Steersman

“ CHAPTER XXII Chance will not do the work—Chance sends the breeze; But if the pilot slumber at the helm, The very wind that wafts us towards the port May dash us on the shelves.—The steersman's part is vigilance, Blow it or rough or smooth. ”

“ The steersman’s orders are never interfered with, even if an official of the “The Company” is on board. These men will undergo the most fatiguing labour “from early dawn to dewy eve,” tugging away during those long northern summer days over slippery cut banks and fording or swimming tributary streams without murmur or complaint, and38 moreover without profanity. The half breed seems to take this as his work to do, and well it is that he is so persuaded, for few others would so cheerfully perform such labour. ”

“ They were all still there when Steering came in. Fresh from the hills, young, alert, deep-lunged, brown-faced, Steering was a good sort to look at as he strode into the room. He had ridden on into Canaan to the tune of high, purposeful music, after parting with Sally Madeira. His experience with her out there on the hills, his profounder impression of her fineness, had acted upon him like unbearably sweet harmonies, urgent, inspirational. He was this minute keen for something to do, something hard, earnest, momentous. If the whole truth were told, he wanted to fight. ”

“ The men from the Canaan stores, a lonely drummer from the hotel, some belated farmers and several Canaan young ladies passed Steering, the young ladies seeming not to see him, but, in some subtly feminine way, making it impossible for Steering not to see them—their glowing young faces, their enormous hats, the way their gowns didn't fit, the slip-shod carriage of their bodies, all the differences between them and the only other real western girl he knew. ”

“ I had already observed that the schooner was under the French flag. Stewart was staring at the woman under the awning; the Count was scrutinizing Stewart. I murmured acknowledgments and took a mental photograph of the Count. 'A French nobleman,' I thought. 'An invalid who does best at sea; asthma possibly; a student, erudite, polished—a philosopher, and withal a man of heart.' Physically he seemed a wreck, but one saw at a glance that a high vitality had been consumed in his body and conserved in his brain. ”

“ Only you have got so much style and finish that alongside you I'm like a Duluth ore boat by the side of a lovely, trim yacht.”
His voice held a note of pathos. Some sympathetic quality in the strong, masterful personality helped this wistful tone on its way to Mrs. Forrest's heart. Steers' splendid profile was against the moonlit sky, the half of his face toward her in the shadow. Yet the dejection in mouth and eyes was quite apparent.
“I'm sort o' blue to-night,” he confessed, “the thought of my little girl leavin' me, I reckon. ”

“ He was playing with a furry animal not unlike a Martian ferrax, which sprang up, scarlet-eyed and bristling, at the sight of Wellesley.
"Here, boy," said Wellesley, who neither liked nor trusted children. "Is this the house of Amos Sealilly, the factor of Aidennsport?"
"Sure. That's my pa. Say, are you a spaceman?"
"Never mind that. Where is your father?"
"In the warehouse," the boy said. "I'll show you how to get inside. My name's Joseph, and I have a spaceship in the back yard. I call it the Stygia, after the pirate ship of the twenty-eighth century. Do you want to see my crew?" ”

“ I have come to let you know that everything is safe, that you need not be troubled, sleeping or waking, any more about this thing. You may keep the Tigmores as long as you will," the light of her eyes beat upon him like a rain of pure gold, "you may be as rich as you like, Father. Mr. Steering is to leave here; you need never be dispossessed during your lifetime. It is all safe and sure. [Pg 256] Uncle Bernique will not tell, Mr. Steering will not tell, Piney will not tell, I shall make no sign." ”

“ Stewart. “He was a boat steerer or harponeer in a South Sea whaler, and according to what his old skipper said the very best in the ship. I’ve never seen him at his work before, but judging from what I know of him I should say he would be extra good at anything he undertook. He’s that kind of a man, isn’t he, dear?”
“Indeed he is,” replied Mary, “and oh, I’m so glad that he’s found something that he likes to do. I know how he has been suffering for exercise lately.” ”

“ No!" Madeira's voice rang up, urgent, strident; he did not seem conscious that he was talking to her; he seemed rather to be having something out with himself. The strain of the past weeks had come back to his face. "Plenty of people before this Steering have thought of ore in the Canaan Tigmores. Look at old Grierson himself! Originate the idea! Grierson had the idea before Steering was born! We can get ideas in this country, and work 'em out, too, without any help from outsiders."
[Pg 102] "Mr. Steering is not exactly an outsider, is he?" ”

“ He saw Captain Whalley turn his head quickly to speak to his Serang; the wind whipped the whole white mass of the beard sideways. He would be directing the chap to look at the compass for him, or what not. Of course. Too much trouble to step over and see for himself. Sterne’s scorn for that bodily indolence which overtakes white men in the East increased on reflection. Some of them would be utterly lost if they hadn’t all these natives at their beck and call; they grew perfectly shameless about it too. ”

“ I know that we've got to stand to win, coming and going. That's business."
Face to face with this sort of frank self-commitment to "business," Steering was impressed into silence, and Madeira took advantage of the silence to push on in the big way he had that was like the broad-paddling, tooting vehemence of a river steamer. "I'm for getting a drill into the hills right away, just as much as ever you can be, my boy, understand. It will look better. We'll do it. But Lord love you, we won't hold back the organisation for that. ”

“ I am quite certain that you understand perfectly—but you must think for yourself! Success, Jenkins, comes slowly by individual thought. You know the ship as well as I do. Direct her toward the earth, and do it carefully.” He cleared his throat. “Luncheon, Griggs!”
“But, Mr. Hawkins, how can we get down when this cylinder's overcharged with gas and we're going higher every minute, and—”
“My dear boy,” said Hawkins, with a grin that was meant to be playful, and that actually looked like the dying smile of a consumptive, “think!” ”

“ Home, Stewart told himself, means everything to middle-aged women of fixed habits. It was astonishing that they should tear themselves away from it, even for a tour of Europe, for to them travel meant martyrdom. Home! How their eyes brightened as they spoke the word! They were going through to Brussels, then to Ostend, after a look at Ghent and Bruges, and so to England and their boat.
[Pg 36]
“I intend to spend the afternoon at Aix-la-Chapelle,” said Stewart, “and go on to Brussels to-night or in the morning. Perhaps I shall see you there.” ”

“ From time to time there was quite a little crush at the door, so that Steering did not see Miss Madeira until her messenger reached him. Then he ran out to her quickly.
"I shan't get down," she told him, speaking in a lower tone than the listening Canaanites approved of. "I was hoping that I might find you here. Get on your horse and let's go to the woods. Wouldn't you like to? The hills are one long glory to-day." ”

“ Not until they had passed him did Stewart remember that he had seen the man before. It was the surly passenger in the crowded compartment on the journey from Cologne.
His companion had not seemed to notice the fellow, and went on talking of the voyage home and how glad she would be to get there. Not until they turned again at the farther end, and found the platform for a moment clear around them, did she relax her guard.
“That man is a spy,” she whispered, quickly. [Pg 90] “We are evidently still suspected. What sort of railroad ticket have you?”
“A book of Cook’s coupons.” ”

“ If you are broad-gauged enough to taste whisky at your own wake, we’d be pleased to have you join us.’
“‘Do you know,’ says Sterrett, setting his glasses on his nose, ‘I like your cheek in asking me if I’ll join you; blast me if I don’t. You might have known I would, without asking. Not as a traitor to my own country, but for the intrinsic joy of a blooming row.’
“On the morning of the Fourth I woke up in that old shanty of an ice factory feeling sore. I looked around at the wreck of all I possessed, and my heart was full of bile. ”

“ Upon the hypothesis that [Pg 156] Steering would "come around" everything smoothed out. Resting securely upon that hypothesis, Madeira even formulated the words with which he would take Steering's surrender: "God love us, that's all right! You just trust to me from now on. From now on I'll look out for you, my boy." He could hear himself saying that.
At six o'clock, still shaping the day toward the appointment with Steering, he took a great bevy of men, farmers, stockmen, storekeepers, to the Canaan Hotel for supper. ”

“ My client, Mr. Steers, wishes me to secure him a competent housekeeper and a young woman, preferably English, who may serve either as lady's maid or companion to his two daughters, Miss Sylvia, age twenty-two, and Miss Pauline, age eighteen. These three individuals comprise the immediate family. “I have had the pleasure of being a guest at Mr. Steers' home in Chicago. Mr. Steers is a type of the Western American self-made man, and has risen from the ranks of miner and prospector to that of wealthy promoter of large fortune. ”

“ He fancied Stewart starting out on the mission, silent, with the silence that comes with the realization of danger—grave with the gravity of its acceptance—the test of courage. Stewart had never been guided by the heedless, passionate impulses that had possessed him, Trevelyan, all his life; but he had held high the standards of life for a man, and he had lived up to the standards. ”

“ Within a month after Bruce Steering had entered the portals of Missouri, Madeira had put his first steam-drill into the hills. Within two more weeks he had put in another. It took him less time to do the things that other men think about and talk about and put off than any man Steering had ever known. One day, not so very long after old Bernique's find in Choke Gulch, word had gone over Canaan like an eagle's scream that ore had been struck in the Canaan Tigmores. ”

“ Steers,” said she, “I have sent for you not in regard to this wretched Payne, but for a matter much more vital to yourself.”
“What's that? What's that?” Steers exclaimed.
“The trouble which has come to my daughter,” said Mrs. Doremus, “and certain unhappiness which threatens your own two charming girls are, it appears, all the result of the dishonorable behavior of one man. Tell me, Mr. Steers, how long have you known this lawyer, Coutts?” ”

“ There was no one there, and Stewart, following with the candle, saw that the hall was empty. They stood for a moment listening, but not a sound disturbed the stillness of the house.
The girl motioned him back into the room and closed the door softly. Then, replacing the pitcher gently, she caught up a pile of Stewart’s socks and stuffed them tightly under the door. Finally she set a chair snugly against it—for there was no lock—and turned to Stewart with a little sigh of relief.
“There,” she said in a low tone; “no one can see our light nor overhear us, if we are careful. ”

“ Steers, respectfully informed him of his change of condition, and requested the hand of Pauline, all with a frankness and simplicity which quite overcame any lingering antipathy which the millionaire might have cherished from his Texas days for the Latin race.
“I guess you hit the nail on the head, Coutts,” said Steers, “'when you stated that a gentleman is a gentleman, whether he's greaser, Yank, dago, or Chink Alessandro is the real thing. ”

“ Steering's strength failed him again, and he fell back over the saddle and hung on. There come times in a man's life, good times as well as bad times, when he can do nothing but hang on. On these dizzying peaks of happiness, Steering scarcely [Pg 269] dared let himself look beyond the pony's nose. He was so high up, so near the consummation of—oh—of everything. It would be ridiculously easy to set matters straight now, in one way or another. She loved him! If that were true, it would make everything else come right. And that was true. Piney had been sure of it, and Piney had just left her. ”

“ I went on, by passing the wine faster and faster yet, and continually starting up with a corkscrew to open more wine, long before any was needed. I proposed Steerforth’s health. I said he was my dearest friend, the protector of my boyhood, and the companion of my prime. I said I was delighted to propose his health. I said I owed him more obligations than I could ever repay, and held him in a higher admiration than I could ever express. I finished by saying, ‘I’ll give you Steerforth! God bless him! ”

“ For there were people who had complained of Ka-kee-ta, and it must be confessed that it was disconcerting to a timid woman, or even a brave man, to walk down a dimly lighted corridor and find oneself face to face with a bare-footed colored man, in loosely fitting blue clothes; a man with a tattooed nose and frizzled hair stiffened with cocoanut oil, and carrying a shining ax. Tessie herself would have shrieked if she had come upon such a man in a dimly lighted corridor. ”

“ They felt that they were men going forward to men's work; they were drinking deep of a cup brimming with the joy of supreme experience!
There were jests and loud laughter; there were snatches of song; and presently a thousand voices were shouting what sounded to Stewart like a mighty hymn—shouting it in slow and solemn unison, marked by the tramp, tramp of their feet. Not until he caught the refrain did he know what it was—"Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles!"—the German battle-song, fit expression of the firm conviction that the Fatherland was first, was dearest, must be over all! ”