An expert mineralogist and metallurgist, he had been commissioned by a
large syndicate of eastern capitalists to come west, primarily to
examine a certain mine recently offered for sale, and secondarily to
secure any other valuable mining properties which might happen to be on
the market. A promoter, whose acquaintance he had formed soon after
leaving St. Paul, had poured into his ear such fabulous tales of a mine
of untold wealth which needed but the expenditure of a few thousands to
place it upon a dividend-paying basis, that, after making due allowance
for optimism and exaggeration, he had thought it might be worth his
while to stop off and investigate. The result of the investigation had
been anything but satisfactory for either the promoter or the expert.
He was the more annoyed at the loss of time because of a telegram handed
him just before his departure from St. Paul, which he now drew forth,
and which read as follows: "Parkinson, expert for M. and M. on trail. Knows you as our
representative, but only by name. Lie low and block him if
possible.
"BARNARD."
He well understood the import of the message. The "M. and M." stood for
a rival syndicate of enormous wealth, and the fact that its expert was
also on his way west promised lively competition in the purchase of the
famous Ajax mine.
"Five days," he soliloquized, glancing at the date of the message,
which he now tore into bits, together with two or three letters of
little importance. "I have lost my start and am now likely to meet this
Parkinson at any stage of the game. However, he has never heard of John
Darrell, and that name will answer my purpose as well as any among
strangers. I'll notify Barnard when I reach Ophir."
His plans for the circumvention of Parkinson were now temporarily cut
short by the appearance of the "double-header" rounding a curve and
rapidly approaching--a welcome sight, for the heat and blinding glare of
light were becoming intolerable.
Only for a moment the ponderous engines paused, panting and quivering
like two living, sentient monsters; the next, with heavy, labored
breath, as though summoning all their energies for the task before them,
they were slowly ascending the steadily increasing grade, moment by
moment with accelerated speed plunging into the very heart of the
mountains, bearing John Darrell, as he was to be henceforth known, to a
destiny of which he had little thought, but which he himself had,
unconsciously, helped to weave.
An hour later, on returning to the sleeper after an unsuccessful attempt
at dining, Darrell sank into his seat, and, leaning wearily back,
watched with half-closed eyes the rapidly changing scenes through which
he was passing, for the time utterly oblivious to his surroundings.
Gigantic rocks, grotesque in form and color, flashed past; towering
peaks loomed suddenly before him, advancing, receding, disappearing, and
reappearing with the swift windings and doublings of the train; massive
walls of granite pressed close and closer, seeming for one instant a
threatening, impenetrable barrier, the next, opening to reveal glimpses
of distant billowy ranges, their summits white with perpetual snow. The
train had now reached a higher altitude, and breezes redolent of pine
and fir fanned his throbbing brow, their fragrance thronging his mind
with memories of other and far-distant scenes, until gradually the bold
outlines of cliff and crag grew dim, and in their place appeared a cool,
dark forest through which flecks of golden sunlight sifted down upon the
moss-grown, flower-strewn earth; a stream singing beneath the pines,
then rippling onward through meadows of waving green; a wide-spreading
house of colonial build half hidden by giant trees and clinging
rose-vines, and, framed among the roses, a face, strong, tender, sweet,
crowned with silvered hair--one of the few which sorrow makes
beautiful--which came nearer and nearer, bending over him with a
mother's blessing; and then he slept.