Vane of the Timberlands | Page 5

then explained, not very clearly, that it was
the cause of her distress and that they had had bad luck of late. Vane
could understand that as he looked at her. Her dress was shabby, and he
fancied that she had not been bountifully fed.
"If you stayed here a few days you could go out with the next stage and
take the train to Victoria." He paused and continued diffidently: "It
could be arranged with the hotel-keeper."
She laughed in a half-hysterical manner, and he remembered what she
had said about the treasury, and that fares are high in that country.

"I suppose you have no money," he added with blunt directness. "I
want you to tell Mrs. Marvin that I'll lend her enough to take you all to
Victoria."
Her face crimsoned. He had not quite expected that, and he suddenly
felt embarrassed. It was a relief when she broke the brief silence.
"No," she replied; "I can't do that. For one thing, it would be too late
when we got to Victoria, I think we could get an engagement if we
reached Vancouver in time to get to Kamloops by--"
Vane knit his brows when he heard the date, and it was a moment or
two before he spoke.
"There's only one way you can do it. There's a little steamboat coming
down the coast to-night. I had half thought of intercepting her, anyway,
and handing the skipper some letters to post in Victoria. He knows
me--I'm likely to have dealings with his employers. That's my sloop
yonder, and if I put you on board the steamer, you'd reach Vancouver
in good time. We should have sailed at sunup, anyhow."
The girl hesitated and turned partly from him. He surmised that she did
not know what to make of his offer, though her need was urgent. In the
meanwhile he stood up.
"Come along and talk it over with Mrs. Marvin," he urged. "I'd better
tell you that I'm Wallace Vane, of the Clermont Mine. Of course, I
know your name, from the program."
She rose and they walked back to the hotel. Once more it struck him
that the girl was pretty and graceful, though he had already deduced
from several things that she had not been regularly trained as a singer
nor well educated. On reaching the hotel, he sat down on the veranda
while she went in, and a few minutes later Mrs. Marvin came out and
looked at him much as the girl had done. He grew hot under her gaze
and repeated his offer in the curtest terms.
"If this breeze holds, we'll put you on board the steamer soon after

daybreak," he explained.
The woman's face softened, and he recognized now that there had been
strong suspicion in it.
"Thank you," she said simply; "we'll come."
There was a moment's silence and then she added with an eloquent
gesture:
"You don't know what it means to us!"
Vane merely took off his hat and turned away; but a minute or two later
he met the hotel-keeper.
"Do these people owe you anything?" he asked.
"Five dollars; they paid up part of the time. I was wondering what to do
with them. Guess they've no money. They didn't come in to supper,
though we would have stood them that. Made me think they were
straight folks; the other kind wouldn't have been bashful."
Vane handed him a bill.
"Take it out of this, and make any excuse you like. I'm going to put
them on board the steamboat."
The man made no comment, and Vane, striding down to the beach, sent
a hail ringing across the water. Carroll appeared on the sloop's deck and
answered him.
"Hallo!" he cried. "What's the trouble?"
"Get ready the best supper you can manage, for three people, as quick
as you can!"
"Supper for three people!"
Vane caught the astonished exclamation and came near losing his

temper.
"For three people!" he shouted. "Don't ask any fool questions! You'll
see later on!"
Then he turned away in a hurry, wondering somewhat uneasily what
Carroll would say when he grasped the situation.

CHAPTER II
A BREEZE OF WIND
There were signs of a change in the weather when Vane walked down
to the wharf with his passengers, for a cold wind which had sprung up
struck an eerie sighing from the somber firs and sent the white mists
streaming along the hillside. There was a watery moon in the sky, and
when they reached the water's edge Vane fancied that the singer
hesitated; but Mrs. Marvin laid her hand on the girl's arm reassuringly,
and she got into the canoe. A few minutes later Vane ran the craft
alongside the sloop and saw the amazement in Carroll's face by the