I was sorry I brought the Indian with me, for though the river-drivers
stopped their wild sing-song cry for a moment to call a “How!” at me,
they presently began to toss jeering words at the Indian. They had
recognised him--I had not--as a salmon-fisher and one of the Siwash
tribe from Sunburst. He remained perfectly silent, but I could see
sullenness growing on his face. He appeared to take no notice of his
scornful entertainers, but, instead of edging away, came nearer and
nearer to the tangle of logs--came, indeed, very close to me, as I stood
watching four or five men, with the foreman close by, working at a huge
timber. At a certain moment the foreman was in a kind of hollow. Just
behind him, near to the Indian, was a great log, which, if loosened by
a slight impulse, must fall into the hollow where the foreman stood.
The foreman had his face to us; the backs of the other men were on
us. Suddenly the foreman gave a frightened cry, and I saw at the same
instant the Indian’s foot thrust out upon the big log. Before the
foreman had time to get out of the hollow, it slid down, caught him just
above the ankle and broke the leg.
I wheeled, to see the Indian in his canoe making for the shore. He was
followed by the curses of the foreman and the gang. The foreman was
very quiet, but I could see that there was danger in his eye, and
the exclamations of the men satisfied me that they were planning an
inter-municipal difficulty.
I improvised bandages, set the leg directly, and in a little while we
got to the shore on a hastily constructed raft. After seeing the foreman
safely cared for, and giving Mr. Devlin’s manager the facts of the
occurrence, more than sated with my morning’s experience, I climbed the
mountain side, and took refuge from the heat in the coolness of Roscoe’s
rooms.
In the afternoon I received a note from Mrs. Falchion, saying that on
the following day she would start for the coast; that her luggage
would be taken to Sunburst at once; and that, her engagement with me
fulfilled, she would spend a night there, not returning again to the
hills. I was preparing for my own departure, and was kept very busy
until evening. Then I went quickly down into the valley,--for I was
late,--and trudged eagerly on to Sunburst. As I neared the village I
saw that there were fewer lights--torches and fires--than usual on the
river. I noticed also that there were very few fishers on the banks or
in the river. But still the village seemed noisy, and, although it
was dusk, I could make out much stir in the one street along which the
cottages and huts ambled for nearly a mile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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