Part 21 (1/2)
Shouts greeted them.
”Why, if it ain't Joe!” came from Sam heartily, in his well-known bellowing tones, while the ineradicable c.o.c.kney accent was obviously there; in fact, it was an accent of which Sam was proud. It was something never likely to leave him however long he remained in Canada, and however much he interlarded his conversation with Americanisms.
”Missus, it's Joe!” he shouted, turning his head over his shoulder.
Then he dashed forward, seized our hero's hand, and squeezed it till the latter almost winced.
”Howdy?” he exclaimed, swinging on Hank. ”Introduce us.”
”Hank,” said Joe shortly, ”hunter and trapper, a friend of mine. Hank, this is Sam Fennick; but----”
”In course I knows Sam,” cried Hank, stretching out his wiry little paw, but one, nevertheless, which could give a grip that would make a strong man squirm. After all, outside the polite society of London and other large cities, where very vigorous handshaking is not looked on with favour, men often enough, the rough men of the plain, the prairie, the backwoods farm, and of the forest, exchange greetings with an earnestness there is no denying. Such men do not simper and dangle nerveless fingers before a stranger. They stand facing squarely, looking closely into the other's eyes, and when their hands meet, and their fingers grip the other's, the firmness of the grip, its vigour, its unflinching support of the return pressure somehow conveys something of the character of one man to the other. Hank had treated Joe in that way. To a man such as Hurley, whom he did not like, whom he suspected to be a craven, Hank merely waved or nodded; for he had his own views of what was proper, and they were far more exact and far more straightforward than one would have imagined.
”What! You, Hank--me old pal!” shouted Sam, delighted beyond measure, and almost hugging the little hunter. ”You along o' Joe? How's that?
He been doing something fer you, same as he did fer us?”
Hank asked an abrupt question. ”What?”
”Ain't he never let on about the fire aboard s.h.i.+p, the rumpus there was, and how he led the volunteers?”
”Nary a word. Peter--Peter Strike, that is--did tell me a tale, but he warn't too sure of it. The young cuss is that silent when it comes to hisself. But he's been doing well. Sam, let's get these wet things off us, and something hot inside, and then we'll gas. Gee! Ef that ain't Mrs. Fennick! Howdy, maam? Here's Joe.”
The good woman almost embraced our hero, for she felt like a mother to him.
”Come right in and let us hear all about you and your doings,” she cried. ”And Hank Mitch.e.l.l too! I'm that glad to see you both, and Sam has been waitin' these many days for you to arrive. He's got a scheme for the winter.”
The grinning master of the shack accompanied the visitors into the interior of the shack, and there stood, first on one leg and then on the other, while Joe and Hank looked keenly about them. It was to be expected that a man of Sam's energy, a Canadian settler who liked things to be right, should have erected a dwelling which should be fitting for his wife. Besides, there was reason for even greater magnificence.
”Guess you've been hard at work,” said Hank, looking about him with twinkling eyes that nothing escaped. ”This here shack's meant to last.”
”It's that and more,” cried Mrs. Fennick, pride in her tones. ”Sam has built for a purpose. This shack's too big for what we want; he planned to have an office.”
”Eh?” asked Hank, turning on the grinning owner, who had flushed to the roots of his hair for all the world as if he were a schoolboy. ”What's this?”
”Part of the scheme, lad,” came the answer. ”Jest you two get seated and pull off those wet moccasins; then, when you've got dry socks to your feet and has had a bite, I'll get to at it. It's a fine yarn; I've dreamed of it this past five years.”
No amount of persuasion would drag from Sam what his scheme was till Joe and Hank had eaten, and the latter had lit up a pipe.
”You kin fire in at it, Sam,” said Hank at length, in the crisp little manner which was so distinctly his own. ”I kinder gathered from this here Joe that when you came along up here prospecting it warn't with the idea of the ordinary farm. Maam, it's plain to see as my old friend has nigh worked his fingers to the bone.”
Once more the little hunter's eyes went round the large parlour in which he and the others were seated, while Mrs. Fennick and her husband followed his glances with frank pride staring from their own eyes. Nor could Joe help but admire all that he saw; for he and Sam had been parted but a matter of a few months, and in the course of that time the latter had pitched upon a suitable holding for his farm, and had cut the timber for his shack, besides erecting the house. As to the latter, it was far bigger than the ordinary shack erected by the settler. There was a parlour, a kitchen, and three bedrooms, while attached at one side was a large office.
”Where we'll have the telephone afore you kin look round,” declared Sam. ”It's jest like this. Me and a mate or two agreed to go along together into New Ontario and pitch upon a spot that was likely to open up. Wall, we took the line the branch railway was following, though there's not one save those in the know behind the scenes, who kin say exactly where it'll run. Still, me and the others prospected a heap till we came along here. What with the difficulties of rocks to the south, and big, straggling elevations, it was clear as the rails must follow the valley, and there warn't more'n one for 'em to take. So we prospected along it till we came here. You jist come outside the door and you'll see what I'm after.”
He led the way to the door of the shack and pointed to the north across a narrow stretch of country bounded on either hand by elevated land, and seamed along a straggling line running a little to one side of its centre by a thin strip of blue which, here and there, was entirely covered with snow. As for the landscape itself, it was difficult to tell its aspect exactly, in spite of the thaw, for snow lay deeply in most parts.
”Wall?” asked Hank curtly, looking about him and taking in every feature. ”It's the top end of the valley, I kin see that. Rails running north kin easily pa.s.s out, seeing that the two ridges on either side don't run together. But they can't cut off to right or left. Ef the rails comes along this way, why, in course they pa.s.ses right through this location.”
”Along by the river,” said Sam quickly. ”Hank, it's an easy rise all the way. The river ain't got no current to speak of, which tells the tale easily. As to the rails coming along into the valley down south, why, that is almost certain, as sure as one can take it. Anyway, me and my mates agreed that it was more than likely, and so we arranged to take up holdings here. There's four of us already, Claude and Jim and Joe makes seven, and come spring-time there's nigh twenty more married men to join us.”
”Wall?” asked Hank, not as yet clear as to what was Sam's meaning.
”Where's the difference between this and other settlements? You takes up land, and the rails come along. Good! Up goes the value of the land, as it aer sartin to do. You get a reward for foresight; after that, where's the difference?”