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Updated: June 17, 2025
It was possibly because of this background he also noticed the faint flicker of warmth that crept into her face and neck, and that there was a glow in her eyes he had not seen there previously. "That," she said with a cold distinctness, "is precisely what I object to." Deringham laughed a little. "I think that aspect of the question will not be evident to Alton."
There was a row of them before him, all without heads, while an ensanguined axe close by indicated the fashion of their execution. He glanced at Deringham a moment, and then fell to work again. "Oh, yes, this is Somasco, and the finest ranch this side of the Fraser," he said. "Can you see Mr. Alton? Well, I figure he's busy, and you had better wait a little. Get hold of this. It's your supper."
"As I'm afraid it would take me all night, I would prefer to give you a half-a-dollar to do it for me," said Deringham. The man straightened himself a little, and Deringham received another surprise. "Patent medicines and hair-growers are up?" said he. "I don't quite understand," said Deringham quietly. "No?" said the other. "Well, you will do presently unless you get right out of this shanty.
Alton tore open the envelope, and read the message with a faint relief, for it was from Deringham, and stated that an affair of business would prevent him returning to Somasco for some little time. Then he remembered that to delay a question which must be asked would but prolong the suspense.
Deringham knew a little about a good many things, including sword-play, and he realized as he watched the whirl and flash of blades, precision of effort, and exactitude of time, that this was an example of man's mastery over the trenchant steel. Presently the man with the saw rose and touched his shoulder. "I fancy we had better draw aside a little," he said.
The man's handiwork spoke for him, and his energy and intentness had not escaped Deringham's attentions, while the occasional utterances that might have appeared bombastic coming from other men were redeemed in his case by the tone of naive sincerity and imperious ring. Deringham was becoming conscious of a vague respect for and fear of his companion.
"I'm kind of sorry I can't make anything of that stuff," said he. "What's the use of wiring any one the names of cities?" During the next day Alton drew Deringham into his room, and laid a document on the table. "I don't know if that's quite the usual thing, but Horton and I have been worrying over a lawyer's book, and I think it will hold," he said.
His face was somewhat weary, and the girl noticed the stiffness of his movements. He also looked about him with a curious expression which seemed to suggest reverence in his eyes. "No," he said gravely, "it wouldn't be a waste of time." Alice Deringham smiled a little, and moved one foot a trifle nearer the stove.
"Yes, sir," said the first speaker. "And he didn't get all of them. The man was his own cousin, and too sick to do anything. Well, thank God, we haven't got many vermin of that kind in the Dominion." Deringham, who had picked up the telegram, let it slip from his fingers as he rose, and the girl wondered at the change in him.
A cloud of pungent smoke hung about it, and the steady pounding of an engine jarred through the monotone of the river, which was low just then, while there was a pleasant fragrance in the open-sided building where brawny men moved amidst the whirling dust with the precision of the machines they handled. Alice Deringham could see with untrained eyes that there was no waste of effort here.
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