“And then?”
“Then,” he answered carelessly, “I don’t think I’ll carry any more lumber or drive this kind of boat.”
Ruth felt baffled and inclined to be angry. She had had impecunious admirers who did not consider her father’s money a disadvantage. Jimmy’s was, of course, a more becoming attitude, but she thought he adhered to it too firmly. Then, as she remembered his worn look and his threadbare clothes when she met him in Vancouver, she was moved to pity. The trouble was that it could not be shown. She could not offer him sympathy which he did not seem to want.
“I hope that you will succeed in your venture,” she said.
“Thank you,” he answered; “we’ll do our best. Now I must keep a look-out, for there’s a rock in the channel.”
There was strain in his voice, and she was glad to see that his reserve cost him something; but she saw the need for caution when a gray mass of stone loomed out of the darkness close at hand with the sea spouting about it. After that she made no further attempt to talk, and they went on in silence, both sensible of constraint and yet not wishing the voyage at an end.
When they swung round a rocky point, Jimmy stopped the engine, and the launch ran in toward a small wooden pier. Dark pines rolled down to the water, and the swell broke angrily upon the beach and surged among the piles. There was nobody about, but Jimmy caught a trailing rope abreast of a few steps where the water washed up and down, while the launch ground against the weedy timber.
“I’ll get out and help you up,” he said.
Ruth hesitated when she saw him stand knee-deep on the lowest step, holding out his hand; but there was no way of getting ashore dry without his assistance. The next moment he had thrown his arm about her and stood, tense and strung up, trying to preserve his balance. She knew that it would be ridiculous to let herself fall into the sea, and she yielded to his grasp, sinking down into his arms with her head on his shoulder. He staggered as he reached the next slippery step, and she clung closer to him in alarm; then, as she thrilled at the contact, she felt his heart beat and his muscles suddenly grow tense. He caught his breath with a curious gasp, and Ruth knew that it was not caused by the physical effort he had to make. She lay still, not inert but yielding, until he gently set her down out of reach of the water. She was glad that the darkness hid her burning face; and Jimmy stood curiously quiet, with his hand clenched.
No words were needed. Both knew that something had happened to them during the last few moments; something which might be ignored but could not be forgotten. They were no longer acquaintances; the tie of friendship had broken with the strain and could be replaced only by a stronger bond.