CHAPTER VIII
THE TEST
A boisterous wind swept the high plain and round, white-edged cloudsrolled across the sky. The grass that ran back from the horizon wasparched, and in the distance a white streak of blowing dust marked adried alkali lake. Dust of dark color drove along the row of woodenstores and houses that fronted the railroad track, across which threegrain elevators rose like castles. The telegraph posts along the trackmelted into the level waste, and behind the spot where they vanished thetops of a larger group of elevators cut the edge of the plain.
The street was not paved, and the soil was deeply ploughed by wheels.The soil was the black gumbo in which the wheat plant thrives, but thetown occupied the fringe of a dry belt and farming had not made muchprogress. Now, however, a company was going to irrigate the land withwater from a river fed by the Rockies' snow. The town was square, andalthough it looked much smaller than real-estate agents' maps indicated,it was ornamented by four wooden churches, a Y.M.C.A. like a temple, andan ambitious public hall.
The Tecumseh Hotel occupied a corner lot at the end of the street andwas not remarkably commodious or clean, but its charges were less thanthe Occidental's by the station, and Lister and Kemp were notfastidious. Some time had gone since they pulled the gravel cars out ofthe swamp and they had not been sent to the lake section. Inconsequence, they had applied to the irrigation company for a post, andhaving been called to meet the engineers and directors, imagined theywere on the short list.
Lister lounged against the rails on the Tecumseh veranda. The boardswere cracked and dirty; burned matches and cigar ends were scatteredabout, and a skeleton, gauze covered door that shut with a powerfulspring kept some of the flies and mosquitoes out of the hotel.
"We'll know to-morrow," he remarked presently.
Kemp nodded. "I can't figure on our chances. Feel anxious about it?"
"Not much. In fact, I mean to use the thing to test my luck. If we'reengaged, I'll stay in Canada; if they turn us down, I'll start for theOld Country."
"You have no particular plans, I reckon."
"No," said Lister, smiling. "I'm going to look about. I know our newWestern towns, but I want to see old cities, churches, and cathedrals;the great jobs men made before they used concrete and steel. Then I'dlike to study art and music and see the people my father talked about.Ours is a good country, but when it's all you know it gets monotonous."He indicated the row of wooden houses and lonely plain. "One wants morethan the track and this."
"It's possible you may go across," said Kemp. "Looks as if the company'sshort list was pretty long. There's a gang of candidates in town, wehave no pull on the directors, and I don't know if our advantages arevery marked--" He stopped and laughed, for a man came round the corner."Hello, Willis!" he exclaimed. "When did you arrive?"
"I came in on the last train. Got a notice to meet the IrrigationBoard."
"Oh, well," said Kemp, "since the applicants are more numerous than theposts, I reckon another won't count. Do you expect they're going to takeyou on?"
"I expect my chance is as good as yours."
"I'll sell you my chance for ten dollars," Kemp rejoined.
"Nothing doing, at the price," said Willis, and went off.
Kemp laughed. Willis was marked by a superficial smartness his comradessometimes found amusing and sometimes annoying. For the most part, theybore with him good-humoredly, but did not trust him when work thatneeded careful thought was done.
"The kid looks confident, but his applying for a job is something of ajoke," Kemp remarked. "I'd put his value at fifty cents a day."
Lister agreed, and looked up the dusty street. The fronts of the smallframe houses were cracked by the sun, and some were carried up to hidethe roof and give the building a fictitious height. A Clover-leaf wagonstood in front of a store, the wheels crusted by dry mud, and the teamfidgeted amidst a swarm of flies. Except for one or two railroad handswaiting by the caboose of a freight train, nobody was about. The townlooked strangely dreary.
Yet Lister knew it stood for all the relief from labor in the stingingalkali dust one could get. One could loaf in a hard chair in front ofthe hotel, lose a dollar or two at the shabby pool-room, or go to amovie show and see pictures of frankly ridiculous Western melodrama. Inthe real West, the pictures were ridiculous, because romanticshootings-up did not happen. In fact, unless a stubborn labor disputebegan, nothing broke the dull monotony of toilsome effort. Romance hadvanished with the buffaloes. Lister admitted that he had not long feltthe monotony. The trouble began when he stopped at Winnipeg.
"I think I'll go up the street," he said.
A rough plank sidewalk ran in front of the houses, and Lister imaginedit was needed when the spring thaw and summer thunder-storms softenedthe gumbo soil. Opposite the Occidental he stopped, for Duveen occupieda chair on the veranda. While Lister hesitated Duveen beckoned him tocome up.
"It's hot and dusty. Will you take a drink?" he said.
Lister refused with thanks and wondered whether Ruth was at the hotel.In a way, he would like to see her, but admitted that perhaps he hadbetter not. When he asked if she was well Duveen said she had gone toQuebec, and gave Lister a cigar.
"It looks as if you had left the railroad," he remarked.
"I have not left yet," said Lister cautiously.
"Then, you won't go unless you get a better job? Did you know I hadjoined the Irrigation Board?"
Lister said he did not know, and got embarrassed when Duveen gave him athoughtful glance. He wondered whether Ruth had talked to Duveen beforeshe hinted he might get a better post.
"Perhaps I ought not to have come up. In fact, I hesitated--"
Duveen laughed. "So I remarked! You reckoned the Occidental stoop waspretty public and your talking to me might imply that you wanted mysupport? Well, I'll risk that. It's obvious you're on the short list. Doyou want a post?"
For a moment or two Lister pondered. He did want a post; anyhow, heought to try for it. On the whole he liked Duveen, and thought he mighthave liked Ruth better had she not been rich. All the same, Duveen was ashrewd manipulator of new industries and to take a post by his favorwould be to own a debt, for which payment might be demanded. Yet Duveenhad been kind and Lister hesitated.
"I asked for a post," he said. "If I'm engaged, I'll try to make good;but I must make good at the dam or on the ditch. Then I don't want tobother my friends. The company has my engineering record and must judgemy usefulness by this. If they're not satisfied, I won't grumble much."
"You're an independent fellow, but I think I understand," Duveenrejoined with a twinkle. "A company director's duty _is_ to judge anapplicant for a post by his professional record. If you are appointed,you want us to appoint you because we believe you are the proper man?"
"Something like that," said Lister quietly.
Duveen nodded, and his glance rested for a moment on Lister's forehead.
"I see the mark you got on board the train hasn't altogether gone. Didyou hear anything about the girl you helped?"
"I did not," said Lister, starting, for he had not imagined Duveen knewabout the girl. "I have not seen her since she went off on thelocomotive."
"Then she has not written to you since?"
"She could not write, because she doesn't know who I am, and I don'tknow her. We talked for a minute or two, that's all."
Duveen's face was inscrutable and Lister wondered whether he doubted hisstatement. He was annoyed because the other knew so much.
"Oh, well," said Duveen, "I expect you heard they didn't catch Shillito,and since he got across the frontier, it's possible the Canadian policewon't see him again. But I must get ready for supper. Will you stay?"
Lister excused himself and went back to the Tecumseh, where the bill offare was frugal and the serving rude. He imagined he had refused muchmore than a first-class supper, but was satisfied he had taken theproper line. For one thing, Duveen knew Ruth had given him herfriendship and, since he knew his daughter, it was si
gnificant that hehad not thought it necessary to meddle. Lister wondered whether he hadmeant to use him, and was glad he had kept his independence. If he gotthe post now, he would know he had rather misjudged Duveen, but hedoubted. All the same, he liked the man.
After supper Kemp and he sat on the veranda and watched the green glowfade from the edge of the plain. They did not talk much, but by and byKemp remarked: "I thought I saw you go into the Occidental."
"Duveen called me on to the stoop."
"Duveen?" Kemp exclaimed. "Then he's got his hand on the wires! If theIrrigation Company puts the undertaking over, a number of the dollarswill go to Duveen's wad. If he's your friend, I expect you know he couldget you the job."
"It's possible. All the same, I hinted I didn't want his help."
Kemp laughed. "You surprise me every time! I'm all for a square deal anddown with scheming grafters and log-rollers, but I allow I hate themworst when they give another fellow the post I want."
"The thing's not fixed yet. The company's engineers are going to judgeand our record's pretty good. They may engage us. We'll know to-morrow."
"Sure thing," Kemp remarked dryly. "I reckon we'll both pull out on thefirst train."
It began to get dark and Lister went off to bed. He must get water froma cistern in the roof and to carry the heavy jug was awkward when onecould not see. At the Tecumseh the guests were expected to carry waterfor themselves, and Lister, groping along the shadowy passage with hisload, thought his doing so had some significance. It was part of theprice he must pay for freedom.
At the time fixed in the morning, he went to the Occidental and wasshown into a room where a number of gentlemen occupied a table. One ortwo were smoking and the others talked in low voices, but when Listercame in and the secretary indicated a chair they turned as if to studyhim. Duveen sat next a man at the end of the table and gave Lister anod. Somehow Lister thought he was amused.
Lister's heart beat. He felt this was ridiculous, because he hadpersuaded himself it did not matter whether he got the post or not. Now,however, when the moment to try his luck had come, he shrank from theplunge he had resolved to make if he were not engaged. After all, heknew and liked his occupation; to let it go and try fresh fields wouldbe something of a wrench.
The gentlemen did not embarrass him. On the whole, they were urbane, andwhen the secretary gave the chairman his application one asked a fewquestions about the work he had done. Lister was able to answersatisfactorily, and another talked to him about the obstaclesencountered when one excavated treacherous gravel and built a bank tostand angry floods. For all that, Lister was anxious. The others lookedbored, as if they were politely playing a game. He thought they knewbeforehand how the game would end, but he did not know. The inquiriesthat bored the urbane gentlemen had important consequences for him andthe suspense was keen.
At length they let him go, and Duveen gave him a smile that Listerthought implied much. When he returned to the hotel Kemp remarked thathe looked as if he needed a drink, and suggested that Lister go with himand get one.
"I need three or four drinks, but mean to go without," said Listergrimly. "I begin to understand how some men get the tanking habit."
He started off across the plain, and coming back too late for lunch,found Kemp on the veranda. Kemp looked as if he were trying to bephilosophical, but found it hard.
"The secretary arrived not long since," he said. "A polite man! Hedidn't want to let us down too heavily."
"Ah!" said Lister. "The Irrigation people have no use for us?"
Kemp nodded. "Willis has got the best job; they've hired up two or threeothers, but we're left out."
"Willis!" exclaimed Lister, and joined in Kemp's laugh.
"After all, the money he's going to get is theirs," said Kemp. "In thiscountry we're a curious lot. We let grafters and wire-pullers run us,and, when we start a big job, get away with much of the capital we wantfor machines; but somehow we make good. We shoulder a load we needn'tcarry and hit the pace up hot. If we got clean control, I reckon we'dnever stop. However, there's not much use in philosophizing when you'velost your job, and the East-bound train goes out in a few minutes. You'dbetter pack your grip."