W. Douglas Newton

“ Clement uppercut with a savage left, Siwash jerked upward grotesquely, went over wildly into the blackness. Clement hurdled his body, and his hand was on the advertisement boards screening the window.
Adolf Neuburg was on him.
The mountain of a man with his unexpected and terrible agility swept down from nowhere. His great hands went out plucking at the young Englishman. His vast fists were free of weapons, for he was confident in his enormous strength. And he grabbed at Clement, he did not hit—that was foolish. His hand closed on Clement’s upper arm and swung the lighter man round. ”

“ Neuburg watched him always as he walked with Heloise.
Clement knew that the intelligence that was busy considering him was not one to be despised. He did not know the extent of the gang working to ensnare Heloise, but he felt that Neuburg was probably the brains of it, the master mind, and that he would act in a masterly manner, leaving very little to chance. To checkmate such a fellow would call for all his ability—and perhaps all his strength and courage. ”

“ Neuburg chuckled. “You are unerring, my dear,” he said. “As you imply, our good Joe did not sit down and weep.... People who work for Adolf Neuburg know better than to do that. Our Joe has found out things. Not everything, but something. This sodden and spineless Gunning struck east. No, my dear, do not spoil your burst of intelligence by asking the obvious. If I knew exactly where he had gone I should have mentioned it. You appreciate that? When one fails to mention things it is because one doesn’t know. But we will know. Siwash Mike is finding out. He will find out. ”

“ Clement stood stiff with the tragedy that had suddenly burst in horror into that little cabin.
“I daren’t ask myself how they will get that million,” the little lawyer had said in emotion, and Clement shuddered. He saw the gaunt and lonely mountains of Sicamous (wasn’t that the place?) . The dark, spruce-clad valleys, awfully lonely and awfully quiet. And in those silent valleys away from man—away from help and discovery—anything might happen. ”

“ Siwash Mike loosed an oath. The mountain of a man started as if stung. His mouth twisted in an ugly snarl. He made a step towards Clement. His right hand jerked to his pocket. The effect on Gunning was startling. That chance shot had exploded a definite fact in his mind.
“Motor boat,” he shouted. “That’s why you wouldn’t let me help.—Mending a perfectly sound motor boat. You liar! You—you Nachbar!”
He jumped forward and faced the big man.
“Out of the way, you dog. Out of the way!” snarled Nachbar, with a twisted mouth. His hand had flashed out of his pocket, and in it was a pistol. ”

“ In the tiny and quite significant pause that followed that touch of curiously personal intimacy, Clement felt bound to say, “You see, Miss Heloise, mining is a risky venture. You can throw away more money and more easily in mining than you can in anything else—not even excepting theaters and newspapers. There are so many things that make it a gamble. ”

“ Gatineau could not check in time to head him off. But Clement could. He cut across the fellow’s path, and, like a fox, the fellow tried to double again. He dodged round a stack, and found Gatineau ready for him, pivoted, and ran for the parapet. He scrambled on to the parapet, and stood swaying, staring about him for a loophole of escape. Between him and the next roof was a ten-foot alley, but the other roof was lower, and he seemed to think it was a chance. Clement did not; he yelled, “Stop that, you fool. You’ll kill yourself.” ”

“ The sort of picture that can have but one effect on such a girl as Heloise. She has become inspired by it. She sees the great and the generous way. If this true man, Gunning, is too proud to cry for help, then she should be proud to go to him and help him. She will make her sacrifice also.... So—so off she packs to Canada. She starts out like a sort of rapturous female knight-errant. ”

“ Clement Seadon got up from his bunk almost as soon as he had sat down on it. He was young, that is, he preferred swift action to deep thinking.
“It’s no good arguing about this,” he told himself. “It’s no good telling one’s cautious soul that outside the cinematograph and the painted pages of fiction, pretty young women aren’t the victims of gangs of rogues in this the twentieth century. She is. I’ve seen her. I’ve seen the gang and already felt them at work.... I’ve had circumstantial evidence pumped into me by that hurtling little lawyer. It all sounds mad. ”

“ It was obvious that from the first the gang meant to block him from Heloise’s side. Clement smiled as he saw the little comedy being played. The Gorgon clung to the girl tenaciously. To double the guard, so to speak, the large fat rogue was called in.
They were clever. They played with infinite skill. The mountain of a man was drawn in with brilliant casualness. Heloise and the Gorgon looked at Ireland over the taffrail. They talked about Ireland. The Gorgon made a conspicuous mistake about an Irish headland ... ”

“ Do I know him? Why, the feller’s an epidemic.”
Clement, startled by the tone of the man’s voice, simply echoed the expression, “an epidemic?”
“He’s certainly that. The whole world’s asking after him.”
“What do you mean by the whole world?” demanded Clement in some excitement.
“In a manner o’ speaking, I mean he seemed an ordinary sort of feller up to a day or so ago. Then a big fat man hits the burg and he and a feller with him begins to agitate for this Henry Gunning——”
“That is Neuburg and Joe Wandersun—the big man is Neuburg,” said Clement.
“That’s Neuburg,” said the driver. ”

“ Neuburg will be certain we’re at a loss in Montreal, will think he has plenty of time, while all the time we are overhauling him.”
“That’s it,” agreed the little detective. “The only thing that worries me is will the girl—Miss Reys—figure according to plan. I mean if she has any sense she’ll be suspicious at all this roundabout traveling, this chopping and changing of plans.”
“I hope she will be,” said Clement. “But I’m afraid she won’t. She doesn’t know the country; her companion does. She’s bound to follow blindly. And then anything can be put down to the erratic movements of Gunning.” ”

“ A man with little, sinister eyes ... the man who had all but prevented his getting into the train. The man whom he had seen close to his baggage before it went astray. He was there watching Clement, talking to the evil steward in an intimate way.
“Ah,” reflected Clement. “So you are in this. You are one of them.... And now that I come to think things out, there was never any doubt of it.”
He sat down on his bunk to face the problem of saving the girl Heloise from a gang of rogues, of whom the companion, Méduse, this huge man, and the steward at least were members. ”

“ Clement heard the creak of a chair. The news had been too much for the amiable Méduse. She had had to sit down—and sit down hard. He would have liked to chuckle. He dare not. The snarling voice of the mountainous Mr. Neuburg said with bitter passion, “Ah, you begin to see. Something active begins to stir in your head. ”

“ It’s a sweet move on that rotten rogue’s part.”
“Also,” said Clement, grimly, “Henry will look better in bed—more presentable. He’s been on the loose, and it probably shows. But what would look disgusting in a man standing on his feet, will only look like the ravages of illness in a man lying and moaning on a sick bed.”
“The pathetic stop,” said Gatineau.
“The pathetic stop,” agreed Clement. “And they’ll play it for all they’re worth to the undoing of that girl.”
In a very short time Clement Seadon and Gatineau were rowing up the lake towards Gunning’s shack. ”

“ He is careful not to deny it.”
“God!” breathed Gunning, his eyes fixed in [Pg 271] horror on Nachbar. “God—but you lie, he will deny it.”
“Go on,” said Nachbar with a deadly evenness. “Go on, Seadon.”
“He won’t deny it,” said Clement, shooting at venture. “He won’t deny it—because he feels that, since I have unmasked him, it will be best for you to know what he intends to do to that girl, Heloise Reys.”
“Murder her! No—no; we aren’t going to do that. It’s a lie!” cried Gunning, shrinking in loathing.
“You are a clever young man,” said Nachbar to Clement. “Too clever. Go on.” ”

“ Hard who has been so annoying to you.”
It was, of course, the attitude of Méduse Smythe to pretend that she had little or nothing to do with Heloise’s trip to Canada. She pretended all along to play a passive part. All the initiative was supposed to come from Heloise.
Méduse Smythe was clever. She had the master brain of Mr. Neuburg to prompt her, and she had played her cards subtly, so that although it was she alone who had inspired the high-minded girl to undertake this adventure, she was yet able to pose as no more than a lucky and accidental link in the chain of circumstances. ”

“ After lunch the Gorgon and Heloise were inseparable. They sat on deck chairs again. Tea came. Clement found that the Gorgon had whisked the girl into an alcove in the lounge. He was about to join them boldly, when the big fat man materializing with his unexpected swiftness, crossed the lounge and planted himself in the only other seat available. Clement smiled and sat and had his own tea and waited. He watched the trio. Presently his chance came. The fat man and the Gorgon suddenly involved themselves in one of those duologues in which the third person plays the part of a listener only. ”

“ There was an uproar from the front of the shack, men shouting at each other, threatening. Clement and Gatineau went out. In the clearing was a wild-eyed homesteader, brandishing a club and threatening to brain the man they had put on guard. Again Clement played a soothing part.
“Easy on him, old son!” he shouted. “We don’t mean harm. We’re the police.”
“That’s right, pop,” said young Canada, leaning over the porch rail. “You stop being mad; there ain’t no call for it. ”

“ As they came close in under the shack, the woman appeared on the porch. She was a tall, wiry woman, as lithe-strung as a cat. She had the fierce, sharp, haggard air of a woman who had been wrenched from the more hectic pleasures of [Pg 260] cities to stagnate in the wilds. She stood in the break of the door looking down on them, her eyes bright, her face pale, her hand gripping the doorjamb violently to help her master her emotions. Gatineau called, “Hello, mother; who’d a thought of seeing a white woman here?” ”

“ But could Miss Heloise have anything to do with a thief?”
“Oh, but a plausible thief,” snapped the little lawyer. “What he stole, he said, was his. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t, and he knew it. It was a picture, an Old Master, belonging to his family. Family had died up to its ears in debt—for which his own bad habits were mainly responsible. Everything had been sold to settle those debts. He knew that all right. But he stole that picture, sold it, and went on the spree with the proceeds. There you get the type of man he is in a nutshell.”
“That doesn’t explain Miss Reys’ attitude.” ”

“ Clement stared at him in amazement. That Gunning was dangerously ill seemed incredible.... Suddenly he remembered a passage in the Joe Wandersun letter to Heloise at Banff. He remembered a passage in Neuburg’s note to Méduse. He remembered the buying at the drug stores in Revelstoke, and Mrs. Wandersun’s going to a sick friend. He smiled grimly. “That’s the shock,” he said. “Remember Méduse was to be prepared for one, and to play up to it. She won’t expect to learn that a quite healthy man is abruptly at death’s door.” ”

“ All I know is that Heloise is filled with a sort of sentimental certainty that Gunning is out there in the wilds needing help. He is fighting a lone hand against circumstances beyond his strength. He is there working doggedly with a great chance within his grasp; but for lack of means, for lack of support, for lack of money he cannot make good. That’s how I see it, and I can see how the sentimental side has been worked up to secure Heloise’s sympathy. She feels he won’t, he doesn’t write to her because of his pride. ”

“ That’s how they are playing on Heloise’s candid and sympathetic nature.”
“Well,” said Clement. “It might be correct. Men are rather like that, don’t you think?”
“Men, yes,” snapped the little lawyer. “Fellows like you, real men, would be like that. But Gunning—I don’t believe it.”
“That’s rather drastic.”
“My boy, I know Gunning. We acted for his people too. Gunning is not like that. He’s a moral tadpole. If he has changed, then the age of miracles has very certainly not passed.” ”

“ He sighed, “Oh, well, this is very much better.”
“It isn’t strolling, anyhow,” laughed Heloise.
“Oh, I didn’t want to stroll, I just wanted to be selfish,” smiled Clement. “I wanted you to myself. There seem to have been millions of people about you ever since we came aboard.”
“Scarcely millions,” she smiled back. “Only my companion and that rather stout, quite pleasant Mr. Neuburg.”
[Pg 48]
“Only those,” said Clement, underlining the personality and the actions of the pair deliberately, “but they do seem to be rather clinging.... Always there seems to be a great crowd barring the way....” ”

“ But it is rather nice, oh, and lucky, to meet some one who is going by the same boat. I have a feeling that going by boat must be rather like going to a new school—everybody is new and reserved. So that if one knows some one already....” They went galloping off into that chatter which overtakes vivid people who have found a common ground, and not even the sniffs of the Gorgon could check them. Definitely, Clement thought then, the Gorgon wanted to claw the girl away. ”