Soon after the rails were laid down the frost returned, and one cold morning Festing sat in his shack, studying a letter from Helen.  Norton’s cheque had helped him to overcome the worst of his difficulties, things were going better, and Charnock would superintend the workmen until he was ready to go out.  Festing felt that he need not hurry, and wanted to think.

Helen had written to him before, without any hint of resentment, and he had told her what he was doing.  She knew Bob was his partner, and no doubt understood what this implied.  It was obvious that he had been wrong in disliking Bob and half suspecting him; besides Helen knew from the beginning that he had not suspected her, although he had insisted that she had been imprudent.  This ground for difference had vanished, but he wondered what she thought, and could not gather much from her letter.

She wrote with apparent good-humor and stated that all was going satisfactorily at the farm, where, indeed, nothing of importance could be done until spring.  For all that, there was some reserve.  A personal explanation was needed before they could get back to their old relations of intimate confidence, and he was ready to own his mistakes.  Unfortunately, the explanation must be put off, because there was one point on which he was still determined, although his resolve no longer altogether sprang from pride.  He must, if possible, repair his damaged fortunes before he went home.  Farming on a proper scale was expensive work, and Helen’s capital was not large.  In order to raise a big crop, one must speculate boldly, and he meant to do so with his own money.

He saw a danger in staying away too long, but his contract was only beginning to be profitable.  Besides, one thing led to another, and a number of extras, for which the pay was good, had been added to the original plans.  Then he had been asked to undertake another job and had arranged to go over the ground with Kerr and Norton that morning.  In a way, he would sooner have left it alone, because it would keep him longer from home, but the terms offered a strong inducement to stop.  Glancing at his watch, he saw it was nearly time to meet the engineers.

He found them and Charnock near the half-finished bridge, which crossed the river obliquely.  The track approached its end in a curve and then stopped where a noisy steam-digger was at work.  Between the machine and the bridge, the hillside fell in a very steep slope to the water, which rolled in angry turmoil past its foot, and the channel dividing the bank from the island that supported the central bridge-pier was deep.  Here and there a slab of rock projected from the slope, but, for the most part, the latter consisted of small stones and soil.  The surface was now frozen beneath a thin crust of snow and the pines were white.

“You know roughly what we want,” said Kerr.  “If you’ll come along, you can look at the shot-holes we made to test the ground.  Then I’ll show you a car-load of the rock we want to use, but it’s largely a lumber job and that’s why we thought of offering it you.  You have some good choppers besides the teams and plant required.”