"Oh, the men! Very proper, but not so very discriminating, you know.""I love the shantymen," exclaimed Kate, enthusiastically. "Maimie told me all about them.""By Jove! I'll join to-morrow," exclaimed the lieutenant with gentle excitement.
"They would not have you," answered Kate. "Besides, you would have to eat pork and onions and things."The lieutenant shuddered, gazing reproachfully at Kate.
"Onions!" he gasped; "and you love them?"
"Let us go along, then," said Harry. "We will have a look at them, anyway.""From the windward side, I hope," said the lieutenant, gently.
"I am going right on the raft," declared Kate, stoutly, "if we can only find Ranald.""Meaning who, exactly?" questioned De Lacy.
"A lumberman whom Maimie adores."
"How happy!" said De Lacy.
"Nonsense, Lieutenant De Lacy," said Maimie, impatiently and a little haughtily; "he is a friend of my aunt's up in the county of Glengarry.""No nonsense about it," said Harry, indignant that his sister should seem indifferent to Ranald. "He is a great friend of us all; and you will see--she will fly into his arms.""Heaven forbid!" ejaculated the lieutenant, much shocked.
"Harry, how can you be so--?" said Maimie, much annoyed. "What will the lieutenant think of me?""Ah, if I only might tell!" said the lieutenant, looking at her with languishing eyes. But already Kate was downstairs and on her way to the street.
As they neared the lower town, the narrow streets became more and more crowded with men in the shantymen's picturesque dress, and they had some difficulty in making their way through the jolly, jostling crowds. As they were nearing the river, they saw coming along the narrow sidewalk a burly French-Canadian, dressed in the gayest holiday garb of the shantymen.--red shirt and sash, corduroys tucked into red top-boots, a little round soft hat set upon the back of his black curls, a gorgeous silk handkerchief around his neck, and a big gold watch-chain with seals at his belt. He had a bold, handsome face, and swaggered along the sidewalk, claiming it all with an assurance fortified by whisky enough to make him utterly regardless of any but his own rights.
"Hello!" he shouted, as he swaggered along. "Make way, I'm de boss bully on de reever Hottawa." It was his day of glory, and it evidently pleased him much that the people stood aside to let him pass. Then he broke into song:--"En roulant ma boule roulant, En roulant me boule.""This, I suppose, is one of your beloved shantymen," said the lieutenant, turning to Kate, who was walking with Harry behind.
"Isn't he lovely!" exclaimed Kate.
"Oh," cried Maimie, in terror, "let us get into a shop!""Quite unnecessary, I assure you," said the lieutenant, indifferently; "I have not the least idea that he will molest you."The lumberman by this time had swaggered up to the party, expecting them to make way, but instead, De Lacy stiffened his shoulder, caught the Frenchman in the chest, and rolled him off into the street. Surprised and enraged, the Frenchman turned to demolish the man who had dared to insult the "boss bully on de reever Hottawa.""Vous n'avez pas remarque la demoiselle," said the lieutenant, in a tone of politeness.
The lumberman, who had swaggered up ready to strike, glanced at Maimie, took off his hat, and made a ceremonious bow.
"Eh bien! Non! Pardon, Mams'elle."
"Bon jour," said Lieutenant De Lacy, with a military salute, and moved on, leaving the lumberman staring after them as if he had seen a vision.
"Beauty and the Beast," murmured the lieutenant. "Thought I was in for it, sure. Really wonderful, don't you know!""Do you think we had better go on?" said Maimie, turning to Kate and Harry.
"Why not? Why, certainly!" they exclaimed.
"These horrid men," replied Maimie.
"Dear creatures!" said the lieutenant, glancing at Kate with a mildly pathetic look. "Sweet, but not always fragrant.""Oh, they won't hurt us. Let us go on."
"Certainly, go on," echoed Harry, impatiently.
"Safe enough, Miss St. Clair, but," pulling out his perfumed handkerchief, "rather trying.""Oh, get on, De Lacy," cried Harry, and so they moved on.
The office of Raymond & St. Clair stood near the wharves. Harry paused at the door, not quite sure whether to go in or not. It was easy to discover work in that office.
"You might ask if Ranald has come," said Kate. "Maimie is too shy."Harry returned in a few moments, quite excited.
"The Macdonald gang are in, and the Big Macdonald was here not half an hour ago, and Ranald is down at the raft beyond the last wharf.
I know the place."
"Oh, do let us go on!" cried Kate, to whom Harry had been extolling Ranald on the way down. "You really ought to inspect your timber, Harry, shouldn't you?""Most certainly, and right away. No saying what might happen.""Awful slush," said the lieutenant, glancing at Maimie's face. "Do you think the timber wouldn't keep for a week?""Oh, rubbish! A week!" cried Harry. "He is thinking of his boots again."To be quite fair to the lieutenant, it was Maimie's doubtful face, rather than his shiny boots, that made him hesitate. She was evidently nervous and embarrassed. The gay, easy manner which was her habit was gone.
"I think perhaps we had better go, since we are here," she said, doubtfully.
"Exactly; it is what I most desired," said the lieutenant, gallantly.
Scores of rafts lay moored along the wharves and shore, and hundred of lumbermen were to be seen everywhere, not only on the timber and wharves, but crowding the streets and the doors of the little saloons.
For half an hour they walked along, watching the men at work with the timber on the river. Some were loading the vessels lying at anchor, some were shifting the loose timber about. When they reached the end of the last wharf, they saw a strapping young lumberman, in a shanty costume that showed signs of the woods, running some loose sticks of timber round the end of the raft.
