If Any Man Sin

by H. A. Cody

"Do you suppose he knows about the gold up the Quaska?" Dick asked.

"What d'ye mean, pard?"

"Didn't I tell you about the big holes which had been dug up there? I staked your claim right next to them. Now, suppose that Martin did the digging, and has taken out more than he needs, eh?"

"Not on yer life, pard. If he had the gold he'd 'a' hiked out of the country long afore this."

"But who dug those holes, then?" Dick insisted.

"I can't say fer certain. The Rooshians may have done it. They were pokin' around this country years ago. I have found holes in many places that they have dug."

"But surely Martin must have known about those holes, Tom. He has hunted all over this region. But, then, perhaps he wasn't after the gold. He has a very neat cabin at any rate, which is so comfortable."

"Who wouldn't be comfortable with sich a house an' sich a daughter to look after it, tell me that. She's about the finest specimen of womankind I have ever set my eyes on, an' that's sayin' a good deal. What a pity that she's been hid away so long in a lonely spot like this."

Dick made no reply to these words, but all the way along the trail, after Tom had left him, he thought of Nance. To him the Quaska valley had a new fascination now. He had come into the country with the special object of carrying on his Great Master's work, lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes of the Church. As a medical man, as well as a missionary, he had done much good among the men in the various camps. This stampede into the Quaska valley had opened to him another door of usefulness. He had gone with the men, not for the sake of gold, but for the assistance he might be able to give. This new region had always seemed to him a very desolate place. But now all had been changed since he had found Nance. Almost unconsciously he began to repeat to himself one of his favourite and inspiring verses of Scripture. Only now he applied the words in a different sense. "The wilderness and the solitary places," he murmured, "shall be glad for her, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

Her image was thus ever before him as he toiled over the weary trail. He thought of her by day, and dreamed of her at night, as he lay alone upon his bed of fir boughs with the stars twinkling overhead. He was several hours in advance of the rest of the men, and he was glad that such was the case. He wished to be alone with the new happiness which had come so suddenly into his life. Never before had any one impressed him as did Nance. He had met many beautiful and clever women, but not one had ever appealed to him as had this woman by the shore of the Klutana Lake.