugh 
 Hurley and Keith McBain. King went forward 
 with the work he had been given to do by Keith 
 McBain, and paid not the slightest heed to petty 
 obstructions that were being thrown in his way 
 every day by men who, though pretending to 
 serve their old boss, were really actuated by the 
 designs of which McCartney was the maker and 
 the inspirer. 
 
 No one was unaware of McCartney's intrigu- 
 ing. Signs of it were in evidence everywhere. In 
 spite of King's endeavors to hold his men together 
 and secure concerted effort, there were little 
 breaks and hindrances that temporarily offset his 
 best attempts to direct the work along effective 
 lines. Especially active among those who sided 
 with McCartney was Tom Rickard, who had 
 joined the gang of men under King's direction 
 with no other object whatever than the frustra- 
 tion of all efforts to produce harmony among the 
 men. 
 
 Towards the end of the week, however, the di-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 275 
 
 vision between the two sides, represented by Mc- 
 Cartney's supporters on the one hand, and on the 
 other by the men who were still faithful to Keith 
 McBain and took kindly to King's methods, was 
 so marked than an open break seemed imminent. 
 The 1 threatening attitude of the opposition to 
 King was so apparent that many of his men grew 
 impatient with his quiet forbearance. 
 
 To make matters worse, the weather, that had 
 been so unfavorable for almost a month, had 
 turned from bad to worse. The river had risen so 
 that the men were no longer able to get logs for 
 building purposes from the opposite side of the 
 stream, and were forced to make long hauls 
 through wet brush and over rain-soaked ground, 
 until their spirits were tested almost to the limit 
 of endurance. 
 
 McCartney was as much a student of condi- 
 tions as he was an intriguer, and was not slow to 
 recognize that, given a little more work under 
 conditions that were nearly impossible, the break 
 that he so ardently desired was inevitable. He 
 stood to one side, or walked about with a smirk 
 on his face that expressed only too well his con- 
 fidence in the outcome. 
 
 At one point, however, his calculations failed. 
 Friday night found the work almost completed.
 
 276 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 In spite of all obstacles, the end of another day 
 would see all the horses under cover and housed 
 in buildings that would provide comfortable 
 quarters during the weeks that lay between the 
 closing of construction work and the opening of 
 the tie-camp for neither Hurley nor King 
 would admit for a moment that the camps in the 
 hills would not be running. They did not know 
 how it was to be done, but they did not allow 
 themselves to entertain the slightest doubt that 
 the claim now registered in the name of McCart- 
 ney would yet be worked without his permission 
 or assistance. 
 
 Keith McBain was not nearly so sanguine. 
 He knew as no orue else knew, except King and 
 Cherry that McCartney still held his high card 
 and would play it when the time was ripe. What 
 the results would be he could not guess he 
 could see nothing but chaos and disintegration 
 ahead. King clung to the hope it was a sort of 
 blind faith with him that somewhere, somehow, 
 Keith McBain's fears would prove to be ground- 
 less. Cherry was cheerful, even hopeful, though 
 none knew whether her high spirits were genuine 
 or feigned. She drew some comfort, at least, 
 from the knowledge that, if McCartney had a 
 card to play, so had she and she would play it 
 when the moment was most opportune.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 277 
 
 But to all this McCartney was apparently 
 blind. He had one desire, one aim so single and 
 so unshakeable that he could see nothing else. 
 His mind was bent upon winning the game at all 
 costs or, losing it, to work such havoc in the 
 place that no one would stay. It was all a bit 
 of frontier politics, with all the ruthlessness and 
 much of the intrigue and petty conspiracy that 
 mark the game of politics as it was played, just 
 over the hills, in the well-dressed, highly organ- 
 ized society that these men had left in the hope 
 of gaining a new freedom from the restraints of 
 their old life. 
 
 Sooner or later the break was bound to come 
 and McCartney had timed it to suit his own 
 convenience. Saturday morning Tom Rickard 
 turned out with the men as usual, and drove the 
 team he had been driving all week. King had 
 left the scene of operations and had walked 
 slowly down the narrow trail worn by the logs 
 that had been dragged out of the woods during 
 the week. He had gone a little more than half 
 way towards the point where the trail branched 
 off in several directions at once and lost itself in 
 the woods. Rickard and a companion were just 
 emerging from the cover of the trees, bringing 
 out two bits of timber bound together at one end 
 with a heavy logging chain. Suddenly Rickard's
 
 273 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 team stopped with a jerk. The logs had slipped 
 into an awkward position, wedged between two 
 stout poplars that held them as in a vice. 
 
 King came up to them and looked for a mo- 
 ment at the muddle without speaking. Had 
 Rickard showed the slightest good judgment he 
 would never have allowed himself to get into the 
 tangle. King knew that but he stopped the 
 words that were on his lips. Turning to Rick- 
 ard's companion he directed him to make use of 
 his cant-hook and dislodge the timbers. His re- 
 quest was made in a quiet tone and without any- 
 thing offensive in his manner, and he stepped 
 away from the men and started round to the 
 other side of the horses to watch the work. 
 
 As he did so he heard Rickard muttering some- 
 thing that was meant for his companion, though 
 he did not conceal the fact that he cared very 
 little whether King heard it or not. 
 
 King stopped and came back. 
 
 "Just now, Rickard, this is a one man's job," 
 he said. <c You get that straight." 
 
 Rickard's mouth curled up into a sneer. He 
 seemed on the point of making a reply, but he 
 looked at King's face and shrugged his shoulders 
 contemptuously without speaking. 
 
 King then turned to Rickard's companion and
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 279 
 
 stood by until the logs were cleared. Then he 
 gave Rickard orders to go ahead. Letting loose 
 a string of oaths, Rickard struck the horses with 
 the knotted ends of the lines, and continued lash- 
 ing them as he drove them at a mad pace down 
 the trail and round the corner to where the men 
 were working. 
 
 King stood in the trail and watched Rickard 
 abusing his team until the blood was hot in his 
 veins. He made a quick start to overtake him 
 and then suddenly checked himself. Stepping 
 back a little among the trees he waited. 
 
 In a few minutes Rickard returned for another 
 load. King waited until he came opposite him in 
 the trail, and then stepped out. Rickard's com- 
 panion had not come back as yet and he was 
 alone. 
 
 "Whoa!" King said to the horses, and he 
 stepped before them in the trail. 
 
 Then he faced Rickard. 
 
 "Tie up here a minute," he said, indicating 
 with his hand a tree conveniently near, to which 
 the team could be made secure. 
 
 Rickard looked at King quickly and again gave 
 a shrug of contempt. 
 
 "Rickard," King said, "that won't get you any- 
 wheje. Tie up here!"
 
 280 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "I willlike " 
 
 Rickard never finished his sentence. King was 
 beside him with one step and had seized him by 
 the shoulder. 
 
 "Rickard !" he said, sharply. 
 
 Rickard looked at him for a moment, and then 
 going to the heads of the horses, led his team over 
 to the tree and made them fast. 
 
 "Go in there," King commanded, and pointed 
 into the woods in the direction of the river. 
 
 Rickard did not turn to look this time, but 
 picked his way through the underbrush, with 
 King close at his heels. When they came within 
 a yard or two of the bank of the river King spoke 
 again. 
 
 "This will do," he said. "I'm going to talk 
 to you for about one minute, and I want you to 
 listen." 
 
 All the quietness had vanished both from 
 King's voice and from his manner. He was 
 shaking with passion and his face was almost 
 white. He laid one hand on Rickard's shoulder 
 and closed his fingers in a vice-like grip. 
 
 "Ten minutes ago, Rickard," he said, "by God, 
 I'd have killed you. Just now, you dirty whelp 
 I'll give you about thirty seconds to make up 
 your mind to get out. Leave that team where it
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 281 
 
 is and get back out of the way till this job's done. 
 If you're in town by Monday night I'll take my 
 own way of putting you out. A little better than 
 two days that's enough time to square up and 
 hit the trail. Are you ready?" 
 
 Rickard squirmed under King's hand, but 
 King pulled him up suddenly. 
 
 "Are you ready?" he repeated. 
 
 Rickard nodded. 
 
 "Then move!" 
 
 King waited until he had gone a few yards be- 
 fore he followed him. They had not retraced 
 more than half the distance they had come when 
 they heard a great splash in the river behind 
 them. They turned at once and looked back. 
 A large section of the river bank, undermined by 
 the action of the water, had fallen and had taken 
 away the very ground on which they had been 
 standing only a moment before. 
 
 King paused in silent contemplation of how 
 petty, after all, are the things that vex us most. 
 Only a moment did he allow his mind to wander 
 from the business he had in hand ; then he faced 
 Rickard again, and without a word the two went 
 off together. 
 
 King took the team back and gave it into the 
 keeping of one of the mea. He never left Rick- 
 
 3
 
 282 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 ard's side, however, until he had seen him safely 
 away from the workers. Then he returned and 
 went on with his work. 
 
 That evening the task was completed and King, 
 after taking supper at MacMurray's and chatting 
 a moment with Anne, walked over to Hurley's to 
 talk with Cherry a little before he went to his 
 shack. All day his mind had reverted time and 
 time again to the incident with Rickard, and 
 more especially to what seemed like a miraculous 
 escape from what might have meant death to 
 both. Now that the work was over and his mind 
 was free, the whole affair came back upon him 
 with renewed freshness. He told it all to Cherry 
 and Mrs. Hurley, and when he had finished, 
 Cherry, who had listened throughout without 
 speaking a word, turned a serious face to King 
 and put her hand upon his arm. i 
 
 "It looks almost as if God himself were 
 helping us," she said. 
 
 She did not speak fervently, nor with any emo- 
 tion. Her voice was quiet and her tone matter- 
 of-fact. And yet King was struck by the sim- 
 plicity of her manner. She evidently believed 
 implicitly in what she had said and King found 
 himself impelled to share somewhat in her faith. 
 
 It was the last thought that lingered in bis
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 mind that night before he went to sleep to the 
 sound of the rain falling upon the roof of his 
 shack. 
 
 Hugh Hurley and Keith McBain sat together 
 in the land office very late that night. No one 
 in town was in any mood for going to bed, and 
 the sounds that came from Cheney's and Mac- 
 Murray's bore ample evidence to the fact that the 
 men were apparently preparing to make a night 
 of it. Old Gabe Smith dropped in when it was 
 very late and stayed long enough to observe, 
 among other things, that if the rain didn't soon 
 cease in the hills the water in the river would be 
 over the top of the bank. 
 
 After Gabe had gone, the two men decided upon 
 taking a walk down to the river to look at the ris- 
 ing water. What they saw when they got there 
 struck fear into their hearts at once. Since it had 
 grown dark the stream had risen a full foot, and 
 was now rushing with terrific force around the 
 bend, about the outer angle of which clustered 
 the huts and cabins of the little town. Already 
 the current had swept away large portions of the 
 high bank, in which there was no rock or stone 
 of any account to offer any resistance to the enor- 
 mous weight of water that swept down like a 
 vicious cataract out of the hills.
 
 284 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "Look yonder," Hurley said, suddenly. 
 
 Keith McBain turned to look in the direction 
 indicated. Further up stream a little shack stood, 
 with one corner already projecting over the edge 
 of the bank. In a few hours at most the ground 
 upon which it stood would be swept away and 
 the shack with it. 
 
 Without losing a moment they hurried back 
 to MacMurray's and called out the men who had 
 not yet retired for the night. In less than five 
 minutes, more than a score were at work, and 
 before another half hour had passed, the shack 
 had been moved back upon safe ground. 
 
 By the time the excitement was over there was 
 not a man left in either MacMurray's or 
 Cheney's. Everyone was out, either to help or 
 look on. Keith McBain had left and gone back 
 with Hurley to the office when the immediate 
 danger was past. They were not in the crowd 
 when Gabe Smith came running excitedly to the 
 men to announce that the bank was falling away 
 just above the place where the corral and equip- 
 ment sheds had been built during the week. 
 
 At once the men hurried toward the corral. 
 For a few minutes there was much excited and 
 aimless running about on the part of the men, 
 without any organization, and without any plan.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 285 
 
 Soon, however, there emerged certain unfailing 
 indications that a part of the gang, at any rate, 
 were under direction. Gabe Smith was probably 
 the first to observe it, and his suspicions were 
 confirmed when he saw McCartney's huge frame 
 moving among the men. There was organiza- 
 tion, but designed to frustrate all efforts to save 
 the buildings, rather than to assist. 
 
 Gabe left the crowd of men, who were already 
 wrangling among themselves, and hurried to find 
 Keith McBain. He had his hand upon the door 
 of the office and was about to open it, when he 
 felt himself seized by the shoulder and hurled 
 back so violently that he stumbled and fell to the 
 ground. 
 
 He looked up and saw McCartney standing 
 over him. 
 
 "Stay out of the way, you old crust," McCart- 
 ney said, "an* you won't get hurt." 
 
 In a moment the office door was opened and 
 Hurley was standing in the lighted doorway, with 
 McBain behind him. 
 
 "What's wrong?" demanded Hurley. 
 
 For reply McCartney stepped into the office, 
 pushing Hurley before him, and closed the door 
 behind him. 
 
 "This ain't an old man's town that's what's 
 wrong," he said.
 
 286 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 Hurley expressed his astonishment. 
 
 "Well, but an old man can live here as well 
 as anywhere else, can't he?" he protested. 
 
 "All depends," McCartney replied, smiling 
 cynically. "We'll settle that some other time. 
 Just now I have business with Keith McBain." 
 
 "It's time to settle," he said, looking at Mc- 
 Bain who, for a moment, seemed beaten in the 
 struggle that was raging within him. 
 
 Suddenly he stood up and looked at McCart- 
 ney, his eyes burning with the fierce hate that 
 was in his soul. When he spoke his voice seemed 
 a little uncertain, as if he were struggling to keep 
 back the tears from his eyes. But almost imme- 
 diately he mastered himself and spoke deliber- 
 ately enough, if not quietly. 
 
 "What is it, McCartney?" he asked. 
 
 "Gabe Smith was here to announce to you that 
 the new buildings an' the outfit is all goin' down 
 stream before daybreak unless they're moved," 
 McCartney replied. 
 
 "And is nothing going to be done?" asked Mc- 
 Bain. 
 
 "That's just what I'm here for," returned Mc- 
 Cartney. "It'll be done if you're ready to come 
 through." 
 
 "Well what will settle it?" Keith McBain
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 287 
 
 asked in a voice that had almost a touch of 
 weariness in it. 
 
 "We've talked about all that before there's no 
 change," McCartney replied. 
 
 Hurley looked from one man to the other in 
 bewilderment. 
 
 "And if I refuse?" asked McBain. 
 
 "You're wastin' time," McCartney snapped. 
 
 Keith McBain raised his voice a little, but 
 spoke with much the same deliberateness as 
 before. 
 
 "For two years, McCartney, I've been in hell 
 expecting this time to arrive any day. I'm past 
 that now. I've settled it and I'm going to see 
 it to the end. Don't think you can frighten me 
 I'm old, but I'll pay." 
 
 The words seemed to strike McCartney almost 
 dumb. 
 
 "You'll pay?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes go ahead tell all you know!" 
 
 "By God, then, you will pay," McCartney ex- 
 claimed, and throwing the door open, went out. 
 
 Hurley stepped over and, closing the door, 
 turned to McBain. 
 
 "What is this this bargain, Keith?" he asked. 
 
 "For two years he has kept a secret that has 
 held me bound to him because I have been 
 afraid to die."
 
 288 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 "Die?" Hurley exclaimed. 
 
 "Hugh I have killed a man." 
 
 For a moment they stood in silence and did 
 not look at each other. Then Keith McBain 
 moved wearily towards the door. Before he went 
 out he turned and looked back at Hurley. 
 
 "Hugh," he said, quietly, "look after the men 
 I'm going to the girl." 
 
 Then he opened the door slowly and went out. 
 
 McCartney stood alone in the darkness by the 
 river and waited for Rickard, whose form was 
 faintly visible a few yards up the river. When 
 Rickard had joined him, McCartney caught him 
 by the arm. 
 
 "Well?" he asked. 
 
 "All smooth," Rickard replied. 
 
 "Nothin* rough?" McCartney prompted. 
 
 "I said all smooth," Rickard returned, a 
 little impatiently. 
 
 They walked together to within a few yards 
 of the men and stood looking at them. McCart- 
 ney's group were in the majority, and stood near 
 the corral. Some distance back the others stood 
 about in small groups, talking angrily among 
 themselves. 
 
 A bit of the bank dropped away and fell with 
 a dull splash into the water.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 289 
 
 McCartney put a cigarette into his mouth and 
 applied a match leisurely. 
 
 "I ain't much on religion, Rick," he said, jocu- 
 larly, "but the Almighty sure looks friendly to- 
 night."
 
 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
 
 KING awoke with a start. He had been 
 sleeping very soundly, and at first, after he 
 had opened his eyes, he had difficulty in 
 bringing his senses to bear directly on what had 
 disturbed him. The faint grey dawn was already 
 at the window. Somewhere there had been a 
 thumping and the sound of a voice that, even 
 to his sleep-fogged consciousness, was vaguely 
 familiar. 
 
 For a moment he waited, sitting up in his 
 bunk and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Sud- 
 denly the thumping was repeated someone was 
 at the door. Then he heard his name called and 
 the sound of the voice brought him to his senses 
 at once. It was the voice of Cherry McBain. 
 
 In an instant he was at the door. 
 
 "What's wrong?" he asked excitedly. 
 
 Cherry's voice was full of alarm. "Get dressed 
 quickly, King," she replied. "We want you." 
 
 King hurried into his clothes, and going to the 
 door again shot the wooden bar back from its 
 socket and threw the door open. A very light 
 
 290
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 291 
 
 drizzling rain was still falling, and Cherry shook 
 the wet wrap from her head and shoulders as she 
 stepped through the doorway. In his hurry King 
 had not taken time to light the lamp, but even 
 in the darkness he could see the expression of fear 
 on her face. Without waiting to close the door he 
 placed an arm about her shoulders and drew her 
 towards him. 
 
 "Oh, King !" she cried, "it's come it's come !" 
 
 He did not need to ask what had come. He 
 knew. Leading her gently to a seat he left her, 
 and sitting down on the edge of his bunk, drew 
 on his boots and laced them hurriedly. Then he 
 got up quickly and throwing on his coat, took his 
 hat and turned to Cherry. 
 
 "All right I'm ready," he announced. 
 
 Cherry got up from her seat and moved to- 
 wards the door. She had not spoken while King 
 was completing his preparations to go out, and 
 he knew that she had been weeping silently. 
 
 When she got as far as the open doorway she 
 paused and turned to him. 
 
 "King King " she began, but her voice 
 failed her. 
 
 King stepped close to her and took her arm. 
 
 "Tell me about it as w r e go," he said. 
 
 She moved towards him, and reaching up
 
 292 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 placed her hands on his shoulders. King looked 
 down at her face, white and tense in the dark- 
 ness. 
 
 "You must fight, King," she said, with an em- 
 phasis that to King seemed almost pathetic. 
 
 He pressed her closer for reply. 
 
 "And you must win," she added. 
 
 He smiled faintly. "I'm ready," he said. 
 
 Her hands crept slowly about his neck, and 
 King, with a suddenness that swept her off her 
 feet, caught her to him and pressed a kiss upon 
 her mouth, a kiss in which all the pent-up pas- 
 sion of weeks found expression at last. 
 
 When he released her he stood with his arms 
 about her for a brief moment, trembling before 
 her. 
 
 "I don't deserve it," he said, his voice 
 trembling with emotion. "I guess I'll never de- 
 serve that but I wanted to win first to win for 
 you." 
 
 She leaned a little closer to him and then drew 
 herself up and clung tightly with her arms about 
 his neck. 
 
 "King," she said, breathlessly, "I love you I 
 love you !" 
 
 Again he put his lips to hers quickly, passion- 
 ately and then put her back from him.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 293 
 
 "We must get along down now," he said. 
 
 Cherry drew her wrap around her and they 
 went out together. 
 
 A few minutes' walking brought them within 
 sight of the town, apparently peaceful in the cold 
 grey glimmer of light just breaking in the east. 
 So quiet was it that King began to wonder if the 
 disturbances of which Cherry had been telling 
 him as they came along had not been settled. 
 Then suddenly there arose a shout from the 
 further side of the town, near the river, and King 
 quickened his pace almost to a run, giving Cherry 
 all she could do to keep up. At last his eagerness 
 mastered him, and leaving Cherry with a last 
 warning to go back to Hurley's cottage and not 
 to stir until he should come for her, he left her 
 and went off at a run in the direction of the 
 shouting. 
 
 What King saw when he reached the point in 
 the street where it turned and ran along the bank 
 of the river made him stand a moment aghast. 
 Back against the trees the buildings stood, 
 huddling together closely in the cold light of the 
 early morning. The water in the river was al- 
 most level with the ground on which he was 
 standing, and large sections of the bank had been 
 swept away during the night, until the corral in
 
 294 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 which the horses were placed before King left 
 town the night before, was now standing on the 
 very brink of the flood. 
 
 This was in itself enough to strike fear into 
 King's heart, but the movements of the men were 
 what concerned him most. Half-drunken still 
 from their night's debauch they seemed to be 
 rolling about in a kind of ridiculous orgy, 
 stumbling and falling and scrambling to their 
 feet again, shouting and cursing and grapplmg 
 each other in frenzied disorder. 
 
 A glance was enough for King to realize fully 
 what was wrong. He could not see McCartney 
 anywhere among the men, but Cherry had told 
 him enough if telling had been at all necessary. 
 Back a little from the struggling mass stood six 
 or eight men, looking on quietly and talking 
 among themselves. King recognized them as 
 some of his own men, upon whom he thought he 
 could rely for support. In a moment he was 
 standing in the middle of the group. 
 
 "What are you standing here for?" he asked. 
 "Come on get into it!" 
 
 In a flash they were into the struggle, King 
 leading them as they bored their way through in 
 an effort to reach the corral. King's plan was 
 clear in his own mind. Once with his back to
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 295 
 
 the walls of the corral, he could call his men one 
 by one about him, and having displaced their 
 opponents, drive them off by united effort, break 
 up their organization, and beat them into sub- 
 mission. 
 
 The plan, easily enough conceived, was not so 
 easily carried into effect. King's appearance, it 
 is true, had raised the spirits of the men who 
 were fighting together to settle the scores they 
 had accumulated during weeks of growing hatred 
 for McCartney and his crowd. But as their 
 spirits rose, the determination of their opponents 
 became more grim as they saw themselves faced 
 with possible defeat where they had never 
 dreamed of anything but an easy victory. The 
 fight became more and more furious every min- 
 ute. Whereas before King's coming they had 
 fought without much bad temper and with little 
 evidence of losing control of themselves, now 
 they struck out madly and grappled with the 
 fierceness of men in a battle where life and death 
 depended upon the outcome. They had fought 
 only with their fists before. Now sticks and 
 clubs began to make their appearance as if by 
 magic, and in many cases the fight was for the 
 possession of weapons. 
 
 Once King saw the flash of a knife between
 
 296 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 two men who were struggling near him. Turn- 
 ing quickly he struck the fellow who held it, 
 sending him to the ground, where he sprawled 
 clumsily in an effort to escape being trampled 
 under the feet of the fighte.rs. The knife had 
 fallen to the ground, and King, placing his foot 
 on it for a moment, waited while he beat back a 
 struggling pair who were close to him. Then 
 stooping quickly he picked up the knife and threw 
 it into the river. No sooner had he thrown it 
 away than the owner pushed his way towards 
 King and accosted him for having attacked him. 
 He was one of King's men. 
 
 King pushed him back angrily. 
 
 "Let them start that," he cried in a voice that 
 rose above the din. "Get in there !" 
 
 He pointed to where a group of his men were 
 now massed against their opponents and were 
 driving them back slowly from the corral. 
 
 Then his eyes shifted suddenly in a new direc- 
 tion. Pushing his way through the crowd to- 
 wards King, was McCartney, his huge shoulders 
 towering above the other men, his dark face seri- 
 ous and totally divested of its usual cynical 
 smile. Not far behind him, on the outskirts of 
 the crowd, stood Old Silent. 
 
 King wasted no time on the men about him. If
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 297 
 
 McCartney's anxiety to reach him were greater 
 than his own, there was no indication of the fact 
 in the eagerness with which King pressed towards 
 him, pushing first one and then another out of 
 the way as he went forward. 
 
 When the two men faced each other at last 
 they paused a moment, and their eyes met in a 
 long look in which there was something more 
 than mere hatred. In fact, an % observer might 
 have refused to believe that the look was one of 
 hate. There was grim resolve and unwavering 
 determination to settle an account of long stand- 
 ing. But, for a moment at least, there arose in 
 King's heart a feeling of something like admira- 
 tion for the embodiment of sheer brute strength 
 that stood before him. King did not pause long 
 enough to ask what lingered in the look Mc- 
 Cartney gave him. He saw only that the tense 
 seriousness that had darkened the face of Mc- 
 Cartney was gradually giving place to the old 
 sneer that had always played about one corner of 
 his mouth and the sight stung him to madness. 
 He thought of Cherry McBain he thought of 
 the man whose life for two years had been one 
 long curse to him he thought of the woman who 
 had died of a broken heart and he stepped 
 quickly and struck out at the sneering face before 
 him.
 
 298 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 The dawn in the east had spread upward from 
 the horizon and filled the sky, still clouded, with 
 a thin grey light. There was light enough, how- 
 ever, to make every movement easily discernible, 
 and King watched his opponent from the be- 
 ginning with an alertness that rendered him proof 
 against any foul play. He was not going to be 
 taken unawares, at any rate. If he were beaten 
 it would be because he had matched himself 
 against a better man. 
 
 Gradually the other men fell away from them 
 and left the ground clear. McCartney's men had 
 been driven back and were beaten. But friend 
 and foe alike came round to watch what they 
 rightly guessed was to be the last scene in a play 
 that had been running for many weeks. Keith 
 McBain himself stood off to one side, his face 
 ashen white, his eyes set immovably upon the 
 men who were settling once and for all, he hoped, 
 not only their own accounts, but his as well. Old 
 Gabe Smith stood directly behind King, calling 
 out words of encouragement in his little piping 
 voice, and totally oblivious to the existence of 
 anyone else in the world. 
 
 For fully five minutes the two men walked 
 cautiously about each other, striking out quickly 
 but lightly, and stepping back immediately to re-
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 299 
 
 cover themselves after each advance. Though 
 the sneer never left McCartney's face, there was 
 behind it a deep seriousness that expressed well 
 the fact that he was fully conscious of the magni- 
 tude of the task before him. King's face was 
 tense, set, terribly earnest. 
 
 Only once was there any interference from the 
 bystanders. Mike Cheney, who had been an in- 
 terested spectator during the whole struggle, 
 pushed his way to the inner part of the circle of 
 men and voiced a feeble protest. The men near 
 him laughed and jostled him out of the way. He 
 was content to remain where he was, though he 
 no doubt felt there was something incongruous 
 in the fact that when he looked round he was 
 standing next to Hugh Hurley. 
 
 After some time had passed in which the men 
 had remained wholly on the defensive, McCart- 
 ney began to advance persistently against King, 
 who stepped back out of reach whenever he found 
 McCartney pressing him too closely. King's 
 wary tactics were testing the patience of his op- 
 ponent. With an agility that was surprising in 
 a man of his size, he stepped about the enclosure, 
 keeping just out of reach of McCartney, and 
 starting forward, snapping out his left hand 
 when an opportunity presented itself. His blows
 
 300 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 were not heavy, but he was reaching McCart- 
 ney's face and body almost every time he struck. 
 McCartney swung and lunged heavily every time 
 he struck at King, but his blows were without 
 control. 
 
 Growing impatient at last with following King 
 from place to place, he closed quickly and seized 
 King about the body. This time, however, he 
 had misjudged his man. As he came forward 
 King stepped in and met him with a blow from 
 the shoulder that struck McCartney on the chin. 
 His full weight was behind the blow and Mc- 
 Cartney's head went back from the force of it. 
 Then his arms went round King and he hung on 
 dazedly in an attempt to gain a little more time 
 for recovery. But King was determined to make 
 his recovery as difficult as possible. With Mc- 
 Cartney's full weight bearing him down, he sent 
 half a dozen quick, short blows to the body that 
 made his opponent gasp for breath. 
 
 But McCartney kept his- hold and tightened it, 
 so that King found himself in a grip that made 
 striking impossible. It was just this situation 
 that King had tried to avoid. He knew McCart- 
 ney's strength was probably more than a match 
 for his own, and he had hoped that he might be 
 able to keep him at a distance. As he felt the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 301 
 
 powerful arms closing more and more tightly 
 about him he struggled to break the hold. After 
 a few moments, however, he knew that his efforts 
 were in vain. McCartney had him in a grip that 
 reduced his effectiveness and made any attempt 
 to break it simply a waste of reserve strength. 
 He locked his arms about McCartney's shoulders 
 and threw his whole weight upon him. His 
 change of tactics was so sudden that McCartney 
 staggered for a moment under his weight, and in 
 that moment King's foot shot out suddenly and 
 the two men went to the ground together, locked 
 in each other's arms. Once, twice, three times, 
 they rolled over, each attempting to gain the ad- 
 vantage of position without success. Then sud- 
 denly they broke apart and scrambled to their 
 feet again, crouching at opposite sides of the 
 circle. 
 
 For some seconds the men faced each other 
 without attacking, both apparently taking ad- 
 vantage of even a brief breathing spell. Those 
 who were anxious for McCartney's defeat began 
 to express their impatience at Bang's failure to 
 assume the aggressive. McCartney was plainly 
 weakening under the punishment that King was 
 inflicting. The fact that his aggressive tactics 
 had not already brought the fight to an end had
 
 302 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 taken the heart out of McCartney. The face that 
 during the earlier stages of the struggle had borne 
 a sneer was now painfully serious. 
 
 Even Hugh Hurley caught some of the excite- 
 ment of the crowd as he saw that a well-directed 
 aggressive on Bang's part would bring an end to 
 the fight in a few minutes. Keith McBain's eyes 
 were fixed upon King's face. Once or twice dur- 
 ing the short lull in the struggle they exchanged 
 glances. Keith McBain's heart sank within him, 
 and he moved round to get closer to King. There 
 was a look in King's eyes that he could not un- 
 derstand. When he found a place directly behind 
 him he stepped in a little and put one hand on 
 King's shoulder. 
 
 "Just a bit more, boy," he said, encouragingly. 
 "He's nearly done." 
 
 King seemed on the point of turning his head 
 to reply, but just then McCartney started to- 
 wards him. This time King took a half step to- 
 wards him and met the rush without attempting 
 to step aside. Both men struck at the same mo- 
 ment, and both blows went home. McCartney's 
 rush was checked, but the full force of his rush 
 was behind the blow that caught King on the 
 point of the chin. For a moment King was al- 
 most overcome by a sickening dizziness that set
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAI^ 303 
 
 the world spinning about him. His mind went 
 suddenly back to the night in McBain's camp 
 when he had been hit on the head, and there 
 started within him a terrible fear that the dark- 
 ness that ha-d overcome him then was creeping 
 upon him now and blotting out his senses. For 
 fully a minute it seemed an hour he fought to 
 keep his eyes open and his attention centred on 
 McCartney. He threw his weight against him 
 blindly and gripped him in sheer desperation. 
 Gradually his legs steadied under him and his 
 sight cleared. Still he clung to his man. 
 
 Had McCartney had enough strength in re- 
 serve to deliver one more blow with any weight 
 behind it, he could have finished the fight in 
 another second. He knew as much himself, and 
 he paused just a moment to muster what little 
 strength he had left. Then he broke away sud- 
 denly and sent his right hand over as he stepped 
 away. King's head went back and his arms went 
 out before him helplessly. 
 
 His men shouted to him in that one sickening 
 moment when the sense of utter defeat was forc- 
 ing itself upon him. Hurley and McBain called 
 his name frantically, but he seemed not to hear 
 them. He sank to the ground on one knee, hold- 
 ing himself as erect as possible in a last effort to
 
 304 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 meet the rush that he Enew was bound to come. 
 
 McCartney's men went wild with excitement. 
 They called on him to bore in and finish it. 
 Those behind stepped tip and pushed him for- 
 ward. When he didn't move they cursed him for 
 a fool. But he stood swaying unsteadily, wait- 
 ing, apparently, for King to fall to the ground. 
 
 Behind King there was a sudden commotion 
 in the crowd, Gabe Smith's thin voice was giv- 
 ing commands to the men to make way for him. 
 He pushed his way to the front, leading behind 
 him Cherry McBain. 
 
 "Fight you fight f M he cried at the top of his 
 voice. 
 
 King glanced quickly about at the sound of 
 Gabe's voice and his eyes fell upon Cherry's face. 
 Her look was one of pathos and appeal but she 
 was smiling. 
 
 At once a change passed over King's counten- 
 ance. Getting up he brushed his hand impa- 
 tiently across his face and stepped towards Mc- 
 Cartney. As he did so McCartney came forward 
 and the two men met at the centre of the en- 
 closure. 
 
 From that moment neither man gave an inch 
 of ground. Fighting furiously at close quarters 
 they seemed both to have gained sudden strength
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 305 
 
 and renewed powers e>f endurance. There was 
 little attempt at defense, each man trying to in- 
 flict as much punishment as possible upon his 
 opponent, and caring little how much he received 
 himself. 
 
 Fighting as they were, they could not hope to 
 last much longer. The end came very suddenly. 
 Stepping back quickly, King crouched a moment 
 and waited for McCartney to advance. He had 
 not a second to wait. When he saw him start he 
 leaned far back and swung his right hand from his 
 hip with all the strength he could command. The 
 blow went straight and true, landing squarely on 
 the side of McCartney's jaw, and the big foreman 
 went down in a heap to the ground. 
 
 For a moment King stood above him but the 
 struggle was over. Then the sickening sensation 
 returned suddenly. He turned to Cherry, who, 
 was now at his side, 
 
 "Take me away," he said, giving her his 
 hand. 
 
 The next moment the arms of Hugh Hurley 
 and Keith McBain were about him, and he 
 staggered out of the crowd with Cherry and old 
 Gabe leading the way before him. 
 
 It was not until they had gone some distance 
 that they noticed King beginning to limp badly.
 
 306 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 At every step he took his face winced with pain. 
 Finally he asked them to let him stand for a 
 minute. 
 
 "It's my foot," he said, in answer to Hurley's 
 question. "My ankle something happened 
 when we fell just wait a little it'll be all right 
 in a minute." 
 
 After a moment's pause they started off again, 
 but King found walking impossible. Keith Mc- 
 Bain called a couple of men and they carried him 
 to Hurley's cottage, where they laid him on a 
 couch and left him in the care of Cherry and Mrs. 
 Hurley. 
 
 McBain and Hurley went off at once to the 
 scene of the early morning struggle. Gabe 
 lingered a little while with King, busying him- 
 self with such odd jobs as Cherry and Mrs. Hur- 
 ley found for him. 
 
 In a short time King had recovered sufficiently 
 from the first ill-effects of his battle with Mc- 
 Cartney to give some thought to what was going 
 on outside. 
 
 He called Gabe to him. 
 
 "Have they gone back McBain and Hurley?" 
 he asked. 
 
 Gabe replied in the affirmative. "An' they'll 
 handle it, too don't you worry !" he added.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 307 
 
 King thought seriously for a moment. 
 
 "Gabe," he said. 
 
 Gabe took the hand that King extended to him 
 and waited. 
 
 "Get Anne and bring her here," he said. 
 
 Gabe went out at once and King looked at 
 Cherry, who was standing above him, her hand 
 resting lightly upon his head. 
 
 "I want to tell Anne," he said quietly. "I 
 want her to know I didn't want to do this. I 
 want her to understand it had to come." 
 
 'Then she told you, too?" Cherry asked. 
 
 King nodded in reply. Then he reached up 
 and took her hand. 
 
 "Come down here beside me," he said, and his 
 face was very serious. 
 
 Cherry knelt on the floor beside the couch. 
 
 "Cherry," he whispered, drawing her towards 
 him, "I don't deserve it but I want to kiss you." 
 
 She leaned forward and King's arms went 
 round her as their lips met. 
 
 Keith McBain and his men went to work as if 
 nothing had occurred for days to disturb the 
 quiet, work-a-day life they had been living for 
 months. Only one building was in imminent
 
 308 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 danger of being swept away by the flood, and in 
 less than ten minutes after the close of the fight 
 the men were busily engaged removing the camp 
 equipment preparatory to taking the logs down 
 and shifting the buildings back from the water's 
 edge. 
 
 Gabe came upon the old contractor giving 
 orders and directing the work in his customary 
 way. 
 
 "Where is she?" asked Gabe, excitedly, as he 
 came up with McBain. 
 
 "She who?" 
 
 "Anne she's gone!" Gabe replied. 
 
 McBain left the men and accompanied Gabe 
 back to MacMurray's. They found McCartney 
 lying on a bench where his men had placed him. 
 Rickard was standing beside him talking with 
 MacMurray. 
 
 "Where's the girl Anne?" McBain asked 
 MacMurray. 
 
 He replied by looking at McCartney and then 
 at Rickard. McCartney turned and looked at 
 McBain and then allowed his eyes to rest on 
 Rickard. 
 
 "Rick," he said, "get her and bring her here. 
 You can tell her I want her." 
 
 Rickard was gone less than ten minutes when
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 309 
 
 he returned, preceded by Anne, who came 
 quickly through the door and stopped suddenly 
 before what she saw. 
 
 She looked at the men standing about and 
 then paused before Keith McBain. She did not 
 ask the question, but McBain knew what was in 
 her mind. His reply was brief. 
 
 "Howden," he said, and Anne's slow smile 
 proved that she understood. 
 
 Then she went over to McCartney's side and 
 looked down at him. 
 
 "You always were a damn fool," she said very 
 deliberately, and very slowly and her voice had 
 a strangely deep note of pity in it. 
 
 Scattering the men before her, she hurried to 
 the kitchen and came back with water in a basin 
 and set about bathing McCartney's swollen face 
 and washing the blood from his lips and chin. 
 She was very silent and very gentle, and Mc- 
 Cartney spoke no word to her as siie worked over 
 him. 
 
 The men looked on only for a moment and 
 then went out one by one, until the two were left 
 along* 
 
 Later that morning Cherry went to Mac- 
 Murray's to see if she could not prevail upon 
 Anne to come over to Hurley's cottage to see
 
 310 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 King. She found Anne seated beside McCart- 
 ney, who had fallen asleep. Anne was bending 
 low over him, tears streaming down her cheeks. 
 i When she saw Cherry she got up quickly and 
 brushed the tears impatiently from her eyes. 
 Then she came to Cherry, where she was stand- 
 ing in the doorway. 
 
 "Anne Anne," Cherry said, her voice soft 
 with pity. 
 
 But Anne was mistress of herself now. 
 
 "How is King?" she asked, in a most matter- 
 of-fact tone that expressed quite clearly how 
 little she wanted anyone's sympathy. 
 
 "He's all right now," Cherry replied. "He has 
 a bad ankle and can't walk, but it will be all right 
 in a day or two. He asked me to bring you over." 
 
 "What does he want?" 
 
 Cherry found it hard to reply to Anne's ques- 
 tion it was asked with such cold directness. 
 
 "I think he wants to explain to you what he 
 feels about ." 
 
 Anne stopped her abruptly. "Tell him it's all 
 right. I ain't goin' to worry over a thing that 
 I've been expectin' for weeks. Tell him it's all 
 right." 
 
 Cherry turned to go. 
 
 "Wait a minute," Anne called, and vanished 
 into the house.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 311 
 
 She Was gone a long time and Cherry waited 
 patiently for her return. When she appeared 
 again she held a folded paper in her hand and 
 her hair was in disorder about her face. 
 
 "I had a time gettin' it," she said, coming to- 
 wards Cherry and holding the paper before her. 
 "I had to wake him up to tell me where it was. 
 But he told me. One thing about Bill he knows 
 when he's beat an' that's sayin' something for a 
 man that was never beat before ain't it?" 
 
 She smiled comically, and Cherry could not 
 help smiling at her in reply. 
 
 "Anyhow, here it is," she said, giving the paper 
 to Cherry. "I thought of takin' it over myself 
 I like that boy but you'd better give it to him." 
 
 Cherry knew little or nothing about official 
 documents, but she could not help guessing the 
 meaning of the paper she held in her hand. She 
 opened it and glanced quickly over the written 
 record of a timber claim in the hills, interjected 
 between the lines of legally phrased printed 
 matter. 
 
 "TaEe it to him," Anne continued after a 
 pause. "He'll know what to do with it. If he 
 don't ask old man Hurley." 
 
 "But Anne " Cherry protested, only to 
 
 be interrupted again. 
 
 "Don't worry I ain't stealin' it. Ain't I his
 
 312 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 wife?" she asked with a laugh. "Anyhow there's 
 something else. I had a claim once out west 
 a good claim, too never mind!" 
 
 She broke off abruptly and gave Cherry a little 
 push. 
 
 "Give it to him an' tell him 'God bless him' for 
 me" she added. 
 
 Gberry walked off slowly and Anne stood in 
 the; doorway watching her. When she had gone 
 a few yards she stopped and came back. 
 
 "But fathei " she began and paused awk- 
 wardly. 
 
 Anne's face took on a strange look. * She 
 stepped down from the doorway and confronted 
 Cherry. 
 
 "Say did Bill spring that man-killin' joke on 
 Old Silent?" she asked. 
 
 Cherry nodded. 
 
 "Well, I'm blistered !" she exclaimed. "Leave 
 it with me I'll make him straighten that out 
 himself." 
 
 And Cherry went off with a light heart. 
 
 That night Keith McBain came into the room 
 where Cherry and King were sitting. King was 
 preparing to leave for his shack in spite of the 
 protests of Mrs. Hurley confident that he was
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 313 
 
 able to get about and look after himself quite well 
 with the help of old Gabe, who was going to stay 
 with him. McBain came upon the two somewhat 
 abruptly. When they looked up he was standing 
 within a few feet of them, his old face beaming 
 with a light that had not shone there for months. 
 
 "Cherry, girl," he said, coming towards her 
 and holding his arms out to her, "it's all right !" 
 
 "What, father?" she asked, jumping up and 
 going to him. 
 
 "McCartney lied he has told me everything. 
 The man is alive Anne nursed him back it's 
 all right!" 
 
 Cherry threw her arms about her father's neck 
 and kissed him. 
 
 "Father, father, father!" she cried; and sud- 
 denly her voice broke. "If we had only known." 
 
 "If we had only known !" repeated Old Silent ; 
 and his mind went back to a pile of stones and a 
 little wooden cross that stood miles back beside 
 the right-of-way. 
 
 u
 
 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 
 
 KING dropped his scythe upon the windrow 
 of freshly-cut hay and stood a moment 
 while he wiped the sweat from his brow. 
 It was July, and the day had been very hot, and 
 King had cut a very wide swath in the tall, wild 
 grass. A little way off on the higher ground of 
 the ridge stood his first crop of gro\\mg wheat, 
 the soft green shoots stretching upward from the 
 new soil and bending before a gently moving 
 breeze. Between the meadow and the wheat lay 
 a stretch of newly-broken land where, only the 
 day before, King had driven the plough through 
 long furrows of rich mould. Even yet the mellow 
 odor of freshly-turned soil came to him, mingled 
 with the cool fragrance of the meadow. 
 
 King looked about him until his eyes fell upon 
 Sal, where she was working half-buried in a hole 
 she had dug in a futile attempt to follow a gopher 
 to its place of hiding under the ground. He gave 
 a sharp whistle and crouched low, holding out his 
 hands as the dog came bounding towards him. 
 
 314
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 315 
 
 Taking her in his arms he lifted her from the 
 ground and then rolled her over playfully on the 
 hay. 
 
 Getting up, he strolled off along the edge of the 
 standing grass, Sal running before him in a zig- 
 zag search for gophers. When they came to the 
 edge of a small slough the dog pounced at once 
 into the water, almost on top of a wild duck 
 and her brood of half-grown ducklings. They 
 started up suddenly with much splashing of water 
 and beating of wings and loud quacking. 
 
 "Back you lie down!" King cried, and Sal 
 retreated from the edge of the slough and came 
 towards King wriggling and twisting her shaggy 
 body in an effort to appear apologetic. 
 
 It was a great day, and now that the afternoon 
 was wearing on, King was strongly tempted to be 
 lazy. He had worked hard during the past weeks. 
 The land he had prepared for crop had been sown 
 broadcast by hand. He had cut his hay with a 
 scythe and would have to rake it by hand 
 though Cherry was longing for the hay to cure so 
 that she could get into the field with King and 
 rake the long windrows into coils. 
 
 Oh, yes Cherry was King's helper now. One 
 day in spring, just before the men had gone out 
 to begin work on the railway construction again,
 
 316 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 there had been a final gathering from the whole 
 valley. Cherry and King might have left it until 
 midsummer. King wanted to get his land into 
 shape and his first crop in and Cherry wanted 
 to see her father started once again on his right- 
 of-way contracts. At least, so they said. The 
 fact of the matter was that Old Silent wanted to 
 keep his daughter by him for just a few weeks 
 more, and King and Cherry had both agreed, to 
 humor him a little until the work was well under 
 way. 
 
 But the men had settled it. McCartney and 
 his crowd or such of them as felt themselves un- 
 able to face Keith McBain again had with- 
 drawn before the snow was on the ground. The 
 season in the camps had been highly successful in 
 every sense, a fact, by the way, that reflected 
 much credit upon King Howden, who had 
 handled the men and had taken the responsi- 
 bility of conducting the camp during the winter. 
 The work on the grade was waiting, and when the 
 men went out to the right-of-way and the young 
 settlers went to their land, The Town would be 
 no more. There had not been a wedding in the 
 place since the first hut had been built. The men 
 through a committee duly chosen and given 
 full powers made known to Keith McBain their
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 317 
 
 feelings on the matter. For once the old con- 
 tractor allowed himself to be persuaded against 
 his will. He made only one condition, namely, 
 that he himself should announce to King and 
 Cherry the decision that The Town had come to. 
 The men agreed, and withdrew from the pres- 
 ence of Old Silent to begin preparations for the 
 great day. 
 
 And it had been a day for all to remember. 
 King thought of it now as he walked back to 
 where his scythe lay, and picking it up stood it 
 on its haft while he applied his whet-stone to the 
 blade, and sent the rhythmic tune of the hay- 
 maker ringing across the meadow. 
 
 The Town was gone. There were a few old 
 unfilled wells and the tumbled foundations of 
 cabins, and a winding street grown over with 
 grass and weeds but that was all. Farther up 
 the valley its ambitious successor was already 
 thriving beside the right-of-way, waiting for the 
 coming of the steel. Soon it would be linked up 
 with the outside world, it would be given a name 
 and placed on the map by someone who probably 
 had never seen it and the world's outer edge 
 would have been pushed a little farther westward, 
 and a little farther northward. 
 
 King tossed his stone aside upon the coat that
 
 318 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 lay on the hay near him, and taking his scythe in 
 his hands, stepped forward and swung it through 
 the grass. 
 
 From behind him came a clear call, and paus- 
 ing at the end of his stroke he turned with a smile 
 and waved his hand to Cherry, who was tripping 
 along down the meadow towards him. King 
 dropped his scythe and went to meet her. When 
 they met he caught her by the arms, and lifting 
 her from the ground, kissed her on the lips. 
 
 "Leave the hay, King," she said, as soon as he 
 had set her upon her feet again, "and let's go to 
 the camp for supper. It's not four o'clock yet 
 we have more than two hours." 
 
 King glanced at the hay waiting to be put into 
 coils and then at Cherry, whose face was full of 
 fresh girlish expectancy. Her eyes were as 
 roguish as they had been in those first days of 
 their meeting, nearly a year ago. 
 
 She caught his sidelong glance and read its 
 meaning at once. 
 
 "Ah, King," she pleaded, "it won't rain see, 
 there isn't a cloud in the sky ! Besides if it does 
 let it. There's lots and lots of hay and there's 
 only a little just so much summer." 
 
 She pinched the end of a slender finger to give 
 point to her last statement, and looked at King 
 with a smile brightening in her eyes.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 319 
 
 "You little scamp," he said, going to her and 
 taking her head between his hands, "what's the 
 use of a man making up his mind to anything 
 where you are?" 
 
 He kissed her again and started towards the 
 little cabin on the ridge, with Cherry dancing 
 along beside him, clinging to his arm and chatter- 
 ing as she went. 
 
 When they came to the cabin they went in for 
 a few moments to prepare for their trip. The 
 cabin was larger and more comfortable than the 
 shack in which King had lived during the pre- 
 vious summer and infinitely cleaner. King had 
 brought the logs from the hills during the winter, 
 and had built the cabin with the assistance of a 
 half dozen of Keith McBain's men. Cherry did 
 the rest and the place was as neat and snug as 
 the heart could wish. 
 
 In a moment King was out again and was gone 
 to the corral among the willows below the ridge. 
 When he returned and stood before the door of 
 the cabin he led the horses, saddled and bridled 
 and champing their bits. King called and Cherry 
 emerged ready for the road. Sal leaped about 
 them until they had got into the saddles, and then 
 all went off together. 
 
 Keith McBain's camp lay some twelve or fif- 
 teen miles up the valley to the north and west.
 
 320 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 With two Hours to make the trip they had ample 
 time, without much loitering, to reach camp be- 
 fore the men should leave the grade for supper. 
 They followed the freighters' trail that wound in 
 and out, now skirting the edge of the right-of- 
 way, now heading into the standing poplars, or 
 running out across open reaches of green plain. 
 Before the summer's end the steel gang would 
 have laid the rails and the first trains would have 
 steamed into the valley from beyond the hills. 
 Even now the gang of engineers and levellers 
 were close upon the heels of the graders, giving 
 the road-bed its final touches before the steel was 
 laid. 
 
 Cherry and King rode along easily, without 
 hurrying their horses, King listening while 
 Cherry did most of the talking. Here and there 
 new beauties came to meet them in the curving 
 trail and waving grass and tall white poplars 
 with glistening leaves and white powdered 
 trunks. They crossed a half-dozen little streams 
 of clear water rippling over gravel and shale. 
 Frequently they came out where they caught a 
 distant view of the hills that lay to the north of 
 the valley, pale blue and lying low upon the 
 horizon, like a fringe of dark cloud. To-day they 
 were a very pale blue, and Cherry smiled as she
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 321 
 
 pointed to them and reminded King of what she 
 had told him in the meadow. 
 
 "You see it isn't going to rain for days," she 
 said. "See how smoky the hills are." 
 
 King extended his hand and leaned towards 
 her. The horses moved closer together in in- 
 stinct born of training at the hands of practised 
 riders, and King's arm went about Cherry as he 
 drew her close to him. 
 
 He seemed about to speak, but kissed her in- 
 stead. 
 
 The next moment they were off at a brisk run 
 along a stretch of open trail. 
 
 It was not yet six o'clock when the trail took 
 them out upon the right-of-way a scant half mile 
 from where Keith McBain's men were still at 
 work on the grade. King drew his horse in and 
 stood for some time gazing down the open right- 
 of-way towards the workers, and then turned to 
 look behind him, where the grade stretched far 
 into the distance and was lost in the closing 
 perspective. 
 
 "I like this," he said to Cherry, who had drawn 
 rein beside him. "There's something about it all 
 that makes a man glad he has lived and taken 
 some little part in it. If we could see the world 
 in the making I think it would be something 
 like this."
 
 322 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 r He stretched out his arm and swept it about 
 him as he spoke. 
 
 Cherry looked into his face, in contemplation, 
 not so much of what he was saying but rather of 
 what she saw in his eyes. All that made him a 
 man all that made him the man she loved all 
 that made him the man that men loved was 
 there in the simple gravity and the deep serious- 
 ness of his face. 
 
 A few moments later they rode down among 
 the men to where Keith McBain was standing 
 alone smoking his pipe and watching a line of 
 teamsters swinging about, an endless chain of 
 "slushers" moving the earth from the side of the 
 right-of-way to the grade in the middle. They 
 were met on all sides by greetings from the men, 
 who paused in their work to give them a welcome. 
 
 When they came to Keith McBain, Cherry 
 sprang to the ground and kissed her father, and 
 King, swinging down from the saddle, came for- 
 ward and shook hands with the old contractor. 
 In Keith McBain's eyes there was a light as of 
 returning youth. The smile on his face was the 
 smile of a man who had found the world a good 
 place to live in, after all, and wants nothing more 
 than to be left to do his work and fill his remain- 
 ing days with achievement.
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 323 
 
 There was almost a half hour still left before 
 six o'clock, but Cherry went close to her father 
 and patted his cheeks with her two hands. 
 
 "Let's all quit work for the day," she said. "I 
 don't come to camp often." 
 
 Old Silent looked at her with all the pretense 
 at being stern that he could command in the 
 presence of his daughter. 
 
 "Who's going to build this railroad?" he asked, 
 a smile growing upon his features. 
 
 Cherry kissed her father and patted his cheeks 
 playfully again. "Old Silent is," she said; "but 
 his daughter, Cherry McBain, is going to make 
 his men glad she came. She's going to make 
 them want her back again." 
 
 "You buy your popularity at a very high 
 price," he replied. 
 
 "Remember I have a husband who does as I 
 tell him," Cherry returned. "If you don't call the 
 men in I'll tell him to do it." 
 
 Keith McBain looked at King and then put his 
 arm about his daughter. The look carried a 
 meaning, and King turned towards the men and 
 gave the call. 
 
 "All in!" 
 
 The men responded as if they had been expect- 
 ing the call, and almost at once the works were
 
 334 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 
 
 deserted and the men were trooping off in the 
 direction of the camp. The little group of three 
 were the last to leave the grade. They lingered 
 a long time talking and looking over the work the 
 men had done during the day. Then they walked 
 off together, King and Cherry on either side of the 
 old man, the two horses following behind them 
 with the bridle-reins hanging across their necks, 
 Sal leisurely bringing up the rear. 
 
 "And won't you be leaving this work soon and 
 coming to stay with us?" King asked of Keith 
 McBain when they had come almost to the camp. 
 
 "What leave this and go puttering round on 
 a farm?" he replied. "No, boy, no. As long as I 
 can give the call to 'roll out' in the mornings I'll 
 stay with it. When I'm through I'll quit here 
 with my men !" 
 
 The remainder of the walk to camp was made 
 in silence. 
 
 There was a big dinner that evening that lasted 
 long after the usual hour. And there was much 
 talking and laughing and some singing of songs 
 at the table. All ate together, with a place at the 
 centre of one long table for Cherry, where she 
 could see all the men from where she sat. On 
 one side of her sat her father, and on the other 
 side her husband. And when it was all over the
 
 THE HEART OF CHERRY McBAIN 325 
 
 men gave cheers, first for Cherry McBain, and 
 then for the man who was the father of Cherry 
 McBain, and last of all for the man who had 
 played the game and had won the heart of Cherry 
 McBain. 
 
 And late that evening King and Cherry took 
 the trail again to return home. And the men 
 gathered to cheer once more until they were gone 
 from sight. 
 
 Then came upon them the silence of the even- 
 ing and the magic of it. In the west was the 
 dying flame of a day that had set. About them 
 lay the woods and the grassy reaches of plain, 
 with a deep hush upon them broken only by the 
 occasional sleepy twitter of birds, or the lazy 
 croaking of frogs in the hollows, or the sharp 
 whistle of night-hawks that swept down above 
 them on whirring wings. And from far away 
 there came the sound of someone singing in the 
 night. 
 
 THE END.
 
 A 000052145