XXIII
Since that night when Mr. Daney, standing aloof in the dark vacant lotclose to the Sawdust Pile, had seen Donald McKaye, in the light castthrough the open door of Caleb Brent's cottage, take Nan Brent in hisarms and kiss her, since he had heard Nan Brent's voice apply to theyoung laird of Port Agnew a term so endearing as to constitute averbal caress, his practical and unromantic soul had been in a turmoilof apprehension.
It seemed to him that in old Hector he noted signs of deep mentalperturbation. Also, he told himself, he detected more shades thanlights in Donald's usually pleasant features; so, knowing full wellthat which he knew and which neither The Laird nor Donald suspectedhim of knowing, to wit: that a declaration of love had been madebetween Nan Brent and the heir to the Tyee millions, Mr. Daney came tothe conclusion, one evening about a week after old Caleb's funeral,that something had to be done--and done quickly--to avert the scandalwhich impended. To his way of reasoning, however, it appeared thatnothing along this line was possible of accomplishment while Nan Brentremained in Port Agnew; so Mr. Daney brought to play all of hisconsiderable intelligence upon the problem of inducing her to leave.
Now, to render Port Agnew untenable for Nan, thus forcing her toretreat, was a task which Mr. Daney dismissed not only as unworthy ofhim but also as impossible. As a director of the Bank of Port Agnew,he had little difficulty in ascertaining that Caleb Brent'ssavings-account had been exhausted; also, he realized that thechartering of Caleb's motor-boat, Brutus, to tow the municipalgarbage-barge to sea and return, had merely been Donald's excuse to bekind to the Brents without hurting their gentle pride. To cancel thecharter of the Brutus now would force Nan to leave Port Agnew in orderto support herself, for Daney could see to it that no one in PortAgnew employed her, even had anyone in Port Agnew dared run such risk.Also, the Tyee Lumber Company might bluff her out of possession of theSawdust Pile. However, Donald would have to be reckoned with in eithercase, and Mr. Daney was not anxious to have the weight of his youngmaster's anger fall on his guilty head. He saw, therefore, that someindirect means must be employed.
Now, Mr. Daney wisely held, in contradiction to any number of peoplenot quite so hard-headed as he, that absence does _not_ tend to makethe heart grow fonder--particularly if sufficient hard work and worrycan be supplied to prevent either party to the separation thinking toolong or too intensely of the absentee. Within a decent periodfollowing Nan's hoped-for departure from Port Agnew, Mr. Daney plannedto impress upon The Laird the desirability of a trip to the Orient,while he, Daney, upon the orders of a nerve-specialist, took a longsea voyage. Immediately the entire burden of seeing that the TyeeLumber Company functioned smoothly and profitably would fall uponDonald's young and somewhat inexperienced shoulders. In the meantime,what with The Laird's money and the employment of a third party orparties, it would be no trick at all to induce Nan Brent to move sofar from Port Agnew that Donald could not, in justice to his businessinterests, desert those interests in order to pay his court to her.
"Dog my cats!" Mr. Daney murmured, at the end of a long period ofperplexity. "I have to force the girl out of Port Agnew, and I cannever do so while that motor-boat continues to pay her eighty dollarsa month. She cannot exist on eighty dollars a month elsewhere, but shecan manage very nicely on it here. And yet, even with that confoundedcharter canceled, we're stuck with the girl. She cannot leave PortAgnew without sufficient funds to carry her through for a while, andshe'd die before she'd accept the gift of a penny from anybody in PortAgnew, particularly the McKayes. Even a loan from The Laird would beconstrued as a roundabout way of buying her off."
Mr. Daney pondered his problem until he was almost tempted to butt hispoor head against the office wall, goat-fashion, in an attempt tostimulate some new ideas worth while. Nevertheless, one night hewakened from a sound sleep and found himself sitting up in bed, thepossessor of a plan so flawless that, in sheer amazement, he announcedaloud that he would be--jiggered. Some cunning little emissary of thedevil must have crept in through his ear while he slept and plantedthe brilliant idea in Mr. Daney's brain.
Eventually, Mr. Daney lay down again. But he could not go to sleep; sohe turned on the electric bedside-lamp and looked at his watch. It wasmidnight and at midnight no living creature, save possibly anadventurous or amorous cat, moved in Port Agnew; so Mr. Daney dressed,crept down-stairs on velvet feet, in order not to disturb the hiredgirl, and stepped forth into the night. Ten minutes later, he was downat the municipal garbage-barge, moored to the bulkhead of piles alongthe bank of the Skookum.
He ventured to strike a match. The gunwale of the barge was slightlybelow the level of the bulkhead; so Mr. Daney realized that the tidehad turned and was at the ebb--otherwise, the gunwale would have beenon a level with the bulkheads. He stepped down on the barge, made hisway aft to the Brutus, moored astern, and boarded the little vessel.He struck another match and looked into the cabin to make certain thatno member of the barge-crew slept there. Finding no one, he went intothe engine-room and opened the sea-cock. Then he lifted up afloor-board, looked into the bilge, saw that the water therein wasrising, and murmured,
"Bully--by heck!"
He clambered hastily back aboard the barge, cast off the mooring-linesof the Brutus, and with a boat-book gave her a shove which carried herout into the middle of the river. She went bobbing away gently on theebb-tide, bound for the deep water out in the Bight of Tyee where,when she settled, she would be hidden forever and not be a menace tonavigation. Mr. Daney watched her until she disappeared in the dimstarlight before returning to his home and so, like Mr. Pepys, to bed,where he had the first real sleep in weeks. He realized this in themorning and marveled at it, for he had always regarded himself as aman of tender conscience and absolutely incapable of committing amaritime crime. Nevertheless, he whistled and wore a red carnation inhis lapel as he departed for the mill office.