Harold Bindloss

“ The roar of water rose hoarsely from its depths. The moon was getting low and the silvery light did not reach far down the opposite side, but they could see a sheer, smooth wall of rock, and the width of the chasm rendered any attempt to jump it out of the question.
“No way of getting across here,” decided Lisle. “At the same time, it looks as if Gladwyne must be held up on the same side that we are. We’ll follow the cañon; down-stream, I think.”
The moonlight was getting dimmer, but, at some risk of falling into the rift, they pushed on along the brink, looking down as they went. ”

“ They had reached the taller timber, and on one bank black firs, climbing the hillside, stood out against the fading light with a gauzy mist-curtain drawn across their higher ranks. The flood slid by, glimmering dimly, smooth and green, and from out of the distance came the throbbing clamor of a rapid.
“It’s your last look,” said Lisle. “We’ll be in the bush to-morrow and I expect to hire a wagon, or at least a horse or two, in a few days. Now I’m sorry I ever brought you here. You’ll be glad to get away.”
“You mustn’t blame yourself,” she told him. “We have only gratitude for you. ”

“ It sluiced by, lapping noisily upon the shingle, lined with streaks of froth, and the roar of the neighboring fall filled the lonely gorge. The wildness of her surroundings had its charm; she had been happier among them than she had been at any time during the last twelve months in England, and now she was uneasily conscious of the reason. Lisle’s constant watchfulness over her comfort, his cheery conversation, even the sight of him when he was too busy to talk, were strangely pleasant. ”

“ Bella had grown gentler since her marriage and less often indulged in bitterness.
“I think,” said Millicent, “I didn’t want any one to distract me; I’m going to make photographs and sketches for the book, you know.”
“But you let us come!”
“Yes,” assented Millicent; “you’re different.”
“That’s true. We won’t disturb you; and Nasmyth wouldn’t count. He’s an unobtrusive person, only to the front when he is wanted, which is a good deal to say for him; he doesn’t expect anything. No doubt, the same applies to Lisle.”
Millicent made no answer and Bella wondered whether she had gone too far. ”

“ Presently Lisle happened to mention the Marples, and Millicent glanced at him thoughtfully. She knew that he met Bella at their house.
“You have seen a good deal of these people, one way or another,” she remarked.
“These people? Aren’t you a little prejudiced against them?”
“I suppose I am,” Millicent confessed.
“Then won’t you give me the reason? Your point of view isn’t always clear to an outsider.”
“I’ll try to be lucid. I don’t so much object to Marple as I do to what he stands for; I mean to modern tendency.” ”

“ A few minutes later the men were hidden by a growth of willows and she sped back to camp, scrambling among the rocks with a haste that was born of nervous tension. She did not see the men again—it was needful to pick a path down the steep descent very carefully—and when she came, breathless, upon the clump of birches among which the tents were pitched it was evident from the hum of voices that the strangers had already arrived. Pushing in among the trees, she stopped, with her heart beating unpleasantly fast, face to face with Clarence. ”

“ At last they came to the broad crevasse, farther up the stream, and Lisle turned to Crestwick.
“Better take off your skin-coat. You’ll have to jump.”
“I can’t,” said the other dejectedly. “It’s not nerve—the thing’s clean beyond me.”
His slack pose—for he was dimly visible amid the haze of driving snow—bore out his words. The long march he had made had brought him to the verge of exhaustion; his overtaxed muscles would respond to no further call on them. For a moment or two Lisle stood gazing at the dark water in the gap. ”

“ A few hundred yards away the stream came roaring down a long declivity in a mad white rapid and then shot across the glassy green surface of the pool below in a raised-up wedge of foam. Wet boulders and outcropping fangs of rock hemmed in the water, and among them lay stranded logs and stream-packed masses of whitened branches. Farther back, ragged cypresses and cedars, half obscured by the drifting haze of spray, climbed the sides of the gorge, and beyond rose the dim, rounded summits of treeless hills. ”

“ No luxury that civilization could offer would have tempted him to desert the wilds.
Lisle filled his pipe with leisurely content. He shared Jake’s love for the wilderness, and he found it strangely pleasant to rest in camp after a day’s persistent toil. Besides, he usually enjoyed his evening chat with Nasmyth, for, widely different as their training and mode of life had been, they had much in common. Then, too, there was something in the prospect spread out before them that impelled tranquillity. The clump of wet cedars among which they had camped distilled a clean, aromatic smell ”

“ She was conscious chiefly of an unnerving horror and a sense of contrition. Clarence was dead, and she had been coldly hypercritical; hardly treating him as a lover, thinking of his failings. She blamed herself bitterly in a half-dazed fashion, but it was only afterward she realized that she had not been troubled by any very poignant sense of loss.
After a while Nasmyth said they would land, but Millicent roused herself to countermand his instructions and eventually they reached Batley’s camp. Lisle had got up during the day and he now walked painfully down to the water’s edge to meet her. ”

“ Though it was still winter among the ranges of the North, the seaboard city had been bathed in clear sunshine and swept by mild west winds during the past few days, and after the bitter frost and driving snow Lisle rejoiced in the genial warmth and brightness. There are few more finely situated cities than Victoria, with its views across the strait of the white heights of Mount Baker and the Olympians on the American shore, even in the Pacific Province where the environment of all is beautiful. ”

“ The day, like the two or three preceding it, had been hot and bright, and now that evening was drawing on, the still air was heavy with the smell of the cedars in a neighboring hollow. A high ridge stood out black against a vivid green glow, and from beyond it there rose a faint, hoarse murmur. Nasmyth welcomed it gladly as announcing the end of the march.
“The rest of the party can hardly be down until to-morrow; there’s a couple of portages,” he said. “It looks as if we’ll have to go without our supper.”
“I don’t want to see them before morning,” Lisle returned grimly. ”

“ Dawn was late the next morning; the light crept slowly through bitter rain, and when Lisle and his companions had breakfasted sumptuously for the first time during several days it was with reluctance that they broke camp. Indeed, Nasmyth would have suggested remaining under shelter only that he had come to accept Lisle’s decision as final and the latter was eager to push on. The blacktail deer would not last them long; the trout were getting shyer every day with the increasing cold; they were a long distance from the nearest settlement; while winter was rapidly coming on. ”

“ Nasmyth could doubt no longer, and his face grew red.
“The hound!” he broke out. “He had a hand frost-bitten—one finger is different from the others yet.”
Lisle said nothing; he could understand and sympathize with what was going on in his companion’s mind and the latter was filled with bitterness and humiliation. A man of his own kind and station in life, one with whom he fished and shot, had broken faith with his starving comrade and with incredible cowardice had left him to perish. ”

“ Millicent’s faith in Clarence was weak, she was forcing herself to believe in him; it might be possible to make her see her lover in his true character, though Bella had not yet determined on the exact course she would adopt. Then Carew called from the camp and she went back, while Millicent sat still with grave doubts in her heart. Bella’s faith in her husband was warranted, and Millicent was enough of an optimist to believe that such men were not uncommon—there was Lisle, for example, and Nasmyth. ”

“ One wing of the building was covered with Virginia creeper that glowed with the gorgeous hues of a fading maple leaf, the sunlight lay on the grass, and the feeling of tranquillity that hung about the place grew stronger. He thought that he could understand how the desire to possess it would stir an Englishman reared in such surroundings, and yet he was now convinced that this was not the impulse which had driven Gladwyne into deserting his starving cousin. The man had merely yielded to craven fear. ”

“ Lisle was still some way behind; Gladwyne sprang on board and thrust the light craft off, and a few strokes of the paddle drove her well out into the stream.
Lisle stopped, standing in the moonlight, and his comrade could see his hands tightly clenched at his side; then he suddenly tore off his jacket and flung it behind him. Noticing this, Nasmyth attempted to increase his pace. The river was running fast, swollen with melted snow, and Lisle must be badly worn out. If he had to be restrained by force, he should not attempt to swim across. ”

“ Nasmyth hesitated.
“Oh, well, since you’re so persistent, the Crestwicks have evidently been left with ample means, acquired by their parents, not much education, and big ambitions. They can get into certain circles, but that won’t content them, and other doors, which Gladwyne can open to them, are shut. After all, he’s a good sportsman, a man of some culture, with a manner that’s likely to impress such people. The lad’s holding on to him and taking his worst aspect for a copy, while Clarence seems willing to extend his patronage.” ”

“ He wondered at his insensate action until he recollected how he had once stood beside an opened cache in Canada, and then, ignoring his manifest duty, had hurried on through the frozen wilderness. On that occasion he had been accountable for his cousin’s death, and now Lisle had very narrowly escaped.
Yet he could with justice acquit himself of any premeditated intention in either case; fate had thrust him into a situation he was not strong enough to grapple with. Dreading Lisle, as he did, his chief thought had been for his own safety when he saw the bay blunder at the leap. ”

“ It had been dark some time and the night was raw, but Jim Crestwick strolled up and down the drive to Marple’s house, thinking unusually hard. In the first place, part at least of the folly of his conduct during the last year or two had been plainly brought home to him, and the realization was bitter. It was galling to discover that while he had regarded himself as a man of the world he had been systematically victimized by the men who had encouraged him in the delusion. ”

“ He was desperately hungry and weak from want of food; the deer must not escape. Yet he was in no rash haste; for two or three seconds the tiny foresight trembled slightly upon the mark, while the pressure on the trigger increased. Then there was a flash; he heard no report but the smoke blew into his eyes. Almost simultaneously, a train of red sparks leaped out from somewhere close at his side and there was a sharp snapping in the bush ahead.
“You got your shot in!” cried Lisle. “I think I missed him on the jump. Come on; we must pick up the trail!” ”

“ He strode out of the room, and Batley smiled as he followed him.
A day or two later Lisle stood on Gladwyne’s lawn. Gladwyne entertained freely, and though his neighbors did not approve of all of his friends, the man had the gift of pleasing, and his mother unconsciously exerted a charm on every one. She rarely said anything witty, but she never said anything unkind and she would listen with a ready sympathy that sometimes concealed a lack of comprehension. ”