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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