The Rapids

  XVI.--GOLD, ALSO CONCERNING A GIRL

  Clark stared at the fragment of rock with a sudden and divine thrill.Gold! the _ultima thule_ of the explorer. He had erected vast works togain gold, not for himself for he desired no wealth, but for others,and here the precious thing lay in his hand. His heart leaped and theblood rushed to his temples while his eyes wandered to the impassiveface of Fisette. Who and what was the breed that he could be so calm?

  Out of a riot of sensations he gradually reestablished his customaryclearness of vision. Here was additional evidence of the inherentwealth of the country. It was that for which men dared death and periland hardship, and it struck him that it would be a dramatic thing toship steel rails and pulp and gold bullion on the same day.

  But for all of this he was not carried away. However great the thrill,his mind could not be diverted by the discovery of a quartz vein. Heknew, too, that mining of this character was a tricky thing and thatnature, as often as not, left the shelves of her storehouses empty whenby all the rules of geology they ought to be laden. He would exploreand develop the find, but its chief value, he ultimately decided, waspsychological, and would be seen in the continued support of hisfollowers. Presently he looked up and caught the disappointed eyes ofFisette.

  "It's all right, mon vieux," he said with an encouraging smile, "andit's very good. How far from the railway?"

  "About six mile." Fisette's voice was unusually dull.

  "And you have it all staked and marked and dated?"

  "Yes, I'm not one damn fool."

  Clark laughed outright. "Of course not--but listen--you remember whenyou found the iron last year what I told you?"

  "You told me to keep my mouth shut. I keep it."

  "That's right. And now I want you to keep your mouth open."

  Fisette gasped. "What you mean?"

  "I mean this. You told nobody about the iron, now you go and telleverybody about the gold. Shout about it. The more you tell thebetter. The whole town can prospect on our concession if they want to.I hope every one of them will find gold. I'll come out myself nextweek and see what you've turned up, and of course you get for it what Igave you for the iron last year. Au revoir, mon vieux, and when you goto town, talk--talk--talk! But just wait a minute in the outsideoffice."

  Fisette backed silently out, his dark brow pinched into puzzledwrinkles. He had expected his patron to take the samples and stare atthem and then at him with that wonderful look he remembered so well andcould never forget; a look that had made the breed feel strangely proudand happy. He had often seen it since when, quite alone in the woods,he peered through the gray smoke of his camp fire and imagined hispatron sitting just on the other side. And now he was to go into St.Marys and do nothing but talk! He shook his head doubtfully.

  No sooner had the door closed than Clark summoned the superintendent ofhis railway department.

  "Fisette has found gold out near the line. There's going to be a rush,and you'd better get ready for it. Also you'd better run up some kindof an hotel at Mile 61,--it's the jumping off place. That'sall--please send Pender here."

  A moment later he turned to his secretary.

  "Fisette is waiting outside. Talk to him, he's found gold. Get thestory and give it to the local paper. Say that I've no objection toprospectors working on our concession, and that I'll guarantee title toanything they find. Get in touch with the Toronto papers and let themhave it too. That's all."

  The door closed again and, with a strange feeling of restlessness, hewalked over to the rapids, seating himself close to their thunderingtumult. What message had the rapids for him now? And just as thevoice of irresistible power began to bore into his brain he noticed agirl perched on a rock close by. Simultaneously she turned. It wasElsie Worden.

  She waved a hand, and he moved carefully up stream over the slipperyboulders. She looked at him with startled pleasure. It was unlikeClark to move near to any one.

  "I hope I'm not trespassing."

  "No," his voice came clearly through the roar of many waters; "do youoften come here?"

  She smiled. "It's the most conversational place I know."

  The gray eyes narrowed a little. "You have discovered that the rapidstalk back?"

  "They have told me all kinds of things ever since I was a child. Whendid you find it out?" Elsie's voice lifted a little.

  "The very first day I reached St. Marys, almost the first hour." Hewas wondering inwardly why he should talk thus to any one.

  "I'm so glad," she answered contentedly, "because they must have toldyou to do many things, and you've done them. But I can't half answerwhat they say to me."

  Clark studied her silently. Her face was not only beautiful butsupremely intelligent, and had, moreover, the signet of imagination.She was, he concluded, utterly truthful and courageous.

  "I wonder you get time to come here at all," she hazarded after athoughtful pause.

  "It is time well spent." He pointed to the heaped crests in midstream."The solution of many a problem lies out there; I've got one to thinkof now."

  Had Elsie been an ordinary girl she would have disappeared forthwith,but between them sped something that convinced her that he wanted herto stay.

  "Am I allowed to know what it is?"

  "It's this." Clark took a fragment of rock from his pocket and laid itin her palm.

  "What is it?" she said curiously.

  "Gold!"

  "Oh!" The color flew to her cheeks and her eyes became very bright."Where did it come from and who found it?"

  "About sixty miles from here, and Fisette found it--he's one of myprospectors."

  "He's the man who discovered iron for you?"

  "Yes."

  "How very extraordinary," she said under her breath.

  "Why should it be?"

  "The last time we talked you had just found iron, and now it's gold.This is even more wonderful, isn't it?"

  He shook his head. "It's pretty--but not nearly so important."Something in the girl's manner attracted him strangely and he went ontalking as he seldom talked. Her eyes never left his face.

  "Yes," she said presently, "I'm glad to understand. But the strangething to me is that all these people," here she pointed towards theworks, "are doing things they would not have done if you hadn't come.Why is that?"

  "Some people think that the most successful man is the one who getsothers to work the hardest for him," said Clark, smiling.

  She shook her head. "That doesn't suit. I know what it is."

  "Do you?"

  "It's vision." There was a thrill in her low voice. Then she added,very swiftly, "You haven't many friends, have you, Mr. Clark?"

  He stared at her in surprise, and in the next instant decided that shewas right. "Why do you ask that?"

  "Because you must see past most people, don't you, to what is ahead?It is hard to put just what I mean into words."

  He nodded gravely. "It is quite true that I haven't any very closepersonal friends, I've moved about too quickly to make them. As for myemployees, I see them chiefly through their work."

  "Then you don't really know them," she announced.

  "Possibly,--but I know their results. It sounds a little inhuman,doesn't it?"

  "I think I understand." Elsie was tempted to probe this gray-eyed manabout Belding, but presently gave it up. She was conscious that whileshe was talking to Clark the figure of the engineer faded into thebackground.

  "So there's really no one?" she went on reflectively.

  "Only my mother," he said gravely, "that is, so far."

  At that her heart experienced a new throb. He was infinitely removedfrom any man she had ever dreamed of.

  "Are you never lonely?"

  "Perhaps I am," he replied with utter candor, "but I fill my life withthings which to most people are inanimate, though to me they are verymuch alive. And what about yourself?"

  "I don't know." Her voice was a little unsteady. S
he had a swiftconviction that Clark was essentially kind, as well as a great creator."You want this, don't you?" She held out the piece of ore while theflakes of gold shone dully in the sun.

  "Please keep it, the first bit out of what I hope will make a mine.And I hope you will have iron as well as gold in your life."

  She glanced at him genuinely touched. "Can it really matter to you?"

  "Why shouldn't it?"

  "The first time I met you I was a little afraid of you."

  Clark chuckled. "Am I so formidable?"

  "Not to me any more. Perhaps it is because we understand the samethings." She pointed to the rapids. "This, for instance."

  "Would you tell me just what you hear out there."

  She shook her head doubtfully. "There are no words for most of it, butI seem to catch the voices of things that want to be expressedsomehow." Then, with sudden breathlessness, "It's a universallanguage--like music."

  "That's it," he said soberly, "it has all the majors and minors." Heregarded the girl with quickening interest. What was the elementalnote in her that responded to this thundering diapason?

  "It's a voice crying in the wilderness," she continued in the same lowtone, then, with a smile, "at least it was a wilderness before youcame. I wonder if you would do--" she broke off suddenly, her eyesbrilliant.

  "Tell me, and I'll do it."

  She clapped her hands. "I wish you would visit us all when we gocamping next month; you'd like it."

  "I'm sure I would, but--"

  "But what? I knew there'd be something."

  "I'd have to take the works with me."

  "But you said you'd do it." She glanced at him as though confidencewere shattered.

  "Then I will, if it's humanly possible."

  "It will be about a hundred miles down the lake, near ManitoulinIsland. Father knows."

  "I'm glad father knows," he smiled.

  The girl walked slowly back with the feeling that she had seen furtherinto the heart of this remarkable man than ever before. Opposite theblockhouse, at which she looked with a strange sensation, she metBelding, swinging in from the far corner of the works with a transitover his shoulder. She seemed thoughtful and distrait, and he glancedat her puzzled.

  "Been exploring? I didn't know you were coming up."

  "I didn't know either," she said a little nervously. "Will you comeback to lunch?"

  "Sorry, I'm too busy. Where have you been?"

  "Over at the rapids. And, Jim, see what Mr. Clark gave me."

  "Gold?" he said sharply.

  "Yes, isn't it wonderful?"

  "Who found it?"

  "One of Mr. Clark's prospectors, Fisette."

  "And who told you?"

  "Mr. Clark himself." The girl had a sudden sense of discomfort. Whywas Belding so inquisitive?

  "I haven't heard anything about it," he said shortly.

  "No one has outside of the office, except myself."

  "But why should Clark tell you?"

  "I don't know. Why shouldn't he?"

  Belding thrust the legs of his instrument into the ground. "I have anidea that he's telling you too much." The young man's eyes were hotwith resentment.

  "Jim, how dare you!"

  "Well, where do I come in? You haven't been much interested in me thelast year or so."

  She flushed. "That's not fair. You know how fond I am of you."

  "But Clark doesn't need you--and I do."

  "Do you object to my having friends?" she said tremulously.

  "Elsie, will you marry me to-morrow?" Belding's voice was shaky but indeadly earnest.

  "What nonsense."

  He shook his head. "It isn't to me,--I mean it. There is no one else.There never will be. Can't you realize that?"

  "I don't want to be married--now--" she said slowly.

  He snatched up his transit. "Thanks, I thought it would come to that."He took off his hat very formally and strode on. In his angry brainburned the thought that the sooner Clark came to grief, the soonerElsie would get rid of this illusion. And then, as always, the braveand loyal soul of him sent out a silent protest.

  By now the wires were humming, and through St. Marys the news ran likequicksilver. In years past there had been individual discoveries bywandering bushmen, but none of them of value. Tales were afloat thatold Shingwauk down at the settlement knew of a gold bearing vein, andthat the knowledge would die with him. But at the formal announcementthat the Consolidated had found gold, it was universally believed thatit was of a necessity a bigger and better thing than ever before, andcarried with it all the reputation of Clark's immense undertaking.

  So began the rush to the woods. It was not one in which tenderfeetdeserted their jobs and took to the hills, but a stirring amongst thestiff bones of old prospectors who had given up the fight but were nowinfused with new courage. In Fisette they saw the man who had won outfor the second time while they sat and smoked. There was a seeking outand sharpening of picks blunted by inumerable taps on forgotten ridges,and a stuffing of dunnage bags, and a sortie to Filmer's store forflour and bacon and a few sticks of forty per cent. dynamite, andpatching of leaky shoe packs. Twenty-four hours later the littlestation up at the works was crammed with men whose leathern faces werealight with an old time joy, and whose eyes sparkled with the flame ofa nearly extinguished fire. After them came others from greaterdistance, then peddlers and engineers representing mining firms insearch of properties, and keepers of road houses where the lamps burnedall night, and there were women and songs and whiskey that flouted thepeace of the forest. And with all this the traffic returns of theConsolidated Company's railway leaped up, and Fisette, who was incharge of a dozen men stripping his find of roots and earth and moss,began to hear all round him, both near and far, the dull thud ofblasting and the faint clink of hammer on steel.

  But it was a month before the general manager's private car slid intothe siding at Mile 61, where Clark, descending, found Fisette waitingfor him, and together they stepped out for the discovery. Here andthere along the trail other prospectors fell in silently behind. Theywanted to see Clark when he got the first glimpse of the vein.Arriving a little breathless, he looked down at the bluish, whitestreak that nakedly crossed a little ridge, clipped to a ravine oneither side, and reappeared boldly further on. Fisette picked upsamples from time to time, at which his patron glanced, and finally,taking mortar and pan, crushed a fist full of ore and washed itdelicately, till a long tapering tail of yellow metal clung to therounded angle of the pan. And at that Clark asked a few questions ofthe mining engineer who had come with him, nodded contentedly andstarted back, leaving Fisette with the pan still in his muscular hands.

  That night the breed squatted by his camp fire, too offended to smokeand wondering dumbly why his patron had left so soon and said solittle, for this was a day to which he had looked forward for weeks.He did not dream that Clark was even that moment thinking of him as theprivate car clicked evenly over the rail joints on the way to the ironmines. And this indeed was the case, for in the first tide of the rushof gold seekers Clark had discerned the workings of an ancient rule.Always it had been gold which inflamed the human mind to endure to theuttermost. His imagination went back, and he saw the desperate influxheading for California, for Australia, for South Africa, that mob ofadventurous spirits for whom there burned nightly over the hills thelambent promise of the morrow, strengthening and invigorating tofurther effort. He saw this mob lose itself in forest, mountain, plainand canyon, a wild-eyed herald of civilization. He saw roads andbridges, farms and villages take form along the trail it traversed,till, slowly but inexorably, the wilderness was conquered, and the sonsof the pioneers sat in contentment under their own roof-tree in fullpossession of a wealth greater by far than that their ancestors hadcome to seek. But it was gold with its yellow finger that firstbeckoned the way.

  Next day, at the iron mine, he stood listening to the deep cough of thebig crusher and the loo
se rattle of machine drills. A little on oneside, and as yet unshaken by dynamite, was the knoll on which Wimperleyand the rest had been told what they were sitting on, and he smiled atthe recollection. Surveying the widening excavation, he reflected thathere, after all, was the heart of the entire enterprise. In fifty--ina hundred years--the mine would still be unexhausted. It did not seemromantic like Fisette's vein of gold ore, this barren-looking upheaval,but to him the romance of a thing was in its potentiality and not itsappearance, and it moved in his mind now that there was every reasonfor haste. Philadelphia was beginning to weary of capital expenditure,and demanded an output of steel rails at the earliest possible moment.

  Completing his round with a visit to Baudette's headquarter camp, heinspected train loads of pulp wood ready for the mills. The areasoriginally secured were nearly denuded and Baudette was forced furtherafield. The mills were doing and had always done well, but theirprofits were so instantly absorbed by allied and interlinkedundertakings that Clark at times wondered whether he was asking onedollar to do too much. He reflected with a touch of surprise that thesmall company formed to supply St. Marys with water and light was,after all, the only one which from the first had actually disburseddividends. But the rail mill would settle all that. Returning to theworks he found a note on his desk that Townley, the chemist, would likeaudience. He sent for him.

  "Well?" he demanded impatiently; "what about that sulphur?"

  Townley submitted a condensed report. "We can get it out at a cost ofabout half the market price." He spoke with a note of triumph. He hadbeen slaving over the problem with the sacrificial zeal thatcharacterizes all keen chemists. But Townley did not know, and it wasimpossible for him to know, that many things are feasible in alaboratory which are irreducible to commercial terms.

  Clark nodded as though he expected this. "Bring Belding in here."

  When the engineer appeared, he went on, "We're going to do somethingnew. Townley will give you his end of it, and you work out the rest.It's chemical engineering, so get any assistance you need. Give meestimates of costs and say how soon the plant can be put up. Figure ona hundred tons of sulphite pulp per day--dry weight. That's all."

  The two went out, and he leaned back, pressing his finger tips hard onhis lids, and finding in the red blur that followed something thatsoothed and rested his eyes. He was not one who sought out problemsand chased them to their solution, but rather one who perceived theproblem and, by singularly acute vision, perceived also the solutionjust behind it. There were so many things that were overlooked byothers but presented themselves to him for attention, that he had longsince ceased to wonder why the world was full of men he consideredineffectual. Now he ran rapidly over the existing situation,marshaling his various undertakings in due order, when there sounded inhis head something that seemed like the tearing of a piece of cloth.He drew a long breath, experiencing for the first time in his life asense of intolerable weariness. And then, suddenly he thought of Elsie.

  It was strange that he should think of her now--there were so manyother and insistent things. Wimperley and the rest had come up tocongratulate him and gone away elated but at the same time puzzled thathe should regard the discovery with such apparent indifference. It wastrue that creditors were becoming pressing, but the rail mill, it wasuniversally admitted, would pull the thing through. Now a reaction setin and he longed for a little solitude. It lay in his mind that justover the horizon was something more inviting than all that had takenplace.

  An hour later he was in the bow of a big tug, heading down stream,having left orders that he must not be disturbed. As the greenlandscape slid by he gave himself over to retrospection, and his mindwandered comfortably back through all the stages of the past years.Surveying the folk of St. Marys, he concluded that only Filmer andBowers had been active supporters from the start. He would rememberthat. Came a voice at his elbow. It was the master of the tug.

  "Where to, sir?"

  "A hundred miles from here there's a camping party. Find them."

  They anchored that night in a long and narrow inlet where the tremblingreflection of the tug's funnel lay beside the mirrored tops of pinetrees that clung to the rocky shore. Ahead and behind was the openlake. There was no sound but the twitter of sleepy birds and the honkof a startled heron that winged its flight to solitudes still moreremote. Then Clark began to fish, and, just as he landed a five poundbass, a girl's voice sounded clearly while a canoe floated round anearby point. Elsie was in it and alone.