The missionary remained for some time after Martin returned, relating to Nance many things of which she knew nothing. To all this she listened with rapt attention. What she heard was all so wonderful to her, and Dick was so enthusiastic that it was almost impossible not to be affected by his spirit. It was late when at length he arose, and looked in at Pete. Finding him asleep he went back out of doors. Nance was standing there, but Martin had gone into the house. He stood by her side, and gazed out over the water.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" he remarked.
"Yes," was the quiet reply. "But it never seemed so lovely as to-night."
"What's the reason, do you think?" Dick queried.
"Oh, I don't know, except that when I am very happy things always seem more beautiful than at other times."
As Dick watched her standing there an intense longing came over him to seize in his those well-shaped hands which were clasped before her. He forebore, however, and stood silently by her side, looking with her out over the lake. Speech was unnecessary, for love was speaking to their hearts in a language which could not be expressed in mere words.
CHAPTER XX
UNDER COVER OF NIGHT
When Dick left Nance at the cabin door and walked slowly down to the river, his heart was in a tumult of happiness such as he had never before experienced. He could hear the sounds of laughing, talking, and shouting among the miners, late though it was. He suspected that some of the men had been drinking, and were accordingly in a mood of riotous mirth. He did not wish to join them just now. What connection had he with their revelry? He contrasted the quietness of Martin's cabin with the confusion over the river. On the one side there was Nance, beautiful and pure; on the other, men destined for noble purposes and yet willing to degrade themselves at the least opportunity. What could he do to make those men see and realise something of the joy of a life in which the evil passions were subdued, and the higher virtues were predominate? Was it not his duty as a missionary in the Great Master's Cause to stem the tide of evil which was about to set in, and, if possible, to check the moral depravity which, like in other mining camps, always abounded? But what could one man do against so many? He could speak strong words of denunciation, rebuke, and exhort. But he knew such efforts would be of little avail. The men might listen but they would not heed. Some issue of a practical nature, he was well aware, was needed to cause such men to side with right against wrong. But what was this issue to be which would appeal to natures such as theirs? Not a campaign against liquor and its attending evils, he was sure of that.