“I was,” Carroll assented good-humouredly; “I believe another month or two of it would have worn me out. It’s considerably pleasanter and more profitable to act as your understudy; but a fairly proficient carpenter might have bungled the latter.”
Vane looked embarrassed. “Let it pass; I’ve a pernicious habit of expressing myself unfortunately. Anyhow, we’ll start again on those planks first thing to-morrow.”
He stretched out his aching limbs beside the fire, and languidly watched the firs grow dimmer and the mists creep in ghostly trails down the steep hillside, until Carroll broke the silence.
“Wallace,” he said, “wouldn’t it be wiser if you met that fellow Horsfield to some extent?”
“No,” said Vane decidedly. “I have no intention of giving way an inch. It would only encourage the man to press me on another point, if I did. I’m going to have trouble with him, and the sooner it comes the better. There’s only room for one controlling influence in the Clermont mine.”
“In that case it might be as well to stay in Vancouver as much as possible and keep your eye on him.”
“The same idea has struck me since we sailed,” Vane said. “The trouble is that until I’ve decided about the pulp mill he’ll have to go unwatched, for the same reason that prevented you from holding up for me and steaming the plank.”
“If any unforeseen action of Horsfield’s made it necessary, you could let this pulp project drop.”
“No,” said Vane, “You ought to understand why that’s impossible. Drayton, Kitty and Hartley count upon my exertions. They’re poor folks and I can’t go back on them. If we can’t locate the spruce or it doesn’t seem likely to pay for working up, there’s nothing to prevent my abandoning the undertaking; but I’m not at liberty to do so just because it would be a convenience to myself. Hartley got my promise before he told me where to search.”
He strolled away to the tent they had pitched on the edge of the bush, but Carroll sat a while smoking beside the fire. He was suspicious of Horsfield, and foresaw trouble, more particularly now his comrade had undertaken a project which seemed likely to occupy a good deal of his attention. Hitherto, Vane had owed part of his success to his faculty of concentrating all his powers upon one object.