"You have been too good a friend to me to make such jokes again," I said.
"I'm not the only one. All the folks are talking," said the girl.
Thereupon I answered grimly: "If I hear any of them amusing themselves in that fashion I shall do my best to choke them."
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE ENEMY CAPITULATES
Some time had elapsed since the overturning of the wagon, and I had seen nothing of Lucille Haldane, when, one evening, I visited Bonaventure at her father's request. All had gone well in the interval. The last bushel of grain had been threshed and sold, and the balance of my debt to Lane, with every surcharge his ingenuity could invent, wiped out. Haldane, who remained some time in Winnipeg with Boone, had also concluded operations successfully, for, as he had foreseen, once the turning point was passed he had no lack of allies eager to assist in plundering the vanquished, and, before these had satisfied their rapacity he had been able to unobtrusively cover most of our sales without advancing prices. Boone explained that the new assailants considered the purchases a last effort on the part of the company's supporters. Also—because there is little mercy for the beaten—impoverished storekeeper and plundered farmer commenced to air their grievances, and it became evident that the company, or those whom it financed, had occasionally exceeded the limits of the law.
It was accordingly to a meeting of what Haldane called the Vehmgericht that I was summoned, and on arriving at Bonaventure I found Gordon and several of our neighbors already there. The day had been sunny, but our autumn nights are sharp, with a sting of frost in the air, which made the crackling fire in the open hearth acceptable. A shaded silver lamp flung a soft light about the room, which in no way suggested that it was to be used for a tribunal. There were decanters, cigar boxes, and British Columbian fruit on the table, while Haldane lounged in a velvet chair, with feet, neatly encased in patent leather, stretched out towards the fire. All this seemed inappropriate to the occasion, even though I had grown used to Haldane's way.
A glance at the others, however, showed that they were in deadly earnest. The men were lean and hard and grim, and their weather-darkened faces bore the stamp of the conflict. Some of them had long overworked brain and body, half-fed, that Lane and those who backed him might reap an iniquitous profit. Others had seen wife and daughter toiling in the dust of the harrows or riding weary leagues behind the herds, and had not forgotten. I noticed they accepted Haldane's offers of wine and tobacco dubiously, and I surmised it was only personal respect for him that prevented disapproving comments on this manner of procedure.
Boone doubtless guessed their thoughts, for he said whimsically: "I see no reason why you shouldn't have a good time, boys. There are easier ways of killing a coyote than beating his head in with the butt of a gun, and I can assure you that we mean solid business. For one, I find these cigars better than the tin flag plug."
"Tin flag!" and a man with wrinkles round his eyes laughed harshly. "Dried willow bark had to do for us. This kind of thing takes time to get used to after living for 'most two years on damaged flour and molasses. Maybe you're used to luxuries, and don't know what it is to see the wife fall sick when one couldn't raise a decent morsel to feed her."