it goes this way,' and he went on to set me right. His nephew at that
stepped in, and, with a little disdainful laugh at me, made some galling
gibe at my 'distinguished learning.' I might have known better than to
let it pique me, but I spoke up again, though respectfully enough, that
I was not wrong. It appeared to me all at once as if some principle were
at stake, as if I were the champion of our Shakespeare; so will vanity
delude us.
"The governor--I can see it as if it were yesterday--seemed to go like
ice, for he loved to be thought infallible in all such things as well as
in great business affairs, and his nephew was there to give an edge to
the matter. He said, curtly, that I would probably come on better in the
world if I were more exact and less cock-a-hoop with myself. That stung
me, for not only was the young lady looking on with a sort of superior
pity, as I thought, but her brother was murmuring to her under his breath
with a provoking smile. I saw no reason why I should be treated like a
schoolboy. As far as my knowledge went it was as good as another man's,
were he young or old, so I came in quickly with my reply. I said that
his excellency should find me more cock-a-hoop with Shakespeare than with
myself. 'Well, well,' he answered, with a severe look, 'our Company has
need of great men for hard tasks.' To this I made no answer, for I got
a warning look from the young lady,--a look which had a sort of reproach
and command too. She knew the twists and turns of her uncle's temper,
and how he was imperious and jealous in little things. The matter
dropped for the time; but as the governor was going to his tent for the
night, the young lady said to me hurriedly, 'My uncle is a man of great
reading--and power, Mr. Fawdor. I would set it right with him, if I were
you.' For the moment I was ashamed. You cannot guess how fine an eye
she had, and how her voice stirred one! She said no more, but stepped
inside her tent; and then I heard the brother say over my shoulder, 'Oh,
why should the spirit of mortal be proud!' Afterwards, with a little
laugh and a backward wave of the hand, as one might toss a greeting to
a beggar, he was gone also, and I was left alone."
Fawdor paused in his narrative. The dog had lain down by the fire again,
but its red eyes were blinking at the door, and now and again it growled
softly, and the long hair at its mouth seemed to shiver with feeling.
Suddenly through the night there rang a loud, barking cry. The dog's
mouth opened and closed in a noiseless snarl, showing its keen, long
teeth, and a ridge of hair bristled on its back. But the two men made
no sign or motion. The cry of wild cats was no new thing to them.
Presently the other continued: "I sat by the fire and heard beasts howl
like that, I listened to the river churning over the rapids below, and I
felt all at once a loneliness that turned me sick. There were three
people in a tent near me; I could even hear the governor's breathing; but
I appeared to have no part in the life of any human being, as if I were a
kind of outlaw of God and man. I was poor; I had no friends; I was at
the mercy of this great Company; if I died, there was not a human being
who, so far as I knew, would shed a tear. Well, you see I was only a
boy, and I suppose it was the spirit of youth hungering for the huge,
active world and the companionship of ambitious men. There is no one so
lonely as the young dreamer on the brink of life. "I was lying by the
fire. It was not a cold night, and I fell asleep at last without
covering. I did not wake till morning, and then it was to find the
governor's nephew building up the fire again. 'Those who are born
great,' said he, 'are bound to rise.' But perhaps he saw that I had had
a bad night, and felt that he had gone far enough, for he presently said,
in a tone more to my liking, 'Take my advice, Mr. Fawdor; make it right