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diff --git a/18950-8.txt b/18950-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f58d7c --- /dev/null +++ b/18950-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10648 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Short Cut, by Jackson Gregory, +Illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Short Cut + + +Author: Jackson Gregory + + + +Release Date: July 31, 2006 [eBook #18950] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHORT CUT*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18950-h.htm or 18950-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/5/18950/18950-h/18950-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/5/18950/18950-h.zip) + + + + + +THE SHORT CUT + +by + +JACKSON GREGORY + +Author of "Under Handicap," "The Outlaw" + +With Illustrations by Frank Tenney Johnson + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Surely the rider was just what the owner of the voice, +half laughing, half crooning, tenderly lilting, must be.] + + + + +New York +Dodd, Mead and Company +1916 +Copyright, 1916 +by Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc. + + + + +TO + +"MOTHER" McGLASHAN + +AND + +GENERAL C. F. McGLASHAN + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I THE TRAGEDY + II THE SHADOW + III SUSPICION + IV THE WHITE HUNTRESS + V THE HOME COMING OF RED RECKLESS + VI THE PROMISE OF LITTLE SAXON + VII THE GLADNESS THAT SINGS + VIII "BLUFF, AND THE GAMBLER WINS!" + IX THE CONTEMPT OF SLEDGE HUME + X SHANDON'S GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY + XI WANDA'S DISCOVERY + XII THE TALES OF MR. WILLIE DART + XIII SLEDGE HUME MAKES A CALL AND LAYS A WAGER + XIV IN WANDA'S CAVE + XV WILLIE DART PICKS A LOCK + XVI AND SOLVES A FASCINATING MYSTERY + XVII "WHERE'S THAT TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND?" + XVIII THE TRUTH + XIX SHANDON TAKES HIS STAND + XX HUME PLAYS A TRUMP + XXI THE SHORT CUT + XXII THE FUGITIVE + XXIII HELGA STRAWN PLAYS THE GAME + XXIV UNDER THE SURFACE + XXV RED RECKLESS ON LITTLE SAXON + XXVI THE LAUGHTER OF HELGA STRAWN + XXVII HUME RIDES THE ONE OPEN TRAIL + XXVIII "IT IS HOME!" + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Surely the rider was just what the owner of the voice, half laughing, +half crooning, tenderly lilting, must be. + +"I want just to smoke and watch you and listen while you talk." + +She made herself as comfortable as she could, drew her camera from its +case, and waited a patient quarter of an hour. + +"I call upon you to give yourself up!" he shouted. "Stop, Red, or I +shoot this time!" + + + + +THE SHORT CUT + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TRAGEDY + +Here was a small stream of water, bright, clear and cool, running its +merry way among the tall pines, hurrying to the dense shade of the +lower valley. The grass on its banks stood tall, lush and faintly +odorous, fresh with the newly come springtime, delicately scented with +the thickly strewn field flowers. The sunlight lay bright and warm +over all; the sky was blue with a depth of colour intensified by the +few great white clouds drifting lazily across it. + +No moving thing within all the wide rolling landscape save the +sun-flecked water, the softly stirring grass and rustling forests, the +almost motionless white clouds. For two miles the hills billowed away +gently to the northward, where at last they were swept up into the +thickly timbered, crag-crested mountains. For twice two miles toward +the west one might guess the course of the stream before here, too, the +mountains shut in, leaving only Echo Caņon's narrow gap for the cool +water to slip through. To the south and to the east ridges and hollows +and mountains, and beyond a few fast melting patches of last winter's +snow clinging to the lofty summits, looking like fragments broken away +from the big white clouds and resting for a moment on the line where +land and sky met. + +The stillness was too perfect to remain long unbroken. From a trail +leading down into the valley from the east a shepherd dog, running +eagerly, broke through the waving grass, paused a second looking back +expectantly, sniffed and ran on. Then a sound from over the ridge +through the trees, the sound of singing, a young voice lilting +wordlessly in enraptured gladness that life was so bright this morning. +And presently a horse, a dark bay saddle pony moving as lazily as the +clouds above, brought its rider down to the stream. + +Surely the rider was just what the owner of the voice, half laughing, +half crooning, tenderly lilting, must be. It seemed that only since +the dawn of today had she become a woman having been a child until the +dusk of yesterday. The wide grey eyes, looking out upon a gentle +aspect of life, were inclined to be merry and musing at the same time, +soft with maidenhood's day dreaming, tender with pleasant thoughts. A +child of the outdoors, her skin sun-tinged to a warm golden brown, her +hair sunburnt where it slipped out of the shadow of her big hat, her +lips red with young health, her slender body in its easy, confident +carriage showing how the muscles under the soft skin were strong and +capable. + +At her saddle horn, in its case, was a camera; snapped to her belt and +resting against her left hip, a pair of field glasses. + +The horse played at drinking, pretending a thirst which it did not +feel, and began to paw the clear water into muddiness. The dog ran on, +turned again, barked an invitation to its mistress to join in the +search for adventures, and plunged into the tall grass. + +The girl's song died away, her lips stilled by the hush of the coming +noonday. For a moment she was very silent, so motionless that she +seemed scarcely to breathe. + +"Life is good here," she mused, her eyes wandering across the valley to +the wall of the mountains shutting out the world of cities. "It is +like the air, sweet and clean and wholesome! Life!" she whispered, as +though in reality she had been born just this dawn to the awe of it, +the wonder of it, "I love Life!" + +She breathed deeply, her breast rising high to the warm, scented air +drawn slowly through parted lips as though she would drink of the rare +wine of the springtime. + +The dog had found something in the deep grass which sent it scampering +back across the water and almost under the horse's legs, snarling. + +"What is it, Shep?" laughed the girl. "What have you found that is so +dreadful?" + +But Shep was not to be laughed out of his growls and whines. Presently +he ran back toward the place where he had made his headlong crossing, +stopped abruptly, broke into a quick series of short, sharp barks, and +again turning fled to the horse and rider as though for protection, +whining his fear. + +"Is it really something, Shep?" asked the girl, puzzled a little. She +leaned forward in the saddle, patting her mare's warm neck. "I think +he's just an old humbug as usual, Gypsy," she smiled indulgently. "But +shall we go over and see?" + +Gypsy splashed noisily across the stream, the dog still growling and +slinking close to the horse's heels. The girl saw where Shep had +parted the grass with his inquisitive nose, leaving a plain trail. And +not ten steps from the edge of the water she came upon the thing that +Shep had found. + +The mare's nostrils suddenly quivered; she trembled a moment, and then +with a snort of fear whirled and plunged back toward the creek. But +the girl had seen. The colour ran out of her face, the musing peace +fled from her eyes and a swift horror leaped out upon her. In one +flash the soft calm of the morning had become a mockery, its promise a +lie. Here, into the wonder of Life, Death had come. + +She had had but an uncertain glance at the thing lying huddled in the +tall grass, but her instinct like Shep's and Gypsy's understood. And +for a blind, terror-stricken moment, she felt that she must yield as +they yielded to the fear within her, to the primitive urge to flee from +Death; that she could not draw near the spot where a man had died, +where even now the body lay cold in the sunshine. + +Her hands were shaking pitifully when at last she tied Gypsy to the +lower limb of an oak beside the creek. As she went slowly back along +the little trail the dog had made she told herself that the man was not +dead, that he was sick or hurt . . . and though she had never looked +upon Death before this morning when it seemed to her that she had +looked upon Life for the first time, she knew what that grotesque +horror meant, she knew why the man lay, as he did, face down and still. + +At last she stood over the body, her swift eyes informing her reluctant +consciousness of a host of details. She saw that the grass around was +beaten down in a rude circle, heard the whining of the dog at her +heels, noticed that the man lay on his right side, his head twisted so +that his cheek touched his shoulder, the face hidden, one arm crumpled +under him, one outflung and grasping a handful of up-rooted grass with +set rigid fingers. + +A sickness, a faintness, and with it an almost uncontrollable desire to +run madly from this place, this thing, swept over her. But she drew +closer, kneeling quickly, and put her warm hand upon the hand that +clutched the wisp of grass so rigidly. It was cold, so cold that she +drew back suddenly, shuddering. + +Not even now did she know who the man was. It had not yet entered her +mind that she could know him. She rose to her feet, and walking softly +as though her footfall in the grass might waken some one sleeping, she +moved about the still figure, to the other side, so that she might see +the face. Then she cried out softly, piteously, and Shep ceased his +whining and came to her around the body, rubbing against her skirts. + +"Arthur!" She came closer, knelt again and put her hands gently upon +the short-cropped, curling hair. "Oh, Arthur! Is it you?" Only now +did she know how this man with the young, frank face had died. Now she +saw blood smeared on the white forehead, a bullet wound torn in the +temple. She sprang to her feet, staring with wide eyes at the little +hole through which the man's soul had fled. She turned hastily toward +her horse, came back, placed her straw hat tenderly over the short +curling hair, and ran to Gypsy. + +She was vaguely conscious that her brain was acting as it had never +acted before, that her excited nerves were filling her mind with a mass +of sensations and fragmentary thoughts strangely clearcut and definite. +Like some wonderfully constructed camera her faculties, in an instant +no longer than the time required for the clicking of the shutter, +photographed a hawk circling high up in the sky, a waving branch, with +no less truth and vividness than the body sprawling there in the grass. +Emotions, scents, sounds, objects blended into a strange mental +snap-shot, no one detail less clear than another. + +Jerking the mare's tie rope free from the oak, she flung herself into +the saddle, and turned back toward the trail that led across the creek +and over the ridge. But Shep had found something else in the grass +half a dozen steps beyond the dead man, something that he sniffed at +and nosed and that excited him. Making a little detour, she rode back +to the spot where the dog, barking now, was waiting for her. + +As she leaned forward looking down upon this second thing the shepherd +dog had found, she clutched suddenly at the horn of her saddle as +though all her strength had dribbled out of her, and she were going to +fall. The keen nostrils of the animal had led him to this object with +its sinister connection with the tragedy and he had pawed at it, +dragging it toward him and free of the green tangle into which it had +fallen or been flung. + +It was a revolver, thirty-eight calibre, unlike the weapons one might +expect to find here in the range country or about the sawmills further +back . . . and the girl recognised it. The deadly viciousness of the +firearm was disguised by the pearl grip and silver chasings until it +had seemed a toy. But here was Arthur Shandon dead, with a bullet in +his brain, and here almost at his side was a revolver she knew so well. +. . . + +She covered her face with her hands and shook like one of the pine +needles above her head caught in a quick breath of air. Shep looked up +at her with his sharp, eager bark and then the gladness of discovery in +his eyes changed suddenly into wistful wonder. Gypsy, with tossing +head and jingling bridle, turned toward the crossing, quickening her +stride, ready to break into a trot. + +At last the girl jerked her hands away from a face that was white and +miserable, and with angry spur and rein brought the mare back to the +spot where the revolver lay. Slipping down, she hesitated a moment, +glancing swiftly about as though afraid some one might see her, even +with a look that was almost suspicious at the quiet body of Arthur +Shandon, and stooping suddenly swept up the thing that had been a toy +yesterday and was so hideously tragic to-day. It was with a great +effort of her will that she compelled her fingers to touch it, forced +them to close upon it and take it up. Then with a little cry into +which loathing and dread merged, she cast it from her, flinging it far +down stream so that it fell into a black pool below a tiny, frothing +waterfall. + +"I can't believe it. I won't believe it!" she murmured in a voice that +shook even as her hands were shaking. "It is too terrible!" + +No longer could she look at the huddled form in the grass, the young, +frank face that was so still and white and cold in the sunshine. +Throwing herself into the saddle, she swung Gypsy's head about toward +the trail, as though she were fleeing from a fearful pursuing menace. +Shep, who had run, barking, to retrieve his lost discovery from the +black pool under the waterfall, snapped his disappointment from the +bank and then splashed through the creek after his mistress. + +Two hundred yards the girl raced along the up-trail, her mare running, +her dog struggling hard to keep up. Then with a new, sudden fear she +jerked her pony to a standstill. + +"I . . . I can't leave it there," her white lips were whispering. +"They will find it, and then . . . Oh, my God!" + +And now her brain had ceased to act like a strangely magical camera; +now sights and sounds and faint odours about her were all unnoticed. +Her eyes, wide and staring at the winding trail before her, did not see +the broad trees or the flower sprinkled grass or the blossoming +manzanita bushes. They gazed through these things which they did not +see, and instead saw what might lie in the future, what fate the grim +gods of destiny might mete out . . . to one man . . . if the revolver +below the waterfall were found! + +Her hesitation was brief; the horror of what might lurk in the future +was greater than the horror of what lay back there behind her. Again +she urged her puzzled horse back to the stream, flinging herself down +just at the edge of the pool. Far down at the bottom upon the white +sand, wedged between two white stones, the revolver lay plainly +visible. The noonday sun rested upon the deep water here and its +secret was no secret at all. She was glad that she had come back. + +Snatching up the dead limb of a shrub lying close at hand, with little +difficulty or waste of time, she dragged the weapon toward her until +she could thrust her arm, elbow deep into the water, and secure it. + +She shuddered as when she had first forced her hand to touch it. But +with quick, steady fingers she dried it against her skirt and thrust it +into the only place where she could be sure of safety, where its voice +would be silenced to all except her own heart, deep into the bosom of +her waist. And again she was on Gypsy's back, again fleeing along the +up-trail. + +As she rode, as the rush of air whipped in her face and the leaping +body of the mare under her gave her muscles something to do, the blood +flamed again into her cheeks; courage rushed back into a heart that was +naturally unafraid. + +"I have not been loyal," she whispered over and over to herself +accusingly. "I have not been a true friend. I have suspected and I +know, oh, I know so well, that it can't be! He wouldn't do a thing +like that, he couldn't!" + +She topped the ridge, sped on for half a mile upon its crest, racing +straight toward the east, dropped down into another valley ten times +bigger than the one she had just quitted, and still following the trail +headed southward again. Here there were fewer trees, a sprinkling of +pine and fir, and wider open spaces. Another stream, even smaller than +Echo Creek, watered the valley. She rode through a small herd of +saddle horses that flashed away before her swift approach, their manes +and tails flying, and scarcely realised that she had disturbed them. +Off to her left, at the upper end of the valley where were a number of +grazing cattle, she thought she could distinguish the figures of a +couple of her father's cowboys riding herd. But she did not turn to +them. + +Gypsy, warming to the race, carried her mistress valiantly the half a +dozen miles from the ridge she had crossed to the knoll crowned with +great boled, sky seeking cedars where her father's ranch house stood. +Half a mile away the girl made out the wide verandahs, the long flight +of steps, the hammock where she had read and dozed last night, yes, and +dreamed the tender, half wistful, yet rose tinted dreams of maidenhood. +She saw, too, the stables at the base of the knoll, to the northward, +where one of the boys, Charlie or Jim, was harnessing the greys, +preparatory to hitching them to the big wagon. The thought flashed +through her mind that he counted upon going out for a load of wood, and +that he would be called upon first to bring in another burden that he +would never forget. + +Her eyes went back to the house. There was some one sitting in a +rocker in the shade near the front door. It was her mother. This news +would be a bitter, bitter shock to the tender-hearted woman who had +called Arthur Shandon one of her "boys." + +The girl drew nearer, with no tightening of reins upon Gypsy's headlong +speed. Another glimpse through the cedars showed her that there was +some one with her mother, a man, broad and heavy shouldered. He +turned, hearing the pound of the flying hoofs through the still air as +she came on. It was her father. She could see the massive, calm face, +the white hair and white square beard. + +She was barely five hundred yards from the foot of the knoll when she +saw that her father and mother were not alone. The third figure had +been concealed from her until now by the great post standing at the top +of the steps. But now the man sitting there rose to his feet and +turned to look in the direction her parents were looking. A sudden +choking came into the girl's throat, a quick rush of tears into her dry +eyes. She drew her reins tight, bringing her pony down into a trot, +then to a walk. She could not rush on like this, carrying a message of +grief and terror; must she hasten so eagerly to speak the word that was +going to make life so different to this man? + +"Oh, how can I tell him?" she was moaning. "The gladdest, gayest, +happiest boy of a man that ever lived! Will he ever be glad again?" + +Her mother had waved to her, her father was smiling, proud of her as he +always was when he saw how she rode. And the other man who had leaped +to his feet was running down the steps, coming to meet her, coming to +meet the news she brought. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SHADOW + +The girl drooped her head a little, while Gypsy walked very slowly. +Then she looked up again, swiftly, saw that the man was coming on to +meet her, saw the great, tall, gaunt form, marked the free swinging +carriage which she had noted so many times before, noticed the way he +carried his head, well back, saw the sunlight splashing like fire in +the red, red hair that in some fashion seemed to proclaim red blood and +recklessness. A young man he was with mighty hands and iron body, with +life leaping high in his laughing eyes, a man who might have been some +pagan god of youth and joy and heedlessness. + +His big boots brought him on swiftly until he came to her horse and she +stopped, her eyes dropping before his. He twined his fingers in +Gypsy's mane and looked up into her face, he laughing softly. + +"So you've ridden back to us, at last." His voice was in tune with the +rest of him, suggesting the wildness and recklessness that were part of +the man's nature. He ran on, half bantering, half softly wondering at +the loveliness of her. "Are you pagan nymph or Christian maiden, +Wanda?" he asked a little seriously, as nearly serious, one might have +said, as it was this man's nature to be. + +She raised her lowered eyes, looking at him searchingly. Then he saw +the tears that at last were spilling over, the face from which the +colour was going again, the traces of horror of that thing which lay +far back there under the pines. + +"Wanda!" he cried sharply. "You . . . There's something the matter! +I've been running on like an inspired idiot and . . . What is it, +Wanda?" + +"Oh," she said desperately, "it is terrible! I can't . . ." She +choked over her words. But they were burning the soul within her, and +she ran on hastily. "I found him back there by Echo Creek crossing. +He . . . he is dead." + +"Dead?" repeated the man. "Dead? Who, Wanda?" + +"Arthur!" she whispered. + +"Arthur, dead?" he muttered, his voice oddly low and quiet. "Arthur, +dead? I don't understand." + +"He is dead," she said again heavily. "Some one shot him." + +She broke off and began to sob. He looked first at her, then along the +trail she had ridden, and finally, taking his hand from her horse's +mane he turned abruptly and strode off toward the house. He mounted +the steps swiftly, passed her father and mother without a word in +answer to the questioning faces they turned toward him, entered the +door and returned almost immediately, carrying his hat in his hand. As +he came down the steps, he put on his hat and bent his head a little so +that she could not see his face. He passed her without a sign and went +down to the stable. Then she rode up to the house and slipped from her +saddle at the foot of the steps. Her father and mother hurried to meet +her. + +"It is Arthur. It is Wayne's brother," cried Wanda brokenly from her +mother's arms. "He is dead!" + +She told them briefly, hurriedly. Her father, his eyes strangely hard +and inscrutable swore softly and turning without a word to either of +the women went back to the house as Wayne had done, got his hat and +hurried to the stable. His voice, hard and expressionless like his +eyes, floated up to them as he gave his brief orders to Jim to drive +straight back to the spot Wanda had described. The girl saw him enter +the stable and in a little while come out, riding a saddled horse. +Already Wayne Shandon had ridden off along the trail, travelling with a +fury of speed that took no heed of the miles ahead of him. + +Mother and daughter turned and went slowly up the steps, their arms +about each other, their cheeks wet. + +"Who killed him, mamma?" whispered the girl, her moist eyes lifted. +"Who could have killed him?" + +The silent tale that a pearl handled revolver had told her was a lie, a +hideous lie. She did not believe it, she was never going to believe +it. For an instant there had been a horrible suspicion in her breast, +then her loyalty had risen and crushed it and killed it and cast it +out. But now she sought some new explanation to take its place, sought +it with intense eagerness. + +"Who killed him?" Mother's and daughter's eyes met furtively for a +quick second. And then the mother's answer was no answer at all, but a +broken, tremulous prayer: "Dear God, may they never know who did this +thing!" + +They did not look at each other again as they crossed the length of the +veranda, on the north exposure of the great square house and turned +into the spacious living room. + +"I am going to my room, mamma," said the girl faintly. "I want to be +alone just a little." + +She knew that her mother was watching her as she passed through the +living room and out through the double doors to the veranda at the +east. But she did not turn. She did not ask what her mother had +meant, she did not wish to know. She wanted just now more than +anything in the world, to be alone in her own room, to take from her +bosom the thing which she felt every one would know she had there, to +hide it where it would be safe. + +To the east of the house in a little sheltered hollow her father, +twenty years ago, had planted an orchard. She could see the white and +delicate pink of the blossoms, could catch the hint of perfume that a +little frolicking breeze brought to her. + +She heard voices out there and saw two men coming toward the house. +There came to her ears, too, the sound of cool, contemptuous laughter. +She knew who it was insolently jeering at the other, knew before she +saw them that it was the big, splendidly big fellow, as tall as Red +Reckless and heavier, who was known to her only as "Sledge" Hume. She +had heard her father say last night that both Hume and Arthur Shandon +were coming to-day upon some matter of business in which the three men +were interested. + +"You're a little fool, anyway, Conway," the deep voice said with that +frank impudence which was a part of Hume. + +Garth Conway, not a small man by two inches or fifty pounds, although +he appeared so beside his companion, made a reply which Wanda did not +hear in full, but which reached her sufficiently to tell her that the +two men were talking about some trifling matter of range management and +that his theory had provoked Sledge Hume's blunt comment. The two men +came on, Hume striding a couple of paces in front of Conway, until they +caught sight of her. Conway lifted his hat, his sullen eyes +brightening. Hume, staring at her with the keen eye of appraisal, did +not trouble himself to touch his hat and gave her no greeting beyond +one of his curt nods. + +"They have not heard," Wanda thought with a little thrill of pity for +Garth Conway who was so soon to learn of the death of the man who had +been more like a brother than cousin to him. "Mamma will tell them." + +She hurried down the veranda to her room which was at the far end, at +the southeast corner of the house. But she paused at the door as she +heard her mother's voice, shaken and tearful, and the reply that one of +the men made. + +It was Garth Conway. As though the utterance were drawn from him by +the shock of the surprise, jerked from him involuntarily, he cried: + +"Dead? Murdered? My God! And he and Wayne quarrelled. . . ." + +"Go on!" It was Sledge Hume's heavy, colourless voice. "Just because +two men quarrel it doesn't mean that one kills the other, does it?" + +"Garth!" cried Mrs. Leland. "You mustn't . . ." + +"I didn't say that," cried Conway. "I didn't mean . . ." + +Wanda waited to hear no more. She hurried into her room, to stand +there trembling behind the closed door, her face as white as that other +face she had looked upon earlier in the day. + +"He didn't do it!" she whispered. "He didn't. I know he didn't." + +But the thing which she carried in her bosom seemed to be demanding +rudely: "Must you shut your eyes to believe with your heart?" And if +other eyes than her own saw it? + +There was her closet, the open door showing the party dresses she had +brought back from school. She shook her head. Her room was so plainly +furnished with just a little dressing table, her bed, a chair, a stand +with some wild flowers on it, a smaller table with half a dozen books +scattered about. Then her eyes rested on the big trunk which had not +yet been carried down into the basement. + +Running to it she flung up the lid and jerked out the tray. The bottom +was half filled with odds and ends, stockings, slippers, linen. She +took the revolver from her bosom, dropped it to the bottom of the +trunk, covered it hastily with loose clothing, replaced the tray and +closed the lid. But she could not feel that her secret was safe until +she had found the key on her dressing table. The lock was troublesome, +it was always troublesome. She was down on her knees, had just heard +the little click which told her that the lock was fast, and was trying +to work the key out again when the door opened softly and her mother +came in. + +For a moment the two women, motionless, looked at each other fixedly. +Then Wanda rose slowly to her feet, a little red flush colouring her +brow, a fear which she knew absurd and yet which she could not crush +down, rising into her fluttering breast. Then Mrs. Leland closed the +door behind her, and stood with her back to it. + +"Will you tell me about it, Wanda, dear?" + +Her voice was troubled; her frank eyes, so like her daughter's, were at +once sad and anxious. + +"It is too horrible, mamma." Wanda closed her eyes tightly for a +moment, trying to shut out the picture which burned so in her brain. +Every little detail stood out in her memory clear cut and vivid, the +grass trampled into a rude circle, the hand that clung in death to what +it had last grasped in life, the grotesquely crumpled, huddled body. + +"Tell me about it, Wanda." Her mother was looking into the frankly +distressed face, curiously. Wanda had again the uneasy idea that her +mother was wondering about the trunk which she had just locked, and +again a quick fear leaped up within her that she might guess the secret +it concealed. + +"How did you happen to find him?" + +"Shep was with me, running ahead. Shep found him." + +"And some one had killed him?" + +Wanda nodded, her lips tight pressed together, her hands twisting about +each other in her lap. For a moment there was silence in the little +room. + +"Wanda, look at me, dear." + +Her eyes turned, wondering, from the window and the orchard beyond, and +went swiftly to her mother. The words were very clearly a command now. +The voice was lowered a little but had grown more insistent. And it +seemed to her that Mrs. Leland's eyes had in them now something more +than sadness and anxiety, that they were suspicious. Again Wanda felt +the hot blood in her temples. + +"What is it, mamma?" + +"Who killed Arthur? Do you know?" + +"Mamma!" she cried, startled. "Why do you ask that? What do you mean?" + +"I want to know, dear. Do you know who killed him?" + +"No." It was plain that she was troubled, it was equally as plain that +she spoke truthfully. "What makes you think . . . Why do you ask +that?" + +"I thought," replied Mrs. Leland, a little uneasily, "that you might +have seen something, found something. . . ." + +"No, no!" cried the girl impulsively. "I know what you mean. I have +no vaguest idea who could have done it!" + +The older woman came across the room and sat down at her daughter's +side, putting her arm about the slender form. + +"Wanda, dear," she said softly. "I am going to tell you something +which you don't know yet. Wayne quarrelled with Arthur last night!" + +The girl's body stiffened convulsively. She wanted to spring up and +run out of the house to some hiding place in the old orchard and be +alone. But she answered, her eyes clear and truthful. + +"I'm sorry. Oh, so sorry! Poor Wayne. That will make it so much +harder for him." + +"Yes. It is going to make it hard for him, Wanda. Harder than you +have imagined." She paused as if considering the advisability of what +she had started to say, and then ended simply, hopelessly, "They are +going to think that Wayne shot him!" + +"They mustn't!" cried Wanda hotly. "They haven't the right. It would +be thinking a lie, a wicked, hideous lie!" + +Mrs. Leland shook her head sadly. + +"Wanda," she went on quietly, "the first thing Garth said when I told +him was that Wayne had quarrelled with Arthur last night. I don't mind +so much what Garth says and does, but . . . I think that Martin is +going to suspect Wayne of this, if he doesn't already suspect him." + +"But, surely father isn't so unjust, just because he doesn't like Wayne +. . ." + +"If it were nothing more than just not liking him! Your father isn't +capable of a feeling that is merely negative about people, child. He +hated the boys' father; Wayne I think he hates as bitterly." + +"But why, mamma? Surely there is no reason . . ." + +"Men, strong men like your father, don't always wait for reasons, +Wanda," said Mrs. Leland gently. "He has never forgotten that had +circumstances been a very, very little different I might have married +the other Wayne Shandon. When we were married and the other Wayne +Shandon bought land so close to us your father was the angriest man I +ever saw. That was before your time, dear. He rode across the valley +the next day; he has never told me what happened but his face was still +white when he came home. There are only a few things which can stir +Martin into a passion like that." + +"But, surely, mamma . . ." + +"When the other Wayne Shandon married and the boys were born it made no +difference with Martin. When the other Wayne Shandon died and his wife +died and the boys were left the hatred in your father's breast did not +die with them. He transferred it to Arthur and the Wayne you know. +Toward Wayne especially it has grown strong and bitter." + +"But why to him more than to Arthur?" + +"Because, my dear, Wayne is his father over and over again! Because he +has the same red hair and the same eyes with the same way of laughing. +Because his voice is the same, his carriage is the same, his mad, +reckless heart the same. Because everytime that Martin sees the Wayne +Shandon that you know he sees the old Wayne Shandon I knew . . . and he +hated." + +"But it can't be that if a man hates another, and he dies, the man will +go on hating his son just for being his son! Father is not so unjust +as that, mamma! He will not suspect Wayne of murder, of murdering his +own brother, just because of his father!" + +Mrs. Leland's hands were interlocked tensely. "There are other +reasons, there will be other things remembered about the boy which will +make suspicion so easy." + +"I know what you mean," the girl cried, breathing deeply. "He is +reckless, he is wild, I know. He gambles, he has quarrels with many +men. He does things that we would not do, but then we are women! He +does things that father would not do, but then father is not young any +longer! He is wild because his nature is inherited from his father; +it's in his blood, he's young and he has grown up with the far out +places. But he is not bad! He is not the kind of man to do a thing +like this. What do men call him, men who know him and what he is? +They don't call him Coward, they don't call him Cheat, they don't call +him mean or dishonest or ungenerous! They call him Reckless, Red +Reckless, and they love him! Oh, mamma, can't you see that it is +impossible . . ." + +Mrs. Leland rose to her feet, her face grown suddenly pinched and white. + +"I don't know," she said with a sigh. + +"You believe it too!" cried the girl. "You think that Wayne Shandon +killed his own brother!" + +A delicate flush stained her mother's cheeks. + +"Wanda, child, you mustn't say that," she almost whispered. "I don't +believe it. I won't believe it. And if I did . . . Wanda, I'd +remember the man his father was, the gentleman, the true-hearted +gentleman, and I should say that I did not believe." + +Then, turning quickly so that her wondering daughter could not see the +eyes that were blurred with a mist of tears, she left the room. + +When she had gone Wanda snatched up the trunk key from her table and +thrust it quickly into her bosom. Then she sat down again on the edge +of her bed and stared out toward the orchard where the sunlight lay +bright and warm upon the apple blossoms . . . and saw only the quiet +body by Echo Creek, that and the face of the man people called Red +Reckless. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SUSPICION + +Why had her mother come to her in such a way? Why had she been so +quick to see what people would say? Did she believe that Wayne Shandon +had killed Arthur; was she afraid that Wanda might have found something +that would incriminate him; and did she want to warn her of what the +inevitable result of such a disclosure would be? + +And she had found something! She had known from the first sight of it, +half hidden by Shep's eager pays, that it was Wayne Shandon's. He had +shown it to her only last week. + +"I am going to teach you to shoot as I shoot," he had laughed, bringing +the revolver out of his pocket. "Then I am going to give it to you. +And then you are going to make me a pretty bow and give me a pretty +smile and say, 'Thank you, Red,' as you did when I chastised your first +suitor! Remember, Wanda?" + +"Only I don't call you 'Red' any more," she had laughed back at him. +"We're grown up now, you know, and Wayne is much more dignified +and . . . and respectful." + +"And you can handle your own suitors now," he had retorted. "More +artistically and with equal finality!" + +Only a week ago out there in the orchard where now the sunlight lay in +golden splashes over the fruit trees, she and Red Reckless had bantered +each other as they strolled toward the house where Arthur was sitting +on the veranda with her mother, watching them. It was a sparkling +morning like to-day's, and they had spoken of the old school days +before Mr. Shandon sent his two sons to the East to school, of the time +when she was eight and he was fifteen and he had "licked" a boy whom +she did not like but who was stubborn in vowing that the little girl +should eat a red cheeked apple he had brought her. A week ago, and now +Arthur Shandon was dead and men were ready to believe that Wayne +Shandon had killed him. + +She sat very still, while her mind wandered in many directions. The +old days rose up vividly bringing back the young faces of Arthur and +Wayne and Garth Conway,--they had all played Prisoner's Base and +Anti-over at the little white school house down in the valley. She +remembered the day when a letter came from Mr. Shandon summoning Arthur +and Wayne and Garth to the East, and how merry the boys had been over +it. She missed them dreadfully after they went away until vacation +came and her own father had taken her with him on a tour of inspection +to his four other ranches, up and down the State. For three years she +did not see the three boys, their letters had ceased, and she was well +on the way to forget her playfellows. And then, when she was twelve +and Wayne Shandon nineteen, he had come back. + +He had run away. He had quarrelled with his father, and Arthur had +tried to show him that he was unreasonable. Then the boy's hot temper +had flashed out at his brother and finally at Garth Conway who had long +been accustomed to thinking as Arthur Shandon thought. So the youth, +in whom love of adventure and hatred of restraint were already marked +characteristics, had sold his books, the saddle pony which his father's +generosity had given him, his guns and fishing tackle, in fact +everything which he might sell even to his spare clothing, had caught a +night train and come West again. + +Wanda's mother had tried to reason with the boy when he came to them, +laughing at the trick he had played his father, full of mockery of the +hidebound ways of cities, and had wanted to send him back to Mr. +Shandon. She had cried a little over him and kissed him and talked +gently with him as was her motherly way. But Wanda's father berated +him severely and sternly and Wayne flushed and bit his lip and then +went away from them as he had gone away from the East. + +More years, happy years for Wanda Leland, sped by and she did not see +the boy. Both Arthur and Garth came in the long summer vacations to +Mr. Shandon's range and were frequent visitors at the Echo Creek place. +Word came now and then of Wayne Shandon, sometimes by infrequent and +unsatisfactory short letters from him, more often in elaborately +embroidered rumour from men making long trips across the country. He +had gone to work for a cattle outfit, taking a dollar a day and doing +an ordinary cowboy's work. Even before he was twenty-one, men called +him Red Reckless. He had learned to gamble, and to gamble for big +stakes. He played poker; he took his chance with the "bank"; but he +loved the dice. They were quicker; a man could "make or break" at one +throw. It was his way to hazard everything on a throw, to laugh if he +won, to laugh if he lost. + +Rumour said that he had been shot by a notorious gambler, Dash Dulac; +and had come near dying; that he had shot another man up at Spanish Dry +Diggings where he had rushed with a frantic flood of men on news of a +golden strike; that he had been sucked away with another flux of gold +seekers to the Yukon country where he had lived lawlessly with his +lawless companions; that he had drifted back to the lumber camps of the +mountains; that at last he had returned to the cattle country. + +Wanda had gone away to school in the East, spending only her summers +upon the Echo Creek ranch. She had seen very little of Wayne Shandon. +When Mr. Shandon died, leaving his wide reaching cattle range to his +elder son, Arthur had come promptly to take charge of the Bar L-M +Outfit, and Garth Conway had come with him as foreman and general +manager under him. Arthur, whose affection for his stormy souled +brother had lasted strong through the years, had at last prevailed upon +Wayne to "come home" and to go to work for him. That had been a year +ago. + +A light knock at her door brought back her wandering thoughts to +to-day, to Arthur Shandon, to the suspicion which was so quickly +lifting its venomous head. She rose from the bed, pushed back the hair +which had fallen unnoticed into confusion about her cheeks, and said +softly, + +"Come in, mamma." + +"We were just going to have lunch when you came, Wanda," her mother +said quietly. "You must come and have a cup of tea." + +"Mamma! I can't." + +"But you can!" Her mother smiled a little at her and patted the +restless hand she took in her own. "You had a very early breakfast and +you must have a cup of tea." + +Together they went back to the dining room. + +"Where are Garth and Mr. Hume?" asked Wanda. + +"They have gone . . . with the others, dear," Mrs. Leland told her. + +The two women sat down in silence. Wanda forced herself to drink half +of her tea and pushed the cup away from her. She got swiftly to her +feet and leaving the room, went out upon the north veranda, where she +saw Julia, the cook, standing at the window, her red hands upon her +broad hips, her eyes even redder than her hands. On the window sill +were half a dozen fresh, hot pies which Julia had made for "the +boys" . . . + +Wanda bit her lips and her eyes went whither her mother's had gone, +down the trail along which the men had ridden to the creek. + +It seemed a very long time before she saw them. The wagon, with Jim +driving slowly and carefully, climbed over a ridge and wound its way +down into the valley. Her father, Garth, and Sledge Hume, were riding +behind it, abreast and close together. Wayne Shandon farther back was +riding alone, his head down, his hat drawn low over his brows. + +At last she could see the faces shaded by the wide brimmed hats. They +were strangely alike in their hard, set expression, the gravity which +told little. These were not, any of them, men given to wearing their +deeper emotions on their sleeves. Her eyes ran to Wayne Shandon's face +first. It was white, the mouth was sterner than she had ever thought +Red Reckless' laughing mouth could be, the eyes were hard and +inscrutable. + +From him she looked anxiously at her father, then at Sledge Hume, then +at Garth Conway. And these faces, stern like Wayne's, sent a little +shiver of fear through her. + +Her mother went out to meet the wagon, crying quietly. Wanda felt the +tears rush with a hotness like fire into her own eyes, and then she +turned and hurrying out of sight of the slow procession ran down to the +orchard. She was lying there, face down, sobbing like a child, when +she felt a shadow over her, heard a man's spurs jingle, and knew who it +was that had come out to her. + +She looked up at him, wondering. + +"Wanda," he said very quietly, his voice strangely steady, "it was good +of you to give him your hat. If I were dead and you did a thing like +that for me I think I should come back to life to kiss your dear hands." + +This was so like him! Oh, just the thing Red Reckless would do! The +little thoughtful act of hers had stirred him more deeply than most men +are moved even by big things; and the impulse had come to him to go +straight to her and thank her. And he was a man who obeyed impulses. + +The other men had entered the house for their lunch. It seemed +horrible to her that people should be able to eat at a time like this. +Wayne Shandon spoke to her again. + +"Your father is going to let Jim go with me," he said. "We are going +to El Toyon. Then I am going to take him back East." + +"East!" she exclaimed, + +"Yes. I have a fancy he'd like to be buried close to dad." + +"You are coming back soon?" + +"Immediately. Within ten days, I think. Good-bye, Wanda." + +"Wait a minute," she hesitated. "I want to think." + +She had not meant to tell him so soon, in the first shock of the death, +about what she had found. But he was going away, and he ought to know, +it was his right to know. + +"Will you wait here for me a moment, Wayne?" she asked looking +pitifully up into the face of the man whose grave eyes were fixed upon +her. "Until I run to the house and get something?" + +She was glad then that the other men were able to eat, and that her +mother and Julia were waiting on them. Hastening back to her room, she +took the revolver from its hiding place in her trunk, slipped it into +her blouse and ran back to the orchard. + +"Wayne," she whispered coming close to him, suspicious of every little +sound in the orchard, fearful of an approaching footstep. "I found +something near Arthur. I did not tell any one. As you are going away +I had better tell you." + +She held out the revolver. The sunlight fell on it, glinting brightly +from the polished silver. Wayne Shandon stared at it frowning, as +though he could not or would not believe his eyes. Slowly a deeper +pallor crept into his white face. Then a terrible look which the girl +could not read came into his eyes. + +"Good God!" he whispered hoarsely. "You found that near him?" + +Suddenly he put his hand out and took it. His fingers touched hers. +They were as cold as ice. + +"Wanda," he said, his voice frightening her, it was so hard and +unfamiliar, "you were good to give it to me." + +That was all. She felt vaguely that his mind was groping for other +words which it could not find. He slipped the revolver into his +pocket, turned and left her. + +From the orchard she watched him ride away. Jim was driving the two +big greys, while Shandon followed close behind the wagon, sitting very +straight in the saddle, his face telling her nothing. . . . She sank +back upon the grass under the apple tree and lay still, staring up at +the patches of blue seen through the green and white of the branches +and blossoms. + +When at last she went back to the house she heard her father's voice +lifted angrily. He was talking to her mother and the name flung +furiously from his lips was the name of Wayne Shandon. + +"Hush, Martin," protested Mrs. Leland. "You mustn't . . ." + +Martin Leland, his face red, his mouth working wordlessly, swept up his +hat and went away to the corrals by the stable. Wanda saw his eyes as +he brushed by her and she shivered, drawing away from him. + +Garth Conway had already gone, riding the half dozen miles to the Bar +L-M to carry word of the death of its owner, and to assume entire +charge there until Wayne should return. Sledge Hume was loitering down +by the stable. + +The day passed, strangely silent. No reference was made in the Leland +household to the tragedy which had stirred each member of it so deeply, +so differently. Throughout the long afternoon Martin Leland remained +among his cattle and horses, often flaring into anger at trifles. Mrs. +Leland was in her room, alone, suffering as she might have suffered had +Arthur and Wayne been the sons nature had denied to her. Wanda +wandered restlessly back and forth, from the house to the stable, about +the yard, where the pigeons whirled and circled and cooed. + +The days which followed were like this one, silent, tense, expectant. +It was as though each one of these people was waiting for something, +all but breathless. MacKelvey, a heavy set, quick eyed man, the county +sheriff, came one day and talked long with Martin Leland. The two sat +for an hour on the corral fence below the stable. After that MacKelvey +went away and the waiting, the tense expectancy was more marked than +before. + +The tenth day came and went its laughing, blue way. Wayne Shandon did +not come with it, but Garth Conway rode over that evening. He had had +no word from Wayne, although he was expecting him hourly. Two weeks +passed, and still no word from Wayne. One by one, slowly, heavily the +days went by. + +Then at last Garth Conway rode again to the Leland ranch house and +brought tidings of Wayne. He had tired of New York, but he was not yet +coming West. Instead he was sailing for Europe, and would probably go +down into Africa for some hunting. + +"Where does he get the money?" demanded Martin Leland sharply. + +Garth's short laugh was rather full answer. But he elaborated it into +words: + +"I am to rush a forced sale of cattle," he said, lifting his shoulders. +"He wants two thousand dollars in a hurry. God knows what for. He is +going to fritter his property away just as he fritters away everything!" + +Leland sprang up from his chair, his two fists clenched and lifted high +above his head, his eyes blazing. + +"Martin! Martin!" cried Mrs. Leland. + +He dropped his hands to his sides and turned away, the words on his +tongue checked. + +"Dear God," Wanda prayed within her soul. "Let him be a man. Let him +come back soon. Before every one believes he did that thing, +before . . . they send for him!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE WHITE HUNTRESS + +Two months, filled with the clean breath of outdoors, had softened the +memory of that stark tragedy upon which Wanda had come at the edge of +Echo Creek. Not forgotten, never to be wiped clean from the memory, +still the keen horror was dulled, the harsh details blurred, the whole +dreadful picture softened under the web which the spider of time weaves +over an old canvas. + +Again life was glad and good and golden. Again youth was eager and +hopeful and merry. The death which had come and changed the world had +gone, leaving the world as it has always been. + +Wanda and Gypsy and Shep saw much of one another. They were all very +happy, perhaps because they were very busy. Full of enthusiasm that +was at once gay and serious Wanda had thrown herself into her "Work" +immediately upon returning home in the early springtime. Before the +tragic event which for the time had driven her life out of its groove +she had already won for herself the title, bestowed merrily by Wayne +Shandon, of the "White Huntress." Her "work," to which she gave up so +many hours of each day, was purposeful, steadily pursued, and brought +her a vast pleasure. The game she hunted was the squirrel tossing his +grey body through the branches of pine and cedar, the quail calling +from the hillsides, the cottontail scampering through the underbrush, +the yellowhammer, the woodpecker, the wide winged butterflies sailing +through the orchard and across the meadow lands. The weapon with which +she hunted was a camera which she carried in its black case slung over +her shoulder or hanging from the horn of Gypsy's saddle. + +Reared since babyhood in a land where men and women were few and where +the wild things of the forests were many and unafraid, she had long ago +come to look upon the little, bright eyed woodland folk as her +playmates. Many of her childhood sorrows and joys were linked with +their fates. Her first great grief had occurred when she was ten years +old and Jule, her brown bear cub,--named after the cook to whom he bore +in the child's eyes a marked resemblance, a slight and necessary +variation in the termination of the name taking care of the matter of a +difference in sex,--came to an untimely end through the instinctive and +merciless conduct of Shep's grandparents. The house was filled with +chipmunks who frightened Julia, to whom they were "jest rats, drat +'em," and who raided the kitchen systematically. A trained grey +squirrel barked from the trees above the house, and pet rabbits were +numerous and unprofitable about the vegetable garden. At the age when +little girls in the cities were dressing and undressing their dolls, +Wanda was taming a palpitating heart in some little fury [Transcriber's +note: furry?] breast or leaning breathlessly, like a small mother bird +herself, over a nest in the grass watching eagerly for the tender bills +to peck and chip their way out into the wonderful world. + +It was but natural therefore that after her childhood had gone and she +had outgrown her passion for numberless pets overrunning the house just +as her sisters in the cities had outgrown their pleasure in dressing +and undressing dolls, she should become the "White Huntress." She +loved more than ever the wildness of the forest lands, and the ways of +the woodland things were wonderful and mysterious to her. And now, +from a new angle, they were her study. + +There were days when she rode far out from the ranch house, her lunch +at her saddle strings, to be gone until dusk or after the stars came +out. She would leave Gypsy tethered where the grass was deep and rich, +command Shep to lie down and see that nobody ran away with her outfit, +and then tramp off alone, carrying her camera. She knew how to climb +up into the tree and to screen herself behind the foliage, so that she +might watch the mother bird and her ways, and find out when she should +expect the joyous miracle of new life. + +When the eggs were hatched Wanda was ready. Days before she had chosen +the exact spot on the particular limb where she would place her camera. +She had clothed herself as the springtime clothed the forests. A soft +blouse of green, short skirt and stockings of green, little cap of +green and green moccasins. She crouched upon the broad limb of a cedar +or clung more hazardously to the branch of a pine, the tone colour of +her costume making no discord with the dusky sheen of the waving +branches, and watched and waited. So, when "hunting" was good she had +a picture of the mother bird perched upon the edge of the nest in which +the eggs lay, a picture of the nest with the little, new birds obeying +the first command of nature, a picture of the parents feeding them the +first worm or berry or rebellious bug, a picture of the trial flight +when soft young bodies essayed independence on unskilful wings. + +At first the girl had been merely an amateur in the early, sweet sense +of the word. Then one day she saw a couple of pages in an illustrated +magazine devoted to such photographs as these she was playing with. +They were better than hers, since the man who had taken them was a +trained artist as well as a lover of the wild; and they had been at +once a disappointment and an inspiration to her. Then, upon another +day, her father who made little comment upon her pastime, handed her a +box from the express office in which she found a camera with a lens +that would do its part if she learned to do hers. And that was when +she threw herself so enthusiastically into her "work." + +"I am going to have a page of pictures in that same magazine," was her +way of thanking him. "And mine are going to be better!" + +She flushed a little at his smile, but when she had gone away and was +alone with her new possession and a world of possibilities, her chin +was very firm. + +She had her own studio in the attice above the dining room, developed +plates and films there, and descended the ladder into the hallway +flushed with triumph or vexed with disappointment as her efforts proved +to be good or bad. The mistakes had been many at first; they were few +now. + +She became a student of the "Home Life of the Wild Things." They all +interested her, they all posed for her, squirrel and bird and +butterfly. Inevitably she began to specialise, but her specialisation +was not in one species but rather in one process, in the dawning and +budding life of the young in the real "home life" before the new +fledgling or tiny furred body left the nest for an independent life and +a future nest of its own. The wild mates at work upon the house which +instinct prompted was to be of use soon, the construction of a swinging +pocket hung high up by an oriole, this was a part of the home life, +just as essential a part of it as the covering of the eggs, the feeding +of the young. + +Before the year had swelled and blossomed into full mid-summer she had +a pupil. It was her mother. Mother and daughter had always been more +to each other than the terms commonly imply, very nearly all that they +should connote. They had been friends. Here where the solitudes were +mighty and vast, where long miles and hard trails lay between homes and +where women were few, they had had but themselves to turn to when need +or desire came for the company of their own sex. Mrs. Leland had +remained young, in part because hers was a happy, sunny nature, in part +because she had had the fires of youth replenished from the +superabundant glow of girlhood in her daughter. + +But now that the summer came with monotony and silence, now that Arthur +Shandon came no more, that Wayne seemed to have forgotten the range +country, that Garth Conway was busy every day with the entire +management of a heavily stocked cattle outfit, there were long, quiet +days at the Echo Creek. + +"Wanda," Mrs. Leland said one day, a little wistfully. "Can't I come +with you and take a peep first hand into the homes of your wild +friends? I'll be very still, I'll stay with Shep and Gypsy if you want +me to." + +Wanda, at once contrite and happy, was filled with apologies and +explanations. She had had no thought that her mother would find an +interest in her "play." But if she would come, if she would like to +come, oh, she would show her the most wonderful discovery. . . . + +So mother and daughter rode out together that day with lunch and +camera, and that night worked together in Wanda's attic studio over a +highly satisfactory film. The older woman's interest became as steady, +as enthusiastic in a deeply thoughtful way, as Wanda's. She learned to +love each day's adventure as warmly as did her daughter, she came to +have the same tender joy in the unexpected discovery of some new phase +of the home life of the wild. + +"In all of your hunting you are missing something, my White Huntress," +she said one day. "Something which I have discovered!" + +Wanda smiled brightly at her over the top of a new picture, pleased +with her mother's interest no less than with the print in her hands. + +"What is it, mamma?" + +"I am not going to tell you yet. But to-morrow when we go out for the +oriole's nest, I am going to take your old kodak!" + +As they rode the five or six miles to the spot where they were to do +the morning's "hunting" Wanda wondered what it was she had missed that +her mother had noticed. But she promptly forgot about it when she +climbed the great pine which, for her mother's purpose, was so happily +situated close to a cliff. She noted with a bright nod of approval as +she edged far out upon a horizontal limb that her mother had made her +own way up to the cliff top. Long she waited that morning, patient and +happy and still, her camera set in front of her, before she got the +exposure she wanted. And she did not hear the other click of the other +machine, did not know that her mother had been as patient and as +contented waiting to get the picture she wanted of Wanda as Wanda had +been in snapping the bird and the nest and the young, hungry mouths at +the threshold. + +That afternoon they developed and printed, each her own pictures. And +when Mrs. Leland had finished she showed Wanda what she had done. +There was the picture of Wanda, far out upon the great limb, eager and +watchful, her camera ready, the oriole's nest swinging before her, the +mother bird just dropping down to it. And below and beyond were the +ground, looking immeasurably distant, the fir and pine branches, the +forest of trees. + +"You see, Wanda, what you have overlooked?" Mrs. Leland's eyes were +unusually bright. "You have dozens of pictures that are wonderful, +pictures that you strove for for weeks, months at a time! One looks at +your picture and sees that it is wonderful, but does not understand how +wonderful. You cling to a branch or a tree trunk or the side of a +cliff, fifty or a hundred and fifty feet of space below you, and take +your picture. People look at the picture and do not see that the +wonderful thing, the interesting thing, is how you got it!" + +"But . . ." began Wanda. + +"But," Mrs. Leland laughed happily, "just listen to me a moment, miss. +You are going on with your pictures and I am going to follow you very +humbly and take other pictures to show how you get them. We'll send +both sets to your magazines and you'll see if mine aren't snapped up +just as quick as yours!" + +So the relationship of mother and daughter which had grown into that of +a warm, intimate friendship now developed into closer, more intimate +companionship. Together they found bright, brimming days that +otherwise might have been dull and empty. + +Wanda came to realise that a woman who is forty may be, in all +essentials, as young as a girl of twenty, and that the added score of +years while it brings truer insight and perhaps a steadier heart does +not quench ardour or deaden the emotions. + +"Mamma," she said one day, looking up brightly from the development of +a film from her mother's kodak, "you are just a girl yourself!" + +And Mrs. Leland was just girl enough to flush, and youthful enough to +laugh as musically as her daughter. + +Thus, as the days went by and they were frequently alone together, +Martin Leland being often away on the business upon which he and Arthur +Shandon had entered with Sledge Hume, the two women were not lonely. +Mrs. Leland accompanied Wanda everywhere to take pictures showing the +girl climbing for a lofty bird nest, clinging to the cliffs at the +upper end of the valley, crouching hidden among the bushes waiting for +a rabbit to hop into the picture, even on the deer "hunt" they had +already begun. + +So the late summer slipped by more swiftly in its smooth channel than +ever, the leaves in the orchard yellowed with the fall, the light green +tips upon the fir branches turned dark green, the cattle were driven +down to the lower valleys along the creeks, and the first snows of +winter dimmed the shortening days. + +With the passing of the summer, Garth Conway came again to be a +frequent visitor at the Echo Creek ranch house. Since the letter from +Wayne Shandon in New York he had had but one communication from the man +who now owned the Bar L-M. It had been characteristically short, +written in London. + +"I am leaving the destiny of the cows In your competent hands," Wayne +wrote. "I am legally giving you a power of attorney. This authorises +you to run the outfit as you judge best. Make what sales you want to +to pay the boys and yourself. Bank the money or re-invest for +improvements and more cattle. The Lord knows when I'll come back . . . +provided the Devil has told Him." + +And then, in a postscript, hastily scribbled he had added, + +"I have made my will . . . Imagine me making a will! . . . and if I +don't come back at all the outfit is yours. Love to the Lelands." + +And then, as a second afterthought, he had scrawled at the top of the +note. + +"A joke on you in case I shouldn't come back, Garth! I want you to +sell some cows and send me another two thousand. But I promise not to +do it again." + +Garth told his news in the living room where the family had been +listening to the music of Wanda's lilting young voice with her mother's +piano accompaniment when he came in. Mrs. Leland's smiling face grew +clouded and distressed and her eyes turned involuntarily to her +husband. Martin Leland sprang to his feet in sudden wrath. + +"Hell's bells!" he shouted angrily. "Two sacrifice sales in less than +a year! Four thousand dollars! And what has he done with it? Got +drunk, chucked it away across race courses and card tables . . . Would +to God I had done what it was my duty to do, that . . ." + +"Martin!" cried Mrs. Leland. "Martin, dear!" + +He stopped abruptly and sank back into his chair. For a little while +there was silence, heavy and painful. Wanda's eyes grew misty. Not +once since that day in the spring had she been disloyal to Red +Reckless, whom she had known in his boyhood, who had fought her early +battles for her, who had been the plumed knight of her early girlhood. +She told herself now that he had not come back because he could not +bear to return yet to the place where he and his brother had spent so +many happy days together, that if he was living wildly now, scurrying +up and down the world and flinging away his inheritance, it was because +he had felt his brother's loss far more than he had let them know, that +he was going his pace swiftly to forget what lay behind. And again +there rose in her heart the mute prayer that he might come back and be +a man and show them all that they had not judged him fairly. + +Garth glanced swiftly at the faces of these three people who had heard +his news with such varied emotions, and went on to break the silence +none of them had noticed. + +"Matters are going rather well on the range," he said quietly. "I sold +a hundred head at an average of ninety-seven dollars last week and was +able to bank the entire nine thousand, seven hundred. Maybe," with a +quick smile, "it will be just as well if he doesn't come back in a +hurry." + +"Oh," cried Wanda impulsively. "That is ungenerous of you! After +Wayne says that he is leaving everything to you in his will, too!" + +"I don't mean to be ungenerous or yet ungrateful," replied Garth a bit +stiffly, flushing under the girl's reproachful eyes. "I only +meant . . ." + +"Wanda," said her father sharply, "you should be ashamed of yourself! +Garth has not been ungenerous and you have. And he is right. It would +be the best thing for Wayne himself as well as for the range if he +doesn't come back for a long time. Garth is working hard for the +interests of both. And if any one should be grateful to the man who is +running his range for him it is that young spendthrift. You are not +thinking, Wanda." + +The girl bit her lip and turned away. And she did not make the apology +her father expected. Dimly it seemed to her that they were all over +ready, over eager to condemn the man whose one crime had been mere +heedlessness, who was surely hurting no one but himself, but who +offended their ideas in refusing to take life seriously and bear the +common burden of responsibility. + +"After all," said Mrs. Leland a little hurriedly, "Wayne is only a boy. +Oh, he's a man in years, of course, but then some people are fortunate +enough to carry their youth with them a long time before it drops off. +And," with a smile, "he says he won't do it again!" + +Martin Leland smoked his two pipefuls of strong tobacco and then +departed to attend to some correspondence. Mrs. Leland soon slipped +away to her book and easy chair and cushions in a corner. Until ten +o'clock Wanda and Garth bent together over a big scrap book containing +the latest additions to the home life of the wild. + +Soon afterward even Garth Conway's visits to the Leland home stopped. +November came with many dark days and an occasional flurry of snow. +The ground might at any time now be covered, the passes choked with the +soft drifts, the valleys hidden. The cattle must be moved down the +mountains to the foothills where each year they wintered. The Bar L-M +buildings were closed, the heavy wooden shutters put up, the corrals +deserted until thaw time. Conway with his men and cattle would not +come again until springtime came with them. + +And over the Echo Creek ranch the silence of the summer passed into the +deeper silence of winter. Leland's cattle and men had gone already to +his winter range; there was no one at home excepting Mrs. Leland, +Wanda, Julia, and Jim who remained to do what little work there was to +be done during the term of "hibernating." Martin's interests were too +big for him to stay here had he desired to do so; his family would not +see him again for the two months or so during which he remained outside. + +It was not the first year that the Echo Creek house was not shuttered +and closed for the winter. Mrs. Leland had sometimes gone with her +husband to spend the storm swept months of the year either at one of +his other ranches or in the city, and sometimes she had stayed here. +This winter she had no particular desire to leave her comfortable home +for the makeshift of a San Francisco hotel and Wanda was eager to stay. + +"You'll be cooped up within ten days like shipwrecks on a raft," Martin +Leland said when he managed to make a trip back to the ranch in +December. "We're in for a hard winter. I wouldn't be surprised if I +couldn't get in again or you get out before well on into February or +March." + +He had made a flying trip between storms, hastening from El Toyon to +White Rock over the mail route, coming in from White Rock through the +still open pass through the mountains. His one object in coming had +been to try to induce his women folk to leave Echo Creek. And the same +day, seeing the threat of bad weather, he went out again, on skis and +alone. + +There were busy days for all four who remained at the ranch house in +making preparations for idle, comfortable days to follow. Jim brought +vast quantities of wood from the basement, piling it high in the corner +of the living room where it would be convenient for feeding the deep +throated fireplace whose rocks would stay warm all night, hot all day, +for many weeks. From the yard he brought more wood, piling it in the +basement until there were only narrow passageways between the slabs and +logs and the finer split stove wood. Julia superintended the placing +of her kitchen supplies, secreted those little delicacies which she +would require at Christmas time, arranged her canned goods and +perpetually fussed and rearranged in her storeroom. Meanwhile Mrs. +Leland and Wanda were everywhere at once, overseeing the moving of +beds, the shifting of furniture, the making cosy of the home against +the siege. And then, howling and shrieking, with deep voice shouting +across the pine forests, the winter came in earnest. + +Martin Leland had read the signs aright; it was to be a hard winter. +There came a wind storm that lasted without cessation for three days; +the branches of the cedars about the house tossed like long arms +grappling with an unseen foe; here and there a dead limb was wrenched +from a tree trunk and hurled far out to be buried in the snow which +began to fall in small, hard flakes almost congealed to hail. Then, +the three days gone, the wind died down suddenly, the flakes grew +larger, softer, the snow clung tenaciously to the trees and fences and +eaves of house and stable. Jim in arctic shoes and mittens, his ears +lost under the flaps of his cap, having sighed and bestirred himself +from his snug comfort by Julia's stove, got his shovel and went up on +the housetop. + +While the bleak, chill days rushed by Wanda prepared happily for the +fine weather which would come, when the sun reflected back from many +feet of fluffy snow would warm the air, when in the high, dry altitudes +the sparkling, Christmassy world would become a rarely beautiful thing, +when she could leave the house and penetrate deep into a solitude which +was as different from the solitude of the summer forestland as day is +from night. She brought down from the attic her own favourite pair of +skis and saw that they were fit. The long slender bits of pine, light +and graceful with their running grooves glistening, their turned up +ends like Turks' slippers, she stood on end in the living room while +she gave them a new coat of white shellac. Her snowshoe pole she +tested, making sure that it had sustained no injury during its long +banishment to the dark places of the attic, and that it could be +trusted in the work she would call upon it to do. She gathered the +winter out-door things which she had not used for two years, the white +sweater that clung close to her slim, pliant body; the white tasseled +hat, mitts, leggins, white bloomers. And then, when a blue and white, +laughing day came, and the air was clear and warm, the branches of the +trees sagging under their diamond pricked festoons of snow, she left +the house, now in truth the White Huntress. + +Camera and field glasses went with her; for lunch a bit of jerked beef +and a piece of hard chocolate. For to-day she began her winter work. +Again she was hunting. The forests as she slipped through them were +very still and seemed void of all the life that had swarmed here until +the snows came. But she would see snow birds, she might find a coyote +or a big snow-shoe rabbit. She would take pictures, too, such wintry +pictures as she had never seen, the world locked in the embrace of +winter, glistening icicles as big as her body, cliffs thrown into +strange, grotesque shapes, fields of untracked white with perhaps the +sweep of a stream seeming ink black against the dazzling white +background. + +And she thrilled to the crunch of thin crust underfoot which +yesterday's thaw and last night's freeze had formed, the whip of the +dry air in her face, the exhilaration of the long, swift dash as she +glided from the crest of some ridge, a silent, graceful creature, into +the hollow beyond. Her body bent a little forward, her snow-shoe pole +horizontal as a tight rope walker holds his balancing rod, the white +world slid away beneath her, little sinks or humps in the apparent +smoothness of the snow demanding the sudden leap which shot the blood +tingling through the eager body. For the light skis with their three +coats of shellac carried her down the steeper slopes with the wild +speed of a bird skimming the winter whitened earth. + +This first day she took an old favourite way which led her up a gradual +slope straight southward until at last she paused, breathing deeply, +upon the crest. Far behind her she could see the smoke of the ranch +house rising from a clump of cedars; straight ahead the black line of +the river. And now, balancing a moment, gripping her pole firmly, +settling her feet securely in the ski-straps, she shot downward, taking +the steep dip which would lead after a little into a long curve and so +bring her flashing through the trees down to the river three miles away. + +Her eyes were sparkling, her cheeks glowing, her body warm with the +sun's heat and the leaping blood within her, when she straightened up +and touching the end of her pole lightly against the snow came to a +stop near the river. It was swollen and black, a mighty, shouting +thing, the only thing about her whose voice had not been stilled by the +snow. + +Her eyes turning found close at hand the first tracks she had seen this +morning, fresh tracks of a big rabbit. + +"I must have frightened him," she thought. "He's gone on upstream." + +She turned upstream as the rabbit had done, noiselessly following his +trail. And, turned eastward by a rabbit's track, she followed +unconsciously, unsuspectingly, the imperious bidding of her fate. Her +own life, the lives of two men would have been widely different had +Wanda Leland turned westward instead of eastward this morning. + +Already she was a mile above the bridge across which the road ran to +the Bar L-M. From where she was a stranger might not suppose that man +or horse could find a place to cross in many times that distance; for +here the river banks were steep cliffs, never lower than ten feet, +rising often abruptly to thirty. Between them the water raged, +thundering over falls, leaping into deep pools where the sucking eddies +were never still. + +And as she moved on upstream, further yet from the bridge, the rocky +banks grew steeper, drew nearer to each other, until suddenly the +plunging river was lost to her, its thunder muffled. Wanda could see a +thick mat of snow from a great, flat topped rock on the far side +curving downward, inward, as if from the eaves of a house, the long +icicles like sharp teeth set in a monster's gaping jaw. + +Close along the edge of the cliffs the course of the fleeing rabbit +led, while Wanda's skis left their parallel smooth tracks in a straight +line a score of feet back from the steep bank. She slipped silently +through a clump of firs, peered around the branches bent down by the +heavy snow, and saw the snow-shoe rabbit where he had stopped for a +moment. He was a big fellow, the biggest she had ever seen, crouching +low, his round eyes bright and suspicious, as he trusted to his colour +to protect him. She brought her camera swiftly out of its case. + +"There's a chance to get him, after all," she thought eagerly. "It +won't be much of a picture perhaps . . . just a white blur against a +white background . . ." + +The camera clicked just as the rabbit leaped forward; she thought she +had caught him against the dark background of a fir from which much of +the snow had fallen. Then, just in front of the frightened animal a +little branch of a small pine, suddenly released of its weight of snow, +whipped up; a new terror came into the creature's panic stricken +breast; he stopped sharply, swerved, lost his head as one of his rattle +brained species is likely to do, ran directly toward the girl, swerved +again and running straight toward the river, essayed the impossible and +met destruction. He leaped far out across the water, attempting a jump +that none of his kind could have made safely, and fell short. The +furry body described a great valiant arc, shot upward for one flashing +second, dropped out of sight. + +"Oh, I am so sorry," cried the girl contritely. "You poor little +thing." + +The woodland tragedy moved her strangely, for she felt that, innocently +enough, she had caused it. She moved closer to see if by a happy +chance the rabbit had landed upon a rocky shelf far down, hoping that +after all she might in some way set him free. + +Moving slowly, her camera again in its case, her pole touching the +snow, she approached until she could look down. Only the steep wall on +the far side, sinking straight and black into the swollen torrent, only +a little speck of white far down which might have been a struggling +body or a fleck of foam. + +"The poor little thing," she said again. "He saw that the far bank is +lower than this one, and he was too frightened to guess the distance." + +Musing, she thought that her skis were merely settling a little deeper +through the crust when she felt a slight sinking underneath. Then, +suddenly, she was aware that her skis were dipping downward, that she +was slipping. She tried hastily to draw back, she felt that she was +still slipping, that the polished surfaces of the skis were answering +the call of gravity, that she was being drawn closer, closer in spite +of her efforts . . . + +She made a wild, frantic attempt to draw back, a quick terror gripping +her. The shouting river was calling to her, something was pulling at +her body steadily as a magnet pulls at a steel, the world was slipping +away under her, she was going the way the rabbit had gone . . . + +Then she threw her body backward, twisting as best she could with the +skis clinging to her feet, clutching with her hands at anything her +fingers might touch. She heard a splash, knew that the overhang of +snow had dropped into the river, knew that one ski was hanging over the +brink. And then the hand that had gripped at the smooth snow sank down +and clutched the top of a small, hidden pine, she drew herself up and +back and in a moment, white, shaking she lay still, not daring to look +down. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE HOME COMING OF RED RECKLESS + +Winter went its white way, the spring brought a thawing sun, +innumerable muddy torrents and an occasional visitor, the robins and +blue birds began to troop back to the mountains. Martin Leland was at +home, his sturdier steers were in the valleys, Conway came back to the +Bar L-M and often visited the Lelands. Sledge Hume rode up from the +Dry Lands, fifty miles down the slope of the mountains and was often in +consultation with Martin and with Garth Conway. + +Warm weather battled against the rear guard of winter, only patches of +soiled snow remained upon the north side of the ridges, in the narrow +caņons and upon the lofty summits of the peaks standing up about the +valleys. The early flowers dotted the valleys, more cattle were moved +in, and the season developed rapidly. Conway came frequently to talk +with Martin, to remain for supper, to chat with Wanda and her mother. +And then one day, unheralded, unlooked for, Red Reckless came home. + +It was the supper hour, just after dark. Father, mother and daughter +were at the table, when there came a quick step upon the veranda, and +the joy which the gay springtime had put into Wanda's heart brimmed up +and spilled over. + +"It's Garth," said Martin Leland lightly. "I expected he'd ride over +to-night." + +"_It's Wayne_!" cried Wanda, already upon her feet. + +"Wayne!" snapped her father, his face suddenly stern. "What are you +talking about?" + +"I know his step. It is Wayne!" + +Wanda had already run to the door, and flung it wide open. It was very +dark outside. The tall form of a man loomed strangely large, dimly +outlined against the black curtain of the night. + +"Welcome home, Wanderer!" Wanda cried gaily. + +Wayne Shandon came in, his big boots dusty with his ride, his red hair +catching fire from the light in the room, his eyes laughing, his lips +laughing, his voice laughing when he greeted Wanda with two eager +hands. He was the same Wayne Shandon who had ridden away a year ago, +the same Red Reckless he had ever been. + +Mrs. Leland's startled surprise vanished swiftly before her joy in +seeing him. But Martin Leland's face went black, his eyes burned +ominously, it was as though he had been gripped with a choking, +speechless wrath. + +"Wayne!" cried Mrs. Leland. "Where in the world have you come from?" + +"From a place they call Hell's Annex, seven hundred miles inland from +the South African Coast," he laughed lightly. "My arrival timed just +to the minute for supper!" + +He dropped Wanda's hands with a parting squeeze which was frankly +unhidden, strode over to Mrs. Leland whom he kissed resoundingly, and +put out a big, strong hand to Martin Leland. + +For just a fraction of a second the two women knew that Leland was +hesitating, for an instant they waited fearfully, for what he might do. +Then he took the hand proffered him, his lips twitched into a hard, +forced smile and he said rather colourlessly, + +"Well, Wayne, you've come home at last, have you?" + +Wayne's answer was a laugh. He seemed filled with laughter to-night. +Evidently he had noticed nothing strange in Leland's greeting; he was +in the gayest of his gay moods. He had no opportunity to answer +Leland's words, for Julia, who had forgotten her usual slow, ponderous +method of travel bounced into the room like a wonderfully animated ball +at the sound of his voice, and he actually swept the two hundred pounds +of her off of her feet as he gathered the big woman up into his arms +and kissed her. Then Julia dabbed at her eyes and fled to her kitchen, +her emotions finding outlet in an instantaneous desire to make him a +pie, Wanda laid a plate for him and supper went on. + +Chiefly because of Wanda's eager questions and Wayne Shandon's laughing +willingness to tell about his adventures, the abstraction on the part +of Martin Leland and the growing anxiety in Mrs. Leland's eyes went +unnoticed. Wayne was immoderately hungry as he first frankly confided +and then demonstrated, but he found opportunity between mouthfuls to +draw, in his sketchy way, the series of pictures which made up the year +of his wanderings. He had travelled from New York to London, he had +whizzed through Paris and dipped into Baden, he had been seasick on a +Mediterranean which wasn't blue, he had barked his shins on a pyramid, +he had been swindled out of a ridiculously large sum of money by a +little scientist in green spectacles who was out on a mummy digging +expedition, and he had gone into the interior after big game. He had +managed to take in a Derby and to pick a winner, he had made Monte +Carlo recognise that he had come,--although he did not go into detail +as to the manner of his departure,--and he had brought home a present +for everybody. The skin he had taken from a lion somewhere in some +remote jungle to sprawl, rug fashion in Wanda's room, where it created +no little havoc in the furniture arrangement and finally caused the +dressing table to be shifted to a corner to make place for the +enormous, gaping head with the fierce eyes; an Indian shawl for Mrs. +Leland, selected evidently for size and brilliance of pattern, very +nearly large enough to carpet the dining room and of an astonishing +combination of dark greens and riotous reds and royal purples; an +ornate scarf pin for Martin Leland who had as much use for a scarf pin +as a Mohammedan for a Bible; an exquisite set of chessmen for Garth +purchased with a quick eye to the subtle art which had gone into their +carving and with a fine disregard for the fact that Garth had existed +for thirty odd years without learning that the curveting progress of a +knight is in any way different from the ecclesiastical slant of a +bishop, completed the assortment of presents. + +Garth himself came in as they were pushing back their chairs from the +table, throwing open the door with a merry, "Hello, folks," on his +lips. Then as he caught sight of Wayne who had leaped up and swung +about he stared, suddenly speechless, his mouth dropping open. + +"Well, Garth, old boy," cried Wayne heartily. "Aren't you glad to see +me?" + +Garth came forward then swiftly, his hand out-stretched. But his eyes +were still startled rather than glad, and they passed his cousin +turning, full of question, to Martin Leland. + +"Of course I'm glad," he said, his voice a little uncertain. And then, +laughing, "You just surprised me out of my senses. Why didn't you +write that you were coming?" + +"Because I'd rather travel three thousand miles to tell you about it +than write a letter. I'm amazingly glad to see you. How's everything? +How is the range making out?" + +"Fine," Garth answered quickly. "You have come to stay? You will be +running the outfit yourself now?" + +"Business to-morrow," retorted Wayne lightly. "It is after sundown and +business should be asleep." + +"And does it wake at sunup?" Garth returned with an attempt at Wayne's +bantering mood, although a little suspicion of venom lay under the +words. + +"I had a Mexican friend once," grinned Wayne by way of answer, "who was +the wisest man I ever saw. He used to say, 'The day is made to rest, +the night to sleep!' We will give our attention to Maņana when Maņana +comes. Wanda!" he cried suddenly in the old impulsive way, "will you +play something for me?" + +Wayne and Wanda went to the piano. Mrs. Leland watched them, her face +a little troubled, a little wistful. Garth and Martin Leland, after +one swift exchange of glances, rose and went to the rancher's room +where they remained for a long time. When at last they returned to the +living room Leland glanced curiously at Wayne. He was sitting with +Wanda upon the sofa under the big wall lamp, examining her pictures. +Garth approached the sofa abruptly. + +"We'd better be hitting the trail, Wayne, hadn't we?" he asked. "It's +nearly ten o'clock and you remember it's six miles to bed." + +Reluctantly Wayne Shandon said his good nights, calling in to Julia +that he was going to expect a pie the next time he came, which would be +to-morrow if Garth would let him, and the two men went out to their +horses. Wanda, bright and happy, waved to the departing horsemen from +the door and came back into the room to drop naturally into the silence +which had fallen over her mother and father. + +Long that night Wanda stared out through the darkness which lay about +the orchard with no thought of sleep. She had the feeling that no one +in the house was asleep yet, not even Julia whom she could hear now and +then moving as softly as physical conditions permitted in her room. +That her father and mother were awake, she knew from the drone of their +voices coming to her indistinctly. + +The spirit of restless anxiety falling upon a household is a thing to +be felt through stick and stone and mortar. There had been no such +spirit here to-night until Red Reckless had come home. He had not +brought it with him, he had brought only his sheer madness of exuberant +life, and yet he had left this other thing behind him. Wanda wondered +what thoughts, what fears or evil premonitions troubled those other +unsleeping brains. + +Her own thoughts fled back a year and clung fearfully about the +revolver with the pearl grip. She knew that the murder of his brother +still remained a mystery and that people do not like mysteries to go +long without solution. MacKelvey was sheriff, it was his duty, and it +was his habit, to bring some man to book for every crime committed in +the county. It was quite possible that the sheriff had been playing a +waiting game throughout the year, and that he was waiting for this man +to come back as he must do soon or late. + +Meanwhile the man who was so vividly in Wanda's thoughts rode through +the silent night with his cousin, drinking deep of the peace of the +starlit night, finding an old familiar music in the hammering of his +horse's hoofs on the grassy hills. Silent himself while thinking of +other days and other rides, he did not notice how silent Garth was. +They topped the rocky ridge which stood as boundary line between the +two ranges, and swerved westward taking the long curve to the Crossing, +welcomed back to the home outfit by the great booming voice of the +distant river. Another mile and the river itself, flashing, turbulent +molten silver, swollen with the wet winter in the mountains, swept +shouting past them. + +They turned upward along the river and raced wordlessly the greater +part of the remaining half mile to the Bar L-M corrals. When they drew +rein in the wide clearing in which stood range house, bunk house, +stables and corrals, there was no spark of light about. They unsaddled +swiftly, turned their horses loose with a resounding slap to send them +out toward the little enclosed pasture, and went up to the range house. +At the door of the men's quarters Wayne stopped. + +"I think I'll drop in and say hello to the boys," he remarked, already +at the door. + +"Are you crazy?" cried Garth. "They've been asleep two hours, man. +And they've got a big day's work ahead of them to-morrow." + +"Oh, shut up, Garth," laughed Wayne good naturedly. "Don't you ever +think of anything but work? Come ahead, and watch me bring 'em to +life!" + +He flung open the door and entered, Garth following in stony silence. +It was dark within the long, narrow room, although the starlight +gleamed feebly through the dirty window panes. Wayne found the lantern +upon the nail where it had hung when he was a boy, lighted it, and +turned the wick low so that there was only a wan light in the bunk +house. + +"Where's Big Bill's bunk?" he whispered to Garth. + +Chuckling softly he drew near the bunk which Garth indicated against +the wall at the far end of the room. He leaned forward, stooping low, +peering into the shadows. Big Bill was fast asleep, his great, deep +lungs expelling his breath regularly and mightily, his head with its +touseled ink black hair half hidden by the hairy arm flung up over it. +Wayne tiptoed away from the bunk, moved two chairs further back against +the other wall, and still chuckling with vastly amused anticipation, +again approached Big Bill's bedside. + +He put out his hands slowly, gently, until they slipped into Big Bill's +arm pits. Then, his laughter suddenly booming out he bunched his +muscles and a black haired giant of a man in shirt and underdrawers was +jerked floundering out of his bunk to the middle of the room. + +Big Bill's mighty roar of mingled astonishment and anger brought a +dozen cowboys leaping out of their bunks. In the dimly lighted room +their blinking eyes made out the forms of two men struggling, one in +his night dress, the other in hat and boots. One was Big Bill, for his +roar was an unmistakable as the roar of summer thunder. But the other? + +"I've been hungering to get my hands on you for a year!" came the +laughing voice of the man in hat and boots. "You said that you could +roll me, Bill. Now go to it!" + +He lifted the mighty body of the struggling, half wakened cowboy clean +off the floor, carried him across the room and slammed him down in a +chair. + +"It's Red Reckless!" cried a voice from the group of stupefied men. +"He's come home!" + +"You ol' son-of-a-gun!" bellowed Big Bill, half in the surly anger +which is the natural right of a man rudely awakened, half in tremulous +joy. "Wait ontil I git my eyes open good an' I'll roll you like you +was dough an' I'm makin' biscuits out'n you!" + +Evidently he had his eyes "open good" before he had done talking. He +was upon his feet, the big, swaying body oddly like a clumsy black +bear's, his big hands lifted in front of him. And then he threw +himself forward, close to two hundred and fifty pounds of brawn and +bone hurled like a boulder from a catapult. Some one had turned up the +lantern wick. The black head and the red head from which the hat had +dropped came together, there was the thud of two strong bodies meeting +with an impact that brought a little coughing grunt from each, and Red +Reckless had done what any man must do before such a thunderbolt. He +was flung backward, went down, and the two big bodies struck hard upon +the bare floor. And above the crash of the falling bodies there were +two other sounds, Big Bill's grunt, and the laughter of Red Reckless. + +They were down, and Big Bill was topmost. But by the laws of the game +a man must be forced back until his two shoulders touch the floor +before he is beaten. Wayne Shandon's left shoulder was still two +inches from the floor. + +"You would wake a man up," grumbled Big Bill with that fierceness of +tone which spoke a moment of rare delight. + +"I'm going to show you something, Bill," gasped Wayne, half choked with +the breath driven out of his lungs by the great bulk on top of him and +by the laughter within his soul which had not been driven out. +"Something I learned from a Jap about three feet high. It cost me a +hundred dollars and a broken collar bone. I'll let you off easier, +Bill." + +The light was none too good, perhaps the boys were not yet wide awake. +They didn't know how the trick was done, and it wasn't at all clear to +Big Bill. + +Wayne seemed to grow very limp beneath his hard hands and watchful +eyes. Ready for trickery Big Bill, while he bore down hard on the left +shoulder, and wrenched and twisted at the corded neck, expected +anything. He had considerably less respect for a Jap than for a horse, +looking upon the race as mimicking apes and not men at all, and he had +no wish to be bested by a Jap trick. Yet Big Bill didn't understand. + +Somehow Wayne Shandon slipping out of Bill's grasp like an eel through +its native mud, had run an arm under his left arm pit, around his neck, +over his right shoulder. Wayne's left hand leaped to Big Bill's right +wrist. Bill felt that his neck was breaking, that his right arm was +broken. And then he knew that Wayne was upon his knees, that his own +two hundred and fifty pounds of big battling body were lifted high from +the floor, that he was jerked sideways and slammed down. And then the +boys were laughing and Wayne stood over him, laughing too, and he knew +that his two big shoulder blades had struck the floor together. + +"It's a damn' Jap trick," he muttered, more than half angry now, +flinging himself to his feet. "White man's fightin' I c'n lick every +inch of you from red hair to toe nails." + +But Red Reckless was laughing and shaking hands all round and Big Bill +found no one to listen to the explanations he made. One after another +the owner of the outfit greeted warmly the men who were working for +him. Then he swung about, and went back to Big Bill. + +"Shake, Bill," he cried. "It was rather a mean trick to do you up +to-night but I couldn't wait until morning. I'll give you another +chance when you like." + +Big Bill grinned and his hard brown hand shut tight about Wayne's. + +"There'll be lots of chances," he said shortly, his voice fierce, his +black eyes very gentle. "You've come to stay, ain't you, Red?" + +A look of vast disgust stole over Garth Conway's face. + +"It's Bill and Red as if they're all dogs in one kennel," he muttered. +"It isn't hard to forecast what's going to happen to a range with a +boss like that!" + +He waited a little restlessly for Wayne to finish the conversation into +which he had entered with the crowd of cowboys who seemed to have +forgotten that they had a day's work before them. But Wayne Shandon, +too, seemed to have forgotten. He was half sitting on the table, one +leg swinging, his quick hands rolling a cigarette from the "makings" +proffered by Tony Harris, his laughing eyes filled with the joy of home +coming, his tongue already busied with the answering of many rapid fire +questions. No, he hadn't seen all of the world; it was bigger than +they'd think. But he had played "gentleman's poker" with club dudes in +London, he had hunted with niggers and potted many strange things from +an alligator to a cow elephant, he had seen the pyramids-- + +While Garth lingered at the door, the other men, crowding closer to the +man at the table, grew into a charmed circle about him, a picturesque +congregation in their underclothes of grey and white and washed out +pinks and blues. Within five minutes after the defeat of Big Bill +every man of them was either making or smoking a cigarette with all +thought of their tumbled bunks forgotten. There were many demands for +first hand information concerning wild niggers and pyramids and the +ways of the jungle; there were many exclamations testifying in mild +profanity to startled wonderment. At last Garth, turning away, called +out, + +"I say, Wayne, you mustn't forget it's getting late. There's a big +day's work for the boys to-morrow." + +"This is my home coming celebration, Garth," Wayne laughed back at him. +"Hang the work, man. We'll have a half holiday to-morrow if the whole +outfit goes to pot." + +Anything further Garth had to remark he said angrily to himself as he +strode away to the range house. And Wayne, with no further +interruption, explained how the games ran at Monte Carlo. Finally, +since there was nothing in the world he had learned to love as he loved +horses, he came to speak of the Derby. + +"The greatest race in the world," he cried, slapping his thigh +enthusiastically. "Just because it's the straightest and the stakes +are right and the horses are as beautiful as women and as swift as +lightning!" + +One o'clock came and they were talking horses and racing, the men now +upon common ground, their eyes bright with the tale retold of the +Kings' race. And before it was two Red Reckless was standing erect +upon his two feet, his eyes brighter than the rest, his voice leaping +out eagerly as he cried: + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PROMISE OF LITTLE SAXON + +Rose-bud, the unlovely Chinese cook, made the dawn hideous in the range +house with his pots and pans and rattling stove lids. To him appeared +Red Reckless, touseled and sleepy eyed looking to the astonished +oriental's vision like an avenging demon, threatening to choke him to +death with his own pigtail and to roast him crisp and brown him in his +own oven if he didn't conduct himself with less noise in his pastime of +breakfast getting. + +"Gollee!" Rose-bud found his tongue as Wayne disappeared into his +bedroom. "Led, him come back some more. Led, him boss now!" He stood +grinning in slant eyed cunning at the closed door. "Garth him all same +go bye-bye now, maybeso?" He pondered the question, with his evil +featured head cocked to one side. Then his grin became more profoundly +Chinese, more radiantly joyful. "All same hell pop all time now." + +And he went about his preparations for breakfast in strange, complacent +silence, making his coffee twice as strong as he had made it for a +year, the way Red Reckless liked it. + +Garth Conway breakfasted alone. A glance out toward the bunk house +against the fringe of trees at the far side of the clearing showed him +that there was no smoke there, that the men were not about. A little +angry spot glowing on each cheek he stepped out upon the porch as +though to bring these slumbering men to a swift awakening. But he +turned instead and came back into the dining room. + +"You Chink fool," he flung at Rose-bud when his cup of coffee was set +in front of him. "I don't drink ink for breakfast. What's the matter +with you?" + +Rose-bud wrapped his body in his long arms and his face in its childish +smile, lifted his vague hints of eyebrows archly and nodded toward +Wayne's room. + +"Led, him come back," he said with unutterable sweetness. "Him like +coffee all same black as hell. Him boss now? Too bad. You damn fine +boss, Mis' Garth." + +And he shuffled back to the stove leaving Garth scowling angrily after +him. + +Garth breakfasted in morose silence, disregarding the many joyful +glances which Rose-bud directed upon him. Afterward he took out his +pipe and stuffed it full with an impatient finger. The hesitation +which had marked him last night seemed to grow with the slow hours of +the idle morning. He had long been absolute, unquestioned dictator of +the destiny of the Bar L-M, and he had grown naturally into the way of +regarding it half with the eye of its permanent master. It had not +only been his entirely so far as management was concerned for more than +twelve months, but there had been always the possibility that it would +be his to have and to hold, to do with as he thought best, if Wayne +should not come back. But Wayne had come back. The coffee was +eloquent of the fact; the slothfulness of the bunk house shouted it in +his ears. He felt a sense of irritation, of injustice. + +"The men will sleep until noon," he growled savagely. "Good heavens, +is he crazy? Must he come back and chuck the whole thing to the dogs?" + +There was nothing to do but smoke and wait for the next absurdity of a +man who had played ducks and drakes with everything he had ever had, +who was too big a fool to see--or care, which was it?--what was going +to happen when he had run to the end of his rope. + +Wayne, rosy from head to foot from his rough bath towel, tingling with +the leaping life within him, showing no signs of the all but sleepless +night, came out to breakfast before Garth had finished his pipe. He +caught Rose-bud by the two shoulders, drove him back against the wall +and held him there while he spoke to him. + +"I've a notion to jam you through into the other room, you yellow +heathen," he informed the cook whose smile was just a trifle uncertain. +"If the coffee is good I'll let you off." + +Rose-bud's smile became radiant immediately. He poured out the black +beverage with the air of a magician conjuring a stream of gold from the +old coffee pot, and evinced as great a pleasure in watching Wayne +dispose of his breakfast as Wayne himself manifested in the act. Garth +came back into the room while his cousin was eating. + +"Well, Wayne," he said. "What's the bill of fare for the day?" + +Shandon nodded, swallowed and bade Garth a cheery "Good morning." + +"To-day?" he repeated after his cousin. "I'm just going to get a live +horse between my legs and ride! Big Bill tells me that no man has +thrown a leg over Lightfoot's back since I left, and that she's just +full of hell and mustard and aching for a scamper. Bill knows where +she is; he's going with me to help round her up and then . . ." + +"Well?" questioned Garth drily. "You're going to work on her to-day?" + +Shandon laughed. + +"Who said anything about work? You're growing to be an awful +sobersides, old fellow. Here I haven't been back twenty-four hours and +you're already suggesting that I shove my neck into the yoke. Now, you +ought to know better than that." + +Garth drew deeply at his pipe, his lips tight about the stem. + +"You haven't changed much, Wayne," he said presently. + +"Who wants to change?" Shandon retorted lightly. "One would think I'd +been away ten years and it was time for grey hairs and long hours of +sitting still in the sun." He favoured his cousin with a merry, +searching glance and added, "You haven't changed much yourself that I +can see." + +For no apparent reason Conway flushed slightly and then frowned. + +"I had a good hard day's work cut out for the boys," he said casually. + +"You're finding plenty to keep them busy, I'll bet," grinned Shandon. + +"Yes," carelessly. "We're a bit short handed just now and there is +always a lot to do. I've let a man go here and there when he was just +eating his head off for us. A half day lost means that much more hard +work to be made up." + +"Get them busy then, will you, Garth? It's decent of you to save all +you could for me, but hang it, don't mind putting on a new man when we +need him. The boys have had enough sleep by now and I've sort of +slipped out of the routine of the work. Will you go ahead and run the +outfit for me until I get back into it? It would be a big favour to +me." + +Conway swung about toward the door eagerly, and so swiftly that Shandon +did not see the light that sprang up in his eyes. + +"Glad to," he called back as he went out. "Take your time about +getting back into the traces, Wayne." + +"Good old Garth," Shandon muttered with deep satisfaction. And then he +turned his attention again to the biscuits and bacon. + +Garth went immediately to the bunk house. He found the men all asleep; +he left them all wide awake. + +"Tony," he cried sharply, "come alive there and get the boys some +breakfast. You men know that Mr. Shandon is back, don't you? Do you +want him to think that this is the way we've been attending to his +business for him while he was gone? Bill, get a couple of horses +saddled while Harris is getting breakfast for you, and as soon as you +eat report at the house with them. You are to help find Lightfoot." + +The boys scrambled out of their bunks, and Tony Harris in picturesque +night raiment was thrusting paper and kindling into his stove before +Garth had gone ten steps from the door he had slammed behind him. Did +they want Wayne Shandon to think that they had neglected his interests +in his absence? Not by a jug full, growled Big Bill. And he wasn't +the kind to think it in the first place or to care in the second, he +grunted as he jerked on his overalls and shoved his big feet into his +shoes. Mister Shandon! Huh! + +But they took their cue from Conway's sharp words and did not wait for +breakfast to get ready for the day's work. Big Bill was the first in +the corral but the others came trooping after him, roping their horses, +saddling and bringing them to the bunk house door to be mounted swiftly +as soon as the morning meal could be finished. And, as usual little +Andy Jennings saddled an extra horse, a graceful, cat-footed mare, +cream coloured, with white mane and tail, for Garth Conway. + +There were few words spoken in the bunk house as the men made their +hurried meal. Steve Dunham demanded to be told if Red was going to let +Conway "run things" for him, or if he was going to be his own foreman +as his brother had been before him. More than one man lifted his +shoulders at the question. And since there was no answer to be given +yet, since that was the one thing they were all thinking about, it was +almost a wordless meal. + +In a little while Garth Conway was back at the bunk house and swung up +into the saddle, his perfect animal, his own graceful form, his +somewhat picturesque costume, riding breeches, puttees, wide soft hat +and gauntlets making a bit of pleasant colour against the +commonplaceness of the ranch yard. He waited impatiently a few minutes +until the men came out and then rode away toward the lower end of the +valley ordering them curtly to follow him. It was Garth's way; they +didn't know what the day's work was to be, although they might come +close to guessing, until he chose to tell them. Big Bill alone +remained behind, making his way with two horses to the house, where +Wayne came down the steps to meet him. + +"Hello, Bill," Wayne greeted him lightly. "Feeling sore this morning?" + +"Hello, Red," Big Bill retorted with what was meant to be a scowl but +which twisted itself in spite of him into a widening grin. "Not sore +outside, seein' as I fell easy. Jus' kinda sore inside thinkin' you'd +go an' play a low down Jap trick on a man. But nex' time . . ." + +He shook his head in mock sorrow thinking of the thing that was going +to happen to the merry eyed man from whom he took his pay. + +Red laughed, strapped on the spurs clinking at the saddle horn, vaulted +from the steps to his horse's back and bending suddenly forward shot +ahead of Big Bill, and sped toward the upper end of the valley where +the unused horses were grazing. The cowboy, racing behind him, watched +him with shrewd eyes and a grunted comment that he hadn't forgotten how +to ride. + +When the horses had "run off" their early morning restlessness the two +men drew them down to a swinging walk and riding side by side found +much to talk about. Shandon asked about this, that and the other +horse, giving each its name as if they were men he spoke of, and Big +Bill reported promptly and in full detail. Brown Babe had been sick +during the winter; a cold running on until it was touch and go if she'd +go down with the pneumonia. Doc Trip had taken a hand though, Bill +himself having ridden thirty miles to fetch the cowboy who had a rude +skill as a veterinary and no little reputation with it, and Brown Babe +had pulled through as good as a two year old. Her colt out of Saxon? +Say there was a bit of horse flesh for you! Close to three year old +now and never a rope on him. Little Saxon they called him. Little? +Big Bill laughed softly. The name had stuck since he had been a colt. +He was bigger than his dad already, although not so heavy, of course, +and he had more speed right now than his mother ever thought of having. +If they ever did put on a race--Endymion, Little Saxon's full brother? +Big Bill shook his head and spat thoughtfully. Sold six months ago. + +"Sold?" cried Shandon sharply. "Who sold him?" + +"Conway, of course. He's the only man as has sold any Bar L-M stock." + +Shandon started to speak, then closed his lips tightly. Big Bill +looked at him quickly, then drew his eyes away and let them rest upon +his horse's bobbing ears. + +"Of course Garth couldn't know that I didn't want any of the horses, +the best horses, sold," Shandon said quietly after a moment. "I wrote +to him to use his own judgment in all things, to sell and buy as he +thought best. It isn't his fault but-- Hang it, I'm just a little +sorry I didn't think to tell him. Who bought Endymion, Bill?" + +"Sledge Hume," answered Big Bill. "He was crazy stuck on the colt the +firs' time he ever laid eyes on him. I guess Conway held him up for a +pretty stiff price too. He sure had the chance." + +"So Hume bought Endymion," said Shandon thoughtfully. And he seemed +less pleased than before. "Oh, well, we'll see what we can do with +Little Saxon." + +"Little Saxon's a better horse any day in the week," cried Big Bill +loyally. "He ain't got the stren'th yet, of course, an' he ain't got +the savvy as comes with trainin'. But he's got the speed an' he's got +the spirit. Lord, Red, you've got a horse there! Wait ontil you see +him runnin' with the herd. He don't eat dust off nobody's heels." + +Shandon's eyes brightened. He had seen possibilities in the two year +old before he went away, when the colt belonged to Arthur, and it was +good to know that Little Saxon had fulfilled the promise of youth. And +he saw too, a morning's work ahead of him, such work as the leaping +spirit of Red Reckless loved. A wild scamper across the upper end of +the narrow valley, skirting the lake perhaps; a headlong race after a +horse born of Brown Babe and the high spirited stallion Saxon; the +swinging of a rope in a hand that had not known the feel of one for a +year; and the final conquest that would come when at last that rope +settled about the defiant neck. + +"For we'll get Lightfoot first, Bill," he said eagerly. "Little +Saxon'll have to go some when I've got Lady Lightfoot under me. And +then we'll take the three year old in and begin breaking him." + +Big Bill chuckled joyously. And as Garth had said before him he +muttered that Wayne Shandon hadn't changed much. + +As they rode the valley widened for a little before them, the steep +wall of cliffs and crags drawing back upon the right, lifting their +crests ever higher, topped by few scattering pines, firs and tamaracks. +Here and there a giant cedar flourished in isolated majesty, lifting +its delicately formed cones a hundred and fifty feet above its ancient, +gnarled roots. The valley itself was for the most part clear of timber +and scrub. The herds had not yet come up here this year, and would not +come until the lower end had been thoroughly fed off. For here there +would be grazing land in abundance until the winter came and all herds +must be moved to the pastures far down the mountains where the snow +fall was never more than a few thawing inches. + +Conversation between the two men died down as they pushed deeper into +the solitudes. When they had ridden a couple of miles, the valley +narrowed again, the timber line crept in closer at every yard, the +mountains drew in abruptly and rose more precipitously in sheer, +frowning, dominant majesty, the river shot hissing down its rocky +course, a wild thing plunging madly toward freedom and an open world. + +So with few words, each man's thoughts wandering as chance and the +river and mountains directed them, Shandon and Big Bill rode slowly. +That trail brought them at last down close to the edge of the stream as +the banks on either hand drew closer together until finally the water +choked and fumed and thundered through a narrow pass. Here they must +turn away from its course, climbing a steep shoulder of the mountain, +making a difficult way along a seldom used trail, until they came to +the crest of the ridge which shot down from the right. Another fifty +yards, almost level going, a steep descent and suddenly the fury of the +river was but a faint rumbling in their ears, the stillness of the +mountains crept down on them and they were at the margin of Laughter +Lake. + +With a sigh long, deep, lung filling, Wayne Shandon curbed his horse to +a standstill. Big Bill turned his head away and a little hurriedly +sought for his "makings." For Big Bill had a memory, as so many sons +of the frontier places have, a memory that filed and kept record of +little things as well as of what the world calls big things. He +remembered the day when Wayne Shandon had last ridden here, just the +day before Arthur was killed. Wayne and Arthur had come here together; +Arthur with some business reason, of course; equally of course Wayne in +a mere spirit of idling. The younger brother had ridden along to try +out a new rifle he had bought-- + +"Come on, Bill. Let's find the horses." + +Wayne leaned forward suddenly in the saddle, loosened his reins and +touched his horse's sides with his spurred heels. And so they raced +along the side of the lake as they had raced from the range house, Red +Reckless sitting straight in the saddle, his head lifted, his broad hat +pushed far back, his tall, powerful body swaying gracefully, easily +with his horse's stride. + +They found Lady Lightfoot with a herd of half wild animals in a little +hollow beyond the head of the lake. A great snorting and stamping, a +flinging aloft of proud heads upon arching necks, the flurry of manes +and tails, black, red, white, all confused in a rush of colour, the +hammering thud of unshod hoofs on soft grassy soil and the herd had +followed Lady Lightfoot's lead in wild flight toward the far end of the +tiny valley. A wonderful creature was Lady Lightfoot, trim and slender +and graceful as a maiden, her coat a little rough from her year in the +woods, her silken mane snarled, but her spirit showing in the toss of +her head, the cock of her ears, the flare of her nostrils, the fire of +her eyes. + +"Watch!" yelled Big Bill as he and Shandon thundered along after them, +their ropes already in their hands, nooses widening. "See who takes +her lead away from her!" + +It was half a mile to the far end of the little valley where the almost +sheer pitch of the mountains would bring the fleeing animals to a stop. +And before they had gone a hundred yards Wayne Shandon's eyes had +discovered Little Saxon. + +The colt had been almost the last of the two score horses when their +startled flight began; already he was seeking the place that was +rightfully his, already he had passed half of the herd and running like +some great greyhound, was eating up the distance which lay between his +outstretched nose and Lady Lightfoot's flickering hoofs. A horse to be +seen in a flash by a knowing eye even in a herd many times bigger than +this one. A king of a horse, standing a hand taller than the tallest +of his companions, with great flowing muscles moving liquidly, with +iron lungs under a vast iron chest, with a neck every fine line of +which revealed the racing thoroughbred, with tireless strength in the +tensing shoulders and hips, with speed in the delicately formed, +slender legs; running easily, every leaping stride hurling his great +body in advance of some one of the other horses, his floating mane and +tail spun silk that flashed in the sun like shimmering gold, his +flashing hoofs like a deer's for dainty grace, his coat a deep, rich, +red bay. + +"Watch him run!" shouted Big Bill. "Watch him run!" + +Two lengths behind Lady Lightfoot, a length . . . and then Little Saxon +had slipped by, flashed by, passed like a gleam of summer sunlight, and +the mare snapped viciously at the lean, clean body that brushed against +her own, robbing her of her place. Big Bill laughed joyously. + +"Jealous as a cat, huh, Red? See that?" + +"And no man has ever ridden him," muttered Shandon. "Only one man is +ever going to ride you, Little Saxon." + +But that day they did not take Little Saxon with them back to the home +corrals; it would be many a day yet before Little Saxon's training +began, before his proud spirit compromised with steel and leather and a +master's hand. + +With half the distance to the far end of the little valley passed, +Little Saxon was a length ahead of Lady Lightfoot, his quivering +nostrils scenting danger behind, free range and freedom ahead. Thus +Little Saxon first, Lady Lightfoot jealously guarding and keeping her +place as second in the headlong flight, a slim barrelled sorrel close +at the Lady's heels, the rest of the horses following in a close packed +body, the fleeing animals came to the natural bulwark which the +mountains lifted before them. Their ropes swinging in ever widening +loops, hissing swifter and swifter until in broadening circles they +sang shrilly, Wayne Shandon and Big Bill swept on after them. + +"Lightfoot first!" cried Shandon sharply. "It's too rocky, Bill--" + +The ground was too broken to chance putting a rope over the defiant +neck of the three year old who had never known what it was to have hemp +touch his lithe body. With Lady Lightfoot it was different. She would +leap aside, she would throw her head one way or the other as she saw +the lasso leave the hand of her would-be captor; but once it touched +her she would stop stone still, too wise, too experienced to struggle +against the inevitable. + +At last the fleeing horses stopped, whirled and with up-pricked ears +and flashing eyes waited and watched. Lady Lightfoot's angry snort +trumpeted her fear and defiance; she moved not so much as a muscle +except of her eyes which swept swiftly back and forth from Big Bill to +Shandon, from Shandon to Big Bill. Then, as almost at the same instant +two ropes sped their hissing way toward her she leaped forward, swerved +aside, dropped her head a little--and then, instead of breaking into a +wild flight, she bunched her four feet and slid to a trembling +standstill before either rope had tightened about a steel saddle horn. + +"Wise ol' lady," chuckled Big Bill as he and Shandon rode closer to the +mare coiling their ropes. "Ain't forgot who's who, have you, Lady?" + +The other horses saw their chance and took it. Little Saxon in the +lead from the first terrified leap, they shot by Lady Lightfoot, +swerved widely about Shandon, and were off and away down the valley. + +"Let 'em go," cried Shandon. "We'll follow in a minute and drive them +on down to the corrals." + +He swung down from his saddle and went up to Lady Lightfoot's high +lifted head, a head that rose higher in the air as he drew near. +Laying a gentle hand on the quivering nose, he rubbed it softly, +speaking to the animal in a tone that coaxed and soothed and assured. +He talked to her as a man talks who loves a horse, understands it--as +he might talk to a human being. And Big Bill, watching, nodded and +grunted approval as he saw Shandon slip the hard bit between the strong +teeth, and at last swing up into the saddle and turn a high spirited +but well trained and obedient mare down the valley after the runaways. + +Fifteen minutes later they caught up with the stragglers of Little +Saxon's followers. And it was then that Little Saxon snorted his last +defiance at pursuit and achieved his freedom. + +The animals had been driven again into a woodland _cul de sac_. Here +there was a wide reaching plot of grassy, unbroken soil, and here the +two men counted upon teaching the three year old his first lesson of +the supremacy of man. As they drew nearer their ropes were again +ready, trailing at their sides. Again the horses drew close together, +bunched in a mass of watchful distrust. Little Saxon alone held +slightly apart, his great head lifted high, scenting mischief. He saw +the ropes before they were lifted, and at the first whirl of hemp into +the hated loop he knew instinctively that it was he whom they +threatened. + +"We've got him," grunted Big Bill, confident too soon of easy victory. + +Behind the herd rose the cliffs, in front the men came on and at the +side was a deep gorge, so steep sided that a horse would not think of +going down into it, washed wide by the spring torrents. It never +entered Big Bill's head nor Wayne Shandon's nor the heads of the +terrified companions of Little Saxon that there was a way in that +direction open for flight. But Little Saxon saw his enemies coming +threateningly nearer and he took his chance. He drew back until his +golden tail swept the granite cliffs; he paused there a brief second, +with flashing eyes, measuring chance and distance; he gathered his +great muscles as he had never gathered them before; his vast chest +swelled to a mighty sigh; and then, before Wayne Shandon or Big Bill +had guessed the plan that had risen in his brain he had wagered his +life against his liberty. + +"Back, Bill!" shouted Shandon warningly, throwing Lady Lightfoot back +on her haunches, swinging her away from the plunging three year old. +"He's going to jump!" + +"God!" yelled Big Bill, as he too jerked his horse back. "He'll break +his neck!" + +They saw the big horse running, already as a blur of speed before he +had done the thirty yards to the rock walled gorge, saw the glinting +light from floating mane and tail, heard the thunder of his pounding +hoofs, and then-- + +Then Little Saxon put into his gliding muscles all of the thoroughbred +spirit that was in his blood, and taking recklessly his one chance he +hurled his great body forward, leaping splendidly. For an instant as +that rebellious, beautiful body was suspended in mid air, high above +certain death, neither man breathed. Then, with the sharp sound of +hard hoofs striking hard rock, Little Saxon landed easily and safely +upon the far side, and his silken mane, flowing tail and red bay hide +shining with a metallic gleam in the sunlight, he had passed on, +through the trees, into an open trail, around a bend and out of sight. + +Big Bill rode close up to the gorge. + +"I wouldn't jump a horse acrost that for a million dollars!" he said, +wondering at what he had seen. + +And Wayne Shandon, his eyes very bright, his face a little flushed, +cried eagerly, + +"A mere horse, no. But Little Saxon isn't that! He's more clean +spirit than horse flesh!" + +Big Bill did not answer. Perhaps he had not heard. He was thinking: + +"When he does break Little Saxon--that wild devil of a man on that wild +devil of a horse-- What a pair of them!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GLADNESS THAT SINGS + +"Well?" laughingly. "Don't you know me?" + +Wayne Shandon, riding idly down a lane through the pines, had come +close before he saw her sitting with her back to a tree, her camera and +empty lunch basket lying beside her. He had left Big Bill and had come +on alone, passing around the head of the lake and following the trail +which Little Saxon's flying hoofs had made in the fresh sod. Now, as +with a quick hand upon Lady Lightfoot's reins he came to a stop, he +very promptly forgot all about Little Saxon. + +The girl, leaving Gypsy tethered beyond a grove of firs, had found upon +the skirt of a densely wooded slope a spot that was like a corner of a +woodland fairyland, dim and dusky and sweet scented. The noontide was +warm with the rippling sunlight above, a down-filtering ray touched her +bare head and dropped flecks of gold in her braided hair. + +Shandon, motionless for a little, did not speak nor did his expression +change except that it grew more frankly filled with admiration, with +sheer wonder at her loveliness. + +"Really," she bantered, still laughingly, not to be confused by her old +playfellow's look. "I'm neither ghost, goblin nor evil spirit, nor +anything worse than just a girl, you know!" + +"Are you . . . just a girl?" He raised his hand slowly, lifting his +hat. But not yet did he smile back into her smiling eyes. She had +never seen him so grave. "I don't know. You are not the same girl I +used to know." + +"Why, Wayne," she retorted merrily. "It's only a year. You weren't +expecting wrinkles already, were you?" + +The steadiness of his gaze made her wonder. His eyes clung to hers for +a long moment, left them to travel swiftly up and down the sweet young +body that was no longer the body of "just a girl," noted how +wonderfully the promise of girlhood had been fulfilled in budding +womanhood, came back to her hair and throat and smiling mouth, rested +again upon her eyes. + +"You are not the same Wanda I used to know," he insisted soberly, +shaking his head at her. "Not the Wanda I used to play with at school, +to hunt birds' nests with, to steal apples for, to fight other boys +for. Who are you, you wonderful thing?" + +"The same Wanda," she told him merrily. "And, if you please, not a +_thing_ at all." + +"Do you remember," he went on quietly, still gently serious, "the day +when I whipped little Willie Thorp for you?" + +"Yes," she answered lightly, yet not remembering all that he +remembered. "Of course. You--" + +"You came and put both little fat, warm, sun-burned arms round me and +kissed me then, Wanda. Would you kiss me now?" + +"You should have said that last night," she dimpled up at him. She +thought she knew him too well to take him seriously when he dropped +into one of his bantering moods, just trying perhaps to see if he could +drive a little flush of confusion into her cheeks. "I was so glad to +see you, I might have forgotten I had grown up. That we have grown +up," she said. + +"I wish I had," he said abruptly, flinging his head up with the old +gesture she remembered so well. "Wanda, you are the most wonderful +girl-woman in the world! What has happened to you? What have you done +to yourself? What have you done to your eyes? Do you know, Miss Wanda +Leland--are you a little witch and do you do it on purpose?--that those +two eyes of yours can make madness in a man's soul?" + +"Flatterer!" she countered brightly. "Have you been a whole year +making pretty speeches, and must you keep it up now because you've got +into the habit and since the pretty ladles of your travels are not here +and I am? Aren't you a little bit ashamed of yourself? Aren't you +afraid that you will create havoc by putting a lot of foolish ideas +into a country girl's head?" + +He laughed at last, becoming suddenly the same old Red Reckless that he +had always been, and swung down lightly from the saddle. Dropping Lady +Lightfoot's reins to the ground he came to where Wanda sat and having +stood over her a moment looking down into the clear eyes which were +turned frankly up to him he made himself comfortable at her feet, +stretching luxuriously in the warm grass. + +"It's great to be back, Wanda," he said musingly, with a deep sigh of +content. "You are going to squander a little of your precious time on +me, aren't you? I've been deucedly energetic all morning; now I'm just +brimful of sunshine and laziness. So lazy that I want just to smoke +and watch you and listen while you talk. You will have a whole lot to +tell me about all the things you've been doing while I was away." + +[Illustration: "I want just to smoke and watch you and listen while you +talk."] + +She gathered her knees into her clasped hands and smiled down upon the +flaming red hair. Before he made his cigarette she found herself +answering his questions, telling about her life during his absence. + +As she talked she saw his face only now and then when he turned a +little to laugh up at her over some trifle that amused him. The story +of this year of her life as she told it was a simple, homely little +tale, a quiet pastoral of happy content. It had to do largely with +herself and her work, with her failures and successes. But she +mentioned both Garth and Sledge Hume. + +"Hume?" said Shandon, looking up quickly, this time with no laughter in +his eyes. "Have you seen much of that man, Wanda?" + +"A good deal. He and father and Garth seem to have some kind of +business together. Why?" + +"Because I don't like him," he told her emphatically. "I don't like to +have you know a man like that." + +She did not mention Hume again. She admitted frankly that she herself +disliked the man although she had tried to think well of him because he +was a friend of her father. Running on with the account of her winter +adventures, and laughing at the memory of an incident that had been +serious enough at the time, she told him how she had imperilled her +life in heedless pursuit of the snow-shoe rabbit. Her mood, gay for +the moment, was the sort to make light of things which had merely cast +a shadow and gone; it was as though from the very presence of Wayne she +had accepted his theory of life, the ability to live keenly, richly in +the present, to be oblivious with sealed eyes to the future, careless +with deaf ears to the mutterings of the past. She was talking freely, +spontaneously, laughing from the very joy of life and the morning and +another joy which she did not analyse, looking down at the sunlight +caught flaring in his hair. And he, vastly contented, listened and +laughed with her. + +Then, in the midst of the recital of her last winter's mishap which she +strove to make as unimportant as she now considered it, she looked down +at Wayne Shandon and suddenly broke off in the middle of a word. He +had dropped his cigarette, the hand that she could see had shut tight +into a whitened fist, the colour of a second ago had seeped out of his +bronzed cheek. As she stopped, wondering, he sprang to his feet and +towered over her. + +"Wanda!" he cried, and his voice was as unfamiliar in her ears as the +view of his drawn face in her eyes. + +"Wayne!" she said curiously, staring at him, startled and a little +afraid of she knew not what. "Wayne! What is it?" + +"What is it?" Shandon's voice had dropped lower, was so hoarse that it +did not seem Wayne Shandon's voice at all. "It is just this--" + +He broke off as sharply as she had done and moving swiftly as though +driven by some great compelling force which dominated him he stooped +and swept her up into his arms. She felt the tightening muscles as he +drew her close, closer to him; felt a little tremor running through his +whole body; heard the beating of his heart; was drawn nearer to him +than she had ever been drawn to a man in her life; realised for the +first time in a flutter of many sweeping emotions how superbly big and +powerful the man was, how almost god-like in the beauty of his muscular +manhood . . . and then she knew nothing but the wonderful fact that he +had kissed her full upon her quivering red mouth. + +"My God, Wanda, how I love you!" he exclaimed with sudden wild, +unleashed vehemence. "Do you hear me?" He was holding her a little +away from him, his arms still shaking about her shoulders, his voice +frightening her with the vibrant fierceness that had leaped into it, +the love in his eyes glowing like fire. "I love you so that I'd go +through Hell to have you, to have you for mine, all mine! So that I +might fight a man for daring to look at you, that I might kill a man +for harming you! Wanda, girl, I tell you that I love you! Do you +understand? Do you know what that means? What love means? When a man +loves a woman as I do?" + +Always a man of impulse, a man who through years of habit had grown to +act swiftly in little things and big things alike, Wayne Shandon flung +into impassioned words the emotions which swept through his soul and +brain. The sight of Wanda Leland, grown into the sweet, pure beauty of +early womanhood, had stirred him to the depths. Her casual mention of +other men, Garth, and Sledge Hume, had displeased him so vaguely that +he had not fully understood or cared why. And then the light allusion +to the danger of death in which she had stood had been the spark in the +powder train of his love, his words exploded from the seething +consciousness newly awakened, fires long smouldering unsuspected in his +heart burst forth in a mighty conflagration of emotion. + +Throughout his whole being there was a strange, new, throbbing +buoyancy, the gladness that sings, the joy that sparkles. The elixir +of life had been set suddenly before him. He did not taste and put it +away as some men do; he did not sip sparingly and temperately; but he +drank deeply and swiftly so that the wine of love tingled through his +blood, made his brain reel and his heart grow hot. It intoxicated his +soul and his senses with a rare, glorious intoxication. + +He tossed his head back, holding her still a little further from him, +and looked into her eyes. His own had changed now, changed utterly in +their eloquent speech. They had been fierce, now they grew wonderfully +tender. They had been clear and bright and eager; and now they were +misty. The first flame of love had leaped through his blood; now an +infinite yearning, as gentle as tears, rose from his heart. Love had +clamoured, now love was whispering. Love had been insistent; now it +pleaded. It had been masterful; now it knelt. + +"You love me--_like that_?" + +The tumult in the man's soul had awakened conflicting emotions under +the troubled, tremulous breasts. She looked at him with wide, clear +eyes, wondering. A miracle, the old, eternal, primal miracle, had +entered her life. She had looked down, laughingly, on a careless boy; +she had been gripped mightily in the arms of a being new to her, a man +who loved. From the clear blue of her life's sky there had leaped out +a flash of lightning that filled the universe with its light and heat. +They had been two gay loitering children; now she saw the man shaken in +the gust of his passion. + +"You love me--_like that_?" + +"God forgive me, yes!" + +His voice was steady now but low, scarcely louder than her awed +whisper. He dropped his arms, letting them fall lingeringly, and +stooping a little, touched her forehead with his lips. + +"And," he said with a reverence which stirred her more than his rude +embrace had done, "I love you like this, dear." + +More often than not the story of one's life is a smooth running tale, +the day's page turning gently, going on with the unfinished sentence of +yesterday, the end of each little chapter guessed before it has been +read. But there are times when the leaves no longer turn slowly but +are caught in a sudden gust that sends them fluttering like dead leaves +in a September gale; when life no longer loiters, but leaps when the +unseen end of the chapter is a mystery, when the letters on the page +are shining gold or fiery red. + +Such a time had come into Wanda Leland's life. In one swift moment she +had risen to a pinnacle, she had looked down upon the level lowlands +from the heights. The monotony of the commonplace receded and was +lost; the aspect of life upon which she looked was wonderful and new. +There had been a change within her. She was no longer the Wanda Leland +she had been a moment ago, the Wanda Leland she had been throughout the +years of her life. Nor would she ever be exactly that same Wanda +Leland again. + +Revelation had been lightning, two-tongued. It showed her herself; it +explained, it touched with light, it made distinct the shadowy things +that had long lain in her breast. And it showed her Wayne Shandon as +she had never seen him. + +For years they had been playfellows, frank, almost boyish, both of +them. Now her heart was beating wildly from the very touch of him. +Had she always loved him? Had he always loved her? Was this +wonderful, new thing, love, without beginning as it surely was without +end? + +She looked wonderingly into his eyes. Her own, like his, were clear, +bright one moment, starry with a dimness as of unshed tears the next. +Tenderness, like a mist, filled them. + +"I love you, Wayne," she said, her voice low, trembling just a little, +but clear. "I want you all mine as you want me. So that if you went +up to Heaven or down to Hell I could go with you." + +"Wanda!" he said. "_Wanda_." + +She smiled a little at him and put out her two hands. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"A GAME OF BLUFF AND THE GAMBLER WINS!" + +The spirit of unrest which Wanda had felt vaguely the night before did +not depart with the passing of the darkness. Something was wrong, +radically wrong at the Echo Creek ranch house. Since the unexpected +home coming of Red Reckless there had been a subtle difference, a +ruffling of the waters which usually ran so placidly at the country +home, a darkening and disturbation of the surface which hinted at +hidden whirlpools and cross currents. + +It was from the master of the household that the day took its colour. +In his own room last night he had been restless, sleepless until very +late. Mrs. Leland had heard him walking up and down, had heard the +noise of his pipe against his tobacco jar many times after the hour +when Martin was in the habit of having his last smoke. In the morning +he was up and dressed before Julia had built her fire. All day he was +strangely pre-occupied and silent. He seemed scarcely to notice Wanda +when she came into the dining room to give him his good morning kiss. +That was unlike him. Both women noticed it. + +After breakfast he did not go out. Instead he went immediately to his +study, telling Julia sharply that she need not come in to sweep this +morning as he was going to be busy. It was one of the few times he had +spoken at all that morning, but not the first time he had spoken +irritably. Mrs. Leland's eyes, following him were troubled. + +In his private room he sat long at his big oaken table, his brows drawn +thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed in deep speculation. The tenseness of +the man's still figure, the gleam of the darkening eyes, the obvious +moody abstraction told that some vital question had come to him for its +answer, that he was fighting it out sternly, that the issue was one of +those great issues of life which come soon or late and which must be +decided, yes or no, upon the battle ground of a man's soul. + +Three months ago he had done a thing from which, at first, his finer +manhood had drawn back rebelliously. But--he had done it. There had +been a struggle then between the two nicely balanced qualities which go +to make up a human personality. The nice balance had been disturbed by +clever generalship rather than by open battle. Specious reasoning, +aided and abetted by the temptation of a rare opportunity, further +reinforced by an emotion which was more or less selfish even while it +masked itself as a public and private duty, had routed the sterner +sense of justice of which the man was, not without reason, proud. He +had in the end taken the step; being done it had since then been +dismissed to a shadowy corner of his mind by his own strength of +character; when he had thought of it had only grown stronger in his +belief that he had done rightly. And now a man whom he had never +expected to see again had come home; the question closed three months +ago was still an open question. + +A grave, strong minded man, calm by nature, after sixty years of the +life of the mountains and forests, he thought to decide each action +upon its own merit or demerit and to see that quality clearly, keeping +his vision free of emotional mists. With such a man right and wrong +are two distinct entities, sharply separate, with no debateable land. +An action may not partake of each; it must stand forth black or white. +A motive may not be enshrouded in uncertainty; it must be right or it +must be wrong. + +He questioned himself sternly to-day, frowningly concentrating his mind +upon each point as he struggled with it. The time had come now when +the decision he made must be one of absolute finality. + +"What I am doing is a grave thing," he told himself over and over. "An +unscrupulous man would do it in a flash; a weak man might be afraid of +it. I must be neither unscrupulous nor cowardly; I must be just. And +is not justice with me? Would I not be punishing the guilty, would I +not be in a position to reward Garth Conway for a life of faithful +service, would I not be justified in protecting my own interests, the +interests of my wife and daughter?" + +Already, unconsciously, he was seeking to discover for his groping mind +the arguments which would acquit him in his own judgment and justify +him. + +"I hate him," he muttered, "God knows I hate him. But is that the +reason I am striking at him? I should be wrong if for purely personal +motives I sought to wreck vengeance upon him. But he is guilty, as +guilty as hell! It would not be vengeance, it would be retribution. I +should but be taking into my hands the work which God had set at my +fingers' ends." + +His problem instead of clarifying became complicated with involved +motives. He told himself grimly that the thing which he had begun was +just, merely just. If the courts of law did what he was doing and +stopped with it men's voices would cry out against a retribution gone +blind and decrepit, maudlin with mercy. + +He went once to his safe in the corner, took out a document and stood +looking at it thoughtfully for a long time. Finally he replaced it. + +"I can ruin him, I can break him utterly," he said slowly. "I can +wrest from him the thing which he took brutally with bloody hands. +Because I am to profit where he loses must I hold back? The law may +never reach him. Is it right then that he should go unpunished? The +fortune which one day I shall leave to Wanda will be either swelled or +diminished as I decide. Have I the right to draw back now?" + +The day dragged on, the conflict within the man's soul continued. +Until noon he was in his study. At the dinner table he was silent, +morose, and ate little. He made no comment upon Wanda's absence; +perhaps he did not notice it. Mrs. Leland, understanding readily that +Wayne Shandon's return had its bearing upon her husband's heavy mood, +found little to say. She could only hope wistfully that for a little +Wayne would come to the house seldom, that Martin would grow used to +having him in the neighbourhood, and that in the end he would content +himself with ignoring the man whom she knew he disliked, distrusted and +suspected. She thought that she understood fully what she grasped only +in part. + +In the afternoon again, Leland withdrew to his private room, again the +battle between motives and desires raged hotly. It so happened that +Wayne Shandon, appearing at a critical moment, brought about a decision. + +Leland was standing before his window, his smouldering eyes frowning at +the meadow down which Spring had come, scattering buttercups to mark +her passing. He had not noticed the glossy chalices brimming with +sunlight; the springtime had had no softening effect upon his absorbed +and troubled mood. But presently the sight of two figures riding side +by side down through the pasture whipped a new look into his eyes. + +He watched them sharply as they rode toward the house. Their gay +voices came to him lifted into soft laughter; their light merriment, so +in tune with the springtime, fell jarringly on Leland's ears. + +"The fellow has the insolence of Satan," he muttered angrily. + +For a moment he lost sight of them as they passed behind the stable. +Then, walking, Wanda's face lifted in rosy happiness, Wayne's like a +boy's, eager and glad, they came on to the house. Leland stood stone +still at the window; Wanda, catching sight of him, threw him a kiss. +Wayne, with a brief word to Wanda left her under the cedars in the yard +and came swiftly to the study, the light buoyancy of his step +bespeaking the exhilaration that danced through his blood. He swept +off his hat, put out his hand eagerly as he came into the room, his +eyes filled with the brightness of a supreme happiness. + +"I am glad that I found you in," he began impetuously. "I don't know +how I could have waited . . . What's the matter, Mr. Leland?" + +For Martin Leland, directing at him a piercing glance whose meaning was +unmistakable, did not unclasp the hands behind his back. + +"You had something to say to me," Leland reminded him briefly. "What +is it?" + +Shandon met his stare with silent surprise. Then, forcing himself to +speak quietly, as though the insult of Leland's attitude had been +unnoticed, he said: + +"I wanted to tell you that I love Wanda, that some day I hope to make +her my wife." + +"What!" shouted Leland incredulously. "You--_you_ want to marry my +daughter! _You_!" + +"Yes," said Wayne steadily. "I." + +Martin's scornful laugh, forced and hard, drove the happiness from +Shandon's eyes and a quick hot flush into his cheeks. + +"I knew that you didn't like me," he said sharply. "But I didn't +know--" + +"That I have no feeling but utter loathing for you," Leland cut in +coldly. "That I'd kill you like a dog before I'd allow you to disgrace +my name, to wreck my daughter's life. Are you crazy or drunk?" + +"I don't understand you," replied Shandon bluntly. + +"Then I'll explain so that you will have no difficulty in +understanding." Leland's voice, lifted a little, was hard and bitter. +"I don't desire the continuance of your acquaintance. I don't want +ever to see you again if it can be helped. I don't want you to come to +my home, to speak to my wife or my daughter. I don't want your +presence sullying the air they breathe. I don't want to have any +dealings whatever with you. Have I explained?" he concluded with +cutting sharpness. + +"Everything and nothing!" Shandon returned, the flush seeping out of +his face, leaving it grey. "What has happened? Why do you say such +things to me? Good God, man, what have I done?" + +For a moment Martin Leland made no reply; nor did his steady gaze waver +from the eyes now as stern as his own which looked straight back at him. + +"I don't care to discuss the thing with you, Shandon. You know as well +as I do why I say them. When you pretend not to know you are at once a +liar and a hypocrite." + +"I am not a trouble seeker, Mr. Leland." Shandon's voice had grown +husky as he strove with the anger within him. "But I think you know +that you are the first man who has talked to me like that and got away +with it. If I did not know that you are a fair minded man, and that +there has been some hideous mistake somewhere, I'd not listen to those +words even from you. Tell me what you mean." + +A contemptuous smile broke the rigid line of Leland's set lips. + +"Your theatrical ranting won't get you anywhere with me, Shandon. It +is the thing to be expected. I am the master of my own house and it is +quite enough when I say that your presence is not wanted here. If you +want more you can supply it yourself. Idler, spendthrift, gambler, +brawler, I have until now tolerated you. But there are some things +that no man can tolerate. You have said that I am fair minded; the +more reason I should wish to be rid of you." + +"But," cried Shandon hotly, "the man accused has a right to know--" + +"I am not accusing you," interrupted Martin coldly. "I do nothing but +tell you that you are not the kind of man I want my womenfolk to +associate with, not the kind I want to associate with, and that I want +this to be the last time you set foot on my property. If you are not +absolutely without pride of any sort you will not make it necessary for +me to have you put off the ranch!" + +"And you won't tell me--" + +"So far as I am concerned the conversation is closed. And," drily, +"the door is open." + +The anger in Wayne Shandon's heart, unchecked at last, blazed in his +eyes. + +"I'll go now," he said shortly. "I have no wish to enter a man's house +where I am not welcome. But what I have said I have meant. I shall +see Wanda when I can, and when she will come to me as she will some +day, I shall marry her." + +"You are a fool as well as a scoundrel," shouted Leland as he saw the +other turn toward the door. "Wanda, when she marries, will marry a +gentleman, and not a cur and a coward!" + +"Those are hard names, Mr. Leland!" + +"Not so hard as another which belongs to you," came the vibrant +rejoinder. "If you dare speak to her again--" + +"As I most certainly shall," coolly. + +"By God!" cried the old man, his clenched fist raised. "You leave my +girl alone or--" + +Caught in a sudden gust of rage such as had not half a dozen times in +his lifetime touched his blood, he strode to his table, snatched open +the drawer and whipped out a revolver. + +"Go!" he shouted, his face a fiery red. "Go now, without another word, +or I'll shoot you." + +Wayne Shandon's head was flung up with the old gesture, his eyes grew +steely and steady, and his answer was a cool contemptuous laugh. + +"You have called me a coward," he said. "You called me a liar." He +came back into the room and sat down upon the edge of the table, not +three feet from Martin Leland. "Now, prove me the coward--or yourself +the liar!" + +It was a challenge of sheer reckless impudence, the tempting of a man +whose reason was blind drunk with rage. He looked coolly into Leland's +eyes ignoring the deadly weapon in Leland's hand. + +"I am going to roll a cigarette," he said quietly. "I'll stay just +that long." + +The fingers which brought out tobacco and papers were unhurried. He +opened the muslin bag, poured the tobacco into the trough of his paper, +and his hands were steady. His eyes left Leland's a moment to make +sure that he was not spilling any of the brown particles; he lifted +them again as he sealed his finished cigarette with the tip of his +tongue. He swept a match along his thigh; then he went out, closing +the door softly, leaving a thin wisp of smoke trailing behind him. + +Leland, alone in the study, put his hand to his forehead. It came away +wet with sweat. + +"A game of bluff and the gambler wins!" he muttered fiercely. "And +now--God curse me if I spare him!" + + +His buoyant stride carried Red Reckless swiftly down into the yard +where he had left Wanda. She looked up eagerly as he came swinging on. +Then suddenly her heart stood still, chilled with the quick fear of her +premonition. The smile which Shandon summoned was at once a brave +attempt and a pitiful failure. + +"What is it, Wayne?" asked Wanda quickly. + +"Your father has forbidden me the ranch," he told her bitterly. "I +don't know exactly why. It came out of a clear sky so far as I am +concerned. He does not want me to come here again; he does not want +you to see me at all, anywhere." + +"Wayne!" + +"He called me an idler, a spendthrift, a gambler and a brawler," he +went on swiftly. "As I suppose I have been.--There has never been +anything to make me care--until to-day! You won't let what he says +make any difference, Wanda?" + +She came closer to him, her eyes brilliant. + +"I don't have to answer that question, Wayne," she whispered. + +He took her into his arms and kissed the mouth turned up to him, and so +left her. She watched him go down to the stable, watched the tall, +upright form until Lady Lightfoot carried him out of sight through the +pines. Then, her head as erect as her lover's had been, she went +slowly to the house. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE CONTEMPT OF SLEDGE HUME + +The window shades in the study were half drawn so that in the late +afternoon the room was shadowy. From the fireplace crackling flames +cast wavering gleams across the polished oaken table top and the heavy +mission furniture. Leland had not stirred from the chair into which he +had sunk after Wayne Shandon's going. Shandon had been gone an hour; +he had met Garth Conway at the bridge and now Garth was with Leland. + +There was no longer in the old man's eye or bearing a hint of the +battle which he had fought all day. He had gone through the hours of +his inner struggle and as it had ended three months ago so had it ended +to-day. He knew that he would not open his mind to consider the +question again. His full piercing eyes were stern and determined. +Purposefully he had set his feet into the path he meant to follow +without swerving. In a moment of hesitation and uncertainty the +supreme argument had come to him; if for no other reason, he must ruin +Shandon to save his own daughter from her folly. + +"Garth," he said quietly, his deep voice retaining no trace of the +emotion which had wracked him only an hour ago, "I am very glad that +you have come. I have been expecting you all day." + +"I met Wayne," Garth said hastily, watching Leland anxiously. "He was +riding like the very devil. I never saw his face look as it did as he +shot by me. He had been over here?" + +"Yes. I had a plain talk with him. I made it clear to him that he was +not again to set foot on my land." + +"You didn't tell him--" + +"I told him nothing! The man deserves no consideration at my hands. +It is not my affair to tell him." He paused a moment, bending his gaze +thoughtfully upon Conway's troubled face. "You have had time to think. +What are you going to do?" + +Garth opened his lips to speak, hesitated and closed them without a +word. The air of uneasiness which he had brought with him into the +room grew more marked. He shifted a little in his chair. Leland, +watching him steadily, waited for him to speak. + +"I don't know what to do," Conway blurted out finally. "You were so +sure all the time he'd never come back.--Now if I don't tell him all +about the mortgage and foreclosure there's chance on top of chance +he'll find it out himself before the nine months drag by. And then--" +He flashed a startled glance up at Leland's calm face. "He'd kill me! +What can I do?" + +"You can keep your mouth shut," answered Martin tersely. "You still +have his power of attorney, haven't you?" + +Garth nodded, his head down again, his fingers nervously busy with his +lip. + +"Conway," Leland continued with quiet emphasis, his keen glance +watching for the effect of his words, "in sheer justice you have ten +times more right to be owner of the Bar L-M than that mad fool has. +You have slaved for over a year to make it what it is while he has been +squandering money you had to scrape to send him. Even while Arthur was +alive you were the actual manager. And now all that you have to do is +keep still and you can have the place for a very small fragment of what +it is worth. God knows I wouldn't put foot on it. There is nothing +that the law can touch you for; we have seen to that. Nor will you be +doing a dishonourable thing. It is sheer justice, Garth, that you and +I will be meting out to him." + +Conway's cheeks flushed a little, his eyes brightened at the thought of +being some day the owner of the Bar L-M. + +"But there's the chance--" he began. + +"You are playing for big stakes," Leland reminded him crisply. "Of +course there is a chance. But you exaggerate it. Play the game +through and you will be a rich man before the year is out." + +Before Conway could speak there came the clamorous barking of dogs in +the yard and the noise of a horse's shod hoofs. In a moment there was +a heavy booted stride up the steps and along the porch, followed by a +loud rap at the study door. At Leland's nod Garth sprang to his feet +and went quickly to the door, flinging it open. + +For a second Sledge Hume's great frame filled the doorway as he paused, +looking in sharply, drawing at his gauntlets. Then, brushing by +Conway, he entered and stood with his back to the fireplace, still +drawing off his gauntlets, his hat still low over his brows. + +"Well?" he asked bluntly. + +Just the short word, uttered as a command. There would be no wasting +of words before they came straight to business. There was about the +man, emanating apparently from his physical body something oddly like a +materialised aura, bespeaking an aggressive character, a strong, +dominant personality. Conway, alone with Leland, was a school boy in +the presence of his master. Hume, ignoring Garth, challenged that +superiority which Conway's weaker nature acknowledged unconsciously. +The look of his eye, the very carriage of his handsome head, invited +opposition, questioned an authority other than his own. A big, strong +man physically his manner gave the impression that he was a big, strong +man intellectually. + +Old Martin did not at once speak but sat very still save for the +restless fingers upon the table top. It was Conway who, after a brief +hesitation, answered. + +"We're going to stand pat--" + +"I wasn't talking to you, Conway," said Hume coolly. "As far as I am +concerned you aren't even a fifth wheel in this thing and you ought to +know it. I want to know what Leland has got to say." + +Garth coloured angrily but made no reply as he turned questioning eyes +to the older man. + +"Very well, Mr. Hume," said Leland quietly. "Do you care to sit down +while we thresh things out?" + +"No, I'll stand. Go ahead." + +"To begin with, Wayne Shandon is back." + +"I know he is back," spat out Hume. "That's why I'm here. What are +you going to do now?" + +"We are going ahead just as though he weren't here." + +"You think that you can put the thing across?" + +"Why not?" + +"Just because," Hume shot back at him, "it doesn't seem likely that +with the whole country knowing about the foreclosure of the mortgage +somebody isn't going to do some talking." + +Leland shook his head. + +"Let me sum up the case for you," he said. "Arthur Shandon, the day +before his death, mortgaged the Bar L-M to me for twenty-five thousand. +When time for foreclosure came three months ago Wayne Shandon would +have been notified if he had been here. As it was the notice went to +his legal representative, Garth Conway. Conway allowed the Bar L-M to +go under the hammer and at the sheriff's sale Conway himself bought it +in--" + +"For you," interjected Hume. + +"Yes, for me. But who knows that? People who paid any attention to +the transaction came to understand that it had been because of Wayne +Shandon's known shiftlessness that the property was allowed to be sold, +they knew that Conway was his agent, and that Conway bought it in. +There is not a man living who knows anything about the matter who does +not believe that Conway bought at Shandon's orders and with Shandon's +money; and that the Bar L-M is Shandon's now and was never in any real +danger from me. Is it likely then, that any man who believes this is, +after this length of time, even going to think to mention the matter to +Shandon?" + +"You've got the chance to get by with it," said Hume slowly. "And it's +a damned good chance." + +"We all know the sort Shandon is," continued Leland. "I shall be +surprised if he doesn't tire of the life here in six weeks, put through +a sale of cattle, take the money and go again. With him away our +chance becomes a certainty. In any case, I am going ahead with our +work. I have had Garth look into the title of the Dry Lands and he +finds that it is perfect." + +"Yes. The land is mine and is clear." + +"All we need now is the water and we are going to have that in another +nine months when I shall have a clear deed to the Bar L-M. Garth and +myself have gone ahead as I told you that we would, taking options on +every acre we could get in Dry Valley. Before many days we shall +virtually control the whole of the valley, just the three of us. +Between us Garth and I have expended upwards of fifty thousand dollars +in the last five weeks in options and out-right purchases." + +"Let me see the papers," said Hume shortly. + +Leland went to the safe and taking out a number of papers, handed them +to Hume. + +"All right as far as it goes," Hume said when at length he had finished +his careful examination of the documents and had tossed them to the +table. "You haven't got the Norfolk place nor the Ettinger place. +What's the matter? They are more important to us than all the rest put +together. Did they smell a rat?" + +"I don't know. I am confident of closing with Norfolk in a few days, +although I may have to pay him five dollars an acre more than I offered +any one else. Ettinger is holding out for seventy-five thousand +dollars, cash." + +"Then he does smell a rat!" Hume's fist came crashing down upon the +mantelpiece. "By God, somebody's been talking too much!" + +"Mr. Hume," Leland reminded him sternly, "may I call to your attention +the fact that nobody knows a thing about this matter excepting +yourself, Garth and me? I haven't so much as told my wife--" + +"You?" cried Hume hotly. "Who said that you had? You've got brains +enough to hold your tongue. That's why I came to you in the first +place. But Conway here--" + +He swung suddenly upon Garth, his eyes flaming, his face distorted with +wrath. Before either of the two men had guessed his purpose he strode +swiftly across the room, and gripping Conway's shoulders with his two +big hands jerked him to his feet. + +"Conway," he snarled, his face close to the others, his eyes burning, +his breath hot in Garth's blanched face, "you queer this deal with your +infernal gab and I'll--" + +He broke off sharply, flinging Conway backward from him so that the +smaller man's body crashed against the wall. + +"Hume!" cried Leland angrily. "I'll have no quarrelling in my house. +If you can't act--" + +"I haven't come here to-day for a love feast," sneered Hume, already +forgetting Conway as he whirled upon Martin. "What I've got to say +I'll say my way whether you and your cursed white rat like it or not. +I say that somebody has been talking too damned much! That place of +Ettinger's as it is, without the water, isn't worth twenty-five +thousand. He'd have sold it for that a month ago and glad of the +chance to unload. Now he holds out for seventy-five thousand! What's +the answer? You've dragged Conway into this thing; I haven't. I +wanted no man in it but you and Arthur Shandon and myself. You because +you had the money, Arthur Shandon because he had the lake and the +river. I didn't want Conway. He's your pet, not mine. Now, muzzle +him if you can." + +Garth's angry retort, the first word he had said since Hume sprang +unexpectedly upon him, was lost in the low rumble of Martin Leland's +heavy voice. + +"You've said what you wanted to say, Mr. Hume. We've heard it. We +understand each other. I can vouch for Conway's discretion. If you +are as careful yourself we are all right. I'll attend to both Ettinger +and Norfolk. I shall also see that at the end of the nine months the +Bar L-M is mine and that we have the water for Dry Valley." + +Hume laughed. Without again looking toward Conway he stooped, picked +up the gauntlets he had let fall, and turned to the door. + +"You are nobody's fool, Leland," he said patronisingly. "You are +taking a chance in freezing Red Shandon out but the law can't go after +you. And you stand to win a wad of money." + +"Mr. Hume," interposed Leland sternly. "I am not taking over the Bar +L-M because there happens to be money in it. I am simply using the +weapon of retribution which God has seen fit to put into my hands--" + +"Oh, rot!" grunted Hume sneeringly. "Don't come trying to square your +conscience with me. I say, go to it, if you can get across with it." + +He jerked the door open and then stopped suddenly his hand still on the +knob. + +"If you do slip up," he said bluntly, "if Red Shandon does hear about +it and gets busy, let me know. If he starts making trouble I can put +him where he'll be out of the way!" + +The door closed loudly behind him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SHANDON'S GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY + +Wayne Shandon had grown more silent, more thoughtful than men had ever +known him. The two things which had come to him, one as unheralded as +the other, the gladness of a deep love, the bitterness which grew out +of Martin Leland's words, he kept to himself. He rode far and alone, +seeing very little of the men of the Bar L-M or of Garth, to whom he +still left the routine of the range, and who made the most of small +pretexts to keep up of Wayne's way. Shandon wanted time to think +coolly and deliberately for the first time in his life; he wanted time +to look inward as well as at what lay without, to cast up the balance +of what sums of good and bad were in his soul. + +Until now he had been quite content with life as he found it. It had +afforded him infinite pleasure, it bubbled up sparklingly from the +fountain of contented youth, there had been no need for him to seek to +change its flashing current. Moreover, he had never had an incentive +to bestir himself. But that incentive had come now, a two-pronged +goad; he was compelled to look to himself, to his own positive effort, +for what came next. + +Vaguely, at first, he realised that a man if he be a man, has certain +responsibilities. He saw clearly, now that he considered life +seriously, that a man might err in dalliance and idleness just as he +had erred; and he saw too that a man might, like Sledge Hume, go to the +other extreme. A man might grow soft muscled literally and +figuratively in slothful carelessness, or he might grow hard until he +became a machine. He felt dimly that he ought to be doing something +like other men. He wanted his life to live freely as he knew how, +largely as he sought to learn how. And he wanted Wanda. + +At first he was like a sea-worthy ship, in a calm with no definite port +in sight. But, in due course, from the one vital fact of his love for +Wanda other facts materialised. To begin with he thought with +diminishing bitterness of old Martin Leland. The man was old, and he +loved his daughter. Rumours of a wild life fly incredibly high and far +and fast. Such rumours of Red Reckless's doings had come to Leland's +ears, and perhaps it was natural enough that Leland believed them. +Shandon had always known his neighbour as a hard man but a just. He +made up his mind not to quarrel with him, but instead to so change the +tenor of his life that Martin Leland would notice and would approve. +If in taking Wanda to her new home he closed her old one to her he +would be hurting her. + +He saw clearly, there being little foolish conceit in the man's makeup, +that he was not worthy. And he understood, though vaguely at first, +that it must be his one object now to become as worthy as any man could +be of her. And when the fifth day came and Ruf Ettinger rode to the +Bar L-M with excitement dancing in his eyes and his tongue clacking, +Shandon thought that he saw a beginning. + +Ruf Ettinger, a little dried up man of forty-five, was crabbed, cranky, +sour and mean. He had the eyes, nose and brain of a fox, while perhaps +the rest of him, heart and soul, came close to being just plain hog. +He was stingy and suspicious, and people were no more in the habit of +speaking well of him than they were of riding out of their way to stop +at his place. He was the kind of man that makes his wife and children +live in a miserable, two roomed shanty, while he builds a big, warm, +expensive barn for his hay and horses. The only time he was ever +credited with a human emotion was when his favourite dog died; he cried +over it and then got drunk, careless of cost. + +Shandon was surprised when he saw Ettinger ride up. He was more +surprised at Ettinger's manner when he insisted on Shandon saddling and +riding with him where there "wouldn't be no chance of bein' overheard." + +Once clear of the house and outbuildings and in the valley where his +shrewd little eyes made sure that no other ears than Shandon's would +overhear, Ettinger plunged eagerly into his errand. + +In brief it was this: Ettinger owned five hundred acres of valley land, +down in Dry Valley, some thirty miles from the Bar L-M bunk house. +Shandon knew the place well. Ettinger had, also, some money in the +bank. How much it was not his cautious way to say until he was obliged +to. How much would Shandon say his ranch was worth? Shandon did not +know, but hazarded the guess that it might bring twenty-five dollars an +acre. He did not consider it worth more because it was good grazing +land only for part of the year, and like the rest of the valley there +was scant water on it through the summer. Twelve thousand five hundred +dollars? + +Ettinger cackled; he could sell it to-morrow for seventy-five thousand! + +Shandon began to feel the first dim stirrings of interest. Ettinger's +excitement was too genuine not to awaken certain glimmerings of +interest. Water, that was the thing! Now, if there were water, plenty +of water, in Dry Valley; if a man could flood his land from brimming +ditches then what would happen? The soil was deep and rich; it had +been slipping down from the mountains for centuries; it had never been +worn out by farming. Twenty-five dollars an acre? What were the other +California valley lands worth where there was the same soil, no better +climate and water galore? Napa Valley, Santa Clara Valley, Sacramento +Valley? A hundred dollars an acre was dirt cheap; a man thought +nothing of paying for a small ranch five hundred dollars an acre! + +That was true enough, and Shandon knew it. But there was that +tremendous IF. + +"It's all right, Ettinger. All but the water! And since the water is +the whole thing, and I don't see where you're going to get it--" + +"Wait a minute!" cried Ettinger, his eager hand clutching at Shandon's +arm. "I tell you I'd a sold that ranch for twenty-five dollars an acre +six months ago an' been damn' glad to git out at that. An' right now I +could sell for a hundred an' fifty the acre! An' I'm damned if I do +it! My nose smells somethin' when a man wants that place that bad, an' +I git busy follerin' the smell. If I ever sell at less than two +hundred dollars I'm gone crazy." + +His excitement growing as the vision of much gold became clearer, he +ran on with hasty explanations. He had five hundred acres; Norfolk had +close to a thousand and he had made Norfolk begin to think for the +first time in his life. He himself had a little money in the bank and +Norfolk had some. There were other men, little ranchers, whom they +could whip into line. _And Wayne Shandon had the water!_ + +Shandon looked at him in amazement, thinking at first that the man was +a little mad. But Ettinger's shrewd eyes were sane enough. + +"We go right up to your lake," he cried shrilly. "We git busy with +some engineers an' pick an' shovel men. We blow the side of a hill all +to hell an' what happens? The water just comes a bulgin' down into Dry +Creek, an' all we got to do down in the valley, twenty, thirty miles +away, is dig ditches an' watch our land turn into a gold mine!" + +In a flash Shandon saw the utter simplicity of the whole scheme. +Whereas now the river from Laughter Lake shot down the mountains +through its rocky gorge, watering his own land and running through +little narrow, rocky valleys to the lower slopes, it might here near +the head be deflected so that it sped at first through the caņon of the +upper Dry Creek, and following a natural course be brought with little +expense to Dry Valley. Ettinger's proposition was no fanciful dream; +it was hard, unvarnished fact. And, as so often happens when a man +sees a radiant possibility, he wondered that he had not seen it for +himself long ago. + +Here was the golden opportunity his soul, in a mist, had yearned for! +He shot out his hand gripping Ruf Ettinger's until the little man +squirmed. But even the pain of nearly crushed fingers did not drive +the grin from Ettinger's face. + +"You're on," he cried exultantly. "Shandon, we'll frame a deal that'll +make millionaires out of us." + +"And man's work!" was the thought stirring Shandon's heart and +brightening his eyes. + +They rode on, as Ettinger had planned from the beginning, and covered +the two miles to Laughter Lake in a few minutes. They rode up the +shoulder of the ridge to the level of the lake; and there Ruf +Ettinger's eager finger pointed out where the work was to be done. + +It was work which Nature might have planned when the mountains were +carved, the lake set in its deep bowl. Fifteen feet from this end of +the lake the water swept into a narrow channel, a ridge running down +from each side. Here was the spot to deflect the waters before they +sped on down over the steep fall. Upon the south side there was a +jagged cut in the saw-toothed cliff line. Even now the lowest part of +that cut, when once the free soil was scooped out, was not ten feet +above the level of the water. + +"I rode up here purt' near a week ago," said Ettinger. "I looked this +over an' rode back all the way down Dry Creek. It's dead easy, +Shandon." + +Already Ettinger visualised the cut deepened and widened here with +flood gates to control the current. He spurred his horse up the bank +as far as he could force the animal, then got down and scrambled on, +gesticulating and talking swiftly. Shandon followed him. In a little +they came to a point from which they could look back upon the lake, and +forward to the windings of the caņon through which Dry Creek ran in +winter and spring. + +"It can be done," muttered Shandon slowly. "It can be done, Ettinger. +I don't know what it will cost, five thousand or ten or twenty; but I +do know that those lands down in Dry Valley are going to jump over the +moon." + +Ettinger made little clucking sounds with his mouth, his way of +expressing joy unbounded. + +"An' you don't see it all yet," he chuckled. "Lord, I've been layin' +awake nights figgerin' on it. We'll bond everything that's loose in +the valley. I've got Norfolk settin' tight and we'll round up a lot of +the little fellers. It's sort of late, maybe, but them other fellers +ain't got everything sewed up by a jugful." + +"What other fellows?" asked Shandon, mystified. + +Then Ettinger, in his rare good humour loosened his tongue until it +poured out everything there was in his seething brain. He told of the +scheme of Martin Leland and Sledge Hume, for Garth Conway had dropped +an incautious word and the shrewd brain of Ettinger had worked out the +puzzle. He told how the three men were trying to do this very thing, +how they had planned on getting the water themselves, how Martin Leland +had tied up thousands in options and purchases, how Ettinger had been +one too many for them and had beat them to Shandon. He chuckled over +everything, but most of all over the fact that Martin Leland had tried +to buy him out. Old Leland was the keenest business man in the county, +was he? Well, Ettinger had fooled him! Ettinger had blinded him with +a promise to sell next week for seventy-five thousand. By that time, +when Leland came to him-- + +"What's all this?" frowned Shandon. "You say that Leland, Conway and +Hume are already at work, planning to put water from the Bar L-M into +Dry Valley?" + +"Already?" cried Ettinger. "They been clawin' at the job over a year +now. The Lord knows what makes 'em so slow; think nobody else in the +world can see straight, or shy on the money end, maybe. Anyhow they've +gone to it tooth and toe nail; they've sunk thousands into it, +thousands I tell you! An' now, you an' me, Shandon, can make the bunch +of 'em eat out of our hands! They can't do nothin' without your water; +that's where we got 'em." + +Wayne Shandon's eyes grew bright with a vision, the muscles of his jaw +hardened. In sober truth his opportunity had come to him. Hume, a man +he hated, Leland, a man who had called him laggard, spendthrift, +scoundrel, had put many thousands of dollars into a project which he +could smash into pieces. Ettinger had said it: the two of them could +make Leland and Hume eat out of their hands! They could get Norfolk +and the little fellows; they could tear out the side of the ridge, +release what waters they chose, make their ditches, and by improving +only their own property make Leland's and Hume's holdings worth +nothing. Leland had started it; Leland's unreasonable censure had been +a challenge. Here was his answer! + +It was business, straight business. Had Leland and Hume been his +friends it would have been different. But they deserved no +consideration from him. It was his water; he had the right to dispose +of it as he saw fit. He would be treating Leland as fairly as he had +been treated. Why had they not come to him in the first place? Why +had they not offered him the opportunity to get in on the ground floor +with them? He would have given them the water then, glad to see +Wanda's father prospering. But they were holding out, they were +waiting for something, they had made sure of his consent to let them +have what they wanted. Why? When they had everything cornered they +would offer him a small sum, they would believe him fool enough to leap +at it, mouth open, like a fish. Even Garth Conway, his own cousin, had +not told him! What consideration did Conway deserve? + +"By Heaven!" cried Shandon. + +And then he fell suddenly silent. + +"We got to git busy in a hurry, Shandon," Ettinger ran on swiftly. +"When old Sure-Thing Leland comes to me to close the deal I want to +laugh at him." + +Slowly the light died out of Shandon's eyes. Was this, after all, the +opportunity for which he had yearned? He grew uncertain, a little +troubled. An opportunity for what? For becoming worthy of Wanda, for +being a man, square and just, a man who must make a new name for +himself, a name which would never bring discredit to her when she +became Wanda Shandon? In trying to ruin Sledge Hume for the sordid +motives of hatred and gain, in trying to strike back at Wanda's father +in vengeful bitterness, would he be doing a thing of which later he +would be proud to have her know? Was he proving his manhood by +accepting for his first business partner a man like Ettinger, who +laughed over his feat of tricking another man by a lie? Was he not +seeking to blind himself to the right and the wrong of it? This was +the sort of thing that Sledge Hume would do; should Wayne Shandon do +it? Was his first venture after the priceless gift of Wanda's love to +him, to be a thing like this? Had this been the opportunity he had +yearned for, to grasp gold full handed, to wreak vengeance, to +retaliate against unfair treatment by striking back treacherously? +Martin Leland had been unjust, yes. But had there not been strong +human reasons for that injustice? Had not his own wild living been +cause enough? Was he, from the sharp words of an old man who was +jealous in his love for his daughter, to draw an excuse to strike at +his own cousin and Wanda's father? + +"Ettinger," he said quietly. "I can't do it. You had better keep your +promise to Leland." + +Ettinger's jaw dropped, his brows puckered in astonishment. + +"What's the matter with you?" he demanded sharply. "Can't you see the +play? We got the chance to git the water on the land and make them +fellers pay for it or sell to us at our own figger, ain't we? Why, +it's as good as gold, man! If you don't see enough in it as it stands +you are in a place where you can hold 'em up for a bonus to boot." + +Shandon turned away, Ettinger's point of view suddenly disgusting him. +His golden opportunity had crumbled into dust and ashes. And although +the little man by his side waxed voluble in alternating rage and +supplication, Wayne Shandon's final word was a positive, + +"No!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WANDA'S DISCOVERY + +A supreme happiness had filled Wanda Leland's heart for a few golden +hours, so thoroughly permeating every fibre of her emotional being that +when sorrow came afterward it could not entirely drive out the +whispering gladness. + +Never had the forest land seemed so big, so vast and still as during +the slow days which followed. She went to it for the comfort she could +not bring herself to ask of her mother just yet, and it mothered her, +crooned and whispered and sang to her. Through the dew filled mornings +she wandered silently; rarely did she return to the house until the sun +was low in the west. Never had this world she loved seemed so vitally +close to her, so big in a new sense, so eloquently an expression of the +divine eternal. Her heart swelled and the talk of the pine tops +entered it. + +They were sad, glad days. Gladness sang in her heart when in the +sun-flooded mornings she rode out alone, and perhaps her devious way +brought her to the spot where Red Reckless had swept her up into his +arms for the first time, when his kiss had brought love into full +blossom in her breast. Sadness brought its shadow and listlessness +when day after day passed and she did not see him again, when the eager +hope of the morning that he too would ride to that spot to meet her +died down in the afternoon's invariable disappointment. Gladness when +she thought of him, just of him; sadness when she thought of her +father's stern face. + +Red Reckless had made no attempt to see her, or to communicate with +her. Even while she sought to find excuses for him, that hurt her more +than her loyalty would let her whisper to herself. He would come soon. +He would know where to find her, know that her woman's heart was taking +her to the spot where that heart had really become a woman's. He was +thinking of her now as she thought of him. Her heart heard his heart +talking to it across the forests and streams. + +A woman's heart trusted him, but a maiden's pride permitted no question +when Garth rode over as he did twice during the following week. When +Garth remarked casually that his cousin was the same old chap he'd +always been, and that he seemed to have nothing in his rollicking brain +more serious than the breaking of a wild devil of a colt and a horse +race which he had set his heart upon, Wanda bent her head a little over +her book and gave no other sign of having heard the statement elicited +by her mother's question. But the news hurt, too, just a little. +There was a quick sting that came and was gone as her love for him +surged up again, and it was the same sort of sting, only stronger, that +she had felt as a little girl when she thought of him as happy in his +boyish pursuits with any one but her. It did not matter now whether it +was Little Saxon or Big Bill. She told herself in her own little room +that she was a jealous cat. But-- + +"Oh, dear God, how I love you, Wayne!" + +Then, when the days passed and she did not hear from him, there came +for the first time a quick fear which was the first ally of that twinge +of jealousy. The fifth day came, the day on which he was riding to +Laughter Lake with Ruf Ettinger, and she could not know that his every +thought was of her. She only felt that, had she been the man, she +would not have stayed away. And there came the question and the fear, + +"Does he love me as I love him?" + +The old, lovers' question ever since Aucassin and Nicolette; the matter +for long debate and reiterated argument: "It may not be that thou +shouldst love me even as I love thee!" She found herself blushing +hotly as she rode alone through the forest at the thought that she was +again going to meet him, and that he did not come to meet her. She +felt suddenly ashamed and angry both with him and with herself. Was +she, to him, like a ripe apple that had dropped into his hand at the +touch? Did he think other--? + +Her face crimson she reined the startled Gypsy around with a savage +jerk, turned her back squarely upon the Bar L-M, and without a look +behind her rode swiftly in the opposite direction. She rode for an +hour, not turning once, although many a time her heart fluttered wildly +and then grew painfully still at some slight noise which to her +yearning ears sounded like the thud of a horse's hoofs behind her. + +To-day she crossed the narrow valley toward the cliffs rising like a +wall upon the far side of Echo Creek. Stubbornly she shut her mind +from its daily wanderings; her camera, that she had not used for a +week, was going to work for her to-day. The birds that had come +trooping back from wintering in the south--robins and blue birds, blue +jays and woodpeckers, larks and yellow hammers--made merry din in the +morning air. Shep, running on ahead as usual, disturbed half a dozen +grouse from the underbrush in a little caņon, and the muffled roll of +their whirring wings threw Shep into brief consternation and prolonged +subsequent joy. She saw the bob and flash of a rabbit's tail, noticed +again and again the lean, muscular body of a tree squirrel, heard upon +a wooded slope the snapping and crashing of brush that told of the +leaping flight of a deer. The woods were alive with animal folk, her +"friends" called to her from every tree and tiny valley, they peeped +out at her from burrows and hollow trees. + +"We are going to quit being a little fool," she told Gypsy with +tremulous emphasis. "And we are going to get a real picture to-day." + +A day or so before she had heard with scant attention and no subsequent +interest something which in the old careless, love free days sooner +would have sent her riding this way in haste. One of her father's men, +Charley or Jim, had found a dead cow under the cliffs and had seen +signs of bear. He had returned to the spot later and had killed the +animal, a she bear, and had seen one of her cubs making its swift, +awkward way into the brush. Recollecting the story, and because to-day +she yearned feverishly for something to do, Wanda turned Gypsy toward +the cliffs, thinking how she should like, if her fortune were very +great, to be able to show Wayne Shandon when he did come to her, the +picture of a bear cub playing in the woods. + +"I've had so much fun hunting for him!" she would say then. And Wayne +would never know how unmaidenly she had been. + +Before she had come within a thousand yards of the place where the +carcass of the cow was lying she slipped from the saddle and picketed +Gypsy. Her lunch she left tied to the saddle strings; camera and field +glasses went with her. + +Already, in the fast advancing summertime, she had donned her hunting +costume. The soft green of blouse and short skirt, of cap and +stockings, blended with the many tints of green of the copses and +groves and meadows through which she went swiftly and silently. She +slipped from tree to tree, making no more sound than the chipmunk +scampering almost from under her feet. Her eyes brightened, the colour +warmed in her cheek, her heart grew eager. For, sure enough, fortune +was good to her; there were two little bear cubs, round and fat and +playful, rumpling each other where they rolled in the sunlight in a +small grassy open space. + +They were a hundred yards away when she saw them, too far for a +picture; but as soon as her eyes fell upon them she vowed that she must +have a picture. There was little breeze this morning in the quiet +woods, but that little blew from where she stood straight toward the +spot where the cubs were frollicking. She must circle, come out down +yonder behind a pile of rocks, slip behind the great cedar right at the +base of the cliffs, and edge on from there on her hands and knees. + +But she paused a moment, fascinated, watching them. They were sitting +up, their small brown heads shaking from side to side, their sharp eyes +watching each other, their little red tongues lolling. They were such +baby things, their awkward bodies so like the little bodies of babies +just taking the first faltering step, that she wanted to rush at them +and pick them up and hug them. + +There was the angry snarl of a rifle, sudden and sharp and evil, and +one of the little brown bears made an inarticulate whining moan and its +playful spirit ran out in red to dye the grass. Its brother fell over +backwards in its fright; there came a second shot, the whining of a +bullet glancing from a rock, and the cub plunged into the brush. She +saw it a moment, lost it, saw it once more running as only the +frightened wild things can run as it sped down into a little hollow +which hid it from the hunter and thus saved its life, and then she +discerned it climbing wildly, clawing its terrified way up the great +cedar against the cliffs. When no third shot came she knew that the +hunter had not seen it and then, with an angry fire in her eyes, she +turned to learn who he might be. Approaching her from the edge of the +grove, a complacent smile upon his face, his rifle under his arm, was +Sledge Hume. + +"Oh!" she cried when he had come close, thinking that he must have seen +her. "Why did you do that? It was like murder!" + +He stopped dead in his tracks, and then swung toward her. He was so +close that she saw a quick, startled look leap up in his eyes. + +"Murder?" he said sharply. "What do you mean?" + +He had not lifted his hat, it was not Sledge Hume's way to trouble +himself with the small civilities. He came on again until he stood +quite close to her, staring coolly into her flushed face. + +"They were playing just like babies!" she cried breathlessly. "Why did +you kill it?" + +He laughed. + +"Hardly for its skin, since I suppose it isn't worth much," he answered +carelessly. "Hardly for its meat as I'm not going to trouble with it. +Why, I suppose just for fun then. Because," his tone and eyes touched +with a hint of contempt for what to him was a woman's squemishness, +"because I wanted to." + +Her eyes flashed her growing anger back at him. + +"It was so unnecessary," she said bitterly. "They were playing so +prettily and happily." + +"I watched them for ten minutes before I shot," he said. "Their play +was interesting, I'll admit. But they were bears, just the same. +They'd grow up some day and I wonder if they'd take mercy then on a +pretty little baby calf if they came upon it playing? Your father'd +thank me, my tender hearted Miss." + +She bit her lip and turned away from him. He watched her a moment, +then called, + +"Are you riding back to the house? My horse is right back there and +I'll ride with you." + +"No," she answered quietly. "I'm not going back just yet." + +She walked on to where the dead cub lay--stood looking down on it a +moment and then moved on. Hume watched her while he filled his pipe +and lighted it, and went in turn to look at his game. He turned the +little beast over with his foot, noted with satisfaction the hole which +the bullet had torn through the soft body, and then strolled toward his +horse. Wanda saw him ride away in the direction of her home, smoking +his pipe. + +"All men like to hunt, to kill things," she mused. "Are they as cruel +about it as he is? Would Wayne have watched the little things playing +for ten minutes and then, when he tired of it, shot them in the midst +of their play?" + +Not until Sledge Hume had topped a gentle rise and dropped down and out +of sight upon the farther side, did the girl turn quickly to the great +cedar up which she had seen the escaping cub scramble. She was certain +that he had not come down. When at first she did not see him she +circled the tree slowly, expecting from each new angle to catch a +glimpse of the roly-poly brown body. And when, after fifteen minutes +peering upward through the widely flung, horizontal branches, she saw +him, a swift inspiration came to her; her quarry had not escaped her +yet. + +The tree, one of the giants of her father's ranch that she knew very +well, thrust its crest upward so close to the cliffs that many of the +branches had been bent this way and that, flattening against the +granite. The lowest limb, twenty feet above the girl's head, was as +thick as many a tall tree hereabouts, and was like a giant's arm, bent +at the elbow, thrusting the rocks back. She could make her way up this +far, working along a ragged fissure in the cliff; thence she could edge +out upon the broad limb until she came to the trunk itself. And once +there, to Wanda in her hunting costume and with her knowledge of tree +climbing, the rest of the way, from limb to limb, might be difficult +but would certainly not be impossible or fraught with unaccustomed +danger. + +The cub had climbed until coming to a limb which like the lowest one +scraped against the rock not half a dozen feet from the tapering trunk, +he had crept out on it and was lying upon a ledge of rock. Wanda hoped +that here was the opportunity of a lifetime. She would climb as high +as that limb, and find the cub's flight shut off by the sheer wall +rising perpendicularly behind him. Then she would make him pose for +her, whether he liked it or not. + +Flushed and panting the girl made her way upward until finally she +caught with both hands the big lower limb. Field glasses and camera in +their cases strapped to her belt in no way interfered with the free +play of her muscles. She tested the branch a moment, smiled at herself +for hesitating to trust her light weight to a thing which would have +carried tons, gripped a firmer hold and swung free of the rocks. Here +would have been a picture for her mother had she come with her this +morning; the lithe graceful body swinging twenty feet high in air, only +hard slab and broken boulder beneath her. Then she drew herself up as +a boy does "chinning himself," threw a heel over the limb, and in a +flash lay breathing deeply and triumphantly, the most difficult step of +her climb achieved. + +Slowly, steadily she made her way upward. In the main it was simple +enough for Wanda for it was the sort of thing she did over and over +week in and week out. Once, already fifty feet from the ground, she +did something that would have been simple enough under other +circumstances and yet which put a quick flutter in her heart. It was +something which would have made the heart grow still in the breast of +Wayne Shandon had he seen, which would have brought a paralysing fear +for her to a man who loved life for the gamble in it and who took his +chances recklessly. + +She was perched fearlessly upon a sturdy horizontal limb, her body +tight pressed against the trunk, her hands gripping at the roughened +bark, steadying her as she balanced. A quick glance upward showed her +a bare stretch of bole with the nearest limb on her side of the tree +just barely beyond her reach. Slowly she straightened, lengthening her +pliant body the imperceptible fraction of an inch, gradually thrusting +her two arms up high above her head, still with her hands steadying her +as they clung to the bark, her moccasined feet curving to the limb on +which she stood. And now she could just touch with the tips of her +fingers the broad branch above. + +Then she did the thing which would have been simple enough had she +stood on the ground instead of balancing high in air; she measured the +few inches in distance, she drew her fingers lingeringly from the bark, +holding them still above her head, she tautened the muscles of her +splendid young body to the work they were called upon to do, bent her +knees little by little, and then fearless still but agitated, she +leaped upward, and grasped the elusive branch. + +For a moment she swung there, secure now and confident, and then, as +she had gained the first step in her climb so now she made this one. A +slow tensing of biceps, a drawing up of the pendulous body, the quick +flash of a heel thrown over the limb, and she lay upon it, laughing +softly. It was good and glorious to be young, to have a body that +obeyed one's will, to have a steady heart. + +Presently she began once more to clamber upward, her way comparatively +easy now. Thus at last she came to the branch upon which, as on a +bridge, the little brown bear had crossed to the ledge of rock. And +together there came to her a distinct disappointment and a pleasurable +surprise. + +Again the cub had slipped away from her; perhaps by now he was half a +mile away and tumbling his awkward and terrified way among the crags. + +From below the ledge had seemed to be four or five feet wide; now she +saw that it was nearer ten. The conformation of the rocks, beetling +above it, had led her to imagine that a straight wall of cliff rose +abruptly just at the back of the ledge. In reality they overhung the +rudely level space like out-jutting eaves over the sun-deck that might +have been carved to his taste by some old cliff dweller in front of his +solitary retreat. For there was a cavern here under the frowning brow +of granite, different from the many caves of which the girl knew in the +rugged mountains only in that it was so roomy and at the same time so +secret a place. + +Before she left her resting place, she saw the way the cub had gone. +Leading upward from the extreme end of the ledge, at the right, there +was a deep seam or crevice in the granite, almost filled and choked +with fallen rocky debris from above, but affording a trail that even a +man might travel to the top of the cliffs another fifty feet above. +There was a quantity of fine sandy soil at the lower end of the narrow +cut and on the edge of the ledge, and her trained eyes had slight +difficulty in seeing the signs of little bruin's headlong flight. As +he scurried upward he had left the marks of his toes in long +unmistakable scratches. + +"I wonder," thought the girl with a little thrill at what her fancy +pictured for her, "if any of the rest of the family are at home?" + +The mother bear had been killed; one cub was dead; the second had fled +to the cliff tops. Here, where bears were growing scarcer every year, +there was little danger of her meeting the _pater familias_. And yet-- + +"If I should meet a bear in there," she laughed to herself, "I wonder +who'd be scared most?" + +She made herself as comfortable as she could, drew her camera from its +case, focused it upon the yawning, black mouth of the cavern and waited +a patient quarter of an hour, noiseless and listening and ready. For +she was familiar enough with the California brown bear to know that he +will not attack when the way of retreat is clear; that while, after he +gets into a fight he extracts a great deal of delight from it, still if +given his choice he would rather run and keep on moving until he had +covered anywhere from ten to sixty miles. + +[Illustration: She made herself as comfortable as she could, drew her +camera from its case, and waited a patient quarter of an hour.] + +When nothing but silence answered her, she leaned out on the limb and +tossed her hat into the mouth of the cave. After it she threw some big +pieces of bark, making them land well inside with no little noise. As +there was still no sound she waited no longer. + +The branch out upon which she edged her slow way was both sturdy in +itself and made doubly safe by the fact that it lay across the ledge, +reaching with its tips to the rock wall at the side of the natural +door. In a moment she had scrambled across, had leaped to her feet and +was peering into the vast, shadowy interior. + +There are few of us for whom a cave does not have a rare attraction, an +appeal little short of fascinating, that has in it something of romance +perhaps, certainly something of mystery and a dim, vague stirring of +primitive and vital feelings, a shadowy harking back to the early life +history of mankind. To Wanda Leland, in so many essentials a child of +the wild, such a cavern as this was a bit of wonderland. Her swift +running, pioneer blood tingled; her heart gladdened with a glow of +discovery and exploration. Perhaps cave men had dwelt here, secure and +watchful, in the forgotten ages; the idea thrilled. Certainly no man +of her own time or her father's knew of the place: that thought made +the spot her own, and intensified her eager delight in finding it. It +had, to her sensitive, imaginative nature, an aura that she felt had +clung to it always. It was a bit of the wild, the retreat of the wild +things, sternly expressive of a savage grandeur. + +Her sensations a strange composite of many dim, intangible, +inexpressible emotions, Wanda tiptoed to the opening, paused listening, +took two or three quick steps and was inside the cave. For a moment +she fully expected to see the sight she dreaded, a pair of gleaming +points of light blazing at her menacingly. And for a little she saw +nothing but shadowy, unreal shapes. Her heart leaped wildly as the +startling fancy came to her that these were the phantoms of the long +dead time when men had lived here, ghosts of the older race. + +Then she laughed softly again, once more accused herself of being +"stupid," and began her explorations. Little by little as she grew +accustomed to the scant light here she made out dim bits of detail. +First she realised that her first conjecture had been quite right, and +that this was the biggest cave by far that she had ever seen. She +moved forward half a dozen steps, walking warily for fear of a fall and +found that the light from the entrance died into deep darkness before +it could search out the sides of the great cliff room. Then she went +back out upon the ledge and gathered from the debris choked fissure an +armful of broken bits of dry wood, twigs and needles from the cedar. +In the pocket of her blouse were the matches which she always carried +with her on her trips and in a moment a crackling flame near the cave +door shot its wavering light deep into the dark interior. Then again +she hurried in, eager to see what lay before her. + +Nowhere was the rock roof lower than ten feet save where far back it +slanted toward the floor. The floor itself sloped so gently toward the +back that it seemed quite level. She judged at first glimpse, as the +firelight drew from the gloom a glinting granite surface here and +there, that the chamber was twenty feet wide, that it reached back into +the cliffs some fifty feet. She moved back toward what seemed the rear +wall, found the floor pitching steeply ahead of her, noticed a rush of +fresh air stirring her hair and paused suddenly, listening. A low +sound that at first she could neither locate nor analyse, came faintly +to her as from a great distance. + +With her hand on the rock wall she moved forward again slowly and +cautiously. Still the floor pitched steeply as she went on, still the +rush of air was in her face and with it the low rumble, growing more +distinct. It was like nothing so much as rolling thunder, very far +off, or the half heard beat of the ocean on a distant, rock bound +coast. Again abruptly the way under foot grew almost level, she was on +a plane some six feet lower than the ledge outside, and as she took +another step forward, passing round a great slab of granite that jutted +out in her way, she came upon an unexpected glint of light and a sight, +seen dimly, that made her cry out in startled surprise. + +From far above, from some indefinite, hidden opening; the light from +the big outdoors filtered down upon her. There was a brooding dusk +here made vibrant with the clamouring voice that was no longer like +distant thunder but resolved itself into the echoing fall of water. +Water that came from the darkness above, that flashed a few feet +through the dim light, that leaped out and plunged into the darkness +again, shouting and thundering as it dropped into a yawning ink black +void rimmed with granite boulders. She crept closer, her ears filled +with the din, her eyes bright with the strange, weird, almost unearthly +beauty of the place. She crept so close, gripping one of the boulders +with tightening fingers, that she could peer downward into the chasm +that swallowed the water. It was only a small stream, such as is born +in the High Sierra of melting snows, but its dizzy fall, its mad +leaping, the echoes that were never still, caused a murmurous sound +that swelled and lessened fitfully but was never still. + +She found a loose stone and pushed it over the edge, leaning forward +swiftly to listen, seeking to trust to her ears since her eyes could +tell her nothing of the depth that lay below. She heard the stone +strike, clatter against the rocky sides, strike again and again, the +sound growing fainter until at last it was lost altogether in the noise +of the water. + +She stood up, drew back and looked across the chasm which lay like a +gash upon the rocky floor. She judged it to be fifteen feet wide, +maybe wider; upon the far side and perhaps fifty feet further back, +there was a splotch of light indicating a way out there into the open +day. But the bottomless abyss shut off all passage to the other side, +its echoes growling threateningly as though they were what they seemed +to the girl's quickened fancies, the restless mutterings of giant +things imprisoned in the deepest bowels of the earth. + +"If I ever wanted to run away from all the world," she mused +fantastically, "I'd come here!" + +And then, suddenly shuddering, she went back hurriedly to the open. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TALES OF MR. WILLIE DART + +Being a girl very much in love, her lover had been already as long out +of her thoughts as he could ever be, and now he came back into them and +became the centre of them. + +She sat down just outside the doorway of the cave, hat, gauntlets, +glasses and camera at her side, her knees clasped in her hands and +stared away through the cedar's intricate, rustling needles and across +the tops of the forest sweeping away from the cliffs across the verdant +miles, and day dreamed. This newly found cave was her own, absolutely +her own. No other man or woman in the world knew of it. She would +come here again, always careful that no chance eye saw her; she would +bring little things to make of it a lady's bower set above the leafy +world. There would come, in due season, cushions which she would work +secretly in her bedroom at home and which she would fill here with +fragrant pine needles and sweet scented herbs; there would be a book or +two; little, unused things would disappear from Julia's kitchen, a tea +pot, a bit of coffee, knives, forks and spoons; and some day when the +full summer had brought the sunshine that would dissipate the shadows +of these last days Wayne Shandon would come here, would stand under the +cliffs looking up wonderingly; would climb her magic ladder and dine +with her. + +As she sat, leaning back against the rocks, daydreaming as Youth cannot +help doing, her eyes wandered far across her father's ranch. She found +the view new to her. Yonder nothing but the fresh green of the tops +fir and pine had thrust upward in the spring; beneath them, seen only +now and then as it frisked out of shadow and glinted in sunlight, Echo +Creek; beyond the creek-- + +She sat up straight, suddenly picking up her field glasses. Yes, +beyond all this she saw the knoll upon which her father's house stood, +even the building itself through its clump of cedars. But her glasses, +raised higher sweeping back and forth, had found the river, and +travelling on picked up the Bar L-M buildings and corrals!-- Next time +she would bring the larger glasses, and leave them here, hidden in the +cave. + +For a long time she gazed across the river, her heart beating quickly +with the hope that she might see, somewhere in the wide view, the man +who was in her heart. Finally, with a sigh, she lowered her glasses, +letting them follow Echo Creek speeding down the long slope of her +father's valley. And, doing so, it happened that there came into the +disc of her vision a man whom she knew she had never seen before. For +a few minutes she watched him riding up the valley, idly amused at the +awkward manner of his progress. When his horse walked he clung +tenaciously to the saddle horn; when the animal trotted he gave her the +impression that at any step he was going to fall off. At last, when +she had lost sight of him among the trees, and her interest lagged, she +made her way down from the cliff, went back to Gypsy and turned her +horse's head toward home. + +The man whom she had watched clinging to his horse's back so +desperately was not only a new-comer to the Sierra and a stranger, but +a poor sort of person to be alone where there is a dearth of paved +sidewalks and streets with names and numbers. He had lost himself many +times since leaving El Toyon the day before, and now, with the main +valley road as plain before him as a man could wish a road to be, he +forsook it and came on blindly along a second road that the Echo Creek +wagons had travelled last week for wood. And Wanda, riding down to the +creek, met him when he had reached a state of perspiring despair. + +"Say!" he called shrilly when, barely in earshot, he caught his first +view of her. "Say, wait a minute, won't you?" + +Wanda, smiling a little at the evident distress which gave her her +first impression of the man, came on to meet him. She stopped Gypsy +with a swift, gentle touch upon the reins, while he yanked his sweating +horse about by pulling manfully at both reins held one in each hand. + +"Say," was his next word of greeting, "ain't this the doggondest, +peskiest wild man's land you ever shot a glimmer of your eye at? Gee, +ain't it fierce, lady?" + +Wanda's smile brightened in spite of her. He shook his head and pursed +his underlip and mopped his reeking face. + +"I'm just in a cold sweat all over," he confided ruefully. "What with +the rubbing of this saddle on the outside,--an old pirate with eyes +like a young sheep and whiskers like Santa Claus robbed me of twenty +bucks for it back yonder in that jay town,--and my bones inside trying +to poke through the skin, I'm just peeled like a seal whose skin some +flash dame is wearing for a coat. Say," with a groan as he shifted a +little in the saddle which he blamed for his woes, "you don't live so +awful far from here, do you?" + +"No," she smiled. "Just across the valley." + +"Nix on that!" he cried sharply, as if in sudden alarm. "They been +talking that way to me ever since I got lost the eighty-second time. +'Down to a cross road,' they'd say, lying as would shame a second story +man caught with the goods. 'Then turn to your right and go straight +ahead and it's just a little piece.' I ain't ever hurt you, lady, and +I wouldn't, not for a hundred dollars. But I'm awful sore being told +it's just over yonder. How far is it, measured in something civilised, +like blocks?" + +He was the most anxiously earnest little man Wanda had ever seen, and +the most dejectedly miserable. Still vastly amused she began to feel a +little sorry for him. He was such a veritable babe in the wood for +helplessness. + +"Really, it isn't far," she assured him. "Just a trifle over three +miles." + +"Lord," he groaned, staring at her reproachfully. "The way you folks +talk about distance out here makes my flesh creep. But, say, is that +the nearest place?" + +"Yes." + +"Then can I go home with you, Miss? And will you scare up something +for me to eat? I'm so starved I'd eat egg shells." + +He was such a harmless looking, innocent, pitiable creature with his +plaintive voice and childish eyes that her amusement turned to pity. + +"If you are very hungry and tired," she suggested gently, "you can +lunch with me now. I always bring something along to eat." + +His eyes brightened and a smile set quick dimples in the round face. +He released his bridle reins promptly, put his two hands on the horn of +the saddle--Wanda noticed that they were hands like a girl's, soft and +white with beautiful, tapering fingers and rosy nails--got a stiff leg +over the cantle, wriggled over on his stomach and as his horse moved a +little he fell off. For a moment he remained sitting. + +"Birds was made to fly and fishes to swim," he remarked impersonally +and philosophically. "Me, I'm going to walk after this. I ain't ever +going to split myself in two over a horse again." + +"You'll have to ride to the house." + +"You don't know me, Miss. I'm Mr. Willie Dart, and when I make up my +mind like I done just now it's final. I'll walk those three miles on +foot, and when I can't walk no further I'll crawl, and when I can't +crawl I'll lay down and die. But I'm through being a cowboy." + +Thereupon he arose rheumatically, carefully dusted his gay checkered +suit, gave much attention to the crease in his jaunty little hat, +adjusted his bright blue tie, daintily tapped his cuffs back into his +coat sleeves and bestowed a beaming, cherubic smile upon Wanda. + +"Let's eat," he suggested. + +She dismounted and spread out her luncheon upon the paper in which it +had been wrapped, kneeling down on a grassy plot near the creek. Mr. +Dart hovered over her in frank eagerness, giving vent to various +chuckling sounds bespeaking deep satisfaction as he saw that there was +cold chicken and ham, cheese and buttered bread. Then they ate, Wanda +sparingly, pretending to have little appetite, Mr. Dart swiftly and +joyously and noisily. And, with his mouth crammed full and his cheeks +puffed out gopher-wise, he talked. He demanded her name and her +father's business; he wanted to know what she was doing so far from +home and if she wasn't afraid; he ascertained that buffaloes were +extinct in this part of the West if they had ever been here which was +to be doubted; he thrilled and drew closer to the girl upon learning +that a bear had been shot near this spot; and, abruptly, he asked if +she knew a guy named Shandon? + +"Wayne Shandon?" she asked curiously. + +"That's him. Red Head for sure, ain't he?" + +She admitted that he was, hesitated a moment at his next question, and +then answered it by saying that Mr. Shandon was a friend of her family. + +"Good kid, ain't he?" he went on, a little flushed from his eating. +"Friend of mine, too. We're great chums, me and Red. Ain't he ever +told you about me, Willie Dart?" + +"I don't think so. You have known him long?" + +He poked into his mouth the last quarter of the sandwich in his left +hand, secured a bit of cheese with his right, and answered: + +"Long? Say, Wanda, I've known that boy since he was a kid! Me and him +worked together and slept together and et together up in the Klondike +all year back in ninety-six." + +"Ninety-six?" she frowned. "Mr. Shandon wasn't in the Klondike in +ninety-six! He was right here." + +"Oh," admitted Mr. Dart easily, "I ain't sure it was ninety-six. Might +have been ninety-seven. Funny he ain't ever told you about me. Never +mentioned, did he, how we got into a snow drift one time and had to eat +our dogs and I got him out final?" + +"No," she said, wondering a little what sort of being he would prove to +be if one came to know him. He did not look as though he had ever +lived the rough life he mentioned so glibly; certainly his hands were +not the hands of a frontiersman. + +"Maybe it's because I made him promise not to talk about it," he went +on carelessly. "The papers was full of it up there and I got kinda +sore being made so much of. He's grateful though. But he hadn't ought +to be. He more than squared the deal six months ago when we run up +against one another in New York. It was this way:" + +And asking no encouragement he plunged eagerly into his tale. It +devolved from the first word that Red was sure a corker, a guy you +could tie to until snowballs foregathered in a clime in which, +according to popular fancy, they are an extreme rarity. He was on the +dead level, he was at once a game kid and a red hot sport. Red had +seen the name of his friend in a society sheet and had looked him up at +the Astoria. Mr. Dart had been naturally overjoyed to renew +acquaintance with an old pal. And as it happened Red was to step in +between him and certain death. + +Mr. Dart had been going it a bit and had got into a foreign set. He +mentioned casually a couple of French dukes and a German prince with +fat, puffy eyes. There were others of them. They had played cards +together at one time and another and it seemed a general truth that +foreigners were bad losers. Besides, one of the French dukes, a shiny +man like a waiter in a cheap cafe, had a very lovely wife. Mr. Dart +esteemed her with a snow white friendship. But the French Duke was +jealous. + +Mr. Dart's fine, white fingers gracefully annexed a piece of buttered +bread and the tale went on. They had decoyed him to a dreary downtown +haunt. They were all there, all armed with revolvers. In a moment it +would be all night with Mr. Willie Dart. Enter Red, the game kid. A +scene of thrilling unreality in which the game kid temporarily disabled +or permanently crippled every man of the would-be assassins. Mr. Dart +finished the tale and his bit of bread together, offering the +thoughtful, concluding remark, that so much powder smoke in the close +room had made him cough. + +"You seem to be on very intimate terms with the foreign nobility," +Wanda replied quietly, though she kept her dancing eyes away from him. + +Willie Dart lifted his shoulders. + +"Them rummies don't qualify for finals, when you come to know 'em, +Wanda. Honest, they don't. I never got the mit of one of 'em in my +fist it didn't feel like a dead fish. There ain't a one. Say! Didn't +Red ever tell you about Helga?" + +"Helga?" She shook her head. "Who is Helga?" + +"The only decent piece of nobility I ever sat across the table from," +enthusiastically. He had produced a pack of Little Soldier cigarettes +and lighted one before resuming. "She's Roosian, is Helga; a Roosian +Princess. Funny Red never told you about her. Gee, he's just like an +oyster, that kid, ain't he? Here's the straight dope on that business; +I know because I was along." + +It seemed that Mr. Dart and Red had been two of a fashionable yachting +party that had gone frisking down under the Palisades and out into the +open sea. The Princess Helga, a sure enough stunner, take it from Mr. +Dart, had the men all dippy from the crack of the gun to the break of +the tape. He admitted with a sigh which absorbed a great deal of his +cigarette smoke, which after an eloquent pause made pale exit through +his nostrils, that he hadn't got over her effect on him yet. + +Well, they were out beyond Sandy Hook, and the wind was blowing and the +white foam flying and the yacht beating it down the coast like the mill +tails of--like anything, you know. Suddenly there was a scream and the +Princess Helga was overboard. The yacht passed her about a half mile +before anybody thought about turning it around, they were all that +excited. But Red, say he didn't lose his head two seconds, not him. +Say, he was overboard like a shot, and he had gone down under the water +and had come up with the Princess Helga in his arms. After that-- + +Well, Mr. Dart rather guessed, with another sigh and subsequent +expulsion of cigarette smoke, that it was a pretty hard case. The +Princess Helga hadn't looked at another man since. + +Wanda having conceded merrily that Mr. Dart's tales were intensely +interesting and marked by the ring of truth, was further informed +concerning the private affairs of Mr. Dart himself. He had taken the +notion to come out and see his old friend; his one reason in the world +for being here lay in that determination. + +"I'm surprising him," he admitted complacently. "Red'll be clean +tickled to death to see me. Most likely we'll go into business out +here together. I'm looking for an invest--" + +Suddenly he let out a wild scream, scrambled to his feet, and fled +behind Wanda, his ruddy cheeks suddenly paling. + +"My God!" he chattered. "Look at that thing!" + +Wanda looked and saw what since a child she had called a +"Snake-lizard," a very frightened snake-lizard at that, which with tail +aloft was scampering wildly from near Dart's place at luncheon into the +nearby thicket. Her own sudden fright that had been aroused by Dart's +headlong dash and piercing yell gave way to a peal of laughter. + +"Look here, Wanda," he said sharply. "On the level, that thing ain't +deadly, is it? I been setting on it for half an hour, I know. It +might have been biting me all the time, I'm so numb I wouldn't have +felt it." + +She assured him, chokingly, that there was no cause for alarm. Dart +rubbed himself and brightened. But his face fell again as she went on +to inform him that the creatures were so numerous that in his walk home +he might encounter a dozen. + +So it was that Mr. Willie Dart changed his mind and decided to ride the +three miles across the valley. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SLEDGE HUME MAKES A CALL AND LAYS A WAGER + +"Now, my erstwhile Noble Benefactor, brighten up and look happy. I've +got some red, white and blue news for you. I like you first rate, I'm +strong for the grub and I guess I can stand for the country being stood +on edge. I've come to stay!" + +The door had been flung open and Mr. Willie Dart came gaily into Wayne +Shandon's bed room carrying a big book in his hands, trailing a long +wisp of fragrant smoke from one of his host's cigars behind him. +Shandon looked at him with a sober, thoughtful frown, and seemed in no +way hilariously impressed with Mr. Dart's glad tidings. + +Already the latter had been at the Bar L-M several days. During this +time Shandon had not seen Wanda; he had come close to blows with Ruf +Ettinger; he had been variously and grievously annoyed by Mr. Dart; +certain other matters had gone wrong; and altogether he was in no +pleasant mood. + +"Look here, Dart," he replied savagely, kicking off his boot so hard +that it struck against the far wall of the room, and continuing his +undressing with a fierceness that brought a momentary speculative +squint into Mr. Dart's innocent eyes. "What's your game, anyhow?" + +"Game?" Willie Dart put a great deal of reproach into his tone. "Nix +on that, Red, old sport. When a man travels three thousand miles in a +damned stuffy car and then on top of that rides a horse like I did +clean over the backbone of the universe, just through gratitude to his +Noble Ben--" + +"Oh, damn the gratitude," cried Shandon. "I'm tired of hearing of it. +I most heartily wish that I'd let matters take their own course." + +"Now," resumed Dart, again smilingly, having softly closed the door and +made himself comfortable in a chair, "what's the use of pals getting +off wrong with one another? You slipped up and got your tongue twisted +when you said what's my game. What you'd ought to have said was what +noble purpose is kicking around in my manly boosum. You don't seem to +put any faith in me, Red." + +Shandon's short laugh prefixed his short answer. + +"Do you wonder I don't?" + +Then Mr. Dart chuckled. + +"Come right down to it, Red, I don't! But you wrong me. Gratitude, my +Noble--" + +"Call me that once more and I'll heave you through the window," snapped +Shandon. "If you've got anything to say, say it. I'm going to bed." + +"Don't mind me," Dart hastened to say. "It won't bother me at all. +What I was going to say was this: Here I've come all the way from New +York--" + +"No doubt because you were run out!" + +"Just through a sense of gratitude. What can I do to show that +gratitude has been the only worry to keep my appetite down to capacity? +I've been here a week, ain't I? Well, the first thing after I got +rested up which has been about four days now, I begun thinking about +that. And it come to me like this: Old Red's got troubles; he needs a +friend that would live in a temperance town just to help him. Here's a +place for Willie Dart to fit in and do some good!" + +Shandon groaned. + +"If you start in--" + +"I've started already," beamed Dart. "I ain't had much time for fine +work, yet, and I don't know the play quite as well as I might, but I've +been planting little seeds of kindness promiscuous." + +"What do you mean?" frowned Shandon. + +"Now don't go to getting excited. I'm going to tell you, ain't I? +First place, the day I got into these forests primeval, I run across a +fairy that could be Mrs. Willie Dart in a minute if I wasn't sworn to +single harness by my dad on his dying bed down in Argentine." + +"Last time he died it was in Nova Scotia," remarked Shandon drily. "Go +ahead." + +"As I was saying she was fine and foxy," resumed Dart pleasantly. "We +made up a little lunch and went out for a picnic, just her and me. +Soon as we got to feeling like old friends and I found out she knew +you, I said, 'Look here, Wanda--" + +"What!" cried Shandon, bolt upright. + +Mr. Willie Dart blew a playful puff of smoke at him and picked up the +tale: + +"I said, 'Look here, Wanda--'" + +"Wanda who?" sharply. + +"Leland, of course. Wanda Leland. Got it now? How am I ever going to +get anything said if you keep butting in like that, Red? I said, 'Look +here--'" + +"You look here!" muttered Shandon. "I don't like to hear you talk +about her at all. If you've got to do it, call her Miss Leland. +Understand?" + +"Aw, rats, Red. What's the use of that kind of talk between friends? +She don't care." + +"Well, I do. And I mean it." + +"Oh, all right. Well, anyway, we was setting on a log together and we +got to talking like fellers and girls do, you know. Good God, Red, +quit your glaring at me like you was an old tomcat screwing yourself up +to jump a mouse. I never kissed her even, I swear I didn't. I found +out she knew you and I begun right then being a real friend. Say, Red, +if you could have heard the fairy tales I dropped into that fair +maiden's pearly ear!" + +His dimples twinkled and danced and deepened upon his round face. +Shandon, staring at him fearfully, demanded to be told what the fairy +tales had consisted of. Willie Dart eagerly complied. + +"I set right in watering your stock, old scout. I told her you were a +hero and a guy a man could trust a gold watch to that didn't have any +marks on it to prove who it belonged to. I begun by informing her how +you came to my rescue when a hard fate had me on the embers of despair." + +"You told her that?" in amazement. + +"Oh, don't get alarmed. I set forth the account in such a way that +while your part was not lessened my own was not exactly--" + +"In other words you twisted it entirely out of shape," laughed the +other. "You forgot to say that a detective nabbed you while you were +picking my pocket and that I--" + +Willie Dart raised a soft white hand. + +"I showed her how you saved my bacon," he said easily. "What's the +difference how you done it? Then, when I got through that and I could +see she was thinking what a grand man you are and she never noticed it +before, I slipped a card off a fresh deck and related your adventures +with the Roosian princess." + +The dimples that had fled as his host mentioned a certain word which +Mr. Willie Dart did not like to hear now came back. Shandon stared at +him wonderingly. + +"What in the devil are you talking about?" + +"I'm talking about the Roosian princess," chuckled Dart. "I told Wanda +all about her, what a nifty dame she is, you know, and how you saved +her life and how she put her arms around your neck and cried and--" + +"Good Lord," groaned Shandon. "I could wring your neck, Dart. What in +the world made you lie to her like that?" + +"This here is a prime cigar, Red. Better send for a fresh box, this +one is drying up. Now, I'm going to tell you something: My mother was +a fortune teller and maybe that's why it is, but anyway I can dope up +what people are thinking lots of times. I hadn't any more than said +Red Shandon to her than I got wise to that little girl's trouble. Say, +Red, she's just naturally stuck on you! It's a fact! Now, when a +woman's stuck on a guy, what's the way to make her go clean nuts over +him? What's the answer? Why, just tell her about the other woman like +I told Wanda about Princess Helga." + +"Helga?" cried Shandon in sheer wonder. "What Helga?" + +"The Roosian princess," beamed Willie Dart. + +"Dart," very sternly. "You lie to me now and I'll wire the police of +New York that you are here. I ought to do it anyway; I would have done +it when you came if I hadn't been a fool and you hadn't filled me up +with your lies until I was sorry for you. Why did you say Helga? +Where did you learn that name? What Helga do you know?" + +Dart hesitated briefly, his childlike eyes smiling frankly, the shrewd +side of his strange brain very busy. + +"When you took me up to your room that day in New York and threw some +grub into me," he replied at last with apparent carelessness, "and left +me for a minute, why I just sort of looked things over. There was a +letter with Helga signed to it. The name's awful funny, ain't it? She +is Roosian, ain't she?" + +"What do you know about her?" + +"Just that she was much obliged to you for the information you promised +to send her about something or other. It ain't anything to send you up +the river for, Red." + +"What did you tell Miss Leland?" + +"Miss Leland? Oh, Wanda, you mean." Mr. Dart repeated the tale he had +told Wanda with the many fanciful embellishments which it seemed +necessary for him to give to any story that he found it necessary to +repeat. + +"I sure enough boosted your game, Red. Say, kid, it worked for fair. +You ought to have--" + +Even after the threats which Wayne Shandon made to him that night +Willie Dart stayed on. Shandon declared he would drive him off the +place with a buggy whip, and Willie Dart said that he'd come back if he +was chased away. Shandon mentioned the police of New York, and Dart +asked him reproachfully if he delighted in wounding him in his most +sensitive part; wanted to know if his Noble Benefactor was the sort to +drive a man back into the mire he had just emerged from, to thwart all +effort to lead a pure, sweet, rural existence. Finally Shandon +contented himself by forbidding Dart to meddle in the future with +anything not in any way a part of his own business; and nourished the +secret hope that a few weeks of the humdrum of mountain life would tire +this sparrow of the city gutters. Whereupon, when alone with his big +book and a fresh cigar, Willie Dart soliloquised as follows: + +"He's up against a good many things, poor old Red is. He's as bad in +love with Wanda as she is with him. Her old man is soured on Red and +is making the toboggan slide all bumpy. Then there's some sort of +trouble with Ettinger. There's a deal on somewhere I ain't wise to, +and Red ain't in on it. Wanda's old man is in on it, so's the Weak +Sister, meaning Garth, so's a gent name of Sledgehammer Hume. I guess +time's ripe for little Willie Dart to mix in and see what's what. He's +a square kid, is Red, and I'm going to help him put his affairs in +order." + +And then making himself comfortable as he pondered in the biggest chair +in the well furnished living room, he sighed, twisted his cigar a +moment thoughtfully, sighed again, put his feet on the table and turned +to the pages of the big book. His fancy was caught by numerous and +attractive illustrations in a volume dealing with the mythology of the +ancients, and he was soon convinced that he was acquiring a scholarly +knowledge of the history of the old Greeks and Romans. + +Wayne Shandon was distinctly surprised the next morning as he entered +the corral to encounter Sledge Hume sitting a sweating horse and +evidently in wait for him. + +"You were looking for me?" he asked shortly. The last time he had +spoken to Hume was to quarrel with him, and to be drawn into hot words +with Arthur because of him. He made no pretence at making his tone +more than coldly civil. + +"Yes," returned the other as bluntly. "I rode over from old man +Leland's on business." + +Shandon frowned. His quick thought was that Martin, unwilling to +communicate personally with him, had sent this envoy. With this idea +in mind he said, + +"If Mr. Leland has any business with me--" + +Hume laughed his short, insolent laugh. + +"I didn't say I came on his business," he said. + +"I just stayed over there last night and came on this morning, early, +to catch you before you left the house. It's my own business, Shandon. +I'm not in the habit of taking other men's worries on my shoulders." + +"What is it?" + +"Just this!" coolly. "Whenever I hear of any money lying around loose +it's as good as mine unless some other fellow beats me to it. You must +have done a whole lot of talking; anyway word has gone all over the +country, clean down to my place and beyond, that you're putting on a +horse race. How about it?" + +"I don't see just where you come in?" + +"You will in a minute if you care to. I hear the race is to be pulled +off the first thing in the spring, as soon as the snow's gone? How +about it?" + +"Correct." + +"You're going to ride, of course?" + +"I am." + +"Little Saxon?" + +"Yes." + +Hume eased himself in the saddle and looked down at Shandon keenly. A +little sneeringly he demanded, + +"What are you going to make it? A little penny ante game?" + +Shandon stared at him curiously. Hume laughed again under his gaze and +said arrogantly, after the born manner of the man, + +"If you'll make the stakes worth a man's time I'll make you hunt your +hole, Shandon." + +A little flush crept up into Shandon's cheeks and his eyes hardened. +It would be so easy to quarrel again with this man; the very sight of +him, supremely egotistical and contemptuous, stirred a natural dislike +into something very close to positive hatred. But these days he was +making it his business to hold himself in check, he was turning his +back against the old headlong ways, and he said quietly, + +"Make your proposition. I see you've got one to make." + +"I'll ride you any race you like, anywhere you like and at any time; +provided it's a gentleman's game and not penny ante." + +"Done," answered Shandon promptly. Had he refused it would have been +the first time in his life he had refused a wager offered as this one +was. "Name the sum and if it's anything I can raise I'm satisfied. +And," his eyes steely, "_I'll_ name the sort of race!" + +"Some one said that you were going to start things with a purse of five +hundred," remarked Hume. "I don't do business on that scale. I'll lay +you an even thousand." + +"I'm pretty close up right now," was Shandon's answer. "I've spent a +good bit lately and I don't want to sacrifice any more cattle. But--" + +"Oh, well," laughed Hume, "it doesn't make any difference. I thought +that you might have a little sporting blood, you know. You must have +done a lot of talking, Shandon." + +"--but," Shandon went on, his voice raised to cut into the other's +jibe, "I can sell a few cows if necessary. And while I'm doing it it +is just as easy to raise five thousand as one." + +"Oho!" cried Hume. "Little Saxon is proving up, eh?" + +"Little Saxon can beat his brother Endymion any day in the week in the +sort of race we're going to run. It's going to be ten miles, across +country, across the damndest country you ever saw, Sledge Hume! It's +going to be a distance race and an endurance race. And since it's +going to be here in the West it's going to be Western. I don't care if +you run or don't run and I don't care if it is for five cents or for +five thousand dollars." + +There crept into Sledge Hume's cold eyes a look of such shrewdness that +Shandon was struck by it then, and remembered it long afterward. + +"When I go into a deal," was Hume's swift answer, "it's because there's +something in it. You put up your five thousand if you're so cocksure, +and put it up now and I'll cover it! With one thoroughly understood +provision, Shandon. The man who comes in first at the end of that ten +miles, be it you or me, gets the money. There's going to be no chance +to get cold feet and pull out. If you don't ride at all, if you get +scared and decide to get sick or break a leg to save five thousand, I +ride alone and get it just the same. Remember I didn't ride over this +morning for love of racing or for love of anything else; I saw a chance +for some money, easy money." + +"Draw up an agreement to that effect," answered Shandon, a darkening of +his eyes showing that Hume's taunt had stung. "I'll sign it. Find a +trustworthy man to hold stakes and I'll put up my five thousand within +ten days after you put yours up. Is that satisfactory?" + +Hume answered that it was, and named two or three men in El Toyon as +possible stake holders. When he mentioned Charlie Granger, proprietor +of the El Toyon hotel, Shandon said curtly, + +"Charlie's all right. He's square." + +So the matter was decided as coolly, and apparently with as much +indifference, as if it had been a matter of no particular importance. +Hume made no pretence of desiring to continue a conversation that would +be a mere waste of time and words now that his business was done, and +swinging his horse about raked it with his spurs and galloped back +toward the Echo Creek. Wayne Shandon, suddenly a little thoughtful, +turned and went to the stable. Little Saxon jerked up his head and +looked at his master with glaring, untamed eyes. + +"We've got to get busy, Little Saxon," he said, looking with critical +eyes at the lithe, powerful, rebellious body. + +"Say, Red! Ain't you on to his game?" Shandon had not noticed that +Willie Dart was anywhere near, but was hardly surprised when the little +man popped up, wild eyed and excited. "Once you get your cash down +he's going to put you out of the running! That guy'd put ground glass +in a baby's milk bottle for the price of a beer. Gee, Red. You sure +enough do need a keeper!" + +Which position Willie Dart was already seeking manfully to fill. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WANDA'S CAVE + +Willie Dart's sunny nature seemed to grow ever brighter as the days +wore on. Once or twice he sighed at Wayne Shandon's failure to respond +to his levities; and when he felt particularly unappreciated he carried +his dimpling personality to the bunk house where he was hailed with +delight. When a flask that had come in with Long Steve, who had made a +brief trip to the outer world, disappeared before that joyous gentleman +had consumed half of the potent contents, and when later the empty +flask was found in the covers of Emmet's bunk, Willie Dart looked on +with sorrowful, innocent eyes while Steve and Emmet resorted to +physical argument. When a game of crib was being played while half a +dozen men looked on, and a portion of the deck vanished, only to turn +up ten minutes later in the hip pocket of Tony Harris, who had not once +been near the table and was most thoroughly mystified, no one thought +of blaming the cheerful Mr. Dart. It was only when he offered +privately to collect for Big Bill a debt of six bits long owing to him +from Dave Platt that the real gift of those wonderful hands of his +began to be at all apparent. + +Then, too, the method of his progress over the range was another source +of unfailing delight and unbounded admiration. He had ridden a horse +to the Bar L-M, but no man of them ever saw his little legs astride a +horse again. He found, back of the blacksmith shop, the wreck of an +old cart which years ago had been used for breaking colts; he +improvised shafts and seat; he discovered the encouraging fact that Old +Bots, a shambling derelict who had lost an eye when Wayne Shandon was +quite young, was gentle and trustworthy. After that, wherever he went +abroad, and he travelled all over the countryside, he rode in the cart, +steering Old Bots this way and that with much shouting, prodding and +jerking of reins. And he drove where perhaps no man had ever driven +before. His smiling confidence in Old Bots, in his rattling, creaking +old cart, in his own ability as a driver were all characteristic of his +joyous optimism. + +In the meantime Wayne Shandon had at last seen Wanda. His reasons for +making no effort to see her immediately after his heated interview with +Martin Leland were clear in his own mind; he expected to find that they +had been equally as clear to her, and that she would have understood. +But the Wanda he found one riotously brilliant morning was rather cool, +distant, unapproachable. + +He had ridden up on the cliffs which towered at the upper end of the +Echo Creek ranch, from which he could look down the valley and see her +when she left the house, as he felt confident that she would. He saw +her when it was not yet nine o'clock. She was riding out across the +valley toward the cliffs opposite at the north end of the valley, +toward the cave she had found there. Shandon marked the course she was +taking, swung his horse across a ridge and hastened to the meeting with +her. He came upon her as she dismounted near the big cedar against the +rocks. + +"Wanda!" he called softly. + +She turned toward him, her face paler, he thought, than it should be. +He slipped from the saddle and came swiftly toward her, his eyes +shining, his arms out. Then she raised her hand, stopping him. + +"Good morning, Wayne," she said quietly. + +"Wanda," he cried, a little perplexed. "What is it? Aren't you glad +to see me?" + +She smiled, put down the parcel she had been carrying, and perched upon +a big broken boulder forcing her eyes to look merrily into his. And +what she read in his look sent a quick, glad flutter into her heart. +But she did not let him know it. + +"Glad to see you?" she replied gaily. "Why, of course I am. But," +teasingly, a little cruelly, "aren't you the least bit afraid?" + +"Afraid of what?" he asked blankly. + +"Of papa!" she retorted, her dimples playing because she meant to look +as though she was quite a heart whole maiden, and because the very ring +of his earnest voice swept away all the uncertainty that had come to +her during these last days of waiting. "You are on his land, you know." + +"Surely you don't imagine--" he began. + +She laughed lightly. + +"My dear Wayne, how should I know?" + +"I don't understand you, Wanda," he said a little stiffly. "After what +happened the other day--" + +In spite of her a little glowing colour ran up into her cheeks. + +"Goodness," she exclaimed, persisting in the part she had vowed many +times a day she would play for him, "haven't you forgotten that? +Really, after you'd had time to think about it didn't you have to +laugh? Weren't we a couple of precious kidlets?" + +For a moment he stared at her as though dazed. This was a Wanda he had +never seen before; he did not know what to make of her. And then +suddenly he put his head back, the gladness that had sung in his heart +when first he rode to meet her surged back and he laughed the great, +deep, happy laugh the girl knew so well. + +"You little witch!" he cried gaily, as gaily as Wanda had spoken at +first and more genuinely so. "You've just set out to plague me. And +I'll show you how I treat little girls who tease!" + +Without more ado he came close to the rock upon which she sat looking +down at him with demure eyes, swept her off into his arms and kissed +her before he put her down. + +"Now, Wanda Witch," he said softly, his eyes laughing into hers. "Are +you sorry? And do you love me so hard it almost hurts?" + +"So," she said when at last he released her, not certain in her heart +that she had held out quite long enough, "that is the way you treat +little girls who tease, is it? All little girls who tease? The +'Roosian' princess, for instance?" + +"The _what_?" he demanded, having for the moment forgotten Dart's wild +tale. + +"Helga," she told him quite as seriously as she could, rearranging her +disturbed hair and meanwhile looking up at him with eyes that were +beginning to defy her and smile. + +As he remembered, as he thought of the things Dart had told her to +"boost his game" he became for one of the rare times in his life just a +trifle embarrassed. She must think him a fool for letting that little +cur yap all kind of nonsense into her ears, or the ears of any one who +would listen. He flushed under her teasing eyes. + +"I'm going to wring Willie Dart's little neck the first thing when I +get home," he said. "Look here, Wanda--" + +"Oho!" Her brows lifted and she looked at him speculatively. "So +there really is a Helga, is there?" + +But he was laughing again, again threatening to kiss her adorable red +mouth if she did not behave and tell him all about herself. + +"If you had really wanted to know couldn't you have ridden over +sooner?" she asked. + +Then he told her why he had stayed away, how he had wanted to see her +every day, how he had thought that she would understand. + +"Your father forbade me the ranch," he reminded her. "At first I +thought that it would be impossible for me to bring myself to set foot +upon property belonging to him. I thought of sending word to you by +Garth, by Dart even, asking you to meet me somewhere, anywhere that I +would not be trespassing. And, dear, even before I would ask you to +meet me, if you still cared!" with mock seriousness, "I wanted time to +fight things out with myself, a few days in which to see if there was +not some way out better than this one. I hoped, even, that your father +would change his mind, that he would be fair with me as it is his way +to be. And then at last, when I could not wait any longer, I came. +And now, my Wanda Witch, I am going to stay until you come and put both +arms around my neck and admit that you love me so hard that you've been +perfectly miserable since you saw me!" + +"And Helga?" she insisted lightly but with just a hint of curiosity. + +"If you go on that way much more," he assured her, "I'll say, 'Damn +Helga!' Tell me about yourself." + +There was much to tell and it came at last as they sat together under +the cedar, oblivious of the world about them, careless of what might +lie in the future for them. There was the story of her rides, the +murder of a bear cub, the meeting with Willie Dart, and-- + +"And, first of all," she cried triumphantly, "the discovery of a +wonderful secret." + +She refused to tell him what it was until he obeyed her bidding. She +sent him scouting to see that no human eye could spy upon them, and +then she sent him climbing the cedar. + +"What's this?" he rebelled. "At least tell me whether I'm supposed to +gather an armful of clouds or wait until dark and bring down some +stars." + +"Go straight up until I tell you to stop," she laughed. "And be sure +you don't fall." + +"Would you care very much, Wanda?" he asked loverlike and foolishly. + +"I should," she informed him, her eyes twinkling. "For I shall be +climbing right under you." + +"Oh, I know, then. We're going to heaven." + +And up he went. Laughing, calling back and forward like two children, +their hearts gay and surcharged with something sweeter than mere +gaiety, they made their way steadily, he always above, she just below +him and carrying the parcel done up in a newspaper. + +"You might at least let me carry our baggage upon our journey," he +offered more than once. But she insisted that this too was a part of +the secret. + +At last he came to the limb that lay out across the ledge of rock and +would have kept on climbing, he was so busy looking down at the rosy +face that was looking up at him. But she commanded him to use his eyes +for something else than just to make love with, and he understood. + +"You mean to say you've been up here before? That you've gone out +across that sort of a bridge?" he exclaimed in amazement. "Aren't you +afraid of anything in the world, Wanda?" + +"Yes," she answered. "Yes, to both questions. I'm inclined to be +afraid of spiders; I think that I'd be afraid of an alligator. And now +the secret!" + +"A cave," he cried. "Way up here! How in the world did you happen to +find it?" + +When he had crossed first and given his hand to her she came swiftly to +his side, thanked him with a nod and set him to work. + +"This is my own private estate," she told him. "No one enters my +portals until he has been invited. You are not invited yet. In that +seam in the rock you will find plenty of wood and dry cones. If you'll +put them at the doorway I'll let you know when you can come in. And, +Wayne--" + +"Yes?" + +"No one knows of this place except we two. Keep behind the cedar, +won't you, so that if any one should be about you won't be seen?" + +Wayne gathered great armfuls of wood, piled cones conveniently, and in +the meantime got no single glimpse of the interior of the cavern. For +Wanda had slipped within, had drawn over the wide opening the screen of +branches her own hands had made against the occasion, and was +completely hidden by that and the curtain which reinforced it against a +ray of light. He could hear her singing softly, happily as she went +back and forth. At last her voice came to him, calling merrily. + +"You may come in, Mr. Shandon. Don't bring the wood with you yet; just +come to look and admire." + +He thrust aside the screen, stepped through and his short exclamation +amply repaid her for the many hours of preparation. + +A dozen tall candles burned here and there, set into niches in the +rough walls, gummed in their own grease to knobs of stone, their +pointed flames standing still like fairy spear blades menacing the +shadows which still clung to the lofty ceiling. Giving added light was +a blazing fire of pine cones at the far side of the cave, near the +mouth of the passage leading to the cleft where the water shot down. +Strewn across the whole floor, masking its rough surface, were pine +needles which, while they made a thick mat underfoot, filled the cave +with their resinous tang. And there was another odour, agreeable, +homelike. Shandon looked again at the fire; set on each side of a bed +of coals were two flat stones, perched on the stones a battered, +blackened old coffee pot. + +"I called you a witch, didn't I, Wanda?" + +"You might at least have called me a Fairy," she retorted, her eyes +bright with the joy of a day-dream come true. + +"Did you conjure this out of a broken eggshell with a wand? Is this +how you got your name, Wanda?" + +She took him on a tour of exploration, pointing out each little thing +which she had already seen alone, which, when she had seen it had +promised her a day like to-day when she could show it to him. They +went down the sloping passageway and stood for a little while silently +before the chasm with its din of falling waters. They speculated upon +what might lie upon the farther side if a man could cross. They came +back to the fire and Wayne was shown how the air drew through the cave +so that the passageway at the back gave exit to the smoke. They had +just a peep, for Wanda would allow him no more now, into a hidden +recess not five steps from her fireplace where there were mysterious +packages hinting that they might be bacon and butter and sugar and +coffee. And then they came back to the screened entrance and stepped +outside. Wanda held up her field glasses to him. + +"Look out that way," she ordered him. "No, Goosy. Not at the trunk of +the tree. Between those two branches yonder. What do you see?" + +He adjusted the glasses while she watched his face. And he found the +clearing about the Bar L-M headquarters, the buildings themselves set +upon the knoll. + +"It's wonderful," he cried. "Why, we could signal--" + +"Wait a minute," she interrupted brightly. "This isn't your discovery, +not a bit of it. It's all mine and I'm jealous of it. And I've +thought it all out. Now, if you'll come inside we'll have a cup of +coffee and a sandwich which you'll eat politely just as though you were +hungry." + +"I'm starved!" + +"And I'll tell you _my_ invention. First, though, while I serve +luncheon you can be the hired man and bring in all your wood. I'm +perfectly willing to be cook but I refuse to get my wood any longer." + +When he had completed his task he came to her. She had poured two tin +cups of coffee, sweetened and cooled with condensed milk, and upon a +clean piece of bark served her sandwiches. And they sat on the floor +upon heaped-up pine needles and she told him her plan. + +There was an old spy glass at the Bar L-M, wasn't there? All right. +Then his first duty when he got back home would be to spend a patient +time locating with it her cedar and the cliffs back of it. To-morrow +morning, early, she would be here--no, no. Not in the cave nor even +upon the ledge outside; they must guard so carefully against their +secret being lost; but upon the big boulder at the top of the cliff. +She would have her field glasses. He could step out upon the front +porch at the Bar L-M, and if any of the boys were about he could +pretend to be looking idly at a herd of cows somewhere, or at a hawk or +at anything but at her. They could see each other quite distinctly. + +"If it wasn't so far we could talk on our fingers!" + +"Do I have to remind you again that this is my discovery, my invention?" + +She tried so charmingly to be severe, and failed so delightfully that +he assured her he was going to put down his coffee cup and come over +and kiss her. But when she threatened that if he misbehaved she would +not stir out of the house again for a week he sighed and finished his +coffee and listened obediently. + +"Suppose," she went on, "that you stood very still on your porch, both +hands holding your spyglass? That would mean one thing. Suppose you +leaned lazily against the door post? That would mean another. If you +came down the steps, if you took off your hat, if you put on your hat, +if you sat down on the bench, if you turned your back to me, if you +lifted both arms above your head as if you were yawning and stretching, +if you stooped to pick up something, if you stooped once, walked five +steps and stooped again--don't you see that even with your whole outfit +looking on we can say 'Good morning,' and 'Good night,' and anything +else we choose to say? Isn't it splendid?" + +For an hour they worked on what Wayne termed the Wanda-code. She had a +pencil and tiny memorandum book and they made duplicate copies of their +code of signals as they worked them out. Thus: + +_1. Standing straight, both hands up--I love you, dear, with my whole +heart. (That was Wayne's contribution to the code, and he insisted +that it be number one in the book.)_ + +_2. Leaning against a tree or post--I must see you immediately._ + +_3. Removing hat--Be careful. We are being watched._ + +_4. Turning back--Something has happened to prevent our meeting to-day._ + +_5. Stooping once--That's all. Good bye._ + + +And so on until there were no less than two dozen signals each with its +meaning, each to carry across the miles a lover's message. + +They agreed upon the exact time when every day their love would laugh +at the miles separating them; an early hour when they had waited just +long enough to give Wanda time to ride hither and the Bar L-M men time +to have gone about the day's work. And if Wayne were not upon his +porch then Wanda was to understand that he was already riding to meet +her. + +"But your mother," he said. "Doesn't she often go with you?" + +"Not when I want to be alone," Wanda smiled back at him. "Mamma knows, +Wayne." + +"You have told her? Your father told her?" + +"It isn't something that papa talks about, dear. I told. And, Wayne--" + +Suddenly they ceased to be children playing and became very serious. +For while the love brimming their young hearts had been like a fountain +from which laughter bubbled up, still its song had not deafened their +ears to the murmur of life about them. There were things to be told +each other, questions to ask and answer, their own future to look +soberly in the face. + +Day after day Shandon had looked for word from Martin Leland, had +counted on receiving from him an offer for the water to be employed in +bringing fertility to Dry Valley. He told her of Ruf Ettinger and his +counter scheme, how close he had come to being drawn into it; he +wondered if something had happened to cause Leland and Hume to give up +their proposition. + +No, whatever this proposition was they had not given it up, Wanda was +sure of that. Her father was away much of the time; she knew that he +had been often in Dry Valley, that he had had some sort of dealings +with Ruf Ettinger. She had heard him say to her mother last night that +the man was a hog, that when offered an unheard of price for his land +he had held out for something still better, and that Leland had broken +off negotiations with him entirely. Yes, it must be the same +proposition about which Ettinger had gone to Shandon. Strange that +Garth had not told him anything. She knew that Garth regularly met her +father and Sledge Hume; she knew that whatever the business was that +had drawn Leland and Hume together had drawn Conway into it also. + +That matter finally disposed of, left with the unsatisfactory +conclusion that Garth had his own reasons for remaining silent, and +that Shandon would soon hear from Leland, Wanda broached the other +subject which had all along been the one cloud upon her happiness. +Driven to the rim of her mind by her gayer moods it was still there, +sinister and black upon the horizon. + +"I should have told you the other day," she said slowly, "the day when +we found so much else to talk of. You will understand why papa has +refused to let you come to the house." + +"What is it, Wanda?" he asked eagerly, hoping there would be a direct +charge so that he might vindicate himself. + +"Have you no idea, Wayne?" a little curiously. "Have you never had a +suspicion of the reason that makes papa hate you so?" + +"He disliked my father--" + +"It is not that. Maybe that makes him the more ready to suspect you--" +And then she blurted it out, a little defiantly, laying her hand softly +upon his arm. "He thinks, he has thought all along, that you killed +Arthur!" + +He stared at her gravely, the shock of such a charge too great to be +appreciated to its fullest extent in a moment. + +"He thinks that I killed Arthur?" he repeated incredulously. And then, +bitterly, "My God, Wanda. This is too horrible." + +"Listen, Wayne. We must talk this over calmly and see what is to be +done. You see papa has disliked you because he hated your father. Oh, +it's unjust but it's so human! He has believed all the hard things men +have said of you and they have said many. He knows that the day before +Arthur was killed you and he quarrelled. Then you went away, you were +gone a year and he didn't think that you would ever come back. You +came back, you made me love you. Believing as he did, papa did the +natural thing when he refused to let you come again." + +"He had no right to believe it," he cried angrily. "I shall tell him +so. I shall make him tell me of a single thread of the wildest +circumstantial evidence to point to this hideous thing!" + +"It will do no good," she said simply. "Nothing in the world can be +done unless--oh, I have thought so much about this, Wayne--unless the +real murderer can be found. Surely if you offered rewards, if you +hired detectives, if you talked with MacKelvey--" + +"Wanda," he interrupted, his voice at once stern and troubled. "Do you +remember when you gave me the revolver that morning? I didn't explain +to you, even you. I couldn't. If I went away and stayed so long, if I +didn't remain here doing the thing you suggest, offering rewards, +hiring detectives to hunt his murderer down, couldn't you guess why? +You found the revolver that killed him." + +"Wayne!" + +"And the day Arthur and I rode into El Toyon I gave the thing to him. +It was his own then. He shot himself. God knows why. I should have +spoken then, I should have told MacKelvey, your father, every one. But +I hated to, I hated the thought of it, of having people know that +Arthur had committed suicide, of having men talk of it. I thought that +there would be investigations, of course, but that they would die down. +I knew that no man would be accused; it was my secret. I would keep it +for Arthur's sake." + +He broke off sharply, moved strongly by his own words that conjured up +something he had striven manfully to shut out of his mind, strongly +moving the girl who heard him. She watched him with piteous, sad eyes +while he strode up and down, back and forth in the candle lighted cave. +Suddenly he stopped, exclaiming bitterly, + +"Your father thinks this of me. Who else? Does half the countryside +believe me a murderer? Does Garth believe it? Does Hume? Does your +mother?" + +"I don't know what Garth and Sledge Hume think," she answered. "I do +know about mamma. Wayne, even she was afraid at first, even mamma. +But she knows you too well, dear. She says that you are the other +Wayne Shandon, over and over; that you may have been a spendthrift and +a brawler,--forgive me,--dear, but that you have always been an honest +and manly man. She knows that we love each other, Wayne. She knows +that I have expected to see you. Isn't that enough?" + +"Next to you, Wanda, she is the sweetest woman in the world." He took +the girl's hands in his and stood looking down at her gravely. "And +you, you have never been afraid? You recognised the revolver, you +brought it to me. Are you very sure--" + +"Kiss me, Wayne," she said for answer. + + +And yet, when they parted lingeringly, the little cloud was still upon +the horizon, the uneasy feeling of uncertainty upon them. If, at this +late hour, he went to the sheriff and told the truth, what would be the +result? Would it sound like the truth to MacKelvey? To Martin Leland? + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WILLIE DART PICKS A LOCK + +The summer sped by like one long golden day under its rare blue sky; +yet always upon the horizon was that single black cloud. Not until +summer had gone its bright way and winter had come, locked the mountain +passes and departed again, was the way to be made clear. + +If Wayne Shandon could have had the opportunity to act at once when +Wanda told him the reason of her father's open enmity he would have +gone immediately in his headlong way to MacKelvey. He would have told +the sheriff his own version of the tragedy; he would have recounted the +finding of the revolver by Wanda, her giving it to him, his certainty +that Arthur had taken his own life. But having promised Wanda to do +nothing rashly, without again talking with her, having pondered deeply +as he rode back to the Bar L-M and during the days which followed, he +came to see sanely that for his own sake and for the sake of the girl +he loved it would be better if he held his peace until time and thought +brought clear vision. + +He was already suspected by Martin Leland, perhaps by MacKelvey +himself, perhaps by many men among whom he came and went. Would the +story he had to tell lessen suspicion in any single breast? Would it +not rather give the sheriff just such a bit of evidence as he had long +been seeking? + +Much alike in one great essential Wayne Shandon and Wanda Leland had +hearts that were tuned to happiness. To such people it is easier to be +gay than sad; the trouble, stern as it was, that had entered their +lives so early was less than the brightness which dissipated all other +troubles but that one. Good fortune had disclosed to them a meeting +place as high as the waving treetops where no one's curious eye would +penetrate; they could converse across the miles almost as people may +call across a street; they could be together two or three times a week +without their world knowing. These things gave wings to the summer. + +They were busy days, clad in action, crowned with dreamings. Wanda's +cave became a dainty bower for a fair lady. Across the cliffs, by +tortuous trail, it was a scant five miles to the little mountain town +of White Rock. Many a dim morning before the shadows lifted to the +rising sun the trail had echoed to the clanging hoofs of Shandon's +horse as he rode down and back, bringing a surprise for Wanda. A +packhorse had brought in supplies, bought in Shandon's own reckless +way, which when piled high against the rock walls made Wanda gasp and +ask him if he thought that she was going to take in boarders. There +were camp stools, there were rugs. A tiny sheetiron camp stove came +one day, and when Wanda put her rosy face through the screen that Wayne +had substituted for her old one, her nostrils were assailed by the +odours of boiling coffee, frying bacon, sizzling apples and burning +bread. + +There were strings of onions, and potatoes popping out of their bag +before the summer died; a side of bacon swung against a ham where Wayne +had driven a dead branch into a crevice in the rocks; there was a table +he had constructed rudely but securely; there were books on it; there +were candles burning everywhere. + +"Because," he had laughed at her surprise, "winter will come one of +these days, and do you think that I'm not going to see you until it's +gone again? Oh, I suppose I'll have to be down at the lower pastures +with the stock, but I'll get up here now and again. Then when a fine +day comes and you want a long ski ride, you'll know where to come, +won't you, Wanda? Where a hot luncheon will be waiting for you? And, +who knows," he whispered, "maybe we'll spend our honeymoon here +sometime!" + +Shandon at first had thought of going to Garth Conway, of asking him +frankly what the deal was in which he and Sledge Hume and Mr. Leland +were interested, and if they were counting upon needing the Bar L-M +water as Ruf Ettinger had told him they were. But in this matter also +had he altered his first quick decision. He had always liked Conway, +at least, without thinking a great deal about it he supposed he had, +for the very simple reason that they were cousins and had, in a way, +grown up together. But on the other hand they were men essentially +unlike, in no respect congenial. They had never been confidential; +were they the only two men in the world it is doubtful if one would +have carried his personal thoughts and emotions to the other. That +little reserve which had always existed, scarcely noted by Wayne +Shandon, was suddenly a wall between them. This was Conway's business; +if he chose to keep it his secret from his cousin, Wayne Shandon was +not the man to ask him to talk about it. + +Moreover, perhaps even more important now than that consideration, +there was another. Leland and Hume had at least been upon the point of +going into this matter just before Arthur's death, and they had taken +Arthur into their confidence. Perhaps he was to have been one of their +corporation when one was formed. Now that Wayne owned the Bar L-M and +the water, the logical thing for them to do was to come to him. They +had brought Garth into the circle of their endeavour; they had ignored +Shandon. A little hurt at the obvious significance of this Shandon +shrugged his shoulders and resolved that when the first word was spoken +it would not be by himself. + +And soon he came close to forgetting it. The incentive to bestir +himself had at last come into his life and he was not loitering. +Little by little, through long talks with Garth, with Big Bill and +other men of his outfit, he came to have a grasp upon the work which +should have been his a year before, and an interest in it. Only now +for the first time did he take the trouble to learn the real meaning of +resources and liabilities; to estimate profit and loss; to speculate +upon success in the business which he found rather larger than he had +suspected. He called a round-up to learn to the head how many steers +and cows and calves carried the Bar L-M brand. He brought a quick look +of surprise that was close to suspicion into Garth's eyes by asking +casually just what sums had been taken in during the last year by sales +of beef, how the money had been reinvested, if there was a surplus in +the bank. He went into the matter of the wages of all of the men, and +learned that Garth himself was drawing the same salary he had drawn +under Arthur. + +"Oh, I'm not thinking that you're holding out on me," he laughed at +Garth's expression. "I've just begun thinking that it's about time I'm +doing part of my own work. So everything you got out of the sales last +year you slapped back into the business, buying more cattle?" + +"I sent you four thousand, you remember," Garth reminded him. + +"You don't quite get me, Garth. What's left of that four thousand +wouldn't buy a sack of tobacco. We haven't banked any cash, have we?" + +Even now Garth hesitated, Garth's way. Then he answered. + +"Arthur left fifteen hundred in the bank. I haven't touched that, of +course. If you haven't--" + +"I didn't know it was there," laughed Wayne. "When I pulled out and +gave you my power of attorney I let everything slide off my shoulders +on to yours. Is that all?" + +"I banked pretty heavily from sales," Garth went on. "Under my own +name, as it saved trouble and I didn't know when you'd show up. I drew +out again, for the men's wages, for a few improvements and running +expenses, for the other cattle I bought. I've got the vouchers, if you +want to see them." + +"I don't want to see them." + +"There is still something left," Garth said, his voice careless, his +eyes glancing up at Shandon and down again. "It's still in my name. +About four thousand." + +"Good boy," cried Wayne. "That's going to save me some trouble. Will +you give me a check for it, Garth?" + +"It's yours," Garth replied, going to look for pass book and check +book. But when he returned he could not refrain from asking, "What are +you going to do with it, Wayne?" + +"Double it!" laughed Shandon. "Bet it on a horse race, my boy! But +look here," seriously. "I want only five thousand. Counting the other +fifteen hundred there's something over that. You've been working like +a dog for a year, drawing just foreman's wages while you've been taking +the owner's responsibilities. I'm going to shove the other five +hundred down your throat as the rest of the unpaid wages due you, or a +bonus or whatever you like to call it." + +And as Garth's momentary stupefaction was followed by what threatened +to be very profuse thanks, Shandon fled to the stable and Little Saxon. + +Already word of the race to be run in the springtime, in June when the +snows would be gone, had travelled up and down the country. Sledge +Hume's money was in the hands of Charlie Granger at El Toyon, and the +order signed by him to turn over the five thousand dollars to the man +who came in first, himself or Wayne Shandon, containing the clause +which he had insisted upon, making it clear that if only one man +entered the race he was to take the money. + +Five thousand dollars wagered on a single race; Red Reckless and Sledge +Hume riding; Endymion, who had already shown those who knew him that +for beauty and speed and endurance he was the peer of his aristocratic, +thoroughbred sire and dam; Little Saxon, whom men knew yet only as a +wild hearted colt being tamed by a man who knew horses and who was +willing to lay five thousand on him against his brother; the course a +ten mile sweep of mountain and valley, of broken trail and grassy +meadow, leading from the high lands to the east of Bar L-M and Echo +Creek, ending at the Bar L-M corrals; this one event was enough to draw +the attention of men up and down the cattle country, in the mining +towns and lumber camps. Word of it went everywhere; letters came to +Wayne Shandon from other men who had horses, who suggested this, that +and the other race, who sought to find men to cover their bets. + +It would be an all day meet; the Bar L-M outfit would entertain +generously; there would be barbecued beef; every one was welcome; big +wagons would be busy a week beforehand bringing in enough food for a +small army. Any man had the opportunity of entering his own horse with +these provisos: this was to be a Western race in all essentials; the +horse must be Western, born and bred, the man who owned it must ride +his own horse. There would be no professional jockeys; there would be +no bookmakers. + +News of the race, before the winter had come, more than six months +before the day set in June, had gone over the crest of the Sierra and +appeared in the papers at Reno. It had flashed across telegraph wires +to Sacramento; had been talk for a day in many a place where sporting +men foregather in San Francisco. Men who had never heard of them +before came to know of Sledge Hume and Wayne Shandon, of Endymion and +Little Saxon. And still Little Saxon was but a half broken colt. + +"It's all right," grunted Willie Dart to himself, kicking his heels +from the top of the corral and watching his Noble Benefactor risking +his life in the company of a great, belligerent red-bay horse. "It's +all right, seeing I'm here. Suppose I wasn't, suppose I was still +dodging cops on Broadway, then what? Then Sledgehammer Hume would put +some death-on-rats in Hell Fire's hay, or pick Red off with a shot gun, +and who cops onto the five thou? A man don't have to have a fortune +teller for a mother to get wised up to that." + +Little by little the proud spirited horse learned his lesson. He came +to see that his destiny lay in the hands of the man who came out to him +daily. He gave over trying to beat the man to death with his flying +heels; he no longer sought to tear at him with bared teeth; he +recognised that it was as futile to seek to hurl the man from his back +as to break the strong cinch which held the saddle; that he might run +until he killed himself, but that he could not run away from the man +who rode him and laughed. He learned that in this world that had been +so utterly free for him there was one single being who was his master +in all things, whom he must obey. And, when obedience came, pleasure +in that obedience followed, and trust and faith and love. + + +That year winter came in as it had not come to these mountains for +twenty-seven years, early, unheralded and hard. The cattle and horses +had not yet been moved down to the lower ranges when one day, in +mid-afternoon, the air thickened, bursting black clouds drove up from +the southwest, the forests rocked moaning and shuddering under the +smashing impact of the sudden storm, the sun was lost in a darkness +that grew impenetrable toward the time of dusk, and the skies opened to +a downpour of rain. For upwards of an hour the great drops drove +unceasingly into the dry ground while giant daggers of lightning +stabbed at the earth that seemed to bellow its torment in reverberating +roars. Then the slanting rain stopped as suddenly as it had begun, the +wind went howling through the forests and was gone, and in the +stillness which ushered in the true night the snow began. + +All night it snowed, steadily, without cease. The morning dawned wanly +on a white world; distant peaks and ridges were blotted out in the +grey, snow filled air. Men who were careless yesterday became to-day +filled with an activity which was swift and tireless. In candlelight +and lamplight they dressed hurriedly and made speedy breakfasts. This +storm might be nothing but a warning of winter; it might be the first +day of a snowfall that would continue for two weeks. In any event it +was high time to have the cattle on the run to the lower valleys. + +"Two days of this," grunted Big Bill as he kicked his way viciously +through the snow already over ankle deep on the way to the stable, "an' +the passes'll be so choked up we can't whoop the cow brutes through +'em. An' me, I ain't hankerin' after totin' a bawlin' calf under each +arm, nuther." + +All day long, upon the Bar L-M and the Echo Creek, men were riding deep +into the sheltered ravines, bringing out the stock, heading the +stragglers westward down the valleys, gathering the different herds +into one on each ranch to crowd them out of the belt of hard winter. +Many men rode many miles that day, changing their horses at noon, +making a hasty meal when they could, riding again. + +Always before this year the herds of the Bar L-M had been pushed across +the bridge or made to swim the river where it was wide and shallow, and +driven across a corner of the Echo Creek ranch by the most direct route +out. But this year Wayne Shandon briefly gave new orders, telling his +men to keep on the Bar L-M property as long as they could, then to +throw the herds across the ridge to the south and along a harder, +longer trail to the county road ten miles further west. He offered no +explanation, his men asked none. It was but another indication to them +of the thing which was already no secret, that there was some sort of +serious trouble between Wayne Shandon and Martin Leland. + +Wayne and Garth intended to stay that night at the range house, being +the last two men to leave, after attending to the countless little +things which must be done about a ranch before it is abandoned to the +winter and solitude. They planned to follow the rest of the Bar L-M +outfit in the morning. + +Even Martin Leland who usually moved his stock early had been caught +unprepared. The fine weather preceding the storm had tricked him; he +had not planned the drive until two weeks yet. He, too, having worked +with his men all day, having ridden the first half dozen miles with +them, came back to spend the night at his home. + +That afternoon, while the men of both ranges were doing two days' work +in one, Willie Dart called upon Wanda. Mr. Dart made it a part of his +business in life to be on good terms with every one. He ignored the +contemptuous grunts of Wanda's father, and in speaking of him referred +to him as, "My old pal, Mart." Martin tolerated him, Mrs. Leland was +amused by him, Wanda welcomed him as coming from Wayne's home, as +always a possible bearer of tidings from Wayne himself. And such he +was to-day. + +For there had been no time for signalling, the snow had veiled the +cliffs across the miles, and Wayne must send word of his sudden +necessary change of plans. So he entrusted a note to Mr. Dart, having +first sealed it in its envelope and informed the carrier that if he +pried into it the police in New York would learn by telegraph of the +present whereabouts of Mr. Dart. + +Wanda and Dart were alone in the big living room while Mrs. Leland was +busied with Julia in making preparations within the house for the siege +of winter. As she left the room Mr. Dart winked slyly at Wanda, tapped +his breast pocket, winked the other eye and assumed the air of a man +bearing secret and very mysterious messages. In due time he brought +out the letter, the flap of the envelope showing so little sign of +having been tampered with that it was not to be expected that the eager +girl would note it. Mr. Dart afterwards admitted that he prided +himself upon the appearance of that envelope, all things, including +inclement weather, considered--and presented it with a whispered, + +"Red wouldn't trust anybody with it but me. Say, he's some kid, ain't +he, Wanda?" + +Beaming on her like a cherub in checked suit and brilliant necktie, he +approached a little nearer and whispered again, + +"Me, I'll just mosey out on the porch while you flash your eyes over +Red's handwrite. Delicacy's my other name, times like this." + +Still beaming he winked again, still winking let himself silently out +of the front door. + +Considering that all Wayne Shandon had to write a letter about was to +tell Wanda that he was hurrying out with the herds to-morrow, that when +during the next few weeks he could get back he would signal with smoke +from the cliffs above her cave, it must have taken him a long time to +say it. Considering how little she had to read Wanda must have been +very deliberate in reading Wayne's scrawl. At any rate, long before +she had finished, Mr. Willie Dart had gone silently down the porch, +peered in the kitchen window at Mrs. Leland and Julia, continued on to +the door of Martin's study and let himself in. The door had been +locked, at that, when Dart's beautiful fingers first touched it, and +they had done what Mr. Dart himself termed "plying his profession." + +"I ain't had a chance like this since I was three," Mr. Dart told +himself contentedly. "Honest, I ain't. Now, if these nice old country +gents think they can put over something with my old pal Red, and me not +know just how they're figuring on the skinning party, they better wise +up." + +He closed the door silently, and any sound he made might have been that +of a pin dropped on a thick carpet. He surveyed the room with eyes +that missed nothing. + +"I knew it," he smiled, as though at the sight of an old friend as he +found the safe in the far corner of the room. "I heard your door shut +the other day, old party, when I was chumming with Wanda and you and +the rest of the combination was talking war talk. Not to waste time +we'll begin with you." + +It was an old safe, an old, old make and style, and Mr. Dart sighed and +shook his head a little disappointedly as he knelt, brought out of his +pockets a set of bright, new tools and set to work. + +"Any time," he mused when the door swung open, "that they put a pal of +mine out of the running they better get up-to-date." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AND SOLVES A FASCINATING MYSTERY + +Riding furiously with the fury of the storm as though swept onward with +it, looking the very spirit of the wintry season that is made of black +nights and cold, bright days, a woman was hastening upon a jaded horse +toward the Echo Creek ranch house from the direction of El Toyon and +the railroad. She rode well, sitting straight in the heavy saddle, and +she rode hard. When the horse stumbled or floundered in the loose snow +she jerked angrily at the reins and cut sharply with her riding whip. + +She entered the yard and rode up to the porch while Wanda was still +deep in Wayne's letter, while Dart was forming his lips to a soft, +silent whistle over a document which had passed from a drawer of the +safe into his caressing white fingers. The woman dismounted quickly +but a little stiffly as though from cold or fatigue, and fastening her +horse's reins with numb, gloved fingers hastened up the steps to the +living room door. She rapped loudly and Wanda, thinking that this was +but a further evidence of the fact that one of Mr. Dart's names was +Delicacy, called out, "Come in." + +It was with a little start of surprise that Wanda saw her. A young +woman, twenty-five perhaps, of that rare sort of personality that +asserts itself in a flash. Exquisitely cloaked and furred, clad from +tiny boots to cap in black, her hair black, her eyes large and luminous +and black. Furs and cloak failed to hide the erect gracefulness of the +slender form, the poise of which as well as the carriage of the head +indicated an imperious disposition. The woman was undeniably +beautiful, her loveliness the delicately featured, perfectly chiselled +beauty that is called classic. The fur cap upon the small head was +snow encrusted and sat upon her cold beauty like a coronet; under it +the escaping tendrils of jet black hair were fashioned by the cold into +a glistening mesh of silver threads. + +"This is the Leland place, isn't it?" was her abrupt greeting. + +"Yes," Wanda replied, not yet quite recovered from the surprise of the +sudden vision. + +"You are Wanda Leland, I suppose?" the cool, deep-throated voice went +on as the black eyes flashed critically from the girl's face to her +house dress, her pumps, the letter in her hands, her face again. + +"Yes," Wanda repeated quietly. She disliked the little air this woman +had about her, the subtle hint of patronage and superiority, but her +natural wish to be hospitable to a stranger driven hither by the storm +made her seek to ignore this first impression. + +"I'm Claire Hazleton. I've just ridden in from El Toyon. My horse is +done up, I'm afraid, or I shouldn't have troubled you." + +Wanda's quick, ready smile flashed out at this and she came forward, +putting out her hand. + +"I'm glad that you did come," she said cordially. "You must be tired +to death and simply frozen. If you'll come up to the fire and take off +your things I'll make some tea or coffee." + +Claire Hazleton's slim gloved hand accepted Wanda's, touching it +lightly. + +"You are too kind," she began formally. "If it wouldn't be too much +bother--" + +"Nonsense," laughed Wanda. "If you'll make yourself cozy at the fire +I'll be back in a moment." + +Hurrying out, Wanda had a glimpse of Willie Dart standing on the porch, +his hands in his pockets, his big innocent eyes beaming approvingly at +the snow and the sky and the world in general. As she went on her way +to the kitchen, Mr. Dart, having in turn looked approvingly at her, +shifted his gaze to the panting saddle horse standing with drooping +head at the steps, and then, putting his hands under his coat tails, he +returned to the living room. Claire Hazleton had just removed her +outer wraps and was warming her hands at the fire. Mr. Dart, noticing +the cluster of rings on her fingers, flapped his coat tails up and down +and closed the door behind him with his elbow. + +"Say," he began pleasantly, "it's fierce outside, ain't it? Talk about +a slush party. Ain't this a ring tailed dandy?" + +She turned upon him slowly and bestowed upon him a long stare, frankly +curious. Then she laughed. + +"It certainly is a ring tailed dandy," she admitted musically. "You +aren't Mr. Leland, are you?" + +Dart laughed too, his amusement apparently as genuine as hers, and +entirely unabashed by the unconcealed appraisal of her glance at him. + +"You're joshing," he retorted, coming closer so that while he could +look at her he could turn his coat tails to the fire. "There's as much +difference between me and my old pal Mart as there is between you and a +picture of a little country girl picking buttercups." + +"You don't think I look the part?" she smiled. + +"You?" He favoured her with the full measure of his supreme impudence +as he looked her over. "You're just built to play the queen's part in +a tragedy show on Broadway. After the first night there'd be just one +theatre doing business." + +She frowned quickly, her eyes darkening as they had when she struck +with her whip at her tired horse. Then she shrugged her shoulders and +laughed again. + +"You're very flattering," she said in a way which made Dart look at her +sharply and which for a very brief time left him a little uncertain. + +"Me?" he said. "You wrong me, lady. Honest you do. I'm sired by a +gentleman who was a Baptist minister and who instilled in his only son +if you lie once you'll do it some more and then you'll get caught. +Say, seeing Wanda ain't here to do the knockdown stunt, I'm Dart, Mr. +Willie Dart, to command." + +He bobbed her a bow, accompanied the ceremony with a little flap of the +coat tails, and all the while did not shift his round, inquisitive eyes +from her face. + +"Being acquainted now," he went on when a little pause assured him that +she was not going to respond with an exchange of names, "just make +yourself to home, won't you? I'll duck in and tell Wanda you're here. +And," merely as an afterthought, "what name will I say, lady?" + +"Don't bother," she replied coolly. "She knows I'm here." + +"Does she? She hasn't been expecting you, has she?" + +"No." Miss Hazleton's interest in the little man had evidently died a +sudden death, and her one concern now seemed to get herself warm and +dry. + +"She's one great little kid, Wanda is, ain't she?" he ran on, totally +unaffected by the significance of the young woman's back whose graceful +curves were not lost to his admiring eyes. + +"If you say so she must be," came the calm answer. "I never saw her +before to-day." + +"And you don't know old Mart?" She did not know Wanda, he surmised, +she had wondered if he were Leland, then it must be Mrs. Leland she had +come to see. "Say," he continued, "maybe Wanda couldn't find Mamma +Leland! I'll just slip in and break the news. Gee, won't she be +tickled to see you, you coming unexpected like this?" + +"Really, Mr. Dart," she told him crisply, "you needn't take the +trouble. Mrs. Leland wouldn't be the least bit glad to see me as she +doesn't know me. And if you haven't discovered the fact already I +might as well tell you that I am eminently capable of managing my own +affairs." + +Mr. Dart's silent whistle came very near being audible. But he +answered in a voice which was meant to assure her that his sensitive +nature had not been hurt and that his admiration had merely been +stimulated. + +"That's me," he said brightly. "Give me the dame every time that makes +her own play and don't yell, 'Help' if she sticks a pin in her finger. +Them doll-babies some guys go dippy over don't qualify for the finals +with me." + +But Mr. Dart was puzzled. She had ridden here through this storm, she +had come all the way from El Toyon, for he had not been inattentive +while he had been just outside the door before Wanda left the room, and +she did not know a single person on the ranch. The very reason for her +presence here was a challenge to Dart's peculiar temperament. + +"Tell you what I'll do," he resumed, "I'll take that skate of yours +down to the barn and throw some hay into him. He looks like it would +do him good in case the shock don't undermine his system." + +He made his hesitant way toward the door, his pride a little wounded at +being defeated in the initial skirmish, his confident optimism looking +forward eagerly to a more skilful attack. And then a word from Miss +Hazleton brought him back to the charge. + +"Don't trouble to take the saddle off," she said without turning. "I +shall be riding on as soon as I have my tea." + +Riding on? Where? The very course she had come pointed at one place. + +"It's quite a ways to Red's," he said quickly. "You better take it +easy and rest up a bit." + +"Red's?" she condescended to ask. + +"Sure. Shandon's, you know. You're headed for the Bar L-M, ain't you? +Say, I'm going back that way myself pretty soon. Suppose you come +along with me? I got a cart. It ain't much to look at but anyhow it +beats pounding saddle leather. We can lead your skate, if you want to." + +And rather to Dart's surprise she answered promptly, + +"Thank you. That will be better. But in any case don't unsaddle. And +when you come in will you bring the little bag strapped behind the +saddle?" + +Wanda returned then, bringing the tea and a hastily prepared lunch. +Dart winked at her as he went out. He led the shivering horse at a +trot to the barn. + +"Now," he grunted in a mournful tone that spoke of disappointment and +hinted at disgust, "wouldn't you think, to look at her, that dame had +more stuff in her head than to do a trick like that?" + +For the little black bag was locked and the key was gone, and the lock +was a thing to make Mr. Dart sigh and shake his head as he had done +over Martin's safe. + +"I'll get so used to turning baby tricks," he mused, "I won't be able +to do a real man's work. Well, it can't be helped when a man's putting +in time in a place like this. Now, Lady Clamshell, we'll take a peep +and see if your baggage--" + +The bag was open, its contents rifled by slim, white fingers that +seemed, each one, endowed with a brain of its own. In an incredibly +short time various negligible feminine articles had been examined and +replaced very carefully and exactly, a handkerchief without so much as +a laundry mark, a silver vanity set with no monogram, and then came the +reward to Mr. Dart's curiosity. It was a card case half filled with +calling cards. + +Mr. Dart did a thing he had rarely done in his life. He swore. He +said: + +"Well, I'll be damned!" + +And being alone, speaking confidentially to himself, he may have meant +it. He looked as though he did. + + +"You are very kind, Miss Leland," the new-comer was saying quietly. "I +should like to accept your hospitality further. It has been a pleasure +to meet you, I am sure. But you will infer from my being abroad at all +at a time like this that my errand is urgent. I must be going +immediately." + +Mr. Dart came in at this juncture, his expression void of all emotion +except a deep, unhidden admiration which embraced the two women, both +of whom he felt honoured in including in the list of his friends. + +"Miss Hazleton," began Wanda, "I didn't introduce you to Mr. Dart." + +"He did," replied the other briefly. + +"Sure," supplemented Dart. He handed the black bag to its owner and +asked casually, "You're strong for hitting the pike right away?" + +"If you are ready." + +"Right-o, Miss Hazleton," he answered, pronouncing the name as though +he enjoyed the sound of it. "I came over on some hurry-up business," +with a sly look at Wanda that brought a little flush to her cheeks, +"and I didn't unhook. Old Bots is pawing the earth and snorting his +eagerness to help out. Say the word and we're off." + +Involuntarily Wanda showed her surprise at the arrangement. It was the +first word she had had of their way lying together. + +"The lady's going over to the Bar L-M," Dart remarked as he observed +Wanda's look. "She's a friend of Red's." + +"Oh," said Wanda. + +She strove immediately to act and speak as though there were nothing +unusual in the situation. Miss Hazleton put on her coat and furs again +without volunteering further information, while Dart hurried away for +his own cart and her horse. Wanda accompanied them to the porch, saw +them seated and starting and then returned to the house with a little +hurt feeling in her heart which she knew was foolish but which she +could not drive out. If Claire Hazleton and Wayne Shandon were upon +such intimate terms that she made this trip to see him, it was a little +strange that Wayne had never so much as mentioned her name to her. + +"Wait a minute," cried Dart, jerking his horse up short before they had +gone fifty yards from the house. "I forgot my gloves." + +He shoved the reins into his companion's hands, jumped down and running +back burst in bright faced and eager upon Wanda, startling her with the +sudden unexpectedness of his return. With his finger upon his lips, +his air surcharged with mystery, he came close to her. + +"Have you wised up?" he whispered. "Got next to who the mysterious +fairy is?" + +"She's Miss Claire Hazleton," said Wanda a little stiffly and a bit +puzzled. + +"Rats!" grunted Mr. Dart putting much eloquence Into the monosyllable. +"That's a bum monniker out of a French love story. It's the Roosian +princess. It's Helga, that's who it is!" + +He slipped a little engraved calling card into her hand, winked into +her amazed eyes, drew a pair of gloves out of his hip pocket, crumpled +them in his hand and hastened back to the cart. + +Wanda stared a moment at the card. Then she flung it from her and with +blazing eyes watched the flames in the fireplace lick at it. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +"WHERE'S THAT TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND? WHAT'S THE ANSWER?" + +The little clock in Wayne Shandon's room maintained stoutly in the face +of the gathering gloom outside, in defiance of the lighted lamp upon +the table, that it was still an hour before sunset. The snow was still +falling steadily, thickly, swept here and there into shifting mounds, +choking the mountain passes, robing trees and fence posts and +buildings, each feathery flake adhering where it struck softly as +though it had been a gummed wafer. + +"Garth and I will have to get out to-morrow," Shandon muttered, drawing +off his heavy coat and tossing it to the chair across the room, "or +we'll have to beat it out on snowshoes--I wonder what's keeping Dart?" + +There came a rap at the front door and Shandon, supposing that already +his question was answered, called, "Come in." + +"You never can tell what that little devil will do next," he grunted. +"Snoop into a man's private business every time he gets the chance and +then stand outside knocking at the door in a day like this. _Come in_." + +Then, when the knocking came again, louder, insistent and imperative, +he realised that there was the bare possibility that the thumb latch +had caught and, crossing the room he jerked the door open. + +"Is this Mr. Shandon?" + +The cool, confident voice though a woman's was not Wanda's, and Shandon +realised that he had been a fool to let his heart leap as it had when +his eyes made out through the murkiness that it was a woman. + +"Yes," he answered, wondering. + +"May I come in?" she asked a little impatiently. "I have come a long +way to see you." + +Wondering more than ever he threw the door wide open, showed her the +way into the living room and lighted a lamp. There was no fire in the +room but she went quite naturally to the fireplace. He glanced at her +sharply, knew that he had never seen her before for he would have +remembered her, understood that she was a woman of the cities, and said, + +"Are you very cold? Just a minute and I'll have a fire going. I came +in only a moment before I heard your knock." + +She did not speak until he had gathered an armful of wood from the box +at the side of the fireplace and had flung it upon the blaze that a +match had started from a bit of paper and some pitch pine. Nor did she +seem in haste to speak even then when he stood across the hearth +looking at her. But not for a second had her approving eyes left him; +no opportunity had they lost to watch the man's face intently. + +"Where did you come from in all this storm?" he asked curiously. + +"Remotely, from New York. Immediately from El Toyen." + +"Lord!" he ejaculated. "You must be dead. I'll get you something hot, +some coffee. We haven't any tea, I'm afraid." + +She laughed coolly, evidently quite at home with him. + +"If a man came in, frozen stiff, would you offer him a cup of tea?" + +"What do you mean?" He had started toward the kitchen, and stopped. + +"I mean brandy, if you've got any. It would do me a lot of good. +Wanda Leland just poured some tea down me and I didn't want to shock +her." + +Wayne stood frowning at her a moment, a question on his lips. Then he +went to the kitchen and got a bottle and a glass. She had drawn a +chair close up to the fire when he returned and was leaning back in it +luxuriously, her feet thrust out to the blaze. + +"Thanks," she said, taking the glass he handed her. "I am drinking to +our better acquaintance." + +She set the glass down upon the arm of her chair, half emptied, and +smiled up at him. + +"I want a good long talk if you can spare the time. Can you?" + +"Of course," he said briefly. + +"It is my particular desire that no one but yourself hears what I have +to say." + +"No one is here except Garth and myself. And Garth hasn't come in from +the corrals yet." + +"Excellent." Her black eyes flashed from him to the various rude +appointments of the room, flashed back to him. "I am Helga Strawn," +she said abruptly. + +He repeated the name after her in surprise: + +"Helga Strawn?" + +"Yes. Perhaps you guess right away what has brought me West, to you +first of all?" + +"No," he said. "I don't think that I do." + +"Then I'll tell you. That's what I am here for. Don't begin to think +that I saw a picture of you somewhere and fell in love with it." + +The finely chiselled lips, too faultlessly perfect at any time to be +warmly womanly, were suddenly hard. Her eyes had become brilliant, +twin spots of colour came into her cheeks. + +"At least you remember my name?" + +"Helga Strawn? Yes, I remember it. You learned from a mutual +acquaintance that I was in New York some time ago. You wrote me then. +You are a cousin of Sledge Hume." + +"Not exactly a cousin," she corrected him. "I am not so proud of the +relationship as to wish to make it closer than it is. But that does +not matter. You remember also why I wrote you?" + +"Yes. You said that yourself and Hume had inherited equal interests in +the Dry Lands. That through letters Hume had persuaded you to sell +your interest to him. After you had sold you began to think that he +had japped you. You wanted to know from me what the property was +actually worth." + +"I am glad that you remember. You answered my letter. You told me +that you had always considered the land hardly worth paying taxes on." + +"Yes." + +"If I asked you now, that same question, what would you say?" + +He hesitated. The Dry Lands were no whit more valuable to-day than +they had been last year. But if the scheme Hume was engineering went +through it would be a different matter. + +"You have already sold your interest, given the deed, haven't you, Miss +Strawn? What difference does it make?" he asked bluntly. + +"What if I have?" she countered coolly. "I am not the sort of woman, +Mr. Shandon, to sit with my hands in my lap when a man has done a piece +of sharp business with me. I needed the money and like a fool I sold +to Hume. And now I know as well as I know anything that he didn't pay +me a tenth of what the property was worth. Yes, I have given the deed. +You think that I am a fool again to come clear across the continent +upon a matter that went out of my hands a year ago!" She laughed, her +laugh reminding him unpleasantly of the man of whom they were talking. +"You see, you don't know me yet." + +"I don't see just how I can be of service to you," he suggested. + +"I'll try to be explicit. I have never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. +Hume and yet I think that I could write a very correct character sketch +of the gentleman. Egotism and selfishness, two things in most men, +just one in Sledge Hume! He is shrewd and hard and his god is gold. +Am I right?" + +"Hume is hardly an intimate acquaintance of mine." + +She laughed softly, twisting the brandy glass slowly in her white +fingers. + +"I know enough of the Hume blood," she said presently, "to make a close +guess at the man's character. We are not related, even distantly, for +nothing, Mr. Shandon. My mother was a Hume," she added coolly, her +manner again reminding the man strangely of Hume himself. "You see, he +chose the wrong woman when he cheated me. It's going to be diamond cut +diamond now." + +Shandon looked at the girl curiously, falling to see what mad hope she +could have of regaining rights that were deeded away a year ago, +falling as well to find a reason for her coming all these miles to make +a confidant of him. + +"I usually go about things in my own way," she said after one of her +brief pauses. "What I have to say I'll say as it comes to me. In case +your cousin Garth returns before I have done you can send him away upon +any pretext you choose. Tell him we want to talk privately; that will +do as well as anything. Smoke, if you want to," as she saw his eyes go +to the mantelpiece where an old black pipe lay. "Maybe it will make +you patient during my harangue." + +Wayne got his pipe and, lighting it, sat upon the edge of the table +looking down at her through the smoke. + +"Six months ago," she went on, "I realised that Hume had underpaid me. +Why?" She shrugged her shoulders. "I knew his breed. If he offers a +dollar for a thing it's worth ten. I made investigations through an +agent who came up to Dry Valley from San Francisco. He turned in his +bill on time and that was about all. He was an ordinary man and +consequently a fool. But, blind as a bat himself, he showed me a +little light that set me thinking. A few days ago I came out myself." +She snapped her fingers. "It didn't take me that long to get to the +bottom of the whole thing." + +"What thing?" + +"The scheme Hume is promoting on the quiet to put water on the Dry +Lands. The water is to come from your river. Are you in on the deal +too?" + +Her question was as sudden as a sword thrust. + +"No," he answered. + +"Have they made you an offer for the water right?" + +"No." + +"That's funny." She frowned thoughtfully at him a moment, saying in a +barely audible tone as though she were thinking aloud, "You don't look +as though you were lying. Well, you expect an offer, don't you?" + +"Yes." + +"And when it comes, coming from Hume, you realise that he'll offer a +very small fraction of what it is worth to him?" + +"I suppose so. That's business." + +"And, above all things in the world, Sledge Hume is a business man! +Well, I won't ask what you'd do when the offer came, as you'd say that +it was none of my affair. I've seen Ruf Ettinger and learned all he +knows." + +He did not answer; he had suddenly resolved to see the drift of Helga +Strawn's thoughts before he did a great deal of talking. + +"I have learned," came another of her abrupt thrusts, "that you and +Hume are about as friendly as a cat and a dog." + +He merely looked at her enquiringly, drawing thoughtfully at his pipe. +She smiled, turned from him back to the fire, settling a little more +comfortably in her chair. + +"Hume is a crook." She said it calmly, dispassionately, positively. +"It is in his blood. He couldn't help it if he tried. He isn't the +kind to try. The deal he put over with me may have been nothing but +clever business. On the other hand, considering that I was a relative, +considering that there was going to be plenty of boodle for everybody, +some people might say that there was an element of dishonesty in it. +But what I am getting at is that the man in unscrupulous. Now, he's in +the biggest business deal of his life. Chances in that sort of thing +for crooked work are many. Ergo, Mr. Shandon, it's a fair bet that +starting with a crooked deal he has gone on playing a crooked game. Do +you begin to see why I'm here?" + +"Blackmail?" he said bluntly. + +"Yes," she said coolly. "There's no use quarrelling over a name." + +"If you imagine that I know anything about the man's private history--" + +"You've quarrelled openly with him. Everybody knows about it. What +was the reason for your quarrel?" + +"Really, Miss Strawn---" + +"Why can't you talk to me as if I were a man?" she flared out at him, +the sudden heat from a woman who had been ice a moment ago taking him +by surprise. "I'm not dragging my sex into this like a buckler to hide +behind. Why can't you say it's none of my damned business, if you feel +that way about it?" + +"I shouldn't put it quite so strong," he replied. "If you will go on +and show me how I can be of any service to you, anything in my line--" + +"Consequently excluding blackmail!" she laughed, her mood like ice +again. "When you quarrelled with Hume a year ago you called him a +crook, didn't you?" + +"Your investigations seem to have been made very painstakingly," he +countered. + +"For one of your reputation you are surprisingly noncommittal," she +said. "Will you tell me this: So far as you know is there a woman in +Sledge Hume's life?" + +"So far as I know there is not. He doesn't impress me as the sort of +man to lose either his heart or his head over a woman." + +"That sort of man," she replied swiftly, "very often surprises people +who think that they understand human nature, and don't! Now I come to +one of my reasons in coming to see you. I saw you one day at the Grand +Central Station with a friend of mine, a Mr. Maddox. I was uncertain +whether he had pointed me out to you or not, told you who I was. Did +he?" + +"No. I should have remembered." + +"Thank you. That's the first pretty thing you've said! Well, no harm +is done in making sure. I'm making sure of every little point as I go +along, Mr. Shandon. I didn't want there to be a possibility of any one +here knowing who I am. It is my own business and I hope that I am not +asking overmuch if I request you not to tell any one that I am Helga +Strawn." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"If you don't want Hume to know you I most certainly shall not seek to +find or take advantage of an opportunity to tell him." + +"Thank you again. Now, for the other part of my business with you. +You are in a position to stand pat and by just doing nothing smash +Sledge Hume's little game all to flinders. He's counted on you, he's +made sure in some way I don't know. But I am going to know before +long. And I'm going to get Sledge Hume just where I want him! How? +Wait and see. I'm going to get back the property he cheated me out of. +How? I don't know and I don't care. And then--" + +She rose swiftly, her eyes blazing, her head lifted triumphantly as +though already she had met the success she had set out to find. + +"And then, Wayne Shandon, you and I and Ruf Ettinger can take into our +hands the thing that Sledge Hume has already half created for us! +There is a fortune in it for every one of us." + +"I've told Ruf Ettinger already--" he began. + +The door opened suddenly and Mr. Dart came into the room. + +"Say, Red," he began with an important air, "I want to see you a +minute, private. Hazel will excuse us, won't you?" with a rare smile +and an abbreviated bow after Mr. Dart's best manner. + +"Hazel?" frowned Shandon. + +"Sure," grinned Dart. "We got chummy as twins riding over, didn't we? +Come on, Red. This here is urgent." + +"It will have to wait, Dart. Miss--" + +"Hazleton," prompted Helga. + +"Sure," put in Dart. "Her uncle used to know my aunt in Poughkeepsie. +Come on, Red." + +"Dart," cried Shandon, "you get out! We are busy." + +Dart went slowly back to the door, to the surprise of Shandon who knew +so well the little man's tenacity. + +"Oh, well," he said mournfully from across the room. "Only Wanda +said--" + +"You will excuse me a moment?" Wayne asked hurriedly. Dart, already +outside was grinning broadly. + +"What is it?" queried Shandon. + +"Whatever it is it'll keep until we get where we can talk," was the +dogged answer. "There's nobody in the bunk house. Come on." + +He hastened down the steps, Wayne following him. Only when they were +in the bunk house, the door closed, the lamp lighted, did Dart speak. + +"First thing," he said abruptly, "Hazel's name begins with an H, but +she spells it Helga!" + +"You little weasel! Well, what about it? And what about Miss Leland?" + +"Wanda's part will keep. Gee, Red, she's some swell dame, that +Egyptian skirt, take it from me! She's got Macbeth's frau of the fairy +tale faded to a finish, ain't she?" + +"Look here, Dart . . ." + +"It's cold weather," interrupted Dart. "Keep your undershirt on, Red. +When your brother Archie mortgaged the Bar L-M . . ." + +"What fool's nonsense are you talking, Dart?" demanded Shandon. +"Arthur never mortgaged--" + +"Uhuh. I thought you didn't know about it. Now I'm here to tell you +something you ought to know. I guess the Weak Sister forgot to tell +you about it. Archie mortgaged the Bar L-M, he socked a plaster worth +twenty-five thousand dollars on it, _the day before somebody put him +out_. Get that?" + +Wayne stared at him wonderingly. Suddenly he shot out his two hands +and gripped Dart's shoulders, jerking the little man toward him +threateningly. + +"What's your game, you little crook? You lie to me and I'll come so +close to killing you we'll both be sorry." + +"Listen to that now," sighed Dart. "When one pal tries to wise another +up--" + +"Talk fast," said Shandon sternly. "What are you talking about?" + +"Give me a chance to breathe and I'll spit it out. Your brother +mortgaged the outfit for twenty-five thousand. You never heard about +it. Some guy who was wise croaked him. Where's the twenty-five +thousand? What's the answer?" + +"Good God!" muttered Shandon. + +Dart, suddenly released, moved a little further away and smoothed his +coat collar. + +"The mortgage was held by a man I used to call a pal," he volunteered +further. "I don't call him that any longer. I mean old Mart." + +"Martin Leland! You mean to tell me that Martin Leland held a mortgage +over the Bar L-M for twenty-five thousand dollars and that I never +heard of it?" + +"Yep," answered Dart lightly. "And three months ago he foreclosed. +Funny, ain't it?" + +"It's impossible. It's one of your fool lies, Dart." + +"When I tell a lie, Red, I don't tell that kind. The whole thing was +recorded nice and proper. All you got to do is go to the courthouse +and look it up. I'd go for you, only the jail's in the basement and +jails always give me a cold. Or, you can go ask the Weak Sister. +He'll know about it. You gave him your power of attorney, didn't you? +Oh, he'll know, all right." + +The two men stared at each other fixedly, the eyes of one frowning and +penetrating, those of the other round and innocent. + +"I believe you are telling the truth," said Shandon slowly. "I don't +see why you'd lie about a thing like this-- How do you know anything +about it?" he asked suddenly. + +"How do I know Hazel's name is Helga?" smiled Dart. "There's tricks in +every trade, Red." + +"If this thing is true--" + +"Go talk to the Weak Sister," said Dart briefly. + +Wayne swung about and without reply went swiftly down toward the +corrals. Suddenly he stopped and came back. + +"You didn't tell me what Miss Leland said," he said shortly. + +Dart laughed in great amusement. + +"She didn't say anything. She's sore as a goat, though, Red. This +Helga business sort of got on her nerves." + +Then Shandon went hurriedly toward the corrals. + +"Me," mused Dart, on his way to entertain Miss Helga Strawn during what +might be a period of lonely waiting for her, "I'm almost +chicken-hearted enough to feel sorry for the Weak Sister!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE TRUTH + +"Garth!" + +There was a peculiar sternness in Wayne Shandon's voice that made his +cousin start in a way which, to Shandon's taut nerves, seemed instantly +a sign of guilt. Conway finished the work he was doing, snapped the +heavy padlock into the log chain, which fastened the double doors of +the small building where odds and ends were stored during the winter, +and came on through the snow, smiting his hands together to get the +chilled blood running. + +"Hello, Wayne," he answered. "What's up?" + +"That's what I want to know," briefly. "What do you know about a +mortgage on the Bar L-M?" + +It was too dark for Shandon to see the other's face clearly. He +noticed that Garth hesitated just a second before answering. + +"What do you mean?" Conway's voice sought to be confident and failed. +Shandon's fist snapped shut involuntarily. It was almost, he thought, +as if Garth had answered him directly. + +"I mean just this: Did you know that the Bar L-M was mortgaged to +Martin Leland for twenty-five thousand dollars?" + +Garth Conway would not have been himself but some very different man +had there not been a considerable pause before he replied. + +"Yes," he said at last, a little doggedly. "I knew it." + +"Arthur mortgaged it the day he was killed? Or the day before?" + +"Yes." + +"And the mortgage was foreclosed three months ago?" + +"Yes." + +"And you never told me about it! Why?" + +"I should have done so, I suppose," Garth said nervously. "But-- +Well, the first thing you hit out for the East. You weren't attending +to business then, Wayne. You wrote me to take charge of everything, +not to bother you with ranch affairs. You gave me a power of +attorney--" + +"I've been back half a year," said Shandon shortly. "I've been +attending to business. Why haven't you told me?" + +Conway drew back a quick step as though he feared from his cousin's +harsh voice that physical violence would follow. + +"I didn't think of it," he said weakly, and at the same time with a +pitiful attempt at defiance. + +"You lie!" + +The words came distinctly enunciated, cold and hard, a little pause +separating the two syllables so that each cut like a stab. + +"Look here, Wayne," Garth said stiffly, "if you, who have never done a +single thing seriously in your life want to get sore because I have +neglected a matter of no pressing importance--" + +"Good Lord!" cried Wayne. "No pressing importance! You'd handle my +business for me, keep all knowledge of a foreclosure from me, until the +year of redemption had passed? You'd let Martin Leland close me out, +would you? You and Hume and Leland would take the water from the +river. Good God! I never thought this sort of thing of you or Leland! +You'd all get rich by smashing me, and then you, you two-faced little +cur, would buy the Bar L-M back from Leland for nothing, with money +you'd taken from Arthur and me! Why, you petit [Transcriber's note: +petty?] larceny sneak, I don't know why I am talking with you instead +of slapping your dirty face!" + +"If you will talk reasonably--" + +"Talk reasonably? You're damned right I will! Why did Arthur borrow +twenty-five thousand dollars to begin with? What went with it? Who +got it?" + +"I don't know what he wanted it for," snapped Garth. "I don't know +what went with it. I suppose the man who murdered him robbed him, too." + +"You don't mean he had a sum like that with him in cash?" + +"Yes. He insisted upon it. I was with Leland when the money was +turned over." + +"And you--_forgot_--to tell me that!" + +Conway, though his lips moved, made no audible reply. Wayne stood +staring at him a moment, his face white with passion. Suddenly he +cried out in a voice shaking with fury as he lifted one hand high above +his head and brought it smashing down into his open palm. + +"Get off of the place!" he shouted. "Sneak back to Leland; go whimper +about Sledge Hume's legs. Tell Leland that I said that you are a +damned scoundrel and that he's another! Tell him that I said that I am +going to make the whole thieving pack of you eat out of my hand before +I let up on you. And now, for God's sake, go!" + +He whirled and went back to the house with long strides. He flung wide +the door, and as he came swiftly to the fireplace, his face still white +and hard, he thrust out his hand to Helga Strawn, grasping hers as +though it had been a man's. + +"I'm with you," he said crisply. "I'll see Ruf Ettinger myself +to-morrow." + +Her eyes which had been frowning during Dart's latest attempt to be +entertaining, grew suddenly brilliant, her cheeks flushed happily. + +"Dart," Wayne, continued, turning to the little man who had begun +nodding his head approvingly when Wayne's shoulder had struck the door +and who was still nodding, "you've done me a good turn to-night. I'm +not ungrateful. But Miss--" + +"Hazleton," prompted Dart. + +"--will have to be going right away and I want to talk with her alone." + +"Sure," agreed Dart. "I'll get my book and go down to the bunk house. +I'm reading a swell story about a guy named Jupiter and a skirt named--" + +For the first and only time on record Willie Dart stopped his flow of +words because of the look he saw on a man's face. He went out +snatching his book from the table as he passed. On his way to the bunk +house he stopped long enough to shake his head and rub his chin. + +"I'm giving odds, ten to one," he reflected, "that the Weak Sister +don't loaf around here all night counting snowflakes." + +"Something has happened, Mr. Shandon," Helga said sharply. + +Shandon laughed shortly and picked up his pipe. + +"A great deal has happened," he told her. "I've been a fool and an +overgrown baby long enough. Let's get down to business. You can't +stay here all night." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"For want of a chaperon, I suppose? I'm not worried about what people +say or think, Mr. Shandon. And, besides, there's no place to go." + +"You can't stay, any way," he answered a little roughly. "You can get +back to the Leland place. They'll keep you over night. Now, let's get +this thing straight. You hope to get back your property from Hume?" + +Swiftly their roles had changed; he was dominant now, he asked his +question in a tone that demanded an answer and she gave the answer. + +"Yes." + +"How?" + +"I can't tell you definitely. If you'll come to me in two weeks or a +month I can tell you. For one thing, Hume is a man, I am a woman." + +"You are going to try to make him fall in love with you?" + +"Other men have done it," she said indifferently. + +"Other men are not Sledge Hume. But that is your end of it. I am +going to tie up Ruf Ettinger and any other stragglers I can get my +hands on. If you can get back the property we'll take you in. We'll +form a company, we'll pool our interests. We'll force these other +fellows to sell to us at our own figure, by the Lord! I've got the +water!" + +"If I could force Sledge Hume to sell his inherited interest to me," +she cried, "if I could make him sell to me as I sold to him, for a +wretched twenty-five thousand dollars--" + +"What!" he broke in excitedly. "How much did Hume pay you?" + +"Twenty-five thousand. Why?" curiously. + +"_When_?" + +"I remember the date exactly." + +She told him. It was barely two weeks after the death of Arthur +Shandon. + +Sudden suspicion in Wayne Shandon's brain had sprung full grown into +positive certainty. + +"If you can't get your property back one way," was the last thing he +said, "I can get it for you in another. Helga Strawn, you had better +leave Sledge Hume to me." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SHANDON TAKES HIS STAND + +Dart had been quite right concerning the actions of Garth Conway. It +hardly required a clairvoyant mother for any man who knew both Conway +and Wayne Shandon to predict the haste with which Conway saddled and +left the Bar L-M, nor the direction he went. + +"Old Mart's going to sleep restless to-night," mused Dart, to whom the +adventures of a guy named Jupiter, and a skirt who shall be nameless, +no longer appealed. "Them haymakers don't know enough to walk crooked +and cover their tracks the same time. Now with Red on the war path, +and me shaping his play right along--" + +He grew deeply thoughtful over the delightful possibilities unfolding +to his highly coloured imagination. There was going to be something +doing now that would put an edge to this dull life. With what was +equivalent to a lining up of forces and an open declaration of +hostilities, with Red on the one hand pitted against the trio whom Dart +called the Haymakers, with a murder mystery to untangle, a robbery to +solve, and--not to be forgotten--Little Saxon guarded through the +winter months so that a winning horserace could be run in the spring, +Mr. Dart looked forward happily to a very busy time. Then there was +the Dry Valley irrigation scheme of which his limited knowledge must be +enlarged immediately, in order that he might "scrape up a few beans and +get them down while the game was wide open." And there was Helga +Strawn. + +"I wouldn't have missed this here," said Mr. Dart solemnly, nodding his +head at a picture in his book of a lady without arms or superfluous +clothing, "not for the boodle of a U. S. senator." + +He went to the bunk house door in time to see Garth riding out of the +corral, his horse floundering awkwardly in the drifts that were +steadily piling higher. Dart spat contemptuously. + +"A measly little cur," he declared softly. "Crooked just because he +ain't got the guts to go straight. Them's the worst kind. They get +scared stiff and shoot you when you come in late, thinking you're a +second-story artist, and then they're sorry. Chances are he's +repenting right now and wishing he was dead and by morning he'll be +doing the knife act some more." + +While Dart meditated, planned and philosophised, Wayne Shandon prepared +a quick meal for Helga Strawn. + +"I know you're done up already," he said, "but it can't be helped. +You've got to get back to the Echo Creek to-night, if for no other +reason because it may be the last chance you'll have to get out at all." + +"You mean the snow?" + +"Yes. A horse can carry you through to-night; to-morrow, if this keeps +up, the poor brute would have his work cut out to get through alone. +If you'll help yourself and see that your clothes are good and dry I'll +go out and get the horses ready." + +"Horses? You are going with me?" + +"No," he said emphatically. "I haven't been going to Mr. Leland's home +for a long time. After what I have learned to-night I suppose that +I'll never go there again. I am going to send Dart with you." + +"What have you learned?" she asked quickly. "You mean what I have told +you?" + +"No. It is something which I am afraid I can't talk about just yet, +Miss Strawn. Now, if you will excuse me a minute?" + +He went down to the stable, saw that both Helga's horse and Old Bots +had a feeding of barley, and fed his own saddle animal. + +"I'll have to fight my way out on webs tomorrow," he mused. "I can +lead you until we get across the ridge where the snow will be lighter." + +Then he went to Dart in the bunk house. + +"Dart," he called abruptly, "you'd better come up to the house and get +something to eat. Then you've got to get ready to ride." + +"Ride?" demanded Dart, a little anxiously. "You mean me and Old Bots +and the chariot?" + +"You can't make it," Shandon told him positively. "I don't know how +you managed to get back from the Echo Creek with the cart. You'll have +to go on horseback now, whether you like it or not." + +"Where am I going, Chief?" + +"To the Leland's. Miss Hazleton is going back and I want you to go +with her. You'd have to go in the morning anyway and it will be easier +if you go right away. And I want you to do something for me." + +"Love's little messenger again?" grinned Dart. "Gee, Red, I'm turning +into a regular carrier pigeon." + +"I am going to write a short note to Miss Leland," Shandon went on +quietly. "I want you to give it to her to-night. And I don't want +anybody to see you do it. Will you do that for me?" + +"Did I ever turn a pal down?" reproachfully. "But, say, Red; I'm just +healed up good from my ride in here last summer. Can't I walk?" + +Shandon laughed and the two men hurried together back to the house. +Helga, who was still eating, looked up at them with frank curiosity as +they came in. Her eyes rested longest upon Dart; her contempt for him +had passed or else she had resolved to hide it and appear friendly. +Through the brief meal he strove constantly to be entertaining, and his +little sallies which had formerly elicited nothing beyond her silent +contempt now provoked her ready laughter. + +"It ain't a little jolt of brandy that made the difference, either," +Dart informed himself thoughtfully in the midst of an enthusiastic +recital of the gallant way in which his pal, Red, had saved him from a +horrible death in some wonderful land whose geographical location he +failed to make perfectly clear. "She's wise I'm the gent with a noodle +full of things she's dying to know. Red ain't told her what I told +him. We're sure going to have an awful chummy time on our jingle bell +party back to old Mart's." + +And he went on with his tale until Wayne returning from the kitchen +stopped him. + +Shandon had written his note and gave it to Dart as the two men went +out to saddle the horses. Ten minutes later Helga Strawn and her guide +left the Bar L-M. During the long ride, although Dart seemed the most +ingenuous of creatures, Helga Strawn obtained no satisfactory report of +the news which he had brought and which had so obviously steeled +Shandon's will. + +An hour before they came to the Echo Creek the snow ceased abruptly and +it began to rain. + +When at last they reached the ranch house the girl was clinging wearily +to the horn of her saddle, drenched to the skin, her face pinched and +white and drawn from cold and the hardest day's physical work her +woman's body had ever buffeted through. When Dart glanced at her in +the lamplight of the living room he filed a swift mental note of the +fact that what Helga Strawn set out to do she was very likely to +accomplish. For her eyes, their brilliancy undimmed, their calculating +penetration unaltered, told of a fighting spirit which no bodily +fatigue could touch. + +There had been only two lights burning in the house; one in Martin's +private room from which came the voices of Garth Conway and Leland +himself; one in Wanda's bedroom. But at Dart's knock both Wanda and +her mother hastened to receive them, replenished the fireplace until it +roared lustily in its deep throat, found warm, dry clothing and hot +drinks, and made them comfortable for the night. If Wanda were "sore" +as Dart had expressed it, she did not in any way give evidence of it. + +"Them ginneys that go chasing off to climb the North Pole," was Dart's +cheery comment as he reappeared from a brief absence in the kitchen, +"ain't going to find me choking up the trail in front of 'em. This +here is good enough for me." + +In the kitchen he had changed his own outer, soaked clothing for a suit +of Martin's which Mrs. Leland had given him, and now the general effect +of his appearance was that of a very small boy in a very large hat. +But he had not forgotten to transfer Wayne's note with the transfer of +garments. And when Wanda left the room presently for the sandwich Dart +had requested he followed her, his coat and trousers seeming to flow +about him and after him with a will of their own. + +"Love and kisses from Red," he whispered, handing her the note. + +And be it said to the credit of Mr. Willie Dart that, although he had +been perfectly aware that there was a steaming kettle of water on the +kitchen stove, his haste had been so great to deliver the message that +he had not taken time to avail himself of the opportunity. + + +That night Wanda went quietly about her preparation for to-morrow. Her +skis, gathering dust in the attic, were brought down, cleaned and given +the thin coat of shellac which, drying by morning, would put them in +shape. A glance outdoors showed her that it had stopped raining and +was clear and cold. There would be a good crust formed during the +night. Shandon's note, which she read more than once, ran:-- + +"Dear Wanda--Will you try to meet me at your cliff to-morrow? I have +something which I must tell you. + +"WAYNE." + + +All night, waking or sleeping, Wanda was restless and worried. She had +guessed swiftly that the thing Wayne was going to tell her had +something to do with Helga Strawn; it might also have something to do +with Garth and Martin Leland. Garth had been strangely agitated when +he burst into the house. Then he and her father were closeted for a +long time in the study, their voices at times raised in what sounded +like anger, at times lowered almost to whispers. She knew that Martin +had gone out to the men's quarters, that Jim had saddled his horse and +ridden away upon some errand which must have been born of Garth's +coming. She felt that it all was in some way connected with Wayne +Shandon and she was a little afraid. + +In the morning, as Wanda made her early breakfast alone, a glance +outside at the white world showed her that where there had been jagged +rocks and logs strewn upon the hillsides, now there were only smooth +mounds. Tree stumps and fences, their identity already lost, were +hooded things that in another two days would be completely covered and +hidden. + +The girl buckled her arctics upon her warmly stockinged feet, drew her +hood down over her ears, strapped on her skis and slipped on her +mittens before she left the kitchen. From the back door which in +summer was three feet above ground she pushed her way out upon the +level snow. Then, through a white world of silence she moved quietly +through the clear, crisp morning. + +She arrived early at the cliffs, but already Shandon, although he had +travelled further, was before her. For the last quarter of a mile she +had travelled in the deeper tracks, which his broader skis and heavier +weight had made. Already he had gone ahead of her up the great cedar, +as she saw by the branches from which he had scraped the snow. And +when she came to the top and peeped into the cave she saw him piling +wood upon the fire he had blazing to welcome her. + +"God bless you," he said tenderly. "You came." + +"Of course I came," she answered. "Now tell me, Wayne. What is it?" + +First he made her draw off her sweater and arctics and take the stool +he placed at the fire for her. + +"Wanda," he began, at last, "I've got something to tell you that's +going to be hard telling. I have hoped all along that things would +smooth themselves out for us, that in due time your father would come +to see that neither he nor any other man has the right to stand in the +way of our happiness. But now, dear, there is no hope of that. +Matters are bad enough now, God knows. And they are going to get +worse. Do you love me very much, Wanda?" + +"You know that I do," she answered simply. + +"So much that you could cleave to me through everything? Even when the +unpleasantness which already exists between your father and me grows +into positive, hard, open opposition? On my part as well as his?" + +"Is it so bad as that, Wayne?" she asked, her eyes darkening a little. + +"Yes," he answered bitterly. "It is worse than you know. You will +find it as hard to believe as I found it." + +"Tell me." She looked up at him bravely enough, but he knew how this +thing hurt her, and how it was going to hurt her when he told +everything. Hastily, to have it over with, he repeated Dart's story +and told of the quarrel with Garth. + +"I believe," he said slowly, "that Dart told me the truth throughout. +I don't know how he found it out, but in part I know he was right. +Arthur mortgaged the Bar L-M to your father for twenty-five thousand +dollars. You know how I went away then, how I authorised Garth to act +for me just as though he were the actual owner of the property. Dart +says that three months ago the mortgage was foreclosed. That was just +before I came home. I heard nothing of it. He swears that he saw the +sheriff's certificate of sale to your father. In California law due +notice must be served upon a man whose property is threatened with sale +to satisfy the holder of the mortgage. From the date of that sale +until a year later the original owner has what is termed a year of +redemption during which, at any time, upon his paying the amount of the +mortgage and all costs, he may regain his property. Do you follow me, +Wanda?" + +"Yes. Go on, Wayne." + +"Had I not been away, had I not furthermore given to Garth my power of +attorney, that first service of notice of foreclosure would have come +to me. It came to Garth instead; it had to come to him. By his simply +ignoring the matter, failing to appear in court or to be represented by +a lawyer when the matter was called, he allowed the Bar L-M to be sold +to pay the promissory note of twenty-five thousand given by Arthur to +your father. Your father bought in the property himself. It is now +his and not mine; it would become absolutely his, with clear title, if +I should allow this year of redemption to pass without paying off the +twenty-five thousand and costs. And that is certainly what would have +happened if I had not learned of the whole wretched deal, through Dart, +last night." + +For a long time she did not answer. Even Wayne Shandon, who thought +that he knew how the girl loved and venerated her father, could not +guess how deeply this thing cut her. Presently, steadying her voice, +she said: + +"You are absolutely sure of this, Wayne?" + +"No. Not in every detail. But in enough to make me more than ready to +believe it, Wanda. Garth himself admitted the mortgage, and confessed +that he had known of it all along from the day it was made, and said he +knew that your father held it. Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't Mr. +Leland tell me? Why have they gone on with their plan of irrigation +without making me an offer for the water right without which their +whole plan falls to pieces?" + +"There is only one thing to do, Wayne. You must come back with me. We +must go straight to papa and ask him." + +"Wanda," he answered gently, "I have fought this out all night. I hope +that never in our lives will there come a time when you ask me to do a +thing that I cannot do. Will you try to see this from my point of +view? My first thought was to go to your father and to ask him for an +explanation, just as it is your first thought. But what good could it +do? In a few days now I shall go to the court house in El Toyon. If +there was a mortgage, as Dart swears and Garth himself admits, it will +be on record there. If notice of foreclosure were properly served, and +foreclosure were then made in default of my appearance, or because +Garth did not go or send a representative, if the sheriff's certificate +of sale was made, the whole transaction will have been placed on +record. _If_ all of this is true, Wanda, and I am very much afraid +that it is, then, girl of mine, is there any reason in the world why I +should go to Martin Leland with it?" His voice had hardened, and +though he did not know it, Wanda had noticed the change in tone. +"Can't you see," he went on deliberately, "that after the way I have +been treated I have the right to expect your father to come to me if +there is any explaining to do?" + +"I can't believe it," she said faintly, though belief was already +strong within her. "Why should my father do a thing like that? Do you +know, Wayne, that you are accusing him of a very ugly thing?" + +"Yes," he said, his tone suddenly gentle again. "I am sorry for you, +Wanda. But can't you see that if this is true there is only one thing +in the world for me to do?" + +"But," and the question uppermost in her mind demanded repetition, "why +should my father so soil his hands." + +"Aren't there many reasons? If he really believes that I killed +Arthur, if for lack of evidence or for some other reason he feels that +the law cannot touch me, wouldn't he come to tell himself--" + +"Oh," she cried impetuously, "that would be mean and cowardly! For him +to tell himself that robbing you would be justifiable because he was +punishing a man he deemed guilty! It would be braver, more like a man, +to do it for the hot reason of hatred." + +After the silence with which Wayne answered her it was Wanda who again +spoke. + +"Wayne," she asked quietly, "is this all you have to tell me?" + +"No. I want you to understand what I am going to do, what I must do, +if this is all true. It is what they have driven me to do, unless I +prove myself to be what your father thinks me, a weak willed, worthless +do-nothing. You don't want me to be that, Wanda?" + +"No," she replied thoughtfully. "I want you to be a man." + +"Then," he cried sharply, "there is man's work cut out for me! I have +twenty-five thousand dollars and more to raise in a very short time. I +have my reply to make to men who have used me as a fool! I have the +water that the Dry Valley needs. I can go on with the thing which they +have tried to do, I can whip them at their own game, playing mine open +with the cards on the table. I can refuse to be the toad under the +stone; I can make my fight to have my rights. Against opposition that +has been underhanded I can offer opposition that is a man's answer to a +challenge. It is they, not I, who began the trouble. Had Martin +Leland come to me and asked for a water right, I should have given it +to him freely as you know. Why, the woman who came to you last night--" + +"Miss Hazleton?" she said very quietly, though the girl's heart was +beating hard as she waited for his answer. + +"Helga Strawn," he answered bluntly. "Hume's cousin." + +Her smile, a little wistful but with a quick flash of gladness, +surprised him. And he did not understand when she rose swiftly and +came to him and put her arms round his neck. + +"I am afraid that I have been naughty, Wayne," she whispered. "No, +I'll tell you some other time. Tell me about her." + +He told her Helga's vague plan, showed her the chance for him with +Ettinger, Norfolk and the stragglers lined up with him. + +"I love you, Wanda," he said suddenly at the end. "So much that what +you want done is the thing that I must do. But you must see very +clearly that the time has come when I must play the man's part or the +weakling's." + +"First you are going to be very sure? Sure that papa has done this?" + +"Yes, dear." + +"Then," she said, lifting her face to his, her eyes shining, "if you +find it true I want you to do the man's part, Wayne. You knew that I +would, didn't you, Wayne?" + +"Yes," he whispered. "God bless you, yes." + +"And, Wayne, dear--" + +"Yes?" + +"Do you think that Helga Strawn is very beautiful?" + +Whereupon he laughed happily at her, and despite the cloud in their sky +which had grown suddenly bigger and blacker so that the shadow of it +lay across their lives, they were very gay together. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +HUME PLAYS A TRUMP + +Before Wanda and Wayne had finished making merry over their little +luncheon in the cave, each striving bravely to look at the future +honestly and unafraid, to look upon the present contentedly, an event +had happened that was already shaping their lives in a way which they +could not foresee. Sledge Hume had come to the Echo Creek. + +During the past night, shortly after the arrival of Garth Conway, Jim +had ridden from the range house to the nearest village, something less +than a dozen miles down the valley, with orders to telephone a message +to Hume. The message, a mystery in itself to Jim, had been clear +enough to the man to whom it was sent and had brought him hastening +across the fifty miles lying between his ranch in the Dry Lands and the +Echo Creek. In the darkness he had come on as far as he could, until +the snow stopped him. He had spent the night at a house twenty miles +from Leland's place and now, hours before he could reasonably have been +expected, he entered Martin's study unceremoniously. + +"So there's hell to pay," he said shortly by way of greeting. "The red +headed fool has discovered something, has he?" + +He flung off his coat and strode to the fireplace. Garth and Leland +were together, had been together all morning, planning what was to be +done. Hume stared at Leland frowningly and then slowly transferred his +regard to Conway. + +"I suppose your brains have been leaking out of your mouth again," he +said contemptuously. + +Garth, his agitation of last night having left him nervous and +irritable, retorted hotly. + +"Gentlemen," said Leland gravely, "may I remind you that this is hardly +a time for personal recriminations? We are not here to quarrel with +one another. I sent you word immediately, Mr. Hume, not because I saw +any necessity for your coming here but that you might know what we have +to expect at the earliest possible moment. Garth and myself have been +talking it over--" + +"Talking!" exploded Hume angrily. "Well, I didn't come to talk. +There's going to be something besides a puling string of words now." + +"If you have a suggestion--" + +"You bet I have! I've been expecting just this thing ever since you +began playing the game with Conway there as a stool pigeon. If we'd +have sent him on a trip to Paris and paid his expenses we'd have saved +trouble and money. Can I have a drink and something to eat? I'm half +starved." + +"Certainly. But your suggestion--" + +"Is already working. I'm going to make it so hot for Red Shandon that +he'll come to time the first show he gets. MacKelvey is on the jump +and not over an hour or two behind me. It's time for trumps now, +Leland." + +Martin jerked his head up at MacKelvey's name and stared at Hume with +keen, hard eyes. + +"You're making a bold play, Mr. Hume." + +"Well?" challenged Hume. "Isn't it high time for it? We might have +bought the water from Shandon before and have been better off. You +wouldn't stand for it; you had to gobble everything for nothing. We +took the chance. It wasn't a bad gamble either, considering Shandon +was away the first year and is a fool to boot. But you've lost on it. +Now when you go to him and ask for the water he's going to laugh at +you. But lock him up, charged with murder, make him believe that we +can stretch his neck for him and he'll hang, or by God, he will come to +time. Now I want a drink and something to eat. You and Conway can +spend the day talking if you like; I've got a day's work cut out ahead +of me." + +"You're going with MacKelvey?" + +Hume laughed and threw back his coat, showing the deputy sheriff's star +under it. + +"I had Mac swear me in six months ago," he answered. "Yes, I'm going +with him." + +Martin Leland rose and preceded Hume to the door. + +"I shall ask my wife to see that you have something to eat right away," +he said quietly. "First, Mr. Hume, I want you to know that Garth has +not been doing any talking, as you have suspected." + +Hume merely lifted his heavy shoulders. + +"And," Leland added, a little more sharply, "I want you to know also +that there is a woman here, a Miss Hazleton, whom we don't know +anything about excepting that she went to Shandon's last night, and +after her talk with him he rushed out to Garth demanding to be told +about the mortgage. Just where she fits in I don't know. She might be +anything from a chorus girl to a Reno widow." + +"Oho," cried Hume, his brows suddenly drawn blackly. "He's getting a +woman mixed up in his affairs, is he? That shows how much sense he +has. Where is she now?" + +"Here. She has asked to go out with us tomorrow." + +Hume made no answer but shoving his hands into his pockets strode after +Leland into the living room. He stopped at the door, a little startled +by the vision which confronted him as Helga Strawn turned quickly from +the window, where she had been frowning at the blinding glare of the +snow without, and faced him. + +She wore the clothes in which she had gone through the storm, but a hot +iron had taken the wrinkles out and they fitted her superb figure +admirably. Hume did not notice the clothes, he saw only the woman. +She inclined her head just a little to her host, with no softening of +the cold features. Upon Hume she bestowed a casual glance that came +and went indifferently. + +"Miss Hazleton," said Martin curtly, "this is Mr. Hume." + +The eyes of the two men were keen upon her as the name was spoken. As +Martin had said they did not know where this woman fitted in; it was +their business to find out. + +Again she bowed, very slightly. If she felt any flicker of interest, +of surprise, that Hume was here, she did not betray it. + +"How do you do, Mr. Hume?" was what she said, as indifferently as +though in reality she had no interest in the man or knowledge of him. + +Martin left the room and went to the kitchen in search of Mrs. Leland. +Hume came to the window where Helga was standing. + +"So you are a friend of Red Shandon's, are you?" he said bluntly. + +"Am I?" The lift of her brows asked him very plainly what he meant by +that and what business it was of his. + +"Yes," he retorted a little warmly, perhaps for the mere reason that +her very carriage hinted at a will ready to cross swords with his, and +Sledge Hume was not a man to tolerate opposition in a woman. "You told +him that the mortgage had been foreclosed." + +"Did I?" coolly. + +"And, if you care to know," he went on roughly, "you have thereby piled +up a lot of trouble for your friend Shandon." + +There was rare impudence in the laughter with which she answered him. + +"I have a way of judging a man when I first see him," she said, her +smile now flashing her amusement at him. "I didn't think that you were +going to be as stupid as the rest." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean," and she turned back to the window, "that what happens to +Shandon or any other man in the world is absolutely immaterial so far +as I am concerned. Please don't think that I'm a tender hearted little +thing who is going to cry if you slap another man's face." + +"You mean that you are not a friend of Shandon?" cynically. + +"Your way of opening a conversation with a woman you have just met is +charmingly unique! If you are trying to get something out of me you +are going the wrong way about it, aren't you? You have already let out +twice as much as I have!" + +"Have I?" + +"Yes. You have told me that there was a mortgage of which I knew +nothing; that it has been concealed from Shandon; that he has learned +about it; that it upsets your kettle of fish in some way; that you are +going to make things hot for him because of it. All that is a good +deal of information to give a stranger in less than a minute's time, +don't you think, Mr. Hume?" + +He laughed and yet his eyes hardened and narrowed upon her. + +"You are welcome to what I have told you," he retorted. "It will be +common talk in twenty-four hours." + +She gave no sign of having heard. Her indifference vaguely irritated +him. + +"Look here, Miss Hazleton," he said significantly. "I'll tell you +something else as long as I am pouring out my heart to you," a sneer +under the words. "Before I'm done with Shandon he won't have a boot +for his foot or a leg to walk on. And anybody who ties up with him is +going to get smashed the same way!" + +"It is very kind of you to warn me beforehand," she laughed softly. +"The fact that I have no interest whatever in Mr. Shandon certainly +should not lessen my gratitude to you, should it?" + +"You want me to believe that?" + +"Really there is only one thing which I do want you to believe," she +said in return. "Just that it would be very strange if I should care +one way or the other what you think. Isn't it perfectly glorious the +way the sun strikes the snow?" + +Helga Strawn's keen womanly perception had in no way misled her +concerning her relative's nature. A compelling, masterful disposition +like Sledge Hume's grows accustomed to having its way. She was coolly +treating him as it was his role to treat others; and he did not like +the change of roles. He realised that the conversation had come to an +end. At the same time he knew that if he turned and left her, his +usual way when all had been said, he would be taking his dismissal like +a schoolboy. And he knew that as she looked out over the snow she +would be smiling. + +"I have heard," he went on stubbornly, "of a woman going to see +Ettinger and Norfolk. It was you. Now you come to see Shandon. Do +you think that I am fool enough to believe that you are not interested +in the same thing I am?" + +"Ah!" she said, turning swiftly. "But I did not say that I was not +interested in the irrigation of Dry Valley. I am!" + +"And," his old weapon, a sneer, coming back, "you are not interested in +Shandon?" + +"Not that much." She snapped her white fingers and Hume saw the +sparkle of rings. "Shandon is a fool. So is Ettinger. I am not +interested in fools." She paused a moment, her brilliant eyes meeting +his. "Are you a fool like the rest, Sledge Hume?" + +She puzzled him, this woman who should have been that weak, inefficient +thing which Hume's conceit pictured all of her sex. He began to be a +little more upon his guard in talking with her. + +"No." He contented himself with the one word, only his eyes demanding +an explanation. + +"I don't think much of your associates," she informed him. + +"You mean Leland?" + +"He is bad enough. Garth Conway is worse. They are poor sort of men +to swing a big deal." + +"They are not swinging it," he said bluntly. + +"You are?" + +"Yes." + +Again she paused, her tapering fingers drumming idly upon the glass +through which once more she was looking out upon the shining snow. + +"I was coming to talk with you anyway in a day or so," she said after a +little. "I have fifty thousand dollars available. Can you use it?" + +In spite of him he started. She spoke of the matter so coolly, so +indifferently. And there had never been the time yet when Sledge Hume +could not use fifty thousand dollars very readily. + +"Go on," he said. + +"I saw the other side first," she returned. "They have a bigger chance +than you. But there is not a man among them. If you know what you are +doing, if you know _how_ to do it, you will make and they will break. +I want to get in on the winning side. That's all." + +"And if we can't make a place for you?" + +"Then I'll make one for myself. I'll see the farmers again. I'll make +them organise instead of bickering. I'll swing the controlling vote +myself. If fifty thousand won't do it I'll put the rest in. And then +we'll buy you and your crowd out or we'll sell you water or you'll go +to pieces so badly that the sheriff will sell you out!" + +Hume laughed. And yet he recognised swiftly that here was a woman to +reckon with, that a fresh element had entered the game he was playing. + +"You have a wonderful amount of confidence," he said. + +"In myself," she retorted meaningly. + +"I think," he said thoughtfully, passing over her remark without +answer, "that I can make a place for you, if you've really got the +money." + +"I think that you can," she assured him. + +And so Helga Strawn played the first card in the game with her +relative, Sledge Hume. + + +The sheriff, armed with a warrant for the arrest of Wayne Shandon, and +accompanied by two deputies arrived at the Echo Creek a little before +noon. They had left their horses at the same ranch house where Hume +had stayed last night, coming on up the valley on snowshoes. They went +immediately to Martin's study, from there to the dining room, then back +to the study. Martin, Hume and Garth Conway remained with them, their +voices coming in a low drone to the three women in the other part of +the house. The nervousness and anxiety of both Mrs. Leland and Julia +did not escape the sharp eyes of Helga Strawn. + +"Hume is beginning his dirty work," she mused. "A trumped up charge of +some kind to get Shandon out of the way for a while." + +"I got your message," MacKelvey told Hume half angrily. "And I got +busy because it's my sworn duty, not because I hankered after the job. +Your man in El Toyon swore out the warrant as you said he would. But +it looks damn' funny to me that if you fellows believe that Shandon +killed his brother you had to wait until now to say so. And you can +take my word for it I'd have taken my time about getting here if I +hadn't known that Mr. Leland was with you in the matter." + +A little after noon, the sheriff with his men left for the Bar L-M. +Garth assured them that Wayne could hardly get away before the late +afternoon or the following morning, for the reason that when he left +the ranch there had been a number of things yet to do before the place +was closed up for the winter. MacKelvey and one of the men with him +went on webs; Hume and the other man on skis. + +A hundred yards from the house they came upon Willie Dart. He had +travelled thus far on a pair of skis which he had found in the attic, +had struggled manfully but hopelessly to manage the narrow strips of +wood which pigeon toed and tripped him or interfered with each other +behind him, refusing the parallelism to which Mr. Dart strove wildly to +restrain them. He had fallen when they reached him and was standing to +his waist in the snow, his face red, the perspiration trickling down +his cheeks. + +"Oho!" laughed Hume loudly. "So you were on your way to warn him, were +you?" + +"You big boob, you!" shrieked Dart. "Get down and I'll shove your face +in for you!" + +So they left him to struggle his way back to the house, Hume's laughter +booming back above the shrill imprecations of the little man. There +were tears, genuine tears in Willie Dart's eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE SHORT CUT + +Wanda Leland, her lithe body bending gracefully and easily as she drove +her light skis over the glistening crust of the snow, shot down the +last long slope in a sort of ecstasy inspired by the exhiliration of +silent speed and the crisp brightness of the early afternoon. Stooping +forward a little she took the short leap across the three foot wide +gulch at the base of the knoll upon which the house stood, and laughed +aloud as she landed and with gathered impetus sped a score of feet up +the knoll itself. + +She had left Wayne happy in the two things which mattered: He loved her +even as she loved him; he was a strong man and a true. There was still +sadness in her breast but it was but a sunspot in the great glory of +her happiness. But now suddenly, even while her lips curved redly to +her gay laughter, was the gladness to go out of her. + +She saw Willie Dart upon the porch, saw him start towards her in an +eagerness little less than frantic. He fairly hurled himself from the +steps into the deep snow, floundered helplessly, and progressing by +hard fought inches came on to meet her. As her skis, running up hill, +came slowly to a stop she watched him with amused eyes. But when she +saw his face, twisted with despair, she grew suddenly afraid. + +"They've gone to arrest Red!" he wailed. "The sheriff and Hume and two +other guys. Where is he?" + +"He has gone back to the Bar L-M," she answered swiftly. "What do you +mean?" + +"I mean them crooks have gone to arrest him for murder," he called to +her. "They left nearly an hour ago. It's a skin game of the worst +kind. They want him tied up so they can work some sneaking gag and rob +him of his land. Hume wants him where he can't ride a race in the +spring so he'll grab Red's five thousand. The money's already up. God +knows what else they've got up their dirty sleeves." + +For one dizzy moment the girl grew faint with fear. And when that +moment passed she saw clearly that as matters stood Wayne Shandon had a +man's work ahead of him. Thrown into jail, charged with so serious a +crime as fratricide, with Hume, and perhaps her own father, doing +everything in the world that they could do to hamper him, he would be +carrying a handicap to break the back of a man's hope. + +"They mustn't do this thing!" she cried passionately, the eyes that had +been tender a moment ago growing fierce. "Does my father know this?" + +"Sure," grunted Dart disgustedly. "He's one of the combine." + +"And they left an hour ago?" + +"Seems like a million years. It must be awful close to an hour. Say, +Wanda, I tried, honest to God, I did--" + +She did not hear. She had turned away from him and was staring at the +long billowing sweep of snow lying between her and those men who had +gone to arrest Wayne Shandon. She saw the broken imprints of the +Canadian snowshoes, the smooth tracks of the skis, and demanded sharply: + +"Which men wore the webs?" + +"Them tennis racket things? MacKelvey and one of his thieves." + +He looked at her wonderingly. What difference did that make? But +Wanda took no time for explanations. She was thinking swiftly that +MacKelvey would be the man to make the arrest, that the others would +accommodate their gait to his, that upon a crust like this the Canadian +shoes could make no such speed as a pair of skis. + +"Tell mamma, no one else, where I have gone," she cried. + +And, swinging about, she took the side of the knoll in a long sweep, +shot down into a hollow, rose upon the far side, crossed the trail that +the four men had made, seemed to Mr. Dart's staring eyes to be +balancing a moment upon a line where snow and sky met and then was gone +from him, dropping out of sight into the wilderness of snow. + +"She's some game little kid," he moaned, shaking his head and making a +slow retreat back to the house. "But with them cutthroats an hour +ahead of her, she ain't got a show. Poor old Red." + +But Wanda's heart was beating steadily now, her muscles were obeying +the calm command of her will, and she was telling herself resolutely +that she did have a chance. MacKelvey and Hume and the others would +see no imperative need for a wild burst of speed; they would travel +swiftly but they would not know that she was moving more swiftly behind +them. Up and down hill they would go step by step while she, following +the way she knew so well, the trails she had followed winter after +winter, would find the long slopes down which she would shoot like a +flash of light. It was more than possible that they would take over +two hours in making the trip; she must make it in less than an hour. + +"If I had only come home half an hour sooner," she cried as she fought +her oblique way up a ridge she must top, "I could have laughed at them. +God be with me and I'll laugh at them yet!" + +She was going too fast; she came to the crest of the ridge panting, her +heart beating wildly, her body shaking. She sought to relax her +muscles as she took the long racing ride down upon the far side. She +went more slowly as she climbed the next ridge. She was thinking +coolly now, she saw the need both of speed and of a conservation of +energy. She felt no fatigue from the trip of the forenoon; she had +rested long at the cave with Wayne; and yet she knew that unless she +saved her strength she would be unfit for the last burst of speed at +the end. + +She did not follow the track the four men had left. She knew these +woods too well to lose a precious yard now. Where they had turned here +and there to avoid thick clumps of firs the girl, looking far ahead, +economised strength and shortened distances. + +"I _must_ get there first," she cried over and over again. "If these +men will do the sort of thing Wayne says that they have done, if they +will stop at nothing to gain their ends, what hope has he if they +arrest him and charge him with Arthur's murder? There will be +evidence, they will make evidence, and he will be in jail where he can +not help himself." + +Once she heard a faint cracking sound under her feet and her heart +stopped. If a ski had broken now-- But it was only a dead brush, snow +covered, and one of the lifeless twigs had snapped. She became more +careful of the way, wary of being tricked by the blinding snow that +appeared level when there were mounds and hollows that might have +broken a ski had she been careless and unlucky. The sudden hideous +fancy leaped out upon her that the breaking of a ski now might mean the +death of a man, the only man in the world for her. + +At last, from the crest of the highest ridge, the one from which each +year she took her favourite ride down to the river, she caught sight of +the little party that menaced Wayne Shandon's liberty. The men had +been making better time than she had let herself believe they would; +evidently MacKelvey wanted to get the thing over with, to get back to +the Echo Creek that night. Beyond them, straight ahead, was the bridge. + +"I can't do it! I can't do it!" she cried aloud, her voice broken with +hopelessness. + +Even as she hesitated, poising upon the top of the rise, one of the men +far ahead turned and saw her. It was Sledge Hume. She saw his quick +gesture; she almost fancied that she could hear his laugh. He would +know why she followed them. He would be mocking her. Oh, how she +hated the man then! + +"They will leave one of the deputies at the bridge," she thought in +despair. "He won't let me across. Oh, God, if there were only another +crossing!" + +_There was another crossing; a snowshoe rabbit had shown it to her_. +He had sought to leap it just to save the little flame of life in the +tiny furred breast. He had gone to his death valiantly, but he had +shown her the place, the short cut, the way that was full of menace and +yet that was possible. + +Her face whitened; she hesitated just a fraction of a second, +balancing. Now the men were following the wide crescent of the curve +which would lead them to the bridge. There was another course lying +straight between the two tips of that crescent, and a great gap filled +with the thunder of raging water against crags that were like the +horrible teeth of a monster, broke the short cut in two. + +Again Hume had turned; she noted even across the distance the +contemptuous carriage of his big body and she knew that he was +laughing. And again, as though it were already just before her, she +fancied that she saw the chasm of the river. + +"It is Wayne's ruin, it maybe Wayne's death, if they take him now!" + +It seemed to her that it had not been her voice, that whispered the +words. It seemed that they had come to her from the air, that some one +else had spoken them. And as, hesitating no longer, she stooped +forward and sped down the long slope, she swerved still further from +the track the four men had made, heading straight to the river above +them, opposite the Bar L-M ranch house, straight toward the only way +that was left her. + +She had made up her mind. She was resolute now and yet she was +frightened. In a little while the roar of the river smote her ears and +it seemed at once to call to her and jeer at her. She fancied that it +was like Hume's voice, mocking her. She remembered just how the banks +fell straight down to the whirlpools; she remembered again the splash +of the falling snow when she had come so close to her death. The very +feeling that had gripped her then, like ice against the beatings of her +heart, gripped her now. She was as one in a nightmare, drawn on, +rushing on to the peril from which she shrank. + +She lost sight of Hume and the rest as she left the straight, cleared +roadway and the trees came between her and them. + + +"They're all the same," Sledge Hume was laughing as he turned and +waited a moment for MacKelvey to come up with him. "I never saw a +woman yet who wasn't willing to tackle the impossible in a flash and +then go to pieces with hysterics in the middle of the job." + + +On, gathering speed with the flinging of each yard behind her, her +polished skis singing as they leaped downward, hardly seeming to touch +the brittle crust of snow underfoot, standing erect that she might see +far ahead and turn in time for a mound that spoke of a boulder, Wanda +was rushing on toward the river. Its shouting voices, like the voices +of many giant things In brutal laughter, swelled and thundered ever +more distinct, ever more jeering. It seemed to her that there were ten +thousand Sledge Humes taunting her, sneering at the blind recklessness +of a mere woman. She knew that the blood had crept out of her face and +that she was afraid. And she knew that there is one thing in the +world, God-created, that is greater, stronger than fear. + +"I have leaped distances greater than that before," she told herself +stubbornly. + +"With certain death dragging at you if you missed?" the rude laughter +of the river through its rocky way taunted her. + +Her skis were running slowly again; she had come to the level land once +more. She must make a little turn to avoid the thick grove through +which she had gone slowly last year after the rabbit. She must turn +upstream a little too. There were ten minutes of driving one ski after +the other, then the steep climb of another ridge, the last ridge lying +between her and the river. She climbed it swiftly, stubbornly and +unhesitatingly. + +"If Wayne were coming to me would he hesitate?" she asked herself +angrily. "Because I am not a man am I a coward? Shall I fail him the +first time in our lives that he has need of me? Is a woman like that a +fit thing to be a strong man's wife?" + +At the top of this last climb she paused. She was not afraid now. The +colour had come back into her face, her blood was running steadily. +She might be going to her death. Was death then so great a thing? Was +it as great as her love? + +"If I were afraid now," she told herself quietly, "I should know that I +do not love Wayne as other women have loved other men. Then I should +not deserve to live to love him weakly." + +From here she could not see MacKelvey, Hume and the others. She knew +that by this time they would have crossed the bridge. Then she tried +not to think of them. Briefly she studied the steep sloping sweep of +the snow, trying to mark the way she must go. She found the spot the +rabbit had chosen, the narrowest place with the far bank three or four +feet lower than the near bank. Frowningly seeking the detail of a +sheet of glaring white which seemed without mound or hollow but which +she knew was full of uneven ridges and sinks, she made out at last such +a ridge lying parallel to the river's edge and close to it. A log had +fallen there; she remembered having seen it in the summer. With the +little hollow this side, with the short upward slope that would give +her a natural take-off, she would make it help her. + +She would strike this low up-sloping mound in a moment when she swept +down upon it from the crest of the ridge upon which she now stood; she +would take the tiny dip in a fraction of a second too brief to have a +name; she would rise, leaping as she rose-- + +The supreme moment came. + +She loosened the band about her waist, breathing deeply. She bent her +slender body this way and that, straightening up, stooping, twisting +from side to side. She felt that every individual muscle must be made +ready, keyed up to the work that was to be done in a flying moment. +She must be steady, she must be sure. Not a fibre of her being must +weaken or tremble or be uncertain. + +"Dear God," she whispered, "make me strong and worthy and unafraid." + +Then she lifted her hands a little, holding them out from her sides, +her fingers outstretched, her arms taking the place of the pole she had +tossed away. Her skis clung to the snow. She slipped the right foot +back and forth, making sure that it had gathered none of the feathery +stuff that lay just under the thin crust. When it ran smoothly she +tested the left ski. And then slowly she stooped forward, her hands +still out. She felt a little stir, knew that she was moving, just +barely moving. She stooped further forward now, quickly. The shifting +of her weight had its instantaneous effect. The slow, scarcely +perceptible moving was changed into a smooth glide that grew in a yard +to a swiftly accelerating speed. Then she straightened up, balancing +with taut muscles, rushing downward. + +Now she was flying as a bird flies that skims the snow. Only the +little whine of the ski song over the crust, the flying particles from +before the upturned ends, a dust of diamonds, told that the speeding +body was not in reality defying gravity, scorning the earth beneath. +The pitch steepened before her, the skis rose and dipped over the +little uneven places, the air cut at her face, stung her eyes. Half +way down, when the skis struck a little mound from which she dared not +try to swerve, she in sober truth flew, not touching the crust again +for five or six feet. She landed easily, crouching a little, tensing +her already taut muscles, steadying herself, plunging onward at a speed +that was like an eagle's dip. And then another second, another and she +heard the whine of the air about her ears, saw the black gulf from +which the roar of the river boomed up at her and her skis rose to the +take-off she had chosen. + +As never before in all her life did the girl's will call upon the +muscles of her body. Her hands far out now, like the still pinions of +some strange being of a strange white world, her lithe body as tense as +wire, she gathered her strength, felt her body rising as the skis +slipped up the short slope of the mound, knew that in one flying second +there lay both success and death. At the very instant, when, had she +let herself go, she would be slipping down to the water that was +grinding at the rocks, she leaped. + +Higher and higher she rose in the air, carried onward, upward by the +impetus of her wild race and by the slight aid of her take-off had +given her. Higher yet and further out although it seemed to her still +heart that her body was hanging motionless, that it was the earth +leaping beneath her, flying backward, rushing away, hurling the chasm +of the river under her. She did not look down; it might have meant +death to look down. She kept her eyes fastened now upon the far bank, +the place where she sought to land, where she must throw herself +forward to avoid slipping back. + +And yet she saw the black gulf under her. It was too black, too wide, +too full of shrieking menace for her not to see it even while she did +not look at it. She was hanging still in air, it was rushing at her, +there was an instant filled with eternity. And then, Wayne's name upon +her lips, she had described the great arc, she had struck six feet from +the treacherous margin on the far side, her skis were running smoothly +under her, at first swiftly, then slowly, and a glad cry of +thankfulness broke from her lips. + +She had not even fallen, she did not have to hurl herself prone to +clutch at the snow with her fingers. She sped on, came slowly to a +standstill and then her heart leaping, her blood racing, her eyes +bright and wet she was over the ridge and speeding forward again, the +roar of the river lost to her ears, the form of a man bringing a horse +out of a snow surrounded barn in her eyes. + +He cried out as he saw her racing across the snow to him, cried out in +wonder. He dropped his horse's rope and turned to meet her. She saw +that he was still on his skis, saw too that not a thousand yards beyond +the house four men were coming on swiftly. + +"Wanda!" + +"Wayne." She had come close enough to call now and lifted her voice +clearly. "MacKelvey and Hume and two more men are there, right there. +They are going to arrest you for Arthur's murder. They mean to keep +you shut up in jail until they ruin you. They will make evidence to +hang you. You must go, go quick." + +He swung about quickly, caught sight of the four men who had seen Wanda +and who were lessening the distance by quick strides. His face +blackened to a great anger. Then he turned back to her and his face +flushed with a great happiness. For in the man as in the woman love +was stronger than fear or hatred. + +"You golden hearted, wonderful woman!" he cried softly. He reached out +his arms as she swept by and gathered her into them. He kissed her +softly. And then, swiftly, he turned away. + +"After a few days, come to the cave," he said eagerly. "If I let them +take me now it would mean more than my ruin, more than my death, Wanda. +They won't take me. When a man is arrested for Arthur's murder it is +going to be the right man." + +And striking out mightily, steadily he left her, driving his straight +way toward the broken country of the upper end of the valley. + + +When they came to where she lay, Hume first, they found Wanda Leland +very still and white, motionless save for the little sobs shaking her. +Hume's anger broke out into a wordy fury. He shook his fist at her +prostrate body and cursed. But he did not sneer. There was too deep a +wonder in his heart. He knew, they all knew, what it meant to have +done what she had done. And MacKelvey, a hard man robbed by her of his +prey, took off his hat and lifted her gently and said simply, and in +full reverence: + +"By God!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE FUGITIVE + +"You are no longer daughter of mine!" cried Martin Leland sternly in +the first heat of his anger. "You have turned against your own blood +like a traitress. You have forsaken your father to ally yourself with +a drunken brawler, a man so sunken in depravity that he has murdered +his own brother for mere money. You have shamed yourself and your +mother and me. You have bared your heart for the world to look at and +laugh at, that men may link your name and the name of a common fugitive +from justice. You would be held up to less shame had you merely +uncovered your body and gone out naked for men to jeer at!" + +Wanda, lying white and lax upon the couch near the fireplace, suddenly +dropped her mother's hand and sprang to her feet, her body quivering +with a quick anger that leaped out to meet her father's. + +"Papa!" Her head was thrown up in defiant pride, her vibrant voice, +her blazing eyes were as hard as his own. "I won't listen to such +things, not even from you. They are untrue. You say that Wayne ran +away because he is guilty and a coward. You know better than that! He +is not a fugitive from justice; he is forced by the things you have +done to become a fugitive from injustice and persecution. Oh, how can +you stand there and denounce him after you have set your hand against +him as you have? Or don't you think that I know how you and the rest +have sought to rob him and ruin him!" + +"What!" stormed Leland. "Is the girl mad?" + +"No, I am not mad," she flung back at him hotly, all facts and +considerations swept away before the rush of her furious indignation +except the one vital matter that she was fighting for a thing as dear +as her lover's life. "You can find no name too bad for him, just +because you hate him! You have always hated him just because he is his +father's son. You and his own cousin, two men whom he has trusted, +have tricked him and betrayed him. You have hidden from him all +knowledge of the mortgage you held upon the Bar L-M. Even now you are +trying to steal his ranch from him. Wayne has never done a thing so +vile as that in all his life. Oh! I am ashamed." + +Her voice grew harsh in her throat; her face was no longer white, two +spots of anger burned in her cheeks. She broke off panting, her eyes +growing harder, brighter as they challenged his. + +"Martin," cried Mrs. Leland, coming swiftly to the girl's side. "Be +careful." + +"Careful!" shouted Leland, his face red with his fury. "When one of my +blood loses her last shred of decency, when she takes up with a low, +dissolute unprincipled Shandon? The worst of a bad lot. May God curse +him, may God curse her if she clings to him!" + +"You have never spoken to me like this before," cried Wanda +passionately. "You will never do it again." + +"Listen to me," thundered Leland, his heavier voice drowning the girl's +words. "If your father does a thing which your untrained, woman's +brain cannot rightly understand are you the one to judge and condemn +him? Because a lying Shandon has cast his cursed spell over your +romantic fancies are you to leap to these ridiculous conclusions? Am I +the man to do a dishonourable thing? Ask other men out in the world +where my dealings are an open book. Ask your mother. If, to you, who +have gone hungering for lies to a man amply competent to tell them to +you, it has seemed that I have done a mean thing for selfish purposes +is it your place to judge me? Listen, I tell you. I have known for a +year and a half that Wayne Shandon murdered his brother and robbed the +dead body. I have seen, although all men know this fact as well as I +do, that he has been trickster enough to cover his bloody tracks; that +it would be hard to convict him in court. I have seen that it lay +within my power, that it has become my duty, to punish him in another +way. Not a thing have I done that is not just, that the law courts +will not sanction. And yet, when I had wrested from him the thing his +red hands took with his brother's life, I should have punished him a +little as he deserves. Is a man like him deserving of any other +treatment?" + +"How do you know all this?" she demanded, all that dormant fierceness +of the female heart Hashing from the depths to the surface. "Did you +see him kill Arthur?" + +"Don't be a fool," he retorted. + +"Or were you over ready to believe because you hated him, and because +the tool you would lay your hand to would not only punish him but +enrich you? And you call me traitress!" + +For a moment Martin Leland, his face convulsed, his hands clenched, his +great body towering over her, looked as though he were going to strike +her down. Then, without a word, he left the room and returned swiftly +to the study where MacKelvey and Hume were waiting for him. + +Wanda stood looking after him, her body stiff and erect, her face +lifted, her eyes unchanging. Her mother laid a quick hand upon the +girl's arm. Then, suddenly the tired body relaxed, the flaming spirit +softened, and Wanda, white and trembling, dropped sobbing upon the +couch. + +"Wanda, Wanda," whispered her mother softly, kneeling and putting her +hands gently upon the shaking shoulders. "I am sorry. And yet, Wanda, +I am proud of what my daughter has done to-day." + +The mother heart comforted. And even before the storm of sobs, shaken +from the girl by strained and jangling nerves, had ceased, Mrs. Leland +was trying to make excuses for her husband. + +"He has just been blinded by hate," she said bravely. "Some day he +will see the light." + + +"Gee," commented Willie Dart, outside the door, resuming his pacing up +and down upon the front porch. "If Red turns that girl down I'll marry +her myself!" + + +Had Martin Leland's iron nature asked such a thing as sympathy it would +have received little satisfaction from the interview that night in his +study. MacKelvey's greeting to him was, "Martin, that girl of yours is +a wonder! There's not a man in the country would have tackled the +thing she did to-day." + +"Pshaw," grunted Hume, his sneering manner having come back to him with +his growing displeasure. "It was simple enough for all of its +spectacular staging." + +"Was it?" MacKelvey asked sharply. "I'll bet you five hundred dollars, +Mr. Hume, that you're not the man to do it!" + +Hume lifted his shoulders for answer and kicked viciously at the +andirons on the hearth. + +"So you let him get clean away?" demanded Martin, flinging himself into +his chair at the table and glowering at MacKelvey. "Why didn't you +follow him up?" + +"Because I wasn't a fool. Wouldn't I cut a pretty picture slipping +around on a pair of sticks trying to catch up with the strongest ski +man in the county! He'd double up on me every mile. And with the +night coming on I'd stand a great chance finding him, wouldn't I?" + +"What are you going to do about it then?" + +MacKelvey spat thoughtfully at the fire. + +"I'm going to nab him the first chance I get. And I'm not in the habit +of carrying a warrant around in my pocket until I wear it out, either." + +"You are going out after him in the morning?" + +MacKelvey again attacked the fire with more thoughtfulness, truer +precision than before. + +"Nope. I'm going back to El Toyon while I can get out. There's about +ten feet more snow due in the next two weeks, Martin." + +"So," cried Hume. "That's the way you serve a warrant, is it? You are +going to let the man get away if he wants to, and he has shown us +already how he feels about that! You are going to let him slip down to +Mexico or work up to the Canadian line." + +"Easy, Mr. Hume," said MacKelvey slowly. "I've been sheriff in this +county for seventeen years. Name me the name of any man who's been +wanted and who hasn't been brought in. If I stuck here, running around +like a rabbit in the snow, Shandon would have the chance to get out, if +he wanted it. And I don't believe that he does want it. But if I'm +back in El Toyon to-morrow with the wires busy there won't be a hole in +the web for a blue bottle to buzz through. He can't eat snow, you +know. I'll put a man up here to see he don't slip back to the Bar L-M. +And I don't say I won't go myself or send Johnson and Crawford out in +the morning to try and pick up his tracks if it don't snow during the +night and cover them up." + +But long before midnight it came on to snow again, so heavily that they +all knew that a fresh ski track would not have lasted an hour. Early +the next morning Leland, Garth Conway, Sledge Hume and MacKelvey with +his deputies went out of the valley upon skis or snow shoes. Helga +Strawn went with them, shrugging her shoulders at Leland's blunt +assurance that it would be a good ten miles of hard work before they +could expect to take to the horses waiting beyond the heavy snow line. + +Mr. Dart did not go with them. He had settled that fact for himself +very positively before going to bed the night before. + +"In the first place," he decided, "Red might need me to smuggle him +some grub or something and I got to be on hand. In the second place I +had enough trying to ride two slippery sticks yesterday. Split myself +in two for ten miles on a pair of devil's toboggans? Thanks awfully. +I'll stay here and split stovewood for Julia." + +"Where's Dart?" demanded Leland when the men were pushing back their +chairs from the breakfast table. + +Nobody knew. He had not been seen since last evening. Julia, hastily +returning from quest of him, brought back word that he was in bed and +that she was afraid that he was unwell. She had heard him groaning. + +"The little fool is faking," cried Martin, ready this morning to fly +into a rage over trifles. "Does he think I'm going to have him +sticking around the place all winter?" + +He flung himself from the table and went heavily up the stairs to +Dart's room in the attic. + +"Come out of that," he said roughly, throwing the door open. "We are +going to start right away. You'd better get some breakfast in a hurry +if you want any." + +"Breakfast?" moaned Dart weakly. "Good God, Mart. Don't say breakfast +to me or I'll die." + +"What's the matter?" asked Martin roughly and suspiciously. "You +weren't sick last night." + +He came closer to the huddled figure. Dart's hands were shaking, his +face was as white as a sheet. + +"It came on sudden," he said faintly. "I--I've had it before. I--I +think I'm dying this time. Has Mamma Leland got a Bible?" + +Suddenly, before Leland's astonished eyes, the little man began a +violent retching and vomiting. Leland went back down the stairs, +swearing, and sent Julia with word to Mrs. Leland that Dart was really +sick. + +Dart got out of bed, his legs trembling under him, and crept to the +window, peering out cautiously. Only when he had seen the party leave +the house upon skis and webs did he go back to his bed, snatch a bit of +plug cut chewing tobacco out from under his pillow and hurl it +venemously into the snow. + +"A man that will chew that stuff for fun," he groaned creeping back +into bed, "ain't safe to have around. Good God, I wonder if I am +dying? I might have took too much!" + + * * * * * * + +Thus it happened that almost at the very beginning of the hard winter +Wayne Shandon was a hunted man, forewarned that his hunters would spare +neither unsleeping vigilance nor expense to secure his arrest and +conviction. During the first night and the first day he never went far +from the Bar L-M range house. From behind a screen of timber less than +a quarter of a mile from his pursuers he had watched them turn back +towards the Echo Creek. The darkness was already dimming the landscape +but he could count the figures, five of them, with the horse Wanda had +insisted that MacKelvey bring out with them. As they went toward the +bridge he came down toward them, moving swiftly among the trees, +keeping well out of sight. + +He knew he would be doing the thing upon which MacKelvey would not +count. Besides it was sheer madness to think of spending the night +without shelter of any kind and he did not dare go immediately to +Wanda's cave. Already he had come to think of that place, high above +the treetops and as safely hidden as if it were below the earth's +surface, as a place of refuge. If he went there now they would track +him to-morrow--unless it snowed. He must wait somewhere until the snow +came to wipe out the track he would leave behind him. + +He entered the house by the back door, got his rifle and a belt of +cartridges, made into a compact pack such blankets, tobacco, coffee, +sugar, salt and condensed foods as he could carry. The cave was +already well stocked but he could not guess now how long he must lie +hidden there. He had no time to decide upon the course ahead of him +beyond the immediate future. He knew only that he must not let them +take him until he had done the work he would be unable to do from the +inside of a jail. He was preparing carefully for such needs as he +could foresee. + +He slept that night in his own bed, waking at each little noise, ready +to spring up fully dressed and armed, prepared equally for defence or a +hasty retreat. Going to the window shortly after midnight he saw that +the snow was falling heavily. He made a hasty cold meal, then strapped +on his pack, took up his rifle and left the house. Now was the time to +go to the cave; the snow might cease by morning. + +In the darkness he deemed it wiser to go down by the bridge than to +attempt the steeper passage beyond the head of the lake. They would +not be out in this sort of night watching for him; they would not know +where to expect him. And even if he came within twenty paces of a man +his swift, silent passage in the dark would be unnoticed. + +To a man knowing the broken range country a whit less intimately than +Shandon knew it, the trip that night down to the bridge, across it, +across the Leland ranch and to the cliffs where the cave was would have +been a sheer impossibility. The storm, howling and snatching at him, +would have taken the heart out of a man less grimly determined than he +had grown to be. The snow, while it befriended him, covering his trail +in the rear, drove its shifting wall of opposition across his way in +front. The darkness tricked him and baffled him again and again. But +still, head down and dogged, he pushed on, certain always of his +general direction, confident of being under the cliffs in the first +faint glow of the new day. + +It was an endless night, torturous with cold and uncertainty. But at +last, before the day broke, he made his heavy way up the great cedar, +climbing perilously with numbed hands. He knew that if his pursuers +came here now they would see where he had knocked the thick pads of +snow from the wide horizontal branches. But he knew, too, that before +they could arrive the steadily falling snow would have hidden the signs +he had left behind him. And at last, wearily, he threw himself down +before a crackling fire, and went to sleep. + +For upwards of two weeks his life was like that of a rat in a cellar. +Silence, monotony, darkness, loneliness. Already the snowfall was as +great as that of most winters. He could guess that by this time the +fences about Wanda's home were hidden under a smooth covering that +thickened day by day, night after night. When he looked out from the +screen across his doorway he saw that the smaller trees were blotted +out and reckoned that upon the level floor of the valley the snow lay +ten feet deep. Now and again, when he went out in the early dawn or +the last glimmering light of dusk for wood or for a break in the +monotony that was horrible in itself to a man of his type, he saw how +the winter was piling higher and higher its white heaps along the +cliffs above. He spent hours on the cliffs, working his way slowly +upward along the seam in the rocks which he discovered led out above, +digging with his hands for dead branches to replenish his dwindling +stock of firewood. He must choose days for this when the snow so +thickened the air that a man within shouting distance could not have +seen him. + +Two weeks, and Wanda did not come to him. Two weeks of inactivity, of +waiting, the hardest trial in the world for a man tingling with energy, +with his work calling to him through every moment of his waking hours. +He had planned that work, going over and over his plans, every step. +He knew just what he should do--when Wanda came. + +He could not know why she did not come. He began to fear that she had +left the valley. Then, when he assured himself that she would not have +gone without a word he began to fear that she was ill; that the day +when she took the short cut had been too much for any woman's endurance. + +But she was not ill, he was certain of that. During the two weeks +there were only two days when the air cleared enough for him to see the +Leland house. The first came when he had been in hiding three days; +the other two days later. Both times Wanda had come out upon the porch +where with the spy-glass in the cave he could see her plainly. She had +signalled him, using the first few signals of that code they had made +together so merrily. She lifted both hands up to her face and he knew +that her heart was repeating his words, "I love you, dear, with my +whole heart." She loitered on the porch in apparent carelessness, but +as eager as the man watching her, yearning for her, she had lifted her +hood lightly from her head, flashing the message across the miles: "Be +careful. We are being watched." She turned her back and stood for a +long time looking in at the open living room door: "Something has +happened to prevent our meeting to-day." + +Several times during the two clear days she repeated her signals. But +for more than a week afterward he had no sight of her. He did not +know, he could only guess vaguely at the truth. One of MacKelvey's men +had come back to the Echo Creek, unexpected by Wanda and Mrs. Leland, +and while he was apparently concerned only in making frequent trips +toward the Bar L-M, Wanda had the uneasy feeling that she was never +long out of his sight. + +But at length Wanda risked coming to him, choosing a time when the +danger was least. Johnson, the deputy sheriff, had said in the morning +that he was going to take a run over to the Bar L-M, to look things +over. It was by no means the first time he had said this, and the girl +felt that he had no particular reason to suspect her to-day. It was +still snowing, not too heavily for one to venture out, but steadily +enough to obliterate ski tracks entirely in less than an hour. Johnson +left the house, and a little later Wanda set forth, her preparations +swiftly made. Johnson was out of sight. She drove on swiftly to a +hilltop due east of the house from which she would be able to see him +before he came to the bridge. + +She waited anxiously there until she saw him, pushing steadily onward. +One sharp glance at the way she had come showed her that unless Johnson +returned very much faster than he had gone out there would be no sign +to tell him where she had gone. And then, her eyes suddenly brighter +than they had been for many a day, she hastened on, still eastward, not +daring even now to turn directly toward the cliffs until she had passed +into the deeper forest. + +It was like bringing new life to Wayne Shandon. He swept the girl up +hungrily into his arms, crying out softly as she came through the snow +blocked entrance to the cave. And she, when he brought a candle and +her eyes caught sight of his face, bearded and worn, must shut her lips +tight and fight hard to keep back the tears. + +It was only a brief half hour allowed them, leaving them both happier +and sadder at the parting. But she had brought the few little things +she could smuggle out to him, had assured herself from a close +examination of his store that he was in no danger of freezing or +starving; and he had entrusted to her the carrying out of the work he +had hit upon. + +"I have scribbled a letter in your little note book, dear. It is to +Brisbane, a lawyer in San Francisco. He is a friend of mine and I can +trust him. It tells him everything, about the mortgage and the +foreclosure, about the trouble I am in. He's the man to advise us now. +There's not a keener criminal lawyer in the State. I'm going to give +him my power of attorney. I'll take chances on slipping down to the +city, somehow, if it's necessary. Or I can get down into White Rock at +night, meet him there, and get back here before morning. The letter +tells him, too, that I am dead certain that Sledge Hume is the man the +law wants; it explains why, and authorises him to hire a detective +agency to run Hume down. Dear heart of mine, you are too brave to be +afraid for me now. You will get this letter out somehow? You will get +it to Brisbane for me? Once he is at work things are going to right +themselves. A man can't kill another and rob him of twenty-five +thousand dollars and not leave some sort of a trail behind him. Then +there is another message. I have not written it. Can you get word to +Big Bill to keep a close watch on Little Saxon? I'll ride him in the +spring." + +"And you, Wayne? You can't stay here all winter!" + +"I can, if there is anything to be gained by it. But we'll wait until +we hear from Brisbane. He'll find the evidence we want, dear. And +until then hadn't you rather think of me waiting here than lying in +jail?" + +When she left him to take a devious way home the tears lay glistening +upon her cheek until the snow, beating in her face, washed them away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +HELGA STRAWN PLAYS THE GAME + +The winter which had begun unusually early, battled fiercely for eight +weeks in the mountain fastnesses, and went down in grumbling defeat +before an early spring. And, as the stern face of the Sierra was +hidden under the snow that robed the higher peaks in royal ermine and +drifted sixty feet in the deeper caņons, so was the vital thing in the +lives of Wayne Shandon and Wanda Leland covered by silence and secrecy. +Each day was tense and eager to them; to the world whose prying eyes +could not penetrate through the barricade of winter it was as though +those lives were stagnating. + +Wanda delivered Wayne's letter safely and promptly to Brisbane, the San +Francisco lawyer. She took her mother into the secret, she told her +mother everything now, for the close companionship of last winter had +borne its fruit of warm sympathy, and the two women went out of the +valley, ostensibly to spend a few weeks shopping and visiting in San +Francisco. The letter never left the girl's person until, in a private +room, it was placed in the hands of Brisbane. + +Brisbane's wise old eyes looked at her shrewdly from behind the mask of +his clean shaven face, the greatest poker face, men said, that had ever +gone its inscrutable way up and down the city of fogs and wet winds. +He had asked his few questions in an absent-minded sort of fashion +which disappointed and distressed the girl. He evinced not a whit more +interest than he would have done in watching a stranger stamp the mud +off his feet, or, for that matter, than he would have shown had the +roof broken into flames over his head. But he took the case. + +Upon a storm filled night, as black as ebony, Brisbane met Wayne +Shandon in White Rock. A man lived there, whom Shandon could trust, an +old friend of his father, and at his house the meeting was held with +little difficulty or danger. In less than two hours Brisbane had put +himself in possession of all the facts which Shandon could give him +that bore upon the matter in hand. There was the germ of a case +against Hume he admitted, but it would have to grow considerably to be +worth anything to a jury. Yes, the crooked work in the foreclosure of +the mortgage would help a little; not much though. He would attend to +the mortgage, taking Shandon's note for the amount, and would see that +it was paid off immediately. As to advising Shandon as to the best +thing to do now, the lawyer smiled one of his rare, noncommittal smiles. + +"By avoiding arrest in the first place," he said drily, "you put +yourself in wrong with any jury in the world. But you've done it +already. I can't see now that it makes much difference whether you go +and give yourself up or whether you keep on the dodge. If you prefer +this sort of thing to a nice warm jail, why suit yourself my boy!" + +He would see further that the shrewdest detective in the City was fully +instructed and put on the case immediately. Finally he gave Shandon a +letter from Wanda in which she promised to return to the valley as soon +as possible, shook hands as warmly as his absent minded manner would +permit and went to bed. + +Through the winter the various threads of men's destinies, golden and +black, gay and sombre, too fine for human eye to see, too strong for +human might to break, were being woven into the intricate pattern of +life and fate. Though miles lay between the many men whose lives were +unalterably mingled, though each man went selfishly or unselfishly +about his own pursuits, although each fashioned daily his life for the +day, still the mills of God were grinding, the looms were weaving, and +grist and kernel, warp and woof found their way from the individual +existences into the scheme of the whole. + +Dart had left with Mrs. Leland and Wanda and made a straight line to +Big Bill and Little Saxon. He made it his own special business in life +to see that no knockout stuff was slipped into the horse's oats, that +no slippery gent got the show to put Little Saxon out of the game. He +even took the precaution to partition off a tiny room for himself in +the hay loft above Little Saxon's stall, where he spent the nights +dozing and snatching up the ancient shot gun down the muzzle of which +his enthusiastic fingers had rammed enough buck shot to explode the +piece and blow himself as well as any unhappy intruder into that land +from which there is no return. + +Big Bill, acting foreman now, took upon himself the unremitting work of +making the racehorse fit. Nearly as good a man as Shandon with +animals, he continued through the winter the task that had been little +more than begun. The fact that the man who had first proposed the +races which were to be run off in the Spring, was a fugitive, accused +of a grave crime, had aroused much sensational talk and newspaper +babble, but it had increased rather than lessened interest and new +entries were being daily arranged. Big Bill assured those who cared to +ask that the race would be run, that Shandon would have come in and +been cleared of any charges against him long before June, and that +there would be no change in plans. And though he sometimes doubted the +statement he made so bluntly he let no single day pass without adding +to Little Saxon's education. + +MacKelvey was taciturn. But he was not the man to give up a quest once +begun. He grew irritable under the sting of Sledge Hume's sneers and +Martin Leland's regular weekly enquiries; but he pushed his work +tirelessly. As is always the case when the law wants a fugitive there +were many conflicting and empty reports, that would have aided had they +been true but which only hampered since they were not. A report that +Wayne Shandon had been seen boarding a train in Reno was followed three +days later by two other rumours, one claiming that he was on a ranch +just out of San Jose, the other that he had been recognised ten days +ago in Los Angeles. Each report with the vaguest hint of truth in it +MacKelvey hunted down doggedly, and the wires into El Toyon from both +directions were kept busy. It was the opinion of many people that +Shandon had long ago made good his escape and had gone abroad; it was +held by many a mild mannered man or timid old maid that he was even now +the head of a lawless gang terrorising whatever near or distant city or +countryside the most lurid headlines came from; not a few people shook +their heads and prophesied that when the Spring thaw came the body of a +reckless, blood tainted monster would be found where it had been hurled +in desperation from a high cliff. The sheriff's own personal opinion, +known only to the sheriff, perhaps came as close to the truth as any +man's. + +Of all the men and women who knew him, perhaps none evinced less +concern in Wayne Shandon's fate than Helga Strawn. She had something +else to do. Looking ahead far and carefully, doing nothing hastily, +planning and shaping her way, with Sledge Hume and her lost interest in +the Dry Lands always looming large in the foreground of her thoughts, +she was already supplying her quota of grist to the great invisible +mills. She bought, upon her own initiative, a small farm just on the +edge of Hume's land, investing ten thousand dollars in it, and came +there to live. She bought conservatively at twenty dollars an acre. +If the project, now involved in uncertainty, were perfected her land +would be worth from two to five times what she had paid for it. On the +other hand, if nothing came of the campaign for irrigation, it was +always worth twenty dollars. It was Helga Strawn's way to play safe. + +She saw much of Sledge Hume. Or rather she allowed Sledge Hume to see +much of her. The same thing with a variation, and that variation +important in the woman's shrewd eyes. Hume had no means of knowing how +much money she possessed, but he did know that she had paid out ten +thousand dollars in cash. He knew also that she was a woman. In his +eyes, never clearsighted from the mote of conceit and the dust of +arrogant superiority, a woman was a fool. He needed money, he wanted +money, her money as well as another's. He had gone far already in the +project that would make him a rich man if it succeeded; he was going +further. If litigation now were to raise its long wall against him he +meant to surmount the wall or tunnel under it. He had gone too far to +stop; his money was invested; he wanted more money to invest with it. + +While he made the woman his study she coolly dissected his character, +not satisfied with the composite, both patient and shrewd in her +analysis. While he sought to read her, handicapped by his prejudice, +she spelled the letters of the man's soul. + +She came to see, after the first few days, that Hume's one working +theory of life was that of the survival of the fittest. Eminently fit +himself, capable physically in strong, clean body, mentally in cool, +calculating, single purposed brain, morally in a code of ethics which +resolved all considerations to his working theory of life, he looked +down upon other lives than his own from the passionless heights of a +supreme impudence. In most things he was unusually frank, bluntly +honest. Wanting no man to give him a place in the world which he felt +thoroughly competent to secure for himself, he curried favour nowhere, +fawned upon no one. Frankly satisfied with himself as he had made +himself, he had no desire, seeing no need, to pretend to be other than +he was. Egotism, approximating the absolute, made him careless, even +contemptuous, of the opinion of others. His mental attitude might +perhaps be likened to that of the colossally mad man of Europe, the +only man of whom he was ever known to speak in words of approval. "I +and God did this thing!" the Emperor had said. So Hume might have +said, "I and the rest of the world." + +The free stride of his activities was not restricted by any form of +what he would have called squeamishness. The means were incidental, +intrinsically negligible; he justified them by the end for which he +strove. That end was unvarying. From this grew the man's power, such +as it was. + +That end took him, in moments which otherwise would have been empty, to +Helga Strawn. She had made her little home cosy and comfortable, the +living room almost luxurious. She wore rare gowns, painstakingly +chosen; she kept him waiting when he called; she received him with +indifference. She seemed to grow as frank with him as he with her, and +often enough the frankness was genuine. She told him coolly at the +outset that she knew he would swindle her out of her money if he got +the chance and that he was not going to get the chance. She informed +him that she did not trust him but that that need make no difference in +their relations; if she became convinced that the project were safe she +would go into it as deeply as any one. + +She treated Sledge Hume very much as he treated the rest of the world; +and she noted with keen relish that her treatment irritated him. She +already knew the man well enough to be sure that he would come again +the sooner, and more frequently, to force her by the very dominance of +his virile personality to see him as he saw himself, in a word as her +superior. + +As only a very clever woman could have done she drew him out to talk +about himself, about his motives. She listened always in apparent cool +indifference, always in keen, hard interest under the surface she chose +to wear. She never forgot that she had sold to him for twenty-five +thousand dollars property for which she would not now accept twice that +amount and which he would not relinquish for such a sum. She never +forgot that, legally, she had no hope of regaining it. But there would +be a way, when she came to know the man utterly, when she came to feel +out every nerve of his moral being. She tried to make him talk freely +about himself by the one method which must remain infallible as long as +Sledge Hume was Sledge Hume, by cool criticism of him. + +One day as they idled in her living room she told him abruptly that he +was the most selfish man she had ever known. Her smile, as near a +sneer as a smile may be and not become unlovely, the tapping of her +French slipper, did not cease during his rather lengthy rejoinder. + +"Selfish?" he had answered roughly. "Of course I am. Who isn't? You +mean that I am the only man you know who isn't afraid to say so! All +creation is selfish; selfishness is the keynote of progress, of +evolution, of any sort of success. It begins with the lowest forms of +life where each single celled unit takes what it needs for its own +good; it is the thing which keeps life in the four footed world; it is +the highest concern of the priest who while he pretends to serve mere +man and a mythological Saviour never loses sight of his own reward at +the end of it. It is the basic principle underlying all religion; take +out of it the personal, selfish consideration, 'Be good and you can go +to Heaven! be bad and go to Hell!' and your whole religion falls to +pieces. Take selfishness out of the world and the world will stagnate +and rot." + +"I have never heard you wax so eloquent in your own defence!" + +"I am not defending myself, I am explaining. I am showing you the +difference between yourself and me. I see things as they are; you look +at them obliquely. You wouldn't admit it, but you are as selfish as I +am." + +"The difference is that you are the more honest?" + +"Both with myself and the world, yes." + +"You pride yourself on your honesty?" + +"I don't take the trouble to dissimulate." + +"You have never done anything which you have kept hidden?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"I have never found it necessary to make the world my father confessor." + +"Do you wish me to regard you as what people call an honest man, Mr. +Hume? Aren't you telling me that to put money in your own pocket you +would do what people call a dishonourable act?" + +"You are the only woman I have ever met who has any claim to brains," +he answered, paying the compliment in his blunt, rough fashion. "Don't +you know me well enough to realise that I don't ask people to set my +standards for me? Don't you know a man, when you see him, big enough +to set his own standards?" + +She came to see that the man was not without a rough hewn sort of +greatness, that in his way as he had said, he was a big man. He bred +in her strange, dual emotions. In the beginning she had felt for him +only the cold hatred of which the woman was thoroughly capable; +gradually and begrudgingly she began to feel an equally cold admiration +for the strength of the man. She told herself that that admiration was +utterly impersonal, that it arose from the fact that Hume was in +reality stronger than other men she knew, that it was possible for her +to acknowledge it because she did have brains, as he had said. It was +an admiration which, she judged coolly, need in no way lessen her +hatred for him, which rather would intensify it. + +Throughout the winter she strove with single purpose to slip into the +man's confidence. Having recognised Hume's peculiar strength, having +sought his weaknesses, knowing that he was no man's or woman's fool, +she did not make a fool of herself by giving him an inkling of her +intentions. When she was most interested it was her role to appear +most indifferent; here was the one vulnerable point her searching +fingers had found in the shell of his egoism. Indifference piqued him. + +It was as though she had gathered three armies and hurled them at him. +From the centre she attacked with indifference, striving to draw his +attention from other points. She massed two distinct flanking +movements stealthily. Upon one side she brought to bear upon a keen +brain a brain as keen; upon the other she calmly deployed the charm of +her regal beauty. The man had seemed a machine, emotionless. But +since he was human, since blood, Hume blood though it was, ran through +his veins, he must have emotions like other men. They might be hidden, +they might be of stunted, pale growth. In one case she would uncover +them, in another she would develop. Already she admired him as a +vital, compelling force. She would make him admire a similar force In +her; she would make him admire the physical perfection of her. She was +a woman, she was amply endowed with brain and instinct and beauty. And +she was far too shrewd to overlook a single weapon which lay at her +hand. + +The eternal looms were weaving, the warp of her being, the woof of his +being were drawn into the intricate pattern of human destiny. Smiles +and tears, hopes and fears, emotions of which a man is unconscious, +ambitions and failures, achievements--all go into the invisible fabric. +Already Sledge Hume and Helga Strawn had come to find something to +admire in each other. The short sight of a clever man and a clever +woman could not discern what lay at the end. And the end was rushing +upon them with tremendous speed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +UNDER THE SURFACE + +Early in January there arrived in El Toyon a gentleman with a scrubbing +brush moustache, a pleasant, portly personality, a pair of twinkling +black eyes, a seemingly limitless amount of leisure, discriminating +taste for liquors and cigars, a fountain pen and a check book. The +name he wrote upon the hotel register was Edward Kinsell. He disabused +the mind of the proprietor, Charlie Granger, by assuring him that he +was not a drummer. In his genial way he was quite ready to tell all +about himself. He was an old bachelor, counting upon becoming the +husband of a great little woman just as soon as the courts had disposed +of the present incumbent. He had been rolling down the rocky trail at +a pretty swift gait in town, and his doctor had warned him that the +lady In question would have been set free and would no doubt have +chosen and elected another life partner before Mr. Kinsell found his +way to the church unless he took up the simple life. + +So Mr. Kinsell, having availed himself for a week or two of Charlie +Granger's hospitality, found at last a vine twined cottage not too far +from the hotel kitchen and barroom, and leased it forthwith. He played +many games of poker, apparently possessed of a rare ability to play +good hands badly and poor hands well so that while he generally lost he +lost but little; he took up sleighing with great delight, usually +taking a small boy along with him to drive; he amused himself writing +daily letters or picture postcards to the great little woman; he became +a friend of all the dogs in town; he bought drinks for the village +vagabonds; altogether he disported himself harmlessly and pleasantly +quite as a portly old bachelor with a scrubbing brush moustache should +do while seeking rejuvenation and awaiting a decree. He was always +upon the verge of entering some local project which he never entered. +He made more friends in the six months of his stay--he left in +June,--than any other man in El Toyon had made in a year. + +He dined with the preacher and talked infant psychology with the +teacher; he bet Charlie Granger ten dollars on a dog-fight over which +he waxed red faced and enthusiastic; he got himself catalogued by the +saloon loungers as a hot sport; he evinced a warm interest in the +country races to be run in the Spring. In that connection he learned +that Granger held stakes amounting to ten thousand dollars on a single +race that would never be run; he was informed that the money was +already as good as Sledge Hume's. He became interested in Hume and in +Red Reckless; he even went to the length of travelling into the Dry +Lands to get a squint at Endymion, and then sought out Big Bill and +studied Little Saxon's good points. Everything in the world seemed to +interest Edward Kinsell. + +The winter slipped by and the herds went back to the mountain ranges. +The Lelands were again at the Echo Creek. Time and a natural strong +affection had cooled the heat of passion in father and daughter. Love +and consanguinity narrowed the breach which lay between them, although +the rupture, if it ever healed completely, would leave its scar. Each +nature came to make certain allowances for the other; their +intercourse, though not intimate, was amicable. Neither made any +reference before the other to Wayne Shandon. And, as naturally as this +condition arose, Wanda and her mother drew closer together. + +Upon the Bar L-M Big Bill was competent, hard working foreman. He +still hoped for the impossible, he still obeyed orders and sought +tirelessly to make Little Saxon all that Shandon could have done. +Willie Dart, growing as time wore on hollow eyed from his nocturnal +vigils, slept in a hay loft with a shot gun perilously near his eager +right hand. + +Shandon was yet in the mountains, his headquarters Wanda's cave. It +seemed at times to his impatient desires that Brisbane was doing +nothing; that just the evidence he himself had told the lawyer that +night in White Rock should have led long before now to the arrest of +Sledge Hume. But he refused to brood over it, telling himself doggedly +that if Brisbane were doing nothing there was nothing to be done. He +knew his man. And already Shandon had found an occupation which was to +keep him busy and far from unhappy day and night. + +News of the outside world came to him in the few meetings with Wanda +which were bright highlights in his life. She dared not come too often +for MacKelvey himself or one of his deputies was a frequent and +unheralded guest at Leland's. But she came when she could, meeting him +below the cliffs, her camera serving as her reason for going into the +forests, bringing him books, little delicacies surreptitiously prepared +by her own hands, a newspaper now and then rescued from Julia's wood +box, prints of the pictures she had taken. Wanda still saw Dart +frequently, and from his gossiping lips brought word of what occurred +upon the Bar L-M. Garth Conway, she had not seen. Her father heard +from him by post, saw him now and then in the outside world; she did +not know what Conway was doing but imagined that he was keeping in +touch with Leland for the sake of the irrigation scheme which seemed a +still born failure. + +Through Wanda and Dart a meeting between Shandon and Big Bill was +arranged. The two men met after dark near the head of Laughter Lake; +Shandon gave his detailed orders to his foreman, assuring him that +Brisbane was at work upon the case and that before long word would come +from him for the fugitive to give himself up; there would be a quick +preliminary hearing and he would be released. Shandon's optimism +glowed into warmer life with the warming of the spring sun. Little +Saxon must be kept in condition; arrangements must be made for the open +handed welcome and hospitality to be afforded the crowds that would +come up for the races in June. There would be much for Big Bill to +superintend: choice beeves must be brought up for the barbecue; a rude +platform must be constructed for the dance which was to conclude the +day of festivity. In every detail Big Bill took his orders gravely and +obeyed them to the letter. + +In another matter Big Bill had long ago acted, having been informed in +the early winter of Shandon's wishes. Ettinger was told that sooner or +later the man whose property controlled the upper waters of the river +flowing from Laughter Lake would come back. When he did return he was +going to do just the thing Ettinger himself had suggested. Ettinger +was to hold out, and induce the others to hold out with him if he +could. And, since Leland was stubborn, since the whole matter was in +the air just now, Ettinger saw nothing better to do than accept the tip +which Big Bill gave him. A similar message went to Helga Strawn. + +May came in, radiant and glowing, and men from many miles away visited +the Bar L-M to look over the course upon which the race meet was to be +held. MacKelvey spent weary days and nights driving his relentless +quest; Sledge Hume seemed sullenly idle; Helga Strawn coolly +Indifferent to the world about her; and still Wayne Shandon received no +encouraging word from Brisbane. May ran through half its allotted days +of thaw and bursting seeds; the day for the race was less than a month +away, and still Shandon clung to his solitudes, wondering, beginning to +doubt. + +And then one day he had a visitor. + +It was after sunset. He had been out all day, upon the higher table +land where he had set rudely constructed traps for rabbits. He had +returned in the early dusk, finding his way down the fissure from the +rocks above to his cave. And as he made his fire and began the +preparations for his evening meal, he heard a very discreet cough at +the entrance of the cave. + +The cough was repeated, and then there entered the cavern a portly, +pleasant looking gentleman with a scrubbing brush moustache. + +"Howdy-do, Mr. Shandon?" he said genially, removing his hat to mop his +moist forehead and then coming closer to extend his hand. "I was +passing and thought I'd drop in." + +Shandon who had been squatting by the fire got to his feet and stared. + +"Well?" he demanded sharply. He fully expected to hear other voices in +a moment, MacKelvey's voice, perhaps Sledge Hume's. + +"My card," smiled the genial gentleman pleasantly. "One of my various +cards, rather." He extended it, adding, "I thought I'd run in and +bring you a handful of cigars. You must be in sad need of them, eh?" + +The card explained that its owner was Mr. Edward Kinsell. The name +meant nothing to Shandon and he said so bluntly. + +"To be sure," acknowledged Mr. Kinsell. He extended the other hand +with the cigars, took a stool by the fire, crossed his knees and added +drily, "I've been on the lay, though, for pretty close to six months. +Great chap, Brisbane, isn't he? By the way here is a note from him." + +The note, dated several months earlier, simply stated that Edward +Kinsell could be depended upon to do all that any man could in the +matter of gathering up the evidence he was being paid by Shandon to +get. Shandon's eyes, suddenly bright, an eager note in his voice, he +shot out his hand warmly, and cried, + +"You have found something?" + +"My dear Mr. Shandon," smiled Kinsell, "I have found out so many things +that it's a wonder I don't have a continual headache. You'll pardon my +not having called upon you sooner? I have really been so busy--" + +"You knew where to find me all the time?" incredulously. + +Kinsell nodded and smiled approvingly as Wayne lighted a cigar. + +"Of course. I always make it a point to be in a position to get into +close touch with my principal in case of urgent need." + +"Then there is urgent need now?" eagerly. "You have got the deadwood +on Hume?" + +"Not exactly. But I've got the old kettle boiling and she's due to +bubble over most any old time." + +"For God's sake," cried Shandon, "tell me something. I didn't know +that you were at work even, I don't know a thing that has happened, +that is happening." + +"And quite naturally you are interested? Just so." Kinsell very +carefully placed the finger tips of one hand against those of the +other, apparently giving his whole attention to the action. "Let me +see. Presently, in a few weeks at most, I'll be putting in a little +bill and you'll want to know what I've been doing to earn my money. +That's businesslike and proper. In most matters to be thorough, Mr. +Shandon, one must begin at the beginning. In my business it is +different; I have to begin in the middle and go back to a point before +the beginning. Having availed myself of Mr. Brisbane's knowledge of +the subject it became up to me to do one thing: find the man who, +before your brother's murder, was in a position to be benefitted by the +commission of the crime, or the man with a strong emotional reason for +committing it." + +He paused, looking thoughtfully at the steep pitched roof his fingers +had constructed, shifted quick, measuring glance at Shandon and turned +his attention again to his fingers. + +"There are three men," he resumed, "who occupy positions demanding +investigation. First, you. Your brother's heir, a man with a hot +temper, a man who had recently quarrelled with the murdered man; you +would benefit financially, you had the reputation of generally needing +money, you had the name of being a reckless, headlong sort of devil. +Second, Sledge Hume. A man as smooth running as a machine ordinarily, +cool headed, emotionless. But investigation shows that he had +knowledge of the fact that your brother was carrying on his person the +twenty-five thousand dollars; research also discloses there are times +when the man's nature changes, when he flies into a towering rage that +might well become violent; and finally, we have found that shortly +after the crime he paid the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars to +Helga Strawn for her interest in the Dry Lands. Third, there is Martin +Leland." + +"Martin Leland!" cried Shandon. + +Kinsell nodded thoughtfully. + +"Martin Leland is the man who advanced the money," he said drily. "He +has shown himself in the matter of the mortgage and foreclosure a man +to be reckoned with. You see all three men mentioned were in positions +to have previous knowledge that your brother was in possession of that +sum of money; all three were in positions to menace his life for merely +sordid reasons; and, strangely enough, all three were men whose tempers +are such that in a moment of rage, in a hot quarrel, they might have +committed such a crime. Six months ago, Mr. Shandon, I think that it +would have gone very hard with you at a trial. The concensus of +opinion was pretty strong against you. Making a fugitive of yourself +made matters worse. But since then I think things have changed. There +are many men who, having learned of the deal Leland and Hume tried to +put over on you, have come to look upon them as crooks, and are willing +to suspect either of them of having killed Arthur Shandon." + +"But Martin Leland suspected," muttered Shandon. "It seems--" + +"Exactly," smiled Kinsell. "It seems rather like the finger of God, +doesn't it? Now we'll go on. I have learned that Sledge Hume bought +Helga Strawn's interest in the Dry Lands about two weeks after the +murder. At that time Hume had something like five thousand dollars in +the bank. I have had the record of the deed looked up. The deed is +noncommittal in the matter in which I was interested. Like so many +documents of its nature it says merely that in consideration of the sum +of ten dollars, the receipt of which is herein acknowledged, and so +forth, Helga Strawn deeded the property to Hume. That's common enough. +All right. Next, I find that Hume doesn't take the world into his +confidence ordinarily but that he has been free enough to tell a good +many people sneeringly that a woman is a fool and that he bought from a +woman for five thousand dollars. I find that the five thousand dollars +in his bank had been drawn out, a draft for that amount having been +sent to Helga Strawn, New York. That looked all right, didn't it? But +then you told Brisbane that Helga Strawn told you that Hume had paid +her twenty-five thousand. Eh?" + +"Yes," Shandon returned. "Have you asked her?" + +Kinsell laughed softly. + +"I don't do business that way. Usually in this sort of a game if you +want to catch nice fat lies fish with question marks for hooks. She is +one of the cleverest women I ever knew, is Helga Strawn, almost as +clever as Jeanette Compton. Quite as clever, perhaps, but Jeanette has +the bulge on her in that she's got her eyes on Helga all the time that +Helga has her eyes on Hume." + +"Who's Jeanette Compton?" + +"She's Helga Strawn's new maid. The old one quit; bribed her myself. +You'll find the item in the bill later on. Also Jeanette Compton is +the finest little girl on our staff." + +"And you're watching Helga Strawn too?" + +"With both of Jeanette's bright little eyes, all the time. To go on: +we've found through our men in New York that fifteen days after the +death of your brother, Helga Strawn placed on deposit in her bank in +New York two drafts. One for five thousand dollars, one for twenty +thousand. We have found that after Sledge Hume had drawn his five +thousand here he was out of the country for two days. We have +questioned every bank, Wells Fargo office and post office within a +day's range of El Toyon. Last week I got what I wanted from a bank in +Reno. A man, evidently a mining man, claiming to be in town from a +strike in Tonopah, deposited twenty-five thousand dollars at the +Merchants' and Citizens' Bank. It was in cash. The depositor gave his +name as--what do you guess?" + +Shandon looked at him blankly. Kinsell smiled and said abruptly, + +"He gave his name as Wayne Shandon. How does that strike you? It all +happened while you were going East with your brother's body; I believe +that it occurred while your train was being held up a few minutes in +Reno." + +Shandon's bewilderment seemed to please Kinsell. He chuckled softly, +and then, his face growing thoughtful again, he went on. + +"You'll remember that the train is scheduled to stop for fifteen +minutes in Reno? Well, the man made his deposit, and ten minutes later +he came back, said that his plans had changed, that he was going to +take the train with a friend he had seen on board, and asked to have +his money back. It was given to him, at his request, in twenty-five +bank notes of the thousand dollar denomination. He signed for them, +writing your name, excusing an almost illegible signature by the need +of haste and by a finger tied up as though it were badly hurt. So much +for what the cashier of the Merchants' and Citizens' Bank of Reno knows +about it." + +"It was Hume?" + +"From evidence so far given it might have been Hume or you! All right. +The man with the big roll of bills went out with the train. He might +have gone on to New York; he might have dropped off at Sparks and taken +the next train back in half an hour. He might have got back to +Sacramento the next morning. We find the rather interesting fact that +in Sacramento a man, giving his name as Arnold Wentworth paid to Wells +Fargo and Company the sum of twenty thousand dollars in bills of a +thousand dollars each for an order payable to Helga Strawn in New York. +Now do you see where Helga Strawn comes in?" + +Shandon, merely puzzled, shook his head at the bright eyes suddenly +turned upon him. + +"Assuming," went on Kinsell, "that it was Hume and not yourself who +made that deposit at the Reno bank, don't you see that as things stand +he has piled up a pretty piece of evidence against you? You might have +done just that thing, deposited the money while the train waited, +became alarmed at something, and gone back for it. I wonder if a +cashier, after two years' time, would remember the features of a +stranger so that he could say whether it was you or Hume? All right. +Next, there's Helga Strawn. If she'd talk, if she'd tell us that she +had a draft of five thousand and a Wells Fargo order for twenty +thousand, that Hume had sent one and had explained that a friend would +send the other, we'd have Mr. Hume in a certain place that men don't +like to think of." + +"Make her tell!" cried Shandon. + +Kinsell arched his brows. + +"She's out here for blackmail, isn't she? Let her understand what +conditions are, and what's a clever woman's clever play? She'd go to +Hume and say, 'Look here, Mr. Hume. I can crook my little finger and +swing you off into space at the end of a rope. Or I can keep still and +you can stand pat.' I fancy she'd do that. And she'd get her Dry +Lands back." + +"She can't be as bad as that!" + +"Can't she? Wait until you have a talk with Jeanette Compton." + +"It all depends upon Helga Strawn, then? There is a deadlock until you +can get her to talk?" + +"By no means. I'm just making a sort of unofficial report, you +understand. I wanted you to know that while some people suspect you +and some suspect Leland we are going ahead and getting the cards into +our own hands. And I wanted to ask you what you thought of that mining +proposition on the old McIntosh property? It's adjacent to yours, +isn't it? Just the other side of Laughter Lake?" + +"The McIntosh property, yes. The ridge rising on the other side of the +lake is my boundary line. I hadn't heard of any mining being done +there." + +"No? Well, it seems a mining concern has found something. At any rate +men are at work, a tunnel has been driven into the base of the ridge, +and--I wonder what would happen if a charge of dynamite went off in due +time and blew a hole right through, into the lake?" + +"Good heaven!" cried Shandon angrily. "You mean that Hume and Leland +are actually trying to steal my water?" + +"I don't think Leland is in on this," replied Kinsell quietly. "He +doesn't seem to me to be _quite_ the crook Hume is." + +"But," muttered Shandon, "if they once tear the side of that mountain +out--" + +"The milk will be spilt so badly that it cannot be put back into the +pan? And the mining company, a Chicago firm, I believe, at any rate a +crowd of men hired by a Chicago man, will claim that they were on their +territory all of the time; that not one of their men, but some man +hired by you, put in the charges that did the damage. It's a bold +play, but then when it's make or break with a man he hasn't much +picking and choosing to do." + +"It won't take me long to get there," said Shandon grimly. "And I'm +getting tired of this thing." + +"But, surely," smiled Kinsell, "you don't object to having Hume pay for +a part of the work you'll have to do soon or late, do you? Let him go +ahead. Just before they get ready to do the real damage, we'll slap a +little injunction on them." + +"But how will we know?" + +"That's all right. One of their foremen is drawing wages from you +right now. You'll find a lot of interesting things in the expense +account I put in, Mr. Shandon." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +RED RECKLESS ON LITTLE SAXON + +"I tell you, Hume, I don't like it. It's a piece of damned highway +robbery and I'm rotten sorry I ever got mixed up in it." + +Charlie Granger, stake holder of ten thousand dollars, cut viciously at +the June grass with his riding quirt and snapped his words out bluntly +as he came striding up to Hume. The latter stood, booted and spurred, +among a group of men who had travelled across ten miles of broken +country to this, the stipulated starting place of the race in which +Hume and Shandon had months ago been the sole entries. Hume carelessly +good natured, indifferent as usual, openly gratified over a bit of +sharp work, merely laughed. + +"You might as well hand over the money now, Charlie," he retorted +without turning, his steely eyes brightening as they rested upon his +mount, Endymion, who was fretting at the restraint imposed upon him by +the man at his head. "The agreement took care of just such a matter as +this; if only one man rides he gets the money." + +Among the knot of men upon the little, pine fringed knoll, were Big +Bill, Dart, MacKelvey and half a dozen of the curious from El Toyon and +the mountain ranches. Hume's retort was taken in silence. But there +was not a man who smiled or who did not think as Granger had spoken. +Long ago, when it had first gone abroad that Wayne Shandon was +promoting these races, the one essential thing he had planned had been +thoroughly understood to be fair play, square dealing, straight racing. +These were fair minded men, and although there was more than one among +them who believed the fugitive guilty of the crime imputed to him, +there was none who did not see the rank injustice of what was going to +happen. The feature race of the day would be stolen. And they knew at +whose instigation it was that Wayne Shandon was not here to-day. + +It was early afternoon and already a number of the events had been run +off before a clamorous, enthusiastic crowd of five hundred men and +women. The Bar L-M at the surly orders of Big Bill had been turned +into a place breathing welcome and revelry. Tents had been pitched +under the big pines, making a white city gay with bunting and flags +that would accommodate many visitors during the night; tables that had +been constructed out in the open staggered under the load of provisions +the wagons had brought from the nearest town; a platform for dancing +later was already the playground of laughing children and frisking dogs. + +The shorter races had taken place upon the flats below the range house, +down toward the bridge. Under the glowing June sun, through the crisp +air, with blue sky above and green grass underfoot, the contesting +horses, each ridden by its owner, had shot by the brief lived village +of tents, thundered past the platform where the judges sat, cheered and +shrieked at by men and women. There had been races of half a mile, of +a mile, of two miles. And now, as the hour appointed drew close, +people began to forget that they had come to a race course, and to +remember that their entertainment, open handedly given, came from a man +who was a fugitive from justice and who was going to be robbed under +their eyes of five thousand dollars. That strange thing, public +sentiment, swerved abruptly. There were many men there that day who +shook their heads and spoke in low voices, mentioning Sledge Hume's +name. + +"If Shandon could be tried by a jury picked from this crowd," meditated +Edward Kinsell, "he'd go scot free in ten minutes!" + +What this small group of men had to do upon the knoll ten miles from +the Bar L-M was done perfunctorily and in gloom. Little by little, man +by man, they drew away from Hume, leaving him standing alone. They +looked at his horse, by long odds the finest animal they had seen this +day, and from Endymion they looked to his master. Now and then a quick +glance went to Big Bill. He said no word. His face was black with a +wrath that seemed to choke him. + +The starter, Dick Venable of White Rock, looked at his watch and this +time did not return it to his pocket. + +"It's two minutes of one," he said, his voice snapping out hard and +curt. "This race is scheduled to start at one o'clock. All ready, Mr. +Hume?" + +"All ready," laughed Hume. He stepped to Endymion's head, jerked off +the halter and swung up into the saddle. + +"All ready, Shandon?" + +Again Hume laughed. Dick Venable waited a moment and snapped his watch +shut. + +"My job's to start this race if there's one man here to run it," he +said. "Shandon isn't here. It isn't my job to express any opinions. +The first horse, ridden by either Sledge Hume or Wayne Shandon, to +cross that line as a start and to break the tape by the platform at the +Bar L-M wins the money. When I fire a gun you're off, Hume. Ready!" + +The men began to turn away. Hume sat erect on his horse, coldly +indifferent to the opinion these men held of him. He moved so that he +held Endymion's restless head over the line marked by Venable's boot. + +"All right, Charlie?" Venable asked of Granger. + +"All right," grunted Granger. "And wrong as hell. Get it over with." + +Venable raised his arm, his revolver high above his head. The +bystanders swung up to their horses' backs. Two miles away another +little group of men with field glasses were upon a ridge from which +they could see the start, from which they in turn could signal the word +to the crowd at the Bar L-M. + +"Go!" said Venable listlessly. + +There was a little puff of white smoke, the crack of a revolver, and +Hume, laughing again, struck in his spurs and rode swiftly down the +long slope. The men upon the ridge two miles off, as listless as +Venable had been, ran up a big white sheet to flutter from a dead pine. +This was the signal that the race was on, and that just one man was +riding. + +Suddenly Willie Dart was galvanized into excited action. He ran to +Dick Venable, grasped him by the arm with both shaking hands, thrusting +up a red face, and whispered eagerly. Venable started, stared at him +and demanded sharply: + +"_What's that_!" + +But Dart had fled wildly to Jimmie Denbigh, the second starter and had +whispered the same words to him. Denbigh stared as Venable had done +and then with swift, long strides returned from his horse to Venable's +side, close to the starting line. + +Big Bill had mounted and was riding away, his eyes on the ground, +refusing to follow the figure of a man he had come to hate most +thoroughly. MacKelvey had gone to his horse and was jerking loose its +tie rope. Dart was now close to MacKelvey's side. + +Venable and Denbigh, conversing swiftly in undertones, looked blankly +at each other, then at Dart's noncommittal back. + +"The biggest little liar," began Venable disgustedly-- + +Hume was already a quarter of a mile on his way, riding on at a rocking +gallop, a little eager, as was his way, to have the money waiting for +him in his possession. But suddenly he turned abruptly in his saddle. +There had come to him a great shout, the clamour of men's voices. + +From the fringe of trees just back of the knoll, not a hundred yards +from where MacKelvey and Dart stood, a great red bay horse shot from +the thick shadows into the bright sunlight, floating mane and tall spun +silk that flashed out like shimmering gold. And the same sunlight +splashed like fire on the red, red hair of the man sitting straight in +the saddle come at this late hour to ride his race at his own meet. + +"Good God, it's Red Reckless!" boomed a startled voice. + +Little Saxon cleared the fallen log in his way and as men swung hastily +to their horses or drew back from before him he came on, running like a +great, gaunt greyhound. Many voices were lifted, shouting. MacKelvey +heard and understood. He shoved his foot into its stirrup and as he +leaped into the saddle his revolver jumped out into his hand. + +"I call upon you to give yourself up!" he shouted. "Stop, Red, or I +shoot this time!" + +[Illustration: "I call upon you to give yourself up!" he shouted. +"Stop, Red, or I shoot this time!"] + +Dart held a trimmed branch in his hand and as MacKelvey called Dart +struck. The blow fell heavily upon the sheriff's wrist. MacKelvey +cursed, wheeled his horse and without heeding Dart shouted again to +Shandon. + +Venable and Denbigh, forewarned by Dart's quick whispered words, had +their eyes upon Shandon. They ran to the line that marked the start +and stood, one at each end of it, their eyes bright, their hands +pointing so that Shandon's start should be fair. And Shandon, tossing +back his head as he rode, rushed down towards them, shot between them, +turned down the knoll after Hume. + +The gun in MacKelvey's hand spat flame and lead. The bullet, aimed +high, hissed above Shandon's head. + +"Stop!" cried the sheriff lustily, driving his spurs into his own +horse's sides and dashing across the line between Venable and Denbigh. +"By God, Red, I'll kill you!" + +"Give him a chance, man!" bellowed Big Bill, his voice shaking, his +face red. "Look at that damned cur Hume." + +Hume had seen and again had turned, was bending over his horse's neck, +using his spurs in the first start of his surprise. The men over +yonder had an inkling of what was happening and their glasses were +turned steadily upon the knoll. + +Shandon without turning, laughed aloud, all the relief after months of +hiding breaking out into laughter that was utterly unlike the sound +that had come so short a time ago from Hume's contemptuous lips. It +was a great, boyish, carefree, reckless laugh that made men wonder. + +"Next time, Mac," he shouted back. "Ten to one you can't catch me +before I beat Hume to it!" + +Almost in his own words of many months ago Big Bill was muttering +softly, + +"God! What a pair of them!" + +More than a quarter of a mile away Sledge Hume, his jaws hard set, his +eyes burning ominously, was racing on, saving his horse a little now. +Down the knoll drove Red Shandon, rushing on his race with a handicap +in front and a revolver spitting its menace behind. Fifty yards after +him, his face as hard as Hume's, came MacKelvey, thundering along on +his big rawboned sorrel, the sheriff whom men already criticised for +not making an arrest. + +Upon the ridge where the signal men were, the levelled glasses were +dropped as another square of white ran up the dead pine to carry its +word that the race was now a two man race. The fifty yards between +MacKelvey and Shandon lengthened as Shandon was forced to put Little +Saxon to his best. For MacKelvey was shooting as he rode and he was +not shooting for fun; there was no man in the county who wasted less +lead than its sheriff. + +Suddenly the knoll was deserted. Even Willie Dart had scrambled to his +horse, even he was chasing along wildly, oblivious of the steep pitch, +of a more than likely fall. To Big Bill's voice had joined other +voices, shouting to MacKelvey to give the man a chance. But MacKelvey +did not listen. + +They tried to push their horses between him and the man it was his +sworn duty to bring into court. But MacKelvey kept to the fore, +realising that they would try to do just this thing. He raised himself +in his stirrups and as his hand went up he fired for the third time. +The cry that burst out after the shot was full of anger, for every one +had seen Red Shandon suddenly crumple in his saddle. But Little Saxon, +running as he had never run before, toward the trees that were +thickening in front of him, swerved off to the left and was lost to the +eyes of the men sixty and seventy-five yards behind. There the +hammering of his hoofs came back to them from the hard ground of +another ridge. + +"If you've killed him," grunted Big Bill into MacKelvey's ear as his +horse came abreast of the sheriff's, "you might as well make a clean-up +and get me, too." + +But in a moment they again caught sight of Little Saxon through the +trees, and they saw that Wayne Shandon was still in the saddle, sitting +bolt upright, that he had shifted his reins to his right hand, that his +left arm was swinging grotesquely at his side. + +"I got him," grunted MacKelvey. + +Already, with close to ten miles ahead of him, with Hume still a +quarter of a mile to the fore, Wayne Shandon's face had turned white, +his shirt was slowly turning red. The bullet from the heavy calibre +revolver MacKelvey used had struck in the shoulder. + +"He's swerved out of his course," was MacKelvey's next thought. "He is +losing ground right now. I'll cut him off before he can get to the +bridge." + +In the moment that the impact of the bullet made Shandon crumple and +reel and clutch at his saddle horn, he went dizzy, almost blind with +the shock. In that moment Little Saxon feeling the reins drop upon his +neck, turned out to the left, striking for an open clearing. He should +have turned to the right as a thicket of chaparral lay in front now, +and there was no turning back. So, when Shandon's right hand shut down +tight upon the reins, gathering them up, there was but one thing to do, +turn still further to the left, skirt the thicket, try to turn to the +right again upon the further side. He was losing ground and he knew +it; but it was early in the race. + +"They've handicapped us, Little Saxon," he said through set teeth. +"But we'll show them a race yet." + +Ten miles of broken country, of hard riding, and the blood was hot on +the man's side and back while every leap of his horse shot him through +with pain. Ten miles and Endymion, Little Saxon's full brother, would +be half a mile ahead before the thicket was circled. + +"After all Hume wins!" cursed Big Bill. + +"It ain't fair! It ain't fair!" Dart's tremulous voice was shrieking +from far in the rear. "That big boob--" + +"There's ten miles of it, Little Saxon," Shandon was muttering over and +over. "And the race isn't run yet. You won't let Endymion beat you, +Little Saxon! You won't let Sledge Hume--" + +He cut sharply through the outer edge of the thicket and Little Saxon's +lean body, leaping like a greyhound's, lifted and glinted over the +ragged bushes. He swung to the right again, and saw MacKelvey, Big +Bill riding at his side, cutting across a little hollow to intercept +him. And again, with no alternative, he turned his horse out of the +course, and kept on up the higher land to his left. + +Now Hume was lost to him; MacKelvey and the others dropped out of +sight; and he was riding his race alone. He knew that Little Saxon +could stand up under all that a horse could endure; but he knew, too, +that no horse that was ever foaled could keep up such a mad pace for +ten miles, that the gallant brute's heart would burst with five miles +of it. He tightened his reins a little, forcing the horse against its +will to slacken speed. + +Now he bent in the saddle, easing his body as well as he could, trying +not to feel the pain that grew steadily in his shoulder. The lower +branches of the trees through which he sped whipped at him and he did +not feel them. Far ahead he saw two squares of white fluttering high +against the blue of the sky, and he knew the message that they carried +across the miles. He thought of how he and Wanda had signalled, how +she would be at the Bar L-M with the rest, how she would understand +what those two signals meant. For he had not told her, he had told no +one but Dart who had brought Little Saxon to him last night, and who, +later, had told the starters at the last moment. Shandon had realised +that there would be danger in this mad act of his and that had she +known beforehand Wanda would have been frightened. + +Again, a mile further on, he tried to swing back into the cleared +course that would bring him the shortest way to the bridge. Again he +saw that MacKelvey had anticipated this, and was coming close to +killing his own horse to cut him off. And, his eyes growing black, the +fear of the end of the race came upon him. Had he done this wild thing +for nothing then? Was it but to be proof to the men who called him +fool that fool he was? He bent his head and loosened his reins. + +He knew that, far ahead of him, Sledge Hume was riding the easier way, +that he was working down from the more broken rangeland, that he was +steadily nearing the bridge in the straightest line. He knew that +MacKelvey had a rifle strapped to his saddle and that long before now +the rifle would be in MacKelvey's hands. He knew that at the end of +the race Wanda Leland, her heart beating madly for him, was waiting. + +"Can't you do it, Little Saxon?" he whispered. "For her sake, can't +you do it?" + +Mile after mile slipped away behind him, the course was half run, and +he had not come down into the road which led to the Bar L-M. He knew +that he was losing at every jump the great hearted horse made under +him; he knew that it was not Little Saxon's fault as he had never known +until now what speed and strength lay in that wonderful body. Who's +fault, then? Hume was beating him, Hume would be at the finish +laughing, waiting for him to come in-- + +"You've got to do it, Little Saxon," he cried softly, his voice +pleading. "Why, we can't let Hume--" + +He broke off suddenly, his eyes filling with light. He had seen the +way--and it was Wanda who had shown it to him. + +"Steady, Saxon," he said, his own voice steady, confident, determined. +"We'll do it, little horse. Let Hume beat us to the Bridge; _we'll +take the short cut_!" + + +From the Bar L-M grounds a faint cry went up as scores of lifted field +glasses made out the figure of one man riding strongly toward the +bridge. It was Hume, Hume alone, riding as Hume rode, well and erect. +There was the hammer of Endymion's hoofs as they rattled against the +heavy planking, and then-- + +"Look! Look! Oh, my God! Look!" + +It was a woman's voice, a hysterical little woman from Reno, crying +out, terror-stricken. Her arm had shot out; her finger was pointing +toward the chasm of the river. + +Then the shout that swept up about the Bar L-M was no longer faint. +The voices of women were drowned in the deep roar of men's shouts. +Wanda, her hands convulsively going to her breast, her face as white as +death, moved her lips, making no sound. But her soul spoke and prayed, +prayed to God not to let her mad lover do this mad thing. What was a +race, what was defeat! + +Wayne Shandon, riding as straight as Hume now, his hair flashing its +red at them, his face strangely white,--some one cried that he was +afraid,--had come to the short cut. His eyes leaving the way in front +of him for a swift second saw the form of a girl standing out from the +crowd and failed to see the crowd that was watching him, for the +instant forgetful of Sledge Hume riding on his spurs, sweeping on +across the bridge that rocked under him. Then Shandon's eyes came back +to the black gulf where a white snowshoe rabbit had found death, which +a white maiden had leaped for his sake. + +"We can do it, Little Saxon," he said gently. "We can do it for Wanda, +can't we? She'd hate to see us beaten by Hume. For Wanda, Little +Saxon. Now!" + +The roar of the water smote upon Little Saxon's ears, the deep chasm +seemed a live and evil thing snapping at him. But he rushed on toward +it, he felt his master's hand, he heard his master talking to him, and +he had learned to love and trust his master. He swept on, down the +slope, gathering speed at each great bounding leap, racing as few have +seen a horse run, sensing the end of the race, sniffing victory with +quivering flaring nostrils. He felt the sudden slackening of his reins +as Shandon whispered, "Now!"; he knew that his master had put his life +into his horse's keeping; knew that he was loved and trusted in this +final moment even as he gave his own love and trust; and gathering the +great, iron muscles of his great iron body, he leaped. + +He leaped, flinging his body recklessly. Upon his back Wayne Shandon, +sitting very still and tense and erect, his eyes upon the form of a +girl, his life in Little Saxon's keeping, had essayed the thing that no +one had expected even Red Reckless to do. The white froth of the water +flashed under them, the jagged rocks menaced, the boom of the river +deafened them. As he had leaped before, that first day when Shandon +and Big Bill had come upon him, Little Saxon leaped now. And as he +landed his hind feet sent a rattle of stones down into the hungering +gulf below. + +There had been a silence as of death. Now there was a shout that +drowned the roar of the river robbed of its prey. Men yelled and threw +their arms up and yelled again. + +On came Endymion carrying Sledge Hume who had at last understood and +who now was riding with bloody spurs and a quirt that cut in swift +vicious blows at his horse's sweating hide. + +On came Little Saxon, snorting his defiance to his brother, Red +Reckless sitting straight in the saddle, his spurs clean. + +Quick hands had run the taut string across the end of the course. Two +big horses carrying two big men shot across it. But the breast of one +had struck a dozen lengths ahead of the other, and through the echoing +babel the judge's voice was lost as he shouted: + +"Wayne Shandon on Little Saxon wins!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE LAUGHTER OF HELGA STRAWN + +"Will you tell your mistress," Sledge Hume commanded, "that I want to +speak with her immediately? Immediately, do you hear?" + +The capable looking maid favoured him with swift, keen scrutiny, +noticed that Endymion, tied to the gate post, was sweating and dust +covered, saw that Hume was dusty from riding and that his eyes were +full of purpose, and went upon her errand. Hume stalked into the +living room where he had grown to be so much at home, and driving his +hands into his pockets stood frowning out of the window through which +the warm fragrant June air came in from the sunny fields. + +With the determination in his eyes there was the unhidden, black anger +that had not been absent from them during the man's waking hours for a +week. The spirit under the hard shell of a cool indifference had been +touched, and was raw and quivering beneath the lashes his fate had +brought upon him. On the day of the races he had lost five thousand +dollars that he could ill afford to lose, and with it counted that he +had lost another five thousand which he had told himself had always +been as good as his. He had shown men that he was a bad loser, by +flying into an ungovernable rage that vented its fury upon Endymion +until savage voices cried to him to hold his quirt or he would be +jerked from the saddle. He had seen that the slow turning tables were +turning at last. He had seen Wayne Shandon, the man always in his way, +white and fainting from sheer loss of blood, turn smiling and give +himself up to the sheriff. He had seen Red Shandon the hero of a crowd +that went wild over him; had heard even MacKelvey's rough voice crying +bluntly, "There's a man for you!" + +But anger and hatred, swelling venemously in his heart, had only +hardened him, making him the more determined. He did not doubt, he did +not fear. Not enough had happened to undermine the man's cold, +dominating strength, to alter the essential fact in his mind that he +was Hume and that people who strove against him were fools doomed to +defeat. But before he heard the silken rustle of Helga Strawn's +approach there was to come to him a new sign of the future that was +rushing down upon him. + +As usual Helga kept him waiting. He tapped at the window with a hand +that he jerked impatiently from his pocket; he turned, thinking that he +heard her steps; he walked back and forth in the room. And thus it +happened that his eyes fell upon a large sheet of paper lying upon the +table, his own name typed in capitals across the top. His frowning +eyes read the few lines swiftly: + +"Your tunnel is already one hundred and fifty-three feet upon Shandon +property. That is far enough." + + +There was no signature. + +A child has an instinctive fear of the dark; the thing a man does not +understand brings from the obscurity of the unknown a certain, vague +dread. Who had written this thing? There was no answer. Why? No +answer. How did it come here, who could have known that Hume would see +it here? No answer. It was as though a warning, taking form from the +invisible air had fallen from the air before his startled eyes. + +He swept up the paper, crumpling it in his fingers. He had not heard +Helga Strawn, did not know that she was in the room until she spoke +quietly. + +"Is fate relenting? Or are you still playing the losing game?" + +He swung upon her sharply. His eyes, glittering and hard, met hers +softly luminous. He had never seen the woman so radiantly, regally +beautiful, perhaps because he had never seen her so keenly alive as she +was to-day. Although his brain was riotous with other things he could +not fail to note the superb carriage, the rich gown daringly +fashionable, the warm whiteness of arms and throat, the finely +chiselled red lips that were unsmiling. + +"The losing game?" he cried, coming swiftly toward her, stopping only +when his tall form towered over her. "By God, no! I have lost a trick +here, a trick there. A man counts upon that sort of thing. That +little shrimp Conway is scared of his life and is for pulling out. I'm +glad of it. He'll sell to me before he'll go to Shandon. Let Leland +pull out, too. We'll take him over. I'm going to win, I tell you, +Claire Hazleton! We're going to win, you and I. Win big!" + +There was no change in her cool eyes. She swept by him, not turning +out an inch to pass, her skirts brushing him, and dropped idly into her +chair. He followed, and stood over her again. + +"Shandon is going to be acquitted," she said. "You know that. He'll +be set free in ten days. Then what?" + +"Then we'll take him in with us. We'll get the water and that's all we +want any way you put it. Inside six months we'll be subdividing and +getting our money back." + +She laughed. + +"So you think that Shandon will jump at the chance to go into any sort +of partnership with you?" + +"We'll make him," crisply. "He has retained Brisbane, the biggest, +highest priced criminal lawyer this side the Rockies. He has cleared +up his mortgage but he's had to mortgage again to do it. He's in debt +up to his eyes. We'll make him a proposition that will show him the +way to clear himself. I tell you, Claire, he'll have to do it." + +"You say _we_," she reminded him, lifting her white shoulders. + +"And I mean you and I," he returned bluntly. "I've come here to do +some straight talking." There leaped up into his eyes a light she had +never seen there until now, a quick colour ran into his cheeks. "I +want you to marry me, Claire." + +Perhaps the woman's pulse quickened. Certainly no change in her +expression, no quiver of a muscle, no deepened breathing told that a +supreme moment had come into her life, a moment she had long and +unceasingly striven for. + +"Do you?" she asked indifferently. "Why?" + +"Because," he cried, "you are like no other woman in all the world. +Because the things that I want are the things that you want. Because +we should be a man and a woman, mated, to take our places in the world +and hold them. Where there is man's work I can do it; where there is +woman's work you can do it. We are young; in ten years' time we can +rise to whatever we care to set our eyes upon. Why do I want you? +Just because in brain and in body you are the woman in the world fitted +to occupy the place that shall be my wife's." + +"Other men have asked me to marry them," she said coolly. "I think +that all of them have said something about love." + +"And I love you," he told her. "A man cannot come to care for a woman +without her knowing it. I don't come to you bleating about a breaking +heart, because you are no fool and I am no fool. If you were the kind +to care about a lot of sentimental rot you wouldn't be the woman you +are, you wouldn't be the woman I'd want. I'd be good to you. I'd give +you the power that a beautiful woman with a strong, rich husband can +come to have in San Francisco, in New York, in London if you like. +When I rise you'll rise with me. I'll have men know that my wife shall +have the place, above the heads of their wives, that she wants. And +I'll be proud of you!" + +Then he got his answer as seldom a woman has answered a man. She +lifted her eyes to his, she put back her head with the tossing regal +gesture he knew so well, her lips parted slowly--and she laughed. +Laughed at him in a sudden mirth of leaping scorn, that was hard and +cruel, that mocked and sneered at him, that took supreme toll of the +supreme moment. Laughed as she saw the light quiver and die in his +eyes, as the colour faded from his cheeks and ran back red. + +"Love me!" she cried scornfully. "You'd be proud of me! Why? When +you answered you forgot to tell the truth, Mr. Hume. Because you need +me, because you are beaten now and must come hiding a whimper under big +words, come to a woman who holds you so in the hollow of her hand that +she can break you so utterly that your own overweening conceit cannot +find the fragments with the microscope of a distorted vanity! Love me +as you'd love any other fine thing just because it was yours. Because +you'd use me, because you see that such a wife as I could be would be +but a stone for you to stand on to climb up a little higher. And you +think that of all men in the world I should choose a man like _you_ for +husband?" + +She jeered openly at him, disdaining to see the red anger flaring in +his eyes. She remembered the reason that had brought her to him in the +beginning and a savage gladness in her rejoiced at finding the victory +all that she had yearned for. Her dominant blood was seething to the +surface. And it was Hume blood. + +"Listen to me a minute," she cried sharply as he was about to speak. +"You've come for straight talk to-day, you say. Let us have it then. +You have gone your way boastfully, arrogantly, unscrupulously and it +has been the fool's way. You are playing the losing game and it isn't +even in you to lose like a man. You have stared at the glitter of gold +so long that you have gone blind looking at it. Your own infallibility +has loomed so large before you that you have lost your sanity. I say +listen to me!" her voice ringing with its command. "I am going to tell +you something. I am going to tell you why I came to you, why I +suffered you day after day to come to me. And what I came for I am +going to get. You are going to give it to me!" + +She had sprung to her feet, twin spots of colour upon her white cheeks, +her eyes blazing. + +"You told me that you had paid five thousand dollars to Helga Strawn +for her interest in the Dry Lands! Liar! You paid her twenty-five +thousand!" + +"Well?" he snarled harshly. "What of it?" + +"You laughed about it. You said that she was a fool like most women. +Like all women, was what you thought! And women were made just for you +to tread upon and sneer at. You did not know that I knew a great deal +more about Helga Strawn than you ever guessed!" + +"You--know--Helga--Strawn!" + +The words beat at her like stinging, separate blows. And now it had +come into his eyes, the thing that had never been there, the thing that +would never die out of the man's soul while life clung to him,--fear. + +"I know you, to the last spot you think you've covered up," she ran on +swiftly. "So well that I know I am about to stir you into one of your +mad fits of rage. And I am not afraid to do it. You'd kill me if you +dared, but you won't dare. For after all I think that in your +braggadocio way you are a coward, Sledge Hume." + +"You cat!" he flung at her with an attempt at his old manner. + +"I have two men working out yonder," she said coolly. "If I called to +them--" She shrugged her shoulders. "I want to tell you all that you +are hungering to know even while you are afraid to hear it. Helga +Strawn got your check for five thousand dollars. She got, also, a +Wells Fargo order from Sacramento for twenty thousand. Sent by a +fictitious Arnold Wentworth. Ah!" + +For he had cried out sharply, his face was dead white, his eyes were +filled with horror. His premonition had come. + +"Who committed the crime you charged Wayne Shandon with?" she demanded +fearlessly. "Who killed Arthur Shandon and robbed him of twenty-five +thousand dollars? If Helga Strawn came into court and told all that +she knows do you realise what a jury would say about it?" + +"The things you are saying are lies," he cried back at her, driving his +hands into his pockets that she might not see that they were shaking. + +He stared after her in wonder as she went swiftly to the table and +unlocked a drawer. He wondered more as she snatched out a folded paper +and brought it to him. + +"Sign that," she said curtly. "Get it witnessed before a notary and +send it to me and Helga Strawn will forget what she knows." + +A glance showed him the significance of the document. It was a deed, +properly drawn, needing but his own signature to return to Helga Strawn +the lands he had bought from her. + +"So," he sneered, "you are trying a little blackmail, are you? You are +a spy and Helga Strawn's agent, I suppose?" + +Again she laughed at him. + +"I attend to my own business, my dear cousin," her voice very like his. +"If you hadn't been a fool you'd have known that I was Helga Strawn six +months ago. Blackmail? Call it what you like. It is your one chance +to save your neck. I know that in one of your mad fits of anger you +killed Arthur Shandon. I know that you took his money. And I am not +the only one in the country who knows or suspects it. Your chance is +slim enough as it is, Mr. Hume. Don't make it worse." + +Blow after blow until the man set his muscles like iron to keep his +body from shaking as his soul shook. This was the greatest shock of +all because it struck at the keynote of his nature, this knowledge that +a woman had tricked him, that she had played with him, that now she +held him as she said so bluntly, in the hollow of her hand. + +"You traitress!" he cried hoarsely. "You miserable traitress!" + +And Helga Strawn laughed. + +"It will take you a couple of hours to ride into El Toyon," she said. +"That will give you time to think it over. If you decide to sign the +deed and send it to me to-night I'll do my part. If I don't get the +deed to-night I'll go into town in the morning for a talk with the +district attorney. I think I've got you where I want you, Mr. Hume." + +The things which Hume said to her she accepted indifferently. She had +never known that a man could find such words to utter to a woman. When +she has listened long enough she turned and went out of the room, going +upstairs and standing by her window where she could see him as he went +out. As she saw him striding down the walk toward his horse, jamming +the deed into his pocket as he went, her eyes suddenly grew wet, and +she stamped her foot angrily. + +"Of all men living I hate you most!" she cried passionately. And then, +softly, more softly than any one had ever heard her speak, "And you +come closer to being a man than any man I ever knew. I wonder--" + +The fury within him demanding some sort of expression found it in the +swift stride that carried him blindly down the walk. He came almost at +a run to his horse. Endymion, mindful of the unprovoked blows and +tearing spurs of a week ago, distrustful, afraid, whirled, rearing and +plunging, and broke the reins that had been tossed over the post. +Hume, venting upon a trifle the wrath that seethed within him, shouted +angrily, cursing the horse that dashed by him. + +The horse, seeing his way through the gate shut off, turned and dashed +around the house, seeking a break in the yard fence. Hume ran after +him, still cursing. The two men who were working in the yard lay down +their rakes and shovels and came up. The three of them cornered the +frightened brute. But when Hume, his hand outstretched for the +dangling, broken rein, came within half a dozen feet, Endymion, +snorting his fear, plunged by him, racing into another corner. + +Again they closed about him, again he plunged through, mad with fear, +making the madness in Sledge Hume a speechless, raging fury. A third +time they tried, and as the big horse shot by Hume's temper mastered +him as it had mastered him once before. + +"God damn you!" he shouted wildly. "Take that!" + +As he shouted he jerked his revolver from his pocket and fired. Fired, +saw the big animal stagger and fired again. + +He went to the stable for one of Helga's horses. His hands were +shaking as he saddled and got the bit into the animal's mouth. With no +look behind him he mounted, spurred out into the road and galloped off +toward El Toyon. + +Helga Strawn from her window coolly ordered the two men to put the +wounded horse out of his misery and to drag him where she could not see +him, But her eyes did not tarry with them, did not leave the big bulk +of Sledge Hume until it had disappeared around a bend In the road. +Then she went to her mirror and stood looking at herself with large, +luminous eyes. + +"I wonder," she whispered, "if he did love me, after all?" + +She could never know. She knew that she could never know. And she +went and threw herself, face down, on her bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +HUME RIDES THE ONE OPEN TRAIL + +Hard driven, conscious of a compelling force more dominant than the +strong will of a man, Sledge Hume rode the one trail open to him. It +was as though the deeds of his life were now grown tangible separate +squares of rock cemented into sheer walls rising about him, narrowing, +forcing him into the one way open. + +He rode into El Toyon and signed the deed before a notary. He returned +it by a boy to Helga Strawn, and by the same messenger he sent back her +horse. From the stable he hired another animal, and with no friendly +word to man, woman or child, struck out for the Echo Creek. As he rode +by the court house he looked at it curiously. Wayne Shandon was there, +was spending his brief time in jail very much as an honoured guest. He +would come out in a few days and then--then MacKelvey would be looking +for another man-- + +Hume turned and rode back into town, going this time to the bank. +Explaining briefly that he expected to turn a big deal and would need +the ready cash, he drew out all but a few dollars of his emergency +fund. His lips were tight pressed, his eyes hard, as he rode by the +jail again and out into the county road. The sight of MacKelvey at an +open window talking with Brisbane and Edward Kinsell, made him frown +blackly. Little things had come to be full of significance. + +It was nearly fifty miles to Martin Leland's. But Hume had ridden +early to Helga Strawn and now had a strong, fresh horse under him. +Looking at his watch, he saw that it was not yet half past nine. He +could make it by half past four or five, riding hard. And he was in +the mood for hard riding. + +Very few times did he stop on the long way. Once he paused at a little +road house for a pound of cheese and some bread; once at a certain +crossing where a broad trail crossed Echo Creek. He sat here a moment, +motionless, staring out across the little valley lying warm under the +afternoon sun, his eyes running up and down along the course of the +stream. + +Raking his spurs against his horse's sweat-dripping sides he rode on. +In half an hour he threw himself from the saddle at Leland's house. + +He heard the sound of singing within, a girl's voice lilting +wordlessly, happily, bespeaking a heart that was brimming with the pure +joy of life and love. Striding to Leland's office he flung the door +open. In a moment, answering his impatient rap, Martin entered. + +"I've come to talk business," Hume said, flinging himself into a chair. +"What's doing?" + +"What do you mean, Mr. Hume?" Leland asked gravely. + +"I want to know where you stand. Conway's strong for pulling out, eh?" + +"I told you all that he wrote me." + +"What have you done about it?" + +"Nothing." + +"You're going to buy him out?" + +"No." + +"Damn it!" cried Hume irritably. "Don't make me pump at you like a dry +well! You know what I'm driving at. If Shandon goes clear where are +you and I coming out?" + +"Mr. Hume," returned the old man heavily, "I'm glad you came, for I was +coming to you. Shandon is going clear. I've talked with his lawyer, +I've talked with Kinsell--" + +"What's Kinsell got to do with it?" + +"Kinsell is a detective sent up here by Brisbane to work up the case. +Also, I have talked with Wayne Shandon." This came slowly, with an +evident effort, but it came calmly. "Shandon will go free because he +is not the man who killed Arthur Shandon." + +"You're swapping horses, eh?" sneered Hume. + +"Perhaps not exactly. But I have gone to him and told him that I had +allowed myself to think of him as a murderer for the illogical but none +the less potent reason that I hated his father. And I apologised to +him, having no other amends to make." + +"Cut the sentimental drivel short," cut in Hume unpleasantly. "Have +you gone over to his side of the deal? Are you throwing me down and +tying up with him?" + +"No." Leland threw out his hands in a wide gesture. "I am done with +the whole thing." + +"And what happens to me! Here I am in up to my neck and you go and +chuck the thing. Do you think I'll stand for the double cross like +that?" + +"Hume," cried Leland sharply, "I don't want to quarrel with you. I am +quitting because I am ashamed of the things I have already done. I +tried to blind myself by thinking that I was usurping the prerogative +of God, in telling myself that it was my duty to punish. Now I am +ashamed, I tell you. And not a second too soon can you understand and +the world know that you and I are in no way interested in each other. +I have learned since I saw you that you were going on with a matter +which I can have nothing to do with." + +"What's that?" + +"I refer to the way in which you are seeking to tunnel from the +McIntosh property into Shandon's, to take the water whether or no. +That may be in your mind a bold stroke of business. I can't +countenance that sort of thing." + +"Ho! How you've taken the robe of righteousness upon your shoulders! +And after trying to steal Shandon's ranch from him on a mortgage!" + +Martin made no reply. Not once during the conversation did his eyes +light with anger; not for a moment was the underlying shadow of sadness +gone from them. He was holding a strong rein upon himself. He was +judging himself now; he was passing judgment upon no other man. + +Hume, glancing at him quickly, curiously, felt that he knew what Leland +was thinking. Then his mind came back abruptly to his own interests. + +"So you don't know what Conway is going to do?" + +"I have advised him to sell to Shandon and to give Shandon the time he +wants to make his payments." + +"And you will sell to Shandon too?" + +"I think not. My holdings are too heavy for him to swing. No, I am +going to give them away." + +"Not to him!" + +"No, not to him. He wouldn't accept them. To my daughter--for her +wedding present. And I pray God that they will bring her more +happiness than they have brought me." + +Hume's big fist came smashing down upon the table. + +"By God, you've got to buy me out! I'm ruined, ruined, I tell you, if +you and Conway drop me now." + +"I'll do it." The calm words surprised Hume who had expected a blunt +refusal. "Upon one consideration. Namely that you sell to me at the +figure which you paid. I am willing to play fair and I think that that +is fair. It leaves you where you started. It leaves me where I +started except that I shall have been spending a good many thousands +for Wanda's wedding present." + +Hume, his brows knitted, rose to his feet and strode back and forth in +the room, trying to look his problem squarely in the face. Failure +confronted him, and failure was more hideous to him than the shame, +dishonour, disgrace, which would accompany it. In a flash that left +his face drawn he saw himself as he had never seen himself before. + +He went to the window looking out into the fields over which the +afternoon sun was dropping low. He wanted to think; and he did not +want Martin Leland to see his face. He heard Wanda singing happily. +Her voice was not like Helga's, and yet, tinkling through it he seemed +to hear Helga's cool laughter. + +"I'm tired out," he said abruptly, coming back to Leland. "Let me have +a bed. We'll settle it in the morning." + +Leland looked at him curiously. This was unlike Sledge Hume's usual +way. But, offering no remark he showed Hume his room. + +It was far into the night before Hume's tired body found the rest of +deep sleep. It was long after sunrise when he awoke. It had been a +man's voice that jarred upon his ears even in sleep, that finally +brought him to his elbow with a start. + +Slipping out of bed he stepped quickly to his window. There were three +horses in the yard, saddled, sweaty and dusty. MacKelvey's heavy voice +came to him again from Leland's study. + +He dressed swiftly, his eyes glittering. Spinning the cylinder of his +revolver, he shoved it into his pocket and into another pocket thrust +the thick pad of bank notes which had been under his pillow during the +night. Then he went back to the window. + +He could hear Julia in the kitchen. He could hear Leland's voice now, +now MacKelvey's, then another man's. Was it Johnson's? + +"That cursed woman," he muttered bitterly. "She double crossed me +after all. God! I was a fool!" + +He did not hesitate. Kinsell was a detective, who had been in +Shandon's hire for six months. A hundred little things that had been +trifles at the time came back to him now to whisper that Kinsell had +known a long time. And Helga had given them the rest of the evidence +they lacked. Helga, a woman, had tricked him, had deceived him, had +made him love her in the only way love was possible to this man, and +then had laughed at him and doublecrossed him. + +Making no sound he slipped out of the window, and stooping low so that +from no other window could he be seen, he ran around to the back of the +house. A glance at the saddled horses in the yard showed him that +their legs were shaking, that they were done up from a hard ride. He +moved on, further from the house, dodging behind a tree, stopping to +listen, to peer out, hearing the maddening beat, beat, beat of his own +heart. He must have a horse and then as Wayne Shandon had done, he +could disappear into this wilderness of rocks and trees, hide for weeks +or months, and at last get out of the country. Flight lay before him; +his quickened senses told him what lay behind unless he fled now and +swiftly. + +"MacKelvey's a fool at best," he grunted, snatching at a ray of hope. +"Once I get on a horse--" + +He was taking a chance but he had to take chances. Making a short +circuit he ran at last, still stooping as he ran. He came safely to +the stable, selected a powerful looking horse, threw on the saddle with +hasty hands. The bit was troublesome, the horse, with head lifted +high, fought against it with big square teeth clenched. But at last +the job was done and Hume rode out at the side door, his spurs in his +hand, not taking time to buckle them on. + +He began to think that his luck was with him now. He rode slowly at +first, afraid of the noise of his horse's hoofs. A quick glance behind +showed him the three horses in the yard, no man or woman in sight. + +Which way? There was scant time for reflection. It was time for +inspiration, for the flash of instinct. He felt the pad of bank notes +safe in his pocket. He would ride straight to the Bar L-M, cross the +bridge, turn out from the range buildings, reach the upper end of the +valley. He would cross over the ridge to where his hirelings were +tunnelling. There was a man among them who was not afraid of the law, +a man who would help him, who would go to hell for the half of that +sheaf of paper. + +He buckled on his spurs and drove them into his horse's sides. + + +In the study MacKelvey was saying: + +"I dunno. We may have some trouble. Brisbane has gotten an injunction +all right, but that crowd of Hume's looks like a bad one. I have sent +two men on ahead to the Bar L-M. Been deputies of mine on more than +one hard job. By the way, talking of Hume, seen him lately?" + +"Yes," Martin answered. "He's here now. In bed. He stayed last night +with me. Do you want to see him?" + +"Nothing urgent. I wanted to ask him if he wants to sell Endymion. +Shandon wants to buy him back." + + +Hume, riding furiously, pushed on through the forest, keeping a course +parallel to the road, near enough to see any one who might be riding +there, far enough to conceal his horse and himself behind a grove or +ridge. So at last he came to a knoll from which he could look down +upon the bridge, not over a quarter of a mile away. There were two men +there, sitting their horses idly and yet seeming to the man's distorted +imagination to be watching every shadow flickering through the woods. +He jerked his horse to a quivering standstill. + +He had recognised one of the horses, a great wire limbed pinto. It was +a horse familiar in El Toyon, one of MacKelvey's string. + +"Damn him," snarled Hume, his eyes flashing like bright steel. + +From behind a fringe of trees he watched the two deputies. They made +no move to go on. Ten minutes he waited, ten minutes of precious time. +Twice he felt that their eyes had found him out, twice he called +himself a fool. Five minutes more and then, from behind him, he heard +the pounding of hoofs. + +"It's MacKelvey and the rest," he told himself angrily. "They've got +me like a trapped rat. Damn them. Damn that traitress!" + +He dipped his spurs and shot down a knoll, hoping to be out of sight, +to wait until they had passed, then to double on his trail. But his +luck had deserted him. He did not know the woods here, he lost ground +in going about a rocky pile of earth, and MacKelvey caught sight of him. + +"Hume!" came the big voice. "Hold on!" + +"_Hold on_!" + +It was as though the world, filled with shouting voices, was calling +behind him. Like an undertone through it the cool laughter of a woman. + +He drove his spurs deeper, he swung his snorting beast about, he raised +his quirt striking mightily with it, and rushed on. Where? It did not +matter. Anywhere except toward the men in front, anywhere as long as +it was away from the men behind. He heard MacKelvey call again, more +loudly, he saw the sheriff wave his arm at him, and he rode on, his +head down now, careless of where he went so that the way led him +farther, farther from what lay behind. + +Suddenly, booming in his ears, came the roar of the river. On, his +leaping horse carried him, stumbling, threatening to unseat its rider, +plunging on. The roar of the river grew louder; again there were ten +thousand voices shouting, clamouring, yelling at him. He topped a last +ridge here and looking down saw the black chasm of the river, the steep +banks. + +"If I only had Endymion! God! If I only had Endymion." + +He jerked savagely at his reins, stopping his horse. As he looked back +and saw that MacKelvey and Johnson and another man were riding toward +him. He glanced again at the deep chasm of the river. A quick shudder +swept through him and left him steady, whitefaced, cold. + +"Hume!" shouted MacKelvey. + +Then Hume's spurs drank blood again, once more his frightened horse was +leaping under him, plunging down toward the river. Louder and louder +yelled the many voices, mocking, jeering, calling, echoing away into +titanic laughter. And through it all, like the fine note of a violin +through the pulsing of an orchestra, sounded the cool music of a +woman's laughter. + +"Curse her!" shrieked Hume. "Curse them all. A fool girl did this, a +fool Shandon did it--" + +Like a missile from a giant's catapult he rushed down the steep slope; +MacKelvey, from the ridge watched him and wondered. He saw that the +man had shaken his reins loose, that his horse had almost reached the +verge of the chasm, that as the animal was ready to gather his great +muscles for the leap the reins had tightened a little, spasmodically, +as though the rider's nerve had failed him. And then that they +loosened again as though he had seen it was too late or had regained +his nerve. + +The horse leaped far out, struck the opposite bank, seemed to hang +there a brief second, straining, balancing, and then with its rider +dropped backward. + +The roar of the water boomed on like the clamouring of a world of +voices; through it ran a finer note like the cool laughter of a woman; +and upon Sledge Hume's white face, as he lay still upon a jagged stone +before the current swept him away, the little drops of spray were like +a woman's tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +"IT IS HOME!" + +To those who loved the sensational in and about El Toyon the trial of +Wayne Shandon was a disappointment. Never had the courthouse been more +crowded, never had the setting been more stimulating to their highly +coloured imaginations. Red Reckless, looking to their eyes +picturesquely pale from his confinement and the sheriff's bullet; +Brisbane with his poker table face and his reputation; Edward Kinsell, +whose smiling manner no longer concealed the glamour which clung about +so distinguished a detective; Martin Leland apparently older, less +stern, his eyes gentler; Mrs. Leland, confident and happy from her talk +with Shandon's attorney; Wanda, her eyes very bright, her cheeks +flushed, her heart yearning, hoping, praying and a little afraid; Helga +Strawn, now known by her own name, and linked by rumour with the man +who had paid the penalty for the crime of which he had accused Wayne +Shandon, her manner cool, aloof; even Willie Dart, whom everybody knew +and who in some strange way had come to be looked upon as a special +detective, imported a year ago by the counsel for the defence. + +The district attorney's argument was cool, dispassionate, perfunctory. +He showed no interest in securing a conviction for the very simple +reason that he felt none. Brisbane was a further, deeper +disappointment. He failed to live up to the reputation that had +preceded him. He constantly studied his watch and a time-table during +the argument of the prosecution and when it was done audibly asked the +district attorney concerning the best train out of El Toyon. He said +what he had to say to the jury in less than half an hour. When charged +by the judge the jury filed out with grave faces only to file back in +five minutes smilingly. + +"Not guilty, your honour!" + +Since the principals had seemed to put little fervour into the occasion +the good people of El Toyon supplied the deficit. Amid great shouting +and cheering Wayne Shandon made his smiling, hand-shaking way down +through his friends, coming straight to the girl whose eyes were the +happiest eyes that he had ever seen, shining through a mist of tears. + +There was no hesitation now as Martin Leland put out his hand. + +"I wronged you, Shandon," he said simply. "And I think that I knew it +all the time. It hasn't made me happy. I hope that you will accept my +congratulations." + +"Thank you," answered Shandon. And he locked Leland's hand heartily in +his own. + +Mrs. Leland had her motherly greeting to make and said it happily. Nor +did she use unnecessary words. In a moment she had slipped her arm +through her husband's and was moving with him through the surging +crowd, leaving Wayne with Wanda. + +"Say, Red!" Mr. Dart, struggling valiantly with the crush, red faced +and triumphant, was screaming up into Shandon's face. "Some business, +ain't it, pal? Shake! Shake, Wanda! Where's old Mart? Good old +scout after all, ain't he? I want to go squeeze his flipper; I want to +go squeeze everybody's flipper. I want to go get drunk. Honest I do, +Red!" + +Big Bill shoved a great, hard hand by Dart's shoulder, gripping +Shandon's. He didn't say anything, but his tightening hand, his +flashing eyes were eloquent. + +Only when they had passed out into the courthouse yard, Wanda and Wayne +side by side, and had been left behind by the hat-tossing, clamorous +crowd, hastening out into the street, did Wanda speak. + +"I am so happy, Wayne," she whispered. "Doesn't it seem as though life +were just beginning all over this morning?" + +"Like just beginning!" he answered softly, drawing her arm tight, tight +to his side. "With you, Wanda." + +There came a bright morning with the sun just blinking genially above +the tree tops, with the warm glory of the full summer in the air, and +under Wanda's window a voice calling softly. She had been asleep; she +was not certain that she had not been dreaming-- + +But the call came again, still softly, still ringing with a note which +sent a flutter into her breast. + +"Awake at last?" and Wayne was laughing happily. "Ten minutes to +dress, my sleepy miss, and meet me at the stable. I'm going to saddle +Gypsy." + +She heard him hurry away, and for a little she lay still, smiling. + +He caught her up into his arms, as she came down the path, kissed her, +told her not to ask questions and helped her into the saddle. He swung +up to Little Saxon's back and together they rode out into the forest +through the brightening morning. + +"Wayne," she said when he had done nothing but look at her and drive +the colour higher and higher into her cheeks. "Where are we going?" + +"Can't you guess?" he teased her. + +They were riding toward the north, toward the cliffs standing up about +Echo Creek Valley, toward the cave. + +"Wayne," she said again, a little sadly, "I was going to tell you the +other day, but you were in such a hurry-- You are not going to the +cave?" + +"Why not?" he asked lightly. + +"I can't go there any more," she answered quickly. "I had come to love +it so, it was so entirely ours, dear. And now, I saw it the last time +I rode that way, there's a sign on the cliffs, 'No Hunting Allowed.' I +asked papa. He has sold all that side of the valley, the cliffs and +the flats beyond to some man in the city." + +Shandon laughed. + +"What's the odds?" as lightly as before. "Come right down to it, +Wanda, the cave has served its purpose, hasn't it? And, if you'd been +shut up in it like a prison, I wonder if you'd have any sentiment for +it left? Let's make the horses run a bit. I feel like a gallop, don't +you?" + +She bent forward in the saddle hurriedly, hiding her face from him. +How should a man care for the little things which mean so much to a +girl? + +But still they rode toward the cliffs. The sign was there, a black and +white monstrosity which hurt her but which seemed merely to interest +Shandon. He insisted on riding closer. And when, too proud to show +him all that she felt, she came with him to the big cedar, he +dismounted and put out his hands to her. + +"Let's go up," he said lightly. "Just for fun." + +She refused, and he insisted. And at last they climbed up. + +Wayne was upon the ledge of rock before her, his eyes filled with a +love that shone sparklingly, laughingly into her troubled ones. She +began to wonder-- + +She turned swiftly toward the entrance of the cave. There was a door +now made of great rough hewn slabs of wood. Wayne slipped his arm +about her and drew her close to it. + +"Will you open it?" he whispered. + +"Wayne!" wonderingly, seeking to understand. + +He took her hand in his, laid it for a moment upon his lips, then put +her fingers against the great door. + +"Open it, dear," he told her. + +Slowly the heavy, wide portal swung back to her touch. Her heart +beating madly, she scarce knew why, her step at once eager and +hesitant, she stepped by him. And he, close behind her, laughed softly +at her little cry, the one moment amply repaying the man for six months +of labour. + +Now she understood everything; now her heart stood still and then +throbbed with a wonderful joy. And she turned and threw her arms about +his neck, crying softly: "Wayne! It is home!" + +For the darkness which she had expected in the cavern's deep interior +had fled before the softly brilliant light that bathed it rosily, that +came from she did not yet know where. She saw a deep throated +fireplace, built of big granite blocks, a monster log blazing and +roaring mightily in it, the flames leaping up the rock chimney, drawn +upward and back into the sloping passage where the draft of air had in +the old days carried away the smoke from her rude stove. And she +guessed who had made the fireplace, piling stone on stone. + +She saw a table, rustic, heavy, with legs of twisted cedar branches, +with books upon it, with a vase made of a hollowed out, gnarled limb +and choked with its great armful of valley flowers. She saw a chair +that patient, loving hands had made from what the winter-locked forest +had provided, seat and back covered with deerskin cushions, a chair +that opened its arms to her as though, still keeping its identity as a +part of her woodland, it were welcoming her to a world where love's +heart beat close to nature's. She saw that the hard floor had +disappeared under freshly strewn pine needles and under the two big +bear skin rugs which sprawled mightily before the table and before the +fireplace. She saw another chair, Wayne's chair it was going to be, +because it was such a monster. + +She could only gasp as her dancing eyes tried to see everything at +once--flowers everywhere, hiding the walls, breathing perfume from the +corners, drooping from the ceiling. + +"But the light!" she cried, wonderingly. "It is like day." + +Then at last she saw how everywhere in the high ceiling he had +chiselled out deep inverted bowls, and in each cup-like cavity nothing +in the world other than a glowing electric bulb was shining, flooding +the room with a soft glow. + +"And you did all of this yourself? While you were alone here in the +winter?" + +His eyes were like hers, his own face flushed with the happiness of the +hour. + +"I didn't make the bulbs," he laughed. "It's taken me a week playing +electrician to get the wires up, the dynamo running back there under +the water fall. Do you like it?" + +She did not answer. She had no time to answer, she was so busy trying +the two chairs, inhaling the fragrance of the flowers, admiring the +fireplace, examining the reading lamp which hung over the table and +which he had constructed of wood, chosen for beauty of natural colour +and grain, the opaque sides shutting out the light which fell straight +down upon an open book. + +Only now did she realise that the cave seemed smaller. There was a +partition running across it, a wide door standing ajar. He followed +her as she ran to it. + +"My bedroom," he warned her. "I won't swear to its tidiness." + +Here again was the soft glow of electric lights cunningly concealed +with nowhere a hint of the wires that ran in deeply chiseled grooves; +here was a wide couch, a bit of the woodland, as were the chairs and +table, the rough bark still upon the woodwork, cushions and coverlet of +bearskin; here a smaller table, a smaller chair. + +"It's wonderful, you wonderful Wayne!" she cried delightedly. + +But he had his arm about her again and was leading her toward the +fireplace, to it, through another door which opened to the passage +leading to the chasm where the water leaped down toward the bowels of +the earth. The door flung open, the passage filled with light and a +fresh surprise. + +Across the chasm were logs as large as one man could handle, hewn so +that they lay close together, so that their upper surface made a level +floor. Wanda and Shandon crossed, hearing the water shouting under +them. And here, where Wanda had never been before, they came upon-- + +"The kitchen!" she cried. "A real kitchen!" + +With a real stove, only that it was made of slabs and squares of +granite, a real kitchen table only that it was made from rough pine and +cedar, with the bark still on it; and very real dishes. Most of all +the real fragrance of coffee just boiling over. Wanda ran to retrieve +it and Wayne went on ahead of her. In a moment he called. + +All new to her, the short climb upward along a flight of steps cut in +the rock, the little winding way up which she ran eagerly, the narrow +rock platform, the door against which he stood. + +"First," he commanded gaily, "turn and look back." + +She turned. Looking down she saw the kitchen; looking outward she saw +a great cut through the cliffs where they seemed to fall apart in a +steep sided ravine, and through this she looked out and down over her +forests. + +"The view from My Lady's bedroom," he laughed. "And now My Lady's +bedroom, itself." + +He threw open the door, standing aside to watch her pass. + +A tiny rudely squared chamber, all in white. Countless warm, furry +pelts of the snowshoe rabbits he had trapped during the winter, made a +white carpet underfoot; a couch unlike the other in that this was +fashioned entirely of white pine, the smooth surfaces polished and +glistening under their many coats of shellac, a coverlet of countless +other white rabbit skins stitched together; a little dressing table of +glistening white pine, with a real mirror reflecting two flushed happy +faces, and on the floor a big white bearskin. + +"And you did it all, every bit, yourself!" + +That was the thought that flooded the caves for her with a light more +softly radiant than the glow of innumerable electric bulbs; the thought +which hid the little flaws in stone and woodwork and gave a gleam to +them that no mere shellac and white wood could have done. + +They went back to the living room to stand, silent for a little, before +the fireplace. They watched the flames shoot upward through little +sprays and clusters of fiery sparks. Their hands crept together, +clinging close. Slowly their eyes came away from the fire and sought +each the other's. And she saw what he saw, a love that is eternal and +that understands. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHORT CUT*** + + +******* This file should be named 18950-8.txt or 18950-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/5/18950 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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. 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