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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:33:42 -0700 |
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diff --git a/27051.txt b/27051.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6a07e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/27051.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7711 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Trail to Yesterday, by Charles Alden Seltzer + +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 Trail to Yesterday + +Author: Charles Alden Seltzer + +Release Date: October 26, 2008 [EBook #27051] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAIL TO YESTERDAY *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Canada Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + + + + + + + + +THE TRAIL TO YESTERDAY + + + + +[Illustration: "IF YOU WANT THE PARSON TO DIE, DON'T LOOK +AT ME WHEN HE STEPS IN."] + + + + +THE TRAIL TO YESTERDAY + +By Charles Alden Seltzer + +Author of +"The Two-Gun Man," +"The Coming of the Law," +Etc. + +With Three Illustrations + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK + + + + +Copyright, 1913, by +OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY + +All rights reserved + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. A Woman on the Trail 11 + II. The Dim Trail 40 + III. Converging Trails 53 + IV. This Picture and That 72 + V. Dakota Evens a Score 88 + VI. Kindred Spirits 111 + VII. Bogged Down 121 + VIII. Sheila Fans a Flame 146 + IX. Strictly Business 163 + X. Duncan Adds Two and Two 196 + XI. A Parting and a Visit 215 + XII. A Meeting on the River Trail 233 + XIII. The Shot in the Back 254 + XIV. Langford Lays Off the Mask 275 + XV. The Parting on the River Trail 303 + XVI. Sheriff Allen Takes a Hand 310 + XVII. Doubler Talks 323 + XVIII. For Dakota 336 + XIX. Some Memories 344 + XX. Into the Unknown 359 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"If you want the parson to die, don't look +at me when he steps in." Frontispiece + +"Won't you please get us out of this?" 134 + +Duncan grasped for his pistol, but the hand holding +it was stamped violently into the earth. 161 + + + + +THE TRAIL TO YESTERDAY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A WOMAN ON THE TRAIL + + +Many disquieting thoughts oppressed Miss Sheila Langford as she halted her +pony on the crest of a slight rise and swept the desolate and slumberous +world with an anxious glance. Quite the most appalling of these thoughts +developed from a realization of the fact that she had lost the trail. The +whole categorical array of inconveniences incidental to traveling in a +new, unsettled country paled into insignificance when she considered this +horrifying and entirely unromantic fact. She was lost; she had strayed +from the trail, she was alone and night was coming. + +She would not have cared so much about the darkness, for she had never +been a coward, and had conditions been normal she would have asked nothing +better than a rapid gallop over the dim plains. But as she drew her pony +up on the crest of the rise a rumble of thunder reached her ears. Of +course it would rain, now that she had lost the trail, she decided, +yielding to a sudden, bitter anger. It usually did rain when one was +abroad without prospect of shelter; it always rained when one was lost. + +Well, there was no help for it, of course, and she had only herself to +blame for the blunder. For the other--not unusual--irritating details that +had combined to place her in this awkward position she could blame, first +Duncan, the manager of the Double R--who should have sent someone to meet +her at the station; the station agent--who had allowed her to set forth in +search of the Double R without a guide,--though even now, considering this +phase of the situation, she remembered that the agent had told her there +was no one to send--and certainly the desolate appearance of Lazette had +borne out this statement; and last, she could blame the country itself for +being an unfeatured wilderness. + +Something might be said in extenuation of the station agent's and the +Double R manager's sins of omission, but without doubt the country was +what she had termed it--an unfeatured wilderness. Her first sensation upon +getting a view of the country had been one of deep disappointment. There +was plenty of it, she had decided,--enough to make one shrink from its +very bigness; yet because it was different from the land she had been +accustomed to she felt that somehow it was inferior. Her father had +assured her of its beauty, and she had come prepared to fall in love with +it, but within the last half hour--when she had begun to realize that she +had lost the trail--she had grown to hate it. + +She hated the desolation, the space, the silence, the arid stretches; +she had made grimaces at the "cactuses" with their forbidding +pricklers--though she could not help admiring them, they seemed to be +the only growing thing in the country capable of defying the heat and +the sun. Most of all she hated the alkali dust. All afternoon she had +kept brushing it off her clothing and clearing it out of her throat, and +only within the last half hour she had begun to realize that her efforts +had been without result--it lay thick all over her; her throat was dry +and parched with it, and her eyes burned. + +She sat erect, flushed and indignant, to look around at the country. A +premonitory calm had succeeded the warning rumble. Ominous black clouds +were scurrying, wind-whipped, spreading fan-like through the sky, blotting +out the colors of the sunset, darkening the plains, creating weird +shadows. Objects that Sheila had been able to see quite distinctly when +she had reined in her pony were no longer visible. She stirred uneasily. + +"We'll go somewhere," she said aloud to the pony, as she urged the animal +down the slope. "If it rains we'll get just as wet here as we would +anywhere else." She was surprised at the queer quiver in her voice. She +was going to be brave, of course, but somehow there seemed to be little +consolation in the logic of her remark. + +The pony shambled forward, carefully picking its way, and Sheila mentally +thanked the station agent for providing her with so reliable a beast. +There was one consoling fact at any rate, and she retracted many hard +things she had said in the early part of her ride about the agent. + +Shuffling down the slope the pony struck a level. After traveling over +this for a quarter of an hour Sheila became aware of an odd silence; +looking upward she saw that the clouds were no longer in motion; that they +were hovering, low and black, directly overhead. A flash of lightning +suddenly illuminated the sky, showing Sheila a great waste of world that +stretched to four horizons. It revealed, in the distance, the naked peaks +of some hills; a few frowning buttes that seemed to fringe a river; some +gullies in which lurked forbidding shadows; clumps of desert growth--the +cactus--now seeming grotesque and mocking; the snaky octilla; the filmy, +rustling mesquite; the dust-laden sage-brush; the soap weed; the sentinel +lance of the yucca. Then the light was gone and darkness came again. + +Sheila shuddered and vainly tried to force down a queer lump that had +risen in her throat over the desolation of it all. It was not anything +like her father had pictured it! Men had the silly habit of exaggerating +in these things, she decided--they were rough themselves and they made the +mistake of thinking that great, grim things were attractive. What beauty +was there, for instance, in a country where there was nothing but space +and silence and grotesque weeds--and rain? Before she could answer this +question a sudden breeze swept over her; a few large drops of rain dashed +into her face, and her thoughts returned to herself. + +The pony broke into a sharp lope and she allowed it to hold the pace, +wisely concluding that the animal was probably more familiar with the +country than she. She found herself wondering why she had not thought of +that before--when, for example, a few miles back she had deliberately +guided it out of a beaten trail toward a section of country where, she had +imagined, the traveling would be better. No doubt she had strayed from the +trail just there. + +The drops of rain grew more frequent; they splashed into her face; she +could feel them striking her arms and shoulders. The pony's neck and mane +became moist under her hand, the darkness increased for a time and the +continuing rumble in the heavens presaged a steady downpour. + +The pony moved faster now; it needed no urging, and Sheila held her breath +for fear that it might fall, straining her eyes to watch its limbs as they +moved with the sure regularity of an automaton. After a time they reached +the end of the level; Sheila could tell that the pony was negotiating +another rise, for it slackened speed appreciably and she felt herself +settling back against the cantle of the saddle. A little later she +realized that they were going down the opposite side of the rise, and a +moment later they were again on a level. A deeper blackness than they had +yet encountered rose on their right, and Sheila correctly decided it to be +caused by a stretch of wood that she had observed from the crest of the +rise where she had halted her pony for a view of the country. After an +interval, during which she debated the wisdom of directing her pony into +the wood for protection from the rain which was now coming against her +face in vicious slants, her pony nickered shrilly! + +A thrill of fear assailed Sheila. She knew horses and was certain that +some living thing was on the trail in front of her. Halting the pony, she +held tightly to the reins through a short, tense silence. Then presently, +from a point just ahead on the trail, came an answering nicker in the +horse language. Sheila's pony cavorted nervously and broke into a lope, +sharper this time in spite of the tight rein she kept on it. Her fear +grew, though mingling with it was a devout hope. If only the animal which +had answered her own pony belonged to the Double R! She would take back +many of the unkind and uncharitable things she had said about the country +since she had lost the trail. + +The pony's gait had quickened into a gallop--which she could not check. In +the past few minutes the darkness had lifted a little; she saw that the +pony was making a gradual turn, following a bend in the river. Then came a +flash of lightning and she saw, a short distance ahead, a pony and rider, +stationary, watching. With an effort she succeeded in reining in her own +animal, and while she sat in the saddle, trembling and anxious, there came +another flash of lightning and she saw the rider's face. + +The rider was a cowboy. She had distinctly seen the leathern chaps on his +legs; the broad hat, the scarf at his throat. Doubt and fear assailed her. +What if the man did not belong to the Double R? What if he were a road +agent--an outlaw? Immediately she heard an exclamation from him in which +she detected much surprise and not a little amusement. + +"Shucks!" he said. "It's a woman!" + +There came a slow movement. In the lifting darkness Sheila saw the man +return a pistol to the holster that swung at his right hip. He carelessly +threw one leg over the pommel of his saddle and looked at her. She sat +very rigid, debating a sudden impulse to urge her pony past him and escape +the danger that seemed to threaten. While she watched he shoved the broad +brimmed hat back from his forehead. He was not over five feet distant from +her; she could feel her pony nuzzling his with an inquisitive muzzle, and +she could dimly see the rider's face. It belonged to a man of probably +twenty-eight or thirty; it had regular features, keen, level eyes and a +firm mouth. There was a slight smile on his face and somehow the fear that +had oppressed Sheila began to take flight. And while she sat awaiting the +turn of events his voice again startled her: + +"I reckon you've stampeded off your range, ma'am?" + +A sigh of relief escaped Sheila. The voice was very gentle and friendly. + +"I don't think that I have stampeded--whatever that means," she returned, +reassured now that the stranger gave promise of being none of the dire +figures of her imagination; "I am lost merely. You see, I am looking for +the Double R ranch." + +"Oh," he said inexpressively; "the Double R." + +There ensued a short silence and she could not see his face for he had +bowed his head a little and the broad brimmed hat intervened. + +"Do you know where the Double R ranch is?" There was a slight impatience +in her voice. + +"Sure," came his voice. "It's up the crick a ways." + +"How far?" + +"Twenty miles." + +"Oh!" This information was disheartening. Twenty miles! And the rain was +coming steadily down; she could feel it soaking through her clothing. A +bitter, unreasoning anger against nature, against the circumstances which +had conspired to place her in this position; against the man for his +apparent lack of interest in her welfare, moved her, though she might have +left the man out of it, for certainly he could not be held responsible. +Yet his nonchalance, his serenity--something about him--irritated her. +Didn't he know she was getting wet? Why didn't he offer her shelter? It +did not occur to her that perhaps he knew of no shelter. But while her +indignation over his inaction grew she saw that he was doing +something--fumbling at a bundle that seemed to be strapped to the cantle +of his saddle. And then he leaned forward--very close to her--and she saw +that he was offering her a tarpaulin. + +"Wrap yourself in this," he directed. "It ain't pretty, of course, but +it'll keep you from getting drenched. Rain ain't no respecter of +persons." + +She detected a compliment in this but ignored it and placed the tarpaulin +around her shoulders. Then it suddenly occurred to her that he was without +protection. She hesitated. + +"Thank you," she said, "but I can't take this. You haven't anything for +yourself." + +A careless laugh reached her. "That's all right; I don't need anything." + +There was silence again. He broke it with a question. + +"What are you figuring to do now?" + +What was she going to do? The prospect of a twenty-mile ride through a +strange country in a drenching rain was far from appealing to her. Her +hesitation was eloquent. + +"I do not know," she answered, no way of escape from the dilemma +presenting itself. + +"You can go on, of course," he said, "and get lost, or hurt--or killed. +It's a bad trail. Or"--he continued, hesitating a little and appearing to +speak with an effort--"there's my shack. You can have that." + +Then he did have a dwelling place. This voluntary information removed +another of the fearsome doubts that had beset her. She had been afraid +that he might prove to be an irresponsible wanderer, but when a man kept a +house it gave to his character a certain recommendation, it suggested +stability, more, it indicated honesty. + +Of course she would have to accept the shelter of his "shack." There was +no help for it, for it was impossible for her to entertain the idea of +riding twenty miles over an unknown trail, through the rain and darkness. +Moreover, she was not afraid of the stranger now, for in spite of his +easy, serene movements, his quiet composure, his suppressed amusement, +Sheila detected a note in his voice which told her that he was deeply +concerned over her welfare--even though he seemed to be enjoying her. In +any event she could not go forward, for the unknown terrified her and she +felt that in accepting the proffered shelter of his "shack" she was +choosing the lesser of two dangers. She decided quickly. + +"I shall accept--I think. Will you please hurry? I am getting wet in spite +of this--this covering." + +Wheeling without a word he proceeded down the trail, following the river. +The darkness had abated somewhat, the low-hanging clouds had taken on a +grayish-white hue, and the rain was coming down in torrents. Sheila pulled +the tarpaulin tighter about her shoulders and clung desperately to the +saddle, listening to the whining of the wind through the trees that +flanked her, keeping a watchful eye on the tall, swaying, indistinct +figure of her guide. + +After riding for a quarter of an hour they reached a little clearing near +the river and Sheila saw her guide halt his pony and dismount. A squat, +black shape loomed out of the darkness near her and, riding closer, she +saw a small cabin, of the lean-to type, constructed of adobe bricks. A dog +barked in front of her and she heard the stranger speak sharply to it. He +silently approached and helped her down from the saddle. Then he led both +horses away into the darkness on the other side of the cabin. During his +absence she found time to glance about her. It was a desolate place. Did +he live here alone? + +The silence brought no answer to this question, and while she continued to +search out objects in the darkness she saw the stranger reappear around +the corner of the cabin and approach the door. He fumbled at it for a +moment and threw it open. He disappeared within and an instant later +Sheila heard the scratch of a match and saw a feeble glimmer of light +shoot out through the doorway. Then the stranger's voice: + +"Come in." + +He had lighted a candle that stood on a table in the center of the room, +and in its glaring flicker as she stepped inside Sheila caught her first +good view of the stranger's face. She felt reassured instantly, for it was +a good face, with lines denoting strength of character. The drooping +mustache did not quite conceal his lips, which were straight and firm. +Sheila was a little disturbed over the hard expression in them, however, +though she had heard that the men of the West lived rather hazardous lives +and she supposed that in time their faces showed it. It was his eyes, +though, that gave her a fleeting glimpse of his character. They were +blue--a steely, fathomless blue; baffling, mocking; swimming--as she +looked into them now--with an expression that she could not attempt to +analyze. One thing she saw in them only,--recklessness--and she drew a +slow, deep breath. + +They were standing very close together. He caught the deep-drawn breath +and looked quickly at her, his eyes alight and narrowed with an expression +which was a curious mingling of quizzical humor and grim enjoyment. Her +own eyes did not waver, though his were boring into hers steadily, as +though he were trying to read her thoughts. + +"Afraid?" he questioned, with a suggestion of sarcasm in the curl of his +lips. + +Sheila stiffened, her eyes flashing defiance. She studied him steadily, +her spirit battling his over the few feet that separated them. Then she +spoke deliberately, evenly: "I am not afraid of you!" + +"That's right." A gratified smile broke on the straight, hard lips. A new +expression came into his eyes--admiration. "You've got nerve, ma'am. I'm +some pleased that you've got that much trust in me. You don't need to be +scared. You're as safe here as you'd be out there." He nodded toward the +open door. "Safer," he added with a grave smile; "you might get hurt out +there." + +He turned abruptly and went to the door, where he stood for a long time +looking out into the darkness. She watched him for a moment and then +removed the tarpaulin and hung it from a nail in the wall of the cabin. +Standing near the table she glanced about her. There was only one room in +the cabin, but it was large--about twenty by twenty, she estimated. Beside +an open fireplace in a corner were several pots and pans--his cooking +utensils. On a shelf were some dishes. A guitar swung from a gaudy string +suspended from the wall. A tin of tobacco and a pipe reposed on another +shelf beside a box of matches. A bunk filled a corner and she went over to +it, fearing. But it was clean and the bed clothing fresh and she smiled a +little as she continued her examination. + +The latter finished she went to a small window above the bunk, looking out +into the night. The rain came against the glass in stinging slants, and +watching it she found herself feeling very grateful to the man who stood +in the doorway. Turning abruptly, she caught him watching her, an +appraising smile on his face. + +"You ought to be hungry by now," he said. "There's a fireplace and some +wood. Do you want a fire?" + +In response to her nod he kindled a fire, she standing beside the window +watching him, noting his lithe, easy movements. She could not mistake the +strength and virility of his figure, even with his back turned to her, but +it seemed to her that there was a certain recklessness in his actions--as +though his every movement advertised a careless regard for consequences. +She held her breath when he split a short log into slender splinters, for +he swung the short-handled axe with a loose grasp, as though he cared very +little where its sharp blade landed. But she noted that he struck with +precision despite his apparent carelessness, every blow falling true. His +manner of handling the axe reflected the spirit that shone in his eyes +when, after kindling the fire, he stood up and looked at her. + +"There's grub in the chuck box," he stated shortly. "There's some pans and +things. It ain't what you might call elegant--not what you've been used +to, I expect. But it's a heap better than nothing, and I reckon you'll be +able to get along." He turned and walked to the doorway, standing in it +for an instant, facing out. "Good-night," he added. The tarpaulin dangled +from his arm. + +Evidently he intended going away. A sudden dread of being alone filled +her. "Wait!" she cried involuntarily. "Where are you going?" + +He halted and looked back at her, an odd smile on his face. + +"To my bunk." + +"Oh!" She could not analyze the smile on his face, but in it she thought +she detected something subtle--untruthfulness perhaps. She glanced at the +tarpaulin and from it to his eyes, holding her gaze steadily. + +"You are going to sleep in the open," she said. + +He caught the accusation in her eyes and his face reddened. + +"Well," he admitted, "I've done it before." + +"Perhaps," she said, a little doubtfully. "But I do not care to feel that +I am driving you out into the storm. You might catch cold and die. And I +should not want to think that I was responsible for your death." + +"A little wetting wouldn't hurt me." He looked at her appraisingly, a +glint of sympathy in his eyes. Standing there, framed in the darkness, the +flickering light from the candle on his strong, grave face, he made a +picture that, she felt, she would not soon forget. + +"I reckon you ain't afraid to stay here alone, ma'am," he said. + +"Yes," she returned frankly, "I am afraid. I do not want to stay here +alone." + +A pistol flashed in his hand, its butt toward her, and now for the first +time she saw another at his hip. She repressed a desire to shudder and +stared with dilated eyes at the extended weapon. + +"Take this gun," he offered. "It ain't much for looks, but it'll go right +handy. You can bar the door, too, and the window." + +She refused to take the weapon. "I wouldn't know how to use it if I had +occasion to. I prefer to have you remain in the cabin--for protection." + +He bowed. "I thought you'd--" he began, and then smiled wryly. "It +certainly would be some wet outside," he admitted. "It wouldn't be +pleasant sleeping. I'll lay over here by the door when I get my +blankets." + +He went outside and in a few minutes reappeared with his blankets and +saddle. Without speaking a word to Sheila he laid the saddle down, spread +the blanket over it, and stretched himself out on his back. + +"I don't know about the light," he said after an interval of silence, +during which Sheila sat on the edge of the bunk and regarded his profile +appraisingly. "You can blow it out if you like." + +"I prefer to have it burning." + +"Suit yourself." + +Sheila got up and placed the candle in a tin dish as a precaution against +fire. Then, when its position satisfied her she left the table and went to +the bunk, stretching herself out on it, fully dressed. + +For a long time she lay, listening to the soft patter of the rain on the +roof, looking upward at the drops that splashed against the window, +listening to the fitful whining of the wind through the trees near the +cabin. Her eyes closed presently, sleep was fast claiming her. Then she +heard her host's voice: + +"You're from the East, I reckon." + +"Yes." + +"Where?" + +"New York." + +"City?" + +"Albany." + +There was a silence. Sheila was thoroughly awake again, and once more her +gaze went to the window, where unceasing streams trickled down the glass. +Whatever fear she had had of the owner of the cabin had long ago been +dispelled by his manner which, though puzzling, hinted of the gentleman. +She would have liked him better were it not for the reckless gleam in his +eyes; that gleam, it seemed to her, indicated a trait of character which +was not wholly admirable. + +"What have you come out here for?" + +Sheila smiled at the rain-spattered window, a flash of pleased vanity in +her eyes. His voice had been low, but in it she detected much curiosity, +even interest. It was not surprising, of course, that he should feel an +interest in her; other men had been interested in her too, only they had +not been men that lived in romantic wildernesses,--observe that she did +not make use of the term "unfeatured," which she had manufactured soon +after realizing that she was lost--nor had they carried big revolvers, +like this man, who seemed also to know very well how to use them. + +Those other men who had been interested in her had had a way of looking at +her; there had always been a significant boldness in their eyes which +belied the gentleness of demeanor which, she had always been sure, merely +masked their real characters. She had never been able to look squarely at +any of those men, the men of her circle who had danced attendance upon her +at the social functions that had formerly filled her existence--without a +feeling of repugnance. + +They had worn man-shapes, of course, but somehow they had seemed to lack +something real and vital; seemed to have possessed nothing of that +forceful, magnetic personality which was needed to arouse her sympathy and +interest. Not that the man on the floor in front of the door interested +her--she could not admit that! But she had felt a sympathy for him in his +loneliness, and she had looked into his eyes--had been able to look +steadily into them, and though she had seen expressions that had puzzled +her, she had at least seen nothing to cause her to feel any uneasiness. +She had seen manliness there, and indomitability, and force, and it had +seemed to her to be sufficient. His would be an ideal face were it not for +the expression that lingered about the lips, were it not for the reckless +glint in his eyes--a glint that revealed an untamed spirit. + +His question remained unanswered. He stirred impatiently, and glancing at +him Sheila saw that he had raised himself so that his chin rested in his +hand, his elbow supported by the saddle. + +"You here for a visit?" he questioned. + +"Perhaps," she said. "I do not know how long I shall stay. My father has +bought the Double R." + +For a long time it seemed that he would have no comment to make on this +and Sheila's lips took on a decidedly petulant expression. Apparently he +was not interested in her after all. + +"Then Duncan has sold out?" There was satisfaction in his voice. + +"You are keen," she mocked. + +"And tickled," he added. + +His short laugh brought a sudden interest into her eyes. "Then you don't +like Duncan," she said. + +"I reckon you're some keen too," came the mocking response. + +Sheila flushed, turned and looked defiantly at him. His hand still +supported his head and there was an unmistakable interest in his eyes as +he caught her glance at him and smiled. + +"You got any objections to telling me your name? We ain't been introduced, +you know?" he said. + +"It is Sheila Langford." + +She had turned her head and was giving her attention to the window above +her. The fingers of the hand that had been supporting his head slowly +clenched, he raised himself slightly, his body rigid, his chin thrusting, +his face pale, his eyes burning with a sudden fierce fire. Once he opened +his lips to speak, but instantly closed them again, and a smile wreathed +them--a mirthless smile that had in it a certain cold caution and cunning. +After a silence that lasted long his voice came again, drawling, +well-controlled, revealing nothing of the emotion which had previously +affected him. + +"What is your father's name?" + +"David Dowd Langford. An uncommon middle name, isn't it?" + +"Yes. Uncommon," came his reply. His face, with the light of the candle +gleaming full upon it, bore a queer pallor--the white of cold ashes. His +right hand, which had been resting carelessly on the blanket, was now +gripping it, the muscles tense and knotted. Yet after another long silence +his voice came again--drawling, well-controlled, as before: + +"What is he coming out here for?" + +"He has retired from business and is coming out here for his health." + +"What business was he in?" + +"Wholesale hardware." + +He was silent again and presently, hearing him stir, Sheila looked +covertly at him. He had turned, his back was toward her, and he was +stretched out on the blanket as though, fully satisfied with the result of +his questioning, he intended going to sleep. For several minutes Sheila +watched him with a growing curiosity. It was like a man to ask all and +give nothing. He had questioned her to his complete satisfaction but had +told nothing of himself. She was determined to discover something about +him. + +"Who are you?" she questioned. + +"Dakota," he said shortly. + +"Dakota?" she repeated, puzzled. "That isn't a name; it's a State--or a +Territory." + +"I'm Dakota. Ask anybody." There was a decided drawl in his voice. + +This information was far from being satisfactory, but she supposed it must +answer. Still, she persisted. "Where are you from?" + +"Dakota." + +That seemed to end it. It had been a short quest and an unsatisfactory +one. It was perfectly plain to her that he was some sort of a rancher--at +the least a cowboy. It was also plain that he had been a cowboy before +coming to this section of the country--probably in Dakota. She was +perplexed and vexed and nibbled impatiently at her lips. + +"Dakota isn't your real name," she declared sharply. + +"Ain't it?" There came the drawl again. It irritated her this time. + +"No!" she snapped. + +"Well, it's as good as any other. Good-night." + +Sheila did not answer. Five minutes later she was asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DIM TRAIL + + +Sheila had been dreaming of a world in which there was nothing but rain +and mud and clouds and reckless-eyed individuals who conversed in +irritating drawls when a sharp crash of thunder awakened her. During her +sleep she had turned her face to the wall, and when her eyes opened the +first thing that her gaze rested on was the small window above her head. +She regarded it for some time, following with her eyes the erratic streams +that trickled down the glass, stretching out wearily, listening to the +wind. It was cold and bleak outside and she had much to be thankful for. + +She was glad that she had not allowed the mysterious inhabitant of the +cabin to sleep out in his tarpaulin, for the howling of the wind brought +weird thoughts into her mind; she reflected upon her helplessness and it +was extremely satisfying to know that within ten feet of her lay a man +whose two big revolvers--even though she feared them--seemed to insure +protection. It was odd, she told herself, that she should place so much +confidence in Dakota, and her presence in the cabin with him was certainly +a breach of propriety which--were her friends in the East to hear of +it--would arouse much comment--entirely unfavorable to her. Yes, it was +odd, yet considering Dakota, she was not in the least disturbed. So far +his conduct toward her had been that of the perfect gentleman, and in +spite of the recklessness that gleamed in his eyes whenever he looked at +her she was certain that he would continue to be a gentleman. + +It was restful to lie and listen to the rain splashing on the roof and +against the window, but sleep, for some unaccountable reason, seemed to +grow farther from her--the recollection of events during the past few +hours left no room in her thoughts for sleep. Turning, after a while, to +seek a more comfortable position, she saw Dakota sitting at the table, on +the side opposite her, watching her intently. + +"Can't sleep, eh?" he said, when he saw her looking at him. "Storm bother +you?" + +"I think it was the thunder that awakened me," she returned. "Thunder +always does. Evidently it disturbs you too." + +"I haven't been asleep," he said in a curt tone. + +He continued to watch her with a quiet, appraising gaze. It was evident +that he had been thinking of her when she had turned to look at him. She +flushed with embarrassment over the thought that while she had been asleep +he must have been considering her, and yet, looking closely at him now, +she decided that his expression was frankly impersonal. + +He glanced at his watch. "You've been asleep two hours," he said. "I've +been watching you--and envying you." + +"Envying me? Why? Are you troubled with insomnia?" + +He laughed. "Nothing so serious as that. It's just thoughts." + +"Pleasant ones, of course." + +"You might call them pleasant. I've been thinking of you." + +Sheila found no reply to make to this, but blushed again. + +"Thinking of you," repeated Dakota. "Of the chance you took in coming out +here alone--in coming into my shack. We're twenty miles from town +here--twenty miles from the Double R--the nearest ranch. It isn't likely +that a soul will pass here for a month. Suppose----" + +"We won't 'suppose,' if you please," said Sheila. Her face had grown +slowly pale, but there was a confident smile on her lips as she looked at +him. + +"No?" he said, watching her steadily. "Why? Isn't it quite possible that +you could have fallen in with a sort of man----" + +"As it happens, I did not," interrupted Sheila. + +"How do you know?" + +Sheila's gaze met his unwaveringly. "Because you are the man," she said +slowly. + +She thought she saw a glint of pleasure in his eyes, but was not quite +certain, for his expression changed instantly. + +"Fate, or Providence--or whatever you are pleased to call the power that +shuffles us flesh and blood mannikins around--has a way of putting us all +in the right places. I expect that's one of the reasons why you didn't +fall in with the sort of man I was going to tell you about," said Dakota. + +"I don't see what Fate has to do--" began Sheila, wondering at his serious +tone. + +"Odd, isn't it?" he drawled. + +"What is odd?" + +"That you don't see. But lots of people don't see. They're chucked and +shoved around like men on a chess board, and though they're always +interested they don't usually know what it's all about. Just as well +too--usually." + +"I don't see----" + +He smiled mysteriously. "Did I say that I expected you to see?" he said. +"There isn't anything personal in this, aside from the fact that I was +trying to show you that some one was foolish in sending you out here +alone. Some day you'll look back on your visit here and then you'll +understand." + +He got up and walked to the door, opening it and standing there looking +out into the darkness. Sheila watched him, puzzled by his mysterious +manner, though not in the least afraid of him. Several times while he +stood at the door he turned and looked at her and presently, when a gust +of wind rushed in and Sheila shivered, he abruptly closed the door, barred +it, and strode to the fireplace, throwing a fresh log into it. For a time +he stood silently in front of the fire, his figure casting a long, gaunt +shadow at Sheila's feet, his gaze on her, grim, somber lines in his face. +Presently he cleared his throat. + +"How old are you?" he said shortly. + +"Twenty-two." + +"And you've lived East all your life. Lived well, too, I suppose--plenty +of money, luxuries, happiness?" + +He caught her nod and continued, his lips curling a little. "Your father +too, I reckon--has he been happy?" + +"I think so." + +"That's odd." He had spoken more to himself than to Sheila and he looked +at her with narrowed eyes when she answered. + +"What is odd? That my father should be happy--that I should?" + +"Odd that anyone who is happy in one place should want to leave that place +and go to another. Maybe the place he went to wouldn't be just right for +him. What makes people want to move around like that?" + +"Perhaps you could answer that yourself," suggested Sheila. "I am sure +that you haven't lived here in this part of the country all your life." + +"How do you know that?" His gaze was quizzical and mocking. + +"I don't know. But you haven't." + +"Well," he said, "we'll say I haven't. But I wasn't happy where I came +from and I came here looking for happiness--and something else. That I +didn't find what I was looking for isn't the question--mostly none of us +find the things we're looking for. But if I had been happy where I was I +wouldn't have come here. You say your father has been happy there; that +he's got plenty of money and all that. Then why should he want to live +here?" + +"I believe I told you that he is coming here for his health." + +His eyes lighted savagely. But Sheila did not catch their expression for +at that moment she was looking at his shadow on the floor. How long, how +grotesque, it seemed, and forbidding--like its owner. + +"So he's got everything he wants but his health. What made him lose +that?" + +"How should I know?" + +"Just lost it, I reckon," said Dakota subtly. "Cares and Worry?" + +"I presume. His health has been failing for about ten years." + +Sheila was looking straight at Dakota now and she saw his face whiten, his +lips harden. And when he spoke again there was a chill in his voice and a +distinct pause between his words. + +"Ten years," he said. "That's a long time, isn't it? A long time for a man +who has been losing his health. And yet----" There was a mirthless smile +on Dakota's face--"ten years is a longer time for a man in good health who +hasn't been happy. Couldn't your father have doctored--gone abroad--to +recover his health? Or was his a mental sickness?" + +"Mental, I think. He worried quite a little." + +Dakota turned from her, but not quickly enough to conceal the light of +savage joy that flashed suddenly into his eyes. + +"Why!" exclaimed Sheila, voicing her surprise at the startling change in +his manner; "that seems to please you!" + +"It does." He laughed oddly. "It pleases me to find that I'm to have a +neighbor who is afflicted with the sort of sickness that has been +bothering me for--for a good many years." + +There was a silence, during which Sheila yawned and Dakota stood +motionless, looking straight ahead. + +"You like your father, I reckon?" came his voice presently, as his gaze +went to her again. + +"Of course." She looked up at him in surprise. "Why shouldn't I like +him?" + +"Of course you like him. Mostly children like their fathers." + +"Children!" She glared scornfully at him. "I am twenty-two! I told you +that before!" + +"So you did," he returned, unruffled. "When is he coming out here?" + +"In a month--a month from to-day." She regarded him with a sudden, new +interest. "You are betraying a great deal of curiosity," she accused. +"Why?" + +"Why," he answered slowly, "I reckon that isn't odd, is it? He's going to +be my neighbor, isn't he?" + +"Oh!" she said with emphasis of mockery which equalled his. "And you are +gossiping about your neighbor even before he comes." + +"Like a woman," he said with a smile. + +"An impertinent one," she retorted. + +"Your father," he said in accents of sarcasm, ignoring the jibe, "seems to +think a heap of you--sending you all the way out here alone." + +"I came against his wish; he wanted me to wait and come with him." + +Her defense of her parent seemed to amuse him. He smiled mysteriously. +"Then he likes you?" + +"Is that strange? He hasn't any one else--no relative. I am the only +one." + +"You're the only one." He repeated her words slowly, regarding her +narrowly. "And he likes you. I reckon he'd be hurt quite a little if you +had fallen in with the sort of man I was going to tell you about." + +"Naturally." Sheila was tapping with her booted foot on his shadow on the +floor and did not look at him. + +"It's a curious thing," he said slowly, after an interval, "that a man who +has got a treasure grows careless of it in time. It's natural, too. But I +reckon fate has something to do with it. Ten chances to one if nothing +happens to you your father will consider himself lucky. But suppose you +had happened to fall in with a different man than me--we'll say, for +instance, a man who had a grudge against your father--and that man didn't +have that uncommon quality called 'mercy.' What then? Ten chances to one +your father would say it was fate that had led you to him." + +"I think," she said scornfully, "that you are talking silly! In the first +place, I don't believe my father thinks that I am a treasure, though he +likes me very much. In the second place, if he does think that I am a +treasure, he is very much mistaken, for I am not--I am a woman and quite +able to take care of myself. You have exhibited a wonderful curiosity over +my father and me, and though it has all been mystifying and entertaining, +I don't purpose to talk to you all night." + +"I didn't waken you," he mocked. + +Sheila swung around on the bunk, her back to him. "You are keeping me +awake," she retorted. + +"Well, good night then," he laughed, "Miss Sheila." + +"Good night, Mr.--Mr. Dakota," she returned. + +Sheila did not hear him again. Her thoughts dwelt for a little time on him +and his mysterious manner, then they strayed. They returned presently and +she concentrated her attention on the rain; she could hear the soft, +steady patter of it on the roof; she listened to it trickling from the +eaves and striking the glass in the window above her head. Gradually the +soft patter seemed to draw farther away, became faint, and more faint, and +finally she heard it no more. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CONVERGING TRAILS + + +It was the barking of a dog that brought Sheila out of a sleep--dreamless +this time--into a state of semi-consciousness. It was Dakota's dog surely, +she decided sleepily. She sighed and twisted to a more comfortable +position. The effort awakened her and she opened her eyes, her gaze +resting immediately on Dakota. He still sat at the table, silent, +immovable, as before. But now he was sitting erect, his muscles tensed, +his chin thrust out aggressively, his gaze on the door--listening. He +seemed to be unaware of Sheila's presence; the sound that she had made in +turning he apparently had not heard. + +There was an interval of silence and then came a knocking on the +door--loud, unmistakable. Some one desired admittance. After the knock +came a voice: + +"Hello inside!" + +"Hello yourself!" Dakota's voice came with a truculent snap. "What's up?" + +"Lookin' for a dry place," came the voice from without. "Mebbe you don't +know it's wet out here!" + +Sheila's gaze was riveted on Dakota. He arose and noiselessly moved his +chair back from the table and she saw a saturnine smile on his face, yet +in his eyes there shone a glint of intolerance that mingled oddly with his +gravity. + +"You alone?" he questioned, his gaze on the door. + +"Yes." + +"Who are you?" + +"Campbellite preacher." + +For the first time since she had been awake Dakota turned and looked at +Sheila. The expression of his face puzzled her. "A parson!" he sneered in +a low voice. "I reckon we'll have some praying now." He took a step +forward, hesitated, and looked back at Sheila. "Do you want him in here?" + +Sheila's nod brought a whimsical, shallow smile to his face. "Of course +you do--you're lonesome in here." There was mockery in his voice. He +deliberately drew out his two guns, examined them minutely, returned one +to his holster, retaining the other in his right hand. With a cold grin at +Sheila he snuffed out the candle between a finger and a thumb and strode +to the door--Sheila could hear him fumbling at the fastenings. He spoke to +the man outside sharply. + +"Come in!" + +There was a movement; a square of light appeared in the wall of darkness; +there came a step on the threshold. Watching, Sheila saw, framed in the +open doorway, the dim outlines of a figure--a man. + +"Stand right there," came Dakota's voice from somewhere in the +impenetrable darkness of the interior, and Sheila wondered at the +hospitality that greeted a stranger with total darkness and a revolver. +"Light a match." + +After a short interval of silence there came the sound of a match +scratching on the wall, and a light flared up, showing Sheila the face of +a man of sixty, bronzed, bearded, with gentle, quizzical eyes. + +The light died down, the man waited. Sheila had forgotten--in her desire +to see the face of the visitor--to look for Dakota, but presently she +heard his voice: + +"I reckon you're a parson, all right. Close the door." + +The parson obeyed the command. "Light the candle on the table!" came the +order from Dakota. "I'm not taking any chances until I get a better look +at you." + +Another match flared up and the parson advanced to the table and lighted +the candle. He smiled while applying the match to the wick. "Don't pay to +take no chances--on anything," he agreed. He stood erect, a tall man, +rugged and active for his sixty years, and threw off a rain-soaked +tarpaulin. Some traces of dampness were visible on his clothing, but in +the circumstances he had not fared so badly. + +"It's a new trail to me--I don't know the country," he went on. "If I +hadn't seen your light I reckon I'd have been goin' yet. I was thinkin' +that it was mighty queer that you'd have a light goin' so----" He stopped +short, seeing Sheila sitting on the bunk. "Shucks, ma'am," he apologized, +"I didn't know you were there." His hat came off and dangled in his left +hand; with the other he brushed back the hair from his forehead, smiling +meanwhile at Sheila. + +"Why, ma'am," he said apologetically, "if your husband had told me you was +here I'd have gone right on an' not bothered you." + +Sheila's gaze went from the parson's face and sought Dakota's, a crimson +flood spreading over her face and temples. A slow, amused gleam filled +Dakota's eyes. But plainly he did not intend to set the parson right--he +was enjoying Sheila's confusion. The color fled from her face as suddenly +as it had come and was succeeded by the pallor of a cold indignation. + +"I'm not married," she said instantly to the parson; "this gentleman is +not my husband." + +"Not?" questioned the parson. "Then how--" He hesitated and looked quickly +at Dakota, but the latter was watching Sheila with an odd smile and the +parson looked puzzled. + +"This is my first day in this country," explained Sheila. + +The parson did not reply to this, though he continued to watch her +intently. She met his gaze steadily and he smiled. "I reckon you've been +caught on the trail too," he said, "by the storm." + +Sheila nodded. + +"Well, it's been right wet to-night, an' it ain't no night to be +galivantin' around the country. Where you goin' to?" + +"To the Double R ranch." + +"Where's the Double R?" asked the parson. + +"West," Dakota answered for Sheila; "twenty miles." + +"Off my trail," said the parson. "I'm travelin' to Lazette." He laughed, +shortly. "I'm askin' your pardon, ma'am, for takin' you to be married; you +don't look like you belonged here--I ought to have knowed that right +off." + +Sheila told him that he was forgiven and he had no comment to make on +this, but looked at her appraisingly. He drew a bench up near the fire and +sat looking at the licking flames, the heat drawing the steam from his +clothing as the latter dried. Dakota supplied him with soda biscuit and +cold bacon, and these he munched in contentment, talking meanwhile of his +travels. Several times while he sat before the fire Dakota spoke to him, +and finally he pulled his chair over near the wall opposite the bunk on +which Sheila sat, tilted it back, and dropped into it, stretching out +comfortably. + +After seating himself, Dakota's gaze sought Sheila. It was evident to +Sheila that he was thinking pleasant thoughts, for several times she +looked quickly at him to catch him smiling. Once she met his gaze fairly +and was certain that she saw a crafty, calculating gleam in his eyes. She +was puzzled, though there was nothing of fear from Dakota now; the +presence of the parson in the cabin assured her of safety. + +A half hour dragged by. The parson did not appear to be sleepy. Sheila +glanced at her watch and saw that it was midnight. She wondered much at +the parson's wakefulness and her own weariness. But she could safely go to +sleep now, she told herself, and she stretched noiselessly out on the bunk +and with one arm bent under her head listened to the parson. + +Evidently the parson was itinerant; he spoke of many places--Wyoming, +Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Texas; of towns in New Mexico. To Sheila, her +senses dulled by the drowsiness that was stealing over her, it appeared +that the parson was a foe to Science. His volubility filled the cabin; he +contended sonorously that the earth was not round. The Scriptures, he +maintained, held otherwise. He called Dakota's attention to the seventh +chapter of Revelation, verse one: + +"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of +the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not +blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree." + +Several times Sheila heard Dakota laugh, mockingly; he was skeptical, +caustic even, and he took issue with the parson. Between them they managed +to prevent her falling asleep; kept her in a semidoze which was very near +to complete wakefulness. + +After a time, though, the argument grew monotonous; the droning of their +voices seemed gradually to grow distant; Sheila lost interest in the +conversation and sank deeper into her doze. How long she had been +unconscious of them she did not know, but presently she was awake again +and listening. Dakota's laugh had awakened her. Out of the corners of her +eyes she saw that he was still seated in the chair beside the wall and +that his eyes were alight with interest as he watched the parson. + +"So you're going to Lazette, taking it on to him?" + +The parson nodded, smiling. "When a man wants to get married he'll not +care much about the arrangements--how it gets done. What he wants to do is +to get married." + +"That's a queer angle," Dakota observed. He laughed immoderately. + +The parson laughed with him. It _was_ an odd situation, he agreed. Never, +in all his experience, had he heard of anything like it. + +He had stopped for a few hours at Dry Bottom. While there a rider had +passed through, carrying word that a certain man in Lazette, called +"Baldy," desired to get married. There was no minister in Lazette, not +even a justice of the peace. But Baldy wanted to be married, and his +bride-to-be objected to making the trip to Dry Bottom, where there were +both a parson and a justice of the peace. Therefore, failing to induce the +lady to go to the parson, it followed that Baldy must contrive to have the +parson come to the lady. He dispatched the rider to Dry Bottom on this +quest. + +The rider had found that there was no regular parson in Dry Bottom and +that the justice of the peace had departed the day before to some distant +town for a visit. Luckily for Baldy's matrimonial plans, the parson had +been in Dry Bottom when the rider arrived, and he readily consented--as he +intended to pass through Lazette anyway--to carry Baldy's license to him +and perform the ceremony. + +"Odd, ain't it?" remarked the parson, after he had concluded. + +"That's a queer angle," repeated Dakota. "You got the license?" he +inquired softly. "Mebbe you've lost it." + +"I reckon not." The parson fumbled in a pocket, drawing out a folded +paper. "I've got it, right enough." + +"You've got no objections to me looking at it?" came Dakota's voice. +Sheila saw him rise. There was a strange smile on his face. + +"No objections. I reckon you'll be usin' one yourself one of these days." + +"One of these days," echoed Dakota with a laugh as strange as his smile a +moment before. "Yes--I'm thinking of using one one of these days." + +The parson spread the paper out on the table. Together he and Dakota bent +their heads over it. After reading the license Dakota stood erect. He +laughed, looking at the parson. + +"There ain't a name on it," he said, "not a name." + +"They're reckonin' to fill in the names when they're married," explained +the parson. "That there rider ought to have knowed the names, but he +didn't. Only knowed that the man was called 'Baldy.' Didn't know the +bride's name at all. But it don't make any difference; they wouldn't have +had to have a license at all in this Territory. But it makes it look more +regular when they've got one. All that's got to be done is for Baldy to go +over to Dry Bottom an' have the names recorded. Bein' as I can't go, I'm +to certify in the license." + +"Sure," said Dakota slowly. "It makes things more regular to have a +license--more regular to have you certify." + +Looking at Dakota, Sheila thought she saw in his face a certain +preoccupation; he was evidently not thinking of what he was saying at all; +the words had come involuntarily, automatically almost, it seemed, so +inexpressive were they. "Sure," he repeated, "you're to certify, in the +license." + +It was as though he were reading aloud from a printed page, his thoughts +elsewhere, and seeing only the words and uttering them unconsciously. Some +idea had formed in his brain, he meditated some surprising action. That +she was concerned in his thoughts Sheila did not doubt, for he presently +turned and looked straight at her and in his eyes she saw a new +expression--a cold, designing gleam that frightened her. + +Five minutes later, when the parson announced his intention to care for +his horse before retiring and stood in the doorway preparatory to going +out, Sheila restrained an impulse to call to him to remain. She succeeded +in quieting her fears, however, by assuring herself that nothing could +happen now, with the parson so near. Thus fortified, she smiled at Dakota +as the parson stepped down and closed the door. + +She drew a startled breath in the next instant, though, for without +noticing her smile Dakota stepped to the door and barred it. Turning, he +stood with his back against it, his lips in straight, hard lines, his eyes +steady and gleaming brightly. + +He caught Sheila's gaze and held it; she trembled and sat erect. + +"It's odd, ain't it?" he said, in the mocking voice that he had used when +using the same words earlier in the evening. + +"What is odd?" Hers was the same answer that she had used before, too--she +could think of nothing else to say. + +"Odd that he should come along just at this time." He indicated the door +through which the parson had disappeared. "You and me are here, and he +comes. Who sent him?" + +"Chance, I suppose," Sheila answered, though she could feel that there was +a subtle undercurrent in his speech, and she felt again the strange unrest +that had affected her several times before. + +"You think it was chance," he said, drawling his words. "Well, maybe +that's just as good a name for it as any other. But we don't all see +things the same way, do we? We couldn't, of course, because we've all got +different things to do. We think this is a big world and that we play a +big game. But it's a little world and a little game when Fate takes a hand +in it. I told you a while ago that Fate had a queer way of shuffling us +around. That's a fact. And Fate is running this game." His mocking laugh +had a note of grimness in it, which brought a chill over Sheila. "Just +now, Miss Sheila, Fate is playing with brides and bridegrooms and +marriages and parsons. That's what is so odd. Fate has supplied the parson +and the license; we'll supply the names. Look at the bridegroom, Sheila," +he directed, tapping his breast with a finger; "this is your wedding +day!" + +"What do you mean?" Sheila was on her feet, trembling, her face white with +fear and dread. + +"That we're to be married," he said, smiling at her, and she noted with a +qualm that there was no mirth in the smile, "you and me. The parson will +tie the knot." + +"This is a joke, I suppose?" she said scornfully, attempting a lightness +that she did not feel; "a crude one, to be sure, for you certainly cannot +be serious." + +"I was never more serious in my life," he said slowly. "We are to be +married when the parson comes in." + +"How do you purpose to accomplish this?" she jeered. "The parson certainly +will not perform a marriage ceremony without the consent of--without my +consent." + +"I think," he said coldly, "that you will consent. I am not in a trifling +mood. Just now it pleases me to imagine that I am an instrument of Fate. +Maybe that sounds mysterious to you, but some day you will be able to see +just how logical it all seems to me now, that Fate has sent me a pawn--a +subject, if you please--to sacrifice, that the game which I have been +playing may be carried to its conclusion." + +Outside they heard the dog bark, heard the parson speak to it. + +"The parson is coming," said Sheila, her joy over the impending +interruption showing in her eyes. + +"Yes, he is coming." Still with his back to the door, Dakota deliberately +drew out one of his heavy pistols and examined it minutely, paying no +attention to Sheila. Her eyes widened with fear as the hand holding the +weapon dropped to his side and he looked at her again. + +"What are you doing to do?" she demanded, watching these forbidding +preparations with dilated eyes. + +"That depends," he returned with a chilling laugh. "Have you ever seen a +man die? No?" he continued as she shuddered. "Well, if you don't consent +to marry me you will see the parson die. I have decided to give you the +choice, ma'am," he went on in a quiet, determined voice, entirely free +from emotion. "Sacrifice yourself and the parson lives; refuse and I shoot +the parson down the instant he steps inside the door." + +"Oh!" she cried in horror, taking a step toward him and looking into his +eyes for evidence of insincerity--for the slightest sign that would tell +her that he was merely trying to scare her. "Oh! you--you coward!" she +cried, for she saw nothing in his eyes but cold resolution. + +He smiled with straight lips. "You see," he mocked, "how odd it is? Fate +is shuffling us three in this game. You have your choice. Do you care to +be responsible for the death of a fellow being?" + +For a tense instant she looked at him, and seeing the hard, inexorable +glitter in his eyes she cringed away from him and sank to the edge of the +bunk, covering her face with her hands. + +During the silence that followed she could hear the parson outside--his +voice, and the yelping of the dog--evidently they had formed a friendship. +The sounds came nearer; Sheila heard the parson try the door. She became +aware that Dakota was standing over her and she looked up, shivering, to +see his face, still hard and unyielding. + +"I am going to open the door," he said. "Is it you or the parson?" + +At that word she was on her feet, standing before him, rigid with anger, +her eyes flaming with scorn and hatred. + +"You wouldn't dare to do it!" she said hoarsely; "you--you----" She +snatched suddenly for the butt of the weapon that swung at his left hip, +but with a quick motion he evaded the hand and stepped back a pace, +smiling coldly. + +"I reckon it's the parson," he said in a low voice, which carried an air +of finality. He started for the door, hesitated, and came back to the +bunk, standing in front of Sheila, looking down into her eyes. + +"I am giving you one last chance," he told her. "I am going to open the +door. If you want the parson to die, don't look at me when he steps in. If +you want him to live, turn your back to him and walk to the fireplace." + +He walked to the door, unlocked it, and stepped back, his gaze on Sheila. +Then the door opened slowly and the parson stood on the threshold, +smiling. + +"It's sure some wet outside," he said. + +Dakota was fingering the cylinder of his revolver, his gaze now riveted on +the parson. + +"Why," said the latter, in surprise, seeing the attitudes of Dakota and +his guest, "what in the name of----" + +There came a movement, and Sheila stood in front of Dakota, between him +and the parson. For an instant she stood, looking at Dakota with a +scornful, loathing gaze. Then with a dry sob, which caught in her throat, +she moved past him and went to the fireplace, where she stood looking down +at the flames. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THIS PICTURE AND THAT + + +IT was a scene of wild, virgin beauty upon which Sheila Langford looked as +she sat on the edge of a grassy butte overlooking the Ute River, with +Duncan, the Double R manager stretched out, full length beside her, a +gigantic picture on Nature's canvas, glowing with colors which the gods +had spread with a generous touch. + +A hundred feet below Sheila and Duncan the waters of the river swept +around the base of the butte, racing over a rocky bed toward a deep, +narrow canyon farther down. Directly opposite the butte rose a short +slope, forming the other bank of the river. From the crest of the slope +began a plain that stretched for many miles, merging at the horizon into +some pine-clad foothills. Behind the foothills were the mountains, their +snow peaks shimmering in a white sky--remote, mysterious, seeming like +guardians of another world. The chill of the mountains contrasted sharply +with the slumberous luxuriance and color of the plains. + +Miles of grass, its green but slightly dulled with a thin covering of +alkali dust, spread over the plain; here and there a grove of trees rose, +it seemed, to break the monotony of space. To the right the river doubled +sharply, the farther bank fringed with alder and aspen, their tall stalks +nodding above the nondescript river weeds; the near bank a continuing wall +of painted buttes--red, picturesque, ragged, thrusting upward and outward +over the waters of the river. On the left was a stretch of broken country. +Mammoth boulders were strewn here; weird rocks arose in inconceivably +grotesque formations; lava beds, dull and gray, circled the bald knobs of +some low hills. Above it all swam the sun, filling the world with a clear, +white light. It made a picture whose beauty might have impressed the most +unresponsive. Yet, though Sheila was looking upon the picture, her +thoughts were dwelling upon another. + +This other picture was not so beautiful, and a vague unrest gripped +Sheila's heart as she reviewed it, carefully going over each gloomy +detail. It was framed in the rain and the darkness of a yesterday. There +was a small clearing there--a clearing in a dense wood beside a river--the +same river which she could have seen below her now, had she looked. In the +foreground was a cabin. She entered the cabin and stood beside a table +upon which burned a candle. A man stood beside the table also--a +reckless-eyed man, holding a heavy revolver. Another man stood there, +too--a man of God. While Sheila watched the man's lips opened; she could +hear the words that came through them--she would never forget them: + +"To have and to hold from this day forth ... till death do you part...." + +It was not a dream, it was the picture of an actual occurrence. She saw +every detail of it. She could hear her own protests, her threats, her +pleadings; she lived over again her terror as she had crouched in the bunk +until the dawn. + +The man had not molested her, had not even spoken to her after the +ceremony; had ignored her entirely. When the dawn came she had heard him +talking to the parson, but could not catch their words. Later she had +mounted her pony and had ridden away through the sunshine of the morning. +She had been married--it was her wedding day. + +When she had reached the crest of a long rise after her departure from the +cabin she had halted her pony to look back, hoping that it all might have +been a dream. But it had not been a dream. There was the dense wood, the +clearing, and the cabin. Beside them was the river. And there, riding +slowly away over the narrow trail which she had traveled the night before, +was the parson--she could see his gray beard in the white sunlight. Dry +eyed, she had turned from the scene. A little later, turning again, she +saw the parson fade into the horizon. That, she knew, was the last she +would ever see of him. He had gone out of her life forever--the desert had +swallowed him up. + +But the picture was still vivid; she had seen it during every waking +moment of the month that she had been at the Double R ranch; it was before +her every night in her dreams. It would not fade. + +She knew that the other picture was beautiful--the picture of this world +into which she had ridden so confidently, yet she was afraid to dwell upon +it for fear that its beauty would seem to mock her. For had not nature +conspired against her? Yet she knew that she alone was to blame--she, +obstinate, willful, heedless. Had not her father warned her? "Wait," he +had said, and the words flamed before her eyes--"wait until I go. Wait a +month. The West is a new country; anything, everything, can happen to you +out there--alone." + +"Nothing can happen," had been her reply. "I will go straight from Lazette +to the Double R. See that you telegraph instructions to Duncan to meet me. +It will be a change; I am tired of the East and impatient to be away from +it." + +Well, she had found a change. What would her father say when he heard of +it--of her marriage to a cowboy, an unprincipled scoundrel? What could he +say? The marriage could be annulled, of course! it was not legal, could +not be legal. No law could be drawn which would recognize a marriage of +that character, and she knew that she had only to tell her father to have +the machinery of the law set in motion. Could she tell him? Could she bear +his reproaches, his pity, after her heedlessness? + +What would her friends say when they heard of it--as they must hear if she +went to the law for redress? Her friends in the East whose good wishes, +whose respect, she desired? Mockers there would be among them, she was +certain; there were mockers everywhere, and she feared their taunts, the +shafts of sarcasm that would be launched at her--aye, that would strike +her--when they heard that she had passed a night in a lone cabin with a +strange cowboy--had been married to him! + +A month had passed since the afternoon on which she had ridden up to the +porch of the Double R ranchhouse to be greeted by Duncan with the +information that he had that morning received a telegram from her father +announcing her coming. It had been brought from Lazette by a puncher who +had gone there for the mail, and Duncan was at that moment preparing to +drive to Lazette to meet her, under the impression that she would arrive +that day. There had been a mistake, of course, but what did it matter now? +The damage had been wrought and she closed her lips. A month had passed +and she had not told--she would never tell. + +Conversations she had had with Duncan; he seemed a gentleman, living at +the Double R ranchhouse with his sister, but in no conversation with +anyone had Sheila even mentioned Dakota's name, fearing that something in +her manner might betray her secret. To everyone but herself the picture of +her adventure that night on the trail must remain invisible. + +She looked furtively at Duncan, stretched out beside her on the grass. +What would he say if he knew? He would not be pleased, she was certain, +for during the month that she had been at the Double R--riding out almost +daily with him--he had forced her to see that he had taken a liking to +her--more, she herself had observed the telltale signs of something deeper +than mere liking. + +She had not encouraged this, of course, for she was not certain that she +liked Duncan, though he had treated her well--almost too well, in fact, +for she had at times felt a certain reluctance in accepting his little +attentions--such personal service as kept him almost constantly at her +side. His manner, too, was ingratiating; he smiled too much to suit her; +his presumption of proprietorship over her irritated her not a little. + +As she sat beside him on the grass she found herself studying him, as she +had done many times when he had not been conscious of her gaze. + +He was thirty-two,--he had told her so himself in a burst of +confidence--though she believed him to be much older. The sprinkling of +gray hair at his temples had caused her to place his age at thirty-seven +or eight. Besides, there were the lines of his face--the set lines of +character--indicating established habits of thought which would not show +so deeply in a younger face. His mouth, she thought, was a trifle weak, +yet not exactly weak either, but full-lipped and sensual, with little +curves at the corners which, she was sure, indicated either vindictiveness +or cruelty, perhaps both. + +Taken altogether his was not a face to trust fully; its owner might be too +easily guided by selfish considerations. Duncan liked to talk about +himself; he had been talking about himself all the time that Sheila had +sat beside him reviewing the mental picture. But apparently he had about +exhausted that subject now, and presently he looked up at her, his eyes +narrowing quizzically. + +"You have been here a month now," he said. "How do you like the country?" + +"I like it," she returned. + +She was looking now at the other picture, watching the shimmer of the sun +on the distant mountain peaks. + +"It improves," he said, "on acquaintance--like the people." He flashed a +smile at her, showing his teeth. + +"I haven't seen very many people," she returned, not looking at him, but +determined to ignore the personal allusion, to which, plainly, he had +meant to guide her. + +"But those that you have seen?" he persisted. + +"I have formed no opinions." + +She _had_ formed an opinion, though, a conclusive one--concerning Dakota. +But she had no idea of communicating it to Duncan. Until now, strangely +enough, she had had no curiosity concerning him. Bitter hatred and +resentment had been so active in her brain that the latter had held no +place for curiosity. Or at least, if it had been there, it had been a +subconscious emotion, entirely overshadowed by bitterness. Of late, though +her resentment toward Dakota had not abated, she had been able to review +the incident of her marriage to him with more composure, and therefore a +growing curiosity toward the man seemed perfectly justifiable. Curiosity +moved her now as she smiled deliberately at Duncan. + +"I have seen no one except your sister, a few cowboys, and yourself. I +haven't paid much attention to the cowboys, I like your sister, and I am +not in the habit of telling people to their faces what I think of them. +The country does not appear to be densely populated. Are there no other +ranches around here--no other cattlemen?" + +"The Double R ranch covers an area of one hundred and sixty square miles," +said Duncan. "The ranchhouse is right near the center of it. For about +twenty miles in every direction you won't find anybody but Double R men. +There are line-camps, of course--dugouts where the men hang out over night +sometimes--but that's all. To my knowledge there are only two men with +shacks around here, and they're mostly of no account. One of them is +Doubler--Ben Doubler--who hangs out near Two Forks, and the other is a +fellow who calls himself Dakota, who's got a shack about twenty miles down +the Ute, a little off the Lazette trail." + +"They are ranchers, I suppose?" + +Sheila's face was averted so that Duncan might not see the interest in her +eyes, or the red which had suddenly come into her cheeks. + +"Ranchers?" There was a sneer in Duncan's laugh. "Well, you might call +them that. But they're only nesters. They've got a few head of cattle and +a brand. It's likely they've put their brands on quite a few of the Double +R cattle." + +"You mean----" began Sheila in a low voice. + +"I mean that I think they're rustlers--cattle thieves!" said Duncan +venomously. + +The flush had gone from Sheila's cheeks; she turned a pale face to the +Double R manager. + +"How long have these men lived in the vicinity of the Double R?" + +"Doubler has been hanging around here for seven or eight years. He was +here when I came and mebbe he's been here longer. Dakota's been here about +five years. He bought his brand--the Star--from another nester--Texas +Blanca." + +"They've been stealing the Double R cattle, you say?" questioned Sheila. + +"That's what I think." + +"Why don't you have them arrested?" + +Duncan laughed mockingly. "Arrested! That's good. You've been living where +there's law. But there's no law out here; no law to cover cattle stealing, +except our own. And then we've got to have the goods. The sheriff won't do +anything when cattle are stolen, but he acts mighty sudden when a man's +hung for stealing cattle, if the man ain't caught with the goods." + +"Caught with the goods?" + +"Caught in the act of stealing. If we catch a man with the goods and hang +him there ain't usually anything said." + +"And you haven't been able to catch these men, Dakota and Doubler, in the +act of stealing." + +"They're too foxy." + +"If I were manager of this ranch and suspected anyone of stealing any of +its cattle, I would catch them!" There was a note of angry impatience in +Sheila's voice which caused Duncan to look sharply at her. He reddened, +suspecting disparagement of his managerial ability in the speech. + +"Mebbe," he said, with an attempt at lightness. "But as a general thing +nosing out a rustler is a pretty ticklish proposition. Nobody goes about +that work with a whole lot of enthusiasm." + +"Why?" There was scorn in Sheila's voice, scorn in her uplifted chin. But +she did not look at Duncan. + +"Why?" he repeated. "Well, because it's perfectly natural for a man to +want to live as long as he can. I don't like them nesters--Dakota +especially--and I'd like mighty well to get something on them. But I ain't +taking any chances on Dakota." + +"Why?" Again the monosyllable was pregnant with scorn. + +"I forgot that you ain't acquainted out here," laughed the manager. "No +one is taking any chances with Dakota--not even the sheriff. There's +something about the cuss which seems to discourage a man when he's close +to him--close enough to do any shooting. I've seen Dakota throw down on a +man so quick that it would make you dizzy." + +"Throw down?" + +"Shoot at a man. There was a gambler over in Lazette thought to euchre +Dakota. A gunman he was, from Texas, and--well, they carried the gambler +out. It was done so sudden that nobody saw it." + +"Killed him?" There was repressed horror in Sheila's voice. + +"No, he wasn't entirely put out of business. Dakota only made him feel +cheap. Creased him." + +"Creased him?" + +"Grazed his head with the bullet. Done it intentionally, they say. Told +folks he didn't have any desire to send the gambler over the divide; just +wanted to show him that when he was playin' with fire he ought to be +careful. There ain't no telling what Dakota'd do if he got riled, +though." + +Sheila's gaze was on Duncan fairly, her eyes alight with contempt. "So you +are all afraid of him?" she said, with a bitterness that surprised the +manager. + +"Well, I reckon it would amount to about that, if you come right down to +the truth," he confessed, reddening a little. + +"You are afraid of him, too I suppose?" + +"I reckon it ain't just that," he parried, "but I ain't taking any foolish +risks." + +Sheila rose and walked to her pony, which was browsing the tops of some +mesquite near by. She reached the animal, mounted, and then turned and +looked at Duncan scornfully. + +"A while ago you asked for my opinion of the people of this country," she +said. "I am going to express that opinion now. It is that, in spite of his +unsavory reputation, Dakota appears to be the only _man_ here!" + +She took up the reins and urged her pony away from the butte and toward +the level that stretched away to the Double R buildings in the distance. +For an instant Duncan stood looking after her, his face red with +embarrassment, and then with a puzzled frown he mounted and followed her. + +Later he came up with her at the Double R corral gate and resumed the +conversation. + +"Then I reckon you ain't got no use for rustlers?" he said. + +"Meaning Dakota?" she questioned, a smoldering fire in her eyes. + +"I reckon." + +"I wish," she said, facing Duncan, her eyes flashing, "that you would kill +him!" + +"Why----" said Duncan, changing color. + +But Sheila had dismounted and was walking rapidly toward the ranchhouse, +leaving Duncan alone with his unfinished speech and his wonder. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DAKOTA EVENS A SCORE + + +With the thermometer at one hundred and five it was not to be expected +that there would be much movement in Lazette. As a matter of fact, there +was little movement anywhere. On the plains, which began at the edge of +town, there was no movement, no life except when a lizard, seeking a +retreat from the blistering sun, removed itself to a deeper shade under +the leaves of the sage-brush, or a prairie-dog, popping its head above the +surface of the sand, took a lightning survey of its surroundings, and +apparently dissatisfied with the outlook whisked back into the bowels of +the earth. + +There was no wind, no motion; the little whirlwinds of dust that arose +settled quickly down, the desultory breezes which had caused them +departing as mysteriously as they had come. In the blighting heat the +country lay, dead, spreading to the infinite horizons; in the sky no speck +floated against the dome of blue. More desolate than a derelict on the +calm surface of the trackless ocean Lazette lay, its huddled buildings +dingy with the dust of a continuing dry season, squatting in their dismal +lonesomeness in the shimmering, blinding sun. + +In a strip of shade under the eaves of the station sat the station agent, +gazing drowsily from under the wide brim of his hat at the two glistening +lines of steel that stretched into the interminable distance. Some +cowponies, hitched to rails in front of the saloons and the stores, stood +with drooping heads, tormented by myriad flies; a wagon or two, minus +horses, occupied a space in front of a blacksmith shop. + +In the Red Dog saloon some punchers on a holiday played cards at various +tables, quietly drinking. Behind the rough bar Pete Moulin, the proprietor +stood, talking to his bartender, Blacky. + +"So that jasper's back again," commented the proprietor. + +"Which?" The bartender followed the proprietor's gaze, which was on a man +seated at a card table, his profile toward them, playing cards with +several other men. The bartender's face showed perplexity. + +Moulin laughed. "I forgot you ain't been here that long," he said. "That +was before your time. That fellow settin' sideways to us is Texas +Blanca." + +"What's he callin' himself 'Texas' for?" queried the bartender. "He looks +more like a greaser." + +"Breed, I reckon," offered the proprietor. "Claims to have punched cows in +Texas before he come here." + +"What's he allowin' to be now?" + +"Nobody knows. Used to own the Star--Dakota's brand. Sold out to Dakota +five years ago. Country got too hot for him an' he had to pull his +freight." + +"Rustler?" + +"You've said something. He's been suspected of it. But nobody's talkin' +very loud about it." + +"Not safe?" + +"Not safe. He's lightning with a six. Got his nerve to come back here, +though." + +"How's that?" + +"Ain't you heard about it? I thought everybody'd heard about that deal. +Blanca sold Dakota the Star. Then he pulled his freight immediate. A week +or so later Duncan, of the Double R, rides up to Dakota's shack with a +bunch of Double R boys an' accuses Dakota of rustlin' Double R cattle. +Duncan had found twenty Double R calves runnin' with the Star cattle which +had been marked secret. Blanca had run his iron on them an' sold them to +Dakota for Star stock. Dakota showed Duncan his bill of sale, all regular, +an' of course Duncan couldn't blame him. But there was some hard words +passed between Duncan an' Dakota, an' Dakota ain't allowin' they're +particular friends since. + +"Dakota had to give up the calves, sure enough, an' he did. But sore! +Dakota was sure some disturbed in his mind. He didn't show it much, bein' +one of them quiet kind, but he says to me one day not long after Duncan +had got the calves back: 'I've been stung, Pete,' he says, soft an' even +like; 'I've been stung proper, by that damned oiler. Not that I'm carin' +for the money end of it; Duncan findin' them calves with my stock has +damaged my reputation.' Then he laffed--one of them little short laffs +which he gets off sometimes when things don't just suit him--the way he's +laffed a couple of times when someone's tried to run a cold lead +proposition in on him. He fair freezes my blood when he gets it off. + +"Well, he says to me: 'Mebbe I'll be runnin' in with Blanca one of these +days.' An' that's all he ever says about it. Likely he expected Blanca to +come back. An' sure enough he has. Reckon he thinks that mebbe Dakota +didn't get wise to the calf deal." + +"In his place," said Blacky, eyeing Blanca furtively, "I'd be makin' some +inquiries. Dakota ain't no man to trifle with." + +"Trifle!" Moulin's voice was pregnant with awed admiration. "I reckon +there ain't no one who knows Dakota's goin' to trifle with him--he's +discouraged that long ago. Square, too, square as they make 'em." + +"The Lord knows the country needs square men," observed Blacky. + +He caught a sign from a man seated at a table and went over to him with a +bottle and a glass. While Blacky was engaged in this task the door opened +and Dakota came in. + +Moulin's admiration and friendship for Dakota might have impelled him to +warn Dakota of the presence of Blanca, and he did hold up a covert finger, +but Dakota at that moment was looking in another direction and did not +observe the signal. + +He continued to approach the bar and Blacky, having a leisure moment, came +forward and stood ready to serve him. A short nod of greeting passed +between the three, and Blacky placed a bottle on the bar and reached for a +glass. Dakota made a negative sign with his head--short and resolute. + +"I'm in for supplies," he laughed, "but not that." + +"Not drinkin'?" queried Moulin. + +"I'm pure as the driven snow," drawled Dakota. + +"How long has that been goin' on?" Moulin's grin was skeptical. + +"A month." + +Moulin looked searchingly at Dakota, saw that he was in earnest, and +suddenly reached a hand over the bar. + +"Shake!" he said. "I hate to knock my own business, an' you've been a +pretty good customer, but if you mean it, it's the most sensible thing you +ever done. Of course you didn't hit it regular, but there's been times +when I've thought that if I could have three or four customers like you +I'd retire in a year an' spend the rest of my life countin' my dust!" He +was suddenly serious, catching Dakota's gaze and winking expressively. + +"Friend of yourn here," he said. + +Dakota took a flashing glance at the men at the card tables and Moulin saw +his lips straighten and harden. But in the next instant he was smiling +gravely at the proprietor. + +"Thanks, Pete," he said quietly. "But you're some reckless with the +English language when you're calling him my friend. Maybe he'll be proving +that he didn't mean to skin me on that deal." + +He smiled again and then left the bar and strode toward Blanca. The latter +continued his card playing, apparently unaware of Dakota's approach, but +at the sound of his former victim's voice he turned and looked up slowly, +his face wearing a bland smile. + +It was plain to Moulin that Blanca had known all along of Dakota's +presence in the saloon--perhaps he had seen him enter. The other card +players ceased playing and leaned back in their chairs, watching, for some +of them knew something of the calf deal, and there was that in Dakota's +greeting to Blanca which warned them of impending trouble. + +"Blanca," said Dakota quietly, "you can pay for those calves now." + +It pleased Blanca to dissemble. But it was plain to Moulin--as it must +have been plain to everybody who watched Blanca--that a shadow crossed his +face at Dakota's words. Evidently he had entertained a hope that his +duplicity had not been discovered. + +"Calves?" he said. "What calves, my frien'?" He dropped his cards to the +table and turned his chair around, leaning far back in it and hooking his +right thumb in his cartridge belt, just above the holster of his pistol. +"I theenk it mus' be mistak'." + +"Yes," returned Dakota, a slow, grimly humorous smile reaching his face, +"it was a mistake. You made it, Blanca. Duncan found it out. Duncan took +the calves--they belonged to him. You're going to pay for them." + +"I pay for heem?" The bland smile on Blanca's face had slowly faded with +the realization that his victim was not to be further misled by him. In +place of the smile his face now wore an expression of sneering contempt, +and his black eyes had taken on a watchful glitter. He spoke slowly: "I +pay for no calves, my frien'." + +"You'll pay," said Dakota, an ominously quiet drawl in his voice, +"or----" + +"Or what?" Blanca showed his white teeth in a tigerish smirk. + +"This town ain't big enough for both of us," said Dakota, his eyes cold +and alert as they watched Blanca's hand at his cartridge belt. "One of us +will leave it by sundown. I reckon that's all." + +He deliberately turned his back on Blanca and walked to the door, stepping +down into the street. Blanca looked after him, sneering. An instant later +Blanca turned and smiled at his companions at the table. + +"It ain't my funeral," said one of the card players, "but if I was in your +place I'd begin to think that me stayin' here was crowdin' the population +of this town by one." + +Blanca's teeth gleamed. "My frien'," he said insinuatingly, "it's your +deal." His smile grew. "Thees is a nize country," he continued. "I like it +ver' much. I come back here to stay. Dakota--hees got the Star too cheap." +He tapped his gun holster significantly. "To-night Dakota hees go +somewhere else. To-morrow who takes the Star? You?" He pointed to each of +the card players in turn. "You?" he questioned. "You take it?" He smiled +at their negative signs. "Well, then, Blanca take it. Peste! Dakota give +himself till sundown!" + + * * * * * + +The six-o'clock was an hour and thirty minutes late. For two hours Sheila +Langford had been on the station platform awaiting its coming. For a full +half hour she had stood at one corner of the platform straining her eyes +to watch a thin skein of smoke that trailed off down the horizon, but +which told her that the train was coming. It crawled slowly--like a huge +serpent--over the wilderness of space, growing always larger, steaming its +way through the golden sunshine of the afternoon, and after a time, with a +grinding of brakes and the shrill hiss of escaping air, it drew alongside +the station platform. + +A brakeman descended, the conductor strode stiffly to the telegrapher's +window, two trunks came out of the baggage car, and a tall man of fifty +alighted and was folded into Sheila's welcoming arms. For a moment the two +stood thus, while the passengers smiled sympathetically. Then the man held +Sheila off at arm's length and looked searchingly at her. + +"Crying?" he said. "What a welcome!" + +"Oh, daddy!" said Sheila. In this moment she was very near to telling him +what had happened to her on the day of her arrival at Lazette, but she +felt that it was impossible with him looking at her; she could not at a +blow cast a shadow over the joy of his first day in the country where, +henceforth, he was to make his home. And so she stood sobbing softly on +his shoulder while he, aware of his inability to cope with anything so +mysterious as a woman's tears, caressed her gently and waited patiently +for her to regain her composure. + +"Then nothing happened to you after all," he laughed, patting her cheeks. +"Nothing, in spite of my croaking." + +"Nothing," she answered. The opportunity was gone now; she was committed +irrevocably to her secret. + +"You like it here? Duncan has made himself agreeable?" + +"It is a beautiful country, though a little lonesome after--after Albany. +I miss my friends, of course. But Duncan's sister has done her best, and I +have been able to get along." + +The engine bell clanged and they stood side by side as the train pulled +slowly away from the platform. Langford solemnly waved a farewell to it. + +"This is the moment for which I have been looking for months," he said, +with what, it seemed to Sheila, was almost a sigh of relief. He turned to +her with a smile. "I will look after the baggage," he said, and leaving +her he approached the station agent and together they examined the trunks +which had come out of the baggage car. + +Sheila watched him while he engaged in this task. His face seemed a trifle +drawn; he had aged much during the month that she had been separated from +him. The lines of his face had grown deeper; he seemed, now that she saw +him at a distance, to be care-worn--tired. She had heard people call him a +hard man; she knew that business associates had complained of what they +were pleased to call his "sharp methods"; it had even been hinted that his +"methods" were irregular. + +It made no difference to her, however, what people thought of him, or what +they said of him, he had been a kind and indulgent parent to her and she +supposed that in business it was everybody's business to look sharply +after their own interests. For there were jealous people everywhere; envy +stalks rampant through the world; failure cavils at mediocrity, mediocrity +sneers at genius. And Sheila had always considered her father a genius, +and the carping of those over whom her father had ridden roughshod had +always sounded in her ears like tributes. + +As quite unconsciously we are prone to place the interests of self above +considerations for the comfort and the convenience of others, so Sheila +had grown to judge her father through the medium of his treatment of her. +Her own father--who had died during her infancy--could not have treated +her better than had Langford. Since her mother's death some years before, +Langford had been both father and mother to her, and her affection for him +had flourished in the sunshine of his. No matter what other people +thought, she was satisfied with him. + +As a matter of fact David Dowd Langford allowed no one--not even +Sheila--to look into his soul. What emotions slumbered beneath the mask of +his habitual imperturbability no one save Langford himself knew. During +all his days he had successfully fought against betraying his emotions and +now, at the age of fifty, there was nothing of his character revealed in +his face except sternness. If addicted to sharp practice in business no +one would be likely to suspect it, not even his victim. Could one have +looked steadily into his eyes one might find there a certain gleam to warn +one of trickery, only one would not be able to look steadily into them, +for the reason that they would not allow you. They were shifty, crafty +eyes that took one's measure when one least expected them to do so. + +Over the motive which had moved her father to retire from business while +still in his prime Sheila did not speculate. Nor had she speculated when +he had bought the Double R ranch and announced his intention to spend the +remainder of his days on it. She supposed that he had grown tired of the +unceasing bustle and activity of city life, as had she, and longed for +something different, and she had been quite as eager as he to take up her +residence here. This had been the limit of her conjecturing. + +He had told her when she left Albany that he would follow her in a month. +And therefore, in a month to the day, knowing his habit of punctuality, +Sheila had come to Lazette for him, having been driven over from the +Double R by one of the cowboys. + +She saw the station agent now, beckoning to the driver of the wagon, and +she went over to the edge of the station platform and watched while the +trunks were tumbled into the wagon. + +The driver was grumbling good naturedly to Langford. + +"That darned six-o'clock train is always late," he was saying. "It's a +quarter to eight now an' the sun is goin' down. If that train had been on +time we could have made part of the trip in the daylight." + +The day had indeed gone. Sheila looked toward the mountains and saw that +great long shadows were lengthening from their bases; the lower half of +the sun had sunk behind a distant peak; the quiet colors of the sunset +were streaking the sky and glowing over the plains. + +The trunks were in; the station agent held the horses by the bridles, +quieting them; the driver took up the reins; Sheila was helped to the seat +by her father, he jumped in himself, and they were off down the street, +toward a dim trail that led up a slope that began at the edge of town and +melted into space. + +The town seemed deserted. Sheila saw a man standing near the front door of +a saloon, his hands on his hips. He did not appear interested in either +the wagon or its occupants; his gaze roved up and down the street and he +nervously fingered his cartridge belt. He was a brown-skinned man, almost +olive, Sheila thought as her gaze rested on him, attired after the manner +of the country, with leathern chaps, felt hat, boots, spurs, neckerchief. + +"Why, it is sundown already!" Sheila heard her father say. "What a sudden +change! A moment ago the light was perfect!" + +A subconscious sense only permitted Sheila to hear her father's voice, for +her thoughts and eyes were just then riveted on another man who had come +out of the door of another saloon a little way down the street. She +recognized the man as Dakota and exclaimed sharply. + +She felt her father turn; heard the driver declare, "It's comin' off," +though she had not the slightest idea of his meaning. Then she realized +that he had halted the horses; saw that he had turned in his seat and was +watching something to the rear of them intently. + +"We're out of range," she heard him say, speaking to her father. + +"What's wrong?" This was her father's voice. + +"Dakota an' Blanca are havin' a run-in," announced the driver. "Dakota's +give Blanca till sundown to get out of town. It's sundown now an' Blanca +ain't pulled his freight, an' it's likely that hell will be a-poppin' +sorta sudden." + +Sheila cowered in her seat, half afraid to look at Dakota--who was walking +slowly toward the man who still stood in front of the saloon--though in +spite of her fears and misgivings the fascination of the scene held her +gaze steadily on the chief actors. + +Out of the corners of her eyes she could see that far down the street men +were congregated; they stood in doorways, at convenient corners, their +eyes directed toward Dakota and the other man. In the sepulchral calm +which had fallen there came to Sheila's ears sounds that in another time +she would not have noticed. Somewhere a door slammed; there came to her +ears the barking of a dog, the neigh of a horse--sharply the sounds smote +the quiet atmosphere, they seemed odd to the point of unreality. + +However, the sounds did not long distract her attention from the chief +actors in the scene which was being worked out in front of her; the noises +died away and she gave her entire attention to the men. She saw Dakota +reach a point about thirty feet from the man in front of the +saloon--Blanca. As Dakota continued to approach, Sheila observed an evil +smile flash suddenly to Blanca's face; saw a glint of metal in the faint +light; heard the crash of his revolver; shuddered at the flame spurt. She +expected to see Dakota fall--hoped that he might. Instead, she saw him +smile--in much the fashion in which he had smiled that night in the cabin +when he had threatened to shoot the parson if she did not consent to marry +him. And then his hand dropped swiftly to the butt of the pistol at his +right hip. + +Sheila's eyes closed; she swayed and felt her father's arm come out and +grasp her to keep her from falling. But she was not going to fall; she had +merely closed her eyes to blot out the scene which she could not turn +from. She held her breath in an agony of suspense, and it seemed an age +until she heard a crashing report--and then another. Then silence. + +Unable longer to resist looking, Sheila opened her eyes. She saw Dakota +walk forward and stand over Blanca, looking down at him, his pistol still +in hand. Blanca was face down in the dust of the street, and as Dakota +stood over him Sheila saw the half-breed's body move convulsively and then +become still. Dakota sheathed his weapon and, without looking toward the +wagon in which Sheila sat, turned and strode unconcernedly down the +street. A man came out of the door of the saloon in front of which +Blanca's body lay, looking down at it curiously. Other men were running +toward the spot; there were shouts, oaths. + +For the first time in her life Sheila had seen a man killed--murdered--and +there came to her a recollection of Dakota's words that night in the +cabin: "Have you ever seen a man die?" She had surmised from his manner +that night that he would not hesitate to kill the parson, and now she knew +that her sacrifice had not been made in vain. A sob shook her, the world +reeled, blurred, and she covered her face with her hands. + +"Oh!" she said in a strained, hoarse voice. "Oh! The brute!" + +"Hey!" From a great distance the driver's voice seemed to come. "Hey! +What's that? Well, mebbe. But I reckon Blanca won't rustle any more +cattle." "God!" he added in an awed voice; "both of them hit him!" + +Blanca was dead then, there could be no doubt of that. Sheila felt herself +swaying and tried to grasp the end of the seat to steady herself. She +heard her father's voice raised in alarm, felt his arm come out again and +grasp her, and then darkness settled around her. + +When she recovered consciousness her father's arms were still around her +and the buckboard was in motion. Dusk had come; above her countless stars +flickered in the deep blue of the sky. + +"I reckon she's plum shocked," she heard the driver say. + +"I don't wonder," returned Langford, and Sheila felt a shiver run over +him. "Great guns!" Sheila wondered at the tone he used. "That man is a +marvel with a pistol! Did you notice how cool he took it?" + +"Cool!" The driver laughed. "If you get acquainted with Dakota you'll find +out that he's cool. He's an iceberg, that's what he is!" + +"They'll arrest him, I suppose?" queried Langford. + +"Arrest him! What for? Didn't he give Blanca his chance? That's why I'm +tellin' you he's cool!" + +It was past two o'clock when the buckboard pulled up at the Double R +corral gates and Langford helped Sheila down. She was still pale and +trembling and did not remain downstairs to witness her father's +introduction to Duncan's sister, but went immediately to her room. Sleep +was far from her, however, for she kept dwelling over and over on the odd +fortune which had killed Blanca and allowed Dakota to live, when the +latter's death would have brought to an end the distasteful relationship +which his freakish impulse had forced upon her. + +She remembered Dakota's words in the cabin. Was Fate indeed running this +game--if game it might be called? + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +KINDRED SPIRITS + + +Looking rather more rugged than when he had arrived at the station at +Lazette two weeks before, his face tanned, but still retaining the smooth, +sleek manner which he had brought with him from the East, David Dowd +Langford sat in a big rocking chair on the lower gallery of the Double R +ranchhouse, mentally appraising Duncan, who was seated near by, his +profile toward Langford. + +"So this Ben Doubler has been a thorn in your side?" questioned Langford +softly. + +"That's just it," returned Duncan, with an evil smile. "He has been and +still is. And now I'm willing him to you. I don't know when I've been more +tickled over getting rid of a man." + +"Well," said Langford, leaning farther back in his chair and clasping his +hands, resting his chin on his thumbs, his lips curving with an ironic +smile, "I suppose I ought to feel extremely grateful to you--especially +since when I was negotiating the purchase of the ranch you didn't hint of +a nester being on the property." + +"I didn't sell Doubler to you," said Duncan. + +Langford's smile was shallow. "But I get him just the same," he said. "As +a usual thing it is pretty hard to get rid of a nester, isn't it?" + +"I haven't been able to get rid of this one," returned Duncan. "He don't +seem to be influenced by anything I say, or do. Some obstinate." + +"Tried everything?" + +"Yes." + +"The law?" + +Duncan made a gesture of disgust. "The law!" he said. "What for? I haven't +been such a fool. He's got as much right to the open range as I have--as +you will have. I bought a section, and he took up a quarter section. The +only difference between us is that I own mine--or did own it until you +bought it--and he ain't proved on his. He is on the other side of the +river and I'm on this. Or rather," he added with a grin, "he's on the +other side and you are on this. He's got the best grass land in the +country--and plenty of water." + +"His rights, then," remarked Langford slowly, "equal yours--or mine. That +is," he added, "he makes free use of the grass and water." + +"That's so," agreed Duncan. + +"Which reduces the profits of the Double R," pursued Langford. + +"I reckon that's right." + +"And you knew that when you sold me the Double R," continued Langford, his +voice smooth and silky. + +Duncan flashed a grin at the imperturbable face of the new owner. "I +reckon I wasn't entirely ignorant of it," he said. + +"That's bad business," remarked Langford in a detached manner. + +"What is?" Duncan's face reddened slightly. "You mean that it was bad +business for me to sell when I knowed Doubler owned land near the Double +R?" There was a slight sneer in his voice as he looked at Langford. +"You've never been stung before, eh? Well, there's always a first time for +everything, and I reckon--according to what I've heard--that you ain't +been exactly no Sunday school scholar yourself." + +Langford's eyes were narrowed to slits. "I meant that it was bad business +to allow Doubler's presence on the Two Forks to affect the profits of the +Double R. Perhaps I have been stung--as you call it--but if I have been I +am not complaining." + +Duncan's eyes glinted with satisfaction. He had expected a burst of anger +from the new owner when he should discover that the value of his property +was impaired by the presence of a nester near it, but the new owner +apparently harbored no resentment over this unforeseen obstacle. + +"I'm admitting," said Duncan, "that Doubler being there is bad business. +But how are you going to prevent him staying there?" + +"Have you tried"--Langford looked obliquely at Duncan, drawling +significantly--"force?" + +"I have tried everything, I told you." + +Duncan gazed at Langford with a new interest. It was the first time since +the new owner had come to the Double R that he had dropped the mask of +sleek smoothness behind which he concealed his passions. Even now the +significance was more in his voice than in his words, and Duncan began to +comprehend that Langford was deeper than he had thought. + +"I'm glad to see that you appreciate the situation," he said, smiling +craftily. "Some men are mighty careful not to do anything to hurt anybody +else." + +Langford favored Duncan with a steady gaze, which the latter returned, and +both smiled. + +"Business," presently said Langford with a quiet significance which was +not lost on Duncan, "good business, demands the application of certain +methods which are not always agreeable to the opposition." He took another +sly glance at Duncan. "There ought to be a good many ways of making it +plain to Doubler that he isn't wanted in this section of the country," he +insinuated. + +"I've tried to make some of the ways plain," said Duncan with a cold grin. +"I got to the end of my string and hadn't any more things to try. That's +why I decided to sell. I wanted to get away where I wouldn't be bothered. +But I reckon that you'll be able to fix up something for him." + +During the two weeks that Langford had been at the Double R Duncan had +studied him from many angles and this exchange of talk had convinced him +that he had not erred in his estimate of the new owner's character. As he +had hinted to Langford, he had tried many plans to rid the country of the +nester, and he remembered a time when Doubler had seen through one of his +schemes to fasten the crime of rustling on him and had called him to +account, and the recollection of what had happened at the interview +between them was not pleasant. He had not bothered Doubler since that +time, though there had lingered in his heart a desire for revenge. Many +times, on some pretext or other, he had tried to induce his men to clash +with Doubler, but without success. It had appeared to him that his men +suspected his motives and deliberately avoided the nester. + +With a secret satisfaction he had watched Langford's face this morning +when he had told him that Doubler had long been suspected of rustling; +that the men of the Double R had never been able to catch him in the act, +but that the number of cattle missing had seemed to indicate the nester's +guilt. + +Doubler's land was especially desirable, he had told Langford, and this +was the truth. It was a quarter section lying adjacent to good water, and +provided the best grass in the vicinity. Duncan had had trouble with +Doubler over the water rights, too, but had been unsuccessful in ousting +him because of the fact that since Doubler controlled the land he also +controlled the water rights of the river adjoining it. The Two Forks was +the only spot which could be used by thirsty cattle in the vicinity, for +the river at other points was bordered with cliffs and hills and was +inaccessible. And Doubler would not allow the Double R cattle to water at +the Two Forks, though he had issued this edict after his trouble with the +Double R owner. Duncan, however, did not explain this to Langford. + +The latter looked at him with a smooth smile. "It is plain from what you +have been telling me," he said, "that there is no possibility of you +succeeding in reaching a satisfactory agreement with Doubler, and +therefore I expect that I will have to deal with him personally. I shall +ride over some day and have a talk with him." + +The prospect of becoming involved with the nester gave Langford a throb of +joy. All his life he had been engaged in the task of overcoming business +obstacles and he had reached the conclusion that the situation which now +confronted him was nothing more or less than business. Of course it was +not the business to which he had been accustomed, but it offered the +opportunity for cold-blooded, merciless planning for personal gain; there +were the elements of profit and loss; it would give him an opportunity to +apply his peculiar genius, to grapple, to battle, and finally overthrow +the opposing force. + +Though he had allowed Duncan to see nothing of the emotions that rioted +within him over the discovery that he had been victimized by the +latter--at least to the extent of misrepresentation in the matter of the +nester--there was in his mind a feeling of deep resentment against the +former owner; he felt that he could no longer trust him, but for the sake +of learning all the details of the new business he felt that he would have +to make the best of a bad bargain. He had already arranged with Duncan to +remain at the Double R throughout the season, but he purposed to leave him +out of any dealings that he might have with Doubler. He smiled as he +looked at Duncan. + +"I like this country," he said, leaning back in his chair and drawing a +deep breath. "I was rather afraid at first that I would find it dull after +the East. But this situation gives promise of action." + +Duncan was watching him with a crafty smile. "You reckon on running him +off, or----" He leered at Langford significantly. + +The latter's face was impassive, his smile dry. "Eh?" he said, +abstractedly, as though his thoughts had been wandering from the subject. +"Why, I really haven't given a thought to the method by which I ought to +deal with Doubler. Perhaps," he added with a genial smile, "I may make a +friend of him." + +He observed Duncan's scowl and his smile grew. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +BOGGED DOWN + + +Each day during the two weeks that her father had been at the Double R +Sheila had accompanied him on his rides of exploration. She had grown +tired of the continued companionship, and despite the novelty of the sight +she had become decidedly wearied of looking at the cowboys in their native +haunts. Not that they did not appeal to her, for on the contrary she had +found them picturesque and had admired their manliness, but she longed to +ride out alone where she could brood over her secret. The possession of it +had taken the flavor out of the joys of this new life, had left it flat +and filled with bitter memories. + +She had detected a change in her father--he seemed coarse, domineering, +entirely unlike his usual self. She attributed this change in him to the +country--it was hard and rough, and of course it was to be expected that +Langford--or any man, for that matter--taking an active interest in ranch +life, must reflect the spirit of the country. + +She had developed a positive dislike for Duncan, which she took no trouble +to conceal. She had discovered that the suspicions she had formed of his +character during the first days of their acquaintance were quite +correct--he was selfish, narrow, and brutal. He had accompanied her and +her father on all their trips and his manner toward her had grown to be +one of easy familiarity. This was another reason why she wanted to ride +alone. + +The day before she had spoken to Langford concerning the continued +presence of Duncan on their rides, and he had laughed at her, assuring her +that Duncan was not a "bad fellow," and though she had not taken issue +with him on this point she had decided that hereafter, in self protection, +she would discontinue her rides with her father as long as he was +accompanied by the former owner. + +Determined to carry out this decision, she was this morning saddling her +pony at the corral gates when she observed Duncan standing near, watching +her. + +"You might have let me throw that saddle on," he said. + +She flushed, angered that he should have been watching her without making +his presence known. "I prefer to put the saddle on myself," she returned, +busying herself with it after taking a flashing glance at him. + +He laughed, pulled out a package of tobacco and some paper, and proceeded +to roll a cigarette. When he had completed it he held a match to it and +puffed slowly. + +"Cross this morning," he taunted. + +There was no reply, though Duncan might have been warned by the dark red +in her cheeks. She continued to work with the saddle, lacing the latigo +strings and tightening the cinches. + +"We're riding down to the box canyon on the other side of the basin this +morning," said Duncan. "We've got some strays penned up there. But your +dad won't be ready for half an hour yet. You're in something of a hurry, +it seems." + +"You are going, I suppose?" questioned Sheila, pulling at the rear cinch, +the pony displaying a disinclination to allow it to be buckled. + +"I reckon." + +"I don't see," said Sheila, straightening and facing him, "why you have to +go with father everywhere." + +Duncan flushed. "Your father's aiming to learn the business," he said. +"I'm showing him, telling him what I know about it. There's a chance that +I won't be with the Double R after the fall round-up, if a deal which I +have got on goes through." + +"And I suppose you have a corner on all the knowledge of ranch life," +suggested Sheila sarcastically. + +He flushed darkly, but did not answer. + +After Sheila had completed the tightening of the cinches she led the pony +beside the corral fence, mounted, and without looking at Duncan started to +ride away. + +"Wait!" he shouted, and she drew the pony to a halt and sat in the saddle, +looking down at him with a contemptuous gaze as he stood in front of her. + +"I thought you was going with your father?" he said. + +"You are mistaken." She could not repress a smile over the expression of +disappointment on his face. But without giving him any further +satisfaction she urged her pony forward, leaving him standing beside the +corral gates watching her with a frown. + +She smiled many times while riding toward the river, thinking of his +discomfiture, reveling in the thought that for once she had shown him that +she resented the attitude of familiarity which he had adopted toward her. + +She sat erect in the saddle, experiencing a feeling of elation which +brought the color into her face and brightened her eyes. It was the first +time since her arrival at the Double R that she had been able to ride out +alone, and it was also the first time that she really appreciated the +vastness and beauty of the country. For the trail to the river, which she +had decided she would follow, led through a fertile country where the +bunch grass grew long and green, the barren stretches of alkali were +infrequent, and where the low wooded hills and the shallow gullies seemed +to hint at the mystery. Before long the depression which had made her life +miserable had fled and she was enjoying herself. + +When she reached the river she crossed it at a shallow and urged her pony +up a sloping bank and out upon a grass plain that spread away like the +level of a great, green sea. Once into the plain, though, she discovered +that its promise of continuing green was a mere illusion, for the grass +grew here in bunches, the same as it grew on the Double R side of the +river. Yet though she was slightly disappointed she found many things to +interest her, and she lingered long over the odd rock formations that she +encountered and spent much time peering down into gullies and exploring +sand draws which seemed to be on every side. + +About noon, when she became convinced that she had seen everything worth +seeing in that section of the country, she wheeled her pony and headed it +back toward the river. She reached it after a time and urged her beast +along its banks, searching for the shallow which she had crossed some time +before. A dim trail led along the river and she felt certain that if she +followed it long enough it would lead her to the crossing, but after +riding half an hour and encountering nothing but hills and rock cliffs she +began to doubt. But she rode on for another half hour and then, slightly +disturbed over her inability to find the shallow, she halted the pony and +looked about her. + +The country was strange and unfamiliar and a sudden misgiving assailed +her. Had she lost her idea of direction? She looked up at the sun and saw +that it was slightly past the zenith on its downward path. She smiled. Of +course all she had to do was to follow the river and in time she would +come in sight of the Double R buildings. Certain that she had missed the +shallow because of her interest in other things, she urged her pony about +and cantered it slowly over the back trail. A little later, seeing an +arroyo which seemed to give promise of leading to the shallow she sought, +she descended it and found that it led to a flat and thence to the river. +The crossing seemed unfamiliar, and yet she supposed that one crossing +would do quite as well as another, and so she smiled and continued on +toward it. + +There was a fringe of shrubbery at the edge of what appeared to have once +been a swamp, though now it was dry and made fairly good footing for her +pony. The animal acted strangely, however, when she tried to urge it +through the fringing shrubbery, and she was compelled to use her quirt +vigorously. + +Once at the water's edge she halted the pony and viewed the crossing with +satisfaction. She decided that it was a much better crossing than the one +she had encountered on the trip out. It was very shallow, not over thirty +feet wide, she estimated, and through the clear water she could easily see +the hard, sandy bottom. It puzzled her slightly to observe that there were +no wagon tracks or hoof prints in the sand anywhere around her, as there +would be were the crossing used ever so little. It seemed to be an +isolated section of the country though, and perhaps the cattlemen used the +crossing little--there was even a chance that she was the first to +discover its existence. She must remember to ask someone about it when she +returned to the Double R. + +She urged the pony gently with her booted heel and voice, but the little +animal would not budge. Impatient over its obstinacy, she again applied +the quirt vigorously. Stung to desperation the pony stood erect for an +instant, pawing the air frantically with its fore hoofs, and then, as the +quirt continued to lash its flanks, it lunged forward, snorting in +apparent fright, made two or three eccentric leaps, splashing water high +over Sheila's head, and then came to a sudden stop in the middle of the +stream. + +Sheila nibbled at her lips in vexation. Again, convinced that the pony was +merely exhibiting obstinacy, she applied the quirt to its flanks. The +animal floundered and struggled, but did not move out of its tracks. + +Evidently something had gone wrong. Sheila peered over the pony's mane +into the water, which was still clear in spite of the pony's struggling, +and sat suddenly erect, stifling cry of amazement. The pony was mired +fast! Its legs, to a point just above the knees, had disappeared into the +river bottom! + +As she straightened, a chilling fear clutching at her heart, she felt the +cold water of the river splashing against her booted legs. And now +knowledge came to her in a sudden, sickening flood. She had ridden her +pony fairly into a bed of quicksand! + +For some minutes she sat motionless in the saddle, stunned and nerveless. +She saw now why there were no tracks or hoof prints leading down into the +crossing. She remembered now that Duncan had warned her of the presence of +quicksand in the river, but the chance of her riding into any of it had +seemed to be so remote that she had paid very little attention to Duncan's +warning. Much as she disliked the man she would have given much to have +him close at hand now. If he had only followed her! + +She was surprised at her coolness. She realized that the situation was +precarious, for though she had never before experienced a quicksand, she +had read much of them in books, and knew that the pony was hopelessly +mired. But it seemed that there could be no immediate danger, for the +river bottom looked smooth and hard; it was grayish-black, and she was so +certain that the footing was good that she pulled her feet out of the +stirrups, swung around, and stepped down into the water. + +She had stepped lightly, bearing only a little of her weight on the foot +while holding to the saddle, but the foot sank instantly into the sand and +the water darkened around it. She tried again in another spot, putting a +little more weight on her foot this time. She went in almost to the knee +and was surprised to find that she had to exert some little strength to +pull the foot out, there was so great a suction. + +With the discovery that she was really in a dangerous predicament came a +mental panic which threatened to take the form of hysteria. She held +tightly to the pommel of the saddle, shutting her eyes on the desolate +world around her, battling against the great fear that rose within her and +choked her. When she opened her eyes again the world was reeling and +objects around her were strangely blurred, but she held tightly to the +saddle, telling herself that she must retain her composure, and after a +time she regained the mastery over herself. + +With the return of her mental faculties she began to give some thought to +escape. But escape seemed to be impossible. Looking backward toward the +bank she had left, she saw that the pony must have come fifteen or twenty +feet in the two or three plunges it had made. She found herself wondering +how it could have succeeded in coming that distance. Behind her the water +had become perfectly clear, and the impressions left by the pony's hoofs +had filled up and the river bottom looked as smooth and inviting as it had +seemed when she had urged the pony into it. + +In front of her was a stretch of water of nearly the same width as that +which lay behind her. To the right and left the grayish-black sand spread +far, but only a short distance beyond where she could discern the sand +there were rocks that stuck above the water with little ripples around +them. + +The rocks were too far away to be of any assistance to her, however, and +her heart sank when she realized that her only hope of escape lay directly +ahead. + +She leaned over and laid her head against the pony's neck, smoothing and +patting its shoulders. The animal whinnied appealingly and she stifled a +sob of remorse over her action in forcing it into the treacherous sand, +for it had sensed the danger while obeying her blindly. + +How long she lay with her head against the pony's neck she did not know, +but when she finally sat erect again she found that the water was touching +the hem of her riding skirt and that her feet, dangling at each side of +the pony, were deep in the sand of the river bottom. With a cry of fright +she drew them out and crossed them before her on the pommel of the saddle. +With the movement the pony sank several inches, it seemed to her; she saw +the water suddenly flow over its back; heard it neigh loudly, appealingly, +with a note of anguish and terror which seemed almost human, and feeling a +sudden, responsive emotion of horror and despair, Sheila bowed her head +against the pony's mane and sobbed softly. + +They would both die, she knew--horribly. They would presently sink beneath +the surface of the sand, the water would flow over them and obliterate all +traces of their graves, and no one would ever know what had become of +them. + +Some time later--it might have been five minutes or an hour--Sheila could +not have told--she heard the pony neigh again, and this time it seemed +there was a new note in the sound--a note of hope! She raised her head and +looked up. And there on the bank before her, uncoiling his rope from the +saddle horn and looking very white and grim, was Dakota! + +Sheila sat motionless, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, finally +compromising with the appeal, uttered with all the composure at her +command: + +"Won't you please get us out of here?" + +"That's what I am aiming to do," he said, and never did a voice sound +sweeter in her ears; at that moment she almost forgave him for the great +crime he had committed against her. + +[Illustration: "WON'T YOU PLEASE GET US OUT OF THIS?"] + +He seemed not in the least excited, continuing to uncoil his rope and +recoil it again into larger loops. "Hold your hands over your head!" came +his command. + +She did as she was bidden. He had not dismounted from his pony, but had +ridden up to the very edge of the quicksand, and as she raised her hands +she saw him twirl the rope once, watched as it sailed out, settled down +around her waist, and was drawn tight. + +There was now a grim smile on his face. "You're in for a wetting," he +said. "I'm sorry--but it can't be helped. Get your feet off to one side so +that you won't get mixed up with the saddle. And keep your head above the +water." + +"Ye-s," she answered tremulously, dreading the ordeal, dreading still more +the thought of her appearance when she would finally reach the bank. + +His pony was in motion instantly, pulling strongly, following out its +custom of dragging a roped steer, and Sheila slipped off the saddle and +into the water, trying to keep her feet under her. But she overbalanced +and fell with a splash, and in this manner was dragged, gasping, +strangling, and dripping wet, to the bank. + +Dakota was off his pony long before she had reached the solid ground and +was at her side before she had cleared the water, helping her to her feet +and loosening the noose about her waist. + +"Don't, please!" she said frigidly, as his hand touched her. + +"Then I won't." He smiled and stepped back while she fumbled with the rope +and finally threw it off. "What made you try that shallow?" he asked. + +"I suppose I have a right to ride where I please?" He had saved her life, +of course, and she was very grateful to him, but that was no reason why he +should presume to speak familiarly to her. She really believed--in spite +of the obligation under which he had placed her--that she hated him more +than ever. + +But he did not seem to be at all disturbed over her manner. On the +contrary, looking at him and trying her best to be scornful, he seemed to +be laboring heroically to stifle some emotion--amusement, she decided--and +she tried to freeze him with an icy stare. + +"Now, you don't look dignified, for a fact," he grinned, brazenly allowing +his mirth to show in his eyes and in the sudden, curved lines that had +come around his mouth. "Still, you couldn't expect to look dignified, no +matter how hard you tried, after being dragged through the water like +that. Now could you?" + +"It isn't the first time that I have amused you!" she said with angry +sarcasm. + +A cloud passed over his face, but was instantly superseded by a smile. + +"So you haven't forgotten?" he said. + +She did not deign to answer, but turned her back to him and looked at her +partially submerged pony. + +"Want to try it again?" he said mockingly. + +She turned slowly and looked at him, her eyes flashing. + +"Will you please stop being silly!" she said coldly. "If you were human +you would be trying to get my pony out of that sand instead of standing +there and trying to be smart!" + +"Did you think that I was going to let him drown?" His smile had in it a +quality of subtle mockery which made her eyes blaze with anger. Evidently +he observed it for he smiled as he walked to his pony, coiling his rope +and hanging it from the pommel of the saddle. "I certainly am not going to +let your horse drown," he assured her, "for in this country horses are +sometimes more valuable than people." + +"Then why didn't you save the pony first?" she demanded hotly. + +"How could I," he returned, fixing her with an amused glance, "with you +looking so appealingly at me?" + +She turned abruptly and left him, walking to a flat rock and seating +herself upon it, wringing the water from her skirts, trying to get her +hair out of her eyes, feeling very miserable, and wishing devoutly that +Dakota might drown himself--after he had succeeded in pulling the pony +from the quicksand. + +But Dakota did not drown himself. Nor did he pull the pony out of the +quicksand. She watched him as he rode to the water's edge and looked at +the animal. Her heart sank when he turned and looked gravely at her. + +"I reckon your pony's done for, ma'am," he said. "There isn't anything of +him above the sand but his head and a little of his neck. He's too far +gone, ma'am. In half an hour he'll----" + +Sheila stood up, wet and excited. "Can't you do something?" she pleaded. +"Couldn't you pull him out with your lariat--like you did me?" + +There was a grim humor in his smile. "What do you reckon would have +happened to you if I had tried to pull you out by the neck?" he asked. + +"But can't you do _something_?" she pleaded, her icy attitude toward him +melting under the warmth of her affection and sympathy for the unfortunate +pony. "Please do something!" she begged. + +His face changed expression and he tapped one of his holsters +significantly. "There's only this left, I reckon. Pulling him out by the +neck would break it, sure. And it's never a nice thing to see--or hear--a +horse or a cow sinking in quicksand. I've seen it once or twice and----" + +Sheila shuddered and covered her face with her hands, for his words had +set her imagination to working. + +"Oh!" she said and became silent. + +Dakota stood for a moment, watching her, his face grim with sympathy. + +"It's too bad," he said finally. "I don't like to shoot him, any more than +you want to see it done. I reckon, though, that the pony would thank me +for doing it if he could have anything to say about it." He walked over +close to her, speaking in a low voice. "You can't stay here, of course. +You'll have to take my horse, and you'll have to go right now, if you +don't want to be around when the pony----" + +"Please don't," she said, interrupting him. He relapsed into silence, and +stood gravely watching her as she resumed her toilet. + +She disliked to accept his offer of the pony, but there seemed to be no +other way. She certainly could not walk to the Double R ranchhouse, even +to satisfy a desire to show him that she would not allow him to place her +under any obligation to him. + +"I've got to tell you one thing," he said presently, standing erect and +looking earnestly at her. "If Duncan is responsible for your safety in +this country he isn't showing very good judgment in letting you run around +alone. There are dangers that you know nothing about, and you don't know a +thing about the country. Someone ought to take care of you." + +"As you did, for example," she retorted, filled with anger over his +present solicitation for her welfare, as contrasted to his treatment of +her on another occasion. + +A slow red filled his cheeks. Evidently he did possess _some_ +self-respect, after all. Contrition, too, she thought she could detect in +his manner and in his voice. + +"But I didn't hurt you, anyway," he said, eyeing her steadily. + +"Not if you call ruining a woman's name not 'hurting' her," she answered +bitterly. + +"I am sorry for that, Miss Sheila," he said earnestly. "I had an idea that +night--and still have it, for that matter--that I was an instrument-- +Well, I had an idea, that's all. But I haven't told anybody about what +happened--I haven't even hinted it to anybody. And I told the parson to +get out of the country, so he wouldn't do any gassing about it. And I +haven't been over to Dry Bottom to have the marriage recorded--and I am +not going to go. So that you can have it set aside at any time." + +Yes, she could have the marriage annulled, she knew that. But the +contemplation of her release from the tie that bound her to him did not +lessen the gravity of the offense in her eyes. She told herself that she +hated him with a remorseless passion which would never cease until he +ceased to live. No action of his could repair the damage he had done to +her. She told him so, plainly. + +"I didn't know you were so blood-thirsty as that," he laughed in quiet +mockery. "Maybe it would be a good thing for you if I did die--or get +killed. But I'm not allowing that I'm ready to die yet, and certainly am +not going to let anybody kill me if I can prevent it. I reckon you're not +thinking of doing the killing yourself?" + +"If I told my father--" she began, but hesitated when she saw his lips +suddenly straighten and harden and his eyes light with a deep contempt. + +"So you haven't told your father?" he laughed. "I was sure you had taken +him into your confidence by this time. But I reckon it's a mighty good +thing that you didn't--for your father. Like as not if you'd tell him he'd +get some riled and come right over to see me, yearning for my blood. And +then I'd have to shoot him up some. And that would sure be too bad--you +loving him as you do." + +"I suppose you would shoot him like you shot that poor fellow in Lazette," +she taunted, bitterly. + +"Like I did that poor fellow in Lazette," he said, with broad, ironic +emphasis. "You saw me shoot Blanca, of course, for you were there. But you +don't know what made me shoot him, and I am not going to tell you--it's +none of your business." + +"Indeed!" Her voice was burdened with contempt. "I suppose you take a +certain pride in your ability to murder people." She placed a venomous +accent on the "Murder." + +"Lots of people ought to be murdered," he drawled, using the accent she +had used. + +Her contempt of him grew. "Then I presume you have others in mind--whom +you will shoot when the mood strikes you?" she said. + +"Perhaps." His smile was mysterious and mocking, and she saw in his eyes +the reckless gleam which she had noted that night while in the cabin with +him. She shuddered and walked to the pony--his pony. + +"If you have quite finished I believe I will be going," she said, holding +her chin high and averting her face. "I will have one of the men bring +your horse to you." + +"I believe I have quite finished," he returned, mimicking her cold, +precise manner of speech. + +She disdainfully refused his proffer of assistance and mounted the pony. +He stood watching her with a smile, which she saw by glancing covertly at +him while pretending to arrange the stirrup strap. When she started to +ride away without even glancing at him, she heard his voice, with its +absurd, hateful drawl: + +"And she didn't even thank me," he said with mock bitterness and +disappointment. + +She turned and made a grimace at him. He bowed and smiled. + +"You are entirely welcome," she said. + +He was standing on the edge of the quicksand, watching her, when she +reached the long rise upon which she had sat on her pony on a day some +weeks before, and when she turned he waved a hand to her. A little later +she vanished over the rise, and she had not ridden very far when she heard +the dull report of his pistol. She shivered, and rode on. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SHEILA FANS A FLAME + + +Sheila departed from the quicksand crossing nursing her wrath against the +man who had rescued her, feeling bitterly vindictive against him, yet +aware that the Dakota who had saved her life was not the Dakota whom she +had feared during her adventure with him in his cabin on the night of her +arrival in the country. He had changed, and though she assured herself +that she despised him more than ever, she found a grim amusement in the +recollection of his manner immediately following the rescue, and in a +review of the verbal battle, in which she had been badly worsted. + +His glances had had in them the quality of inward mirth and satisfaction +which is most irritating, and behind his pretended remorse she could see a +pleasure over her dilemma which made her yearn to inflict punishment upon +him that would cause him to ask for mercy. His demeanor had said plainly +that if she wished to have the marriage set aside all well and good--he +would offer no objection. But neither would he take the initiative. +Decidedly, it was a matter in which she should consult her own desires. + +It was late in the afternoon when she rode up to the Double R corral gates +and was met there by her father and Duncan. Langford had been worried, he +said, and was much concerned over her appearance. In the presence of +Duncan Sheila told him the story of her danger and subsequent rescue by +Dakota and she saw his eyes narrow with a strange light. + +"Dakota!" he said. "Isn't that the chap who shot that half-breed over in +Lazette the day I came?" + +To Sheila's nod he ejaculated: "He's a trump!" + +"He is a brute!" As the words escaped her lips--she had not meant to utter +them--Sheila caught a glint in Duncan's eyes which told her that she had +echoed the latter's sentiments, and she felt almost like retracting the +charge. She had to bite her lips to resist the impulse. + +"A brute, eh?" laughed Langford. "It strikes me that I wouldn't so +characterize a man who had saved my life. The chances are that after +saving you he didn't seem delighted enough, or he didn't smile to suit +you, or----" + +"He ain't so awful much of a man," remarked Duncan disparagingly. + +Langford turned and looked at Duncan with a comprehending smile. +"Evidently you owe Dakota nothing, my dear Duncan," he said. + +The latter's face darkened, and with Sheila listening he told the story of +the calf deal, which had indirectly brought about the death of Blanca. + +"For a long time we had suspected Texas Blanca of rustling," said Duncan, +"but we couldn't catch him with the goods. Five years ago, after the +spring round-up, I branded a bunch of calves with a secret mark, and then +we rode sign on Blanca. + +"We had him then, for the calves disappeared and some of the boys found +some of them in Blanca's corral, but we delayed, hoping he would run off +more, and while we were waiting he sold out to Dakota. We didn't know that +at the time; didn't find it out until we went over to take Blanca and +found Dakota living in his cabin. He had a bill of sale from Blanca all +right, showing that he'd bought the calves from him. It looked regular, +but we had our doubts, and Dakota and me came pretty near having a run-in. +If the boys hadn't interfered----" + +He hesitated and looked at Sheila, and as her gaze met his steadily his +eyes wavered and a slow red came into his face, for the recollection of +what had actually occurred at the meeting between him and Dakota was not +pleasant, and since that day Duncan had many times heard the word "Yellow" +spoken in connection with his name--which meant that he lacked courage. + +"So he wasn't a rustler, after all?" said Sheila pleasantly. For some +reason which she could not entirely explain, she suspected that Duncan had +left many things out of his story of his clash with Dakota. + +"Well, no," admitted Duncan grudgingly. + +Sheila was surprised at the satisfaction she felt over this admission. +Perhaps Duncan read her face as she had read his, for he frowned. + +"Him and Blanca framed up--making believe that Blanca had sold him the +Star brand," he said venomously. + +"I don't believe it!" Sheila's eyes met Duncan's and the latter's wavered. +She was not certain which gave her the thrill she felt--her defense of +Dakota or Duncan's bitter rage over the exhibition of that defense. + +"He doesn't appear to me to be the sort of man who would steal cows," she +said with a smile which made Duncan's teeth show. "Although," she +continued significantly, "it does seem that he is the sort of man I would +not care to trifle with--if I were a man. You told me yourself, if you +remember, that you were not taking any chances with him. And now you +accuse him. If I were you," she warned, "I would be more careful--I would +keep from saying things which I could not prove." + +"Meaning that I'm afraid of him, I reckon?" sneered Duncan. + +Sheila looked at him, her eyes alight with mischief. That day on the edge +of the butte overlooking the river, when Duncan had talked about Dakota, +she had detected in his manner an inclination to belittle the latter; +several times since then she had heard him speak venomously of him, and +she had suspected that all was not smooth between them. And now since +Duncan had related the story of the calf incident she was certain that the +relations between the two men were strained to the point of open rupture. +Duncan had bothered her, had annoyed her with his attentions, had adopted +toward her an air of easy familiarity, which she had deeply resented, and +she yearned to humiliate him deeply. + +"Afraid?" She appeared to hesitate. "Well, no," she said, surveying him +with an appraising eye in which the mischief was partly concealed, "I do +not believe that you are afraid. Perhaps you are merely careful where he +is concerned. But I am certain that even if you were afraid of him you +would not refuse to take his pony back. I promised to send it back, you +know." + +A deep red suddenly suffused Duncan's face. A sharp, savage gleam in his +eyes--which Sheila met with a disarming smile--convinced her that he was +aware of her object. She saw also that he did not intend to allow her to +force him to perform the service. + +He bowed and regarded her with a shallow smile. + +"I will have one of the boys take the pony over to him the first thing in +the morning," he said. + +Sheila smiled sweetly. "Please don't bother," she said. "I wouldn't think +of allowing one of the men to take the pony back. Perhaps I shall decide +to ride over that way myself. I should not care to have you meet Dakota if +you are afraid of him." + +Her rippling laugh caused the red in Duncan's face to deepen, but she gave +him no time to reply, for directly she had spoken she turned and walked +toward the ranchhouse. Both Duncan and Langford watched her until she had +vanished, and then Langford turned to Duncan. + +"What on earth have you done to her?" he questioned. + +But Duncan was savagely pulling the saddle from Dakota's pony and did not +answer. + +Sheila really had no expectation of prevailing upon Duncan to return +Dakota's horse, and had she anticipated that the manager would accept her +challenge she would not have given it, for after thinking over the +incident of her rescue she had come to the conclusion that she had not +treated Dakota fairly, and by personally taking his horse to him she would +have an opportunity to proffer her tardy thanks for his service. She did +not revert to the subject of the animal's return during the evening meal, +however, nor after it when she and her father and Duncan sat on the +gallery of the ranchhouse enjoying the cool of the night breezes. + +After breakfast on the following morning she was standing near the +windmill, watching the long arms travel lazily in their wide circles, when +she saw Duncan riding away from the ranchhouse, leading Dakota's pony. She +started toward the corral gates, intending to call to him to return, but +thought better of the impulse and hailed him tauntingly instead: + +"Please tell him to accept my thanks," she said, and Duncan turned his +head, bowed mockingly, and continued on his way. + +Half an hour after the departure of Duncan Sheila pressed a loafing +puncher into service and directed him to rope a gentle pony for her. After +the puncher had secured a suitable appearing animal and had placed a +saddle and bridle on it, she compelled him to ride it several times around +the confines of the pasture to make certain that it would not "buck." Then +she mounted and rode up the river. + +Duncan was not particularly pleased over his errand, and many times while +he rode the trail toward Dakota's cabin his lips moved from his teeth in a +snarl. Following the incident of the theft of the calves by Blanca, Duncan +had taken pains to insinuate publicly that Dakota's purchase of the Star +from the half-breed had been a clever ruse to avert suspicion, intimating +that a partnership existed between Dakota and Blanca. The shooting of +Blanca by Dakota, however, had exploded this charge, and until now Duncan +had been very careful to avoid a meeting with the man whom he had +maligned. + +During the night he had given much thought to the circumstance which was +sending him to meet his enemy. He had a suspicion that Sheila had +purposely taunted him with cowardice--that in all probability Dakota +himself had suggested the plan in order to force a meeting with him. This +thought suggested another. Sheila's defense of Dakota seemed to indicate +that a certain intimacy existed between them. He considered this +carefully, and with a throb of jealously concluded that Dakota's action in +saving Sheila's life would very likely pave the way for a closer +acquaintance. + +Certainly, in spite of Sheila's remark about Dakota being a "brute," she +had betrayed evidence of admiration for the man. In that case her veiled +allusions to his own fear of meeting Dakota were very likely founded on +something which Dakota had told her, and certainly anything which Dakota +might have said about him would not be complimentary. Therefore his rage +against both Sheila and his enemy was bitter when he finally rode up to +the door of the latter's cabin. + +There was hope in his heart that Dakota might prove to be absent, and +when, after calling once and receiving no answer, he dismounted and +hitched Dakota's pony to a rail of the corral fence, there was a smile of +satisfaction on his face. + +He took plenty of time to hitch the pony; he even lingered at the corral +bars, leaning on them to watch several steers which were inside the +enclosure. He found time, too, in spite of his fear of his enemy, to sneer +over the evidences of prosperity which were on every hand. He was +congratulating himself on his good fortune in reaching Dakota's cabin +during a time when the latter was absent, when he heard a slight sound +behind him. He turned rapidly, to see Dakota standing in the doorway of +the cabin, watching him with cold, level eyes, one of his heavy +six-shooters in hand. + +Duncan's face went slowly pale. He did not speak at once and when he did +he was surprised at his hoarseness. + +"I've brought your cayuse back," he said finally. + +"So I see," returned Dakota. His eyes glinted with a cold humor, though +they were still regarding Duncan with an alertness which the other could +not mistake. + +"So I see," repeated Dakota. His slow drawl was in evidence again. "I +don't recollect, though, that I sent word to have _you_ bring him back." + +"I wasn't tickled to death over the job," returned Duncan. + +Now that his first surprise was over and Dakota had betrayed no sign of +resenting his visit, Duncan felt easier. There had been a slight sneer in +his voice when he answered. + +"That isn't surprising," returned Dakota. "There never was a time when you +were tickled a heap to stick your nose into my affairs." His smile froze +Duncan. + +"I ain't looking for trouble," said the latter, with a perfect knowledge +of Dakota's peculiar expression. + +"Then why did you come over here? I reckon there wasn't anyone else to +send my horse over by?" said Dakota, his voice coming with a truculent +snap. + +Duncan flushed. "Sheila Langford sent me," he admitted reluctantly. + +Dakota's eyes lighted with incredulity. "I reckon you're a liar," he said +with cold emphasis. + +Duncan's gaze went to the pistol in Dakota's hand and his lips curled. He +knew that he was perfectly safe so long as he made no hostile move, for in +spite of his derogatory remarks about the man he was aware that he never +used his weapons without provocation. + +Therefore he forced a smile. "You ain't running no Blanca deal on me," he +said. "Calling me a liar ain't going to get no rise out of me. But she +sent me, just the same. I reckon, liking you as I do, that I ought to be +glad she gave me the chance to come over and see you, but I ain't. We was +gassing about you and she told me I was scared to bring your cayuse back." +He laughed mirthlessly. "I reckon I've proved that I ain't any scared." + +"No," said Dakota with a cold grin, "you ain't scared. You know that there +won't be any shooting done unless you get careless with that gun you +carry." His eyes were filled with a whimsical humor, but they were still +alert, as he watched Duncan's face for signs of insincerity. He saw no +such signs and his expression became mocking. "So she sent you over here?" +he said, and his was the voice of one enemy enjoying some subtle advantage +over another. "Why, I reckon you're a kind of handy man to have +around--sort of ladies' man--running errands and such." + +Duncan's face bloated with anger, but he dared not show open resentment. +For behind Dakota's soft voice and gentle, over-polite manner, he felt the +deep rancor for whose existence he alone was responsible. So, trying to +hold his passions in check, he grinned at Dakota, significantly, +insinuatingly, unable finally to keep the bitter hatred and jealousy out +of his voice. For in the evilness of his mind he had drawn many imaginary +pictures of what had occurred between Dakota and Sheila immediately after +her rescue by the latter. + +"I reckon," he said hoarsely, "that you take a heap of interest in +Sheila." + +"That's part of your business, I suppose?" Dakota's voice was suddenly +hard. + +Duncan had decided to steer carefully away from any trouble with Dakota; +he had even decided that as a measure for his own safety he must say +nothing which would be likely to arouse Dakota's anger, but the jealous +thoughts in his mind had finally gotten the better of prudence, and the +menace in Dakota's voice angered him. + +"I reckon," he said with a sneer, "that I ain't as much interested in her +as you are." + +He started back, his lips tightening over his teeth in a snarl of alarm +and fear, for Dakota had stepped down from the doorway and was at his +side, his eyes narrowed with cold wrath. + +"Meaning what?" he demanded harshly, sharply, for he imagined that perhaps +Sheila had told of her marriage to him, and the thought that Duncan should +have been selected by her to share the secret maddened him. + +"Meaning what, you damned coyote?" he insisted, stepping closer to +Duncan. + +"Meaning that she ain't admiring you for nothing," flared Duncan +incautiously, his jealously overcoming his better judgment. "Meaning that +any woman which has been pulled out of a quicksand like you pulled her out +might be expected to favor you with----" + +The sunlight flashed on Dakota's pistol as it leaped from his right hand +to his left and was bolstered with a jerk. And with the same motion his +clenched fist was jammed with savage force against Duncan's lips, cutting +short the slanderous words and sending him in a heap to the dust of the +corral yard. + +With a cry of rage Duncan grasped for his pistol and drew it out, but the +hand holding it was stamped violently into the earth, the arm bent and +twisted until the fingers released the weapon. And then Dakota stood over +him, looking down at him with narrowed, chilling eyes, his face white and +hard, his anger gone as quickly as it had come. He said no word while +Duncan clambered awkwardly to his feet and mounted his horse. + +[Illustration: DUNCAN GRASPED FOR HIS PISTOL, BUT THE HAND HOLDING +IT WAS STAMPED VIOLENTLY INTO THE EARTH.] + +"I'm telling you something," he said quietly, as Duncan lifted the reins +with his uninjured hand, turning his horse to depart. "You and me have +never hitched very well and there isn't any chance of us ever falling on +each other's necks. I think what I've done to you about squares us for +that calf deal. I've been yearning to hand you something before you left +the country, but I didn't expect you'd give me the chance in just this +way. I'm warning you that the next time you shove your coyote nose into my +business I'll muss it up some. That applies to Miss Sheila. If I ever hear +of you getting her name on your dirty tongue again I'll tear you apart. I +reckon that's all." He drew his pistol and balanced it in his right hand. +"It makes me feel some reckless to be talking to you," he added, a glint +of intolerance in his eyes. "You'd better travel before I change my mind. + +"You don't need to mention this to Miss Sheila," he said mockingly, as +Duncan urged his horse away from the corral gate; "just let her go +on--thinking you're a man." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +STRICTLY BUSINESS + + +For two or three quiet weeks Sheila did not see much of Duncan, and her +father bothered her very little. Several nights on the gallery of the +ranchhouse she had seen the two men sitting very close together, and on +one or two occasions she had overheard scraps of conversation carried on +between them in which Doubler's name was mentioned. + +She remembered Doubler as one of the nesters whom Duncan had mentioned +that day on the butte overlooking the river, and though her father and +Duncan had a perfect right to discuss him, it seemed to Sheila that there +had been a serious note in their voices when they had mentioned his name. + +She had become acquainted with Doubler. Since discontinuing her rides with +her father and Duncan she had gone out every day alone, though she was +careful to avoid any crossing in the river which looked the least +suspicious. Such crossings as she could ford were few, and for that reason +she was forced to ride most of the time to the Two Forks, where there was +an excellent shallow, with long slopes sweeping up to the plains on both +sides. + +The first time that she crossed at the Two Forks she had come upon a small +adobe cabin situated a few hundred yards back from the water's edge. + +Sheila would have fled from the vicinity, for there was still fresh in her +mind a recollection of another cabin in which she had once passed many +fearsome hours, but while she hesitated, on the verge of flight, Doubler +came to the door, and when she saw that he was an old man with a kindly +face, much of her perturbation vanished, and she remained to talk. + +Doubler was hospitable and solicitous and supplied her with some soda +biscuit and fresh beef and a tin cup full of delicious coffee. She refused +to enter the cabin, and so he brought the food out to her and sat on the +step beside her while she ate, betraying much interest in her. + +Doubler asked no questions regarding her identity, and Sheila marveled +much over this. But when she prepared to depart she understood why he had +betrayed no curiosity concerning her. + +"I reckon you're that Langford girl?" he said. + +"Yes," returned Sheila, wondering. "I am Sheila Langford. But who told +you? I was not aware that anyone around here knew me--except the people at +the Double R." + +"Dakota told me." + +"Oh!" A chill came into her voice which instantly attracted Doubler's +attention. He looked at her with an odd smile. + +"You know Dakota?" + +"I have met him." + +"You don't like him, I reckon?" + +"No." + +"Well, now," commented Doubler, "I reckon I've got things mixed. But from +Dakota's talk I took it that you an' him was pretty thick." + +"His talk?" Sheila remembered Dakota's statement that he had told no one +of their relations. So he _had_ been talking, after all! She was not +surprised, but she was undeniably angry and embarrassed to think that +perhaps all the time she had been talking to Doubler he might have been +appraising her on the basis of her adventure with Dakota. + +"What has he been saying?" she demanded coldly. + +"Nothing, ma'am. That is, nothin' which any man wouldn't say about you, +once he'd seen you an' talked some to you." Doubler surveyed her with +sparkling, appreciative eyes. + +"As a rule it don't pay to go to gossipin' with anyone--least of all with +a woman. But I reckon I can tell you what he said, ma'am, without you +gettin' awful mad. He didn't say nothin' except that he'd taken an awful +shine to you. An' he'd likely make things mighty unpleasant for me if he'd +find that I'd told you that." + +"Shine?" There was a world of scornful wonder in Sheila's voice. "Would +you mind telling me what 'taking a shine' to anyone means?" + +"Why, no, I reckon I don't mind, ma'am, seein' that it's you. 'Takin' a +shine' to you means that he's some stuck on you--likes you, that is. An' I +reckon you can't blame him much for doin' that." + +Sheila did not answer, though a sudden flood of red to her face made the +use of mere words entirely unnecessary so far as Doubler was concerned, +for he smiled wisely. + +Sheila fled down the trail toward the crossing without a parting word to +Doubler, leaving him standing at the door squinting with amusement at her. +But on the morrow she had returned, determined to discover something of +Dakota, to learn something of his history since coming into the country, +or at the least to see if she could not induce Doubler to disclose his +real name. + +She was unsuccessful. Dakota had never taken Doubler into his confidence, +and the information that she succeeded in worming from the nester was not +more than he had already volunteered, or than Duncan had given her that +day when they were seated on the edge of the butte overlooking the river. + +She was convinced that Doubler had told her all he knew, and she wondered +at the custom which permitted friendship on the basis of such meager +knowledge. + +She quickly grew to like Doubler. He showed a fatherly interest in her and +always greeted her with a smile when during her rides she came to his +cabin, or when she met him, as she did frequently, on the open range. His +manner toward her was always cordial, and he seemed not to have a care. +One morning, however, she rode up to the door of the cabin and Doubler's +face was serious. He stood quietly in the doorway, watching her as she sat +on her pony, not offering to assist her down as he usually did, and she +knew instantly that something had happened to disturb his peace of mind. +He did not invite her into the cabin. + +"Ma'am," he said, and Sheila detected regret in his voice, "I'm a heap +sorry, but of course you won't be comin' here any more." + +"I don't see why!" returned Sheila in surprise. "I like to come here. But, +of course, if you don't want me----" + +"It ain't that," he interrupted quickly. "I thought you knowed. But you +don't, of course, or you wouldn't have come just now. Your dad an' Duncan +was over to see me yesterday." + +"I didn't know that," returned Sheila. "But I can't see why a visit from +father should----" + +"He's wantin' me to pull my freight out of the country," said Doubler "An' +of course I ain't doin' it. Therefore I'm severin' diplomatic relations +with your family." + +"I don't see why----" began Sheila, puzzled to understand why a mere visit +on her father's part should have the result Doubler had announced. + +"Of course you don't," Doubler told her. "You're a woman an' don't +understand such things. But in this country when a little owner has got +some land which a big owner wants--an' can't buy--there's likely to be +trouble. I ain't proved on my land yet, an' if your dad can run me off +he'll be pretty apt to grab it somehow or other. But he ain't runnin' me +off an' so there's a heap of trouble comin'. An' of course while there's +trouble you won't be comin' here any more after this. Likely your dad +wouldn't have it. I'm sorry, too. I like you a lot." + +"I don't see why father should want your land," Sheila told him gravely, +much disturbed at this unexpected development. "There is plenty of land +here." She swept a hand toward the plains. + +"There ain't enough for some people," grimly laughed Doubler. "Some people +is hawgs--askin' your pardon, ma'am. I wasn't expectin' your father to be +like that, after seein' you. I was hopin' that we'd be able to get along. +I've had some trouble with Duncan--not very long ago. Once I had to speak +pretty plain to him. I expect he's been fillin' your dad up." + +"I'll see father about it." Sheila's face was red with a pained +embarrassment. "I am sure that father will not make any trouble for +you--he isn't that kind of man." + +"He's that kind of a man, sure enough," said Doubler gravely. "I reckon +I've got him sized up right. He ain't in no way like you, ma'am. If you +hadn't told me I reckon I wouldn't have knowed he is your father." + +"He is my stepfather," admitted Sheila. + +"I knowed it!" declared Doubler. "I'm too old to be fooled by what I see +in a man's face--or in a woman's face either. Don't you go to say anything +about this business to him. He's bound to try to run me off. He done said +so. I don't know when I ever heard a man talk any meaner than he did. Said +that if I didn't sell he'd make things mighty unpleasant for me. An' so I +reckon there's goin' to be some fun." + +Sheila did not remain long at Doubler's cabin, for her mind was in a riot +of rage and resentment against her father for his attitude toward Doubler, +and she cut short her ride in the hope of being able to have a talk with +him before he left the ranchhouse. But when she returned she was told by +Duncan's sister that Langford had departed some hours before--alone. He +had not mentioned his destination. + + * * * * * + +Ben Doubler had omitted an important detail from his story of Langford's +visit to his cabin, for he had not cared to frighten Sheila unnecessarily. +But as Langford rode toward Doubler's cabin this morning his thoughts +persisted in dwelling on Doubler's final words to him, spoken as he and +Duncan had turned their horses to leave the nester's cabin the day +before: + +"If it's goin' to be war, Langford, it ain't goin' to be no pussy-kitten +affair. I'm warnin' you to stay away from the Two Forks. If I ketch you or +any of your men nosin' around there I'm goin' to bore you some rapid." + +Langford had sneered then, and he sneered now as he rode toward the river, +for he had no doubt that Doubler had uttered the threat in a spirit of +bravado. Of course, he told himself as he rode, the man was forced to say +something, but the idea of him being serious in the threat to shoot any +one who came to the Two Forks was ridiculous. + +All his life Langford had heard threats from the lips of his victims, and +thus far they had remained only threats. He had determined to see Doubler +this morning, for he had noticed that the nester had appeared ill at ease +in the presence of Duncan, and he anticipated that alone he could force +him to accept terms. When he reached the crossing at Two Forks he urged +his pony through its waters, his face wearing a confident smile. + +There was an open stretch of grass land between the crossing and Doubler's +cabin, and when Langford urged his pony up the sloping bank of the river +he saw the nester standing near the door of the cabin, watching. Langford +was about to force his pony to a faster pace, when he saw Doubler raise a +rifle to his shoulder. Still, he continued to ride forward, but he pulled +the pony up shortly when he saw the flame spurt from the muzzle of the +rifle and heard the shrill hiss of the bullet as it passed dangerously +near to him. + +No words were needed, and neither man spoke any. Without stopping to give +Doubler an opportunity to speak, Langford wheeled his pony, and with a +white, scared face, bending low over the animal's mane to escape any +bullets which might follow the first, rapidly recrossed the river. Once on +the crest of the hill on the opposite side he turned, and trembling with +rage and fear, shook a clenched hand at Doubler. The latter's reply was a +strident laugh. + +Langford returned to the ranchouse, riding slowly, though in his heart was +a riot of rage and hatred against the nester. It was war, to be sure. But +now that Doubler had shown in no unmistakable manner that he had not been +trifling the day before, Langford was no longer in doubt as to the method +he would have to employ in his attempt to gain possession of his land. +Doubler, he felt, had made the choice. + +The ride to the ranchhouse took long, but by the time Langford arrived +there he had regained his composure, saying nothing to anyone concerning +his adventure. + +For three days he kept his own counsel, riding out alone, taciturn, giving +much thought to the situation. Sheila had intended to speak to him +regarding the trouble with Doubler, but his manner repulsed her and she +kept silent, hoping that the mood would pass. However, the mood did not +pass. Langford continued to ride out alone, maintaining a moody silence, +sitting alone much with his own thoughts and allowing no one to break down +the barrier of taciturnity which he had erected. + +On the morning of the fifth day after his adventure with Doubler he was +sitting on the ranchhouse gallery with Duncan, enjoying an after-breakfast +cigar, when he said casually to the latter: + +"I take it that folks in this country are mighty careless with their +weapons." + +Duncan grinned. "You might call it careless," he returned. "No doubt there +are people--people who come out here from the East--who think that a man +who carries a gun out here is careless with it. But I reckon that when a +man draws a gun here he draws it with a pretty definite purpose." + +"I have heard," continued Langford slowly, "that there are men in this +country who do not hesitate to kill other people for money." + +"Meaning that there are road agents and such?" questioned Duncan. + +"Naturally, that particular kind would be included. I meant, however +another kind--I believe they are called 'bad men,' are they not? Men who +kill for hire?" + +Duncan cast a furtive glance at Langford out of the corners of his eyes, +but could draw no conclusions concerning the latter's motive in asking the +question from the expression of his face. + +"Such men drift in occasionally," he returned, convinced that Langford's +curiosity was merely casual--as Langford desired him to consider it. +"Usually, though, they don't stay long." + +"I suppose there are none of that breed around here--in Lazette, for +instance. It struck me that Dakota was extraordinarily handy with a gun." + +He puffed long at his cigar and saw that, though Duncan did not answer, +his face had grown suddenly dark with passion, as it always did when +Dakota's name was mentioned. Langford smiled subtly. "I suppose," he said, +"that Dakota might be called a bad man." + +Duncan's eyes flashed with venom. "I reckon Dakota's nothing but a damned +sneak!" he said, not being able to conceal the bitterness in his voice. + +Langford did not allow his smile to be seen; he had not forgotten the +incident of the returning of Dakota's horse by Duncan. + +"He's a dead shot, though," he suggested. + +"I'm allowing that," grudgingly returned Duncan. "And," he added, "it's +been hinted that all his shooting scrapes haven't been on the level." + +"He is not straight, then?" said Langford, his eyes gleaming. "Not +'square,' as you say in this country?" + +"I reckon there ain't nothing square about him," returned Duncan, glad of +an opportunity to defame his enemy. + +Again Langford did not allow Duncan to see his smile, and he deftly +directed the current of the conversation into other channels. + +He rode out again that day, taking the river trail and passing Dakota's +cabin, but Dakota himself was nowhere to be seen and at dusk Langford +returned to the Double R. During the evening meal he enveloped himself +with a silence which proved impenetrable. He retired early, to Duncan's +surprise, and the next morning, without announcing his plans to anyone, +saddled his pony and rode away toward the river trail. + +He took a circuitous route to reach it, riding slowly, with the air and +manner of a man who is thinking deep thoughts, smiling much, though many +times grimly. + +"Dakota isn't square," he said once aloud during one of his grim smiles. + +When he came to the quicksand crossing he halted and examined the earth in +the vicinity, smiling more broadly at the marks and hoof prints in the +hard sand near the water's edge. Then he rode on. + +Two or three miles from the quicksand crossing he came suddenly upon +Dakota's cabin. Dakota himself was repairing a saddle in the shade of the +cabin wall, and for all that Langford could see he was entirely unaware of +his approach. He saw Dakota look up when he passed the corral gate, and +when he reached a point about twenty feet distant he observed a faint +smile on Dakota's face. + +"Howdy, stranger," came the latter's voice. + +"How are you, my friend?" greeted Langford easily. + +It was not hard for Langford to adopt an air of familiarity toward the man +who had figured prominently in his thoughts during a great many of the +previous twenty-four hours. He dismounted from his pony, hitched the +animal to a rail of the corral fence, and approached Dakota, standing in +front of him and looking down at him with a smile. + +Dakota apparently took little interest in his visitor, for keeping his +seat on the box upon which he had been sitting when Langford had first +caught sight of him, he continued to give his attention to the saddle. + +"I'm from the Double R," offered Langford, feeling slightly less +important, conscious that somehow the familiarity that he had felt existed +between them a moment before was a singularly fleeting thing. + +"I noticed that," responded Dakota, still busy with his saddle. + +"How?" + +"I reckon that you've forgot that your horse has got a brand on him?" + +"You've got keen eyes, my friend," laughed Langford. + +"Have I?" Dakota had not looked at Langford until now, and as he spoke he +raised his head and gazed fairly into the latter's eyes. + +For a moment neither man moved or spoke. It seemed to Langford, as he +gazed into the steely, fathomless blue of the eyes which held his--held +them, for now as he looked it was the first time in his life that his gaze +had met a fellow being's steadily--that he could see there an +unmistakable, grim mockery. And that was all, for whatever other emotions +Dakota felt, they were invisible to Langford. He drew a deep breath, +suddenly aware that before him was a man exactly like himself in one +respect--skilled in the art of keeping his emotions to himself. Langford +had not met many such men; usually he was able to see clear through a +man--able to read him. But this man he could not read. He was puzzled and +embarrassed over the discovery. His gaze finally wavered; he looked away. + +"A man don't have to have such terribly keen eyes to be able to see a +brand," observed Dakota, drawling; "especially when he's passed a whole +lot of his time looking at brands." + +"That's so," agreed Langford. "I suppose you have been a cowboy a long +time." + +"Longer than you've been a ranch owner." + +Langford looked quickly at Dakota, for now the latter was again busy with +his saddle, but he could detect no sarcasm in his face, though plainly +there had been a subtle quality of it in his voice. + +"Then you know me?" he said. + +"No. I don't know you. I've put two and two together. I heard that Duncan +was selling the Double R. I've seen your daughter. And you ride up here on +a Double R horse. There ain't no other strangers in the country. Then, of +course, you're the new owner of the Double R." + +Langford looked again at the inscrutable face of the man beside him and +felt a sudden deep respect for him. Even if he had not witnessed the +killing of Texas Blanca that day in Lazette he would have known the man +before him for what he was--a quiet, cool, self-possessed man of much +experience, who could not be trifled with. + +"That's right," he admitted; "I am the new owner of the Double R. And I +have come, my friend, to thank you for what you did for my daughter." + +"She told you, then?" Dakota's gaze was again on Langford, an odd light in +his eyes. + +"Certainly." + +"She's told you what?" + +"How you rescued her from the quicksand." + +Dakota's gaze was still on his visitor, quiet, intent. "She tell you +anything else?" he questioned slowly. + +"Why, what else is there to tell?" There was sincere curiosity in +Langford's voice, for Sheila had always told him everything that happened +to her. It was not like her to keep anything secret from him. + +"Did she tell you that she forgot to thank me for saving her?" There was a +queer smile on Dakota's lips, a peculiar, pleased glint in his eyes. + +"No, she neglected to relate that," returned Langford. + +"Forgot it. That's what I thought. Do you think she forgot it +intentionally?" + +"It wouldn't be like her." + +"Of course not. And so she's sent _you_ over to thank me! Tell her no +thanks are due. And if she inquires, tell her that the pony didn't make a +sound or a struggle when I shot him." + +"As it happens, she didn't send me," smiled Langford. "There was the +excitement, of course, and I presume she forgot to thank you--possibly +will ride over herself some day to thank you personally. But she didn't +send me--I came without her knowledge." + +"To thank me--for her?" + +"No." + +"You're visiting then. Or maybe just riding around to look at your range. +Sit down." He motioned to another box that stood near the door of the +cabin. + +Once Langford became seated Dakota again busied himself with the saddle, +ignoring his visitor. Langford shifted uneasily on the box, for the seat +was not to his liking and the attitude of his host was most peculiar. He +fell silent also and kicked gravely and absently into a hummock with the +toe of his boot. + +Singularly enough, a plan which had taken form in his mind since Doubler +had shot at him seemed suddenly to have many defects, though until now it +had seemed complete enough. Out of the jumble of thoughts that had rioted +in his brain after his departure from Two Forks crossing had risen a +conviction. Doubler was a danger and a menace and must be removed. And +there was no legal way to remove him, for though he had not proved on his +land he was entitled to it to the limit set by the law, or until his +death. + +Langford's purpose in questioning Duncan had been to learn of the presence +of someone in the country who would not be averse to removing Doubler. The +possibility of disposing of the nester in this manner had been before him +ever since he had learned of his presence on the Two Forks. He had not +been surprised when Duncan had mentioned Dakota as being a probable tool, +for he had thought over the occurrence of the shooting in Lazette many +times, and had been much impressed with Dakota's coolness and his satanic +cleverness with a six-shooter, and it seemed that it would be a simple +matter to arrange with him for the removal of Doubler. Yes, it had seemed +simple enough when he had planned it, and when Duncan had told him that +Dakota was not on the "square." + +But now, looking covertly at the man, he found that he was not quite +certain in spite of what Duncan had said. He had mentally worked out his +plan of approaching Dakota many times. But now the defect in the plan +seemed to be that he had misjudged his man--that Duncan had misjudged him. +Plainly he would make a mistake were he to approach Dakota with a bold +request for the removing of the nester--he must clothe it. Thus, after a +long silence, he started obliquely. + +"My friend," he said, "it must be lonesome out here for you." + +"Not so lonesome." + +"It's a big country, though--lots of land. There seems to be no end to +it." + +"That's right, there's plenty of it. I reckon the Lord wasn't in a stingy +mood when he made it." + +"Yet there seem to be restrictions even here." + +"Restrictions?" + +"Yes," laughed Langford; "restrictions on a man's desires." + +Dakota looked at him with a saturnine smile. "Restrictions on a man's +desires," he repeated slowly. Then he laughed mirthlessly. "Some people +wouldn't be satisfied if they owned the whole earth. They'd be wanting the +sun, moon, and stars thrown in for good measure." + +Langford laughed again. "That's human nature, my friend," he contended, +determined not to be forced to digress from the main subject. "Have you +got everything you want? Isn't there anything besides what you already +have that appeals to you? Have you no ambition?" + +"There are plenty of things I want. Maybe I'd be modest, though, if I had +ambition. We all want a lot of things which we can't get." + +"Correct, my friend. Some of us want money, others desire happiness, still +others are after something else. As you say, some of use are never +satisfied--the ambitious ones." + +"Then you are ambitious?" + +"You've struck it," smiled Langford. + +Dakota caught his gaze, and there was a smile of derision on his lips. +"What particular thing are _you_ looking for?" he questioned. + +"Land." + +"Mine?" Dakota's lips curled a little. "Doubler's, then," he added as +Langford shook his head with an emphatic, negative motion. "He's the only +man who's got land near yours." + +"That's correct," admitted Langford; "I want Doubler's land." + +There was a silence for a few minutes, while Langford watched Dakota +furtively as the latter gave his entire attention to his saddle. + +"You've got all the rest of those things you spoke about, then--happiness, +money, and such?" said Dakota presently, in a low voice. + +"Yes. I am pretty well off there." + +"All you want is Doubler's land?" He stopped working with the saddle and +looked at Langford. "I reckon, if you've got all those things, that you +ought to be satisfied. But of course you ain't satisfied, or you wouldn't +want Doubler's land. Did you offer to buy it?" + +"I asked him to name his own figure, and he wouldn't sell--wouldn't even +consider selling, though I offered him what I considered a fair price." + +"That's odd, isn't it? You'd naturally think that money could buy +everything. But maybe Doubler has found happiness on his land. You +couldn't buy that from a man, you know. I suppose you care a lot about +Doubler's happiness--you wouldn't want to take his land if you knew he was +happy on it? Or don't it make any difference to you?" There was faint +sarcasm in his voice. + +"As it happens," said Langford, reddening a little, "this isn't a question +of happiness--it is merely business. Doubler's land adjoins mine. I want +to extend my holdings. I can't extend in Doubler's direction because +Doubler controls the water rights. Therefore it is my business to see that +Doubler gets out." + +"And sentiment has got no place in business. That right? It doesn't make +any difference to you that Doubler doesn't want to sell; you want his +land, and that settles it--so far as you are concerned. You don't consider +Doubler's feelings. Well, I don't know but that's the way things are +run--one man keeps what he can and another gets what he is able to get. +What are you figuring to do about Doubler?" + +Langford glanced at Dakota with an oily, significant smile. "I am new to +the country, my friend," he said. "I don't know anything about the usual +custom employed to force a man to give up his land. Could you suggest +anything?" + +Dakota deliberately took up a wax-end, rolled it, and squinted his eyes as +he forced the end of the thread through the eye of the needle which he +held in the other hand. So far as Langford could see he exhibited no +emotion whatever; his face was inscrutable; he might not have heard. + +Yet Langford knew that he had heard; was certain that he grasped the full +meaning of the question; probably felt some emotion over it, and was +masking it by appearing to busy himself with the saddle. Langford's +respect for him grew and he wisely kept silent, knowing that in time +Dakota would answer. But when the answer did come it was not the one that +Langford expected. Dakota's eyes met his in a level gaze. + +"Why don't you shoot him yourself?" he said, drawling his words a little. + +"Not taking any chances?" Dakota's voice was filled with a cold sarcasm as +he continued, after an interval during which Langford kept a discreetly +still tongue. "Your business principles don't take you quite that far, eh? +And so you've come over to get me to shoot him? Why didn't you say so in +the beginning--it would have saved all this time." He laughed coldly. + +"What makes you think that you could hire me to put Doubler out of +business?" + +"I saw you shoot Blanca," said Langford. "And I sounded Duncan." It did +not disturb him to discover that Dakota had all along been aware of the +object of his visit. It rather pleased him, in fact, to be given proof of +the man's discernment--it showed that he was deep and clever. + +"You saw me shoot Blanca," said Dakota with a strange smile, "and Duncan +told you I was the man to put Doubler away. Those are my recommendations." +His voice was slightly ironical, almost concealing a slight harshness. +"Did Duncan mention that he was a friend of mine?" he asked. "No?" His +smile grew mocking. "Just merely mentioned that I was uncommonly clever in +the art of getting people--undesirable people--out of the way. Don't get +the idea, though, because Duncan told you, that I make a business of +shooting folks. I put Blanca out of the way because it was a question of +him or me--I shot him to save my own hide. Shooting Doubler would be quite +another proposition. Still----" He looked at Langford, his eyes narrowing +and smoldering with a mysterious fire. + +It seemed that he was inviting Langford to make a proposal, and the latter +smiled evilly. "Still," he said, repeating Dakota's word with a +significant inflection, "you don't refuse to listen to me. It would be +worth a thousand dollars to me to have Doubler out of the way," he added. + +It was out now, and Langford sat silent while Dakota gazed into the +distance that reached toward the nester's cabin. Langford watched Dakota +closely, but there was an absolute lack of expression in the latter's +face. + +"How are you offering to pay the thousand?" questioned Dakota. "And +when?" + +"In cash, when Doubler isn't here any more." + +Dakota looked up at him, his face a mask of immobility. "That _sounds_ all +right," he said, with slow emphasis. "I reckon you'll put it in writing?" + +Langford's eyes narrowed; he smiled craftily. "That," he said smoothly, +"would put me in your power. I have never been accused of being a fool by +any of the men with whom I have done business. Don't you think that at my +age it is a little late to start?" + +"I reckon we don't make any deal," laughed Dakota shortly. + +"We'll arrange it this way," suggested Langford. "Doubler is not the only +man I want to get rid of. I want your land, too. But"--he added as he saw +Dakota's lips harden--"I don't purpose to proceed against you in the +manner I am dealing with Doubler. I flatter myself that I know men quite +well. I'd like to buy your land. What would be a fair price for it?" + +"Five thousand." + +"We'll put it this way, then," said Langford, briskly and silkily. "I will +give you an agreement worded in this manner: 'One month after date I +promise to pay to Dakota the sum of six thousand dollars, in consideration +of his rights and interest in the Star brand, provided that within one +month from date he persuades Ben Doubler to leave Union county.'" He +looked at Dakota with a significant smile. "You see," he said, "that I am +not particularly desirous of being instrumental in causing Doubler's +death--you have misjudged me." + +Dakota's eyes met his with a glance of perfect knowledge. His smile +possessed a subtly mocking quality--which was slightly disconcerting to +Langford. + +"I reckon you'll be an angel--give you time," he said. "I am accepting +that proposition, though," he added. "I've been wanting to leave +here--I've got tired of it. And"--he continued with a mysterious +smile--"if things turn out as I expect, you'll be glad to have me go." He +rose from the bench. "Let's write that agreement," he suggested. + +They entered the cabin, and a few minutes later Dakota sat again on the +box in the lee of the cabin wall, mending his saddle, the signed agreement +in his pocket. Smiling, Langford rode the river trail, satisfied with the +result of his visit. Turning once--as he reached the rise upon which +Sheila had halted that morning after leaving Dakota's cabin, Langford +looked back. Dakota was still busy with his saddle. Langford urged his +pony down the slope of the rise and vanished from view. Then Dakota ceased +working on the saddle, drew out the signed agreement and read it through +many times. + +"That man," he said finally, looking toward the crest of the slope where +Langford had disappeared, "thinks he has convinced me that I ought to kill +my best friend. He hasn't changed a bit--not a damned bit!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DUNCAN ADDS TWO AND TWO + + +Had Langford known that there had been a witness to his visit to Dakota he +might not have ridden away from the latter's cabin so entirely satisfied +with the result of his interview. + +Duncan had been much interested in Langford's differences with Doubler. He +had agitated the trouble, and he fully expected Langford to take him into +his confidence should any aggressive movement be contemplated. He had even +expected to be allowed to plan the details of the scheme which would have +as its object the downfall of the nester, for thus he hoped to satisfy his +personal vengeance against the latter. + +But since the interview with Doubler at Doubler's cabin, Langford had been +strangely silent regarding his plans. Not once had he referred to the +nester, and his silence had nettled Duncan. Langford had ignored his +hints, had returned monosyllabic replies to his tentative questions, +causing the manager to appear to be an outsider in an affair in which he +felt a vital interest. + +It was annoying, to say the least, and Duncan's nature rebelled against +the slight, whether intentional or accidental. He had waited patiently +until the morning following his conversation with Langford about Dakota, +certain that the Double R owner would speak, but when after breakfast the +next morning Langford had ridden away without breaking his silence, the +manager had gone into the ranchhouse, secured his field glasses, mounted +his pony, and followed. + +He kept discreetly in the rear, lingering in the depressions, skirting the +bases of the hills, concealing himself in draws and behind boulders--never +once making the mistake of appearing on the skyline. And when Langford was +sitting on the box in front of Dakota's cabin, the manager was deep into +the woods that surrounded the clearing where the cabin stood, watching +intently through his field glasses. + +He saw Langford depart, remained after his departure to see Dakota +repeatedly read the signed agreement. Of course, he was entirely ignorant +of what had transpired, but there was little doubt in his mind that the +two had reached some sort of an understanding. That their conversation and +subsequent agreement concerned Doubler he had little doubt either, for +fresh in his mind was a recollection of his conversation with Langford, +distinguished by Langford's carefully guarded questions regarding Dakota's +ability with the six-shooter. He felt that Langford was deliberately +leaving him out of the scheme, whatever it was. + +Puzzled and raging inwardly over the slight, Duncan did not return to the +ranchhouse that day and spent the night at one of the line camps. The +following day he rode in to the ranchhouse to find that Langford had gone +out riding with Sheila. Morose, sullen, Duncan again rode abroad, +returning with the dusk. In his conversation with Langford that night the +Double R owner made no reference to Doubler, and, studying Sheila, Duncan +thought she seemed depressed. + +During her ride that day with her father Sheila had received a startling +revelation of his character. She had questioned him regarding his +treatment of Doubler, ending with a plea for justice for the latter. For +the first time during all the time she had known Langford she had seen an +angry intolerance in his eyes, and though his voice had been as bland and +smooth as ever, it did not heal the wound which had been made in her heart +over the discovery that he could feel impatient with her. + +"My dear Sheila," he said, "I should regret to find that you are +interested in my business affairs." + +"Doubler declares that you are unjust," she persisted, determined to do +her best to avert the trouble that seemed impending. + +"Doubler is an obstacle in the path of progress and will get the +consideration he deserves," he said shortly. "Please do not meddle with +what does not concern you." + +Thus had an idol which Sheila worshiped been tumbled from its pedestal. +Sheila surveyed it, lying shattered at her feet, with moist eyes. It might +be restored, patched so that it would resemble its original shape, but +never again would it appear the same in her eyes. She had received a +glimpse of her father's real character; she saw the merciless, designing, +real man stripped of the polished veneer that she had admired; his soul +lay naked before her, seared and rendered unlovely by the blackness of +deceit and trickery. + +As the days passed, however, she collected the fragments of the shattered +idol and began to replace them. Piece by piece she fitted them together, +cementing them with her faith, so that in time the idol resembled its +original shape. + +She had been too exacting, she told herself. Men had ways of dealing with +one another which women could not understand. Her ideas of justice were +tempered with mercy and pity; she allowed her heart to map out her line of +conduct toward her fellow men, and as a consequence her sympathies were +broad and tender. In business, though, she supposed, it must be different. +There mind must rule. It was a struggle in which the keenest wit and the +sharpest instinct counted, and in which the emotion of mercy was +subordinate to the love of gain. And so in time she erected her idol again +and the cracks and seams in it became almost invisible. + +While she had been restoring her idol there had been other things to +occupy her mind. A thin line divides tragedy from comedy, and after the +tragedy of discovering her father's real character Sheila longed for +something to take her mind out of the darkness. A recollection of Duncan's +jealousy, which he had exhibited on the day that she had related the story +of her rescue by Dakota, still abided with her, and convinced that she +might secure diversion by fanning the spark that she had discovered, she +began by inducing Duncan to ask her to ride with him. + +Sitting on the grass one day in the shade of some fir-balsams on a slope +several miles down the river, Sheila looked at Duncan with a smile. + +"I believe that I am beginning to like the country," she said. + +"I expected you would like it after you were here a while. Everybody does. +It grows into one. If you ever go back East you will never be +contented--you'll be dreaming and longing. The West improves on +acquaintance, like the people." + +"Meaning?" she said, with a defiant mockery so plain in her eyes that +Duncan drew a deep breath. + +"Meaning that you ought to begin to like us--the people," he said. + +"Perhaps I do like some of the people," she laughed. + +"For instance," he said, his face reddening a little. + +She looked at him with a taunting smile. "I don't believe that I like +you--so very well. You get too cross when things don't suit you." + +"I think you are mistaken," he challenged. "When have I been cross?" + +Sheila laughed. "Do you remember the night that I came home and told you +and father how Dakota had rescued me from the quicksand? Well," she +continued, noting his nod and the frown which accompanied it, "you were +cross that night--almost boorish. You moped and went off to bed without +saying good-night." + +It pleased Duncan to tell her that he had forgotten if he had ever acted +that way, and she did not press him. And so a silence fell between them. + +"You said you were beginning to like some of the people," said Duncan +presently. "You don't like me. Then who do you like?" + +"Well," she said, appearing to meditate, but in reality watching him +closely so that she might catch his gaze when he looked up. "There's Ben +Doubler. He seems to be a very nice old man. And"--Duncan looked at her +and she met his gaze fairly, her eyes dancing with mischief--"and Dakota. +He is a character, don't you think?" + +Duncan frowned darkly and removed his gaze from her face, directing it +down into the plain on the other side of the river. What strange fatality +had linked her sympathies and admiration with his enemies? A rage which he +dared not let her see seized him, and he sat silent, clenching and +unclenching his hands. + +She saw his condition and pressed him without mercy. + +"He _is_ a character, isn't he? An odd one, but attractive?" + +Duncan sneered. "He pulled you out of the quicksand, of course. Anybody +could have done that, if they'd been around. I reckon that's what makes +him 'attractive' in your eyes. On the other hand, he put Texas Blanca out +of business. Does that killing help to make him attractive?" + +"Wasn't Blanca his enemy. If you remember, you told father and me that +Blanca sold him some stolen cattle. Then, according to what I have heard +of the story, he met Blanca in Lazette, ordered him to leave, and when he +didn't go he shot him. I understand that that is the code in matters of +that sort--people have to take the law in their own hands. But he gave +Blanca the opportunity to shoot first. Wasn't that fair?" + +It seemed odd to her that she was defending the man who had wronged her, +yet strangely enough she discovered that defending him gave her a thrill +of satisfaction, though she assured herself that the satisfaction came +from the fact that she was engaged in the task of arousing Duncan's +jealousy. + +"You've been inquiring about him, then?" said Duncan, his face dark with +rage and hatred. "What I told you about that calf deal is the story that +Dakota himself tells about it. A lot of people in this country don't +believe Dakota's story. They believe what I believe, that Dakota and +Blanca were in partnership on that deal, and that Dakota framed up that +story about Blanca selling out to him to avert suspicion. It's likely that +they wised up to the fact that we were on to them." + +"I believe you mentioned your suspicions to Dakota himself, didn't you? +The day you went over after the calves? You had quite a talk with him +about them, didn't you?" said Sheila, sweetly. + +Duncan's face whitened. "Who told you that?" he demanded. + +"And he told you that if you ever interfered with him again, or that if he +heard of you repeating your suspicions to anyone, he would do something to +you--run you out of the country, or something like that, didn't he?" + +"Who told you that?" repeated Duncan. + +"Doubler told me," returned Sheila with a smile. + +Duncan's face worked with impotent wrath as he looked at her. "So +Doubler's been gassing again?" he said with a sneer. "Well, there's never +been any love lost between Doubler and me, and so what he says don't +amount to much." He laughed oddly. "It's strange to think how thick you +are with Doubler," he said. "I understand that your dad and Doubler ain't +exactly on a friendly footing, that your dad was trying to buy him out and +that he won't sell. There's likely to be trouble, for your dad is +determined to get Doubler's land." + +However, that was a subject upon which Sheila did not care to dwell. + +"I don't think that I am interested in that," she said. "I presume that +father is able to take care of his own affairs without any assistance from +me." + +Duncan's eyes lighted with interest. Her words showed that she was aware +of Langford's differences with the nester. Probably her father had told +her--taking her into his confidence while ignoring his manager. Perhaps he +had even told her of his visit to Dakota; perhaps there had been more than +one visit and Sheila had accompanied him. Undoubtedly, he told himself, +Sheila's admiration for Dakota had resulted from not one, but many, +meetings. He flushed at the thought, and was forced to look away from +Sheila for fear that she might see the passion that flamed in his eyes. + +"You seen Dakota lately?" he questioned, after he had regained sufficient +control of himself to be able to speak quietly. + +"No." Sheila was flecking some dust from her skirts with her riding whip, +and her manner was one of absolute lack of interest. + +"Then you ain't been riding with your father?" said Duncan. + +"Some." Sheila continued to brush the dust from her skirts. After +answering Duncan's question, however, she realized that there had been a +subtle undercurrent of meaning in his voice, and she turned and looked +sharply at him. + +"Why?" she demanded. "Do you mean that father has visited Dakota?" + +"I reckon I'm meaning just that." + +Sheila did not like the expression in Duncan's eyes, and her chin was +raised a little as she turned from him and gave her attention to flecking +the grass near her with the lash of her riding whip. + +"Father attends to his own business," she said with some coldness, for she +resented Duncan's apparent desire to interfere. "I told you that before. +What he does in a business way does not interest me." + +"No?" said Duncan mockingly. "Well, he's made some sort of a deal with +Dakota!" he snapped, aware of his lack of wisdom in telling her this, but +unable to control his resentment over the slight which had been imposed on +him by Langford, and by her own chilling manner, which seemed to emphasize +the fact that he had been left outside their intimate councils. + +"A deal?" said Sheila quickly, unable to control her interest. + +For a moment he did not answer. He felt her gaze upon him, and he met it, +smiling mysteriously. Under the sudden necessity of proving his statement, +his thoughts centered upon the conclusion which had resulted from his +suspicions--that Langford's visit to Dakota concerned Doubler. +Equivocation would have taken him safely away from the pitfall into which +his rash words had almost plunged him, but he felt that any evasion now +would only bring scorn into the eyes which he wished to see alight with +something else. Besides, here was an opportunity to speak a derogatory +word about his enemy, and he could not resist--could not throw it +carelessly aside. There was a venomous note in his voice when he finally +answered: + +"The other day your father was speaking to me about gun-men. I told him +that Dakota would do anything for money." + +A slow red appeared in Sheila's cheeks, mounted to her temples, +disappeared entirely and was succeeded by a paleness. She kept her gaze +averted, and Duncan could not see her eyes--they were turned toward the +slumberous plains that stretched away into the distance on the other side +of the river. But Duncan knew that he had scored, and was not bothered +over the possibility of there being little truth in his implied charge. He +watched her, gloating over her, certain that at a stroke he had +effectually eliminated Dakota as a rival. + +Sheila turned suddenly to him. "How do you know that Dakota would do +anything like that?" + +Duncan smiled as he saw her lips, straight and white, and tightening +coldly. + +"How do I know?" he jeered. "How does a man know anything in this country? +By using his eyes, of course. I've used mine. I've watched Dakota for five +years. I've known all along that he isn't on the square--that he has been +running his branding iron on other folks' cattle. I've told you that he +worked a crooked deal on me, and then sent Blanca over the divide when he +thought there was a chance of Blanca giving the deal away. I am told that +when he met Blanca in the Red Dog Blanca told him plainly that he didn't +know anything about the calf deal. That shows how he treats his friends. +He'll do anything for money. + +"The other day I saw your father at his cabin, talking to him. They had +quite a confab. Your father has had trouble with Doubler--you know that. +He has threatened to run Doubler off the Two Forks. I heard that myself. +He wouldn't try to run Doubler off himself--that's too dangerous a +business for him to undertake. Not wanting to take the chance himself he +hires someone else. Who? Dakota's the only gunman around these parts. +Therefore, your dad goes to Dakota. He and Dakota signed a paper--I saw +Dakota reading it. I've just put two and two together, and that's the +result. I reckon I ain't far out of the way." + +Sheila laughed as she might have laughed had someone told her that she +herself had plotted to murder Doubler--a laugh full of scorn and mockery. +Yet in her eyes, which were wide with horror, and in her face, which was +suddenly drawn and white, was proof that Duncan's words had hurt her +mortally. + +She was silent; she did not offer to defend Dakota, for in her thoughts +still lingered a recollection of the scene of the shooting in Lazette. And +when she considered her father's distant manner toward her and Ben +Doubler's grave prediction of trouble, it seemed that perhaps Duncan was +right. Yet in spite of the shooting of Blanca and the evil light which was +now thrown on Dakota through Duncan's deductions, she felt confident that +Dakota would not become a party to a plot in which the murder of a man was +deliberately planned. He had wronged her and he had killed a man, but at +the quicksand crossing that day--despite the rage which had been in her +heart against him--she had studied him and had become convinced that +behind his recklessness, back of the questionable impulses that seemed at +times to move him, there lurked qualities which were wholly admirable, and +which could be felt by anyone who came in contact with him. Certainly +those qualities which she had seen had not been undiscovered by +Duncan--and others. + +She remembered now that on a former occasion the manager had practically +admitted his fear of Dakota, and then there was his conduct on that day +when she had asked him to return Dakota's pony. Duncan's manner then had +seemed to indicate that he feared Dakota--at the least did not like him. +Ben Doubler had given her a different version of the trouble between +Dakota and Duncan; how Duncan had accused Dakota of stealing the Double R +calves, and how in the presence of Duncan's own men Dakota had forced him +to apologize. Taken altogether, it seemed that Duncan's present suspicions +were the result of his dislike, or fear, of Dakota. Convinced of this, her +eyes flashed with contempt when she looked at the manager. + +"I believe you are lying," she said coldly. "You don't like Dakota. But I +have faith in him--in his manhood. I don't believe that any man who has +the courage to force another man to apologize to him in the face of great +odds, would, or could, be so entirely base as to plan to murder a poor, +unoffending old man in cold blood. Perhaps you are not lying," she +concluded with straight lips, "but the very least that can be said for you +is that you have a lurid imagination!" + +In Duncan's gleaming, shifting eyes, in the lips which were tensed over +his teeth in a snarl, she could see the bitterness that was in his heart +over the incident to which she had just referred. + +"Wait," he said smiling evilly. "You'll know more about Dakota before +long." + +Sheila rose and walked to her pony, mounting the animal and riding slowly +away from the river. She did not see the queer smile on Duncan's face as +she rode, but looking back at the distance of a hundred yards, she saw +that he did not intend to follow her. He was still sitting where she had +left him, his back to her, his face turned toward the plains which spread +away toward Dakota's cabin, twenty miles down the river. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A PARTING AND A VISIT + + +The problem which filled Duncan's mind as he sat on the edge of the slope +overlooking the river was a three-sided one. To reach a conclusion the +emotions of fear, hatred, and jealousy would have to be considered in the +light of their relative importance. + +There was, for example, his fear of Dakota, which must be taken into +account when he meditated any action prompted by his jealousy, and his +fear of Dakota was a check on his desires, a damper which must control the +heat of his emotions. He might hate Dakota, but his fear of him would +prevent his taking any action which might expose his own life to risk. On +the other hand, jealousy urged him to accept any risk; it kept telling him +over and over that he was a fool to allow Dakota to live. But Duncan knew +better than to attempt an open clash with Dakota; each time that he had +looked into Dakota's eyes he had seen there something which told him +plainer than words of his own inferiority--that he would have no chance in +a man-to-man encounter with him. And his latest experience with Dakota had +proved that. + +However, Duncan's character would not permit him to concede defeat, and +his revenge was not a thing to be considered lightly. Therefore, though he +sat for a long time on the slope, meditating over his problem, in the end +he smiled. It was not a good smile to see, for his eyes were alight with a +crafty, designing gleam, and there was a cruel curve in the lines of his +lips. When he finally mounted his pony and rode away from the slope he was +whistling. + +During the next few days he did not see much of Sheila, for he avoided the +ranchhouse as much as possible. He rode out with Langford many times, and +though he covertly questioned the Double R owner concerning the affair +with Doubler he could gain no satisfying information. Langford's reticence +further aggravated the passions which rioted in his heart, and finally one +afternoon when they rode up to the ranchhouse his curiosity could be held +in check no longer, and he put the blunt question: + +"What have you done about Doubler?" + +Langford's shifting eyes rested for the fraction of a second on the face +of his manager, and then the old, bland smile came into his own and he +answered smoothly: "Nothing." + +"I have been thinking," said Duncan carelessly, but with a sharp side +glance at his employer, "that it wouldn't be a half bad idea to set a +gunman on Doubler--a man like Dakota, for instance." + +The manager saw Langford's lips straighten a little, and his eyes flashed +with a sudden fire. The expression on Langford's face strengthened the +conviction already in Duncan's mind concerning the motive of his +employer's visit to Dakota. + +"I don't think I care to have any dealings with Dakota," said Langford +shortly. + +Duncan's eyes blazed again. "I reckon if you'd go talk to him," he +persisted, turning his head so that Langford could not see the suppressed +rage in his eyes, "you might be able to make a deal with him." + +"I don't wish to deal with him. I have decided not to bother Doubler at +present. And I have no desire to talk with Dakota. Frankly, my dear +Duncan, I don't like the man." + +"You been in the habit of forming opinions of men you've never talked to?" +said Duncan. He could not keep the sneer out of his voice. + +Langford noticed it and laughed softly. + +"It is my recollection that a certain man of my acquaintance advised me at +length of Dakota's shortcomings," he said significantly. "For me to talk +to Dakota after that would be to consider this man's words valueless. I +will have nothing to do with Dakota. That is," he added, "unless you have +altered your opinion of him." + +Duncan did not reply, and he said nothing more to Langford on the subject, +but he had discovered that for some reason Langford had chosen to keep the +knowledge of his visit to Dakota secret, and Duncan's suspicions that the +visit concerned Doubler became a conviction. Filled with resentment over +Langford's attitude toward him, and with his mind definitely fixed upon +the working out of his problem, Duncan decided to visit Doubler. + +He chose a day when Langford had ridden away to a distant cow camp, and as +when he was following the Double R owner, he did not ride the beaten trail +but kept behind the ridges and in the depressions, and when he came within +sight of Doubler's cabin he halted to reconnoiter. A swift survey of the +corral showed him a rangy, piebald pony, which he knew to belong to +Dakota. As the animal had on a bridle and a saddle he surmised that +Dakota's visit would not be of long duration, and having no desire to +visit Doubler in the presence of his rival, he shunted his own horse off +the edge of a sand dune and down into the bed of a dry arroyo. Urging the +animal along this, he presently reached a sand flat on whose edge arose a +grove of fir-balsam and cottonwood. + +For an hour, deep in the grove, he watched the cabin, and at length he saw +Dakota come out; saw a smile on his face; heard him laugh. His lips +writhed at the sound, and he listened intently to catch the conversation +which was carried on between the two men, but the distance was too great. +However, he was able to judge from the actions of the two that their +relations were decidedly friendly, and this discovery immediately raised a +doubt in his mind as to the correctness of his deductions. + +Yet the doubt did not seriously affect his determination to carry out the +plan he had in mind, and when a few moments after coming out of the cabin, +Dakota departed down the river trail, Duncan slowly rode out of the grove +and approached the cabin. + +Doubler stood in the open doorway, looking after Dakota, and when the +latter finally disappeared around a bend in the river the nester turned +and saw Duncan. Instantly he stepped inside the cabin door, reappearing +immediately, holding a rifle. Duncan continued to ride forward, raising +one hand, with the palm toward Doubler, as a sign of the peacefulness of +his intentions. The latter permitted him to approach, though he held the +rifle belligerently. + +"I want to talk," said Duncan, when he had come near enough to make +himself heard. + +"Pull up right where you are, then," commanded Doubler. He was silent +while Duncan drew his pony to a halt and sat motionless in the saddle +looking at him. Then his voice came with a truculent snap: + +"You alone?" + +Duncan nodded. + +"Where's your new boss?" sarcastically inquired Doubler. "Ain't you scared +he'll git lost--runnin' around alone without anyone to look after him?" + +"I ain't his keeper," returned Duncan shortly. + +Doubler laughed unbelievingly. "You was puttin' in a heap of your time +bein' his keeper, the last I saw of you," he declared coldly. + +"Mebbe I was. We've had a falling out." The venom in Duncan's voice was +not at all pretended. "He's double crossed me." + +"Double crossed you?" There was disbelief and suspicion in Doubter's +laugh. "How's he done that? I reckoned you was too smart for anyone to do +that to you?" The sarcasm in this last brought a dark red into Duncan's +face, but he successfully concealed his resentment and smiled. + +"That's all right," he said; "I've got more than that coming from you. I'm +telling you about what he done to me if you ain't got any objections to me +getting off my horse." + +"Tell me from where you are." In spite of the coldness in the nester's +voice there was interest in his eyes. "Mebbe you an' him have had a +fallin' out, but I ain't takin' any chances on you bein' my friend--not a +durned chance." + +"That's right. I don't blame you for not wanting to take a chance, and I'm +not pretending to be your friend. And I sure ain't any friendly to +Langford. He's double crossed me, but I ain't telling how he done +it--that's between him and me. But I want to tell you something that will +interest you a whole lot. It's about some guy which is trying to double +cross you. To prove that I ain't thinking to plug you when you ain't +looking I'm leaving my gun here." He drew out his six-shooter and stuck it +behind his slicker, dismounted, and threw the reins over the pony's head. + +In silence Doubler suffered him to approach, though he kept his rifle +ready in his hand and his eyes still continued to wear a belligerent +expression. + +"You and me ain't been what you might call friendly for a long time," +offered Duncan when he had halted a few feet from Doubler. "We've had +words, but I've never tried to take any mean advantage of you--which I +might have done if I'd wanted to." He smiled ingratiatingly. + +"We ain't goin' to go over what's happened between us," declared Doubler +coldly. "We're lettin' that go by. If you'll stick to the palaver that you +spoke about mebbe we'll be able to git along for a minute or two. +Meanwhile, you'll excuse me if I keep this here gun in shape for you if +you try any monkey business." + +Duncan masked his dislike of Doubler under a deprecatory smile. "That's +right," he agreed. "We'll let what's happened pass without talking about +it. What's between us now is something different. I've never pretended to +be your friend, and I'm not pretending to be your friend now. But I've +always been square with you, and I'm square now. Can you say that about +him?" He jerked his thumb in the direction of the river trail, on which +Dakota had vanished some time before. + +"Him?" inquired Doubler. "You mean Dakota?" He caught Duncan's nod and +smiled slowly. "I reckon you're some off your range," he said. "There +ain't no comparin' Dakota to you--he's always been my friend." + +"A man's got a friend one day and he's an enemy the next," said Duncan +mysteriously. + +"Meanin'?" + +"Meaning that Dakota ain't so much of a friend as you think he is." + +Doubler's lips grew straight and hard. "I reckon that ends the palaver," +he said coldly, while he fingered the rifle in his hand significantly. "If +that's what you come for you can be hittin' the breeze right back to the +Double R. I'm givin' you----" + +"You're traveling too fast," remonstrated Duncan, a hoarseness coming into +his voice. "You'll talk different when you hear what I've got to say. I +reckon you know that Langford ain't any friendly to you?" + +"I don't see--" began Doubler. + +He was interrupted by Duncan's harsh laugh. "Of course you don't see," he +said. "I've come over here to make you open your eyes. Langford ain't no +friend of yours, and I reckon that you wouldn't consider any man your +friend which sets in his cabin a couple of hours talking to Langford, +about you?" + +"Meanin' that Langford's been to see Dakota?" Doubler's voice was suddenly +harsh and his eyes glinted with suspicion. Certain that he had scored, +Duncan turned and smiled into the distance. When he again faced Doubler +his face wore an expression of sympathy. + +"When a man's been a friend to you and you find that he's going to double +cross you, it's apt to make you feel pretty mean," he said. "I'm allowing +that. But there's a lot of us get double crossed. I got it and I'm seeing +that they don't ring in any cold deck on you." + +"How do you know Dakota's tryin' to do that?" demanded Doubler. + +Duncan laughed. "I've kept my eyes open. Also, I've been listening right +hard. I wasn't so far away when Langford went to Dakota's shack, and I +heard considerable of what they said about you." + +Doubler's interest was now intense; he spoke eagerly: "What did they +say?" + +"I reckon you ought to be able to guess what they said," said Duncan with +a crafty smile. "I reckon you know that Langford wants your land mighty +bad, don't you? And you won't sell. Didn't he tell you in front of me that +he was going to make trouble for you? He wants me to make it, though; he +wants me to set the boys on you. But I won't do it. Then he shuts up like +a clam and don't say anything more to me about it. He saw Dakota send +Blanca over the divide and he's some impressed by his shooting. He figures +that if Dakota puts one man out of business he'll put another out." + +"Meanin' that Langford's hired Dakota to look for me?" Doubler's eyes were +gleaming brightly. + +"You're some keen, after all," taunted Duncan. + +Doubler's jaws snapped. "You're a liar!" he said; "Dakota wouldn't do +it!" + +"Maybe I'm a liar," said Duncan, his face paling but his voice low and +quiet. He was not surprised that Doubler should exhibit emotion over the +charge that his friend was planning to murder him, yet he knew that the +suspicion once established in Doubler's mind would soon grow to the +stature of a conviction. + +"Maybe I'm a liar," repeated Duncan. "But if you'll use your brain a +little you'll see that things look bad for you. Dakota's been here. Did he +tell you about Langford coming to see him? I reckon not," he added as he +caught Doubler's blank stare; "he'd likely not tell you about it. But I +reckon that if he was your friend he'd tell you. I reckon you told him +about Langford wanting your land--about him telling you he'd make things +hot for you?" + +Doubler nodded silently, and Duncan continued. "Well," he said, with a +short laugh, "I've told you, and it's up to you. They were talking about +you, and if Dakota's your friend, as you're claiming him to be, he'd have +told you what they was talking about--if it wasn't what I say it was--him +knowing how Langford feels toward you. And they didn't only talk. Langford +wrote something on a paper and gave it to Dakota. I don't know what he +wrote, but it seemed to tickle Dakota a heap. Leastways, he done a heap of +laffing over it. Likely Langford's promised him a heap of dust to do the +job. Mebbe he's your friend, but if I was you I wouldn't give him no +chance to say I drawed first." + +Doubler placed his rifle down and passed a hand slowly and hesitatingly +over his forehead. "I don't like to think that of Dakota," he said, faith +and suspicion battling for supremacy. "Dakota just left here; he acted a +heap friendly--as usual--mebbe more so." + +"I reckon that when a man goes gunning for another man he don't advertise +a whole lot," observed Duncan insinuatingly. + +"No," agreed Doubler, staring blankly into the distance where he had last +seen his supposed friend, "a man don't generally do a heap of advertisin' +when he's out lookin' for a man." He sat for a time staring straight +ahead, and then he suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with a savage +fierceness. "How do I know you ain't lyin' to me?" he demanded, glaring at +Duncan, his hands clenched in an effort to control himself. + +Duncan's eyes did not waver. "I reckon you _don't_ know whether I'm +lying," he returned, showing his teeth in a slight smile. "But I reckon +you're twenty-one and ought to have your eye-teeth cut. Anyway, you ought +to know that a man like Langford, who's wanting your land, don't go to +talk with a man like Dakota, who's some on the shoot, for nothing. How do +you know that Langford and Dakota ain't friends? How do you know but that +they've been friends back East? Do you know where Dakota came from? Mebbe +he's from the East, too. I'm telling you one thing," added Duncan, and now +his voice was filled with passion, "Dakota and Sheila Langford are pretty +thick. She makes believe that she don't like him, but he saved her from a +quicksand, and she's been running with him considerable. Takes his part, +too; does it, but she makes you believe that she don't like him. I reckon +she's pretty foxy." + +Doubler's memory went back to a conversation he had had with Sheila in +which Dakota had been the subject under discussion. He remembered that she +had shown a decided coldness, suggesting by her manner that she and Dakota +were not on the best of terms. Could it be that she had merely pretended +this coldness? Could it be that she was concerned in the plot against him, +that she and her father and Dakota were combined against him for the +common purpose of taking his life? + +He was convinced that any such suspicion against Sheila must be unjust, +for he had studied her face many times and was certain that there was not +a line of deceit in it. And yet, was it not odd that, when he had told her +of the trouble between him and her father, she had not immediately taken +her parent's side? To be sure, she had told him that Langford was merely +her stepfather, but could not that statement also have been a misleading +one? And even if Langford were only her stepfather, would she not have +felt it her duty to align herself with him? + +"I reckon you know a heap about Dakota, don't you?" came Duncan's voice, +breaking into Doubler's reflections. "You know, for instance, that Dakota +came here from Dakota--or anyway, he says he came here from there. We'll +say you know that. But what do you know about Langford? Didn't he tell you +that he was going to 'get' you?" + +Duncan turned his back to Doubler and walked to his pony. He drew out his +six-shooter, stuck it into its holster, and placed one foot in a stirrup, +preparatory to mounting. Then he turned and spoke gravely to Doubler. + +"I've done all I could," he said. "You know how you stand and the rest of +it is up to you. You can go on, letting Dakota and Sheila pretend to be +friendly to you, and some day you'll get wise awful sudden--when it's too +late. Or, you can wise up now and fix Dakota before he gets a chance at +you. I reckon that's all. You can't say that I didn't put you wise to the +game." + +He swung into the saddle and urged the pony toward the crossing. Looking +back from a crest of a rise on the other side of the river, he saw Doubler +still standing in the doorway, his head bowed in his hands. Duncan smiled, +his lips in cold, crafty curves, for he had planted the seed of suspicion +and was satisfied that it would presently flourish and grow until it would +finally accomplish the destruction of his rival, Dakota. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A MEETING ON THE RIVER TRAIL + + +About ten o'clock in the morning of a perfect day Sheila left the Double R +ranchhouse for a ride to the Two Forks to visit Doubler. This new world +into which she had come so hopefully had lately grown very lonesome. It +had promised much and it had given very little. The country itself was not +to blame for the state of her mind, though, she told herself as she rode +over the brown, sun-scorched grass of the river trail, it was the people. +They--even her father--seemed to hold aloof from her. + +It seemed that she would never be able to fit in anywhere. She was +convinced that the people with whom she was forced to associate were +entirely out of accord with the principles of life which had been her +guide--they appeared selfish, cold, and distant. Duncan's sister, the only +woman beside herself in the vicinity, had discouraged all her little +advances toward a better acquaintance, betraying in many ways a +disinclination toward those exchanges of confidence which are the delight +of every normal woman. Sheila had become aware very soon that there could +be no hope of gaining her friendship or confidence and so of late she had +ceased her efforts. + +Of course, she could not attempt to cultivate an acquaintance with any of +the cowboys--she already knew _one_ too well, and the knowledge of her +relationship to him had the effect of dulling her desire for seeking the +company of the others. + +For Duncan she had developed a decided dislike which amounted almost to +hatred. She had been able to see quite early in their acquaintance the +defects of his character, and though she had played on his jealousy in a +spirit of fun, she had been careful to make him see that anything more +than mere acquaintance was impossible. At least that was what she had +tried to do, and she doubted much whether she had succeeded. + +Doubler was the only one who had betrayed any real friendship for her, and +to him, in her lonesomeness, she turned, in spite of the warning he had +given her. She had visited him once since the day following her father's +visit, and he had received her with his usual cordiality, but she had been +able to detect a certain constraint in his manner which had caused her to +determine to stay away from the Two Forks. But this morning she felt that +she must go somewhere, and she selected Doubler's cabin. + +Since that day when on the edge of the butte overlooking the river Duncan +had voiced his suspicions that her father had planned to remove Doubler, +Sheila had felt more than ever the always widening gulf that separated her +from her parent. From the day on which he had become impatient with her +when she had questioned him concerning his intentions with regard to +Doubler he had treated her in much the manner that he always treated her, +though it had seemed to her that there was something lacking; there was a +certain strained civility in his manner, a veneer which smoothed over the +breach of trust which his attitude that day had created. + +Many times, watching him, Sheila had wondered why she had never been able +to peer through the mask of his imperturbability at the real, unlovely +character it concealed. She believed it was because she had always trusted +him and had not taken the trouble to try to uncover his real character. +She had tried for a long time to fight down the inevitable, growing +estrangement, telling herself that she had been, and was, mistaken in her +estimate of his character since the day he had told her not to meddle with +his affairs, and she had nearly succeeded in winning the fight when Duncan +had again destroyed her faith with the story of her father's visit to +Dakota. + +Duncan had added two and two, he had told her when furnishing her with the +threads out of which he had constructed the fabric of his suspicions, and +she was compelled to acknowledge that they seemed sufficiently strong. +Contemplation of the situation, however, had convinced her that Dakota was +partly to blame, and her anger against him--greatly softened since the +rescue at the quicksand--flared out again. + +Two weeks had passed since Duncan had told her of his suspicions, and they +had been two weeks of constant worry and dread to her. + +Unable to stand the suspense longer she had finally decided to seek out +Dakota to attempt to confirm Duncan's story of her father's visit and to +plead with Dakota to withhold his hand. But first she would see Doubler. + +The task of talking to Dakota about anything was not to her liking, but +she compromised with her conscience by telling herself that she owed it to +herself to prevent the murder of Doubler--that if the nester should be +killed with her in possession of the plan for his taking off, and able to +lift a hand in protest or warning, she would be as guilty as her father or +Dakota. + +As she rode she could not help contrasting Dakota's character to those of +her father and Duncan. She eliminated Duncan immediately, as being not +strong enough to compare either favorably or unfavorably with either of +the other two. And, much against her will, she was compelled to admit that +with all his shortcomings Dakota made a better figure than her father. But +there was little consolation for her in this comparison, for she bitterly +assured herself that there was nothing attractive in either. Both had +wronged her--Dakota deliberately and maliciously; her father had placed +the bar of a cold civility between her and himself, and she could no +longer go to him with her confidences. She had lost his friendship, and he +had lost her respect. + +Of late she had speculated much over Dakota. That day at the quicksand +crossing he had seemed to be a different man from the one who had stood +with revolver in hand before the closed door of his cabin, giving her a +choice of two evils. For one thing, she was no longer afraid of him; in +his treatment of her at the crossing he had not appeared as nearly so +forbidding as formerly, had been almost attractive to her, in those +moments when she could forget the injury he had done her. Those moments +had been few, to be sure, but during them she had caught flashes of the +real Dakota, and though she fought against admiring him, she knew that +deep in her heart lingered an emotion which must be taken into account. He +had really done her no serious injury, nothing which would not be undone +through the simple process of the law, and in his manner on the day of the +rescue there had been much respect, and in spite of the mocking levity +with which he had met her reproaches she felt that he felt some slight +remorse over his action. + +For a time she forgot to think about Dakota, becoming lost in +contemplation of the beauty of the country. Sweeping away from the crest +of the ridge on which she was riding, it lay before her, basking in the +warm sunlight of the morning, wild and picturesque, motionless, silent--as +quiet and peaceful as might have been that morning on which, his work +finished, the Creator had surveyed the new world with a satisfied eye. + +She had reached a point about a mile from Doubler's cabin, still drinking +in the beauty that met her eyes on every hand, when an odd sound broke the +perfect quiet. + +Suddenly alert, she halted her pony and listened. + +The sound had been strangely like a pistol shot, though louder, she +decided, as she listened to its echo reverberating in the adjacent hills. +It became fainter, and finally died away, and she sat for a long time +motionless in the saddle, listening, but no other sound disturbed the +solemn quiet that surrounded her. + +It seemed to her that the sound had come from the direction of Doubler's +cabin, but she was not quite certain, knowing how difficult it was to +determine the direction of sound in so vast a stretch of country. + +She ceased to speculate, and once more gave her attention to the country, +urging her pony forward, riding down the slope of the ridge to the level +of the river trail. + +Fifteen minutes later, still holding the river trail, she saw a horseman +approaching, and long before he came near enough for her to distinguish +his features she knew the rider for Dakota. He was sitting carelessly in +the saddle, one leg thrown over the pommel, smoking a cigarette, and when +he saw her he threw the latter away, doffed his broad hat, and smiled +gravely at her. + +"Were you shooting?" she questioned, aware that this was an odd greeting, +but eager to have the mystery of that lone shot cleared up. + +"I reckon I ain't been shooting--lately," he returned. "It must have been +Doubler. I heard it myself. I've just left Doubler, and he was cleaning +his rifle. He must have been trying it. I do that myself, often, after +I've cleaned mine, just to make sure it's right." He narrowed his eyes +whimsically at her. "So you're riding the fiver trail again?" he said. "I +thought you'd be doing it." + +"Why?" she questioned, defiantly. + +"Well, for one thing, there's a certain fascination about a place where +one has been close to cashing in--I expect that when we've been in such a +place we like to come back and look at it just to see how near we came to +going over the divide. And there's another reason why I expected to see +you on the river trail again. You forgot to thank me for pulling you +out." + +He deserved thanks for that, she knew. But there were in his voice and +eyes the same subtle mockery which had marked his manner that other time, +and as before she experienced a feeling of deep resentment. Why could he +not have shown some evidence of remorse for his crime against her? She +believed that had he done so now she might have found it in her heart to +go a little distance toward forgiving him. But there was only mockery in +his voice and words and her resentment against him grew. Mingling with it, +moreover, was the bitterness which had settled over her within the last +few days. It found expression in her voice when she answered him: + +"This country is full of--of savages!" + +"Indians, you mean, I reckon? Well, no, there are none around +here--excepting over near Fort Union, on the reservation." He drawled +hatefully and regarded her with a mild smile. + +"I mean white savages!" she declared spitefully. + +His smile grew broader, and then slowly faded and he sat quiet, studying +her face. The silence grew painful; she moved uneasily under his direct +gaze and a dash of color swept into her cheeks. Then he spoke quietly. + +"You been seeing white savages?" + +"Yes!" venomously. + +"Not around here?" The hateful mockery of that drawl! + +"I am talking to one," she said, her eyes blazing with impotent anger. + +"I thought you was meaning me," he said, without resentment. "I reckon +I've got it coming to me. But at the same time that isn't exactly the way +to talk to your----" He hesitated and smiled oddly, apparently aware that +he had made a mistake in referring to his crime against her. He hastened +to repair it. "Your rescuer," he corrected. + +However, she saw through the artifice, and the bitterness in her voice +grew more pronounced. "It is needless for you to remind me of our +relationship," she said; "I am not likely to forget." + +"Have you told your father yet?" + +In his voice was the quiet scorn and the peculiar, repressed venom which +she had detected when he had referred to her father during that other +occasion at the crossing. It mystified her, and yet within the past few +days she had felt this scorn herself and knew that it was not remarkable. +Undoubtedly he, having had much experience with men, had been able to see +through Langford's mask and knew him for what he was. For the first time +in her life she experienced a sensation of embarrassed guilt over hearing +her name linked with Langford's, and she looked defiantly at Dakota. + +"I have not told him," she said. "I won't tell him. I told you that +before--I do not care to undergo the humiliation of hearing my name +mentioned in the same breath with yours. And if you do not already know +it, I want to tell you that David Langford is not my father; my real +father died a long time ago, and Langford is only my stepfather." + +A sudden moisture was in her eyes and she did not see Dakota start, did +not observe the queer pallor that spread over his face, failed to detect +the odd light in his eyes. However, she heard his voice--sharp in tone and +filled with genuine astonishment. + +"Your stepfather?" He had spurred his pony beside hers and looking up she +saw that his face had suddenly grown stern and grim. "Do you mean that?" +he demanded half angrily. "Why didn't you tell me that before? Why didn't +you tell me when--the night I married you?" + +"Would it have made any difference to you?" she said bitterly. "Does it +make any difference now? You have treated me like a savage; you are +treating me like one now. I--I haven't any friends at all," she continued, +her voice breaking slightly, as she suddenly realized her entire +helplessness before the combined evilness of Duncan, her father, and the +man who sat on his pony beside her. A sob shook her, and her hands went to +her face, covering her eyes. + +She sat there for a time, shuddering, and watching her closely, Dakota's +face grew slowly pale, and grim, hard lines came into his lips. + +"I know what Duncan's friendship amounts to," he said harshly. "But isn't +your stepfather your friend?" + +"My friend?" She echoed his words with a hopeless intonation that closed +Dakota's teeth like a vise. "I don't know what has come over him," she +continued, looking up at Dakota, her eyes filled with wonder for the +sympathy which she saw in his face and voice; "he has changed since he +came out here; he is so selfish and heartless." + +"What's he been doing? Hurting you?" She did not detect the anger in his +voice, for he had kept it so low that she scarcely heard the words. + +"Hurting me? No; he has not done anything to me. Don't you know?" she said +scornfully, certain that he was mocking her again--for how could his +interest be genuine when he was a party to the plot to murder Doubler? Yet +perhaps not--maybe Duncan _had_ been lying. Determined to get to the +bottom of the affair as quickly as possible, Sheila continued rapidly, her +scorn giving way to eagerness. "Don't you know?" And this time her voice +was almost a plea. "What did father visit you for? Wasn't it about +Doubler? Didn't he hire you to--to kill him?" + +She saw his lips tighten strangely, his face grow pale, his eyes flash +with some mysterious emotion, and she knew in an instant that he was +guilty--guilty as her father! + +"Oh!" she said, and the scorn came into her voice again. "Then it is true! +You and my father have conspired to murder an inoffensive old man! +You--you cowards!" + +He winced, as though he had received an unexpected blow in the face, but +almost immediately he smiled--a hard, cold, sneering smile which chilled +her. + +"Who has been telling you this?" The question came slowly, without the +slightest trace of excitement. + +"Duncan told me." + +"Duncan?" There was much contempt in his voice. "Not your father?" + +She shook her head negatively, wondering at his cold composure. No wonder +her father had selected him! + +He laughed mirthlessly. "So that's the reason Doubler was so friendly to +his rifle this morning?" he said, as though her words had explained a +mystery which had been puzzling him. "Doubler and me have been friends for +a long time. But this morning while I was talking to him he kept his rifle +beside him all the time. He must have heard from someone that I was +gunning for him." + +"Then you haven't been hired to kill him?" + +He smiled at her eagerness, but spoke gravely and with an earnestness +which she could not help but feel. "Miss Sheila," he said, "there isn't +money enough in ten counties like this to make me kill Doubler." His lips +curled with a quiet sarcasm. "You are like a lot of other people in this +country," he added. "Because I put Blanca away they think I am a +professional gunman. But I want _you_"--he placed a significant emphasis +on the word--"to understand that there wasn't any other way to deal with +Blanca. By coming back here after selling me that stolen Star stock and +refusing to admit the deed in the presence of other people--even denying +it and accusing me--he forced me to take the step I did with him. Even +then, I gave him his chance. That he didn't take it isn't my fault. + +"I suppose I look pretty black to you, because I treated you like I did. +But it was partly your fault, too. Maybe that's mysterious to you, but it +will have to stay a mystery. I had an idea in my head that night--and +something else. I've found something out since that makes me feel a lot +sorry. If I had known what I know now, that wouldn't have happened to +you--I've got my eyes open now." + +Their ponies were very close together, and leaning over suddenly he placed +both hands on her shoulders and gazed into her eyes, his own flashing with +a strange light. She did not try to escape his hands, for she felt that +his sincerity warranted the action. + +"I've treated you mean, Sheila," he said; "about as mean as a man could +treat a woman. I am sorry. I want you to believe that. And maybe some +day--when this business is over--you'll understand and forgive me." + +"This business?" Sheila drew back and looked at him wonderingly. "What do +you mean?" + +There was no mirth in his laugh as he dropped his hands to his sides. Her +question had brought about a return of that mocking reserve which she +could not penetrate. Apparently he would let her no farther into the +mystery whose existence his words had betrayed. He had allowed her to get +a glimpse of his inner self; had shown her that he was not the despicable +creature she had thought him; had apparently been about to take her into +his confidence. And she had felt a growing sympathy for him and had been +prepared to meet him half way in an effort to settle their differences, +but she saw that the opportunity was gone--was hidden under the cloak of +mystery which had been about him from the beginning of their +acquaintance. + +"This Doubler business," he answered, and she nibbled impatiently at her +lips, knowing that he had meant something else. + +"That's evasion," she said, looking straight at him, hoping that he would +relent and speak. + +"Is it?" In his unwavering eyes she saw a glint of grim humor. "Well, +that's the answer. I am not going to kill Doubler--if it will do you any +good to know. I don't kill my friends." + +"Then," she said eagerly, catching at the hope which he held out to her, +"father didn't hire you to kill him? You didn't talk to father about +that?" + +His lips curled. "Why don't you ask your father about that?" + +The hope died within her. Dakota's words and manner implied that her +father had tried to employ him to make way with the nester, but that he +had refused. She had not been wrong--Duncan had not been wrong in his +suspicion that her father was planning the death of the nester. Duncan's +only mistake was in including Dakota in the scheme. + +She had hoped against hope that she might discover that Duncan had been +wrong altogether; that she had done her father an injury in believing him +capable of deliberately planning a murder. She looked again at Dakota. +There was no mistaking his earnestness, she thought, for there was no +evidence of deceit or knavery in his face, nor in the eyes that were +steadily watching her. + +She put her hands to her face and shivered, now thoroughly convinced of +her father's guilt; feeling a sudden repugnance for him, for everybody and +everything in the country, excepting Doubler. + +She had done all she could, however, to prevent them killing Doubler--all +she could do except to warn Doubler of his danger, and she would go to him +immediately. Without looking again at Dakota she turned, dry eyed and +pale, urging her pony up the trail toward the nester's cabin, leaving +Dakota sitting silent in his saddle, watching her. + +She lingered on the trail, riding slowly, halting when she came to a spot +which offered a particularly good view of the country surrounding her, for +in spite of her lonesomeness she could not help appreciating the beauty of +the land, with its towering mountains, its blue sky, its vast, yawning +distances, and the peacefulness which seemed to be everywhere except in +her heart. + +She presently reached the Two Forks and urged her pony through the shallow +water of its crossing, riding up the slight, intervening slope and upon a +stretch of plain beside a timber grove. A little later she came to the +corral gates, where she dismounted and hitched her pony to a rail, smiling +to herself as she thought of how surprised Doubler would be to see her. + +Then she left the corral gate and stole softly around a corner of the +cabin, determined to steal upon Doubler unawares. Once at the corner, she +halted and peered around. She saw Doubler lying in the open doorway, his +body twisted into a peculiarly odd position, face down, his arms +outstretched, his legs doubled under him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SHOT IN THE BACK + + +For an instant after discovering Doubler lying in the doorway, Sheila +stood motionless at the corner of the cabin, looking down wonderingly at +him. She thought at first that he was merely resting, but his body was +doubled up so oddly that a grave doubt rose in her mind. A vague fear +clutched at her heart, and she stood rigid, her eyes wide as she looked +for some sign that would confirm her fears. And then she saw a moist red +patch on his shirt on the right side just below the shoulder blade, and it +seemed that a band of steel had been suddenly pressed down over her +forehead. Something had happened to Doubler! + +The world reeled, objects around her danced fantastically, the trees in +the grove near her seemed to dip toward her in derision, her knees sagged +and she held tightly to the corner of the cabin for support in her +weakness. + +She saw it all in a flash. Dakota had been to visit Doubler and had shot +him. She had heard the shot. Duncan had been right, and Dakota--how she +despised him now!--was probably even now picturing in his imagination the +scene of her discovering the nester lying on his own threshold, murdered. +An anger against him, which arose at the thought, did much to help her +regain control of herself. + +She must be brave now, for there might still be life in Doubler's body, +and she went slowly toward him, cringing and shrinking, along the wall of +the cabin. + +She touched him first, lightly with the tips of her fingers, calling +softly to him in a quavering voice. Becoming more bold, she took hold of +him by the left shoulder and shook him slightly, and her heart seemed to +leap within her when a faint moan escaped his lips. Her fear fled +instantly as she realized that he was alive, that she had not to deal with +a dead man. + +Stifling a quivering sob she took hold of him again, tugging and pulling +at him, trying to turn him over so that she might see his face. She +observed that the red patch on his shoulder grew larger with the effort, +and her face grew paler with apprehension, but convinced that she must +persist she shut her eyes and tugged desperately at him, finally +succeeding in pulling him over on his back. + +He moaned again, though his face was ashen and lifeless, and with hope +filling her heart she redoubled her efforts and finally succeeded in +dragging him inside the cabin, out of the sun, where he lay inert, with +wide-stretched arms, a gruesome figure to the girl. + +Panting and exhausted, some stray wisps of hair sweeping her temples, the +rest of it threatening to come tumbling down around her shoulders, she +leaned against one of the door jambs, thinking rapidly. She ought to have +help, of course, and her thoughts went to Dakota, riding unconcernedly +away on the river trail. She could not go to him for assistance, such a +course was not to be considered, she would rather let Doubler die than to +go to his murderer; she could never have endured the irony of such an +action. Besides, she was certain that even were she to go to him, he would +find some excuse to refuse her, for having shot the nester, he certainly +would do nothing toward bringing the help which might possibly restore him +to life. + +She put aside the thought with a shudder of horror, yet conscious that +something must be done for Doubler at once if he was to live. Perhaps it +was already too late to go for assistance; there seemed to be but very +little life in his body, and trembling with anxiety she decided that she +must render him whatever aid she could. There was not much that she could +do, to be sure, but if she could do something she might keep him alive +until other help would come. + +She stood beside the door jamb and watched him for some time, for she +dreaded the idea of touching him again, but after a while her courage +returned, and she again went to him, kneeling down beside him, laying her +head on his breast and listening. His heart was beating, faintly, but +still it was beating, and she rose from him, determined. + +She found a sheath knife in one of his pockets, and with this she cut the +shirt away from the wound, discovering, when she drew the pieces of cloth +away, that there was a large, round hole in his breast. She came near to +swooning when she thought of the red patch on his back, for that seemed to +prove that the bullet had gone clear through him. It had missed a vital +spot, though, she thought, for it seemed to be rather high on the +shoulder. + +She got some water from a pail that stood just inside the door, and with +this and some white cloth which she tore from one of her skirts, she +bathed and bandaged the wound and laid a wet cloth on his forehead. She +tried to force some of the water down his throat, but he could not +swallow, lying there with closed eyes and drawing his breath in short, +painful gasps. + +After she had worked with him for a quarter of an hour or more she stood +up, convinced that she had done all she could for him and that the next +move would be to get a doctor. + +She had heard Duncan say that it was fifty miles to Dry Bottom, and she +knew that it was at least forty to Lazette. She had never heard anyone +mention that there was a doctor nearer, and so of course she would have to +go to Lazette--ten miles would make a great difference. + +She might ride to the Double R ranchhouse, and she thought of going there, +but it was at least ten miles off the Lazette trail, and even though at +the Double R she might get a cowboy to make the ride to Lazette, she would +be losing much valuable time. She drew a deep breath over the +contemplation of the long ride--at best it would take her four hours--but +she did not hesitate long and with a last glance at Doubler she was out of +the door and walking to the corral, where she unhitched her pony, mounted, +and sent the animal over the level toward the crossing at a sharp gallop. + +Once over the crossing and on the river trail where the riding was better, +she held the pony to an even, steady pace. One mile, two miles, five or +six she rode with her hair flying in the breeze, her cheeks pale, except +for a bright red spot in the center of each--which betrayed the excitement +under which she was laboring. There was a resolute gleam in her eyes, +though, and she rode lightly, helping her pony as much as possible. +However, the animal was fresh and did not seem to mind the pace, cavorting +and lunging up the rises and pulling hard on the reins on the levels, +showing a desire to run. She held it in, though, realizing that during the +forty mile ride the animal would have plenty of opportunity to prove its +mettle. + +She reached and passed the quicksand crossing from which she had been +pulled by Dakota, the pony running with the sure regularity of a machine, +and was on a level which led into some hills directly ahead, when the pony +stumbled. + +She tried to jerk it erect with the reins, but in spite of the effort she +felt it sink under her, and with a sensation of dismay clutching at her +heart she slid out of the saddle. + +A swift examination showed her that the pony's right fore-leg was deep in +the sand of the trail, and she surmised instantly that it had stepped into +a prairie dog hole. When she went to it and raised its head it looked +appealingly at her, and she stifled a groan of sympathy and began looking +about for some means to extricate it. + +She found this no easy task, for the pony's leg was deep in the sand, and +when she finally dug a space around it with a branch of tree which she +procured from a nearby grove, the animal struggled out, only to limp +badly. The leg, Sheila decided, after a quick examination, was not broken, +but badly sprained, and she knew enough about horses to be certain that +the injured pony would never be able to carry her to Lazette. + +She would be forced to go to the Double R now, there was nothing else that +she could do. Standing beside the pony, debating whether she had not +better walk than try to ride him, even to the Double R, she heard a +clatter of hoofs and turned to see Dakota riding the trail toward her. He +was traveling in the direction she had been traveling when the accident +had happened, and apparently had left the trail somewhere back in the +distance, or she would have seen him. Perhaps, she speculated, with a +flash of dull anger, he had followed her near to Doubler's cabin, perhaps +had been near when she had dragged the wounded nester into it. + +His first word showed her that there was ground for this suspicion. He +drew up beside her and looked at her with a queer smile, and she, aware of +his guilt, wondered at his composure. + +"You didn't stay long at Doubler's shack," he said. "I was on a ridge, +back on the trail a ways, and I saw you hitting the breeze away from there +some rapid. I was thinking to intercept you, but you went tearing by so +fast that I didn't get a chance. You're in an awful hurry. What's wrong?" + +"You ought to know that," she said, bitterly angry because of his +pretended serenity. "You--you murderer!" + +His face paled instantly, but his voice was clear and sharp. + +"Murderer?" he said sternly. "Who has been murdered?" + +"You don't know, of course," she said scornfully, her face flaming, her +eyes alight with loathing and contempt. "You shot him and then let me ride +on alone to--to find him, shot--shot in the back! Oh!" + +She shuddered at the recollection, held her hands over her eyes for an +instant to keep from looking at the expression of amazement in his eyes, +and while she stood thus she heard a movement, and withdrew her hands from +her eyes to see him standing beside her, so close that his body touched +hers, his eyes ablaze with curiosity and interest and repressed anxiety. +She cringed and cried with pain as he seized her arm and twisted her +forcibly around so that she faced him. + +"Stop this fooling and tell me what has happened!" he said, with short, +incisive accents. "Who did you find shot? Who has been murdered?" + +Oh, it was admirable acting, she told herself as she tore herself away +from him and stood back a little, her eyes flashing with scorn and horror. +"You don't know, of course," she flared. "You shot him--shot him in the +back and sent me on to find him. You gloried in the thought of me finding +him dead. But he isn't dead, thank God, and will live, if I can get a +doctor, to accuse you!" She pointed a finger at him, but he ignored it and +took a step toward her, his eyes cold and boring into hers. + +"Who?" he demanded. "Who?" + +"Ben Doubler. Oh!" she cried, in an excess of rage and horror, "to think +that I should have to tell you!" + +But if he heard her last words he paid no attention to them, for he was +suddenly at his pony's side, buckling the cinches tighter. She watched +him, fascinated at the repressed energy of his movements, and became so +interested that she started when he suddenly looked up at her. + +"He isn't dead, then," he said rapidly, sharply, the words coming with +short, metallic snaps. "You were going to Lazette for a doctor. I'm glad I +happened along--glad I saw you. I'll be able to make better time than +you." + +"Where are you going?" she demanded, scarcely having heard his words, +though aware that he was preparing to leave. She took a step forward and +seized his pony's bridle rein, her eyes blazing with wrath over the +thought that he should attempt to deceive her with so bald a ruse. + +"For the doctor," he said shortly. "This is no time for melodramatics, +ma'am, if Doubler is badly hurt. Will you please let go of that bridle?" + +"Do you think," she demanded, her cheeks aflame, her hair, loosened from +the long ride, straggling over her temples and giving her a singularly +disheveled appearance, "that I am going to let you go for the doctor? +You!" + +"This isn't a case where your feelings should be considered, ma'am," he +said. "If Ben Doubler has been hurt like you think he has I'm going to get +the doctor mighty sudden, whether you think I ought to or not!" + +"You won't!" she declared, stamping a; foot furiously. "You shot him and +now you want to disarm suspicion by going after the doctor for him. But +you won't! I won't let you!" + +"You'll have to," he said rapidly. "The doctor isn't at Lazette; he is +over on Carrizo Creek, taking care of Dave Moreland's wife, who is down +bad. I saw Dave yesterday, and he was telling me about her; that the +doctor is to stay there until she is out of danger. You don't know where +Moreland's place is. Be sensible, now," he said gruffly. "I'll talk to you +later about you suspecting me." + +"You shan't go," she protested; "I am going myself. I will find Moreland's +place. I can't let you go--it would be horrible!" + +For answer he swung quickly down from the saddle, seized her by the waist, +disengaged her hands from the bridle rein, and picking her up bodily +carried her, struggling and fighting and striking blindly at his face, to +the side of the trail. When he set her down he pinned her arms to her +sides. He did not speak, and she was entirely helpless in his grasp, but +when he released his grasp of her arms and tried to leave her she seized +the collar of his vest. With a grim laugh he slipped out of the garment, +leaving it dangling from her hand. + +"Keep it for me, ma'am," he said with a cold chuckle. "But get back to +Doubler's cabin and see what you can do for him. You'll be able to do a +lot. I'll be back with the doctor before sundown." + +In an instant he was at his pony's side, mounting with the animal at a +run, and in a brief space had vanished around a turn in the trail, leaving +a cloud of dust to mark the spot where Sheila had seen him disappear. + +For a long time Sheila stood beside the trail, looking at the spot where +he had disappeared, holding his vest with an unconscious grasp. Looking +down she saw it and with an exclamation of rage threw it from her, +watching it fall into the sand. But after an instant she went over and +took it up, recovering, at the same time, a black leather pocket memoranda +which had slipped out of it. She put the memoranda back into one of the +pockets, handling both the book and the vest gingerly, for she felt an +aversion to touching them. She conquered this feeling long enough to tuck +the vest into the slicker behind the saddle, and then she mounted and sent +her pony up the trail toward Doubler's cabin. + +She found Doubler where she had left him, and he was still unconscious. +The water pail was empty and she went down to the river and refilled it, +returning to the cabin and again bathing and bandaging Doubler's wound, +and placing a fresh cloth on his forehead. + +For a time she sat watching the injured man, revolving the incident of her +discovery of him in her mind, going over and over again the gruesome +details. She did not dwell long on the latter, for she could not prevent +her mind reviewing Dakota's words and actions--his satanic cleverness in +pretending to be on the verge of taking her into his confidence, his +prediction that she would understand when this "business" was over. She +did not need to wait, she understood now! + +Finding the silence in the cabin irksome, she rose, placed Doubler's head +in a more comfortable position, and went outside into the bright sunshine +of the afternoon. She took a turn around the corral, abstractedly watched +the awkward antics of several yearlings which were penned in a corner, and +then returned to the cabin door, where she sat on the edge of the step. + +Near the side of the cabin door, leaning against the wall, she saw a +rifle. She started, not remembering to have seen it there before, but +presently she found courage to take it up gingerly, turning it over and +over in her hands. + +Some initials had been carved on the stock and she examined them, making +them out finally as "B. D."--Doubler's. Examining the weapon she found an +empty shell in the chamber, and she nearly dropped the rifle when the +thought struck her that perhaps Doubler had been shot with it. She set it +down quickly, shuddering, and for diversion walked to her pony, examining +the injured leg and rubbing it, the pony nickering gratefully. Returning +to the cabin she sat for a long time on the step, but she did not again +take up the rifle. Several times while she sat on the step she heard +Doubler moan, and once she got up and went to him, again bathing his +wound, but returning instantly to the door step, for she could not bear +the silence of the interior. + +Suddenly remembering Dakota's vest and the black leather memoranda which +had dropped from one of the pockets, she got up again and went to the +bench where she had laid the garment, taking out the book and regarding it +with some curiosity. + +There was nothing on the cover to suggest what might be the nature of its +contents--time had worn away any printing that might have been on it. She +hesitated, debating the propriety of an examination, but her curiosity got +the better of her and with a sharp glance at Doubler she turned her back +and opened the book. + +Almost the first object that caught her gaze was a piece of paper, +detached from the leaves, with some writing on it. The writing seemed +unimportant, but as she turned it, intending to replace it between the +leaves of the book, she saw her father's name, and she read, holding her +breath with dread, for fresh in her mind was Duncan's charge that her +father had entered into an agreement with Dakota for the murder of +Doubler. She read the words several times, standing beside the bench and +swaying back and forth, a sudden weakness gripping her. + +"One month from to-day"--ran the words--"I promise to pay to Dakota the +sum of six thousand dollars in consideration of his rights and interest in +the Star brand, provided that within one month from date he persuades Ben +Doubler to leave Union County." + +Signed: "David Dowd Langford." + +There it was--conclusive, damning evidence of her father's guilt--and of +Dakota's! + +How cleverly that last clause covered the evil intent of the document! +Sheila read it again and again with dry eyes. Her horror and grief were +too great for tears. She felt that the discovery of the paper removed the +last lingering doubt, and though she had been partially prepared for +proof, she had not been prepared to have it thrust so quickly and +convincingly before her. + +How long she sat on the door step she did not know, or care, for at a +stroke she had lost all interest in everything in the country. Even its +people interested her only to the point of loathing--they were murderers, +even her father. Time represented to her nothing now except a dreary space +which, if she endured, would bring the moment in which she could leave. +For within the last few minutes she seemed to have been robbed of all the +things which had made existence here endurable and she was determined to +end it all. When she finally got up and looked about her she saw that the +sun had traveled quite a distance down the sky. A sorrowful smile reached +her face as she watched it. It was going away, and before it could +complete another circle she would go too--back to the East from where she +had come, where there were at least _some_ friends who could be depended +upon to commit no atrocious crimes. + +No plan of action formed in her mind; she could not think lucidly with the +knowledge that her father was convicted of complicity in an attempted +murder. + +Would she be able to face her father again? To bid him good-bye? She +thought not. It would be better for both if she departed without him being +aware of her going. He would not care, she told herself bitterly; lately +he had withheld from her all those little evidences of affection to which +she had grown accustomed, and it would not be hard for him, he would not +miss her, perhaps would even be glad of her absence, for then he could +continue his murderous schemes without fear of her "meddling" with them. + +There was a fascination in the paper on which was written the signed +agreement. She read it carefully again, and then concealed it in her +bodice, pinning it there so that it would not become lost. Then she rose +and went into the cabin, placing the memoranda on a shelf where Dakota +would be sure to find it when he returned with the doctor. She did not +care to read anything contained in it. + +Marveling at her coolness, she went outside again and resumed her seat on +the door step. It was not such a blow to her, after all, and there arose +in her mind as she sat on the step a wonder, as to how her father would +act were she to confront him with evidence of his guilt. Perhaps she would +not show him the paper, but she finally became convinced that she must +talk to him, must learn from him in some manner his connection with the +attempted murder of Doubler. Then, after receiving from him some sign +which would convince her, she would take her belongings and depart for the +East, leaving him to his own devices. + +Looking up at the sun, she saw that it still had quite a distance to +travel before it reached the mountains. Stealing into the cabin, she once +more fixed the bandages on the wounded man. Then she went out, mounted her +pony, and rode through the shallow water of the crossing toward the Double +R ranch. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LANGFORD LAYS OFF THE MASK + + +The sun was still an hour above the horizon when Sheila rode up to the +corral gates. While removing the saddle and bridle from her pony she noted +with satisfaction that the horse which her father had been accustomed to +ride was inside the corral. Therefore her father was somewhere about. + +Hanging the saddle and bridle from a rail of the corral fence, she went +into the house to find that Langford was not there. Duncan's sister curtly +informed her that she had seen him a few minutes before down at the +stables. Sheila went into the office, which was a lean-to addition to the +ranchhouse, and seating herself at her father's desk picked up a six +month's old copy of a magazine and tried to read. + +Finding that she could not concentrate her thoughts, she dropped the +magazine into her lap and leaned back with a sigh. From where she sat she +had a good view of the stables, and fifteen minutes later, while she still +watched, she saw Langford come out of one of the stable doors and walk +toward the house. She felt absolutely no emotion whatever over his coming; +there was only a mild curiosity in her mind as to the manner in which he +would take the news of her intended departure from the Double R. She +observed, with a sort of detached interest, that he looked twice at her +saddle and bridle as he passed them, and so of course he surmised that she +had come in from her ride. For a moment she lost sight of him behind some +buildings, and then he opened the door of the office and entered. + +He stopped on the threshold for an instant and looked at her, evidently +expecting her to offer her usual greeting. He frowned slightly when it did +not come, and then smiled. + +"Hello!" he said cordially. "You are back, I see. And tired," he added, +noting her position. He walked over and laid a hand on her forehead and +she involuntarily shrank from his touch, shuddering, for the hand which he +had placed on her forehead was the right one--the hand with which he had +signed the agreement with Dakota--Doubler's death warrant. + +"Don't, please," she said. + +"Cross, too?" he said jocularly. + +"Just tired," she lied listlessly, and with an air of great indifference. + +He looked critically at her for an instant, then smiled again and dragged +a chair over near a window and looked out, apparently little concerned +over her manner. But she noted that he glanced furtively at her several +times, and that he seemed greatly satisfied over something. She wondered +if he had seen Dakota; if he knew that the latter had already attempted to +carry out the agreement to "Persuade Doubler to leave the county." + +"Ride far?" he questioned, turning and facing her, his voice casual. + +"Not very far." + +"The river trail?" + +Sheila nodded, and saw a sudden interest flash into his eyes. + +"Which way?" he asked quickly. + +"Down," she returned. She had not lied, for she _had_ ridden "down," and +though she had also ridden up the river she preferred to let him guess a +little, for she resented the curiosity in his voice and was determined to +broach the subject which she had in mind in her own time and after the +manner that suited her best. + +He had not been interested in her for a long time, had not appeared to +care where she spent her time. Why should he betray interest now? She saw +a mysterious smile on his face and knew before he spoke that his apparent +interest in her was not genuine--that he was merely curious. + +"Then you haven't heard the news?" he said softly. He was looking out of +the window now, and she could not see his face. + +She took up the magazine and turned several pages, pretending to read, but +in reality waiting for him to continue. When he made no effort to do so +her own curiosity got the better of her. + +"What news?" she questioned, without looking at him. + +"About Doubler," he said. "He is dead." + +Her surprise was genuine, and her hands trembled as the leaves of the +magazine fluttered and closed. Had the nester died since she had left his +cabin? A moment's thought convinced her that this could not be the +explanation, for assuredly she would have seen anyone who had arrived at +Doubler's cabin; she had scanned the surrounding country before and after +leaving the vicinity of the crossing and had seen no signs of anyone. +Besides, Langford's news seemed to have abided with him a long time--it +seemed to her that he had known it for hours. She could not tell why she +felt this, but she was certain that he had not received word +recently--within an hour or two at any rate--unless he had seen Dakota. + +This seemed to be the secret of his knowledge, and the more she considered +the latter's excitement during her meeting with him on the trail, the more +fully she became convinced that Langford had talked to him. The latter's +anxiety to relieve her of the task of riding to Lazette for the doctor had +been spurious; he had merely wanted to be the first to carry the news of +Doubler's death to Langford, and after leaving her he had undoubtedly +taken a roundabout trail for the Double R. Possibly by this time he had +settled with Langford and was on his way out of the country. + +"Dead?" she said, turning to Langford. "Who----" In her momentary +excitement she had come very near to asking him who had brought him the +news. She hesitated, for she saw a glint of surprise and suspicion in his +eyes. + +"My dear girl, did I say that he had been 'killed'?" + +His smile was without humor. Evidently he had expected that she had been +about to ask who had killed the nester. + +He looked at her steadily, an intolerant smile playing about the corners +of his mouth. "I am aware that you have been suspicious of me ever since +you heard that I had a quarrel with Doubler. But, thank God, my dear, I +have not that crime to answer for. Doubler, however, has been +killed--murdered." + +Sheila repressed a desire to shudder, and turned from Langford so that he +would not be able to see the disgust that had come into her eyes over the +discovery that in addition to being a murderer her father was that most +despicable of all living things--a hypocrite! It required all of her +composure to be able to look at him again. + +"Who killed him?" she asked evenly. + +"Dakota, my dear." + +"Dakota!" She pronounced the name abstractedly, for she was surprised at +the admission. + +"How do you know that Dakota killed him?" she said, looking straight at +him. He changed color, though his manner was still smooth and his smile +bland. + +"Duncan was fortunate enough to be in the vicinity when the deed was +committed," he told her. "And he saw Dakota shoot him in the back. With +his own rifle, too." + +There was a quality in his voice which hinted at satisfaction; a peculiar +emphasis on the word "fortunate" which caused Sheila to wonder why he +should consider it fortunate that Duncan had seen the murder done, when it +would have been much better for the success of Dakota's and her father's +scheme if there had been no witness to it at all. + +"However," continued Langford, with a sigh of resignation that caused +Sheila a shiver of repugnance and horror, "Doubler's death will not be a +very great loss to the country. Duncan tells me that he has long been +suspected of cattle stealing, and sooner or later he would have been +caught in the act. And as for Dakota," he laughed harshly, with a note of +suppressed triumph that filled her with an unaccountable resentment; +"Dakota is an evil in the country, too. Do you remember how he killed that +Mexican half-breed over in Lazette that day?--the day I came? Wanton +murder, I call it. Such a man is a danger and a menace, and I shall not be +sorry to see him hanged for killing Doubler." + +"Then you will have Duncan charge Dakota with the murder?" + +"Of course, my dear; why shouldn't I? Assuredly you would not allow Dakota +to go unpunished?" + +"No," said Sheila, "Doubler's murderer should be punished." + +Two things were now fixed in her mind as certainties. Dakota had not been +to see her father since she had left him on the river trail; he had not +received his blood-money--would never receive it. Her father had no +intention of living up to his agreement with Dakota and intended to allow +him to be hanged. She thought of the signed agreement in her bodice. +Langford had given it to Dakota, but she had little doubt that in case +Dakota still had it in his possession and dared to produce it, Langford +would deny having made it--would probably term it a forgery. It was +harmless, too; who would be likely to intimate that the clause regarding +Dakota inducing Doubler to leave the country meant that Langford had hired +Dakota to kill the nester? Sheila sat silent, looking at Langford, +wondering how it happened that he had been able to masquerade so long +before her; why she had permitted herself to love a being so depraved, so +entirely lacking in principle. + +But a thrill of hope swept over her. Perhaps Doubler would not die? She +had been considering the situation from the viewpoint of the nester's +death, but if Dakota had really been in earnest and had gone for a doctor, +there was a chance that the tragedy which seemed so imminent would be +turned into something less serious. Immediately her spirits rose and she +was able to smile quietly at Langford when he continued: + +"Dakota will be hung, of course; decency demands it. When Duncan came to +me with the news I sent him instantly to Lazette to inform the sheriff of +what had happened. Undoubtedly he will take Dakota into custody at once." + +"But not for murder," said Sheila evenly, unable to keep a quiver of +triumph out of her voice. + +"Not?" said Langford, startled. "Why not?" + +"Because," returned Sheila, enjoying the sudden consternation that was +revealed in her father's face, and drawling her words a little to further +confound him; "because Doubler isn't dead." + +"Not dead!" Langford's jaws sagged, and he sat looking at Sheila with +wide, staring, vacuous eyes. "Not dead?" he repeated hoarsely. "Why, +Duncan told me he had examined him, that he had been shot through the +lungs and had bled to death before he left him! How do you know that he is +not dead?" he suddenly demanded, leaning toward her, a wild hope in his +eyes. + +"I went to his cabin before noon," said Sheila. "I found him lying in the +doorway. He had been shot through the right side, near the shoulder, but +not through the lung, and he was still alive. I dragged him into the cabin +and did what I could for him. Then I started for the doctor." + +"For the doctor?" he said incredulously. "Then how does it happen that you +are here? You couldn't possibly ride to Lazette and return by this time!" + +"I believe I said that I 'started' for the doctor," said Sheila with a +quiet smile. She was enjoying his excitement. "I met Dakota on the trail, +and he went." + +Langford continued to stare at her; it seemed that he could not realize +the truth. Then suddenly he was out of his chair and standing over her, +his face bloated poisonously, his eyes ablaze with a malignant light. + +"Damn you!" he shrieked. "This is what comes of your infernal meddling! +What business had you to interfere? Why didn't you let him die? I've a +notion----" + +His hands clenched and unclenched before her eyes, and she sat with +blanched face, certain that he was about to attack her--perhaps kill her. +She did not seem to care much, however, and looked up into his face +steadily and defiantly. + +After a moment, however, he regained control of himself, leaving her side +and pacing rapidly back and forth in the office, cursing bitterly. + +Curiously, Sheila was not surprised at this outburst; she had rather +expected it since she had become aware of his real character. Nor was she +surprised to discover that he had dropped pretense altogether--he was +bound to do that sooner or later. Her only surprise was at her own +feelings. She did not experience the slightest concern over him--it was as +though she were talking to a stranger. She was interested to the point of +taking a grim enjoyment out of his confusion, but beyond that she was not +interested in anything. + +It made little difference to her what became of Langford, Dakota, +Duncan--any of them, except Doubler. She intended to return to the +nester's cabin, to help the doctor make him comfortable--for he had been +the only person in the country who had shown her any kindness; he was the +only one who had not wronged her, and she was grateful to him. + +Langford was standing over her again, his breath coming short and fast. + +"Where did you see Dakota?" he questioned hoarsely. "Answer!" he added, +when she did not speak immediately. + +"On the river trail." + +"Before you found Doubler?" + +"Before, yes--and after. I met him twice." + +She discerned his motive in asking these questions, but it made no +difference to her and she answered truthfully. She did not intend to +shield Dakota; the fact that Doubler had not been killed outright did not +lessen the gravity of the offense in her eyes. + +"Before you found Doubler!" Langford's voice came with a vicious snap. +"You met him coming from Doubler's cabin, I suppose?" + +"Yes," she answered wearily, "I met him coming from there. I was on the +trail--going there--and I heard the shot. I know Dakota killed him." + +Langford made an exclamation of satisfaction. + +"Well, it isn't so bad, after all. You'll have to be a witness against +Dakota. And very likely Doubler will die--probably is dead by this time; +will certainly be dead before the Lazette doctor can reach his cabin. No, +my dear," he added, smiling at Sheila, "it isn't so bad, after all." + +Sheila rose. Her poignant anger against him was equaled only by her +disgust. He expected her to bear witness against Dakota; desired her to +participate in his scheme to fasten upon the latter the entire blame for +the commission of a crime in which he himself was the moving factor. + +"I shall not bear witness against him," she told Langford coldly. "For I +am going away--back East--to-morrow. Don't imagine that I have been in +complete ignorance of what has been going on; that I have been unaware of +the part you have played in the shooting of Doubler. I have known for +quite a long while that you had decided to have Doubler murdered, and only +recently I learned that you hired Dakota to kill him. And this morning, +when I met Dakota on the river trail, he dropped this from a pocket of his +vest." She fumbled at her bodice and produced the signed agreement, +holding it out to him. + +As she expected, he repudiated it, though his face paled a little as he +read it. + +"This is a forgery, my dear," he said, in the old, smooth, even voice that +she had grown to despise. + +"No," she returned calmly, "it is not a forgery. You forget that only a +minute ago you practically admitted it to be a true agreement by telling +me that I should have allowed Doubler to die. You are an accomplice in the +shooting of Doubler, and if I am compelled to testify in Dakota's trial I +shall tell everything I know." + +She watched while he lighted a match, held it to the paper, smiling as the +licking flames consumed it. He was entirely composed now, and through the +gathering darkness of the interior of the office she saw a sneer come into +his face. + +"I shall do all I can to assist you to discontinue the associations which +are so distasteful to you. You will start for the East immediately, I +presume?" + +"To-morrow," she said. "In the afternoon. I shall have my trunks taken +over to Lazette in the morning." + +"In the morning?" said Langford, puzzled. "Why not ride over with them, in +the afternoon, in the buckboard?" + +"I shall ride my pony. The man can return him." She took a step toward the +door, but halted before reaching it, turning to look back at him. + +"I don't think it is necessary for me to say good-by. But you have not +treated me badly in the past, and I thank you--for that--and wish you +well." + +"Where are you going?" + +Sheila had walked to the door and stood with one hand on the latch. He +came and stood beside her, a suppressed excitement in his manner, his eyes +gleaming brightly in the dusk which had suddenly fallen. + +"I think I told you that before. Ben Doubler is alone, and he needs care. +I am going to him--to stay with him until the doctor arrives. He will die +if someone does not take care of him." + +"You are determined to continue to meddle, are you?" he said, his voice +quivering with anger, his lips working strangely. "I am sick of your +damned interference. Sick of it, I tell you!" His voice lowered to a +harsh, throaty whisper. "You won't leave this office until to-morrow +afternoon! Do you hear? What business is it of yours if Doubler dies?" + +Sheila did not answer, but pressed the door latch. His arm suddenly +interposed, his fingers closing on her arm, gripping it so tightly that +she cried out with pain. Then suddenly his fingers were boring into her +shoulders; she was twisted, helpless in his brutal grasp, and flung bodily +into the chair beside the desk, where she sat, sobbing breathlessly. + +She did not cry out again, but sat motionless, her lips quivering, rubbing +her shoulders where his iron fingers had sunk into the flesh, her soul +filled with a revolting horror for his brutality. + +For a moment there was no movement. Then, in the semi-darkness she saw him +leave the door; watched him as he approached a shelf on which stood a +kerosene lamp, lifted the chimney and applied a match to the wick. For an +instant after replacing the chimney he stood full in the glare of light, +his face contorted with rage, his eyes gleaming with venom. + +"Now you know exactly where I stand, you--you huzzy!" he said, grinning +satyrically as she winced under the insult. "I'm your father, damn you! +Your father--do you hear? And I'll not have you go back East to gab and +gossip about me. You'll stay here, and you'll bear witness against Dakota, +and you'll keep quiet about me!" He was trembling horribly as he came +close to her, and his breath was coughing in his throat shrilly. + +"I won't do anything of the kind!" Sheila got to her feet, and stood, +rigid with anger, her eyes flaming defiance. "I am going to Doubler's +cabin this minute, and if you molest me again I shall go to the sheriff +with my story!" + +He seemed about to attack her again, and his hands were raised as though +to grasp her throat, when there came a sound at the door, it swung open, +and Dakota stepped in, closing the door behind him. + +Dakota's face was white--white as it had been that other day at the +quicksand crossing when Sheila had looked up to see him sitting on his +pony, watching her. There was an entire absence of excitement in his +manner, though; no visible sign to tell that what he had seen on entering +the cabin disturbed him in the least. Yet the whiteness of his face belied +this apparent composure. It seemed to Sheila that his eyes betrayed the +strong emotion that was gripping him. + +She retreated to the chair beside the desk and sank into it. Langford had +wheeled and was now facing Dakota, a shallow smile on his face. + +There was a smile on Dakota's face, too; a mysterious, cold, prepared grin +that fascinated Sheila as she watched him. The smile faded a little when +he spoke to Langford, his voice vibrating, as though he had been running. + +"When you're fighting a woman, Langford, you ought to make sure there +isn't a man around!" + +Mingling with Sheila's recognition of the obvious and admirable philosophy +of this statement was a realization that Dakota must have been riding +hard. There was much dust on his clothing, the scarf at his neck was thick +with it; it streaked his face, his voice was husky, his lips dry. + +Langford did not answer him, stepping back against the desk and regarding +him with a mirthless, forced smile which, Sheila was certain, he had +assumed in order to conceal his fear of the man who stood before him. + +"So you haven't got any thoughts just at this minute," said Dakota with +cold insinuation. "You are one of those men who can talk bravely enough to +women, but who can't think of anything exactly proper for a man to hear. +Well, you'll do your talking later." He looked at Sheila, ignoring +Langford completely. + +"I expect you've been wondering, ma'am, why I'm here, when I ought to be +over at the Two Forks, trying to do something for Doubler. But the +doctor's there, taking care of him. The reason I've come is that I've +found this in Doublet's cabin." He drew out the memoranda which Sheila had +placed on the shelf in the cabin, holding it up so that she might see. + +"You took my vest," he went on. "And I was looking for it. I found it all +right, but something was missing. You're the only one who has been to +Doubler's cabin since I left there, I expect, and it must have been you +who opened this book. It isn't in the same shape it was when you pulled it +off me when I was talking to you down there on the river trail--something +has been taken out of it, a paper. That's why I rode over here--to see if +you'd got it. Have you, ma'am?" + +Sheila pointed mutely to the floor, where a bit of thin, crinkled ash was +all that remained of the signed agreement. + +"Burned!" said Dakota sharply. + +He caught Sheila's nod and questioned coldly: + +"Who burned it?" + +"My--Mr. Langford," returned Sheila. + +"You found it and showed it to him, and he burned it," said Dakota slowly. +"Why?" + +"Don't you see?" Sheila's eyes mocked Langford as she intercepted his +gaze, which had been fixed on Dakota. "It was evidence against him," she +concluded, indicating her father. + +"I reckon I see." The smile was entirely gone out of Dakota's face now, +and as he turned to look at Langford there was an expression in his eyes +which chilled the latter. + +"You've flunked on the agreement. You've burned it--won't recognize it, +eh? Well, I'm not any surprised." + +Langford had partially recovered from the shock occasioned by Dakota's +unexpected appearance, and he shook his head in emphatic, brazen denial. + +"There was no agreement between us, my friend," he said. "The paper I +burned was a forgery." + +Dakota's lips hardened. "You called me your friend once before, Langford," +he said coldly. "Don't do it again or I'll forget that you are Sheila's +father. I reckon she has told you about Doubler. That's why I came over +here to get the paper, for I knew that if you got hold of it you'd make +short work of it. I know something else." He took a step forward and tried +to hold Langford's gaze, his own eyes filled with a snapping menace. "I +know that you've sent Duncan to Lazette for the sheriff. The doctor told +me he'd met him,--Duncan--and the doctor says Duncan told him that you'd +said that I fixed Doubler. How do you know I did?" + +"Duncan saw you," said Langford. + +Dakota's lips curled. "Duncan tell you that?" he questioned. + +At Langford's nod he laughed harshly. "So it's a plant, eh?" he said, with +a mirthless chuckle. "You are figuring to get two birds with one +stone--Doubler and me. You've already got Doubler, or think you have, and +now it's my turn. It does look pretty bad for me, for a fact, doesn't it? +You've burned the agreement you made with me, so that you could slip out +of your obligation. I reckon you think that after the sheriff gets me +you'll be able to take the Star without any trouble--like you expect to +take Doubler's land. + +"You've got Duncan to swear that he saw me do for Doubler, and you've got +your daughter to testify that she saw me on the trail, coming from +Doubler's cabin right after she heard the shooting. It was a right clever +scheme, but it was my fault for letting you get anything on me--I ought to +have known that you'd try some dog's trick or other." + +His voice was coming rapidly, sharply, and was burdened with a lashing +sarcasm. "Yes, it's a right clever scheme, Mister Langford, and it ought +to be successful. But there's one thing you've forgot. I've lived too long +in this country to let anyone tangle me up like you'd like to have me. +When a man gets double crossed in this country, he can't go to the law for +redress--he makes his own laws. I'm making mine. You've double crossed me, +and damn your hide, I'm going to send you over the divide in a hurry!" + +One of his heavy revolvers leaped from its holster and showed for an +instant in his right hand. Sheila had been watching closely, forewarned by +Dakota's manner, and when she saw his right hand drop to the holster she +sprang upon him, catching the weapon by the muzzle. + +Langford had covered his face with his hands, and stood beside the desk, +trembling, and Sheila cried aloud in protest when she saw Dakota draw the +weapon that swung at his other hip, holding her off with the hand which +she had seized. But when Dakota saw Langford's hands go to his face he +hesitated, smiling scornfully. He turned to Sheila, looking down at her +face close to his, his smile softening. + +"I forgot," he said gently; "I forgot he is your father." + +"It isn't that," she said. "He isn't my father, any more. But--" she +looked at Dakota pleadingly--"please don't shoot him. Go--leave the +country. You have plenty of time. You have enough to answer for. Please +go!" + +For answer he grasped her by the shoulders, swinging her around so that +she faced him,--as he had forced her to face him that day on the river +trail--and there was a regretful, admiring gleam in his eyes. + +"You told him--" he jerked a thumb toward Langford--"that you wouldn't +bear witness against me. I heard you. You're a true blue girl, and your +father's a fool or he wouldn't lose you, like he is going to lose you. If +I had you I would take mighty good care that you didn't get away from me. +You've given me some mighty good advice, and I would act on it if I was +guilty of shooting Doubler. But I didn't shoot him--your father and Duncan +have framed up on me. Doubler isn't dead yet, and so I'm not running away. +If Doubler had someone to nurse him, he might--" He hesitated and looked +at her with a strange smile. "You think I shot Doubler, too, don't you? +Well, there's a chance that if we can get Doubler revived he can tell who +did shoot him. Do you want to know the truth? I heard you say a while ago, +while I was standing at the window, looking in at your father giving a +demonstration of his love for you, that you intended going over to +Doubler's shack to nurse him. If you're still of the same mind, I'll take +you over there." + +Sheila was at the door in an instant, but halted on the threshold to +listen to Dakota's parting word to Langford. + +"Mister man," he said enigmatically, "there's just one thing that I want +to say to you. There's a day coming when you'll think thoughts--plenty of +them." + +In a flash he had stepped outside the door and closed it after him. + +A few minutes later, still standing beside the desk, Langford heard the +rapid beat of hoofs on the hard sand of the corral yard. Faint they +became, and their rhythmic beat faster, until they died away entirely. But +Dakota's words still lingered in Langford's mind, and it seemed to him +that they conveyed a prophecy. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PARTING ON THE RIVER TRAIL + + +"I'll be leaving you now, ma'am." There was a good moon, and its mellow +light streamed full into Dakota's grim, travel-stained face as he halted +his pony on the crest of a slope above the Two Forks and pointed out a +light that glimmered weakly through the trees on a level some distance on +the other side of the river. + +"There's Doubler's cabin--where you see that light," he continued, +speaking to Sheila in a low voice. "You've been there before, and you +won't get lost going the rest of the way alone. Do what you can for +Doubler. I'm going down to my shack. I've done a heap of riding to-day, +and I don't feel exactly like I want to keep going on, unless it's +important. Besides, maybe Doubler will get along a whole lot better if I +don't hang around there. At least, he'll do as well." + +Sheila had turned her head from him. He was exhibiting a perfectly natural +aversion toward visiting the man he had nearly killed, she assured herself +with a shudder, and she felt no pity for him. He had done her a service, +however, in appearing at the Double R at a most opportune time, and she +was grateful. Therefore she lingered, finding it hard to choose words. + +"I am sorry," she finally said. + +"Thank you." He maneuvered his pony until the moonlight streamed in her +face. "I reckon you've got the same notion as your father--that I shot +Doubler?" he said, watching her narrowly. "You are willing to take +Duncan's word for it?" + +"Duncan's word, and the agreement which I found in the pocket of your +vest," she returned, without looking at him. "I suppose that is proof +enough?" + +"Well," he said with a bitter laugh, "it does look bad for me, for a fact. +I can't deny that. And I don't blame you for thinking as you do. But you +heard what I told your father about the shooting of Doubler being a +plant." + +"A plant?" + +"A scheme, a plot--to make an innocent man seem guilty. That is what has +been done with me. I didn't shoot Doubler. I wouldn't shoot him." + +She looked at him now, unbelief in her eyes. + +"Of course you would deny it," she said. + +"Well," he said resignedly, "I reckon that's all. I can't say that I +expected anything else. I've done some things in my life that I've +regretted, but I've never told a lie when the truth would do as well. +There is no reason now why I should lie, and so I want you to know that I +am telling the truth when I say that I didn't shoot Doubler. Won't you +believe me?" + +"No," she returned, unaffected by the earnestness in his voice. "You were +at Doubler's cabin when I heard the shot--I met you on the trail. You +killed that man, Blanca, over in Lazette, for nothing. You didn't need to +kill him; you shot him in pure wantonness. But you killed Doubler for +money. You would have killed my father had I not been there to prevent +you. Perhaps you can't help killing people. You have my sympathy on that +account, and I hope that in time you will do better--will reform. But I +don't believe you." + +"You forgot to mention one other crime," he reminded her in a low voice, +not without a trace of sarcasm. + +"I have not forgotten it. I will never forget it. But I forgive you, for +in comparison to your other crimes your sin against me was trivial--though +it was great enough." + +Again his bitter laugh reached her ears. "I thought," he began, and then +stopped short. "Well, I reckon it doesn't make much difference what I +thought. I would have to tell you many things before you would understand, +and even then I suppose you wouldn't believe me. So I am keeping quiet +until--until the time comes. Maybe that won't be so long, and then you'll +understand. I'll be seeing you again." + +"I am leaving this country to-morrow," she informed him coldly. + +She saw him start and experienced a sensation of vindictive satisfaction. + +"Well," he said, with a queer note of regret in his voice, "that's too +bad. But I reckon I'll be seeing you again anyway, if the sheriff doesn't +get me." + +"Do you think they will come for you to-night?" she asked, suddenly +remembering that her father had told her that Duncan had gone to Lazette +for the sheriff. "What will they do?" + +"Nothing, I reckon. That is, they won't do anything except take me into +custody. They can't do anything until Doubler dies." + +"If he doesn't die?" she said. "What can they do then?" + +"Usually it isn't considered a crime to shoot a man--if he doesn't die. +Likely they wouldn't do anything to me if Doubler gets well. They might +want me to leave the country. But I don't reckon that I'm going to let +them take me--whether Doubler dies or not. Once they've got a man it's +pretty easy to prove him guilty--in this country. Usually they hang a man +and consider the evidence afterward. I'm not letting them do that to me. +If I was guilty, I suppose I might look at it differently, but maybe +not." + +Sheila was silent; he became silent, too, and looked gravely at her. + +"Well," he said presently, "I'll be going." He urged his pony forward, but +when it had gone only a few steps he turned and looked back at her. "Do +your best to keep Doubler alive," he said. + +There was a note of the old mockery in his voice, and it lingered long in +Sheila's ears after she had watched him vanish into the mysterious shadows +that surrounded the trail. Stiffling a sigh of regret and pity, she spoke +to her pony, and the animal shuffled down the long slope, forded the +river, and so brought her to the door of Doubler's cabin. + +The doctor was there; he was bending over Doubler at the instant Sheila +entered the cabin, and he looked up at her with grave, questioning eyes. + +"I am going to nurse him," she informed the doctor. + +"That's good," he returned softly; "he needs lots of care--the care that a +woman can give him." + +Then he went off into a maze of medical terms and phrases that left her +confused, but out of which she gathered the fact that the bullet had +missed a vital spot, that Doubler was suffering more from shock than from +real injury, and that the only danger--his constitution being strong +enough to withstand the shock--would be from blood poisoning. He had some +fever, the doctor told Sheila, and he left a small vial on a shelf with +instructions to administer a number of drops of its contents in a spoonful +of water if Doubler became restless. The bandages were to be changed +several times a day, and the wound bathed. + +The doctor was glad that she had come, for he had a very sick patient in +Mrs. Moreland, and he must return to her immediately. He would try to look +in in a day or two. No, he said, in answer to her question, she could not +leave Doubler to-morrow, even to go home--if she wanted the patient to get +well. + +And so Sheila watched him as he went out and saddled his horse and rode +away down the river trail. Then with a sigh she returned to the cabin, +closed the door, and took up her vigil beside the nester. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SHERIFF ALLEN TAKES A HAND + + +The sheriff's posse--three men whom he had deputized in Lazette and +himself--had ridden hard over the twenty miles of rough trail from +Lazette, for Duncan had assured Allen that he would have to get into +action before Dakota could discover that there had been a witness to his +deed, and therefore when they arrived at the edge of the clearing near +Dakota's cabin at midnight, they were glad of an opportunity to dismount +and stretch themselves. + +There was no light in Dakota's cabin, no sign that the man the sheriff was +after was anywhere about, and the latter consulted gravely with his men. + +"This ain't going to be any picnic, boys," he said. "We've got to take our +time and keep our eyes open. Dakota ain't no spring chicken, and if he +don't want to come with us peaceable, he'll make things plumb lively." + +A careful examination of the horses in the corral resulted in the +discovery of one which had evidently been ridden hard and unsaddled but a +few minutes before, for its flanks were in a lather and steam rose from +its sides. + +However, the discovery of the pony told the sheriff nothing beyond the +fact that Dakota had ridden to the cabin from somewhere, some time before. +Whether he was asleep, or watching the posse from some vantage point +within or outside of the cabin was not quite clear. Therefore Allen, the +sheriff, a man of much experience, advised caution. After another careful +reconnoiter, which settled beyond all reasonable doubt the fact that +Dakota was not secreted in the timber in the vicinity of the cabin, Allen +told his deputies to remain concealed on the edge of the clearing, while +he proceeded boldly to the door of the cabin and knocked loudly. He and +Dakota had always been very friendly. + +At the sound of the knock, Dakota's voice came from within the cabin, +burdened with mockery. + +"Sorry, Allen," it said, "but I'm locked up for the night. Can't take any +chances on leaving my door unbarred--can't tell who's prowling around. If +you'd sent word, now, so I would have had time to dress decently, I might +have let you in, seeing it's you. I'm sure some sorry." + +"Sorry, too." Allen grinned at the door. "I told the boys you'd be +watching. Well, it can't be helped, I reckon. Only, I'd like mighty well +to see you. Coming out in the morning?" + +"Maybe. Missed my beauty sleep already." His voice was dryly sarcastic. +"It's too bad you rode this far for nothing; can't even get a look at me. +But it's no time to visit a man, anyway. You and your boys flop outside. +We'll swap palaver in the morning. Good night." + +"Good night." + +Allen returned to the edge of the clearing, where he communicated to his +men the result of the conference. + +"He ain't allowing that he wants to be disturbed just now," he told them. +"And he's too damned polite to monkey with. We'll wait. Likely he'll +change his mind over-night." + +"Wait nothing," growled Duncan. "Bust the door in!" + +Allen grinned mildly. "Good advice," he said quietly. "Me and my men will +set here while you do the busting. Don't imagine that we'll be sore +because you take the lead in such a little matter as that." + +"If I was the sheriff----" began Duncan. + +"Sure," interrupted Allen with a dry laugh; "if you was the sheriff. +There's a lot of things we'd do if we was somebody else. Maybe breaking +down Dakota's door is one of them. But we don't want anyone killed if we +can help it, and it's a dead sure thing that some one would cash in if we +tried any monkey business with that door. If you're wanting to do +something that amounts to something to help this game along, swap your +cayuse for one of Dakota's and hit the breeze to the Double R for grub. +We'll be needing it by the time you get back." + +Duncan had already ridden over sixty miles within the past twenty-four +hours, and he made a grumbling rejoinder. But in the end he roped one of +Dakota's horses, saddled it, and presently vanished in the darkness. Allen +and his men built a fire near the edge of the clearing and rolled into +their blankets. + +At eight o'clock the following morning, Langford appeared on the river +trail, leading a pack horse loaded with provisions and cooking utensils +for the sheriff and his men. Duncan, Langford told Allen while they +breakfasted, had sought his bunk, being tired from the day's activities. + +"You're the owner of the Double R?" questioned Allen. + +"You and Dakota friendly?" he questioned again, noting Langford's nod. + +"We've been quite friendly," smiled Langford. + +"But you ain't now?" + +"Not since this has happened. We must have law and order, even at the +price of friendship." + +Allen squinted a mildly hostile eye at Langford. "That's a good principle +to get back of--for a weak-kneed friendship. But most men who have got +friends wouldn't let a little thing like law and order interfere between +them." + +Langford reddened. "I haven't known Dakota long of course," he defended. +"Perhaps I erred in saying we were friends. Acquaintances would better +describe it I think." + +Allen's eye narrowed again with an emotion that Langford could not fathom. +"I always had a heap of faith in Dakota's judgment," he said. And then, +when Langford's face flushed with a realization of the subtle insult, +Allen said gruffly: + +"You say Doubler's dead?" + +"I don't remember to have said that to you," returned Langford, his voice +snapping with rage. "What I did say was that Duncan saw him killed and +came to me with the news. I sent him for you. Since then my daughter has +been over to Doubler's cabin. He is quite dead, she reported," he lied. +"There can be no doubt of his guilt, if that is what bothers you," he +continued. "Duncan saw him shoot Doubler in the back with Doubler's own +rifle, and my daughter heard the shot and met Dakota coming from Doubler's +cabin, immediately after. It's a clear case, it seems to me." + +"Yes, clear," said Allen. "The evidence is all against him." + +Yet it was not all quite clear to Langford. To be sure, he had expected to +receive news that Dakota had accomplished the destruction of Doubler, but +he had not anticipated the fortunate appearance of Duncan at the nester's +cabin during the commission of the murder, nor had he expected Sheila to +be near the scene of the crime. It had turned out better than he had +planned, for since he had burned the agreement that he had made with +Dakota, the latter had no hold on him whatever, and if it were finally +proved that he had committed the crime there would come an end to both +Dakota and Doubler. + +Only one thing puzzled him. Dakota had been to his place, he knew that he +was charged with the murder and that the agreement had been burned. He +also knew that Duncan and Sheila would bear witness against him. And yet, +though he had had an opportunity to escape, he had not done so. Why not? + +He put this interrogation to Allen, carefully avoiding reference to +anything which would give the sheriff any idea that he possessed any +suspicion that Dakota was not really guilty. + +"That's what's bothering me!" declared the latter. "He's had time enough +to hit the breeze clear out of the Territory. Though," he added, squinting +at Langford, "Dakota ain't never been much on the run. He'd a heap rather +face the music. Damn the cuss!" he exploded impatiently. + +He finished his breakfast in silence, and then again approached the door +of Dakota's cabin, knocking loudly, as before. + +"I'm wanting that palaver now, Dakota," he said coaxingly. + +He heard Dakota laugh. "Have you viewed the corpse, Allen?" came his +voice, burdened with mockery. + +"No," said Allen. + +"You're a hell of a sheriff--wanting to take a man when you don't know +whether he's done anything." + +"I reckon you ain't fooling me none," said Allen slowly. "The evidence is +dead against you." + +"What evidence?" + +"Duncan saw you fixing Doubler, and Langford's daughter met you coming +from his cabin." + +"Who told you that?" + +"Langford. He's just brought some grub over." + +The silence that followed Allen's words lasted long, and the sheriff +fidgeted impatiently. When he again spoke there was the sharpness of +intolerance in his voice. + +"If talking to you was all I had to do, I might monkey around here all +summer," he said. "I've give you about eight hours to think this thing +over, and that's plenty long enough. I don't like to get into any gun +argument with you, because I know that somebody will get hurt. Why in hell +don't you surrender decently? I'm a friend of yours and you hadn't ought +to want to make any trouble for me. And them's good boys that I've got +over there and I wouldn't want to see any of them perforated. And I'd hate +like blazes to have to put you out of business. Why don't you act decent +and come out like a man?" + +"Go and look at the corpse," insisted Dakota. + +"There'll be plenty of time to look at the corpse after you're took." + +There was no answer. Allen sighed regretfully. "Well," he said presently, +"I've done what I could. From now on, I'm looking for you." + +"Just a minute, Allen," came Dakota's voice. To Allen's surprise he heard +a fumbling at the fastenings of the door, and an instant later it swung +open and Dakota stood in the opening, one of his six-shooters in hand. + +"I reckon I know you well enough to be tolerably sure that you'll get me +before you leave here," he said, as Allen wheeled and faced him, his arms +folded over his chest as a declaration of his present peaceful intentions. +"But I want you to get this business straight before anything is started. +And then you'll be responsible. I'm giving it to you straight. Somebody's +framed up on me. I didn't shoot Doubler. When I left him he was cleaning +his rifle. After I left him I heard shooting. I thought it was him trying +his rifle, or I would have gone back. + +"Then I met Sheila Langford on the river trail, near the cabin. She'd +heard the shooting, too. She thinks I did it. You think I did it, and +Duncan says he saw me do it. Doubler isn't dead. At least he wasn't dead +when I left the doctor with him at sundown. But he wasn't far from it, and +if he dies without coming to it's likely that things will look bad for me. +But because I knew he wasn't dead I took a chance on staying here. I am +not allowing that I'm going to let anyone hang me for a thing I didn't do, +and so if you're determined to get me without making sure that Doubler's +going to have mourners immediately, it's a dead sure thing that some one's +going to get hurt. I reckon that's all. I've given you fair warning, and +after you get back to the edge of the clearing our friendship don't count +any more." + +He stepped back and closed the door. + +Allen walked slowly toward the clearing, thinking seriously. He said +nothing to Langford or his men concerning his conversation with Dakota, +and though he covertly questioned the former he could discover nothing +more than that which the Double R owner had already told him. Several +times during the morning he was on the point of planning an attack on the +cabin, but Dakota's voice had a ring of truth in it and he delayed action, +waiting for some more favorable turn of events. + +And so the hours dragged. The men lounged in the shade of the trees and +talked; Langford--though he had no further excuse for staying--remained, +concealing his impatience over Allen's inaction by taking short rides, but +always returning; Allen, taciturn, morose even, paid no attention to him. + +The afternoon waned; the sun descended to the peaks of the mountains, and +there was still inaction on Allen's part, still silence from the cabin. +Just at sundown Allen called his men to him and told them to guard the +cabin closely, not to shoot unless forced by Dakota, but to be certain +that he did not escape. + +He said they might expect him to return by dawn of the following morning. +Then, during Langford's absence on one of his rides, he loped his pony up +the river trail toward Ben Doubler's cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +DOUBLER TALKS + + +After the departure of the doctor Sheila entered the cabin and closed the +door, fastening the bars and drawing a chair over near the table. Doubler +seemed to be resting easier, though there was a flush in his cheeks that +told of the presence of fever. However, he breathed more regularly and +with less effort than before the coming of the doctor, and as a +consequence, Sheila felt decidedly better. At intervals during the night +she gave him quantities of the medicine which the doctor had left, but +only when the fever seemed to increase, forcing the liquid through his +lips. Several times she changed the bandages, and once or twice during the +night when he moaned she pulled her chair over beside him and smoothed his +forehead, soothing him. When the dawn came it found her heavy eyed and +tired. + +She went to the river and procured fresh water, washed her hands and face, +prepared a breakfast of bacon and soda biscuit--which she found in a tin +box in a corner of the cabin, and then, as Doubler seemed to be doing +nicely, she saddled her pony and took a short gallop. Returning, she +entered the cabin, to find Doubler tossing restlessly. + +She gave him a dose of the medicine--an extra large one--but it had little +effect, quieting him only momentarily. Evidently he was growing worse. The +thought aroused apprehension in her mind, but she fought it down and +stayed resolutely at the sick man's side. + +Through the slow-dragging hours of the morning she sat beside him, giving +him the best care possible under the circumstances, but in spite of her +efforts the fever steadily rose, and at noon he sat suddenly up in the +bunk and gazed at her with blazing, vacuous eyes. + +"You're a liar!" he shouted. "Dakota's square!" + +Sheila stifled a scream of fear and shrank from him. But recovering, she +went to him, seizing his shoulders and forcing him back into the bunk. He +did not resist, not seeming to pay any attention to her at all, but he +mumbled, inexpressively: + +"It ain't so, I tell you. He's just left me, an' any man which could talk +like he talked to me ain't--I reckon not," he said, shaking his head with +a vigorous, negative motion; "you're a heap mistaken--you ain't got him +right at all." + +He was quiet for a time after this, but toward the middle of the afternoon +Sheila saw that his gaze was following her as she paced softly back and +forth in the cabin. + +"So you're stuck on that Langford girl, are you?" he demanded, laughing. +"Well, it won't do you any good, Dakota, she's--well, she's some sore at +you for something. She won't listen to anything which is said about you." +The laughter died out of his eyes; they became cold with menace. "I ain't +listenin' to any more of that sorta talk, I tell you! I've got my eyes +open. Why!" he said in surprise, starting up, "he's gone!" He suddenly +shuddered and cursed. "In the back," he said. "You--you----" And profanity +gushed from his lips. Then he collapsed, closing his eyes, and lay silent +and motionless. + +Out of the jumble of disconnected sentences Sheila was able to gather two +things of importance--perhaps three. + +The first was that some one had told him of Dakota's complicity in the +plan to murder him and that he refused to believe his friend capable of +such depravity. The second was that he knew who had shot him; he also knew +the man who had informed him of Dakota's duplicity--though this knowledge +would amount to very little unless he recovered enough to be able to +supply the missing threads. + +Sheila despaired of him supplying anything, for it seemed that he was +steadily growing worse, and when the dusk came she began to feel a dread +of remaining with him in the cabin during the night. If only the doctor +would return! If Dakota would come--Duncan, her father, anybody! But +nobody came, and the silence around the cabin grew so oppressive that she +felt she must scream. When darkness succeeded dusk she lighted the +kerosene lamp, placed a bar over the window, secured the door fastenings, +and seated herself at the table, determined to take a short nap. + +It seemed that she had scarcely dropped off to sleep--though in reality +she had been unconscious for more than two hours--when she awoke suddenly, +to see Doubler sitting erect in the bunk, watching her with a wan, +sympathetic smile. There was the light of reason in his eyes and her heart +gave an ecstatic leap. + +"Could you give me a drink of water, ma'am?" he said, in the voice that +she knew well. + +She sprang to the pail, to find that it contained very little. She had +lifted it, and was about to unfasten the door, intending to go to the +river to procure fresh water, when Doubler's voice arrested her. + +"There's some water there--I can hear it splashin': It'll do well enough +just now. I don't want much. You can get some fresh after a while. I want +to talk to you." + +She placed the pail down and went over to him, standing beside him. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"How long have you been here? I knowed you was here all the time--I kept +seein' you, but somehow things was a little mixed. But I know that you've +been here quite a while. How long?" + +"This is the second night." + +"You found me layin' there--in the door. I dropped there, not bein' able +to go any further. I felt you touchin' me--draggin' me. There was someone +else here, too. Who was it?" + +"The doctor and Dakota." + +"Where's Dakota now?" + +"At his cabin, I suppose. He didn't stay here long--he left right after he +brought the doctor. I imagine you know why he didn't stay. He was afraid +that you would recognize him and accuse him." + +"Accuse him of what, ma'am?" + +"Of shooting you." + +He smiled. "I reckon, ma'am, that you don't understand. It wasn't Dakota +that shot me." + +"Who did, then?" she questioned eagerly. "Who?" + +"Duncan." + +"Why--why----" she said, sitting suddenly erect, a mysterious elation +filling her, her eyes wide with surprise and delight, and a fear that +Doubler might have been mistaken--"Why, I saw Dakota on the river trail +just after you were shot." + +"He'd just left me. He hadn't been gone more than ten minutes or so when +Duncan rode up--comin' out of the timber just down by the crick. Likely +he'd been hidin' there. I was cleanin' my rifle; we had words, and when I +set my rifle down just outside the shack, he grabbed it an' shot me. After +that I don't seem to remember a heap, except that someone was touchin' +me--which must have been you." + +"Oh!" she said. "I am _so_ glad!" + +She was thinking now of Dakota's parting words to her the night before on +the crest of the slope above the river,--of his words, of the truth of his +statement denying his guilt, and she was glad that she had not spoken some +of the spiteful things which had been in her mind. How she had misjudged +him! + +"I reckon it's something to be glad for," smiled Doubler, misunderstanding +her elation, "but I reckon I owe it to you--I'd have pulled my freight +sure, if you hadn't come when you did. An' I told you not to be comin' +here any more." He laughed. "Ain't it odd how things turn out--sometimes. +I'd have died sure," he repeated. + +"You are going to live a long while," she said. And then, to his surprise, +she bent over and kissed his forehead, leaving his side instantly, her +cheeks aflame, her eyes alight with a mysterious fire. To conceal her +emotion from Doubler she seized the water pail. + +"I will get some fresh water," she said, with a quick, smiling glance at +him. "You'll want a fresh drink, and your bandages must be changed." + +She opened the door and stepped down into the darkness. + +There was a moon, and the trail to the river was light enough for her to +see plainly, but when she reached the timber clump in which Doubler had +said Duncan had been hiding, she shuddered and made a detour to avoid +passing close to it. This took her some distance out of her way, and she +reached the river and walked along its bank for a little distance, +searching for a deep accessible spot into which she could dip the pail. + +The shallow crossing over which she had ridden many times was not far +away, and when she stooped to fill the pail she heard a sudden clatter and +splashing, and looked up to see a horseman riding into the water from the +opposite side of the river. + +He saw her at the instant she discovered him, and once over the ford he +turned his horse and rode directly toward her. + +After gaining the bank he halted his pony and looked intently at her. + +"You're Langford's daughter, I reckon," he said. + +"Yes," she returned, seeing that he was a stranger; "I am." + +"I'm Ben Allen," he said shortly; "the sheriff of this county. What are +you doing here?" + +"I am taking care of Ben Doubler," she said; "he has been----" + +"Then he ain't dead, of course," said Allen, interrupting her. It seemed +to Sheila that there was relief and satisfaction in his voice, and she +peered closer at him, but his face was hidden in the shadow of his hat +brim. + +"He is very much better now," she told him, scarcely able to conceal her +delight. "But he has been very bad." + +"Able to talk?" + +"Yes. He has just been talking to me." She took a step toward him, +speaking earnestly and rapidly. "I suppose you are looking for Dakota," +she said, remembering what her father had told her about sending Duncan to +Lazette for the sheriff. "If you are looking for him, I want to tell you +that he didn't shoot Doubler. It was Duncan. Doubler told me so not over +five minutes ago. He said----" + +But Allen had spurred his pony forward, and before she could finish he was +out of hearing distance, riding swiftly toward the cabin. + +Sheila lingered at the water's edge, for now suddenly she saw much beauty +in the surrounding country, and she was no longer lonesome. She stood on +the bank of the river, gazing long at the shadowy rims of the distant +mountains, at their peaks, rising majestically in the luminous mist of the +night; at the plains, stretching away and fading into the mysterious +shadows of the distance; watching the waters of the river, shimmering like +quicksilver--a band of glowing ribbon winding in and out and around the +moon-touched buttes of the canyons. + +"Oh!" she said irrelevantly, "he isn't so bad, after all!" + +Stooping over again to fill the pail, she heard a sharp clatter of hoofs +behind her. A horseman was racing toward the river--toward her--bending +low over his pony's mane, riding desperately. She placed the pail down and +watched him. Apparently he did not see her, for, swerving suddenly, he +made for the crossing without slackening speed. He had almost reached the +water's edge when there came a spurt of flame from the door of Doubler's +cabin, followed by the sharp whip like crack of a rifle! + +In the doorway of the cabin, clearly outlined against the flickering light +of the interior, was a man. And as Sheila watched another streak of fire +burst from the door, and she heard the shrill sighing of the bullet, heard +the horseman curse. But he did not stop in his flight, and in an instant +he had crossed the river. She saw him for an instant as he was outlined +against the clear sky in the moonlight that bathed the crest of the slope, +and then he was gone. + +Dropping the pail, Sheila ran toward the cabin, fearing that Doubler had +suddenly become delirious and had attacked Allen. But it seemed to her +that it had not been Allen who had raced away from the cabin, and she had +not gone more than half way toward it when she saw another horseman +coming. She halted to wait for him, and when he halted and drew up beside +her she saw that it was the sheriff. + +"Who was it?" she demanded, breathlessly. + +"Duncan!" Allen cursed picturesquely and profanely. "When I got to the +shack he was inside, standing over Doubler, strangling him. The damned +skunk! You was right," he added; "it was him who shot Doubler!" He +continued rapidly, grimly, taking a piece of paper from a pocket and +writing something on it. + +"My men have got Dakota corraled in his cabin. If he tries to get away +they will do for him. I don't want that to happen; there's too few square +men in the country as it is. Take this"--he held out the paper to +her--"and get down to Dakota's cabin with it. Give it to Bud--one of my +men--and tell him to scatter the others and try to head off Duncan if he +comes that way. I'm after him!" + +The paper fluttered toward her, she snatched at it, missed it, and stooped +to take it from the ground. When she stood erect she saw Allen and his +pony silhouetted for an instant on the crest of the ridge on the other +side of the river. Then he vanished. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +FOR DAKOTA + + +Though in a state of anxiety and excitement over the incident of Duncan's +attack on Doubler and the subsequent shooting, together with a realization +of Dakota's danger, Sheila did not lose her composure. She ran to the +river and secured the water, aware that it might be needed now more than +ever. Then, hurrying as best she could with the weight of the pail, she +returned to the cabin. + +She was relieved to find that Doubler had received no injury, and she +paused long enough to allow him to tell her that Duncan had entered the +cabin shortly after she had left it. He had attacked Doubler, but had been +interrupted by Allen, who had suddenly ridden up. Duncan had heard him +coming, and had concealed himself behind the door, and when Allen had +entered Duncan had struck him on the head with the butt of his +six-shooter, knocking him down. The blow had been a glancing one, however, +and Allen had recovered quickly, seizing Doubler's rifle and trying to +bring down the would be murderer as he fled. + +While attending to Doubler's bandages, Sheila repeated the conversation +she had had with Allen concerning the situation in which he had left +Dakota, and instantly the nester's anxiety for his friend took precedence +over any thoughts for his own immediate welfare. + +"There'll be trouble sure, now that Allen's left there," he said. "Dakota +won't be a heap easy with them deputies." + +He told Sheila to let the bandaging go until later, but she refused. + +"Dakota'll be needin' you a heap more than I need you," he insisted, +refusing to allow her to touch the bandages. "There'll be the devil to pay +if any of them deputies try to rush Dakota's shack. I want you to go down +there right now. If you wait, it'll mebbe be too late." + +Sheila hesitated for a moment, and then, yielding to the entreaty in +Doubler's eyes, she was at his side, pressing his hand. + +"Ride ma'am!" he told her, when she was ready to go, his cheeks flushed +with excitement, his eyes bright. + +Her pony snorted with surprise when she brought her riding whip down +against its flanks when turning from the corral gates, but it needed no +second urging, and its pace when it splashed through the shallow water of +the crossing was fully as great as that of Duncan's pony, which had +previously passed through it. + +Once on the hard sand of the river trail it settled into a long, swinging +gallop, under which the miles flew by rapidly and steadily. Sheila drew +the animal up on the rises, breathing it sometimes, but on the levels she +urged it with whip and spur, and in something more than an hour after +leaving Doubler's cabin, she flashed by the quicksand crossing, which she +estimated as being not more than twelve miles from her journey's end. + +She was tired after her long vigil at Doubler's side, but the weariness +was entirely physical, for her brain was working rapidly, filling her +thoughts with picturesque conjectures, drawing pictures in which she saw +Dakota being shot down by Allen's deputies. And he was innocent! + +She did not blame herself for Dakota's dilemma, though she felt a keen +regret over her treatment of him, over her unjust suspicions. He had +really been in earnest when he had told her the night before on the river +trail that he was not guilty--that everybody had misjudged him. Vivid in +her recollection was the curious expression on his face when he had said +to her just before leaving her that night: + +"Won't you believe me?" + +And that other time, when he had taken her by the shoulders and looked +steadily into her eyes--she remembered that, too; she could almost feel +his fingers, and the words he had uttered then were fresh in her memory: +"I've treated you mean, Sheila, about as mean as a man could treat a +woman. I am sorry. I want you to believe that. And maybe some day--when +this business is over--you'll understand, and forgive me." + +There had been mystery in his actions ever since she had seen him the +first time, and though she could not yet understand it, she had discovered +that there were forces at work in his affairs which seemed to indicate +that he had not told her that for the purpose of attempting to justify his +previous actions. + +Evidently, whatever the mystery that surrounded him, her father and Duncan +were concerned in it, and this thought spurred her on, for it gave her a +keen delight to think that she was arrayed against them, even though she +were on the side of the man who had wronged her. He, at least, had not +been concerned in the plot to murder Doubler. + +When she reached the last rise--on the crest of which she had sat on her +pony on the morning following her marriage to Dakota in the cabin and from +which she had seen the parson riding away--she was trembling with +eagerness and dread for fear that something might happen before she could +arrive. It was three miles down the slope, and when she reached the level +there was Dakota's cabin before her. + +She drew her pony to a walk, for she saw men grouped in front of the cabin +door, saw Dakota there himself, standing in the open doorway, framed in +the light from within. There were no evidences of the conflict which she +had dreaded. She had arrived in time. + +Convinced of this, she felt for the first time her physical weariness, and +she leaned forward on her pony, holding to its mane for support, +approaching the cabin slowly. + +Her father was there, she observed, as she drew nearer; and three +strangers--and Allen! And near Allen, sitting on his horse dejectedly, was +Duncan! + +One of Duncan's arms swung oddly at his side, and Sheila thought instantly +of his curse when he had been riding near her at the river crossing. +Evidently Allen's bullet had struck him. + +Sheila's presence at Dakota's cabin was now unnecessary, for it was +evident that an understanding had been reached with Allen, and Sheila +experienced a sudden aversion to appearing among the men. Turning her +pony, she was about to ride away, intending to return to Doubler's cabin, +when Allen turned and saw her. He spurred quickly to her side, seizing the +pony by the bridle rein and leading it toward the cabin door. + +"It's all right, ma'am," he said, "I got him. Holy smoke!" he exclaimed as +she came within the radius of the light. "You certainly rode some, didn't +you, ma'am?" + +She did not answer. She saw her father look at her, noted his start, +smiled scornfully when she observed a paleness overspreading his face. She +looked from him to Duncan, and the latter flushed and turned his head. +Then Allen's voice reached her, as he spoke to Dakota. + +"This young woman has rode twenty miles to-night--to save your hide--you +durned cuss. If you was anyways hospitable, you'd----" + +Allen's voice seemed to grow distant to Sheila, the figures of the men in +the group blurred, the light danced, she reeled in the saddle, tried to +check herself, failed, and toppled limply forward over her pony's neck. +She heard an exclamation, saw Dakota spring suddenly from the doorway, +felt his arms around her. She struggled in his grasp, trying to fight him +off, and then she drifted into oblivion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SOME MEMORIES + + +When Sheila recovered consciousness she was in Dakota's cabin--in the bunk +in which she had lain on another night in the yesterday of her life in +this country. She recognized it instantly. There was the candle on the +table, there were the familiar chairs, the fireplace, the shelves upon +which were Dakota's tobacco tins and matches; there was the guitar, with +its gaudy string, suspended from the wall. If it had been raining, she +might have imagined that she was just awakening from a sleep in that other +time. She felt a hand on her forehead, a damp cloth, and she opened her +eyes to gaze fairly into Dakota's. + +"Don't, please," she said, shrinking from him. + +It occurred to her that she had uttered the same words to him before, and, +closing her eyes for a moment, she remembered. It had been when he had +tried to assist her out of the water at the quicksand crossing, and as on +that occasion, his answer was the same. + +"Then I won't." + +She lay for a long time, looking straight up at the ceiling, utterly +tired, wondering vaguely what had become of her father, Duncan, Allen, and +the others. She would have given much to have been able to lie there for a +time--a long time--and rest. But that was not to be thought of. She +struggled to a sitting position, and when her eyes had become accustomed +to the light she saw her father sitting in a chair near the fireplace. The +door was closed--barred. Sheila glanced again at her father, and then +questioningly at Dakota, who was watching her from the center of the room, +his face inscrutable. + +"What does this mean? Where are the others?" she demanded. + +"Allen and his men have gone back to Lazette," returned Dakota quietly. +"This means"--he pointed to Langford--"that we're going to have a little +talk--about things." + +Sheila rose. "I don't care to hear any talk; I am not interested." + +"You'll be interested in _my_ talk," said Dakota. + +Curiously, he seemed to be invested with a new character. Just now he was +more like the man he had been the night she had met him the first +time--before he had forced her to marry him--than he had been since. Only, +she felt as she watched him standing quietly in the middle of the room, +the recklessness which had marked his manner that other time seemed to +have entirely disappeared, seemed to have been replaced by something +else--determination. + +Beneath the drooping mustache Sheila saw the lines of his lips; they had +always seemed hard to her, and now there were little curves at the corners +which hinted at amusement--grim amusement. His eyes, too, were different; +the mockery had departed from them. They were steady and unwavering, as +before, and though they still baffled her, she was certain that she saw a +slumbering devil in them--as though he possessed some mysterious knowledge +and purposed to confound Sheila and her father with it, though in his own +way and to suit his convenience. Yet behind it all there lurked a certain +gravity--a cold deliberation that seemed to proclaim that he was in no +mood to trifle and that he proposed to follow some plan and would brook no +interference. + +Fascinated by the change in him Sheila resumed her seat on the edge of the +bunk, watching him closely. He drew a chair over near the door, tilted it +back and dropped into it, thus mutely announcing that he intended keeping +the prisoners until he had delivered himself of that mysterious knowledge +which seemed to be in his mind. + +Glancing furtively at her father, Sheila observed that he appeared to have +formed some sort of a conclusion regarding Dakota's actions also, for he +sat very erect on his chair, staring at the latter, an intense interest in +his eyes. + +Sheila had become interested, too; she had forgotten her weariness. And +yet Dakota's first words disappointed her--somehow they seemed +irrelevant. + +"This isn't such a big world, after all, is it?" He addressed both Sheila +and her father, though he looked at neither. His tone was quietly +conversational, and when he received no answer to his remark he looked up +with a quiet smile. + +"That has been said by a great many people, hasn't it? I've heard it many +times. I reckon you have, too. But it's a fact, just the same. The world +_is_ a small place. Take us three. You"--he said, pointing to +Langford--"come out here from Albany and buy a ranch. You"--he smiled at +Sheila--"came with your father as a matter of course. You"--he looked +again at Langford--"might have bought a ranch in another part of the +country. You didn't need to buy this particular one. But you did. Take me. +I spent five years in Dakota before I came here. I've been here five +years. + +"A man up in Dakota wanted me to stay there; said he'd do most anything +for me if I would. But I didn't like Dakota; something kept telling me +that I ought to move around a little. I came here, I liked the place, and +I've stayed here. I know that neither of you are very much interested in +what has happened to me, but I've told you that much just to prove my +contention about the world being a small place. It surely isn't so very +big when you consider that three persons can meet up like we've met--our +trails leading us to the same section of the country." + +"I don't see how that concerns us," said Langford impatiently. + +"No," returned Dakota, and now there was a note of sarcasm in his voice, +"you don't see. Lots of folks don't see. But there are trails that lead +everywhere. Fate marks them out--blazes them. There are trails that lead +us into trouble, others that lead us to pleasure--straight trails, crooked +ones, trails that cross--all kinds. Folks start out on a crooked trail, +trying to get away from something, but pretty soon another trail crosses +the one they are on--maybe it will be a straight one that crosses theirs, +with a straight man riding it. + +"The man riding the crooked trail and the man riding the straight one meet +at the place where the trails cross. Such trails don't lead to any +to-morrow; they are yesterday's trails, and before the man riding the +crooked trail and the man riding the straight trail can go any further +there has got to be an accounting. That is what has happened here. +You"--he smiled gravely as he looked at Langford--"have been riding a +crooked trail. I have been hanging onto the straight one as best I could. +Now we've got to where the trails cross." + +"Meaning that you want an explanation of my action in burning that signed +agreement, I suppose?" sneered Langford, looking up. + +"Still trying to ride the crooked trail?" smiled Dakota, with the first +note of mockery that Sheila had heard in his voice since he had begun +speaking. "I'm not worrying a bit about that agreement. Why, man, I'd have +shot myself before I'd have shot Doubler. He's my friend--the only real +friend I've had in ten years." + +"Then when you signed the agreement you didn't mean to keep it?" +questioned Langford incautiously, disarmed by Dakota's earnestness. + +"Ten years ago a boy named Ned Keegles went to Dakota. I am glad to see +that you are familiar with the name," he added with a smile as Langford +started and stiffened in his chair, his face suddenly ashen. "You knowing +Keegles will save me explaining a lot," continued Dakota. "Well, Keegles +went to Dakota--where I was. He was eighteen and wasn't very strong, as +young men go. But he got a job punching cows and I got to know him pretty +well--used to bunk with him. He took a liking to me because I took an +interest in him. + +"He didn't like the work, because he had been raised differently. He lived +in Albany before he went West. His father, William Keegles, was in the +hardware business with a man named Langford--David Dowd Langford. You see, +I couldn't be mistaken in the name of the man; it's such an uncommon +one." + +He smiled significantly at Sheila, and an odd expression came into her +face, for she remembered that on the night of her coming he had made the +same remark. + +"One day Ned Keegles got sick and took me into his confidence. He wasn't +in the West for his health, he said. He was a fugitive from the law, +accused of murdering his father. It wasn't a nice story to hear, but he +told it, thinking he was going to die." + +Dakota smiled enigmatically at Sheila and coldly at the now shrinking man +seated in the chair beside the fireplace. + +"One day Keegles went into his father's office. His father's partner, +David Dowd Langford, was there, talking to his father. They'd had hard +words. Keegle's father had discovered that Langford had appropriated a +large sum of the firm's money. By forging his partner's signature he had +escaped detection until one day when the elder Keegles had accidentally +discovered the fraud--which was the day on which Ned Keegles visited his +father. It isn't necessary to go into detail, but it was perfectly plain +that Langford was guilty. + +"There were hard words, as I have said. The elder Keegles threatened to +prosecute. Langford seized a sample knife that had been lying on the elder +Keegle's desk, and stabbed him, killing him instantly. Then, while Ned +Keegles stood by, stunned by the suddenness of the attack, Langford coolly +walked to a telephone and notified the police of the murder. Hanging up +the receiver, he raised the hue and cry, and a dozen clerks burst into the +office, to find Ned Keegles bending over his father, trying to withdraw +the knife. + +"Langford accused Ned Keegles of the murder. He protested, of course, but +seeing that the evidence was against him, he fought his way out of the +office and escaped. He went to Dakota--where I met him." He hesitated and +looked steadily at Langford. "Do you see how the trails have crossed? The +crooked one and the straight one?" + +Langford was leaning forward in his chair, a scared, wild expression in +his eyes, his teeth and hands clenched in an effort to control his +emotions. + +"It's a lie!" he shouted. "I didn't kill him! Ned Keegles----" + +"Wait!" Dakota rose from his chair and walked to a shelf, from which he +took a box, returning to Langford's side and opening it. He drew out a +knife, shoving it before Langford's eyes and pointing out some rust spots +on the blade. + +"This knife was given to me by Ned Keegles," he said slowly. "These rust +spots on the blade are from his father's blood. Look at them!" he said +sharply, for Langford had turned his head. + +At the command he swung around, his gaze resting on the knife. "That's a +pretty story," he sneered. + +Dakota's laugh when he returned the knife to the box chilled Sheila as +that same laugh had chilled her when she had heard it during her first +night in the country--in this same cabin, with Dakota sitting at the +table--a bitter, mocking laugh that had in it a savagery controlled by an +iron will. He turned abruptly and walked to his chair, seating himself. + +"Yes," he said, "it's a pretty story. But it hasn't all been told. With a +besmirched name and the thoughts which were with him all the time, life +wasn't exactly a joyful one for Ned Keegles. He was young, you see, and it +all preyed on his mind. But after a while it hardened him. He'd hit town +with the rest of the boys, and he'd drink whiskey until he'd forget. But +he couldn't forget long. He kept seeing his father and Langford; nights +he'd start from his blankets, living over and over again the incident of +the murder. He got so he couldn't stay in Dakota. He came down here and +tried to forget. It was just the same--there was no forgetfulness. + +"One night when he was on the trail near here, he met a woman. It was +raining and the woman had lost the trail. He took the woman in. She +interested him, and he questioned her. He discovered that she was the +daughter of the man who had murdered his father--the daughter of David +Dowd Langford!" + +Langford cringed and looked at Sheila, who was looking straight at Dakota, +her eyes alight with knowledge. + +"Ned Keegles kept his silence, as he had kept it for ten years," resumed +Dakota. "But the coming of the woman brought back the bitter memories, and +while the woman slept in his cabin he turned to the whiskey bottle for +comfort. As he drank his troubles danced before him--magnified. He thought +it would be a fine revenge if he should force the woman to marry him, for +he figured that it would be a blow at the father's pride. If it hadn't +been for a cowardly parson and the whiskey the marriage would never have +occurred--Ned Keegles would not have thought of it. But he didn't hurt the +woman; she left him pure as she came--mentally and physically." + +Langford slowly rose from his chair, his lips twitching, his face working +strangely, his eyes wide and glaring. + +"You say she married him--Ned Keegles?" he said, his voice high keyed and +shrill. He turned to Sheila after catching Dakota's nod. "Is this true?" +he demanded sharply. "Did you marry him as this man says you did?" + +"Yes; I married him," returned Sheila dully, and Langford sank limply into +his chair. + +Dakota smiled with flashing eyes and continued: + +"Keegles married the woman," he said coldly, "because he thought she was +Langford's real daughter." He looked at Sheila with a glance of +compassion. "Later, when Keegles discovered that the woman was only +Langford's stepdaughter, he was mighty sorry. Not for Langford, however, +because he could not consider Langford's feelings. And in spite of what he +had done he was still determined to secure revenge. + +"One day Langford came to Keegles with a proposal. He had seen Keegles +kill one man, and he wanted to hire him to kill another--a man named +Doubler. Keegles agreed, for the purpose of getting Langford into----" + +Dakota hesitated, for Langford had risen to his feet and stood looking at +him, his eyes bulging, his face livid. + +"You!" he said, in a choking, wailing voice; "you--you, are Ned Keegles! +You--you---- Why----" he hesitated and passed a hand uncertainly over his +forehead, looking from Sheila to Dakota with glazed eyes. "You--you are a +liar!" he suddenly screamed, his voice raised to a maniacal pitch. "It +isn't so! You--both of you--have conspired against me!" + +"Wait!" Dakota got to his feet, walked to a shelf, and took down a small +glass, a pair of shears, a shaving cup, and a razor. While Langford +watched, staring at him with fearful, wondering eyes, Dakota deftly +snipped off the mustache with the shears, lathered his lip, and shaved it +clean. Then he turned and confronted Langford. + +The latter looked at him with one, long, intense gaze, and then with a dry +sob which caught in his throat and seemed to choke him, he covered his +face with his hands, shuddered convulsively, and without a sound pitched +forward, face down, at Dakota's feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +INTO THE UNKNOWN + + +After a time Sheila rose from the bunk on which she had been sitting and +stood in the center of the floor, looking down at her father. Dakota had +not moved. He stood also, watching Langford, his face pale and grim, and +he did not speak until Sheila had addressed him twice. + +"What are you going to do now?" she said dully. "It is for you to say, you +know. You hold his life in your hands." + +"Do?" He smiled bitterly at her. "What would you do? I have waited ten +years for this day. It must go on to the end." + +"The end?" + +"Yes; the end," he said gravely. "He"--Dakota pointed to the prostrate +figure--"must sign a written confession." + +"And then?" + +"He will return to answer for his crime." + +Sheila shuddered and turned from him with bowed head. + +"Oh!" she said at last; "it will be too horrible! My friends in the +East--they will----" + +"Your friends," he said with some bitterness. "Could your friends say more +than my friends said when they thought that I had murdered my own father +in cold blood and then run away?" + +"But I am innocent," she pleaded. + +"I was innocent," he returned, with a grave smile. + +"Yes, but I could not help you, you know, for I wasn't there when you were +accused. But you are here, and you can help me. Don't you see," she said, +coming close to him, "don't you see that the disgrace will not fall on +him, but on me. I will make him sign the confession," she offered, "you +can hold it over him. He will make restitution of your property. But do +not force him to go back East. Let him go somewhere--anywhere--but let him +live. For, after all, he is my father--the only one I ever knew." + +"But my vengeance," he said, the bitterness of his smile softening as he +looked down at her. + +"Your vengeance?" She came closer to him, looking up into his face. "Are +we to judge--to condemn? Will not the power which led us three +together--the power which you are pleased to call 'Fate'; the power that +blazed the trail which you have followed from the yesterday of your +life;--will not this power judge him--punish him? Please," she pleaded, +"please, for my sake, for--for"--her voice broke and she came forward and +placed her hands on his shoulders--"for your wife's sake." + +He looked down at her for an instant, the hard lines of his face breaking +into gentle, sympathetic curves. Then his arms went around her, and she +leaned against him, her head against his shoulder, while she wept softly. + + * * * * * + +An hour later, standing side by side in the open doorway of the cabin, +Sheila and Dakota watched in silence while Langford, having signed a +confession dictated by Dakota, mounted his pony and rode slowly up the +river trail toward Lazette. + +He slowly passed the timber clump near the cabin, and with bowed head +traveled up the long slope which led to the rise upon which, in another +time, Sheila had caught her last glimpse of the parson. It was in the +cold, bleak moment of the morning when darkness has not yet gone and the +dawn not come, and Langford looked strangely desolate out there on the +trail alone--alone with thoughts more desolate than his surroundings. + +Sheila shivered and snuggled closer to Dakota. He looked down at her with +a sympathetic smile. + +"It is so lonesome," she said. + +"Where?" he asked. + +"Out there--where he is going." + +Dakota did not answer. For a long time they watched the huddled form of +the rider. They saw him approach the crest of the rise--reach it. Then +from the mountains in the eastern distance came a shaft of light, striking +the summit of the rise where the rider bestrode his pony--throwing both +into bold relief. For a moment the rider halted the pony, turned, glanced +back an instant, and was gone. + +THE END + +Popular Copyright Books +AT MODERATE PRICES + +Ask your dealer for a complete list of +A. L. Burt Company's Popular Copyright Fiction. + +Abner Daniel. By Will N. Harben. +Adventures of A Modest Man. By Robert W. Chambers. +Adventures of Gerard. By A. Conan Doyle. +Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. By A. Conan Doyle. +Ailsa Paige. By Robert W. Chambers. +Alternative, The. By George Barr McCutcheon. +Ancient Law, The. 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