The Iron Trail

The Iron Trail

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Iron Trail, by Rex Beach #6 in our series by Rex Beach
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: The Iron Trail
Author: Rex Beach
Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5233] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 10, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRON TRAIL ***

Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

THE IRON TRAIL
By REX BEACH
Author of "THE AUCTION BLOCK" "RAINBOW'S END" "THE SPOILERS" Etc.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. IN WHICH THE TIDE TAKES A HAND
II. HOW A GIRL APPEARED OUT OF THE NIGHT
III. THE IRISH PRINCE
IV. HOW A JOURNEY ENDED AT HOPE
V. WHEREIN WE SEE CURTIS GORDON AND OTHERS
VI. THE DREAMER
VII. THE DREAM
VIII. IN WHICH WE COME TO OMAR
IX. WHEREIN GORDON SHOWS HIS TEETH
X. IN WHICH THE DOCTOR SHOWS HIS WIT
XI. THE TWO SIDES OF ELIZA VIOLET APPLETON
XII. HOW GORDON FAILED IN HIS CUNNING
XIII. WE JOURNEY TO A PLACE OF MANY WONDERS
XIV. HOW THE TRUTH CAME TO ELIZA
XV. THE BATTLE OF GORDON'S CROSSING
XVI. THE FRUIT OF THE TEMPEST
XVII. HOW THE PRINCE BECAME A MAN
XVIII. HOW THE MAN BECAME A PRINCE AGAIN
XIX. MISS APPLETON MAKES A SACRIFICE
XX. HOW GORDON CHANGED HIS ATTACK
XXI. DAN APPLETON SLIPS THE LEASH
XXII. HOW THE HAZARD WAS PLAYED
XXIII. A NEW CRISIS
XXIV. GORDON'S FALL
XXV. PREPARATIONS
XXVI. THE RACE XXVII. HOW A DREAM CAME TRUE

I
IN WHICH THE TIDE TAKES A HAND
The ship stole through the darkness with extremest caution, feeling her way past bay and promontory. Around her was none of that phosphorescent glow which lies above the open ocean, even on the darkest night, for the mountains ran down to the channel on either side. In places they overhung, and where they lay upturned against the dim sky it could be seen that they were mantled with heavy timber. All day long the NEBRASKA had made her way through an endless succession of straits and sounds, now squeezing through an inlet so narrow that the somber spruce trees seemed to be within a short stone's-throw, again plowing across some open reach where the pulse of the north Pacific could be felt. Out through the openings to seaward stretched the restless ocean, on across uncounted leagues, to Saghalien and the rim of Russia's prison-yard.
Always near at hand was the deep green of the Canadian forests, denser, darker than a tropic jungle, for this was the land of "plenty waters." The hillsides were carpeted knee-deep with moss, wet to saturation. Out of every gulch came a brawling stream whipped to milk-white frenzy; snow lay heavy upon the higher levels, while now and then from farther inland peered a glacier, like some dead monster crushed between the granite peaks. There were villages, too, and fishing-stations, and mines and quarries. These burst suddenly upon the view, then slipped past with dreamlike swiftness. Other ships swung into sight, rushed by, and were swallowed up in the labyrinthine maze astern.
Those passengers of the Nebraska who had never before traversed the "Inside Passage" were loud in the praises of its picturesqueness, while those to whom the route was familiar seemed to find an ever-fresh fascination in its shifting scenes.
Among the latter was Murray O'Neil. The whole north coast from Flattery to St. Elias was as well mapped in his mind as the face of an old friend, yet he was forever discovering new vistas, surprising panoramas, amazing variations of color and topography. The mysterious rifts and passageways that opened and closed as if to lure the ship astray, the trackless confusion of islets, the siren song of the waterfalls, the silent hills and glaciers and snow-soaked forests--all appealed to him strongly, for he was at heart a dreamer.
Yet he did not forget that scenery such as this, lovely as it is by day, may be dangerous at night, for he knew the weakness of steel hulls. On some sides his experience and business training had made him sternly practical and prosaic. Ships aroused no manner of enthusiasm in him except as