Hulbert Footner

“ Whichever way it was, the drama was not to be played out just then, for Nell and her friend presently rose and left the room, without paying the slightest attention to the other couple.
That same night, as the lingering summer twilight was drawing to a close, Ann was sitting in her room, resentful at having to stay there, when a tremendous uproar arose in the dance hall below. A confused roaring of voices and tramping of feet came up. Women screamed; a table was overthrown; the music stopped in the middle of a bar. ”

“ How Ann regretted that she could not hear what they said to each other! The rumble of the young man's deep voice reached her down half the length of the table, strangely stirring the woman in her.
“Heavens!” she thought, smiling at her own sensations. “A man like that is dangerous to be at large. He's too good-looking. It isn't fair!”
Ann wondered if the truth might not be that Nell and Chako, each the most desirable of their sex, were secretly attracted to each other, and that each was too stubborn to give in. ”

“ There were no windows, and the light from the kerosene lamps hanging from the ridgepole in the center left the tables in semidarkness.
The orchestra was at the end of the hall opposite the bar. The banjos presently started one of the rippling airs of which they had the secret, the piano thumping a two-chord accompaniment which never varied. Rollicking airs they played, which had long been out of fashion; but more than once, upon hearing them, a faint recollection had stirred within Ann. Perhaps they were songs that old people had sung to her in her babyhood. ”

“ Men are not discoverers—they're sheep. Look at the way they run after me, just because I'm the fashion. I made myself the fashion. Your time will come,” she added darkly.
“I wouldn't go after a man if there was only one on earth!” said Ann, with spirit.
“There always is only one,” said Nell.
“It's more fun to be chased than to do the chasing,” said Ann.
“Sure,” said Nell; “but you'll find you've got to get him going before he'll set up a chase.”
“I want to be swept off my feet unawares,” said Ann.
“That's what all young girls say,” retorted Nell. ”

“ Ann noted that there was not a single woman to be seen.
The top of the bank was on a level with the roof of the deck house, and all the passengers climbed a ladder to the roof, the better to see. The uproar ashore was prodigious. What with the lack of a beach and the swiftness of the current, it was no easy matter to make the little Swett fast. So many men leaped aboard from the shore to shake Nell's hand that the craft took on a dangerous list, and Captain Wes Trickett quite lost his head in the confusion. ”

“ A well-meaning man, he was not a true son of the woods, but a settler. Moreover, his notions about women were both absurd and aggravating. In her mind's eye, Ann could see the look of horror that would overspread his face if she proposed that they should take a trip into the wilds together. And if she did go with him, she couldn't trust him. Notwithstanding his moral ideas, there was something shifty in Noll.
From the first Ann had marked Cal Nimmo, the mayor, as a good man to go to for advice. ”

“ Ann's pleasant eyes flashed on him with surprising spirit.
“Be quiet!” she said. “I'm not going!”
Noll subsided sullenly.
Maroney had run out on the floor. To give him his due, he had courage.
“Get out of my place!” he cried to Chako. “I don't want you in here! Get out!”
Chako looked down at him as from a height.
“Back up, Maroney,” he drawled. “If I hit you once, you'd burst!”
“Get out, I tell you!” cried Maroney. “Get out before you're thrown out!”
“If any man wants the job, let him try it,” said Chako, looking around. “If you set more than one on me, I'll shoot!” ”

“ Below them, with her nose grounded on the shingle, Ann saw an absurd little stern-wheel steamboat with her name painted on the side of her pilot house—“Tewkesbury L. Swett.” She looked as if she had been built by boys out of odds and ends in somebody's back yard. Her emaciated smoke-stack had several kinks in it. On the deck a fat man with a grizzled, curly poll was frantically waving a yachting cap. Ann supposed this would be Wes Trickett.
Two men made a chair of their hands and carried Nell aboard. Ann followed on her own two feet, the men falling back, somewhat abashed. ”

“ When the light came up, there was a fresh uproar. Some ran to pick up Red and drag him to one of the tables.
“Good boy, Chako!” somebody yelled.
A chorus took it up. Men and women started for him.
“Keep away from me!” cried Chako, with that contemptuous thrust of his open palm. He seemed to grow bigger in his scorn. “Shut your heads, you fools! I'm no man of yours!”
They fell back. The admiring atmosphere became hostile; but it was all one to Chako. He started down the hall.
Suddenly Ann saw Nell slip by her. Chako and the girl met midway on the dance floor. ”

“ At intervals it would be interrupted by a fight. Then somebody would get thrown out on the sidewalk with a crash, and the thrumming banjos would resume again. When customers of more importance got ugly, they would be assisted upstairs and locked in a room until they quieted down.
During these first few days Ann was like a little ghost in the house that everybody without seeing. Not to be allowed to share in all the running to and fro, the simmering excitement, the gusty laughter, was hard on her young spirit. ”

“ When they turned on Chako, a complete self-abandonment showed in them.
“How terrible,” thought Ann, “when one of those girls gets fond of a man! I wish I could make friends with her.”
These two sat down at the other end of the table. If Chako had brought the girl for Nell's benefit, his ruse was scarcely a brilliant one, for he took no pains to conceal his scorn of his companion. ”

“ Chako!” the girls were gasping. “Don't make any more trouble! What do you care, Chako? For God's sake, come back!”
Chako roughly freed himself of his encumbrances. The girl who clung to his arm was sent reeling back into the shadows. The uproar surrounding Foxy was suddenly stilled. All eyes turned on Chako.
“Ah! You make me sick with your cheering!” he cried, with a violent thrust of his spread palm. His deep voice made the hall ring. “If it was Red who beat, you'd cheer him just the same! Always ready to lick the boots of the night's hero!”
No voice answered him. He strode up to Foxy. ”

“ The young man never turned around when Nell came into the room. How strange, Ann thought, that the best-looking man in Fort Edward should go out of his way to ignore the Queen of North Cariboo! It was certainly a studied affront. Nell evidently thought so, for, seeing him, she stopped abruptly. Her face showed no change, but Ann marked the way her neck turned pink under the ears. ”

“ Ann thought.
“You've grown, Chako,” Nell drawled. “Almost a man, aren't you?”
The young man, taken aback, stared at her with gathering fury. Before he could get an effective answer out, Nell had started briskly for the stairs at the back.
“Show me a room, Maroney,” she said peremptorily.
Ann snatched up her valise and followed them. As they mounted, the young man went into the dance hall, making the whole house shake with the slam of the door. Nell, on the stairs ahead of Ann, raised one shoulder and laughed. ”

“ Captain Wes Trickett, with his yachting cap balanced absurdly on his curly pate, pulled a long blast on the piping whistle of the Tewkesbury L. Swett, and the company on board had the exquisite delight of seeing the fat Mortimer running like a deer across the grass and down the bank. Homeric laughter greeted his arrival on board. He stalked away astern.
II The smoothness of the voyage upstream was delicious to shaken bones. Notwithstanding her interest in her surroundings, Ann fell asleep after supper, propped on her bale of hay in a corner of the deck house. ”

“ Ann asked with bated breath.
“Chako Lyllac! Chako Lyllac!” snarled Noll. “I suppose you think he's quite a hero—like all the other women!”
Noll's feelings were of small moment to Ann.
“I asked you a civil question,” she said coldly.
“I'll tell you what happened to Chako Lyllac!” he cried. “When he left here, he went to Siwash Jimmy's place, the lowest den in town. He filled up on squirrel whisky, and went crazy and wrecked the place. They sent up here for Cal Nimmo. It took six of them to hold him down. They locked him in a shed at Cal's place to sleep it off. There's your hero for you!” ”

“ The only thing good about him is that he don't stay long anywhere. He comes and he goes.”
“Where did he come from originally?” asked Ann.
“How do I know? He's been knocking about the North since he was a young boy. They say he ran away from school. Some say his father is a bishop.”
“Very likely,” said Ann, smiling. “Bishops have that kind of sons, they say.”
“Chako Lyllac makes me sick,” cried Noll, “with his drinking and his fighting and his swelling around!”
He would, Ann thought, glancing at the respectable man through her lashes. ”

“ There was a little devil of curiosity in Ann that would not be appeased.
“Are Nellie Nairns and Chako old friends?” she asked.
“Not that I ever heard of,” said Noll. “They're both wild birds. I suppose they meet different places, coming and going. What is it to you?” he added, with a suspicious glance.
“Nothing,” said Ann, with a shrug. “The boy is so good-looking, one can't help feeling a little interest
This was bitter to the plain man. ”

“ There's nothing to it!”
“I've been thinking about that,” said Ann shyly.
“The devil you have!” said Nell, with a sidelong look.
“I mean I wondered how a woman like you could be content to stay in this rough country.”
“Too much competition in the cities,” said Nell. “Up here I'm known. They call me the Queen of North Cariboo. Maybe you've heard. It's something to be queen even of a dump like this. As for men, I expect they're much the same everywhere. This country isn't so bad. At least we're honester about things up here. ”

“ She sprang out of bed with her heart in her throat, thinking of the magnificent youth; but before her trembling fingers could get her hairpins in and her hooks fastened, the racket died down and the banjos resumed their thrumming. She went back to bed.
IV Ann had not missed as much as she feared. In the morning she learned that Red Chivers, unexpectedly returning to the dance hall after his defeat, had attacked Foxy Nicholls, and this time had beaten Foxy to a finish. ”

“ Their intercourse was beset with difficulties, for Noll had old-fashioned ideas about women, and disapproved of Ann's curiosity. In fact, it was his character to disapprove of most things. He was susceptible, however, and Ann made no scruple to exert a little fascination in order to obtain what she wanted. Noll was a dull, plain man of about forty—what Ann called the pathetic age in an unmarried man. ”

“ Foxy, panting, stood by looking on, to make sure that he had finished his job. It was only too evident that he had. Red's head was lolling on his chest. Foxy, with a shrug, turned eagerly back into the hall. Cal Nimmo, the mayor, led him by the arm, and the crowd pushed after, cheering. Ann followed.
Inside the cheering was redoubled. Men ran around in front of the victor, striving to grasp his hand. Various admirers thrust his coat, his hat, his collar, upon him. Foxy and Cal pushed their way slowly toward the door of Nell's room, which stood invitingly open; but Nell was not visible. ”

“ Nell paid not the slightest attention. In the midst of the racket she and the mayor maintained a polite conversation. Ann stretched her ears to hear it. Nell addressed the mayor as “Cal.”
“Me and a couple of other hard guys keeps pretty good order here,” Cal said. “You needn't be afraid.”
“I shan't be,” said Nell.
“It's true the gov'ment has threatened to send in the provincial police. That's along of a little fuss we had here last March, before the ice went out; but since then it's been as quiet as a Sunday school. We don't want no police here. There's few enough free places left on earth. ”

“ Well, as I was saying, being the mayor, it is my duty to welcome distinguished visitors in our midst—crown heads, and presidents, and the like; but we don't set no great store by such big bugs up here. Let 'em stay where folks is accustomed to crooking the knee. Of course, if any crown heads or presidents should come along, we'd treat 'em right. We'd just prop 'em against the bar at Maroney's, and if they could stand up under more'n two shots of Jack's squirrel whisky, we'd respect 'em as men.
“Nell, you got a better claim on us than any ole crown head or moth-eaten prince, see? ”

“ Cal Nimmo and several of his cronies had the next table to Ann, and Maroney continually returned there to air his grievances.
“They's been a fight here ev'y night!” he said. “Las' night they was two fights. I'm fed up with it. I ain't narrer-minded. I don't aim to interfere with nobody havin' a good time, but I say times ain't what they was in the old days. I say, if anybody wants to fight, they got to go outside. That's reasonable, ain't it?”
Maroney obtained but small sympathy from Cal.
“Ah, what do you care, Maroney?” said the mayor banteringly. “Makes everybody thirsty, don't it?” ”