The village of Kyak lay near the mouth of the most easterly outlet of
the Salmon, and it was similar in most respects to Hope and to Omar,
save that it looked out across a shallow, unprotected bay to the open
reaches of the north Pacific. The shores were low; a pair of rocky
islets afforded the only shelter to its shipping, and it was from these
as a starting-point that the Copper Trust had built its break-water. A
trestle across the tide-flats connected the work with the mainland, and
along this rock-trains crawled, adding their burdens to the strength of
the barrier. Protected by this arm of steel and stone and timber lay
the terminal buildings of the Alaska Northern, as the Heidlemann line
was called, and there also lay the terminus of the old McDermott
enterprise into which Curtis Gordon had infused new life. Both places
showed plenty of activity when O'Neil and his two companions arrived,
late one afternoon.
Kyak, they found, was inferior to Omar in its public accommodations,
and Murray was at a loss to find shelter for the girls until his
arrival was made known to the agents of the Alaska Northern. Then Mr.
Trevor, the engineer in charge, looked him up and insisted upon sharing
his quarters with the visitors. In Trevor's bearing was no suggestion
of an enmity like Gordon's. He welcomed his rival warmly--and indeed
the Trust had never been small in its opposition. O'Neil accepted the
invitation gratefully.
After dinner he took Natalie with him to see the sights, while Eliza
profited by the opportunity to interview Trevor. In her numerous tilts
with O'Neil she had not been over-successful from the point of view of
her magazine articles, but here at her hand was the representative of
the power best known and best hated for its activities in the
north-land, and he seemed perfectly willing to talk. Surely from him
she would get information that would count.
"Understand, I'm on the side of your enemies," she warned him.
"So is everybody else," Mr. Trevor laughed; "but that's because we're
misunderstood."
"The intentions of any Trust warrant suspicion."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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