Show I 1 the th t yukon Y k ovia trail T rai I 1 kan 4 love story by B by WILLIAM MACLEOD RAINE copyright william macleod balne CHAPTER IV continued 3 about a mile below the falls he met two men one of them was colby maedonald macdonald ile he carried a coil of rope over one shoulder the big alaskan explained that lie he had not been able to get it out of his head that perhaps the climbers who had waved at ills his party had bad been in difficulties so he load had got a rope from the cabin of an old miner and was on his way back to the falls the three climbed to the falls crossed the bridge and reached the top of the cliff you know the lay of the land down there sir mr elliot well lower you decided macdonald who took command ns as a matter of course gordon presently stood beside shoba sheba on the little plateau she had quite recovered from the touch of by hysteria that had attacked her courage you long was all she said 1 I met them coming he answered as s he dropped the loop of the rope over her head bead and arranged it under her shoulders ile he showed her biow now to relieve part of the strain of the rope oa her flesh ly by using her hands to lift all ready Bl macdonald acdonald called from above all ready elliot answered to is heba he said hold tight the girl was swung from the ledge and rose jerkily in the air she laughed gayly down at her friend below its fun gordon followed her a couple of min ties later inter she was waiting to give him a hand over the edge of the cliff miss oneill ONel ll this Is mr macdonald he said as soon as he be had freed himself from the rope you are fellow passengers on the hannah macdonald Mn cdonald was looking at her straight and hard bard your fathers name was it farrell oneall ONel ll he ched bluntly yes 1 I knew him the girls eyes lit im glad mr Ua Il acdonald cdonald one reason I 1 want swung from the ledge and rose jerkily in the air ed to come to alaska to hear bear about iny coy fathers life here will you tell me some time we must be going now to catch the boat after of ter ive had a look at the cliff this young man crawled across he turned away abruptly it struck elliot rod and climbed down the natural stairway up which the young man had come presently lie rejoined those above j looked at elliot with a mw Y in c luk lui toy friend that were not carrying you from the foot of the cliff he said dryly 1 I cross that rock wall for a hundred thousand dollars in cold cash nor I 1 again admitted gordon with a laugh but we had either to homestead that plateau or vacate it I 1 preferred the latter miss bliss oneille ON eIlls deep eyes looked at him she was about to speak then chanced her mind CHAPTER V sheba sings and two men listen elliot did not see miss oneill next morning until she appeared in the dining room for breakfast ile he timed himself to get through so as to join her when she left they strolled out to the deck together ile he came abruptly to what was on his mind 1 I have bare an apology to make miss bliss oneill ONel ll it if I 1 made light of your danger yesterday it was because iwas I 1 was afraid you might break down I 1 had to seem unsympathetic rather than risk that she smiled forgiveness all you said was that I 1 might have sprained my wrist it was true too I 1 might have and I 1 did sheba showed a white linen bandage tied tightly around her wrist your whole weight came on it with a wrench no wonder it hurt sheba noticed that the hannah was wag drawing up to a wharf and the passengers were lining up with their belongings Is this where we change those of us going to kuslak transfer here but theres no hurry we wait at this landing two hours gordon helped sheba move her er baggage to the other boat and joined her on deck they were both I 1 strangers la in the land their only common acquaintance was macdonald and he was letting mrs mallory absorb his attention just now left to their own resources the two young foung people naturally drifted together a good deal this suited elliot ue he found his companion wholly delightful not the less because she was so different from the girls he be knew at home she could be frank and even shyly audacious ou on occasion but she held a little note of reserve he felt bound to respect macdonald left the boat twenty miles below kuslak with mrs mallory and the Self ridges A chauffeur with a motorcar was waiting on the wharf to run them to town but he gave the wheel to macdonald and took the seat beside the driver are you going to the hotel or direct to your cousins gordon asked miss bliss oneill ONel ll to my cousins I 1 fancy ashes down here to meet me it was arranged that I 1 come on this boat elliot caught a glimpse of the only peo people plein jn kuslak he had bad known before coming in but though he waved to them he saw they did not recognize him after the usual delay about getting ashore he walked down the gangway carrying the suitcase of the irish g girl 1 rl sheba followed at his heels beels on the wharf he came face to face with a slender well dressed young woman diane I 1 he cried she stared at him you I 1 what in heavens name are you doing here gordon Ell elot tot she demanded and before he could answer had seized both hands and turned excitedly to call a stocky non man near peter peter I 1 guess chos hes here riello neno paget grinned gordon and he shook hands with the husband of dlane diane elliot turned to introduce his friend b but ut she anticipated him cousin dlane diane she said dryly dont you know me mrs paget swooped down upon the girl and smothered her in her embrace this Is sheba little sheba that I 1 have told you so often about peter she eho cried glory be im glad to seo sea you child and diane kissed her again warm P you two met on the same boat of course coming in I 1 hope you let her get lonesome gordon look after suitcases peter come to dinner tonight C cordon ardon a at t seven im in the kind hands of my coun j ion I on laughed gordon ill cw be on hand band but what in the world are you doing here youre the last man id have expected to see im in the service of the government and ive been sent in on business well im going to say something original dear people mrs paget replied its a small world it while he was dressing for dinner later in the day elliot recalled early memories of the he had known dlane diane ever since they had been youngsters together it cit school he remembered her as a restless wiry little thing ken as a knife blade always popular socially she had surprised everybody by refusing the patch catch of the town to marry a young mining engineer without a penny gordon was in college at the time but during the next long vacation he had fraternized a good deal with the Peter the young married people had been very much in love with each other but not too to take the into their happiness us ns a comrade then the arctic goldfields gold fields had claimed paget and his bride that had been more than ten years ago and until today gordon had not seen them since while elliot was brushing his dinner coat before the open window of the room assigned toi him at the hotel somebody came out to the porch below the voice of a woman floated faint faintly lyl to him seen dianes irish beauty yet ned yes a nan man answered the woman laughed softly sirs mrs mallory came up on the same boat with her the inflection suggested that the words were meant not to tell a fact but some less obvious inference ashes wonderfully pretty and of course dlane diane will make the most of her but mrs mallory Is a woman among ten thousand 11 id choose the girl if it were me said the man but it you well see what well see they were moving up the street and gordon heard no more what he be had heard was not clear to him why should any importance attach attack to the fact that mrs mallory and sheba oneill had come up the river on the same boat yet lie he was vaguely disturbed by the insinuation that in some way dinne diane was entering her cousin ns as a rival of the older woman he resented the idea that the fine young personality of the irish girl was being cheapened by management on the part of dlane diane paget elliot was not the only dinner guest at the paget home that evening ile he found colby macdonald sitting in the I 1 ving living I 1 room with sheba she came quickly forward to meet the newly arrived guest mr macdonald has been telling me a bout about my father lie ile knew lit him in on frenchman creek where they both worked claims explained the girl the big mining man made no comment and added nothing to what she said there were times when his face was about as expressive as a stone wall the dinner went off very well dlane diane and peter had a great many questions to ask gordon about old friends by the time these had been answered maedonald macdonald was chatting easily with sheba she listened with glowing eyes to the strange tales this man of magnificent horizons had to toll tell never before had she come into contact with till anyone like him paget was superintendent of the lucky strike a mine owned principally by macdonald the two talked business for a few minutes over their cigars but dlane diane interrupted gayly to bring them back into the circle adroitly she started macdonald on the account of a rescue of two men lost in a blizzard the year before he had the gift of dramatizing his story of selecting only effective details there was no suggestion of boasting if he happened to be the hero of any of hla his stories tile he fact was of no Import importance ancel to him it was merely a detail of the picture he was sketching gordon interrupted with a question a story he was telling of a lie he had seen between two bull moose did you say that was while you were on the way over to inspect the Kamat lah coal fields for the first time the eyes of the young man were quick with interest yes four years ago last spring macdonald looked at him with a wary steadiness some doubt had found fouad lodgment in his mind before he could voice it it if indeed he had any such intention elliot broke in swiftly dont answer that question I 1 asked it without proper thought I 1 am a special agent of the general land office sent UP to investigate the macdonald coal claims and kindred interests te rests slowly the rl cr of the big scots mans steely eyet to a smile that was gental genial rod and disarming tf if this news hit him hard he be gave cave ho sign of it and that it was an unexpected blow there could be no doubt glad you youve ive come mr elliot we ask nothing but fair play the men who mho own the macdonald group croup of claims have nothing to conceal illi ill i answer that question I 1 meant to say two years ago last spring ills his voice was easy and ills his gaze unwavering as he made the correction yet everybody in the room except sheba knew he was deliberately lying to cover the slip for the admission that lie he had inspected the Kamat lah field just before his dummies had bad filed upon it would at least tend to aggravate suspicion that the entries were not bona fide it was rather an awkward moment sheba unconsciously relieved the situation but what about the big moose mr macdonald what did it do then the alaskan went back to his story he was talking for sheba alone for tile the young girl with eager fascinated eyes which flashed with sympathy as 13 11 t 11 dont answer that question they devoured selected glimpses of his wild turbulent career she saw him with other eyes than elliots elliote Elli the government official admired him tremendously macdonald was an empire builder ne ile blazed trails for others to follow in safety but gordon could guess how callously his path was strewn with brutality with the effects of an ethical color blindness largely selfish though even lie he did not know that the mans primitive jungle code et ef wolf eat wolf had played havoc with young life many years before diane satisfied that macdonald had scored called upon sheba 1 I u ant you to sing for us dear it if you toil will herself the voice of the girl had no unusual range but it was singularly sweet and full full of the poignant feeling that expresses the haunting pathos of her race its well I 1 know ye sheve cross ye weary stony hill an im tired och im tired to be looking on ye still for hero here I 1 live the near side an lie he lg Is on the tar far an all your heights and hollows are between us so they are och anee gordon as he listened felt the strange hunger of that homesick homes lck cry steal through his blood he saw his own emotions reflected in the face of the scotch canadian who nho was watching with a tense interest the slim young figure at tile the piano tile the girl whose eyes were soft and dewy with the mysticism of her people were still luminous with the poetry of the child in spite of the years that heralded her a woman elliot intercepted the triumphant sweep of DI a n e s gi glance a nc e from ii macdonald to her husband in a fla lash flail il it lit it up for him the words he had heard on the hotel porch diane an inveterate matchmaker intended her cousin to marry colby macdonald no doubt she thought she was doing a ine fine thing for the clr girl ile he was a millionaire the biggest figure in the northwest ills iron will vill ran the town and district us as though tile the people were chattels of his back of him were some of the biggest financial interests in the united states but ithe the gorge of elliot r allot rose the man after all was a lawbreaker a menace to civilization lie ile was a survivor by reason of his bis strength from the primitive wolf pack the very look of his hard gray eyes was dominant tind and masterful he would win wl I 1 no matter how it came to gordons rebel heart I 1 ha hat t it if macdonald wanted this lovely irish girl arid and the young man main never doubted that the scotsman would wool d want her he would reach out and garner to in hobo just as it if she were a coal mine or a 0 placer prospect all this surged through the mind ota the young man while the singer wasl was on the first line of the second st stanza ariLa i ait aut if itt t was waa only shove sheve cross crosa 4 S to fr from om foot to crown rd id ie be ul up an over that id soon be down then sure bure the great sea itself la Is there bedont the bar an all the windy athers are I 1 between us so they are och ajeet the libe rich soft young voice with its irish brogue died away the little audience diance paid the singer the tribute of silence she herself was the first to 1 speak i divided Is the name ot of it A namesake of mine dolra oneill ONel ll wrote it s she he explained and I 1 thank its a beautiful song ye for singing it macdonald said simply it minds me of my own barefoot days by the tay later in the evening the two dinner guests walked back to the hotel together they discussed casually the cost of living in the north the raising of strawberries at kuslak and the best WRY way to treat the mosquito nuisance but neither of them referred to the macdonald coal claims or to sheba oneill ONel ll CHAPTER VI wally gets orders macdonald from his desk looked up atthe man in the doorway selfridge had come in jauntily a cigar in his mouth but at sight of the grim face of his bis chief the grin fled come in and shut the door ordered the scotsman 1 I sent tor for you to congratulate you wally you did fine work outside you told me you that it was all settled at last that our claims are clear listed for patent the tubby little man felt the edge of irony in the quiet voice sure what winton told me he assented nervously then be interested to know that a special agent of the land department part ment ant opposite me last night and without batting an eye came across with the glad news that he was here to investigate our claims selfridge bounced up like a rubber ball from the chair into which he had just settled what pleasant surprise it ive been wondering what you were doing outside of course I 1 know you had to take in the shows and |