CHAPTER XIII

THE SOMASCO CONSOLIDATED

Alton left Vancouver by the Quebec express next day, found horses waiting at the little station, and only waiting while fresh ones were saddled at a lonely ranch, took the trail again before the first faint light crept out of the east. He also spoke little with Seaforth during the journey, and stared at the latter, who drew rein when the weary horses plodded, steaming and bespattered all over, into the settlement.

"What are you stopping for?" he said.

Seaforth glanced at the wisp of blue smoke which hung about the pines behind Horton's hotel. "It's rather more than twelve hours since I've had a meal," he said. "Don't you ever get tired or hungry, Harry?"

Alton laughed. "Oh, yes; sometimes I do, but not usually when I'm busy. Anyway, if the beasts hold out we'll be getting breakfast at Somasco in two hours or so."

Seaforth groaned inwardly, but, knowing the futility of argument, shook his bridle and rode on, lurching a little in his saddle as the tired horse stumbled into mudholes and, brushed through dripping fern. By and by, however, Alton swung himself down in front of a lonely log-house with a big clearing behind it, where a man took their horses without a word and signed them to enter.

Seaforth stretched his limbs wearily, and would have dropped into a chair but that Alton stood erect until the man came back again, and dusting two seats with his soft hat pointed to them with a gesture of hospitality. His hair and beard were frosted, his face was lean and brown, and there were many wrinkles about his eyes, but he held himself very upright and pointed to the stove.

"Ye'll be in from Vancouver. I'll ready ye some pork and flapjacks?"

he said.

Alton shook his head. "Don't worry, I can't wait," he said.

"Ye are very welcome," said the other.

"Of course!" said Alton simply; "still, I can't stop. I'm here to talk business, Callender."

Seaforth noticed that in face of the typical absence of protest or compliment there was nothing the most critical could find fault with in the invitation or the refusal. The old man was dressed in very curiously-patched jean, but he was almost stately in his simplicity, and nothing could have been more apposite than the little nod with which Alton made his affirmation. It implied a good deal more than speech could have done.

"Ye will be asking about the place?" said Callender. "I'm wanting three thousand dollars. It's worth all that."

Alton nodded, and it was evident that the men understood each other, for there was no endeavour to lessen or enhance the value of the property. "It will be worth more presently, but that's about the fair thing now," he said.

"Weel," said Callender simply, "by then I may be dead. Twenty years I've lived on my lone here, and I thought at one time I would be content to lie down by between the bush and the river, but now a longing to see the old land grips me. Ye will not understand it. Ye were born in Canada."

"No," said Alton gravely. "The land that has fed me is good enough for me."

The old man made a little gesture of assent. "Aye," he said. "It's a good country, but I feel the old one calling me. It's just three thousand dollars I'm asking ye."

Alton drew a sheet which seemed covered with calculations from his wallet, and glanced at it silently. Then he looked at the rancher.

"One thousand down, one thousand in six months, and the rest any time in two years, with six per cent," he said. "You might get the dollars in your wallet if you made the deal with a land agent in Vancouver."

"Maybe," said Callender simply; "I can trust ye. I would not sell the place to anybody."

Alton stood up. "You shall have a cheque to-morrow," he said.

They had mounted within another minute, and Alton glanced with a little smile at his comrade as they rode on again.

"That," said Seaforth, "was in a sense a somewhat effective scene, but I'm not sure which of us should go to the business school."

Alton laughed. "I don't often blunder when I deal with a man," said he. "Callender and I wouldn't have been better pleased, or five dollars richer, if we'd talked all day."

Seaforth nodded, though his eyes twinkled. "You don't seem so confident about the other sex?" he said.

Alton gravely pointed to a towering fir. "That redwood would fetch a good many dollars in Vancouver. I wonder when we'll get those saws through," he said.

While he spoke a thud of hoofs grew louder, and presently a man came riding in haste towards them down the trail. He drew bridle when he recognized them, and Seaforth became curious when he saw that it was Hallam. The latter made them an ironical salutation, and sat regarding Alton covertly with his cunning beady eyes until the rancher smiled.

"If you were going down to see Callender, I fancy you're a little too late," he said.

Seaforth wondered whether his comrade saw the wickedness in the other man's face, and the slight closing of his hands upon the bridle. It was very perceptible for a second, and then he made a gesture of resignation.

"I think there was another time you got in ahead of me, and it might be cheaper to buy you off," he said. "You haven't answered my letter asking what you wanted for all you're holding up here, as well as the ranch."

Alton flung his head back a trifle, and Seaforth knew what lay behind his laugh. "No," he said; "I put it in the stove."

A little grey spot appeared in Hallam's cheeks, and once more his fingers closed upon the bridle. "Well, you may be sorry by and by, but as I'm a business man first and last I'll give you another chance," he said. "There's not room for two of us in this valley, and with what I'm holding I can call you any time."

Alton's eyes were half closed now, and there was a glint in them.

"I've been figuring on that," he said. "When I'm ready, I'll let you see my hand."

Now if Hallam had been taught his business, which was an especially mean one, in England he might have kept his temper; but he lacked finish, though his abilities were unpleasantly sufficient in the West.

"Then it is to be hoped you'll put up a better game than you did at Townshead's ranch. I was a little sorry for the girl," he said. "Met her once or twice in Vancouver, and she didn't seem well off."

Alton said nothing, but he pressed his heels home, and the big tired horse moved forward. The trail was narrow just there, and wound through a quaggy belt where tall wild cabbage grew out of black depths of mire. There was also no room for Hallam to wheel his horse on the slippery sawn-up logs, and Alton urged his beast on, glancing imperturbably at the man in front of him.

Again the grey crept into Hallam's face, and a very unpleasant look in his eyes, but he drew his bridle, and next moment his horse was floundering in the mire. Alton laughed a little as he rode on without glancing behind him.

"That may have been pleasant," said Seaforth dryly, "but in view of what I saw in Hallam's face I don't know that it was wise."

"Well," said Alton, "I think it was. There's only one way of arguing with a panther, and that beast's a good deal less dangerous than Hallam is. Now you'll ride in to the settlement to-morrow, and put up a notice at the store: 'The ranchers of the Somasco district are requested to attend a meeting at 6.30, Saturday.' At the bottom you'll put a big 'Important.' I've got to have a talk with you to-night."

He made a hasty breakfast when they reached the ranch, and was busy at the sawmill, from which he did not return until supper, all day, so that it was not until that meal was finished and he was waiting for Seaforth that he had speech with Miss Deringham. She sat by the stove apparently occupied with some delicate embroidery, but it was possible that her attention was not confined to the stitches. Alton sat near her, looking straight before him, in a deerhide chair, and it was significant that neither of them found speech necessary. The man's face was somewhat grim, and the girl wondered what he was thinking.

"You apparently did not find Vancouver enlivening," she said.

Alton laughed a little. "I took one or two little worries along, and found another when I got there."

Miss Deringham went on with her embroidery for a While, and then glanced at the man again. "I wonder if any of them were connected with the sale of Townshead's ranch?" she said.

Alton smiled a little. "I'm getting kind of afraid of you," he said.

"One of them was."

Alice Deringham laughed prettily, and was inwardly contented. She had been used to influence and admiration, but there was a subtle pleasure in being the recipient of this man's homage, while she surmised that had he not offered her all of it he would not have made the admission concerning Townshead.

"Your recent neighbour is not doing well down there?" she said. "I am sorry for Miss Townshead."