Carson of Red River by Harold Bindloss — Read

For two or three weeks Kit was strenuously, and on the whole happily, occupied at the forge. When the sun was on the roof the iron shack got very hot, and sometimes the labor was severe, but Kit was interested and the pay was good. His trunk, broken by the baggage gang, had arrived, and in the cool evenings to put on clean clothes and play the violin for an attentive audience was some relief. Then he liked the smith. Bill was sternly quiet and admitted he had no use for politeness. As a rule, when he did talk, his remarks were aggressive, but he was a skilful workman and asked from his helper nothing he himself did not undertake.

For all that, Kit sometimes brooded. If he remained until the bridge was built he would not be rich, and his ambition was not to help a smith. Moreover, he feared when the frost began the company would pay him off, and in the North winter work was hard to get. Then he had promised he would not, for a stipulated time, write to Evelyn. She would be anxious for him, and since he had work, of a sort, he wanted her to know.