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diff --git a/1809-h/1809-h.htm b/1809-h/1809-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d62cef4 --- /dev/null +++ b/1809-h/1809-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14131 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bucky O’Connor, by William Macleod Raine</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> +</head> +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bucky O’Connor, by William Macleod Raine</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Bucky O’Connor<br /> + A Tale of the Unfenced Border</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: William Macleod Raine</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July, 1999 [eBook #1809]<br /> +[Most recently updated: January 25, 2023]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Mary Starr and David Widger</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUCKY O’CONNOR ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>BUCKY O’CONNOR</h1> + +<h3>A Tale of the Unfenced Border</h3> + +<h2 class="no-break">By William MacLeod Raine</h2> + +<hr /> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h4>To My Brother<br /><br /> EDGAR C. RAINE</h4> + +<p> +M<small>Y</small> D<small>EAR</small> W<small>ANDERER</small>: +</p> + +<p> +I write your name on this page that you may know we hold you not less in our +thoughts because you have heard and answered again the call of the frozen +North, have for the time disappeared, swallowed in some of its untrodden wilds. +As in those old days of 59 Below On Bonanza, the long Winter night will be of +interminable length. Armed with this note of introduction then, Bucky O’Connor +offers himself, with the best bow of one Adventurer to another, as a companion +to while away some few of those lonely hours. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +March, 1910, Denver. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2H_4_0001"></a> +BUCKY O’CONNOR</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"><b>BUCKY O’CONNOR</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0001">CHAPTER I. ENTER “BEAR-TRAP” COLLINS </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0002">CHAPTER II. TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0003">CHAPTER III. THE SHERIFF INTRODUCES HIMSELF </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0004">CHAPTER IV. A BLUFF IS CALLED </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0005">CHAPTER V. BUCKY ENTERTAINS </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0006">CHAPTER VI. BUCKY MAKES A DISCOVERY </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0007">CHAPTER VII. IN THE LAND OF REVOLUTIONS </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0008">CHAPTER VIII. FIRST BLOOD! </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0009">CHAPTER IX. "ADORE HAS ONLY ONE D.” </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0010">CHAPTER X. THE HOLD-UP OF THE M. C. P. FLYER </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0011">CHAPTER XI. "STONE WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE.” </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0012">CHAPTER XII. A CLEAN WHITE MAN’S OPTION </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0013">CHAPTER XIII. BUCKY’S FIRST-RATE REASONS </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0014">CHAPTER XIV. LE ROI EST MORT; VIVE LE ROI </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0015">CHAPTER XV. IN THE SECRET CHAMBER </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0016">CHAPTER XVI. JUAN VALDEZ SCORES </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0017">CHAPTER XVII. HIDDEN VALLEY </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0018">CHAPTER XVIII. A DINNER FOR THREE </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0019">CHAPTER XIX. A VILLON OF THE DESERT </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0020">CHAPTER XX. BACK TO GOD’S COUNTRY </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0021">CHAPTER XXI. THE WOLF PACK </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0022">CHAPTER XXII. FOR A GOOD REASON </a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<hr /> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0001"></a> +CHAPTER I.<br/> +ENTER “BEAR-TRAP” COLLINS</h2> + +<p> +She had been aware of him from the moment of his spectacular entrance, though +no slightest sign of interest manifested itself in her indolent, incurious +eyes. Indeed, his abundant and picturesque area was so vivid that it would have +been difficult not to feel his presence anywhere, let alone on a journey so +monotonous as this was proving to be. +</p> + +<p> +It had been at a water-tank, near Socorro, that the Limited, churning furiously +through brown Arizona in pursuit of a lost half-hour, jarred to a sudden halt +that shook sleep from the drowsy eyes of bored passengers. Through the window +of her Pullman the young woman in Section 3 had glimpsed a bevy of angry train +officials eddying around a sturdy figure in the center, whose strong, lean head +rose confidently above the press. There was the momentary whirl of a scuffle, +out of the tangle of which shot a brakeman as if propelled from a catapult. The +circle parted, brushed aside by a pair of lean shoulders, muscular and broad. +Yet a few moments and the owner of the shoulders led down the aisle to the +vacant section opposite her a procession whose tail was composed of protesting +trainmen. +</p> + +<p> +“You had no right to flag the train, Sheriff Collins, and you’ll have to get +off; that’s all there is to it,” the conductor was explaining testily. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that’s all right,” returned the offender with easy good nature, making +himself at home in Section 4. “Tell the company to send in its bill. No use +jawing about it.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll have to get off, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right—at Tucson.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir. You’ll have to get off here. I have no authority to let you ride.” +</p> + +<p> +“Didn’t I hear you say the train was late? Don’t you think you’d arrive earlier +at the end of your run if your choo-choo got to puffing?” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll have to get off, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hate to disoblige,” murmured the owner of the jingling spurs, the dusty +corduroys, and the big, gray hat, putting his feet leisurely on the cushion in +front of him. “But doesn’t it occur to you that you are a man of one idea?” +</p> + +<p> +“This is the Coast Limited. It doesn’t stop for anybody—not even for the +president of the road.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t say! Well, I ce’tainly appreciate the honor you did me in stopping +to take me on.” His slight drawl was quite devoid of concern. +</p> + +<p> +“But you had no right to flag the train. Can’t you understand <i>anything?</i>” +groaned the conductor. +</p> + +<p> +“You explain it again to me, sonny. I’m surely thick in the haid,” soothed the +intruder, and listened with bland good-humor to the official’s flow of protest. +</p> + +<p> +“Well—well! Disrupted the whole transcontinental traffic, didn’t I? And me so +innocent, too. Now, this is how I figured it out. Here’s me in a hurry to get +to Tucson. Here comes your train a-foggin’—also and likewise hittin’ the high +spots for Tucson. Seemed like we ought to travel in company, and I was some +dubious she’d forget to stop unless I flagged her. Wherefore, I aired my +bandanna in the summer breeze.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you don’t understand.” The conductor began to explain anew as to a dull +child. “It’s against the law. You’ll get into trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +“Put me in the calaboose, will they?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s no joke.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it does seem to be worrying you,” Mr. Collins conceded. “Don’t mind me. +Free your mind proper.” +</p> + +<p> +The conductor, glancing about nervously, noticed that passengers were smiling +broadly. His official dignity was being chopped to mince-meat. Back came his +harassed gaze to the imperturbable Collins with the brown, sun-baked face and +the eyes blue and untroubled as an Arizona sky. Out of a holster attached to +the sagging belt that circled the corduroy trousers above his hips gleamed the +butt of a revolver. But in the last analysis the weapon of the occasion was +purely a moral one. The situation was one not covered in the company’s rule +book, and in the absence of explicit orders the trainman felt himself unequal +to that unwavering gaze and careless poise. Wherefore, he retreated, muttering +threats of what the company would do. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, if I had only known it was against the law. My thick haid’s always roping +trouble for me,” the plainsman confided to the Pullman conductor, with +twinkling eyes. +</p> + +<p> +That official unbent. “Talking about thick heads, I’m glad my porter has one. +If it weren’t iron-plated and copper-riveted he’d be needing a doctor now, the +way you stood him on it.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, did I? Ce’tainly an accident. The nigger must have been in my way as I +climbed into the car. Took the kink out of his hair, you say? Here, Sam!” He +tossed a bill to the porter, who was rolling affronted eyes at him. “Do you +reckon this is big enough to plaster your injured feelings, boy?” +</p> + +<p> +The white smile flashed at him by the porter was a receipt for indemnity paid +in full. +</p> + +<p> +Sheriff Collins’ perception of his neighbor across the aisle was more frank in +its interest than the girl’s had been of him. The level, fearless gaze of the +outdoors West looked at her unabashed, appreciating swiftly her points as they +impinged themselves upon his admiration. The long, lithe lines of the slim, +supple body, the languid grace missing hauteur only because that seemed scarce +worth while, the unconscious pride of self that fails to be offensive only in a +young woman so well equipped with good looks as this one indubitably was the +rider of the plains had appraised them all before his eyes dismissed her from +his consideration and began a casual inspection of the other passengers. +</p> + +<p> +Inside of half an hour he had made himself <i>persona grata</i> to everybody in +the car except his dark-eyed neighbor across the way. That this dispenser of +smiles and cigars decided to leave her out in the distribution of his +attentions perhaps spoke well for his discernment. Certainly responsiveness to +the geniality of casual fellow passengers did not impress Mr. Collins as likely +to be an outstanding, quality in her. But with the drummer from Chicago, the +young mining engineer going to Sonora, the two shy little English children just +in front of him traveling to meet their father in California, he found +intuitively common ground of interest. Even Major Mackenzie, the engineer in +charge of the large irrigation project being built by a company in southern +Arizona, relaxed at one of the plainsman’s humorous tales. +</p> + +<p> +It was after Collins had half-depopulated the car by leading the more jovial +spirits back in search of liquid refreshments that an urbane clergyman, now of +Boston but formerly of Pekin, Illinois, professedly much interested in the +sheriff’s touch-and-go manner as presumably quite characteristic of the West, +dropped into the vacant seat beside Major Mackenzie. +</p> + +<p> +“And who might our energetic friend be?” he asked, with an ingratiating smile. +</p> + +<p> +The young woman in front of them turned her head ever so slightly to listen. +</p> + +<p> +“Val Collins is his name,” said the major. “Sometimes called ‘Bear-trap +Collins.’ He has always lived on the frontier. At least, I met him twelve years +ago when he was riding mail between Aravaipa and Mesa. He was a boy then, +certainly not over eighteen, but in a desperate fight he had killed two men who +tried to hold up the mail. Cow-puncher, stage-driver, miner, trapper, sheriff, +rough rider, politician—he’s past master at them all.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why the appellation of ‘Bear-trap,’ may I ask?” The smack of pulpit +oratory was not often missing in the edifying discourse of the Reverend Peter +Melancthon Brooks. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir, that’s a story. He was trapping in the Tetons about five years ago +thirty miles from the nearest ranch-house. One day, while he was setting a +bear-trap, a slide of snow plunged down from the tree branches above and freed +the spring, catching his hand between its jaws. With his feet and his other +hand he tried to open that trap for four hours, without the slightest success. +There was not one chance in a million of help from outside. In point of fact, +Collins had not seen a human being for a month. There was only one thing to do, +and he did it.” +</p> + +<p> +“And that was?” +</p> + +<p> +“You probably noticed that he wears a glove over his left hand. The reason, +sir, is that he has an artificial hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean—” The Reverend Peter paused to lengthen his delicious thrill of +horror. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir. That’s just what I mean. He hacked his hand off at the wrist with +his hunting-knife.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, the man’s a hero!” cried the clergyman, with unction. +</p> + +<p> +Mackenzie flung him a disgusted look. “We don’t go much on heroes out here. +He’s game, if that’s what you mean. And able, too. Bucky O’Connor himself isn’t +any smarter at following a trail.” +</p> + +<p> +“And who is Bucky O’Connor?” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s the man that just ran down Fernendez. Think I’ll have a smoke, sir. Care +to join me?” +</p> + +<p> +But the Pekin-Bostonian preferred to stay and jot down in his note-book the +story of the bear-trap, to be used later as a sermon illustration. This may +have been the reason he did not catch the quick look that passed without the +slightest flicker of the eyelids between Major Mackenzie and the young woman in +Section 3. It was as if the old officer had wired her a message in some code +the cipher of which was known only to them. +</p> + +<p> +But the sheriff, returning at the head of his cohorts, caught it, and wondered +what meaning might lie back of that swift glance. Major Mackenzie and this +dark-eyed beauty posed before others as strangers, yet between them lay some +freemasonry of understanding to which he had not the key. +</p> + +<p> +Collins did not know that the aloofness in the eyes of Miss Wainwright—he had +seen the name on her suit-case—gave way to horror when her glance fell on his +gloved hand. She had a swift, shuddering vision of a grim-faced man, jaws set +like a vise, hacking at his wrist with a hunting-knife. But the engaging +impudence of his eye, the rollicking laughter in his voice, shut out the +picture instantly. +</p> + +<p> +The young man resumed his seat, and Miss Wainwright her listless inspection of +the flying stretches of brown desert. Dusk was beginning to fall, and the +porter presently lit the lamps. Collins bought a magazine from the newsboy and +relapsed into it, but before he was well adjusted to reading the Limited +pounded to a second unscheduled halt. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly the magazine was thrown aside and Collins’ curly head thrust out of +the window. Presently the head reappeared, simultaneously with the crack of a +revolver, the first of a detonating fusillade. +</p> + +<p> +“Another of your impatient citizens eager to utilize the unspeakable +convenience of rapid transit,” suggested the clergyman, with ponderous +jocosity. +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir; nothing so illegal,” smiled the cattleman, a whimsical light in his +daredevil eyes. He leaned forward and whispered a word to the little girl in +front of him, who at once led her younger brother back to his section. +</p> + +<p> +“I had hoped it would prove to be more diverting experience for a tenderfoot,” +condescended the gentleman of the cloth. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s ce’tainly a pleasure to be able to gratify you, sir. You’ll be right +pleased to know that it is a train hold-up.” He waved his hand toward the door, +and at the word, as if waiting for his cue, a masked man appeared at the end of +the passage with a revolver in each hand. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0002"></a> +CHAPTER II.<br/> +TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION</h2> + +<p> +“Hands up!” +</p> + +<p> +There was a ring of crisp menace in the sinister voice that was a spur to +obedience. The unanimous show of hands voted “Aye” with a hasty precision that +no amount of drill could have compassed. +</p> + +<p> +It was a situation that might have made for laughter had there been spectators +to appreciate. But of whatever amusement was to be had one of the victims +seemed to hold a monopoly. Collins, his arm around the English children by way +of comfort, offered a sardonic smile at the consternation his announcement and +its fulfillment had created, but none of his fellow passengers were in the +humor to respond. +</p> + +<p> +The shock of an earthquake could not have blanched ruddy faces more surely. The +Chicago drummer, fat and florid, had disappeared completely behind a buttress +of the company’s upholstery. +</p> + +<p> +“God bless my soul!” gasped the Pekin-Bostonian, dropping his eyeglass and his +accent at the same moment. The dismay in his face found a reflection all over +the car. Miss Wainwright’s hand clutched at her breast for an instant, and her +color ebbed till her lips were ashen, but her neighbor across the aisle noticed +that her eyes were steady and her figure tense. +</p> + +<p> +“Scared stiff, but game,” was his mental comment. +</p> + +<p> +“Gents to the right and ladies to the left; line up against the walls; +everybody waltz.” called the man behind the guns, with grim humor. +</p> + +<p> +The passengers fell into line as directed, Collins with the rest. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re calling this dance, son; it’s your say-so, I guess,” he conceded. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep still, or I’ll shoot you full of holes,” growled the autocrat of the +artillery. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, sure! Ain’t you the real thing in Jesse Jameses?” soothed the sheriff. +</p> + +<p> +At the sound of Collins’ voice, the masked man had started perceptibly, and his +right hand had jumped forward an inch or two to cover the speaker more +definitely. Thereafter, no matter what else engaged his attention, the gleaming +eyes behind the red bandanna never wandered for a moment from the big +plainsman. He was taking no risks, for he remembered the saying current in +Arizona, that after Collins’ hardware got into action there was nothing left to +do but plant the deceased and collect the insurance. He had personal reasons to +know the fundamental accuracy of the colloquialism. +</p> + +<p> +The train-conductor fussed up to the masked outlaw with a ludicrous attempt at +authority. “You can’t rob the passengers on this train. I’m not responsible for +the express-car, but the coaches—” +</p> + +<p> +A bullet almost grazed his ear and shattered a window on its way to the desert. +</p> + +<p> +“Drift, you red-haired son of a Mexican?” ordered the man behind the red +bandanna. “Git back to that seat real prompt. This here’s taxation without +representation.” +</p> + +<p> +The conductor drifted as per suggestion. +</p> + +<p> +The minutes ticked themselves away in a tense strain marked by pounding hearts. +The outlaw stood at the end of the aisle, watching the sheriff alertly. +</p> + +<p> +“Why doesn’t the music begin?” volunteered Collins, by way of conversation, and +quoted: “On with the dance. Let joy be unconfined.” +</p> + +<p> +A dull explosion answered his question. The bandits were blowing open the safe +in the express-car with dynamite, pending which the looting of the passengers +was at a standstill. +</p> + +<p> +A second masked figure joined his companion at the end of the passage and held +a hurried conversation with him. Fragments of their low-voiced talk came to +Collins. +</p> + +<p> +“Only thirty thousand in the express-car. Not a red cent on the old man +himself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where’s the rest?” The irritation in the newcomer’s voice was pronounced. +</p> + +<p> +Collins slewed his head and raked him with keen eyes that missed not a detail. +He was certain that he had never seen the man before, yet he knew at once that +the trim, wiry figure, so clean of build and so gallant of bearing, could +belong only to Wolf Leroy, the most ruthless outlaw of the Southwest. It was +written in his jaunty insolence, in the flashing eyes. He was a handsome +fellow, white-toothed, black-haired, lithely tigerish, with masterful mouth and +eyes of steel, so far as one might judge behind the white mask he wore. Alert, +cruel, fearless from the head to the heel of him, he looked the very devil to +lead an enterprise so lawless and so desperate as this. His vigilant eyes swept +contemptuously up and down the car, rested for a moment on the young woman in +Section 3, and came back to his partner. +</p> + +<p> +“Bah! A flock of sheep—tamest bunch of spring lambs we ever struck. I’ll send +Scotty in to go through them. If anybody gets gay, drop him.” And the outlaw +turned on his heel. +</p> + +<p> +Another of the highwaymen took his place, a stout, squat figure in the flannel +shirt, spurs, and chaps of a cow-puncher. It took no second glance to tell +Collins this bandy-legged fellow had been a rider of the range. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, gentlemen, get a move on you,” Collins implored. “This train’s due at +Tucson by eight o’clock. We’re more than an hour late now. I’m holding down the +job of sheriff in that same town, and I’m awful anxious to get a posse out +after a bunch of train-robbers. So burn the wind, and go through the car on the +jump. Help yourself to anything you find. Who steals my purse takes trash. ’Tis +something, nothing. ’Twas mine; ’tis his. That’s right, you’ll find my roll in +that left-hand pocket. I hate to have you take that gun, though. I meant to run +you down with that same old Colt’s reliable. Oh, well, just as you say. No, +those kids get a free pass. They’re going out to meet papa at Los Angeles, +boys. See?” +</p> + +<p> +Collins’ running fire of comment had at least the effect of restoring the color +to some cheeks that had been washed white and of snatching from the outlaws +some portion of their sense of dominating the situation. But there was a veiled +vigilance in his eyes that belied his easy impudence. +</p> + +<p> +“That lady across the aisle gets a pass, too, boys,” continued the sheriff. +“She’s scared stiff now, and you won’t bother her, if you’re white men. Her +watch and purse are on the seat. Take them, if you want them, and let it go at +that.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Wainwright listened to this dialogue silently. She stood before them cool +and imperious and unwavering, but her face was bloodless and the pulse in her +beautiful soft throat fluttered like a caged bird. +</p> + +<p> +“Who’s doing this job?” demanded one of the hold-ups, wheeling savagely on the +impassive officer “Did I say we were going to bother the lady? Who’s doing this +job, Mr. Sheriff?” +</p> + +<p> +“You are. I’d hate to be messing the job like you—holding up the wrong train by +mistake.” This was a shot in the dark, and it did not quite hit the bull’s-eye. +“I wouldn’t trust you boys to rob a hen-roost, the amateur way you go at it. +When you get through, you’ll all go to drinking like blue blotters. I know your +kind—hell-bent to spend what you cash in, and every mother’s son of you in the +pen or with his toes turned up inside of a month.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who’ll put us there?” gruffly demanded the bowlegged one. +</p> + +<p> +Collins smiled at him with confidence superb “Mebbe I will—and if I don’t Bucky +O’Connor will—those of you that are left alive when you go through shooting +each other in the back. Oh, I see your finish to a fare-you-well.” +</p> + +<p> +“Cheese it, or I’ll bump you off.” The first out law drove his gun into the +sheriff’s ribs. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s all right. You don’t need to punctuate that remark. I line up with the +sky-pilot and chew the cud of silence. I merely wanted to frame up to you how +this thing’s going to turn out. Don’t come back at me and say I didn’t warn +you, sonnie.” +</p> + +<p> +“You make my head ache,” snarled the bandy-legged outlaw sourly, as he passed +down with his sack, accumulating tribute as he passed down the aisle with his +sack, accumulating tribute as he went. +</p> + +<p> +The red-kerchiefed robber whooped when they came to the car conductor. “Dig up, +Mr. Pullman. Go way down into your jeans. It’s a right smart pleasure to divert +the plunder of your bloated corporation back to the people. What! Only +fifty-seven dollars. Oh, dig deeper, Mr. Pullman.” +</p> + +<p> +The drummer contributed to the sack eighty-four dollars, a diamond ring, and a +gold watch. His hands were trembling so that they played a tattoo on the +sloping ceiling above him. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter, Fatty? Got a chill?” inquired one of the robbers, as he +deftly swept the plunder into the sack. +</p> + +<p> +“For—God’s sake—don’t shoot. I have—a wife—and five children,” he stammered, +with chattering teeth. +</p> + +<p> +“No race suicide for Fatty. But whyfor do they let a sick man like you travel +all by his lone?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know—I—Please turn that weapon another way.” +</p> + +<p> +“Plumb chuck full of malaria,” soliloquized the owner of the weapon, playfully +running its business end over the Chicago man’s anatomy. “Shakes worse’n a pair +of dice. Here, Fatty. Load up with quinine and whisky. It’s sure good for +chills.” The man behind the bandanna gravely handed his victim back a dollar. +“Write me if it cures you. Now for the sky-pilot. No white chips on this plate, +parson. It’s a contribution to the needy heathen. You want to be generous. How +much do you say?” +</p> + +<p> +The man of the cloth reluctantly said thirty dollars, a Lincoln penny, and a +silver-plated watch inherited from his fathers. The watch was declined with +thanks, the money accepted without. +</p> + +<p> +The Pullman porter came into the car under compulsion of a revolver in the hand +of a fourth outlaw, one in a black mask. His trembling finger pointed out the +satchel and suit-case of Major Mackenzie, and under orders he carried out the +baggage belonging to the irrigation engineer. Collin observed that the bandit +in the black mask was so nervous that the revolver in his hand quivered like an +aspen in the wind. He was slenderer and much shorter than the Mexican, so that +the sheriff decided he was a mere boy. +</p> + +<p> +It was just after he had left that three shots in rapid succession rang out in +the still night air. +</p> + +<p> +The red-bandannaed one and his companion, who had apparently been waiting for +the signal, retreated backward to the end of the car, still keeping the +passengers covered. They flung rapidly two or three bullets through the roof, +and under cover of the smoke slipped out into the night. A moment later came +the thud of galloping horses, more shots, and, when the patter of hoofs had +died away—silence. +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff was the first to break it. He thrust his brown hands deep into his +pockets and laughed—laughed with the joyous, rollicking abandon of a tickled +schoolboy. +</p> + +<p> +“Hysterics?” ventured the mining engineer sympathetically. +</p> + +<p> +Collins wiped his eyes. “Call ’em anything you like. What pleases me is that +the reverend gentleman should have had this diverting experience so prompt +after he was wishing for it.” He turned, with concern, to the clergyman. +“Satisfied, sir? Did our little entertainment please, or wasn’t it up to the +mark?” +</p> + +<p> +But the transported native of Pekin was game. “I’m quite satisfied, if you are. +I think the affair cost you a hundred dollars or so more than it did me.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right,” agreed the sheriff heartily. “But I don’t grudge it—not a cent +of it. The show was worth the price of admission.” +</p> + +<p> +The car conductor had a broadside ready for him. “Seems to me you shot off your +mouth more than you did that big gun of yours, Mr. Sheriff.” +</p> + +<p> +Collins laughed, and clapped him on the back. “That’s right. I’m a regular +phonograph, when you wind me up.” He did not think it necessary to explain that +he had talked to make the outlaws talk, and that he had noted the quality of +their voices so carefully that he would know them again among a thousand. Also +he had observed—other things—the garb of each of the men he had seen, their +weapons, their manner, and their individual peculiarities. +</p> + +<p> +The clanking car took up the rhythm of the rails as the delayed train plunged +forward once more into the night. Again the clack of tongues, set free from +fear, buzzed eagerly. The glow of the afterclap of danger was on them, and in +the warm excitement each forgot the paralyzing fear that had but now padlocked +his lips. Courage came flowing back into flabby cheeks and red blood into +hearts of water. +</p> + +<p> +At the next station the Limited stopped, and the conductor swung from a car +before the wheels had ceased rolling and went running into the telegraph +office. +</p> + +<p> +“Fire a message through for me, Pat. The Limited has been held up,” he +announced. +</p> + +<p> +“Held up?” gasped the operator. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right. Get this message right through to Sabin. I’m not going to wait +for an answer. Tell him I’ll stop at Apache for further instructions.” +</p> + +<p> +With which the conductor was out again waving his lantern as a signal for the +train to start. Sheriff Collins and Major Mackenzie had entered the office at +his heels. They too had messages to send, but it was not until the train was +already plunging into the night that the station agent read the yellow slips +they had left and observed that both of them went to the same person. +</p> + +<p> +“Lieutenant Bucky O’Connor, Douglas, Arizona,” was the address he read at the +top of each. His comment serves to show the opinion generally in the sunburned +territory respecting one of its citizens. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re wise guys, gents, both of yez. This is shure a case for the leftenant. +It’s send for Bucky quick when the band begins to play,” he grinned. +</p> + +<p> +Sitting down, he gave the call for Tucson, preparatory to transmitting the +conductor’s message to the division superintendent. His fingers were just +striking the first tap when a silken voice startled him. +</p> + +<p> +“One moment, friend. No use being in a hurry.” +</p> + +<p> +The agent looked up and nearly fell from his stool. He was gazing into the end +of a revolver held carelessly in the hand of a masked man leaning indolently on +the counter. +</p> + +<p> +“Whe—where did you come from?” the operator gasped. +</p> + +<p> +“Kaintucky, but I been here a right smart spell. Why? You takin’ the census?” +came the drawling answer. +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t hear youse come in.” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t hear you come in, either,” the man behind the mask mocked. But even +as he spoke his manner changed, and crisp menace rang in his voice. “Have you +sent those messages yet?” +</p> + +<p> +“Wha—what messages?” +</p> + +<p> +“Those lying on your desk. I say, have you sent them?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hand them over here.” +</p> + +<p> +The operator passed them across the counter without demur. +</p> + +<p> +“Now reach for the roof.” +</p> + +<p> +Up shot the station agent’s hands. The bandit glanced over the written sheets +and commented aloud: +</p> + +<p> +“Huh! One from the conductor and one from Mackenzie. I expected those. But this +one from Collins is ce’tainly a surprise party. I didn’t know he was on the +train. Lucky for him I didn’t, or mebbe I’d a-put his light for good and all. +Friend, I reckon we’ll suppress these messages. Military necessity, you +understand.” And with that he lightly tore up the yellow sheets and tossed them +away. +</p> + +<p> +“The conductor will wire when he reaches Apache,” the operator suggested, not +very boldly. +</p> + +<p> +The outlaw rolled a cigarette deftly and borrowed a match. “He most surely +will. But Apache is seventy miles from here. That gives us an extra hour and a +half, and with us right now time is a heap more valuable than money. You may +tell Bucky O’Connor when you see him that that extra hour and a half cinches +our escape, and we weren’t on the anxious seat any without it.” +</p> + +<p> +It may have been true, as the train robber had just said, that time was more +valuable to him then than money, but if so he must have held the latter of +singularly little value. For he sat him down on the counter with his back +against the wall and his legs stretched full length in front of him and glanced +over the Tucson <i>Star</i> in leisurely fashion, while Pat’s arms still +projected roofward. +</p> + +<p> +The operator, beginning to get over his natural fright, could not withhold a +reluctant admiration of this man’s aplomb. There was a certain pantherish +lightness about the outlaw’s movements, a trim grace of figure which yet +suggested rippling muscles perfectly under control, and a quiet wariness of eye +more potent than words at repressing insurgent impulses. Certainly if ever +there was a cool customer and one perfectly sure of himself, this was he. +</p> + +<p> +“Not a thing in the <i>Star</i> to-day,” Pat’s visitor commented, as he flung +it away with a yawn. “I’ll let a thousand dollars of the express company’s +money that there will be something more interesting in it to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right,” agreed the agent. +</p> + +<p> +“But I won’t be here to read it. My engagements take me south. I’ll make a +present to the great Lieutenant O’Connor of the information. We’re headed +south, tell him. And tell Mr. Sheriff Collins, too—happy to entertain him if he +happens our way. If it would rest your hands any there’s no law against putting +them in your trousers pockets, my friend.” +</p> + +<p> +From outside there came a short sharp whistle. The man on the counter answered +it, and slipped at once to the floor. The door opened, to let in another masked +form, but one how different from the first! Here was no confidence almost +insolent in its nonchalance. The figure was slight and boyish, the manner +deprecating, the brown eyes shy and shrinking He was so obviously a novice at +outlawry that fear sat heavy upon his shoulders. When he spoke, almost in a +whisper, his teeth chattered. +</p> + +<p> +“All ready, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“The wires are cut?” demanded his leader crisply. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“On both sides?” +</p> + +<p> +“On both sides.” +</p> + +<p> +His chief relieved the operator of the revolver in his desk, broke it, emptied +out the shells, and flung them through the window, then tossed the weapon back +to its owner. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll not shoot yourself by accident now,” he explained, and with that he had +followed his companion into the night. +</p> + +<p> +There came to the station agent the sound of galloping horses, growing fainter, +until a heavy silence seemed to fill the night. He stole to the door and locked +it, pulled down the window blinds, and then reloaded his revolver with feverish +haste. This done, he sat down before his keys with the weapon close at hand and +frantically called for Tucson over and over again. No answer came to him, nor +from the other direction when he tried that. The young bandit had told the +truth. His companions had cut the wires and so isolated from the world for the +time the scene of the hold-up. The agent understood now why the leader of the +outlaws had honored him with so much of his valuable time. He had stayed to +hold back the telegrams until he knew the wires were cut. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0003"></a> +CHAPTER III.<br/> +THE SHERIFF INTRODUCES HIMSELF</h2> + +<p> +Bear-trap Collins, presuming on the new intimacy born of an exciting experience +shared in common, stepped across the aisle, flung aside Miss Wainwright’s +impedimenta, and calmly seated himself beside her. She was a young woman +capable of a hauteur chillier than ice to undue familiarity, but she did not +choose at this moment to resent his assumption of a footing that had not +existed an hour ago. Picturesque and unconventional conduct excuses itself when +it is garbed in picturesque and engaging manners. She had, besides, other +reasons for wanting to meet him, and they had to do with a sudden suspicion +that flamed like tow in her brain. She had something for which to thank +him—much more than he would be likely to guess, she thought—and she was +wondering, with a surge of triumph, whether the irony of fate had not made his +pretended consideration for her the means of his undoing. +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry you lost so much, Miss Wainwright,” he told her. +</p> + +<p> +“But, after all, I did not lose so much as you. Her dark, deep-pupiled eyes, +long-lashed as Diana’s, swept round to meet his coolly. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a true word. My reputation has gone glimmering for fair, I guess.” He +laughed ruefully. “I shouldn’t wonder, ma’am, when election time comes round, +if the boys ain’t likely to elect to private life the sheriff that lay down +before a bunch of miscreants.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why did you do it?” +</p> + +<p> +His humorous glance roamed round the car. “Now, I couldn’t think it proper for +me to shoot up this sumptuous palace on wheels. And wouldn’t some casual +passenger be likely to get his lights put out when the band began to play? +Would you want that Boston church to be shy a preacher, ma’am?” +</p> + +<p> +Her lips parted slightly in a curve of scorn. “I suppose you had your reasons +for not interfering.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely, ma’am. I hated to have them make a sieve of me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Were you afraid?” +</p> + +<p> +“Most men are when Wolf Leroy’s gang is on the war path.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wolf Leroy?” +</p> + +<p> +“That was Wolf who came in to see they were doing the job right. He’s the worst +desperado on the border—a sure enough bad proposition, I reckon. They say he’s +part Spanish and part Indian, but all pisen. Others say he’s a college man of +good family. I don’t know about that, for nobody knows who he really is. But +the name is a byword in the country. People lower their voices when they speak +of him and his night-riders.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see. And you were afraid of him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very much.” +</p> + +<p> +Her narrowed eyes looked over the strong lines of his lean face and were +unconvinced. “I expect you found a better reason than that for not opposing +them.” +</p> + +<p> +He turned to her with frank curiosity. “I’d like real well to have you put a +name to it.” +</p> + +<p> +But he was instantly aware that her interest had been side tracked. Major +Mackenzie had entered the car and was coming down the aisle. Plainer than words +his eyes asked a question, and hers answered it. +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff stopped him with a smiling query: “Hit hard, major?” +</p> + +<p> +Mackenzie frowned. “The scoundrels took thirty thousand from the express car, I +understand. Twenty thousand of it belonged to our company. I was expecting to +pay off the men next Tuesday.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hope we’ll be able to run them down for you,” returned Collins cheerfully. “I +suppose you lay it to Wolf Leroy’s gang?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course. The work was too well done to leave any doubt of that.” The major +resumed his seat behind Miss Wainwright. +</p> + +<p> +To that young woman the sheriff repeated his unanswered question in the form of +a statement. “I’m waiting to learn that better reason, ma’am.” +</p> + +<p> +She was possessed of that spice of effrontery more to be desired than beauty. +“Shall we say that you had no wish to injure your friends?” +</p> + +<p> +“My friends?” +</p> + +<p> +Her untender eyes mocked his astonishment. “Do I choose the wrong word?” she +asked, with an audacity of a courage that delighted him. “Perhaps they are not +your friends—these train robbers? Perhaps they are mere casual acquaintances?” +</p> + +<p> +His bold eyes studied with a new interest her superb, confident youth—the +rolling waves of splendid Titian hair, the lovely, subtle eyes with the depths +of shadowy pools in them, the alluring lines of long and supple loveliness. +Certainly here was no sweet, ingenuous youth all prone to blushes, but the +complex heir of that world-old wisdom the weaker sex has shaped to serve as a +weapon against the strength that must be met with the wit of Mother Eve. +</p> + +<p> +“You ce’tainly have a right vivid imagination, ma’am,” he said dryly. +</p> + +<p> +“You are quite sure you have never seen them before?” her velvet voice asked. +</p> + +<p> +He laughed. “Well, no—I can’t say I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“Aren’t you quite sure you have seen them?” +</p> + +<p> +Her eyes rested on him very steadily. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re smart as a whip, Miss Wainwright. I take off my hat to a young lady so +clever. I guess you’re right. About the identity of one of those masked +gentlemen I’m pretty well satisfied.” +</p> + +<p> +She drew a long breath. “I thought so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he went on evenly, “I once earmarked him so that I’d know him again in +case we met.” +</p> + +<p> +“I beg pardon. You—what?” +</p> + +<p> +“Earmarked him. Figure of speech, ma’am. You may not have observed that the +curly-headed person behind the guns was shy the forefinger of his right hand. +We had a little difficulty once when he was resisting arrest, and it just +happened that my gun fanned away his trigger finger.” He added reminiscently: +</p> + +<p> +“A good boy, too, Neil was once. We used to punch together on the Hashknife. A +straight-up rider, the kind a fellow wants when Old Man Trouble comes knocking +at the door. Well, I reckon he’s a miscreant now, all right.” +</p> + +<p> +“They knew <i>you</i>—at least two of them did.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve been pirootin’ around this country, boy and man, for fifteen years. I +ain’t responsible for every yellow dog that knows me,” he drawled. +</p> + +<p> +“And I noticed that when you told them not to rob the children and not to touch +me they did as you said.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hypnotism,” he suggested, with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“So, not being a child, I put two and two together and draw an inference.” +</p> + +<p> +He seemed to be struggling with his mirth. “I see you do. Well, ma’am, I’ve +been most everything since I hit the West, but this is the first time I’ve been +taken for a train robber.” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t say that,” she cried quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“I think you mentioned an inference.” The low laugh welled out of him and broke +in his face. “I’ve been busy on one, too. It’s a heap nearer the truth than +yours, Miss Mackenzie.” +</p> + +<p> +Her startled eyes and the swift movement of her hand toward her heart showed +him how nearly he had struck home, how certainly he had shattered her cool +indifference of manner. +</p> + +<p> +He leaned forward, so close that even in the roar of the train his low whisper +reached her. “Shall I tell you why the hold-ups didn’t find more money on your +father or in the express car, Miss Mackenzie?” +</p> + +<p> +She was shaken, so much so that her agitation trembled on her lips. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I tell you why your hand went to your breast when I first mentioned that +the train was going to be held up, and again when your father’s eyes were +firing a mighty pointed question at you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what you mean,” she retorted, again mistress of herself. +</p> + +<p> +Her gallant bearing compelled his admiration. The scornful eyes, the satirical +lift of the nostrils, the erect, graceful figure, all flung a challenge at him. +He called himself hard names for putting her on the rack, but the necessity to +make her believe in him was strong within him. +</p> + +<p> +“I noticed you went right chalky when I announced the hold-up, and I thought it +was because you were scared. That was where I did you an injustice, ma’am, and +you can call this an apology. You’ve got sand. If it hadn’t been for what you +carry in the chamois skin hanging on the chain round your neck you would have +enjoyed every minute of the little entertainment. You’re as game as they make +them.” +</p> + +<p> +“May I ask how you arrived at this melodramatic conclusion?” she asked, her +disdainful lip curling. +</p> + +<p> +“By using my eyes and my ears, ma’am. I shouldn’t have noticed your likeness to +Major Mackenzie, perhaps, if I hadn’t observed that there was a secret +understanding between you. Now, whyfor should you be passing as strangers? I +could guess one reason, and only one. There have twice been attempted hold-ups +of the paymaster of the Yuba reservoir. It was to avoid any more of these that +Major Mackenzie took charge personally of paying the men. He has made good up +till now. But there have been rumors for months that he would be held up either +before leaving the train or while he was crossing the desert. He didn’t want to +be seen taking the boodle from the express company at Tucson. He would rather +have the impression get out that this was just a casual visit. It occurred to +him to bring along some unsuspected party to help him out. The robbers would +never expect to find the money on a woman. That’s why the major brought his +daughter with him. Doesn’t it make you some uneasy to be carrying fifty +thousand in small bills sewed in your clothes and hung round your neck?” +</p> + +<p> +She broke into musical laughter, natural and easy. “I don’t happen to have +fifty thousand with me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, well, say forty thousand. I’m no wizard to guess the exact figure.” +</p> + +<p> +Her swift glance at him was almost timid. +</p> + +<p> +“Nor forty thousand,” she murmured. +</p> + +<p> +“I should think, ma’am, you’d crinkle more than a silk-lined lady sailing down +a church aisle on Sunday.” +</p> + +<p> +A picture in the magazine she was toying with seemed to interest her. +</p> + +<p> +“I expect that’s the signal for ‘Exit Collins.’ I’ll say good-by till next +time, Miss Mackenzie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, is there going to be a next time?” she asked, with elaborate carelessness. +</p> + +<p> +“Several of them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed!” +</p> + +<p> +He took a notebook from his pocket and wrote. +</p> + +<p> +“I ain’t the son of a prophet, but I’m venturing a prediction,” he explained. +</p> + +<p> +She had nothing to say, and she said it competently. +</p> + +<p> +“Concerning an investment in futurities I’m making,” he continued. +</p> + +<p> +Her magazine article seemed to be beginning, well. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a little guess about how this train robbery is coming out. If you don’t +mind, I’ll leave it with you.” He tore the page out, put it in an empty +envelope, sealed the flap, and handed it to her. +</p> + +<p> +“Open it in a month, and see whether my guess is a good one.” +</p> + +<p> +The dusky lashes swept round indolently. “Suppose I were to open it to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll risk it,” smiled the blue eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“On honor, am I?” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s it.” He held out a big, brown hand. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re going to try to capture the robbers, are you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve been thinking that way—with the help of Lieutenant Bucky O’Connor, I +mean.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I suppose you’ve promised yourself success.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s on the knees of chance, ma’am. We may get them. They may get us.” +</p> + +<p> +“But this prediction of yours?” She held up the sealed envelope. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s about another matter.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I don’t understand. You said—” She gave him a chance to explain. +</p> + +<p> +“It ain’t meant you should. You’ll understand plenty at the proper time.” +</p> + +<p> +He offered her his hand again. “We’re slowing down for Apache. Good-by—till +next time.” +</p> + +<p> +The suede glove came forward, and was buried in his handshake. +</p> + +<p> +He understood it to be an unvoiced apology of its owner for her suspicions, and +his instinct was correct. For how could her doubts hold their ground when he +had showed himself a sharer in her secret and a guardian of it? And how could +anything sinister lie behind those frank, unwavering eyes or consist with that +long, clean stride that was carrying him so forcefully to the vestibule? +</p> + +<p> +At Apache no telegrams were found waiting for those who had been expecting +them. Communication with the division superintendent at Tucson uncovered the +fact that no message of the hold-up had yet reached him. It was an easy guess +for Collins to find the reason. +</p> + +<p> +“We’re in the infant class, major,” he told Mackenzie, with a sardonic laugh. +“Leroy must have galloped down the line direct to the station after the +hold-up. Likely enough he went into the depot just as we went out. That gives +him the other hour or two he needs to make his getaway with the loot. Well, it +can’t be helped now. If I can only reach Bucky there’s one chance in fifty he +can head them off from crossing into Sonora. Soon as I can get together a posse +I’ll take up the trail from the point of the hold-up. But they’ll have a whole +night’s start on me. That’s a big handicap.” +</p> + +<p> +From Apache Collins sent three dispatches. One was to his deputy, Dillon, at +Tucson. It read: +</p> + +<p> +“Get together at once posse of four and outfit same for four days.” +</p> + +<p> +Another went to Sabin, the division superintendent: +</p> + +<p> +“Order special to carry posse with horses from Tucson to Big Gap. Must leave by +midnight. Have track clear.” +</p> + +<p> +The third was a notification to Lieutenant O’Connor, of the Arizona Rangers, of +the hold-up, specifying time and place of the occurrence. The sheriff knew it +was not necessary to add that the bandits were probably heading south to get +into Sonora. Bucky would take that for granted and do his best to cover the +likely spots of the frontier. +</p> + +<p> +It was nearly eleven when the Limited drew in to Tucson. Sabin was on the +platform anxiously awaiting their arrival. Collins reached him even before the +conductor. +</p> + +<p> +“Ordered the special, Mr. Sabin?” he asked, in a low voice. +</p> + +<p> +The railroad man was chewing nervously on an unlit cigar. “Yes, sheriff. You +want only an engine and one car, I suppose.” +</p> + +<p> +“That will be enough. I’ve got to go uptown now and meet Dillon. Midnight +sharp, please.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know how much they got?” Sabin whispered. +</p> + +<p> +“Thirty thousand, I hear, besides what they took from the passengers. The +conductor will tell you all about it. I’ve got to jump to be ready.” +</p> + +<p> +A disappointment awaited him in the telegrapher’s room at the depot. He found a +wire, but not from the person he expected. The ranger in charge at Douglas said +that Lieutenant O’Connor was at Flagstaff, but pending that officer’s return he +would put himself under the orders of Sheriff Collins and wait for +instructions. +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff whistled softly to himself and scratched his head. Bucky would not +have waited for instructions. By this time that live wire would have finished +telephoning all over Southern Arizona and would himself have been in the +saddle. But Bucky in Flagstaff, nearly three hundred miles from the +battlefield, so far as the present emergency went, might just as well be in +Calcutta. Collins wired instructions to the ranger and sent a third message to +the lieutenant. +</p> + +<p> +“I expect I’ll hear this time he’s skipped over to Winslow,” he told himself, +with a rueful grin. +</p> + +<p> +The special with the posse on board drew out at midnight sharp. It reached the +scene of the holdup before daybreak. The loading board was lowered and the +horses led from the car and picketed. Meanwhile two of the men lit a fire and +made breakfast while the others unloaded the outfit and packed for the trail. +The first faint streaks of gray dawn were beginning to fleck the sky when +Collins and Dillon, with a lantern, moved along the railroad bed to the little +clump of cottonwoods where the outlaws had probably lain while they waited for +the express. They scanned this ground inch by inch. The coals where their +camp-fire had been were still alive. Broken bits of food lay scattered about. +Half-trampled into the ground the sheriff picked up a narrow gold chain and +locket. This last he opened, and found it to contain a tiny photograph of a +young mother and babe, both laughing happily. A close search failed to disclose +anything else of interest. +</p> + +<p> +They returned to their companions, ate breakfast, and saddled. It was by this +time light enough to be moving. The trail was easy as a printed map, for the +object of the outlaws had been haste rather than secrecy. The posse covered it +swiftly and without hesitation. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, I wonder why this trail don’t run straight south instead of bearing to +the left into the hills. Looks like they’re going to cache their stolen gold up +in the mountains before they risk crossing into Sonora. They figure Bucky’ll be +on the lookout for them,” the sheriff said to his deputy. +</p> + +<p> +“I believe you’ve guessed it, Val. Stands to reason they’ll want to get rid of +the loot soon as they can. Oh, hell!” +</p> + +<p> +Dillon’s disgust proved justifiable, for the trail had lost itself in a +mountain stream, up or down which the outlaws must have filed. A month later +and the creek would have been dry. But it was still spring. The mountain rains +had not ceased feeding the brook, and of this the outlaws had taken advantage +to wipe out their trail. +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff looked anxiously at the sky. “It’s fixin’ to rain, Jim. Don’t that +beat the Dutch? If it does, that lets us out plenty.” +</p> + +<p> +The men they were after might have gone either upstream or down. It was +impossible to know definitely which, nor was there time to follow both. Already +big drops of rain were splashing down. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll take a chance, and go up. They’re probably up in the hills somewhere +right now,” said Collins, with characteristic decision. +</p> + +<p> +He had guessed right. A mile farther upstream horses had clambered to the bank +and struck deeper into the hills. But already rain was falling in a brisk +shower. The posse had not gone another quarter of a mile before the trail was +washed out. They were now in a rough and rocky country getting every minute +steeper. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s going to be like lookin’ for a needle in a haystack, Val,” Dillon +growled. +</p> + +<p> +Collins nodded. “We ain’t got one chance in a hundred, Jim, but I reckon we’ll +take that chance.” +</p> + +<p> +For three days they blundered around in the hills before they gave it up. The +first night, about dusk, the pursuers were without knowing it so warm that one +of the bandits lay with his rifle on a rock rim not a stone’s throw above them +as they wound through a little ravine. But Collins got no glimpse of the +robbers. At last he reluctantly gave the word to turn back. Probably the men he +wanted had already slipped down to the plains and across to Mexico. If not, +they might play hide and seek with him a month in the recesses of these unknown +mountains. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning the sheriff struck a telephone wire, tapped it, got Sabin on the +line, told him of his failure and that he was returning to Tucson. About the +middle of the afternoon the dispirited posse reached its sidetracked special. +</p> + +<p> +A young man lay stretched full length on the loading board, with a +broad-brimmed felt hat over his eyes. He wore a gray flannel shirt and corduroy +trousers thrust into half-leg laced boots. At the sound of voices he turned +lazily on his side and watched the members of the posse swing wearily from +their saddles. An amiable smile, not wholly free of friendly derision, lit his +good-looking face. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you sheriff,” he drawled. +</p> + +<p> +Collins swung round, as if he had been pricked with a knife point. He stared an +instant before he let out a shout of welcome and fell upon the youth. +</p> + +<p> +“Bucky, by thunder!” +</p> + +<p> +The latter got up nimbly in time to be hospitably thumped and punched. He was a +lithe, slender young fellow, of medium height, and he carried himself lightly +with that manner of sunburned competency given only by the rough-and-tumble +life of the outdoors West. +</p> + +<p> +While the men reloaded the car he and the sheriff stood apart and talked in low +tones. Collins told what he knew, both what he had seen and inferred, and Bucky +heard him to the end. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it ce’tainly looks like one of Wolf Leroy’s jobs,” he agreed. “Nobody +else but Leroy would have had the nerve to follow you right up to the depot and +put the kibosh on sending those wires. He’s surely game from the toes up. Think +of him sittin’ there reading the newspaper half an hour after he held up the +Limited!” +</p> + +<p> +“Did he do that, Bucky?” The sheriff’s tone conceded admiration. +</p> + +<p> +“He did. He’s the only train robber ever in the business that could have done +it. Oh, the Wolf’s tracks are all over this job.” +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt about that. I told you I recognized York Neil by him being shy that +trigger finger I fanned off down at Tombstone. Well, they say he’s one of the +Wolf’s standbys.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. I warned him two months ago that if he didn’t break away he’d die sudden. +Somehow I couldn’t persuade him he was an awful sick man right then. You saw +four of these hold-ups in all, didn’t you, Val?” +</p> + +<p> +“Four’s right. First off Neil, then the fellow I took to be the Wolf. After he +went out a bowlegged fellow came in, and last a slim little kid that was a sure +enough amateur, the way his gun shook.” +</p> + +<p> +“Any notion how many more there were?” +</p> + +<p> +“I figured out two more. A big gazabo in a red wig held up Frost, the engineer. +He knew it was a wig because he saw long black hair peeping out around his +neck. Then there must ’a’ been another in charge of blowing up the express car, +a Mexican, from the description the messenger gives of him.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky nodded. “Looks like you got it figured about right, Val. The Mexican is +easy to account for. The Wolf spends about half his time down in Chihuahua and +trains with some high-class greasers down there. Well, we’ll see what we’ll +see. I’ll set my rangers at rounding up the border towns a bit, and if I don’t +start anything there I’ll hike down into Mexico and see what’s doing. I’ll +count on you to run the Arizona end of it while I’m away, Val. The Wolf’s +outfit is a pretty wild one, and it won’t be long till something begins to +howl. We’ll keep an eye on the gambling halls and see who is burning up money. +Oh, they’ll leave plenty of smoke behind them,” the ranger concluded +cheerfully. +</p> + +<p> +“There will be plenty of smoke if we ever do round ’em up, not to mention a +heap of good lead that will be spilled,” the sheriff agreed placidly. “Well, +all I got to say is the sooner the quicker. The bunch borrowed a mighty good.45 +of mine I need in my biz. I kinder hanker to get it back <i>muy pronto</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Here’s hoping,” Bucky nodded gayly. “I bet there will be a right lively wolf +hunt. Hello! The car’s loaded. All aboard for Tucson.” +</p> + +<p> +The special drew out from the side track and gathered speed. Soon the rhythmic +chant of the rails sounded monotonously, and the plains on either side of the +track swam swiftly to the rear. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0004"></a> +CHAPTER IV.<br/> +A BLUFF IS CALLED</h2> + +<p> +Torpid lay Aravaipa in a coma of sunheat. Its adobe-lined streets basked in the +white glare of an Arizona spring at midday. One or two Papago Indians, with +their pottery wares, squatted in the shade of the buildings, but otherwise the +plaza was deserted. Not even a moving dog or a lounging peon lent life to the +drowsy square. Silence profound and peace eternal seemed to brood over the +land. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the impression borne in upon the young man riding townward on a wiry +buckskin that had just topped the rise which commanded the valley below. The +rider presented a striking enough appearance to take and hold the roving eye of +any young woman in search of romance. He was a slender, lithe young Adonis of +medium height. His hair and eyebrows left one doubtful whether to pronounce +them black or brown, but the eyes called for an immediate verdict of Irish +blue. Every inch of him spoke of competency—promised mastership of any +situation likely to arise. But when the last word is said it was the eyes that +dominated the personality. They could run the whole gamut of emotions, or they +could be impervious as a stone wall. Now they were deep and innocent as a +girl’s, now they rollicked with the buoyant youth in them. Comrades might see +them bubbling with fun, and the next moment enemies find them opaque as a +leaden sky. Not the least wonder of them was that they looked out from under +long lashes, soft enough for any maiden, at a world they appraised with the +shrewdness of a veteran. +</p> + +<p> +The young man drew rein above the valley, sitting his horse in the easy, +negligent fashion of one that lives in the saddle. A thumb was hitched +carelessly in the front pocket of his chaps, which pocket served also as a +holster for the .45 that protruded. +</p> + +<p> +Even in the moment that he sat there a change came over Aravaipa. As a summer +shower sweeps across a lake so something had ruffled the town to sudden life. +From stores and saloons men dribbled, converging toward a common centre +hurriedly. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon, Bucky, the band has begun to play,” the rider told himself aloud. +“Mebbe we better move on down in time for the music.” +</p> + +<p> +But no half-expected revolver shots shattered the stillness, even though +interest did not abate. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s ce’tainly something doing at the Silver Dollar this glad mo’ning. +Chinks, greasers, and several other kinds of citizens driftin’ that way, not to +mention white men. I expect there will be room for you, Bucky, if you hurry +before the seats are all sold out.” +</p> + +<p> +He cantered down the plaza, swung from the saddle, threw the rein over the +pony’s head to the ground, and jingled across the sidewalk into the gambling +house. It was filled with a motley crowd of miners, vaqueros, tourists, +cattlemen, Mexicans, Chinese, and a sample of the rest of the heterogeneous +population of the Southwest. Behind this assemblage the newcomer tiptoed in +vain to catch a glimpse of the cause of the excitement. Wherefore, he calmly +removed an almond-eyed Oriental from a chair on which he was standing, tipped +the ex-Cantonese a half dollar, and appropriated the point of vantage himself. +</p> + +<p> +There was a cleared space in the corner by the roulette table, and here, his +chair tipped back against the wall and a glass of whisky in front of him, sat a +sufficiently strange specimen of humanity. He was a man of about fifty years, +large boned and gaunt. Dressed in fringed buckskin trousers and a silver-laced +Mexican sombrero, he affected the long hair, the sweeping mustache, and the +ferocious aspect that are the custom of the pseudo-Westerners who do business +in the East with fake medical remedies. Around his waist was a belt garnished +with knives by the dozen. These were long and pointed, sharpened to a razor +edge. One of them was in his hand poised for a throw at the instant Bucky +mounted the chair and looked over the densely packed mass of heads in front of +him. +</p> + +<p> +The ranger’s keen glance swept to the wall and took in the target. A slim lad +of about fifteen stood against it with his arms outstretched. Above and below +each hand and on either side of the swelling throat knives quivered in the +frame wall. There was a flash of steel, and the seventh knife sank into the +wood so close to the crisp curls that a lock hung by a hair, almost completely +severed by the blade. The boy choked back a scream, his big brown eyes dilating +with terror. +</p> + +<p> +The bully sipped at his highball and deliberately selected another knife. To +Bucky’s swift inspection it was plain he had drunk too much and that a very +little slip might make an end of the boy. The fascinated horror in the lad’s +gaze showed that he realized his danger. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, f’ler cit’zens, I will continue for your ’musement by puttin’ next two +knives on right and lef’ sides of his cheek. Observe, pleash, that these will +land less than an inch from hish eyes. As the champion knife thrower in the +universe I claim—” +</p> + +<p> +What he claimed his audience had to guess, for at this instant another person +took a part in the act. Bucky had stepped lightly across the intervening space +on the shoulders of the tightly packed crowd and had dropped as lightly to the +ground in front of the astonished champion of the universe. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon you’ve about wore out that target. What’s the matter with trying a +brand new one,” drawled the ranger, his quiet, unwavering eye fixed on the +bloated, mottled face of the imitation “bad man.” +</p> + +<p> +The bully, half seas over, leaned forward and gripped his knife. He was sober +enough to catch the jeer running through the other’s words without being +sufficiently master of himself to appreciate the menace that underlay them. +</p> + +<p> +“Wha’s that? Say that again!” he burst out, purple to the collar line. He was +not used to having beardless boys with long, soft eyelashes interfering with +his amusements, and a blind rage flooded his heart. +</p> + +<p> +“I allowed that a change of targets would vary the entertainment, if you +haven’t any objections, seh,” the blue-eyed stranger explained mildly. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is this kid?” demanded the bully, with a sweep of his arm toward the +intruder. +</p> + +<p> +Nobody seemed to know, wherefore the ranger himself gave the information +mildly: +</p> + +<p> +“Bucky O’Connor they call me.” +</p> + +<p> +A faint murmur of surprise soughed through the crowd, for Bucky O’Connor of the +Arizona Rangers was by way of being a public hero just now on account of his +capture of Fernendez, the stage robber. But the knife thrower had but lately +arrived in the country. The youth carried with him none of the earmarks of his +trade, unless it might be that quiet, steady gaze that seemed to search the +soul. His voice was soft and drawling, his manner almost apologetic. In the +smile that came and went was something sweet and sunny, in his bearing a gay +charm that did not advertise the recklessness that bubbled from his daredevil +spirit. Surely here was an easy victim upon whom to vent his spleen, thought +the other in his growing passion. +</p> + +<p> +“You want to be my target, do you?” he demanded, tugging ferociously at his +long mustache. +</p> + +<p> +“If you please, seh.” +</p> + +<p> +The fellow swore a vile oath. “Just as you say. Line up beside the other kid.” +</p> + +<p> +With three strides Bucky reached the wall, and turned. +</p> + +<p> +“Let ’er go,” his gentle voice murmured. +</p> + +<p> +He was leaning back easily against the wall, his thumb hitched carelessly in +the revolver pocket of his worn leather chaps. He looked at ease, every jaunty +inch of him, but a big bronzed cattleman who had just pushed his way in noticed +that the frosty blue eyes never released for an instant those of the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +The bully at the table passed an uncertain hand over his face to clear his +blurred vision, poised the cruel blade in his hand, and sent it flashing +forward with incredible swiftness. The steel buried itself two inches deep in +the soft pine beside Bucky’s head. So close had it shaved him that a drop of +blood gathered and dropped from his ear to the floor. +</p> + +<p> +“Good shot,” commented the ranger quietly, and on the instant his revolver +seemed to leap from its holster to his hand. Without raising or moving his arm +in the least, Bucky fired. +</p> + +<p> +Again a murmur eddied through the crowd. The bullet had neatly bored the +bully’s ear. He raised his hand in dazed fashion and brought it away covered +with blood. With staring eyes he looked at his moist red fingers, then at his +latest victim, who was proving such an unexpected surprise. +</p> + +<p> +The big cattleman, who by this time had pushed a way with his broad shoulders +to the front, observed the two men attentively with a derisive smile on his +frank face. He was seeing a bluff called, and he enjoyed it. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll be able to wear earrings, Mr. Champion of the Universe, after I have +ventilated the other,” suggested the ranger affably. “Come again, seh.” +</p> + +<p> +But his opponent had had enough, and more than enough. It was one thing to +browbeat a harmless boy, quite another to measure courage with a young gamecock +like this. He had all the advantage of the first move. He was an expert and +could drive his first throw into the youth’s heart. But at bottom he was a +coward and lacked the nerve, if not the inclination, to kill. If he took up +that devil-may-care challenge he must fight it out alone. Moreover, as his +furtive glance went round the ring of faces, he doubted whether a rope and the +nearest telegraph pole might not be his fate if he went the limit. Sourly he +accepted defeat, raging in his craven spirit at the necessity. +</p> + +<p> +“Hell! I don’t fight with boys,” he snarled, +</p> + +<p> +“So?” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky moved forward with the curious lightness of a man spring-footed. His gaze +held the other’s shifting eyes as he plucked the knife from his opponent’s +hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Unbuckle that belt,” he ordered. +</p> + +<p> +All said, the eye is a prince of weapons. It is a moral force more potent than +the physical, and by it men may measure strength to a certainty. So now these +two clinched and battled with it till the best man won. The showman’s look gave +way before the stark courage of the other. His was no match for the +inscrutable, unwavering eye that commanded him. His fingers began to twitch, +edged slowly toward his waist. For an instant they fumbled at the buckle of the +belt, which presently fell with a rattle to the floor. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, roll yore trail to the wall. Face this way! Arms out! That’s good! You +rest there comfortable while I take these pins down and let the kid out.” +</p> + +<p> +He removed the knives that hemmed in the boy and supported the half-fainting +figure to a chair beside the roulette table. But always he remained in such a +position as to keep the big bully he was baiting in view. The boy dropped into +the chair and covered his face with his hands, sobbing with deep, broken +breaths. The ranger touched caressingly the crisp, fair hair that covered the +head in short curls. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you worry, bub. Now, don’t you. It’s all over with now. That coyote +won’t pester you any more. Will you, Mr. False Alarm Bad Man?” +</p> + +<p> +At the last words he wheeled suddenly to the showman. “You’re right sorry +already you got so gay, ain’t you? Come! Speak yore little piece, please.” +</p> + +<p> +He waited for an answer, and his gaze held fast to the bloated face that +cringed before his attack. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s your name?” +</p> + +<p> +“Jay Hardman,” quavered the now thoroughly sobered bad man. +</p> + +<p> +“Dead easy jay, I reckon you mean. Now, chirp, up and tell the boy how sorry +you are you got fresh with your hardware.” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s my boy. I guess I can do what I like with him,” the man burst out +angrily. “I wasn’t hurting him any, either. That’s part of our show, to—” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky fondled suggestively the revolver in his hand. A metallic click came to +his victim. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you shoot at me again,” the man broke off to scream. +</p> + +<p> +The Colt clipped the sentence and the man’s other ear. +</p> + +<p> +“You can put in your order now for them earrings we were mentionin’, Mr. +Deadeasy. You see, I had to puncture this one so folks would know they were +mates.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll put you in the pen for this,” the fellow whined, in terror. +</p> + +<p> +“Funny how you will get off the subject. We were discussin’ an apology when you +got to wandering in yore haid.” +</p> + +<p> +The mottled face showed white in patches. Beads of perspiration stood out on +the forehead of Hardman. “I didn’t aim to hurt him any. I’ll be right glad to +explain to you—” +</p> + +<p> +A bullet plowed a path through the long hair that fell to the showman’s +shoulders and snipped a lock from it. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t need to explain a thing to me, seh. I’m sure resting easy in my +mind. But as you were about to re-mark you’re fair honin’ for a chance to ask +the kid’s pardon. Now, ain’t I a mind reader, seh?” +</p> + +<p> +A trembling voice stammered huskily an apology. +</p> + +<p> +“Better late than too late. Now, I’ve a good mind to take a vote whether I’d +better unload the rest of the pills in this old reliable medicine box at you. +Mebbe I ought to pump one into that coyote heart of yours.” +</p> + +<p> +The fellow went livid. “My God, you wouldn’t kill an unarmed man, would you?” +</p> + +<p> +For answer the ranger tossed the weapon on the table with a scornful laugh and +strode up to the other. The would-be bad man towered six inches above him, and +weighed half as much again. But O’Connor whirled him round, propelled him +forward to the door, and kicked him into the street. +</p> + +<p> +“I’d hate to waste a funeral on <i>him</i>,” he said, as he sauntered back to +the boy at the table. +</p> + +<p> +The lad was beginning to recover, though his breath still came with a catch. +His rag of a handkerchief was dabbing tears out of his eyes. O’Connor noticed +how soft his hands and how delicate his features. +</p> + +<p> +“This kid ain’t got any more business than a rabbit going around in the show +line with that big scoundrel. He’s one of these gentle, rock-me-to-sleep-mother +kids that ought to stay in the home nest and not go buttin’ into this hard +world. I’ll bet a doughnut he’s an orphan, though.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky had been brought up in the school of experience, where every student +keeps his own head or goes to the wall. All his short life he had played a lone +hand, as he would have phrased it. He had campaigned in Cuba as a mere boy. He +had ridden the range and held his own on the hurricane deck of a bucking +broncho. From cowpunching he had graduated into the tough little body of +territorial rangers at the head of which was “Hurry Up” Millikan. This had +brought him a large and turbulent experience in the knack of taking care of +himself under all circumstances. Naturally, a man of this type, born and bred +to the code of the outdoors West, could not fail of a certain contempt for a +boy that broke down and cried when the game was going against him. +</p> + +<p> +But Bucky’s contempt was tolerant, after all. He could not deny his sympathy to +a youngster in trouble. Again he touched gently the lad’s crisp curls of +burnished gold. +</p> + +<p> +“Brace up, bub. The worst is yet to come,” he laughed awkwardly. “I reckon +there’s no use spillin’ any more emotion over it. He ain’t your dad, is he?” +</p> + +<p> +The lad’s big brown eyes looked up into the serene blue ones and found comfort +in their strength. “No, he’s my uncle—and my master.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is a free country, son. We don’t have masters if we’re good Americans, +though we all have to take orders from our superior officers. You don’t need to +serve this fellow unless you want to. That’s a cinch.” +</p> + +<p> +The boy’s troubled eyes were filmed with reminiscent terror. “You don’t know +him. He is terrible when he is angry,” he murmured. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think it,” returned Bucky contemptuously. “He’s the worst blowhard +ever. Say the word and I’ll run the piker out of town for you.” +</p> + +<p> +The boy whipped up the sleeve of the fancy Mexican jacket he wore and showed a +long scar on his arm. “He did that one day when he was angry at me. He +pretended to others that it was an accident, but I knew better. This morning I +begged him to let me leave him. He beat me, but he was still mad; and when he +took to drinking I was afraid he would work himself up to stick me again with +one of his knives.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky looked at the scar in the soft, rounded arm and swept the boy with a +sudden puzzled glance that was not suspicion but wonder. +</p> + +<p> +“How long have you been with him, kid?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, for years. Ever since I was a little fellow. He took me after my father +and mother died of yellow fever in New Orleans. His wife hates me too, but they +have to have me in the show.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I guess you had better quit their company. What’s your name?” +</p> + +<p> +“Frank Hardman. On the show bills I have all sorts of names.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Frank, how would you like to go to live on a ranch?” +</p> + +<p> +“Where he wouldn’t know I was?” whispered the boy eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“If you like. I know a ranch where you’d be right welcome.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would work. I would do anything I could. Really, I would try to pay my way, +and I don’t eat much,” Frank cried, his eyes as appealing as a homeless +puppy’s. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky smiled. “I expect they can stand all you eat without going to the +poorhouse. It’s a bargain then. I’ll take you out there to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re so good to me. I never had anybody be so good before.” Tears stood in +the big eyes and splashed over. +</p> + +<p> +“Cut out the water works, kid. You want to take a brace and act like a man,” +advised his new friend brusquely. +</p> + +<p> +“I know. I know. If you knew what I have done maybe you wouldn’t ask me to go +with you. I—I can’t tell you anything more than that,” the youngster sobbed. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, well. What’s the diff? You’re making a new start to-day. Ain’t that +right?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Call me Bucky.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir. Bucky, I mean.” +</p> + +<p> +A hand fell on the ranger’s shoulder and a voice in his ear. “Young man, I want +you.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant whirled like a streak of lightning, finger on trigger already. +“I’ll trouble you for yore warrant, seh,” he retorted. +</p> + +<p> +The man confronting him was the big cattleman who had entered the Silver Dollar +in time to see O’Connor’s victory over the showman. Now he stood serenely under +Bucky’s gun and laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“Put up your .45, my friend. It’s a peaceable conference I want with you.” +</p> + +<p> +The level eyes of the young man fastened on those of the cattleman, and, before +he spoke again, were satisfied. For both of these men belonged to the old West +whose word is as good as its bond, that West which will go the limit for a +cause once under taken without any thought of retreat, regardless of the odds +or the letter of the law. Though they had never met before, each knew at a +glance the manner of man the other was. +</p> + +<p> +“All right, seh. If you want me I reckon I’m here large as life,” the ranger +said, +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll adjourn to the poker room upstairs then, Mr. O’Connor.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky laid a hand on the shoulder of the boy. “This kid goes with me. I’m +keeping an eye on him for the present.” +</p> + +<p> +“My business is private, but I expect that can be arranged. We’ll take the +inner room and let him have the outer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good enough. Break trail, seh. Come along, Frank.” +</p> + +<p> +Having reached the poker room upstairs, that same private room which had seen +many a big game in its day between the big cattle kings and mining men of the +Southwest, Bucky’s host ordered refreshments and then unfolded his business. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t know me, lieutenant, do you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I haven’t that pleasure, seh.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am Major Mackenzie’s brother.” +</p> + +<p> +“Webb Mackenzie, who came from Texas last year and bought the Rocking Chair +Ranch?” +</p> + +<p> +“The same.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m right glad to meet you, seh.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I can say the same.” +</p> + +<p> +Webb Mackenzie was so distinctively a product of the West that no other segment +of the globe could have produced him. Big, raw-boned, tanned to a leathery +brick-brown, he was as much of the frontier as the ten thousand cows he owned +that ran the range on half as many hills and draws. He stood six feet two and +tipped the beam at two hundred twelve pounds, not an ounce of which was +superfluous flesh. Temperamentally, he was frank, imperious, free-hearted, what +men call a prince. He wore a loose tailor-made suit of brown stuff and a +broad-brimmed light-gray Stetson. For the rest, you may see a hundred like him +at the yearly stock convention held in Denver, but you will never meet a man +even among them with a sounder heart or better disposition. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve got a story to tell you, Lieutenant O’Connor,” he began. “I’ve been +meaning to see you and tell it ever since you made good in that Fernendez +matter. It wasn’t your gameness. Anybody can be game. But it looked to me like +you were using the brains in the top of your head, and that happens so seldom +among law officers I wanted to have a talk with you. Since yesterday I’ve been +more anxious. For why? I got a letter from my brother telling me Sheriff +Collins showed him a locket he found at the place of the T. P. Limited hold-up. +That locket has in it a photograph of my wife and little girl. For fifteen +years I haven’t seen that picture. When I saw it last ’twas round my little +baby’s neck. What’s more, I haven’t seen her in that time, either.” +</p> + +<p> +Mackenzie stopped, swallowed hard, and took a drink of water. +</p> + +<p> +“You haven’t seen your little girl in fifteen years,” exclaimed Bucky. +</p> + +<p> +“Haven’t seen or heard of her. So far as I know she may not be alive now. This +locket is the first hint I have had since she was taken away, the very first +news of her that has reached me, and I don’t know what to make of that. One of +the robbers must have been wearing it, the way I figure it out. Where did he +get it? That’s what I want to know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose you tell me the story, seh,” suggested the ranger gently. +</p> + +<p> +The cattleman offered O’Connor a cigar and lit one himself. For a minute he +puffed slowly at his Havana, leaning far back in his chair with eyes +reminiscent and half shut. Then he shook himself back into the present and +began his tale. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t reckon you ever heard tell of Dave Henderson. It was back in Texas I +knew him, and he’s been missing sixteen years come the eleventh of next August. +For fifteen years I haven’t mentioned his name, because Dave did me the +dirtiest wrong that one man ever did another. Back in the old days he and I +used to trail together. We was awful thick, and mostly hunted in couples. We +began riding the same season back on the old Kittredge Ranch, and we went in +together for all the kinds of spreeing that young fellows who are footloose are +likely to do. Fact is, we suited each other from the ground up. We frolicked +round a-plenty, like young colts will, and there was nothing on this green +earth Dave could have asked from me that I wouldn’t have done for him. Nothing +except one, I reckon, and Dave never asked that of me.” +</p> + +<p> +Mackenzie puffed at his cigar a silent moment before resuming. “It happened we +both fell in love with the same girl, little Frances Clark, of the Double T +Ranch. Dave was a better looker than me and a more taking fellow, but somehow +Frances favored me from the start. Dave stayed till the finish, and when he +seen he had lost he stood up with me at the wedding. We had agreed, you see, +that whoever won it wasn’t to break up our friendship. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Frankie and I were married, and in course of time we had two children. +My boy, Tom, is the older. The other was a little girl, named after her +mother.” The cattleman waited a moment to steady his voice, and spoke through +teeth set deep in his Havana. “I haven’t seen her, as I said, since she was two +years and ten months old—not since the night Dave disappeared.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky looked up quickly with a question on his lips, but he did not need to +word it. +</p> + +<p> +Mackenzie nodded. “Yes, Dave took her with him when he lit out across the line +for Mexico.” +</p> + +<p> +But I’ll have to go back to something that happened earlier. About three months +before this time Dave and me were riding through a cut in the Sierra Diablo +Mountains, when we came on a Mexican who had been wounded by the Apaches. I +reckon we had come along just in time to scare them off before they finished +him. We did our best for him, but he died in about two hours. Before dying, he +made us a present of a map we found in his breast pocket. It showed the +location of a very rich mine he had found, and as he had no near kin he turned +it over to us to do with as we pleased. +</p> + +<p> +“Just then the round-up came on, and we were too busy to pay much attention to +the mine. Each of us would have trusted the other with his life, or so I +thought. But we cut the paper in half, each of us keeping one part, in order +that nobody else could steal the secret from the one that held the paper. The +last time I had been in El Paso I had bought my little girl a gold chain with +two lockets pendent. These lockets opened by a secret spring, and in one of +them I put my half of the map. It seemed as safe a place as I could devise, for +the chain never left the child’s neck, and nobody except her mother, Dave, and +I knew that it was placed there. Dave hid his half under a rock that was known +to both of us. The strange thing about the story is that my false friend, in +the hurry of his flight, forgot to take his section of the map with him. I +found it under the rock next day, so that his vile treachery availed him +nothing from a mercenary point of view.” +</p> + +<p> +“Didn’t take his half of the map with him. That’s right funny,” Bucky mused +aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“We never could understand why he didn’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mebbe if you understood that a heap of things might be clear that are dark +now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mebbe. Knowing Dave Henderson as I did, or, rather, as I thought I did, such +treachery as his was almost unbelievable. He was the sweetest, sunniest soul I +ever knew, and no two brothers could have been as fond of each other as we +seemed to be. But there was no chance of mistake. He had gone, and taken our +child with him, likely in accordance with a plan of revenge long cherished by +him. We never heard of him or the child again. They disappeared as completely +as if the earth had swallowed them up. Our cook, too, left with him that evil +night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your cook?” It was the second comment Bucky had ventured, and it came +incisively. “What manner of man was he?” +</p> + +<p> +“A huge, lumbering braggart. I could never understand why Dave took the man +with him.” +</p> + +<p> +“If he did.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I tell you he did. They disappeared the same night, and the trail showed +they went the same road. We followed them for about an hour next day, but a +heavy rain came up and blotted out the tracks.” +</p> + +<p> +“What was the cook’s name?” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeff Anderson.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you a picture of him, or one of your friend?” +</p> + +<p> +“Back at the ranch I had pictures of Dave, but I burned them after he left. +Yes, I reckon we have one of Anderson, standing in front of the chuck wagon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Send it to me, please.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right.” +</p> + +<p> +The ranger asked a few questions that made clearer the situation on the day of +the kidnapping, and some more concerning Anderson, then fell again into the +role of a listener while Mackenzie concluded his story. +</p> + +<p> +“All these years I have kept my eyes open, confident that at last I would +discover something that would help me to discover the whereabouts of my child, +or, at least, give me a chance to punish the scoundrel who betrayed my +confidence. Yesterday my brother’s letter gave the first clue we have had. I +want that lead worked. Ferret this thing out to the bottom, lieutenant. Get me +something definite to go on. That’s what I want you to do. Run the thing to +earth, get at the facts, and find my child for me. I’ll give you carte blanche +up to a hundred thousand dollars. All I ask of you is to make good. Find the +little girl, or else bring me face to face with that villain Henderson. Can you +do it?” +</p> + +<p> +O’Connor was strangely interested in this story of treachery and mystery. He +rose with shining eyes and held out his hand. “I don’t know, seh, but I’ll try +damned hard to do three things: find out what has become of the little girl, of +Dave Henderson, and of the scoundrel who stole your baby because he thought the +map was in the pocket.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean that you don’t think Dave—” +</p> + +<p> +“That is exactly what I mean. Your cook, Anderson, kidnapped the child, looks +like to me. I saw that locket Collins found. My guess was that the marks on the +end of the chain were deep teeth marks. The man that stole your baby tried +first to cut the chain with his teeth so as to steal the chain. You see, he +could not find the clasp in the dark. Then the child wakened and began to cry. +He clapped a hand over its mouth and carried the little girl out of the room. +Then he heard somebody moving about, lost his nerve, and jumped on the horse +that was waiting, saddled, at the door. He took the child along simply because +he had to in order to get the chain and the secret he thought it held.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps; but that does not prove it was not Dave.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s contributory evidence, seh. Your friend could have slipped the chain from +her neck any day, or he could have opened the locket and taken the map. No need +for him to steal in at night. Do you happen to remember whether your little +girl had any particular aversion to the cook?” +</p> + +<p> +The cattleman’s forehead frowned in thought. “I do remember, now, that she was +afraid of him. She always ran screaming to her mother when he tried to be +friendly with her. He was a sour sort of fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +“That helps out the case a heap, for it shows that he wanted to make friends +with her and she refused. He was thus forced to take the chain when she was +asleep instead of playing with her till he had discovered the spring and could +simply take the map.” +</p> + +<p> +“But he didn’t know anything about the map. He was not in our confidence.” +</p> + +<p> +“You and your friend talked it over evenings when he was at the ranch, and +other places, too, I expect.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, our talk kind of gravitated that way whenever we got together.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, this fellow overheard you. That’s probable, at least.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you’re ignoring the important fact. Dave disappeared too that night, with +my little girl.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky cut in sharply with a question. “Did he? How do you know he disappeared +<i>with</i> her? Why not <i>after?</i> That’s the theory my mind is groping on +just now.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a blind trail to me. Why <i>after?</i> And what difference does it +make?” +</p> + +<p> +“All the difference in the world. If he left after the cook, you have been +doing him an injustice for fifteen years, seh.” +</p> + +<p> +Mackenzie leaned forward, excitement burning in his eyes. “Prove that, young +man, and I’ll thank you to the last day of my life. It’s for my wife’s sake +more than my own I want my little girl back. She jes’ pines for her every day +of her life. But for my friend—if you can give me back the clean memory of Dave +you’ll have done a big thing for me, Mr. O’Connor.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s only a working theory, but this is what I’m getting at. You and Henderson +had arranged to take an early start on a two days’ deer hunt next mo’ning. +That’s what you told me, isn’t it?” +</p> + +<p> +“We were to start about four. Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, let’s suppose a case. Along comes Dave before daybreak, when the first +hooters were beginning to call. Just as he reaches your ranch he notices a +horse slipping away in the darkness. Perhaps he hears the little girl cry out. +Anyhow, instead of turning in at the gate, he decides to follow. Probably he +isn’t sure there’s anything wrong, but when he finds out how the horse he’s +after is burning the wind his suspicions grow stronger. He settles down to a +long chase. In the darkness, we’ll say, he loses his man, but when it gets +lighter he picks up the trail again. The tracks lead south, across the line +into Mexico. Still he keeps plodding on. The man in front sees him behind and +gets scared because he can’t shake him off. Very likely he thinks it is you on +his track. Anyhow, while the child is asleep he waits in ambush, and when +Henderson rides up he shoots him down. Then he pushes on deeper into Chihuahua, +and proceeds to lose himself there by changing his name.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think he murdered Dave?” The cattleman got up and began to pace up and +down the floor. +</p> + +<p> +“I think it possible.” +</p> + +<p> +Webb Mackenzie’s face was pallid, but there was a new light of hope in it. “I +believe you’re right. God knows I hope so. That may sound a horrible thing to +say of my best friend, but if it has got to be one or the other—if it is +certain that my old bunkie came to his death foully in Chihuahua while trying +to save my baby, or is alive to-day, a skulking coward and villain—with all my +heart I hope he is dead.” He spoke with a passionate intensity which showed how +much he had cared for his early friend, and how much the latter’s apparent +treachery had cut him. “I hope you’ll never have a friend go back on you, Mr. +O’Connor, the one friend you would have banked on to a finish. Why, Dave +Henderson saved my life from a bunch of Apaches once when it was dollars to +doughnuts he would lose his own if he tried it. We were prospecting in the +Galiuros together, and one mo’ning when he went down to the creek to water the +hawsses he sighted three of the red devils edging up toward the cabin. There +might have been fifty of them there for all he knew, and he had a clear run to +the plains if he wanted to back one of the ponies and take it. Most any man +would have saved his own skin, but not Dave. He hoofed it back to the cabin, +under fire every foot of the way, and together we made it so hot for them that +they finally gave up getting us. We were in the Texas Rangers together, and +pulled each other through a lot of close places. And then at the end—Why, it +hurt me more than it did losing my own little girl.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky nodded. Since he was a man and not a father, he could understand how the +hurt would rankle year after year at the defalcation of his comrade. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s another kink we have got to unravel in this tangle. First off, there’s +your little girl, to find if she is still alive. Second, we must locate Dave +Henderson or his grave. Third, there’s something due the scoundrel who is +responsible for this. Fourthly, brethren, there’s that map section to find. And +lastly, we’ve got to find just how this story you’ve told me got mixed with the +story of the holdup of the Limited. For it ce’tainly looks as if the two hang +together. I take it that the thing to do is to run down the gang that held up +the Limited. Once we do that, we ought to find the key to the mystery of your +little girl’s disappearance. Or, at least, there is a chance we shall. And it’s +chances we’ve got to gamble on in this thing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good enough. I like the way you go at this. Already I feel a heap better than +I did.” +</p> + +<p> +“If the cards fall our way you’re going to get this thing settled once for all. +I can’t promise my news will be good news when I get it, but anything will be +better than the uncertainty you’ve been in, I take it,” said Bucky, rising from +his chair. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re right there. But, wait a moment. Let’s drink to your success.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m not much of a sport,” Bucky smiled. “Fact is, I never drink, seh.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course. I remember, now. You’re the good bad man of the West,” Mackenzie +answered amiably. “Well, I drink to you. Here’s good hunting, lieutenant.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose you’ll get right at this thing?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve got to take that kid in the next room out to my ranch first. I won’t +stand for that knife thrower making a slave of him.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter with me taking the boy out to the Rocking Chair with me? My +wife and I will see he’s looked after till you return.” +</p> + +<p> +“That would be the best plan, if it won’t trouble you too much. We’d better +keep his whereabouts quiet till this fellow Hardman is out of the country.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, though I hardly think he’d be fool enough to show up at the Rocking +Chair. If my vaqueros met up with him prowling around they might show him as +warm a welcome as you did half an hour ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“A chapping would sure do him a heap of good,” grinned Bucky, and so dismissed +the Champion of the World from his mind. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0005"></a> +CHAPTER V.<br/> +BUCKY ENTERTAINS</h2> + +<p> +Bucky began at once to tap the underground wires his official position made +accessible to him. These ran over Southern Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua. All +the places to which criminals or frontiersmen with money were wont to resort +were reported upon. For the ranger’s experience had taught him that since the +men he wanted had money in their pockets to burn gregarious impulse would drive +them from the far silent places of the desert to the roulette and faro tables +where the wolf and the lamb disport themselves together. +</p> + +<p> +The photograph from Webb Mackenzie of the cook Anderson reached him at Tucson +the third day after his interview with that gentleman, at the same time that +Collins dropped in on him to inquire what progress he was making. +</p> + +<p> +O’Connor told him of the Aravaipa episode, and tossed across the table to him +the photograph he had just received. +</p> + +<p> +“If we could discover the gent that sat for this photo it might help us. You +don’t by any chance know him, do you, Val?” +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff shook his head. “Not in my rogues’ gallery, Bucky.” +</p> + +<p> +The ranger again examined the faded picture. A resemblance in it to somebody he +had met recently haunted vaguely his memory. As he looked the indefinite +suggestion grew sharp and clear. It was a photograph of the showman who had +called himself Hardman. All the trimmings were lacking, to be sure—the fierce +mustache, the long hair, the buckskin trappings, none of them were here. But +beyond a doubt it was the same shifty-eyed villain. Nor did it shake Bucky’s +confidence that Mackenzie had seen him and failed to recognize the man as his +old cook. The fellow was thoroughly disguised, but the camera had happened to +catch that curious furtive glance of his. But for that O’Connor would never +have known the two to be the same. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky was at the telephone half an hour. In the middle of the next afternoon +his reward came in the form of a Western Union billet. It read: +</p> + +<p> +“Eastern man says you don’t want what is salable here.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant cut out every other word and garnered the wheat of the message: +</p> + +<p> +“Man you want is here.” +</p> + +<p> +The telegram was marked from Epitaph, and for that town the ranger and the +sheriff entrained immediately. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky’s eye searched in vain the platform of the Epitaph depot for Malloy, of +the Rangers, whose wire had brought him here. The cause of the latter’s absence +was soon made clear to him in a note he found waiting for him at the hotel: +</p> + +<p> +“The old man has just sent me out on hurry-up orders. Don’t know when I’ll get +back. Suggest you take in the show at the opera house to-night to pass the +time.” +</p> + +<p> +It was the last sentence that caught Bucky’s attention. Jim Malloy had not +written it except for a reason. Wherefore the lieutenant purchased two tickets +for the performance far back in the house. From the local newspaper he gathered +that the showman was henceforth to be a resident of Epitaph. Mr. Jay Hardman, +or Signor Raffaello Cavellado, as he was known the world over by countless +thousands whom he had entertained, had purchased a corral and livery stable at +the corner of Main and Boothill Streets and solicited the patronage of the +citizens of Hualpai County. That was the purport of the announcement which +Bucky ringed with a pencil and handed to his friend. +</p> + +<p> +That evening Signor Raffaello Cavellado made a great hit with his audience. He +swaggered through his act magnificently, and held his spectators breathless. +Bucky took care to see that a post and the sheriff’s big body obscured him from +view during the performance. +</p> + +<p> +After it was over O’Connor and the sheriff returned to the hotel, where also +Hardman was for the present staying, and sent word up to his room that one of +the audience who had admired very much the artistic performance would like the +pleasure of drinking a glass of wine with Signor Cavellado if the latter would +favor him with his company in room seven. The Signor was graciously pleased to +accept, and followed his message of acceptance in person a few minutes later. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky remained quietly in the corner of the room back of the door until the +showman had entered, and while the latter was meeting Collins he silently +locked the door and pocketed the key. +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff acknowledged Hardman’s condescension brusquely and without shaking +hands. “Glad to meet you, seh. But you’re mistaken in one thing. I’m not your +host. This gentleman behind you is.” +</p> + +<p> +The man turned and saw Bucky, who was standing with his back against the door, +a bland smile on his face. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, seh. I’m your host to-night. Sheriff Collins, hyer, is another guest. I’m +glad to have the pleasure of entertaining you, Signor Raffaello Cavellado,” +Bucky assured him, in his slow, gentle drawl, without reassuring him at all. +</p> + +<p> +For the fellow was plainly disconcerted at recognition of his host. He turned +with a show of firmness to Collins. “If you’re a sheriff, I demand to have that +door opened at once,” he blustered. +</p> + +<p> +Val put his hands in his pockets and tipped back his chair. “I ain’t sheriff of +Hualpai County. My jurisdiction don’t extend here,” he said calmly. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m an unarmed man,” pleaded Cavellado. +</p> + +<p> +“Come to think of it, so am I.” +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon I’m holding all the aces, Signor Cavellado,” explained the ranger +affably. “Or do you prefer in private life to be addressed as Hardman—or, say, +Anderson?” +</p> + +<p> +The showman moistened his lips and offered his tormentor a blanched face. +</p> + +<p> +“Anderson—a good plain name. I wonder, now, why you changed it?” Bucky’s +innocent eyes questioned him blandly as he drew from his pocket a little box +and tossed it on the table. “Open that box for me, Mr. Anderson. Who knows? It +might explain a heap of things to us.” +</p> + +<p> +With trembling fingers the big coward fumbled at the string. With all his +fluent will he longed to resist, but the compelling eyes that met his so +steadily were not to be resisted. Slowly he unwrapped the paper and took the +lid from the little box, inside of which was coiled up a thin gold chain with +locket pendant. +</p> + +<p> +“Be seated,” ordered Bucky sternly, and after the man had found a chair the +ranger sat down opposite him. +</p> + +<p> +From its holster he drew a revolver and from a pocket his watch. He laid them +on the table side by side and looked across at the white-lipped trembler whom +he faced. +</p> + +<p> +“We had better understand each other, Mr. Anderson. I’ve come here to get from +you the story of that chain, so far as you know it. If you don’t care to tell +it I shall have to mess this floor up with your remains. Get one proposition +into your cocoanut right now. You don’t get out of this room alive with your +secret. It’s up to you to choose.” +</p> + +<p> +Quite without dramatics, as placidly as if he were discussing railroad rebates, +the ranger delivered his ultimatum. It seemed plain that he considered the +issue no responsibility of his. +</p> + +<p> +Anderson stared at him in silent horror, moistening his dry lips with the tip +of his tongue. Once his gaze shifted to the sheriff but found small comfort +there. Collins had picked up a newspaper and was absorbed in it. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you going to let him kill me?” the man asked him hoarsely. +</p> + +<p> +He looked up from his newspaper in mild protest at such unreason. “Me? I ain’t +sittin’ in this game. Seems like I mentioned that already.” +</p> + +<p> +“Better not waste your time, signor, on side issues,” advised the man behind +the gun. “For I plumb forgot to tell you I’m allowing only three minutes to +begin your story, half of which three has already slipped away to yesterday’s +seven thousand years. Without wantin’ to hurry you, I suggest the wisdom of a +prompt decision.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would he do it?” gasped the victim, with a last appeal to Collins. +</p> + +<p> +“Would he what? Oh, shoot you up. Cayn’t tell till I see. If he says he will +he’s liable to. He always was that haidstrong.” +</p> + +<p> +“But—why—why—” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it’s sure a heap against the law, but then Bucky ain’t a lawyer. I don’t +reckon he cares sour grapes for the law—as law. It’s a right interesting guess +as to whether he will or won’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“There’s a heap of cases the law don’t reach prompt. This is one of them,” +contributed the ranger cheerfully. He pocketed his watch and picked up the .45. +“Any last message or anything of that sort, signor? I don’t want to be +unpleasant about this, you understand.” +</p> + +<p> +The whilom bad man’s teeth chattered. “I’ll tell you anything you want to +know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, that’s right sensible. I hate to come into another man’s house and +clutter it up. Reel off your yarn.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know—what you want.” +</p> + +<p> +“I want the whole story of your kidnapping of the Mackenzie child, how came you +to do it, what happened to Dave Henderson, and full directions where I may +locate Frances Mackenzie. Begin at the beginning, and I’ll fire questions at +you when you don’t make any point clear to me. Turn loose your yarn at me hot +off the bat.” +</p> + +<p> +The man told his story sullenly. While he was on the round-up as cook for the +riders he had heard Mackenzie and Henderson discussing together the story of +their adventure with the dying Spaniard and their hopes of riches from the mine +he had left them. From that night he had set himself to discover the secret of +its location, had listened at windows and at keyholes, and had once intercepted +a letter from one to the other. By chance he had discovered that the baby was +carrying the secret in her locket, and he had set himself to get it from her. +</p> + +<p> +But his chance did not come. He could not make friends with her, and at last, +in despair of finding a better opportunity, he had slipped into her room one +night in the small hours to steal the chain. But it was wound round her neck in +such a way that he could not slip it over her head. She had awakened while he +was fumbling with the clasp and had begun to cry. Hearing her mother moving +about in the next room, he had hastily carried the child with him, mounted the +horse waiting in the yard, and ridden away. +</p> + +<p> +In the road he became aware, some time later, that he was being pursued. This +gave him a dreadful fright, for, as Bucky had surmised, he thought his pursuer +was Mackenzie. All night he rode southward wildly, but still his follower kept +on his trail till near morning, when he eluded him. He crossed the border, but +late that afternoon got another fright. For it was plain he was still being +followed. In the endless stretch of rolling hills he twice caught sight of a +rider picking his way toward him. The heart of the guilty man was like water. +He could not face the outraged father, nor was it possible to escape so dogged +a foe by flight. An alternative suggested itself, and he accepted it with +sinking courage. The child was asleep in his arms now, and he hastily +dismounted, picketed his horse, and stole back a quarter of a mile, so that the +neighing of his bronco might not betray his presence. Then he lay down in a +dense mesquit thicket and waited for his foe. It seemed an eternity till the +man appeared at the top of a rise fifty yards away. Hastily Anderson fired, and +again. The man toppled from his horse, dead before he struck the ground. But +when the cook reached him he was horrified to see that the man he had killed +was a member of the Rurales, or Mexican border police. In his guilty terror he +had shot the wrong man. +</p> + +<p> +He fled at once, pursued by a thousand fears. Late the next night he reached a +Chihuahua village, after having been lost for many hours. The child he still +carried with him, simply because he had not the heart to leave it to die in the +desert alone. A few weeks later he married an American woman he met in Sonora. +They adopted the child, but it died within the year of fever. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, he was horrified to learn that Dave Henderson, following hard on his +trail, had been found bending over the spot where the dead soldier lay, had +been arrested by a body of Rurales, tried hurriedly, and convicted to life +imprisonment. The evidence had been purely circumstantial. The bullet found in +the dead body of the trooper was one that might have come from his rifle, the +barrel of which was empty and had been recently fired. For the rest, he was a +hated <i>Americano</i>, and, as a matter of course, guilty. His judges took +pains to see that no message from him reached his friends in the States before +he was buried alive in the prison. In that horrible hole an innocent man had +been confined for fifteen years, unless he had died during that time. +</p> + +<p> +That, in substance, was the story told by the showman, and Bucky’s incisive +questions were unable to shake any portion of it. As to the missing locket, the +man explained that it had been broken off by accident and lost. When he +discovered that only half the secret was contained on the map section he had +returned the paper to the locket and let the child continue to carry it. Some +years after the death of the child, Frances, his wife had lost the locket with +the map. +</p> + +<p> +“And this chain and locket—when did you lose them?” demanded Bucky sharply. +</p> + +<p> +“It must have been about two months ago, down at Nogales, that I sold it to a +fellow. I was playing faro and losing. He gave me five dollars for it.” +</p> + +<p> +And to that he stuck stoutly, nor could he be shaken from it. Both O’Connor and +the sheriff believed he was lying, for they were convinced that he was the +bandit with the red wig who had covered the engineer while his companions +robbed the train. But of this they had no proof. Nor did Bucky even mention his +suspicion to Hardman, for it was his intention to turn him loose and have him +watched. Thus, perhaps, he would be caught corresponding or fraternizing with +some of the other outlaws. Collins left the room before the showman, and when +the latter came from the hotel he followed him into the night. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, Bucky went out and tapped another of his underground wires. This ran +directly to the Mexican consul at Tucson, to whom Bucky had once done a favor +of some importance, and from him to Sonora and Chihuahua. It led to musty old +official files, to records already yellowed with age, to court reports and +prison registers. In the end it flashed back to Bucky great news. Dave +Henderson, arrested for the murder of the Rurales policeman, was still serving +time in a Mexican prison for another man’s crime. There in Chihuahua for +fifteen years he had been lost to the world in that underground hole, blotted +out from life so effectually that few now remembered there had been such a +person. It was horrible, unthinkable, but none the less true. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0006"></a> +CHAPTER VI.<br/> +BUCKY MAKES A DISCOVERY</h2> + +<p> +For a week Bucky had been in the little border town of Noches, called there by +threats of a race war between the whites and the Mexicans. Having put the +quietus on this, he was returning to Epitaph by way of the Huachuca Mountains. +There are still places in Arizona where rapid transit can be achieved more +expeditiously on the back of a bronco than by means of the railroad, even when +the latter is available. So now Bucky was taking a short cut across country +instead of making the two train changes, with the consequent inevitable delays +that would have been necessary to travel by rail. +</p> + +<p> +He traveled at night and in the early morning, to avoid the heat of the midday +sun, and it was in the evening of the second and last day that the skirts of +happy chance led him to an adventure that was to affect his whole future life. +He knew a waterhole on the Del Oro, where cows were wont to frequent even in +the summer drought, and toward this he was making in the fag-end of the sultry +day. While still some hundred yards distant he observed a spiral of smoke +rising from a camp-fire at the spring, and he at once made a more circumspect +approach. For it might be any one of a score of border ruffians who owed him a +grudge and would be glad to pay it in the silent desert that tells no tales and +betrays no secrets to the inquisitive. +</p> + +<p> +He flung the bridle-rein over his pony’s neck and crept forward on foot, warily +and noiselessly. While still some little way from the water-hole he was +arrested by a sound that startled him. He could make out a raucous voice in +anger and a pianissimo accompaniment of womanish sobs. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re mine to do with as I like. I’m your uncle. I’ve raised you from a kid, +and, by the great mogul! you can’t sneak off with the first good-for nothing +scoundrel that makes eyes at you. Thought you had slipped away from me, you +white-faced, sniveling little idiot, but I’ll show you who is master.” +</p> + +<p> +The lash of a whip rose and fell twice on quivering flesh before Bucky leaped +into the fireglow and wrested the riding-whip from the hands of the angry man +who was plying it. +</p> + +<p> +“Dare to touch a woman, would you?” cried the ranger, swinging the whip +vigorously across the broad shoulders of the man. “Take that—and that—and that, +you brute!” +</p> + +<p> +But when Bucky had finished with the fellow and flung him a limp, writhing +huddle of welts to the ground, three surprises awaited him. The first was that +it was not a woman he had rescued at all, but a boy, and, as the flickering +firelight played on his face, the ranger came to an unexpected recognition. The +slim lad facing him was no other than Frank Hardman, whom he had left a few +days before at the Rocking Chair under the care of motherly Mrs. Mackenzie. The +young man’s eyes went back with instant suspicion to the fellow he had just +punished, and his suspicions were verified when the leaping light revealed the +face of the showman Anderson. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky laughed. “I ce’tainly seem to be interfering in your affairs a good deal, +Mr. Anderson. You may take my word for it that you was the last person in the +world I expected to meet here, unless it might be this boy. I left him safe at +a ranch fifty miles from here, and I left you a staid business man of Epitaph. +But it seems neither of you stayed hitched. Why for this yearning to travel?” +</p> + +<p> +“He found me where I was staying. I was out riding alone on an errand for Mrs. +Mackenzie when he met me and made me go with him. He has arranged to have me +meet his wife in Mexico. The show wouldn’t draw well without me. You know I do +legerdemain,” Frank explained, in his low, sweet voice. +</p> + +<p> +“So you had plans of your own, Mr. Anderson. Now, that was right ambitious of +you. But I reckon I’ll have to interfere with them again. Go through him, kid, +and relieve him of any guns he happens to be garnished with. Might as well help +yourself to his knives, too. He’s so fond of letting them fly around +promiscuous he might hurt himself. Good. Now we can sit down and have a +friendly talk. Where did you say you was intending to spend the next few weeks +before I interrupted so unthinking and disarranged your plans? I’m talking to +you, Mr. Anderson.” +</p> + +<p> +“I was heading for Sonora,” the man whined. +</p> + +<p> +What Bucky thought was: “Right strange direction to be taking for Sonora. I’ll +bet my pile you were going up into the hills to meet some of Wolf Leroy’s gang. +But why you were taking the kid along beats me, unless it was just cussedness.” +What he said was: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you’ll like Epitaph a heap better. I allow you ought to stay at that old +town. It’s a real interesting place. Finished in the adobe style and that sort +of thing. The jail’s real comfy, too.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you like something to eat, sir?” presently asked Frank timidly. +</p> + +<p> +“Would I? Why, I’m hungry enough to eat a leather mail-sack. Trot on your grub, +young man, and watch my smoke.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky did ample justice to the sandwiches and lemonade the lad set in front of +him, but he ate with a wary eye on a possible insurrection on the part of his +prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m a new man,” he announced briskly, when he had finished. “That veal loaf +sandwich went sure to the right spot. If you had been a young lady instead of a +boy you couldn’t fix things up more appetizing.” +</p> + +<p> +The lad’s face flushed with embarrassment, apparently at the ranger’s +compliment, and the latter, noticed how delicate the small face was. It made an +instinctive, wistful appeal for protection, and Bucky felt an odd little +stirring at his tender Irish heart. +</p> + +<p> +“Might think I was the kid’s father to see what an interest I take in him,” the +young man told himself reprovingly. “It’s all tommyrot, too. A boy had ought to +have more grit. I expect he needed that licking all right I saved him from.” +</p> + +<p> +When Bucky had eaten, the camp things were repacked for travel. Epitaph was +only twenty-three miles away, and the ranger preferred to ride in the cool of +the night rather than sit up till daybreak with his prisoner. Besides, he could +then catch the morning train from that town and save almost a day. +</p> + +<p> +So hour after hour they plodded on, the prisoner in front, O’Connor in the +center, and Frank Hardman bringing up the rear. It was an Arizona night of +countless stars, with that peculiar soft, velvety atmosphere that belongs to no +other land or time. In the distance the jagged, violet line of mountains rose +in silhouette against a sky not many shades lighter, while nearer the cool +moonlight flooded a land grown magical under its divine touch. +</p> + +<p> +The ranger rode with a limp ease that made for rest, his body shifting now and +again in the saddle, so as to change the weight and avoid stiffness. +</p> + +<p> +It must have been well past midnight that he caught the long breath of a sigh +behind him. The trail had broadened at that point, for they were now down in +the rolling plain, so that two could ride abreast in the road. Bucky fell back +and put a sympathetic hand on the shoulder of the boy. +</p> + +<p> +“Plumb fagged out, kid?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“I am tired. Is it far?” +</p> + +<p> +“About four miles. Stick it out, and we’ll be there in no time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t call me sir. Call me Bucky.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky laughed. “You’re ce’tainly the queerest kid I’ve run up against. I guess +you didn’t scramble up in this rough-and-tumble West like I did. You’re too +soft for this country.” He let his firm brown fingers travel over the lad’s +curly hair and down the smooth cheek. “There it is again. Shrinking away as if +I was going to hurt you. I’ll bet a biscuit you never licked the stuffing out +of another fellow in your life.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir,” murmured the youth, and Bucky almost thought he detected a little, +chuckling laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you ought to be ashamed of it. When come back from old Mexico I’m going +to teach you how to put up your dukes. You’re going to ride the range with me, +son, and learn to stick to your saddle when the bronc and you disagrees. Oh, +I’ll bet all you need is training. I’ll make a man out of you yet,” the ranger +assured his charge cheerfully. “Will you?” came the innocent reply, but Bucky +for a moment had the sense of being laughed at. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I ‘will you,’ sissy,” he retorted, without the least exasperation. “Don’t +think you know it all. Right now you’re riding like a wooden man. You want to +take it easy in the saddle. There’s about a dozen different positions you can +take to rest yourself.” And Bucky put him through a course of sprouts. “Don’t +sit there laughing at folks that knows a heap more than you ever will get in +your noodle, and perhaps you won’t be so done up at the end of a little jaunt +like this,” he concluded. And to his conclusion he presently added a +postscript: “Why, I know kids your age can ride day and night for a week on the +round-up without being all in. How old are you, son?” +</p> + +<p> +“Eighteen.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a lie,” retorted the ranger, with immediate frankness. “You’re not a +day over fifteen, I’ll bet.” +</p> + +<p> +“I meant to say fifteen,” meekly corrected the youth. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s another of them. You meant to say eighteen, but you found I wouldn’t +swallow it. Now, Master Frank, you want to learn one thing prompt if you and I +are to travel together. I can’t stand a liar. You tell the truth, or I’ll give +you the best licking you ever had in your life.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re as bad a bully as he is,” the boy burst out, flushing angrily. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no, I’m not,” came the ranger’s prompt unmoved answer. “But just because +you’re such a weak little kid that I could break you in two isn’t any reason +why I should put up with any foolishness from you. I mean to see that you act +proper, the way an honest kid ought to do. Savvy?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’d like to know who made you my master?” demanded the boy hotly. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve ce’tainly been good and spoiled, but you needn’t ride your high hawss +with me. Here’s the long and the short of it. To tell lies ain’t square. If I +ask you anything you don’t want to answer tell me to go to hell, but don’t lie +to me. If you do I’ll punish you the same as if you were my brother, so long as +you trail with me. If you don’t like it, cut loose and hit the pike for +yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve a good mind to go.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky waved a hand easily into space. “That’s all right, too, son. There’s a +heap of directions you can hit from here. Take any one you like. But if I was +as beat as you are, I think I’d keep on the Epitaph road.” He laughed his warm, +friendly laugh, before the geniality of which discord seemed to melt, and again +his arm went round the other’s weary shoulders with a caressing gesture that +was infinitely protecting. +</p> + +<p> +The boy laughed tremulously. “You’re awfully good to me. I know I’m a cry-baby, +sissy boy, but if you’ll be patient with me I’ll try to be gamer.” +</p> + +<p> +It certainly was strange the way Bucky’s pulse quickened and his blood tingled +when he touched the little fellow and heard that velvet voice’s soft murmur. +Yes, it surely was strange, but perhaps the young Irishman’s explanation was +not the correct one, after all. The cause he offered to himself for this odd +joy and tender excitement was perfectly simple. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m surely plumb locoed, or else gone soft in the haid,” he told himself +grimly. +</p> + +<p> +But the reason for those queer little electric shocks that pulsed through him +was probably a more elemental and primeval one than even madness. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived at Epitaph, Bucky turned loose his prisoner with a caution and made his +preparations to leave immediately for Chihuahua. Collins had returned to +Tucson, but was in touch with the situation and ready to set out for any point +where he was needed. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky, having packed, was confronted with a difficulty. He looked at it, and +voiced his perplexity. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, what am I going to do with you, Curly Haid? I expect I had better ship +you back to the Rocking Chair.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t want to go back there. He’ll come out again and find me after you +leave.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where do you want to go, then? If you were a girl I could put you in the +convent school here,” he reflected aloud. +</p> + +<p> +Again that swift, deep blush irradiated the youth’s cheeks. “Why can’t I go +with you?” he asked shyly. +</p> + +<p> +The ranger laughed. “Mebbe you think I’m going on a picnic. Why, I’m starting +out to knock the chip off Old Man Trouble’s shoulder. Like as not some greaser +will collect Mr. Bucky’s scalp down in <i>mañana</i> land. No, sir, this +doesn’t threaten to be a Y. P. S. C. E. excursion.” +</p> + +<p> +“If it is so dangerous as that, you will need help. I’m awful good at making +up, and I can speak Spanish like a native.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sho! You don’t want to go running your neck into a noose. It’s a jail-break +I’m planning, son. There may be guns a-popping before we get back to God’s +country—if we ever do. Add to that, trouble and then some, for there’s a +revolution scheduled for old Chihuahua just now, as your uncle happens to know +from reliable information.” +</p> + +<p> +“Two can always work better than one. Try me, Bucky,” pleaded the boy, the last +word slipping out with a trailing upward inflection that was irresistible. +</p> + +<p> +“Sure you won’t faint if we get in a tight pinch, Curly?” scoffed O’Connor, +even though in his mind he was debating a surrender. For he was extraordinarily +taken with the lad, and his judgment justified what the boy had said. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall not be afraid if you are with me.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I may not be with you. That’s the trouble. Supposing I should be caught, +what would you do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Follow any orders you had given me before that time. If you had not given any, +I would use my best judgment.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll give them now,” smiled Bucky. “If I’m lagged, make straight for Arizona +and tell Webb Mackenzie or Val Collins.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you <i>will</i> take me?” cried the boy eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“Only on condition that you obey orders explicitly. I’m running this +cutting-out expedition.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wouldn’t think of disobeying.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I don’t want you to tell me any lies.” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky’s big brown fist caught the little one and squeezed it. “Then it’s a +deal, kid. I only hope I’m doing right to take you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course you are. Haven’t you promised to make a man of me?” And again Bucky +caught that note of stifled laughter in the voice, though the big brown eyes +met his quite seriously. +</p> + +<p> +They took the train that night for El Paso, Bucky in the lower berth and his +friend in the upper of section six of one of the Limited’s Pullman cars. The +ranger was awake and up with the day. For a couple of hours he sat in the +smoking section and discussed politics with a Chicago drummer. He knew that +Frank was very tired, and he let him sleep till the diner was taken on at +Lordsburg. Then he excused himself to the traveling man. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon I better go and wake up my pardner. I see the chuck-wagon is toddling +along behind us.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky drew aside the curtains and shook the boy gently by the shoulder. Frank’s +eyes opened and looked at the ranger with that lack of comprehension peculiar +to one roused suddenly from deep sleep. +</p> + +<p> +“Time to get up, Curly. The nigger just gave the first call for the +chuck-wagon.” +</p> + +<p> +An understanding of the situation flamed over the boy’s face. He snatched the +curtains from the Arizonian and gathered them tightly together. “I’ll thank you +not to be so familiar,” he said shortly from behind the closed curtains. +</p> + +<p> +“I beg your pahdon, your royal highness. I should have had myself announced and +craved an audience, I reckon,” was Bucky’s ironic retort; and swiftly on the +heels of it he added. “You make me tired, kid.” +</p> + +<p> +O’Connor was destined to be “made tired” a good many times in the course of the +next few days. In all the little personal intimacies Frank possessed a delicate +fastidiousness outside the experience of the ranger. He was a scrupulously +clean man himself, and rather nice as to his personal habits, but it did not +throw him into a flame of embarrassment to brush his teeth before his fellow +passengers. Nor did it send him into a fit if a friend happened to drop into +his room while he was finishing his dressing. Bucky agreed with himself that +this excess of shyness was foolishness, and that to indulge the boy was merely +to lay up future trouble for him. A dozen times he was on the point of speaking +his mind on the subject, but some unusual quality of innocence in the lad tied +his tongue. +</p> + +<p> +“Blame it all, I’m getting to be a regular old granny. What Master Frank needs +is a first-class dressing-down, and here the little cuss has got me bluffed to +a fare-you-well so that I’m mum as a hooter on the nest,” he admitted to +himself ruefully. “Just when something comes up that needs a good round damn I +catch that big brown Sunday school eye of his, and it’s Bucky back to Webster’s +unabridged. I’ve got to quit trailing with him, or I’ll be joining the church +first thing I know. He makes me feel like I want to be <i>good</i>, confound +the little swindle.” +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the ranger’s occasional moments of exasperation, the two got +along swimmingly. Each of them found a continued pleasure in delving into the +other’s unexplored mental recesses. They drifted into one of those quick, +spontaneous likings that are rare between man and man. Some subtle quality of +affection bubbled up like a spring in the hearts of each for the other. Young +Hardman could perhaps have explained what lay at the roots of it, but O’Connor +admitted that he was “buffaloed” when he attempted an analysis of his unusual +feeling. +</p> + +<p> +From El Paso a leisurely run on the Mexican Central Pacific took them to +Chihuahua, a quaint old city something about the size of El Paso. Both Bucky +and his friend were familiar with the manners of the country, so that they felt +at home among the narrow adobe streets, the lounging, good-natured peons, and +the imitation Moorish architecture. They found rooms at a quiet, inconspicuous +hotel, and began making their plans for an immediate departure in the event +that they succeeded in their object. +</p> + +<p> +At a distance it had seemed an easy thing to plan the escape of David Henderson +and to accomplish it by craft, but a sight of the heavy stone walls that +encircled the prison and of the numerous armed guards who paced to and fro on +the walls, put a more chilling aspect on their chances. +</p> + +<p> +“It isn’t a very gay outlook,” Bucky admitted cheerfully to his companion, “but +I expect we can pull it off somehow. If these Mexican officials weren’t slower +than molasses in January it might have been better to wait and have him +released by process of law on account of Hardman’s confession. But it would +take them two or three years to come to a decision. They sure do hate to turn +loose a gringo when they have got the hog-tie on him. Like as not they would +decide against him at the last, then. Course I’ve got the law machinery +grinding, too, but I’m not banking on it real heavy. We’ll get him out first +any old way, then get the government to O. K. the thing.” +</p> + +<p> +“How were you thinking of proceeding?” +</p> + +<p> +“I expect it’s time to let you in on the ground floor, son. I reckon you happen +to know that down in these Spanish countries there’s usually a revolution +hatching. There s two parties among the aristocrats, those for the government +and those ferninst. The ‘ins’ stand pat, but the ‘outs’ have always got a +revolution up their sleeves. Now, there’s mostly a white man mixed up in the +affair. They have to have him to run it and to shoot afterward when the +government wins. You see, somebody has to be shot, and it’s always so much to +the good if they can line up gringoes instead of natives. Nine times out of ten +it’s an Irish-American lad that is engineering the scheme. This time it happens +to be Mickey O’Halloran, an old friend of mine. I’m going to put it up to Mick +to find a way.” +</p> + +<p> +“But it isn’t any affair of his. He won’t do it, will he?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I thought I told you he was Irish.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well?” +</p> + +<p> +“And spoiling for trouble, of course. Is it likely he could keep his fist out +of the hive when there’s such a gem of a chance to get stung?” +</p> + +<p> +It had been Frank’s suggestion that they choose rooms at a hotel which open +into each other and also connect with an adjoining pair. The reason for this +had not at first been apparent to the ranger, but as soon as they were alone +Frank explained. +</p> + +<p> +“It is very likely that we shall be under surveillance after a day or two, +especially if we are seen around the prison a good deal. Well, we’ll slip out +the back way to-night, disguised in some other rig, come boldly in by the front +door, and rent the rooms next ours. Then we shall be able to go and come, +either as ourselves or as our neighbors. It will give us a great deal more +liberty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Unless we should get caught. Then we would have a great deal less. What’s your +notion of a rig-up to disguise us, kid?” +</p> + +<p> +“We might have several, in case of emergencies. For one thing, we could easily +be street showmen. You can do fancy shooting and I can do sleight-of-hand +tricks or tell fortunes.” +</p> + +<p> +“You would be a gipsy lad?” +</p> + +<p> +The youngster blushed. “A gipsy girl, and you might be my husband.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m no play actor, even if you are,” said Bucky. “I don’t want to be your +husband, thank you.” +</p> + +<p> +“All you would have to do is to be sullen and rough. It is easy enough.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you think you could pass for a girl? You’re slim and soft enough, but I’ll +bet you would give it away inside of an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +The boy laughed, and shot a swift glance at O’Connor under his long lashes. “I +appeared as a girl in one of the acts of the show for years. Nobody ever +suspected that I wasn’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“We might try it, but we have no clothes for the part.” +</p> + +<p> +“Leave that to me. I’ll buy some to-day while you are looking the ground over +for our first assault an the impregnable fortress.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know. It seems to me pretty risky. But you might buy the things, and +we’ll see how you look in them. Better not get all the things at the same +store. Sort of scatter your purchases around.” +</p> + +<p> +They separated at the door of the hotel, Frank to choose the materials he +needed, and O’Connor to look up O’Halloran and get a permit to visit the prison +from the proper authorities. When the latter returned triumphantly with his +permit he found the boy busy with a needle and thread and surrounded by a +litter of dress-making material. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m altering this to fit me and fixing it up,” he explained. +</p> + +<p> +“Holy smoke! Who taught you to sew?” asked Bucky, in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“My aunt, Mrs. Hardman. I used to do all the plain sewing on my costumes. Did +you see your friend and get your permit?” +</p> + +<p> +“You bet I did, and didn’t. Mickey was out, but I left him a note. The other +thing I pulled off all right. I’m to be allowed to visit the prison and make a +careful inspection of it at my leisure. There’s nothing like a pull, son.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does the permit say you are to be allowed to steal any one of the prisoners +you take a fancy to? asked Frank, with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“No, it forgot to say that. When do you expect to have that toggery made?” +</p> + +<p> +“A good deal of it is already made, as you see. I’m just making a few changes. +Do you want to try on your suit?” +</p> + +<p> +“Is <i>this</i> mine?” asked the ranger, picking up with smiling contempt the +rather gaudy blouse that lay on a chair. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir, that is yours. Go and put it on and we’ll see how it fits.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky returned a few minutes later in his gipsy uniform, with a deprecating +grin. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll have to stain your face. Then you’ll do very well,” said Frank, patting +and pulling at the clothes here and there. “It’s a good fit, if I do say it +that chose it. The first thing you want to do when you get out in it is to roll +in the dust and get it soiled. No respectable gipsy wears new clothes. Better +have a tear or two in it, too.” +</p> + +<p> +“You ce’tainly should have been a girl, the way you take to clothes, Curly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Making up was my business for a good many years, you know,” returned the lad +quietly. “If you’ll step into the other room for about fifteen minutes I’ll +show you how well I can do it.” +</p> + +<p> +It was a long half-hour later that Bucky thumped on the door between the rooms. +“Pretty nearly ready, kid? Seems to me it is taking you a thundering long time +to get that outfit on.” +</p> + +<p> +“How long do you think it ought to take a lady to dress?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ten minutes is long enough, and fifteen, say, if she is going to a dance. +You’ve been thirty-five by my Waterbury.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s plain you never were married, Mr. Innocent. Why, a girl can’t fix her +hair in less than half an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you got a wig there, ain’t you? It doesn’t take but about five seconds +to stick that on. Hurry up, <i>amigo!</i> I’m clean through this old +newspaper.” +</p> + +<p> +“Read the advertisements,” came saucily through the door. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve read the durned things twice.” +</p> + +<p> +“Learn them by heart,” the sweet voice advised. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you go to Halifax!” +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, Mr. Bucky had to wait his comrade’s pleasure. But when he got a +vision of the result, it was so little what he had expected that it left him +staring in amazement, his jaw fallen and his eyes incredulous. +</p> + +<p> +The vision swept him a low bow. “How do you like Bonita?” it demanded gaily. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky’s eyes circled the room, to make sure that the boy was not hidden +somewhere, and came back to rest on his surprise with a look that was almost +consternation. Was this vivid, dazzling creature the boy he had been +patronizing, lecturing, promising to thrash any time during the past four days? +The thing was unbelievable, not yet to be credited by his jarred brain. How +incredibly blind he had been! What an idiot of sorts! Why, the marks of sex sat +on her beyond any possibility of doubt. Every line of the slim, lissom figure, +every curve of the soft, undulating body, the sweep of rounded arm, of tapering +waist-line, of well-turned ankle, contributed evidence of what it were folly to +ask further proof. How could he have ever seen those lovely, soft-lashed eyes +and the delicate little hands without conviction coming home to him? And how +could he have heard the low murmur of her voice, the catch of her sobs, without +knowing that they were a denial of masculinity? +</p> + +<p> +She was dressed like a Spanish dancing girl, in short kilts, red sash, and +jaunty little cap placed sidewise on her head. She wore a wig of black hair, +and her face was stained to a dusky, gipsy hue. Over her thumb hung castanets +and in her hand was a tambourine. Roguishly she began to sway into a slow, +rhythmic dance, beating time with her instruments as she moved. Gradually the +speed quickened to a faster time. She swung gracefully to and fro with all the +lithe agility of the race she personified. No part could have been better +conceived or executed. Even physically she displayed the large, brilliant eyes, +the ringleted, coal-black hair, the tawny skin, and the flashing smile that +showed small teeth of dazzling ivory, characteristic of the Romanies he had +met. It was a daring part to play, but the young man watching realized that she +had the free grace to carry it out successfully. She danced the fandango to a +finish, swept him another low bow, and presented laughingly to him the +tambourine for his donation. Then, suddenly flinging aside the instrument, she +curtsied and caught at his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Will the señor have his fortune told?” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky drew a handful of change from his pocket and selected a gold eagle. “I +suppose I must cross your palm with gold,” he said, even while his subconscious +mind was running on the new complication presented to him by this discovery. +</p> + +<p> +He was very clear about one thing. He must not let her know that he knew her +for a girl. To him she must still be a boy, or their relation would become +impossible. She had trusted in her power to keep her secret from him. On no +other terms would she have come with him; of so much he was sure, even while +his mind groped for a sufficient reason to account for an impulse that might +have impelled her. If she found out that he knew, the knowledge would certainly +drive her at once from him. For he knew that not the least charm of the +extraordinary fascination she had for him lay in her sweet innocence of heart, +a fresh innocence that consisted with this gay Romany abandon, and even with a +mental experience of the sordid, seamy side of life as comprehensive as that of +many a woman twice her age. She had been defrauded out of her childish +inheritance of innocence, but, somehow, even in her foul environment the seeds +of a rare personal purity had persistently sprung up and flourished. Some +flowers are of such native freshness that no nauseous surroundings can kill +their fragrance. And this was one of them. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, her voice ran on with the patter of her craft. There was the usual +dark woman to be circumvented and the light one to be rewarded. Jealousies and +rivalries played their part in the nonsense she glibly recited, and somewhere +in the future lay, of course, great riches and happiness for him. +</p> + +<p> +With a queer little tug at his heart he watched the dainty finger that ran so +lightly over his open palm, watched, too, the bent head so gracefully fine of +outline and the face so mobile of expression when the deep eyes lifted to his +in question of the correctness of her reading. He would miss the little partner +that had wound himself so tightly round his heart. He wondered if he would find +compensating joy in this exquisite creature whom a few moments had taken worlds +distant from him. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly tiring of her diversion, she dropped his hand. “You don’t say I do it +well,” she charged, aware suspiciously, at last, of his grave silence. +</p> + +<p> +“You do it very well indeed. I didn’t think you had it in you, kid. What’s +worrying me is that I can never live up to such a sure enough gipsy as you.” +</p> + +<p> +“All you have to do is to look sour and frown if anybody gets too familiar with +me. You can do that, can’t you?” +</p> + +<p> +“You bet I can,” he answered promptly, with unnecessary emphasis. +</p> + +<p> +“And look handsome,” she teased. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that will be easy for me—since you are going to make me up. As a simple +child of nature I’m no ornament to the scenery, but art’s a heap improving +sometimes.” +</p> + +<p> +She thought, but did not say, that art would go a long way before it could show +anything more pleasing than this rider of the plains. It was not alone his +face, with the likable blue eyes that could say so many things in a minute, but +the gallant ease of his bearing. Such a springy lightness, such sinewy grace of +undulating muscle, were rare even on the frontier. She had once heard Webb +Mackenzie say of him that he could whip his weight in wildcats, and it was easy +of belief after seeing how surely he was master of the dynamic power in him. It +is the emergency that sifts men, and she had seen him rise to several with a +readiness that showed the stuff in him. +</p> + +<p> +That evening they slipped out unobserved in the dusk, and a few minutes later a +young gipsy and his bride presented themselves at the inn to be put up. The +scowling young Romany was particular, considering that he spent most nights in +the open, with a sky for a roof. So the master of the inn thought when he +rejected on one pretense or another the first two rooms that were shown him. He +wanted two rooms, and they must connect. Had the innkeeper such apartments? The +innkeeper had, but he would very much like to see the price in advance if he +was going to turn over to guests of such light baggage the best accommodations +in the house. This being satisfactorily arranged, the young gipsies were left +to themselves in the room they had rented. +</p> + +<p> +The first thing that the man did when they were alone was to roll a cigarette, +which operation he finished deftly with one hand, while the other swept a match +in a circular motion along his trousers leg. In very fair English the Spanish +gipsy said: “You ce’tainly ought to learn to smoke, kid. Honest, it’s more +comfort than a wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know, since you are not married?” she asked archly. +</p> + +<p> +“I been noticing some of my poor unfortunate friends,” he grinned. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0007"></a> +CHAPTER VII.<br/> +IN THE LAND OF REVOLUTIONS</h2> + +<p> +The knock that sounded on the door was neither gentle nor apologetic. It +sounded as if somebody had flung a baseball bat at it. +</p> + +<p> +O’Connor smiled, remembering that soft tap of yore. “I reckon—” he was +beginning, when the door opened to admit a visitor. +</p> + +<p> +This proved to be a huge, red-haired Irishman, with a face that served just now +merely as a setting for an irresistible smile. The owner of the flaming head +looked round in surprise on the pair of Romanies and began an immediate apology +to which a sudden blush served as accompaniment. +</p> + +<p> +“Beg pardon. I didn’t know. The damned dago told me—” He stopped in confusion, +with a scrape and a bow to the lady. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, I demand an explanation of this most unwarrantable intrusion,” spoke the +ranger haughtily, in his best Spanish. +</p> + +<p> +A patter of soft foreign vowels flowed from the stranger’s embarrassment. +</p> + +<p> +“You durned old hawss-stealing greaser, cayn’t you talk English?” drawled the +gipsy, with a grin. +</p> + +<p> +The other’s mouth fell open with astonishment He stared at the slim, dusky +young Spaniard for an instant before he fell upon him and began to pound his +body with jovial fists. +</p> + +<p> +“You would, would you, you old pie-eating fraud! Try to fool your Uncle Mick +and make him think you a greaser, would you? I’ll learn yez to play horse with +a fullgrown, able-bodied white man.” He punctuated his points with short-arm +jolts that Bucky laughingly parried. +</p> + +<p> +“Before ladies, Mick! Haven’t you forgot your manners, Red-haid?” +</p> + +<p> +Swiftly Mr. O’Halloran came to flushed rigidity. “Madam, I must still be +apologizing. The surprise of meeting me friend went to me head, I shouldn’t +wonder.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky doubled up with apparent mirth. “Get into the other room, Curly, and get +your other togs on,” he ordered. “Can’t you see that Mick is going to fall in +love with you if he sees you a minute longer, you young rascal? Hike!” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you talk that way to a lady, Bucky,” warned O’Halloran, again blushing +vividly, after she had disappeared into the next room. “And I want to let yez +have it right off the bat that if you’ve been leading that little Mexican +señorita into trouble you’ve got a quarrel on with Mike O’Halloran.” +</p> + +<p> +“Keep your shirt on, old fire-eater. Who told you I was wronging her any?” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you married to her?” +</p> + +<p> +“You bet I ain’t. You see, Mick, that handsome lady you’re going to lick the +stuffing out of me about is only a plumb ornery sassy young boy, after all.” +</p> + +<p> +“No!” denied Mick, his eyes two excited interrogation-points. “You can’t stuff +me with any such fairy-tale, me lad.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right. Wait and see,” suggested the ranger easily. “Have a smoke while +you’re falling out of love.” +</p> + +<p> +“You young limb, I want you to tell me all about it this very minute, before I +punch holes in yez.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky lit his cigar, leaned back, and began to tell the story of Frank Hardman +and the knife-thrower. Only one thing he omitted to tell, and that was the +conviction that had come home to him a few moments ago that his little comrade +was no boy, but a woman. O’Halloran was a chivalrous Irishman, a daredevil of +an adventurer, with a pure love of freedom that might very likely in the end +bring him to face a row of loaded carbines with his back to a wall, but Bucky +had his reticencies that even loyal friendship could not break down. This +girl’s secret he meant to guard until such time as she chose of her own free +will to tell it. +</p> + +<p> +Frank returned just as he finished the tale of the knife episode, and Mick’s +frank open eyes accused him of idiocy for ever having supposed that this lad +was a woman. Why, he was a little fellow not over fifteen—not a day past +fifteen, he would swear to that. He was, to be sure, a slender, girlish young +fellow, a good deal of a sissy by the look of him, but none the less a sure +enough boy. Convinced of this, the big Irishman dismissed him promptly from his +thoughts and devoted himself to Bucky. +</p> + +<p> +“And what are yez doing down in greaser land? Thought you was rustling cows for +a living somewheres in sunburnt Arizona,” he grinned amiably. +</p> + +<p> +“Me? Oh, I came down on business. We’ll talk about that presently. How’s your +one-hawss revolution getting along, Reddy? I hope it’s right peart and +healthy.” +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran’s eyes flashed a warning, with the slightest nod in the world toward +the boy. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t worry about him. He’s straight as a string and knows how to keep his +mouth shut. You can tell him anything you would me.” He turned to the boy +sitting quietly in an inconspicuous corner. “Mum’s the word, Frank. You +understand that, of course?” +</p> + +<p> +The boy nodded. “I’ll go into the next room, if you like.” +</p> + +<p> +“It isn’t necessary. Fire ahead, Mike.” +</p> + +<p> +The latter got up, tiptoed to each door in turn, flung it suddenly open to see +that nobody was spying behind it, and then turned the lock. “I have use for me +head for another year or two, and it’s just as well to see that nobody is +spying. You understand, Bucky, that I’m risking me life in telling you what I’m +going to. If you have any doubts about this lad—” He stopped, keen eyes fixed +on Frank. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s as safe as I am, Mike. Is it likely I would take any risks about a thing +of that sort with my old bunkie’s tough neck inviting the hangman?” asked +O’Connor quietly. +</p> + +<p> +“Good enough. The kid looks stanch, and, anyhow, if you guarantee him that’s +enough for me.” He accepted another of the ranger’s cigars, puffed it to a red +glow, and leaned back to smile at his friend. “Glory, but it’s good to see ye, +Bucky, me bye. You’ll never know how a man’s eyes ache to see a straight-up +white man in this land of greasers. It’s the God’s truth I’m telling ye when I +say that I haven’t had a scrimmage with me hands since I came here. The only +idea this forsaken country has of exchanging compliments is with a knife in the +dark.” He shook his flaming head regretfully at the deplorably lost condition +of a country where the shillalah was unknown as a social institution. +</p> + +<p> +“If I wasn’t tied up with this Valdez bunch I’d get out to-morrow, and +sometimes I have half a mind to pull out anyhow. If you’ve never been +associated, me lad, with half a dozen most divilishly polite señors, each one +of them watching the others out of the corner of his slant eyes for fear they +are going to betray him or assassinate him first, you’ll never know the joys of +life in this peaceful and contented land of indolence. Life’s loaded to the +guards with uncertainties, so eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow you hang, +or your friend will carve ye in the back with a knife, me old priest used to +say, or something like it. ’Tis certain he must have had in mind the +Spanish-American, my son.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which is why you’re here, you old fraud,” smiled Bucky. “You’ve got to +grumble, of course, but you couldn’t be dragged away while there’s a chance of +a row. Don’t I know you of old, Reddy?” +</p> + +<p> +“Anyway, here I am, with me neck so near to the rope it fairly aches sometimes. +If you have any inclinations toward suicide, I’ll be glad to introduce ye to me +revolutionary friends.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, no. The fact is that we have a little private war of our own on +hand, Mike. I was thinking maybe you’d like to enlist, old filibuster.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is the pay good?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing a day and find yourself,” answered Bucky promptly. +</p> + +<p> +“No reasonable man could ask fairer than that,” agreed O’Halloran, his grin +expanding. “Well, then, what’s the row? Would ye like to be dictator of +Chihuahua or Emperor of Mexico?” +</p> + +<p> +“There’s an American in the government prison here under a life sentence. He is +not guilty, and he has already served fifteen years.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is like to serve fifteen more, if he lives that long.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wrong guess. I mean to get him out.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I’m meaning to go to Paradise some day, but will I?” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re going to help me get him out, Mike.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who told ye that, me optimistic young friend?” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t need to be told.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I’ll not lift a finger, Bucky—not a finger.” +</p> + +<p> +“I knew you wouldn’t stand to see a man like Henderson rot in a dungeon. No +Irishman would.” +</p> + +<p> +“You needn’t blarney me. I’m too old a bird to be caught with chaff. It’s a +dirty shame, of course, about this man Henderson, but I’m not running the +criminal jurisprudence of Mexico meself.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I said to Webb Mackenzie: ‘Mickey O’Halloran is the man to see; he’ll know +the best way to do it as nobody else would.’ I knew I could depend on you.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve certainly kissed the blarney stone, Mr. O’Connor,” returned the +revolutionist dryly. “Well, then, what do you want me to do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing much. Get Henderson out and help us to get safely from the country +whose reputation you black-eye so cheerfully.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mercy of Hiven! Bring me the moon and a handful of stars, says he, as cool as +you please.” +</p> + +<p> +The ranger told the story of Henderson and Mackenzie’s lost child in such a way +that it lost nothing in the telling. O’Halloran was moved. “’Tis a damned shame +about this man Henderson,” he blurted out. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky leaned back comfortably and waved airily his brown hand. “It’s up to +you,” his gay, impudent eyes seemed to say. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t say I won’t be able to help you,” conceded O’Halloran. “It happens, me +bye, that you’ve dropped in on me just before the band begins to play.” He +lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “There’s a shipment of pianos being +brought down the line this week. The night after they arrive I’m looking for +music.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see. The piano boxes are filled with rifles and ammunition.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have a mind like a tack, Bucky. Rifles is the alias of them pianos. +They’ll make merry music once we get them through.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s all very well, but have you reckoned with the government at Mexico? +Chihuahua isn’t the whole country, Mickey. Suppose President Diaz takes a hand +in the game and sends troops in on you?” +</p> + +<p> +“He won’t,” answered the other, with a wink. “He’s been seen. The president +isn’t any too friendly to that old tyrant Megales, who is now governor here. +There’s an election next week. The man that gets most votes will be elected, +and I’m thinking, Bucky, that the man with most rifles will the most votes. +Now, says Diaz, in effect, with an official wave of his hand, ‘Settle your own +rows, gintlemen. I don’t give a damn whether Megales or Valdez is governor of +Chihuahua, subject, of coorse, to the will of the people.’ Then he winks at +Valdez wid his off eye as much as to say: ‘Go in an’ win, me boy; me prayers +are supporting ye. But be sure ye do nothing too illegal.’ So there ye are, +Bucky. If ould Megales was to wake up election morning and find that the +polling-places was in our hands, his soldiers disarmed or bought over, and +everything contributing smoothly to express the will of the people in electing +him to take a swift hike out of Chihuahua, it is likely that he might accept +the inevitable as the will of fate and make a strategic retreat to climes more +healthy.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if in the meantime he should discover those rifles, or one of those +slant-eyed señors should turn out a Benedict Arnold, what then, my friend?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t talk in that cruel way. You make me neck ache in anticipation,” returned +O’Halloran blithely. +</p> + +<p> +“I think we’ll not travel with you in public till after the election, Mr. +O’Halloran,” reflected Bucky aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“’Twould be just as well, me son. My friends won’t be overpopular with Megales +if the cards fall his way.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you win, I suppose we may count Henderson as good as a free man?” +</p> + +<p> +“It would be a pity if me pull wouldn’t do a little thing like that,” scoffed +the conspirator genially. +</p> + +<p> +“But, win or lose, I may be able to help you. We need musicians to play those +pianos we’re bringing in. Well, the most dependable men we can set to play some +of them are the prisoners in the fortress. There’s likely to be a wholesale +jail delivery the night before the election. Now, it’s just probable that the +lads we free will fight to keep their freedom. That’s why we use them. They +<i>have</i> to be true to us because, if they don’t, <i>whichever side wins</i> +back they go to jail.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course. I wish I could take a hand myself. But I can’t, because I’m a +soldier of a friendly power. We’ll get Henderson out the night before the +election and leave on the late train. You’ll have to arrange the program in +time for us to catch that train.” +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran looked drolly at him. “I’m liking your nerve, young man. I pull the +chestnuts out of the fire for yez and, likely enough, get burned. You walk off +with your chestnut, and never a ‘Thank ye’ for poor Mickey the catspaw.” +</p> + +<p> +“It doesn’t look like quite a square deal, does it?” laughed the ranger. “Well, +we might vary the program a bit. Bucky O’Connor, Arizona ranger, can’t stop and +take a hand in such a game, but I don’t know anything to prevent a young gipsy +from Spain staying over a few days.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you stay, I shall,” announced the boy Frank. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll do nothing of the kind, seh. You’ll do just as I say, according to the +agreement you made with me when I let you come,” was Bucky’s curt answer. +“We’re not playing this game to please you, Master Frank.” +</p> + +<p> +Yet though the ranger spoke curtly, though he still tried to hold toward his +comrade precisely the same attitude as he had before discovering her sex, he +could not put into his words the same peremptory sting that, he had done before +when he found that occasionally necessary. For no matter how severely he must +seem to deal with her to avoid her own suspicions as to what he knew, as well +as to keep from arousing those of others, his heart was telling a very +different story all the time. He could see again the dainty grace with which +she had danced for him, heard again that low voice breaking into a merry piping +lilt, warmed once more to the living, elusive smile, at once so tender and +mocking. He might set his will to preserve an even front to her gay charm, but +it was beyond him to control the thrills that shot his pulses. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0008"></a> +CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +FIRST BLOOD!</h2> + +<p> +Occasionally Alice Mackenzie met Collins on the streets of Tucson. Once she saw +him at the hotel where she was staying, deep in a discussion with her father of +ways and means of running down the robbers of the Limited. He did not, however, +make the least attempt to push their train acquaintanceship beyond the give and +take of casual greeting. Without showing himself unfriendly, he gave her no +opportunity to determine how far they would go with each other. This rather +piqued her, though she would probably have rebuffed him if he had presumed far. +Of which probability Val Collins was very well aware. +</p> + +<p> +They met one morning in front of a drug store downtown. She carried a parasol +that was lilac-trimmed, which shade was also the outstanding note of her dress. +She was looking her very best, and no doubt knew it. To Val her dainty +freshness seemed to breathe the sweetness of spring violets. +</p> + +<p> +“Good morning, Miss Mackenzie. Weather like this I’m awful glad I ain’t a +mummy,” he told her. “The world’s mighty full of beautiful things this glad +day.” +</p> + +<p> +“Essay on the Appreciation of Nature, by Professor Collins,” she smiled. +</p> + +<p> +“To be continued in our next,” he amended. “Won’t you come in and have a +sundae? You look as if you didn’t know it, but the rest of us have discovered +it’s a right warm morning.” +</p> + +<p> +Looking across the little table at him over her sundae, she questioned him with +innocent impudence. “I saw you and dad deep in plans Tuesday. I suppose by now +you have all the train robbers safely tucked away in the penitentiary?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet,” he answered cheerfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet!” Her lifted eyebrows and the derisive flash beneath mocked politely +his confidence. “By this time I should think they might be hunting big game in +deepest Africa.” +</p> + +<p> +“They might be, but they’re not.” +</p> + +<p> +“What about that investment in futurities you made on the train? The month is +more than half up. Do you see any chance of realizing?” +</p> + +<p> +“It looks now as if I might be a false prophet, but I feel way down deep that I +won’t. In this prophet’s business confidence is half the stock in trade.” +</p> + +<p> +“Really. I’m very curious to know what it is you predicted. Was it something +good?” +</p> + +<p> +“Good for me,” he nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I think you’ll get it,” she laughed. “I have noticed that it is the +people that expect things—and then go out and take them—that inherit the earth +these days. The meek have been dispossessed.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m glad I have your good wishes.” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t say you had, but you’ll get along just as well without them,” she +answered with a cool little laugh as she rose. +</p> + +<p> +“I’d like to discuss that proposition with you more at length. May I call on +you some evening this week, Miss Mackenzie?” +</p> + +<p> +There was a sparkle of hidden malice in her answer. “You’re too late, Mr. +Collins. We’ll have to leave it undiscussed. I’m going to leave to-day for my +uncle s ranch, the Rocking Chair.” +</p> + +<p> +He was distinctly disappointed, though he took care not to show it. +Nevertheless, the town felt empty after her train had gone. He was glad when +later in the day a message came calling him to Epitaph. It took him at least +seventy-five miles nearer her. +</p> + +<p> +Before he had been an hour at Epitaph the sheriff knew he had struck gold this +time. Men were in town spending money lavishly, and at a rough description they +answered to the ones he wanted. Into the Gold Nugget Saloon that evening +dropped Val Collins, big, blond, and jaunty. He looked far less the vigorous +sheriff out for business than the gregarious cowpuncher on a search for +amusement. +</p> + +<p> +Del Hawkes, an old-time friend of his staging days, pounced on him and dragged +him to the bar, whence his glance fell genially on the roulette wheel and its +devotees, wandered casually across the impassive poker and Mexican monte +players, took in the enthroned musicians, who were industriously murdering “La +Paloma,” and came to rest for barely an instant at a distant faro table. In the +curly-haired good-looking young fellow facing the dealer he saw one of the men +he had come seeking. Nor did he need to look for the hand with the missing +trigger finger to be sure it was York Neil—that same gay, merry-hearted York +with whom he used to ride the range, changed now to a miscreant who had elected +to take the short cut to wealth. +</p> + +<p> +But the man beside Neil, the dark-haired, pallid fellow from whose presence +something at once formidable and sinister and yet gallant seemed to breathe—the +very sight of him set the mind of Collins at work busily upon a wild guess. +Surely here was a worthy figure upon whom to set the name and reputation of the +notorious Wolf Leroy. +</p> + +<p> +Yet the sheriff’s eyes rested scarce an instant before they went traveling +again, for he wanted to show as yet no special interest in the object of his +suspicions. The gathering was a motley one, picturesque in its diversity. For +here had drifted not only the stranded derelicts of a frontier civilization, +but selected types of all the turbid elements that go to make up its success. +Mexican, millionaire, and miner brushed shoulders at the roulette-wheel. +Chinaman and cow-puncher, Papago and plainsman, tourist and tailor, bucked the +tiger side by side with a democracy found nowhere else in the world. The click +of the wheel, the monotonous call of the croupier, the murmur of many voices in +alien tongues, and the high-pitched jarring note of boisterous laughter, were +all merged in a medley of confusion as picturesque as the scene itself. +</p> + +<p> +“Business not anyways slack at the Nugget,” ventured Collins, to the bartender. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I don’t know as ’tis. Nearly always somethin’ doing in little old +Epitaph,” answered the public quencher of thirsts, polishing the glass top of +the bar with a cloth. +</p> + +<p> +“Playing with the lid off back there, ain’t they?” The sheriff’s nod indicated +the distant faro-table. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right, I guess. Only blue chips go.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s Wolf Leroy—that Mexican-looking fellow there,” Hawkes explained in a +whisper. “A bad man with the gun, they say, too. Well, him and York Neil and +Scotty Dailey blew in last night from their mine, up at Saguache. Gave it out +he was going to break the bank, Leroy did. Backing that opinion usually comes +high, but Leroy is about two thousand to the good, they say.” +</p> + +<p> +“Scotty Dailey? Don’t think I know him.” +</p> + +<p> +“That shorthorn in chaps and a yellow bandanna is the gentleman; him that’s +playing the wheel so constant. You don’t miss no world-beater when you don’t +know Scotty. He’s Leroy’s Man Friday. Understand they’ve struck it rich. +Anyway, they’re hitting high places while the mazuma lasts.” +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t seem to locate their mine. What’s its brand?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Dalriada. Some other guy is in with them; fellow by the name of Hardman, +if I recollect; just bought out a livery barn in town here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Queer thing, luck; strikes about as unexpected as lightning. Have another, +Del?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t care if I do, Val. It always makes me thirsty to see people I like. +Anything new up Tucson way?” +</p> + +<p> +The band had fallen on “Manzanilla,” and was rending it with variations when +Collins circled round to the wheel and began playing the red. He took a place +beside the bow-legged vaquero with the yellow bandanna knotted loosely round +his throat. For five minutes the cow-puncher attended strictly to his bets. +Then he cursed softly, and asked Collins to exchange places with him. +</p> + +<p> +“This place is my hoodoo. I can’t win—” The sentence died in the man’s throat, +became an inarticulate gurgle of dismay. +</p> + +<p> +He had looked up and met the steady eyes of the sheriff, and the surprise of it +had driven the blood from his heart. A revolver thrust into his face could not +have shaken him more than that serene smile. +</p> + +<p> +Collins took him by the arm with a jovial laugh meant to cover their retreat, +and led him into one of the curtained alcove rooms. As they entered he noticed +out of the corner of his eye that Leroy and Neil were still intent on their +game. Not for a moment, not even while the barkeeper was answering their call +for liquor, did the sheriff release Scotty from the rigor of his eyes, and when +the attendant drew the curtain behind him the officer let his smile take on a +new meaning. +</p> + +<p> +“What did I tell you, Scotty?” +</p> + +<p> +“Prove it,” defied Scotty. “Prove it—you can’t prove it.” +</p> + +<p> +“What can’t I prove?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, that I was in that—” Scotty stopped abruptly, and watched the smile +broaden on the strong face opposite him. His dull brain had come to his rescue +none too soon. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, ain’t it funny how people’s thoughts get to running on the same thing? +Last time I met up with you there you was collecting a hundred dollars and +keep-the-change cents from me, and now here you are spending it. It’s ce’tinly +curious how both of us are remembering that little seance in the Pullman car.” +</p> + +<p> +Scotty took refuge in a dogged silence. He was sweating fear. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir. It comes up right vivid before me. There was you a-trainin’ your +guns on me—” +</p> + +<p> +“I wasn’t,” broke in Scotty, falling into the trap. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right. How come I to make such a mistake? Of cou’se you carried the +sack and York Neil held the guns.” +</p> + +<p> +The man cursed quietly, and relapsed into silence. +</p> + +<p> +“Always buy your clothes in pairs?” +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff’s voice showed only a pleasant interest, but the outlaw’s +frightened eyes were puzzled at this sudden turn. +</p> + +<p> +“Wearing a bandanna same color and pattern as you did the night of our jamboree +on the Limited, I see. That’s mightily careless of you, ain’t it?” +</p> + +<p> +Instinctively a shaking hand clutched at the kerchief. “It don’t cut any ice +because a hold-up wears a mask made out of stuff like this.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did I say it was a mask he wore?” the gentle voice quizzed. +</p> + +<p> +Scotty, beads of perspiration on his forehead, collapsed as to his defense. He +fell back sullenly to his first position: “You can’t prove anything.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t I?” The sheriff’s smile went out like a snuffed candle. Eyes and mouth +were cold and hard as chiseled marble. He leaned forward far across the table, +a confident, dominating assurance painted on his face. “Can’t I? Don’t you bank +on that. I can prove all I need to, and your friends will prove the rest. +They’ll be falling all over themselves to tell what they know—and Mr. Dailey +will be holding the sack again, while Leroy and the rest are slipping out.” +</p> + +<p> +The outlaw sprang to his feet, white to the lips. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a damned lie. Leroy would never—” He stopped, again just in time to bite +back the confession hovering on his lips. But he had told what Collins wanted +to know. +</p> + +<p> +The curtain parted, and a figure darkened the doorway—a slender, lithe figure +that moved on springs. Out of its sardonic, devil-may-care face gleamed +malevolent eyes which rested for a moment on Dailey, before they came home to +the sheriff. +</p> + +<p> +“And what is it Leroy would never do?” a gibing voice demanded silkily. +</p> + +<p> +Scotty pulled himself together and tried to bluff, but at the look on his +chief’s face the words died in his throat. +</p> + +<p> +Collins did not lift a finger or move an eyelash, but with the first word a +wary alertness ran through him and starched his figure to rigidity. He gathered +himself together for what might come. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I am waiting. What it is Leroy would never do?” The voice carried a +scoff with it, the implication that his very presence had stricken conspirators +dumb. +</p> + +<p> +Collins offered the explanation. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Dailey was beginning a testimonial of your virtues just as you right +happily arrived in time to hear it. Perhaps he will now proceed.” +</p> + +<p> +But Dailey had never a word left. His blunders had been crying ones, and his +chief’s menacing look had warned him what to expect. The courage oozed out of +his heart, for he counted himself already a dead man. +</p> + +<p> +“And who are you, my friend, that make so free with Wolf Leroy’s name?” It was +odd how every word of the drawling sentence contrived to carry a taunt and a +threat with it, strange what a deadly menace the glittering eyes shot forth. +</p> + +<p> +“My name is Collins.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sheriff of Pica County?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +The eyes of the men met like rapiers, as steady and as searching as cold steel. +Each of them was appraising the rare quality of his opponent in this duel to +the death that was before him. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing here? Ain’t Pica County your range?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve been discussing with your friend the late hold-up on the Transcontinental +Pacific.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” Leroy knew that the sheriff was serving notice on them of his purpose to +run down the bandits. Swiftly his mind swept up the factors of the situation. +Should he draw now and chance the result, or wait for a more certain ending? He +decided to wait, moved by the consideration that even if he were victorious the +lawyers were sure to draw out of the fat-brained Scotty the cause of the +quarrel. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, that don’t interest me any, though I suppose you have to explain a heap +how come they to hold you up and take your gun. I’ll leave you and your +jelly-fish Scotty to your gabfest. Then you better run back home to Tucson. We +don’t go much on visiting sheriffs here.” He turned on his heel with an +insolent laugh, and left the sheriff alone with Dailey. +</p> + +<p> +The superb contempt of the man, his readiness to give the sheriff a chance to +pump out of Dailey all he knew, served to warn Collins that his life was in +imminent danger. On no hypothesis save one—that Leroy had already condemned +them both to death in his mind—could he account for such rashness. And that the +blow would fall soon, before he had time to confer with other officers, was a +corollary to the first proposition. +</p> + +<p> +“He’ll surely kill me on sight,” Scotty burst out. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, he’ll kill you,” agreed the sheriff, “unless you move first.” +</p> + +<p> +“Move how?” +</p> + +<p> +“Against him. Protect yourself by lining up with me. It’s your only show on +earth.” +</p> + +<p> +Dailey’s eyes flashed. “Then, by thunder, I ain’t taking it! I’m no coyote, to +round on my pardners.” +</p> + +<p> +“I give it to you straight. He means murder.” +</p> + +<p> +Perspiration poured from the man’s face. “I’ll light out of the country.” +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff shook his head. “You’d never get away alive. Besides, I want you +for holding up the Limited. The safest place for you is in jail, and that’s +where I’m going to put you. Drop that gun! Quick! That’s right. Now, you and I +are going out of this saloon by the back door. I’m going to walk beside you, +and we’re going to laugh and talk as if we were the best of friends, but my +hand ain’t straying any from the end of my gun. Get that, amigo? All right. +Then we’ll take a little <i>pasear</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +As Collins and his prisoner reappeared in the main lobby of the Gold Nugget, a +Mexican slipped out of the back door of the gambling-house. The sheriff called +Hawkes aside. +</p> + +<p> +“I want you to call a hack for me, Del. Bring it round to the back door, and +arrange with the driver to whip up for the depot as soon as we get in. We ought +to catch that 12:20 up-train. When the hack gets here just show up in the door. +If you see Leroy or Neil hanging around the door, put your hand up to your tie. +If the coast is clear, just move off to the bar and order something.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sure,” said Hawkes, and was off at once, though just a thought unsteady from +his frequent libations. +</p> + +<p> +Both hands of the big clock on the wall pointed to twelve when Hawkes appeared +again in the doorway at the rear of the Gold Nugget. With a wink at Collins, he +made straight for the cocktail he thought he needed. +</p> + +<p> +“Now,” said the sheriff, and immediately he and Dailey passed through the back +door. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly two shots rang out. Collins lurched forward to the ground, drawing +his revolver as he fell. Scotty, twisting from his grasp, ran in a crouch +toward the alley along the shadow of the buildings. Shots spattered against the +wall as his pursuers gave chase. When the Gold Nugget vomited from its rear +door a rush of humanity eager to see the trouble, the noise of their footsteps +was already dying in the distance. +</p> + +<p> +Hawkes found his friend leaning against the back of the hack, his revolver +smoking in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“For God’s sake, Val!” screamed Hawkes. “Did they get you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Punctured my leg. That’s all. But I expect they’ll get Dailey.” +</p> + +<p> +“How come you to go out when I signaled you to stay?” +</p> + +<p> +“Signaled me to stay, why—” +</p> + +<p> +Collins stopped, unwilling to blame his friend. He knew now that Hawkes, having +mixed his drinks earlier in the evening, had mixed his signals later. +</p> + +<p> +“Get me a horse, Del, and round up two or three of the boys. I’ve got to get +after those fellows. They are the ones that held up the Limited last week. Find +out for me what hotel they put up at here. I want their rooms searched. Send +somebody round to the corrals, and let me know where they stabled their horses. +If they left any papers or saddle-bags, get them for me.” +</p> + +<p> +Fifteen minutes later Collins was in the saddle ready for the chase, and only +waiting for his volunteer posse to join him. They were just starting when a +frightened Chinaman ran into the plaza with the news that there had been +shooting just back of his laundry on the edge of town and that a man had been +killed. +</p> + +<p> +When the sheriff reached the spot, he lowered himself from the saddle and +limped over to the black mass huddled against the wall in the bright moonlight. +He turned the riddled body over and looked down into the face of the dead man. +I was that of the outlaw, Scotty Dailey. That the body had been thoroughly +searched was evident, for all around him were scattered his belongings. Here an +old letter and a sack of tobacco, its contents emptied on the ground; there his +coat and vest, the linings of each of them ripped out and the pockets emptied. +Even the boots and socks of the man had been removed, so thorough had been the +search. Whatever the murderers had been looking for it was not money, since his +purse, still fairly well lined with greenbacks, was found behind a cactus bush +a few yards away. +</p> + +<p> +“What in time were they after?” frowned Collins. “If it wasn’t his money—and it +sure wasn’t—what was it? I ce’tainly would like to know what the Wolf wanted so +blamed bad. Guess I’ll not follow Mr. Leroy just now till my leg is in better +shape. Maybe I had better investigate a little bit round town first.” +</p> + +<p> +The body was taken back to the Gold Nugget and placed on a table, pending the +arrival of the undertaker. It chanced that Collins, looking absently over the +crowd, glimpsed a gray felt hat that looked familiar by reason of a frayed +silver band found it. Underneath the hat was a Mexican, and him the sheriff +ordered to step forward. +</p> + +<p> +“Where did you get that hat, Manuel?” +</p> + +<p> +“My name is José—José Archuleta,” corrected the olive-hued one. +</p> + +<p> +“I ain’t worrying about your name, son. What I want to know is where you found +that hat.” +</p> + +<p> +“In the alley off the plaza, señor.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right. Chuck it up here.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Muy bien, señor</i>.” And the dusty hat was passed from hand to hand till +it reached the sheriff. +</p> + +<p> +Collins ripped off the silver band and tore out the sweat-pad. It was an off +chance—one in a thousand—but worth trying none the less. And a moment later he +knew it was the chance that won. For sewed to the inside of the discolored +sweat-pad was a little strip of silk. With his knife he carefully removed the +strip, and found between it and the leather a folded fragment of paper closely +covered with writing. He carried this to the light, and made it out to be a +memorandum of direction of some sort. Slowly he spelled out the poorly written +words: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +From Y. N. took Unowhat. Went twenty yards strate for big rock. Eight feet +direckly west. Fifty yards in direcksion of suthern Antelope Peke. Then +eighteen to nerest cotonwood. J. H. begins hear. +</p> + +<p> +Collins read the scrawl twice before an inkling of its meaning came home to +him. Then in a flash his brain was lighted. It was a memorandum of the place +where Dailey’s share of the plunder was buried. +</p> + +<p> +His confederates had known that he had it, and had risked capture to make a +thorough search for the paper. That they had not found it was due only to the +fact that the murdered man had lost his hat as he scurried down the streets +before them. +</p> + +<p> +The doctor, having arrived, examined the wound and suggested an anaesthetic. +Collins laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon not, doc. You round up that lead pill and I’ll endure the grief +without knockout drops.” +</p> + +<p> +While the doctor was probing for the bullet lodged in his leg, the sheriff +studied the memorandum found in Dailey’s hat. He found it blind, disappointing +work, for there was no clearly indicated starting-point. Bit by bit he took it: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +From Y. N. took Unowhat. +</p> + +<p> +This was clear enough, so far as it went. It could only mean that from York +Neil the writer had taken the plunder to hide. But <i>where</i> did he take it? +From what point? A starting-point must be found somewhere, or the memorandum +was of no use. Probably only Neil could supply the needed information, now that +Dailey was dead. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Went twenty yards strate for big rock. Eight feet direckly west. Fifty yards in +direcksion of suthern Antelope Peke. Then eighteen to nerest cotonwood. +</p> + +<p> +All this was plain enough, but the last sentence was the puzzler. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +J. H. begins hear. +</p> + +<p> +Was J. H. a person? If so, what did he begin. If Dailey had buried his plunder, +what had J. H. left to do? +</p> + +<p> +But <i>had</i> he buried it? Collins smiled. It was not likely he had handed it +over to anybody else to hide for him. And yet— +</p> + +<p> +He clapped his hand down on his knee. “By the jumping California frog, I’ve got +it!” he told himself. “They hid the bulk of what they got from the Limited all +together. Went out in a bunch to hide it. Blind-folded each other, and took +turn about blinding up the trail. No one of them can go get the loot without +the rest. When they want it, every one of these memoranda must be +Johnny-on-the-spot before they can dig up the mazuma. No wonder Wolf Leroy +searched so thorough for this bit of paper. I’ll bet a stack of blue chips +against Wolf’s chance of heaven that he’s the sorest train-robber right this +moment that ever punctured a car-window.” +</p> + +<p> +Collins laughed softly, nor had the smile died out of his eyes when Hawkes came +into the room with information to the point. He had made a round of the +corrals, and discovered that the outlaws’ horses had been put up at Jay +Hardman’s place, a tumble-down feed-station on the edge of town. +</p> + +<p> +“Jay didn’t take kindly to my questions,” Hawkes explained, “but after a little +rock-me-to-sleep-mother talk I soothed him down some, and cut the trail of Wolf +Leroy and his partners. The old man give me several specimens of langwidge +unwashed and uncombed when I told him Wolf and York was outlaws and +train-robbers. Didn’t believe a word of it, he said. ’Twas just like the fool +officers to jump an innocent party. I told Jay to keep his shirt on—he could +turn his wolf lose when they framed up that he was in it. Well, sir! I plumb +thought for a moment he was going to draw on me when I said that. Say he must +be the fellow that’s in on that mine, with Leroy and York Neil. He’s a big, +long-haired guy.” +</p> + +<p> +Collins’ eyes narrowed to slits, as they always did when he was thinking +intensely. Were their suspicions of the showman about to be justified? Did Jay +Hardman’s interest in Leroy have its source merely in their being birds of a +feather, or was there a more direct community of lawlessness between them? Was +he a member of Wolf Leroy’s murderous gang? Three men had joined in the chase +of Dailey, but the tracks had told him that only two horses had galloped from +the scene of the murder into the night. The inference left to draw was that a +local accomplice had joined them in the chase of Scotty, and had slipped back +home after the deed had been finished. +</p> + +<p> +What more likely than that Hardman had been this accomplice? Hawkes said he was +a big long-haired fellow. So was the man that had held up the engineer of the +Limited. He was—“J. H. begins hear.” Like a flash the ill-written scrawl jumped +to his sight. “J. H.” was Jay Hardman. What luck! +</p> + +<p> +The doctor finished his work, and Collins tested his leg gingerly. “Del, I’m +going over to have a little talk with the old man. Want to go along?” +</p> + +<p> +“You bet I do, Val”—from Del Hawkes. +</p> + +<p> +“You mustn’t walk on that leg for a week or two yet, Mr. Collins,” the doctor +explained, shaking his head. +</p> + +<p> +“That so, doctor? And it nothing but a nice clean flesh-wound! Sho! I’ve a deal +more confidence in you than that. Ready, Del?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s at your risk then, Mr. Collins.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sure.” The sheriff smiled. “I’m living at my own risk, doctor. But I’d a heap +rather be alive than daid, and take all the risk that’s coming, too. But since +you make a point of it, I’ll do most of my walking on a bronco’s back.” +</p> + +<p> +They found Mr. Hardman just emerging from the stable with a saddle-pony when +they rode into the corral. At a word from Collins, Hawkes took the precaution +to close the corral gate. +</p> + +<p> +The fellow held a wary position on the farther side of his horse, the while he +ripped out a raucous string of invectives. +</p> + +<p> +“Real fluent, ain’t he?” murmured Hawkes, as he began to circle round to flank +the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +“Stay right there, Del Hawkes. Move, you redhaided son of a brand blotter, and +I’ll pump holes in you!” A rifle leveled across the saddle emphasized his +sentiments. +</p> + +<p> +“Plumb hospitable,” grinned Hawkes, coming promptly to a halt. +</p> + +<p> +Collins rode slowly forward, his hand on the butt of the revolver that still +lay in its scabbard. The Winchester covered every step of his progress, but he +neither hastened nor faltered, though he knew his life hung in the balance. If +his steely blue eyes had released for one moment the wolfish ones of the +villain, if he had hesitated or hurried, he would have been shot through the +head. +</p> + +<p> +But the eyes of a brave man are the king of weapons. Hardman’s fingers itched +at the trigger he had not the courage to pull. For such an unflawed nerve he +knew himself no match. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep back,” he screamed. “Damn it, another step and I’ll fire!” +</p> + +<p> +But he did not fire, though Collins rode up to him, dismounted, and threw the +end of the rifle carelessly from him. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t be rash, Hardman. I’ve come here to put you under arrest for robbing the +T. P. Limited, and I’m going to do it.” +</p> + +<p> +The indolent, contemptuous drawl, so free of even a suggestion of the strain +the sheriff must have been under, completed his victory. The fellow lowered his +rifle with a peevish oath. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re barkin’ up the wrong tree, Mr. Collins.” +</p> + +<p> +“I guess not,” retorted the sheriff easily. “Del, you better relieve Mr. +Hardman of his ballast. He ain’t really fit to be trusted with a weapon, and +him so excitable. That Winchester came awful near going off, friend. You don’t +want to be so careless when you’re playing with firearms. It’s a habit that’s +liable to get you into trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +Collins had not shaved death so closely without feeling a reaction of boyish +gaiety at his adventure. It bubbled up in his talk like effervescing soda. +</p> + +<p> +“Now we’ll go into a committee of the whole, gentlemen, adjourn to the stable, +and have a little game of ‘Button, button, who’s got the button?’ You first, +Mr. Hardman. If you’ll kindly shuck your coat and vest, we’ll begin +button-hunting.” +</p> + +<p> +They diligently searched the miscreant without hiding anything pertaining to +“J. H. begins hear.” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s bound to have it somewhere,” asseverated Collins. “It don’t stand to +reason he was making his getaway without that paper. We got to be more +thorough, Del.” +</p> + +<p> +Hawkes, under the direction of his friend, ripped up linings and tore away +pockets from clothing. The saddle on the bronco and the saddle-blankets were +also torn to pieces in vain. +</p> + +<p> +Finally Hawkes scratched his poll and looked down on the wreckage. “I hate to +admit it, Val, but the old fox has got us beat; it ain’t on his person.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not unless he’s got it under his skin,” agreed Collins, with a grin. +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe he ate it. Think we better operate and find out?” +</p> + +<p> +An idea hit the sheriff. He walked up to Hardman and ordered him to open his +mouth. +</p> + +<p> +The jaws set like a vise. +</p> + +<p> +Collins poked his revolver against the closed mouth. “Swear for us, old bird. +Get a move on you.” +</p> + +<p> +The mouth opened, and Collins inserted two fingers. When he withdrew them they +brought a set of false teeth. Under the plate was a tiny rubber bag that stuck +to it. Inside the bag was a paper. And on it was written four lines in Spanish. +Those lines told what he wanted to know. They, too, were part of a direction +for finding hidden treasure. +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff wired at once to Bucky, in Chihuahua. Translated into plain +English, his cipher dispatch meant: “Come home at once. Trail getting red hot.” +</p> + +<p> +But Bucky did not come. As it happened, that young man had other fish to fry. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0009"></a> +CHAPTER IX.<br/> +“ADORE HAS ONLY ONE D.”</h2> + +<p> +After all, adventures are to the adventurous. In this prosaic twentieth century +the Land of Romance still beckons to eager eyes and gallant hearts. The rutted +money-grabber may deny till he is a nerve-racked counting-machine, but youth, +even to the end of time, will laugh to scorn his pessimism and venture with +elastic heel where danger and mystery offer their dubious hazards. +</p> + +<p> +So it was that Bucky and his little comrade found nothing of dulness in the +mission to which they had devoted themselves. In their task of winning freedom +for the American immured in the Chihuahua dungeon they already found themselves +in the heart of a web of intrigue, the stakes of which were so high as to carry +life and death with them in the balance. But for them the sun shone brightly. +It was enough that they played the game and shared the risks together. The +jocund morning was in their hearts, and brought with it an augury of success +based on nothing so humdrum or tangible as reason. +</p> + +<p> +O’Connor carried with him to the grim fortress not only his permit for an +inspection, but also a note from O’Halloran that was even more potent in +effect. For Colonel Ferdinand Gabilonda, warden of the prison, had a shrewd +suspicion that a plot was under way to overthrow the unpopular administration +of Megales, and though he was an office-holder under the present government he +had no objection to ingratiating himself with the opposition, providing it +could be done without compromising himself openly. In other words, the warden +was sitting on the fence waiting to see which way the cat would jump. If the +insurgents proved the stronger party, he meant to throw up his hat and shout +“Viva Valdez.” On the other hand, if the government party crushed them he would +show himself fussily active in behalf of Megales. Just now he was exerting all +his diplomacy to maintain a pleasant relationship with both. Since it was +entirely possible that the big Irishman O’Halloran might be the man on +horseback within a very few days, the colonel was all suave words and honeyed +smiles to his friend the ranger. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed he did him the unusual honor of a personally conducted inspection. +Gabilonda was a fat little man, with a soft, purring voice and a pompous +manner. He gushed with the courteous volubility of his nation, explaining with +great gusto this and that detail of the work. Bucky gave him outwardly a +deferent ear, but his alert mind and eyes were scanning the prisoners they saw. +The ranger was trying to find in one of these scowling, defiant faces some +resemblance to the picture his mind had made of Henderson. +</p> + +<p> +But Bucky looked in vain. If the man he wanted was among these he had changed +beyond recognition. In the end he was forced to ask Gabilonda plainly if he +would not take him to see David Henderson, as he knew a man in Arizona who was +an old friend of his, and he would like to be able to tell him that he had seen +his friend. +</p> + +<p> +Henderson was breaking stone when O’Connor got his first glimpse of him. He +continued to swing his hammer listlessly, without looking up, when the door +opened to let in the warden and his guests. But something in the ranger’s +steady gaze drew his eyes. They were dull eyes, and sullen, but when he saw +that Bucky was an American, the fire of intelligence flashed into them. +</p> + +<p> +“May I speak to him?” asked O’Connor. +</p> + +<p> +“It is against the rules, señor, but if you will be brief—” The colonel +shrugged, and turned his back to them, in order not to see. It must be said for +Gabilonda that his capacity for blinking what he did not think it judicious to +see was enormous. +</p> + +<p> +“You are David Henderson, are you not?” The ranger asked, in a low voice. +</p> + +<p> +Surprise filtered into the dull eyes. “That was my name,” the man answered +bitterly. “I have a number now.” +</p> + +<p> +“I come from Webb Mackenzie to get you out of this,” the ranger said. +</p> + +<p> +The man’s eyes were no longer dull now, but flaming with hatred. “Curse him, +I’ll take nothing from his hands. For fifteen years he has let me rot in hell +without lifting a hand for me.” +</p> + +<p> +“He thought you dead. It can all be explained. It was only last week that the +mystery of your disappearance was solved.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then why didn’t he come himself? It was to save his little girl I got myself +into this place. If I had been in his shoes I would have come if I’d had to +crawl on my hands and knees.” +</p> + +<p> +“He doesn’t know yet you are here. I wrote him simply that I knew where you +were, and then I came at once.” Bucky glanced round warily at the fat colonel +gazing placidly out of the barred window. “I mean to rescue you, and I knew if +he were here his impulsiveness would ruin everything.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean it? For God’s sake! don’t lie to me. If there’s no hope for me, +don’t say there is.” The prisoner’s voice shook and his hands trembled. He was +only the husk of the man he had been, but it did Bucky’s heart good to see that +the germ of life was still in him. Back in Arizona, on the Rocking Chair Ranch, +with the free winds of the plains beating on his face, he would pick up again +the old strands of his broken life, would again learn to love the lowing of +cattle and the early morning call of the hooter to his mate. +</p> + +<p> +“I mean it. As sure as I stand here I’ll get you out, or, if I don’t, Webb +Mackenzie will. We’re calling the matter to the attention of the United States +Government, but we are not going to wait till that time to free you. Keep up +your courage, man. It is only for a little time now.” +</p> + +<p> +Tears leaped to the prisoner’s eyes. He had been a game man in the dead years +that were past, none gamer in Texas, and he could still face his jailers with +an impassive face; but this first kindly word from his native land in fifteen +years to the man buried alive touched the fount of his emotions. He turned away +and leaned against the grating of his cell, his head resting on his forearm. +“My God! man, you don’t know what it means to me. Sometimes I think I shall go +mad and rave. After all these years. But I know you’ll fail—It’s too good to be +true,” he finished quietly. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll not fail, though I may be delayed. But I can’t say more. Gabilonda is +coming back. Next time I see you it will be to take you out to freedom. Think +of that always, and believe it.” +</p> + +<p> +Gabilonda bowed urbanely. “If the señor has seen all he cares to of this +department we will return to the office,” he suggested suavely. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, colonel. I can’t appreciate too much your kindness in allowing me +to study your system so carefully.” +</p> + +<p> +“Any friend of my friend the Señor O’Halloran is cherished deeply in my heart,” +came back the smiling colonel, with a wave of his plump, soft hand. +</p> + +<p> +“I am honored, sir, to receive such consideration at the hands of so +distinguished a soldier as Colonel Gabilonda,” bowed Bucky gravely, in his +turn, with the most flowery Spanish he could muster. +</p> + +<p> +There was another half-hour of the mutual exchange of compliments before +O’Connor could get away. Alphonse and Gaston were fairly outdone, for the +Arizonian, with a smile hidden deep behind the solemnity of his blue eyes, gave +as good as he got. When he was at last fairly in the safety of his own rooms he +gave way to limp laughter while describing to his little friend that most +ceremonious parting. +</p> + +<p> +“He pressed me to his manly bay window, Curly, and allowed he was plumb tickled +to death to have met me. Says I, coming back equal strong, ’twas the most +glorious day of my life.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I know <i>you</i>,” answered young Hardman, with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“A friend of his friend O’Halloran—” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. O’Halloran was here while you were away. He seemed very anxious to see +you; said he would call again in an hour. I think it must be important.” +</p> + +<p> +Came at that instant O’Halloran’s ungentle knock, on the heels of which his red +head came through the open door. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re the very lad I’m wanting to see, Bucky,” he announced, and followed +this declaration by locking all the doors and beckoning him to the center of +the room. +</p> + +<p> +“Is that tough neck of yours aching again, Reddy?” inquired his friend +whimsically. +</p> + +<p> +“It is that, me bye. There’s the very divil to pay,” he whispered. +</p> + +<p> +“Cough it out, Mike.” +</p> + +<p> +“That tyrant Megales is onto our game. Somebody’s leaked, or else he has a spy +in our councils—as we have in his, the ould scoundrel.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see. Your spy has told you that his spy has reported to him—” +</p> + +<p> +“That the guns are to be brought in to-night. He has sent out a guard to bring +them in safely to <i>him</i>. If he gets them, our game is up, me son, and you +can bet your last nickle on that.” +</p> + +<p> +“If he gets them! Is there a chance for us?” +</p> + +<p> +“Glory be! there is. You see, he doesn’t know that we know what he has done. +For that reason he sent out only a guard of forty men. If he sent more we would +suspect what he was doing, ye see. That is the way the old fox reasoned. But +forty—they were able to slip out of the city on last night’s train in +civilian’s clothes and their arms in a couple of coffins.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why didn’t he send a couple of hundred men openly, and at the same time arrest +you all?” +</p> + +<p> +“That doesn’t suit his book at all. For one thing, he probably doesn’t know all +of us, and he doesn’t want to bag half of us and throw the rest into immediate +rebellion. It’s his play not to force the issue until after the election, +Bucky. He controls all the election machinery and will have himself declared +reëlected, the old scamp, notwithstanding that he’s the most unpopular man in +the State. To precipitate trouble now would be just foolishness, he argues. So +he’ll just capture our arms, and after the election give me and my friends +quiet hell. Nothing public, you know—just unfortunate assassinations that he +will regret exceedingly, me bye. But I have never yit been assassinated, and, +on principle, I object to being trated so. It’s very destructive to a man’s +future usefulness.” +</p> + +<p> +“And so?” laughed the ranger. +</p> + +<p> +“And so we’ve arranged to take a few lads up the line and have a train hold-up. +I’m the robber-in-chief. Would ye like to be second in command of the lawless +ruffians, me son?” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky met his twinkling eye gaily. “Mr. O’Connor is debarred from taking part +in such an outrageous affair by international etiquette, but he knows a gypsy +lad would be right glad to join, I reckon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bully for him. If you’ll kindly have him here I’ll come around and collect him +this evening at eight-thirty sharp.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you’ll provide a pleasant entertainment for him.” +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll do our best,” grinned the revolutionist. “Music provided by Megales’ +crack military band. A lively and enjoyable occasion guaranteed to all who +attend. Your friend will meet some of the smartest officers in the State. It +promises to be a most sumptuous affair.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then my friend accepts with pleasure.” +</p> + +<p> +After the conspirator had gone, Frank spoke up. “You wouldn’t go away with him +and leave me here alone, would you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I ce’tainly shouldn’t take you with me, kid. I don’t want my little friend all +shot up by greasers.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you’re going, I want to go, too. Supposing—if anything were to happen to +you, what could I do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Leave the country by the next train. Those are the orders.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re always talking about a square deal. Do you think that is one? I might +say that I don’t want <i>you</i> shot. You don’t care anything about my +feelings.” The soft voice had a little break in it that Bucky loved. +</p> + +<p> +He walked across to his partner, that rare, tender smile of his in his eyes. +“If I’m always talking about a square deal I reckon I have got to give you one. +Now, what would you think a square deal, Curly? Would it be square for me to +let my friend O’Halloran stand all the risk of this and then me take the reward +when Henderson has been freed by him? Would that be your notion of the right +telling?” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t say that, though I don’t see why you have to mix yourself up in his +troubles. Why should you go out and kill these soldiers that haven’t injured +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m not going to kill any of them,” he smiled “Besides, that isn’t the way I +look at it. This fellow Megales is a despot. He has made out to steal the +liberty of the people from them. President Diaz can’t interfere because the old +rascal governor does everything with that smooth, oily way of his under cover +of law. It’s up to some of the people to put up a good strong kick for +themselves. I ain’t a bit sorry to give them the loan of my foot while they are +doing it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then can’t I go, too? I don’t want to be left alone here and you away +fighting.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky’s eyes gleamed. He dared an experiment in an indifferent drawl. “Whyfor +don’t you want to stay alone, kid? Are you afraid for yourself or for me?” +</p> + +<p> +His partner’s cheeks were patched with roses. Shyly the long, thick lashes +lifted and let the big brown eyes meet his blue ones. “Maybe I’m afraid for +both of us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you care if one of their pills happened along in the scrimmage and put +me out of business? Honest, would you?” +</p> + +<p> +“You haven’t any right to talk that way. It’s cruel,” was the reply that burst +from the pretty lips, and he noticed that at his suggestion the roses had died +from soft cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I won’t talk that way any more, little partner,” he answered gaily, +taking the small hand in his. “For reasons good. I’m fire-proof. The Mexican +bullet hasn’t been cast yet that can find Bucky O’Connor’s heart.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you mustn’t think that, either, and be reckless,” was the next injunction. +The shy laugh rang like music. “That’s why I want to go along, to see that you +behave yourself properly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I’ll behave,” he laughed; for the young man found it very easy to be happy +when those sweet eyes were showing concern for him. “I’ve got several good +reasons why I don’t aim to get bumped off just yet. Heaps of first-rate +reasons. I’ll tell you what some of them are one of these days,” he dared to +add. +</p> + +<p> +“You had better tell me now.” The gaze that fell before his steady eyes was +both shy and eager. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I reckon I’ll wait, Curly,” he answered, turning away with a long breath. +“Well, we better go out and get some grub, tortillas and frijoles, don’t you +think?” +</p> + +<p> +“Just as you like.” The lad’s breath was coming a little fast. They had been on +the edge of some moment of intimacy that Bucky’s partner both longed for and +dreaded. “But you have not told me yet whether I can go with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“You can’t. I’m sorry. I’d like first-rate to take you, if you want to go, but +I can’t do it. I hate to disappoint you if you’re set on it, but I’ve got to, +kid. Anything else you want I’ll be glad to do.” +</p> + +<p> +He added this last because Frank looked so broken-hearted about it. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well.” Swift as a flash came the demand: “Tell me these heaps of +first-rate reasons you were mentioning just now.” +</p> + +<p> +Under the sun-tan he flushed. “I reckon I’ll have to make another exception, +Curly. Those reasons ain’t ripe yet for telling.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then if you are—if anything happens—I’ll never know them. And you promised you +would tell me—you, who pretend to hate a liar so,” she scoffed. +</p> + +<p> +“Would it do if I wrote those reasons and left them in a sealed envelope? Then +in case anything happened you could open it and satisfy that robust curiosity +of yours.” He recognized that he had trapped himself, and he was making the +best bargain left him. +</p> + +<p> +“You may write them, if you like. But I’m going to open the letter, anyway. The +reasons belong to me now. You promised.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll make a new deal with you, then,” he smiled. “I’ll take awful good care of +myself to-night if you’ll promise not to open the envelope for two weeks +unless—well, unless that something happens that we ain’t expecting.” +</p> + +<p> +“Call it a week, and it’s a bargain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Better say when we’re back across the line again. That may be inside of three +days, if everything goes well,” he threw in as a bait. +</p> + +<p> +“Done. I’m to open the letter when we cross the line into Texas.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky shook the little hand that was offered him and wished mightily that he +had the right to celebrate with more fervent demonstrations. +</p> + +<p> +That afternoon the ranger wrote with a good deal of labor the letter he had +promised. It appeared to be a difficult thing for him to deliver himself even +on paper of those good and sufficient reasons. He made and destroyed no less +than half a dozen openings before at last he was fairly off. Meanwhile, Master +Frank, busy over some alterations in Bucky’s gypsy suit, took pleasure in +deriding with that sweet voice the harassed correspondent. +</p> + +<p> +“It might be a love letter from the pains you take with it. Would you like me +to come and help you with it?” the sewer railed merrily. +</p> + +<p> +“I ain’t used to letter writing much,” apologized the scribe, wiping his +bedewed brow, which had suddenly gone a shade more flushed. +</p> + +<p> +“Apparently not. I expect, from the time you give it, the result will be a +literary classic.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you disturb me, Curly, or I’ll never get done,” implored the tortured +ranger. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re doing well. You’ve only been an hour and a half on six lines,” the +tormentor mocked. +</p> + +<p> +Womanlike, she was quite at her ease, since he was very far indeed from being +at his. Yet she had a problem of her own she was trying to decide. +</p> + +<p> +Had he discovered, after all, that she was not a boy, and had his reasons—the +ones he was trying to tell in that disturbing letter—anything to do with that +discovery? Such a theory accounted for several things she had noticed in him of +late. There was an added respect in his manner for her. He never now invaded +the room recognized as hers without a specific invitation, nor did he seem any +longer to chafe at the little personal marks of fastidiousness that had at +first appeared to annoy him. To be sure, he ordered her about, just as he had +been in the habit of doing at first. But it was conceivable that this might be +a generous blind to cover up his knowledge of her sex. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you spell guessed—one s or two?” he presently asked, out of the throes +of composition. +</p> + +<p> +She spelled it, and added demurely: “Adore has only one d” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky laid down his pen and pretended to glare at him. “You young rascal, what +do you mean by bothering me like that? Act like that, you young imp, and you’ll +never grow up to be a gentleman.” +</p> + +<p> +Their glances caught and held, the minds of each of them busy over that last +prediction of his. For one long instant masks were off and both were trying to +find an answer to a question in the eyes opposite. Then voluntarily each gaze +released the other in a confusion of sweet shame. For the beating of a lash, +soul had looked into naked soul, all disguise stripped from them. She knew that +he knew. Yet in that instant when his secret was surprised from him another +secret, sweeter than the morning song of birds, sang its way into both their +hearts. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0010"></a> +CHAPTER X.<br/> +THE HOLD-UP OF THE M. C. P. FLYER</h2> + +<p> +Agua Negra is twelve miles from Chihuahua as the crow flies, but if one goes by +rail one twists round thirty sinuous miles of rough mountainous country in the +descent from the pass to the capital of the State. The ten men who slipped +singly or by twos out of the city in the darkness that evening and met at the +rendezvous of the Santa Dolorosa mission did not travel by rail to the pass, +but followed a horseback trail which was not more than half the distance. +</p> + +<p> +At the mission O’Halloran and his friend found gathered half a dozen Mexicans, +one or two of them tough old campaigners, the rest young fellows eager for the +excitement of their first active service. +</p> + +<p> +“Is Juan Valdez here yet?” asked O’Halloran, peering around in the gloom. +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet; nor Manuel Garcia,” answered a young fellow. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky was introduced to those present under the name of Alessandro Perdoza, and +presently also to the two missing members of the party who arrived together a +few moments later. Juan Valdez was the son of the candidate who was opposing +the reelection of Megales, and Manuel Garcia was his bosom friend, and the +young man to whom his sister was engaged. They were both excellent types of the +honorable aristocratic young Mexican. They were lightly built, swarthy young +men, possessed of that perfect grace and courtesy which can be found at its +best in the Spanish races. Gay, handsome young cavaliers as they were, filled +with the pride of family, Bucky thought them almost ideal companions for such a +harebrained adventure as this. The ranger was a social democrat to the marrow. +He had breathed in with the Southwest breezes the conviction that every man +must stand on his own bottom, regardless of adventitious circumstance, but he +was not fool enough to think all men equal. It had been his experience that +some men, by grace of the strength in them, were born to be masters and others +by their weakness to be servants. He knew that the best any civilization can +offer a man is a chance. Given that, it is up to every man to find his own +niche. +</p> + +<p> +But though he had no sense of deference to what is known as good blood, Bucky +had too much horse sense to resent the careless, half-indifferent greeting +which these two young sprouts of aristocracy bestowed on the rest of the party. +He understood that it was the natural product of their education and of that of +the others. +</p> + +<p> +“Are we all here?” asked Garcia. +</p> + +<p> +“All here,” returned O’Halloran briskly. “Rodrigo will guide the party. I ride +next with Señor Garcia. Perdoza and Señor Valdez will bring up the rear. +Forward, gentlemen, and may the Holy Virgin bring a happy termination to our +adventure.” He spoke in Mexican, as they all did, though for the next two hours +conversation was largely suspended, owing to the difficulty of the precipitous +trail they were following. +</p> + +<p> +Coming to a bit of the road where they were able to ride two abreast, O’Connor +made comment on the smallness of their number. “O’Halloran must have a good +deal of confidence in his men. Forty to ten is rather heavy odds, is it not, +señor?” +</p> + +<p> +“There are six more to join us at the pass. The wagons have gone round by the +road and the drivers will assist in the attack.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course it is all in the surprise. I have seen three men hold up a train +with five hundred people on it. Once I knew a gang to stick up a treasure train +with three heavily armed guards protecting the gold. They got them right, with +the drop on them, and it was good-by to the mazuma.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, if they have had any warning or if our plans slip a cog anywhere we shall +be repulsed to a certainty.” +</p> + +<p> +By the light of a moon struggling out from behind rolling clouds Bucky read +eleven-thirty on his watch when the party reached Agua Negra. It was still +thirty minutes before the Flyer was due, and O’Halloran disposed his forces +with explicit directions as to the course to be followed by each detail. Very +rapidly he sketched his orders as to the present disposition of the wagons and +the groups of attackers. When the train slowed down to remove the obstacles +they placed on the track, Garcia and another young man were to command parties +covering the train from both sides, while Rodrigo and one of the drivers were +to cover the engineer and the fireman. +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran himself, with Bucky and young Valdez, rode rapidly in the direction +of the approaching train. At Concho the engine would take on water for the last +stiff climb of the ascent, and here he meant to board the train unnoticed, just +as it was pulling out, in order to emphasize the surprise at the proper moment +and render resistance useless. If the troopers were all together in the car +next the one with the boxes of rifles, he calculated that they might perhaps be +taken unawares so sharply as to render bloodshed unnecessary. +</p> + +<p> +Concho was two miles from the summit, and when the three men galloped down to +the little station the headlight of the approaching engine was already visible. +They tied their horses in the mesquit and lurked in the thick brush until the +engine had taken water and the signal for the start was given. Then O’Halloran +and Bucky slipped across in the darkness to the train and swung themselves to +the platform of the last car. To Valdez, very much against his will, had fallen +the task of taking the horses back to Agua Negra. Since the track wound round +the side of the mountain in such a way as to cover five miles in making the +summit from Concho, the young Mexican had ample time to get back to the scene +of action before the train arrived. +</p> + +<p> +The big Irishman and Bucky rested quietly in the shadows of the back platform +for some time. Then they entered the last car, passed through it, and on to the +next. In the sleeper they met the conductor, but O’Halloran quietly paid their +fares and passed forward. As they had hoped, the whole detail of forty men were +in a special car next to the one containing the arms consigned to Michael +O’Halloran, importer of pianos. +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Chaves, in charge of the detail sent out to see that the rifles +reached Governor Megales instead of the men who had paid for them, was finding +his assignment exceedingly uninteresting. There was at Chihuahua a certain +black-eyed dona with whom he had expected to enjoy a pleasant evening’s +flirtation. It was confounded luck that it had fallen to him to take charge of +the escort for the guns. He had endured in consequence an unpleasant day of +dusty travel and many hours of boredom through the evening. Now he was cross +and sleepy, which latter might also be said of the soldiers in general. +</p> + +<p> +He was connected with a certain Arizona outfit which of late had been making +money very rapidly. If one more coup like the last could be pulled off safely +by his friend Wolf Leroy he would resign from the army and settle down. It +would then no longer be necessary to bore himself with such details as this. +</p> + +<p> +There was, of course, no necessity for alertness in his present assignment. The +opposition was scarcely mad enough to attempt taking the guns from forty armed +men. Chaves devoutly hoped they would, in order that he might get a little +glory, at least, out of the affair. But of course such an expectation would be +ridiculous. No, the journey would continue to be humdrum to the end, he was +wearily assured of that, and consequently attempted to steal a half hour’s +sleep while propped against a window with his feet in the seat opposite. +</p> + +<p> +The gallant lieutenant was awakened by a cessation of the drumming of the +wheels. Opening his eyes, he saw that the train was no longer in motion. He +also saw—and his consciousness of that fact was much more acute—the rim of a +revolver about six inches from his forehead. Behind the revolver was a man, a +young Spanish gypsy, and he was offering the officer very good advice. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t move, sir. No cause for being uneasy. Just sit quiet and everything will +be serene. No, I wouldn’t reach for that revolver, if I were you.” +</p> + +<p> +Chaves cast a hurried eye down the car, and at the end of it beheld the huge +Irishman, O’Halloran, dominating the situation with a pair of revolvers. +Chaves’ lambs were ranged on either side of the car, their hands in the air. +Back came the lieutenant’s gaze to the impassive face in front of him. Taken by +and large, it did not seem an auspicious moment for garnering glory. He decided +to take the advice bestowed on him. +</p> + +<p> +“Better put your hands up and vote with your men. Then you won’t be tempted to +play with your gun and commit suicide. That’s right, sir. I’ll relieve you of +it if you don’t object.” +</p> + +<p> +Since the lieutenant had no objections to offer, the smiling gypsy possessed +himself of the revolver. At the same instant two more men appeared at the end +of the car. One of them was Juan Valdez and another one of the mule-skinners. +Simultaneously with their entrance rang out a most disconcerting fusillade of +small arms in the darkness without. Megales’ military band, as O’Halloran had +facetiously dubbed them to the ranger, arrived at the impression that there +were about a thousand insurgents encompassing the train. Chaves choked with +rage, but the rest of the command yielded to the situation very tranquilly, +with no desire to offer themselves as targets to this crackling explosion of +Colts. <i>Muy bien!</i> After all, Valdez was a better man to serve than the +fox Megales. +</p> + +<p> +Swiftly Valdez and the wagon driver passed down the car and gathered the +weapons from the seats of the troopers. Raising a window, they passed them out +to their friends outside. Meanwhile, the sound of an axe could be heard +battering at the door of the next car, and presently the crash of splintering +wood announced that an entrance had been forced. +</p> + +<p> +“Breaking furniture, I reckon,” drawled Bucky, in English, for the moment +forgetful of the part he was playing. “I hope they’ll be all right careful of +them pianos and not mishandle them so they’ll get out of tune.” +</p> + +<p> +“So, señor, you are American,” said Chaves, in English, with a sinister smile. +</p> + +<p> +O’Connor shrugged, answering in Spanish: “I am Romany. Who shall say, whether +American, or Spanish, or Bohemian? All nations call to me, but none claim me, +señor.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant continued to smile his meaning grin. “Yet you are American,” he +persisted. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, as you please. I am what you will, lieutenant.” +</p> + +<p> +“You speak the English like a native.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are complimentary.” +</p> + +<p> +Chaves lifted his eyebrows. “For believing that you are in costume, that you +are wearing a disguise, Mr. American?” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky laughed outright, and offered a gay retort. “Believe me, lieutenant, I am +no more disguised as a gypsy than you are as a soldier.” +</p> + +<p> +The Mexican officer flushed with anger at the suggestion of contempt in the +careless voice. His generalship was discredited. He had been outwitted and made +to yield without a blow. But to have it flung in his teeth with such a debonair +insolence threw him into a fury. +</p> + +<p> +“If you and I ever meet on equal terms, señor, God pity you,” he ground out +between his set jaws. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky bowed, answering the furious anger in the man’s face as much as his +words. “I shall try to be careful not to offer myself a sheath for a knife some +dark night,” he scoffed. +</p> + +<p> +A whistle blew, and then again. The revolver of Bucky rang out almost on the +same instant as those of O’Halloran. Under cover of the smoke they slipped out +of the car just as Rodrigo leaped down from the cab of the engine. Slowly the +train began to back down the incline in the same direction from which it had +come. The orders given the engineer were to move back at a snail’s pace until +he reached Concho again. There he was to remain for two hours. That Chaves +would submit to this O’Halloran did not for a moment suspect. +</p> + +<p> +But the track would be kept obstructed till six o’clock in the morning, and a +sufficient guard would wait in the underbrush to see that the right of way was +not cleared. In the meantime the wagons would be pushing toward Chihuahua as +fast as they could be hurried, and the rest of the riders would guard them till +they separated on the outskirts of the town and slipped quietly in. In order to +forestall any telegraphic communication between Lieutenant Chaves and his +superiors in the city, the wires had been cut. On the face of it, the guns +seemed to be safe. Only one thing had O’Halloran forgotten. Eight miles across +the hills from Concho ran the line of the Chihuahua Northern. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0011"></a> +CHAPTER XI.<br/> +“STONE WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE.”</h2> + +<p> +The two young Spanish aristocrats rode in advance of the convoy on the return +trip, while O’Halloran and Bucky brought up the rear. The roads were too rough +to permit of rapid travel, but the teams were pushed as fast as it could safely +be done in the dark. It was necessary to get into the city before daybreak, and +also before word reached Megales of the coup his enemies had made. O’Halloran +calculated that this could be done, but he did not want to run his margin of +time too fine. +</p> + +<p> +“When the governor finds we have recaptured the arms, will he not have all your +leaders arrested today and thrown into the prison?” asked the ranger. +</p> + +<p> +“He will—if he can lay hands on them. But he had better catch his hare before +he cooks it. I’m thinking that none of us will be at home to-day when his men +come with a polite invitation to go along with them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he’ll spend all day strengthening his position. With this warning he will +be a fool if he can’t make himself secure before night, when the army is on his +side.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, the army is on his side, is it? Now, what would you say if most of the +officers were ready to come over to us as soon as we declare ourselves? And ye +speak of strengthening his position. The beauty of his position, me lad, from +our point of view, is that he doesn’t know his weak places. He’ll be the most +undeceived man in the State when the test comes—unless something goes wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +“When do you propose to attack the prison?” +</p> + +<p> +“To-night. To-morrow is election day, and we want all the byes we can on hand +to help us out.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you expect to throw the prison doors wide open—let every scoundrel in +Chihuahua loose on the public.” +</p> + +<p> +“We couldn’t do that, since half of them are loose already,” retorted +O’Halloran dryly. “And as for the rest—we expect to make a selection, me son, +to weed out a few choice ruffians and keep them behind the bars. But if ye know +anything about the prisons of this country, you’re informed, sir, that half the +poor fellows behind bars don’t belong there so much as the folk that put them +there. I’m Irish, as ye are yourself, and it’s me instinct to fight for the +under dog. Why shouldn’t the lads rotting behind those walls have another +chance at the game? By the mother of Moses! they shall, if Mike O’Halloran has +anything to say about it.” +</p> + +<p> +“You ce’tainly conduct your lawful elections in a beautifully lawless way,” +grinned the ranger. +</p> + +<p> +“And why not? Isn’t the law made for man?” +</p> + +<p> +“For which man—Megales?” +</p> + +<p> +“In order to give the greatest liberty to each individual man. But here comes +young Valdez riding back as if he were in a bit of a hurry.” +</p> + +<p> +The filibuster rode forward and talked with the young man for a few minutes in +a low voice. When he rejoined Bucky he nodded his head toward the young man, +who was again headed for the front of the column. “There’s the best lad in the +State of Chihuahua. He’s a Mexican, all right, but he has as much sense as a +white man. He doesn’t mix issues. Now, the lad’s in love with Carmencita +Megales, the prettiest black-eyed lass in Mexico, and, by the same token, so is +our friend Chaves, who just gave us the guns a little while ago. But Valdez is +a man from the heel of him to the head. Miss Carmencita has her nose in the air +because Juan doesn’t snuggle up to ould Megales and flatter him the same way +young Chaves does. So the lad is <i>persona non grata</i> at court with the +lady, and that tin soldier who gave up the guns without a blow gets the lady’s +smiles. But it’s my opinion that, for all her haughty ways, miss would rather +have our honest fighting lad than a roomful of the imitation toy kind.” +</p> + +<p> +A couple of miles from the outskirts of the city the wagons separated, and each +was driven to the assigned place for the hiding of the rifles till night. At +the edge of the town Bucky made arrangements to join his friend again at the +monument in the centre of the plaza within fifteen minutes. He was to bring his +little partner with him, and O’Halloran was to take them to a place where they +might lie in hiding till the time set for the rising. +</p> + +<p> +“I would go with ye, but I want to take charge of the unloading. Don’t lose any +time, lad, for as soon as Megales learns of what has happened his fellows will +scour the town for every mother’s son of us. Of course you have been under +surveillance, and it’s likely he’ll try to bag you with the rest of us. It was +a great piece of foolishness me forgetting about the line of the Chihuahua +Northern and its telegraph. But there’s a chance Chaves has forgot, too. +Anyway, get back as soon as you can; after we’re hidden, it will be like +looking for a needle in a haystack to put his fat finger on us.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky went singing up the stairway of the hotel to his room. He was keen to get +back to his little friend after the hazards of the night, eager to see the +brown eyes light up with joy at sight of him and to hear the soft voice with +the trailing inflection drawl out its shy questions. So he took the stairs +three at a time, with a song on his lips and in his heart. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“’Tis you shall reign, shall reign alone<br/> + My dark Rosaleen!<br/> + My own Rosaleen!<br/> +’Tis you shall have the golden throne,<br/> +’Tis you shall reign, and reign alone<br/> + My dark Rosaleen!” +</p> + +<p> +O’Connor, somewhat out of breath, was humming the last line when he passed +through the gypsy apartments and opened his own door, to meet one of the +surprises of his life. Yet he finished the verse, though he was looking down +the barrels of two revolvers in the hands of a pair of troopers, and though +Lieutenant Chaves, very much at his ease, sat on the table dangling his feet. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky’s sardonic laughter rang out gayly. “I ce’tainly didn’t expect to meet +you here, lieutenant. May I ask if you have wings?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not exactly, señor. But it is quite possible you may have before twenty-four +hours,” came the swift retort. +</p> + +<p> +“Interesting, if true,” remarked the ranger carelessly, tossing his gloves on +the bed. “And may I ask to what I am indebted for the pleasure of a visit from +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am returning your call, sir, and at the very earliest opportunity. I assure +you that I have been in the city less than ten minutes, Señor +whatever-you-choose-to-call-yourself. My promptness I leave you to admire.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you’re prompt enough, lieutenant. I noticed that when you handed over your +gun to me so lamblike.” He laughed it out flippantly, buoyantly, though it was +on his mind to wonder whether the choleric little officer might not kill him +out of hand for it. +</p> + +<p> +But Chaves merely folded his arms and looked sternly at the American with a +manner very theatrical. “Miguel, disarm the prisoner,” he ordered. +</p> + +<p> +“So I’m a prisoner,” mused Bucky aloud. “And whyfor, lieutenant?” +</p> + +<p> +“Stirring up insurrection against the government. The prisoner will not talk,” +decreed his captor, a frowning gaze attempting to quell him. +</p> + +<p> +But here the popinjay officer reckoned without his host, for that gentleman had +the most indomitable eyes in Arizona. It was not necessary for him to stiffen +his will to meet the other’s attack. His manner was still lazy, his gaze almost +insolent in its indolence, but somewhere in the blue eyes was that which told +Chaves he was his master. The Mexican might impotently rebel—and did; he might +feed his vanity with the swiftness of his revenge, but in his heart he knew +that the moment was not his, after all, or that it was his at least with no +pleasure unalloyed. +</p> + +<p> +“The prisoner will not talk,” repeated Bucky, with drawling mockery. “Sure he +will, general. There’s several things he’s awful curious to know. One of them +is how you happen to be Johnnie-on-the-spot so opportune.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant’s dignity melted before his vanity. Having so excellent a chance +to sun the latter, he delivered himself of an oration. After all, silent +contempt did not appear to be the best weapon to employ with this impudent +fellow. +</p> + +<p> +“Señor, no Chaves ever forgets an insult. Last night you, a common American, +insulted me grossly—me, Lieutenant Ferdinand Chaves, me, of the bluest +Castilian blood.” He struck himself dramatically on the breast. “I submit, +señor, but I vow revenge. I promised myself to spit on you, to spit on your +Stars and Stripes, the flag of a nation of dirty traders. Ha! I do so now in +spirit. The hour I have longed for is come.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky took one step forward. His eyes had grown opaque and flinty. “Take care, +you cur.” +</p> + +<p> +Swiftly Chaves hurried on without pressing the point. He had a prophetic vision +of his neck in the vise grip of those brown, sinewy hands, and, though his men +would afterward kill the man, small good would he get from that if the life +were already squeezed out of him. +</p> + +<p> +“And so what do I do? I think, and having thought I act with the swiftness of a +Chaves. How? I ride across country. I seize a hand car. My men pump me to town +on the roadbed of the Northern. I telephone to the hotels and find where +Americans are staying. Then I come here like the wind, arrest your friend, and +send him to prison, arrest you also and send you to the gallows.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s real kind of you, general,” replied Bucky, in irony sportive. “But you +really are putting yourself out too much for me. I reckon I’ll not trouble you +to go so far. By the way, did I understand you to say you had arrested a friend +of mine?” +</p> + +<p> +Indifferently he flung out the question, if his voice were index of his +feeling, but his heart was pumping faster than it normally ought. +</p> + +<p> +“He is in prison, where you will shortly join him. Soldiers, to the commandant +with your captive.” +</p> + +<p> +If Bucky had had any idea of attempting escape, he now abandoned it at once. +The place of all places where he most ardently desired to be at that moment was +in the prison with his little comrade. His desire marched with that of Chaves +so far, and the latter could not hurry him there too fast to suit him. +</p> + +<p> +One feature of the situation made him chuckle, and that was this: The fiery +lieutenant, intent first of all on his revenge, had given first thought to the +capture of the man who had made mincemeat of his vanity and rendered him a +possible subject of ridicule to his fellow officers. So eager had he been to +accomplish this that he had failed as yet to notify his superiors of what had +happened, with the result that the captured guns had been safely smuggled in +and hidden. Bucky thought he could trust O’Halloran to see that he did not stay +long behind bars and bolts, unless indeed the game went against that sanguine +and most cheerful plotter. In which event—well, that was a contingency that +would certainly prove embarrassing to the ranger. It might indeed turn out to +be a good deal more than embarrassing in the end. The thing that he had done +would bear a plain name if the Megales faction won the day—and the punishment +for it would be easy to guess. But it was not of himself that O’Connor was +thinking. He had been in tight places before and squeezed safely out. But his +little friend, the one he loved better than his life, must somehow be +extricated, no matter how the cards fell. +</p> + +<p> +The ranger was taken at once before General Carlo, the ranking army officer at +Chihuahua, and, after a sharp preliminary examination, was committed to prison. +The impression that O’Connor got of Carlo was not a reassuring one. The man was +a military despot, apparently, and a stickler for discipline. He had a hanging +face, and, in the Yaqui war, had won the nickname of “the butcher” for his +merciless treatment of captured natives. If Bucky were to get the same short +shrift as they did—and he began to suspect as much when his trial was set for +the same day before a military tribunal—it was time for him to be setting what +few worldly affairs he had in order. Technically, Megales had a legal right to +have him put to death and the impression lingered with Bucky that the sly old +governor would be likely to do that very thing and later be full of profuse +regrets to the United States Government that inadvertently a citizen of the +great republic had been punished by mistake. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky was registered and receipted for at the prison office, after which he was +conducted to his cell. The corridors dripped as he followed under ground the +guide who led the way with a flickering lantern. It was a gruesome place to +contemplate as a permanent abode. But the young American knew that his stay +here would be short, whether the termination of it were liberty or the gallows. +</p> + +<p> +Reaching the end of a narrow, crooked corridor that sloped downward, the +turnkey unlocked a ponderous iron door with a huge key, and one of the guards +following at Bucky’s heels, pushed him forward. He fell down two or three steps +and came to a sprawling heap on the floor of the cell. +</p> + +<p> +From the top of the steps came a derisive laugh as the door swung to and left +him in utter darkness. +</p> + +<p> +Stiffly the ranger got to his knees and was about to rise when a sound stopped +him. Something was panting in deep breaths at the other side of the cell. A +shiver of terror went goose-quilling down O’Connor’s back. Had they locked him +up with some wild beast, to be torn to pieces? Or was this the ghost of some +previous occupant? In such blackness of gloom it was easy to believe, or, at +least, to imagine impossible conceptions that the light of day would have +scattered in an instant. He was afraid—afraid to the marrow. +</p> + +<p> +And then out of the darkness came a small, trembling voice: “Are you a +prisoner, too, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky wanted to shout aloud his relief—and his delight. The sheer joy of his +laughter told him how badly he had been frightened. That voice—were he sunk in +twice as deep and dark an inferno—he would know it among a thousand. He groped +his way forward toward it. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, little pardner, I’m plumb tickled to death you ain’t a ghost,” he laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“It is—Bucky?” The question joyfully answered itself. +</p> + +<p> +“Right guess. Bucky it is.” +</p> + +<p> +He had hold of her hands by this time, was trying to peer down into the +happy-brown eyes he knew were scanning him. “I can’t see you yet, Curly Haid, +but it’s sure you, I reckon. I’ll have to pass my hand over your face the way a +blind man does,” he laughed, and, greatly daring, he followed his own +suggestion, and let his fingers wander across her crisp, thick hair, down her +soft, warm cheeks, and over the saucy nose and laughing mouth he had often +longed to kiss. +</p> + +<p> +Presently she drew away shyly, but the lilt of happiness in her voice told him +she was not offended. “I can see you, Bucky.” The last word came as usual, with +that sweet, hesitating, upward inflection that made her familiarity wholly +intoxicating, even while the comradeship of it left room for an interpretation +either of gay mockery or something deeper. “Yes, I can see you. That’s because +I have been here longer and am more used to the darkness. I think I’ve been +here about a year.” He felt her shudder. “You don’t know how glad I am to see +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“No gladder than I am to feel you,” he answered gayly. “It’s worth the price of +admission to find you here, girl o’mine.” +</p> + +<p> +He had forgotten the pretense that still lay between them, so far as words went +when they had last parted. Nor did it yet occur to him that he had swept aside +the convention of her being a boy. But she was vividly aware of it, and aware, +too, of the demand his last words had made for a recognition of the +relationship that existed in feeling between them. +</p> + +<p> +“I knew you knew I was a girl,” she murmured. +</p> + +<p> +“You knew more than that,” he challenged joyfully. +</p> + +<p> +But, in woman’s way, she ignored his frontal attack. He was going at too +impetuous a speed for her reluctance. “How long have you known that I wasn’t a +boy—not from the first, surely?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know why I didn’t, but I didn’t. I was sure locoed,” he confessed. “It +was when you came out dressed as a gypsy that I knew. That explained to me a +heap of things I never had understood before about you.” +</p> + +<p> +“It explained, I suppose, why I never had licked the stuffing out of any other +kid, and why you did not get very far in making a man out of me as you +promised,” she mocked. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and it explained how you happened to say you were eighteen. By mistake +you let the truth slip out. Course I wouldn’t believe it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember you didn’t. I think you conveyed the impression to me +diplomatically that you had doubts.” +</p> + +<p> +“I said it was a lie,” he laughed. “I sure do owe you a heap of apologies for +being so plumb dogmatic when you knew best. You’ll have to sit down on me hard +once in a while, or there won’t be any living with me.” +</p> + +<p> +Blushingly she did some more ignoring. “That was the first time you threatened +to give me a whipping,” she recalled aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“My goodness! Did I ever talk so foolish?” +</p> + +<p> +“You did, and meant it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But somehow I never did it. I wonder why I didn’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps I was so frail you were afraid you would break me.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, that wasn’t it. In the back of my haid somewhere there was an instinct +that said: ‘Bucky, you chump, if you don’t keep your hands off this kid you’ll +be right sorry all your life.’ Not being given to many ideas, I paid a heap of +respect to that one.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it’s too bad, for I probably needed that whipping, and now you’ll never +be able to give it to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shan’t ever want to now.” +</p> + +<p> +Saucily her merry eyes shot him from under the long lashes. “I’m not so sure of +that. Girls can be mighty aggravating.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the way girls are meant to be, I expect,” he laughed. “But +fifteen-year-old boys have to be herded back into line. There’s a difference.” +</p> + +<p> +She rescued her hands from him and led the way to a bench that served for a +seat. “Sit down here, sir. There are one or two things that I have to explain.” +She sat down beside him at the farther end of the bench. +</p> + +<p> +“This light is so dim, I can’t see you away over there,” he pleaded, moving +closer. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t need to see me. You can hear me, can’t you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon.” +</p> + +<p> +She seemed to find a difficulty in beginning, even though the darkness helped +her by making it impossible for him to see her embarrassment. Presently he +chuckled softly. “No, ma’am, I can’t even hear you. If you’re talking, I’ll +have to come closer.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you do, I’ll get up. I want you to be really earnest.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never was more earnest in my life, Curly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Please, Bucky? It isn’t easy to say it, and you mustn’t make it harder.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you have to say it, pardner?” he asked, more seriously. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I have to say it.” And swiftly she blurted it out. “Why do you suppose I +came with you to Mexico?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know.” He grappled with her suggestion for a moment. “I suppose—you +said it was because you were afraid of Hardman.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I wasn’t. At least, I wasn’t afraid that much. I knew that I would have +been quite safe next time with the Mackenzies at the ranch.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then why was it?” +</p> + +<p> +“You can’t think of any reason?” She leaned forward and looked directly into +his eyes—eyes as honest and as blue as an Arizona sky. +</p> + +<p> +But he stood unconvicted—nay, acquitted. The one reason she had dreaded he +might offer to himself had evidently never entered his head. Whatever guesses +he might have made on the subject, he was plainly guiltless of thinking she +might have come with him because she was in love with him. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I can’t think of any other reason, if the one you gave isn’t the right +one.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite sure?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite sure, pardner.” +</p> + +<p> +“Think! Why did you come to Chihuahua?” +</p> + +<p> +“To run down Wolf Leroy’s gang and to get Dave Henderson out of prison.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps there is a reason why I should want him out of prison, a better reason +than you could possibly have.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t savvy it. How can there be? You don’t know him, do you? He’s been in +prison almost ever since you were born.” And on top of his last statement +Bucky’s eyes began to open with a new light. “Good heavens! It can’t be +possible. You’re not Webb Mackenzie’s little girl, are you?” +</p> + +<p> +She did not answer him in words, but from her neck she slipped a chain and +handed it to him. On the chain hung a locket. +</p> + +<p> +The ranger struck a match and examined the trinket. “It’s the very missing +locket. See! Here’s the other one. Compare them together.” He touched the +spring and it opened, but the match was burned out and he had to light another. +“Here’s the mine map that has been lost all these years. How did you get this? +Have you always had it? And how long have you known that you were Frances +Mackenzie?” +</p> + +<p> +His questions tumbled out one upon another in his excitement. +</p> + +<p> +She laughed, answering him categorically. “I don’t know, for sure. Yes, at +least a great many years. Less than a week.” +</p> + +<p> +“But—I don’t understand—” +</p> + +<p> +“And won’t until you give me a chance to do some of the talking,” she +interrupted dryly. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right. I reckon I am getting off left foot first. It’s your powwow +now,” he conceded. +</p> + +<p> +“So long as I can remember exactly I have always lived with the man Hardman and +his wife. But before that I can vaguely recall something different. It has +always seemed like a kind of fairyland, for I was a very little tot then. But +one of the things I seem to remember was a sweet, kind-eyed mother and a big, +laughing father. Then, too, there were horses and lots of cows. That is about +all, except that the chain around my neck seemed to have some connection with +my early life. That’s why I always kept it very carefully, and, after one of +the lockets broke, I still kept it and the funny-looking paper inside of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t understand why Hardman didn’t take the paper,” he interrupted. +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose he did, and when he discovered that it held only half the secret of +the mine he probably put it back in the locket. I see you have the other part.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was lost at the place where the robbers waited to hold up the T. P. +Limited. Probably you lost it first and one of the robbers found it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Probably,” she said, in a queer voice. +</p> + +<p> +“What was the first clue your father had had for many years about his little +girl. He happened to be at Aravaipa the day you and I first met. I guess he +took a fancy to me, for he asked me to take this case up for him and see if I +couldn’t locate you. I ran Hardman down and made him tell me the whole story. +But he lied about some of it, for he told me you were dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is a born liar,” the girl commented. “Well, to get on with my story. +Anderson, or Hardman, as he now calls himself, except when he uses his stage +name of Cavallado, went into the show business and took me with him. When I was +a little bit of a girl he used to use me for all sorts of things, such as a +target for his knife throwing and to sell medicine to the audience. Lots of +people would buy because I was such a morsel of a creature, and I suppose he +found me a drawing card. We moved all over the country for years. I hated the +life. But what could I do?” +</p> + +<p> +“You poor little lamb,” murmured the man. “And when did you find out who you +were?” +</p> + +<p> +“I heard you talking to him the night you took him back to Epitaph, and then I +began to piece things together. You remember you went over the whole story with +him again just before we reached the town.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you knew it was you I was talking about?” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t know. But when you mentioned the locket and the map, I knew. Then it +seemed to me that since this man Henderson had lost so many years of his life +trying to save me I must do something for him. So I asked you to take me with +you. I had been a boy so long I didn’t think you would know the difference, and +you did not. If I hadn’t dressed as a girl that time you would not know yet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe, and maybe not,” he smiled. “Point is, I do know, and it makes a heap of +difference to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I know,” she said hurriedly. “I’m more trouble now.” +</p> + +<p> +“That ain’t it,” he was beginning, when a thought brought him up short. As the +daughter of Webb Mackenzie this girl was no longer a penniless outcast, but the +heiress of one-half interest in the big Rocking Chair Ranch, with its fifteen +thousand head of cattle. As the first he had a perfect right to love her and to +ask her to marry him, but as the latter—well, that was quite a different +affair. He had not a cent to bless himself with outside of his little ranch and +his salary, and, though he might not question his own motives under such +circumstances, there would be plenty who would question them for him. He was an +independent young man as one could find in a long day’s ride, and his pride +rose up to padlock his lips. +</p> + +<p> +She looked across at him in shy surprise, for all the eagerness had in an +instant been sponged from his face. With a hard, impassive countenance he +dropped the hand he had seized and turned away. +</p> + +<p> +“You were saying—” she suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon I’ve forgot what it was. It doesn’t matter, anyhow.” +</p> + +<p> +She was hurt, and deeply. It was all very well for her to try her little wiles +to delay him, but in her heart she longed to hear the words he had been about +to say. It had been very sweet to know that this brown, handsome son of Arizona +loved her, very restful to know that for the first time in her life she could +trustfully let her weakness lean on the strength of another. And, more than +either, though she sometimes smilingly pretended to deny it to herself, was the +ultimate fact that she loved him. His voice was music to her, his presence joy. +He brought with him sunshine, and peace, and happiness. +</p> + +<p> +He was always so reliable, so little the victim of his moods. What could have +come over him now to change him in that swift instant? Was she to blame? Had +she unknowingly been at fault? Or was there something in her story that had +chilled him? It was characteristic of her that it was herself she doubted and +not him; that it never occurred to her that her hero had feet of clay like +other men. +</p> + +<p> +She felt her heart begin to swell, and choked back a sob. It wrung him to hear +the little breath catch, but he was a man, strong-willed and resolute. Though +he dug his finger nails into his palms till the flesh was cut he would not give +way to his desire. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re not angry at me—Bucky?” she asked softly. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I’m not angry at you.” His voice was cold because he dared not trust +himself to let his tenderness creep into it. +</p> + +<p> +“I haven’t done anything that I ought not to? Perhaps you think it +wasn’t—wasn’t nice to—to come here with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think anything of the kind,” his hard voice answered. “I think you’re +a prince, if you want to know.” +</p> + +<p> +She smiled a little wanly, trying to coax him back into friendliness. “Then if +I’m a prince you must be a princess,” she teased. +</p> + +<p> +“I meant a prince of good fellows.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” She could be stiff, too, if it came to that. +</p> + +<p> +And at this inopportune moment the key turned harshly and the door swung open. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0012"></a> +CHAPTER XII.<br/> +A CLEAN WHITE MAN’S OPTION</h2> + +<p> +The light of a lantern coming down the steps blinded them for a moment. Behind +the lantern peered the yellow face of the turnkey. “Ho, there, +<i>Americano!</i> They want you up above,” the man said. “The generals, and the +colonels, and the captains want a little talk with you before they hang you, +señor.” +</p> + +<p> +The two soldiers behind the fellow cackled merrily at his wit, and the +encouraged turnkey tried again. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall trouble you but a little time. Only a few questions, señor, an order, +and then <i>poco tiempo</i>, after a short walk to the gallows—paradise.” +</p> + +<p> +“What—what do you mean?” gasped the girl whitely. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind, <i>muchacho</i>. This is no affair of yours. Your turn will come +later. Have no fear of that,” nodded the wrinkled old parchment face. +</p> + +<p> +“But—but he hasn’t done anything wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ho, ho! Let him explain that to the generals and the colonels,” croaked the +old fellow. “And that you may explain the sooner, señor, hurry—let your feet +fly!” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky walked across to the girl he loved and took her hands in his. +</p> + +<p> +“If I don’t come back before three hours read the letter that I wrote you +yesterday, dear. I have left matches on that bench so that you may have a +light. Be brave, pardner. Don’t lose your nerve, whatever you do. We’ll both +get out of this all right yet.” +</p> + +<p> +He spoke in a low voice, so that the guards might not hear, and it was in kind +that she answered. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m afraid, Bucky; afraid away down deep. You don’t half believe yourself what +you say. I can’t stand it to be here alone and not know what’s going on. They +might be—be doing what that man said, and I not know anything about it till +afterward.” She broke down and began to sob. “Oh, I know I’m a dreadful little +coward, but I can’t be like you—and you heard what he said.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sho! What he says is nothing. I’m an American citizen, and I reckon that will +carry us through all right. Uncle Sam has awful long arms, and these greasers +know it. I’m expecting to come back here again, little pardner. But if I don’t +make it, I want you, just as soon as they turn you loose, to go straight to +your father’s ranch.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come! This won’t do. Look alive, señor,” the turnkey ordered, and to emphasize +his words reached a hand forward to pluck away the sobbing lad. Bucky caught +his wrist and tightened on it like a vise. “Hands off, here!” he commanded +quietly. +</p> + +<p> +The man gave a howl of pain and nursed his hand gingerly after it was released. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, Bucky, make him let me go, too,” the girl wailed, clinging to his coat. +</p> + +<p> +Gently he unfastened her fingers. “You know I would if I could, Curly; but it +isn’t my say-so.” +</p> + +<p> +And with that he was gone. Ashen-faced she watched him go, and as soon as the +door had closed groped her way to the bench and sank down on it, her face +covered with her hands. He was going to his death. Her lover was going to his +death. Why had she let him go? Why had she not done something—thought of some +way to save him? +</p> + +<p> +The ranger’s guards led him to the military headquarters in the next street +from the prison. He observed that nearly a whole company of Rurales formed the +escort, and this led him to conclude that the government party was very uneasy +as to the situation and had taken precautions against a possible attempt at +rescue. But no such attempt was made. The sunny streets were pretty well +deserted, except for a few lounging peons hardly interested enough to be +curious. The air of peace, of order, sat so incongruously over the plaza that +Bucky’s heart fell. Surely this was the last place on earth for a revolution to +make any headway of consequence. His friends were hidden away in holes and +cellars, while Megales dominated the situation with his troops. To expect a +reversal of the situation was surely madness. +</p> + +<p> +Yet even while the thought was in his mind he caught a glimpse in a doorway of +a man he recognized. It was Rodrigo, one of his allies of the previous night’s +escapade, and it seemed to him that the man was trying to tell him something +with his eyes. If so, the meaning of his message failed to carry home, for +after the ranger had passed he dared not look back again. +</p> + +<p> +So far as the trial itself went, O’Connor hoped for nothing and was the less +disappointed. One glance at his judges was enough to convince him of the +futility of expectation. He was tried by a court-martial presided over by +General Carlo. Beside him sat a Colonel Onate and Lieutenant Chaves. In none of +the three did he find any room for hope. Carlo was a hater of Americans and a +butcher by temperament and choice, Chaves a personal enemy of the prisoner, and +Onate looked as grim an old scoundrel as Jeffreys the hanging judge of James +Stuart. Governor Megales, though not technically a member of the court, was +present, and took an active part in the prosecution. He was a stout, swarthy +little man, with black, beady eyes that snapped restlessly to and fro, and from +his manner to the officers in charge of the trial it was plain that he was a +despot even in his own official family. +</p> + +<p> +The court did not trouble itself with forms of law. Chaves was both principal +witness and judge, notwithstanding the protest of the prisoner. Yet what the +lieutenant had to offer in the way of testimony was so tinctured with +bitterness that it must have been plain to the veriest novice he was no fit +judge of the case. +</p> + +<p> +But Bucky knew as well as the judges that his trial was a merely perfunctory +formality. The verdict was decided ere it began, and, indeed, so eager was +Megales to get the farce over with that several times he interrupted the +proceedings to urge haste. +</p> + +<p> +It took them just fifteen minutes from the time the young American was brought +into the room to find him guilty of treason and to decide upon immediate +execution as the fitting punishment. +</p> + +<p> +General Carlo turned to the prisoner. “Have you anything to say before I +pronounce sentence of death upon you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have,” answered Bucky, looking him straight in the eyes. “I am an American, +and I demand the rights of a citizen of the United States.” +</p> + +<p> +“An American?” Incredulously Megales lifted his eyebrows. “You are a Spanish +gypsy, my friend.” +</p> + +<p> +The ranger was fairly caught in his own trap. He had donned the gypsy +masquerade because he did not want to be taken for what he was, and he had +succeeded only too well. He had played into their hands. They would, of course, +claim, in the event of trouble with the United States, that they had supposed +him to be what his costume proclaimed him, and they would be able to make good +their pretense with a very decent appearance of candor. What an idiot of sorts +he had been! +</p> + +<p> +“We understand each other perfectly, governor. I know and you know that I am an +American. As a citizen of the United States I claim the protection of that +flag. I demand that you will send immediately for the United States consul to +this city.” +</p> + +<p> +Megales leaned forward with a thin, cruel smile on his face. “Very well, señor. +Let it be as you say. Your friend, Señor O’Halloran, is the United States +consul. I shall be very glad to send for him if you can tell me where to find +him. Having business with him to-day, I have despatched messengers who have +been unable to find him at home. But since you know where he is, and are in +need of him, perhaps you can assist me with information of value.” +</p> + +<p> +Again Bucky was fairly caught. He had no reason to doubt that the governor +spoke truth in saying that O’Halloran was the United States consul. There were +in the city as permanent residents not more than three or four citizens of the +United States. With the political instinct of the Irish, it would be very +characteristic of O’Halloran to work his “pull” to secure for himself the +appointment. That he had not happened to mention the fact to his friend could +be accounted for by reason of the fact that the duties of the office at that +place were few and unimportant. +</p> + +<p> +“We are waiting, señor. If you will tell us where we may send?” hinted Megales. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know any more than you do, if he is not at home.” +</p> + +<p> +The governor’s eyes glittered. “Take care, señor. Better sharpen your memory.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s pretty hard to remember what one never knew,” retorted the prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +The Mexican tyrant brought his clinched fist slowly down on the table in front +of him. “It is necessary to remember, sir. It is necessary to answer a few +questions. If you answer them to our satisfaction you may yet save your life.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed!” Bucky swept his fat bulk scornfully from head to foot. “If I were +what you think me, do you suppose I would betray my friends?” +</p> + +<p> +“You have no option, sir. Answer my questions, or die like a dog.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean that you would not think you had any option if you were in my place, +but since I’m a clean white man there’s an option. By God! sir, it doesn’t take +me a whole lot of time to make it, either. I’ll see you rot in hell before I’ll +play Judas.” +</p> + +<p> +The words rang like a bell through the room, not loud, but clear and vibrant. +There was a long instant’s silence after the American finished speaking, and as +his eyes swept from one to another of the enemy Bucky met with a surprise. On +Colonel Onate’s face was a haggard look of fear—surely it was fear—that lifted +in relief at the young man’s brave challenge. He had been dreading something, +and the dread was lifted. Onate! Onate! The ranger’s memory searched the past +few days to locate the name. Had O’Halloran mentioned it? Was this man one of +the officers expected to join the opposition when it declared itself against +Megales? He had a vague recollection of the name, and he could have heard it +only through his friend. +</p> + +<p> +“Was Juan Valdez a member of the party that took the rifles from Lieutenant +Chaves and his escort?” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky laughed out his contempt. +</p> + +<p> +“Speak, sir,” broke in Chaves. “Answer the governor, you dog.” +</p> + +<p> +“If I speak, it will be to tell you what a cur I think you.” +</p> + +<p> +Chaves flushed angrily and laid a hand on his revolver. “Who are you that play +dice with death, like a fool?” +</p> + +<p> +“My name, seh, is Bucky O’Connor.” +</p> + +<p> +At the words a certain fear, followed by a look of triumph, passed over the +face of Chaves. It was as if he had had an unpleasant shock that had instantly +proved groundless. Bucky did not at the time understand it. +</p> + +<p> +“Why don’t you shoot? It’s about your size, you pinhead, to kill an unarmed +man.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell all you know and I promise you your life.” It was Megales who spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll tell you nothing, except that I’m Bucky O’Connor, of the Arizona Rangers. +Chew on that a while, governor, and see how it tastes. Kill me, and Uncle Sam +is liable to ask mighty loud whyfor; not because I’m such a mighty big toad in +the puddle, but because any man that stands under that flag has back of him the +biggest, best, and gamest country on God’s green footstool.” Bucky spoke in +English this time, straight as he could send it. +</p> + +<p> +“In that case, I think sentence may now be pronounced, general.” +</p> + +<p> +“I warn you that the United States will exact vengeance for my death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed!” Politely the governor smiled at him with a malice almost devilish. +“If so, it will be after you are dead, Señor Bucky O’Connor, of the Arizona +Rangers.” +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Onate leaned forward and whispered something to General Carlo, who +shook his head and frowned. Presently the black head of Chaves joined them, and +the three were in excited discussion. Arms waved like signals, as is usual +among the Latin races who talk with their hands and expressive shrugs of the +shoulders. Outvoted by two to one, Onate appealed to the governor, who came up +and listened, frowning, to both sides of the debate. In their excitement the +voices raised, and to Bucky came snatches of phrases that told him his life +hung in the balance. Carlo and Chaves were for having him executed out of hand, +at latest, by sunset. The latter was especially vindictive. Indeed, it seemed +to the ranger that ever since he had mentioned his name this man had set +himself more malevolently to compass his death. Onate maintained, on the other +hand, that their prisoner was worth more to them alive than dead. There was a +chance that he might weaken before morning and tell secrets. At worst they +would still have his life as a card to hold in case of need over the head of +the rebels. If it should turn out that this was not needed, he could be +executed in the morning as well as to-night. +</p> + +<p> +It may be conceived with what anxiety Bucky listened to the whispered +conversation and waited for the decision of the governor. He was a game man, +noted even in a country famous for its courageous citizens, but he felt +strangely weak now as he waited with that leather-crusted face of his bereft of +all expression. +</p> + +<p> +“Give him till morning to weaken. If he still stays obstinate, hang him in the +dawn,” decided the governor, his beady eyes fixed on the prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +Not a flicker of the eyelid betrayed the Arizonian’s emotion, but for an +instant the world swam dizzily before him. Safe till morning! Before then a +hundred chances might change the current of the game in his favor. How brightly +the sunshine flooded the room! What a glorious world it was, after all! Through +the open window poured the rich, full-throated song of a meadow lark, and the +burden of its blithe song was, “How good is this life the mere living.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0013"></a> +CHAPTER XIII.<br/> +BUCKY’S FIRST-RATE REASONS</h2> + +<p> +How long Frances Mackenzie gave herself up to despair she never knew, but when +at last she resolutely took herself in hand it seemed hours later. “Bucky told +me to be brave, he told me not to lose my nerve,” she repeated to herself over +and over again, drawing comfort from the memory of his warm, vibrant voice. “He +said he would come back, and he hates a liar. So, of course, he will come.” +With such argument she tried to allay her wild fears. +</p> + +<p> +But on top of all her reassurances would come a swift, blinding vision of +gallant Bucky being led to his death that crumpled her courage as a hammer +might an empty egg shell. What was the use of her pretending all was well when +at that very moment they might be murdering him? Then in her agony she would +pace up and down, wringing her hands, or would beat them on the stone walls +till the soft flesh was bruised and bleeding. +</p> + +<p> +It was in the reaction, after one of these paroxysms of despair, that in her +groping for an anchor to make fast her courage she thought of his letter. +</p> + +<p> +“He said in three hours I was to read it if he didn’t come back. It must be +more than three hours now,” she said aloud to herself, and knew a fresh dread +at his prolonged absence beyond the limit he had set. +</p> + +<p> +In point of fact, he had been gone less than three-quarters of an hour, but in +each one of them she had lived a lifetime of pain and died many deaths. +</p> + +<p> +By snatches she read her letter, a sentence or a fragment of a sentence at a +time as the light served. Luckily he had left a case nearly full of matches, +and one after another of them dropped, charred and burned out, before she had +finished reading. After she had read it, her first love letter, she must needs +go over it again, to learn by heart the sweet phrases in which he had wooed +her. It was a commonplace note enough, far more neutral than the strong, virile +writer who had lacked the cunning to transmit his feeling to ink and paper. +But, after all, it was from him, and it told the divine message, however +haltingly. No wonder she burned her little finger tips from the flame of the +matches creeping nearer unheeded. No wonder she pressed it to her lips in the +darkness and dreamed her happy dream in those few moments when she was lost in +her love before cruel realities pressed home on her again. +</p> + +<p> +“I told you, Little Curly Haid, that I had first-rate reasons for not wanting +to be killed by these Mexicans. So I have, the best reasons going. But they are +not ripe to tell you, and so I write them. +</p> + +<p> +“I guessed your secret, little pardner, right away when I seen you in a girl’s +outfit. If I hadn’t been blind as a bat I would have guessed it long since, for +all the time my feelings were telling me mighty loud that you were the +lovingest little kid Bucky had ever come across. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll not leave you to guess my secret the way you did me yours, dear Curly, +but right prompt I’ll set down adore (with one D) and say you hit the +bull’s-eye that time without expecting to. But if I was saying it I would not +use any French words sweetheart, but plain American. And the word would be +l-o-v-e, without any D’s. Now you have got the straight of it, my dear. I love +you—love you—love you, from the crown of that curly hear to the soles of your +little feet. What’s more, you have got to love me, too, since I am, +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“Your future husband,<br/> +“B<small>UCKY</small> O’C<small>ONNOR</small>. +</p> + +<p> +“P. S.—And now, Curly, you know my first-rate reasons for not meaning to get +shot up by any of these Mexican fellows.” +</p> + +<p> +So the letter ran, and it went to her heart directly as rain to the thirsty +roots of flowers. He loved her. Whatever happened, she would always have that +comfort. They might kill him, but they could not take away that. The words of +an old Scotch song that Mrs. Mackenzie sang came back to her: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“The span o’ life’s nae large eneugh,<br/> + Nor deep enough the sea,<br/> +Nor braid eneugh this weary warld,<br/> + To part my love frae me.” +</p> + +<p> +No, they could not part their hearts in this world or the next, and with this +sad comfort she flung herself on the rough bed and sobbed. She would grieve +still, but the wildness of her grief and despair was gone, scattered by the +knowledge that however their troubles eventuated they were now one in heart. +</p> + +<p> +She was roused after a long time by the sound of the huge key grating in the +lock. Through the opened door a figure descended, and by an illuminating swing +of the turnkey’s lantern she saw that it was Bucky. Next moment the door had +closed and they were in each other’s arms. Bucky’s stubborn pride, the +remembrance of the riches which of a sudden had transformed his little partner +into an heiress and set a high wall of separation between them, these were +swept clean away on a great wave of love which took Bucky off his feet and left +him breathless. +</p> + +<p> +“I had almost given you up,” she cried joyfully. +</p> + +<p> +Again he passed his hand across her face. “You’ve been crying, little pardner. +Were you crying on account of me?” +</p> + +<p> +“On account of myself, because I was afraid I had lost you. Oh, Bucky, isn’t it +too good to be true?” +</p> + +<p> +The ranger smiled, remembering that he had about fourteen hours to live, if the +Megales faction triumphed. “Good! I should think it is. Bully! I’ve been +famished to see Curly Haid again.” +</p> + +<p> +“And to know that everything is going to come out all right and that we love +each other.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right good hearing and most ce’tainly true on my side of it. But how do +you happen to know it so sure?” he laughed gayly. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, your letter, Bucky. It was the dearest letter. I love it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you weren’t to read it for three hours,” he pretended to reprove, holding +her at arm’s length to laugh at her. +</p> + +<p> +“Wasn’t it three hours? It seemed ever so much longer.” +</p> + +<p> +“You little rogue, you didn’t play fair.” And to punish her he drew her soft, +supple body to him in a close embrace, and for the first time kissed the sweet +mouth that yielded itself to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me all about what happened to you,” she bade him playfully, after speech +was again in order. +</p> + +<p> +“Sure.” He caught her hand to lead her to the bench and she winced +involuntarily. +</p> + +<p> +“I burned it,” she explained, adding, with a ripple of shy laughter: “When I +was reading your letter. It doesn’t really hurt, though.” +</p> + +<p> +But he had to see for himself and make much over the little blister that the +flame of a match revealed to him. For they were both very much in love, and, in +consequence, bubbling over with the foolishness that is the greatest inherited +wisdom of the ages. +</p> + +<p> +But though her lover had acquiesced so promptly to her demand for a full +account of his adventures since leaving her, that young man had no intention of +offering an unexpurged edition of them. It was his hope that O’Halloran would +storm the prison during the night and effect a rescue. If so, good; if not, +there was no need of her knowing that for them the new day would usher in fresh +sorrow. So he gave her an account of his trial and its details, told her how he +had been convicted, and how Colonel Onate had fought warily to get the sentence +of execution postponed in order to give their friends a chance to rescue them. +</p> + +<p> +“When Megales remanded me to prison I wanted to let out an Arizona yell, Curly. +It sure seemed too good to be true.” +</p> + +<p> +“But he may want the sentence carried out some time, if he changes his mind. +Maybe in a week or two he may take a notion that—” She stopped, plainly sobered +by the fear that the good news of his return might not be final. +</p> + +<p> +“We won’t cross that bridge till we come to it. You don’t suppose our friends +are going to sit down and fold their hands, do you? Not if I’ve got Mike +O’Halloran and young Valdez sized up right. Fur is going to begin to fly pretty +soon in this man’s country. But it’s up to us to help all we can, and I reckon +we’ll begin by taking a preliminary survey of this wickiup.” +</p> + +<p> +Wickiup was distinctly good, since the word is used to apply to a frail Indian +hut, and this cell was nothing less than a tomb built in the solid rock by +blowing out a chamber with dynamite and covering the front with a solid sheet +of iron, into which a door fitted. It did not take a very long investigation to +prove to Bucky that escape was impossible by any exit except the door, which +meant the same thing as impossible at all under present conditions. Yet he did +not yield to this opinion without going over every inch of the walls many times +to make sure that no secret panel opened into a tunnel from the room. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon they want to keep us, Curly. Mr. Megales has sure got us real safe +this time. I’d be plumb discouraged about breaking jail out of this cage. It’s +ce’tainly us to stay hitched a while.” +</p> + +<p> +About dark tortillas and frijoles were brought down to them by the facetious +turnkey, who was accompanied as usual by two guards. +</p> + +<p> +“Why don’t my little birdies sing?” he asked, with a wink at the soldiers. “One +of them will not do any singing after daybreak to-morrow. Ho, ho, my larks! +Tune up, tune up!” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean about one not singing after daybreak?” asked the girl, with +eyes dilating. +</p> + +<p> +“What! Hasn’t he told you? Señor the ranger is to be hanged at the dawn unless +he finds his tongue for Governor Megales. Ho, ho! Our birdie must speak even if +he doesn’t sing.” And with that as a parting shot the man clanged the door to +after him and locked it. +</p> + +<p> +“You never told me, Bucky. You have been trying to deceive me,” she groaned. +</p> + +<p> +He shrugged his shoulders. “What was the use, girlie? I knew it would worry +you, and do no good. Better let you sleep in peace, I thought.” +</p> + +<p> +“While you kept watch alone and waited through the long night. Oh, Bucky!” She +crept close to him and put her arms around his neck, holding him tight, as if +in the hope that she could keep him against the untoward fate that was reaching +for him. “Oh, Bucky, if I could only die for you!” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t give up, little friend. I don’t. Somehow I’ll slip out, and then you’ll +have to live for me and not die for me.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is it that the governor wants you to say that you won’t?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, he wants me to sell our friends. I told him to go climb a giant cactus.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course you couldn’t do that,” she sighed regretfully. +</p> + +<p> +He laughed. “Well, hardly, and call myself a white man.” +</p> + +<p> +“But—” She blanched at the alternative. “Oh, Bucky, we must do something. We +must—we must.” +</p> + +<p> +“It ain’t so bad as it looks, honey. You want to remember that Mike O’Halloran +is on deck. What’s the matter with him knocking out a home run and bringing us +both in. I put a heap of confidence in that red-haided Irishman,” he answered +cheerfully. +</p> + +<p> +“You say that just to—to give me courage. You don’t really think he can do +anything,” she said wanly. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s just what I think, Curly. Some men have a way of getting things done. +When you look at O’Halloran you feel this, the same as you do when you look at +Val Collins. Oh, he’ll get us out all right. I’ve been in several tighter holes +than this one.” His mention of Collins suggested a diversion, and he took up a +less distressing theme lightly. “Wonder what Val is doing at this precise +moment. I’ll bet he’s beginning to make things warm for Wolf Leroy’s bunch of +miscreants. We’ll have the robbers of the Limited behind the bars within two +weeks now, or I miss my guess.” +</p> + +<p> +He had succeeded in diverting her attention better than he had dared to hope. +Her big eyes fixed on his much as if he had raised for her some forgotten +spectre. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s another thing I must tell you. I didn’t think to before. But I want you +to know all about me now. Don’t think me bad, Bucky. I’m only a girl. I +couldn’t help myself,” she pleaded. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it you have done that is so awful?” he smiled, and went to gather her +into his arms. +</p> + +<p> +She stayed him with a gesture of her hand. “No, not yet. Mebbe after you know +you won’t want to. I was one of the robbers of the Limited.” +</p> + +<p> +“You—what!” he exclaimed, for once struck dumb with sheer amazement. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Bucky. I expect you’ll hate me now. What is it you called me—a miscreant? +Well, that’s what I am.” +</p> + +<p> +His arms slipped round her as she began to sob, and he gentled her till she +could again speak. “Tell me all about it, little Curly.” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t go into it because I wanted to. My master made me. I don’t know much +about the others, except that I heard the names they called each other.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you know them again if you saw them? But of course you would.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. But that’s it, Bucky. I hated them all, and I was in mortal fear all the +time. Still—I can’t betray them. They thought I went in freely with them—all +but Hardman. It wouldn’t be right for me to tell what I know. I’ve got to make +you see that, dear.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll not need to argue that with me, honey. I see it. You must keep quiet. +Don’t tell anybody else what you’ve told me.” +</p> + +<p> +“And will they put me in the penitentiary when the rest go there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not while Bucky O’Connor is alive and kicking,” he told her confidently. +</p> + +<p> +But the form in which he had expressed his feeling was unfortunate. It brought +them back to the menace of their situation. Neither of them could tell how long +he would be alive and kicking. She flung herself into his arms and wept till +she could weep no more. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0014"></a> +CHAPTER XIV.<br/> +LE ROI EST MORT; VIVE LE ROI</h2> + +<p> +When the news reached O’Halloran that Megales had scored on the opposition by +arresting Bucky O’Connor, the Irishman swore fluently at himself for his +oversight in forgetting the Northern Chihuahua. So far as the success of the +insurgents went, the loss of the ranger was a matter of no importance, since +O’Halloran knew well that nothing in the way of useful information could be +cajoled or threatened out of him. But, personally, it was a blow to the +filibuster, because he knew that the governor would not hesitate to execute his +friend if his fancy or his fears ran that way, and the big, red-headed Celt +would not have let Bucky go to death for a dozen teapot revolutions if he could +help it. +</p> + +<p> +“And do you think you’re fit to run even a donation party, you great, +blundering gumph?” Mike asked himself, in disgust. “You a conspirator! You a +leader of a revolution! By the ghost of Brian Boru, you had better run along +back to the kindergarten class.” +</p> + +<p> +But he was not the man to let grass grow under his feet while he hesitated how +to remedy his mistake. Immediately he got in touch with Valdez and a few of his +party, and decided on a bold counterstroke that, if successful, would oppose a +checkmate to the governor’s check and would also make unnecessary the unloosing +of the State prisoners on the devoted heads of the people. +</p> + +<p> +“But mind, gentlemen,” said Juan Valdez plainly, “the governor must not be +injured personally. I shall not consent to any violence, no matter what the +issue. Furthermore, I should like to be given charge of the palace, in order to +see that his wants are properly provided for. We cannot afford to have our +movement discredited at the outset by unnecessary bloodshed or by any wanton +outrages.” +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran smothered a smile. “Quite right, señor. Success at all hazards, but, +if possible, success with peace. And, faith, subject to the approval of the +rest of those present, I do hereby appoint you keeper of the governor’s person +and his palace, as well as all that do dwell therein, including his man +servants, his maid servants, and his daughter. We hold you personally +responsible for their safe keeping. See that none of them cherish the enemy or +give aid and comfort to them.” The Irishman finished, with a broad smile that +seemed to say: “Begad, there’s a clear field. Go in and win, me bye.” +</p> + +<p> +Nothing could be done in broad daylight, while the troops of the government +party patrolled the streets and were prepared to pounce on the first suspects +that poked their noses out of the holes where they were hidden. Nevertheless, +their spies were busy all day, reporting to the opposition leaders everything +that happened of interest. In the course of the day General Valdez, the father +of Juan, was arrested on suspicion of complicity and thrown into prison, as +were a score of others thought to be in touch with the Valdez faction. All day +the troops of the governor were fussily busy, but none of the real leaders of +the insurgents was taken. For General Valdez, though he had been selected on +account of his integrity and great popularity to succeed Megales, was unaware +of the plot on foot to retire the dictator from power. +</p> + +<p> +It was just after nightfall that a farmer drove into Chihuahua with a wagonload +of alfalfa. He was halted once or twice by guards on the streets, but, after a +very cursory inspection, was allowed to pass. His route took him past the back +of the governor’s palace, an impressive stone affair surrounded by beautiful +grounds. Here he stopped, as if to fasten a tug. Out of the hay tumbled fifteen +men armed with rifles and revolvers, all of them being careful to leave the +wagon on the side farthest from the palace. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, me lads, we’re all heroes by our talk. It’s up to us to make good. I can +promise one thing: by this time to-morrow we’ll all be live patriots or dead +traitors. Which shall it be?” +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran’s concluding question was a merely rhetorical one, for without +waiting for an answer he started at the double toward the palace, taking +advantage of the dense shrubbery that offered cover up to the last twenty +yards. This last was covered with a rush so rapid that the guard was surprised +into a surrender without a protest. +</p> + +<p> +Double guard was on duty on account of the strained situation, but the officer +in charge, having been won over to the Valdez side, had taken care to pick them +with much pains. As a consequence, the insurgents met friends in place of +enemies, and within three minutes controlled fully the palace. Every entrance +was at once closed and guarded, so that no news of the reversal could reach the +military barracks. +</p> + +<p> +So silently had the palace been taken that, except the guards and one or two +servants held as prisoners, not even those living within it were aware of +anything unusual. +</p> + +<p> +“Señor Valdez, you are appointed to notify the señorita that she need not be +alarmed at what has occurred. Señor Garcia will act as captain of the day, and +allow nobody to leave the building under any pretext whatever. I shall +personally put the tyrant under arrest. Rodrigo and José will accompany me.” +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran left his subordinates at the door when he entered the apartments of +the governor. The outer room was empty, and the Irishman passed through it to +the inner one, where Megales was accustomed to take his after-dinner siesta. +</p> + +<p> +To-night, however, that gentleman was in no mood for peaceful reflection +followed by slumber. He was on the edge of a volcano, and he knew it. The +question was whether he could hold the lid on without an eruption. General +Valdez he dared not openly kill, on account of his fame and his popularity, but +that pestilent Irishman O’Halloran could be assassinated and so could several +of his allies—if they only gave him time. That was the rub. The general +dissatisfaction at his rule had been no secret, of course, but the activity of +the faction opposing him, the boldness and daring with which it had risked all +to overthrow him, had come as so complete a surprise that he had been +unprepared to meet it. Everywhere to-night his guards covered the city, ready +to crush rebellion as soon as it showed its head. Carlo was in personal charge +of the troops, and would remain so until after the election to-morrow, at which +he would be declared formally reëlected. If he could keep his hands on the +reins for twenty-four hours more the worst would be past. He would give a good +deal to know what that mad Irishman, O’Halloran, was doing just now. If he +could once get hold of him, the opposition would collapse like a house of +cards. +</p> + +<p> +At that precise moment in walked the mad Irishman pat to the Mexican’s thought +of him. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Buenos noches</i>, excellency. I understand you have been looking for me. I +am, señor, yours to command.” The big Irishman brought his heels together and +gave a mocking military salute. +</p> + +<p> +The governor’s first thought was that he was a victim of treachery, his second +that he was a dead man, his third that he would die as a Spanish gentleman +ought. He was pale to the eyes, but he lost no whit of his dignity. +</p> + +<p> +“You have, I suppose, taken the palace,” he said quietly. +</p> + +<p> +“As a loan, excellency, merely as a loan. After to-morrow it will be returned +you in the event you still need it,” replied O’Halloran blandly. +</p> + +<p> +“You expect to murder me, of course?” +</p> + +<p> +The big Celt looked shocked. “Not at all! The bulletins may perhaps have to +report you accidentally killed or a victim of suicide. Personally I hope not.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand; but before this lamentable accident happens I beg leave to +assure myself that the palace really is in your hands, señor. A mere formality, +of course.” The governor smiled his thin-lipped smile and touched a bell beside +him. +</p> + +<p> +Twice Megales pressed the electric bell, but no orderly appeared in answer to +it. He bowed to the inevitable. +</p> + +<p> +“I grant you victor, Señor O’Halloran. Would it render your victory less +embarrassing if I were to give you material immediately for that bulletin on +suicide?” He asked the question quite without emotion, as courteously as if he +were proposing a stroll through the gardens. +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran had never liked the man. The Irish in him had always boiled at his +tyranny. But he had never disliked him so little as at this moment. The fellow +had pluck, and that was one certain passport to the revolutionist’s favor. +</p> + +<p> +“On the contrary, it would distress me exceedingly. Let us reserve that +bulletin as a regrettable possibility in the event that less drastic measures +fail.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which means, I infer, that you have need of me before I pass by the Socratic +method,” he suggested, still with that pale smile set in granite “I shall +depend on you to let me know at what precise hour you would like to order an +epitaph written for me. Say the word at your convenience, and within five +minutes your bulletin concerning the late governor will have the merit of +truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Begad, excellency, I like your spirit. If it’s my say-so, you will live to be +a hundred. Come the cards are against you. Some other day they may fall more +pat for you. But the jig’s up now.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am very much of your opinion, sir,” agreed Megales. +</p> + +<p> +“Then why not make terms?” +</p> + +<p> +“Such as—” +</p> + +<p> +“Your life and your friends’ lives against a graceful capitulation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Our lives as prisoners or as free men?” +</p> + +<p> +“The utmost freedom compatible with the circumstances. Your friends may either +leave or remain and accept the new order of things. I’m afraid it will be +necessary for you and General Carlo to leave the state for your own safety. You +have both many enemies.” +</p> + +<p> +“With our personal possessions?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course. Such property as you cannot well take may be left in the hands of +an agent and disposed of later.” +</p> + +<p> +Megales eyed him narrowly. “Is it your opinion, on honor, that the general and +I would reach the boundaries of the State without being assassinated?” +</p> + +<p> +“I pledge you my honor and that of Juan Valdez that you will be safely escorted +out of the country if you will consent to a disguise. It is only fair to him to +say that he stands strong for your life.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, sir, I accept your terms if you can make it plain to me that you are +strong enough to take the city against General Carlo.” +</p> + +<p> +From his pocket O’Halloran drew a typewritten list and handed it to the +governor, who glanced it over with interest. +</p> + +<p> +“These army officers are all with you?” +</p> + +<p> +“As soon as the word is given.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will pardon me if I ask for proof?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly. Choose the name of any one of them you like and send for him. You +are at liberty to ask him whether he is pledged to us.” +</p> + +<p> +The governor drew a pencil-mark through a name. O’Halloran clapped his hands +and Rodrigo came into the room. +</p> + +<p> +“Rodrigo, the governor desires you to carry a message to Colonel Onate. He is +writing it now. You will give Colonel Onate my compliments and ask him to make +as much haste as is convenient.” +</p> + +<p> +Megales signed and sealed the note he was writing and handed it to O’Halloran, +who in turn passed it to Rodrigo. +</p> + +<p> +“Colonel Onate should be here in fifteen minutes at the farthest. May I in the +meantime offer you a glass of wine, Dictator O’Halloran?” At the Irishman’s +smile, the Mexican governor hastened to add, misunderstanding him purposely: +“Perhaps I assume too much in taking the part of host here. May I ask whether +you will be governor in person or by deputy, señor?” +</p> + +<p> +“You do me too much honor, excellency. Neither in person nor by deputy, I fear. +And, as for the glass of wine—with all my heart. Good liquor is always in +order, whether for a funeral or a marriage.” +</p> + +<p> +“Or an abdication, you might add. I drink to a successful reign, Señor +Dictator: <i>Le roi est mort; vive le roi!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +The Irishman filled a second glass. “And I drink to Governor Megales, a brave +man. May the cards fall better for him next time he plays.” +</p> + +<p> +The governor bowed ironically. “A brave man certainly, and you might add: ‘Who +loses his stake without striking one honest blow for it.’” +</p> + +<p> +“We play with stacked cards, excellency. Who can forestall the treachery of +trusted associates?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, your apology for me is very generous, no less so than the terms you +offer,” returned Megales sardonically. +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran laughed. “Well, if you don’t like my explanations I shall have to +let you make your own. And, by the way, may I venture on a delicate personal +matter, your excellency?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can deny you nothing to-night, señor,” answered Megales, mocking at himself. +</p> + +<p> +“Young Valdez is in love with your daughter. I am sure that she is fond of him, +but she is very loyal to you and flouts the lad. I was thinking, sir, that—” +</p> + +<p> +The Spaniard’s eye flashed, but his answer came suavely as he interrupted: +“Don’t you think you had better leave Señor Valdez and me to arrange our own +family affairs? We could not think of troubling you to attend to them.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is a good lad and a brave.” +</p> + +<p> +Megales bowed. “Your recommendation goes a long way with me, señor, and, in +truth, I have known him only a small matter of twenty years longer than you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never a more loyal youngster in the land.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think so? A matter of definitions, one may suppose. Loyal to the +authorized government of his country, or to the rebels who would illegally +overthrow it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Egad, you have me there, excellency. ’Tis a question of point of view, I’m +thinking. But you’ll never tell me the lad pretended one thing and did another. +I’ll never believe you like that milksop Chaves better.” +</p> + +<p> +“Must I choose either a fool or a knave?” +</p> + +<p> +“I doubt it will be no choice of yours. Juan Valdez is an ill man to deny what +he sets his heart on. If the lady is willing—” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall give her to the knave and wash my hands of her. Since treason thrives +she may at last come back to the palace as its mistress. <i>Quien sabe?</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Less likely things have happened. What news, Rodrigo?” This last to the +messenger, who at that moment appeared at the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Colonel Onate attends, señor.” +</p> + +<p> +“Show him in.” +</p> + +<p> +Onate was plainly puzzled at the summons to attend the governor, and mixed with +his perplexity was a very evident anxiety. He glanced quickly at O’Halloran as +he entered, as if asking for guidance, and then as questioningly at Megales. +Had the Irishman played Judas and betrayed them all? Or was the coup already +played with success? +</p> + +<p> +“Colonel Onate, I have sent for you at the request of Governor Megales to set +his mind at rest on a disturbing point. His health is failing and he considers +the advisability of retiring from the active cares of state. I have assured him +that you, among others, would, under such circumstances, be in a friendly +relation to the next administration. Am I correct in so assuring him?” +</p> + +<p> +Megales pierced him with his beady eyes. “In other words, Colonel Onate, are +you one of the traitors involved in this rebellion?” +</p> + +<p> +“I prefer the word patriot, señor,” returned Onate, flushing. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed I have no doubt you do. I am answered,” he exclaimed scornfully. “And +what is the price of patriotism these days, colonel?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir!” The colonel laid his hand on his sword. +</p> + +<p> +“I was merely curious to know what position you would hold under the new +administration.” +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran choked a laugh, for by chance the governor had hit the nail on the +head. Onate was to be Secretary of State under Valdez, and this was the bait +that had been dangled temptingly under his nose to induce a desertion of +Megales. +</p> + +<p> +“If you mean to reflect upon my honor I can assure you that my conscience is +clear,” answered Onate blackly. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, colonel, I do not doubt it. I have always admired your conscience and +its adaptability.” The governor turned to O’Halloran. “I am satisfied, Senior +Dictator. If you will permit me—” +</p> + +<p> +He walked to his desk, unlocked a drawer, and drew forth a parchment, which he +tossed across to the Irishman. “It is my commission as governor. Allow me to +place it in your hands and put myself at the service of the new +administration.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you will kindly write notes, I will send a messenger to General Carlo and +another to Colonel Gabilonda requesting their attendance. I think affairs may +be quickly arranged.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are irresistible, señor. I hasten to obey.” +</p> + +<p> +Megales sat down and wrote two notes, which he turned over to O’Halloran. The +latter read them, saw them officially sealed, and dispatched them to their +destinations. +</p> + +<p> +When Gabilonda was announced, General Carlo followed almost at his heels. The +latter glanced in surprise at O’Halloran. +</p> + +<p> +“Where did you catch him, excellency?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“I did not catch him. He has caught me, and, incidentally, you, general,” +answered the sardonic Megales. +</p> + +<p> +“In short, general,” laughed the big Irishman, “the game is up.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the army—You haven’t surrendered without a fight?” +</p> + +<p> +“That is precisely what I have done. Cast your eye over that paper, general, +and then tell me of what use the army would be to us. Half the officers are +with the enemy, among them the patriotic Colonel Onate, whom you see present. A +resistance would be futile, and would only result in useless bloodshed.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t believe it,” returned Carlo bluntly. +</p> + +<p> +“Seeing is believing, general,” returned O’Halloran, and he gave a little nod +to Onate. +</p> + +<p> +The colonel left the room, and two or three minutes later a bell began to toll. +</p> + +<p> +“What does that mean?” asked Carlo. +</p> + +<p> +“The call to arms, general. It means that the old régime is at an end in +Chihuahua. <i>Viva Valdez</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not without a struggle,” cried the general, rushing out of the room. +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran laughed. “I’m afraid he will not be able to give the countersign to +Garcia. In the meantime, excellency, pending his return, I would suggest that +you notify Colonel Gabilonda to turn over the prison to us without resistance.” +</p> + +<p> +“You hear your new dictator, colonel,” said Megales. +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon me, your excellency, but a written order—” +</p> + +<p> +“Would relieve you of responsibility. So it would. I write once more.” +</p> + +<p> +He was interrupted as he wrote by a great shout from the plaza. “<i>Viva +Valdez!</i>” came clearly across the night air, and presently another that +stole the color from the cheek of Megales. +</p> + +<p> +“Death to the tyrant! Death to Megales!” repeated the governor, after the +shouts reached them. “I fear, Señor Dictator, that your pledge to see me across +the frontier will not avail against that mad-dog mob.” He smiled, waving an +airy hand toward the window. +</p> + +<p> +The Irishman set his bulldog jaw. “I’ll get you out safely or, begad! I’ll go +down fighting with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think we are likely to have interesting times, my dear dictator. Be sure I +shall watch your doings with interest so long as your friends allow me to watch +anything in this present world.” The governor turned to his desk and continued +the letter with a firm hand. “I think this should relieve you of +responsibility, colonel.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time General Carlo had reentered the room, with a crestfallen face. +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran had been thinking rapidly. “Governor, I think the safest place for +you and General Carlo, for a day or two, will be in the prison. I intend to put +my friend O’Connor in charge of its defense, with a trustworthy command. There +is no need of word reaching the mob as to where you are hidden. I confess the +quarters will be narrows but—” +</p> + +<p> +“No narrower than those we shall occupy very soon if we do not accept your +suggestion,” smiled Megales. “<i>Buenos!</i> Anything to escape the pressing +attentions of your friends outside. I ask only one favor, the loan of a +revolver, in order that we may disappoint the mad dogs if they overpower the +guard of Señor O’Connor.” +</p> + +<p> +Hastily O’Halloran rapped out orders, gathered together a little force of five +men, and prepared to start. Both Carlo and Megales he furnished with revolvers, +that they might put an end to their lives in case the worst happened. But +before they had started Juan Valdez and Carmencita Megales came running toward +them. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are you going? It is too late. The palace is surrounded!” cried the +young man. “Look!” He swept an excited arm toward the window. “There are +thousands and thousands of frenzied people calling for the lives of the +governor and General Carlo.” +</p> + +<p> +Carlo shook like a leaf, but Megales only smiled at O’Halloran his wintry +smile. “That is the trouble in keeping a mad dog, señor. One never knows when +it may get out of leash and bite perhaps even the hand that feeds it.” +</p> + +<p> +Carmencita flung herself, sobbing, into the arms of her father and filled the +palace with her screams. Megales handed her over promptly to her lover. +</p> + +<p> +“To my private office,” he ordered briskly. “Come, general, there is still a +chance.” +</p> + +<p> +O’Halloran failed to see it, but he joined the little group that hurried to the +private office. Megales dragged his desk from the corner where it set and +touched a spring that opened a panel in the wall. Carlo, blanched with fear at +the threats and curses that filled the night, sprang toward the passageway that +appeared. +</p> + +<p> +Megales plucked him back. “One moment, general. Ladies first. Carmencita, +enter.” +</p> + +<p> +Carlo followed her, after him the governor, and lastly Gabilonda, tearing +himself from a whispered conversation with O’Halloran. The panel swung closed +again, and Valdez and O’Halloran lifted back the desk just as Garcia came +running in to say that the mob would not be denied. Immediately O’Halloran +threw open a French window and stepped out to the little railed porch upon +which it opened. He had the chance of his life to make a speech, and that is +the one thing that no Irishman can resist. He flung out from his revolver three +shots in rapid succession to draw the attention of the mob to him. In this he +succeeded beyond his hopes. The word ran like wildfire that the mad Irishman, +O’Halloran, was about to deliver a message to them, and from all sides of the +building they poured to hear it. He spoke in Mexican, rapidly, his great bull +voice reaching to the utmost confines of the crowd. +</p> + +<p> +“Fellow lovers of liberty, the hour has struck that we have worked and prayed +for. The glorious redemption of our State has been accomplished by your +patriotic hands. An hour ago the tyrants, Megales and Carlo, slipped out of the +palace, mounted swift horses, and are galloping toward the frontier.” +</p> + +<p> +A roar of rage, such as a tiger disappointed of its kill might give, rose into +the night. Such a terrible cry no man made of flesh and blood could hear +directed at him and not tremble. +</p> + +<p> +“But the pursuit is already on. Swift riders are in chase, with orders not to +spare their horses so only they capture the fleeing despots. We expect +confidently that before morning the tyrants will be in our hands. In the +meantime, let us show ourselves worthy of the liberty we have won. Let us +neither sack nor pillage, but show our great president in the City of Mexico +that not ruffians but an outraged people have driven out the oppressors.” +</p> + +<p> +The huge Celt was swimming into his periods beautifully, but it was very +apparent to him that the mob must have a vent for its stored excitement. An +inspiration seized him. +</p> + +<p> +“But one sacred duty calls to us from heaven, my fellow citizens. Already I see +in your glorious faces that you behold the duty. Then forward, patriots! To the +plaza, and let us tear down, let us destroy by fire, let us annihilate the +statue of the dastard Megales which defaces our fair city. Citizens, to your +patriotic duty!” +</p> + +<p> +Another wild yell rang skyward, and at once the fringes of the crowd began to +vanish plazaward, its centre began to heave, its flanks to stir. Three minutes +later the grounds of the palace were again dark and empty. The Irishman’s +oratory had won the day. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0015"></a> +CHAPTER XV.<br/> +IN THE SECRET CHAMBER</h2> + +<p> +The escaping party groped its way along the passage in the wall, down a rough, +narrow flight of stone steps to a second tunnel, and along this underground way +for several hundred yards. Since he was the only one familiar with the path +they were traversing, the governor took the lead and guided the others. At a +distance of perhaps an eighth of a mile from the palace the tunnel forked. +Without hesitation, Megales kept to the right. A stone’s throw beyond this +point of divergence there began to be apparent a perceptible descent which +terminated in a stone wall that blocked completely the way. +</p> + +<p> +Megales reached up and put his weight on a rope suspended from the roof. Slowly +the solid masonry swung on a pivot, leaving room on either side for a person to +squeeze through. The governor found it a tight fit, as did also Gabilonda. +</p> + +<p> +“I was more slender last time I passed through there. It has been several years +since then,” said the governor, giving his daughter a hand to assist her +through. +</p> + +<p> +They found themselves in a small chamber fitted up as a living room in a simple +way. There were three plain chairs, a bed, a table, and a dresser, as well as a +cooking stove. +</p> + +<p> +“This must be close to the prison. We have been coming in that direction all +the time. It is strange that it could be so near and I not know of it,” said +the warden, looking around curiously. +</p> + +<p> +Megales smiled. “I am the only person alive that knew of the existence of this +room or of the secret passage until half an hour ago. I had it built a few +years since by Yaquis when I was warden of the prison. The other end, the one +opening from the palace, I had finished after I became governor.” +</p> + +<p> +“But surely the men who built it know of its existence.” +</p> + +<p> +Again Megales smiled. “I thought you knew me better, Carlo. The Yaquis who +built this were condemned raiders. I postponed their execution a few months +while they were working on this. It was a convenience both to them and to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“And is also a convenience to me,” smiled Carlo, who was beginning to recover +from his terror. +</p> + +<p> +“But I don’t quite understand yet how we are to get out of here except by going +back the way we came,” said Gabilonda. +</p> + +<p> +“Which for some of us might prove a dangerously unhealthy journey. True, +colonel, and therefore one to be avoided.” Megales stepped to the wall, spanned +with his fingers a space from the floor above a joint in the masonry, and +pressed against the concrete. Inch by inch the wall fell back and opened into a +lower corridor of the prison, the very one indeed which led to the cell in +which Bucky and his love were imprisoned. Cautiously the Spaniard’s glance +traveled down the passage to see it was empty before he opened the panel door +more than enough to look through. Then he beckoned to Gabilonda. “Behold, +doubting Thomas!” +</p> + +<p> +The warden gasped. “And I never knew it, never had a suspicion of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But this only brings us from one prison to another,” objected the general. “We +might be penned in here as well as at the castle.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even that contingency has been provided for. You noticed, perhaps, where the +tunnel forked. The left branch runs down to the river-wash, and by ten minutes’ +digging with the tools lying there one can force an exit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your excellency is certainly a wonder, and all this done without arousing the +least suspicion of anybody,” admired the warden. +</p> + +<p> +“The wise man, my dear colonel, prepares for emergencies; the fool trusts to +his luck,” replied the governor dryly. +</p> + +<p> +“Are we to stay here for the present, colonel?” broke in the governor’s +daughter. “And can you furnish accommodations for the rest of us if we stay all +night, as I expect we must?” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear señorita, I have accommodations and to spare. But the trouble is that +your presence would become known. I should be the happiest’ man alive to put my +all at the accommodation of Chihuahua’s fairest daughter. But if it should get +out that you are here—” Gabilonda stopped to shrug his fat shoulders at the +prospect. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall have to stay here, or, at least, in the lower tier of cells. I’m +sorry, Carmencita, but there is no other course compatible with safety,” +decided Megales promptly. +</p> + +<p> +The warden’s face cleared. “That is really not a point for me to decide, +governor. This young American, O’Connor, is now in charge of the prison. I must +release him at once, and shall then bring him here to confer with you as to +means of safety.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky’s eyes opened wide when Gabilonda and Megales came alone and without a +lantern to his cell. In the darkness it was impossible to recognize them, but +once within the closed cell the warden produced a dark lantern from under his +coat. +</p> + +<p> +“Circumstances have arisen that make the utmost vigilance necessary,” explained +the warden. “I may begin my explanations by congratulating you and your young +friend. Let me offer a thousand felicitations. Neither of you are any longer +prisoners.” +</p> + +<p> +If he expected either of them to fall on his neck and weep tears of gratitude +at his pompous announcement, the colonel was disappointed. From the darkness +where the ranger’s little partner sat on the bed came a deep sigh of relief, +but O’Connor did not wink an eyelash. +</p> + +<p> +“I may conclude, then, that Mike O’Halloran has been getting in his work?” was +his cool reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Exactly, señor. He is the man on horseback and I travel afoot,” smiled +Megales. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky looked him over coolly from head to foot. “Still I can’t quite understand +why your ex-excellency does me the honor of a personal visit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, señor, in the course of human events Providence has seen fit to +reverse our positions. I am now your prisoner and you my jailer,” explained +Megales, and urbanely added a whimsical question. “Shall you have me hanged at +dawn?” +</p> + +<p> +“It would be a pleasure, and, I reckon, a duty too. But I can’t promise till +I’ve seen Mike. Do some more explaining, colonel. I want to know all about the +round-up O’Halloran is boss of. Did he make a right good gather?” +</p> + +<p> +The subtleties of American humor baffled the little Mexican, but he appreciated +the main drift of the ranger’s query, and narrated with much gesticulation the +story of the coup that O’Halloran had pulled off in capturing the government +leaders. +</p> + +<p> +“It was an exceedingly neat piece of strategy,” its victim admitted. “I would +give a good deal to have the privilege of hanging your red-headed friend, but +since that is denied me, I must be grateful he does not take a fancy to hang +me.” +</p> + +<p> +“In case he doesn’t, your excellency,” was Bucky’s addendum. +</p> + +<p> +“I understand he has decided to deport me,” retorted Megales lightly. “It is +perhaps better politics, on the whole, better even than a knife in the back.” +</p> + +<p> +“Unless rumor is a lying jade, you should be a good judge of that, governor,” +said the American, eyeing him sternly. +</p> + +<p> +Megales shrugged. “One of the penalties of fame is that one gets credit for +much he does not deserve. There was your immortal General Lincoln, a wit so +famous in your country that every good story is fathered upon him, I +understand. So with your humble servant. Let a man accomplish his vendetta upon +the body of an enemy, and behold! the world cries: ‘A victim of Megales.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Still, if you deserve your reputation as much as our immortal General Lincoln +deserves his, the world may be pardoned for an occasional error.” O’Connor +turned to the warden. “What does he mean by saying that he is my prisoner? Have +you a message for me from O’Halloran, colonel?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is his desire, señor, that, pending the present uncertain state of public +opinion, you accept the command of the prison and hold safe all persons +detained here, including his excellency and General Carlo. He desired me to +assure you that as soon as is possible he will arrive to confer with you in +person.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good enough, and are you a prisoner, too, colonel?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not so understand Señor O’Halloran.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you’re not you have to earn your grub and lodgings. I’ll appoint you my +deputy, colonel. And, first off, my orders are to lock up his excellency and +General Carlo in this cell till morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“The cell, Señor O’Connor, is damp and badly ventilated,” protested Gabilonda. +</p> + +<p> +“I know that a heap better than you do, colonel,” said Bucky dryly. “But if it +was good enough for me and my pardner, here, I reckon it’s good enough for +them. Anyhow, we’ll let them try it, won’t we, Frank.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you think best, Bucky.” +</p> + +<p> +“You bet I do.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what about the governor’s daughter?” asked Gabilonda. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t say! Is she a guest of this tavern?” +</p> + +<p> +The colonel explained how they had reached the prison and the circumstances +that had led to their hurried flight, while the ranger whistled the air of a +cowboy song, his mind busy with this new phase of the case. +</p> + +<p> +“She’s one of these here Spanish blue-blooded señoritas used to guitar +serenades under her window. Now, what would you do with her in a jail, Bucky?” +he asked himself, in humorous dismay; but even as he reflected on it his roving +eye fell on his friend. “The very thing. I’ll take Curly Haid in to her and let +them fall in love with each other. You’re liable to be some busy, Bucky, and +shy on leisure to entertain a lady, let alone two.” +</p> + +<p> +And so he arranged it. Leaving the former governor and General Carlo in the +cell just vacated by them, Frances and he accompanied Gabilonda to the secret +room behind the corridor wall. +</p> + +<p> +All three parties to the introduction that followed acknowledged secretly to a +surprise. Miss Carmencita had expected the friend of big, rough, homely +O’Halloran to resemble him in kind, at least. Instead, she looked on a bronzed +young Apollo of the saddle with something of that same lithe grace she knew and +loved in Juan Valdez. And the shy boy beside him—why, the darling was sweet +enough to kiss. The big, brown, helpless eyes, the blushing, soft cheeks, the +crop of thick, light curls were details of an extraordinarily taking picture. +Really, if these two were fair specimens, Americans were not so bad, after all. +Which conclusion Juan Valdez’s fondness for that race may have helped in part +to form. +</p> + +<p> +But if the young Spanish girl found a little current of pleasure in her +surprise, Bucky and his friend were aware of the same sensation. All the charm +of her race seemed summed up in Carmencita Megales. She was of blue blood, +every feature and motion told that. The fine, easy set of her head, the fire in +the dark, heavy-lashed eyes, the sweep of dusky chin and cheek and throat +certified the same story. She had, too, that coquettish hint of uncertainty, +that charm of mystery so fatal in its lure to questing man. Even physically the +contradiction of sex attracted. Slender and lissom as a fawn, she was yet a +creature of exquisitely rounded curves. Were her eyes brown or black or—in the +sunlight—touched with a gleam of copper? There was always uncertainty. But much +more was there fire, a quality that seemed to flash out from her inner self. +She was a child of whims, a victim of her moods. Yet in her, too, was a +passionate loyalty that made fickleness impossible. She knew how to love and +how to hate, and, despite her impulses, was capable of surrender complete and +irrevocable. +</p> + +<p> +All of this Bucky did not read in that first moment of meeting, but the shrewd +judgment behind the level blue eyes came to an appraisal roughly just. Before +she had spoken three sentences he knew she had all her sex’s reputed capacity +for injustice as well as its characteristic flashes of generosity. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you one of the men who have rebelled against my father and attempted to +murder him?” she flashed. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m the man he condemned to be hanged tomorrow morning at dawn for helping +Juan Valdez take the guns,” retorted Bucky, with a laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“You are his enemy, and, therefore, mine.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m a friend of Michael O’Halloran, who stood between him and the mob that +wanted to kill him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who first plotted against him and seduced his officers to betray him,” she +quickly replied. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon, ma’am, we better agree to disagree on politics,” said Bucky +good-naturedly. “We’re sure liable to see things different from each other. +Castile and Arizona don’t look at things with the same eyes.” +</p> + +<p> +She looked at him just then with very beautiful and scornful ones, at any rate. +“I should hope not.” +</p> + +<p> +“You see, we’re living in the twentieth century up in the sunburned State,” +said Bucky, with smiling aplomb. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed! And we poor Chihuahuans?” +</p> + +<p> +“When I see the ladies I think you’re ce’tainly in the golden age, but when I +break into your politics, I’m some reminded of that Richard Third fellow in the +Shakespeare play.” +</p> + +<p> +“Referring, I presume, to my father?” she demanded haughtily. +</p> + +<p> +“In a general way, but eliminating the most objectionable points of the king +fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re very kind.” She interrupted her scorn to ask him where he meant her to +sleep. +</p> + +<p> +He glanced over the room. “This might do right here, if we had that bed aired.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you expect to put me in irons?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not right away. Colonel, I’ll ask you to go to the office and notify me as +soon as Señor O’Halloran arrives.” He waited till the colonel had gone before +adding: “I’m going to leave this boy with you, señorita, for a while. He’ll +explain some things to you that I can’t. In about an hour I’ll be back, perhaps +sooner. So long, Curly. Tell the lady your secret.” And with that Bucky was out +of the room. +</p> + +<p> +“Your secret, child! What does he mean?” +</p> + +<p> +The flame of color that swept into the cheeks of Frances, the appeal in the +shamed eyes, held Carmencita’s surprised gaze. Then coolly it traveled over the +girl and came back to her burning face. +</p> + +<p> +“So that’s it, is it?” +</p> + +<p> +But the scorn in her voice was too much for Frances. She had been judged and +condemned in that cool stare, and all the woman in her protested at its +injustice. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, no!” she cried, running forward and catching at the other’s hand. “I’m +not that. You don’t understand.” +</p> + +<p> +Coldly Carmencita disengaged her hand and wiped it with her kerchief. “I +understand enough. Please do not touch me.” +</p> + +<p> +“May I not tell you my story?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll not trouble you. It does not interest me.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you will listen?” implored the other. +</p> + +<p> +“I must ask to be excused.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you are a heartless, cruel woman,” flamed Frances. “I’m good—as good as +you are.” The color patched her cheek and ebbed again. “I wouldn’t treat a dog +as you do me. Oh, cruel, cruel!” +</p> + +<p> +The surprising extravagance of her protest, the despair that rang in the fresh +young voice, caught the interest of the Mexican girl. Surely such a +heart-broken cry did not consist with guilt. But the facts—when a young and +pretty girl masquerades through the country in the garb of a boy with a +handsome young man, not much room for doubt is left. +</p> + +<p> +Frances was quick to see that the issue was reopened. “Oh, señorita, it isn’t +as you think. Do I look like—” She broke off to cover with her hands a face in +which the pink and white warred with alternate success. “I ought not to have +come. I ought never to have come. I see that now. But I didn’t think he would +know. You see, I had always passed as a boy when I wanted to.” +</p> + +<p> +“A remarkably pretty one, child,” said Miss Carmencita, a smile dimpling her +cheeks. “But how do you mean that you had passed as a boy?” +</p> + +<p> +Frances explained, giving a rapid sketch of her life with the Hardmans during +which she had appeared every night on the stage as a boy without the deception +being suspected. She had cultivated the tricks and ways of boys, had tried to +dress to carry out the impression, and had always succeeded until she had made +the mistake of putting on a gypsy girl’s dress a couple of days before. +</p> + +<p> +Carmencita heard her out, but not as a judge. Very early in the story her +doubts fled and she succumbed to the mothering instinct in her. She took the +American girl in her arms and laughed and cried with her; for her imagination +seized on the romance of the story and delighted in its fresh +unconventionality. Since she had been born Carmencita’s life had been ordered +for her with precision by the laws of caste. Her environment wrapped her in so +that she must follow a set and beaten path. It was, to be sure, a flower-strewn +one, but often she impotently rebelled against its very orderliness. And here +in her arms was a victim of that adventurous romance she had always longed so +passionately to know. Was it wonder she found it in her heart to both love and +envy the subject of it? +</p> + +<p> +“And this young cavalier—the Señor Bucky, is it you call him?—surely you love +him, my dear.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, señorita!” The blushing face was buried on her new friend’s shoulder. “You +don’t know how good he is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then tell me,” smiled the other. “And call me Carmencita.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is so brave, and patient, and good. I know there was never a man like him.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Carmencita thought of one and demurred silently. “I’m sure this paragon of +lovers is at least part of what you say. Does he love you? But I am sure he +couldn’t help it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sometimes I think he does, but once—” Frances broke off to ask, in a pink +flame: “How does a lover act?” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Carmencita’s laughter rippled up. “Gracious me, have you never had one +before.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, he should make verses to you and pretty speeches. He should sing +serenades about undying love under your window. Bonbons should bombard you, +roses make your rooms a bower. He should be ardent as <i>Romeo</i>, devoted as +a knight of old. These be the signs of a true love,” she laughed. +</p> + +<p> +Frances’ face fell. If these were the tokens of true love, her ranger was none. +For not one of the symptoms could fairly be said to fit him. Perhaps, after +all, she had given him what he did not want. +</p> + +<p> +“Must he do all that? Must he make verses?” she asked blankly, not being able +to associate Bucky with poetasting. +</p> + +<p> +“He must,” teased her tormentor, running a saucy eye over her boyish garb. “And +why not with so fair a <i>Rosalind</i> for a subject?” She broke off to quote +in her pretty, uncertain English, acquired at a convent in the United States, +where she had attended school: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“From the east to western Ind,<br/> +No jewel is like Rosalind.<br/> +Her worth being mounted on the wind,<br/> +Through all the world bears Rosalind.<br/> +<br/> +All the pictures, fairest lin’d,<br/> +Are but black to Rosalind.<br/> +Let no face be kept in mind<br/> +But the fair of Rosalind.” +</p> + +<p> +“So your Shakespeare has it, does he not?” she asked, reverting again to the +Spanish language, in which they had been talking. But swift on the heels of her +raillery came repentance. She caught the dispirited girl to her embrace +laughingly. “No, no, child! Nonsense ripples from my tongue. These follies are +but for a carpet lover. You shall tell me more of your Señor Bucky and I shall +make no sport of it.” +</p> + +<p> +When Bucky returned at the expiration of the time he had set himself, he found +them with their arms twined about each other’s waists, whispering the +confidences that every girl on the threshold of womanhood has to tell her +dearest friend. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon you like my pardner better than you do me,” smiled Bucky to Miss +Carmencita. +</p> + +<p> +“A great deal better, sir, but then I know him better.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky’s eyes rested for a moment almost tenderly on Frances. “I reckon he is +better worth knowing,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed! And you so brave, and patient, and good?” she mocked. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! Am I all that?” asked Bucky easily. +</p> + +<p> +“So I have been given to understand.” +</p> + +<p> +Out of the corner of his eye O’Connor caught the embarrassed, reproachful look +that Frances gave her audacious friend, and he found it easy to fit quotation +marks round the admirable qualities that had just been ascribed to him. He +guessed himself blushing <i>à deux</i> with his little friend, and also divined +Miss Carmencita’s roguish merriment at their confusion. +</p> + +<p> +“I <i>am</i> all those things you mentioned and a heap more you forgot to say,” +claimed the ranger boldly, to relieve the situation. “Only I didn’t know for +sure that folks had found it out. My mind’s a heap easier to know I’m being +appreciated proper at last.” +</p> + +<p> +Under her long, dark lashes Miss Carmencita looked at him in gentle derision. +“I’m of opinion, sir, that you get all the appreciation that is good for you.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky carried the war into the enemy’s country. “Which same, I expect, might be +said of Chihuahua’s most beautiful belle. And, talking of Señor Valdez reminds +me that I owe a duty to his father, who is confined here. I’ll be saying good +night ladies.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s high time,” agreed Miss Megales. “Talking of Señor Valdez, indeed!” +</p> + +<p> +“Good night, Curly said.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good night, Bucky.” +</p> + +<p> +To which, in mocking travesty, added, in English, Miss Carmencita, who seemed +to have an acute attack of Shakespeare: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Good night, good night; parting is such sweet sorrow<br/> +That I shall say good night till It be morrow.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0016"></a> +CHAPTER XVI.<br/> +JUAN VALDEZ SCORES</h2> + +<p> +The first thing Bucky did after leaving the two young women was to go down in +person with one of the guards to the cell of David Henderson. The occupant of +the cell was asleep, but he woke up when the two men entered. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is it?” he demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“Webb Mackenzie’s man come to release you,” answered Bucky. +</p> + +<p> +The prisoner fell to trembling like an aspen. “God, man, do you mean it?” he +begged. “You wouldn’t deceive an old man who has lived fifteen years in hell?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s true, friend, every word of it. You’ll live to ride the range again and +count your cattle on the free hillside. Come with me up to the office and we’ll +talk more of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But may I? Will they let me?” trembled Henderson, fearful lest his cup of joy +be dashed from him. “I’m not dreaming, am I? I’ll not wake the way I often do +and find that it is all a dream, will I?” He caught at the lapel of O’Connor’s +coat and searched his face. +</p> + +<p> +“No, your dreams are true at last, Dave Henderson. Come, old friend, take a +drink of this to steady you. It’s all coming out right now.” +</p> + +<p> +Tears streamed down the face of the man rescued from a living grave. He dashed +them away impatiently with a shaking hand. “I used to be as game as other men, +young man, and now you see what a weakling I am. Don’t judge me too hard. +Happiness is a harder thing to stand than pain or grief. They’ve tried to break +my spirit many a time and they couldn’t, but you’ve done it now with a word.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll be all right as soon as you are able to realize it. I don’t wonder the +shock unnerves you. Have you anything you want to take out of here with you +before you leave forever?” +</p> + +<p> +Pathetically the prisoner looked round on his few belongings. Some of them had +become endeared to him by years of use and association, but they had served +their time. “No, I want to forget it all. I came in with nothing. I’ll take out +nothing. I want to blot it all out like a hideous nightmare.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky ordered Colonel Gabilonda to bring up from his cell General Valdez and +the other arrested suspects. They reached the office at the same time as Mike +O’Halloran, who greeted them with the good news that the day was won. The +Megales faction had melted into mist, and all over the city a happy people was +shouting for Valdez. +</p> + +<p> +“I congratulate you, general. We have just telegraphed the news over the State +that Megales has resigned and fled. There can be no doubt that you will be +elected governor to-morrow and that the people’s party will win the day with an +unprecedented vote. Glory be, Chihuahua is at last free from the heel of +tyranny. <i>Viva Valdez! Viva Chihuahua libre!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky at once introduced to General Valdez the American prisoner who had +suffered so long and unjustly. He recited the story of the abduction of the +child, of Henderson’s pursuit, of the killing of the trooper, and of the +circumstantial evidence that implicated the Texan and upon which he was +convicted. He then drew from his pocket a signed and attested copy of the +confession of the knife thrower and handed it to the general. +</p> + +<p> +Valdez looked it over, asked an incisive question or two of Bucky, heard from +Henderson his story, and, after a few moments’ discussion of the matter with +O’Halloran, promised a free pardon as his first official act after being +elected to the governorship, in case he should be chosen. +</p> + +<p> +The vote next day amply justified the hopes of O’Halloran and his friends. The +whole ticket, sent out by telegraph and messengers throughout the State, was +triumphantly elected by large majorities. Only in one or two out-of-the-way +places, where the news of the fall of Megales did not arrive in time to affect +the voting, did the old government party make any showing worthy of +consideration. +</p> + +<p> +It was after Valdez’s election had been made certain by the returns that +O’Halloran and Juan Valdez posted to the prison and visited father and +daughter. They separated in the lower corridor, one to visit the defeated +governor, the other Miss Carmencita. The problem before Juan Valdez was to +induce that young woman to remain in Chihuahua instead of accompanying her +father in his flight. He was a good fighter, and he meant to win, if it were a +possibility. She had tacitly admitted that she loved him, but he knew that she +felt that loyalty demanded she stay by her father in his flight. +</p> + +<p> +When O’Halloran was admitted to the cell where the governor and the general +were staying he laughed aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“Faith, gentlemen, is this the best accommodation Governor Valdez can furnish +his guests? We must petition him to improve the sanitation of his hotel.” +</p> + +<p> +“We are being told, one may suppose, that General Valdez is the newly elected +governor?” +</p> + +<p> +“Right, your excellency, elected by a large majority to succeed the late +Governor Megales.” +</p> + +<p> +“Late!” The former governor lifted his eyebrows. “Am I also being told that +necessity demands the posting of the suicide bulletin, after all?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all. Sure, I gave you me word, excellency. And that is one of the +reasons why I am here. We have arranged to run a special down the line +to-night, in order to avoid the risk of the news leaking out that you are still +here. Can you make your arrangements to take that train, or will it hurry your +packing too much?” +</p> + +<p> +Megales laughed. “I have nothing to take with me except my daughter. The rest +of my possessions may be forwarded later.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, your daughter! Well, that’s pat, too. What about the lad, Valdez?” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you his representative, señor?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, he can talk for himself.” O’Halloran grinned. “He’s doing it right now, by +the same token. Shall we interrupt a tête-à-tête and go pay our compliments to +Miss Carmencita? You will want to find out whether she goes with you or stays +here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Assuredly. Anything to escape this cave.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Carmencita was at that moment reiterating her everlasting determination to +go wherever her father went. “If you think, sir, that your faithlessness to him +is a recommendation of your promised faithfulness to me, I can only wish you +more light on the feelings of a daughter,” she was informing Valdez, when her +father slipped through the panel door and stood before her. +</p> + +<p> +“Brava, señorita!” he applauded, with subtle irony, clapping his hands. “Brava, +brava!” +</p> + +<p> +That young woman swam blushingly toward him and let her face disappear in an +embrace. +</p> + +<p> +“You see, one can’t have everything, Señor Valdez,” continued Megales lightly. +“For me, I cannot have both Chihuahua and my life; you, it seems, cannot have +both your successful revolution and my daughter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your excellency, she loves me. Of that I am assured. It rests with you to say +whether her life will be spoiled or not. You know what I can offer her in +addition to a heart full of devotion. It is enough. Shall she be sacrificed to +her loyalty to you?” the young man demanded, with all the ardor of his +warm-blooded race. +</p> + +<p> +“It is no sacrifice to love and obey my father,” came a low murmur from the +former governor’s shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“Since the world began it has been the law of life that the young should leave +their parents for a home of their own,” Juan protested. +</p> + +<p> +“So the Scripture says,” agreed Megales sardonically. “It further counsels to +love one’s enemies, but, I think, omits mention of the enemies of one’s +father.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, I am not your enemy. Political exigencies have thrown us into different +camps, but we are not so small as to let such incidentals come between us as a +vital objection in such a matter.” +</p> + +<p> +“You argue like a lawyer,” smiled the governor. “You forget that I am neither +judge nor jury. Tyrant I may have been to a fickle people that needed a firm +hand to rule them, but tyrant I am not to my only daughter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you consent, your excellency?” cried Valdez joyously. +</p> + +<p> +“I neither consent nor refuse. You must go to a more final authority than mine +for an answer, young man.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you are willing she should follow where her heart leads?” +</p> + +<p> +“But certainly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then she is mine,” cried Valdez. +</p> + +<p> +“I am not,” replied the girl indignantly over her shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +Megales turned her till her unconsenting eyes met his. “Do you want to marry +this young man, Carmencita?” +</p> + +<p> +“I never told him anything of the sort,” she flamed. +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t quite ask what you had told him. The question is whether you love +him.” +</p> + +<p> +“But no; I love you,” she blushed. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope so,” smiled her father. “But do you love him? An honest answer, if you +please.” +</p> + +<p> +“Could I love a rebel?” +</p> + +<p> +“No Yankee answers, <i>muchacha</i>. Do you love Juan Valdez?” +</p> + +<p> +It was Valdez that broke triumphantly the moment’s silence that followed. “She +does. She does. I claim the consent of silence.” +</p> + +<p> +But victory spoke too prematurely in his voice. Cried the proud Spanish girl +passionately: “I hate him!” +</p> + +<p> +Megales understood the quality of her hate, and beckoned to his future +son-in-law. “I have some arrangements to make for our journey to-night. Would +it distress you, señor, if I were to leave you for a while?” +</p> + +<p> +He slipped out and left them alone. +</p> + +<p> +“Well?” asked O’Halloran, who had remained in the corridor. +</p> + +<p> +“I think, Señor Dictator, I shall have to make the trip with only General Carlo +for a companion,” answered the Spaniard. +</p> + +<p> +The Irishman swung his hat. “Hip, hip, hurrah! You’re a gentleman I could find +it in me heart to both love and hate, governor.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you’re a gentleman,” returned the governor, with a bow, “I could find it +in my heart to hang high as Haman without love or hate.” +</p> + +<p> +Michael linked his arm in that of his excellency. +</p> + +<p> +“Sure, you’re a broth of a lad, Señor Megales,” he said irreverently, in good, +broad Irish brogue. “Here, me bye, where are you hurrying?” he added, catching +at the sleeve of Frances Mackenzie, who was slipping quietly past. +</p> + +<p> +“Please, Mr. O’Halloran, I’ve been up to the office after water. I’m taking it +to Señorita Carmencita.” +</p> + +<p> +“She doesn’t want water just now. You go back to the office, son, and stay +there thirty minutes. Then you take her that water,” ordered O’Halloran. +</p> + +<p> +“But she wanted it as soon as I could get it, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Forget it, kid, just as she has. Water! Why, she’s drinking nectar of the +gods. Just you do as I tell ye.” +</p> + +<p> +Frances was puzzled, but she obeyed, even though she could not understand his +meaning. She understood better when she slid back the panel at the expiration +of the allotted time and caught a glimpse of Carmencita Megales in the arms of +Juan Valdez. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0017"></a> +CHAPTER XVII.<br/> +HIDDEN VALLEY</h2> + +<p> +Across the desert into the hills, where the sun was setting in a great splash +of crimson in the saddle between two distant peaks, a bunch of cows trailed +heavily. Their tongues hung out and they panted for water, stretching their +necks piteously to low now and again. For the heat of an Arizona summer was on +the baked land and in the air that palpitated above it. +</p> + +<p> +But the end of the journey was at hand and the cowpuncher in charge of the +drive relaxed in the saddle after the easy fashion of the vaquero when he is +under no tension. He did not any longer cast swift, anxious glances behind him +to make sure no pursuit was in sight. For he had reached safety. He knew the +‘Open sesame’ to that rock wall which rose sheer in front of him. Straight for +it he and his companion took their gather, swinging the cattle adroitly round a +great slab which concealed a gateway to the secret cañon. Half a mile up this +defile lay what was called Hidden Valley, an inaccessible retreat known only to +those who frequented it for nefarious purposes. +</p> + +<p> +It was as the man in charge circled round to head the lead cows in that a faint +voice carried to him. He stopped, listening. It came again, a dry, parched call +for help that had no hope in it. He wheeled his pony as on a half dollar, and +two minutes later caught sight of an exhausted figure leaning against a +cottonwood. He needed no second guess to surmise that she was lost and had been +wandering over the sandy desert through the hot day. With a shout, he loped +toward her, and had his water bottle at her lips before she had recovered from +her glad surprise at sight of him. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll feel better now,” he soothed. “How long you been lost, ma’am?” +</p> + +<p> +“Since ten this morning. I came with my aunt to gather poppies, and somehow I +got separated from her and the rig. These hills look so alike. I must have got +turned round and mistaken one for another.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have to be awful careful here. Some one ought to have told you,” he said +indignantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, they told me, but of course I knew best,” she replied, with quick scorn of +her own self-sufficiency. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it’s all right now,” the cowpuncher told her cheerfully. He would not +for a thousand dollars have told her how near it had come to being all wrong, +how her life had probably depended upon that faint wafted call of hers. +</p> + +<p> +He put her on his horse and led it forward to the spot where the cattle waited +at the gateway. Not until they came full upon them did he remember that it was +dangerous for strange young women to see him with those cattle and at the +gateway to the Hidden cañon. +</p> + +<p> +“They are my uncle’s cattle. I could tell the brand anywhere. Are you one of +his riders? Are we close to the Rocking Chair Ranch?” she cried. +</p> + +<p> +He flung a quick glance at her. “Not very close. Are you from the Rocking +Chair?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. I’m Mr. Mackenzie’s niece.” +</p> + +<p> +“Major Mackenzie’s daughter?” demanded the man quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” She said it with a touch of annoyance, for he looked at her as a man +does who has heard of her before. She knew that the story had been bruited far +and wide of how she had passed through the hands of the train robbers carrying +thirty thousand dollars on her person. She had no doubt that it was in this +connection her rescuer had heard of her. +</p> + +<p> +He drew off to one side and called his companion to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Hardman, you ride up to the ranch and tell Leroy I’ve just found Miss +Mackenzie wandering around on the desert, lost. Ask him whether I’m to bring +her up. She’s played out and can’t travel far, tell him.” +</p> + +<p> +The showman rode on his errand and the other returned to Helen. +</p> + +<p> +“You better light, ma’am. We’ll have to wait here a few minutes,” he explained. +</p> + +<p> +He helped her dismount. She did not understand why it was necessary to wait, +but that was his business and not hers. Her roving eyes fell upon the cattle +again. +</p> + +<p> +“They <i>are</i> my uncle’s, aren’t they?” +</p> + +<p> +“They were,” he corrected. “Cattle change hands a good deal in this country,” +he added dryly. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you’re not one of his riders?” Her stark eyes passed over him swiftly. +</p> + +<p> +“No, ma’am.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are we far from the Rocking Chair?” +</p> + +<p> +“A right smart distance. You’ve been traveling, you see, for eight or nine +hours.” +</p> + +<p> +It occurred to her that there was something elusive, something not quite frank, +about the replies of this young man. Her glance raked him again and swept up +the details of his person. One of them that impressed itself upon her mind was +the absence of a finger on his right hand. Another was that he was a walking +arsenal. This startled her, though she was not yet afraid. She relapsed into +silence, to which he seemed willing to consent. Once and again her glance swept +him. He looked a tough, weather-beaten Westerner, certainly not a man whom a +woman need be afraid to meet alone on the plains, but the oftener she looked +the more certain she became that he was not a casual puncher busy at the +legitimate work of his craft. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you—live near here?” she asked presently. +</p> + +<p> +“I live under my hat, ma’am,” he told her. +</p> + +<p> +“Sometimes near here, sometimes not so near.” +</p> + +<p> +This told her exactly nothing. +</p> + +<p> +“How far did you say it was to the Rocking Chair?” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t say.” +</p> + +<p> +At the sound of a horses footfall she turned, and she saw that whereas they had +been two, now they were three. The newcomer was a slender, graceful man, dark +and lithe, with quick, piercing eyes, set deep in the most reckless, sardonic +face she had ever seen. +</p> + +<p> +The man bowed, with a sweep of his hat almost derisive. “Miss Mackenzie, I +believe.” +</p> + +<p> +She met him with level eyes that confessed no fear. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“They call me Wolf Leroy.” +</p> + +<p> +Her heart sank. “You and he are the men that held up the Limited.” +</p> + +<p> +“If we are, you are the young lady that beat us out of thirty thousand dollars. +We’ll collect now,” he told her, with a silky smile and a glitter of white, +even teeth. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean? Do you think I carry money about with me?” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t say that. We’ll put it up to your father.” +</p> + +<p> +“My father?” +</p> + +<p> +“He’ll have to raise thirty thousand dollars to redeem his daughter.” He let +his bold eyes show their admiration. “And she’s worth every cent of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean—” She read the flash of triumph in his ribald eyes and broke off. +There was no need to ask him what he meant. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s what I mean exactly, ma’am. You’re welcome to the hospitality of Hidden +Valley. What’s ours is yours. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, but I +reckon <i>you’re not welcome to go whenever you want to</i>—not till we get +that thirty thousand.” +</p> + +<p> +“You talk as if he were a millionaire,” she told him scornfully. +</p> + +<p> +“The major’s got friends that are. If it’s a showdown he’ll dig the dough up. I +ain’t a bit worried about that. His brother, Webb, will come through.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why should he?” She stood as straight and unbending as a young pine, courage +regnant in the very poise of the fine head. “You daren’t harm a hair of my +head, and he knows it. For your life, you daren’t.” +</p> + +<p> +His eyes glittered. Wolf Leroy was never a safe man to fling a challenge at. +“Don’t you be too sure of that, my dear. There ain’t one thing on this green +earth I daren’t do if I set my mind to it. And your friends know it.” +</p> + +<p> +The other man broke in, easy and unmoved. “Hold yore hawses, cap. We got no +call to be threatening this young lady. We keep her for a ransom because that’s +business. But she’s as safe here as she would be at the Rocking Chair. She’s +got York Neil’s word for that.” +</p> + +<p> +The Wolf snarled. “The word of a miscreant. That’ll comfort her a heap. And +York Neil’s word don’t always go up here.” +</p> + +<p> +The cowpuncher’s steady eyes met him. “It’ll go this time.” +</p> + +<p> +The girl gave her champion a quiet little nod and a low “Thank you.” It was not +much, but enough. For on the frontier “white men” do not war on women. Her +instinct gave just the right manner of treating his help. It assumed that since +he was what he was he could do no less. Moreover, it had the unexpected effect +of spurring the Wolf’s vanity, or something better than his vanity. She could +see the battle in his face, and the passing of its evil, sinister expression. +</p> + +<p> +“Beg your pardon, Miss Mackenzie. York’s right. I’ll add my word to his about +your safety. I’m a wolf, they’ll tell you. But when I give my word I keep it.” +</p> + +<p> +They turned and followed through the gateway the cattle which Hardman and +another rider were driving up the cañon. Presently the walls fell back, the +gulch opened to a saucer-shaped valley in which nestled a little ranch. +</p> + +<p> +Leroy indicated it with a wave of his hand. “Welcome to Hidden Valley, Miss +Mackenzie,” he said cynically. +</p> + +<p> +“Afraid I’m likely to wear my welcome out if you keep me here until my father +raises thirty thousand dollars,” she said lightly. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you worry any about that. We need the refining influences of ladies’ +society here. I can see York’s a heap improved already. Just to teach us +manners you’re worth your board and keep.” Then hardily, with a sweeping +gesture toward the weary cattle: “Besides, your uncle has sent up a +contribution to help keep you while you visit with us.” +</p> + +<p> +York laughed. “He sent it, but he didn’t know he was sending it.” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy surrendered his room to Miss Mackenzie and put at her service the old +Mexican woman who cooked for him. She was a silent, taciturn creature, as +wrinkled as leather parchment and about as handsome, but Alice found safety in +the very knowledge of the presence of another woman in the valley. She was +among robbers and cutthroats, but old Juanita lent at least a touch of +domesticity to a situation that would otherwise have been impossible. The girl +was very uneasy in her mind. A cold dread filled her heart, a fear that was a +good deal less than panic-terror, however. For she trusted the man Neil even as +she distrusted his captain. Miscreant he had let himself be called, and +doubtless was, but she knew no harm could befall her from his companions while +he was alive to prevent it. A reassurance of this came to her that evening in +the fragment of a conversation she overheard. They were passing her window +which she had raised on account of the heat when the low voices of two men came +to her. +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you I’m not going, Leroy. Send Hardman,” one said. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you running this outfit, or am I, Neil?” +</p> + +<p> +“You are. But I gave her my word. That’s all there’s to it.” +</p> + +<p> +Alice was aware that they had stopped and were facing each other tensely. +</p> + +<p> +“Go slow, York. I gave her my word, too. Do you think I’m allowing to break it +while you’re away?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I don’t. Look here, Phil. I’m not looking for trouble. You’re major-domo +of this outfit What you say goes—except about this girl. I’m a white man, if +I’m a scoundrel.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I’m not?” +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you I’m not sayin’ that,” the other answered doggedly. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re hinting it awful loud. I stand for it this time, York, but never again. +You butt in once more and you better reach for your hardware simultaneous. +Stick a pin in that.” +</p> + +<p> +They had moved on again, and she did not hear Neil’s answer. Nevertheless, she +was comforted to know she had one friend among these desperate outlaws, and +that comfort gave her at least an hour or two of broken, nappy sleep. +</p> + +<p> +In the morning when she had dressed she found her room door unlocked, and she +stepped outside into the sunshine. York Neil was sitting on the porch at work +on a broken spur strap. Looking up, he nodded a casual good morning. But she +knew why he was there, and gratitude welled up in her heart. Not a young woman +who gave way to every impulse, she yielded to one now, and shook hands with +him. Their eyes met for a moment and he knew she was thanking him. +</p> + +<p> +An eye derisive witnessed the handshake. “An alliance against the teeth of the +wolf, I’ll bet. Good mo’ning, Miss Mackenzie,” drawled Leroy. +</p> + +<p> +“Good morning,” she answered quietly, her hands behind her. +</p> + +<p> +“Sleep well?” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you expect me to?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not, with York here doing the virgin-knight act outside your door?” +</p> + +<p> +Her puzzled eyes discovered that Neil’s face was one blush of embarrassment. +</p> + +<p> +“He slept here on the po’ch,” explained Leroy, amused. “It’s a great fad, this +outdoor sleeping. The doctors recommend it strong for sick people. You wouldn’t +think to look at him York was sick. He looks plumb husky. But looks are right +deceptive. It’s a fact, Miss Mackenzie, that he was so sick last night I wasn’t +dead sure he’d live till mo’ning.” +</p> + +<p> +The eyes of the men met like rapiers. Neil said nothing, and Leroy dropped him +from his mind as if he were a trifle and devoted his attention to Alice. +</p> + +<p> +“Breakfast is ready, Miss Mackenzie. This way, please.” +</p> + +<p> +The outlaw led her to the dining room, where the young woman met a fresh +surprise. The table was white with immaculate linen and shone with silver. She +sat down to breakfast food with cream, followed by quail on toast, bacon and +eggs, and really good coffee. Moreover, she discovered that this terror of the +border knew how to handle his knife and fork, was not deficient in the little +niceties of table decorum. He talked, and talked well, ignoring, like a perfect +host, the relation that existed between them. They sat opposite each other and +ate alone, waited upon by the Mexican woman. Alice wondered if he kept solitary +state when she was not there or ate with the other men. +</p> + +<p> +It was evening before Hardman returned from the mission upon which he had been +sent in place of the obstinate Neil. He reported at once to Leroy, who came +smilingly to the place where she was sitting on the porch to tell her his news. +</p> + +<p> +“Webb Mackenzie’s going to raise that thirty thousand, all right. He’s promised +to raise it inside of three days,” he told her triumphantly. +</p> + +<p> +“And shall I have to stay here three whole days?” +</p> + +<p> +He looked with half-shut, smoldering eyes at her slender exquisiteness, compact +of a strange charm that was both well-bred and gypsyish. There was a +scarce-veiled passion in his gaze that troubled her. More than once that day +she had caught it. +</p> + +<p> +“Three days ain’t so long. I could stand three months of you and wish for +more,” he told her. +</p> + +<p> +Lightly she turned the subject, but not without a chill of fear. Three days was +a long time. Much might happen if this wolf slipped the leash of his +civilization. +</p> + +<p> +It was next day that an incident occurred which was to affect the course of +events more than she could guess at the time. A bunch of wild hill steers had +been driven down by Hardman, Reilly, and Neil in the afternoon and were +inclosed in the corral with the cows from the Rocking Chair Ranch. Just before +sunset Leroy, who had been away all day, returned and sauntered over from the +stable to join Alice. It struck the girl from his flushed appearance that he +had been drinking. In his eye she found a wild devil of lawlessness that set +her heart pounding. If Neil and he clashed now there would be murder done. Of +that she felt sure. +</p> + +<p> +That she set herself to humor the Wolf’s whims was no more for her own safety +than for that of the man who had been her friend. She curbed her fears, clamped +down her startled maiden modesty, parried his advances with light words and gay +smiles. Once Neil passed, and his eyes asked a question. She shook her head, +unnoticed by Leroy. She would fight her own battle as long as she could. It was +to divert him that she proposed they go down to the corral and look at the wild +cattle the men had driven down. She told him she had heard a great deal about +them, but had never seen any. If he would go with her she would like to look at +them. +</p> + +<p> +The outlaw was instantly at her service, and they sauntered across. In her hand +the girl carried a closed umbrella she had been using to keep off the sun. +</p> + +<p> +They stood at the gate of the corral looking at the long-legged, shaggy +creatures, as wild and as active almost as hill deer. On horseback one could +pass to and fro among them without danger, but in a closed corral a man on foot +would have taken a chance. Nobody knew this better than Leroy. But the liquor +was still in his head, and even when sober he was reckless beyond other men. +</p> + +<p> +“They need water,” he said, and with that opened the gate and started for the +windmill. +</p> + +<p> +He sauntered carelessly across, with never a glance at the dangerous animals +among which he was venturing. A great bull pawed the ground lowered its head, +and made a rush at the unconscious man. Alice called to him to look out, then +whipped open the gate and ran after him. Leroy turned, and, in a flash, saw +that which for an instant filled him with a deadly paralysis. Between him and +the bull, directly in the path of its rush, stood this slender girl, +defenseless. +</p> + +<p> +Even as his revolver flashed out from the scabbard the outlaw knew he was too +late to save her, for she stood in such a position that he could not hit a +vital spot. Suddenly her umbrella opened in the face of the animal. Frightened, +it set its feet wide and slithered to a halt so close to her that its chorus +pierced the silk of the umbrella. With one hand Leroy swept the girl behind +him; with the other he pumped three bullets into the forehead of the bull. +Without a groan it keeled over, dead before it reached the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Alice leaned against the iron support of the windmill. She was so white that +the man expected her to sink down. One glance showed him other cattle pawing +the ground angrily. +</p> + +<p> +“Come!” he ordered, and, putting an arm round her waist, he ran with her to the +gate. Yet a moment, and they were through in safety. +</p> + +<p> +She leaned against him helpless for an instant before she had strength to +disengage herself. “Thank you. I’m all right now.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought you were going to faint,” he explained. +</p> + +<p> +She nodded. “I nearly did.” +</p> + +<p> +His face was colorless. “You saved my life.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we’re quits, for you saved mine,” she answered, with a shaken attempt at +a smile. +</p> + +<p> +He shook his head. “That’s not the same at all. I had to do that, and there was +no risk to it. But you chose to save me, to risk your life for mine.” +</p> + +<p> +She saw that he was greatly moved, and that his emotion had swept away the +effects of the liquid as a fresh breeze does a fog. +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t know I was risking my life. I saw you didn’t see.” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t think there was a woman alive had the pluck to do it—and for me, your +enemy. That what you count me, isn’t it—an enemy?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know. I can’t quite think of you as friend, can I?” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet I would have protected you from any danger at any cost.” +</p> + +<p> +“Except the danger of yourself,” she said, in low voice, meeting him eye to +eye. +</p> + +<p> +He accepted her correction with a groan, an wheeled away, leaning his arms on +the corral fence and looking away to that saddle between the peak which still +glowed with sunset light. +</p> + +<p> +“I haven’t met a woman of your kind before in ten years,” he said presently. +“I’ve lived on your looks, your motions, the inflections of your voice. I +suppose I’ve been starved for that sort of thing and didn’t know it till you +came. It’s been like a glimpse of heaven to me.” He laughed bitterly: and went +on: “Of course, I had to take to drinking and let you see the devil I am. When +I’m sober you would be as safe with me as with York. But the excitement of +meeting you—I have to ride my emotions to death so as to drain them to the +uttermost. Drink stimulates the imagination, and I drank.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m sorry.” +</p> + +<p> +Her voice said more than the words. He looked at her curiously. “You’re only a +girl. What do you know about men of my sort? You have been wrappered and +sheltered all your life. And yet you understand me better than any of the +people I meet. All my life I have fought with myself. I might have been a +gentleman and I’m only a wolf. My appetites and passions, stronger than myself +dragged me down. It was Kismet, the destiny ordained for me from my birth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Isn’t there always hope for a man who knows his weaknesses and fights against +them?” she asked timidly. +</p> + +<p> +“No, there is not,” came the harsh answer. “Besides, I don’t fight. I yield to +mine. Enough of that. It is you we have to consider, not me. You have saved my +life, and I have got to pay the debt.” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t think who you were,” her honesty compelled her to say. +</p> + +<p> +“That doesn’t matter. You did it. I’m going to take you back to your father and +straight as I can.” +</p> + +<p> +Her eyes lit. “Without a ransom?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“You pay your debts like a gentleman, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m not coyote all through.” +</p> + +<p> +She could only ignore the hunger that stared out of his eyes for her. “What +about your friends? Will they let me go?” +</p> + +<p> +“They’ll do as I say. What kicking they do will be done mostly in private, and +when they’re away from me.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t want to make trouble for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“You won’t make trouble for me. If there’s any trouble it will be for them,” he +said grimly. +</p> + +<p> +Neither of them made any motion toward the house. The girl felt a strange +impulse of tenderness toward this man who had traveled so fast the road to +destruction. She had seen before that deep hunger of the eyes, for she was of +the type of woman that holds a strong attraction for men. It told her that he +had looked in the face of his happiness too late—too late by the many years of +a misspent life that had decreed inexorably the character he could no longer +change. +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry,” she said again. “I didn’t see that in you at first. I misjudged +you. One can’t label men just good or bad, as the novelists used to. You have +taught me that—you and Mr. Neil.” +</p> + +<p> +His low, sardonic laughter rippled out. “I’m bad enough. Don’t make any mistake +about that, Miss Mackenzie. York’s different. He’s just a good man gone wrong. +But I’m plain miscreant.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no,” she protested. +</p> + +<p> +“As bad as they make them, but not wolf clear through,” he said again. +“Something’s happened to me to-day. It won’t change me. I’ve gone too far for +that. But some morning when you read in the papers that Wolf Leroy died with +his boots on and everybody in sight registers his opinion of the deceased +you’ll remember one thing. He wasn’t a wolf to you—not at the last.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll not forget,” she said, and the quick tears were in her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +York Neil came toward them from the house. It was plain from his manner he had +a joke up his sleeve. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re wanted, Phil,” he announced. +</p> + +<p> +“Wanted where?” +</p> + +<p> +“You got a visitor in there,” Neil said, with a grin and a jerk of his thumb +toward the house. “Came blundering into the draw sorter accidental-like, but +some curious. So I asked him if he wouldn’t light and stay a while. He thought +it over, and figured he would.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who is it?” asked Leroy. +</p> + +<p> +“You go and see. I ain’t giving away what your Christmas presents are. I aim to +let Santa surprise you a few.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Mackenzie followed the outlaw chief into the house, and over his shoulder +glimpsed two men. One of them was the Irishman, Cork Reilly, and he sat with a +Winchester across his knees. The other had his back toward them, but he turned +as they entered, and nodded casually to the outlaw. Helen’s heart jumped to her +throat when she saw it was Val Collins. +</p> + +<p> +The two men looked at each other steadily in a long silence. Wolf Leroy was the +first to speak. +</p> + +<p> +“You damn fool!” The swarthy face creased to an evil smile of derision. +</p> + +<p> +“I ce’tainly do seem to butt in considerable, Mr. Leroy,” admitted Collins, +with an answering smile. +</p> + +<p> +Leroy’s square jaw set like a vise. “It won’t happen again, Mr. Sheriff.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’d hate to gamble on that heavy,” returned Collins easily. Then he caught +sight of the girl’s white face, and rose to his feet with outstretched hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Sit down,” snapped out Reilly. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that’s all right I’m shaking hands with the lady. Did you think I was +inviting you to drill a hole in me, Mr. Reilly?” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0018"></a> +CHAPTER XVIII.<br/> +A DINNER FOR THREE</h2> + +<p> +“I thought we bumped you off down at Epitaph,” Leroy said. +</p> + +<p> +“Along with Scotty? Well, no. You see, I’m a regular cat to kill, Mr. Leroy, +and I couldn’t conscientiously join the angels with so lame a story as a game +laig to explain my coming,” said Collins cheerfully. +</p> + +<p> +“In that case—” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I understand. You’d be willing to accommodate with a hole in the haid +instead of one in the laig. But I’ll not trouble you.” +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing here? Didn’t I warn you to attend to your own business and +leave me alone?” +</p> + +<p> +“Seems to me you did load me up with some good advice, but I plumb forgot to +follow it.” +</p> + +<p> +The Wolf cursed under his breath. “You came here at your own risk, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I did and I didn’t,” corrected the sheriff easily. “I’ve got a +five-thousand policy in the Southeastern Life Insurance Company, so I reckon +it’s some risk to them. And, by the way, it’s a company I can recommend.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does it insure against suicide?” asked Leroy, his masked, smiling face veiling +thinly a ruthless purpose. +</p> + +<p> +“And against hanging. Let me strongly urge you to take out a policy at once,” +came the prompt retort. +</p> + +<p> +“You think it necessary?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite. When you and York Neil and Hardman made an end of Scotty you threw +ropes round your own necks. Any locoed tenderfoot would know that.” +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff’s unflinching look met the outlaw’s black frown serene and +clear-eyed. +</p> + +<p> +“And would he know that you had committed suicide when you ran this place down +and came here?” asked Leroy, with silken cruelty. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, he ought to know it. The fact is, Mr. Leroy, that it hadn’t penetrated +my think-tank that this was your hacienda when I came mavericking in.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just out riding for your health?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not exactly. I was looking for Miss Mackenzie. I cut her trail about six miles +from the Rocking Chair and followed it where she wandered around. The trail led +directly away from the ranch toward the mountains. That didn’t make me any easy +in my mind. So I just jogged along and elected myself an investigating +committee. I arrived some late, but here I am, right side up—and so hearty +welcome that my friend Cork won’t hear of my leaving at all. He don’t do a +thing but entertain me—never lets his attention wander. Oh, I’m the welcome +guest, all right. No doubt about that.” +</p> + +<p> +Wolf Leroy turned to Alice. “I think you had better go to your room,” he said +gently. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no, no; let me stay,” she implored. “You would never—you would never—” The +words died on her white lips, but the horror in her eyes finished the question. +</p> + +<p> +He met her gaze fully, and answered her doggedly. “You’re not in this, Miss +Mackenzie. It’s between him and me. I shan’t allow even you to interfere.” +</p> + +<p> +“But—oh, it is horrible! for two minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +He shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“You must! Please.” +</p> + +<p> +“What use?” +</p> + +<p> +Let me see you alone +</p> + +<p> +Her troubled gaze shifted to the strong, brown, sun-baked face of the man who +had put himself in this deadly peril to save her. His keen, blue-gray eyes, +very searching and steady, met hers with a courage she thought splendid, and +her heart cried out passionately against the sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +“You shall not do it. Oh, please let me talk it over with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you forgotten already?—and you said you would always remember.” She +almost whispered it. +</p> + +<p> +She had stung his consent at last. “Very well,” he said, and opened the door to +let her pass into the inner room. +</p> + +<p> +But she noticed that his eyes were hard as jade. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you see that he came here to save me?” she cried, when they were alone. +“Don’t you see it was for me? He didn’t come to spy out your place of hiding.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see that he has found it. If I let him go, he will bring back a posse to +take us.” +</p> + +<p> +“You could ride across the line into Mexico.” +</p> + +<p> +“I could, but I won’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, Miss Mackenzie, the money we took from the express car of the Limited +is hidden here, and I don’t know where it is; because the sun won’t ever rise +on a day when Val Collins will drive me out of Arizona.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what you mean about the money, but you must let him go. You spoke +of a service I had done you. This is my pay.” +</p> + +<p> +“To turn him loose to hunt us down?” +</p> + +<p> +“He’ll not trouble you if you let him go.” +</p> + +<p> +A sardonic smile touched his face. “A lot you know of him. He thinks it his +duty to rid the earth of vermin like us. He’d never let up till he got us or we +got him. Well, we’ve got him now, good and plenty. He took his chances, didn’t +he? It isn’t as if he didn’t know what he was up against. He’ll tell you +himself it’s a square deal. He’s game, and he won’t squeal because we win and +he has to pay forfeit.” +</p> + +<p> +The girl wrung her hands despairingly. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s his life or mine—and not only mine, but my men’s,” continued the outlaw. +“Would you turn a wolf loose from your sheep pen to lead the pack to the kill?” +</p> + +<p> +“But if he were to promise—” +</p> + +<p> +“We’re not talking about the ordinary man—he’d promise anything and lie +to-morrow. But Sheriff Collins won’t do it. If you think you can twist a +promise out of him not to take advantage of what he has found out you’re +guessing wrong. When you think he’s a quitter, just look at that cork hand of +his, and remember how come he to get it. He’ll take his medicine proper, but +he’ll never crawl.” +</p> + +<p> +“There must be some way,” she cried desperately, +</p> + +<p> +“Since you make a point of it, I’ll give him his chance.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll let him go?” The joy in her voice was tremulously plain. +</p> + +<p> +He laughed, leaning carelessly against the mantelshelf. But his narrowed eyes +watched her vigilantly. “I didn’t say I would let him go. What I said was that +I’d give him a chance.” +</p> + +<p> +“How?” +</p> + +<p> +“They say he’s a dead shot. I’m a few with a gun myself. We’ll ride down to the +plains together, and find a good lonely spot suitable for a graveyard. Then one +of us will ride away, and the other will stay, or perhaps both of us will +stay.” +</p> + +<p> +She shuddered. “No—no—no. I won’t have it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Afraid something might happen to me, ma’am?” he asked, with a queer laugh, +</p> + +<p> +“I won’t have it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Afraid, perhaps, he might be the one left for the coyotes and the buzzards?” +</p> + +<p> +She was white to the lips, but at his next word the blood came flaming back to +her cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +“Why don’t you tell the truth? Why don’t you; say you love him, and be done +with it? Say it and I’ll take him back to Tucson with you safe as if he were a +baby.” +</p> + +<p> +She covered her face with her hands, but with two steps he had reached her and +captured he hands. +</p> + +<p> +“The truth,” he demanded, and his eyes compelled. +</p> + +<p> +“It is to save his life?” +</p> + +<p> +He laughed harshly. “Here’s melodrama for you! Yes—to save your lover’s life.” +</p> + +<p> +She lifted her eyes to his bravely. “What you say is true. I love him.” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy bowed ironically. “I congratulate Mr. Collins, who is now quite safe, so +far as I am concerned. Meanwhile, lest he be jealous of your absence, shall we +return now?” +</p> + +<p> +Some word of sympathy for the reckless scamp trembled on her lips, but her +instinct told her would hold it insult added to injury, and she left her pity +unvoiced. +</p> + +<p> +“If you please.” +</p> + +<p> +But as he heeled away she laid a timid hand on his arm. He turned and looked +grimly down at the working face, at the sweet, soft, pitiful eyes brimming with +tears. She was pure woman now, all the caste pride dissolved in yearning pity. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you lamb—you precious lamb,” he groaned, and clicked his teeth shut on the +poignant pain of his loss. +</p> + +<p> +“I think you’re splendid,” she told him. “Oh, I know what you’ve done—that you +are not good. I know you’ve wasted your life and lived with your hand against +every man’s. But I can’t help all that. I look for the good in you, and I find +it. Even in your sins you are not petty. You know how to rise to an +opportunity.” +</p> + +<p> +This man of contradictions, forever the creature of his impulses, gave the lie +to her last words by signally failing to rise to this one. He snatched her to +him, and looked down hungry-eyed at her sweet beauty, as fresh and fragrant as +the wild rose in the copse. +</p> + +<p> +“Please,” she cried, straining from him with shy, frightened eyes. +</p> + +<p> +For answer he kissed her fiercely on the cheeks, and eyes, and mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“The rest are his, but these are mine,” he laughed mirthlessly. +</p> + +<p> +Then, flinging her from him, he led the way into the next room. Flushed and +disheveled, she followed. He had outraged her maiden instincts and trampled +down her traditions of caste, but she had no time to think of this now. +</p> + +<p> +“If you’re through explaining the mechanism of that Winchester to Sheriff +Collins we’ll reluctantly dispense with your presence, Mr. Reilly. We have +arranged a temporary treaty of peace,” the chief outlaw said. +</p> + +<p> +Reilly, a huge lout of a fellow with a lowering countenance, ventured to +expostulate. “Ye want to be careful of him. He’s quicker’n chain lightning.” +</p> + +<p> +His chief exploded with low-voiced fury. “When I ask your advice, give it, you +fat-brained son of a brand blotter. Until then padlock that mouth of yours. +<i>Vamos</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Reilly vanished, his face a picture of impotent malice, and Leroy continued: +</p> + +<p> +“We’re going to the Rocking Chair in the morning, Mr. Collins—at least, you and +Miss Mackenzie are going there. I’m going part way. We’ve arranged a little +deal all by our lones, subject to your approval. You get away without that hole +in your head. Miss Mackenzie goes with you, and I get in return the papers you +took off Scotty and Webster.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean I am to give up the hunt?” asked Collins. +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all. I’ll be glad to death to see you blundering in again when Miss +Mackenzie isn’t here to beg you off. The point is that in exchange for your +freedom and Miss Mackenzie’s I get those papers you left in a safety-deposit +vault in Epitaph. It’ll save me the trouble of sticking up the First National +and winging a few indiscreet citizens of that burgh. Savvy?” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s all you ask?” demanded the surprised sheriff. +</p> + +<p> +“All I ask is to get those papers in my hand and a four-hour start before you +begin the hunt. Is it a deal?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a deal, but I give it to you straight that I’ll be after you as soon as +the four hours are up,” returned Collins promptly. “I don’t know what magic +Miss Mackenzie used. Still, I must compliment her on getting us out mighty +easy.” +</p> + +<p> +But though the sheriff looked smilingly at Alice, that young woman, usually +mistress of herself in all emergencies, did not lift her eyes to meet his. +Indeed, he thought her strangely embarrassed. She was as flushed and +tongue-tied as a country girl in unaccustomed company. She seemed another woman +than the self-possessed young beauty he had met a month before on the Limited, +but he found her shy abashment charming. +</p> + +<p> +“I guess you thought you had come to the end of the passage, Mr. Collins,” +suggested the outlaw, with listless curiosity. +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t know whether to order the flowers or not, but way down in my heart I +was backing my luck,” Collins told him. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course it’s understood that you are on parole until we separate,” said +Leroy curtly. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we’ll have supper at once, for we’ll have to be on the road early.” He +clapped his hands together, and the Mexican woman appeared. Her master flung +out a command or two in her own language. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Poco tiempo</i>,” she answered, and disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +In a surprisingly short time the meal was ready, set out on a table white with +Irish linen and winking with cut glass and silver. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Leroy does not believe at all in doing when in Rome as the Romans do,” +Alice explained to Collins, in answer to his start of amazement. “He’s a +regular Aladdin. I shouldn’t be a bit surprised to see electric lights come on +next.” +</p> + +<p> +“One has to attempt sometimes to blot out the forsaken desert,” said Leroy. +“Try this cut of slow elk, Miss Mackenzie. I think you’ll like it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Slow elk! What is that?” asked the girl, to make talk. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Collins will tell you,” smiled Leroy. +</p> + +<p> +She turned to the sheriff, who first apologized, with a smile, to his host. +“Slow elk, Miss Mackenzie, is veal that has been rustled. I expect Mr. Leroy +has pressed a stray calf into our Service.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see,” she flashed. “Pressed veal.” +</p> + +<p> +The outlaw smiled at her ready wit, and took on himself the burden of further +explanation. “And this particular slow elk comes from a ranch on the Aravaipa +owned by Mr. Collins. York shot it up in the hills a day or two ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shouldn’t have been straying so far from its range,” suggested Collins, with a +laugh. “But it’s good veal, even if I say it that shouldn’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you,” burlesqued the bandit gravely, with such an ironic touch of +convention that Alice smiled. +</p> + +<p> +After dinner Leroy produced cigars, and with the permission of Miss Mackenzie +the two men smoked while the conversation ran on a topic as impersonal as +literature. A criticism of novels and plays written to illustrate the frontier +was the line into which the discussion fell, and the girl from the city, +listening with a vivid interest, was pleased to find that these two real men +talked with point and a sense of dexterous turns. She felt a sort of proud +proprietorship in their power, and wished that some of the tailors’ models she +had met in society, who held so good a conceit of themselves, might come under +the spell of their strong, tolerant virility. Whatever the difference between +them, it might be truly said of both that they had lived at first hand and come +in touch closely with all the elemental realities. One of them was a romantic +villain and the other an unromantic hero, but her pulsing emotions morally +condemned one no more than the other. +</p> + +<p> +This was the sheer delight of her esthetic sense of fitness, that strong men +engaged in a finish fight could rise to so perfect a courtesy that an outsider +could not have guessed the antagonism that ran between them, enduring as life. +</p> + +<p> +Leroy gave the signal for breaking up by looking at his watch. “Afraid I must +say ‘Lights out.’ It’s past eleven. We’ll have to be up and on our way with the +hooters. Sleep well, Miss Mackenzie. You don’t need to worry about waking. I’ll +have you called in good time. <i>Buenos noches</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +He held the door for her as she passed out; and, in passing, her eyes rose to +meet his. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Buenos noches, señor;</i> I’m sure I shall sleep well to-night,” she said. +</p> + +<p> +It had been the day of Alice Mackenzie’ life. Emotions and sensations, surging +through her, had trodden on each other’s heels. Woman-like, she welcomed the +darkness to analyze and classify the turbid chaos of her mind. She had been +swept into sympathy with an outlaw, to give him no worse name. She had felt +herself nearer to him than to some honest men she could name who had offered +her their love. +</p> + +<p> +Surely, that had been bad enough, but worse was to follow. This discerning +scamp had torn aside her veils of maiden reserve and exposed the secret fancy +of her heart, unknown before even to herself. She had confessed love for this +big-hearted sheriff and frontiersman. Here she could plead an ulterior motive. +To save his life any deception was permissible. Yes, but where lay the truth? +With that insistent demand of the outlaw had rushed over her a sudden wave of +joy. What could it mean unless it meant what she would not admit that it could +mean? Why, the man was impossible. He was not of her class. She had scarce seen +him a half-dozen times. Her first meeting with him had been only a month ago. +One month ago— +</p> + +<p> +A remembrance flashed through her that brought her from the bed in a barefoot +search for matches. When the candle was relit he slipped a chamoisskin pouch +from her neck and from it took a sealed envelope. It was the note in which the +sheriff on the night of the train robbery had written his prediction of how the +matter would come out. She was to open the envelope in a month, and the month +was up to-night. +</p> + +<p> +As she tore open the flap it came to her with one of her little flashing smiles +that she could never have guessed under what circumstances she would read it. +By the dim flame of a guttering candle, in a cotton nightgown borrowed from a +Mexican menial, a prisoner of the very man who had robbed her and the recipient +of a practical confession of love from him not three hours earlier! Surely here +was a situation to beggar romance. But before she had finished reading the +reality was still more unbelievable. +</p> + +<div class="letter"> + +<p> +I have just met for the first time the woman I am going to marry if God is good +to one. I am writing this because I want her to know it as soon as I decently +can. Of course, I am not worthy of her, but then I don’t know any man that is. +</p> + +<p> +So the fact goes—I’m bound to marry her if there’s nobody else in the way. This +isn’t conceit. It is a deep-seated certainty I can’t get away from, and don’t +want to. When she reads this, she will think it a piece of foolish presumption. +My hope is she will not always think so. Her Lover, +</p> + +</div> + +<p class="right"> +V<small>AL</small> C<small>OLLINS</small>. +</p> + +<p> +Her swift-pulsing heart was behaving very queerly. It seemed to hang +delightfully still, and then jump forward with odd little beats of joy. She +caught a glimpse of her happy face, and blew out the light for shame, groping +her way back to bed with the letter carefully guarded against crumpling by her +hand. +</p> + +<p> +Foolish presumption indeed. Why, he had only seen her once, and he said he +would marry her with never a by-your-leave! Wasn’t that what he had said? She +had to strike another match to learn the lines that had not stuck word for word +in her mind, and after that another match to get a picture of the scrawl to +visualize in the dark. +</p> + +<p> +How dared he take her for granted? But what a masterly way of wooing for the +right man! What idiotic folly if he had been the wrong one! Was he, then, the +right one? She questioned herself closely, but came to no more definite answer +than this—that her heart went glad with a sweet joy to know he wanted to marry +her. +</p> + +<p> +She resolved to put him from her mind, and in this resolve she fell at last +into smiling sleep. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0019"></a> +CHAPTER XIX.<br/> +A VILLON OF THE DESERT</h2> + +<p> +When Alice Mackenzie looked back in after years upon the incidents connected +with that ride to the Rocking Chair, it was always with a kind of glorified +pride in her villain-hero. He had his moments, had this twentieth-century +Villon, when he represented not unworthily the divinity in man; and this day +held more than one of them. Since he was what he was, it also held as many of +his black moods. +</p> + +<p> +The start was delayed, owing to a cause Leroy had not foreseen. When York went, +sleepy-eyed, to the corral to saddle the ponies, he found the bars into the +pasture let down, and the whole <i>remuda</i> kicking up its heels in a paddock +large as a goodsized city. The result was that it took two hours to run up the +bunch of ponies and another half-hour to cut out, rope, and saddle the three +that were wanted. Throughout the process Reilly sat on the fence and scowled. +</p> + +<p> +Leroy, making an end of slapping on and cinching the last saddle, wheeled +suddenly on the Irishman. “What’s the matter, Reilly?” +</p> + +<p> +“Was I saying anything was the matter?” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve been looking it right hard. Ain’t you man enough to say it instead of +playing dirty little three-for-a-cent tricks—like letting down the +corral-bars?” +</p> + +<p> +Reilly flung a look at Neil that plainly demanded support, and then descended +with truculent defiance from the fence. +</p> + +<p> +“Who says I let down the bars? You bet I am man enough to say what I think; and +if ye think I ain’t got the nerve—” +</p> + +<p> +His master encouraged him with ironic derision. “That’s right, Reilly. Who’s +afraid? Cough it up and show York you’re game.” +</p> + +<p> +“By thunder, I <i>am</i> game. I’ve got a kick coming, sorr.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes?” Leroy rolled and lit a cigarette, his black eyes fixed intently on the +malcontent. “Well, register it on the jump. I’ve got to be off.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the point.” The curly-headed Neil had lounged up to his comrade’s +support. “<i>Why</i> have you got to be off? We don’t savvy your game, cap.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you would like to be major-domo of this outfit, Neil?” scoffed his +chief, eying him scornfully. +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir. I ain’t aimin’ for no such thing. But we don’t like the way things +are shaping. What does all this here funny business mean, anyhow?” His thumb +jerked toward Collins, already mounted and waiting for Leroy to join him. “Two +days ago this world wasn’t big enough to hold him and you. Well, I git the drop +on him, and then you begin to cotton up to him right away. Big dinner last +night—champagne corks popping, I hear. What I want to know is what it means. +And here’s this Miss Mackenzie. She’s good for a big ransom, but I don’t see it +ambling our way. It looks darned funny.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the ticket, York,” derided Leroy. “Come again. Turn your wolf loose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I ain’t afraid to say what I think.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see you’re not. You should try stump-speaking, my friend. There’s a field +fox you there.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m asking you a question, Mr. Leroy.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s whatever,” chipped in Reilly. +</p> + +<p> +“Put a name to it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I want to know what’s the game, and where we come in.” +</p> + +<p> +“Think you’re getting the double-cross?” asked Leroy pleasantly, his vigilant +eyes covering them like a weapon. +</p> + +<p> +“Now you’re shouting. That’s what I’d like right well to know. There <i>he</i> +sits”—with another thumbjerk at Collins—“and I’m a Chink if he ain’t carryin’ +them same two guns I took offen him, one on the train and one here the other +day. I ain’t sayin’ it ain’t all right, cap. But what I do say is—how about +it?” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy did some thinking out loud. “Of course I might tell you boys to go to the +devil. That’s my right, because you chose me to run this outfit without any +advice from the rest of you. But you’re such infants, I reckon I had better +explain. You’re always worrying those fat brains of yours with suspicions. +After we stuck up the Limited you couldn’t trust me to take care of the swag. +Reilly here had to cook up a fool scheme for us all to hide it blindfold +together. I told you straight what would happen, and it did. When Scotty +crossed the divide we were in a Jim Dandy of a hole. We had to have that paper +of his to find the boodle. Then Hardman gets caught, and coughs up his little +recipe for helping to find hidden treasure. Who gets them both? Mr. Sheriff +Collins, of course. Then he comes visiting us. Not being a fool, he leaves the +documents behind in a safety-deposit vault. Unless I can fix up a deal with +him, Mr. Reilly’s wise play buncoes us and himself out of thirty thousand +dollars.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why don’t you let him send for the papers first?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because he won’t do it. Threaten nothing! Collins ain’t that kind of a +hairpin. He’d tell us to shoot and be damned.” +</p> + +<p> +“So you’ve got it fixed with him?” demanded Neil. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve a head like a sheep, York,” admired Leroy. “<i>You</i> don’t need any +brick-wall hints to hit you. As your think-tank has guessed, I have come to an +understanding with Collins.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the gyurl—I allow the old major would come down with a right smart +ransom.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wrong guess, York. I allow he would come down with a right smart posse and +wipe us off the face of the earth. Collins tells me the major has sent for a +couple of Apache trailers from the reservation. That means it’s up to us to +hike for Sonora. The only point is whether we take that buried money with us or +leave it here. If I make a deal with Collins, we get it. If I don’t, it’s +somebody else’s gold-mine. Anything more the committee of investigation would +like to know?” concluded Leroy, as his cold eyes raked them scornfully and came +to rest on Reilly. +</p> + +<p> +“Not for mine,” said Neil, with an apologetic laugh. “I’m satisfied. I just +wanted to know. And I guess Cork corroborates.” +</p> + +<p> +Reilly growled something under his breath, and turned to hulk away. +</p> + +<p> +“One moment. You’ll listen to <i>me</i>, now. You have taken the liberty to +assume I was going to sell you out. I’ll not stand that from any man alive. +To-morrow night I’ll get back from Tucson. We’ll dig up the loot and divide it. +And right then we quit company. You go your way and I go mine.” And with that +as a parting shot, Leroy turned on his heel and went direct to his horse. +</p> + +<p> +Alice Mackenzie might have searched the West with a fine-tooth comb and not +found elsewhere two such riders for an escort as fenced her that day. +Physically they were a pair of superb animals, each perfect after his fashion. +If the fair-haired giant, with his lean, broad shoulders and rippling flow of +muscles, bulked more strikingly in a display of sheer strength, the sinewy, +tigerish grace of the dark Apollo left nothing to be desired to the eye. Both +of them had been brought up in the saddle, and each was fit to the minute for +any emergency likely to appear. +</p> + +<p> +But on this pleasant morning no test of their power seemed likely to arise, and +she could study them at her ease without hindrance. She had never seen Leroy +look more the vagabond enthroned. For dress, he wore the common equipment of +Cattleland—jingling spurs, fringed chaps, leather cuffs, gray shirt, with +kerchief knotted loosely at the neck, and revolver ready to his hand. But he +carried them with an air, an inimitable grace, that marked him for a prince +among his fellows. Something of the kind she hinted to him in jesting +paradoxical fashion, making an attempt to win from his sardonic gloom one of +his quick, flashing smiles. +</p> + +<p> +He countered by telling her what he had heard York say to Reilly of her. “She’s +a princess, Cork,” York had said. “Makes my Epitaph gyurl look like a chromo +beside her. Somehow, when she looks at a fellow, he feels like a whitewashed +nigger.” +</p> + +<p> +All of them laughed at that, but both Leroy and the sheriff tried to banter her +by insisting that they knew exactly what York meant. +</p> + +<p> +“You can be very splendid when you want to give a man that whitewashed feeling; +he isn’t right sure whether he’s on the map or not,” reproached the +train-robber. +</p> + +<p> +She laughed in the slow, indolent way she had, taking the straw hat from her +dark head to catch better the faint breath of wind that was soughing across the +plains. +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t know I was so terrible. I don’t think <i>you</i> ever had any awe of +anybody, Mr. Leroy.” Her soft cheek flushed in unexpected memory of that moment +when he had brushed aside all her maiden reserves and ravished mad kisses from +her. “And Mr. Collins is big enough to take care of himself,” she added +hastily, to banish the unwelcome recollection. +</p> + +<p> +Collins, with his eyes on the light-shot waves that crowned her vivid face, +wondered whether he was or not. If she had been a woman to desire in the +queenly, half-insolent indifference of manner with which she had first met him, +how much more of charm lay in this piquant gaiety, in the warm sweetness of her +softer and more pliant mood! It seemed to him she had the gift of comradeship +to perfection. +</p> + +<p> +They unsaddled and ate lunch in the shade of the live-oaks at El Dorado +Springs, which used to be a much-frequented watering-hole in the days when Camp +Grant thrived and mule-skinners freighted supplies in to feed Uncle Sam’s pets. +Two hours later they stopped again at the edge of the Santa Cruz wash, two +miles from the Rocking Chair Ranch. +</p> + +<p> +It was while they were resaddling that Collins caught sight of a cloud of dust +a mile or two away. He unslung his field-glasses, and looked long at the +approaching dust-swirl. Presently he handed the binoculars to Leroy. +</p> + +<p> +“Five of them; and that round-bellied Papago pony in front belongs to Sheriff +Forbes, or I’m away wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy lowered the glasses, after a long, unflurried inspection. “Looks that way +to me. Expect I’d better be burning the wind.” +</p> + +<p> +In a few sentences he and Collins arranged a meeting for next day up in the +hills. He trailed his spurs through the dust toward Alice Mackenzie, and +offered her his brown hand and wistful smile irresistible. “Good-by. This is +where you get quit of me for good.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I hope not,” she told him impulsively. “We must always be friends.” +</p> + +<p> +He laughed ruefully. “Your father wouldn’t indorse those unwise sentiments, I +reckon—and I’d hate to bet your husband would,” he added audaciously, with a +glance at Collins. “But I love to hear you say it, even though we never could +be. You’re a right game, stanch little pardner. I’ll back that opinion with the +lid off.” +</p> + +<p> +“You should be a good judge of those qualities. I’m only sorry you don’t always +use them in a good cause.” +</p> + +<p> +He swung himself to his saddle. “Good-by.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good-by—till we meet again.” +</p> + +<p> +“And that will be never. So-long, sheriff. Tell Forbes I’ve got a particular +engagement in the hills, but I’ll be right glad to meet him when he comes.” +</p> + +<p> +He rode up the draw and disappeared over the brow of the hillock. She caught +another glimpse of him a minute later on the summit of the hill beyond. He +waved a hand at her, half-turning in his saddle as he rode. +</p> + +<p> +Presently she lost him, but faintly the wind swept back to her a haunting +snatch of uncouth song: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Oh, bury me out on the lone prairee,<br/> +In my narrow grave just six by three,” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Were the words drifted to her by the wind. She thought it pathetically likely +he might get the wish of his song. +</p> + +<p> +To Sheriff Forbes, dropping into the draw a few minutes later with his posse, +Collins was a well of misinformation literally true. Yes, he had followed Miss +Mackenzie’s trail into the hills and found her at a mountain ranch-house. She +had been there a couple of days, and was about to set out for the Rocking Chair +with the owner of the place, when he arrived and volunteered to see her as far +as her uncle’s ranch. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon there ain’t any use asking you if you seen anything of Wolf Leroy’s +outfit,” said Forbes, a weather-beaten Westerner with a shrewd, wrinkled face. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I reckon there’s no use asking me that,” returned Collins, with a laugh +that deceptively seemed to include the older man in the joke. +</p> + +<p> +“We’re after them for rustling a bunch of Circle 33 cows. Well, I’ll be moving. +Glad you found the lady, Val. She don’t look none played out from her little +trek across the desert. Funny, ain’t it, how she could have wandered that far +and her afoot?” +</p> + +<p> +The Arizona sun was setting in its accustomed blaze of splendor, when Val +Collins and Alice Mackenzie put their horses again toward the ranch and the +rainbow-hued west. In his contented eyes were reflected the sunshine and a +serenity born of life in the wide, open spaces. They rode in silence for long, +the gentle evening breeze blowing in soughs. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever meet a man of such promises gone wrong so utterly? He might have +been anything—and it has come to this, that he is hunted like a wild beast. I +never saw anything so pitiful. I would give anything to save him.” +</p> + +<p> +He had no need to ask to whom she was referring. “Can’t be done. Good qualities +bulge out all over him, but they don’t count for anything. ‘Unstable as water.’ +That’s what’s the matter with him. He is the slave of his own whims. Hence he +is only the splendid wreck of a man, full of all kinds of rich outcropping +pay-ore that pinch out when you try to work them. They don’t raise men gamer, +but that only makes him a more dangerous foe to society. Same with his loyalty +and his brilliancy. He’s got a haid on him that works like they say old J. E. +B. Stuart’s did. He would run into a hundred traps, but somehow he always +worked his men out of them. That’s Leroy, too. If he had been an ordinary +criminal he would have been rounded up years ago. It’s his audacity, his iron +nerve, his good horse-sense judgment that saves his skin. But he’s certainly up +against it at last.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think Sheriff Forbes will capture him?” +</p> + +<p> +He laughed. “I think it more likely he’ll capture Forbes. But we know now where +he hangs out, and who he is. He has always been a mystery till now. The mystery +is solved, and unless he strikes out for Sonora, Leroy is as good as a dead +man.” +</p> + +<p> +“A dead man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Does he strike you as a man likely to be taken alive? I look to see a dramatic +exit to the sound of cracking Winchesters.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that would be like him,” she confessed with shudder. “I think he was made +to lead a forlorn hope. Pity it won’t be one worthy of the best in him.” +</p> + +<p> +“I guess he does have more moments set to music than most of us, and I’ll bet, +too, he has hidden way in him a list of ‘Thou shalt nots.’ I read a book once +by a man named Stevenson that was sure virgin gold. He showed how every man, no +matter how low he falls, has somewhere in him a light that burns, some rag of +honor for which he is still fighting I’d hate to have to judge Leroy. Some men, +I reckon, have to buck against so much in themselves that even failure is a +kind of success for them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet you will go out to hunt him down?” she’ said, marveling at the broad +sympathy of the man. +</p> + +<p> +“Sure I will. My official duty is to look out for society. If something in the +machine breaks loose and goes to ripping things to pieces, the engineer has to +stop the damage, even if he has to smash the rod that’s causing the trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +The ponies dropped down again into the bed of the wash, and plowed across +through the heavy sand. After they had reached the solid road, Collins resumed +conversation at a new point. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a month and a day since I first met you Miss Mackenzie,” he said, +apparently apropos of nothing. +</p> + +<p> +She felt her blood begin to choke. “Indeed!” +</p> + +<p> +“I gave you a letter to read when I was on the train.” +</p> + +<p> +“A letter!” she exclaimed, in well-affected surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you think it was a book of poems? No, ma’am, it was a letter. You were to +read it in a month. Time was up last night. I reckon you read it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Could I read a letter I left at Tucson, when it was a hundred miles away?” she +smiled with sweet patronage. +</p> + +<p> +“Not if you left it at Tucson,” he assented, with an answering smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe I <i>did</i> lose it.” She frowned, trying to remember. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I’ll have to tell you what was in it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Any time will do. I dare say it wasn’t important.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we’ll say <i>this</i> time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t be stupid, Mr. Collins. I want to talk about our desert Villon.” +</p> + +<p> +“I said in that letter—” +</p> + +<p> +She put her pony to a canter, and they galloped side by side in silence for +half a mile. After she had slowed down to a walk, he continued placidly, as if +oblivious of an interruption: +</p> + +<p> +“I said in that letter that I had just met the young lady I was expecting to +marry.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me, how interesting! Was she in the smoker?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, she was in Section 3 of the Pullman.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wish I had happened to go into the other Pullman, but, of course, I couldn’t +know the young lady you were interested in was riding there.” +</p> + +<p> +“She wasn’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you’ve just told me—” +</p> + +<p> +“That I said in the letter you took so much trouble to lose that I expected to +marry the young woman passing under the name of Miss Wainwright.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir!” +</p> + +<p> +“That I expected—” +</p> + +<p> +“Really, I am not deaf, Mr. Collins.” +</p> + +<p> +“—expected to marry her, just as soon as she was willing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, she is to be given a voice in the matter, is she?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ce’tainly, ma’am.” +</p> + +<p> +“And when?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I had been thinking now was a right good time.” +</p> + +<p> +“It can’t be too soon for me,” she flashed back, sweeping him with proud, +indignant eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“But I ain’t so sure. I rather think I’d better wait.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no! Let us have it done with once and for all.” +</p> + +<p> +He relapsed into a serene, abstracted silence. +</p> + +<p> +“Aren’t you going to speak?” she flamed. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve decided to wait.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, <i>I</i> haven’t. Ask me this minute, sir, to marry you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ce’tainly, if you cayn’t wait. Miss Mackenzie, will you—” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir, I won’t—not if you were the last man on earth,” she interrupted +hotly, whipping herself into a genuine rage. “I never was so insulted in my +life. It would be ridiculous if it weren’t so—so outrageous. You <i>expect</i>, +do you? And it isn’t conceit, but a deep-seated certainty you can’t get away +from.” +</p> + +<p> +He had her fairly. “Then you <i>did</i> read the letter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir, I read it—and for sheer, unmatched impudence I have never seen its +like.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, I wish you would tell me what you <i>really</i> think,” he drawled. +</p> + +<p> +Not being able, for reasons equestrian, to stamp her foot, she gave her bronco +the spur. +</p> + +<p> +When Collins again found conversation practicable, the Rocking Chair, a white +adobe huddle in the moonlight, lay peacefully beneath them in the alley. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a right quaint old ranch, and it’s seen a heap of rough-and-tumble life +in its day. If those old adobe bricks could tell stories, I expect they could +put some of these romances out of business.” Miss Mackenzie’s covert glance +questioned suspiciously what this diversion might mean. +</p> + +<p> +“All this country’s interesting. Take Tucson now that burg is loaded to the +roofs with live stories. It’s an all-right business town, too—the best in the +territory,” he continued patriotically. “She ain’t so great as Douglas on ore +or as Phoenix on lungers, but when it comes, to the git-up-and-git hustle, +she’s there rounding up the trade from early morn till dine.” +</p> + +<p> +He was still expatiating in a monologue with grave enthusiasm on the town of +his choice, when they came to the pasture fence of the ranch. +</p> + +<p> +“Some folks don’t like it—call it adobe-town, and say it’s full of greasers. +Everybody to his taste, I say. Little old Tucson is good enough for me.” +</p> + +<p> +She gave a queer little laugh as he talked. She had put a taboo on his love +story herself, but she resented the perfectly unmoved good humor with which he +seemed to be accepting her verdict. She made up her mind to punish him, but he +gave her no chance. As he helped her to dismount, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll take the horses round to the stable, Miss Mackenzie. Probably I won’t see +you again before I leave, but I’m hoping to meet you again in Tucson one of +these days. Good-by.” +</p> + +<p> +She nodded a curt good-by and passed into the house. She was vexed and +indignant, but had too strong a sense of humor not to enjoy a joke even when it +was against herself. +</p> + +<p> +“I forgot to ask him whether he loves me or Tucson more, and as one of the +subjects seems to be closed I’ll probably never find out,” she told herself, +but with a queer little tug of pain in her laughter. +</p> + +<p> +Next moment she was in the arms of her father. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0020"></a> +CHAPTER XX.<br/> +BACK TO GOD’S COUNTRY</h2> + +<p> +To minimize the risk, Megales and Carlo left the prison by the secret passage, +following the fork to the river bank and digging at the piled-up sand till they +had forced an exit. O’Halloran met them here with horses, and the three men +followed the riverwash beyond the limits of the town and cut across by a trail +to a siding on the Central Mexican Pacific tracks. The Irishman was careful to +take no chances, and kept his party in the mesquit till the headlight of an +approaching train was visible. +</p> + +<p> +It drew up at the siding, and the three men boarded one of the two cars which +composed it. The coach next the engine was occupied by a dozen trusted +soldiers, who had formerly belonged to the bodyguard of Megales. The last car +was a private one, and in it the three found Henderson, Bucky O’Connor, and his +little friend, the latter still garbed as a boy. +</p> + +<p> +Frances was exceedingly eager to don again the clothes proper to her sex, and +she had promised herself that, once habited as she desired, nothing could +induce her ever to masquerade again. Until she met and fell in love with the +ranger she had thought nothing of it, since it had been merely a matter of +professional business to which she had been forced. Indeed, she had sometimes +enjoyed the humor of the deception. It had lent a spice o enjoyment to a life +not crowded with it. But after she met Bucky there had grown up in her a new +sensitiveness. She wanted to be womanly, to forget her turbid past and the +shifts to which she had sometimes been put. She had been a child; she was now a +woman. She wanted to be one of whom he need be in no way ashamed. +</p> + +<p> +When their train began to pull out of the depot at Chihuahua she drew a deep +sigh of relief. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s good to get away from here back to the States. I’m tired of plots and +counterplots. For the rest of my life I want to be just a woman,” she said to +Bucky. +</p> + +<p> +The young man smiled. “I reckon I must quit trying to make you a gentleman. +Fact is, I don’t want you to be one any more.” +</p> + +<p> +She slanted a look at him to see what that might mean and another up the car to +make sure that Henderson was out of hearing. +</p> + +<p> +“It was rather hopeless, wasn’t it?” she smiled. “We’ll do pretty well if we +succeed in making me a lady in course of time. I’ve a lot to learn, you know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you got lots of time to learn it,” he replied cheerfully. “And I’ve got +a notion tucked away in the back of my haid that you haven’t got such a heap to +study up. Mrs. Mackenzie will put you next to the etiquette wrinkles where you +are shy.” +</p> + +<p> +A shadow fell on the piquant, eager face beside him. “Do you think she will +love me?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think. I know. She can’t help it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Because she is my mother? Oh, I hope that is true.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, not only because she is your mother.” +</p> + +<p> +She decided to ask for no more reasons. Henderson, pleased at the wide stretch +of plain as only one who had missed the open air for many years could be, was +on the observation platform in the rear of the car, one glance at his empty +seat showed her. There was no safety for her shyness in the presence of that +proverbial three which makes a crowd, and she began to feel her heart again in +panic as once before. She took at once the opening she had given. +</p> + +<p> +“I do need a mother so much, after growing up like Topsy all these years. And +mine is the dearest woman in the world. I fell in love with her before, and I +did not know who she was when I was at the ranch.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll agree to the second dearest in the world, but I reckon you shoot too high +when you say the plumb dearest.” +</p> + +<p> +“She is. We’ll quarrel if you don’t agree,” trying desperately to divert him +from the topic she knew he meant to pursue. For in the past two days he had +been so busy helping O’Halloran that he had not even had a glimpse of her. As a +consequence of which each felt half-dubious of the other’s love, and Frances +felt wholly shy about expressing her own or even listening to his. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we’re due for a quarrel, I reckon. But we’ll postpone it till we got +more time to give it.” He drew a watch from his pocket and glanced at it “In +less than fifteen minutes Mike and our two friends who are making their getaway +will come in that door Henderson just went out of. That means we won’t get a +chance to be alone together, for about two days. I’ve got something to say to +you, Curly Haid, that won’t keep that long with out running my temperature +clear up. So I’m allowing to say it right now immediate. No, you don’t need to +turn them brown appealers on me. It won’t do a mite of good. It’s Bucky to the +bat and he’s bound to make a hit or strike out.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think I hear Mr. Henderson coming,” murmured Frances, for lack of something +more effective to say. +</p> + +<p> +“Not him. He’s hogtied to the scenery long enough to do my business. Now, it +won’t take me long if I get off right foot first. You read my letter, you +said?” +</p> + +<p> +“Which letter?” She was examining attentively the fringe of the sash she wore. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, honey, that love-letter I wrote you. If there was more than one it must +have been wrote in my sleep, for I ce’tainly disremember it.” +</p> + +<p> +He could just hear her confused answer: “Oh, yes, I read that. I told you that +before.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did you think? Tell me again.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought you misspelled feelings.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t say. Now, ain’t that too bad? But, girl o’ mine, I expect you were +able to make it out, even if I did get the letters to milling around wrong. I +meant them feelings all right. Outside of the spelling, did you have any +objections to them, +</p> + +<p> +“How can I remember what you wrote in that letter several days ago?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll bet you know it by heart, honey, and, if you don’t, you’ll find it in +your inside vest pocket, tucked away right close to your heart.” +</p> + +<p> +“It isn’t,” she denied, with a blush. +</p> + +<p> +“Sho! Pinned to your shirt then, little pardner. I ain’t particular which. +Point is, if you need to refresh that ailin’ memory of yours, the document +is—right handy. But you don’t need to. It just says one little sentence over +and over again. All you have got to do is to say one little word, and you don’t +have to say it but once.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t understand you,” her lips voiced. +</p> + +<p> +“You understand me all right. What my letter said was ‘I love you,’ and what +you have got to say is: ‘Yes’.” +</p> + +<p> +“But that doesn’t mean anything.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll make out the meaning when you say it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do I have to say it?” +</p> + +<p> +“You have to if you feel it.” +</p> + +<p> +Slowly the big brown eyes came up to meet his bravely. “Yes, Bucky.” +</p> + +<p> +He caught her hands and looked down into her pure, sweet soul. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m in luck,” he breathed deeply. “In golden luck to have you look at me +twice. Are you sure?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sure. I loved you that first day I met you. I’ve loved you every day since,” +she confessed simply. +</p> + +<p> +Full on the lips he kissed her. +</p> + +<p> +“Then we’ll be married as soon as we reach the Rocking Chair.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you once said you didn’t want to be my husband,” she taunted sweetly. +“Don’t you remember? In the days when we were gipsies.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve changed my mind. I want to, and I’m in a hurry.” +</p> + +<p> +She shook her head. “No, dear. We shall have to wait. It wouldn’t be fair to my +mother to lose me just as soon as she finds me. It is her right to get +acquainted with me just as if I belonged to her alone. You understand what I +mean, Bucky. She must not feel as if she never had found me, as if she never +had been first with me. We can love each other more simply if she doesn’t know +about you. We’ll have it for a secret for a month or two.” +</p> + +<p> +She put her little hand on his arm appealingly to win his consent. His eyes +rested on it curiously, Then he took it in his big brown one and turned it palm +up. Its delicacy and perfect finish moved him, for it seemed to him that in the +contrast between the two hands he saw in miniature the difference of sex. His +showed strength and competency and the roughness that comes of the struggle of +life. But hers was strangely tender and confiding, compact of the qualities +that go to make up the strength of the weak. Surely he deserved the worst if he +was not good to her, a shield and buckler against the storms that must beat +against them in the great adventure they were soon to begin together. +</p> + +<p> +Reverently he raised the little hand and kissed its palm. +</p> + +<p> +“Sure, sweetheart I had forgotten about your mother’s claim. We can wait, I +reckon,” he added with a smile. “You must always set me straight when I lose +the trail of what’s right, Curly Haid. You are to be a guiding-star to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you to me. Oh, Bucky, isn’t it good?” +</p> + +<p> +He kissed her again hurriedly, for the train was jarring to a halt. Before he +could answer in words, O’Halloran burst into the coach, at the head of his +little company. +</p> + +<p> +“All serene, Bucky. This is the last scene, and the show went without a hitch +in the performance anywhere.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky smiled at Frances as he answered his enthusiastic friend: +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right. Not a hitch anywhere.” +</p> + +<p> +“And say, Bucky, who do you think is in the other coach dressed as one of the +guards?” +</p> + +<p> +“Colonel Roosevelt,” the ranger guessed promptly. +</p> + +<p> +“Our friend Chaves. He’s escaping because he thinks we’ll have him assassinated +in revenge,” the big Irishman returned gleefully. “You should have seen his +color, me bye, when he caught sight of me. I asked him if he’d been reduced to +the ranks, and he begged me not to tell you he was here. Go in and devil him.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky glanced at his lover. “No, I’m so plumb contented I haven’t the heart.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +At the Rocking Chair Ranch there was bustle and excitement. Mexicans scrubbed +and scoured under the direction of Alice and Mrs. Mackenzie, and vaqueros rode +hither and thither on bootless errands devised by their nervous master. For +late that morning a telephone call from Aravaipa had brought Webb to the +receiver to listen to a telegram. The message was from Bucky, then on the train +on his way home. +</p> + +<p> +“The best of news. Reach the Rocking Chair tonight.” +</p> + +<p> +That was the message which had disturbed the serenity of big Webb Mackenzie and +had given to the motherly heart of his wife an unusual flutter. The best of +news it could not be, for the ranger had already written them of the confession +of Anderson, which included the statement of the death of their little +daughter. But at least he might bring the next best news, information that +David Henderson was free at last and his long martyrdom ended. +</p> + +<p> +So all day hurried preparations were being made to receive the honored guests +with a fitting welcome. The Rocking Chair was a big ranch, and its hospitality +was famous all over the Southwest. It was quite unnecessary to make special +efforts to entertain, but Webb and his wife took that means of relieving the +strain on them till night. +</p> + +<p> +Higher crept the hot sun of baked Arizona. It passed the zenith and began to +descend toward the purple hills in the west, went behind them with a great +rainbow splash of brilliancy peculiar to that country. Dusk came, and died away +in the midst of a love-concert of quails. Velvet night, with its myriad stars, +entranced the land and made magic of its hills and valleys. +</p> + +<p> +For the fiftieth time Webb dragged out his watch and consulted it. +</p> + +<p> +“I wish that young man had let us know which way he was coming, so I could go +and meet them. If they come by the river they should be in the Box canyon by +this time. But if I was to ride out, like as not they would come by the mesa,” +he sputtered. +</p> + +<p> +“What time is it, Webb?” asked his wife, scarcely less excited. +</p> + +<p> +He had to look again, so absent-minded had been his last glance at the watch. +“Nine-fifteen. Why didn’t I telephone to Rogers and ask him to find out which +way they were coming? Sometimes I’m mighty thick-headed.” +</p> + +<p> +As Mackenzie had guessed, the party was winding its way through the Box Canyon +at that time of speaking. Bucky and Frances led the way, followed by Henderson +and the vaquero whom Mackenzie had telephoned to guide them from Aravaipa. +</p> + +<p> +“I reckon this night was made for us, Curly Haid. Even good old Arizona never +turned out such a one before. I expect it was ordered for us ever since it was +decided we belonged to each other. That may have been thousands of years ago.” +Bucky laughed, to relieve the tension, and looked up at the milky way above. +“We’re like those stars, honey. All our lives we have been drifting around, but +all the time it had been decided by the God-of-things-as-they-are that our +orbits were going to run together and gravitate into the same one when the +right time came. It has come now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Bucky,” she answered softly. “We belong, dear.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hello, here’s the end of the cañon. The ranch lies right behind that spur.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does it?” Presently she added: “I’m all a-tremble, Bucky. To think I’m going +to meet my father and my mother for the first time really, for I don’t count +that other time when we didn’t know. Suppose they shouldn’t like me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Impossible. Suppose something reasonable,” her lover replied. +</p> + +<p> +“But they might not. You think, you silly boy, that because you do everybody +must. But I’m so glad I’m clothed and in my right mind again. I couldn’t have +borne to meet my mother with that boys suit on. Do you think I look nice in +this? I had to take what I could find ready-made, you know.” +</p> + +<p> +Unless his eyes were blinded by the glamour of love, he saw the sweetest vision +of loveliness he had known. Such a surpassing miracle of soft, dainty curves, +such surplusage of beauty in bare throat, speaking eye, sweet mouth, and +dimpled cheeks! But Bucky was a lover, and perhaps no fair judge, for in that +touch of vagueness, of fairy-land, lent by the moonlight, he found the world +almost too beautiful to believe. Did she look <i>nice?</i> How beggarly words +were to express feelings, after all. +</p> + +<p> +The vaquero with them rode forward and pointed to the valley below, where the +ranch-house huddled in a pellucid sea of moonlight. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the Rocking Chair, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +Presently there came a shout from the ranch, and a man galloped toward them. He +passed Bucky with a wave of his hand and made directly for Henderson. +</p> + +<p> +“Dave! Dave, old partner,” he cried, leaping from his horse and catching the +other’s hand. “After all these years you’ve risen from the dead and come back +to me.” His voice was broken with emotion. +</p> + +<p> +“Come! Let’s canter forward to the ranch,” said Bucky to Frances and the +vaquero, thinking it best to leave the two old comrades together for a while. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Mackenzie and Alice met them at the gate. “Did you bring him? Did you +bring Dave?” the older lady asked eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, we brought him,” answered Bucky, helping Frances to dismount. +</p> + +<p> +He led the girl to her mother. “Mrs. Mackenzie, can you stand good news?” +</p> + +<p> +She caught at the gate. “What news? Who is this lady?” +</p> + +<p> +“Her name is Frances.” +</p> + +<p> +“Frances what?” +</p> + +<p> +“Frances Mackenzie. She is your daughter, returned, after all these years, to +love and be loved.” +</p> + +<p> +The mother gave a little throat cry, steadied herself, and fell into the arms +of her daughter. “Oh, my baby! My baby! Found at last.” +</p> + +<p> +Quietly Bucky slipped away to the stables with the ponies. As quietly Alice +disappeared into the house. This was sacred ground, and not even their feet +should rest on it just now. +</p> + +<p> +When Bucky returned to the house, he found his sweetheart sitting between her +father and mother, each of whom was holding one of her hands. Henderson had +retired to clean himself up. Happy tears were coursing down the cheeks of the +mother, and Webb found it necessary to blow his nose frequently. He jumped up +at sight of the ranger. +</p> + +<p> +“Young man, you’re to blame for this. You’ve found my friend and you’ve found +my daughter. Brought them both back to us on the same day. What do you want? +Name it, and it’s yours, if I can give it.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky looked at Frances with a smile in his eyes. He knew very well what he +wanted, but he was under bonds not to name it yet. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll set you up in the cattle business, sir. I’ll buy you sheep, if you +prefer. I’ll get you an interest in a mine. Put a name to what you want.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m no robber. You paid the expenses of my trip. That’s all I want right now.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s not all you’ll get. Do you think I’m a cheap piker? No, sir. You’ve got +to let me grub-stake you.” Mackenzie thumped a clinched fist down on the table. +</p> + +<p> +“All right, seh. You’re the doctor. Give me an interest in that map and I’ll +prospect the mine this summer, if I can locate it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good enough, and I’ll finance the proposition. You and Dave can take +half-shares in the property. In the meantime, are you open to an engagement?” +</p> + +<p> +“Depends what it is,” replied Bucky cautiously. +</p> + +<p> +“My foreman’s quit on me. Gone into business for himself. I’m looking for a +good man. Will you be my major-domo?” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky’s heart leaped. He had been thinking of how he must report almost +immediately to HurryUp Millikan, of the rangers. Now, he could resign from that +body and stay near his love. Certainly things were coming his way. +</p> + +<p> +“I’d like to try it, seh,” he answered. “I may not make good, but I sure would +like to have a chance at it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Make good! Of course you’ll make good. You’re the best man in Arizona, sir,” +cried Webb extravagantly. He wheeled on his new-found daughter. “Don’t you +think so, Frankie?” +</p> + +<p> +Frances blushed, but answered bravely: “Yes, sir. He makes everything right +when he takes hold of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good. We’re not going to let him get away from us after making us so happy, +are we, mother? This young man is going to stay right here. We never had but +one son, and we are going to treat him as much like one as we can. Eh, mother?” +</p> + +<p> +“If he will consent, Webb.” She went up to the ranger and kissed his tanned +cheek. “You must pardon an old woman whom you’ve made very happy.” +</p> + +<p> +Again Bucky’s laughing blue eyes met the brown ones of his sweetheart. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I’ll consent, all right, and I reckon, ma’am, it’s mighty good of you to +treat me so white. I’ll sure try to please you.” +</p> + +<p> +Webb thumped him on the back. “Now, you’re shouting. We want you to be one of +us, young man.” +</p> + +<p> +Once more that happy, wireless message of eyes followed by O’Connor’s assent. +“That’s what I want myself, seh.” +</p> + +<p> +Bucky found a surprise waiting for him at the stables. A heavy hand descended +upon his shoulder. He whirled, and looked up into the face of Sheriff Collins. +</p> + +<p> +“You here, Val?” he cried in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s what. Any luck, Bucky?” +</p> + +<p> +They went out and sat down on the big rocks back of the corral. Here each told +the other his story, with certain reservations. Collins had just got back from +Epitaph, where he had been to get the fragments of paper which told the secret +of the buried treasure. He was expecting to set out in the early morning to +meet Leroy. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll go with you,” said Bucky immediately. +</p> + +<p> +Val shook his head. “No, I’m to go alone. That’s the agreement.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course if that’s the agreement.” Nevertheless, the ranger formed a private +intention not to be far from the scene of action. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0021"></a> +CHAPTER XXI.<br/> +THE WOLF PACK</h2> + +<p> +“Good evening, gentlemen. Hope I don’t intrude on the festivities.” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy smiled down ironically on the four flushed, startled faces that looked up +at him. Suspicion was alive in every rustle of the men’s clothes. It breathed +from the lowering countenances. It itched at the fingers longing for the +trigger. The unending terror of a bandit’s life is that no man trusts his +fellow. Hence one betrays another for fear of betrayal, or stabs him in the +back to avoid it. +</p> + +<p> +The outlaw chief had slipped into the room so silently that the first inkling +they had of his presence was that gentle, insulting voice. Now, as he lounged +easily before them, leg thrown over the back of a chair and thumbs sagging from +his trouser pockets, they looked the picture of schoolboys caught by their +master in a conspiracy. How long had he been there? How much had he heard? Full +of suspicion and bad whisky as they were, his confident contempt still cowed +the very men who were planning his destruction. A minute before they had been +full of loud threats and boastings; now they could only search each other’s +faces sullenly for a cue. +</p> + +<p> +“Celebrating Chaves’ return from manana land, I reckon. That’s the proper +ticket. I wonder if we couldn’t afford to kill another of Collins’ fatted +calves.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Hardman, not enjoying the derisive raillery, took a hand in the game. “I +expect the boys hadn’t better touch the sheriff’s calves, now you and him are +so thick.” +</p> + +<p> +“We’re thick, are we?” Leroy’s indolent eyes narrowed slightly as they rested +on him. +</p> + +<p> +“Ain’t you? It sure seemed that way to me when I looked out of that mesquit +wash just above Eldorado Springs and seen you and him eating together like +brothers and laughing to beat the band. You was so clost to him I couldn’t draw +a bead on him without risking its hitting you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Spying, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“If that’s the word you want to use, cap. And you were enjoying yourselves +proper.” +</p> + +<p> +“Laughing, were we? That must have been when he told me how funny you looked in +the ‘altogether’ shedding false teeth and information about hidden treasure.” +</p> + +<p> +“Told you that, did he?” Mr. Hardman incontinently dropped repartee as a weapon +too subtle, and fell back on profanity. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right pat to the minute, cap, what you say about the information he +leaks,” put in Neil. “How about that information? I’ll be plumb tickled to +death to know you’re carrying it in you vest pocket.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if I’m not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then ye are a bigger fool than I had expected sorr, to come back here at all,” +said the Irishman truculently. +</p> + +<p> +“I begin to think so myself, Mr. Reilly. Why keep faith with a set of swine +like you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you giving it to us that you haven’t got those papers?” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy nodded, watching them with steady, alert eyes. He knew he stood on the +edge of a volcano that might explode at any moment. +</p> + +<p> +“What did I tell yez?” Reilly turned savagely to the other disaffected members +of the gang. “Didn’t I tell yez he was selling us out?” +</p> + +<p> +Somehow Leroy’s revolver seemed to jump to his hand without a motion on his +part. It lay loosely in his limp fingers, unaimed and undirected. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Say that again, please</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Beneath the velvet of Leroy’s voice ran a note more deadly than any threat +could have been. It rang a bell for a silence in which the clock of death +seemed to tick. But as the seconds fled Reilly’s courage oozed away. He dared +not accept the invitation to reach for his weapon and try conclusions with this +debonair young daredevil. He mumbled a retraction, and flung, with a curse, out +of the room. +</p> + +<p> +Leroy slipped the revolver back in his holster and quoted, with a laugh: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“To every coward safety,<br/> +And afterward his evil hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s that?” demanded Neil. “I ain’t no coward, even if Jay is. I don’t +knuckle under to any man. You got a right to ante up with some information. I +want to know why you ain’t got them papers you promised to bring back with +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I, too, señor. I desire to know what it means,” added Chaves, his eyes +glittering. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the way to chirp, gentlemen. I haven’t got them because Forbes +blundered on us, and I had to take a <i>pasear</i> awful sudden. But I made an +appointment to meet Collins to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you think he’ll keep it?” scoffed Neil. +</p> + +<p> +“I know he will.” +</p> + +<p> +“You seem to know a heap about him,” was the significant retort. +</p> + +<p> +“Take care, York.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m not Hardman, cap. I say what I think. +</p> + +<p> +“And you think?” suggested Leroy gently. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what to think yet. You’re either a fool or a traitor. I ain’t +quite made up my mind. When I find out you’ll ce’tainly hear from me straight. +Come on, boys.” And Neil vanished through the door. +</p> + +<p> +An hour later there came a knock at Leroy’s door. Neil answered his permission +to enter, followed by the other trio of flushed beauties. To the outlaw chief +it was at once apparent with what Dutch courage they had been fortifying +themselves to some resolve. It was characteristic of him, though he knew on how +precarious a thread his life was hanging, that disgust at the foul breaths with +which they were polluting the atmosphere was his first dominant emotion. +</p> + +<p> +“I wish, Lieutenant Chaves, next time you emigrate you’d bring another brand of +poison out to the boys. I can’t go this stuff. Just remember that, will you?” +</p> + +<p> +The outlaw chief’s hard eye ran over the rebels and read them like a primer. +They had come to depose him certainly, to kill him perhaps. Though this last he +doubted. It wouldn’t be like Neil to plan his murder, and it wouldn’t be like +the others to give him warning and meet him in the open. Warily he stood behind +the table, watching their awkward embarrassment with easy assurance. Carefully +he placed face downward on the table the Villon he had been reading, but he did +it without lifting his eyes from them. +</p> + +<p> +“You have business with me, I presume.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s what we have,” cried Reilly valiantly, from the rear. +</p> + +<p> +“Then suppose we come to it and get the room aired as soon as possible,” Leroy +said tartly. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re such a slap-up dude you’d ought to be a hotel clerk, cap. You’re sure +wasted out here. So we boys got together and held a little election. +Consequence is, we—fact is, we—” +</p> + +<p> +Neil stuck, but Reilly came to his rescue. +</p> + +<p> +“We elected York captain of this outfit.” +</p> + +<p> +“To fill the vacancy created by my resignation. Poor York! You’re the +sacrifice, are you? On the whole, I think you fellows have made a wise choice. +York’s game, and he won’t squeal on you, which is more than I could say of +Reilly, or the play actor, or the gentlemen from Chihuahua. But you want to +watch out for a knife in the dark, York. ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a +crown,’ you know.” +</p> + +<p> +“We didn’t come here to listen to a speech, cap, but to notify you we was +dissatisfied, and wouldn’t have you run the outfit any longer,” explained Neil. +</p> + +<p> +“In that event, having heard the report of the committee, if there’s no further +new business, I declare this meeting adjourned <i>sine die</i>. Kindly remove +the perfume tubs, Captain Neil, at your earliest convenience.” +</p> + +<p> +The quartette retreated ignominiously. They had come prepared to gloat over +Leroy’s discomfiture, and he had mocked them with that insolent ease of his +that set their teeth in helpless rage. +</p> + +<p> +But the deposed chief knew they had not struck their last blow. Throughout the +night he could hear the low-voiced murmur of their plottings, and he knew that +if the liquor held out long enough there would be sudden death at Hidden Valley +before twenty-four hours were up. He looked carefully to his rifle and his +revolvers, testing several shells to make sure they had not been tampered with +in his absence. After he had made all necessary preparations, he drew the +blinds of his window and moved his easy-chair from its customary place beside +the fire. Also he was careful not to sit where any shadow would betray his +position. Then back he went to his Villon, a revolver lying on the table within +reach. +</p> + +<p> +But the night passed without mishap, and with morning he ventured forth to his +meeting with the sheriff. He might have slipped out from the back door of his +cabin and gained the canyon, by circling unobserved, up the draw and over the +hogback, but he would not show by these precautions any fear of the cutthroats +with whom he had to deal. As was his scrupulous custom, he shaved and took his +morning bath before appearing outdoors. In all Arizona no trimmer, more +graceful figure of jaunty recklessness could be seen than this one stepping +lightly forth to knock at the bunk-house door behind which he suspected were at +least two men determined on his death by treachery. +</p> + +<p> +Neil came to the door in answer to his knock and within he could see the +villainous faces at bloodshot eyes of two of the others peering at him. +</p> + +<p> +“Good mo’ning, Captain Neil. I’m on my way to keep that appointment I mentioned +last night I’d ce’tainly be glad to have you go along. Nothing like being on +the spot to prevent double-crossing.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m with you in the fling of a cow’s tail. Come on, boys.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not. You and I will go alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just as you say. Reilly, I guess you better saddle Two-step and the Lazy B +roan.” +</p> + +<p> +“I ain’t saddling ponies for Mr. Leroy,” returned Reilly, with thick defiance. +</p> + +<p> +Neil was across the room in two strides. “When I tell you to do a thing, jump! +Get a move on and saddle those broncs.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know as—” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Vamos!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +Reilly sullenly slouched out. +</p> + +<p> +“I see you made them jump,” commented the former captain audibly, seating +himself comfortably on a rock. “It’s the only way you’ll get along with them. +See that they come to time or pump lead into them. You’ll find there’s no +middle way.” +</p> + +<p> +Neil and Leroy had hardly passed beyond the rock-slide before the others, +suspicion awake in their sodden brains, dodged after them on foot. For three +miles they followed the broncos as the latter picked their way up the steep +trail that led to the Dalriada Mine. +</p> + +<p> +“If Mr. Collins is here, he’s lying almighty low,” exclaimed Neil, as he swung +from his pony at the foot of the bluff from the brow of which the gray dump of +the mine straggled down like a Titan’s beard. +</p> + +<p> +“Right you are, Mr. Neil.” +</p> + +<p> +York whirled, revolver in hand, but the man who had risen from behind the big +boulder beside the trail was resting both hands on the rock before him. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re alone, are you?” demanded York. +</p> + +<p> +“I am.” +</p> + +<p> +Neil’s revolver slid back into its holster. “Mornin’, Val. What’s new down at +Tucson?” he said amiably. +</p> + +<p> +“I understood I was to meet you alone, Mr. Leroy,” said the sheriff quickly, +his blue-gray eyes on the former chief. +</p> + +<p> +“That was the agreement, Mr. Collins, but it seems the boys are on the anxious +seat about these little socials of ours. They’ve embraced the notion that I’m +selling them. I hated to have them harassed with doubts, so I invited the new +majordomo of the ranch to come with me. Of cou’se, if you object—” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t object in the least, but I want him to understand the agreement. I’ve +got a posse waiting at Eldorado Springs, and as soon as I get back there we +take the trail after you. Bucky O’Connor is at the head of the posse.” +</p> + +<p> +York grinned. “We’ll be in Sonora then, Val. Think I’m going to wait and let +you shoot off my other fingers?” +</p> + +<p> +Collins fished from his vest pocket the papers he had taken from Scotty’s hat +and from Webster. “I think I’ll be jogging along back to the springs. I reckon +these are what you want.” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy took them from him and handed them to Neil. “Don’t let us detain you any +longer, Mr. Collins. I know you’re awful busy these days.” +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff nodded a good day, cut down the hill on the slant, and disappeared +in a mesquit thicket, from the other side of which he presently emerged astride +a bay horse. +</p> + +<p> +The two outlaws retraced their way to the foot of the hill and remounted their +broncos. +</p> + +<p> +“I want to say, cap, that I’m eating humble-pie in big chunks right this +minute,” said Neil shamefacedly, scratching his curly poll and looking +apologetically at his former chief. “I might ’a’ knowed you was straight as a +string, all I’ve seen of you these last two years. If those coyotes say another +word, cap—” +</p> + +<p> +An exploding echo seemed to shake the mountain, and then another. Leroy swayed +in the saddle, clutching at his side. He pitched forward, his arms round the +horse’s neck, and slid slowly to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Neil was off his horse in an instant, kneeling beside him. He lifted him in his +arms and carried him behind a great outcropping boulder. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s that hound Collins,” he muttered, as he propped the wounded man’s head on +his arm. “By God, I didn’t think it of Val.” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy opened his eyes and smiled faintly. “Guess again, York.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t mean—” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded. “Right this time—Hardman and Chaves and Reilly. They shot to get us +both. With us out of the way they could divide the treasure between them.” +</p> + +<p> +Neil choked. “You ain’t bad hurt, old man. Say you ain’t bad hurt, Phil.” +</p> + +<p> +“More than I can carry, York; shot through and through. I’ve been doubtful of +Reilly for a long time.” +</p> + +<p> +“By the Lord, if I don’t get the rattlesnake for this!” swore Neil between his +teeth. “Ain’t there nothin’ I can do for you, old pardner?” +</p> + +<p> +In sharp succession four shots rang out. Neil grasped his rifle, leaning +forward and crouching for cover. He turned a puzzled face toward Leroy. “I +don’t savvy. They ain’t shooting at us.” +</p> + +<p> +“The sheriff,” explained Leroy. “They forgot him, and he doubled back on them.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll bet Val got one of them,” cried Neil, his face lighting. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s got one—or he’s quit living. That’s a sure thing. Why don’t you circle up +on them from behind, York?” +</p> + +<p> +“I hate to leave you, cap—and you so bad. Can’t I do a thing for you?” +</p> + +<p> +Leroy smiled faintly. “Not a thing. I’ll be right here when you get back, +York.” +</p> + +<p> +The curly-headed young puncher took Leroy’s hand in his, gulping down a boyish +sob. “I ain’t been square with you, cap. I reckon after this—when you git +well—I’ll not be such a coyote any more.” +</p> + +<p> +The dying man’s eyes were lit with a beautiful tenderness. “There’s one thing +you can do for me, York.... I’m out of the game, but I want you to make a new +start.... I got you into this life, boy. Quit it, and live straight. There’s +nothing to it, York.” +</p> + +<p> +The cowboy-bandit choked. “Don’t you worry about me, cap. I’m all right. I’d +just as lief quit this deviltry, anyhow.” +</p> + +<p> +“I want you to promise, boy.” A whimsical, half-cynical smile touched Leroy’s +eyes. “You see, after living like a devil for thirty years, I want to die like +a Christian. Now, go, York.” +</p> + +<p> +After Neil had left him, Leroy’s eyes closed. Faintly he heard two more shots +echoing down the valley, but the meaning of them was already lost to his +wandering mind. +</p> + +<p> +Neil dodged rapidly round the foot of the mountain with intent to cut off the +bandits as they retreated. He found the sheriff crouching behind a rock scarce +two hundred yards from the scene of the murder. At the same moment another shot +echoed from well over to the left. +</p> + +<p> +“Who can that be?” Neil asked, very much puzzled. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s what’s worrying me, York,” the sheriff returned. +</p> + +<p> +Together they zigzagged up the side of the mountain. Twice from above there +came sounds of rifle shots. Neil was the first to strike the trail to the mine. +None too soon for as he stepped upon it, breathing heavily from his climb, +Reilly swung round a curve and whipped his weapon to his shoulder. The man +fired before York could interfere and stood watching tensely the result of his +shot. He was silhouetted against the skyline, a beautiful mark, but Neil did +not cover him. Instead, he spoke quietly to the other. +</p> + +<p> +“Was it you that killed Phil, Reilly?” +</p> + +<p> +The man whirled and saw Neil for the first time. His answer was instant. +Flinging up his rifle, he pumped a shot at York. +</p> + +<p> +Neil’s retort came in a flash. Reilly clutched at his heart and toppled +backward from the precipice upon which he stood. Collins joined the cowpuncher +and together they stepped forward to the point from which Reilly had plunged +down two hundred feet to the jagged rocks below. +</p> + +<p> +At the curve they came face to face with Bucky O’Connor. Three weapons went up +quicker than the beating of an eyelash. More slowly each went down again. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing here, Bucky?” the sheriff asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Just pirootin’ around, Val. It occurred to me Leroy might not mean to play +fair with you, so I kinder invited myself to the party. When I heard shooting I +thought it was you they had bushwhacked, so I sat in to the game.” +</p> + +<p> +“You guessed wrong, Bucky. Reilly and the others rounded on Leroy. While they +were at it they figured to make a clean job and bump off York, too. From what +York says Leroy has got his.” +</p> + +<p> +The ranger turned a jade eye on the outlaw. “Has Mr. Neil turned honest man, +Val? Taken him into your posse, have you?” he asked, with an edge of irony in +his voice. +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff laid a hand on the shoulder of the man who had been his friend +before he turned miscreant. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you worry about Neil, Bucky,” he advised gently. “It was York shot +Reilly, after York had cut loose at him, and I shouldn’t wonder if that didn’t +save your life. Neil has got to stand the gaff for what he’s done, but I’ll +pull wires to get his punishment made light.” +</p> + +<p> +“Killed Reilly, did he?” repeated O’Connor. “I got Anderson back there.” +</p> + +<p> +“That makes only one left to account for. I wonder who he is?” Collins turned +absent-mindedly to Neil. The latter looked at him out of an expressionless +face. Even though his confederate had proved traitor he would not betray him. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky laughed. “Made a mistake that time, Val.” +</p> + +<p> +“I plumb forgot the situation for a moment,” the sheriff grinned. “Anyhow, we +better be hittin’ his trail.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about Phil?” Neil suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right. One of us has ce’tainly got to go back and attend to him.” +</p> + +<p> +“You and Neil go back. I’ll follow up this gentleman who is escaping,” the +ranger said. +</p> + +<p> +And so it was arranged. The two men returned from their grim work of justice to +the place where the outlaw chief had been left. His eyes lit feebly at sight of +them. +</p> + +<p> +“What news, York?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Reilly and Hardman are killed. How are you feelin’, cap?” The cow-puncher +knelt beside the dying outlaw and put an arm under his head. +</p> + +<p> +“Shot all to pieces, boy. No, I got no time to have you play doctor with me.” +He turned to Collins with a gleam of his unconquerable spirit. “You came pretty +near making a clean round-up, sheriff. I’m the fourth to be put out of +business. You’d ought to be content with that. Let York here go.” +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t do that, but I’ll do my best to see he gets off light.” +</p> + +<p> +“I got him into this, sheriff. He was all right before he knew me. I want him +to get a chance now.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wish I could give him a pardon, but I can’t do it. I’ll see the governor for +him though.” +</p> + +<p> +The wounded man spoke to Collins alone for a few minutes, then began to wander +in his mind He babbled feebly of childhood days back in his Kentucky home. The +word most often on his lips was “Mother.” So, with his head resting on Neil’s +arm and his hand in that of his friend, he slipped away to the Great Beyond. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0022"></a> +CHAPTER XXII.<br/> +FOR A GOOD REASON</h2> + +<p> +The young ladies, following the custom of Arizona in summer, were riding by the +light of the stars to avoid the heat of the day. They rode leisurely, chatting +as their ponies paced side by side. For though they were cousins they were +getting acquainted with each other for the first time. Both of them found this +a delightful process, not the less so because they were temperamentally very +different. Each of them knew already that they were going to be great friends. +They had exchanged the histories of their lives, lying awake girl fashion to +talk into the small hours, each omitting certain passages, however, that had to +do with two men who were at that moment approaching nearer every minute to +them. +</p> + +<p> +Bucky O’Connor and Sheriff Collins were returning to the Rocking Chair Ranch +from Epitaph, where they had just been to deposit twenty-seven thousand dollars +and a prisoner by the name of Chaves. Just at the point where the road climbed +from the plains and reached the summit of the first stiff hill the two parties +met and passed. The ranger and the sheriff reined in simultaneously. Yet a +moment and all four of them were talking at once. +</p> + +<p> +They turned toward the ranch, Bucky and Frances leading the way. Alice, riding +beside her lover in the darkness, found the defenses upon which she had relied +begin to fail her. Nevertheless, she summoned them to her support and met him +full armed with the evasions and complexities of her sex. +</p> + +<p> +“This <i>is</i> a surprise, Mr. Collins,” he was informed in her best society +voice. +</p> + +<p> +“And a pleasure?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course. But I’m sorry that father has been called to Phoenix. I suppose you +came to tell him about your success.” +</p> + +<p> +“To brag about it,” he corrected. “But not to your father—to his daughter.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s very thoughtful of you. Will you begin now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet. There is something I have to tell you, Miss Mackenzie.” +</p> + +<p> +At the gravity in his voice the lightness slipped from her like a cloak. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. Tell me your news. Over the telephone all sorts of rumors have come to +us. But even these were hearsay.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought of telephoning you the facts. Then I decided to ride out and tell +you at once. I knew you would want to hear the story at first hand.” +</p> + +<p> +Her patrician manner was gone. Her eyes looked their thanks at him. “That was +good of you. I have been very anxious to get the facts. One rumor was that you +have captured Sir Leroy. Is it true?” +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to her that his look was one of grave tenderness. “No, that is not +true. You remember what we said of him—of how he might die?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is dead—you killed him,” she cried, all the color washed from her face. +</p> + +<p> +“He is dead, but I did not kill him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me,” she commanded. +</p> + +<p> +He told her, beginning at the moment of his meeting with the outlaws at the +Dalriada dump and continuing to the last scene of the tragedy. It touched her +so nearly that she could not hear him through dry-eyed. +</p> + +<p> +“And he spoke of me?” She said it in a low voice, to herself rather than to +him. +</p> + +<p> +“It was just before his mind began to wander—almost his last conscious thought. +He said that when you heard the news you would remember. What you were to +remember he didn’t say. I took it you would know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. I was to remember that he was not all wolf to me.” She told it with a +little break of tears in her voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Then he told me to tell you that it was the best way out for him. He had come +to the end of the road, and it would not have been possible for him to go +back.” Presently Collins added gently: “If you don’t mind my saying so, I think +he was right. He was content to go, quite game and steady in his easy way. If +he had lived, there could have been no going back for him. It was his nature to +go the limit. The tragedy is in his life, not in his death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I know that, but it hurts one to think it had to be—that all his splendid +gifts and capabilities should end like this, and that we are forced to see it +is best. He might have done so much.” +</p> + +<p> +“And instead he became a miscreant. I reckon there was a lack in him +somewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, there was a great lack in him somewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +They were silent for a time. She broke it to ask about York Neil. +</p> + +<p> +“You wouldn’t send him to prison after doing what he did, would you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Meaning what?” +</p> + +<p> +“You say yourself he helped you against the other outlaws. Then he showed you +where to start in finding the buried money. He isn’t a bad man. You know how he +stood by me when I was a prisoner,” she pleaded. +</p> + +<p> +He nodded. “That goes a long way with me, Miss Mackenzie. The governor is a +right good friend of mine. I meant to ask him for a pardon. I reckon Neil means +to live straight from now on. He promised Leroy he would. He’s only a wild +cow-puncher gone wrong, and now he’s haided right he’ll pull up and walk the +narrow trail.” +</p> + +<p> +“But can you save him from the penitentiary?” +</p> + +<p> +Collins smiled. “He saved me the trouble. Coming through the Cañon Del Oro in +the night, he ducked. I reckon he’s in Mexico now.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m glad.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I ain’t sorry myself, though I helped Bucky hunt real thorough for him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Father will be pleased to know you got the treasure back,” Alice said +presently, after they had ridden a bit in silence. +</p> + +<p> +“And your father’s daughter, Miss Alice—is she pleased?” +</p> + +<p> +“What pleases father pleases me.” Her voice, cool as the plash of ice water, +might have daunted a less resolute man. But this one had long since determined +the manner of his wooing and was not to be driven from it. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m glad of that. Your father’s right friendly to me,” he announced, with +composure. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed!” +</p> + +<p> +“Sho! I ain’t going to run away and hide because you look like you don’t know +I’m in Arizona. What kind of a lover would I be if I broke for cover every time +you flashed those dark eyes at me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Collins!” +</p> + +<p> +“My friends call me Val,” he suggested, smiling. +</p> + +<p> +“I was going to ask, Mr. Collins, if you think you can bully me.” +</p> + +<p> +“It might be a first rate thing for you if I did, Miss Mackenzie. All your life +you haven’t done anything but trample on sissy boys. Now, I expect I’m not a +sissy boy, but a fair imitation of a man, and I shouldn’t wonder but you’d find +me some too restless for a door-mat.” His maimed hand happened to be resting on +the saddle horn as he spoke, and the story of the maiming emphasized potently +the truth of his claim. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you assume a good deal, Mr. Collins, when you imply that I have any +desire to master you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not a bit,” he assured her cheerfully. “Every woman wants to boss the man +she’s going to marry, but if she finds she can’t she’s glad of it, because then +she knows she’s got a man.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are quite sure I am going to marry you?” she asked gently—too gently, he +thought. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m only reasonably sure,” he informed her. “You see, I can’t tell for certain +whether your pride or your good sense is the stronger.” +</p> + +<p> +She caught a detached glimpse of the situation, and it made for laughter. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right, I want you should enjoy it,” he said placidly. +</p> + +<p> +“I do. It’s the most absurd proposal—I suppose you call it a proposal—that ever +I heard.” +</p> + +<p> +“I expect you’ve heard a good many in your time. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll not discuss that, if you please.” +</p> + +<p> +“I AM more interested in this one,” he agreed. +</p> + +<p> +“Isn’t it about time to begin on Tucson?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not to-day, ma’am. There are going to be a lot of to-morrows for you and me, +and Tucson will have to wait till then.” +</p> + +<p> +“Didn’t I give you an answer last week?” +</p> + +<p> +“You did, but I didn’t take it. Now I’m ready for your sure-enough answer.” +</p> + +<p> +She flashed a look at him that mocked his confidence. “I’ve heard about the +vanity of girls, but never in my experience have I met any so colossal as this +masculine vanity now on exhibit. Do you really think, Mr. Collins, that all you +have to do to win a woman is to look impressive and tell her that you have +decided to marry her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Do I look as if I thought that?” he asked her. +</p> + +<p> +“It is perfectly ridiculous—your absurd attitude of taking everything for +granted. Well, it may be the Tucson custom, but where I come from it is not in +vogue.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I reckon not. Back there a boy persuades girl he loves her by ruining her +digestion with candy and all sorts of ice arrangements from soda-fountain. But +I’m uncivilized enough to assume you’re a woman of sense and not a spoiled +schoolgirl.” +</p> + +<p> +The velvet night was attuned to the rhythm of her love. She felt herself, in +this sea of moon romance, being swept from her moorings. Star-eyed, she gazed +at him while she still fought again his dominance. +</p> + +<p> +“You <i>are</i> uncivilized. Would you beat me when I didn’t obey?” she asked +tremulously. +</p> + +<p> +He laughed in slow contentment. “Perhaps; but I’d love you while I did it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you would love me.” She looked across under her long lashes, not as boldly +as she would have liked, and her gaze fell before his. “I haven t heard before +that that was in the compact you proposed. I don’t think you have remembered to +mention it.” +</p> + +<p> +He swung from the saddle and put a hand to her bridle rein. +</p> + +<p> +“Get down,” he ordered. +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because I say so. Get down.” +</p> + +<p> +She looked down at him, a man out of a thousand and for her one out of a +hundred million. Before she was conscious of willing it she stood beside him. +He trailed the reins of the ponies, and in two strides came back to her. +</p> + +<p> +“What—do you—want?” +</p> + +<p> +“I want you, girl.” His arm swept round her, and he held her while he looked +down into her shining eyes. “So I haven’t told you that I love you. Did you +need to be told?” +</p> + +<p> +“We must go on,” she murmured weakly. “Frances and Lieutenant O’Connor—” +</p> + +<p> +“—Have their own love-affairs to attend to. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll manage ours and not intrude.” +</p> + +<p> +“They might think—” +</p> + +<p> +He laughed in deep delight, “—that we love each other. They’re welcome to the +thought. I haven’t told you that I love you, eh? I tell you now. It’s my last +trump, and right here I table it. I’m no desert poet, but I love you from that +dark crown of yours to those little feet that tap the floor so impatient +sometimes. I love you all the time, no matter what mood you’re in—when you +flash dark angry eyes at me and when you laugh in that slow, understanding way +nobody else in God’s world has the trick of. Makes no difference to me whether +you’re glad or mad, I want you just the same. That’s the reason why I’m going +to make you love me.” +</p> + +<p> +“You can’t do it.” Her voice was very low and not quite steady. +</p> + +<p> +“Why not—I’ll show you.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you can’t—for a good reason.” +</p> + +<p> +“Put a name to it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Because. Oh, you big blind man—because I love you already.” She burlesqued his +drawl with a little joyous laugh: “I reckon if you’re right set on it I’ll have +to marry you, Val Collins.” +</p> + +<p> +His arm tightened about her as if he would hold her against the whole world. +His ardent eyes possessed hers. She felt herself grow faint with a poignant +delight. Her lips met his slowly in their first kiss. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUCKY O’CONNOR ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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