nsanely
jealous of his superior attainments. Neither did the Sikannis welcome
Doctor Ernest's ministrations. Since the death of the missionary they
had been gradually slipping back into their ignorant ways, and now they
instinctively took the part of the mother against the educated son. One
can imagine what a dreary life the young medico lived among these
savages. He has been described to me as a charming fellow, modest,
kindly and plucky. And, by the way, I have not mentioned that these
young fellows were uncommonly good-looking. William, or, as the Indians
say, Hooliam, was one of the handsomest natives I ever saw.

Meanwhile that remote country was being talked about outside on account
of the gold deposits along the upper reaches of the Stanley--largely
mythically I believe. However that may be, prospectors began to straggle
in, and in the summer of the year following Ernest's return from
college, the government sent in a surveyor, one Frank Starling, to
survey the claims, and adjust disputes. Starling brought with him his
daughter Clare, a young lady of adventurous disposition.

Both the Imbrie boys fell in love with her according to their natures,
thus further complicating the situation. Hooliam, the ignorant savage,
could not aspire to her hand, of course, but the young doctor courted
her, and she looked kindly on him. I do not consider that she was ever
in love with him, though apart from the dark strain he was worthy of it
as men go, a manly fellow!--but it was the hardness of his lot that
touched her heart. Like many a good woman before her, she was carried
away by compassion for the dogged youth struggling against such hopeless
odds.

The father completed his work and took her out, and Ernest Imbrie
followed them. They were married in the early spring at Fort Edward on
the Campbell River, where the Starlings wintered. Ernest carried his
bride back by canoe, hundreds of miles through the wilderness.

Their happiness, if indeed they were ever happy, was of brief duration.
Whichever way you look at it, the situation was impossible. Ernest's
mother, the breed woman, acted like a fiend incarnate, I have been told,
and I can quite believe it, having witnessed some of her subsequent
performances. Then there was the brother-in-law always hanging around
the house, nursing his evil passion for his brother's wife. And in the
background the ignorant, unfriendly Indians.

The catastrophe was precipitated by a gross in