life shall I be able to 'order' an
engine for two o'clock!--and one of these C.P.R. engines, too, great
splendid fellows! We go down the pass, and take tea at Field; and come
up the pass again this evening, to dine and sleep at Laggan. As we
descend, the engine goes in front to hold us back; and when we ascend,
it goes behind to push us up; and I understand that the hill is even
steeper"--she bent forward, laughing, to Delaine, appealing to their
common North Country recollections--"than the Shap incline!"
"Too steep, I gather," said Delaine, "to be altogether safe." His tone
was sharp. He stood with his back to the view, looking from Elizabeth to
her companion.
Anderson turned.
"As we manage it, it is perfectly safe! But it costs us too much to make
it safe. That's the reason for the new bit of line."
Elizabeth turned away uncomfortably, conscious again, as she had often
been before, of the jarring between the two men.
At two o'clock the car and the engine were ready, and Yerkes received
them at the station beaming with smiles. According to him, the privilege
allowed them was all his doing, and he was exceedingly jealous of any
claim of Anderson's in the matter.
"You come to _me_, my lady, if you want anything. Last year I ran a
Russian princess through--official. 'You take care of the Grand Duchess,
Yerkes,' they says to me at Montreal; for they know there isn't anybody
on the line they can trust with a lady as they can me. Of course, I
couldn't help her faintin' at the high bridges, going up Rogers Pass;
that wasn't none of my fault!"
"Faint--at bridges!" said Elizabeth with scorn. "I never heard of
anybody doing such a thing, Yerkes."
"Ah! you wait till you see 'em, my lady," said Yerkes, grinning.
The day was radiant, and even Philip, as they started from Banff
station, was in a Canadian mood. So far he had been quite cheerful and
good-tempered, though not, to Elizabeth's anxious eye, much more robust
yet than when they had left England. He smoked far too much, and
Elizabeth wished devoutly that Yerkes would not supply him so liberally
with whisky and champagne. But Philip was not easily controlled. The
very decided fancy, however, which he had lately taken for George
Anderson had enabled Elizabeth, in one or two instances, to manage him
more effectively. The night they arrived at Calgary, the lad had had a
wild desire to go off on a moonlight drive across the prairies to a
ranch worked by an o
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