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Vane of The Timberlands
BY HAROLD BINDLOSS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. A FRIEND IN NEEDII. A BREEZE OF WINDIII. AN AFTERNOON ASHOREIV. A CHANGE OF ENVIRONMENTV. THE OLD COUNTRYVI. UPON THE HEIGHTSVII. STORM-STAYEDVIII. LUCY VANEIX. CHISHOLM PROVES AMENABLEX. WITH THE OTTER HOUNDSXI. VANE WITHDRAWSXII. IN VANCOUVERXIII. A NEW PROJECTXIV. VANE SAILS NORTHXV. THE FIRST MISADVENTUREXVI. THE BUSHXVII. VANE POSTPONES THE SEARCHXVIII. JESSY CONFERS A FAVORXIX. VANE FORESEES TROUBLEXX. THE FLOODXXI. VANE YIELDS A POINTXXII. EVELYN GOES FOR A SAILXXIII. VANE PROVES OBDURATEXXIV. JESSY STRIKESXXV. THE INTERCEPTED LETTERXXVI. ON THE TRAILXXVII. THE END OF THE SEARCHXXVIII. CARROLL SEEKS HELPXXIX. JESSY'S CONTRITIONXXX. CONVINCING TESTIMONYXXXI. VANE IS REINSTATED
VANE OF THE TIMBERLANDS
CHAPTER I
A FRIEND IN NEED
A light breeze, scented with the smell of the firs, was blowing down theinlet, and the tiny ripples it chased across the water splashed musicallyagainst the bows of the canoe. They met her end-on, sparkling in the warmsunset light, gurgled about her sides, and trailed away astern in twodivergent lines as the paddles flashed and fell. There was a thud as theblades struck the water, and the long, light hull forged onward withslightly lifted, bird's-head prow, while the two men swung forward forthe next stroke with a rhythmic grace of motion. They knelt, facingforward, in the bottom of the craft, and, dissimilar as they were infeatures and, to some extent, in character, the likeness between them wasstronger than the difference. Both bore the unmistakable stamp of awholesome life spent in vigorous labor in the open. Their eyes were clearand, like those of most bushmen, singularly steady; their skin was cleanand weather-darkened; and they were leanly muscular.
On either side of the lane of green water giant firs, cedars and balsamscrept down the rocky hills to the whitened driftwood fringe. They formedpart of the great coniferous forest which rolls west from the wet CoastRange of Canada's Pacific Province and, overleaping the straits, spreadsacross the rugged and beautiful wilderness of Vancouver Island. Ahead,clusters of little frame houses showed up here and there in openingsamong the trees, and a small sloop, toward which the canoe was heading,lay anchored near the wharf.
The men had plied the paddle during most of that day, from inclinationrather than necessity, for they could have hired Siwash Indians toundertake the labor for them, had they been so minded. They were,though their appearance did not suggest it, moderately prosperous; buttheir prosperity was of recent date; they had been accustomed to doingeverything for themselves, as are most of the men who dwell among thewoods and ranges of British Columbia.
Vane, who knelt nearest the bow, was twenty-seven years of age. Nine ofthose years he had spent chopping trees, driving cattle, poling canoesand assisting in the search for useful minerals among the snow-cladranges. He wore a wide, gray felt hat, which had lost its shape fromfrequent wettings, an old shirt of the same color, and blue ducktrousers, rent in pl