Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 12, 1927 — page 76: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘ing him to greater effort. 70 of the buildings. Here he lighted his pipe, seated himself in a homemade chair con- structed out of a barrel and an empty sack, and became dissolved in thought. He was a large man, with broad, massive shoulders and long, powerful arms. His hair had the tinge of dark copper, his eyes were gray and steady, his chin square and resolute, and over him rested the seal of a life spent in the open. He wore neither collar nor cap, and his blue flannel shirt, unfastened at the neck, his long prospecting boots laced to the knee, the canvas trou- sers, all spoke of the son of the wilder- ness. It was chance that brought James Brent to the Victrix. He had nearly encircled the globe, and was on the last leg of a six-year journey when, in Toronto, he happened to hear of the property. The Victrix, he was informed, was believed to be valuable, but- had suffered grievously from mismanage- ment. There was an opening for a capable superintendent, and for this he applied, fortified by experience in South Africa and Australia. The company’s Canadian solicitor, im- pressed with his obvious energy, as well as the letters of recommendation he brought with him, had cabled at once to London, and, as a result, Brent now found himself installed, ruler of this tiny settlement, and for the present at any rate the dictator of his future. Thus had been occasioned the letter to Sylvia. In the last six years he had seen enough of women to make him treasure, ever more closely, his memory of the long- legged girl who tried to smile when he carved the outlines of two intertwined hearts on the trunk of a far-away beech tree. Looking back at it now, it seemed that, at the same time, he had carved her name on his own heart, and always, even when the sky was darkest, the memory and the picture of her persisted, carrying him through danger and disappointment, incit- He did not look like a man subject to profound emotions, but his memory of Sylvia was nevertheless his lighthouse, his incentive, and his conso- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. And the very day on which he took charge of the Victrix and pictured Sylvia beside him in this breathless forest, he had written and given voice to the long unsatis- fied desire of his heart. Now she was wait- ing, waiting for the summons which he was determined should go to her before the year was much older. Sylvia and the Victrix— they were mingling inextricably in his mind when the door opened and a girl entered the office. “Well,” she said smiling, “are you going to take me fishing this evening?” She was very dark, very strong and supple, fairly glowing with health. Brent, looking at her with a friendly twinkle, thought that she might have been the spirit of the forest in which she lived. Her face was well formed, her mouth, though a little large, was well shaped and had a passion- ate curve, her eyes quick and, in an odd way, luminous. She was dressed with a studied carelessness that heightened a cer- tain fascinating and gypsylike effect. It was strange, thought Brent, that a man like Parfitt, his mill superintendent, should have such a daughter, and he won- dered what manner of woman the mother could have been. Then he pointed to a pair of delicate balances under a glass case on the table, and shook his head: “Tm awfully sorry, but I can’t. You know how things are going up at the mill, and I’ve simply got to make these assays.” Dorothy sent him a frown of mock an- ger. “ But the cook really needs fish; he told me so. It’s true this time.” “And you really think that fish are more important to the company than the figures I'll have in an hour or two?” He grinned. “Much more. And I don’t see why you should always, always be thinking about the old company.” ‘““Isn’t that what I’m here for? It’s cer- tainly what I’m paid for; although,” he admitted, ‘ I’d much sooner go fishing. So, if you’d like to help, really help very much, you'll go off by yourself and get a tre- mendous catch, and thereby save the com- ‘pany a lot of money and assist my good record as manager.”’ The girl turned on her heel and glanced See ——— ee foe ¢ nee ie Ne ae = RS pee ever] zee shoulder: ae « 5 <a ess ae se as a — = nee comicbooks. com