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diff --git a/27115-h/27115-h.htm b/27115-h/27115-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..493f57c --- /dev/null +++ b/27115-h/27115-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13084 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Cattle-Baron's Daughter, by Harold Bindloss</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + body {margin-left: 11%; margin-right: 10%;} + a {text-decoration: none;} + h3 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal; font-size: 1.2em;} + .pncolor {color: silver;} + div.ce p {text-align: center; margin: auto 0;} + .figcenter {margin: 2em auto 2em auto; text-align: center;} + hr.mini {width: 2em; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; clear:both;} + .caption {font-size:.8em;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; position: absolute; right: 2%; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + hr.major {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; clear:both;} + h1 {text-align:center; } + h2 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal; font-size: 1.4em;} + h3.pg {text-align:center; font-weight:bold; font-size: 110%;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Cattle-Baron's Daughter, by Harold +Bindloss</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Cattle-Baron's Daughter</p> +<p>Author: Harold Bindloss</p> +<p>Release Date: November 1, 2008 [eBook #27115]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATTLE-BARON'S DAUGHTER***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Roger Frank<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdpcanada.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a> +<img src='images/cbd-fpc.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 368px; height: 528px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 368px;'> +A FIERCE WHITE FROTHING ABOUT HIM.—<i>Page 335.</i><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<hr style='margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver;' /> +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:2em; margin-top:2em;'>THE</p> +<p style=' font-size:2.2em;'>CATTLE-BARON’S</p> +<p style=' font-size:2.2em; margin-bottom:1em;'>DAUGHTER</p> +<p>BY</p> +<p style=' font-size:1.6em;'>HAROLD BINDLOSS</p> +<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-bottom:5em;'><i>Author of “Alton of Somasco,” etc.</i></p> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/cbd-emb.png' alt='' title='' /><br /> +</div> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' margin-top:4em;'>NEW YORK</p> +<p style=' font-size:1.2em;'>FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY</p> +<p style=' margin-bottom:2em;'>PUBLISHERS</p> +</div> + +<hr style='margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver;' /> +<div class='ce' style=' font-size:0.8em;'> +<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Copyright, 1906, by</span></p> +<p>FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY</p> +</div> + +<hr class='mini' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p>This Edition published in September, 1906</p> +</div> + +<hr class='mini' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p><i>All rights reserved</i></p> +</div> + +<hr style='margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver;' /> +<div class='ce' style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'> +<p>CONTENTS</p> +</div> + +<table border='0' width='450' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'> +<tr> + <td align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'><span style='font-size:small;'>CHAPTER</span></td> + <td></td> + <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small;'>PAGE</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>I</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Portent</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#I_THE_PORTENT'>1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>II</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hetty Takes Heed</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#II_HETTY_TAKES_HEED'>12</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>III</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Cattle-Barons</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#III_THE_CATTLEBARONS'>26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Muller Stands Fast</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IV_MULLER_STANDS_FAST'>39</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>V</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hetty Comes Home</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#V_HETTY_COMES_HOME'>50</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Incendiary</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VI_THE_INCENDIARY'>62</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Larry Proves Intractable</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VII_LARRY_PROVES_INTRACTABLE'>72</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Sheriff</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VIII_THE_SHERIFF'>85</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IX</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Prisoner</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IX_THE_PRISONER'>96</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>X</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>On the Trail</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#X_ON_THE_TRAIL'>110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Larry’s Acquittal</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XI_LARRY_S_ACQUITTAL'>122</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Sprouting of the Seed</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XII_THE_SPROUTING_OF_THE_SEED'>134</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Under Fire</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIII_UNDER_FIRE'>144</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Torrance’s Warning</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIV_TORRANCE_S_WARNING'>155</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hetty’s Bounty</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XV_HETTY_S_BOUNTY'>165</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Larry Solves the Difficulty</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVI_LARRY_SOLVES_THE_DIFFICULTY'>177</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Larry’s Peril</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVII_LARRY_S_PERIL'>189</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>A Futile Pursuit</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVIII_A_FUTILE_PURSUIT'>201</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIX</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Torrance Asks a Question</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIX_TORRANCE_ASKS_A_QUESTION'>212</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XX</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hetty’s Obstinacy</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XX_HETTY_S_OBSTINACY'>224</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Clavering Appears Ridiculous</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXI_CLAVERING_APPEARS_RIDICULOUS'>238</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Cavalry Officer</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXII_THE_CAVALRY_OFFICER'>250</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hetty’s Avowal</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXIII_HETTY_S_AVOWAL'>262</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXIV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>The Stock Train</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXIV_THE_STOCK_TRAIN'>272</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Cheyne Relieves His Feelings</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXV_CHEYNE_RELIEVES_HIS_FEELINGS'>286</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXVI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Larry’s Reward</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXVI_LARRY_S_REWARD'>296</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXVII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Clavering’s Last Card</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXVII_CLAVERING_S_LAST_CARD'>309</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXVIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Larry Rides to Cedar</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXVIII_LARRY_RIDES_TO_CEDAR'>321</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXIX</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hetty Decides</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXIX_HETTY_DECIDES'>331</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXX</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Larry’s Wedding Day</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXX_LARRY_S_WEDDING_DAY'>343</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXXI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Torrance Rides Away</span> </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXXI_TORRANCE_RIDES_AWAY'>355</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr style='margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver;' /> +<div class='ce' style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'> +<p>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</p> +</div> + +<table border='0' width='550' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Illustrations' style='margin:1em auto'> +<col style='width:80%;' /> +<col style='width:20%;' /> + +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Come Down!”</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'><i>Facing page</i> 48</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“She’ll shoot me before she means to.”</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>66</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>A white face and shadowy head, from which the fur cap had fallen.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_4'>114</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Aren’t you a trifle late?”</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_5'>160</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>There was a note in her voice that set the man’s heart beating furiously.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_6'>268</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>A fierce white frothing about him.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_1'><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr style='margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver;' /> +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>THE CATTLE-BARON’S DAUGHTER</p> +</div> + +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 0em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='I_THE_PORTENT' id='I_THE_PORTENT'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1' name='page_1'></a>1</span> +<h2>I</h2> +<h3>THE PORTENT</h3> +</div> + +<p>The hot weather had come suddenly, at least a month +earlier than usual, and New York lay baking under a +scorching sun when Miss Hetty Torrance sat in the +coolest corner of the Grand Central Depot she could find. +It was by her own wish she had spent the afternoon in +the city unattended, for Miss Torrance was a self-reliant +young woman; but it was fate and the irregularity of the +little gold watch, which had been her dead mother’s gift, +that brought her to the depot at least a quarter of an +hour too soon. But she was not wholly sorry, for she +had desired more solitude and time for reflection than +she found in the noisy city, where a visit to an eminent +modiste had occupied most of her leisure. There was, +she had reasons for surmising, a decision of some moment +to be made that night, and as yet she was no nearer arriving +at it than she had been when the little note then in +her pocket had been handed her.</p> +<p>Still, it was not the note she took out when she found a +seat apart from the hurrying crowd, but a letter from her +father, Torrance, the Cattle-Baron, of Cedar Range. It +was terse and to the point, as usual, and a little smile +crept into the girl’s face as she read.</p> +<p>“Your letter to hand, and so long as you have a good +time don’t worry about the bills. You’ll find another five +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2' name='page_2'></a>2</span> +hundred dollars at the bank when you want them. Thank +God, I can give my daughter what her mother should +have had. Two years since I’ve seen my little girl, and +now it seems that somebody else is wanting her! Well, +we were made men and women, and if you had been +meant to live alone dabbling in music you wouldn’t have +been given your mother’s face. Now, I don’t often express +myself this way, but I’ve had a letter from Captain +Jackson Cheyne, U. S. Cavalry, which reads as straight +as I’ve found the man to be. Nothing wrong with that +family, and they’ve dollars to spare; but if you like the +man I can put down two for every one of his. Well, I +might write a good deal, but you’re too much like your +father to be taken in. You want dollars and station, +and I can see you get them, but in a contract of this +kind the man is everything. Make quite sure you’re +getting the right one.”</p> +<p>There was a little more to the same purpose, and +when she slipped the letter into her pocket Hetty Torrance +smiled.</p> +<p>“The dear old man!” she said. “It is very like +him; but whether Jake is the right one or not is just +what I can’t decide.”</p> +<p>Then she sat still, looking straight in front of her, a +very attractive picture, as some of the hurrying men who +turned to glance at her seemed to find, in her long light +dress. Her face, which showed a delicate oval under +the big white hat, was a trifle paler than is usual with +most Englishwomen of her age, and the figure the thin +fabric clung about less decided in outline. Still, the faint +warmth in her cheeks emphasized the clear pallor of her +skin, and there was a depth of brightness in the dark +eyes that would have atoned for a good deal more than +there was in her case necessity for. Her supple slenderness +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span> +also became Hetty Torrance well, and there was a +suggestion of nervous energy in her very pose. In addition +to all this, she was a rich man’s daughter, who had +been well taught in the cities, and had since enjoyed +all that wealth and refinement could offer her. It had +also been a cause of mild astonishment to the friends she +had spent the past year with, that with these advantages, +she had remained Miss Torrance. They had been somewhat +proud of their guest, and opportunities had not been +wanting had she desired to change her status.</p> +<p>While she sat there musing, pale-faced citizens hurried +past, great locomotives crawled to and fro, and long +trains of cars, white with the dust of five hundred leagues, +rolled in. Swelling in deeper cadence, the roar of the +city came faintly through the din; but, responsive to the +throb of life as she usually was, Hetty Torrance heard +nothing of it then, for she was back in fancy on the grey-white +prairie two thousand miles away. It was a desolate +land of parched grass and bitter lakes with beaches +dusty with alkali, but a rich one to the few who held +dominion over it, and she had received the homage of a +princess there. Then she heard a voice that was quite +in keeping with the spirit of the scene, and was scarcely +astonished to see that a man was smiling down on +her.</p> +<p>He was dressed in city garments, and they became him; +but the hand he held out was lean, and hard, and brown, +and, for he stood bareheaded, a paler streak showed +where the wide hat had shielded a face that had been +darkened by stinging alkali dust from the prairie sun. It +was a quietly forceful face, with steady eyes, which had +a little sparkle of pleasure in them, and were clear and +brown, while something in the man’s sinewy pose suggested +that he would have been at home in the saddle. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span> +Indeed, it was in the saddle that Hetty Torrance remembered +him most vividly, hurling his half-tamed broncho +straight at a gully down which the nondescript pack +streamed, while the scarcely seen shape of a coyote +blurred by the dust, streaked the prairie in front of them.</p> +<p>“Hetty!” he said.</p> +<p>“Larry!” said the girl. “Why, whatever are you +doing here?”</p> +<p>Then both laughed a little, perhaps to conceal the faint +constraint that was upon them, for a meeting between +former comrades has its difficulties when one is a man and +the other a woman, and the bond between them has not +been defined.</p> +<p>“I came in on business a day or two ago,” said the man. +“Ran round to check some packages. I’m going back +again to-morrow.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said the girl, “I was in the city, and came here +to meet Flo Schuyler and her sister. They’ll be in at +four.”</p> +<p>The man looked at his watch. “That gives us ’most +fifteen minutes, but it’s not going to be enough. We’ll +lose none of it. What about the singing?”</p> +<p>Hetty Torrance flushed a trifle. “Larry,” she said, +“you are quite sure you don’t know?”</p> +<p>The man appeared embarrassed, and there was a trace +of gravity in his smile. “Your father told me a little; +but I haven’t seen him so often of late. Any way, I +would sooner you told me.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said the girl, with the faintest of quivers in +her voice, “the folks who understand good music don’t +care to hear me.”</p> +<p>There was incredulity, which pleased his companion, in +the man’s face, but his voice vaguely suggested contentment. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span></p> +<p>“That is just what they can’t do,” he said decisively. +“You sing most divinely.”</p> +<p>“There is a good deal you and the boys at Cedar don’t +know, Larry. Any way, lots of people sing better than +I do, but I should be angry with you if I thought you +were pleased.”</p> +<p>The man smiled gravely. “That would hurt. I’m +sorry for you, Hetty; but again I’m glad. Now there’s +nothing to keep you in the city, you’ll come back to us. +You belong to the prairie, and it’s a better place than +this.”</p> +<p>He spoke at an opportune moment. Since her cherished +ambition had failed her, Hetty Torrance had grown +a trifle tired of the city and the round of pleasure that +must be entered into strenuously, and there were times +when, looking back in reverie, she saw the great silent +prairie roll back under the red sunrise into the east, and +fade, vast, solemn, and restful, a cool land of shadow, +when the first pale stars came out. Then she longed for +the jingle of the bridles and the drumming of the hoofs, +and felt once more the rush of the gallop stir her blood. +But this was what she would not show, and her eyes +twinkled a trifle maliciously.</p> +<p>“Well, I don’t quite know,” she said. “There is +always one thing left to most of us.”</p> +<p>She saw the man wince ever so slightly, and was +pleased at it; but he was, as she had once told him in the +old days, grit all through, and he smiled a little.</p> +<p>“Of course!” he said. “Still, the trouble is that +there are very few of us good enough for you. But you +will come back for a little?”</p> +<p>Miss Torrance would not commit herself. “How are +they getting along at the Range?”</p> +<p>“Doesn’t your father write you?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span></p> +<p>“Yes,” said the girl, colouring a trifle. “I had a +letter from him a few days ago, but he seldom mentioned +what he was doing, and I want you to tell me about +him.”</p> +<p>The man appeared thoughtful. “Well,” he said, “it’s +quite three months since I spoke to him. He was stirring +round as brisk as ever, and is rolling the dollars in +this year.”</p> +<p>“But you used to be always at the Range.”</p> +<p>The man nodded, but the slight constraint that was +upon him did not escape the girl. “Still, I don’t go +there so often now. The Range is lonesome when you +are away.”</p> +<p>Miss Torrance accepted the speech as one made by a +comrade, and perhaps was wrong, but a tramp of feet +attracted her attention then, and she looked away from +her companion. Driven by the railroad officials, and led +by an interpreter, a band of Teutons some five or six +hundred strong filed into the station. Stalwart and stolid, +tow-haired, with the stamp of acquiescent patience in +their homely faces, they came on with the swing, but none +of the usual spirit, of drilled men. They asked no questions, +but went where they were led, and the foulness +of the close-packed steerage seemed to cling about them. +For a time the depot rang to the rhythmic tramp of feet, +and when, at a sign from the interpreter, it stopped, two +bewildered children, frowsy and unwashed, in greasy +homespun, sat down and gazed at Miss Torrance with +mild blue eyes. She signed to a boy who was passing +with a basket slung before him, and made a little impatient +gesture when the man slipped his hand into his +pocket.</p> +<p>“No,” she said; “you’ll make me vexed with you. +Tell him to give them all he has. They’ll be a long +while in the cars.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span></p> +<p>She handed the boy a silver coin, and while the children +sat still, undemonstratively astonished, with the golden +fruit about them, the man passed him a bill.</p> +<p>“Now get some more oranges, and begin right at +the top of the line,” he said. “If that doesn’t see you +through, come back to me for another bill.”</p> +<p>Hetty Torrance’s eyes softened. “Larry,” she said, +“that was dreadfully good of you. Where are they all +going to?”</p> +<p>“Chicago, Nebraska, Minnesota, Montana,” said the +man. “There are the cars coming in. Just out of +Castle Garden, and it’s because of the city improvements +disorganizing traffic they’re bringing them this way. +They’re the advance guard, you see, and there are more +of them coming.”</p> +<p>The tramp of feet commenced again, but this time it +was a horde of diverse nationality, Englishmen, Irishmen, +Poles, and Finns, but all with the stamp of toil, and +many with that of scarcity upon them. Bedraggled, unkempt, +dejected, eager with the cunning that comes of +adversity, they flowed in, and Hetty Torrance’s face grew +pitiful as she watched them.</p> +<p>“Do they come every week like this and, even in our +big country, have we got room for all of them?” she +said.</p> +<p>There was a curious gleam in the man’s brown eyes. +“Oh, yes,” he said. “It’s the biggest and greatest country +this old world has ever seen, and the Lord made it as +a home for the poor—the folks they’ve no food or use for +back yonder; and, while there are short-sighted fools who +would close the door, we take them in, outcast and hopeless, +and put new heart in them. In a few short years +we make them men and useful citizens, the equal of any +on this earth—Americans!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span></p> +<p>Hetty Torrance nodded, and there was pride but no +amusement in her smile; for she had a quick enthusiasm, +and the reticence of Insular Britain has no great place in +that country.</p> +<p>“Still,” she said; “all these people coming in must +make a difference.”</p> +<p>The man’s face grew grave. “Yes,” he said; “there +will have to be a change, and it is coming. We are only +outwardly democratic just now, and don’t seem to know +that men are worth more than millionaires. We have let +them get their grip on our industries, and too much of +our land, until what would feed a thousand buys canvas-backs, +and wines from Europe for one. Isn’t what we +raise in California good enough for Americans?”</p> +<p>Miss Torrance’s eyes twinkled. “Some of it isn’t +very nice, and they don’t live on canvas-backs,” she said. +“Still, it seems to me that other men have talked like +that quite a thousand years ago; and, while I don’t know +anyone better at breaking a broncho or cutting out a steer, +straightening these affairs out is too big a contract for +you.”</p> +<p>The man laughed pleasantly. “That’s all right, but I +can do a little in the place I belong to, and the change is +beginning there. Is it good for this country that one +man should get rich feeding his cattle on leagues of +prairie where a hundred families could make a living +growing wheat?”</p> +<p>“Now,” said the girl drily, “I know why you and my +father haven’t got on. Your opinions wouldn’t please +him, Larry.”</p> +<p>“No,” said the man, with a trace of embarrassment, +“I don’t think they would; and that’s just why we’ve got +to convince him and the others that what we want to do +is for the good of the country.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></p> +<p>Hetty Torrance laughed. “It’s going to be hard. No +man wants to believe anything is good when he sees it +will take quite a pile of dollars out of his pocket.”</p> +<p>The man said nothing, and Hetty fancied he was not +desirous of following up the topic, while as they sat silent +a big locomotive backed another great train of emigrant +cars in. Then the tramp of feet commenced again, and +once more a frowsy host of outcasts from the overcrowded +lands poured into the depot. Wagons piled +with baggage had preceded them, but many dragged their +pitiful belongings along with them, and the murmur of +their alien voices rang through the bustle of the station. +Hetty Torrance was not unduly fanciful, but those footsteps +caused her, as she afterwards remembered, a vague +concern. She believed, as her father did, that America +was made for the Americans; but it was evident that in +a few more years every unit of those incoming legions +would be a citizen of the Republic, with rights equal to +those enjoyed by Torrance of Cedar Range. She had +seen that as yet the constitution gave no man more than +he could by his own hand obtain; but it seemed not unlikely +that some, at least, of those dejected, unkempt men +had struck for the rights of humanity that were denied +them in the older lands with dynamite and rifle.</p> +<p>Then, as the first long train of grimy cars rolled out +close packed with their frowsy human freight, a train of +another kind came in, and two young women in light +dresses swung themselves down from the platform of a +car that was sumptuous with polished woods and gilding. +Miss Torrance rose as she saw them, and touched her +companion.</p> +<p>“Come along, Larry, and I’ll show you two of the +nicest girls you ever met,” she said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span></p> +<p>The man laughed. “They would have been nicer if +they hadn’t come quite so soon,” he said.</p> +<p>He followed his companion and was duly presented to +Miss Flora and Miss Caroline Schuyler. “Larry Grant +of Fremont Ranch,” said Miss Torrance. “Larry is a +great friend of mine.”</p> +<p>The Misses Schuyler were pretty. Carolina, the +younger, pale, blue-eyed, fair-haired and vivacious; her +sister equally blonde, but a trifle quieter. Although they +were gracious to him, Grant fancied that one flashed +a questioning glance at the other when there was a halt +in the conversation. Then, as if by tacit agreement, they +left him alone a moment with their companion, and Hetty +Torrance smiled as she held out her hand.</p> +<p>“I can’t keep them waiting, but you’ll come and see +me,” she said.</p> +<p>“I am going home to-morrow,” said the man. +“When are you coming, Hetty?”</p> +<p>The girl smiled curiously, and there was a trace of +wistfulness in her eyes. “I don’t quite know. Just now +I fancy I may not come at all, but you will not forget me, +Larry.”</p> +<p>The man looked at her very gravely, and Hetty Torrance +appeared to find something disconcerting in his +gaze, for she turned her head away.</p> +<p>“No,” he said, and there was a little tremor in his +voice, “I don’t think I shall forget you. Well, if ever +you grow tired of the cities you will remember the lonely +folks who are longing to have you home again back there +on the prairie.”</p> +<p>Hetty Torrance felt her fingers quiver under his grasp, +but the next moment he had turned away, and her companions +noticed there was a faint pink tinge in her cheeks +when she rejoined them. But being wise young women, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span> +they restrained their natural inquisitiveness, and asked +no questions then.</p> +<p>In the meanwhile Grant, who watched them until the +last glimpse of their light dresses was lost in the crowd, +stood beside the second emigrant train vacantly glancing +at the aliens who thronged about it. His bronzed face +was a trifle weary, and his lips were set, but at last he +straightened his shoulders with a little resolute movement +and turned away.</p> +<p>“I have my work,” he said, “and it’s going to be quite +enough for me.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='II_HETTY_TAKES_HEED' id='II_HETTY_TAKES_HEED'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span> +<h2>II</h2> +<h3>HETTY TAKES HEED</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was evening when Hetty Torrance sat alone in a +room of Mrs. Schuyler’s house at Hastings-on-the-Hudson. The room was pretty, though its adornment +was garish and somewhat miscellaneous, consisting as it +did of the trophies of Miss Schuyler’s European tour. A +Parisian clock, rich in gilded scroll work to the verge +of barbarity, contrasted with the artistic severity of one +or two good Italian marbles, while these in turn stood +quaintly upon choice examples of time-mellowed English +cabinet-work. There was taste in them all, but they suffered +from the juxtaposition, which, however, was somewhat +characteristic of the country. Still, Miss Schuyler +had not spoiled the splendid parquetrie floor of American +timber.</p> +<p>The windows were open wide, and when a little breeze +from the darkening river came up across the lawn, Hetty +languidly raised her head. The coolness was grateful, +the silken cushions she reclined amidst luxurious, but the +girl’s eyes grew thoughtful as they wandered round the +room, for that evening the suggestion of wealth in all she +saw jarred upon her mood. The great city lay not very +far away, sweltering with its crowded tenement houses +under stifling heat; and she could picture the toilers who +herded there, gasping for air. Then her fancy fled +further, following the long emigrant train as it crawled +west from side-track to side-track, close packed with +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span> +humanity that was much less cared for than her father’s +cattle.</p> +<p>She had often before seen the dusty cars roll into a +wayside depot to wait until the luxurious limited passed, +and the grimy faces at the windows, pale and pinched, +cunning, or coarsely brutal, after the fashion of their +kind, had roused no more than a passing pity. It was, +however, different that night, for Grant’s words had +roused her to thought, and she wondered with a vague +apprehension whether the tramp of weary feet she had +listened to would once more break in upon her sheltered +life. Larry had foreseen changes, and he was usually +right. Then she brushed these fancies into the background, +for she had still a decision to make. Captain +Cheyne would shortly arrive, and she knew what he came +to ask. He was also a personable man, and, so far as +the Schuylers knew, without reproach, while Hetty had +seen a good deal of him during the past twelve months. +She admitted a liking for him, but now that the time had +come to decide, she was not certain that she would care +to spend her life with him. As a companion, he left +nothing to be desired, but, as had happened already with +another man with whom Miss Torrance had been pleased, +that position did not appear to content him; and she had +misgivings about contracting a more permanent bond. +It was almost a relief when Miss Schuyler came in.</p> +<p>“Stand up, Hetty. I want to look at you,” she said.</p> +<p>Miss Torrance obeyed and stood before her, girlishly +slender in her long dress, though there was an indefinite +suggestion of imperiousness in her dark eyes.</p> +<p>“Will I pass?” she asked.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler surveyed her critically and then +laughed. “Yes,” she said. “You’re pretty enough to +please anybody, and there’s a style about you that makes +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span> +it quite plain you were of some importance out there on +the prairie. Now you can sit down again, because I +want to talk to you. Who’s Larry Grant?”</p> +<p>“Tell me what you think of him.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler pursed her lips reflectively. “Well,” +she said, “he’s not New York. Quite a good-looking +man, with a good deal in him, but I’d like to see him +on horseback. Been in the cavalry? You’re fond of +them, you know.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty, “but he knows more about horses +than any cavalry officer. Larry’s a cattle-baron.”</p> +<p>“I never quite knew what the cattle-barons were, except +that your father’s one, and they’re mostly rich,” said +Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>Hetty’s eyes twinkled. “I don’t think Larry’s very +rich. They’re the men or the sons of them, who went +west when the prairie belonged to the Indians and the +Blackfeet, Crows, and Crees made them lots of trouble. +Still, they held the land they settled on, and covered it +with cattle, until the Government gave it to them, ’most +as much as you could ride across in a day, to each big +rancher.”</p> +<p>“Gave it to them?”</p> +<p>Hetty nodded. “A lease of it. It means the same +thing. A few of them, though I think it wasn’t quite +permitted, bought other leases in, and out there a cattle-baron +is a bigger man than a railroad king. You see, +he makes the law—all there is—as well as supports the +industry, for there’s not a sheriff in the country dares +question him. The cattle-boys are his retainers, and +we’ve a squadron of them at the Range. They’d do just +what Torrance of Cedar told them, whatever it was, and +there are few men who could ride with them in the U. S. +Cavalry.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span></p> +<p>“Then,” said Flora Schuyler, “if the Government +ever encouraged homesteading in their country they’d +make trouble.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “Yes,” she said drily, “I guess they +would, but no government dares meddle with us.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Flora Schuyler, “you haven’t told us yet +who Larry is. You know quite well what I mean.”</p> +<p>Hetty smiled. “I called him my partner when I was +home. Larry held me on my first pony, and has done +’most whatever I wanted him ever since. Fremont isn’t +very far from the Range, and when I wanted to ride anywhere, +or to have a new horse broken, Larry was handy.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler appeared reflective, but there was a +bond of confidence between the two, and the reserve that +characterizes the Briton is much less usual in that country.</p> +<p>“It always seemed to me, my dear, that an arrangement +of that kind is a little rough on the man, and I think +this one is too good to spoil,” she said.</p> +<p>Hetty coloured a trifle, but she smiled. “It is all +right with Larry. He never expected anything.”</p> +<p>“No?” said Flora Schuyler. “He never tried to +make love to you?”</p> +<p>The tinge of colour grew a trifle deeper in Hetty’s +cheek. “Only once, and I scarcely think he meant it. +It was quite a long while ago, and I told him he must +never do it again.”</p> +<p>“And since then he has tamed your horses, and bought +you all the latest songs and books—good editions in English +art bindings. It was Larry who sent you those +flowers when we could scarcely get one?”</p> +<p>Hetty for some reason turned away her head. “Don’t +you get things of that kind?”</p> +<p>A trace of gravity crept into Flora Schuyler’s blue +eyes, which were unusually attractive ones. “When they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span> +come too often I send them back,” she said. “Oh, I +know I’m careless now and then, but one has to do the +square thing, and I wouldn’t let any man do all that for +me unless I was so fond of him that I meant to marry +him. Now I’m going to talk quite straight to you, Hetty. +You’ll have to give up Larry by and by, but if you find +that’s going to hurt you, send the other man away.”</p> +<p>“You don’t understand,” and there was a little flash in +Hetty’s dark eyes. “Larry’s kind to everyone—he can’t +help it; but he doesn’t want me.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler gravely patted her companion’s arm. +“My dear, we don’t want to quarrel, but you’ll be careful—to +please me. Jake Cheyne is coming, and you +might be sorry ever after if you made a mistake to-night.”</p> +<p>Hetty made no answer, and there was silence for a +space while the light grew dimmer, until the sound of +voices rose from without, and she felt her heart beat a +trifle faster than usual, when somebody said, “Captain +Cheyne!”</p> +<p>Then there was a rustle of draperies and Mrs. Schuyler, +thin, angular, and considerably more silent than is +customary with women of her race, came in, with her +younger daughter and a man in her train. The latter +bore the stamp of the soldier plainly, but there was a distinction +in his pose that was not the result of a military +training. Then as he shook hands with Flora Schuyler +the fading light from the window fell upon his face, +showing it clean cut from the broad forehead to the solid +chin, and reposeful instead of nervously mobile. His +even, low-pitched voice was also in keeping with it, for +Jackson Cheyne was an unostentatious American of culture +widened by travel, and, though they are not always +to be found in the forefront in their own country, unless +it has need of them, men of his type have little to fear +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span> +from comparison with those to be met with in any other +one.</p> +<p>He spoke when there was occasion, and was listened +to, but some time had passed before he turned to Mrs. +Schuyler. “I wonder if it would be too great a liberty if +I asked Miss Torrance to give us some music,” he said. +“I am going away to-morrow to a desolate outpost in +New Mexico, and it will be the last time for months that +I shall have a treat of that kind.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler opened the piano, and Hetty smiled at +Cheyne as she took her place; but the man made a little +gesture of negation when Mrs. Schuyler would have rung +for lights.</p> +<p>“Wouldn’t it be nicer as it is?” he said.</p> +<p>Hetty nodded, and there was silence before the first +chords rang softly through the room. Though it may +have been that the absence of necessity to strive and stain +her daintiness amidst the press was responsible for much, +Hetty Torrance’s voice had failed to win her fame; but +she sang and played better than most well-trained amateurs. +Thus there was no rustle of drapery or restless +movements until the last low notes sank into the stillness. +Then the girl glanced at the man who had unobtrusively +managed to find a place close beside her.</p> +<p>“You know what that is?” she said.</p> +<p>Carolina Schuyler laughed. “Jake knows everything!”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the man quietly. “A nocturne. You +were thinking of something when you played it.”</p> +<p>“The sea,” said Flora Schuyler, “when the moon is +on it. Was that it, Hetty?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Miss Torrance, who afterwards wondered +whether it would have made a great difference if she had +not chosen that nocturne. “It was the prairie when the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span> +stars are coming out over Cedar Range. Then it seems +bigger and more solemn than the sea. I can see it now, +wide and grey and shadowy, and so still that you feel +afraid to hear yourself breathing, with the last smoky +flush burning on its northern rim. Now, you may laugh +at me, for you couldn’t understand. When you have been +born there, you always love the prairie.”</p> +<p>Then with a little deprecatory gesture she touched the +keys again. “It will be different this time.”</p> +<p>Cheyne glanced up sharply during the prelude, and +then, feeling that the girl’s eyes were upon him, nodded as +out of the swelling harmonies there crept the theme. It +suggested the tramp of marching feet, but there was a +curious unevenness in its rhythm, and the crescendo one +of the listeners looked for never came. The room was +almost dark now, but none of those who sat there seemed +to notice it as they listened to the listless tramp of marching +feet. Then the harmonies drowned it again, and +Hetty looked at Cheyne.</p> +<p>“Now,” she said, “can you tell me what that means?”</p> +<p>Cheyne’s voice seemed a trifle strained, as though the +music had troubled him. “I know the march, but the +composer never wrote what you have played to-night,” he +said. “It was—may mine be defended from it!—the +shuffle of beaten men. How could you have felt what +you put into the music?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty. “Your men could never march +like that. It was footsteps going west, and I could not +have originated their dragging beat. I have heard it.”</p> +<p>There was a little silence, until Cheyne said softly, +“One more.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said Hetty, “you will recognize this.”</p> +<p>The chords rang under her fingers until they swelled +into confused and conflicting harmonies that clashed and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span> +jarred upon the theme. Their burden was strife and +struggle and the anguish of strain, until at last, in the high +clear note of victory, the theme rose supreme.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Flora Schuyler, “we know that. We +heard it with the Kaiser in Berlin. Only one man could +have written it; but his own countrymen could not play it +better than you do. A little overwhelming. How did +you get down to the spirit of it, Hetty?”</p> +<p>Lights were brought in just then, and they showed that +the girl’s face was a trifle paler than usual, as closing the +piano, she turned, with a little laugh, upon the music-stool.</p> +<p>“Oh!” she said, “I don’t quite know, and until to-night +it always cheated me. I got it at the depot—no, I +didn’t. It was there I felt the marching, and Larry +brought the prairie back to me; but I couldn’t have seen +what was in the last music, because it hasn’t happened +yet.”</p> +<p>“It will come?” said Flora.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty, “wherever those weary men are +going to.”</p> +<p>“And to every one of us,” said Cheyne, with a curious +graveness they afterwards remembered. “That is, the +stress and strain—it is the triumph at the end of it only +the few attain.”</p> +<p>Once more there was silence, and it was a relief when +the unemotional Mrs. Schuyler rose.</p> +<p>“Now,” she said, and her voice, at least, had in it the +twang of the country, “you young folks have been solemn +quite long enough. Can’t you talk something kind of +lively?”</p> +<p>They did what they could, and—for Cheyne could on +occasion display a polished wit—light laughter filled the +room, until Caroline Schuyler, perhaps not without a +motive, suggested a stroll on the lawn. If there was dew +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span> +upon the grass none of them heeded it, and it was but +seldom anyone enjoyed the privilege of pacing that sod +when Mr. Schuyler was at home. Every foot had cost +him many dollars, and it remained but an imperfect imitation +of an English lawn. There was on the one side a +fringe of maples, and it was perhaps by Mrs. Schuyler’s +contrivance that eventually Hetty found herself alone with +Cheyne in their deeper shadow. It was not, however, a +surprise to her, for she had seen the man’s desire and +tacitly fallen in with it. Miss Torrance had discovered +that one seldom gains anything by endeavouring to avoid +the inevitable.</p> +<p>“Hetty,” he said quietly, “I think you know why I +have come to-night?”</p> +<p>The girl stood very still and silent for a space of seconds, +and afterwards wondered whether she made the +decision then, or what she had seen and heard since she +entered the depot had formed it for her.</p> +<p>“Yes,” she said slowly. “I am so sorry!”</p> +<p>Cheyne laid his hand upon her arm, and his voice +trembled a little. “Don’t be too hasty, Hetty,” he said. +“I would not ask you for very much just now, but I had +ventured to fancy you could in time grow fond of me. +I know I should have waited, but I am going away to-morrow, +and I only want you to give me a promise to +take away with me.”</p> +<p>It was with a visible effort the girl lifted her head and +looked at him. “I feel horribly mean, Jake, but I can’t,” +she said. “I ought to have made you realize that long +ago, but I liked you, and, you see, I didn’t quite know. +I thought if I waited a little I might be more sure of what +I felt for you!”</p> +<p>“Then,” said the man, a trifle hoarsely, “give me what +you can now and I will be patient.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span></p> +<p>Hetty turned half way from him and closed one hand. +The man was pleasant to look upon, in character and disposition +all she could desire, and she had found a curious +content in his company. Had that day passed as other +days had done, she might have yielded to him, but she had +been stirred to the depths of her nature during the last few +hours, and Flora Schuyler’s warning had been opportune. +She had, as she had told him, a liking for Jackson Cheyne, +but that, she saw very clearly now, was insufficient. Destiny +had sent Larry Grant, with the associations that +clung about him, into the depot.</p> +<p>“No,” she said, with a little tremble in her voice, “it +wouldn’t be honest or fair to you. I am not half good +enough for you.”</p> +<p>The man smiled somewhat mirthlessly, but his voice +was reproachful. “You always speak the truth, Hetty. +My dear, knowing what the best of us are, I wonder how I +dared to venture to ask you to share your life with me.”</p> +<p>Hetty checked him with a little gesture. “Can’t you +understand?” she said. “The girl who sang to you now +and then isn’t me. I am selfish, discontented, and shallow, +and if you hadn’t heard me sing or play you would +never have thought of me. There are people who sing +divinely, and are—you see, I have met them with the mask +off—just horrible.”</p> +<p>“Hetty,” said Cheyne, “I can’t allow anyone to malign +you, even if it’s yourself, and if you have any faults, my +dear, I’ll take them with the rest. In fact, I would be +glad of one or two. They would only bring you a little +nearer to me.”</p> +<p>The girl lifted her hand and silenced him. “Jake,” +she said appealingly, “please take your answer and go +away. If I could only be fond of you in the right way +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span> +I would, but I can’t, you see. It is not my fault—it isn’t +in me.”</p> +<p>The man recognized the finality in her tone, but, feeling +that it was useless, made a last endeavour.</p> +<p>“I’m going away to-morrow,” he said. “You might +think differently when I come back again.”</p> +<p>The girl’s voice quivered a little. “No,” she said. “I +have to be straightforward now, and I know you will try +to make it easier for me, even if I’m hurting you. It’s no +use. I shall think the same, and by and by you’ll get over +this fancy, and wonder what you ever saw in me.”</p> +<p>The man smiled curiously. “I am afraid it will take +me a lifetime,” he said.</p> +<p>In another moment he had gone, and Hetty turned, a +trifle flushed in face, towards the house across the lawn.</p> +<p>“He took it very well—and I shall never find anyone +half so nice again,” she said.</p> +<p>It was half an hour later, and Miss Torrance had recovered +at least her outward serenity, when one of Mrs. +Schuyler’s neighbours arrived. She brought one or two +young women, and a man, with her. The latter she presented +to Mrs. Schuyler.</p> +<p>“Mr. Reginald Clavering,” she said. “He’s from the +prairie where Miss Torrance’s father lives, and is staying +a day or two with us. When I heard he knew Hetty +I ventured to bring him over.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Schuyler expressed her pleasure, and—for they +had gone back to the lighted room now—Hetty presently +found herself seated face to face with the stranger. He +was a tall, well-favoured man, slender, and lithe in movement, +with dark eyes and hair, and a slightly sallow face +that suggested that he was from the South. It also +seemed fitting that he was immaculately dressed, for there +was a curious gracefulness about him that still had in it +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span> +a trace of insolence. No one would have mistaken him +for a Northerner.</p> +<p>“It was only an hour ago I found we were so near, and +I insisted upon coming across at once,” he said. “You +have changed a good deal since you left the prairie.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the girl drily. “Is it very astonishing? +You see, we don’t spend half our time on horseback here. +You didn’t expect to find me a sharp-tongued Amazon +still?”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed as he looked at her, but the approval +of what he saw was a trifle too evident in his black eyes.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said languidly, “you were our Princess +then, and there was only one of your subjects’ homage +you never took kindly to. That was rough on him, because +he was at least as devoted as the rest.”</p> +<p>“That,” said the girl, with a trace of acerbity, “was +because he tried to patronize me. Even if I haven’t the +right to it, I like respect.”</p> +<p>Clavering made a little gesture, and the deference in it +was at least half sincere. “You command it, and I must +try to make amends. Now, don’t you want to hear about +your father and the Range?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty. “I had a talk with Larry to-day.”</p> +<p>“In New York?”</p> +<p>“Yes. At the depot. He is going back to-morrow. +You seem astonished?”</p> +<p>Clavering appeared thoughtful. “Well, it’s Chicago +he usually goes to.”</p> +<p>“Usually?” said Hetty. “I scarcely remember him +leaving Fremont once in three years.”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “Then he leaves it a good deal +more often now. A man must have a little diversion +when he lives as we do, and no doubt Larry feels lonely. +You are here, and Heloise Durand has gone away.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span></p> +<p>Hetty understood the implication, for she had some +notion how the men who spent months together in the +solitude of the prairie amused themselves in the cities. +Nor had she and most of her neighbours wholly approved +of the liberal views held by Heloise Durand. She had, +however, an unquestioning belief in Larry, and none in +the man beside her.</p> +<p>“I scarcely think you need have been jealous of him,” +she said. “Larry wasn’t Miss Durand’s kind, and he +couldn’t be lonely. Everybody was fond of him.”</p> +<p>Clavering nodded. “Of course! Still, Larry hasn’t +quite so many friends lately.”</p> +<p>“Now,” said Hetty with a little flash in her eyes, +“when you’ve told me that you have got to tell the rest. +What has he been doing?”</p> +<p>“Ploughing!” said Clavering drily. “I did what I +could to restrain him, but nobody ever could argue with +Larry.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed, though she felt a little dismay. It was +then a serious affair to drive the wheat furrow in a cattle +country, and the man who did it was apt to be regarded +as an iconoclast. Nevertheless, she would not show that +she recognized it.</p> +<p>“Well,” she said, “that isn’t very dreadful. The +plough is supreme in the Dakotas and Minnesota now. +Sooner or later it has got to find a place in our country.”</p> +<p>“Still, that’s not going to happen while your father +lives.”</p> +<p>The girl realized the truth of this, but she shook her +head. “We’re not here to talk wheat and cattle, and I +see Flo Schuyler looking at us,” she said. “Go across +and make yourself agreeable to the others for the honour +of the prairie.”</p> +<p>Clavering went; but he had left an unpleasant impression +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span> +behind him, as he had perhaps intended, while +soon after he took his departure Flora Schuyler found her +friend alone.</p> +<p>“So you sent Jake away!” she said.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty. “I don’t know what made me, +but I felt I had to. I almost meant to take him.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler nodded gravely. “But it wasn’t because +of that man Clavering?”</p> +<p>“It was not,” said Hetty, with a little laugh. “Don’t +you like him? He is rather a famous man back there on +the prairie.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler shook her head. “No,” she said; “he +reminded me of that Florentine filigree thing. It’s very +pretty, and I bought it for silver, but it isn’t.”</p> +<p>“You think he’s that kind of man?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Miss Schuyler. “I wouldn’t take him at +face value. The silver’s all on top. I don’t know what +is underneath it, and would sooner somebody else found +out.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='III_THE_CATTLEBARONS' id='III_THE_CATTLEBARONS'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span> +<h2>III</h2> +<h3>THE CATTLE-BARONS</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was a still, hot evening when a somewhat silent +company of bronze-faced men assembled in the big living +room of Cedar Range. It was built of birch trunks, and +had once, with its narrow windows and loopholes for rifle +fire, resembled a fortalice; but now cedar panelling covered +the logs, and the great double casements were filled +with the finest glass. They were open wide that evening. +Around this room had grown up a straggling wooden +building of dressed lumber with pillars and scroll-work, +and, as it stood then, flanked by its stores and stables, +barns and cattle-boys’ barracks, there was no homestead +on a hundred leagues of prairie that might compare +with it.</p> +<p>Outside, on the one hand, the prairie rolled away in +long billowy rises, a vast sea of silvery grey, for the grass +that had been green a month or two was turning white +again, and here and there a stockrider showed silhouetted, +a dusky mounted figure against the paling flicker of saffron +that still lingered upon the horizon. On the other, +a birch bluff dipped to the Cedar River, which came down +faintly chilled with the Rockies’ snow from the pine forests +of the foothills. There was a bridge four miles +away, but the river could be forded beneath the Range +for a few months each year. At other seasons it swirled +by, frothing in green-stained flood, swollen by the drainage +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span> +of snowfield and glacier, and there was no stockrider +at the Range who dared swim his horse across.</p> +<p>Sun and wind had their will with the homestead, for +there was little shelter from icy blizzard and scorching +heat at Cedar; but though here and there the frame-boarding +gaped and the roof-shingles were rent, no man +accustomed to that country could fail to notice the signs +of careful management and prosperity. Corrals, barns, +and stables were the best of their kind; and, though the +character of all of them was not beyond exception, in +physique and fitness for their work it would have been +hard to match the sinewy men in blue shirts, wide hats, +and long boots, then watering their horses at the ford. +They were as daring and irresponsible swashbucklers as +ever rode out on medićval foray, and, having once sold +their allegiance to Torrance of Cedar, and recognized +that he was not to be trifled with, were ready to do without +compunction anything he bade them.</p> +<p>In the meanwhile Torrance sat at the head of the long +table, with Clavering of Beauregard at his right hand. +His face was bronzed and resolute, and the stamp of command +sat plainly upon him. There was grey in his dark +hair, and his eyes were keen and black, with a little glint +in them; but, vigorous as he still seemed, the hand on the +table was smooth and but slightly tinted by the sun, for +Torrance was one who, in the language of that country, +did his work, which was usually arduous, with his gloves +on. He was dressed in white shirt and broadcloth, and a +diamond of price gleamed in the front of the former.</p> +<p>His guests were for the most part younger, and Clavering +was scarcely half his age: but when they met in conclave +something usually happened, for the seat of the legislature +was far away, and their will considerably more +potent thereabouts than the law of the land. Sheriff, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span> +postmaster, railroad agent, and petty politician carried out +their wishes, and as yet no man had succeeded in living in +that region unless he did homage to the cattle-barons. +They were Republicans, admitting in the abstract the +rights of man, so long as no venturesome citizen demanded +too much of them; but they had discovered that +in practice liberty is usually the prerogative of the strong. +Still, they had done their nation good service, for they +had found the land a wilderness and covered it with cattle, +so that its commerce fed the railroads and supported busy +wooden towns. Some of the older men had disputed possession +with the Indian, and most of them in the early +days, enduring thirst and loneliness and unwearying toil, +had held on stubbornly in the face of ruin by frost and +drought and hail. It was not astonishing that as they +had made that land—so they phrased it—they regarded it +as theirs.</p> +<p>There were eight of them present, and for a time they +talked of horses and cattle as they sipped their wine, +which was the choicest that France could send them; and +it is also probable that no better cigars ever came from +Cuba than those they smoked. By and by, however, +Torrance laid his aside.</p> +<p>“It’s time we got down to work,” he said. “I sent for +ten of you, and eight have come. One sent valid excuses, +and one made no answer.”</p> +<p>“Larry Grant,” said Clavering. “I guess he was too +busy at the depot bringing a fat Dutchman and a crowd +of hard-faced Dakota ploughboys in.”</p> +<p>There was a little murmur of astonishment which, had +the men been different, would not have been quite free +from consternation, for it was significant news.</p> +<p>“You’re quite sure?” asked Torrance, and his face +was stern. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span></p> +<p>“Well,” said Clavering languidly, “I saw him, and +bantered him a little on his prepossessing friends. Asked +him why, when he was at it, he didn’t go to Manitoba for +Canadians. Larry didn’t take it nicely.”</p> +<p>“I’m sorry,” said one of the older men. “Larry is +one of us, and the last man I’d figure on committing that +kind of meanness would be the son of Fremont Grant. +Quite sure it’s not a fit of temper? You have not been +worrying him, Torrance?”</p> +<p>Torrance closed one hand. “Grant of Fremont was +my best friend, and when he died I ’most brought the lad +up as a son. When he got hold of his foolish notions it +hurt me considerably, and I did what I could to talk him +out of them.”</p> +<p>There was a little smile in the faces of some of the men, +for Torrance’s draconic fashion of arguing was known +to them.</p> +<p>“You put it a little too straight, and he told you something +that riled you,” said one.</p> +<p>“He did,” said Torrance grimly. “Still, for ’most +two years I kept a curb on my temper. Then one evening +I told him he had to choose right then between his fancies +and me. I could have no dealings with any man who +talked as he did.”</p> +<p>“Do you remember any of it?” asked another man.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Torrance. “His father’s friends were +standing in the way of progress. Land that would feed +a thousand families was keeping us in luxury no American +was entitled to. This was going to be the poor man’s +country, and the plough was bound to come!”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed softly, and there were traces of ironical +amusement in the faces of the rest. Very similar predictions +had more than once been flung at them, and +their possessions were still, they fancied, secure to them. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span> +They, however, became grave again, and it was evident +that Larry Grant had hitherto been esteemed by them.</p> +<p>“If it had been any one else, we could have put our +thumb on him right now,” said one. “Still, I don’t quite +figure it would work with Larry. There are too many +folks who would stand in with him.”</p> +<p>There was a little murmur of approbation, and Clavering +laughed. “Buy him off,” he said tentatively. “We +have laid out a few thousand dollars in that way before.”</p> +<p>Some of the men made gestures of decided negation, +and Torrance looked at the speaker a trifle sternly.</p> +<p>“No, sir,” he said. “Larry may be foolish, but he’s +one of us.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said somebody, “we’ve got to give him time. +Let it pass. You have something to tell us, Torrance?”</p> +<p>Torrance signed to one of them. “You had better tell +them, Allonby.”</p> +<p>A grey-haired man stood up, and his fingers shook a +little on the table. “My lease has fallen in, and the +Bureau will not renew it,” he said. “I’m not going to +moan about my wrongs, but some of you know what it +cost me to break in that place of mine. You have lived +on the bitter water and the saleratus bread, but none of +you has seen his wife die for the want of the few things +he couldn’t give her, as I did. I gave the nation my two +boys when the good times came, and they’re dead—buried +in their uniform both of them—and now, when I’d laid +out my last dollar on the ranch, that the one girl I’ve left +me might have something when I’d gone, the Government +will take it away from me. Gentlemen, is it my +duty to sit down quietly?”</p> +<p>There was a murmur, and the men looked at one +another with an ominous question in their eyes, until Torrance +raised his hand. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span></p> +<p>“The land’s not open to location. I guess they’re +afraid of us, and Allonby’s there on toleration yet,” he +said. “Gentlemen, we mean to keep him just where he +is, because when he pulls out we will have to go too. But +this thing has to be done quietly. When the official +machinery moves down here it’s because we pull the +strings, and we have got to have the law upon our side as +far as we can. Well, that’s going to cost us money, and +we want a campaign fund. I’ll give Allonby a cheque +for five hundred dollars in the meanwhile, if he’ll be treasurer; +but as we may all be fixed as he is presently, we’ll +want a good deal more before we’re through. Who will +follow me?”</p> +<p>Each of them promised five hundred, and then looked at +Clavering, who had not spoken. One of them also fancied +that there was for a moment a trace of embarrassment +in his face; but he smiled carelessly.</p> +<p>“The fact is, dollars are rather tight with me just +now,” he said. “You’ll have to wait a little if I’m to do +as much as the rest of you. I am, however, quite willing.”</p> +<p>“I’ll lend you them,” said Torrance. “Allonby, I’ll +make that cheque a thousand. You have got it down?”</p> +<p>Allonby accepted office, and one of the other men rose +up. “Now it seems to me that Torrance is right, and +with our leases expired or running out, we’re all in the +same tight place,” he said. “The first move is to get +every man holding cattle land from here to the barren +country to stand in, and then, one way or another, we’ll +freeze out the homesteaders. Well, then, we’ll constitute +ourselves a committee, with Torrance as head executive, +and as we want to know just what the others are doing, +my notion is that he should start off to-morrow and ride +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span> +round the country. If there are any organizations ready, +it might suit us to affiliate with them.”</p> +<p>It was agreed to, and Clavering said, “It seems to me, +sir, that the first question is, ‘Could we depend upon the +boys if we wanted them?’”</p> +<p>Torrance strode to an open window and blew a silver +whistle. Its shrill note had scarcely died away when a +mounted man came up at a gallop, and a band of others +in haste on foot. They stopped in front of the window, +picturesque in blue shirts and long boots, sinewy, generously +fed, and irresponsibly daring.</p> +<p>“Boys,” he said, “you’ve been told there’s a change +coming, and by and by this country will have no more +use for you. Now, if any folks came here and pulled our +boundaries up to let the mean whites from back east in, +what are you going to do?”</p> +<p>There was a burst of hoarse laughter. “Ride them +down,” said one retainer, with the soft blue eyes of a girl +and a figure of almost matchless symmetry.</p> +<p>“Grow feathers on them,” said another. “Ride them +back to the railroad on a rail.”</p> +<p>“I scarcely think that would be necessary,” said Torrance +quietly. “Still, you’d stand behind the men who +pay you?”</p> +<p>There was a murmur that expressed a good deal, though +it was inarticulate, and a man stood forward.</p> +<p>“You’ve heard them, sir,” he said. “Well, we’ll do +just what you want us to. This is the cattle-baron’s +country, and we’re here. It’s good enough for us, and if +it means lots of trouble we’re going to stay here.”</p> +<p>Torrance raised his hand, and when the men moved +away turned with a little grim smile to his guests. +“They’ll be quite as good as their word,” he said.</p> +<p>Then he led them back to the table, and when the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span> +decanter had gone round, one of the younger men stood +up.</p> +<p>“We want a constitution, gentlemen, and I’ll give you +one,” he said. “The Cedar District Stockraisers’ Committee +incorporated to-day with for sole object the defence +of our rights as American citizens!”</p> +<p>Clavering rose with the others, but there was a little +ironical smile in his eyes as he said, “If necessary against +any unlawful encroachments made by the legislature!”</p> +<p>Torrance turned upon him sternly. “No, sir!” he +said. “By whatever means may appear expedient!”</p> +<p>The glasses were lifted high, and when they had laid +them down the men rode away, though only one or two +of them realized the momentous issues which they and +others had raised at about much the same time. They +had not, however, met in conclave too soon, for any step +that man makes forward towards a wider life is usually +marked by strife, and the shadow of coming trouble was +already upon the land. It had deepened little by little, +and the cattle-barons had closed their eyes, as other men +who have held the reins have done since the beginning, +until the lean hands of the toilers fastened upon them, and +fresh horrors added to an ancient wrong were the price +of liberty that was lost again. They had done good service +to their nation, with profit to themselves, and would +not see that the times were changing and that the nation +had no longer need of them.</p> +<p>Other men, however, at least suspected it, and there was +an expectant gathering one hot afternoon in the railroad +depot of a little wooden town where Grant stood waiting +for the west-bound train. There was little to please the +eye about the station, and still less about the town. +Straight out of the great white levels ran the glistening +track, and an unsightly building of wood and iron rose +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span> +from the side of it, flanked by a towering water-tank. +A pump rattled under it, and the smell of creosote was +everywhere. Cattle corrals ran back from the track, and +beyond them sun-rent frame houses roofed with cedar +shingles straggled away on the one hand, paintless, crude, +and square. On the other, a smear of trail led the dazzled +vision back across the parched levels to the glancing refraction +on the horizon, and the figure of a single horseman +showing dimly through a dust cloud emphasized +their loneliness. The town was hot and dusty, its one +green fringe of willows defiled by the garbage the citizens +deposited there, and the most lenient stranger could have +seen no grace or beauty in it. Yet, like many another +place of the kind, it was destined to rise to prosperity and +fame.</p> +<p>The depot was thronged that afternoon. Store and +hotel keeper, citizens in white shirts and broadcloth, +jostled blue-shirted cattle men, while here and there a petty +politician consulted with the representative of a Western +paper. The smoke of cigars drifted everywhere, and the +listless heat was stirred by the hum of voices eager and +strident. It was evident that the assembly was in an expectant +mood, and there was a murmur of approbation +when one newspaper man laid hold of Grant.</p> +<p>“I couldn’t light on you earlier, but ten minutes will +see us through,” he said. “We’ll make a half-page of it +if you’ll let me have your views. New epoch in the country’s +history! The small farmer the coming king! A +wood-cut of the man who brought the first plough in.”</p> +<p>Larry Grant laughed a little. “There are quite a few +ahead of me, and if you spread my views the barons would +put their thumb on you and squeeze you flat,” he said. +“On the other hand, it wouldn’t suit me if you sent them +anything I told you to publish.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span></p> +<p>The man appeared a trifle embarrassed. “The rights +of the Press are sacred in a free country, sir,” he said.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant drily, “although I hope it will be, +this country isn’t quite free yet. I surmise that you don’t +know that the office of your contemporary farther east +was broken into a few hours ago, and an article written +by a friend of mine pulled out of the press. The proprietor +was quietly held down upon the floor when he objected. +You will hear whether I am right or wrong +to-morrow.”</p> +<p>What the man would have answered did not appear, +for just then somebody shouted, and a trail of smoke +swept up above the rim of the prairie. It rose higher and +whiter, something that flashed dazzlingly grew into shape +beneath it, and there was a curious silence when the dusty +cars rolled into the little station. It was followed by a +murmur as an elderly man in broad white hat and plain +store clothing, and a plump, blue-eyed young woman, +came out upon the platform of a car. He wore a pair of +spectacles and gazed about him in placid inquiry, until +Grant stepped forward. Then he helped the young +woman down, and held out a big, hard hand.</p> +<p>“Mr. Grant?” he said.</p> +<p>Grant nodded, and raised his hat to the girl. “Yes,” +he said. “Mr. Muller?”</p> +<p>“Ja,” said the other man. “Also der fräulein +Muller.”</p> +<p>There was a little ironical laughter from the crowd. +“A Dutchman,” said somebody, “from Chicago. They +raise them there in the sausage machine. The hogs go +in at one end, and they rake the Dutchmen out of the +other.”</p> +<p>Muller looked round inquiringly, but apparently failed +to discover the speaker. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span></p> +<p>“Dot,” he said, “is der chestnut. I him have heard +before.”</p> +<p>There was good-humoured laughter—for even when it +has an animus an American crowd is usually fair; and in +the meanwhile five or six other men got down from a car. +They were lean and brown, with somewhat grim faces, +and were dressed in blue shirts and jean.</p> +<p>“Well,” said one of them, “we’re Americans. Got +any objections to us getting off here, boys?”</p> +<p>Some of the men in store clothing nodded a greeting, +but there were others in wide hats, and long boots with +spurs, who jeered.</p> +<p>“Brought your plough-cows along?” said one, and the +taunt had its meaning, for it is usually only the indigent +and incapable who plough with oxen.</p> +<p>“No,” said one of the newcomers. “We have horses +back yonder. When we want mules or cowsteerers, I +guess we’ll find them here. You seem to have quite a +few of them around.”</p> +<p>A man stepped forward, jingling his spurs, with his +jacket of embroidered deerskin flung open to show, though +this was as yet unusual, that he wore a bandolier. Rolling +back one loose sleeve he displayed a brown arm with the +letters “C. R.” tattooed within a garter upon it. “See +this. You’ve heard of that mark before?” he said.</p> +<p>“Cash required!” said the newcomer, with a grin. +“Well, I guess that’s not astonishing. It would be a +blame foolish man who gave you credit.”</p> +<p>“No, sir,” said the stockrider. “It’s Cedar Range, +and there’s twenty boys and more cattle than you could +count in a long day carrying that brand. It will be a +cold day when you and the rest of the Dakotas start kicking +against that outfit.”</p> +<p>There was laughter and acclamation, in the midst of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span> +which the cars rolled on; but in the meanwhile Grant had +seized the opportunity to get a gang-plough previously +unloaded from a freight-car into a wagon. The sight of +it raised a demonstration, and there were hoots, and cries +of approbation, while a man with a flushed face was +hoisted to the top of a kerosene-barrel.</p> +<p>“Boys,” he said, “there’s no use howling. We’re +Americans. Nobody can stop us, and we’re going on. +You might as well kick against a railroad; and because +the plough and the small farmer will do more for you +than even the locomotive did, they have got to come. +Well, now, some of you are keeping stores, and one or +two I see here baking bread and making clothes. Which +is going to do the most for your trade and you, a handful +of rich men, who wouldn’t eat or wear the things you +have to sell, owning the whole country, or a family farming +on every quarter section? A town ten times this size +wouldn’t be much use to them. Well, you’ve had your +cattle-barons, gentlemen most of them; but even a man +of that kind has to step out of the track and make room +when the nation’s moving on.”</p> +<p>He probably said more, but Grant did not hear him, for +he had as unostentatiously as possible conveyed Muller +and the fräulein into a wagon, and had horses led up for +the Dakota men. They had some difficulty in mounting, +and the crowd laughed good-humouredly, though here +and there a man flung jibes at them; while one, jolting in +his saddle as his broncho reared, turned to Grant with a +little deprecatory gesture.</p> +<p>“In our country we mostly drive in wagons, but I’ll +ride by the stirrup and get down when nobody sees me,” +he said. “The beast wouldn’t try to climb out this way if +there wasn’t something kind of prickly under his saddle.”</p> +<p>Grant’s face was a trifle grim when he saw that more of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span> +the horses were inclined to behave similarly, but he flicked +his team with the whip, and there was cheering and +derision when, with a drumming of hoofs and rattle of +wheels, wagons and horsemen swept away into the dust-cloud +that rolled about the trail.</p> +<p>“This,” he said, “is only a little joke of theirs, and +they’ll go a good deal further when they get their blood +up. Still, I tried to warn you what you might expect.”</p> +<p>“So!” said Muller, with a placid grin. “It is noding +to der <i>franc tireurs</i>. I was in der chase of Menotti +among der Vosges. Also at Paris.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant drily, “I’m ’most afraid that by and +by you’ll go through very much the same kind of thing +again. What you saw at the depot is going on wherever +the railroad is bringing the farmers in, and we’ve got men +in this country who’d make first-grade <i>franc tireurs</i>.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='IV_MULLER_STANDS_FAST' id='IV_MULLER_STANDS_FAST'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span> +<h2>IV</h2> +<h3>MULLER STANDS FAST</h3> +</div> + +<p>The windows of Fremont homestead were open wide, +and Larry Grant sat by one of them in a state of quiet +contentment after a long day’s ride. Outside, the prairie, +fading from grey to purple, ran back to the dusky east, +and the little cool breeze that came up out of the silence +and flowed into the room had in it the qualities of snow-chilled +wine. A star hung low to the westward in a field +of palest green, and a shaded lamp burned dimly at one +end of the great bare room.</p> +<p>By it the Fräulein Muller, flaxen-haired, plump, and +blue-eyed, sat knitting, and Larry’s eyes grew a trifle wistful +when he glanced at her. It was a very long while +since any woman had crossed his threshold, and the red-cheeked +fräulein gave the comfortless bachelor dwelling +a curiously homelike appearance. Nevertheless, it was not +the recollection of its usual dreariness that called up the +sigh, for Larry Grant had had his dreams like other men, +and Miss Muller was not the woman he had now and then +daringly pictured sitting there. Her father, perhaps from +force of habit, sat with a big meerschaum in hand, by the +empty stove, and if his face expressed anything at all it +was phlegmatic content. Opposite him sat Breckenridge, +a young Englishman, lately arrived from Minnesota.</p> +<p>“What do you think of the land, now you’ve seen it?” +asked Grant. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span></p> +<p>Muller nodded reflectively. “Der land is good. It is +der first-grade hard wheat she will grow. I three hundred +and twenty acres buy.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant, “I’m willing to let you have it; +but I usually try to do the square thing, and you may have +trouble before you get your first crop in.”</p> +<p>“Und,” said Muller, “so you want to sell?”</p> +<p>Grant laughed. “Not quite; and I can’t sell that land +outright. I’ll let it to you while my lease runs, and when +that falls in you’ll have the same right to homestead a +quarter or half section for nothing as any other man. In +the meanwhile, I and one or two others are going to start +wheat-growing on land that is ours outright, and take our +share of the trouble.”</p> +<p>“Ja,” said Muller, “but dere is much dot is not clear +to me. Why you der trouble like?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant, “as I’ve tried to tell you, it works +out very much like this. It was known that this land was +specially adapted to mixed farming quite a few years ago, +but the men who ran their cattle over it never drove a +plough. You want to know why? Well, I guess it was +for much the same reason that an association of our big +manufacturers bought up the patents of an improved process, +and for a long while never made an ounce of material +under them, or let any one else try. We had to pay more +than it was worth for an inferior article that hampered +some of the most important industries in the country, and +they piled up the dollars in the old-time way.”</p> +<p>“Und,” said Muller, “dot is democratic America!”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Grant. “That is the America we mean to +alter. Well, where one man feeds his cattle, fifty could +plough and make a living raising stock on a smaller scale, +and the time’s quite close upon us when they will; but the +cattle-men have got the country, and it will hurt them to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span> +let go. It’s not their land, and was only lent them. Now +I’m no fonder of trouble than any other man, but this +country fed and taught me, and kept me two years in +Europe looking round, and I’d feel mean if I took everything +and gave it nothing back. Muller will understand +me. Do you, Breckenridge?”</p> +<p>The English lad laughed. “Oh, yes; though I don’t +know that any similar obligation was laid on myself. +The country I came from had apparently no use for a +younger son at all, and it was kicks and snubs it usually +bestowed on me; but if there’s a row on hand I’m quite +willing to stand by you and see it through. My folks +will, however, be mildly astonished when they hear I’ve +turned reformer.”</p> +<p>Grant nodded good-humouredly, for he was not a +fanatic, but an American with a firm belief in the greatness +of his country’s destiny, who, however, realized that +faith alone was scarcely sufficient.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “if it’s trouble you’re anxious for, it’s +quite likely you’ll find it here. Nobody ever got anything +worth having unless he fought for it, and we’ve taken +on a tolerably big contract. We’re going to open up this +state for any man who will work for it to make a living in, +and substitute its constitution for the law of the cattle-barons.”</p> +<p>“Der progress,” said Muller, “she is irresistible.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge laughed. “From what I was taught, it +seems to me that she moves round in rings. You start +with the luxury of the few, oppression, and brutality, then +comes revolution, and worse things than you had before, +progress growing out of it that lasts for a few generations +until the few fittest get more than their fair share of +wealth and control, and you come back to the same point +again.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span></p> +<p>Muller shook his head. “No,” he said, “it is nod der +ring, but der elastic spiral. Der progress she march, it +is true, round und round, but she is arrive always der one +turn higher, und der pressure on der volute is nod constant.”</p> +<p>“On the top?” said Breckenridge. “Principalities +and powers, traditional and aristocratic, or monetary. +Well, it seems to me they squeeze progress down tolerably +flat between them occasionally. Take our old cathedral +cities and some of your German ones, and, if you demand +it, I’ll throw their ghettos in. Then put the New York +tenements or most of the smaller western towns beside +them, and see what you’ve arrived at.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Muller tranquilly. “Weight above she is +necessary while der civilization is incomblete, but der +force is from der bottom. It is all time positive and primitive, +for it was make when man was make at der beginning.”</p> +<p>Grant nodded. “Well,” he said, “our work’s waiting +right here. What other men have done in the Dakotas +and Minnesota we are going to do. Nature has been +storing us food for the wheat plant for thousands of years, +and there’s more gold in our black soil than was ever dug +out of Mexico or California. Still, you have to get it +out by ploughing, and not by making theories. Breckenridge, +you will stay with me; but you’ll want a house to +live in, Muller.”</p> +<p>Muller drew a roll of papers out of his pocket, and +Grant, who took them from him, stared in wonder. They +were drawings and calculations relating to building with +undressed lumber, made with Teutonic precision and +accuracy.</p> +<p>“I have,” said Muller, “der observation make how you +build der homestead in this country.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span></p> +<p>“Then we’ll start you in to-morrow,” said Grant. +“You’ll get all the lumber you want in the birch bluff, and +I’ll lend you one or two of the boys I brought in from +Michigan. There’s nobody on this continent handier +with the axe.”</p> +<p>Muller nodded and refilled his pipe, and save for the +click of the fräulein’s needles there was once more silence +in the bare room. She had not spoken, for the knitting +and the baking were her share, and the men whose part +was the conflict must be clothed and fed. They knew it +could not be evaded, and, springing from the same colonizing +stock, placid Teuton with his visions and precision +in everyday details, eager American, and adventurous +Englishman, each made ready for it in his own fashion. +Free as yet from passion, or desire for fame, they were +willing to take up the burden that was to be laid upon +them; but only the one who knew the least awaited it +joyously. Others had also the same thoughts up and +down that lonely land, and the dusty cars were already +bringing the vanguard of the homeless host in. They +were for the most part quiet and resolute men, who asked +no more than leave to till a few acres of the wilderness, +and to eat what they had sown; but there were among +them others of a different kind—fanatics, outcasts, men +with wrongs—and behind them the human vultures who +fatten on rapine. As yet, the latter found no occupation +waiting them, but their sight was keen, and they knew +their time would come.</p> +<p>It was a week later, and a hot afternoon, when Muller +laid the big crosscut saw down on the log he was severing +and slowly straightened his back. Then he stood up, red +and very damp in face, a burly, square-shouldered man, +and, having mislaid his spectacles, blinked about him. On +three sides of him the prairie, swelling in billowy rises, ran +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span> +back to the horizon; but on the fourth a dusky wall of +foliage followed the crest of a ravine, and the murmur +of water came up faintly from the creek in the hollow. +Between himself and its slender birches lay piled amidst +the parched and dusty grass, and the first courses of a +wooden building, rank with the smell of sappy timber, +already stood in front of him. There was no notch in +the framing that had not been made and pinned with an +exact precision. In its scanty shadow his daughter sat +knitting beside a smouldering fire over which somebody +had suspended a big blackened kettle. The crash of the +last falling trunk had died away, and there was silence in +the bluff; but a drumming of hoofs rose in a sharp staccato +from the prairie.</p> +<p>“Now,” said Muller quietly, “I think the <i>chasseurs</i> +come.”</p> +<p>The girl looked up a moment, noticed the four mounted +figures that swung over the crest of a rise, and then went +on with her knitting again. Still, there was for a second +a little flash in her pale blue eyes.</p> +<p>The horsemen came on, the dust floating in long +wisps behind them, until, with a jingle of bridle and +stirrup, they pulled up before the building. Three of +them were bronzed and dusty, in weather-stained blue +shirts, wide hats, and knee-boots that fitted them like +gloves; and there was ironical amusement in their faces. +Each sat his horse as if he had never known any other +seat than the saddle; but the fourth was different from +the rest. He wore a jacket of richly embroidered deerskin, +and the shirt under it was white; while he sat with +one hand in a big leather glove resting on his hip. His +face was sallow and his eyes were dark.</p> +<p>“Hallo, Hamburg!” he said, and his voice had a little +commanding ring. “You seem kind of busy.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span></p> +<p>Muller blinked at him. He had apparently not yet +found his spectacles, but he had in the meanwhile come +upon his axe, and now stood very straight, with the long +haft reaching to his waist.</p> +<p>“Ja,” he said. “Mine house I build.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said the man in the embroidered jacket, “I +fancy you’re wasting time. Asked anybody’s leave to +cut that lumber, or put it up?”</p> +<p>“Mine friend,” said Muller, smiling, “when it is nod +necessary I ask nodings of any man.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said the horseman drily, as he turned to his +companions, “I fancy that’s where you’re wrong. Boys, +we’ll take him along in case Torrance would like to see +him. I guess you’ll have to walk home, Jim.”</p> +<p>A man dismounted and led forward his horse with a +wrench upon the bridle that sent it plunging. “Get your +foot in the stirrup, Hamburg, and I’ll hoist you up,” he +said.</p> +<p>Muller stood motionless, and the horseman in deerskin +glancing round in his direction saw his daughter for the +first time. He laughed; but there was something in his +black eyes that caused the Teuton’s fingers to close a +trifle upon the haft of the axe.</p> +<p>“You’ll have to get down, Charlie, as well as Jim,” he +said. “Torrance has his notions, or Coyote might have +carried Miss Hamburg that far as well. Sorry to hurry +you, Hamburg, but I don’t like waiting.”</p> +<p>Muller stepped back a pace, and the axe-head flashed +as he moved his hand; while, dazzled by the beam it cast, +the half-tamed broncho rose with hoofs in the air. Its +owner smote it on the nostrils with his fist, and the pair +sidled round each other—the man with his arm drawn +back, the beast with laid-back ears—for almost a minute +before they came to a standstill. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span></p> +<p>“Mine friend,” said Muller, “other day I der pleasure +have. I mine house have to build.”</p> +<p>“Get up,” said the stockrider. “Ever seen anybody +fire off a gun?”</p> +<p>Muller laughed softly, and glanced at the leader. “Der +rifle,” he said drily. “I was at Sedan. To-day it is not +convenient that I come.”</p> +<p>“Hoist him up!” said the leader, and once more, while +the other man moved forward, Muller stepped back; but +this time there was an answering flash in his blue eyes as +the big axe-head flashed in the sun.</p> +<p>“I guess we’d better hold on,” said another man. +“Look there, Mr. Clavering.”</p> +<p>He pointed to the bluff, and the leader’s face darkened +as he gazed, for four men with axes were running down +the slope, and they were lean and wiry, with very grim +faces. They were also apparently small farmers or lumbermen +from the bush of Michigan, and Clavering knew +such men usually possessed a terrible proficiency with the +keen-edged weapon, and stubbornness was native in them. +Two others, one of whom he knew, came behind them. +The foremost stopped, and stood silent when the man +Clavering recognized signed to them, but not before each +had posted himself strategically within reach of a horseman’s +bridle.</p> +<p>“You might explain, Clavering, what you and your +cow-boys are doing here,” he said.</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “We are going to take your +Teutonic friend up to the Range. He is cutting our fuel +timber with nobody’s permission.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Grant drily; “he has mine. The bluff is +on my run.”</p> +<p>“Did you take out timber rights with your lease?” +asked Clavering. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span></p> +<p>“No, I hadn’t much use for them. None of my neighbours +hold any either. But the bluff is big enough, and +I’ve no objection to their cutting what billets they want. +Still, I can’t have them driving out any other friends of +mine.”</p> +<p>Clavering smiled ironically. “You have been picking +up some curious acquaintances, Larry; but don’t you +think you had better leave this thing to Torrance? The +fact is, the cattle-men are not disposed to encourage +strangers building houses in their country just now.”</p> +<p>“I had a notion it belonged to this State. It’s not an +unusual one,” said Grant.</p> +<p>Clavering shrugged his shoulders. “Of course, it +sounds better that way. Have it so. Still, it will scarcely +pay you to make yourself unpopular with us, Larry.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant drily, “it seems to me I’m tolerably +unpopular already. But that’s not quite the point. Take +your boys away.”</p> +<p>Clavering flung his hand up in half-ironical salutation, +but as he was about to wheel his horse a young Englishman +whose nationality was plainly stamped upon him +seized his bridle.</p> +<p>“Not quite so fast!” he said. “It would be more +fitting if you got down and expressed your regrets to the +fräulein. You haven’t heard Muller’s story yet, Larry.”</p> +<p>“Let go,” said Clavering, raising the switch he held. +“Drop my bridle or take care of yourself!”</p> +<p>“Come down,” said Breckenridge.</p> +<p>The switch went up and descended hissing upon part +of an averted face; but the lad sprang as it fell, and the +next moment the horse rose almost upright with two men +clinging to it; one of them, whose sallow cheeks were +livid now, swaying in the saddle. Then Grant grasped +the bridle that fell from the rider’s hands, and hurled his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span> +comrade backwards, while some of the stockriders pushed +their horses nearer, and the axe-men closed in about +them.</p> +<p>Hoarse cries went up. “Horses back! Pull him off! +Give the Britisher a show! Leave them to it!”</p> +<p>It was evident that a blunder would have unpleasant +results, for Clavering, with switch raised, had tightened +his left hand on the bridle Grant had loosed again, while +a wicked smile crept into his eyes, and the lad stood tense +and still, with hands clenched in front of him, and a weal +on his young face. Grant, however, stepped in between +them.</p> +<p>“We’ve had sufficient fooling, Breckenridge,” he said. +“Clavering, I’ll give you a minute to get your men away, +and if you can’t do it in that time you’ll take the consequences.”</p> +<p>Clavering wheeled his horse. “The odds are with +you, Larry,” he said. “You have made a big blunder, +but I guess you know your own business best.”</p> +<p>He nodded, including the fräulein, with an easy insolence +that yet became him, touched the horse with his heel, +and in another moment he and his cow-boys were swinging +at a gallop across the prairie. Then, as they dipped +behind a rise, those who were left glanced at one another. +Breckenridge was very pale, and one of his hands was +bleeding where Clavering’s spur had torn it.</p> +<p>“It seems that we have made a beginning,” he said +hoarsely. “It’s first blood to them, but this will take a +lot of forgetting, and the rest may be different.”</p> +<p>Grant made no answer, but turned and looked at Muller, +who stood very straight and square, with a curious +brightness in his eyes.</p> +<p>“Are you going on with the contract? There is the +girl to consider,” said Grant.</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a> +<img src='images/cbd-047.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 364px; height: 537px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 364px;'> +“COME DOWN!”—<i>Page 47.</i><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span></div> +<p>“Ja,” said the Teuton. “I was in der Vosges, and der +girl is also Fräulein Muller.”</p> +<p>“Boys,” said Grant to the men from Michigan, “you +have seen what’s in front of you, and you’ll probably have +to use more than axes before you’re through. Still, you +have the chance of clearing out right now. I only want +willing men behind me.”</p> +<p>One of the big axe-men laughed scornfully, and there +was a little sardonic grin in the faces of the rest.</p> +<p>“There’s more room for us here than there was in +Michigan, and now we’ve got our foot down here we’re +not going back again,” he said. “That’s about all there +is to it. But when our time comes, the other men aren’t +going to find us slacker than the Dutchman.”</p> +<p>Grant nodded gravely. “Well,” he said very simply, +“I guess the Lord who made this country will know +who’s in the right and help them. They’ll need it. +There’s a big fight coming.”</p> +<p>Then they went back to their hewing in the bluff, and +the Fräulein Muller went on with her knitting.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='V_HETTY_COMES_HOME' id='V_HETTY_COMES_HOME'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span> +<h2>V</h2> +<h3>HETTY COMES HOME</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was an afternoon of the Indian summer, sunny and +cool, and the maples about the Schuyler villa flamed gold +and crimson against a sky of softest blue, when Hetty +Torrance sat reflectively silent on the lawn. Flora +Schuyler sat near her, with a book upside down upon her +knee.</p> +<p>“You have been worrying about something the last +few weeks,” she said.</p> +<p>“Is that quite unusual?” asked Hetty. “Haven’t a +good many folks to worry all the time?”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler smiled. “Just finding it out, Hetty? +Well, I have noticed a change, and it began the day you +waited for us at the depot. And it wasn’t because of +Jake Cheyne.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty reflectively. “I suppose it should +have been. Have you heard from him since he went +away?”</p> +<p>“Lily Cheyne had a letter with some photographs, and +she showed it to me. It’s a desolate place in the sage bush +he’s living in, and there’s not a white man, except the +boys he can’t talk to, within miles of him, while from the +picture I saw of his adobe room I scarcely think folks +would have it down here to keep hogs in. Jake Cheyne +was fastidious, too, and there was a forced cheerfulness +about his letter which had its meaning, though, of course, +he never mentioned you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span></p> +<p>Hetty flushed a trifle. “Flo, I’m sorry. Still, you +can’t blame me.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Miss Schuyler, “though there was a time +when I wished I could. You can’t help being pretty, but +it ought to make you careful when you see another of +them going that way again.”</p> +<p>Hetty made a little impatient gesture. “If there ever +is another, he’ll be pulled up quite sharp. You don’t +think their foolishness, which spoils everything, is any +pleasure to me. It’s too humiliating. Can’t one be +friends with a nice man without falling in love with +him?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Miss Schuyler drily, “it depends a good +deal on how you’re made; but it’s generally risky for one +or the other. Still, perhaps you might, for I have a fancy +there’s something short in you. Now, I’m going to ask +you a question. Is it thinking of the other man that has +made you restless? I mean the one we saw at the +depot?”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed outright. “Larry? Why, as I tried to +tell you, he has always been just like a cousin or a brother +to me, and doesn’t want anything but his horses and cattle +and his books on political economy. Larry’s quite happy +with his ranching, and his dreams of the new America. +Of course, they’ll never come to anything; but when you +can start him talking they’re quite nice to listen to.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler shook her head. “I wouldn’t be too +sure. That man is in earnest, and the dreams of an +earnest American have a way of coming true. You have +known him a long while, and I’ve only seen him once, +but that man will do more than talk if he ever has the +opportunity. He has the quiet grit one finds in the best +of us—not the kind that make the speeches—and some +Englishmen, in him. You can see it in his eyes.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span></p> +<p>“Then,” said Hetty, with a little laugh, “come back +with me to Cedar, and if you’re good you shall have him. +It isn’t everybody I’d give Larry to.”</p> +<p>There was a trace of indignation in Flora Schuyler’s +face. “I fancy he would not appreciate your generosity, +and there’s a good deal you have got to find out, Hetty,” +she said drily. “It may hurt you when you do. But +you haven’t told me yet what has been worrying you.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty, with a little wistful smile. “Well, +I’m going to. It’s hard to own to, but I’m a failure. I +fancied I could make everybody listen to my singing, and +I would come here. Well, I came, and found out that my +voice would never bring me fame, and for a time it hurt +me horribly. Still, I couldn’t go back just then, and when +you and your mother pressed me I stayed. I knew what +you expected, and I disappointed you. Perhaps I was +too fastidious, but there were none of them that really +pleased me. Then I began to see that I was only spoiling +nicer girls’ chances and trying the patience of everybody.”</p> +<p>“Hetty!” said Flora Schuyler, but Miss Torrance +checked her.</p> +<p>“Wait until I’m through. Then it became plain to +me that while I’d been wasting my time here the work I +was meant for was waiting at Cedar. The old man who +gave me everything is very lonely there, and he and Larry +have been toiling on while I flung ’most what a ranch +would cost away on lessons and dresses and fripperies, +which will never be any good to me. Still, I’m an American, +too, and now, when there’s trouble coming, I’m going +back to the place I belong to.”</p> +<p>“You are doing the right thing now,” said Flora +Schuyler.</p> +<p>Hetty smiled somewhat mirthlessly. “Well,” she said, +“because it’s hard, I guess I am; but there’s one thing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span> +would make it easier. You will come and stay with me. +You don’t know how much I want you; and New York +in winter doesn’t suit you. You’re pale already. Come +and try our clear, dry cold.”</p> +<p>Eventually Miss Schuyler promised, and Hetty rose. +“Then it’s fixed,” she said. “I’ll write the old man a +dutiful letter now, while I feel like doing it well.”</p> +<p>The letter was duly written, and, as it happened, +reached Torrance as he sat alone one evening in his great +bare room at Cedar Range. Among the papers on the +table in front of him were letters from the cattle-men’s +committees, which had sprung into existence every here +and there, and Torrance apparently did not find them +reassuring, for there was care in his face. It had become +evident that the big ranchers’ rights were mostly traditional, +and already, in scattered detachments, the vanguard +of the homesteaders’ host was filing in. Here and +there they had made their footing good; more often, by +means not wholly constitutional, their outposts had been +driven in; but it was noticeable that Torrance and his +neighbours still believed them no more than detachments, +and had not heard the footsteps of the rest. Three years’ +residence in that land had changed the aliens into American +citizens, but a lifetime of prosperity could scarcely +efface the bitterness they had brought with them from +the east, while some, in spite of their crude socialistic +aspirations, were drilled men who had herded the imperial +legions like driven cattle into Sedan. More of native +birth, helots of the cities, and hired hands of the plains, +were also turning desiring eyes upon the wide spaces of +the cattle country, where there was room for all.</p> +<p>Torrance opened his letter and smiled somewhat drily. +It was affectionate and not without its faint pathos, for +Hetty had been stirred when she wrote; but the grim old +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span> +widower felt no great desire for the gentle attentions of a +dutiful daughter just then.</p> +<p>“We shall be at Cedar soon after you get this,” he +read among the rest. “I know if I had told you earlier +you would have protested you didn’t want me, just +because you foolishly fancied I should be lonely at the +Range; but I have been very selfish, and you must have +been horribly lonely too; and one of the nicest girls you +ever saw is coming to amuse you. You can’t help liking +Flo. Of course I had to bring a maid; but you will have +to make the best of us, because you couldn’t stop us now +if you wanted to.”</p> +<p>It was noticeable that Torrance took the pains to confirm +this fact by reference to a railroad schedule, and, +finding it incontrovertible, shook his head.</p> +<p>“Three of them,” he said.</p> +<p>Then he sat still with the letter in his hand, while a +trace of tenderness crept into his face, which, however, +grew grave again, until there was a tapping at the door, +and Clavering came in.</p> +<p>“You seem a trifle worried, sir, and if you’re busy I +needn’t keep you long,” he said. “I just wanted to hand +you a cheque for the subscription you paid for me.”</p> +<p>“Sit down,” said Torrance. “Where did you get the +dollars from?”</p> +<p>Clavering appeared almost uneasy for a moment, but +he laughed. “I’ve been thinning out my cattle.”</p> +<p>“That’s not a policy I approve of just now. We’ll +have the rabble down upon us as soon as we show any +sign of weakening.”</p> +<p>Clavering made a little deprecatory gesture. “It +wasn’t a question of policy. I had to have the dollars. +Still, you haven’t told me if you have heard anything +unpleasant from the other committees.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span></p> +<p>Torrance appeared thoughtful. He suspected that +Clavering’s ranch was embarrassed, and the explanation +was plausible.</p> +<p>“No,” he said. “It was something else. Hetty is on +her way home, and she is bringing another young woman +and a maid with her. They will be here before I can stop +them. Still, I could, if it was necessary, send them back.”</p> +<p>Clavering did not answer for a moment, though Torrance +saw the faint gleam in his dark eyes, and watched +him narrowly. Then he said, “You will find a change +in Miss Torrance, sir. She has grown into a beautiful +young woman, and has, I fancy, been taught to think for +herself in the city; you could not expect her to come back +as she left the prairie. And if anything has induced her +to decide that her place is here, she will probably stay.”</p> +<p>“You’re not quite plain. What could induce her?”</p> +<p>Clavering smiled, though he saw that the shot had told. +“It was astonishing that Miss Torrance did not honour +me with her confidence. A sense of duty, perhaps, +although one notices that the motives of young women +are usually a trifle involved. It, however, appears to me +that if Miss Torrance makes up her mind to stay, we are +still quite capable of guarding our women from anxiety +or molestation.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Torrance grimly. “Of course. Still, we +may have to do things we would sooner they didn’t hear +about or see. Well, you have some news?”</p> +<p>Clavering nodded. “I was in at the railroad, and fifty +Dakota men came in on the cars. I went round to the +hotel with the committee, and, though it cost some dollars +to fix the thing, they wouldn’t take them in. The +boys, who got kind of savage, found a pole and drove the +door in, but we turned the Sheriff, who had already sworn +some of us in, loose on them. Four or five men were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span> +nastily clubbed, and one of James’s boys was shot through +the arm, while I have a fancy that the citizens would have +stood in with the other crowd; but seeing they were not +going to get anything to eat there, they held up a store, +and as we told the man who kept it how their friends had +sacked Regent, he fired at them. The consequence is +that the Sheriff has some of them in jail, and the rest are +camped down on the prairie. We hold the town.”</p> +<p>“Through the Sheriff?”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “He’ll earn his pay. Has it struck +you that this campaign is going to cost us a good deal? +Allonby hasn’t much left in hand already.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” said the older man, with a little grim smile. +“If it’s wanted I’ll throw my last dollar in. Beaten now +and we’re beaten for ever. We have got to win.”</p> +<p>Clavering said nothing further, though he realized, +perhaps more clearly than his leader, that it was only by +the downfall of the cattle-men the small farmer could +establish himself, and, when he had handed a cheque to +Torrance, went out.</p> +<p>It was three days later when Hetty Torrance rose from +her seat in a big vestibule car as the long train slackened +speed outside a little Western station. She laughed as +she swept her glance round the car.</p> +<p>“Look at it, Flo,” she said; “gilding and velvet and +nickel, all quite in keeping with the luxury of the East. +You are environed by civilization still; but once you step +off the platform there will be a difference.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler, who noticed the little flush in her companion’s +face, glanced out of the dusty window, for the +interior of the gently-rocking car, with its lavish decoration +and upholstery, was not new to her, and the first thing +that caught her eye was the miscellaneous deposit of rubbish, +old boots, and discarded clothing, amidst the willows +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span> +that slowly flitted by. Then she saw a towering water-tank, +wooden houses that rose through a haze of blowing +dust, hideous in their unadornment, against a crystalline +sky, and a row of close-packed stock-cars which announced +that they were in the station.</p> +<p>It seemed to be thronged with the populace, and there +was a murmur, apparently of disappointed expectancy, +when, as the cars stopped, the three women alone appeared +on the platform. Then there was a shout for the +conductor, and somebody said, “You’ve no rustlers +aboard for us?”</p> +<p>“No,” said the grinning official who leaned out from +the door of the baggage-car. “The next crowd are waiting +until they can buy rifles to whip you with.”</p> +<p>Hoarse laughter followed, and somebody said, “Boys, +your friends aren’t coming. You can take your band +home again.”</p> +<p>Then out of the clamour came the roll of a drum, and, +clear and musical, the ringing of bugles blown by men +who had marched with Grant and Sherman when they +were young. The effect was stirring, and a cheer went +up, for there were other men present in whom the spirit +which, underlying immediate issues, had roused the North +to arms was living yet; but it broke off into laughter +when, one by one, discordant instruments and beaten pans +joined in. The din, however, ceased suddenly, when +somebody said, “Hadn’t you better let up, boys, or Torrance +will figure you sent the band for him?”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler appeared a trifle bewildered, the maid +frightened; but Hetty’s cheeks were glowing.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, “aren’t you glad you came? The +boys are taking the trail. We’ll show you how we stir +the prairie up by and by!”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler was very doubtful as to whether the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span> +prospect afforded her any pleasure; but just then a grey-haired +man, dressed immaculately in white shirt and city +clothes, kissed her companion, and then, taking off his +hat, handed her down from the platform with ceremonious +courtesy. He had a grim, forceful face, with pride and +command in it, and Miss Schuyler, who felt half afraid +of him then, never quite overcame the feeling. She +noticed, however, that he paid equal attention to the +terrified maid.</p> +<p>“It would be a duty to do our best for any of Hetty’s +friends who have been so kind to her in the city, but in +this case it’s going to be a privilege, too,” he said. “Well, +you will be tired, and they have a meal waiting you at the +hotel. This place is a little noisy to-day, but we’ll start +on the first stage of your journey when you’re ready.”</p> +<p>He gave Miss Schuyler his arm, and moved towards +the thickest of the crowd, which, though apparently +slightly hostile, made way for him. Here and there a +man drove his fellows back, and one, catching up a loose +plank, laid it down for the party to cross the rail switches +on. Torrance turned to thank him, but the man swept +his hat off with a laugh.</p> +<p>“I wouldn’t worry; it wasn’t for you,” he said. “It’s +a long while since we’ve seen anything so pretty as Miss +Torrance and the other one.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler flushed a little, but Hetty turned to the +speaker with a sparkle in her eyes.</p> +<p>“Now,” she said, “that was ’most worth a dollar, and +if I didn’t know what kind of man you were, I’d give it +you. But what about Clarkson’s Lou?”</p> +<p>There was a laugh from the assembly, and the man +appeared embarrassed.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said slowly, “she went off with Jo.”</p> +<p>Miss Torrance nodded sympathetically. “Still, if she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span> +knew no better than that, I wouldn’t worry. Jo had a +cast in his eye.”</p> +<p>The crowd laughed again, and Flora Schuyler glanced +at her companion with some astonishment as she asked, +“Do you always talk to them that way?”</p> +<p>“Of course,” said Hetty. “They’re our boys—grown +right here. Aren’t they splendid?”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler once more appeared dubious, and made +no answer; but she noticed that the man now preceded +them, and raised his hand when they came up with the +band, which had apparently halted to indulge in retort or +badinage with some of those who followed them.</p> +<p>“Hold on a few minutes, boys, and down with that +flag,” he said.</p> +<p>Then a tawdry banner was lowered suddenly between +two poles, but not before Miss Torrance had seen part +of the blazoned legend. Its unvarnished forcefulness +brought a flush to her companion’s cheek.</p> +<p>“Dad,” she asked more gravely, “what is it all +about?”</p> +<p>Torrance laughed a little. “That,” he said, “is a +tolerably big question. It would take quite a long while +to answer it.”</p> +<p>They had a street to traverse, and Hetty saw that it +was filled with little knots of men, some of whom stared +at her father, though as she passed their hats came off. +Miss Schuyler, on her part, noticed that most of the stores +were shut, and felt that she had left New York a long way +behind as she glanced at the bare wooden houses cracked +by frost and sun, rickety plank walks, whirling wisps of +dust, and groups of men, splendid in their lean, muscular +symmetry and picturesque apparel. There was a boldness +in their carriage, and a grace that approached the +statuesque in every poise. Still, she started when they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span> +passed one wooden building where blue-shirted figures +with rifles stood motionless in the verandah.</p> +<p>“The jail,” said Torrance, quietly. “The Sheriff has +one or two rioters safe inside there.”</p> +<p>They found an indifferent meal ready at the wooden +hotel, and when they descended in riding dress a wagon +with their baggage was waiting outside the door, while a +few mounted men with wide hats and bandoliers came up +with three saddle-horses. Torrance bestowed the maid in +the light wagon, and, when the two girls were mounted, +swung himself into the saddle. Then, as they trotted +down the unpaved street, Hetty glanced at him and +pointed to the dusty horsemen.</p> +<p>“What are the boys for?” she asked.</p> +<p>Torrance smiled grimly. “I told you we had our +troubles. It seemed better to bring them, in case we had +any difficulty with Larry’s friends.”</p> +<p>“Larry’s friends?” asked Hetty, almost indignantly.</p> +<p>Torrance nodded. “Yes,” he said. “You have seen +a few of them. They were carrying the flag with the inscription +at the depot.”</p> +<p>Hetty asked nothing further, but Flora Schuyler noticed +the little flash in her eyes, and as they crossed the railroad +track the clear notes of the bugles rose again and were +followed by a tramp of feet. Glancing over their shoulders +the girls could see men moving in a body, with the +flag they carried tossing amidst the dust. They were +coming on in open fours, and when the bugles ceased deep +voices sent a marching song ringing across the wooden +town.</p> +<p>Hetty’s eyes sparkled; the stockriders seemed to swing +more lightly in their saddles, and Flora Schuyler felt a +little quiver run through her. Something that jingling +rhythm and the simple words expressed but inarticulately +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span> +stirred her blood, as she remembered that in her nation’s +last great struggle the long battalions had limped on, +ragged and footsore, singing that song.</p> +<p>“Listen,” said Hetty, while the colour crept into her +face. “Oh, I know it’s scarcely music, and the crudest +verse; but it served its purpose, and is there any nation +on earth could put more swing and spirit into the grandest +theme?”</p> +<p>Torrance smiled somewhat drily, but there was a curious +expression in his face. “Some of those men are +drawing their pension, but they’re not with us,” he said. +“It’s only because we have sent in all the boys we can +spare that the Sheriff, who has their partners in his jail, +can hold the town.”</p> +<p>A somewhat impressive silence followed this, and Flora +Schuyler glanced at Hetty when they rode out into the +white prairie with two dusty men with bandoliers on +either flank.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='VI_THE_INCENDIARY' id='VI_THE_INCENDIARY'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span> +<h2>VI</h2> +<h3>THE INCENDIARY</h3> +</div> + +<p>Events of no apparent moment have extensive issues +now and then, and while cattle-man and homesteader +braced themselves for the conflict which they felt would +come, the truce might have lasted longer but for the fact +that one night Muller slept indifferently in the new house +he had built. He was never quite sure what made him +restless, or prompted him to open and lean out of his window; +and, when he had done this, he saw and heard +nothing unusual for a while.</p> +<p>On one hand the birch bluff rose, a dusky wall, against +the indigo of the sky, and in front of him the prairie rolled +away, silent and shadowy. There was scarcely a sound +but the low ripple of the creek, until, somewhere far off in +the distance, a coyote howled. The drawn-out wail had +in it something unearthly, and Muller, who was by no +means an imaginative man, shivered a little. The deep +silence of the great empty land emphasized by the sound +reacted upon him and increased his restlessness.</p> +<p>Scarcely knowing why he did so, except that he felt +he could not sleep, he slipped on a few garments, and +moved softly to the door, that he might not disturb his +daughter. There was no moon when he went out, but +the stars shone clearly in the great vault of blue, and the +barns and stables he had built rose black against the sky. +Though Grant had lent him assistance and he had hewn +the lumber on the spot, one cannot build a homestead and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span> +equip it for nothing, and when he had provided himself +with working horses, Muller had sunk the last of his +scanty capital in the venture. It was perhaps this fact +which induced him to approach the stable, moving noiselessly +in his slippers, and glance within.</p> +<p>The interior was black and shadowy, but there was no +doubting the fact that the beasts were moving restlessly. +Muller went in, holding his breath as he peered about him, +and one broncho backed away as he approached its stall. +Muller patted it on the flank, and the horse stood still, as +though reassured, when it recognized him, which was not +without its meaning. He listened, but hearing nothing +groped round the stable, and taking a hayfork went out +as softly as he had entered, and took up his post in the +deepest shadow, where he commanded outbuildings and +house. There was, he knew, nobody but Grant dwelling +within several leagues of him, and as yet property was at +least as safe in that country as it was in Chicago or New +York; but as he leaned, impassively watchful, against the +wall, he remembered an episode which had happened a +few weeks earlier.</p> +<p>He had been overtaken by a band of stockriders when +fording the creek with his daughter, and one who loitered +behind them reined his horse in and spoke to the girl. +Muller never knew what his words had been; but he saw +the sudden colour in the fräulein’s face, and seized the +man’s bridle. An altercation ensued, and when the man +rejoined his comrades, who apparently did not sympathize +with him, his bridle hand hung limp and the farmer was +smiling as he swung a stick. Muller attached no especial +importance to the affair; but Grant, who did not tell him +so, differed in this when he heard of it. He knew that the +cattle-rider is usually rather chivalrous than addicted to +distasteful gallantries. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span></p> +<p>In any case, Muller heard nothing for a while, and felt +tempted to return to his bed when he grew chilly. He +had, however, spent bitter nights stalking the <i>franc tireurs</i> +in the snow, and the vigilance taught and demanded by an +inflexible discipline had not quite deserted him, though he +was considerably older and less nimble now. At last, +however, a dim, moving shadow appeared round a corner +of the building, stopped a moment, and then slid on again +towards the door. So noiseless was it that Muller could +almost have believed his eyes had deceived him until he +heard the hasp rattle. Still, he waited until the figure +passed into the stable, and then very cautiously crept +along the wall. Muller was not so vigorous as he had +been when proficiency in the use of the bayonet had been +drilled into him; but while his fingers tightened on the +haft of the fork he fancied that he had still strength +enough to serve his purpose. He had also been taught to +use it to the best advantage.</p> +<p>He straightened himself a little when he stood in the +entrance and looked about him. There was a gleam of +light in the stable now, for a lantern stood upon a manger +and revealed by its uncertain glimmer a pile of prairie hay, +with a kerosene-can upon it, laid against the logs. Muller +was not wholly astonished, but he was looking for more +than that, and the next moment he saw a shadowy object +apparently loosing the nearest horse’s halter. It was +doubtless a merciful deed, but it was to cost the incendiary +dear; for when, perhaps warned by some faint sound, he +looked up suddenly, he saw a black figure between him +and the door.</p> +<p>On the instant he dropped the halter, and the hand that +had held it towards his belt; but, as it happened, the horse +pinned him against the stall, and his opportunity had +passed when it moved again. Muller had drawn his right +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span> +leg back with his knee bent a trifle, and there was a rattle +as he brought the long fork down to the charge. Thus, +when the man was free the deadly points twinkled in a ray +from the lantern within a foot of his breast. It was also +unpleasantly evident that a heave of the farmer’s shoulder +would bury them in the quivering flesh.</p> +<p>“Hands oop!” a stern voice said.</p> +<p>The man delayed a second. The butt of the pistol that +would equalize the affair was almost within his grasp, and +Muller stood in the light, but he saw an ominous glint in +the pale blue eyes and the farmer’s fingers tighten on the +haft. There was also a suggestive raising of one shoulder; +and his hands went up above his head. Muller advanced +the points an inch or two, stiffening his right leg, +and smiled grimly. The other man stared straight in +front of him with dilated eyes, and a little grey patch +growing larger in either cheek.</p> +<p>“Are you going to murder me, you condemned Dutchman?” +he said.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Muller tranquilly, “if you der movement +make. So! It is done without der trouble when you +have der bayonet exercise make.”</p> +<p>The points gleamed as they swung forward, and the +man gasped; but they stopped at the right second, and +Muller, who had hove his burly form a trifle more upright, +sank back again, bringing his foot down with a +stamp. The little demonstration was more convincing +than an hour of argument.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the man hoarsely, “I’m corralled. +Throw that thing away, and I’ll give you my pistol.”</p> +<p>Muller laughed, and then raised his great voice in what +was to the other an unknown tongue. “Lotta,” he said, +“Come quick, and bring the American rifle.”</p> +<p>There was silence for perhaps five minutes, and the men +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span> +watched each other, one white in the face and quivering a +little, his adversary impassive as a statue, but quietly observant. +Then there was a patter of hasty footsteps, and +the fräulein stood in the lantern light with a flushed, +plump face and somewhat scanty dress. She apparently +recognized the man, and her colour deepened, but that +was the only sign of confusion she showed; and it was evident +that the discipline of the fatherland had not been +neglected in Muller’s household.</p> +<p>“Lotta,” he said in English, “open der little slide. +You feel der cartridge? Now, der butt to der shoulder, +und der eye on der sight, as I have teach you. Der middle +of him is der best place. I shout, und you press quite +steady.”</p> +<p>He spoke with a quiet precision that had its effect; and, +whatever the girl felt, she obeyed each command in rotation. +There was, however, one danger which the stranger +realized, and that was that with an involuntary contraction +of the forefinger she might anticipate the last one.</p> +<p>“She’ll shoot me before she means to,” he said, with a +little gasp. “Come and take the condemned pistol.”</p> +<p>“Der middle of him!” said Muller tranquilly. “No +movement make, you!”</p> +<p>Dropping the fork he moved forward, not in front of +the man, but to his side, and whipped the pistol from his +belt.</p> +<p>“One turn make,” he said. “So! Your hand behind +you. Lotta, you will now a halter get.”</p> +<p>The girl’s loose bodice rose and fell as she laid down the +rifle, but she was swift, and in less than another minute +Muller had bound his captive’s hands securely behind his +back and cross-lashed them from wrist to elbow. He inspected +the work critically and then nodded, as if contented.</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a> +<img src='images/cbd-066.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 371px; height: 535px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 371px;'> +“SHE’LL SHOOT ME BEFORE SHE MEANS TO.”—<i>Page 66.</i><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span></div> +<p>“Lotta,” he said, “put der saddle on der broncho +horse. Then in der house you der cordial find, und of it +one large spoonful mit der water take. My pipe you +bring me also, und then you ride for Mr. Grant.”</p> +<p>The girl obeyed him; and when the drumming of horse-hoofs +died away Muller sat down in front of his prisoner, +who now lay upon a pile of prairie hay, and with his usual +slow precision lighted his big meerschaum. The American +watched him for a minute or two, and then grew red +in the face as a fit of passion shook him.</p> +<p>“You condemned Dutchman!” he said.</p> +<p>Muller laughed. “Der combliment,” he said, “is nod +of much use to-night.”</p> +<p>It was an hour later when Grant and several horsemen +arrived, and he nodded as he glanced at the prisoner.</p> +<p>“I figured it was you. There’s not another man on the +prairie mean enough for this kind of work,” he said, +pointing to the kerosene-can. “You didn’t even know +enough to do it decently, and you’re about the only American +who’d have let an old man tie his hands.”</p> +<p>The prisoner winced perceptibly. “Well,” he said +hoarsely, glancing towards the hayfork, rifle, and pistol, +which still lay at Muller’s feet, “if you’re astonished, look +at the blamed Dutchman’s armoury.”</p> +<p>“I’ve one thing to ask you,” Grant said sternly. “It’s +going to pay you to be quite straight with me. Who +hired you?”</p> +<p>There was defiance in the incendiary’s eyes, but Grant +was right in his surmise that he was resolute only because +that of the two fears which oppressed him he preferred to +bear the least.</p> +<p>“You can ask till you get sick of it, but you’ll get nothing +out of me,” he said.</p> +<p>“Take him out,” said Grant. “Put him on to the led +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span> +horse. If you’ll come round to my place for breakfast, +I’ll be glad to see you, Muller.”</p> +<p>“I come,” said Muller. “Mit der <i>franc tireur</i> it is +finish quicker, but here in der Republic we reverence have +for der law.”</p> +<p>Grant laughed a little. “Well,” he said drily, “I’m +not quite sure.”</p> +<p>He swung himself to the saddle, swept off his hat to the +girl, who stood with the lantern light upon her in the +doorway, smiling but flushed, and shook his bridle. +Then there was a jingle that was lost in the thud of hoofs, +and the men vanished into the shadowy prairie. Half an +hour later the homestead was once more dark and silent; +but three men sent out by Grant were riding at a reckless +gallop across the great dusky levels, and breakfast was not +finished when those whom they had summoned reached +Fremont ranch.</p> +<p>They were young men for the most part, and Americans, +though there were a few who had only just become +so among them, and two or three whose grim faces and +grey hair told of a long struggle with adversity. They +were clad in blue shirts and jean, and the hard brown +hands of most betokened a close acquaintance with plough +stilt, axe, and bridle, though here and there one had from +his appearance evidently lived delicately. All appeared +quietly resolute, for they knew that the law which had +given them the right to build their homes upon that prairie +as yet left them to bear the risks attached to the doing of +it. Hitherto, the fact that the great ranchers had made +their own laws and enforced them had been ignored or +tacitly accepted by the State.</p> +<p>When they were seated, one of the men deputed to +question the prisoner, stood up. “You can take it that +there’s nothing to be got out of him,” he said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span></p> +<p>“Still,” said another, “we know he is one of Clavering’s +boys.”</p> +<p>There was a little murmur, for of all the cattle-barons +Clavering was the only man who had as yet earned his +adversaries’ individual dislike. They were prepared to +pull down the others because their interests, which they +had little difficulty in fancying coincided with those of +their country, demanded it; but Clavering, with his graceful +insolence, ironical contempt of them, and thinly-veiled +pride, was a type of all their democracy anathematized. +More than one of them had winced under his soft laugh +and lightly spoken jibes, which rankled more than a downright +injury.</p> +<p>“The question is what we’re going to do with him,” +said a third speaker.</p> +<p>Again the low voices murmured, until a man stood up. +“There’s one cure for his complaint, and that’s a sure +one, but I’m not going to urge it now,” he said. “Boys, +we don’t want to be the first to take up the rifle, and it +would make our intentions quite as plain if we dressed +him in a coat of tar and rode him round the town. Nobody +would have any use for him after that, and it would +be a bigger slap in Clavering’s face than anything else we +could do to him.”</p> +<p>Some of the men appeared relieved, for it was evident +they had no great liking for the sterner alternative; and +there was acclamation until Grant rose quietly at the head +of the table.</p> +<p>“I’ve got to move a negative,” he said. “It would be +better if you handed him to the Sheriff.”</p> +<p>There was astonishment in most of the faces, and somebody +said, “The Sheriff! He’d let him go right off. +The cattle-men have got the screw on him.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Larry quietly, “he has done his duty so +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span> +far, and may do it again. I figure we ought to give him +the chance.”</p> +<p>Exclamations of dissent followed, and a man with a +grim, lean face stood up. He spoke tolerable English, but +his accent differed from that of the rest.</p> +<p>“The first man put it straight when he told you there +was only one cure—the one they found out in France a +hundred years ago,” he said. “You don’t quite realize +it yet. You haven’t lived as we did back there across +the sea, and seen your women thrust off the pavement +into the gutter to make room for an officer, or been struck +with the sword-hilt if you resented an insult before your +fellow citizens. Will you take off your hats to the rich +men who are trampling on you, you republicans, and, +while they leave you the right of speech, beg them to respect +your rights and liberties? Do that, and sit still a +little, and they’ll fasten the yoke we’ve groaned under on +your necks.”</p> +<p>“I don’t know that it isn’t eloquent, but it isn’t business,” +said somebody.</p> +<p>The man laughed sardonically. “That’s where you’re +wrong,” he said. “I’m trying to show you that if you +want your liberties you’ve got to fight for them, and your +leader doesn’t seem to know when, by hanging one man, +he can save a hundred from misery. It’s not the man +who laid the kindling you’re striking at, but, through him, +those who employed him. Let them see you’ll take your +rights without leave of them. They’ve sent you warning +that if you stay here they’ll burn your homesteads down, +and they’re waiting your answer. Hang their firebug +where everyone can see him, in the middle of the town.”</p> +<p>It was evident that the men were wavering. They had +come there with the law behind them, but, from their +youth up, some following visions that could never be +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span> +realized, had hated the bureaucrat, and the rest, crippled +by the want of dollars, had fought with frost and drought +and hail. It was also plain that they felt the capture of +the incendiary had given them an opportunity. Then, +when a word would have turned the scale, Grant stood up +at the head of the table, very resolute in face.</p> +<p>“I still move a negative and an amendment, boys,” he +said. “First, though that’s not the most important, because +I’ve a natural shrinking from butchering an unarmed +man. Secondly, it was not the cattle-men who sent +him, but one of them, and just because he meant to draw +you on it would be the blamedest bad policy to humour +him. Would Torrance, or Allonby, or the others, have +done this thing? They’re hard men, but they believe +they’re right, as we do, and they’re Americans. Now for +the third reason: when Clavering meant to burn Muller’s +homestead, he struck at me, guessing that some of you +would stand behind me. He knew your temper, and he’d +have laughed at us as hot-blooded rabble—you know +how he can do it—when he’d put us in the wrong. Well, +this time we’ll give the law a show.”</p> +<p>There was discussion, but Larry sat still, saying nothing +further, with a curious gravity in his face, until a man +stood up again.</p> +<p>“We think you’re right,” he said. “Still, there’s a +question. What are you going to do if they try again?”</p> +<p>“Strike,” said Larry quietly. “I’ll go with you to the +hanging of the next one.”</p> +<p>Nothing more was said, and the men rode away with +relief in their faces, though three of them, girt with rifle +and bandolier, trotted behind the wagon in which the +prisoner sat.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='VII_LARRY_PROVES_INTRACTABLE' id='VII_LARRY_PROVES_INTRACTABLE'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span> +<h2>VII</h2> +<h3>LARRY PROVES INTRACTABLE</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was some little time after her arrival at Cedar Range +when Miss Torrance, who took Flora Schuyler with her, +rode out across the prairie. There were a good many +things she desired to investigate personally, and, though +a somewhat independent young woman, she was glad that +the opportunity of informing Torrance of her intention +was not afforded her, since he had ridden off somewhere +earlier in the day. It also happened that although the +days were growing colder she arrayed herself fastidiously +in a long, light skirt, which she had not worn since she +left Cedar, and which with the white hat that matched it +became her better than the conventional riding attire. +Miss Schuyler naturally noticed this.</p> +<p>“Is it a garden party we are going to?” she asked.</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “We may meet some of our neighbours, +and after staying with you all that while in New +York I don’t want to go back on you. I had the thing +specially made in Chicago for riding in.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler was not quite satisfied, but she made no +further comment, and there was much to occupy her attention. +The bleached plain was bright with sunshine and +rolled back into the distance under an arch of cloudless +blue, while the crisp, clear air stirred her blood like an +elixir. They swept up a rise and down it, the colour +mantling in their faces, over the long hollow, and up a +slope again, until, as the white grass rolled behind her, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span> +Flora Schuyler yielded to the exhilaration of swift motion, +and, flinging off the constraint of the city, rejoiced +in the springy rush of the mettlesome beast beneath her. +Streaming white levels, the blue of the sliding sky, the +kiss of the wind on her hot cheek, and the roar of hoofs, +all reacted upon her until she laughed aloud when she +hurled her half-wild broncho down a slope.</p> +<p>“This is surely the finest country in the world,” she +said.</p> +<p>The words were blown behind her, but Hetty caught +some of them, and, when at last she drew bridle where +a rise ran steep and seamed with badger-holes against the +sky, nodded with a little air of pride.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, and it’s ours. All of it,” she said. “Worth +fighting for, isn’t it?”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler laughed a little, but she shook her head. +“It’s a pity one couldn’t leave that out. You would stay +here with your men folk if there was trouble?”</p> +<p>Hetty looked at her with a little flash in her eyes. +“Why, of course! It’s our country. We made it, and +I’d go around in rags and groom the boys’ horses if it +would help them to whip out the men who want to take +it from us.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler smiled a trifle drily. “The trouble is +that when we fall out, one is apt to find as good Americans +as we are, and sometimes the men we like the most, standing +in with the opposition. It has happened quite often +since the war.”</p> +<p>Hetty shook her bridle impatiently. “Then, of course, +one would not like them any longer,” she said.</p> +<p>Nothing more was said until they crossed the ridge +above them, when Hetty pulled her horse up. Across +the wide levels before her advanced a line of dusty teams, +the sunlight twinkling on the great breaker ploughs they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span> +hauled, while the black loam rolled in softly gleaming +waves behind them. They came on with slow precision, +and in the forefront rolled a great machine that seamed +and rent the prairie into triple furrows.</p> +<p>“What are they doing there? Do they belong to +you?” asked Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>The flush the wind had brought there turned to a deeper +crimson in Hetty’s usually colourless face. “To us!” +she said, and her voice had a thrill of scorn. “They’re +homesteaders. Ride down. I want to see who’s leading +them.”</p> +<p>She led the way with one little gloved hand clenched on +the dainty switch she held; but before she reached the +foremost team the man who pulled it up sprang down +from the driving-seat of the big machine. A tall wire +fence, with a notice attached to it, barred his way. The +other ploughs stopped behind him, somebody brought an +axe, and Hetty set her lips when the glistening blade +whirled high and fell. Thrice it flashed in the sunlight, +swung by sinewy arms, and then, as the fence went down, +a low, half-articulate cry rose from the waiting men. It +was not exultant, but there was in it the suggestion of a +steadfast purpose.</p> +<p>Hetty sat still and looked at them, a little sparkle in her +dark eyes, and a crimson spot in either cheek, while the +laces that hung from her neck across the bodice of the +white dress rose and fell. It occurred to Flora Schuyler +that she had never seen her companion look half so well, +and she waited with strained expectancy for what should +follow, realizing, with the dramatic instinct most women +have, who the man with the axe must be. He turned +slowly, straightening his back and stood for a moment +erect and statuesque, with the blue shirt open at his +bronzed neck and the great axe gleaming in his hand; and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span> +Hetty gasped. Miss Schuyler’s surmise was verified, for +it was Larry Grant.</p> +<p>“Larry,” said her companion, and her voice had a +curious ring, “what are you doing here?”</p> +<p>The man, who appeared to ignore the question, swung +off his wide hat. “Aren’t you and Miss Schuyler rather +far from home?” he asked.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler understood him when, glancing round, +she noticed the figure of a mounted man forced up against +the skyline here and there. Hetty, however, had evidently +not seen them.</p> +<p>“I want an answer, please,” she said.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Larry gravely, “I was cutting down that +fence.”</p> +<p>“Why were you cutting it down?” persisted Miss +Torrance.</p> +<p>“It was in the way.”</p> +<p>“Of what?”</p> +<p>Grant turned and pointed to the men, sturdy toilers +starved out of bleak Dakota and axe-men farmers from +the forests of Michigan. “Of these, and the rest who are +coming by and by,” he said. “Still, I don’t want to go +into that; and you seem angry. You haven’t offered to +shake hands with me, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Miss Torrance sat very still, one hand on the switch, +and another on the bridle, looking at him with a little +scornful smile on her lips. Then she glanced at the +prairie beyond the severed fence.</p> +<p>“That land belongs to my friends,” she said.</p> +<p>Grant’s face grew a trifle wistful, but his voice was +grave. “They have had the use of it, but it belongs to +the United States, and other people have the right to farm +there now. Still, that needn’t make any trouble between +you and me.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span></p> +<p>“No?” said the girl, with a curious hardness in her +inflection; but her face softened suddenly. “Larry, +while you only talked we didn’t mind; but no one fancied +you would have done this. Yes, I’m angry with you. I +have been home ’most a month, and you never rode over +to see me; while now you want to talk politics.”</p> +<p>Grant smiled a trifle wearily. “I would sooner talk +about anything else; and if you ask him, your father will +tell you why I have not been to the range. I don’t want +to make you angry, Hetty.”</p> +<p>“Then you will give up this foolishness and make +friends with us again,” said the girl, very graciously. “It +can’t come to anything, Larry, and you are one of us. +You couldn’t want to take away our land and give it to +this rabble?”</p> +<p>Hetty was wholly bewitching, as even Flora Schuyler, +who fancied she understood the grimness in the man’s +face, felt just then. He, however, looked away across the +prairie, and the movement had its significance to one of +the company, who, having less at stake, was the more observant. +When he turned again, however, he seemed to +stand very straight.</p> +<p>“I’m afraid I can’t,” he said.</p> +<p>“No?” said Hetty, still graciously. “Not even when +I ask you?”</p> +<p>Grant shook his head. “They have my word, and +you wouldn’t like me to go back upon what I feel is +right,” he said.</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “If you will think a little, you can’t +help seeing that you are very wrong.”</p> +<p>Again the little weary smile crept into Grant’s face. +“One naturally thinks a good deal before starting in with +this kind of thing, and I have to go through. I can’t stop +now, even to please you. But can’t we still be friends?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span></p> +<p>For a moment there was astonishment in the girl’s face, +then it flushed, and as her lips hardened and every line in +her slight figure seemed to grow rigid, she reminded Miss +Schuyler of the autocrat of Cedar Range.</p> +<p>“You ask me that?” she said. “You, an American, +turning Dutchmen and these bush-choppers loose upon +the people you belong to. Can’t you see what the answer +must be?”</p> +<p>Grant did apparently, for he mutely bent his head; but +there was a shout just then, and when one of the vedettes +on the skyline suddenly moved forward he seized Miss +Torrance’s bridle and wheeled her horse.</p> +<p>“Ride back to the Range,” he said sharply, “as +straight as you can. Tell your father that you met me. +Let your horse go, Miss Schuyler.”</p> +<p>As he spoke he brought his hand down upon the beast’s +flank and it went forward with a bound. The one Flora +Schuyler rode flung up its head, and in another moment +they were sweeping at a gallop across the prairie. A +mile had been left behind before Hetty could pull her half-broken +horse up; but the struggle that taxed every sinew +had been beneficial, and she laughed a trifle breathlessly.</p> +<p>“I’m afraid I lost my temper; and I’m angry yet,” she +said. “It’s the first time Larry wouldn’t do what I asked +him, and it was mean of him to send us off like that, just +when one wanted to put on all one’s dignity.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler appeared thoughtful. “I fancy he did +it because it was necessary. Didn’t it strike you that you +were hurting him? That is a good man and an honest +one, though, of course, he may be mistaken.”</p> +<p>“He must be,” said Hetty. “Now I used to think +ever so much of Larry, and that is why I got angry with +him. It isn’t nice to feel one has been fooled. How can +he be good when he wants to take our land from us?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span></p> +<p>Flora Schuyler laughed. “You are quite delightful, +Hetty, now and then. You have read a little, and been +taught history. Can’t you remember any?”</p> +<p>“Oh yes,” said Hetty, with a little thoughtful nod. +“Still, the men who made the trouble in those old days +were usually buried before anyone was quite sure whether +they were right or not. Try to put yourself in my place. +What would you do?”</p> +<p>There was a somewhat curious look in Miss Schuyler’s +blue eyes. “I think if I had known a man like that one +as long as you have done, I should believe in him—whatever +he did.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hetty gravely, “if you had, just as long +as you could remember, seen your father and his friends +taking no pleasure, but working every day, and putting +most of every dollar they made back into the ranch, you +would find it quite difficult to believe that the man who +meant to take it from them now they were getting old +and wanted to rest and enjoy what they had worked for +was doing good.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler nodded. “Yes,” she said, “I would. +It’s quite an old trouble. There are two ways of looking +at everything, and other folks have had to worry over +them right back to the beginning.”</p> +<p>Then she suddenly tightened her grasp on the bridle, +for the ringing of a rifle rose, sharp and portentous, from +beyond the rise. The colour faded in her cheek, and +Hetty leaned forward a trifle in her saddle, with lips +slightly parted, as though in strained expectancy. No +sound now reached them from beyond the low, white +ridge that hemmed in their vision but a faint drumming +of hoofs. Then Flora Schuyler answered the question +in her companion’s eyes.</p> +<p>“I think it was only a warning,” she said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span></p> +<p>She wheeled her horse and they rode on slowly, hearing +nothing further, until the Range rose from behind the big +birch bluff. Torrance had returned when they reached it, +and Hetty found him in his office room.</p> +<p>“I met Larry on the prairie, and of course I talked to +him,” she said. “I asked him why he had not been to +the Range, and he seemed to think it would be better if he +did not come.”</p> +<p>Torrance smiled drily. “Then I guess he showed +quite commendable taste as well as good sense. You +are still decided not to go back to New York, Hetty?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the girl, with a little resolute nod. “You +see, I can’t help being young and just a little good-looking, +but I’m Miss Torrance of Cedar all the time.”</p> +<p>Torrance’s face was usually grim, but it grew a trifle +softer then. “Hetty,” he said, “they taught you a good +many things I never heard of at that Boston school, but +I’m not sure you know that all trade and industry is built +upon just this fact: what a man has made and worked +hard for is his own. Would anyone put up houses or +raise cattle if he thought his neighbours could take them +from him? Now there’s going to be trouble over that +question here, and, though it isn’t likely, your father may +be beaten down. He may have to do things that wouldn’t +seem quite nice to a dainty young woman, and folks may +denounce him; but it’s quite plain that if you stay here +you will have to stand in with somebody.”</p> +<p>The girl, who was touched by the unusual tenderness +in his eyes, sat down upon the table, and slipped an arm +about his neck.</p> +<p>“Who would I stand in with but you?” she said. +“We’ll whip the rustlers out of the country, and, whether +it sounds nice at the time or not, you couldn’t do anything +but the square thing.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span></p> +<p>Torrance kissed her gravely, but he sighed and his face +grew stern again when she slipped out of the room.</p> +<p>“There will not be many who will come through this +trouble with hands quite clean,” he said.</p> +<p>It was during the afternoon, and Torrance had driven +off again, when, as the two girls were sitting in the little +room which was set apart for them, a horseman rode up +to the Range, and Flora Schuyler, who was nearest the +window, drew back the curtain.</p> +<p>“That man should sit on horseback always,” she said; +“he’s quite a picture.”</p> +<p>Hetty nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Still, you told me +you didn’t like him. It’s Clavering. Now, I wonder +what he put those things on for—he doesn’t wear them +very often—and whether he knew my father wasn’t +here.”</p> +<p>Clavering would probably have attracted the attention +of most young women just then, for he had dressed himself +in the fashion the prairie stockriders were addicted +to, as he did occasionally, perhaps because he knew it +suited him. He had artistic perceptions, and could adapt +himself harmoniously to his surroundings, and he knew +Hetty’s appreciation of the picturesque. His sallow face +showed clean cut almost to feminine refinement under the +wide hat, and the blue shirt which clung about him displayed +his slender symmetry. It was, however, not made +of flannel, but apparently of silk, and the embroidered +deerskin jacket which showed the squareness of his shoulders, +was not only daintily wrought, but had evidently +cost a good many dollars. His loose trousers and silver +spurs were made in Mexican fashion: but the boldness of +the dark eyes, and the pride that revealed itself in the +very pose of the man, redeemed him from any taint of +vanity. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span></p> +<p>He sat still until a hired man came up, then swung himself +from the saddle, and in another few moments had +entered the room with his wide hat in his hand.</p> +<p>“You find us alone,” said Hetty. “Are you astonished?”</p> +<p>“I am content,” said Clavering. “Why do you ask +me?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hetty naďvely, “I fancied you must have +seen my father on the prairie, and could have stopped him +if you had wanted to.”</p> +<p>There was a little flash in Clavering’s dark eyes that +was very eloquent. “The fact is, I did. Still, I was +afraid he would want to take me along with him.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “I am growing up,” she said. +“Three years ago you wouldn’t have wasted those +speeches on me. Well, you can sit down and talk to +Flora.”</p> +<p>Clavering did as he was bidden. “It’s a time-honoured +question,” he said. “How do you like this country?”</p> +<p>“There’s something in its bigness that gets hold of +one,” said Miss Schuyler. “One feels free out here on +these wide levels in the wind and sun.”</p> +<p>Clavering nodded, and Flora Schuyler fancied from his +alertness that he had been waiting for an opportunity. +“It would be wise to enjoy it while you can,” he said. +“In another year or two the freedom may be gone, and +the prairie shut off in little squares by wire fences. Then +one will be permitted to ride along a trail between rows +of squalid homesteads flanked by piles of old boots and +provision-cans. We will have exchanged the stockrider +for the slouching farmer with a swarm of unkempt children +and a slatternly, scolding wife then.”</p> +<p>“You believe that will come about?” asked Miss +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span> +Schuyler, giving him the lead she felt he was waiting +for.</p> +<p>Clavering looked thoughtful. “It would never come +if we stood loyally together, but—and it is painful to +admit it—one or two of our people seem quite willing to +destroy their friends to gain cheap popularity by truckling +to the rabble. Of course, we could spare those men +quite well, but they know our weak points, and can do +a good deal of harm by betraying them.”</p> +<p>“Now,” said Hetty, with a sparkle in her eyes, “you +know quite well that if some of them are mistaken they +will do nothing mean. Can’t they have their notions and +be straight men?”</p> +<p>“It is quite difficult to believe it,” said Clavering. “I +will tell you what one or two of them did. There was +trouble down at Gordon’s place fifty miles west, and his +cow-boys whipped off a band of Dutchmen who wanted to +pull his fences down. Well, they came back a night or +two later with a mob of Americans, and laid hands on the +homestead. We are proud of the respect we pay women +in this country, Miss Schuyler, but that night Mrs. Gordon’s +and her daughters’ rooms were broken into, and +the girls turned out on the prairie. It was raining, and I +believe they were not even allowed to provide themselves +with suitable clothing. Of course, nothing of that kind +could happen here, or I would not have told you.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s voice was curiously quiet as she asked, “Was +nothing done to provoke them?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Clavering, with a dry smile, “Gordon +shot one of them; but is it astonishing? What would you +expect of an American if a horde of rabble who held +nothing sacred poured into his house at night? Oh, yes, +he shot one of them, and would have given them the magazine, +only that somebody felled him with an axe. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span> +Dutchman was only grazed, but Gordon is lying senseless +still.”</p> +<p>There was an impressive silence, and the man sat still +with the veins on his forehead a trifle swollen and a glow +in his eyes. His story was also accurate, so far as it +went; but he had, with a purpose, not told the whole +of it.</p> +<p>“You are sure there were Americans among them?” +asked Hetty, very quietly.</p> +<p>“They were led by Americans. You know one or two +of them.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty, almost fiercely. “I don’t know. +But Larry wasn’t there?”</p> +<p>Clavering shook his head, but there was a curious incisiveness +in his tone. “Still, we found out that his committee +was consulted and countenanced the affair.”</p> +<p>“Then Larry wasn’t at the meeting,” said Miss Torrance. +“He couldn’t have been.”</p> +<p>Clavering made her a little and very graceful inclination. +“One would respect such faith as yours.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler, who was a young woman of some penetration, +deftly changed the topic, and Clavering came near +to pleasing her, but he did not quite succeed, before he +took his departure. Then Hetty glanced inquiringly at +her companion.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler nodded. “I know just what you mean, +and I was mistaken.”</p> +<p>“Yes?” said Hetty. “Then you like him?”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler shook her head. “No. I fancied he +was clever, and he didn’t come up to my expectations. +You see, he was too obvious.”</p> +<p>“About Larry?”</p> +<p>“Yes. Are you not just a little inconsistent, Hetty?”</p> +<p>Miss Torrance laughed. “I don’t know,” she said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span> +“I am, of course, quite angry with Larry, but nobody else +has a right to abuse him.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler said nothing further, and while she sat +in thoughtful silence Clavering walked down the hall +with Hetty’s maid. He was a well-favoured man, and +the girl was vain. She blushed when he looked down on +her with a trace of admiration in his smile.</p> +<p>“You like the prairie?” he said.</p> +<p>She admitted that she was pleased with what she had +seen of it, and Clavering’s assumed admiration became +bolder.</p> +<p>“Well, it’s a good country, and different from the +East,” he said. “There are a good many more dollars +to be picked up here, and pretty women are quite scarce. +They usually get married right off to a rancher. Now I +guess you came out to better yourself. It takes quite a +long time to get rich down East.”</p> +<p>The girl blushed again, and when she informed him +that she had a crippled sister who was a charge on the +family, Clavering smiled as he drew on a leather glove.</p> +<p>“You’ll find you have struck the right place,” he said. +“Now I wonder if you could fix a pin or something in +this button shank. It’s coming off, you see.”</p> +<p>The girl did it, and when he went out found a bill +lying on the table where he had been standing. The +value of it somewhat astonished her, but after a little +deliberation she put it in her pocket.</p> +<p>“If he doesn’t ask for it when he comes back I’ll know +he meant me to keep it,” she said.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='VIII_THE_SHERIFF' id='VIII_THE_SHERIFF'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span> +<h2>VIII</h2> +<h3>THE SHERIFF</h3> +</div> + +<p>Miss Schuyler had conjectured correctly respecting +the rifle-shot which announced the arrival of a messenger; +a few minutes after the puff of white smoke on +the crest of the rise had drifted away, a mounted man +rode up to Grant at a gallop. His horse was white with +dust and spume, but his spurs were red.</p> +<p>“Railroad district executive sent me on to let you +know the Sheriff had lost your man,” he said.</p> +<p>“Lost him,” said Grant.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the horseman, “put it as it pleases you, +but, as he had him in the jail, it seems quite likely he let +him go.”</p> +<p>There was a growl from the teamsters who had clustered +round, and Grant’s face grew stern. “He was able +to hold the two homesteaders Clavering’s boys brought +him.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” said the other, “he has them tight enough. +You’ll remember one of the cattle-boys and a storekeeper +got hurt during the trouble, and our men are not going to +have much show at the trial Torrance and the Sheriff +are fixing up!”</p> +<p>“Then,” said Grant wearily, “we’ll stop that trial. +You will get a fresh horse in my stable and tell your +executive I’m going to take our men out of jail, and if it +suits them to stand in they can meet us at the trail forks, +Thursday, ten at night.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span></p> +<p>The man nodded. “I’m tolerably played out, but I’ll +start back right now,” he said.</p> +<p>He rode off towards the homestead, and Grant turned +to the rest. “Jake, you’ll take the eastern round; +Charley, you’ll ride west. Give them the handful of oats +at every shanty to show it’s urgent. They’re to be at +Fremont in riding order at nine to-morrow night.”</p> +<p>In another ten minutes the men were riding hard across +the prairie, and Grant, with a sigh, went on with his +ploughing. It would be next year before he could sow, +and whether he would ever reap the crop was more than +any man in that region would have ventured to predict. +He worked however, until the stars were out that night +and commenced again when the red sun crept up above +the prairie rim the next day; but soon after dusk mounted +men rode up one by one to Fremont ranch. They rode +good horses, and each carried a Winchester rifle slung +behind him when they assembled, silent and grim, in the +big living-room.</p> +<p>“Boys,” said Grant quietly, “we have borne a good +deal, and tried to keep the law, but it is plain that the +cattle-men, who bought it up, have left none for us. +Now, the Sheriff, who has the two homesteaders safe, +has let the man we sent him go.”</p> +<p>There was an ominous murmur and Grant went on. +“The homesteaders, who only wanted to buy food and +raised no trouble until they were fired on, will be tried +by the cattle-men, and I needn’t tell you what kind of +chance they’ll get. We pledged ourselves to see they had +fair play when they came in, and there’s only one means +of getting it. We are going to take them from the +Sheriff, but there will be no fighting. We’ll ride in +strong enough to leave no use for that. Now, before we +start, are you all willing to ride with me?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span></p> +<p>Again a hoarse murmur answered him, and Grant, +glancing down the row of set faces under the big lamps, +was satisfied.</p> +<p>“Then we’ll have supper,” he said quietly. “It may +be a long while before any of us gets a meal again.”</p> +<p>It was a silent repast. As yet the homesteaders, at +least in that district, had met contumely with patience +and resisted passively each attempt to dislodge them, +though it had cost their leader a strenuous effort to restrain +the more ardent from the excesses some of their +comrades farther east had already committed; but at last +the most peaceful of them felt that the time to strike in +turn had come. They mounted when supper was over +and rode in silence past willow bluff and dusky rise across +the desolate waste. The badger heard the jingle of their +bridles, and now and then a lonely coyote, startled by the +soft drumming of the hoofs, rose with bristling fur and +howled; but no cow-boy heard their passage, or saw them +wind in and out through devious hollows when daylight +came. Still, here and there an anxious woman stood, +with hazy eyes, in the door of a lonely shanty, wondering +whether the man she had sent out to strike for the home +he had built her would ever ride back again. For they, +too, had their part in the struggle, and it was perhaps the +hardest one.</p> +<p>It was late at night when they rode into the wooden +town. Here and there a window was flung open; but the +night was thick and dark, and there was little to see but +the dust that whirled about the dimly flitting forms. +That, however, was nothing unusual, for of late squadrons +of stockriders and droves of weary cattle had passed +into the town; and a long row of shadowy frame houses +had been left behind before the fears of any citizen were +aroused. It was, perhaps, their silent haste that betrayed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span> +the horsemen, for they rode in ordered ranks without a +word, as men who have grim business in hand, until a +hoarse shout went up. Then a pistol flashed in the darkness +in front of them, doors were flung open, lights began +to blink, and a half-seen horseman came on at a gallop +down the shadowy street. He pulled his horse up within +a pistol-shot from the homesteaders, and sat still in his +saddle staring at them.</p> +<p>“You’ll have to get down, boys, or tell me what you +want,” he said. “You can’t ride through here at night +without a permit.”</p> +<p>There was a little ironical laughter, and somebody +asked, “Who’s going to stop us?”</p> +<p>“The Sheriff’s guard,” said the horseman. “Stop +right where you are until I bring them.”</p> +<p>“Keep clear,” said Grant sternly, “or we’ll ride over +you. Forward, boys!”</p> +<p>There was a jingle of bridles, and the other man +wheeled his horse as the heels went home. Quick as he +was, the foremost riders were almost upon him, and as he +went down the street at a gallop the wooden houses flung +back a roar of hoofs. Every door was open now and the +citizens peering out. Lights flashed in the windows, and +somebody cried, “The rustler boys are coming!”</p> +<p>Other voices took up the cry; hoots of derision mingled +with shouts of greeting, but still, without an answer, the +men from the prairie rode on, Grant peering into the +darkness as he swung in his saddle at the head of them. +He saw one or two mounted men wheel their horses, and +more on foot spring clear of the hoofs, and then the +flash of a rifle beneath the black front of a building. A +flagstaff ran up into the night above it, and there were +shadowy objects upon the verandah. Grant threw up a +hand. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span></p> +<p>“We’re here, boys,” he said.</p> +<p>Then it became evident that every man’s part had been +allotted him, for while the hindmost wheeled their horses, +and then sat still, with rifles across their saddles, barring +the road by which they had come, the foremost pressed +on, until, pulling up, they left a space behind them and +commanded the street in front. The rest dismounted, +and while one man stood at the heads of every pair of +horses, the rest clustered round Grant in the middle of the +open space. The jail rose dark and silent before them, +and for the space of a moment or two there was an impressive +stillness. It was broken by a shout from one +of the rearguard.</p> +<p>“There’s quite a crowd rolling up. Get through as +quick as you can!”</p> +<p>Grant stood forward. “We’ll give you half a minute +to send somebody out to talk to us, and then we’re coming +in,” he said.</p> +<p>The time was almost up before a voice rose from the +building: “Who are you, any way, and what do you +want?”</p> +<p>“Homesteaders,” was the answer. “We want the +Sheriff.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said somebody, “I’ll tell him.”</p> +<p>Except for a growing clamour in the street behind +there was silence until Breckenridge, who stood near +Grant touched him,</p> +<p>“I don’t want to meddle, but aren’t we giving them +an opportunity of securing their prisoners or making +their defences good?” he said.</p> +<p>“That’s sense, any way,” said another man. “It +would be ’way better to go right in now, while +we can.”</p> +<p>Grant shook his head. “You have left this thing to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span> +me, and I want to put it through without losing a man. +Men don’t usually back down when the shooting begins.”</p> +<p>Then a voice rose from the building: “You wanted the +Sheriff. Here he is.”</p> +<p>A shadowy figure appeared at a window, and there +was a murmur from Grant’s men.</p> +<p>“He needn’t be bashful,” said one of them. “Nobody’s +going to hurt him. Can’t you bring a light, so +we can see him?”</p> +<p>A burst of laughter followed, and Grant held up his +hand. “It would be better, Sheriff; and you have my +word that we’ll give you notice before we do anything if +we can’t come to terms.”</p> +<p>It seemed from the delay that the Sheriff was undecided, +but at last a light was brought, and the men below +saw him standing at the window with an anxious face, +and behind him two men with rifles, whose dress proclaimed +them stockriders. He could also see the horsemen +below, as Grant, who waited until the sight had made +its due impression, had intended that he should. There +were a good many of them, and the effect of their silence +and the twinkling of light on their rifles was greater than +that of any uproar would have been.</p> +<p>“Now you can see me, you needn’t keep me waiting,” +said the Sheriff, with an attempt at jauntiness which betrayed +his anxiety. “What do you want?”</p> +<p>“Two of your prisoners,” said Grant.</p> +<p>“I’m sorry you can’t have them,” said the Sheriff. +“Hadn’t you better ride home again before I turn the +boys loose on you?”</p> +<p>But his voice was not quite in keeping with his words, +and it would have been wiser if he had turned his face +aside.</p> +<p>“It’s a little too far to ride back without getting what +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span> +we came for,” said Grant quietly. “Now, we have no +great use for talking. We want two homesteaders, and +we mean to get them; but that will satisfy us.”</p> +<p>“You want nobody else?”</p> +<p>“No. You can keep your criminals, or let them go, +just as it suits you.”</p> +<p>There was a laugh from some of the horsemen, which +was taken up by the crowd and swelled into a storm of +cries. Some expressed approval, others anger, and the +Sheriff stepped backwards.</p> +<p>“Then,” he said hoarsely, “if you want your friends, +you must take them.”</p> +<p>The next moment the window shut with a bang, and +the light died out, leaving the building once more in +darkness.</p> +<p>“Get to work,” said Grant. “Forward, those who +are going to cover the axe-men!”</p> +<p>There was a flash from the verandah, apparently in +protest and without intent to hurt, for the next moment +a few half-seen objects flung themselves over the balustrade +as the men with the axes came up, and others +with rifles took their places a few paces behind them. +Then one of the horsemen shouted a question.</p> +<p>“Let them pass,” said Grant.</p> +<p>The door was solid and braced with iron, but those who +assailed it had swung the axe since they had the strength +to lift it, and in the hands of such men it is a very effective +implement. The door shook and rattled as the great +blades whirled and fell, each one dropping into the notch +the other had made; the men panted as they smote; the +splinters flew in showers.</p> +<p>“Holding out still!” gasped one of them. “There’s +iron here. Get some of the boys to chop that redwood +pillar, and we’ll drive it down.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span></p> +<p>There was an approving murmur, but Grant grasped +the man by the shoulder. “No,” he said. “We haven’t +come to wreck the town. I’ve another plan if you’re +more than two minutes getting in.”</p> +<p>The axes whirled faster, and at last a man turned +breathlessly. “Get ready, boys,” he said. “One more +on the bolt head, Jake, and we’re in!”</p> +<p>A brawny man twice whirled the hissing blade about +his head, and as he swung forward with both hands on +the haft with a dull crash the wedge of tempered steel +clove the softer metal. The great door tilted and went +down, and Breckenridge sprang past the axe-men +through the opening. His voice came back exultantly +out of the shadowy building. “It was the old country +sent you the first man in!”</p> +<p>The men’s answer was a shout as they followed him, +with a great trampling down the corridor, but the rest +of the building was very silent, and nobody disputed their +passage until at last a man with grey hair appeared with +a lantern behind an iron grille.</p> +<p>“Open that thing,” said somebody.</p> +<p>The man smiled drily. “I couldn’t do it if I wanted +to. I’ve given my keys away.”</p> +<p>One or two of the homesteaders glanced a trifle anxiously +behind them. The corridor was filling up, and it +dawned upon them that if anything barred their egress +they would be helpless.</p> +<p>“Then what are you stopping for?” asked somebody.</p> +<p>“It’s in my contract,” said the jailer quietly. “I was +raised in Kentucky. You don’t figure I’m scared of +you?”</p> +<p>“No use for talking,” said a man. “You can’t argue +with him. Go ahead with your axes and beat the blamed +thing in.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span></p> +<p>It cost them twenty minutes’ strenuous toil; but the +grille went down, and two of the foremost seized the +jailer.</p> +<p>“Let him go,” said Grant quietly. “Now, we can’t +fool time away with you. Where’s the Sheriff?”</p> +<p>“I don’t quite know,” said the jailer, and the contempt +in his voice answered the question.</p> +<p>Grant laughed a little. “Well,” he said, “I guess he’s +sensible. Now, what you have got to do is to bring out +the two homesteaders as quick as you can.”</p> +<p>“I told you I couldn’t do it,” said the other man.</p> +<p>“You listen to me. We are going to take those men +out, if we have to pull this place to pieces until we find +them. That, it’s quite plain, would let the others go, +and you would lose the whole of your prisoners instead of +two of them. Tell us where you put them, and you can +keep the rest.”</p> +<p>“That’s square?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” said Grant. “There are quite enough men +of their kind loose in this country already.”</p> +<p>“Straight on,” said the jailer. “First door.”</p> +<p>They went on in silence, but there was a shout when +somebody answered their questions from behind a door, +which a few minutes later tottered and fell beneath the +axes. Then, amidst acclamation, they led two men out, +and showed them to the jailer.</p> +<p>“You know them?” said Grant. “Well, you can tell +your Sheriff there wasn’t a cartridge in the rifles of the +men who opened his jail. He’ll come back when the +trouble’s over, but it seems to me the cattle-men have +wasted a pile of dollars over him.”</p> +<p>He laughed when a question met them as they once +more trampled into the verandah.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said. “The boys are bringing them!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span></p> +<p>Two horses were led forward, and the released men +swung themselves into the saddle. There was a hasty +mounting, and when the men swung into open fours a +shout went up from the surging crowd.</p> +<p>“They have taken the homesteaders out. The Sheriff +has backed down.”</p> +<p>A roar followed that expressed approbation and disgust; +it was evident that the sympathies of the citizens +were divided. In the momentary silence Grant’s voice +rang out:</p> +<p>“Sling rifles! Keep your order and distance! Forward, +boys!”</p> +<p>Again a hoarse cry went up, but there was only applause +in it now, for the crowd recognized the boldness +of the command and opened out, pressing back against the +houses as the little band rode forward. Their silence +was impressive, but the leader knew his countrymen, +for, while taunts and display would have courted an onset, +nobody seemed anxious to obstruct the men who sat +unconcernedly in their saddles, with the rifles which alone +warranted their daring disdainfully slung behind them.</p> +<p>On they went past clusters of wondering citizens, +shouting sympathizers, and silent cattle-men, until there +was a hoot of derision, and, perhaps in the hope of provoking +a conflict in which the rest would join, a knot of +men pushed out into the street from the verandah of the +wooden hotel. Grant realized that a rash blow might +unloose a storm of passion and rouse to fury men who +were already regretting their supineness.</p> +<p>“Keep your pace and distance!” he commanded.</p> +<p>Looking straight in front of them, shadowy and silent, +the leading four rode on, and once more the crowd melted +from in front of them. As the last of the band passed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span> +through the opening that was made for them a man +laughed as he turned in his saddle.</p> +<p>“We can’t stay any longer, boys, but it wasn’t your +fault. It’s a man you want for Sheriff,” he said.</p> +<p>“No talking there! Gallop!” said Grant, and the +horsemen flitted across the railroad track, and with a +sinking thud of hoofs melted into the prairie. They had +accomplished their purpose, and the cattle-men, going +back disgustedly to remonstrate with the Sheriff, for a +while failed to find him.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='IX_THE_PRISONER' id='IX_THE_PRISONER'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span> +<h2>IX</h2> +<h3>THE PRISONER</h3> +</div> + +<p>The prairie was shining white in the moonlight with +the first frost when Torrance, Hetty, and Miss Schuyler +drove up to Allonby’s ranch. They were late in arriving +and found a company of neighbours already assembled in +the big general room. It was panelled with cedar from +the Pacific slope, and about the doors and windows were +rich hangings of tapestry, but the dust was thick upon +them and their beauty had been wasted by the moth. +Tarnished silver candlesticks and lamps which might +have come from England a century ago, and a scarred +piano littered with tattered music, were in keeping with +the tapestry; for signs of taste were balanced by those of +neglect, while here and there a roughly patched piece +of furniture conveyed a plainer hint that dollars were +scanty with Allonby. He was from the South, a spare, +grey-haired man, with a stamp of old-fashioned dignity, +and in his face a sadness not far removed from apathy +and which, perhaps, accounted for the condition of his +property.</p> +<p>His guests, among whom were a number of young +men and women, were, however, apparently light-hearted, +and had whiled away an hour or two with song +and badinage. A little removed from them, in a corner +with the great dusty curtain of a window behind her, sat +Hetty Torrance with Allonby’s nephew and daughter. +Miss Allonby was pale and slight and silent; but her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span> +cousin united the vivacity of the Northerner with the distinction +that is still common in the South, and—for he +was very young—Hetty found a mischievous pleasure in +noticing his almost too open admiration for Flora Schuyler, +who sat close beside them. A girl was singing indifferently, +and when she stopped, Miss Allonby raised +her head as a rhythmical sound became audible through +the closing chords of the piano.</p> +<p>“Somebody riding here in a hurry!” she said.</p> +<p>It was significant that the hum of voices which followed +the music ceased as the drumming of hoofs grew +louder; the women looked anxious and the men glanced +at one another. Tidings brought in haste were usually +of moment then. Torrance, however, stood up and +smiled at the assembly.</p> +<p>“I guess some of those rascally rustlers have been +driving off a steer again,” he said. “Can’t you sing us +something, Clavering?”</p> +<p>Clavering understood him, and it was a rollicking +ballad he trolled out with verve and spirit; but still, +though none of the guests now showed it openly, the +anxious suspense did not abate, and by and by Miss Allonby +smiled at the lad beside her somewhat drily.</p> +<p>“Never mind the story, Chris. I guess we know the +rest. That man is riding hard, and you are as anxious +as any of us,” she said.</p> +<p>A minute or two later there was a murmur of voices +below, and Allonby went out. Nobody appeared to +notice this, but the hum of somewhat meaningless talk +which followed and the strained look in one or two of +the women’s faces had its meaning. Every eye was +turned towards the doorway until Allonby came back +and spoke with Torrance apart. Then he smiled reassuringly +upon his guests. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span></p> +<p>“You will be pleased to hear that some of our comrades +have laid hands upon one of the leaders in the +attack upon the jail,” he said. “They want to lodge him +here until they can send for the Sheriff’s <i>posse</i>, and of +course I could only agree. Though the State seems bent +on treating us somewhat meanly, we are, I believe, still +loyal citizens, and I feel quite sure you will overlook any +trifling inconvenience the arrival of the prisoner may +cause you.”</p> +<p>“Doesn’t he put it just a little curiously?” suggested +Flora Schuyler.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Christopher Allonby, “it really isn’t nice +to have one of our few pleasant evenings spoiled by this +kind of thing.”</p> +<p>“You don’t understand. I am quite pleased with your +uncle, but there’s something that amuses me in the idea +of jailing one’s adversary from patriotic duty.”</p> +<p>Christopher Allonby smiled. “There’s a good deal +of human nature in most of us, and it’s about time we got +even with one or two of them.”</p> +<p>“Find out about it, Chris,” said Miss Allonby; “then +come straight back and tell us.”</p> +<p>The young man approached a group of his elders who +were talking together, and returned by and by.</p> +<p>“It was done quite smartly,” he said. “One of the +homestead boys who had fallen out with Larry came over +to us, and I fancy it was Clavering fixed the thing up with +him. The boys didn’t know he had deserted them, and +the man he took the oats to believed in him.”</p> +<p>“I can’t remember you telling a tale so one could understand +it, Chris,” said Miss Allonby. “Why did he +take the oats to him?”</p> +<p>The lad laughed. “They have their committees and +executives, and when a man has to do anything they send +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span> +a few grains of oats to him. One can’t see much use in +it, and we know ’most everything about them; but it +makes the thing kind of impressive, and the rustler fancied +our boy was square when he got them. He was to +ride over alone and meet somebody from one of the other +executives at night in a bluff. He went, and found a +band of cattle-boys waiting for him. I believe he hadn’t +a show at all, for the man who went up to talk to him +grabbed his rifle, but it seems he managed to damage one +or two of them.”</p> +<p>“You don’t know who he is?” asked Miss Allonby; +and Flora Schuyler noticed a sudden intentness in Hetty’s +eyes.</p> +<p>“No,” said the lad, “but the boys will be here with +him by and by, and I’m glad they made quite sure of him, +any way.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s eyes sparkled. “You can’t be proud of them! +It wasn’t very American.”</p> +<p>“Well, we can’t afford to be too particular, considering +what we have at stake; though it might have sounded +nicer if they had managed it differently. You don’t +sympathize with the homestead boys, Miss Torrance?”</p> +<p>“Of course not!” said Hetty, with a little impatient +gesture. “Still, that kind of meanness does not appeal +to me. Even the men we don’t like would despise it. +They rode into the town without a cartridge in their +rifles, and took out their friends in spite of the Sheriff, +while the crowd looked on.”</p> +<p>“It was Larry Grant fixed that, and ’tisn’t every day +you can find a man like him. It ’most made me sick +when I heard he had gone over to the rabble.”</p> +<p>“You were a friend of his?” asked Flora Schuyler.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes;” and a little shadow crept into Allonby’s +face. “But, that’s over now. When a man goes back +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span> +on his own folks there’s only one way of treating him, +and it’s not going to be nice for Larry if we can catch +him. We’re in too tight a place to show the man who +can hurt us most much consideration.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned her head a moment, and then changed +the subject, but not before Flora Schuyler noticed the +little flush in her cheek. The music, laughter, and gay +talk began again, and if anyone remembered that while +they chased their cares away grim men who desired their +downfall toiled and planned, no sign of the fact was +visible.</p> +<p>Twenty minutes passed, and then the thud of hoofs +once more rose from the prairie. It swelled into a drumming +that jarred harsh and portentous through the music, +and Hetty’s attention to the observations of her companions +became visibly less marked. One by one the +voices also seemed to sink, and it was evidently a relief +to the listeners when a girl rose and closed the piano. +Somebody made an effort to secure attention to a witty +story, and there was general laughter, but it also ceased, +and an impressive silence followed. Out of it came the +jingle of bridles and trampling of hoofs, as the men +outside pulled up, followed by voices in the hall, and +once more Allonby went out.</p> +<p>“They’re right under this window,” said his nephew. +“Slip quietly behind the curtains, and I think you can +see them.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler drew the tapestry back, the rest followed +her and Christopher Allonby flung it behind them, +so that it shut out the light. In a moment or two their +eyes had become accustomed to the change, and they +saw a little group of mounted men close beneath. Two +of them dismounted, and appeared to be speaking to +some one at the door, but the rest sat with their rifles +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span> +across their saddles and a prisoner in front of them. +His hat was crushed and battered, his jacket rent, and +Flora Schuyler fancied there was a red trickle down his +cheek; but his face was turned partly away from the +window, and he sat very still, apparently with his arms +bound loosely at the wrists.</p> +<p>“All these to make sure of one man, and they have +tied his hands!” she said.</p> +<p>Hetty noticed the ring in her companion’s voice, and +Allonby made a little deprecatory gesture.</p> +<p>“It’s quite evident they had too much trouble getting +him to take any chances of losing him,” he said. “I +wish the fellow would turn his head. I fancy I should +know him.”</p> +<p>A tremor ran through Hetty for she also felt she +recognized that tattered figure. Then one of the horsemen +seized the captive’s bridle, and the man made a slight +indignant gesture as the jerk flung off his hands. Flora +Schuyler closed her fingers tight.</p> +<p>“If I were a man I should go down and talk quite +straight to them,” she said.</p> +<p>The prisoner was sitting stiffly now, but he swayed in +the saddle when one of the cattle-men struck his horse +and it plunged. He turned his head as he did so, and the +moonlight shone into his face. It was very white, and +there was a red smear on his forehead. Hetty gasped, +and Flora Schuyler felt her fingers close almost cruelly +upon her arm.</p> +<p>“It’s Larry!” she said.</p> +<p>Christopher Allonby nodded. “Yes, we have him at +last,” he said. “Of course, one feels sorry; but he +brought it on himself. They’re going to put him into +the stable.”</p> +<p>The men rode forward, and when they passed out of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span> +sight Hetty slipped back from behind the curtain, and, +sat down, shivering as she looked up at Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>“I can’t help it, Flo. If one could only make them let +him go!”</p> +<p>“You need not let any of them see it,” said Miss +Schuyler, sharply. “Sit quite still here and talk to me. +Now, what right had those men to arrest him?”</p> +<p>The warning was sufficient. Hetty shook out her +dress and laughed, though her voice was not steady.</p> +<p>“It’s quite simple,” she said. “The Sheriff can call +out any citizen to help him or send any man off after a +criminal in an emergency. Of course, being a responsible +man he stands in with us, and in times like these the +arrangement suits everybody. We do what seems the +right thing, and the Sheriff is quite pleased when we tell +him.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler smiled drily. “Yes. It’s delightfully +simple. Still, wouldn’t it make the thing more square +if the other men had a good-natured Sheriff, too?”</p> +<p>“Now you are laughing at me. The difference is that +we are in the right.”</p> +<p>“And Larry, of course, must be quite wrong!”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty, “he is mistaken. Flo, you have +got to help me—I’m going to do something for him. +Try to be nice to Chris Allonby. They’ll send him to +take care of Larry.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler looked steadily at her companion. +“You tried to make me believe you didn’t care for the +man.”</p> +<p>A flush stole into Hetty’s cheek, and a sparkle to her +eyes. “Can’t you do a nice thing without asking questions? +Larry was very good to me for years, and—I’m +sorry for him. Any way, it’s so easy. Chris is young, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span> +and you could fool any man with those big blue eyes if +he let you look at him.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler made a half-impatient gesture, and +then, sweeping her dress aside, made room for Christopher +Allonby. She also succeeded so well with him that +when the guests had departed and the girls came out into +the corral where he was pacing up and down, he flung his +cigar away and forsook his duty to join them. It was a +long ride to Cedar Range, and Torrance had decided to +stay with Allonby until morning.</p> +<p>“It was very hot inside—they would put so much +wood in the stove,” said Hetty. “Besides, Flo’s fond of +the moonlight.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Allonby, “it’s quite nice out here, and I +guess Miss Schuyler ought to like the moonlight. It’s +kind to her.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler laughed as they walked past the end +of the great wooden stable together. “If you look at it +in one sense, that wasn’t pretty. You are guarding the +prisoner?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the lad, with evident diffidence. “The +boys who brought him here had ’bout enough of him, +and they’re resting, while ours are out on the range. I’m +here for two hours any way. It’s not quite pleasant to +remember I’m watching Larry.”</p> +<p>“Of course!” and Miss Schuyler nodded sympathetically. +“Now, couldn’t you just let us talk to him? The +boys have cut his forehead, and Hetty wanted to bring +him some balsam. I believe he used to be kind to her.”</p> +<p>Allonby looked doubtful, but Miss Schuyler glanced at +him appealingly—and she knew how to use her eyes—while +Hetty said:</p> +<p>“Now, don’t be foolish, Chris. Of course, we had +just to ask your uncle, but he would have wanted to come +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span> +with us and would have asked so many questions, while +we knew you would tell nobody anything. You know I +can’t help being sorry for Larry, and he has done quite +a few nice things for you, too.”</p> +<p>“Miss Schuyler is going with you?”</p> +<p>“Of course,” and Hetty smiled mischievously as she +glanced at her companion. “Still, you needn’t be +jealous, Chris. I’ll take the best care she doesn’t make +love to him.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler looked away across the prairie, which +was not quite what one would have expected from a +young woman of her capacities; but the laughing answer +served to banish the lad’s suspicions, and he walked with +them towards the door. Then he stopped, and when he +drew a key from an inner pocket Hetty saw something +twinkle in the moonlight at his belt.</p> +<p>“Chris,” she said, “stand still for a minute and shut +your eyes quite tight.”</p> +<p>The lad did as he was bidden, for a few years ago he +had been the complaisant victim of Hetty’s pleasantries, +and felt a light touch on his lips. Then, there was a +pluck at his belt, and Hetty was several yards away when +he made a step forward with his eyes wide open. She +was laughing at him, but there was a pistol in her +hand.</p> +<p>“It was only my fingers, Chris, and Flo wasn’t the +least nearer than she is now,” she said. “If you dared +to think anything else, you would make me too angry. +We’ll bring this thing back to you in five minutes, but +you wouldn’t have us go in there quite defenceless. Now +you walk across the corral, and wait until we tell +you.”</p> +<p>Allonby was very young, and somewhat susceptible. +Hetty was also very pretty, and, he fancied, Miss Schuyler +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span> +even prettier still; but he had a few misgivings, and +when they went in closed the lower half of the door and +set his back to it.</p> +<p>“No,” he said decisively, “I’m staying right here.”</p> +<p>The girls made no demur, but when they had crossed +a portion of the long building Miss Schuyler touched her +companion. “I’ll wait where I am,” she said drily, “you +will not want me.”</p> +<p>Hetty went on until she came to where the light of a +lantern shone faintly in a stall. A man sat there with +his hands still bound and a wide red smear upon his forehead. +His face flushed suddenly as he glanced at her, +but he said nothing.</p> +<p>“I’m ever so sorry, Larry,” said the girl.</p> +<p>The man smiled, though it was evident to Hetty, whose +heart beat fast, that it was only by an effort he retained +his self-control.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “it can’t be helped, and it was my +fault. Still, I never suspected that kind of thing.”</p> +<p>Hetty coloured. “Larry, you mustn’t be bitter—but +it was horribly mean. I couldn’t help coming—I was +afraid you would fancy I was proud of them.”</p> +<p>“No,” he said, sternly. “I couldn’t have fancied that. +There was nothing else?”</p> +<p>“Your head. It is horribly cut. We saw you from +the window, and I fancied I could tie it up for you. You +wouldn’t mind if I tried, Larry? I have some balsam +here, and I only want a little water.”</p> +<p>For a moment Grant’s face was very expressive, but +once more he seemed to put a check upon himself, and +his voice was almost too even as he pointed to the pitcher +beside him. “There is some ready. Your friends don’t +treat their prisoners very well.”</p> +<p>The girl winced a little, but dipping her handkerchief +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span> +in the pitcher she laved his forehead, and then would have +laid the dressing on it; but he caught her hand.</p> +<p>“No,” he said, “take mine instead.”</p> +<p>“You needn’t be quite too horrid, Larry,” and there +was a quiver in her voice. “It wouldn’t hurt you very +much to take a little thing like that from me.”</p> +<p>Grant smiled very gravely. “I think you had better +take mine. If they found a lady’s handkerchief round +my head, Allonby’s folks would wonder how it got +there.”</p> +<p>Hetty did as he suggested, and felt a curious chagrin +when he failed to look at her. “I used to wonder, Larry, +how you were able to think of everything,” she said. +“Now I have brought you something else; but you must +promise not to hurt anybody belonging to Allonby +with it.”</p> +<p>Grant laughed softly, partly to hide his astonishment, +when he saw a pistol laid beside him.</p> +<p>“I haven’t grown bloodthirsty, Hetty,” he said. +“Where did you get it?”</p> +<p>“It was Chris Allonby’s. Flo and I fooled him and +took it away. It was so delightfully easy. But you will +keep it?”</p> +<p>He shook his head. “Just try to think, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s cheeks flushed. “You are horribly unkind. +Can’t you take anything from me? Still—you—have +got to think now. If I let you go, you will promise not +to make any more trouble for my father and Allonby, or +anybody?”</p> +<p>Grant only looked at her with an odd little smile, but +the crimson grew deeper in Hetty’s cheek. “Oh, of +course you couldn’t. I was sorry the last time I asked +you,” she said. “Larry, you make me feel horribly +mean; but you would not do anything that would hurt +them, unless it was quite necessary?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span></p> +<p>“No,” said the man drily, “I don’t think I’m going +to have an opportunity.”</p> +<p>“You are. I came to let you go. It will be quite easy. +Chris is quite foolish about Flo.”</p> +<p>Grant shook his head. “Doesn’t it strike you that it +would be very rough on Chris?”</p> +<p>Hetty would not look at him, and her voice was very +low. “If anyone must be hurt, I would sooner it was +Chris than you.”</p> +<p>He did not answer for a moment, and the girl, watching +him in sidelong fashion, saw the grim restraint in +his face, which grew almost grey in patches.</p> +<p>“It is no use, Hetty,” he said very quietly. “Chris +would tell them nothing. There is no meanness in his +father or him; but that wouldn’t stop him thinking. +Now, you will know I was right to-morrow. Take him +back his pistol.”</p> +<p>“Larry,” said the girl, with a little quiver in her +voice, “you are right again—I don’t quite know why you +were friends with me.”</p> +<p>Grant smiled at her. “I haven’t yet seen the man +who was fit to brush the dust off your little shoes; but +you don’t look at these things quite as we do. Now +Chris will be getting impatient. You must go.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned away from him, and while the man felt +his heart throbbing painfully and wondered whether his +resolution would support him much longer, stood very +still with one hand clenched. Then she moved back +towards him swiftly, with a little smile.</p> +<p>“There is a window above the beams, where they pitch +the grain-bags through,” she said. “Chris will go away +in an hour or so, and the other man will only watch the +door. There are horses in the corral behind the barn, +and I’ve seen you ride the wickedest broncho without a +saddle.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span></p> +<p>She whisked away before the man, who felt a little, +almost caressing, touch upon his arm; and heard something +drop close beside him with a rattle, could answer, +and in less than a minute later smiling at Chris Allonby +gave him back his pistol.</p> +<p>“Do you know I was ’most afraid you were going to +make trouble for me?” he said.</p> +<p>“But if I had you wouldn’t have told.”</p> +<p>The lad coloured. “You have known me quite a +long time, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed, but there was a thrill in her voice as +she turned to Miss Schuyler. “Now,” she said, “you +know the kind of men we raise on the prairie.”</p> +<p>As they moved away together, Flora Schuyler cast a +steady, scrutinizing glance at her companion. “I could +have told you, Hetty,” she said.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty, with a little nod. “He wouldn’t +go, and I feel so mean that I’m not fit to talk to you or +anybody. But wait. You’ll hear something before to-morrow.”</p> +<p>It was not quite daylight when Miss Schuyler was +awakened by a murmur of voices and a tramp of feet on +the frozen sod. Almost at the same moment the door of +her room opened, and a slim, white figure glided towards +the window. Flora Schuyler stood beside it in another +second or two, and felt that the girl whose arm she +touched was trembling. The voices below grew louder, +and they could see two men come running from the +stable, while one or two others were flinging saddles upon +the horses brought out in haste.</p> +<p>“He must have got away an hour ago,” said somebody. +“The best horse Allonby had in the corral isn’t +there now.”</p> +<p>Then Hetty sat down laughing excitedly, and let her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span> +head fall back on Flora Schuyler’s shoulder when she felt +the warm girdling of her arm. In another moment she +was crying and gasping painfully.</p> +<p>“He has got away. The best horse in the corral! +Ten times as many of them couldn’t bring him back,” +she said.</p> +<p>“Hetty,” said Miss Schuyler decisively, “you are +shivering all through. Go back at once. He is all right +now.”</p> +<p>The girl gasped again, and clung closer to her companion. +“Of course,” she said. “You don’t know +Larry. If they had all the Cedar boys, too, he would +ride straight through them.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='X_ON_THE_TRAIL' id='X_ON_THE_TRAIL'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span> +<h2>X</h2> +<h3>ON THE TRAIL</h3> +</div> + +<p>Grant and Breckenridge sat together over their evening +meal. Outside the frost was almost arctic, but +there was wood in plenty round Fremont ranch, and the +great stove diffused a stuffy heat. The two men had +made the round of the small homesteads that were springing +up, with difficulty, for the snow was too loose and +powdery to bear a sleigh, and now they were content +to lounge in the tranquil enjoyment of the rest and +warmth that followed exposure to the stinging frost.</p> +<p>At last Breckenridge pushed his plate aside, and took +out his pipe.</p> +<p>“You must have put a good many dollars into your +ploughing, Larry, and the few I had have gone in the +same way,” he said. “You see, it’s a long while until +harvest comes round, and a good many unexpected things +seem to happen in this country. To be quite straight, is +there much probability of our getting any of those dollars +back?”</p> +<p>Grant smiled. “I think there is, though I can’t be +sure. The legislature must do something for us sooner +or later, while the fact that the cattle-men and the Sheriff +have left us alone of late shows that they don’t feel too +secure. Still, there may be trouble. A good many hard +cases have been coming in.”</p> +<p>“The cattle-men would get them. It’s dollars they’re +wanting, and the other men have a good many more than +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span> +we have. By the way, shouldn’t the man with the money +you are waiting for turn up to-night?”</p> +<p>Grant nodded. A number of almost indigent men—small +farmers ruined by frost in Dakota, and axe-men +from Michigan with growing families—had settled on +the land in his neighbourhood, and as every hand and +voice might be wanted, levies had been made on the richer +homesteaders, and subscribed to here and there in the +cities, for the purpose of enabling them to continue the +struggle.</p> +<p>“We want the dollars badly,” he said. “The cattle-men +have cut off our credit at the railroad stores, and +there are two or three of the Englishmen who have very +little left to eat at the hollow. You have seen what we +have sent out from Fremont, and Muller has been feeding +quite a few of the Dutchmen.”</p> +<p>He stopped abruptly, and Breckenridge drew back his +chair. “Hallo!” he said. “You heard it, Larry?”</p> +<p>Grant had heard the windows jar, and a sound that resembled +a faint tap. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I may +have been mistaken, but it was quite like a rifle shot.”</p> +<p>They were at the door in another moment, shivering as +the bitter cold met them in the face; but there was now +no sound from the prairie, which rolled away before them +white and silent under the moonlight. Then, Breckenridge +flung the door to, and crossed over to the rack +where a Marlin rifle and two Winchesters hung. He +pressed back the magazine slide of one of them, and +smiled somewhat grimly at Grant.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “we can only hope you’re wrong. +Where did you put the book I was reading?”</p> +<p>Grant, who told him, took out some accounts, and they +lounged in big hide chairs beside the stove for at least +half an hour, though it was significant that every now and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span> +then one of them would turn his head as though listening, +and become suddenly intent upon his task again +when he fancied his companion noticed him. At last +Breckenridge laughed.</p> +<p>“It’s all right, Larry. There—is—somebody coming. +It will be the man with dollars, and I don’t mind +admitting that I’ll be glad to see him.”</p> +<p>Five minutes later the door opened and Muller came +in. He looked round him inquiringly.</p> +<p>“Quilter is not come? I his horse in der stable have +not seen,” he said.</p> +<p>“No,” said Grant sharply. “He would pass your +place.”</p> +<p>Muller nodded. “He come in und der supper take. +Why is he not here? I, who ride by der hollow, one +hour after him start make.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge glanced at Grant, and both sat silent for +a second or two. Then the former said, “I’m half +afraid we’ll have to do without those dollars, Mr. Muller. +Shall I go round and roll the boys up, Larry?”</p> +<p>Grant only nodded, and, while Breckenridge, dragging +on his fur coat, made for the stable, took down two of +the rifles and handed one to Muller.</p> +<p>“So!” said the Teuton quietly. “We der trail pick +up?”</p> +<p>In less than five minutes the two were riding across the +prairie towards Muller’s homestead at the fastest pace +attainable in the loose, dusty snow, while Breckenridge +rode from shanty to shanty to call out the men of the +little community which had grown up not far away. It +was some time later when he and those who followed +him came up with his comrade and Muller. The moon +still hung in the western sky and showed the blue-grey +smear where horse-hoofs had scattered the snow. It +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span> +led straight towards a birch bluff across the whitened +prairie, and Breckenridge stooped in his saddle and +looked at it.</p> +<p>“Larry,” he said sharply, “there were two of them.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Grant. “Only one left Muller’s.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge asked nothing further, but it was not the +first time that night he felt a shiver run through him. +He fell behind, but he heard one of the rest answer a +question Grant put to him.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said. “The last man was riding a good +deal harder than the other fellow.”</p> +<p>Then there was silence, save for the soft trampling of +hoofs, and Breckenridge fancied the others were gazing +expectantly towards the shadowy blurr of the bluff, which +rose a trifle clearer now against the skyline. He felt, +with instinctive shrinking, that their search would be rewarded +there in the blackness beneath the trees. The +pace grew faster. Men glanced at their neighbours now +and then as well as ahead, and Breckenridge felt the +silence grow oppressive as the bluff rose higher. The +snow dulled the beat of hoofs, and the flitting figures that +rode with him passed on almost as noiselessly as the long +black shadows that followed them. His heart beat faster +than usual when, as they reached the birches, Grant +raised his hand.</p> +<p>“Ride wide and behind me,” he said. “We’re going +to find one of them inside of five minutes.”</p> +<p>There was an occasional crackle as a rotten twig or +branch snapped beneath the hoofs. Slender trees slid +athwart the moonlight, closed on one another, and opened +out, and still, though the snow was scanty and in places +swept away, Grant and a big Michigan bushman rode +straight on. Breckenridge, who was young, felt the tension +grow almost unendurable. At last, when even the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span> +horses seemed to feel their masters’ uneasiness, the leader +pulled up, and with a floundering of hoofs and jingle of +bridles the line of shadowy figures came to a standstill.</p> +<p>“Get down, boys, and light the lantern. Quilter’s +here,” he said.</p> +<p>Breckenridge dismounting, looped his bridle round a +bough, and by and by stood peering over the shoulders of +the clustering men in front of him. The moonlight +shone in between the birches, and something dusky and +rigid lay athwart it in the snow. One man was lighting +a lantern, and though his hands were mittened he seemed +singularly clumsy. At last, however, a pale light blinked +out, and under it Breckenridge saw a white face and +shadowy head, from which the fur cap had fallen.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said somebody, with a suspicion of hoarseness, +“that’s Quilter. It’s not going to be much use; but you +had better go through his pockets, Larry!”</p> +<p>Grant knelt down, and his face also showed colourless +in the lantern light as, with the help of another man, he +gently moved the rigid form. Then, opening the big fur-coat +he laid his hand on a brown smear on the deerskin +jacket under it.</p> +<p>“One shot,” he said. “Couldn’t have been more than +two or three yards off.”</p> +<p>“Get through,” said the bushman grimly. “The man +who did it can’t have more than an hour’s start of us, +any way, and from the trail he left his horse is played +out.”</p> +<p>In a minute or two Grant stood up with a little shiver. +“You have got to bring out a sledge for him somehow, +Muller,” he said. “Boys, the man who shot him has +left nothing, and the instructions from our other executives +would be worth more to the cattle-men than a good +many dollars.”</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a> +<img src='images/cbd-114.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 370px; height: 556px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 370px;'> +A WHITE FACE AND SHADOWY HEAD, FROM WHICH THE FUR CAP HAD FALLEN.—<i>Page 114.</i><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span></div> +<p>“Well,” said the big bushman, “we’re going to get +that man if we have to pull down Cedar Range or Clavering’s +place before we do it. Here’s his trail. That one +was made by Quilter’s horse.”</p> +<p>It scarcely seemed appropriate, and the whole scene +was singularly undramatic, and in a curious fashion almost +unimpressive; but Breckenridge, who came of a +reticent stock, understood. Unlike the Americans of the +cities, these men were not addicted to improving the +occasion, and only a slight hardening of their grim faces +suggested what they felt. They were almost as immobile +in the faint moonlight as that frozen one with the +lantern flickering beside it in the snow. Yet Breckenridge +long afterwards remembered them.</p> +<p>Two men went back with Muller and the rest swung +themselves into the saddle, and reckless of the risk to +beast and man brushed through the bluff. Dry twigs +crackled beneath them, rotten bough and withered bush +went down, and a murmur went up when they rode out +into the snow again. It sounded more ominous to +Breckenridge than any clamorous shout. Then, bridles +were shaken and heels went home as somebody found the +trail, and the line tailed out farther and farther as blood +and weight began to tell. The men were riding so +fiercely now, that a squadron of United States cavalry +would scarcely have turned them from the trail. Breckenridge +laughed harshly as he and Grant floundered +down into a hollow, stirrup by stirrup and neck to +neck.</p> +<p>“I should be very sorry for any of the cattle-boys we +came upon to-night,” he said.</p> +<p>Grant only nodded, and just then a shout went up from +the head of the straggling line, and a man waved his +hand. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span></p> +<p>“Heading for the river!” he said. “We’ll find him +in the timber. He can’t cross the ice.”</p> +<p>The line divided, and Grant and Breckenridge rode on +with the smaller portion, while the rest swung wide to +the right. In front of them the Cedar flowed through its +birch-lined gully as yet but lightly bound with ice, and +Breckenridge guessed that the men who had left them +purposed cutting off the fugitive from the bridge. It +was long before the first dim birches rose up against +the sky, and the white wilderness was very still and +the frost intense when they floundered into the gloom +of the bluff at the hour that man’s vitality sinks to its +lowest. Every crackle of a brittle branch rang with +horrible distinctness, and now and then a man turned in +his saddle and glanced at his neighbour when from the +shadowy hollow beneath them rose the sound of rending +ice. The stream ran fast just there, and there had been +but a few days’ frost.</p> +<p>They rode at a venture, looking about them with +strained intentness, for they had left the guiding trail +behind them now. Suddenly a faint cry came out of the +silence followed by a beat of hoofs that grew louder +every second, until it seemed to swell into a roar. Either +there was clearer ground in the bluff, or the rider took +his chances blindly so long as he made haste.</p> +<p>The men spread out at a low command, and Breckenridge +smiled mirthlessly as he remembered the restrained +eagerness with which he had waited outside English +covers when the quarry was a fox. He could feel his +heart thumping furiously, and his mittened hands would +tremble on the bridle. It seemed that the fugitive kept +them waiting a horribly long while.</p> +<p>Then, there was a shout close by him, Grant’s horse +shot forward and he saw a shadowy object flash by +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span> +amidst the trees. Hand and heel moved together, and +the former grew steady again as he felt the spring of the +beast under him and the bitter draught upon his cheek. +His horse had rested, and the fugitive’s was spent. +Where he was going he scarcely noticed, save that it +was down hill, for the birches seemed flying up to him, +and the beast stumbled now and then. He was only sure +that he was closing with the flying form in front of him.</p> +<p>The trees grew blurred together; he had to lean forward +to evade the thrashing branches. His horse was +blundering horribly, the slope grew steeper still, the +ground beneath the dusty snow and fallen leaves was +granite hard; but he was scarcely a length away, a few +paces more would bring him level, and his right hand +was stretched out for a grip of the stranger’s bridle.</p> +<p>A hoarse shout came ringing after him, and Breckenridge +fancied it was a warning. The river was close in +front and only thinly frozen yet, but he drove his heels +home again. If the fugitive could risk the passage of +the ice, he could risk it, too. There was another sound +that jarred across the hammering of the hoofs, a crash, +and Breckenridge was alone, struggling with his horse. +They reeled, smashing through withered bushes and +striking slender trees, but at last he gained the mastery, +and swung himself down from the saddle. Already +several mounted men were clustered about something, +while just before he joined them there was another +crash, and a little thin smoke drifted among the trees. +Then, he saw one of them snap a cartridge out of his +rifle, and that a horse lay quivering at his feet. A man +stood beside it, and Grant was speaking to him, but +Breckenridge scarcely recognized his voice.</p> +<p>“We want everything you took from Quilter, the +papers first,” he said. “Light that lantern, Jake, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span> +then the rest stand round. I want you to notice what +he gives me.”</p> +<p>The man, saying nothing, handed him a crumpled +packet, and Grant, tearing it open, passed the cover to the +rest.</p> +<p>“You know that writing?” he said.</p> +<p>There was a murmur of assent, and Grant took a paper +from those in his hand, and gave it to a man who held +it up in the blinking light of the lantern. “Now,” he said, +“we want to make sure the dollars he took from Quilter +agree with it. Hand them over.”</p> +<p>The prisoner took a wallet from his pocket and passed +it across. “I guess there’s no use in me objecting. +You’ll find them there,” he said.</p> +<p>“Count them,” said Grant to the other man. “Two +of you look over his shoulder and tell me if he’s right.”</p> +<p>It took some little time, for the man passed the roll of +bills to a comrade, who, after turning them over, replaced +them in the wallet.</p> +<p>“Yes, that’s right, boys; it’s quite plain, even if we +hadn’t followed up his trail. Those dollars and documents +were handed Quilter.”</p> +<p>Grant touched Breckenridge. “Get up and ride,” he +said. “They’ll send us six men from each of the two +committees. We’ll be waiting for them at Boston’s when +they get there. Now, there’s just another thing. Look +at the magazine of that fellow’s rifle.”</p> +<p>A man took up the rifle, and snapped out the cartridges +into his hand. “Usual 44 Winchester. One of them +gone,” he said. “He wouldn’t have started out after +Quilter without his magazine full.”</p> +<p>The man rubbed the fringe of his deerskin jacket upon +the muzzle, and then held it up by the lantern where the +rest could see the smear of the fouling upon it. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span></p> +<p>“I guess that’s convincing, but we’ll bring the rifle +along,” he said.</p> +<p>Grant nodded and turned to the prisoner as a man led +up a horse. “Get up,” he said. “You’ll have a fair +trial, but if you have any defence to make you had better +think it over. You’ll walk back to Hanson’s, Jake.”</p> +<p>The prisoner mounted, and they slowly rode away into +the darkness which, now the moon had sunk, preceded +the coming day.</p> +<p>It was two days later when Breckenridge, who had +ridden a long way in the meanwhile, rejoined them at a +lonely ranch within a day’s journey of the railroad. +Twelve men, whose bronzed faces showed very intent and +grave under the light of the big lamp, sat round the +long bare room, and the prisoner at the foot of a table. +Grant stood at the head of it, with a roll of dollar bills +and a rifle in front of him.</p> +<p>“Now,” he said, “you have heard the testimony. +Have you anything to tell us?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said the prisoner, “I guess it wouldn’t be +much use. Hadn’t you better get through with it? I +don’t like a fuss.”</p> +<p>Grant signed to the men, who silently filed out, and +returned within a minute. “The thing’s quite plain,” +said one of them. “He killed Quilter.”</p> +<p>Grant turned to the prisoner. “There’s nothing that +would warrant our showing any mercy, but if you have +anything to urge we’ll listen now. It’s your last opportunity. +You were heading for one of the cattle-men’s +homesteads?”</p> +<p>The man smiled sardonically. “I’m not going to +talk,” he said. “I guess I can see your faces, and that’s +enough for me.”</p> +<p>Grant stood up and signed to a man, who led the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span> +prisoner away. Then, he looked at the others questioningly, +and a Michigan axe-man nodded.</p> +<p>“Only one thing,” he said. “It has to be done.”</p> +<p>There was an approving murmur, and Grant glanced +along the row of stern faces. “Yes,” he said, “the law +will do nothing for us—the cattle-men have bought it up; +but this work must be stopped. Well, I guess you like +what lies before us as little as I do, but if it warns off +the others—and there are more of his kind coming in—it’s +the most merciful thing.”</p> +<p>Once more the low murmur ran through the silence +of the room; Grant raised his hand and a man brought +in the prisoner. He looked at the set faces, and made a +little gesture of comprehension.</p> +<p>“I guess you needn’t tell me,” he said. “When is it +to be?”</p> +<p>“To-morrow,” said Grant, and it seemed to Breckenridge +that his voice came from far away. “At the town—as +soon as there is light enough to see by.”</p> +<p>The prisoner turned without a word, and when he had +gone the men, as if prompted by one impulse, hastened +out of the room, leaving Grant and Breckenridge alone. +The former sat very still at the head of the table, until +Breckenridge laid his hand on his shoulder.</p> +<p>“Shake it off, Larry. You couldn’t have done anything +else,” he said.</p> +<p>“No,” said Grant, with a groan. “Still, I could have +wished this duty had not been laid on me.”</p> +<p>When they next stood side by side the early daylight +was creeping across the little railroad town, and Breckenridge, +whose young face was white, shivered with more +than the bitter cold. He never wished to recall it, but the +details of that scene would return to him—the square +frame houses under the driving snow-cloud, the white +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span> +waste they rose from, the grim, silent horsemen with the +rifles across their saddles, and the intent faces beyond +them in the close-packed street. He saw the prisoner +standing rigidly erect in a wagon drawn up beside a +towering telegraph-pole, and heard a voice reading +hoarsely.</p> +<p>A man raised his hand, somebody lashed the horses, +the wagon lurched away, a dusky object cut against the +sky, and Breckenridge turned his eyes away. A sound +that might have been a groan or murmur broke from the +crowd and the momentary silence that followed it was +rent by the crackle of riflery. After that, Breckenridge +only recollected riding across the prairie amidst a group +of silent men, and feeling very cold.</p> +<p>In the meanwhile the citizens were gazing at a board +nailed to the telegraph-pole: “For murder and robbery. +Take warning! Anyone offending in the same way will +be treated similarly!”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XI_LARRY_S_ACQUITTAL' id='XI_LARRY_S_ACQUITTAL'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span> +<h2>XI</h2> +<h3>LARRY’S ACQUITTAL</h3> +</div> + +<p>A warm wind from the Pacific, which had swept down +through the Rockies’ passes, had mitigated the Arctic +cold, and the snow lay no more than thinly sprinkled +upon the prairie. Hetty Torrance and Miss Schuyler +were riding up through the birch bluff from the bridge of +the Cedar. It was dim among the trees, for dusk was +closing in, the trail was rough and steep, and Hetty drew +bridle at a turn of it.</p> +<p>“I quite fancied we would have been home before it +was dark, and my father would be just savage if he knew +we were out alone,” she said. “Of course, he wouldn’t +have let us go if he had been at Cedar.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler looked about her with a shiver. The +wind that shook the birches had grown perceptibly colder: +the gloom beneath them deepened rapidly, and there was +a doleful wailing amidst the swinging boughs. Beyond +the bluff the white wilderness, sinking into dimness +now, ran back, waste and empty, to the horizon. Miss +Schuyler was from the cities, and the loneliness of the +prairie is most impressive when night is closing down.</p> +<p>“Then one could have wished he had been at home,” +she said.</p> +<p>Perhaps Hetty did not hear her plainly, for the +branches thrashed above them just then. “Oh, that’s +quite right. Folks are not apt to worry much over the +things they don’t know about,” she said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span></p> +<p>“It was not your father I was sorry for,” Flora Schuyler +said sharply. “The sod is too hard for fast riding, +and it will be ’most an hour yet before we get home. I +wish we were not alone, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty sighed. “It was so convenient once!” she said. +“Whenever I wanted to ride out I had only to send for +Larry. It’s quite different now.”</p> +<p>“I have no doubt Mr. Clavering would have come,” +said Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” Hetty agreed. “Still, I’m beginning to +fancy you were right about that man. Like a good many +more of them, he’s quite nice at a distance; but there are +men who should never let anyone get too close to them.”</p> +<p>“You have had quite a few opportunities of observing +him at a short distance lately.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed, but there was a trace of uneasiness in +her voice. “I could wish my father didn’t seem quite +so fond of him. Oh—there’s somebody coming!”</p> +<p>Instinctively she wheeled her horse into the deeper +shadow of the birches and Miss Schuyler followed. +There was no habitation within a league of them, and +though the frost, which put a period to the homesteaders’ +activities, lessened the necessity for the cattle-barons’ +watchfulness, unpleasant results had once or twice attended +a chance encounter between their partisans. It +was also certain that somebody was coming, and Hetty +felt her heart beat as she made out the tramp of three +horses. The vultures the struggle had attracted had, she +knew, much less consideration for women than the homesteaders +or cattle-boys.</p> +<p>“Hadn’t we better ride on?” asked Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty; “they would most certainly see us +out on the prairie. Back your horse quite close to mine. +If we keep quiet they might pass us here.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span></p> +<p>Her voice betrayed what she was feeling, and Flora +Schuyler felt unpleasantly apprehensive as she urged her +horse farther into the gloom. The trampling came +nearer, and by and by a man’s voice reached her.</p> +<p>“Hadn’t you better pull up and get down?” it said. +“I’m not much use at tracking, but somebody has been +along here a little while ago. You see, there are only +three of us!”</p> +<p>“They’re homesteaders, and they’ve found our trail,” +exclaimed Hetty, with a little gasp of dismay.</p> +<p>There was scarcely an opening one could ride through +between the birches behind them, and it was evident that +the horsemen could scarcely fail to see them the moment +they left their shelter. One of them had already dismounted, +and was apparently stooping beside the prints +the horse-hoofs had left where a little snow had sifted +down upon the trail. Hetty heard his laugh, and it +brought her a great relief.</p> +<p>“I don’t think you need worry, Breckenridge. There +were only two of them.”</p> +<p>Hetty wheeled her horse. “It’s Larry,” she said.</p> +<p>A minute later he saw them, and, pulling up, took off +his hat; but Flora Schuyler noticed that he ventured on +no more than this.</p> +<p>“It is late for you to be out alone. You are riding +home?” he said.</p> +<p>“Of course!” said Hetty with, Miss Schuyler fancied, +a chilliness which contrasted curiously with the relief she +had shown a minute or two earlier.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant quietly, “I’m afraid you will have +to put up with our company. There are one or two men +I have no great opinion of somewhere about this prairie. +This is Mr. Breckenridge, and as the trail is rough and +narrow, he will follow with Miss Schuyler. I presume +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span> +you don’t mind riding with him, although, like the rest +of us, he is under the displeasure of your friends the +cattle-barons?”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler looked at him steadily. “I don’t know +enough of this trouble to make sure who is right,” she +said. “But I should never be prejudiced against any +American who was trying to do what he felt was the +work meant for him.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant, with a little laugh, “Breckenridge +will feel sorry that he’s an Englishman.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler turned to the young man graciously, +and the dim light showed there was a twinkle in her eyes.</p> +<p>“That,” she said, “is the next best thing. Since you +are with Mr. Grant you no doubt came out to this country +because you thought we needed reforming, Mr. Breckenridge?”</p> +<p>The lad laughed as they rode on up the trail with +Grant and Hetty in front of them, and Muller following.</p> +<p>“No,” he said. “To be frank, I came out because my +friends in the old one seemed to fancy the same thing of +me. When they have no great use for a young man +yonder, they generally send him to America. In fact, +they send some of them quite a nice cheque quarterly so +long as they stay there. You see, we are like the hedgehogs, +or your porcupines, if you grow them here, Miss +Schuyler.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler smiled. “You are young, or you +wouldn’t empty the magazine all at once in answer to a +single shot.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Breckenridge, “so are you. It is getting +dark, but I have a notion that you are something else +too. The fact I mentioned explains the liberty.”</p> +<p>Flora shook her head. “The dusk is kind. Any +way, I know I am years older than you. There are no +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span> +little girls in this country like the ones you have been +accustomed to.”</p> +<p>“Now,” said Breckenridge, “my sisters and cousins +are, I firmly believe, a good deal nicer than those belonging +to most other men; but, you see, I have quite a lot of +them, and any one so favoured loses a good many illusions.”</p> +<p>In the meantime Hetty, who, when she fancied he +would not observe it, glanced at him now and then, rode +silently beside Grant until he turned to her.</p> +<p>“I have a good deal to thank you for, Hetty, and—for +you know I was never clever at saying the right thing—I +don’t quite know how to begin. Still, in the old +times we understood just what each other meant so well +that talking wasn’t necessary. You know I’m grateful +for my liberty and would sooner take it from you than +anybody else, don’t you?”</p> +<p>Hetty laid a restraint upon herself, for there was a +thrill in the man’s voice, which awakened a response +within her. “Wouldn’t it be better to forget those +days?” she said. “It is very different now.”</p> +<p>“It isn’t easy,” said Grant, checking a sigh. “I +’most fancied they had come back the night you told me +how to get away.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s horse plunged as she tightened its bridle in a +fashion there was no apparent necessity for. “That,” +she said chillingly, “was quite foolish of you, and it +isn’t kind to remind folks of the things they had better +not have done. Now, you told us the prairie wasn’t safe +because of some of your friends.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Grant drily, “I don’t think I did. I told +you there were some men around I would sooner you +didn’t fall in with.”</p> +<p>“Then they must be your partisans. There isn’t a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span> +cattle-boy in this country who would be uncivil to a +woman.”</p> +<p>“I wish I was quite sure. Still, there are men coming +in who don’t care who is right, and only want to stand +in with the men who will give them the most dollars or +let them take what they can. We have none to give +away.”</p> +<p>“Larry,” the girl said hotly, “do you mean that we +would be glad to pay them?”</p> +<p>“No. But they will most of them quite naturally go +over to you, which will make it harder for us to get rid +of them. We have no use for men of that kind in this +country.”</p> +<p>“No?” said the girl scornfully. “Well, I fancied +they would have come in quite handy—there was a thing +you did.”</p> +<p>“You heard of that?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” very coldly. “It was a horrible thing.”</p> +<p>Grant’s voice changed to a curious low tone. “Did +you ever see me hurt anything when I could help it in +the old days, Hetty?”</p> +<p>“No. One has to be honest; I remember how you +once hurt your hand taking a jack-rabbit out of a trap.”</p> +<p>“And how you bound it up?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hetty, “I don’t know, after the work +you have done with it, that I should care to do that +now.”</p> +<p>“There are affairs you should never hear of and I +don’t care to talk about with you,” Grant said, very +quietly, “but since you have mentioned this one you +must listen to me. Just as it is one’s duty to give no +needless pain to anything, so there is an obligation on +him to stop any other man who would do it. Is it +wrong to kill a grizzly or a rattlesnake, or merciful to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span> +leave them with their meanness to destroy whatever they +want? Now, if you had known a quiet American who +did a tolerably dangerous thing because he fancied it +was right, and found him shot in the back, and the trail +of the man who crept up behind him and killed him for a +few dollars, would you have let that man go?”</p> +<p>Hetty ignored the question. “The man was your +friend.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant slowly, “he had done a good deal +for me, but that would not have counted for very much +with any one when we made our decision.”</p> +<p>“No?” And Hetty glanced at him with a little +astonishment.</p> +<p>Grant shook his head. “No,” he said. “We had to +do the square thing—that and nothing more; but if we +had let that man go, he would, when the chance was +given him, have done what he did again. Well, it was—horrible; +but there was no law that would do the work +for us in this country then.”</p> +<p>Hetty shivered, but had there been light enough Grant +would have seen the relief in her face, and as it was his +pulse responded to the little quiver in her voice. Why it +was she did not know, but the belief in him which she +had once cherished suddenly returned to her. In the +old days the man she had never thought of as a lover +could, at least, do no wrong.</p> +<p>“I understand.” Her voice was very gentle. “There +must be a good deal of meanness in me, or I should have +known you only did it because you are a white man, and +felt you had to. Oh, of course, I know—only it’s so +much easier to go round another way so you can’t see +what you don’t want to. Larry, I’m sorry.”</p> +<p>Grant’s voice quivered. “The only thing you ever +do wrong, Hetty, is to forget to think now and then; +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span> +and by and by you will find somebody who is good +enough to think for you.”</p> +<p>The girl smiled. “He would have to be very patient, +and the trouble is that if he was clever enough to do the +thinking he wouldn’t have the least belief in me. You +are the only man, Larry, who could see people’s meannesses +and still have faith in them.”</p> +<p>“I am a blunderer who has taken up a contract that’s +too big for him,” Grant said gravely. “I have never +told anyone else, Hetty, but there are times now and +then when, knowing the kind of man I am, I get ’most +sick with fear. All the poor men in this district are +looking to me, and, though I lie awake at night, I can’t +see how I’m going to help them when one trace of passion +would let loose anarchy. It’s only right they’re +wanting, that is, most of the Dutchmen and the Americans—but +there’s the mad red rabble behind them, and +the bitter rage of hard men who have been trampled on, +to hold in. It’s a crushing weight we who hold the reins +have got to carry. Still, we were made only plain farmer +men, and I guess we’re not going to be saddled with +more than we can bear.”</p> +<p>He had spoken solemnly from the depths of his nature, +and all that was good in the girl responded.</p> +<p>“Larry,” she said softly, “while you feel just that I +think you can’t go wrong. It is what is right we are +both wanting, and—though I don’t know how—I feel +we will get it by and by, and then it will be the best thing +for homestead-boys and cattle-barons. When that time +comes we will be glad there were white men who took +up their load and worried through, and when this trouble’s +worked out and over there will be nothing to stop +us being good friends again.”</p> +<p>“Is that quite out of the question now?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span></p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty simply. “I am sorry, but, Larry, +can’t you understand? You are leading the homestead-boys, +and my father the cattle-barons. First of all I’ve +got to be a dutiful daughter.”</p> +<p>“Of course,” he agreed. “Well, it can’t last for ever, +and we can only do the best we can. Other folks had +the same trouble when the boys in Sumter fired the starting +gun—North and South at each other’s throats, and +both Americans!”</p> +<p>Hetty decided that she had gone sufficiently far, and +turned in her saddle. “What is the Englishman telling +you, Flo?” she asked.</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler laughed. “He was almost admitting +that the girls in this country are as pretty as those they +raise in the one he came from.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Breckenridge, “if it was daylight I’d be +sure.”</p> +<p>Grant fancied that it was not without a purpose his +companion checked her horse to let the others come up, +and, though it cost him an effort, acquiesced. His laugh +was almost as ready as that of the rest as they rode on +four abreast, until at last the lights of Cedar Range +blinked beside the bluff. Then, they grew suddenly silent +again as Muller, who it seemed remembered that he had +been taught by the <i>franc tireurs</i>, rode past them with his +rifle across his saddle. They pulled up when his figure +cut blackly against the sky on the crest of a rise, and +Hetty’s laugh was scarcely light-hearted.</p> +<p>“You have been very good, and I am sorry I can’t ask +you to come in,” she said. “Still, I don’t know that it’s +all our fault; we are under martial law just now.”</p> +<p>Grant took off his hat and wheeled his horse, and +when the girls rode forward sat rigid and motionless, +watching them until he saw the ray from the open door +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span> +of Cedar Range. Then, Muller trotted up, and with a +little sigh he turned homewards across the prairie.</p> +<p>About the same time Richard Clavering lay smoking, +in a big chair in the room where he kept his business +books and papers. He wore, among other somewhat +unusual things, a velvet jacket, very fine linen, and on +one of his long, slim fingers a ring of curious Eastern +workmanship. Clavering was a man of somewhat expensive +tastes, and his occasional visits to the cities had +cost him a good deal, which was partly why an accountant, +famous for his knowledge of ranching property, now +sat busy at a table. He was a shrewd, direct American, +and had already spent several days endeavouring to ascertain +the state of Clavering’s finances.</p> +<p>“Nearly through?” the rancher asked, with a languidness +which the accountant fancied was assumed.</p> +<p>“I can give you a notion of how you stand, right now,” +he answered. “You want me to be quite candid?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” said Clavering, with a smile of indifference. +“I’m in a tight place, Hopkins?”</p> +<p>“I guess you are—any way, if you go on as you’re +doing. You see what I consider it prudent to write off +the value of your property?”</p> +<p>Clavering examined the paper handed him with visible +astonishment. “Why have you whittled so much off the +face value?”</p> +<p>“Just because you’re going to have that much taken +away from you by and by.”</p> +<p>Clavering’s laugh was quietly scornful. “By the homestead-boys?”</p> +<p>“By the legislature of this State. The law is against +you holding what you’re doing now.”</p> +<p>“We make what law there is out here.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hopkins, coolly, “I guess you’re not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span> +going to do it long. You know the maxim about fooling +the people. It can’t be done.”</p> +<p>“Aren’t you talking like one of those German +socialists?”</p> +<p>“On the contrary. I quite fancy I’m talking like a +business man. Now, you want to realize on those cattle +before the winter takes the flesh off them, and extinguish +the bank loan with what you get for them.”</p> +<p>Clavering’s face darkened. “That would strip the +place, and I’d have to borrow to stock again.”</p> +<p>“You’d have to run a light stock for a year or two.”</p> +<p>“It wouldn’t suit me to do anything that would proclaim +my poverty just now,” said Clavering.</p> +<p>“Then you’ll have to do it by and by. The interest on +the bond is crippling you.”</p> +<p>“Well.” Clavering lighted another cigar. “I told +you to be straight. Go right on. Tell me just what you +would do if the place was in your hands.”</p> +<p>“Sell out those cattle and take the big loan up. Clear +off the imported horses and pedigree brood mares. You +have been losing more dollars than many a small rancher +makes over them the last few years.”</p> +<p>“I like good horses round the place,” Clavering said +languidly.</p> +<p>“The trouble,” said Hopkins, “is that you can’t afford +to have them. Then, I would cut down my personal +expenses by at least two-thirds. The ranch can’t stand +them. Do you know what you have been spending in +the cities?”</p> +<p>“No. I gave you a bundle of bills so you could find +it out.”</p> +<p>Hopkins’ smile was almost contemptuous. “I guess +you had better burn them when I am through. I’ll mention +one or two items. One hundred dollars for flowers; +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span> +one thousand in several bills from Chicago jewellers! +The articles would count as an asset. Have you got +them?”</p> +<p>“I haven’t,” said Clavering. “They were for a lady.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hopkins, “you know best; but one +would have fancied there was more than one of them +from the bills. Here’s another somewhat curious item: +hats—I guess they came from Paris—and millinery, two +hundred dollars’ worth of them!”</p> +<p>A little angry light crept into Clavering’s eyes. “If +I hadn’t been so abominably careless you wouldn’t have +seen those bills. I meant to put them down as miscellaneous +and destroy the papers. Well, I’ve done with +that extravagance, any way, and it’s to hear the truth +I’m paying you quite a big fee. If I go on just as I’m +doing, how long would you give me?”</p> +<p>“Two years. Then the bank will put the screw on +you. The legislature may pull you up earlier, but I can +tell you more when I’ve squared up to-morrow.”</p> +<p>There was a curious look in Clavering’s dark eyes, but +he laughed again.</p> +<p>“I guess that’s about enough. But I’ll leave you to +it now,” he said. “It’s quite likely I’ll have got out of +the difficulty before one of those years is over.”</p> +<p>He went out, and a few minutes later stopped as he +passed the one big mirror in the ranch, and surveyed +himself critically for a moment with a dispassionate +interest that was removed from vanity. Then he nodded +as if contented.</p> +<p>“With Torrance to back me it might be done,” he +said. “Liberty is sweet, but I don’t know that it’s worth +at least fifty thousand dollars!”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XII_THE_SPROUTING_OF_THE_SEED' id='XII_THE_SPROUTING_OF_THE_SEED'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span> +<h2>XII</h2> +<h3>THE SPROUTING OF THE SEED</h3> +</div> + +<p>Late in the afternoon of a bitter day Grant drove into +sight of the last of the homesteaders’ dwellings that lay +within his round. It rose, a shapeless mound of white, +from the wilderness that rolled away in billowy rises, +shining under the sunlight that had no warmth in it. +The snow that lay deep about its sod walls and upon the +birch-branch roof hid its squalidness, and covered the +pile of refuse and empty cans, but Grant knew what he +would find within it, and when he pulled up his team his +face grew anxious. It was graver than it had been a +year ago, for Larry Grant had lost a good deal of his +hopefulness since he heard those footsteps at the depot.</p> +<p>The iron winter, that was but lightly felt in the homes +of the cattle-barons, had borne hardly on the men huddled +in sod-hovel, and birch-log shanty, swept by the +winds of heaven at fifty degrees below. They had no +thick furs to shelter them, and many had very little +food, while on those who came from the cities the cold +of the Northwest set its mark, numbing the half-fed +body and unhinging the mind. The lean farmers from +the Dakotas who had fought with adverse seasons, and +the sinewy axe-men from Michigan clearings, bore it +with grim patience, but there were here and there a few +who failed to stand the strain, and, listening to the outcasts +from the East, let passion drive out fortitude and +dreamed of anarchy. They had come in with a pitiful +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span> +handful of dollars to build new homes and farm, but the +rich men, and in some cases their own supineness, had +been too strong for them; and while they waited their +scanty capital melted away. Now, with most of them it +had almost gone, and they were left without the means +to commence the fight in spring.</p> +<p>Breckenridge saw the shadow in Grant’s face, and +touched his arm. “I’ll go in and give the man his dollars, +Larry,” he said. “You have had about as much +worry as is good for you to-day.”</p> +<p>Grant shook his head. “I’ve no use for shutting my +eyes so I can’t see a thing when I know it’s there.”</p> +<p>He stepped out of the sleigh and went into the shanty. +The place had one room, and, though a stove stood in the +midst of it and the snow that kept some of the frost out +was piled to the windows, it was dank and chill. Only a +little dim light crept in, and it was a moment or two +before Grant saw the man who sat idle by the stove with +a clotted bandage round his leg. He was gaunt, and +clad in jean patched with flour-bags, and his face showed +haggard under his bronze. Behind him on a rude birch-branch +couch covered with prairie hay a woman lay +apparently asleep beneath a tattered fur coat.</p> +<p>“What’s the matter with her?” Grant asked.</p> +<p>“I don’t quite know. She got sick ’most two weeks +ago, and talks of a pain that only leaves her when she’s +sleeping. One of the boys drove in to the railroad for +the doctor, but he’s busy down there. Any way, it would +have taken him ’most a week to get here and back, and +I guess he knew I hadn’t the dollars to pay him with.”</p> +<p>Grant recognized the hopeless evenness of the tone, +but Breckenridge, who was younger, did not.</p> +<p>“But you can’t let her lie here without help of any +kind,” he said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span></p> +<p>“Well,” said the man slowly, “what else can I do?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge could not tell him, and appealed to his +comrade. “We have got to take this up, Larry. She +looks ill.”</p> +<p>Grant nodded. “I have friends down yonder who +will send that doctor out,” he said. “Here are your dollars +from the fund. Ten of them this time.”</p> +<p>The man handed him one of the bills back. “If you +want me to take more than five you’ll have to show your +book,” he said. “I’ve been finding out how you work +these affairs, Larry.”</p> +<p>Grant only laughed, but Breckenridge turned to the +speaker with an assumption of severity that was almost +ludicrous in his young face.</p> +<p>“Now, don’t you make yourself a consumed ass,” he +said. “You want those dollars considerably more than +we do, and we’ve got quite a few of them doing nothing +in the bank. That is, Larry has.”</p> +<p>Grant’s eyes twinkled. “It’s no use, Breckenridge. +I know the kind of man he is. I’m going to send Miss +Muller here, and we’ll come round and pound the foolishness +out of you if you try to send back anything she +brings with her. This place is as cold as an ice-store. +What’s the matter with your stove?”</p> +<p>“The stove’s all right,” and the man pointed to his leg. +“The trouble is that I’ve very little wood. Axe slipped +the last time I went chopping in the bluff, and the frost +got into the cut. I couldn’t make three miles on one leg, +and pack a load of billets on my back.”</p> +<p>“But you’d freeze when those ran out, and they +couldn’t last you two days,” said Breckenridge, glancing +at the little pile of fuel.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the man grimly. “I guess I would, unless +one of the boys came along.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span></p> +<p>“Anything wrong with your oxen?” asked Grant.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the man drily, “we’ve been living for +’most two months on one of them. I salted a piece of +him; the rest’s frozen. I had to sell the other to a Dutchman. +Since the cattle-boys stopped me ploughing I +hadn’t much use for them, any way.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said Breckenridge, “why the devil did you +bring a woman out to this forsaken country?”</p> +<p>Perhaps the man understood what prompted the question, +for he did not resent it. “Where was I to take her +to? I’m a farmer without dollars, and I had to go somewhere +when I’d lost three wheat crops in Dakota. Somebody +told me you had room for small farmers, and when +I heard the land was to be opened for homesteading, I +sold out everything, and came on here to begin again. +Never saw a richer soil, and there’s only one thing wrong +with the country.”</p> +<p>“The men in it?” asked Breckenridge.</p> +<p>The farmer nodded, and a little glow crept into his +eyes. “Yes,” he said fiercely. “The cattle-barons—and +there’ll be no room for anyone until we’ve done +away with them. We’ve no patience for more fooling. +It has got to be done.”</p> +<p>“That’s the executive’s business,” said Grant.</p> +<p>The man rose, with a little quiver of his lean frame and +a big hand clenched. “No,” he said, “it’s our business, +and the business of every honest citizen. If you don’t +tackle it right off, other men will put the contract +through.”</p> +<p>“You’ll have to talk plainer,” said Grant.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the farmer, “that’s easy. It was you +and some of the others brought us in, and now we’re here +we’re starving. There’s land to feed a host of us, and +every citizen is entitled to enough to make a living on. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span> +But while the cattle-men keep hold, how’s he going to +get it? Oh, yes, we’ve cut their fences and broken a few +acres here and there; but how are we going to put through +our ploughing when every man who drives a furrow has +to whip up six of his neighbours to keep the cow-boys off +him? Well, there’s just one answer. We’re going to +pull those men down.”</p> +<p>“You’re going to sit tight until your leaders tell you +to move,” Grant informed him.</p> +<p>The man laughed harshly. “No,” he said. “Unless +they keep ahead of us we’re going to trail them along. +You’re a straight man, Larry, but you don’t see all you’ve +done. You set this thing going, and now you can’t step +out if it goes too far for you. No, sir, you’ve got to +keep the pace and come along, and it’s going to be quite +lively now some of the Chicago anarchy boys are chipping +in.”</p> +<p>Grant’s face was very stern. “When they’re wanted, +your leaders will be there,” he said. “They’ve got hold, +and they’ll keep it, if they have to whip the sense into +some of you. Now give me that axe of yours, and we’ll +get some wood. I don’t want to hear any more wild +talking.”</p> +<p>He went out, taking Breckenridge with him, and an +hour later returned with a sleigh-load of birch branches, +which he flung down before the shanty. Then, he turned +the team towards Fremont ranch, and his face was grave +as he stared over the horses’ heads at the smear of trail +that wound away, a blue-grey riband, before the gliding +sleigh.</p> +<p>“I wonder if that fellow meant to give us a hint,” said +Breckenridge.</p> +<p>Grant nodded. “I think he did—and he was right +about the rest. Two years ago I was a prosperous +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span> +rancher, proud of the prairie I belonged to, and without +a care; but I could see what this country was meant to +be, and when the others started talking about the homestead +movement I did my share. Folks seemed keen to +listen; we got letters from everywhere, and we told the +men who wrote them just what the land could do. It +was sowing blindfold, and now the crop’s above the sod +it ’most frightens me. No man can tell what it will +grow to be before it’s ready for the binder, and while +we’ve got the wheat we’ve got the weeds as well.”</p> +<p>“Wasn’t it always like that? At least, it seems so +from reading a little history. I don’t know that I envy +you, Larry. In the tongue of this country, it’s a hard +row you have to hoe. Of course, there are folks who +would consider they had done enough in planting it.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” Grant agreed, “we have quite a few of them +over here; but, if more than we’ve planted has come up, +I’m going right through.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge said nothing further, and there was +silence until the lights of Fremont rose out of the snowy +wilderness. When they reached it they found a weary +man lying in a big chair; he pointed to the litter of plates +on the table as he handed Grant a letter.</p> +<p>“I haven’t eaten since sun up, and drove most of sixty +miles, so I didn’t wait,” he said. “Our executive boss, +who told me to lose no time, seemed kind of worried +about something.”</p> +<p>Grant opened the letter, which was terse. “Look out,” +he read. “We had to put the screw on a crazy Pole who +has been making wild speeches here, and as he lit out I +have a notion he means to see what he can do with the +discontented in your district. We couldn’t have him +raising trouble round this place, any way. It’s taking +us both hands to hold the boys in already.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span></p> +<p>“Bad news?” said Breckenridge sympathetically.</p> +<p>“Yes,” Grant said wearily. “Get your supper and +sleep when you can. You’ll be driving from sun up +until after it’s dark to-morrow.”</p> +<p>They ate almost in silence, but, though the messenger +and Breckenridge retired shortly after the meal, Grant +sat writing until late in the night. Then, he stretched his +arms wearily above his head, and his face showed worn +and almost haggard in the flickering lamplight.</p> +<p>“It has put Hetty further from me than ever, and +cost me the goodwill of every friend I had; while the +five thousand dollars I’ve lost as well don’t count for +very much after that,” he said.</p> +<p>Early next morning Breckenridge and the messenger +drove away, and rather more than a week later Fräulein +Muller, whom the former had taken to attend on +the homesteader’s wife, arrived one night at Fremont +ranch. She came in, red-cheeked, unconcerned, and +shapeless, in Muller’s fur coat, and quietly brushed the +dusty snow from her dress before she sat down as far as +possible from the stove.</p> +<p>“I a message from Mrs. Harper bring,” she said. +“Last night two men to Harper’s house have come, and +one now and then will to the other talk in our tongue. He +is one, I think, who will destroy everything. Then they +talk with Harper long in the stable, and to-day Harper +with his rifle rides away. Mrs. Harper, who has fears +for her husband, would have you know that to-night, or +to-morrow he will go with other men to the Cedar +Ranch.”</p> +<p>Grant was on his feet in a moment, and nodded to +Breckenridge, who rose almost as quickly and glanced at +him as he moved towards the door.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said, “there’s some tough hoeing to be +done now. You’ll drive Miss Muller back to Harper’s, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span> +and then turn out the boys. They’re to come on to Cedar +as fast as they can.”</p> +<p>“And you?” said Breckenridge quietly.</p> +<p>“I’m going there now.”</p> +<p>“You know the cattle-men would do almost anything +to get their hands on you.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” Grant said wearily. “Aren’t you wasting +time?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge was outside the next moment, but before +he had the sleigh ready Grant lead a saddled horse out +of the stable, and vanished at a gallop down the beaten +trail. It rang dully beneath the hoofs, but the frost that +had turned its surface dusty lessened the chance of stumbling, +and it was not until the first league had been left +behind and he turned at the forking beneath a big birch +bluff that he tightened his grip on the bridle. There it +was different, for the trail no longer led wide and +trampled hard across the level prairie, but wound, an +almost invisible riband, through tortuous hollow and +over swelling rise, so narrow that in places the hoofs +broke with a sharp crackling through the frozen crust of +snow. That, Larry knew, might, by crippling the beast +he rode, stop him then and there, and he pushed on +warily, dazzled at times by the light of the sinking moon +which the glistening white plain flung back into his eyes.</p> +<p>It was bitter cold, and utterly still for the birds had +gone south long ago, and there was no beast that ventured +from his lair to face the frost that night. Dulled +as the trample of hoofs was, it rang about him stridently, +and now and then he could hear it roll repeated along +the slope of a rise. The hand upon the bridle had lost +all sense of feeling, his moccasined feet tingled painfully, +and a white fringe crackled under his hand when, warned +by the nipping of his ears, he drew the big fur cap down +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span> +further over them. It is not difficult to lose the use of +one’s members for life by incautiously exposing them to +the cold of the prairie, while a frost that may be borne +by the man covered to the chin with great sleigh robes, +is not infrequently insupportable to the one on horseback.</p> +<p>Grant, however, took precautions, as it were mechanically, +for his mind was too busy to feel in its full keenness +the sting of the frost, and while his eyes were fixed +on the blur of the trail his thoughts were far away, and +it was by an almost unconscious effort he restrained the +impatient horse. Because speed was essential, he dare +risk no undue haste. He was not the only rider out on +the waste that night, and the shiver that went through +him was not due to the cold as he pictured the other +horsemen pressing on towards Cedar Ranch. Of the +native-born he had little fear, and he fancied but few of +them would be there. There was even less to dread from +any of English birth, but he feared the insensate alien, +and still more the human vultures that had gathered about +the scene of strife. They had neither race, nor creed, +nor aspirations, but only an unhallowed lust for the fruits +of rapine.</p> +<p>He could also picture Hetty, sitting slight and dark-eyed +at the piano, as he had often seen her, and Torrance +listening with a curious softening of his lean face to the +voice that had long ago wiled Larry’s heart away from +him. That led him back to the days when, loose-tressed +and flushed in face, Hetty had ridden beside him in the +track of the flying coyote, and he had seen her eyes +glisten at his praise. There were other times when, +sitting far apart from any of their kind, with the horses +tethered beside them in the shadow of a bluff, she had +told him of her hopes and ambitions, but half-formed +then, and to silence his doubts sung him some simple +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span> +song. Larry had travelled through Europe, to look about +him, as he naďvely said, but it was what reminded him +of that voice he had found most pleasure in when he +listened to famous sopranos and great cathedral choirs.</p> +<p>Still, he had expected little, realizing, as he had early +done, that Hetty was not for him. It was enough to be +with her when she had any need of him and to dream of +her when absent, while it was only when he heard she +had found her hopes were vain that he clutched at the +very faint but alluring possibility that now her heart +might turn to him. Then, had come the summons of +duty, and when he had to choose which side he would +take, Larry, knowing what it would cost him, had with +the simple loyalty which had bound him as Hetty’s servant +without hope of reward, decided on what he felt +was right. He was merely one of the many quiet, steadfast +men whom the ostentatious sometimes mistake for +fools, until the nation they form the backbone of rises to +grapple with disaster or emergency. They are not confined +to any one country; for his comrade, Muller, the +placid, unemphatic Teuton, had been at Worth and Sedan.</p> +<p>Though none of these memories delayed him a second, +he brushed them from him when the moon dipped. Darkness +swooped down on the prairie, and it is the darkness +that suits rapine best; now, that he could see the trail no +longer, he shook the bridle, and the pace grew faster. +The powdery snow whirled behind him, the long, dim +levels flitted past, until at last, with heart thumping, he +rode up a rise from whose crest he could see Cedar Range. +A great weight lifted from him—the row of windows +were blinking beside the dusky bluff! But even as he +checked the horse the ringing of a rifle came portentously +out of the stillness. With a gasp he drove in his +heels and swept at a furious gallop down the slope.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XIII_UNDER_FIRE' id='XIII_UNDER_FIRE'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span> +<h2>XIII</h2> +<h3>UNDER FIRE</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was getting late and Torrance evidently becoming +impatient, when Clavering, who had ignored the latter +fact as long as he considered it advisable, glanced at +Hetty with a smile. He stood by the piano in the big +hall at Cedar Range, and she sat on the music-stool turning +over one of the new songs he had brought her from +Chicago.</p> +<p>“I am afraid I will have to go,” he said. “Your +father is not fond of waiting.”</p> +<p>Though Hetty was not looking at him directly, she saw +his face, which expressed reluctance still more plainly +than his voice did; but just then Torrance turned to +them.</p> +<p>“Aren’t you through with those songs yet, Clavering?” +he said.</p> +<p>“I’m afraid I have made Miss Torrance tired,” said +Clavering. “Still, we have music enough left us for +another hour or two.”</p> +<p>“Then why can’t you stay on over to-morrow and get +a whole night at it? I want you just now.”</p> +<p>Clavering glanced at Hetty, and, though she made no +sign, fancied that she was not quite pleased with her +father.</p> +<p>“Am I to tell him I will?” he asked.</p> +<p>Hetty understood what prompted him, but she would +not commit herself. “You will do what suits you,” she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span> +said. “When my father asks any one to Cedar I really +don’t often make myself unpleasant to him.”</p> +<p>Clavering’s eyes twinkled as he walked towards the +older man, while Hetty crossed the room to where Miss +Schuyler sat. Both apparently became absorbed in the +books Clavering had brought, but they could hear the +conversation of the men, and it became evident later that +one of them listened. Torrance had questions to ask, and +Clavering answered them.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “I had a talk with Purbeck which +cost us fifty dollars. His notion was that the Bureau +hadn’t a great deal to go upon if they meant to do anything +further about dispossessing us. In fact, he quite +seemed to think that as the legislature had a good many +other worries just now, it would suit them to let us slide. +He couldn’t recommend anything better than getting our +friends in the lobbies to keep the screw on them until the +election.”</p> +<p>Torrance looked thoughtful. “That means holding +out for another six months, any way. Did you hear +anything at the settlement?”</p> +<p>“Yes. Fleming wouldn’t sell the homestead-boys anything +after they broke in his store. Steele’s our man, +and it was Carter they got their provisions from. Now, +Carter had given Jackson a bond for two thousand dollars +when he first came in, and as he hadn’t made his +payments lately, and we have our thumb on Jackson, +the Sheriff has closed down on his store. He’ll be glad +to light out with the clothes he stands in when we’re +through with him.”</p> +<p>Torrance nodded grim approval. “Larry wouldn’t +sit tight.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Clavering. “He wired right through to +Chicago for most of a carload of flour and eatables, but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span> +that car got billed wrong somehow, and now they’re +looking for her up and down the side-tracks of the Pacific +slope. Larry’s men will be getting savage. It is not +nice to be hungry when there’s forty degrees of frost.”</p> +<p>Torrance laughed softly. “You have fixed the thing +just as I would.”</p> +<p>Then his daughter stood up with a little flush in her +face. “You could not have meant that, father?” she +said.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Torrance, drily, “I quite think I did, but +there’s a good deal you can’t get the hang of, Hetty—and +it’s getting very late.”</p> +<p>He looked at his daughter steadily, and Flora Schuyler +looked at all of them, and remembered the picture—Torrance +sitting lean and sardonic with the lamplight on +his face, Clavering watching the girl with a curious little +smile, and Hetty standing very slim and straight, with +something in the poise of her shapely head that had its +meaning to Miss Schuyler. Then with a “Good-night” +to Torrance, and a half-ironical bend of the head to Clavering, +she turned to her companion, and they went out +together before he could open the door for them.</p> +<p>Five minutes later Hetty tapped at Miss Schuyler’s +door. The pink tinge still showed in her cheeks, and her +eyes had a suspicious brightness in them.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, “you’ll go back to New York right +off. I’m sorry I brought you here. This place isn’t fit +for you.”</p> +<p>“I am quite willing, so long as you are coming too.”</p> +<p>“I can’t. Isn’t that plain? This thing is getting horrible—but +I have to see it through. It was Clavering +fixed it, any way.”</p> +<p>“Put it away until to-morrow,” Flora Schuyler advised. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span> +“It will be easier to see whether you have any +cause to be angry then.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned towards her with a flash in her eyes. “I +know just what you mean, and it would be nicer just to +look as if I never felt anything, as some of those English +folks you were fond of did; but I can’t. I wasn’t made +that way. Still, I’m not going to apologize for my +father. He is Torrance of Cedar, and I’m standing in +with him—but if I were a man I’d go down and whip +Clavering. I could almost have shaken him when he +wanted to stay here and tried to make me ask him.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Flora Schuyler, quietly, “I am going +to stay with you; but I don’t quite see what Clavering has +done.”</p> +<p>“No?” said Hetty. “Aren’t you just a little stupid, +Flo? Now, he has made me ashamed—horribly—and I +was proud of the men we had in this country. He’s +starving the women and the little children; there are +quite a few of them lying in freezing shanties and sod-huts +out there in the snow. It’s just awful to be hungry +with the temperature at fifty below.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler shivered. It was very warm and cosy +sitting there, behind double casements, beside a glowing +stove; but there had been times when, wrapped in costly +furs and great sleigh-robes and generously fed, she had +felt her flesh shrink from the cold of the prairie.</p> +<p>“But they have Mr. Grant to help them,” she said.</p> +<p>Even in her agitation Hetty was struck by something +which suggested unquestioning faith in her companion’s +tone.</p> +<p>“You believe he could do something,” she said.</p> +<p>“Of course! You know him better than I do, Hetty.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hetty, “though he has made me vexed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span> +with him, I am proud of Larry; and there’s just one +thing he can’t do. That is, to see women and children +hungry while he has a dollar to buy them food with. Oh, +I know who was going to pay for the provisions that +came from Chicago that Clavering got the railroad men +to send the wrong way, and if Larry had only been with +us he would have been splendid. As it is, if he feeds +them in spite of Clavering, I could ’most forgive him +everything.”</p> +<p>“Are you quite sure that you have a great deal to +forgive?”</p> +<p>Hetty, instead of resenting the question, stretched out +her hand appealingly. “Don’t be clever, Flo. Come +here quite close, and be nice to me. This thing is worrying +me horribly; and I’m ashamed of myself and—of +everybody. Oh, I know I’m a failure. I couldn’t sing to +please folks and I sent Jake Cheyne away, while now, +when the trouble’s come, I’m too mean even to stand +behind my father as I meant to do. Flo, you’ll stay with +me. I want you.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler, who had not seen Hetty in this mood +before, petted her, though she said very little, for she felt +that the somewhat unusual abasement might, on the +whole, be beneficial to her companion. So there was +silence in the room, broken only by the snapping of the +stove and the faint moaning of the bitter wind about the +lonely building, while Miss Schuyler sat somewhat uncomfortably +on the arm of Hetty’s chair with the little +dusky head pressed against her shoulder. Hetty could +not see her face or its gravity might have astonished her. +Miss Schuyler had not spoken quite the truth when, +though she had only met him three times, she admitted +that Hetty knew Larry Grant better than she did. In +various places and different guises Flora Schuyler had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span> +seen the type of manhood he stood for, but had never +felt the same curious stirring of sympathy this grave, +brown-faced man had aroused in her.</p> +<p>A hound bayed savagely, and Hetty lifted her head. +“Strangers!” she said. “Bowie knows all the cattle-boys. +Who can be coming at this hour?”</p> +<p>The question was not unwarranted, for it was close on +midnight, but Flora Schuyler did not answer. She could +hear nothing but the moan of the wind, the ranch was +very still, until once more there came an angry growl. +Then, out of the icy darkness followed the sound of running +feet, a hoarse cry, and a loud pounding at the outer +door.</p> +<p>Hetty stood up, trembling and white in the face, but +very straight. “Don’t be frightened, Flo,” she said. +“We’ll whip them back to the place they came from.”</p> +<p>“Who is it?” asked Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>Again the building rang to the blows upon the +outer door; but Hetty’s voice was even, and a little +contemptuous.</p> +<p>“The rustlers!” she said.</p> +<p>There was a trampling below, and a corridor beneath +the girls vibrated with the footsteps of hurrying men, +while Torrance’s voice rose faintly through the din; a +very unpleasant silence, until somebody rapped upon the +door. Flora Schuyler felt her heart throbbing painfully, +and gasped when Torrance looked in. His lean face was +very stern.</p> +<p>“Put the lamp out, and sit well away from the window,” +he said.</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty in a voice Miss Schuyler had not +heard before; “we are coming down.”</p> +<p>Torrance considered for a second, and then smiled significantly +as he glanced at his daughter’s face. “Well, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span> +you would be ’most as safe down there—and I guess it +was born in you,” he said.</p> +<p>The girls followed him down the cedar stairway and +into the hall. A lamp burning very low stood on a table +in one corner, but the big room was dim and shadowy, +and the girls could scarcely see the five or six men standing +near, not in front of, one open window. Framed by +its log casing the white prairie faded into the dimness +under a smear of indigo sky. Here and there a star +shone in it with intense brilliancy, and though the great +stove roared in the draught it seemed to Miss Schuyler +that a destroying cold came in. Already she felt her +hands grow numb.</p> +<p>“Where are the boys, Hetty?” she asked.</p> +<p>“In at the railroad, most of them. One or two at +the back. Now, I’ll show you how to load a rifle, +Flo.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler followed her to the table, where several +rifles were lying beside a big box of cartridges, and Hetty +took one of them up.</p> +<p>“You push this slide back, and drop the cartridge in,” +she said. “Now it has gone into this pipe here, and you +drop in another. Get hold, and push them in until you +can’t get in any more. Why—it can’t hurt you—your +hands are shaking!”</p> +<p>There was a rattle, and the venomous, conical-headed +cartridge slipped from Miss Schuyler’s fingers. She had +never handled one before, and it seemed to her that a +horrible, evil potency was bound up in that insignificant +roll of metal. Then, while the rifle click-clacked in +Hetty’s hands, Torrance stood by the window holding up +a handkerchief. He called out sharply, and there was a +murmur of derision in the darkness outside.</p> +<p>“Come out!” said a hoarse voice. “We’ll give you a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span> +minute. Then you can have a sleigh to drive to perdition +in.”</p> +<p>The laughter that followed frightened Miss Schuyler +more than any threats would have done. It seemed +wholly horrible, and there was a hint in it of the fierce +exultation of men driven to desperation.</p> +<p>“That wouldn’t suit me,” said Torrance. “What do +you want here, any way?”</p> +<p>“Food,” somebody answered. “You wanted to starve +us, Torrance, and rode us out when we went chopping +stove wood in the bluff. Well, you don’t often miss +your supper at the Range, and there’s quite enough of it +to make a decent blaze. You haven’t much of that minute +left. Are you coming out?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Torrance briefly, and, dropping the handkerchief, +moved from the window.</p> +<p>The next moment there was a flash in the darkness, +and something came whirring into the room. The girls +could not see it, but they heard the thud it struck with +and saw a chip start from the cedar panelling. Then, +there was a rush of feet, and twice a red streak blazed +from the window. A man jerked a cartridge, which fell +with a rattle from his rifle, and a little blue smoke blew +across the room. Flora Schuyler shivered as the acrid +fumes of it drifted about her, but Hetty stood very +straight, with one hand on the rim of the table.</p> +<p>“Got nobody, and they’re into the shadow now,” said +a man disgustedly, and Flora Schuyler, seeing his face, +which showed a moment fierce and brutish as he turned, +felt that she could not forget it, and most illogically +hated him.</p> +<p>For almost a minute there was silence. Nobody +moved in the big room, where the shadows wavered as +the faint flickering lamplight rose and fell, and there was +no sound but the doleful wail of the night wind from the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span> +prairie. It was broken by a dull crash that was repeated +a moment later, and the men looked at one another.</p> +<p>“They’ve brought their axes along,” said somebody. +“If there’s any of the Michigan boys around they’ll drive +that door in.”</p> +<p>“Watch it, two of you,” said Torrance. “Jake, can’t +you get a shot at them?”</p> +<p>A man crouched by the open window, which was some +little height from the ground, his arms upon the sill, and +his head showing against the darkness just above them. +He was, it seemed to Miss Schuyler, horribly deliberate, +and she held her breath while she watched, as if fascinated, +the long barrel move a little. Then its muzzle +tilted suddenly, a train of red sparks blew out, and something +that hummed through the smoke struck the wall. +The man dropped below the sill, and called hoarsely +through the crash of the falling axes.</p> +<p>“Got the pillar instead of him. There’s a streak of +light behind me. Well, I’ll try for him again.”</p> +<p>Hetty emptied the box of cartridges, and, with hands +that did not seem to tremble, stood it up before the lamp. +Once more the man crouched by the window, a blurred, +huddled object with head down on the rifle stock, and +there was another streak of flame. Then, the thud of +the axes suddenly ceased, and he laughed a little discordant +laugh.</p> +<p>“Got him this time. The other one’s lit out,” he said.</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler shuddered, and clutched at the table, +while, though Hetty was very still, she fancied she heard +a stifled gasp. The silence was even more disconcerting +than the pounding of the axes or the crash of the firing. +Flora Schuyler could see the shadowy figures about the +window, and just distinguish some of them. The one +standing close in front of it, as though disdainful of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span> +risk he ran, was Torrance; the other, who now and then +moved lithely, and once rested a rifle on the sill, was +Clavering; another, the man who had fired the last shot; +but the rest were blurred, formless objects, a little +darker than the cedar panelling. Now and then the +streak of radiance widened behind the box, and the cold +grew numbing as the icy wind flowed in.</p> +<p>Suddenly a voice rose up outside. “You can’t keep +us out, Torrance. We’re bound to get in; but I’ll try to +hold the boys now if you’ll let us have our wounded man, +and light out quietly.”</p> +<p>Torrance laughed. “You are not making much of a +show, and I’m quite ready to do the best I can,” he said. +“If there’s any life in him we want your man for the +Sheriff.”</p> +<p>Then he turned to the others. “I was ’most forgetting +the fellow outside there. We’ll hold them off +from the window while you bring him in.”</p> +<p>It appeared horribly risky, but Torrance spoke with a +curious unconcernedness, and Clavering laughed as, signing +to two men, he prepared to do his bidding. There +was a creaking and rattling, and the great door at one +end of the hall swung open, and Flora Schuyler, staring +at the darkness, expected to see a rush of shadowy figures +out of it. But she saw only the blurred outline of two +men who stooped and dragged something in, and then +the door swung to again.</p> +<p>They lifted their burden higher. Torrance, approaching +the table, took up the lamp, and Miss Schuyler had +a passing glimpse of a hanging head and a drawn grey +face as they tramped past her heavily. She opened her +blue lips and closed them again, for she was dazed with +cold, and the cry that would have been a relief to her +never came. It was several minutes later when Torrance’s +voice rose from by the stove. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span></p> +<p>“We’ll leave him here in the meanwhile, where he +can’t freeze,” he said. “Shot right through the shoulder, +but there’s no great bleeding. The cold would +stop it.”</p> +<p>Hetty was at her father’s side the next moment. +“Flo,” she said, “we have to do something now.”</p> +<p>Torrance waved them back. “The longer that man +stops as he is, the better chances he’s going to have.” He +glanced towards the window. “Boys, can you see what +they’re doing now?”</p> +<p>“Hauling out prairie hay,” said Clavering. “They’ve +broken into the store, and from what one fellow shouted +they’ve found the kerosene.”</p> +<p>Torrance said nothing whatever, and his silence was +significant. Listening with strained attention, Flora +Schuyler could hear a faint hum of voices, and now and +then vague sounds amidst a patter of hurrying steps. +They told her very little, but the tension in the attitude +of the half-seen men had its meaning. It was evident +that their assailants purposed to burn them out.</p> +<p>Ten minutes passed, as it were interminably, and still +nobody moved. The voices had grown a little louder, +and there was a rattle as though men unseen behind the +buildings were dragging up a wagon. Suddenly a +rhythmic drumming came softly through it, and Clavering +glanced at Torrance.</p> +<p>“Somebody riding this way at a gallop,” he said.</p> +<p>The beat of hoofs grew louder. The men without +seemed to be running to and fro, and shouting to one +another, while those in the hall clustered about the window, +reckless of the risk they ran. Standing a little +behind them Hetty saw a dim mounted figure sweep out +of the waste of snow, and a hoarse shout went up. +“Hold on! Throw down that rifle! It’s Larry Grant.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XIV_TORRANCE_S_WARNING' id='XIV_TORRANCE_S_WARNING'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span> +<h2>XIV</h2> +<h3>TORRANCE’S WARNING</h3> +</div> + +<p>In another moment the horseman pulled up, and sat +motionless in his saddle with his head turned towards the +house. Hetty could see him silhouetted, shapeless and +shadowy in his big fur-coat, against the whiteness of the +snow, and the relief she felt betrayed itself in her voice +as she turned to Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>“Yes,” she said, “it’s Larry. There will be no more +trouble now.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler laughed a little breathless laugh, for +though she also felt the confidence her companion evinced, +the strain had told on her.</p> +<p>“Of course,” she said, “he knew you wanted him. +There are men like that.”</p> +<p>It was a simple tribute, but Hetty thrilled with pride. +Larry was at least consistent, and now, as it had been in +the days both looked back upon, he had come when she +needed him. She also recognized even then that the +fact that he is generally to be found where he is wanted +implies a good deal in the favour of any man.</p> +<p>And now half-seen objects moved out from behind barn +and stable, and the horseman turned towards them. His +voice rose sharply and commandingly.</p> +<p>“What are you doing here?” he demanded.</p> +<p>There was no answer for several moments, and then +a man stepped forward gesticulating fiercely as he commenced +a tirade that was less than half intelligible. Larry +checked him with a lifted hand. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span></p> +<p>“There’s a good deal of that I can’t quite understand, +and the rest doesn’t seem to fit this case,” he said, with a +laugh that had more effect upon some of those who heard +it than a flow of eloquence would have had. “Boys, we +have no use for worrying about the meanness of European +kings and folks of that kind. If you have brought +any along I’d sooner listen to sensible Americans.”</p> +<p>Another man stepped forward, and there was no doubt +about his accent, though his tone was deprecatory.</p> +<p>“Well, it just comes to this,” he said. “Torrance and +the cattle-men have done their best to starve us and +freeze us out, and, since he has made it plain that there’s +no room for both of us, somebody has got to go. Now, +we have come a long way and we mean to stay. We’re +not looking for trouble, but we want our rights.”</p> +<p>There was a murmur of encouragement from the rest, +but again Larry’s laugh had its effect. “Then you’re +taking a kind of curious way of getting them,” he said. +“I don’t know that trying to burn folks’ houses ever did +anybody much good, and it’s quite likely to bring a regiment +of United States cavalry down on you. Mr. Torrance, +I fancied I heard firing. Have you anybody hurt +inside?”</p> +<p>“One of your men,” said Torrance drily. “We hope +to pull him round, and let the Sheriff have him.”</p> +<p>It was not a conciliatory answer, and came near undoing +what Grant had accomplished; but the grim old cattle-baron +was not the man to propitiate an enemy. A +murmur followed it, and somebody said, “Boys, you +hear him! Bring along that wagon. We’re going in.”</p> +<p>The form of speech was Western, but the voice was +guttural, and when there was a rattle of wheels Grant +suddenly changed his tone.</p> +<p>“Stop right there,” he said. “Throw every truss of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span> +hay down. The man who holds off when I tell him what +to do is going to have trouble with the executive.”</p> +<p>It was a bold venture, and any sign of effort or unevenness +of inflection would have rendered it futile, but the +voice was sharp and ringing, and the fashion in which +the horseman flung up his arm commanding. It was, +also, tactful, for some of those who heard it had been +drilled into unreflecting obedience, and there is in the +native American the respect for a duly accredited leader, +which discipline has further impressed upon the Teuton. +Still, those who watched from the window felt that this +was the crisis, and tightened their numbed fingers on the +rifles, knowing that if the horseman failed they would +shortly need them again. None of them, however, made +any other movement, and Miss Schuyler, who, grasping +Hetty’s hand, saw the dim figures standing rigid and +intent, could only hear the snapping of the stove.</p> +<p>“Hetty,” she gasped, “I shall do something silly in +another moment.”</p> +<p>The tension only lasted a moment or two. A man +sprang up on the pole of the wagon, and a truss of hay +went down. Another followed, and then, men who had +also felt the strain and now felt it a relief to do anything, +clustered about the wagon. In a few minutes it was +empty, and the men who had been a mob turned to the +one who had changed them into an organized body.</p> +<p>“What do you want now?” asked one of them.</p> +<p>“Run that wagon back where you got it from,” said +Larry.</p> +<p>It was done, and when the clustering figures vanished +amidst a rattle of wheels Torrance laid aside his rifle and +sat down on the table.</p> +<p>“I guess there’ll be no more trouble, boys. That’s a +thing there’s not many men could have done,” he added. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span></p> +<p>His daughter also sat down in the nearest chair, with +Flora Schuyler’s hand still within her own. She had +been very still while the suspense lasted, but she was +trembling now, and her voice had a little quiver in it as +she said, “Wasn’t he splendid, Flo?”</p> +<p>It was some minutes before Grant and the other men +came back again, and fragments of what he said were +audible. “Then, you can pick out four men, and we’ll +hear them at the committee. I have two or three questions +to ask you by and by. Half a dozen of you keep +a look-out. The rest can get into the stable out of the +frost.”</p> +<p>The men dispersed, and Grant turned towards the +house. “I don’t think you need have any further anxiety, +and you can shut that window if you want to, Mr. +Torrance.”</p> +<p>Torrance laughed. “I don’t know that I’ve shown +any yet.”</p> +<p>“I hope you haven’t felt it,” said Grant. “It is cold +out here, and I’m willing to come in and talk to you.”</p> +<p>Somebody had moved the box away from the lamp, +and Clavering’s face showed up against the wavering +shadow as he turned towards his leader. Flora Schuyler +saw a little unpleasant smile on his lips as he pointed suggestively +to the men with rifles he had sent towards the +door.</p> +<p>“That would suit us, sir,” he said.</p> +<p>Torrance understood him, for he shook his head +impatiently. “It wouldn’t pay. There would be too +many of his friends wondering what had become of him. +Get the door open and tell him to come in. Light the +big lamps, somebody.”</p> +<p>The door was opened, and, as if in confirmation of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span> +Torrance’s warning, a voice rose up outside. “We have +let him go, but if you try any meanness, or he isn’t ready +when we want him, we’ll pull the place down,” it said.</p> +<p>Larry walked out of the darkness into the blaze of +light, and only smiled a little when the great door swung +to behind him and somebody brought the window banging +down. Two men with rifles stepped between him +and the former; but if Torrance had intended to impress +him, he had apparently failed, for he moved forward +with quiet confidence. The fur cap he held in his hand +was white, and the great fur coat stood out from his +body stiff with frost, while Hetty winced when she saw +the pallor of his face. It was evident that it was not +without a strenuous effort he had made the mob subservient +to him.</p> +<p>But his eyes were grave and steady, in spite of the +weariness in them, and as he passed the girls he made a +little formal inclination with his head. He stopped in +front of Torrance, who rose from his seat on the table, +and for a moment the two men looked at one another. +Both stood very straight, one lean, and dark, and commanding, +with half-contemptuous anger in his black eyes; +the other of heavier frame and brown of skin and hair +save where what he had done had left its stamp of pallor. +Yet, different as they were in complexion and feature, +it seemed to Miss Schuyler, who watched them intently, +that there was a curious, indefinite resemblance between +them. They were of the same stock and equally resolute, +each ready, it seemed, to stake all he had on what he held +the right.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler, who had trained her observation, also +read what they felt in their faces, and saw in that of +Torrance grudging approval tempered by scorn of the +man who had trampled on the traditions of those he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span> +sprang from. She fancied that Larry recognized this +and that it stung him, though he would not show that it +did, and his attitude pleased her most. It was unyielding, +but there was a deference that became him in it.</p> +<p>“I am sorry I did not arrive soon enough to save you +this inconvenience, sir,” he said.</p> +<p>Torrance smiled grimly, and there was a hardness in +his voice. “You have been here a good many times, +Larry, and we did our best for you. None of us fancied +that you would repay us by coming back with a mob of +rabble to pull the place down.”</p> +<p>Grant winced perceptibly. “Nobody is more sorry +than I am, sir.”</p> +<p>“Aren’t you a trifle late?”</p> +<p>“I came as soon as I got word.”</p> +<p>Torrance made a little gesture of impatience. “That’s +not what I mean. There is very little use in being sorry +now. Before the other fools you joined started there +talking there was quietness and prosperity in this country. +The men who had made it what it is got all, but +nothing more than they were entitled to, and one could +enjoy what he had worked for and sleep at night. This +was not good enough for you—and this is what you +have made of it.”</p> +<p>He stretched out his arm with a forceful gesture, +pointing to the men with rifles, the two white-faced girls, +and the splinters on the wall, then dropped his hand, and +Larry’s eyes rested on the huddled figure lying by the +stove. He moved towards it, and bent down without a +word, and it was at least five minutes before he came +back again, his face dark and stern.</p> +<p>“You have done nothing for him?” he said.</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_5' id='linki_5'></a> +<img src='images/cbd-160.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 369px; height: 551px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 369px;'> +“AREN’T YOU A TRIFLE LATE?”—<i>Page 160.</i><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span></div> +<p>“No,” said Torrance, “we have not. I guess nature +knows what’s best for him, and I didn’t see anything to +be gained by rousing him with brandy to start the +bleeding.”</p> +<p>“Well, first of all, I want that man.”</p> +<p>“You can have him. We had meant him for the +Sheriff, but what you did just now lays me in your debt, +and I would not like to feel I owed you anything.”</p> +<p>Grant made a little gesture. “I don’t think I have +quite deserved that, sir. I owe you a good deal, and it +makes what I have to do harder still. Can’t you remember +that there was a time when you were kind to me?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Torrance drily. “I don’t want to be reminded +when I have done foolish things. I tried to warn +you, but you would not listen to me, that the trail you +have started on will take you a good deal farther than +you meant to go. If you have anything to tell me, I would +sooner talk business. Are you going to bring your +friends round here at night again?”</p> +<p>“They came without me, and, if I can help it, will not +come back. This thing will be gone into, and the leaders +punished by our committee. Now, are you willing to +stop the intimidation of the storekeepers, which has +brought about this trouble, and let us get provisions in +the town? I can offer you something in exchange.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Torrance. “Do what suits you best. I +can make no terms with you. If it hadn’t been for my +foolishness in sending the boys off with the cattle, very +few of your friends would have got away from Cedar +Range to-night.”</p> +<p>“I’ll take my man away. I can thank you for that at +least,” was Grant’s answer.</p> +<p>He moved to the door and opened it, and three men +came in. They did his bidding, and all made way for +them when they tramped out unsteadily with their burden. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span> +Then, he turned once more to Torrance with his +fur cap in his hand.</p> +<p>“I am going now, sir, and it is hard to tell what may +happen before we meet again. We have each got a difficult +row to hoe, and I want to leave you on the best terms +I can.”</p> +<p>Torrance looked at him steadily, and Grant returned +it with a curious gravity, though there were fearless +cattle-men at Cedar Range who did not care to meet its +owner’s gaze when he regarded them in that fashion. +With a just perceptible gesture he directed the younger +man’s attention to the red splashes on the floor.</p> +<p>“That alone,” he said quietly, “would stand between +you and me. We made this land rich and peaceful, but +that did not please you and the rest, who had not sense +to see that while human nature’s what it is, there’s no +use worrying about what you can’t have when you have +got enough. You went round sowing trouble, and by and +by you’ll have to reap it. You brought in the rabble, +and were going to lead them, and make them farmers; +but now they will lead you where you don’t want to go, +and when you have given them all you have, turn and +trample on you. With the help of the men who are going +back on their own kind, they may get us down, but when +that time comes there will not be a head of cattle left, or +a dollar in the treasury.”</p> +<p>“I can only hope you are mistaken, sir,” said Grant.</p> +<p>“I have lived quite a long while, but I have never seen +the rabble keep faith with anyone longer than it suited +them,” the older man said. “Any way, that is not the +question. You will be handed to the Sheriff if you come +here again. I have nothing more to tell you, and this is, +I hope, the last time I shall ever speak to you.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler watched Grant closely, but though his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span> +face was drawn and set, she saw only a respect, which, +if it was assumed, still became him in his bearing as he +turned away. As he passed the girls he bent his head, +and Hetty, whose cheeks were flushed, rose with a formal +bow, though her eyes shone suspiciously, but Flora +Schuyler stepped forward and held out her hand.</p> +<p>“Mr. Torrance can’t object to two women thanking +you for what you have done; and if he does, I don’t +greatly mind,” she said.</p> +<p>Torrance only smiled, but the warm bronze seemed to +have returned to Larry’s face as he passed on. Flora +Schuyler had thanked him, but he had seen what was +worth far more to him in Hetty’s eyes, and knew that it +was only loyalty to one who had the stronger claim that +held her still. After the door closed behind him there +was once more a curious stillness in the hall until Torrance +went out with his retainers. A little later Clavering +found the girls in another room.</p> +<p>“You seem quite impressed, Miss Schuyler,” he said.</p> +<p>“I am,” said Flora Schuyler. “I have seen a man +who commands one’s approbation—and an American.”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “Then, they’re not always quite +the same thing?”</p> +<p>“No,” Flora Schuyler said coldly. “That was one of +the pleasant fancies I had to give up a long time ago.”</p> +<p>“I would like a definition of the perfected American,” +said Clavering.</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler yawned. “Can’t you tell him, Hetty? +I once heard you talk quite eloquently on that subject.”</p> +<p>“I’ll try,” said Hetty. “It’s the man who wants to +give his country something, and not get the most he can +out of it. The one who goes round planting seeds that +will grow and bear fruit, even if it is long after he is +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span> +there to eat it. No country has much use for the man +who only wants to reap.”</p> +<p>Clavering assented, but there was a sardonic gleam in +his eyes. “Well,” he said reflectively, “there was once +a man who planted dragon’s teeth, and you know what +kind of crop they yielded him.”</p> +<p>“He knew what he was doing,” said Flora Schuyler. +“The trouble is that now few men know a dragon’s tooth +when they see it.”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “Then the ones who don’t should +be stopped right off when they go round planting anything.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XV_HETTY_S_BOUNTY' id='XV_HETTY_S_BOUNTY'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span> +<h2>XV</h2> +<h3>HETTY’S BOUNTY</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was a clear, cold afternoon, and Hetty, driving back +from Allonby’s ranch, sent the team at a gallop down +the dip to the Cedar Bridge. The beaten trail rang beneath +the steel shoes of the rocking sleigh, the birches +streamed up blurred together out of the hollow, and +Flora Schuyler felt the wind sting her cheeks like the lash +of a whip. The coldness of it dimmed her eyes, and she +had only a hazy and somewhat disconcerting vision of a +streak of snow that rolled back to the horses’ feet amidst +the whirling trees. It was wonderfully exhilarating—the +rush of the lurching sleigh, the hammering of the +hoofs, and the scream of the wind—but Miss Schuyler +realized that it was also unpleasantly risky as she remembered +the difficult turn before one came to the bridge.</p> +<p>She decided, however, that there was nothing to be +gained by pointing this out to her companion, for Hetty, +who sat swaying a little in the driving seat, had been in a +somewhat curious mood since the attack on Cedar Range, +and unusually impatient of advice or remonstrance. Indeed, +Flora Schuyler fancied that it was the restlessness +she had manifested once or twice of late which impelled +her to hurl the sleigh down into the hollow at that reckless +pace. So she said nothing, until the streak of snow broke +off close ahead, and there were only trees in front of them. +Then, a wild lurch cut short the protest she made, and +she gasped as they swung round the bend and flashed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span> +across the bridge. The trail, however, led steeply upwards +now, and Hetty, laughing, dropped the reins upon +the plodding horses’ necks.</p> +<p>“Didn’t that remind you of the Chicago Limited?” +she said.</p> +<p>“I was wondering,” said Miss Schuyler breathlessly, +“if you had any reason for trying to break your neck.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hetty, with a twinkle in her eyes, “I +felt I had to do something a little out of the usual, and +it was really safe enough. Everybody feels that way +now and then, and I couldn’t well work it off by quarrelling +with you, or going out and talking to the boys +as my father does. I don’t know a better cure than a +gallop or a switchback in a sleigh.”</p> +<p>“Some folks find it almost as soothing to tell their +friends what is worrying them, and I scarcely think it’s +more risky,” said Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>Hetty’s face became grave. “Well,” she said, “one +can talk to you, and I have been worried, Flo. I know +that it is quite foolish, but I can’t help it. I came back to +see my father through the trouble, and I’m going to; +but while I know that he’s ever so much wiser than I +am, some of the things he has to do hurt me. It’s our +land, and we’re going to keep it; but it’s not nice to +think of the little children starving in the snow.”</p> +<p>This, Miss Schuyler decided, was perfectly correct, so +far as it went; but she also felt tolerably certain that, +while it was commendable, Hetty’s loyalty to her father +would be strenuously tested, and did not alone account +for her restlessness.</p> +<p>“And there was nothing else?” she said.</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty, a little too decisively. “Of course! +Any way, now I have told you we are not going to worry +about these things to-day, and I drove fast partly because +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span> +the trail is narrow, and one generally meets somebody +here. Did it ever strike you, Flo, that if there’s anyone +you know in a country that has a bridge in it, you will, +if you cross it often enough, meet him there?”</p> +<p>“No,” and Miss Schuyler smiled satirically, “it didn’t, +though one would fancy it was quite likely. I, however, +remember that we met Larry here not very long ago. +That Canadian blanket suit shows you off quite nicely, +Hetty. It is especially adapted to your kind of figure.”</p> +<p>Hetty flicked the horses, then pulled them up again, +and Miss Schuyler laughed as a sleigh with two men in +it swung out from beneath the trees in front of them.</p> +<p>“This is, of course, a coincidence,” she said.</p> +<p>Hetty coloured. “Don’t be foolish, Flo,” she said. +“How could I know he was coming?”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler did not answer, and Hetty was edging +her horses to the side of the trail, in which two sleighs +could scarcely pass, when a shout came down.</p> +<p>“Wait. We’ll pull up and lead our team round.”</p> +<p>In another minute Grant stepped out of his sleigh, and +would have passed if Hetty had not stopped him. She +sat higher than her companion, and probably knew that +the Canadian blanket costume, with its scarlet trimmings, +became her slender figure. The crimson toque also went +well with the clustering dark hair and dark eyes, and +there was a brightness in the latter which was in keeping +with the colour the cold wind had brought into the delicate +oval face. The man glanced at her a moment, and +then apparently found that a trace required his attention.</p> +<p>“I am glad we met you, Larry,” said the girl. “Flo +thanked you the night you came to Cedar, and I wanted +to, but, while you know why I couldn’t, I would not like +you to think it was very unkind of me. Whatever my +father does is right, you see.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span></p> +<p>“Of course,” said Grant gravely. “You have to believe +it, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s eyes twinkled. “That was very nice of you. +Then you must be wrong.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant, with a merry laugh, “it is quite +likely that I am now and then. One can only do the +best he can, and to be right all the time is a little too +much to expect from any man.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler, who was talking to Breckenridge, +turned and smiled, and Hetty said, “Then, that makes +it a little easier for me to admit that the folks I belong to +go just a little too far occasionally. Larry, I hate to +think of the little children going hungry. Are there many +of them?”</p> +<p>Grant’s face darkened for a moment. “I’m afraid +there are quite a few—and sick ones, too, lying with +about half enough to cover them in sod-hovels.”</p> +<p>Hetty shuddered and her eyes grew pitiful, for since +the grim early days hunger and want had been unknown +in the cattle country. “If I want to do something for +them it can’t be very wrong,” she said. “Larry, you will +take a roll of bills from me, and buy them whatever will +make it a little less hard for them?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Grant quietly, “I can’t, Hetty. Your +father gives you that money, and we have our own relief +machinery.”</p> +<p>The girl laid her hand upon his arm appealingly. “I +have a little my mother left me, and it was hers before +she married my father. Can’t you understand? I am +with my father, and would not lift my finger to help you +and the homestead-boys against him, but it couldn’t do +anybody any harm if I sent a few things to hungry children. +You have just got to take those dollars, Larry.”</p> +<p>“Then I dare not refuse,” said Grant, after thinking +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span> +a moment. “They need more than we can give them. +But you can’t send me the dollars.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty, “and I have none with me now. +But if a responsible man came to the bluff to-morrow +night at eight o’clock, my maid could slip down with the +wallet—you must not come. It would be too dangerous. +My father, and one or two of the rest, are very bitter +against you.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant, smiling gravely, “a responsible +man will be there. There are folks who will bless you, +Hetty.”</p> +<p>“You must never tell them, or anybody,” the girl +insisted.</p> +<p>Grant said nothing further, and led his team past; but +Hetty noticed the shadow in his bronzed face and the +wistfulness in his eyes. Then, she shook the reins, and +as the horses plodded up the slope Miss Schuyler fancied +that she sighed.</p> +<p>In the meanwhile Grant got into his sleigh, and Breckenridge, +who had been vanquished by Miss Schuyler in +an exchange of badinage, found him somewhat silent +during the journey to Fremont ranch. He retired to +rest soon after they reached it, and set out again before +daylight the next morning, and it was late at night when +he came back very weary, with his garments stiff with +frost. The great bare room where Breckenridge awaited +him was filled with a fusty heat, and as he came in, partly +dazed by the change of temperature, Grant did not see +the other man who sat amidst the tobacco-smoke beside +the glowing stove. He sank into a hide chair limply, +and when Breckenridge glanced at him inquiringly, with +numbed fingers dragged a wallet out of his pocket.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said, “I got the dollars. I don’t know that +it was quite the square thing, but with Harper’s wife +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span> +and the Dutchman’s children ’most starving in the hollow, +I felt I had to take them.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge made a little warning gesture, and the +man behind the stove, reaching forward, picked up a +packet that had dropped unnoticed by the rest when +Grant took out the wallet.</p> +<p>“You seem kind of played out, Larry, and I guess +you didn’t know you dropped the thing,” he said.</p> +<p>Grant blinked at him; for a man who has driven for +many hours in the cold of the Northwest is apt to +suffer from unpleasant and somewhat bewildering sensations +when his numbed brain and body first throw off the +effect of the frost.</p> +<p>“No,” he said unevenly. “Let me alone a minute. I +didn’t see you.”</p> +<p>The man, who was one of the homesteaders’ leaders +in another vicinity, sat still with the packet in his hand +until, perhaps without any intention of reading it, his +eyes rested on the address. Then he sat upright suddenly +and stared at Grant.</p> +<p>“Do you know what you have got here, Larry?” he +asked.</p> +<p>Grant stretched out his hand and took the packet, then +laid it upon the table with the address downwards.</p> +<p>“It’s something that dropped out of the wallet,” he +said.</p> +<p>The other man laughed a little, but his face was intent. +“Oh, yes, that’s quite plain; but if I know the writing it’s +a letter with something in it from Torrance to the Sheriff. +There’s no mistaking the way he makes the ‘g.’ Turn +it over and I’ll show you.”</p> +<p>Grant laid a brown hand on the packet. “No. Do +you generally look at letters that don’t belong to you, +Chilton?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span></p> +<p>Breckenridge saw that Grant was recovering, and that +the contemptuous manner of his question was intentional, +and guessed that his comrade had intended to +sting the other man to resentment, and so lead him from +the point at issue. Chilton coloured, but he persisted.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “I guess that one belongs to the +committee. I didn’t mean to look at the thing, but, now +I’m sure of it, I have to do what I can for the boys who +made me their executive. I don’t ask you how you got +it, Larry.”</p> +<p>“I got it by accident.”</p> +<p>Chilton looked astonished, and almost incredulous. +“Well, we needn’t worry over that. The question is, +what you’re going to do with it?”</p> +<p>“I’m going to send it back.”</p> +<p>Chilton made a gesture of impatience. “That’s what +you can’t do. As we know, the cattle-men had a committee +at Cedar a day or two ago, and now here’s a packet +stuffed with something going to the Sheriff. Doesn’t it +strike you yet that it’s quite likely there’s a roll of dollar +bills and a letter telling him what he has to do inside it?”</p> +<p>“Well?” said Grant, seeing that he must face the +issue sooner or later.</p> +<p>“We don’t want their dollars, but that letter’s worth +a pile of them to us. We could get it printed by a paper +farther east, with an article on it that would raise a howl +from everybody. There are one or two of them quite +ready for a chance of getting a slap at the legislature, +while there’s more than one man who would be glad to +hawk it round the lobbies. Then his friends would have +no more use for the Sheriff, and we might even get a +commission sent down to straighten things up for us.”</p> +<p>“The trouble is that we can’t make any use of it,” +said Grant. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span></p> +<p>“No?” said Chilton, and the men looked at each other +steadily.</p> +<p>“No,” repeated Grant. “It wasn’t meant that I should +get it, and I’m going to send it back.”</p> +<p>“Then, while I don’t want to make trouble, I’ll have +to mention the thing to my committee.”</p> +<p>“You’ll do just what you believe is right. Any way, +we’ll have supper now. It will be ready.”</p> +<p>Chilton stood still a moment. “You are quite straight +with us in this?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Grant, “but I’m not going to give you +that letter. Are you coming in to supper? It really +wouldn’t commit you to anything.”</p> +<p>“I am,” said Chilton simply. “I have known you +quite a long while, and your assurance is good enough +for me; but you would have found it difficult to make +other folks believe you.”</p> +<p>They sat down at table, and Larry smiled as he said, +“It’s the first time I have seen your scruples spoil your +appetite, Chilton, but I had a notion that you were not +quite sure about taking any supper from me.”</p> +<p>“Well,” laughed Chilton, “that just shows how foolish +a man can be, because the supper’s already right here +inside me. When I came in Breckenridge got it for me. +Still, I have driven a long way, and I can worry through +another.”</p> +<p>He made a very creditable attempt, and when he had +been shown to his room Grant glanced at Breckenridge.</p> +<p>“You know how I got the letter?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Breckenridge. “Miss Torrance must +have inadvertently slipped it into the wallet. You +couldn’t have done anything else, Larry; but the affair +is delicate and will want some handling. How are you +going to get the packet back?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span></p> +<p>“Take it myself,” Grant said quietly.</p> +<p>It was ten o’clock the next night, and Hetty Torrance +and Miss Schuyler sat talking in their little sitting-room. +Torrance was away, but his married foreman, who had +seen service in New Mexico, and his wife, slept in the +house, and Cedar Range was strongly guarded. Now +and then, the bitter wind set the door rattling, and there +was a snapping in the stove; but when the gusts passed +the ranch seemed very still, and Miss Schuyler could hear +the light tread of the armed cow-boy who, perhaps to +keep himself warm, paced up and down the hall below. +There was another at a window in the corridor, and one +or two more on guard in the stores and stables.</p> +<p>“Wasn’t Chris Allonby to have come over to-day?” +asked Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty. “I’m sorry he didn’t. I have a +letter for the Sheriff to give him, and wanted to get rid +of the thing. It is important, and I fancy, from what +my father told me, if any of the homestead-boys got it +they could make trouble for us. Chris is to ride in with +it and hand it to the Sheriff.”</p> +<p>“I wouldn’t like a letter of that kind lying round,” +said Miss Schuyler. “Where did you put it, Hetty?”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “Where nobody would ever find it—under +some clothes of mine. Talking about it makes +one uneasy. Pull out the second drawer in the bureau, +Flo.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler did so, and Hetty turned over a bundle +of daintily embroidered linen. Then, her face grew very +grave, she laid each article back again separately.</p> +<p>“Nothing there!” said Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>Hetty’s fingers quivered. “Pull the drawer out, Flo. +No. Never mind anything. Shake them out on the +floor.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span></p> +<p>It was done, and a litter of garments lay scattered +about them, but no packet appeared, and Hetty sat down +limply, very white in the face.</p> +<p>“It was there,” she said, “by the wallet with the dollars. +It must have got inside somehow, and I sent the +wallet to Larry. This is horrible, Flo.”</p> +<p>“Think!” said Miss Schuyler. “You couldn’t have +put it anywhere else?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty faintly. “If the wrong people got +it, it would turn out the Sheriff and make an outcry +everywhere. That is what I was told, though I don’t +know what it was about.”</p> +<p>“Still, you know it would be safe with Mr. Grant.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty. “Larry never did anything mean +in his life. But you don’t understand, Flo. He didn’t +know it was there, and it might have dropped out on the +prairie, while, even if he found it, how is he going to get +it back to me? The boys would fire on him if he came +here.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler looked frightened. “You will have +to tell your father, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty trembled a little. “It is going to be the hardest +thing I ever did. He is just dreadful in his quietness +when he is angry—and I would have to tell him I had +been meeting Larry and sending him dollars. You know +what he would fancy.”</p> +<p>It was evident that Hetty was very much afraid of her +father, and as clear to Miss Schuyler that the latter would +have some cause for unpleasant suspicions. Then, the +girl turned to her companion appealingly.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, “tell me what to do. The thing +frightens me.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler slipped an arm about her. “Wait,” +she said. “Your father will not be here until noon +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span> +to-morrow, and that letter is in the hands of a very honest +man. I think you can trust him to get it back to you.”</p> +<p>“But he couldn’t send anybody without giving me +away, and he knows it might cost him his liberty to come +here,” said Hetty.</p> +<p>“I scarcely fancy that would stop him.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned, and looked at her friend curiously. +“Flo, I wonder how it would have suited if Larry had +been fond of you.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler did not wince; but the smile that was +on her lips was absent from her eyes. “You once told +me I should have him. Are you quite sure you would +like to hand him over now?”</p> +<p>Hetty did not answer the question; instead, she blushed +furiously. “We are talking nonsense—and I don’t know +how I can face my father to-morrow,” she said.</p> +<p>It was at least an hour later, and the cow-boy below +had ceased his pacing, when Hetty, who felt no inclination +for sleep, fancied she heard a tapping at the window. +She sprang suddenly upright, and saw apprehension in +Miss Schuyler’s face. The cow-boys were some distance +away, and a little verandah ran round that side of the +house just below the window. Flora Schuyler had sufficient +courage; but it was not of the kind which appears +to advantage in the face of bodily peril, and the colour +faded in her cheeks. It was quite certain now that somebody +was tapping at or trying to open the window.</p> +<p>“Shake yourself together, Flo,” said Hetty, in a hoarse +whisper. “When I tell you, turn the lamp down and +open the door. I am going to see who is there.”</p> +<p>The next moment she had opened a drawer of the +bureau, while as she stepped forward with something +glinting in her hand, Flora Schuyler, who heard a whispered +word, turned the lamp right out in her confusion, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span> +and, because she dared not stand still, crept after her +companion. With a swift motion, Hetty drew the window-curtains +back, and Miss Schuyler gasped. The stars +were shining outside, and the dark figure of a man was +silhouetted against the blue clearness of the night.</p> +<p>“Come back,” she cried. “Oh, he’s coming in. +Hetty, I must scream.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s fingers closed upon her arm with a cruel grip. +“Stop,” she said. “If you do, they’ll shoot him. Don’t +be a fool, Flo.”</p> +<p>It was too dark to see clearly, but Flora Schuyler +realized with a painful fluttering of her heart and a great +relief whose the white face outside the window must be.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XVI_LARRY_SOLVES_THE_DIFFICULTY' id='XVI_LARRY_SOLVES_THE_DIFFICULTY'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span> +<h2>XVI</h2> +<h3>LARRY SOLVES THE DIFFICULTY</h3> +</div> + +<p>For the space of several seconds the girls stood staring +at the figure outside the window. Then, the man turned +sharply, and Hetty gasped as she heard the crunch of +footsteps in the snow below. There was a little of it on +the verandah, and the stars shone brilliantly.</p> +<p>“Catch hold of the frame here, Flo,” she said breathlessly. +“Now, push with all your might.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler did as she was bidden. The double +sashes moved with a sharp creaking, and while she +shivered as the arctic cold struck through her, Hetty +stretched out an arm and drew the man in. Then with +a tremendous effort she shut the window and pulled the +curtains together. There was darkness in the room now, +and one of the cow-boys called out below.</p> +<p>“Hear anything, Jake?”</p> +<p>“Somebody shutting a door in the house there,” said +another man, and Hetty, passing between the curtains, +could see two figures move across the snow, and the +little scintillation from something that was carried by +one of them, and she realized that they had very narrowly +averted a tragedy.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, with a little quiver in her voice, +“light the lamp quick. If they see the room dark they +might come up.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler was unusually clumsy, but at last the +light sprang up, and showed Larry standing just inside +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span> +the curtain with the dust of snow on his fur coat and +cap. His face looked a little less bronzed than usual, but +he showed no other sign of discomposure. Hetty was +very pale as she stood in front of him with the pistol +still in her hand. She dropped it on a chair with a shiver, +and broke into a little strained laugh.</p> +<p>“You are quite sure they didn’t see you, Larry? You +took a terrible risk just now.”</p> +<p>Grant smiled, more with his lips than his eyes. “Yes,” +he said, “I guess I did. I taught you to shoot as well as +most men, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty gasped again and sank limply into the nearest +chair. “What brought you here?” she said. “Still, +you can’t get away now. Sit down, Larry.”</p> +<p>Grant sat down with a bow to Miss Schuyler, and +fumbled in the pocket of his big fur coat. “I came to +give you something you sent me by mistake,” he said. +“I would not have come this way if I could have helped +it, but I saw there was a man with a rifle every here and +there as I crept up through the bluff, and it was quite a +while before I could swing myself up by a pillar on to +the verandah. You have been anxious about this, +Hetty?”</p> +<p>He laid a packet on the table, and Hetty’s eyes shone +as she took it up.</p> +<p>“Couldn’t you have given it to somebody to bring me? +It would have been ever so much safer,” she said.</p> +<p>“No,” said the man simply, “I don’t think I could.”</p> +<p>Hetty understood him, and so did Miss Schuyler, while +the meaning of the glance her companion cast at her was +equally plain. Miss Torrance’s face was still pallid, but +there was pride in her eyes.</p> +<p>“I wonder if you guessed what was in that letter, +Mr. Grant?” Flora Schuyler asked. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span></p> +<p>Larry smiled. “I think I have a notion.”</p> +<p>“Of course!” said Hetty impulsively. “We knew +you had, and that was why we felt certain you would try +to bring it back to me.”</p> +<p>“If it could have been managed in a different fashion +it would have pleased me better,” Grant said, with a little +impatient gesture. “I am sorry I frightened you, +Hetty.”</p> +<p>The colour crept back into Hetty’s cheeks. “I was +frightened, but only just a little at first,” she said. “It +was when I saw who it was and heard the boys below, +that I grew really anxious.”</p> +<p>She did not look at the man as she spoke; but it was +evident to Miss Schuyler that he understood the significance +of the avowal.</p> +<p>“Then,” he said, “I must try to get away again more +quietly.”</p> +<p>“You can’t,” said Hetty. “Not until the man by the +store goes away. You have taken too many chances +already. You have driven a long way in the cold. Take +off that big coat, and Flo will make you some coffee.”</p> +<p>Grant, turning, drew the curtains aside a moment, and +let them fall back again. Then, he took off the big +coat and sat down with a little smile of contentment beside +the glowing stove on which Miss Schuyler was +placing a kettle.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “I am afraid you will have to put up +with my company until that fellow goes away; and I +need not tell you that this is very nice for me. One +hasn’t much time to feel it, but it’s dreadfully lonely at +Fremont now and then.”</p> +<p>Hetty nodded sympathetically, for she had seen the +great desolate room at Fremont where Grant and Breckenridge +passed the bitter nights alone. The man’s half-audible +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span> +sigh was also very expressive, for after his grim +life he found the brightness and daintiness of the little +room very pleasant. It was sparely furnished; but there +was taste in everything, and in contrast with Fremont its +curtains, rugs, and pictures seemed luxurious. Without +were bitter frost and darkness, peril, and self-denial; +within, warmth and refinement, and the companionship +of two cultured women who were very gracious to him. +He also knew that he had shut himself out from the +enjoyment of their society of his own will, that he had +but to make terms with Torrance, and all that one side +of his nature longed for might be restored to him.</p> +<p>Larry was as free from sensuality as he was from +asceticism; but there were times when the bleak discomfort +at Fremont palled upon him, as did the loneliness +and half-cooked food. His overtaxed body revolted now +and then from further exposure to Arctic cold and the +deprivation of needed sleep, while his heart grew sick +with anxiety and the distrust of those he was toiling for. +He was not a fanatic, and had very slight sympathy with +the iconoclast, for he had an innate respect for the law, +and vague aspirations after an ampler life made harmonious +by refinement, as well as a half-comprehending +reverence for all that was best in art and music. There +are many Americans like him, and when such a man +turns reformer he has usually a hard row, indeed, to hoe.</p> +<p>“What do you do up there at nights?” asked Hetty.</p> +<p>Larry laughed. “Sometimes Breckenridge and I sit +talking by the stove, and now and then we quarrel. +Breckenridge has taste, and generally smooths one the +right way; but there are times when I feel like throwing +things at him. Then we sit quite still for hours together +listening to the wind moaning, until one of the boys comes +in to tell me we are wanted, and it is a relief to drive +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span> +until morning with the frost at fifty below. It is very +different from the old days when I was here and at +Allonby’s two or three nights every week.”</p> +<p>“It must have been hard to give up what you did,” +said Hetty, with a diffidence that was unusual in her. +“Oh, I know you did it willingly, but you must have +found it was very different from what you expected. I +mean that the men you wanted to smooth the way for +had their notions too, and meant to do a good deal that +could never please you. Suppose you found they didn’t +want to go along quietly, making this country better, +but only to trample down whatever was there already?”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler looked up. “I think you will have to +face that question, Mr. Grant,” she said. “A good many +men of your kind have had to do it before you. Isn’t a +faulty ruler better than wild disorder?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty eagerly. “That is just what I +mean. If you saw they wanted anarchy, Larry, you +would come back to us? We should be glad to have +you!”</p> +<p>The man turned his eyes away, and Flora Schuyler +saw his hands quiver.</p> +<p>“No,” he said. “I and the rest would have to teach +them what was good for them, and if it was needful try +to hold them in. Whatever they did, we who brought +them here would have to stand in with them.”</p> +<p>Hetty accepted the decision in his tone, and sighed. +“Well,” she said, “we will forget it; and Flo has the +coffee ready. That is yours, Larry, and here’s a box of +crackers. Now, we’ll try to think of pleasant things. +It’s like our old-time picnics. Doesn’t it remind you of +the big bluff—only we had a black kettle then, and you +made the fire of sticks? There was the day you shot the +willow grouse. It isn’t really so very long ago!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span></p> +<p>“It seems years,” said the man, wistfully. “So much +has happened since.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hetty, “I can remember all of it still—the +pale blue sky behind the bluff, with the little curl of +grey smoke floating up against it. You sat by the fire, +Larry, roasting the grouse, and talking about what could +be done with the prairie. It was all white in the sunshine, +and empty as far as one could see, but you told me +it would be a great red wheat-field by and by. I laughed +at you for dreaming things that couldn’t be, but we were +very happy that day.”</p> +<p>Grant’s face was very sad for a moment, but he turned +to Miss Schuyler with a little smile. “Hetty is leaving +you out,” he said.</p> +<p>“I wasn’t there, you see,” Miss Schuyler said quickly. +“Those days belong to you and Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty glanced at her sharply, and fancied there was a +slightly strained expression in the smiling face, but the +next moment Miss Schuyler laughed.</p> +<p>“What are you thinking, Flo?” said Hetty.</p> +<p>“It was scarcely worth mentioning. I was wondering +how it was that the only times we have crossed the bridge +we met Mr. Grant.”</p> +<p>“That’s quite simple,” said Larry. “Each time it was +on Wednesday, and I generally drive round to see if I am +wanted anywhere that day. They have had to do almost +without provisions at the homesteads in the hollow lately. +Your dollars will be very welcome, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty blushed for no especial reason, except that when +Grant mentioned Wednesday she felt that Flora Schuyler’s +eyes were upon her. Then, a voice rose up below.</p> +<p>“Hello! All quiet, Jake?”</p> +<p>There were footsteps in the snow outside, and when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span> +the sentry answered, the words just reached those who +listened in the room.</p> +<p>“I had a kind of notion I saw something moving in +the bluff, but I couldn’t be quite sure,” he said. “There +was a door or window banged up there on the verandah +a while ago, but that must have been done by one of the +women in the house.”</p> +<p>Grant rose and drew back the curtain, when, after a +patter of footsteps, the voices commenced again.</p> +<p>“Somebody has come in straight from the bluff,” said +one of the men. “You can see where he has been, but +I’m blamed if I can figure where he went to unless it was +up the post into the verandah, and he couldn’t have done +that without Miss Torrance hearing him. I’ll stop right +here, any way, and I wish my two hours were up.”</p> +<p>“I’m that stiff I can scarcely move,” said the man +relieved, and there was silence in the room, until Hetty +turned to the others in dismay.</p> +<p>“He is going to stay there two hours, and he would +see us the moment we opened the window,” she said.</p> +<p>Grant quickly put on his big fur coat, and unnoticed, +he fancied, slipped one hand down on something that +was girded on the belt beneath it.</p> +<p>“I must get away at once—through the house,” he +said.</p> +<p>Hetty had, however, seen the swift motion of his +hand.</p> +<p>“There’s a man with a rifle in the hall,” she said, +shudderingly. “Flo, can’t you think of something?”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler looked at them quietly. “I fancy it +would not be very difficult for Mr. Grant to get away, +but the trouble is that nobody must know he has been +near the place. That is the one thing your father could +not forgive, Hetty.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span></p> +<p>Hetty turned her head a little, but Grant nodded. +“Had it been otherwise I should have gone an hour ago,” +he said.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Flora Schuyler, with a curious look in +her face, “while I fancy we can get you away unnoticed, +if anybody did see you, it needn’t appear quite certain +that it was any affair with Hetty that brought you.”</p> +<p>“No?” said Hetty, very sharply. “What do you +mean, Flo?”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler smiled a little and looked Grant in the +eyes. “What would appear base treachery in Hetty’s +case would be less astonishing in me. Mr. Grant, you +must not run risks again to talk to me, but since you +have done it I must see you through. You are sure there +is only one cow-boy in the hall, Hetty?”</p> +<p>Hetty turned and looked at them. Flora Schuyler was +smiling bravely, the man standing still with grave astonishment +in his eyes.</p> +<p>“No,” she said, with quick incisiveness, “I can’t let +you, Flo.”</p> +<p>“I don’t think I asked your permission,” said Miss +Schuyler. “Could you explain this to your father, +Hetty? I believe he would not be angry with me. Adventurous +gallantry is, I understand, quite approved of +on the prairie. Call your maid. Mr. Grant, will you +come with me?”</p> +<p>For several seconds Hetty stood silent, recognizing +that what Torrance might smile at in his guest would +appear almost a crime in his daughter, but still horribly +unwilling. Then, as Flora Schuyler, with a half-impatient +gesture, signed to Grant, she touched a little gong, +and a few moments later her maid met them in the corridor. +The girl stopped suddenly, gasping a little as she +stared at Grant, until Hetty grasped her arm, nipping it +cruelly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span></p> +<p>“If you scream or do anything silly you will be ever +so sorry,” she said. “Go down into the hall and talk to +Jo. Keep him where the stove is, with his back to the +door.”</p> +<p>“But how am I to do it?” the girl asked.</p> +<p>“Take him something to eat,” Miss Schuyler said impatiently. +“Any way, it should not be hard to fool him—I +have seen him looking at you. Now, I wonder if that +grey dress of mine would fit you—I have scarcely had it +on, but it’s a little too tight for me.”</p> +<p>The girl’s eyes glistened, she moved swiftly down the +corridor, Flora Schuyler laughed, and Grant looked away.</p> +<p>“Larry,” said Hetty, “it isn’t just what one would +like—but I am afraid it is necessary.”</p> +<p>Five minutes later Hetty moved across the hall, making +a little noise, so that the cow-boy, who stood near the +other end of it, with the maid close by him, should notice +her. She softly opened the outer door, and then came +back and signed to Grant and Flora Schuyler, who stood +waiting in the corridor.</p> +<p>“No,” he said, and the lamplight showed a darker hue +than the bronze of frost and sun in his face. “Miss +Schuyler, I have never felt quite so mean before, and +you will leave the rest to me.”</p> +<p>“It seems to me,” she said coolly, “that what you feel +does not count for much. Just now you have to do what +is best for everybody. Stoop as low as you can.”</p> +<p>She stretched out her hand with a little imperious gesture, +and laid it on his arm, drawing herself up to her +full height as she stood between him and the light. They +moved forward together, and Hetty closed her hand as +she watched them pass into the hall. The end was dim +and shadowy, for the one big lamp that was lighted stood +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span> +some distance away by the stove, where the man on watch +was talking to the maid. Hetty realized that the girl was +playing her part well as she saw her make a swift step +backwards, and heard the man’s low laugh.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler and Grant were not far from the door +now, the girl walking close to her companion. In another +moment they would have passed out of sight into +the shadow, but while Hetty felt her fingers trembling, +the man on watch, perhaps hearing their footsteps, turned +round.</p> +<p>“Hallo!” he said. “It seems kind of cold. What +can Miss Schuyler want with opening the door? Is that +Miss Torrance behind her?”</p> +<p>He moved forward a pace, apparently not looking +where he was going, but towards the door, and might +have moved further, but that the maid swiftly stretched +out one foot, and a chair with the tray laid on it went +over with a crash.</p> +<p>“Now there’s going to be trouble. See what you’ve +done,” she said.</p> +<p>The man stopped, staring at the wreck upon the floor.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “I’m blamed if I touched the thing. +What made it fall over, any way?”</p> +<p>“Pick them up,” the girl said sharply. “You don’t +want to make trouble for me!”</p> +<p>He stooped, and Hetty gasped with relief as she saw +him carefully scraping some dainty from the floor, for +just then one of the two figures slipped away from the +other, and there was a sound that might have been made +by a softly closing door. The cow-boy looked up quickly, +and saw Miss Torrance and Miss Schuyler standing close +together, then stood up as they came towards him. Hetty +paused and surveyed the overturned crockery, and then, +though her heart was throbbing painfully, gave the man +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span> +a glance of ironical inquiry. He looked at the maid as +if for inspiration, but she stood meekly still, the picture +of bashful confusion.</p> +<p>“I’m quite sorry, Miss Torrance,” he said. “The +concerned thing went over.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “Well,” she said, “it’s a very cold +night, and Lou can get you some more supper. She is, +however, not to stay here a minute after she has given +it you.”</p> +<p>She went out with Miss Schuyler, and the two stood +very silent by a window in the corridor. One of them +fancied she saw a shadowy object slip round the corner of +a barn, but could not be sure, and for five very long minutes +they stared at the faintly shining snow. Nothing +moved upon it, and save for the maid’s voice in the hall, +the great building was very still. Hetty touched Miss +Schuyler’s arm.</p> +<p>“He has got away,” she said. “Come back with me. +I don’t feel like standing up any longer.”</p> +<p>They sat down limply when they returned to the little +room, and though Miss Schuyler did not meet her companion’s +gaze, there was something that did not seem to +please the latter in her face.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, “one could almost fancy you felt it +as much as I did. It was awfully nice of you.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler smiled, though there was a tension in +her voice. “Of course I felt it,” she said. “Hetty, I’d +watch that maid of yours. She’s too clever.”</p> +<p>Hetty said nothing for a moment, then, suddenly crossing +the room, she stooped down and kissed Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>“I have never met any one who would do as much for +me as you would, Flo,” she said. “I don’t think there +is anything that could come between us.”</p> +<p>There was silence for another moment, and during it +Miss Schuyler looked steadily into Hetty’s eyes. “No,” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span> +she said, “although you do not seem quite sure, I don’t +think there is.”</p> +<p>It was early the next morning when Christopher Allonby +arrived at the Range. He smiled as he glanced at +the packet Hetty handed him.</p> +<p>“I have never seen your father anything but precise,” +he said.</p> +<p>“Has anything led you to fancy that he has changed?” +asked Hetty.</p> +<p>Allonby laughed as he held out the packet. “The +envelope is all creased and crumpled. It might have been +carried round for ever so long in somebody’s pocket. +Now, I know you don’t smoke, Hetty.”</p> +<p>“There is no reason why I should not, but, as it happens, +I don’t,” said Miss Torrance.</p> +<p>“Then, the packet has a most curious, cigar-like +smell,” said Allonby, smiling. “Now, I don’t think Mr. +Torrance carries loose cigars and letters about with him +together. I wonder what deduction one could make from +this.”</p> +<p>Hetty glanced at Miss Schuyler. “You could never +make the right one, Chris,” she said.</p> +<p>Allonby said nothing further and went out with the +letter; a day or two later he handed it to the Sheriff.</p> +<p>“I guess you know what’s inside it?” said the latter.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the lad. “I want to see you count them +now.”</p> +<p>The Sheriff glanced at him sharply, took out a roll of +bills and flicked them over.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said, “that’s quite right; but one piece of +what I have to do is going to be difficult.”</p> +<p>“Which?” said Allonby.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the Sheriff, “I guess you know. I mean +the getting hold of Larry.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XVII_LARRY_S_PERIL' id='XVII_LARRY_S_PERIL'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span> +<h2>XVII</h2> +<h3>LARRY’S PERIL</h3> +</div> + +<p>One afternoon several days later, Christopher Allonby +drove over to Cedar Range, and, though he endeavoured +to hide his feelings, was evidently disconcerted when he +discovered that Miss Schuyler and Hetty were alone. +Torrance had affairs of moment on hand just then, and +was absent from Cedar Range frequently.</p> +<p>“One could almost have fancied you were not pleased +to see us, and would sooner have talked to Mr. Torrance,” +said Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>The lad glanced at her reproachfully.</p> +<p>“Hetty knows how diffident I am, but it seems to me +a lady with your observation should have seen the gratification +I did not venture to express.”</p> +<p>“It was not remarkably evident,” said Miss Schuyler. +“In fact, when you heard Mr. Torrance was not here +I fancied I saw something else.”</p> +<p>“I was thinking,” said Allonby, “wondering how I +could be honest and, at the same time, complimentary to +everybody. It was quite difficult. People like me generally +think of the right thing afterwards, you see.”</p> +<p>Hetty shook her head. “Sit down, and don’t talk +nonsense, Chris,” she said. “You shouldn’t think too +much; when you’re not accustomed to it, it isn’t wise. +What brought you?”</p> +<p>“I had a message for your father,” said the lad, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span> +Flora Schuyler fancied she saw once more the signs of +embarrassment in his face.</p> +<p>“Then,” said Hetty, “you can tell it me.”</p> +<p>“There’s a good deal of it, and it’s just a little confusing,” +said Allonby.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler glanced at Hetty, and then smiled at +the lad. “That is certainly not complimentary,” she +said. “Don’t you think Hetty and I could remember +anything that you can?”</p> +<p>Allonby laughed. “Of course you could. But, I had +my instructions. I was told to give Mr. Torrance the +message as soon as I could, without troubling anybody.”</p> +<p>“Then it is of moment?”</p> +<p>“Yes. That is, we want him to know, though there’s +really nothing in it that need worry anybody.”</p> +<p>“Then, it is unfortunate that my father is away,” said +Hetty.</p> +<p>Allonby sat silent a moment or two, apparently reflecting, +and then looked up suddenly, as though he had found +the solution of the difficulty.</p> +<p>“I could write him.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “That was an inspiration! You can +be positively brilliant, Chris. You will find paper and +special envelopes in the office, as well as a big stick of +sealing-wax.”</p> +<p>Allonby, who appeared unable to find a neat rejoinder, +went out; and when he left Flora Schuyler smiled as she +saw the carefully fastened envelope lying on Torrance’s +desk, as well as something else. Torrance was fastidiously +neat, and the blotting pad from which the soiled +sheets had been removed bore the impress of Christopher +Allonby’s big, legible writing. It was, however, a little +blurred, and Miss Schuyler, who had her scruples, made +no attempt to read it then. It was the next afternoon, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span> +and Torrance had not yet returned, when a mounted man +rode up to the Range, and was shown into the room where +the girls sat together.</p> +<p>“Mr. Clavering will be kind of sorry Mr. Torrance +wasn’t here, but he has got it fixed quite straight,” he +said.</p> +<p>“What has he fixed?” said Hetty.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the man, “your father knows, and I +don’t, though I’ve a kind of notion we are after one of +the homestead-boys. Any way, what I had to tell him +was this. He could ride over to the Cedar Bluff at about +six this evening with two or three of the boys, if it suited +him, but if it didn’t, Mr. Clavering would put the thing +through.”</p> +<p>Hetty asked one or two leading questions, but the man +had evidently nothing more to tell, and when he went out, +the two girls looked at one another in silence. Hetty’s +eyes were anxious and her face more colourless than +usual.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said sharply, “are we thinking the same +thing?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” said Miss Schuyler. “You have not +told me your notions yet. Still, this is clear to both of us, +Mr. Clavering expects to meet somebody at the Cedar +Bluff, and your father is to bring two or three men with +him. The question is, what could they be wanted for?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty, with a little quiver in her voice, “it +is who they expect to meet. You know what day this +is?”</p> +<p>“Wednesday.”</p> +<p>Once more there was silence for a few seconds, but +the thoughts of the two girls were unconcealed now, and +when she spoke Hetty closed her hand. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span></p> +<p>“Think, Flo. There must be no uncertainty.” +Miss Schuyler slipped out of the room and when she +came back she brought an envelope, splashed with red +wax, on a blotting-pad.</p> +<p>“There’s the key. All is fair—in war!” she said.</p> +<p>A pink tinge crept into Hetty’s cheeks, and a sparkle +into her eyes as she looked at her companion.</p> +<p>“Don’t make me angry with you, Flo,” she said. “We +can’t read it.”</p> +<p>“No?” said Miss Schuyler quietly, holding up the +pad. “Now I think we can. This is another manifestation +of the superiority of the masculine mind. Give me +your hand-glass, Hetty.”</p> +<p>“Of course,” said Hetty, with a little gasp. “Still—it’s +horribly mean.”</p> +<p>There was a slightly contemptuous hardness in Flora +Schuyler’s eyes. “If you let the man who rides by the +bluff on Wednesdays fall into Clavering’s hands, it would +be meaner still.”</p> +<p>The next moment Hetty was out of the room, and Miss +Schuyler sat down with a face that had grown suddenly +weary. But it betrayed nothing when Hetty came back +with the glass, and when she held up the blotter in hands +that were perfectly steady, they read:</p> +<p>“I have fixed it with the Sheriff. Clavering’s boys +had, as you guessed, been watching for Larry on the +wrong day; but now we have found out it is Wednesday +we’ll make sure of him. If you care to come around to +the bluff about six that night, you will probably see us +seize him; but if you would sooner stand out in this case, +it wouldn’t count. We don’t expect any difficulty.”</p> +<p>Hetty flushed crimson. “Flo,” she said, “it was the +letter arranging his own arrest he brought me back.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span></p> +<p>“That is not the point,” said Miss Schuyler sharply. +“What are you going to do?”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed mockingly. “You and I are going to +drive over to the Newcombes and stay the night. You +get nervous when my father is away. But we are not +going there quite straight; and you had better put your +warmest things on.”</p> +<p>An hour later two of the best horses in Torrance’s +stable drew the lightest sleigh up to the door, and Miss +Schuyler turned with a smile to the remonstrating housekeeper.</p> +<p>“Nothing would induce me to stay here another night +when Mr. Torrance was away,” she said. “You can +tell him that, if he is vexed with Hetty, and you needn’t +worry. We will be safe at Mrs. Newcombe’s before an +hour is over.”</p> +<p>The housekeeper shook her head. “I guess not. It’s +a league round by the bridge, and you couldn’t find the +other trail in the dark.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler laughed. “Then, look at the time, and +we’ll let you know when we get there,” she said.</p> +<p>Hetty whipped the team, and with a whirling of dusty +snow beneath the runners, they swept away. Both sat +silent, until the beat of hoofs rang amidst the trees as +they swept through the gloom of the big bluff at a gallop, +and Hetty laughed excitedly.</p> +<p>“Hold fast, Flo. You did that very well; but we have +our alibi to prove, and are not going near the bridge,” +she said.</p> +<p>She flicked the horses, and the trees swept away behind +them and the long white levels rolled back faster +yet to the drumming hoofs. The rush of cold wind stung +Miss Schuyler’s face like the lash of a whip, her eyes +grew hazy, and she held the furs about her as she swayed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span> +with the lurching of the sleigh. Darkness was closing in +when they came to the forking of the trail, and, with a +little cry of warning, Hetty lashed the team. The lurches +grew sharper, and Miss Schuyler gasped now and then +as she felt the sleigh swing rocking down a long declivity. +Scattered birches raced up out of it, and the hammering +beat of hoofs swelled into a roar as it rolled along a +thicker belt of trees.</p> +<p>They rose higher and higher, a dusky wall athwart the +way, and Miss Schuyler felt for a better hold for her +feet, and grasped the big strapped robe as she looked in +vain for any opening. That team had done nothing for +more than a week, and there was no stinting of oats and +maize at Cedar. Hetty, however, did not attempt to +hold them, but sat swaying to the jolting, leaning forward +as the shadowy barrier rushed up towards them, +until, before she quite realized how they got there, Miss +Schuyler found herself hurled forward down what appeared +to be a steadily sloping tunnel. Dim trees swept +by and drooping boughs lashed at her. Now and then +there was a sharp crackling or a sickening lurch, and still +they sped on furiously, until a faint white shining appeared +ahead.</p> +<p>“What is it?” she gasped.</p> +<p>“The river,” said Hetty. “Hold fast! There’s a +piece like a toboggan-leap quite near.”</p> +<p>She flung herself backwards as the lace-like birch twigs +smote her furs; and when one of the horses stumbled +Miss Schuyler with difficulty stifled a cry. The beast, +however, picked up its stride again, there was a lurch, +and the rocking sleigh appeared to leap clear of the snow. +A crash followed, and they were flying out of the shadow +again across a strip of faintly shining plain with another +belt of dusky trees rolling back towards them. Beyond +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span> +them, low in the soft indigo, a pale star was shining. +Hetty glanced at it as she shook the reins, and once more +something in her laugh stirred Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>“I know when that star comes out,” she said. “If +Larry’s only there we can warn him and make our ride +on time.”</p> +<p>In another minute they were in among the trees, and +Hetty, springing down, plodded through the loose snow +at the horses’ heads, urging them with hand and voice +up the incline which wound tortuously into the darkness. +Now and then, one of them stumbled, and there was a +great trampling of hoofs, but the girl’s mittened hand +never loosed its grasp; and it was with a little breathless +run she clutched the sleigh and swung herself in when +the team swept out on the level again. Still, at least a +minute had passed before she had the horses in hand. +The trail forked again somewhere in the dimness they +were flashing through, and it was difficult to see the +dusky smear at all.</p> +<p>A lurch that flung Miss Schuyler against her showed +that Hetty had found the turning; and a little later, with +a struggle, she checked the team, and they slid behind one +of the low, rolling rises that seamed the prairie here and +there. There was no wind in the hollow behind it and +a great stillness under the high vault of blue studded with +twinkling stars. The dim whiteness of a long ridge cut +sharply against it, and the pale colouring and frosty +glitter conveyed the suggestion of pitiless cold. Flora +Schuyler shivered, and drew the furs closer round her.</p> +<p>“Is this the place?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty, with a little gasp. “If we don’t +meet him here he will have passed or gone by the other +trail, and it will be too late to stop him. Can you hear +anything, Flo?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span></p> +<p>Miss Schuyler strained her ears, but, though the horses +were walking now, she could hear nothing. The deep +silence round them was emphasized by the soft trample of +the hoofs and thin jingle of steel that seemed unreal and +out of place there in the wilderness of snow and stars.</p> +<p>“No,” she said, in a strained voice; “I can hear nothing +at all. It almost makes one afraid to listen.”</p> +<p>They drove slowly for a minute or two, and then +Hetty pulled up the team. “I can’t go on, and it is worse +to stand still,” she said. “Flo, if he didn’t stop—and he +wouldn’t—they would shoot him. He must be coming. +Listen. There’s a horrible buzzing in my ears—I can’t +hear at all.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler listened for what appeared an interminable +time, and wondered afterwards that she had borne +the tension without a sign. The great stillness grew +overwhelming now the team had stopped, and there was +that in the utter cold and sense of desolation that weighed +her courage down. She felt her insignificance in the face +of that vast emptiness and destroying frost, and wondered +at the rashness of herself and Hetty and Larry Grant +who had ventured to believe they could make any change +in the great inexorable scheme of which everything that +was to be was part. Miss Schuyler was not fanciful, but +during the last hour she had borne a heavy strain, and +the deathly stillness of the northwestern waste under the +Arctic frost is apt to leave its impress on the most +unimaginative.</p> +<p>Suddenly very faint and far off, a rhythmic throbbing +crept out of the darkness, and Flora Schuyler, who, fearing +her ears had deceived her at first, dared not speak, +felt her chilled blood stir when Hetty flung back her head.</p> +<p>“Flo—can’t you hear it? Tell me!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span></p> +<p>Miss Schuyler nodded, for she could not trust her +voice just then; but the sound had grown louder while +she listened and now it seemed flung back by the rise. +Then, she lost it altogether as Hetty shook the reins and +the sleigh went on again. In a few minutes, however, +there was an answer to the thud of hoofs, and another +soft drumming that came quivering through it sank and +swelled again. By and by a clear, musical jingling broke +in, and at last, when a moving object swung round a +bend of the rise, a voice that rang harsh and commanding +reached them.</p> +<p>“Pull right up there, and wait until we see who you +are,” it said.</p> +<p>“Larry!” cried Hetty; and the second time her +strained voice broke and died away. “Larry!”</p> +<p>It was less than a minute later when a sleigh stopped +close in front of them, and, leaving one man in it, Grant +sprang stiffly down. It took Hetty a minute or two more +to make her warning plain, and Miss Schuyler found it +necessary to put in a word of amplification occasionally. +Then, Grant signed to the other man.</p> +<p>“Will you drive Miss Schuyler slowly in the direction +she was going, Breckenridge?” he said. “Hetty, I want +to talk to you, and can’t keep you here.”</p> +<p>Hetty was too cold to reflect, and, almost before she +knew how he had accomplished it, found herself in +Grant’s sleigh and the man piling the robes about her. +When he wheeled the horses she was only conscious that +he was very close to her and that Breckenridge and Miss +Schuyler were driving slowly a little distance in front of +them. Then, glancing up, as though under compulsion, +she saw that Grant was looking down upon her.</p> +<p>“It is not what I meant to tell you, but doesn’t this +remind you of old times, Hetty?” he said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span></p> +<p>“I don’t want to remember them—and what have they +to do with what concerns us now?” said the girl.</p> +<p>There was a new note in the man’s voice that was +almost exultant in its quietness. “A good deal, I think. +Hetty, if you hadn’t driven so often beside me here, +would you have done what you have to-night?”</p> +<p>“No,” said the girl tremulously.</p> +<p>“No,” Grant said. “You have done a rash as well +as a very generous thing.”</p> +<p>“It was rash; but what could I do? We were, as you +remind me, good friends once.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said. “I can’t thank you, Hetty—thanks +of any kind wouldn’t be adequate—and there is nothing +else I can offer to show my gratitude, because all I had +was yours already. You have known that a long while, +haven’t you?”</p> +<p>The girl looked away from him. “I was not good +enough to understand its value at first, and when I did +I tried to make you take it back.”</p> +<p>“I couldn’t,” he said gently. “It was perhaps worth +very little; but it was all I had, and—since that day by +the river—I never asked for anything in return. It was +very hard not to now and then, but I saw that you had +only kindness to spare for me.”</p> +<p>“Then why do you talk of it again?”</p> +<p>“I think,” said Grant very quietly, “it is different +now. After to-night nothing can be quite the same again. +Hetty, dear, if you had missed me and I had ridden on +to the bridge——”</p> +<p>“Stop!” said the girl with a shiver. “I dare not +think of it. Larry, can’t you see that just now you must +not talk in that strain to me?”</p> +<p>“But there is a difference?” and Grant looked at her +steadily. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span></p> +<p>For a moment the girl returned his gaze, her face +showing very white in the faint light flung up by the +snow; but she sat very straight and still, and the man’s +passion suddenly fell from him.</p> +<p>“Yes,” she said softly, “there is. I was only sure of +it when I fancied I had missed you a few minutes ago; +but that can’t affect us, Larry. We can neither of us go +back on those we belong to, and I know how mean I was +when I tried to tempt you. You were staunch, and if I +were less so, you would not respect me.”</p> +<p>Grant sighed. “You still believe your father right?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty. “I must hope so; and if he is +wrong, I still belong to him.”</p> +<p>“But you can believe that I am right, too?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty simply. “I am, at least, certain +you think you are. Still, it may be a long and bitter +while before we see this trouble through. I have done +too much to-night—that is, had it been for anyone but +you—and you will not make my duty too hard for me.”</p> +<p>Larry’s pulses were throbbing furiously; but he had +many times already checked the passionate outbreak that +he knew would have banished any passing tenderness the +girl had for him.</p> +<p>“No, my dear,” he said. “But the trouble can’t last +for ever, and when it is over you will come to me? I +have been waiting—even when I felt it was hopeless—year +after year for you.”</p> +<p>Hetty smiled gravely. “Whether I shall ever be able +to do that, Larry, neither you nor I can tell; but at least +I shall never listen to anyone else. That is all I can +promise; and we must go on, each of us doing what is +put before us, and hoping for the best.”</p> +<p>Larry swept off his fur cap, and, stooping, kissed her +on the cheek. “It is the first time, Hetty. I will wait +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span> +patiently for the next; but I shall see you now and +then?”</p> +<p>The girl showed as little sign of resentment as she did +of passion. “If I meet you; but that must come by +chance,” she said. “I want you to think the best of me, +and if the time should come, I know I would be proud of +you. You have never done a mean thing since I knew +you, Larry, and that means a good deal now.”</p> +<p>Grant pulled the team up in silence, and called to +Breckenridge, who checked his horses and getting down +looked straight in front of him as his comrade handed +Hetty into her sleigh. Then they stood still, saying nothing +while the team swept away.</p> +<p>Hetty was also silent, though she drove furiously, and +Flora Schuyler did not consider it advisable to ask any +questions, while the rush of icy wind and rocking of the +sleigh afforded scanty opportunity for conversation. She +was also very cold, and greatly relieved, when a blink +of light rose out of the snow. Five minutes later somebody +handed her out of the sleigh, and she saw a man +glance at the team.</p> +<p>“You have been sending them along. Was it you or +Hetty who drove, Miss Schuyler?” he said.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler laughed. “Hetty, of course; but I +want you to remember when we came in,” she said, mentioning +when they left Cedar. “I told Mrs. Ashley we +would get here inside an hour, and she wouldn’t believe +me.”</p> +<p>“If anyone wants to know when you came in, send +them to me,” said the man. “There are not many horses +that could have made it in the time.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XVIII_A_FUTILE_PURSUIT' id='XVIII_A_FUTILE_PURSUIT'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span> +<h2>XVIII</h2> +<h3>A FUTILE PURSUIT</h3> +</div> + +<p>Hetty’s sleigh was sliding, a dim moving shadow, +round a bend in the rise when Breckenridge touched his +comrade, who stood gazing silently across the prairie.</p> +<p>“It’s abominably cold, Larry,” he said, with a shiver. +“Hadn’t we better get on?”</p> +<p>Grant said nothing as he took his place on the driving-seat, +and the team had plodded slowly along the trail +for at least five minutes before he spoke.</p> +<p>“You heard what Miss Torrance told me?” he said.</p> +<p>“Yes,” Breckenridge said. “I notice, however, we +are still heading for the bridge. Can’t you cross the ice, +Larry?”</p> +<p>“If I wanted to I fancy I could.”</p> +<p>“Then why don’t you?”</p> +<p>Grant laughed. “Well,” he said, “there’s only one +trail through the bluff, and it’s not the kind I’m fond of +driving over in the dark.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge twisted in his seat, and looked at him. +“Pshaw!” he said. “It would be a good deal less risky +than meeting the Sheriff at the bridge. You are not +going to do anything senseless, Larry?”</p> +<p>“No; only what seems necessary.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge considered. “Now,” he said slowly, +“I can guess what you’re thinking, and, of course, it’s +commendable; but one has to be reasonable. Is there +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span> +anything that could excite the least suspicion that Miss +Torrance warned you?”</p> +<p>“There are two or three little facts that only need +putting together.”</p> +<p>“Still, if we called at Muller’s and drove home by the +other trail it wouldn’t astonish anybody.”</p> +<p>“It would appear a little too much of a coincidence in +connection with the fact that Miss Torrance and I were +known to be good friends, and the time she left Cedar. +As the cattle-men have evidently found out, I have +crossed the bridge at about the same time every Wednesday; +and two of the cow-boys saw us near Harper’s.”</p> +<p>“Larry,” said Breckenridge, “if you were merely one +of the rest your intentions would no doubt become you, +but the point is that every homesteader round here is +dependent on you. If you went down, the opposition to +the cattle-men would collapse, or there would be general +anarchy, and that is precisely why Torrance and the +Sheriff are anxious to get their hands on you. Now, +doesn’t it strike you that it’s your plain duty to keep clear +of any unnecessary peril?”</p> +<p>Grant shook his head. “No,” he said. “It seems to +me that argument has quite frequently accounted for a +good deal of meanness. It is tolerably presumptuous for +any man to consider himself indispensable.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Breckenridge, divided between anger and +approval, “I have found out already that it’s seldom any +use trying to convince you, but each time you made this +round I’ve driven with you, and it’s quite obvious that if +one of us crossed the bridge it would suit the purpose. +Now, I don’t think the Sheriff could rake up very much +against me.”</p> +<p>Grant laid his hand on the lad’s shoulder. “I’m going +to cross the bridge, but I don’t purpose that either of us +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span> +should fall into the Sheriff’s clutches,” he said. “You +saw what Jardine’s glass had gone down to?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge nodded. “It dropped like that before +the last blizzard we had.”</p> +<p>Grant turned and looked about him, and Breckenridge +shivered as he followed his gaze. They had driven out +from behind the rise now and a bitter wind met them in +the face. There was not very much of it as yet, but all +feeling seemed to die out of the lad’s cheeks under it, and +it brought a little doleful moaning out of the darkness. +Behind them stars shone frostily in the soft indigo, but +elsewhere a deepening obscurity was creeping up across +the prairie, and sky and snow were blurred and merged +one into the other.</p> +<p>“There’s one meaning to that,” said Grant. “We’ll +have snow in an hour or two, and when it comes it’s +going to be difficult to see anything. In the meanwhile, +we’ll drive round by Busby’s and get our supper while +the cow-boys cool. The man who hangs around a couple +of hours doing nothing in a frost of this kind is not to be +relied upon when he’s wanted in a hurry.”</p> +<p>He flicked the horses, and in half an hour the pair +were sitting in a lonely log-house beside a glowing stove +while its owner prepared a meal. Two other men with +bronzed faces sat close by, and Breckenridge fancied he +had never seen his comrade so cheerful. His cares seemed +to have fallen from him, his laugh had a pleasant ring, +and there was something in his eyes which had not been +there for many weary months. Breckenridge wondered +whether it could be due to anything Miss Torrance had +said to him, but kept his thoughts to himself, for that +was a subject upon which one could not ask questions.</p> +<p>In the meanwhile, Clavering and the Sheriff found the +time pass much less pleasantly—on the bluff. The wind +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span> +that whistled through it grew colder as one by one the +stars faded out, and there was a mournful wailing amidst +the trees. Now and then, a shower of twigs came rattling +down from branches dried to brittleness by the frost, +and the Sheriff brushed them off disgustedly, as, huddling +lower in the sleigh from which the horses had been taken +out, he packed the robes round him. He had lived +softly, and it would have suited him considerably better +to have spent that bitter evening in the warmth and +security of Clavering’s ranch.</p> +<p>“No sign of him yet?” he said, when Christopher +Allonby and Clavering came up together. “Larry will +stay at home to-night. He has considerably more sense +than we seem to have.”</p> +<p>“I have seen nothing,” said Allonby, who, in the hope +of restoring his circulation, had walked up the trail. +“Still, the night is getting thicker, and nobody could +make a sleigh out until it drove right up to him.”</p> +<p>“If Larry did come, you could hear him,” said the +Sheriff.</p> +<p>Allonby lifted his hand, and, as if to supply the answer, +with a great thrashing of frost-nipped twigs the birches +roared about them. The blast that lashed them also +hurled the icy dust of snow into the Sheriff’s face.</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” said the lad. “Nobody could hear +very much through that.”</p> +<p>“Ugh!” said the Sheriff. “We will have a blizzard +on us before long, and Government pay doesn’t warrant +one taking chances of that kind. Aren’t we playing a +fool’s game, Clavering?”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed somewhat unpleasantly. “There +are other emoluments attached to your office which should +cover a little inconvenience,” he said. “Now, I fancy I +know Larry Grant better than the rest of you, and it +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span> +would take quite a large-sized blizzard to keep him at +home when he had anything to do. Once you put him out +of the way it will make things a good deal more pleasant +for everybody. Larry is the one man with any brains +the homesteaders have in this part of the country, and +while they would make no show without him, we can +expect nothing but trouble while he’s at liberty. It seems +to me that warrants our putting up with a little unpleasantness.”</p> +<p>“Quite improving!” said Allonby, who was not in +the best of temper just then. “One could almost wonder +if you had any personal grudge against the man, Clavering. +You are so astonishingly disinterested when you +talk of him. Now, if I didn’t like a man I’d make an +opportunity of telling him.”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “You’re young, Chris, or you +wouldn’t worry about folks’ motives when their efforts +suit you. What are the men doing?”</p> +<p>“Freezing, and grumbling!” said Allonby. “They’ve +made up their minds to get Larry this time or we +wouldn’t have kept them here. It’s the horses I’m anxious +about. They seem to know what is coming, and +they’re going to give us trouble.”</p> +<p>“A fool’s game!” repeated the Sheriff, with a shiver. +“Got any of those cigars with you, Clavering? If I’m +to stay here, I have to smoke.”</p> +<p>Clavering threw him the case and turned away with +Allonby. They went down through the bluff together +and stood a few moments looking up the trail. It led +downwards towards them, a streak of faintly shining +whiteness, through the gloom of the trees, and the wind +that set the branches thrashing whirled powdery snow +into their faces, though whether this came down from the +heavens or was uplifted from the frozen soil they did not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span> +know. With eyes dimmed and tingling cheeks, they +moved back again amidst the birches; but even there it +was bitterly cold, and Allonby was glad to turn his +face from the wind a moment as they stopped to glance +at the tethered horses. They were stamping impatiently, +while the man on watch, who would have patted one of +them, sprang backwards when the beast lashed out at +him.</p> +<p>“If Larry doesn’t come soon, I guess we’re going to +find it hard to keep them here,” he said. “They’re ’most +pulling the branches they’re hitched to off the trees.”</p> +<p>Allonby nodded. “Larry would be flattered if he +knew the trouble you and I were taking over him, Clavering,” +he said. “It’s also the first time I’ve seen you worry +much about this kind of thing.”</p> +<p>“What kind of thing?”</p> +<p>“Citizen’s duty! I think that’s the way you put it?”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “If you want to be unpleasant, +Chris, can’t you try a different line? That one’s played +out. It’s too cold to quarrel.”</p> +<p>“I don’t feel pleasant,” said Allonby. “In fact, I +don’t like this thing, any way. Before Larry got stuck +with his notions he was a friend of mine.”</p> +<p>“If the boys don’t get too cold to shoot it’s quite likely +he will be nobody’s friend to-morrow,” said Clavering +cruelly. “We’ll go round and look at them.”</p> +<p>They went back into the trail once more, and the icy +gusts struck through them as they plodded up it; but they +found no man keeping watch beside it, as there should +have been. The cow-boys had drawn back for shelter +among the trees, and Clavering, who found them stamping +and shivering, had some difficulty in getting them +to their posts again. They had been there two hours, +and the cold was almost insupportable. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span></p> +<p>“I guess it’s no use,” said Allonby. “As soon as we +have gone on every boy will be back behind his tree, and +I don’t know that anybody could blame them. Any way +I’m ’most too cold for talking.”</p> +<p>They went back together, and, while the cow-boys, who +did as Allonby had predicted, slowly froze among the +trees, rolled themselves in the sleigh-robes and huddled +together. It was blowing strongly now, and a numbing +drowsiness had to be grappled with as the warmth died +out of them. At last when a few feathery flakes came +floating down, the Sheriff shook himself with a sleepy +groan.</p> +<p>“There is not a man living who could keep me here +more than another quarter of an hour,” he said. “Are +the boys on the look-out by the trail, Allonby?”</p> +<p>“They were,” said the lad drowsily. “I don’t know +if they’re there now, and it isn’t likely. Clavering can +go and make sure if he likes to, but if anyone wants me +to get up, he will have to lift me.”</p> +<p>Neither Clavering nor the Sheriff appeared disposed to +move, and it was evident that both had abandoned all +hope of seeing Larry Grant that night. Ten minutes that +seemed interminable passed, and the white flakes that +whirled about them grew thicker between the gusts and +came down in a bewildering rush. The Sheriff shook +the furs off him and stood up with a groan.</p> +<p>“Tell them to bring the horses. I have had quite +enough,” he said.</p> +<p>Allonby staggered to his feet, and reeled into the wood. +There was a hoarse shouting, and a trampling of hoofs +that was drowned in a roar of wind, and when that +slackened a moment a faint cry went up.</p> +<p>“Hallo!” said the Sheriff; “he’s coming.”</p> +<p>Then, nobody quite remembered what he did. Here +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span> +and there a man struggled with a plunging horse in the +darkness of the wood, and one or two blundered into each +other and fell against the trunks as they ran on foot. +They were dazed with cold, and the snow, that seemed +to cut their cheeks, was in their eyes.</p> +<p>Allonby, however, saw that Clavering was mounted, +and the horse he rode apparently going round and round +with him, while by and by he found himself in the saddle. +He was leaning low over the horse’s neck, with one +moccasined foot in the stirrup and the other hanging +loose, while the branches lashed at him, when something +dark and shapeless came flying down the trail.</p> +<p>He heard a hoarse shout and a rifle flashed, but the +wind drowned the sound and before he was in the trail +the sleigh, which was what he supposed the thing to be, +had flashed by. One cannot handily fit spurs to moccasins, +and, as his hands were almost useless, it was some +time before he induced the horse, which desired to go +home uphill, to take the opposite direction. Then, he was +off at a gallop, with a man whom he supposed to be Clavering +in front of him, and the Sheriff, who seemed to be +shouting instructions, at his side. Allonby did not think +that anybody heard them, but that was of no great moment +to him then, for the trail was narrow and slippery +here and there, and he was chiefly concerned with the +necessity of keeping clear of his companion. He could +not see the sleigh now and scarcely fancied that anybody +else did, but he could hear the beat of hoofs in front of +him when the wind sank a trifle, and rode on furiously +down-hill at a gallop. The horse had apparently yielded +to its terror of the storm, and Allonby had more than a +suspicion that, had he wanted to, he could neither have +turned it nor pulled it up.</p> +<p>Clavering still held in front of him, but the Sheriff was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span> +dropping back a little, and the lad did not know whether +any of the rest were following. He was, however, certain +that, barring a fall, a mounted man could overtake a +sleigh, and that the up grade beyond the bridge would +tell on the beasts that dragged a weight behind them. So +while the snow whirled past him and the dim trees flashed +by, he urged on the beast until he heard the bridge rattle +under him and felt the pace slacken—the trail had begun +to lead steeply up out of the hollow.</p> +<p>The horse was flagging a little by the time they +reached the crest of the rise, and for a few moments +Allonby saw nothing at all. The roar of the trees deafened +him, and the wind drove the snow into his eyes. +Then, as he gasped and shook it from him when the +gust had passed, he dimly made out something that +moved amidst the white haze and guessed that it was +Clavering. If that were so, he felt it was more than +likely that the sleigh was close in front of him. A few +minutes later he had come up with the man whose greater +weight was telling, and while they rode stirrup to stirrup +and neck by neck, Allonby fancied there was something +dim and shadowy in front of them.</p> +<p>Clavering shouted as he dropped behind, and Allonby +who failed to catch what he said was alone, blinking at +the filmy whiteness, through which he had blurred +glimpses of the object ahead, now growing more distinct. +He could also, when the wind allowed it, hear +the dull beat of hoofs. How long it took him to overtake +it he could never remember; but at last the sleigh was +very close to him, and he shouted. There was no answer; +but Allonby, who could scarcely hear his own +voice, did not consider this astonishing, and tried again. +Still no answer came back, and, coming up with the +sleigh at every stride, he dragged the butt of his sling +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span> +rifle round and fumbled at the strap with a numbed and +almost useless hand.</p> +<p>He could see the back of the sleigh, but nothing else, +and lurching perilously in the saddle he got the rifle in +his hand; but, cold and stiffened as he was, he dared not +loose his grasp on the bridle, and so, with the butt at his +hip, he raced up level with the sleigh. Then, the horse, +perhaps edged off the beaten trail into the snow outside +it, blundered in its stride, and the rifle, that fell as the +lad swayed, was left behind. He had both hands on the +bridle the next moment, and leaning down sideways fancied +there was nobody in the sleigh. It took him a +second or two to make quite sure of it, and at least a +minute more before he brought the horse to a standstill +in the trail. By that time the sleigh had swept on into +the sliding whiteness. Wheeling his horse, Clavering +rode out of the snow and pulled up in evident astonishment.</p> +<p>“Have you let him get away?” he gasped.</p> +<p>“He wasn’t there,” said Allonby.</p> +<p>“Not there! I saw him and another man when they +drove past us in the bluff.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Allonby, “I’m quite certain there’s nobody +in that sleigh now.”</p> +<p>The wind that roared about them cut short the colloquy, +and a minute or two later Allonby became sensible that +Clavering was speaking again.</p> +<p>“Larry and the other man must have dropped into +the soft snow when the team slowed up on the up grade, +knowing the horses would go on until they reached their +stable,” he said. “Well, they’ll be away through the +bluff now, and a brigade of cavalry would scarcely find +them on such a night. In fact, we will have to trust the +beasts to take us home.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span></p> +<p>Just then the Sheriff, with one or two cow-boys, rode +up, and Allonby, who did not like the man, laughed as he +signed him to stop.</p> +<p>“You can go back and get your driving horses in. +We have been chasing a sleigh with no one in it,” he +said. “Larry has beaten us again!”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XIX_TORRANCE_ASKS_A_QUESTION' id='XIX_TORRANCE_ASKS_A_QUESTION'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span> +<h2>XIX</h2> +<h3>TORRANCE ASKS A QUESTION</h3> +</div> + +<p>There was but one lamp lighted in the hall at Cedar +Range, and that was turned low, but there was light +enough to satisfy Clavering, who stood beneath it with +Hetty’s maid close beside him and a little red leather case +in his hand. The girl’s eyes were eager, but they were +fixed upon the case and not the man, who had seen the +keenness in them and was not displeased. Clavering had +met other women in whom cupidity was at least as strong +as vanity.</p> +<p>“Now I wonder if you can guess what is inside there, +and who it is for,” he said.</p> +<p>The maid drew a trifle nearer, stooping slightly over +the man’s hand, and she probably knew that the trace of +shyness, which was not all assumed, became her. She +was also distinctly conscious that the pose she fell into +displayed effectively a prettily rounded figure.</p> +<p>“Something for Miss Torrance?” she said.</p> +<p>Clavering’s laugh was, as his companion noticed, not +quite spontaneous. “No,” he said. “I guess you know +as well as I do that Miss Torrance would not take anything +of this kind from me. She has plenty of them +already.”</p> +<p>The maid knew this was a fact, for she had occasionally +spent a delightful half-hour adorning herself with Hetty’s +jewellery. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span></p> +<p>“Well,” she said, with a little tremor of anticipation in +her voice, “what is inside it?”</p> +<p>Clavering laid the case in her hand. “It is yours,” he +said. “Just press that spring.”</p> +<p>It was done, and she gasped as a gleam of gold and +a coloured gleam met her eyes. “My!” she said. +“They’re real—and it’s for me?”</p> +<p>Clavering smiled a little, and taking her fingers lightly +closed them on the case.</p> +<p>“Of course,” he said. “Well, you’re pleased with it?”</p> +<p>The sparkle in the girl’s eyes and the little flush in +her face was plain enough, but the man’s soft laugh was +perfectly genuine. It was scarcely a gift he had made +her; but while he expected that the outlay upon the +trinket would be repaid him, he could be generous when +it suited him, and was quite aware that a less costly lure +would have served his purpose equally. He also knew +when it was advisable to offer something more tasteful +than the obtrusive dollar.</p> +<p>“Oh,” said the girl, “it’s just lovely!”</p> +<p>Clavering, who had discretion, did not look round, but, +though he kept his dark eyes on his companion’s face, he +listened carefully. He could hear the wind outside, and +the crackle of the stove, but nothing else, and knew that +the footsteps of anyone approaching would ring tolerably +distinctly down the corridor behind the hall. He also +remembered that the big door nearest them was shut.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “it wouldn’t do to put anything that +wasn’t pretty on a neck like that, and I wonder if you +would let me fix it.”</p> +<p>The girl made no protest; but though she saw the +admiration in the man’s dark eyes as she covertly looked +up, it would have pleased her better had he been a trifle +more clumsy. His words and glances were usually bold +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span> +enough, but, as he clasped the little brooch on, his fingers +were almost irritatingly deft and steady. Men, she +knew, did not make fools of themselves from a purely +artistic appreciation of feminine comeliness.</p> +<p>“Now,” she said, slipping away from him with a +blush, “I wonder what you expect for this.”</p> +<p>Clavering’s eyebrows went up and there was a faint +assumption of haughtiness in his face, which became it.</p> +<p>“Only the pleasure of seeing it where it is. It’s a +gift,” he said.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the girl, “that was very kind of you; but +you’re quite sure you never gave Miss Torrance anything +of this kind?”</p> +<p>“No. I think I told you so.”</p> +<p>The maid was not convinced. “But,” she said, looking +at him sideways, “I thought you did. She has a +little gold chain, very thin, and not like the things they +make now—and just lately she is always wearing it.”</p> +<p>“I never saw it.”</p> +<p>The girl smiled significantly. “I guess that’s not +astonishing. She wears it low down on her neck—and +the curious thing is that it lay by and she never looked +at it for ever so long.”</p> +<p>Clavering felt that the dollars the trinket had cost him +had not been wasted; but though he concealed his disgust +tolerably well, the maid noticed it. She had, however, +vague ambitions, and a scarcely warranted conviction +that, given a fair field, she could prove herself a match +for her mistress.</p> +<p>“Then, if it wasn’t you, it must have been the other +man,” she said.</p> +<p>“The other man?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” with a laugh. “The one I took the wallet +with the dollars to.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span></p> +<p>Clavering hoped he had not betrayed his astonishment; +but she had seen the momentary flash in his eyes and the +involuntary closing of his hand.</p> +<p>“Now,” he said firmly, “that can’t be quite straight, +and one should be very careful about saying that kind of +thing.”</p> +<p>The girl looked at him steadily. “Still, I took a wallet +with dollar bills in it to Mr. Grant—at night. I met him +on the bluff, and Miss Torrance sent them him.”</p> +<p>It was possible that Clavering would have heard more +had he followed the line of conduct he had adopted at +first; but he stood thoughtfully silent instead, which did +not by any means please his companion as well. He had +a vague notion that this was a mistake; but the anger he +did not show was too strong for him. Then, he fancied +he heard a footstep on the stairway, and laughed in a +somewhat strained fashion.</p> +<p>“Well, we needn’t worry about that; and I guess if I +stay here any longer, Mr. Torrance will be wondering +where I have gone,” he said.</p> +<p>He went out by one door, and a few moments later +Miss Schuyler came in by another. She swept a hasty +glance round the hall, most of which was in the shadow, +and her eyes caught the faint sparkle at the maid’s neck. +The next moment the girl moved back out of the light; +but Miss Schuyler saw her hand go up, and fancied +there was something in it when it came down again. She +had also heard a man’s footstep, and could put two and +two together.</p> +<p>“Miss Torrance wants the silk. It was here, but I +don’t see it,” she said. “Who went out a moment or +two ago?”</p> +<p>The girl opened a bureau. “Mr. Clavering. He left +his cigar-case when he first came in.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span></p> +<p>She took out a piece of folded silk, and Miss Schuyler +noticed the fashion in which she held it.</p> +<p>“It is the lighter shade we want; but the other piece +is very like it. Unroll it so I can see it,” she said.</p> +<p>The maid seemed to find this somewhat difficult; but +Miss Schuyler had seen a strip of red leather between +the fingers of one hand, and understanding why it was +so, went out thoughtfully. She knew the appearance of +a jewel-case tolerably well, and had more than a suspicion +as to whom the girl had obtained it from. Miss Schuyler, +who would not have believed Clavering’s assertion +about the trinket had she heard it, wondered what he +expected in exchange for it, which perhaps accounted for +the fact that she contrived to overtake him in the corridor +at the head of the stairs.</p> +<p>“When you left Hetty and me alone we understood it +was because Mr. Torrance was waiting for you,” she +said.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Clavering, smiling. “It is scarcely necessary +to explain that if he hadn’t been I would not have +gone. I fancied he was in the hall.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler nodded as though she believed him, +but she determined to leave no room for doubt. “He is +in his office,” she said. “Have you the deerskin cigar-case +you showed us with you? You will remember I was +interested in the Indian embroidery.”</p> +<p>“I’m sorry I haven’t,” said Clavering. “Torrance’s +cigars are better than mine, so I usually leave mine at +home. But I’ll bring the case next time, and if you would +like to copy it, I could get you a piece of the dressed hide +from one of the Blackfeet.”</p> +<p>He turned away, and Flora Schuyler decided not to tell +Hetty what she had heard—Hetty was a little impulsive +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span> +occasionally—but it seemed to Miss Schuyler that it +would be wise to watch her maid and Clavering closely.</p> +<p>In the meantime, the man walked away towards Torrance’s +office, considering what the maid had told him. +He had found it difficult to credit, but her manner had +convinced him, and he realized that he could not afford +the delay he had hitherto considered advisable. A young +woman, he reflected, would scarcely send a wallet of dollars +at night to a man whose plans were opposed to her +father’s without a strong motive, and the fact that Hetty +wore a chain hidden about her neck had its meaning. He +had, like most of his neighbours, laughed at Larry’s hopeless +devotion, but he had seen similar cases in which the +lady at last relented, and while he knew Hetty’s loyalty +to her own people, and scarcely thought that she had +more than a faint, tolerant tenderness for Larry, it appeared +eminently desirable to prevent anything of that +kind happening. Torrance, who was sitting smoking, +glanced at him impatiently when he went in.</p> +<p>“You have been a long while,” he said.</p> +<p>“I have a sufficient excuse, sir,” said Clavering.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Torrance drily, “they are quite clever +girls, but I have found myself wishing lately they were +a long way from here. That, however, is not what I +want to talk about. Apparently none of us can get hold +of Larry.”</p> +<p>“It is not for the want of effort. There are few things +that would please me better.”</p> +<p>Torrance glanced at Clavering sharply. “No. I fancied +once or twice you had a score of your own against +him. In fact, I heard Allonby say something of the same +kind, too.”</p> +<p>“Chris is a trifle officious,” said Clavering. “Any +way, it’s quite evident that we shall scarcely hold the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span> +homestead-boys back until we get our thumb on +Larry.”</p> +<p>“How are we going to do it? He has come out ahead +of us so far.”</p> +<p>“We took the wrong way,” said Clavering. “Now, +Larry, as you know, puts all his dealings through the +Tillotson Company. Tillotson, as I found out in Chicago, +has a free hand to buy stocks or produce with his balances, +and Larry, who does not seem to bank his dollars, draws +on him. It’s not an unusual thing. Well, I’ve been +writing to folks in Chicago, and they tell me Tillotson +is in quite a tight place since the upward move in lard. +It appears he has been selling right along for a fall.”</p> +<p>Torrance looked thoughtful. “Tillotson is a straight +man, but I’ve had a notion he has been financing some of +the homestead-boys. He handles all Larry’s dollars?”</p> +<p>Clavering nodded. “He put them into lard. Now, +the Brand Company hold Tillotson’s biggest contract, +and if it suited them they could break him. I don’t think +they want to. Tillotson is a kind of useful man to them.”</p> +<p>Torrance brought his fist down on the table. “Well,” +he said grimly, “we have a stronger pull than Tillotson. +Most of the business in this country goes to them, and if +he thought it worth while, Brand would sell all his relations +up to-morrow. I’ll go right through to Chicago +and fix the thing.”</p> +<p>Clavering smiled. “If you can manage it, you will +cut off Larry’s supplies.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said Torrance, “I’ll start to-morrow. Still, +I don’t want to leave the girls here, and it would suit me +if you could drive them over to Allonby’s. I don’t mind +admitting that they have given me a good deal of anxiety, +though they’ve made things pleasant, too, and I’ve ’most +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span> +got afraid of wondering what Cedar will feel like when +they go away.”</p> +<p>“Will Miss Torrance go away?”</p> +<p>“She will,” said Torrance, with a little sigh, though +there was pride in his eyes, “when the trouble’s over—but +not before. She came home to see the old man +through.”</p> +<p>Clavering seized the opportunity. “Did you ever contemplate +the possibility of Miss Torrance marrying anybody +here?”</p> +<p>“I have a notion that there’s nobody good enough,” +Torrance said quickly.</p> +<p>Clavering nodded, though he felt the old man’s eyes +upon him, and did not relish the implication. “Still, I +fancy the same difficulty would be met with anywhere +else, and that encourages me to ask if you would have any +insuperable objections to myself?”</p> +<p>Torrance looked at him steadily. “I have been expecting +this. Once I thought it was Miss Schuyler; but +she does not like you.”</p> +<p>“I am sorry,” and Clavering wondered whether his +host was right, “though, the latter fact is not of any +great moment. I have long had a sincere respect for +Miss Torrance, but I am afraid it would be difficult to +tell you all I think of her.”</p> +<p>“The point,” said Torrance, somewhat grimly, “is +what she thinks of you.”</p> +<p>“I don’t know. It did not seem quite fitting to ask her +until I had spoken to you.”</p> +<p>Torrance said nothing for almost a minute, and to +Clavering the silence became almost intolerable. The +old man’s forehead was wrinkled and he stared at the +wall in front of him with vacant eyes. Then, he spoke +very slowly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span></p> +<p>“That was the square thing, and I have to thank you. +For twenty years now I have worked and saved for Hetty—that +she might have the things her mother longed for +and never got. And I’ve never been sorry—the girl is +good all through. It is natural that she should marry; +and even so far as the dollars go, she will bring as much +to her husband as he can give her, and if it’s needful +more; but there are one or two points about you I don’t +quite like.”</p> +<p>The old man’s voice vibrated and his face grew softer +and the respect that Clavering showed when he answered +was not all assumed.</p> +<p>“I know my own unworthiness, sir, but I think any +passing follies I may have indulged in are well behind me +now.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Torrance drily, “it’s quite hard to shake +some tastes and habits off, and one or two of them have a +trick of hanging on to the man who thinks he has done +with them. Now, I want a straight answer. Do you +know any special reason why it would not be the square +thing for you to marry my daughter?”</p> +<p>A faint colour crept into Clavering’s face. “I know +a good many which would make the bargain unfair to +her,” he said, “but there are very few men in this country +who would be good enough for her.”</p> +<p>Torrance checked him with a lifted hand. “That is not +what I mean. It is fortunate for most of us that women +of her kind believe the best of us and can forgive a good +deal. I am not speaking generally: do you know any +special reason—one that may make trouble for both of +you? It’s a plain question, and you understand it. If +you do, we’ll go into the thing right now, and then, if it +can be got over, never mention it again.”</p> +<p>Clavering sat silent, knowing well that delay might +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span> +be fatal, and yet held still by something he had heard in +the old man’s voice and seen in his eyes. However, he +had succeeded in signally defeating one blackmailer.</p> +<p>“Sir,” he said, very slowly, “I know of no reason +now.”</p> +<p>Torrance had not moved his eyes from him. “Then,” +he said, “I can only take your word. You are one of us +and understand the little things that please girls like +Hetty. If she will take you, you can count on my good +will.”</p> +<p>Clavering made a little gesture of thanks. “I ask +nothing more, and may wait before I urge my suit; but it +seems only fair to tell you that my ranching has not been +very profitable lately and my affairs——”</p> +<p>Torrance cut him short. “In these things it is the man +that counts the most, and not the dollars. You will not +have to worry over that point, now you have told me I +can trust Hetty to you.”</p> +<p>He said a little more on the same subject, and then +Clavering went out with unpleasantly confused sensations +through which a feeling of degradation came uppermost. +He had not led an exemplary life, but pride had kept +him clear of certain offences, and he had as yet held his +word sacred when put upon his honour. It was some +minutes before he ventured to join Hetty and Miss +Schuyler, who he knew by the sound of the piano were +in the hall.</p> +<p>Hetty sat with her fingers on the keyboard, the soft +light of the lamps in the sconces shining upon her—very +pretty, very dainty, an unusual softness in the eyes. She +turned towards Clavering.</p> +<p>“You went in to get it”—touching the music—“just +because you heard me say I would like those songs. A +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span> +four days’ ride, and a blizzard raging on one of them!” +she said.</p> +<p>Clavering looked at her gravely with something in his +eyes that puzzled Miss Schuyler, who had expected a +wittily graceful speech.</p> +<p>“You are pleased with them?” he said.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the girl impulsively. “But I feel horribly +mean because I sent you, although, of course, I didn’t +mean to. It was very kind of you, but you must not do +anything of that kind again.”</p> +<p>Clavering, who did not appear quite himself, watched +her turn over the music in silence, for though the last +words were spoken quietly, there was, he and Miss Schuyler +fancied, a definite purpose behind them.</p> +<p>“Then, you will sing one of them?” he said.</p> +<p>Hetty touched the keys—there was a difference in her +when she sang, for music was her passion, and as the +clear voice thrilled the two who listened, a flush of exaltation, +that was almost spiritual, crept into her face. +Clavering set his lips, and when the last notes sank into +the stillness Miss Schuyler wondered what had brought +the faint dampness to his forehead. She did not know +that all that was good in him had revolted against what +he had done, and meant to do, just then, and had almost +gained the mastery. Unfortunately, instead of letting +Hetty sing again and fix Clavering’s half-formed resolution, +she allowed her distrust of him to find expression; +for capable young woman though she was, Flora Schuyler +sometimes blundered.</p> +<p>“The song was worth the effort,” she said. “Mr. +Clavering is, however, evidently willing to do a good deal +to give folks pleasure.”</p> +<p>Clavering glanced at her with a little smile. “Folks? +That means more than one.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span></p> +<p>“Yes; it generally means at least two.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed as she looked round. “Is there anybody +else he has been giving music to?”</p> +<p>“I fancy the question is unnecessary,” Flora said. “He +told us he came straight here, and there is nobody but +you and I at Cedar he would be likely to bring anything +to.”</p> +<p>“Of course not! Well, I never worry over your +oracular observations. They generally mean nothing +when you understand them,” said Hetty.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler smiled maliciously at Clavering. She +did not know that when a good deed hung in the balance +she had, by rousing his intolerance of opposition, just +tipped the beam.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XX_HETTY_S_OBSTINACY' id='XX_HETTY_S_OBSTINACY'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span> +<h2>XX</h2> +<h3>HETTY’S OBSTINACY</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was very cold, the red sun hung low above the +prairie’s western rim, and Clavering, who sat behind +Hetty and Miss Schuyler in the lurching sleigh, glanced +over his shoulder anxiously.</p> +<p>“Hadn’t you better pull up and let me have the reins, +Miss Torrance?” he said.</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “Why?” she asked, “I haven’t seen +the horse I could not drive.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Clavering drily, “this is the first time +you have either seen or tried to drive Badger, and I +not infrequently get out and lead the team down the +slope in front of you when I cross the creek. It has a +very awkward bend in it.”</p> +<p>Hetty looked about her, and, as it happened, the glare +of sunlight flung back from the snow was in her eyes. +Still, she could dimly see the trail dip over what seemed +to be the edge of a gully close ahead, and she knew the +descent to the creek in its bottom was a trifle perilous. +She was, however, fearless and a trifle obstinate, and +Clavering had, unfortunately, already ventured to give +her what she considered quite unnecessary instructions +as to the handling of the team. There had also been an +indefinite change in his attitude towards her during the +last week or two, which the girl, without exactly knowing +why, resented and this appeared a fitting opportunity for +checking any further presumption. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span></p> +<p>“You can get down now if you wish,” she said. +“We will stop and pick you up when we reach the level +again.”</p> +<p>Clavering said nothing further, for he knew that Miss +Torrance was very like her father in some respects, and +Hetty shook the reins. The next minute they had swept +over the brink, and Flora Schuyler saw the trail dip +steeply but slantwise to lessen the gradient to the frozen +creek. The sinking sun was hidden by the high bank +now and the snow had faded to a cold blue-whiteness, +through which the trail ran, a faint line of dusky grey. +It was difficult to distinguish at the pace the team were +making, and the ground dropped sharply on one side +of it.</p> +<p>“Let him have the reins, Hetty,” she said.</p> +<p>Unfortunately Clavering, who was a trifle nettled and +knew that team, especially the temper of Badger the near +horse better than Hetty did, laughed just then.</p> +<p>“Hold fast, Miss Schuyler, and remember that if anything +does happen, the right-hand side is the one to get +out from,” he said.</p> +<p>“Now,” said Hetty, “I’m not going to forgive you +that. You sit quite still, and we’ll show him something, +Flo.”</p> +<p>She touched the horses with the lash, and Badger flung +up his head; another moment and he and the other beast +had broken into a gallop. Hetty threw herself backwards +with both hands on the reins, but no cry escaped +her, and Clavering, who had a suspicion that he could +do no more than she was doing now, even if he could get +over the back of the seat in time, which was out of the +question, set his lips as he watched the bank of snow the +trail twisted round rush towards them. The sleigh +bounced beneath him in another second or two, there was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span> +a stifled scream from Flora Schuyler, and leaning over +he tore the robe about the girls from its fastenings. +Then, there was a bewildering jolting and a crash, and +he was flung out head foremost into dusty snow.</p> +<p>When he scrambled to his feet again Hetty was sitting +in the snow close by him, and Flora Schuyler creeping +out of a wreath of it on her hands and knees. The +sleigh lay on one side, not far away, with the Badger +rolling and kicking amidst a tangle of harness, though +the other horse was still upon its feet.</p> +<p>Clavering was pleased to find all his limbs intact, and +almost as gratified to see only indignant astonishment in +Hetty’s face. She rose before he could help her and in +another moment or two Flora Schuyler also stood upright, +clinging to his arm.</p> +<p>“No,” she said, with a little gasp, “I don’t think I’m +killed, though I felt quite sure of it at first. Now I only +feel as though I’d been through an earthquake.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned and looked at Clavering, with a little +red spot in either cheek. “Why don’t you say something?” +she asked. “Are you waiting for me?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know that anything very appropriate occurs +to me. You know I’m devoutly thankful you have both +escaped injury,” said the man, who was more shaken +than he cared to admit.</p> +<p>“Then I’ll have to begin,” and Hetty’s eyes sparkled. +“It was my fault, Mr. Clavering, and, if it is any relief +to you, I feel most horribly ashamed of my obstinacy. +Will that satisfy you?”</p> +<p>Clavering turned his head away, for he felt greatly +inclined to laugh, but he knew the Torrance temper. +Hetty had been very haughty during that drive, but she +had not appeared especially dignified when she sat blinking +about her in the snow, nor had Miss Schuyler, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span> +he felt that they realized it; and in feminine fashion +blamed him for being there. It was Miss Schuyler who +relieved the situation.</p> +<p>“Hadn’t you better do something for the horse? It +is apparently trying to hang itself—and I almost wish +it would. It deserves to succeed.”</p> +<p>Clavering could have done very little by himself, but +in another minute Hetty was kneeling on the horse’s +head, while, at more than a little risk from the battering +hoofs, he loosed some of the harness. Then, the Badger +was allowed to flounder to his feet, and Clavering proceeded +to readjust his trappings. A buckle had drawn, +however, and a strap had burst.</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty sharply. “Not that way. Don’t +you see you’ve got to lead the trace through. It is most +unfortunate Larry isn’t here.”</p> +<p>Clavering glanced at Miss Schuyler, and both of them +laughed, while Hetty frowned.</p> +<p>“Well,” she said, “he would have fixed the thing in +half the time, and we can’t stay here for ever.”</p> +<p>Clavering did what he could; but repairing harness in +the open under twenty or thirty degrees of frost is a difficult +task for any man, especially when he has no tools to +work with and cannot remove his mittens, and it was +at least twenty minutes before he somewhat doubtfully +announced that all was ready. He handed Miss Schuyler +into the sleigh, and then passed the reins to Hetty, +who stood with one foot on the step, apparently waiting +for something.</p> +<p>“I don’t think he will run away again,” he said.</p> +<p>The girl glanced at him sharply. “I am vexed with +myself. Don’t make me vexed with you,” she said.</p> +<p>Clavering said nothing, but took the reins and they +slid slowly down into the hollow, and, more slowly still, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span> +across the frozen creek and up the opposite ascent. After +awhile Hetty touched his shoulder.</p> +<p>“I really don’t want to meddle; but, while caution is +commendable, it will be dark very soon,” she said.</p> +<p>“Something has gone wrong,” Clavering said gravely. +“I’m afraid I’ll have to get down.”</p> +<p>He stood for several minutes looking at the frame of +the sleigh and an indented line ploughed behind it in the +snow, and then quietly commenced to loose the horses.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Hetty sharply, “what are you going to +do?”</p> +<p>“Take them out,” said Clavering.</p> +<p>“Why?”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “They are not elephants and have +been doing rather more than one could expect any horse +to do. It is really not my fault, you know, but one of the +runners has broken, and the piece sticks into the snow.”</p> +<p>“Then, whatever are we to do?”</p> +<p>“I am afraid you and Miss Schuyler will have to ride +on to Allonby’s. I can fix the furs so they’ll make some +kind of saddle, and it can’t be more than eight miles +or so.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler almost screamed. “I can’t,” she said.</p> +<p>“Don’t talk nonsense, Flo,” said Hetty. “You’ll just +have to.”</p> +<p>Clavering’s fingers were very cold, and the girls’ still +colder, before he had somehow girthed a rug about each +of the horses and ruthlessly cut and knotted the reins. +The extemporized saddles did not look very secure, but +Hetty lightly swung herself into one, though Miss Schuyler +found it difficult to repress a cry, and was not sure +that she quite succeeded, when Clavering lifted her to the +other.</p> +<p>“I’m quite sure I shall fall off,” she said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span></p> +<p>Hetty was evidently very much displeased at something, +for she seemed to forget Clavering was there. “If +you do I’ll never speak to you again,” she said. “You +might have been fond of him, Flo. There wasn’t the +least necessity to put your arm right around his neck.”</p> +<p>Clavering wisely stooped to do something to one of his +moccasins, for he saw an ominous sparkle in Miss Schuyler’s +eyes, but he looked up prematurely and the smile +was still upon his lips when he met Hetty’s gaze.</p> +<p>“How are you going to get anywhere?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Clavering, “it is quite a long while now +since I was able to walk alone.”</p> +<p>Hetty shook her bridle, and the Badger started at a +trot; but when Miss Schuyler followed, Clavering, who +fancied that her prediction would be fulfilled, also set off +at a run. He was, however, not quite fast enough, for +when he reached her Miss Schuyler was sitting in the +snow. She appeared to be unpleasantly shaken and her +lips were quivering. Clavering helped her to her feet, +and then caught the horse.</p> +<p>“The wretched thing turned round and slid me off,” +she said, when he came back with it, pointing to the rug.</p> +<p>Clavering tugged at the extemporized girth. “I am +afraid you can only try again. I don’t think it will slip +now,” he said.</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler, who had evidently lost her nerve, +mounted with difficulty and after trotting for some minutes +pulled up once more, and was sitting still looking +about her hopelessly when Clavering rejoined her.</p> +<p>“I am very sorry, but I really can’t hold on,” she +said.</p> +<p>Clavering glanced at the prairie, and Hetty looked at +him. Nothing moved upon all the empty plain which +was fading to a curious dusky blue. Darkness crept up +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span> +across it from the east, and a last faint patch of orange +was dying out on its western rim, while with the approaching +night there came a stinging cold.</p> +<p>“It might be best if you rode on, Miss Torrance, and +sent a sleigh back for us,” he said. “Walk your horse, +Miss Schuyler, and I’ll keep close beside you. If you +fell I could catch you.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s face was anxious, but she shook her head. +“No, it was my fault, and I mean to see it through,” +she said. “You couldn’t keep catching her all the time, +you know. I’m not made of eider-down, and she’s a +good deal heavier than me. It really is a pity you can’t +ride, Flo.”</p> +<p>“Nevertheless,” said Miss Schuyler tartly, “I can’t—without +a saddle—and I’m quite thankful I can’t drive.”</p> +<p>Hetty said nothing, and they went on in silence, until +when a dusky bluff appeared on the skyline, Clavering, +taking the bridle, led Miss Schuyler’s horse into a forking +trail.</p> +<p>“This is not the way to Allonby’s,” said Hetty.</p> +<p>“No,” said Clavering quietly. “I’m afraid you would +be frozen before you got there. The homestead-boys +who chop their fuel in the bluff have, however, some kind +of shelter, and I’ll make you a big fire.”</p> +<p>“But——” said Hetty.</p> +<p>Clavering checked her with a gesture. “Please let me +fix this thing for you,” he said. “It is getting horribly +cold already.”</p> +<p>They went on a trifle faster without another word, and +presently, with crackle of dry twigs beneath them, plodded +into the bush. Dim trees flitted by them, branches +brushed them as they passed, and the stillness and shadowiness +affected Miss Schuyler uncomfortably. She +started with a cry when there was a sharp patter amidst +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span> +the dusty snow; but Clavering’s hand was on the bridle +as the horse, snorting, flung up its head.</p> +<p>“I think it was only a jack-rabbit; and I can see the +shelter now,” he said.</p> +<p>A few moments later he helped Miss Schuyler down, +and held out his hand to Hetty, who sprang stiffly to the +ground. Then, with numbed fingers, he broke off and +struck a sulphur match, and the feeble flame showed the +refuge to which he had brought them. It was just high +enough to stand in, and had three sides and a roof of +birch logs, but the front was open and the soil inside it +frozen hard as adamant. An axe and a saw stood in a +corner, and there was a hearth heaped ready with kindling +chips.</p> +<p>“If you will wait here I’ll try to get some wood,” he +said.</p> +<p>He went out and tethered the horses, and when his +footsteps died away, Miss Schuyler shivering crept closer +to Hetty, who flung an arm about her.</p> +<p>“It’s awful, Flo—and it’s my fault,” she said. Then +she sighed. “It would all be so different if Larry was +only here.”</p> +<p>“Still,” said Flora Schuyler, “Mr. Clavering has really +behaved very well; most men would have shown just a +little temper.”</p> +<p>“I almost wish he had—it would have been so much +easier for me to have kept mine and overlooked it graciously. +Flo, I didn’t mean to be disagreeable, but it’s +quite hard to be pleasant when one is in the wrong.”</p> +<p>It was some time before Clavering came back with an +armful of birch branches, and a suspiciously reddened +gash in one of his moccasins—for an axe ground as the +Michigan man grinds it is a dangerous tool for anyone +not trained to it to handle in the dark. In ten minutes +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span> +he had a great fire blazing, and the shivering girls felt +their spirits revive a little under the cheerful light and +warmth. Then, he made a seat of the branches close in +to the hearth and glanced at them anxiously.</p> +<p>“If you keep throwing wood on, and sit there with the +furs wrapped round you, you will be able to keep the cold +out until I come back,” he said.</p> +<p>“Until you come back!” said Hetty, checking a little +cry of dismay. “Where are you going?”</p> +<p>“To bring a sleigh.”</p> +<p>“But Allonby’s is nearly eight miles away. You could +not leave us here three hours.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Clavering gravely. “You would be very +cold by then. Still, you need not be anxious. Nothing +can hurt you here; and I will come, or send somebody +for you, before long.”</p> +<p>Hetty sat very still while he drew on the fur mittens +he had removed to make the fire. Then, she rose suddenly.</p> +<p>“No,” she said. “It was my fault—and we cannot +let you go.”</p> +<p>Clavering smiled. “I am afraid your wishes wouldn’t +go quite as far in this case as they generally do with me. +You and Miss Schuyler can’t stay here until I could get +a sleigh from Allonby’s.”</p> +<p>He turned as he spoke, and was almost out of the +shanty before Hetty, stepping forward, laid her hand +upon his arm.</p> +<p>“Now I know,” she said. “It is less than three miles +to Muller’s, but the homestead-boys would make you a +prisoner if you went there. Can’t you see that would be +horrible for Flo and me? It was my wilfulness that +made the trouble.”</p> +<p>Clavering very gently shook off her grasp, and Miss +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span> +Schuyler almost admired him as he stood looking down +upon her companion with the flickering firelight on his +face. It was a striking face, and the smile in the dark +eyes became it. Clavering had shaken off his furs, and +the close-fitting jacket of dressed deerskin displayed his +lean symmetry, for he had swung round in the entrance +to the shanty and the shadows were black behind him.</p> +<p>“I think the fault was mine. I should not have been +afraid of displeasing you, which is what encourages me +to be obstinate now,” he said. “One should never make +wild guesses, should they, Miss Schuyler?”</p> +<p>He had gone before Hetty could speak again, and a +few moments later the girls heard a thud of hoofs as a +horse passed at a gallop through the wood. They stood +looking at each other until the sound died away, and only +a little doleful wind that sighed amidst the birches and +the snapping of the fire disturbed the silence. Then, +Hetty sat down and drew Miss Schuyler down beside +her.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, with a little quiver in her voice, +“what is the use of a girl like me? I seem bound to +make trouble for everybody.”</p> +<p>“It is not an unusual complaint, especially when one +is as pretty as you are,” said Miss Schuyler. “Though +I must confess I don’t quite understand what you are +afraid of, Hetty.”</p> +<p>“No?” said Hetty. “You never do seem to understand +anything, Flo. If he goes to Muller’s the homestead-boys, +who are as fond of him as they are of poison, +might shoot him, and he almost deserves it. No, of +course, after what he is doing for us, I don’t mean that. +It is the meanness that is in me makes me look for faults +in everybody. He was almost splendid—and he has left +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span> +his furs for us—but he mayn’t come back at all. Oh, +it’s horrible!”</p> +<p>Hetty’s voice grew indistinct, and Flora Schuyler +drew the furs closer about them, and slipped an arm +round her waist. She began to feel the cold again, and +the loneliness more, while, even when she closed her eyes, +she could not shut out the menacing darkness in front +of her. Miss Schuyler was from the cities, and it was +not her fault that, while she possessed sufficient courage +of a kind, she shrank from the perils of the wilderness. +She would have found silence trying, but the vague +sounds outside, to which she could attach no meaning, +were more difficult to bear. So she started when a puff +of wind set the birch twigs rattling or something stirred +the withered leaves, and once or twice a creaking branch +sent a thrill of apprehension through her and she almost +fancied that evil faces peered at her from the square gap +of blackness. Now and then, a wisp of pungent smoke +curled up and filled her eyes, and little by little she drew +nearer to the fire with a physical craving for the warmth +of it and an instinctive desire to be surrounded by its +brightness, until Hetty shook her roughly by the arm.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, “you are making me almost as silly +as you are, and that capote—it’s the prettiest I have seen +you put on—is burning. Sit still, or I’ll pinch you—hard.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s grip had a salutary effect, and Miss Schuyler, +shaking off her vague terrors, smiled a trifle tremulously.</p> +<p>“I wish you would,” she said. “Your fingers are +real, any way. I can’t help being foolish, Hetty—and is +the thing actually burning?”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed. “I guessed that would rouse you—but +it is,” she said. “I have made my mind up, Flo. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span> +If he doesn’t come in an hour or so, we’ll go to Muller’s, +too.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler was by no means sure that this would +please her, but she said nothing and once more there was +a silence she found it difficult to bear.</p> +<p>In the meanwhile, Clavering, whose foot pained him, +was urging the Badger to his utmost pace. He rode +without saddle or stirrups, which, however, was no great +handicap to anyone who had spent the time he had in the +cattle country, and, though it was numbingly cold and he +had left his furs behind him, scarcely felt the frost, for +his brain was busy. He knew Hetty Torrance, and that +what he had done would count for much with her; but +that was not what had prompted him to make the somewhat +perilous venture. Free as he was in his gallantries, +he was not without the chivalrous daring of the South his +fathers came from, and Hetty was of his own caste. +She, at least, would have been sure of deference from +him, and, perhaps, have had little cause for complaint +had he married her. Of late the admiration he felt for +her was becoming tinged with a genuine respect.</p> +<p>He knew that the homesteaders, who had very little +cause to love him, were in a somewhat dangerous mood +just then, but that was of no great moment to him. +He had a cynical contempt for them, and a pride which +would have made him feel degraded had he allowed any +fear of what they might do to influence him. He had +also, with less creditable motives, found himself in difficult +positions once or twice already, and his quickly +arrogant fearlessness had enabled him to retire from +them without bodily hurt or loss of dignity.</p> +<p>The lights of Muller’s homestead rose out of the prairie +almost before he expected to see them, and a few minutes +later he rode at a gallop up to the door. It opened before +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span> +he swung himself down, for the beat of hoofs had carried +far, and when he stood in the entrance, slightly dazed by +the warmth and light, there was a murmur of wonder.</p> +<p>“Clavering!” said somebody, and a man he could not +clearly see laid a hand on his shoulder.</p> +<p>He shook the grasp off contemptuously, moved forward +a pace or two, and then sat down blinking about +him. Muller sat by the stove, a big pipe in hand, looking +at him over his spectacles. His daughter stood behind +him knitting tranquilly, though there was a shade more +colour than usual in her cheeks, and a big, grim-faced +man stood at the end of the room with one hand on +a rifle that hung on the wall. Clavering instinctively +glanced over his shoulder, and saw that another man now +stood with his back to the door.</p> +<p>“You have come alone?” asked the latter.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” said Clavering unconcernedly. “You +might put my horse in, one of you. If I could have +helped it, I would not have worried you, but my sleigh +got damaged and Miss Torrance and another lady are +freezing in the Bitter Creek bluff, and I know you don’t +hurt women.”</p> +<p>“No,” said the man dropping his hand from the rifle, +with a little unpleasant laugh. “We haven’t got that +far yet, though your folks are starving them.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Clavering, “I’m going to ask you to send +a sledge and drive them back to Cedar or on to Allonby’s.”</p> +<p>The men exchanged glances. “It’s a trick,” said one.</p> +<p>“So!” said Muller. “Der ambuscade. Lotta, you +ride to Fremont, und Larry bring. I show you how +when we have drubbles mit der <i>franc tireurs</i> we fix der +thing.”</p> +<p>Clavering exclaimed impatiently. “You have no +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span> +time for fooling when there are two women freezing +in the bluff. Would I have come here, knowing you +could do what you liked with me, if I had meant any +harm to you?”</p> +<p>“That’s sense, any way,” said one of the men. “I +guess if he was playing any trick, one of us would be +quite enough to get even with him. You’ll take Truscott +with you, Muller, and get out the bob-sled.”</p> +<p>Muller nodded gravely. “I go,” he said. “Lotta, +you der big kettle fill before you ride for Larry. We +der bob-sled get ready.”</p> +<p>“You are not going to be sorry,” said Clavering. +“This thing will pay you better than farming.”</p> +<p>The man by the door turned with a hard laugh. +“Well,” he said, “I guess we’d feel mean for ever if +we took a dollar from you!”</p> +<p>Clavering ignored the speech. “Do you want me?” +he said, glancing at Muller.</p> +<p>“No,” said the man, who now took down the rifle +from the wall. “Not just yet. You’re going to stop +right where you are. The boys can do without me, and +I’ll keep you company.”</p> +<p>Ten minutes later the others drove away, and, with +a significant gesture, Clavering’s companion laid the rifle +across his knees.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXI_CLAVERING_APPEARS_RIDICULOUS' id='XXI_CLAVERING_APPEARS_RIDICULOUS'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span> +<h2>XXI</h2> +<h3>CLAVERING APPEARS RIDICULOUS</h3> +</div> + +<p>There was silence in the log-house when the men +drove away, and Clavering, who sat in a corner, found +the time pass heavily. A clock ticked noisily upon the +wall, and the stove crackled when the draughts flowed +in; but this, he felt, only made the stillness more exasperating. +The big, hard-faced bushman sat as motionless +as a statue and almost as expressionless, with a +brown hand resting on the rifle across his knees, in +front of a row of shelves which held Miss Muller’s +crockery. Clavering felt his fingers quiver in a fit of +anger as he watched the man, but he shook it from him, +knowing that he would gain nothing by yielding to futile +passion.</p> +<p>“I guess I can smoke,” he said flinging his cigar-case +on the table. “Take one if you feel like it.”</p> +<p>The swiftness with which the man’s eyes followed the +first move of his prisoner’s hand was significant, but he +shook his head deliberately.</p> +<p>“I don’t know any reason why you shouldn’t, but you +can keep your cigars for your friends,” he said.</p> +<p>He drawled the words out, but the vindictive dislike +in his eyes made them very expressive, and Clavering, +who saw it, felt that any attempt to gain his jailer’s +goodwill would be a failure. As though to give point to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span> +the speech, the man took out a pipe and slowly filled it +with tobacco from a little deerskin bag.</p> +<p>“What are you going to do with me?” asked Clavering, +partly to hide his anger, and partly because he was +more than a little curious on the subject.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the man reflectively. “I don’t quite +know. Keep you here until Larry comes, any way. It +wouldn’t take long to fix it so you’d be sorry you had +worried poor folks if the boys would listen to me.”</p> +<p>This was even less encouraging; but there were still +points on which Clavering desired enlightenment.</p> +<p>“Will Muller bring Miss Torrance and her companion +here?” he asked.</p> +<p>The bushman nodded. “I guess he will. It’s quite +a long way to Allonby’s, and they’ll be ’most frozen after +waiting in the bluff. Now, I’m not anxious for any +more talk with you.”</p> +<p>A little flush crept into Clavering’s forehead; but it +was not the man’s contemptuous brusqueness which +brought it there, though that was not without its effect. +It was evident that the most he could hope for was +Larry’s clemency, and that would be difficult to tolerate. +But there was another ordeal before him. Hetty was +also coming back, and would see him a prisoner in the +hands of the men he had looked down upon with ironical +contempt. Had the contempt been assumed, his position +would have been less intolerable; but it was not, +and the little delicately venomous jibes he seldom lost +an opportunity of flinging at the homesteaders expressed +no more than he felt, and were now and then warranted.</p> +<p>Clavering, of course, knew that to pose as a prisoner +as the result of his efforts on her behalf would stir Hetty’s +sympathy, and his endurance of persecution at the hands +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span> +of the rabble for his adherence to the principles he fancied +she held would further raise him in her estimation; +but he had no desire to acquire her regard in that +fashion. He would have preferred to take the chances +of a rifle-shot, for while he had few scruples he had been +born with a pride which, occasionally at least, prevented +his indulgence in petty knavery; and, crushing down his +anger, he set himself to consider by what means he could +extricate himself.</p> +<p>None, however, were very apparent. The homesteader +showed no sign of drowsiness or relaxed vigilance, +but sat tranquilly alert, watching him through the +curling smoke. It was also some distance to the door, +which, from where Clavering sat, appeared to be fastened +and he knew the quick precision with which the +bushman can swing up a rifle, or if it suits him fire +from the hip. A dash for liberty could, he fancied, have +only one result; it was evident that he must wait.</p> +<p>Now waiting is difficult to most men, and especially to +those in whose veins there flows the hot Southern blood, +and Clavering felt the taste of the second excellent cigar +grow bitter in his mouth. He sat very still, with half-closed +eyes, and a little ironical smile upon his lips when +his grim companion glanced at him. In the meantime +the stove crackled less noisily and the room grew +steadily colder. But Clavering scarcely felt the chill, +even when the icy draughts whirled the cigar-smoke +about him, for he began to see that an opportunity would +be made for him, and waited, strung up and intent. +When he thought he could do so unobserved, he glanced +at the clock whose fingers now moved with a distressful +rapidity, knowing that his chance would be gone if the +bob-sled arrived before the cold grew too great for his +jailer. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span></p> +<p>Ten minutes dragged by, then another five, and still +the man sat smoking tranquilly, while Clavering realized +that, allowing for all probable delays, Muller and Miss +Torrance should arrive before the half-hour was up. +Ten more minutes fled by, and Clavering, quivering in +an agony of impatience, found it almost impossible to sit +still; but at last the bushman stood up and laid his rifle +on the table.</p> +<p>“You will stop right where you are,” he said. “I’m +going to put a few billets in the stove.”</p> +<p>Clavering nodded, for he dared not trust himself to +speak, and the man, who took up an armful of the billets, +dropped a few of them through the open top of the stove. +One, as it happened, jammed inside it, so that he could +get no more in, and he laid hold of an iron scraper to +free it with. He now stood with his back to Clavering, +but the rifle still lay within his reach upon the table.</p> +<p>Clavering rose up, and, though his injured foot was +painful, moved forward a pace or two noiselessly in his +soft moccasins. A billet had rolled in his direction, and +swaying lithely from the waist, with his eyes fixed upon +the man, he seized it. The homesteader was stooping +still, and he made another pace, crouching a trifle, with +every muscle hardening.</p> +<p>Then, the man turned sharply, and hurled the scraper +straight at Clavering. It struck him on the face, but he +launched himself forward, and, while the homesteader +grabbed at his rifle, fell upon him. He felt the thud of +the billet upon something soft, but the next moment it +was torn from him, the rifle fell with a clatter, and he +and the bushman reeled against the stove together. +Then, they fell against the shelves and with a crash they +and the crockery went down upon the floor.</p> +<p>Clavering was supple and wiry and just then consumed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span> +with an almost insensate fury. He came down +uppermost but his adversary’s leg was hooked round his +knee, and the grip of several very hard fingers unpleasantly +impeded his respiration. Twice he struck savagely +at a half-seen brown face, but the grip did not relax, +and the knee he strove to extricate began to pain him +horribly. The rancher possessed no mean courage and +a traditional belief in the prowess of his caste, was famed +for proficiency in most manly sports; but that did not +alter the fact that the other man’s muscle, hardened by +long use of the axe, was greater than his own, and the +stubborn courage which had upheld the homesteader in +his struggle with adverse seasons and the encroaching +forest was at least the equal of that born in Clavering.</p> +<p>So the positions were slowly reversed, until at last +Clavering lay with his head amidst a litter of broken +cups and plates, and the homesteader bent over him with +a knee upon his chest.</p> +<p>“I guess you’ve had ’bout enough,” he said. “Will +you let up, or do you want me to pound the life out +of you?”</p> +<p>Clavering could not speak, but he managed to make +a movement with his head, and the next moment the man +had dragged him to his feet and flung him against the +table. He caught at it, gasping, while his adversary +picked up the rifle.</p> +<p>“You will be sorry for this night’s work yet,” he +said.</p> +<p>The homesteader laughed derisively. “Well,” he +said, “I guess you’re sorry now. Anyone who saw you +would think you were. Get right back to the chair yonder +and stay there.”</p> +<p>It was at least five minutes before Clavering recovered +sufficiently to survey himself, and then he groaned. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span> +His deerskin jacket was badly rent, there was a great +burn on one side of it, and several red scratches defaced +his hands. From the splotches on them after he brushed +back his ruffled hair he also had a suspicion that his head +was cut, and the tingling where the scraper had struck +him suggested a very visible weal. He felt dizzy and +shaken, but his physical was less than his mental distress. +Clavering was distinguished for his artistic taste in dress +and indolent grace; but no man appears dignified or +courtly with discoloured face, tattered garments, and +dishevelled hair. He thought he heard the bob-sled coming +and in desperation glanced at his jailer.</p> +<p>“If you would like ten dollars you have only got to +let me slip into that other room,” he said.</p> +<p>The bushman grinned sardonically, and Clavering’s +fears were confirmed. “You’re that pretty I wouldn’t +lose sight of you for a hundred,” he said. “No, sir; +you’re going to stop where you are.”</p> +<p>Clavering anathematized him inwardly, knowing that +the beat of hoofs was unmistakable—he must face what +he dreaded most. A sword-cut, or even a rifle-shot, +would, he fancied, have entitled him to sympathy, not +untinged with admiration, but he was unpleasantly +aware that a man damaged in an encounter with nature’s +weapons is apt to appear either brutal or ludicrous, and +he had noticed Miss Torrance’s sensibility. He set his +lips, and braced himself for the meeting.</p> +<p>A few minutes later the door opened, and, followed +by the fräulein Muller, Hetty and Miss Schuyler came +in. They did not seem to have suffered greatly in the +interval, which Clavering knew was not the case with +him, and he glanced at the homesteader with a little +venomous glow in his eyes when Hetty turned to him.</p> +<p>“Oh!” she said with a gasp, and her face grew pale +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span> +and stern as closing one hand she, too, looked at the +bushman.</p> +<p>Clavering took heart at this; but his enemy’s vindictiveness +was evidently not exhausted, for he nodded +comprehendingly.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said, “he’s damaged. He got kind of savage +a little while ago, and before I could quiet him he +broke up quite a lot of crockery.”</p> +<p>The imperious anger faded out of Hetty’s face, and +Flora Schuyler understood why it did so as she glanced +at Clavering. There was nothing that could appeal to a +fastidious young woman’s fancy about him just then; +he reminded Miss Schuyler of a man she had once seen +escorted homewards by his drunken friends after a +fracas in the Bowery. At the same time it was evident +that Hetty recognized her duty, and was sensible, if not +of admiration, at least of somewhat tempered sympathy.</p> +<p>“I am dreadfully sorry, Mr. Clavering—and it was +all my fault,” she said. “I hope they didn’t hurt you +very much.”</p> +<p>Clavering, who had risen, made her a little inclination; +but he also set his lips, for Hetty had not expressed +herself very tactfully, and just then Muller and another +man came in and stood staring at them. The rancher +endeavoured to smile, with very small success for he +was consumed with an unsatisfied longing to destroy +the bushman.</p> +<p>“I don’t think you need be, Miss Torrance,” he said. +“I am only sorry I could not come back for you; but +unfortunately—circumstances—prevented me.”</p> +<p>“You have done enough,” said Hetty impulsively, +apparently forgetting the presence of the rest. “It +was splendid of you.”</p> +<p>Then the bushman looked up again with an almost +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span> +silent chuckle. “I guess if it had been your plates he +sat on, you wouldn’t be quite so sure of it—and the circumstance +was me,” he said.</p> +<p>Hetty turned from the speaker, and glanced at the +rest. Muller was standing near the door, with his spectacles +down on his nose and mild inquiry in his pale blue +eyes, and a big bronzed Dakota man beside him was +grinning visibly. The fräulein was kneeling despairingly +amidst her shattered china, while Flora Schuyler +leaned against the table with her lips quivering and a +most suspicious twinkle in her eyes.</p> +<p>“Flo,” said Hetty half-aloud. “How can you?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” said Miss Schuyler, with a little gasp. +“Don’t look at me, Hetty. I really can’t help it.”</p> +<p>Hetty said no more, but she glanced at the red-cheeked +fräulein, who was gazing at a broken piece of crockery +with tearful eyes, and turned her head away. Clavering +saw the effort it cost her to keep from laughing, and +writhed.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the man who had come with Muller, +pointing to the wreck, “what started you smashing up +the house?”</p> +<p>“It’s quite simple,” said the bushman. “Mr. Clavering +and I didn’t quite agree. He had a billet in his +hand when he crept up behind me, and somehow we fell +into the crockery. I didn’t mean to damage him, but +he wanted to get away, you see.”</p> +<p>Hetty swung round towards Muller. “You haven’t +dared to make Mr. Clavering a prisoner?”</p> +<p>Muller was never very quick at speech, and the American +by his side answered for him. “Well, we have got +to keep him until Larry comes. He’ll be here ’most +directly.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span></p> +<p>“Flo,” said Hetty, with relief in her face, “Larry is +coming. We need not worry about anything now.”</p> +<p>The fräulein had risen in the meanwhile, and was +busy with the kettle and a frying-pan. By and by, she +set a steaming jug of coffee and a hot cornmeal cake +before her guests for whom Muller had drawn out +chairs. They were glad of the refreshment, and still +more pleased when Grant and Breckenridge came in. +When Larry shook hands with them, Hetty contrived +to whisper in his ear:</p> +<p>“If you want to please me, get Clavering away.”</p> +<p>Grant glanced at her somewhat curiously, but both +were sensible that other eyes were upon them, and with +a just perceptible nod he passed on with Muller into the +adjoining room. Clavering and the two Americans followed +him with Breckenridge, and Grant who had heard +something of what had happened from the fräulein, asked +a few questions.</p> +<p>“You can go when it pleases you, Clavering,” he said. +“I am sorry you have received some trifling injury, but +I have an idea that you brought it upon yourself. In +the face of your conduct to them it seems to me that +my friends were warranted in detaining you until they +made sure of the correctness of your story.”</p> +<p>Clavering flushed, for there was a contemptuous incisiveness +in Grant’s voice which stung his pride.</p> +<p>“I don’t know that I am very grateful,” he said angrily, +“and you are probably doing this because it suits +you. In any case, your friends dare not have offered +violence to me.”</p> +<p>Grant smiled grimly. “I wouldn’t try them too far. +But I don’t quite catch your meaning. I can gain nothing +by letting you go.”</p> +<p>“It should be tolerably plain. I fancied you desired +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span> +to please some friends at Cedar who send money to +you.”</p> +<p>There was a murmur of astonishment from the rest +and Clavering saw that the shot had told.</p> +<p>“I guess he’s lying, Larry,” said one of them.</p> +<p>Grant stood still a moment with his eyes fixed on Clavering. +“I wonder,” he said, “if you are hazarding +a guess.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Clavering, “I don’t think I am. I know +you got a wallet of dollars—though I don’t know who +sent them. Are you prepared to deny it?”</p> +<p>“I’m not prepared to exchange any words with you,” +said Grant. “Go while the door is open, and it would +not be advisable for you to fall into our hands again. +We hanged a friend of yours who, I fancy, lived up to, +at least, as high a standard as you seem to do.”</p> +<p>When Clavering had left the room, the others turned +to Grant. “You have something to tell us?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Grant quietly. “I don’t think I have.”</p> +<p>The men looked at each other, and one of them said, +“That fellow’s story sounded kind of ugly. What were +you taking dollars from the cattle-men for, Larry?”</p> +<p>Grant saw the growing distrust in their eyes, but his +own were resolute.</p> +<p>“I can’t help that,” he said. “I am with you, as I +have always been, but there are affairs of mine I can’t +have anybody inquiring into. That is all I can tell you. +You will have to take me on trust.”</p> +<p>“You’re making it hard,” said the man who had +spoken first.</p> +<p>Before Grant could answer, Clavering returned ready +for his ride, but Grant gave him no opportunity to address +Hetty and Miss Schuyler. “It is too far to drive +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span> +to Allonby’s in the sled,” he said to them. “My sleigh +is at your service. Shall I drive you?”</p> +<p>Hetty, for a moment, looked irresolute, but she saw +Clavering’s face, and remembered what was due to him +and what he had apparently suffered for her sake.</p> +<p>“It wouldn’t be quite fair to dismiss Mr. Clavering in +that fashion,” she said.</p> +<p>Grant glanced at her, and the girl longed for an opportunity +of making him understand what influenced her. +But this was out of the question.</p> +<p>“Then, if he will be surety for their safety, the team +is at Mr. Clavering’s disposal,” he said.</p> +<p>Clavering said nothing to Grant, but he thrust his +hand into his pocket and laid a five-dollar bill on the +table.</p> +<p>“I am very sorry I helped to destroy some of your +crockery, fräulein, and this is the only amend I can +make,” he said. “If I knew how to replace the broken +things I wouldn’t have ventured to offer it to you.”</p> +<p>The little deprecatory gesture was graceful, and Hetty +flashed an approving glance at him; but she also looked +at Grant, as if to beseech his comprehension, when she +went out. Larry, however, did not understand her, and +stood gravely aside as she passed him. He said nothing, +but when he was fastening the fur robe round her in +the sleigh Hetty spoke.</p> +<p>“Larry,” she said softly, “can’t you understand that +one has to do the square thing to everybody?”</p> +<p>Then, Clavering, who could not hear what she was +saying, flicked the horses and the sleigh slid away into +the darkness.</p> +<p>A moment or two later, while the men still lingered +talking without and Larry stood putting on his furs in +the room, Breckenridge saw Miss Muller, who had been +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span> +gazing at the money rise, and as though afraid her resolution +might fail her, hastily thrust it into the stove.</p> +<p>“You are right,” he said. “That was an abominably +unfair shot of Clavering’s, Larry. Of course, you +couldn’t answer him or tell anybody, but it’s horribly unfortunate. +The thing made the impression he meant +it to.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Larry bitterly, “I have got to bear it +with the rest. I can’t see any reason for being pleased +with anything to-night.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge nodded, but once more a little twinkle +crept into his eyes. “I scarcely think you need worry +about one trifle, any way,” he said. “If you think Miss +Torrance or Miss Schuyler wanted Clavering to drive +them, you must be unusually dense. They only asked +him to because they have a sense of fairness, and I’d +stake a good many dollars on the fact that when Miss +Schuyler first saw him she was convulsed with laughter.”</p> +<p>“Did Miss Torrance seem amused?” Grant asked +eagerly.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Breckenridge decisively. “She did +though she tried to hide it. Miss Torrance has, of +course, a nice appreciation of what is becoming. In +fact, her taste is only slightly excelled by Miss Schuyler’s.”</p> +<p>Grant stared at him for a moment, and then for the +first time, during several anxious months, broke into a +great peal of laughter.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXII_THE_CAVALRY_OFFICER' id='XXII_THE_CAVALRY_OFFICER'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span> +<h2>XXII</h2> +<h3>THE CAVALRY OFFICER</h3> +</div> + +<p>The winter was relaxing its iron grip at last and +there were alternations of snow and thaw and frost +when one evening a few of his scattered neighbours assembled +at Allonby’s ranch. Clavering was there, with +Torrance, Hetty, and Miss Schuyler, among the rest; +but though the guests made a spirited attempt to appear +unconcerned, the signs of care were plainer in their +faces than when they last met, and there were times +when the witty sally fell curiously flat. The strain was +beginning to tell, and even the most optimistic realized +that the legislature of the State was more inclined to +resent than yield to any further pressure that could be +exerted by the cattle-barons. The latter were, however, +proud and stubborn men, who had unostentatiously directed +affairs so long that they found it difficult to grasp +the fact that their ascendancy was vanishing. Showing +a bold front still, they stubbornly disputed possession +of every acre of land the homesteaders laid claim +upon. The latters’ patience was almost gone, and the +more fiery spirits were commencing to obstruct their +leader’s schemes by individual retaliation and occasionally +purposeless aggression.</p> +<p>Torrance seemed older and grimmer, his daughter +paler, and there were moments when anxiety was apparent +even in Clavering’s usually careless face. He +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span> +at least, was already feeling the pinch of straitened +finances, and his only consolations were the increasing +confidence that Torrance reposed in him, and Hetty’s +graciousness since his capture by the homesteaders. It +was, perhaps, not astonishing that he should mistake +its meaning, for he had no means of knowing, as Miss +Schuyler did, that the cattle-baron’s daughter met Larry +Grant now and then.</p> +<p>Hetty was sitting in a corner of the big room, with +Flo Schuyler and Christopher Allonby close at hand, +and during a lull in the conversation she turned to him +with a smile.</p> +<p>“You find us a little dull to-night, Chris?” she said.</p> +<p>Allonby laughed. “There was a time when you delighted +in trapping me into admissions of that kind, but +I’m growing wise,” he said. “In fact, another year +like this one would make an old man of me. I don’t +mind admitting that there is something wrong with the +rest. I have told them the stories they have laughed +over the last three years, and could not raise a smile +from one of them; and when I got my uncle started playing +cards I actually believe your father forgot what +trumps were, for the first time in his life!”</p> +<p>“That is significant,” said Hetty, whose face had +grown serious. “Nothing has gone well for us lately, +Chris.”</p> +<p>Allonby sighed. “We don’t like to acknowledge it, +but it’s a fact,” he said. “Still, there’s hope yet, if we +can just stir up the homestead-boys into wrecking a +railroad bridge or burning somebody’s ranch.”</p> +<p>“It is a little difficult to understand how that would +improve affairs, especially for the man whose place was +burned,” said Miss Schuyler drily.</p> +<p>“One can’t afford to be too particular,” said Allonby, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span> +with a deprecating gesture. “You see, once they +started in to do that kind of thing the State would have +to crush them, which, of course, would suit us quite +nicely. As it is, after the last affair at Hamlin’s, they +have sent in a draft of cavalry.”</p> +<p>“And you are naturally taking steps to bring about +the things that would suit you?” asked Flora Schuyler.</p> +<p>Allonby did not see the snare. “Well,” he said, “I +am not an admirer of Clavering, but I’m willing to +admit that he has done everything he could; in fact, +I’m ’most astonished they have stood him so long, and +I don’t think they would have done so, but for Larry. +Anyway, it’s comforting to know Larry is rapidly making +himself unpopular among them.”</p> +<p>A spot of colour showed in Hetty’s cheek, and there +was a little gleam in Flora Schuyler’s eyes as she fixed +them on the lad.</p> +<p>“You evidently consider Mr. Grant is taking an unwarranted +liberty in persuading his friends to behave +themselves as lawful citizens should?” she said.</p> +<p>“I don’t quite think you understand me, of course, +one could scarcely expect it from a lady; but if you look +at the thing from our point of view, it’s quite easy.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler smiled satirically. “I fancy I do, +though I may be mistaken. Subtleties of this kind are, +as you suggest, beyond the average woman.”</p> +<p>“You are laughing at me, and it’s quite likely I deserve +it. We will talk of something else. I was telling +you about the cavalry officer.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty, “I don’t think you were.”</p> +<p>“Then I meant to. He has just come up from the +Apache country—a kind of quiet man, with a good deal +in him and a way of making you listen when you once +start him talking. We half expect him here this evening, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span> +and if he comes, I want you to be nice to him. You +could make him believe we are in the right quite easily.”</p> +<p>“From the Apache country?” and Flora Schuyler +glanced at Hetty.</p> +<p>Allonby nodded. “New Mexico, Arizona, or somewhere +there. Now, just when you were beginning to +listen, there’s Mr. Torrance wanting me.”</p> +<p>He rose with evident reluctance, and Miss Schuyler +sat reflectively silent when he moved away.</p> +<p>“What are you thinking of?” asked Hetty sharply.</p> +<p>“That the United States is not after all such a very +big country. One is apt to run across a friend everywhere.”</p> +<p>Hetty did not answer, but Miss Schuyler knew that +she was also wondering about the cavalry officer, when +half an hour later it became evident, from the sounds +outside, that a sleigh had reached the door, and when +a little further time had passed Allonby ushered a man +in blue uniform into the room. Hetty set her lips when +she saw him.</p> +<p>“Oh!” said Miss Schuyler. “I felt quite sure of it. +This is the kind of thing that not infrequently happens, +and it is only the natural sequence that he should turn +up on the opposite side to Larry.”</p> +<p>“Flo,” said Hetty sharply, “what do you mean?”</p> +<p>“Well,” she said lazily, “I fancy that you should +know better than I do. I have only my suspicions and +some little knowledge of human nature to guide me. +Now, of course, you convinced us that you didn’t care +for Cheyne, but we have only your word to go upon +in regard to Larry.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned upon her with a flash in her eyes. +“Don’t try to make me angry, Flo. It’s going to be +difficult to meet him as it is.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span></p> +<p>“I don’t think you need worry,” and Flora Schuyler +laughed. “He is probably cured by this time, and has +found somebody else. They usually do. That ought +to please you.”</p> +<p>In the meantime, Allonby and the man he was presenting +to his friends were drawing nearer. Hetty rose +when the pair stopped in front of them.</p> +<p>“Captain Jackson Cheyne, who is coming to help us. +Miss Torrance and Miss Schuyler, the daughter and +guest of our leader,” said Allonby, and the soldierly +man with the quiet, brown face, smiling, held out his +hand.</p> +<p>“We are friends already,” he said, and passed on with +Allonby.</p> +<p>“Was it very dreadful, Hetty?” said Flora Schuyler. +“I could see he means to come back and talk to you.”</p> +<p>Hetty also fancied Cheyne wished to do so, and spent +the next hour or two in avoiding the encounter. With +this purpose she contrived to draw Chris Allonby into +one of the smaller rooms where the card-tables were +then untenanted, and listened with becoming patience +to stories she had often heard before. She, however, +found it a little difficult to laugh at the right places, and +at last the lad glanced reproachfully at her.</p> +<p>“It spoils everything when one has to show you where +the point is,” he said; and Hetty, looking up, saw Cheyne +and Flora Schuyler in the doorway.</p> +<p>“Miss Newcombe is looking for you, Mr. Allonby,” +said the latter.</p> +<p>There was very little approval in the glance Hetty +bestowed upon Miss Schuyler and Allonby seemed to +understand it.</p> +<p>“She generally is, and that is why I’m here,” he said. +“I don’t feel like hearing about any more lepidoptera +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span> +to-night, and you can take her Captain Cheyne instead. +He must have found out quite a lot about beetles and +other things that bite you down in Arizona.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler, disregarding Hetty, laughed. “You +had better go,” she said. “I see her coming in this +direction now, and she has something which apparently +contains specimens in her hand.”</p> +<p>Allonby fled, but he turned a moment in the doorway. +“Do you think you could get me a real lively tarantula, +Captain Cheyne?” he said. “If a young lady with a +preoccupied manner asks you anything about insects, +tell her you have one in your pocket. It’s the only thing +that will save you.”</p> +<p>He vanished with Miss Schuyler, and Hetty, somewhat +against her wishes, found herself alone with +Cheyne. He was deeply sunburned, and his face thinner +than it had been, but the quiet smile she had once found +pleasure in was still in his eyes.</p> +<p>“Your young friend did his best, and I am half afraid +he had a hint,” he said.</p> +<p>Hetty blushed. “I am very pleased to see you,” she +said hastily. “How did you like New Mexico?”</p> +<p>“As well as I expected,” Cheyne answered with a dry +smile. “It is not exactly an enchanting place—deformed +mountains, sun glare, adobe houses, loneliness, +and dust. My chief trouble, however, was that I had +too much time to think.”</p> +<p>“But you must have seen somebody and had something +to do.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” Cheyne admitted. “There was a mining +fellow who used to come over and clean out my whiskey, +and sing gruesome songs for hours together to a banjo +that had, I think, two strings. I stayed out all night +quite frequently when I had reason to believe that he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span> +was coming. Then, we killed a good many tarantulas—and +a few equally venomous pests—but when all was +done it left one hours to sit staring at the sage-brush +and wonder whether one would ever shake off the +dreariness of it again.”</p> +<p>“It must have been horribly lonely,” Hetty said.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Cheyne, very slowly, “there was just +one faint hope that now and then brightened everything +for me. I thought you might change. Perhaps I was +foolish—but that hope would have meant so much to +me. I could not let it go.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned and looked at him with a softness in +her eyes, for the little tremor in his voice had touched +her.</p> +<p>“And I was hoping you had forgotten,” she said.</p> +<p>“No,” said Cheyne quietly. “I don’t think I ever +shall. You haven’t a grain of comfort to offer me?”</p> +<p>Hetty shook her head, and involuntarily one hand +went up and rested a moment on something that lay +beneath the laces at her neck. “No,” she said. “I +am ever so sorry, Jake, but I have nothing whatever to +offer you—now.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said Cheyne, with a little gesture of resignation, +“I suppose it can be borne because it must be—and +I think I understand. I know he must be a good +man—or you would never have cared for him.”</p> +<p>Hetty looked at him steadily, but the colour that had +crept into her cheek spread to her forehead. “Jake,” +she said, “no doubt there are more, but I have met two +Americans who are, I think, without reproach. I shall +always be glad I knew them—and it is not your fault +that you are not the right one.”</p> +<p>Cheyne made her a little grave inclination. “Then, +I hope we shall be good friends when I meet the other +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span> +one. I am going to stay some little time in the cattle +country.”</p> +<p>“I almost hope you will not meet just yet,” Hetty +said anxiously, “and you must never mention what I +have told you to anybody.”</p> +<p>“You have only told me that I was one of two good +Americans,” said Cheyne, with a quiet smile which the +girl found reassuring. “Now, you don’t want to send +me away?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty. “It is so long since I have seen +you. You have come to help us against our enemies?”</p> +<p>Cheyne saw the girl’s intention, and was glad to fall +in with it, but he betrayed a little embarrassment. “Not +exactly, though I should be content if my duty amounts +to the same thing,” he said. “We have been sent in +to help to restore order, and it is my business just now +to inquire into the doings of a certain Larry Grant. I +wonder if you could tell me anything about him?”</p> +<p>He noticed the sudden intentness of Hetty’s face, +though it was gone in an instant.</p> +<p>“What have you found out?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Very little that one could rely upon. Everybody I +ask tells me something different, he seems a compound +of the qualities of Coleman the Vigilante, our first President, +and the notorious James boys. As they were +gentlemen of quite different character, it seems to me +that some of my informants are either prejudiced or +mistaken.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty. “He is like none of them. Larry +is just a plain American who is fearlessly trying to do +what he feels is right, though it is costing him a good +deal. You see, I met him quite often before the trouble +began.”</p> +<p>Cheyne glanced at her sharply, but Hetty met his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span> +gaze. “I don’t know,” he answered, “that one could +say much more of any man.”</p> +<p>Just then Flora Schuyler and Miss Allonby came in. +“Hetty,” said the latter, “everybody is waiting for you +to sing.”</p> +<p>In the meanwhile, Allonby and his nephew sat with +Torrance and Clavering, and one or two of the older +men, in his office room. Clavering had just finished +speaking when Allonby answered Torrance’s questioning +glance.</p> +<p>“I have no use for beating round the bush,” he said. +“Dollars are getting scarce with me, and, like some of +my neighbours, I had to sell out a draft of stock. The +fact that I’m throwing them on the market now is significant.”</p> +<p>One of the men nodded. “Allonby has put it +straight,” he said. “I was over fixing things with the +station agent, and he is going to send the first drafts +through to Omaha in one lot if two of his biggest locomotives +can haul the cars. Still, if Clavering has got +hold of the right story, how the devil did the homestead-boys +hear of it?”</p> +<p>Clavering glanced at Torrance with a little sardonic +smile on his lips. “I don’t quite know, but a good many +of our secrets have been leaking out.”</p> +<p>“You’re quite sure you are right, Clavering?” somebody +asked.</p> +<p>“Yes. The information is worth the fifty dollars I +paid for it. The homestead-boys mean to run that stock +train through the Bitter Creek bridge. As you know, +it’s a good big trestle, and it is scarcely likely we would +get a head of stock out of the wreck alive.”</p> +<p>There were angry ejaculations and the faces round +the table grew set and stern. Some of the men had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span> +seen what happens when a heavy train goes through a +railroad trestle.</p> +<p>“It’s devilish!” said Allonby. “Larry is in the +thing?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Clavering drily, “it appears the boys +can’t do anything unless they have an order from their +executive, and the man who told me declared he had +seen one signed by him. Still, one has to be fair to +Larry, and it is quite likely some of the foreign Reds +drove him into it. Any way, if we could get that paper—and +I think I can—it would fix the affair on him.”</p> +<p>Torrance nodded. “Now we have the cavalry here, +it would be enough to have him shot,” he said. “Well, +this is going to suit us. But there must be no fooling. +We want to lay hands upon them when they are at work +on the trestle.”</p> +<p>The other men seemed doubtful, and Allonby made +a protest. “It is by no means plain how it’s going to +suit me to have my steers run through the bridge,” he +said. “I can’t afford it.”</p> +<p>Clavering laughed. “You will not lose one of them,” +he said. “Now, don’t ask any questions, but listen +to me.”</p> +<p>There were objections to the scheme he suggested, +but he won over the men who raised them, and when +all had been arranged and Allonby had gone back to +his other guests, Clavering appeared satisfied and Torrance +very grim. Unfortunately, however, they had +not bound Christopher Allonby to silence, and when he +contrived to find a place near Miss Schuyler and Hetty +he could not refrain from mentioning what he had heard. +This was, however, the less astonishing since the cattle-barons’ +wives and daughters shared their anxieties and +were conversant with most of what happened. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span></p> +<p>“You have a kind of belief in the homestead-boys, +Hetty?” he said.</p> +<p>“Yes, but everybody knows who I belong to.”</p> +<p>“Of course! Well, I guess you are not going to +have any kind of belief in them now. They’re planning +to run our big stock train through the Bitter Creek +bridge.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned white. “They would never do that. +Their leaders would not let them.”</p> +<p>“No?” said Allonby. “I’m sorry to mention it, but +it seems they have Larry’s order.”</p> +<p>A little flush crept into Flora Schuyler’s face, but +Hetty’s grew still more colourless and her dark eyes +glowed. Then she shook her shoulders, and said with +a scornful quietness, “Larry would not have a hand +in it to save his life. There is not a semblance of truth +in that story, Chris.”</p> +<p>Allonby glanced up in astonishment, but he was +youthful, and that Hetty could have more than a casual +interest in her old companion appeared improbable to +him.</p> +<p>“It is quite a long time since you and Larry were +on good terms, and no doubt he has changed,” he said. +“Any way, his friends are going to try giant powder +on the bridge, and if we are fortunate Cheyne will get +the whole of them, and Larry, too. Now, we’ll change +the topic, since it does not seem to please you.”</p> +<p>He changed it several times, but his companions, +though they sat and even smiled now and then, heard +very few of his remarks.</p> +<p>“I’m going,” he said at last, reproachfully. “I am +sorry if I have bored you, but it is really quite difficult +to talk to people who are thinking about another thing. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span> +It seems to me you are both in love with somebody, and +it very clearly isn’t me.”</p> +<p>He moved away, and for a moment Hetty and Miss +Schuyler did not look at one another. Then Hetty +stood up.</p> +<p>“I should have screamed if he had stayed any +longer,” she said. “The thing is just too horrible—but +it is quite certain Larry does not know. I have got +to tell him somehow. Think, Flo.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXIII_HETTY_S_AVOWAL' id='XXIII_HETTY_S_AVOWAL'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span> +<h2>XXIII</h2> +<h3>HETTY’S AVOWAL</h3> +</div> + +<p>The dusk Hetty had anxiously waited for was creeping +across the prairie when she and Miss Schuyler +pulled up their horses in the gloom of the birches where +the trail wound down through the Cedar bluff. The +weather had grown milder and great clouds rolled across +the strip of sky between the branches overhead, while +the narrow track amidst the whitened trunks was covered +with loose snow. There was no frost, and Miss +Schuyler felt unpleasantly clammy as she patted her +horse, which moved restively now and then, and shook +off the melting snow that dripped upon her; but Hetty +seemed to notice nothing. She sat motionless in her +saddle with the moisture glistening on her furs, and the +thin white steam from the spume-flecked beast floating +about her, staring up the trail, and when she turned +and glanced over her shoulder her face showed white +and drawn.</p> +<p>“He must be coming soon,” she said, and Miss Schuyler +noticed the strained evenness of her voice. “Yes, +of course he’s coming. It would be too horrible if we +could not find him.”</p> +<p>“Jake Cheyne and his cavalry boys would save the +bridge,” said Flora Schuyler, with a hopefulness she did +not feel.</p> +<p>Hetty leaned forward and held up her hand, as though +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span> +to demand silence that she might listen, before she +answered her.</p> +<p>“There are some desperate men among the homestead-boys, +and if they found out they had been given +away they would cut the track in another place,” she +said. “If they didn’t and Cheyne surprised them, they +would fire on his troopers and Larry would be blamed +for it. He would be chased everywhere with a price +on his head, and anyone he wouldn’t surrender to could +shoot him. Flo, it is too hard to bear, and I’m afraid.”</p> +<p>Her voice failed her, and Miss Schuyler, who could +find no words to reassure her, was thankful that her attention +was demanded by her restive horse. The strain +was telling on her, too, and, with less at stake than +her companion, she was consumed by a longing to defeat +the schemes of the cattle-men, who had, it seemed to her +with detestable cunning, decided not to warn the station +agent, and let the great train go, that they might +heap the more obloquy upon their enemies. The risk +the engineer and brakesmen ran was apparently nothing +to them, and she felt, as Hetty did, that Larry was the +one man who could be depended on to avert bloodshed. +Yet there was still no sign of him.</p> +<p>“If he would only come!” she said.</p> +<p>There was no answer. Loose snow fell with a soft +thud from the birch branches, and there was a little +sighing amidst the trees. It was rapidly growing darker, +but Hetty sat rigidly still in her saddle, with her hand +clenched on the bridle. Five long minutes passed. +Then, she turned suddenly, exultation in her voice.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, “he’s coming!”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler could hear nothing for another minute +or two, and then, when a faint sound became audible +through the whispering of the trees, she wondered how +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span> +her companion could be sure it was the fall of hoofs, +or that the horse was not ridden by a stranger. But +there was no doubt in Hetty’s face, and Flora Schuyler +sighed as she saw it relax and a softness creep into +the dark eyes. She had seen that look in the faces of +other women and knew its meaning.</p> +<p>The beat of hoofs became unmistakable, and she could +doubt no longer that a man was riding down the trail. +He came into sight in another minute, a shadowy figure +swinging to the stride of a big horse, with the line of +a rifle-barrel across his saddle, and then, as he saw them, +rode up at a gallop, scattering the snow.</p> +<p>“Hetty!” he said, a swift flush of pleasure sweeping +his face, and Miss Schuyler set her lips as she noticed +that he did not even see her.</p> +<p>Hetty gathered up her bridle, and wheeled her horse. +“Ride into the bluff—quick,” she said. “Somebody +might see us in the trail.”</p> +<p>Larry did as he was bidden, and when the gloom of +the trees closed about them, sprang down and looped +his bridle round a branch. Then, he stood by Hetty’s +stirrup, and the girl could see his face, white in the +faint light the snow flung up. She turned her own +away when she had looked down on it.</p> +<p>“I have had an anxious day, but this makes up for +everything,” he said. “Now—and it is so long since +I have seen you—can’t we, for just a few minutes, forget +our troubles?”</p> +<p>He held out his hand, as though to lift her down, but +the girl turned her eyes on him and what he saw in +them checked him suddenly.</p> +<p>“No,” she said, with a tremor in her voice, “we can’t +get away from them. You must not ask any question +until you have heard everything!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span></p> +<p>She spoke with a swift conciseness that omitted no +point and made the story plain, for there was a high +spirit in the girl, and a tangible peril that could be grappled +with had a bracing effect on her. Grant’s face grew +intent as he listened, and Hetty, looking down, could +see the firmer set of his lips, and the glint in his eyes. +The weariness faded out of it, and once more she recognized +the alert, resourceful, and quietly resolute Larry +she had known before the troubles came. He turned +swiftly and clasped her hand.</p> +<p>“I wonder if you know how much you have done +for me?”</p> +<p>Hetty smiled and allowed her fingers to remain in +his grasp. “Then, you have heard nothing of this?” +she said.</p> +<p>“No,” said the man. “But Hetty——”</p> +<p>Again the girl checked him with a gesture. “And +I need not ask you whether you would have had a hand +in it?”</p> +<p>Grant laughed a little scornful laugh that was more +eloquent than many protestations. “No,” he said, “you +needn’t. I think you know me better than that, Hetty?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said the girl softly. “You couldn’t have had +anything to do with that kind of meanness. Larry, how +was it they did not tell you?”</p> +<p>She felt the grasp of the man’s fingers slacken and +saw his arm fall to his side. His face changed suddenly, +growing stern and set, until he turned his head +away. When he looked round again the weariness was +once more plain in it, and she almost fancied he had +checked a groan.</p> +<p>“You have brought me back to myself,” he said. +“Only a few seconds ago I could think of nothing but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span> +what you had done for me. I think I was almost as +happy as a man could be, and now——”</p> +<p>Hetty laid her hand on his shoulder. “And now? +Tell me, Larry.”</p> +<p>“No,” said the man. “You have plenty of troubles +of your own.”</p> +<p>The grasp of the little hand grew tighter, and when +Grant looked up he saw the girl smiling down on him +half-shyly, and yet, as it were, imperiously.</p> +<p>“Tell me, dear,” she said.</p> +<p>Larry felt his heart throb, and his resolution failed +him. He could see the girl’s eyes, and their compelling +tenderness.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, huskily, “what I have dreaded has +come. The men I have given up everything for have +turned against me. No, you must not think I am sorry +for what I have done, and it was right then; but they +have listened to some of the crazy fools from Europe +and are letting loose anarchy. I and the others—the +sensible Americans—have lost our hold on them, and +yet it was we who brought them in. We took on too +big a contract—and I’m most horribly afraid, Hetty.”</p> +<p>The light had almost gone, but his face still showed +drawn and white and Hetty bent down nearer him.</p> +<p>“Put your hand in mine, Larry,” she said softly. “I +have something to tell you.”</p> +<p>The man obeyed her, wondering, while a thrill ran +through him as the mittened fingers closed upon his own.</p> +<p>“Hetty,” he said, “I have only brought trouble on +everyone. I’m not fit to speak to you.”</p> +<p>“No,” said the girl, with a throb in her voice. “You +have only done what very few other men would have +dared to do, and many a better girl than I am would +be proud to be fond of you. Now listen, Larry. For +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span> +years you were ever so good to me, and I was too mean +and shallow and selfish even to understand what you +were giving me. I fancied I had a right to everything +you could do. But come nearer, Larry.”</p> +<p>She drew him closer to her, until his garments pressed +the horse’s flank and the blanket skirt she wore, and +leaned down still further with her hand upon his +shoulder.</p> +<p>“I found out, dear, and now I want you to forgive +me and always love me.”</p> +<p>The grasp on her hand became compelling, and she +moved her foot from the stirrup as the man’s arm +reached upwards towards her waist. Had she wished +she could not have helped herself; as she slipped from +the saddle the arm closed round her and it was several +seconds before she and Grant stood a pace apart, with +tingling blood, looking at one another. There was no +sign of Flora Schuyler, they were alone, enfolded in +the silence of the bluff.</p> +<p>“It is wonderful,” he said. “I can’t even talk, Hetty. +I want to realize it.”</p> +<p>Hetty laughed but there was a note in her voice that +set the man’s heart beating furiously. “Yes, it is +wonderful it should come to me,” she said. “No, you +needn’t look round, Larry. There is nothing and nobody +that counts now except you and me. I am just +beginning to understand your patience, and how hard +I must have been to you.”</p> +<p>“I waited a long time,” he said. “It was worth +while. Even the troubles I felt crushing me seem very +little now. If they were only over, and there was nothing +to come between you and me!”</p> +<p>“Larry,” the girl said very softly, “are you sure they +need do that? It has been so horrible lately, and I can’t +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span> +even sleep at night for thinking of the risks that you +are taking.”</p> +<p>Grant closed one hand, but it was too dark now for +Hetty to see his face, and she was glad of it.</p> +<p>“You mean—” he said hoarsely, and stopped.</p> +<p>“Just this,” her voice almost a whisper. “I am +frightened of it all, and when you want me I will come +to you. No, wait just a little. I could never marry +the man who was fighting against my father and the +people I belong to, while, now I know what you are, +I could never ask him to go back on what he felt was +right; but, Larry, the men you did so much for have +turned against you, and the things they are doing are +not right, and would never please you. Can’t we go +away and leave the trouble behind us? Nobody seems +to want us now.”</p> +<p>There was a cold dew on the man’s forehead the girl +could not see. “And your father?” he said.</p> +<p>“I would never help anyone against him, as I told +you,” said the girl. “Still, there are times when his +bitterness almost frightens me. It is hard to admit it, +even to you, but I can’t convince myself that he and the +others are not mistaken, too. I can’t believe any longer +that you are wrong, dear. Besides, though he says very +little, I feel he wants me to marry Clavering.”</p> +<p>“Clavering?” said Larry.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty, with a shiver. “I dislike him +bitterly—and I should be safe with you.”</p> +<p>Grant held out his hands. “Then, you must come, +my dear. One way or other the struggle will soon be +over now, and if I have to go out an outcast I can still +shelter you.”</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_6' id='linki_6'></a> +<img src='images/cbd-267.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 362px; height: 530px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 362px;'> +THERE WAS A NOTE IN HER VOICE THAT SET THE MAN’S HEART BEATING FURIOUSLY.—<i>Page 267.</i><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span></div> +<p>The girl drew back a pace. “I can’t turn against my +own people—but yours have turned on you. That +makes it easier. If you will take me, dear, we will go +away.”</p> +<p>Grant turned from her, and ground his heel into the +snow. He had already given up almost everything that +made life bright to him, but he had never felt the bitterness +he did at that moment, when he realized that +another and heavier sacrifice was demanded of him.</p> +<p>“Hetty,” he said slowly, “can’t you understand? I +and the others brought the homesteaders in; this land has +fed me and given me all I have, and now I can’t go +back on it and them. I would not be fit to marry you +if I went away.”</p> +<p>The words were very simple, but the man’s voice +betrayed what he felt. Hetty understood, and the pride +she had no lack of came to the rescue.</p> +<p>“Yes,” she said with a little sob, “Larry you are +right. You will forgive me, dear, for once more tempting +you. Perhaps it will all come right by and by. And +now I must go.”</p> +<p>There was a crackle of brittle twigs, and Grant dimly +saw Miss Schuyler riding towards them. Reaching out, +he took Hetty’s hands and drew her closer.</p> +<p>“There is just one thing you must promise me, my +dear,” he said. “If your father insists on your listening +to Clavering, you will let me know. Then I will +come to Cedar for you, and there are still a few Americans +who have not lost confidence in their leader and +will come with me. Nothing must make you say yes +to him.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty simply. “If I cannot avoid it any +other way, I will send for you. I can’t wait any longer—and +here is Flo.”</p> +<p>Larry stooped; but before she laid her foot in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span> +hand he held out for her to mount by, Hetty bent her +head swiftly, and kissed him.</p> +<p>“Now,” she said softly, “do you think I could listen +to Clavering? You will do what you have to, and I +will wait for you. It is hard on us both, dear; but I +can’t help recognizing my duty, too.”</p> +<p>Larry lifted her to the saddle, and she vanished into +the gloom of the birches before he could speak to Miss +Schuyler, who wheeled her horse and followed her. +A few minutes more and he was riding towards Fremont +as fast as his horse could flounder through the slushy +snow, his face grown set and resolute again, for he knew +he had difficult work to do.</p> +<p>“I don’t quite know what has come over you, Larry,” +Breckenridge said an hour or two later with a puzzled +look at Grant as he lifted his eyes from the writing pad +on his knee. “I haven’t seen you so obviously contented +for months, and yet the work before us may be grim +enough. The most unpleasant point about it is that +Clavering must have got hold of one of your warrant +forms. It was a mistake to trust anybody with one +not filled in.”</p> +<p>“Well, I feel that way too,” Grant confessed, “and +at the same time I’m desperately anxious. We are going +to have trouble with the boys right along the line, +and there is no man living can tell what will happen if +any of them go down in an affair with the cavalry.”</p> +<p>“It wouldn’t be difficult to guess what the consequences +would be if they cut the track just before the +stock train came through. You are quite sure they have +not changed their minds again?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Larry quietly. “I bluffed it out of +Harper. He would have taken a hand in, and only +kicked when it came to taking lives. More of the others +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span> +cleared out over that point, too, and as the rest were +half-afraid of some of those who objected giving them +away, they changed their plans; but it seems quite certain +they mean to pull the rails up at the bend on the +down grade by the bunch grass hollow. It is fortunate, +any way. Cheyne and his cavalry will be watching the +bridge, you see; but you had better get ready. I’ll have +the last instructions done directly, and it will be morning +before you are through.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge poured himself out a big cup of coffee +from the jug on the stove, put on a black leather jacket, +and went out to the stable. When he came back, Grant +handed him a bundle of notes.</p> +<p>“You will see every man gets one and tell him all +he wants to know. I dare not put down too much in +black and white. They are to be round at the rise +behind the depot at six Thursday night.”</p> +<p>“You believe they will come?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” Grant said firmly. “They are good men, and +I’m thankful there are still so many of them, because +just now they are all that is standing between this country +and anarchy.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge smiled a little, but his voice was sympathetic. +“Well,” he said, “I am glad, on my own +account, too. It’s nicer to have the chances with you +when you have to reckon with men of the kind we are +going to meet, but I shall not be sorry when this trouble’s +through. It is my first attempt at reforming and a little +of it goes a long way with me. I don’t know that there +is a more thankless task than trying to make folks better +off than they want, or deserve, to be.”</p> +<p>He went out with a packet of messages, and Grant +sat still, with care in his face, staring straight in front +of him.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXIV_THE_STOCK_TRAIN' id='XXIV_THE_STOCK_TRAIN'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span> +<h2>XXIV</h2> +<h3>THE STOCK TRAIN</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was almost unpleasantly hot in the little iron-roofed +room at the railroad depot, and the agent, who flung +the door open, stood still a minute or two blinking into +the darkness. A big lamp that flickered in the wind +cast an uncertain gleam upon the slushy whiteness under +foot, and the blurred outline of a towering water-tank +showed dimly through the sliding snow. He could also +just discern the great locomotive waiting on the side-track, +and the sibilant hiss of steam that mingled with +the moaning of the wind whirling a white haze out of +the obscurity. Beyond the track, and showing only now +and then, the lights of the wooden town blinked fitfully; +on the other hand and behind the depot was an empty +waste of snow-sheeted prairie. The temperature had +gone up suddenly, but the agent shivered as he felt the +raw dampness strike through him, and, closing the door, +took off and shook his jacket and sat down by the stove +again.</p> +<p>He wore a white shirt of unusually choice linen, with +other garments of fashionable city cut, for a station +agent is a person of importance in the West, and this +one was at least as consequential as most of the rest. +He had finished his six o’clock supper at the wooden +hotel a little earlier; and as the next train going west +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span> +would not arrive for two or three hours, he took out +a rank cigar, and, placing his feet upon a chair, prepared +to doze the time away, though he laid a bundle +of accounts upon his knee, in case anyone should come +in unexpectedly. This, however, was distinctly improbable +on such a night.</p> +<p>The stove flung out a drowsy heat, and it was not +long before his eyes grew heavy. He could still hear +the wailing of the wind and the swish of the snow that +whirled about the lonely building, and listened for a +while with tranquil contentment; for the wild weather +he was not exposed to enhanced the comfort of the +warmth and brightness he enjoyed. Then, the sounds +grew less distinct and he heard nothing at all until he +straightened himself suddenly in his chair as a cold +draught struck him. A few flakes of snow also swept +into the room and he saw that the door was open.</p> +<p>“Hallo!” he called. “Wait there a moment. I +guess this place doesn’t belong to you.”</p> +<p>A man who looked big and shapeless in his whitened +furs signed to somebody outside without answering, and +four or five other men in fur caps and snow-sprinkled +coats came in. They did not seem to consider it necessary +to wait for permission, and it dawned upon the +agent that something unusual was about to happen.</p> +<p>“We have a little business to put through,” said one.</p> +<p>“Well,” said the agent brusquely, “I can’t attend to +you now. You can come back later—when the train +comes in.”</p> +<p>One of the newcomers smiled sardonically, and the +agent recognized two of his companions. They were +men of some importance in that country, who had, however +joined the homestead movement and were under +the ban of the company’s chief supporters, the cattle-barons. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span> +There was accordingly no inducement to waste +civility on them; but he had an unpleasant feeling that +unnecessary impertinence would not be advisable.</p> +<p>“It has got to be put through now,” said the first of +them, with a little ring in his voice. “We want a locomotive +and a calaboose to take us to Boynton, and we +are quite willing to pay anything reasonable.”</p> +<p>“It can’t be done. We have only the one loco here, +and she is wanted to shove the west-bound train up the +long grade to the hills.”</p> +<p>“I guess that train will have to get through alone +to-night,” said another man.</p> +<p>The agent got up with an impatient gesture. “Now,” +he said, “I don’t feel like arguing with you. You +can’t have the loco.”</p> +<p>“No?” said the homesteader, with a little laugh. +“Well, I figure you’re mistaken. We have taken charge +of her already and only want the bill. If you don’t +believe me, call your engineer.”</p> +<p>The agent strode to the door, and there was a momentary +silence after he called, “Pete!”</p> +<p>Then, a shout came out of the sliding snow: “I can’t +come.”</p> +<p>It broke off with significant suddenness, and the agent +turned to the man who had first spoken. “You are +going to be sorry for this, Mr. Grant,” he said and then +tried to slip away, but one of the others pulled the door +to and stood with his back to it while Grant, smiling, +said, “I’m quite willing to take my chances. Have the +stock-cars passed Perry’s siding?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” said the agent.</p> +<p>“Then, hadn’t you better call them up and see? We +are giving you the first chance of doing it out of courtesy, +but one of us is a good operator.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span></p> +<p>“I was on the Baltimore and Ohio road,” said one +man. “You needn’t play any tricks with me.”</p> +<p>The agent sat down at the telegraph instrument, and +looked up when it rapped out an answer to his message.</p> +<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td> +<p style='margin: 0 0 0 0.0em;'>“Stock train left Birch Hollow. No sign of her yet.”</p> +</td></tr></table> + +<p>“That’s all right,” said the man who had served the +B. and O. “Tell them to side-track her for half an +hour, anyway, after your loco comes through. It’s necessary. +Don’t worry ’bout any questions, but tell them +to keep us a clear road, now.”</p> +<p>The agent, who saw that the other man was prepared +to do the work himself, complied, and the latter once +more nodded when the instrument clicked out the +answer.</p> +<p>“Make out your bill,” said Grant, taking a wallet +from his pocket.</p> +<p>“No,” said the agent; “we’re going to have the law +of you.”</p> +<p>Grant laughed. “It strikes me there is very little +law in this country now, and your company would a good +deal sooner have the dollars than a letter telling them +you had let us take one of their locomotives away from +you.”</p> +<p>“That,” said the agent reflectively, “sounds quite +sensible. Well, I’ll take the dollars. It doesn’t commit +us to anything.”</p> +<p>The bills were counted over, and as the men went +out Grant turned in the doorway. “It would not be +advisable for you to wire any of the folks along the line +to stop us,” he said. “We are going through to Boynton +as fast as your engineer can shove his loco along, +and if anybody switched us into a side-track it would +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span> +only mean the smashing up of a good deal of the company’s +property.”</p> +<p>He had gone out in another moment, and, in a few +more, climbed into the locomotive cab, while somebody +coupled on a calaboose in the rear. Then, he showed +the engineer several bills and the agent’s receipt together.</p> +<p>“If you can hold your tongue and get us through +to Boynton five minutes under the mail schedule time, +the dollars are yours,” he said.</p> +<p>The engineer looked doubtful for a moment, then, +his eyes twinkling, he took the bills.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “you’ve got the agent’s receipt, and +the rest is not my business. Sit tight, and we’ll show +you something very like flying to-night.”</p> +<p>Another man flung open the furnace door, a sudden +stream of brightness flashed out as he hurled in coal, +the door shut with a clang, and there was a whirr of +slipping wheels as the engineer laid his hand on the +lever. The great locomotive panted, and Grant, staring +out through the glasses, saw a blinking light slide +back to them. Then, the plates beneath him trembled, +the hammering wheels got hold, and the muffled clanging +and thudding swelled into a rhythmic din. The light +darted past them, the filmy whiteness which had streamed +down through the big headlamp’s glare now beat in a +bewildering rush against the quivering glass, and the +fan-shaped blaze of radiance drove on faster through +the snow.</p> +<p>Five minutes passed, and Grant, who held a watch in +his hand, glanced at the engineer as the blaze whirled +like a comet along the clean-cut edge of a dusky bluff.</p> +<p>“You’ll have to do better,” he said.</p> +<p>“Wait till we have got her warmed up,” said the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span> +man, who stood quietly intent, his lean hand on the +throttle. “Then you’ll see something.”</p> +<p>Grant sat down on a tool-locker, took out his cigar-case, +and passed it to Breckenridge who sat opposite +him. Breckenridge’s face was eager and there was an +unusual brightness in his eyes, for he was young and +something thrilled within him in unison with the vibration +of the great machine. There was, however, very +little to see just then beyond the tense, motionless figure +of the man at the throttle and the damp-beaded face of +another forced up in the lurid glare from the furnace +door. A dim whiteness lashed the glasses, and when +Breckenridge pressed his face to one of them the blaze +of radiance against which the smoke-stack was projected +blackly only intensified the obscurity they were speeding +through.</p> +<p>Still, there was much to feel and hear—the shrill wail +of the wind that buffeted their shelter, the bewildering +throb and quiver of the locomotive which, with its suggestion +of Titanic effort, seemed to find a response in +human fibre, pounding and clashing with their burden +of strain, and the roar of the great drivers that rose and +fell like a diapason. Perhaps Breckenridge, who was also +under a strain that night, was fanciful, but it seemed +to him there was hidden in the medley of sound a theme +or motive that voiced man’s domination over the primeval +forces of the universe, and urged him to the endurance +of stress, and great endeavour. It was, for the +most part, vague and elusive; but there were times when +it rang exultingly through the subtly harmonious din, +reminding him of Wagnerian music.</p> +<p>Leaning forward, he touched Grant’s knee. “Larry, +it’s bracing. The last few months were making me +a little sick of everything—but this gets hold of one.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span> +Grant smiled, but Breckenridge saw how weary his +bronzed face showed in the dim lantern light. “There +was a time, two or three years ago, when I might have +felt it as you seem to do,” he said. “I don’t seem +to have any feeling but tiredness left me now.”</p> +<p>“You can’t let go,” said Breckenridge.</p> +<p>“No,” and Grant sighed, “not until the State takes +hold instead of me, or the trouble’s through.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge said nothing further, and Grant sat +huddled in a corner with the thin blue cigar-smoke +curling about him. He knew it was possible he was +taking a very heavy risk just then, since the homesteaders +might have changed their plans again; and +his task was a double one, for he had not only to save +the stock train, but prevent an encounter between his +misguided followers and the cavalry. So there was +silence between them while, lurching, rocking, roaring, +the great locomotive sped on through the night, +until the engineer, turning half-round, glanced at +Grant.</p> +<p>“Is she making good enough time to suit you? +Perry’s siding is just ahead, and we’ll be on the Bitter +Creek trestle five minutes after that,” he said.</p> +<p>Grant rose and leaned forward close to the glasses. +He could see nothing but the radiance from the headlamp +whirling like a meteor through the filmy haze; +but the fierce vibration of everything, and the fashion +in which the snow smote the glasses, as in a solid +stream, showed the pace at which they were travelling. +He looked round and saw that Breckenridge’s +eyes were fixed upon him. His comrade’s voice +reached him faint and strained through the hammering +of the wheels.</p> +<p>“You feel tolerably sure Harper was right about the +bridge?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span></p> +<p>Grant nodded. “I do.”</p> +<p>“What if he was mistaken, and they meant to try +there after all? There are eight of us.”</p> +<p>“We have got to take the risk,” said Grant very +quietly, “and it is a big responsibility; but if the boys +got their work in and fell foul of Cheyne, we would +have half the State ablaze.”</p> +<p>He signed for silence, and Breckenridge stared out +through the glasses, for he feared his face would betray +him, and fancied he understood the burden that +was upon the man who, because it seemed the lesser +evil, was risking eight men’s lives.</p> +<p>As he watched, a blink of light crept out of the +snow, grew brighter, and swept back to them. Others +appeared in a cluster behind it, a big water-tank flashed +by, and the roar of wheels and scream of whistle was +flung back by a snow-covered building. Then, as +Breckenridge glanced to the opposite side, the blaze +of another headlamp dazzled his eyes and he had a +blurred vision of a waiting locomotive and a long row +of snow-smeared cars. In another second cars and +station had vanished as suddenly as they had sprung +up out of the night, and they were once more alone +in the sliding snow. Breckenridge drew a breath of +relief.</p> +<p>“There’s the stock train, any way. And now for +the bridge!” he said.</p> +<p>“That was the easiest half of it. Muller was there—I +saw him—and he could have warned the agent at +the last minute,” Grant answered.</p> +<p>Neither of them said anything further, but Breckenridge +felt his heart beat faster as the snow whirled +by. The miles were slipping behind them, and he was +by no means so sure as Larry was that no attempt +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span> +would be made upon the bridge. His fancy would persist +in picturing the awful leap into the outer darkness +through the gap in the trestle, and he felt his lips +and forehead grow a trifle colder and his flesh shrink +in anticipation of the tremendous shock. He looked +at Grant; the latter’s face was very quiet, and had lost +its grimness and weariness—there was almost a suggestion +of exaltation in it.</p> +<p>“We are almost on the bridge now,” he said.</p> +<p>The engineer nodded, and the next moment Breckenridge, +who had been watching the light of the headlamp +flash along the snow beside the track, saw it +sweep on, as it were, through emptiness. Then, he +heard a roar of timber beneath him, and fancied he +could look down into a black gulf through the filmy +snow. He knew it was a single track they were speeding +over, and that the platform of the calaboose behind +them overhung the frozen river far below.</p> +<p>He set his lips and held his breath for what seemed +a very long time, and then, with a sigh of relief, sank +back into his seat as he felt by the lessening vibration, +that there was frozen soil under them. But in spite +of himself the hands he would have lighted a cigar +with shook, and the engineer who looked round +glanced at him curiously.</p> +<p>“Feeling kind of sick?” he said. “Well, it’s +against the regulations, but there’s something that +might fix you as well as tea in that can.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge smiled feebly. “The fact is, I have +never travelled on a locomotive before, and when I +took on the contract I didn’t quite know all I was +letting myself in for,” he said.</p> +<p>“How far are we off the long down grade with the +curve in it?” asked Grant. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span></p> +<p>“We might get there in ’bout ten minutes,” said +the engineer.</p> +<p>“Slacken up before you reach the grade and put +your headlamp out,” said Grant. “I want you to +stop just this side of the curve, and wait for me five +minutes.”</p> +<p>The engineer looked at him steadily. “Now, there’s +a good deal I don’t understand about all this. What +do you want me to stop there for?”</p> +<p>“I don’t see why you should worry. It does not +concern you. Any way, I have hired this special, and +I give you my word that nothing I am going to do +will cause the least damage to any of the company’s +property. I want you to stop, lend me a lantern, and +sit tight in the cab until I tell you to go on. We will +make it two dollars a minute.”</p> +<p>The engineer nodded. “I don’t know what you are +after, but I guess I can take your word,” he said. +“You seem that kind of a man.”</p> +<p>Ten minutes later the fireman vanished into the +darkness, and the blaze of the headlamp went out +before he returned and the roar of the drivers sank. +The rhythmic din grew slack, and became a jarring +of detached sounds again, the snow no longer beat +on the glasses as it had done, and, rocking less, the +great locomotive rolled slowly down the incline until +it stopped, and Grant, taking the lantern handed him, +sprang down from the cab. Four other men were waiting +on the calaboose platform, and when Grant hid the +lantern under his fur coat they floundered down the side +of the graded track which there crossed a hollow. A +raw wind whirled the white flakes about them and +Breckenridge could scarcely see the men behind him. He +was thankful when, slipping, sliding, stumbling, they +gained the level. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span></p> +<p>From there he could just distinguish the road bed as +something solid through the whirling haze, and he felt +they were following a bend of it when Grant stopped +and a clinking sound came out of the obscurity above +them. It might have been made by somebody knocking +out key wedges or spikes with a big hammer and +in his haste striking the rail or chair.</p> +<p>Then Grant said something Breckenridge could not +catch, and they were crawling up the slope, with the +clinking and ringing growing a trifle louder. Breckenridge’s +heart beat faster than usual, but he was tolerably +collected now. He had a weapon he was not unskilled +with in his pocket, and the chance of a fight +with even desperate men was much less disconcerting +than that of plunging down into a frozen river with a +locomotive. He had also a reassuring conviction that if +Larry could contrive it there would be no fight at all.</p> +<p>He crawled on, with the man behind clutching at him, +now and then, and the one in front sliding back on him, +until his arms were wet to the elbows and his legs to +the knees; but the top of the grade seemed strangely +difficult to reach, and he could see nothing with the +snow that blew over it in his eyes. Suddenly Larry +rose up, there was a shout and a flounder, and, though +he did not quite know how he got there, Breckenridge +found himself standing close behind his comrade, and +in the light of the lantern held up saw a man drop his +hammer. There were other men close by, but they were +apparently too astonished to think of flight.</p> +<p>“It’s Larry!” somebody exclaimed.</p> +<p>“Stop where you are,” said Grant sharply as one +man made a move. “I don’t want to shoot any of you, +but I most certainly will if you make me. Are there +any more of you?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span></p> +<p>“No,” said one of the men disgustedly.</p> +<p>Grant walked forward swinging his lantern until his +eyes rested on one partly loosened rail. “And that is +as far as you have got?” he said. “Take up your +hammer and drive the wood key in. Get hold of their +rifles, Charley. I guess they are under that coat.”</p> +<p>There was an angry murmur, and a man started to +speak; but Grant stopped him.</p> +<p>“Hammer the wedges in,” he said. “It was pure +foolishness made me come here to save you from the +cavalry who had heard of what you meant to do, because +we have no use for men of your kind in this +country. You haven’t even sense enough to keep your +rifles handy, and there will be two or three less of you +to worry decent folks if you keep us waiting.”</p> +<p>A man took up the hammer, and then waited a moment, +looking at those who stood about Larry. He +could see the faces of one or two in the lantern light, +and recognized that he need expect no support from +them. The men were resolute Americans, who had +no desire for anything approaching anarchy.</p> +<p>“We are with Larry, and don’t feel like fooling. +Hadn’t you better start in?” one of them said.</p> +<p>The rail was promptly fastened, and Grant, after examining +it, came back.</p> +<p>“Go on in front of us, and take your tools along! It +will not be nice for the man who tries to get away,” he +said.</p> +<p>The prisoners plodded dejectedly up the track until +they reached the calaboose, into which the others drove +them. Then Grant and Breckenridge went back to the +locomotive, and the former nodded to the engineer:</p> +<p>“Take us through to Boynton as fast as you can.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span></p> +<p>“That is a big load off your mind,” Breckenridge said +as the panting engine got under way.</p> +<p>But Grant, huddled in a corner, neither moved nor +spoke until, half an hour later, they rolled into a little +wooden town and the men in the calaboose got down. +There was nobody about the depot to ask them any +questions, and they crossed the track to the straggling +street apparently on good terms with each other, though +four of them knew that unpleasant results would follow +any attempt at a dash for liberty. In answer to +Grant’s knock, a man let them into one of the stores.</p> +<p>“I guess we’ll lock them in the back store until morning,” +he said, after a short conference apart with Grant. +“A little cooling down is not going to do them much +harm, and I don’t think anyone could get out without +an axe.”</p> +<p>The building looked secure and, when food and hot +coffee had been served them, Grant retired to rest. He +slept soundly, and it was close on daylight when a pounding +on the door awakened him.</p> +<p>“I guess you had better get up at once,” their host +called.</p> +<p>A few minutes later Grant and Breckenridge went +downstairs with him, and the storekeeper, opening a +door, lifted the lamp he held and pointed to an open +window in the roof. A barrel, with a box or two laid +upon it, stood suggestively beneath it.</p> +<p>Breckenridge glanced at Larry, and saw a curious +little smile on his face. “Yes,” he said, “it’s quite +simple. Now, I never saw that window. Where would +they be likely to head for?”</p> +<p>“Pacific Slope,” said the storekeeper. “Wages are +high just now, and they seemed quite afraid of you. +The west-bound fast freight stopped here for water +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span> +about two hours ago, and it was snowing that thick nobody +would see them getting into a box car. They +heave a few dry goods out here occasionally.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge turned to Grant. “You seem relieved.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Grant, with a little shake of his shoulders. +“If they have lit out of the country it will content +me. I have had quite enough hard things to do +lately.”</p> +<p>A sudden thought struck Breckenridge. “You didn’t +mean—” he said with a shudder.</p> +<p>“I didn’t mean to let them go, but I’m glad they’ve +gone,” Grant answered. “We made a warning of one +of the cattle-barons’ men, and the man who takes the +law into his own hands is doubly bound to do the square +thing all round. If he does less, he is piling up a bigger +reckoning than I would care to face.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXV_CHEYNE_RELIEVES_HIS_FEELINGS' id='XXV_CHEYNE_RELIEVES_HIS_FEELINGS'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span> +<h2>XXV</h2> +<h3>CHEYNE RELIEVES HIS FEELINGS</h3> +</div> + +<p>A blustering wind moaned outside the lonely building, +and the stove snapped and crackled as the chilly +draughts swept into the hall at Cedar Range. Jackson +Cheyne had arrived on horseback in the creeping dusk an +hour or two earlier, after spending most of four nights +and days in the slushy snow, and was now resting contentedly +in a big hide chair. Indeed, notwithstanding +the fact that Hetty sat close by, he was feeling pleasantly +drowsy when she turned to him.</p> +<p>“You have only told us that you didn’t find the +train-wreckers, and you know we are just dying with +curiosity,” she said.</p> +<p>Cheyne looked up languidly, wondering whether the +half-indifferent inquisitiveness was assumed, as he remembered +the anxiety he had seen in Hetty’s face when +he first came in. Instead of answering directly, he +glanced round the little group sitting about the stove—for +Miss Schuyler, and Christopher Allonby and his +cousin were there, as well as Hetty.</p> +<p>“One would scarcely fancy you were dying of anything,” +he said. “In fact, it would be difficult to imagine +any of you looking better. I wonder if you know +that with the way that the light falls that dusky panelling +forms a most effective background, Miss Schuyler?”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler laughed. “We are not to be put off. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span> +Tell us what you found—and you needn’t have any diffidence: +we are quite accustomed to hearing the most +astonishing things at Cedar.”</p> +<p>“The trouble is that I didn’t find anything. I spent +several most unpleasant hours watching a railroad-trestle +in blinding snow, until the cattle-train went by +in safety. Nobody seemed to have the slightest wish +to meddle with it.”</p> +<p>Without exactly intending it he allowed his eyes to +rest on Hetty a moment, and fancied he saw relief in +her face. But it was Flora Schuyler who turned to him.</p> +<p>“What did you do then?”</p> +<p>“I and the boys then decided it would be advisable +to look for a ranch where we could get food and shelter, +and had some difficulty in finding one. In the morning, +we made our way back to the depot, and discovered +that a gentleman you know had hired a locomotive a +little while after the cattle-train started.”</p> +<p>“Larry, of course!” ejaculated Chris Allonby. “I +wanted to stake five dollars with Clavering that he +would be too smart for him again.”</p> +<p>Cheyne looked at him inquiringly. “I don’t quite +understand.”</p> +<p>“No?” and Allonby’s embarrassment was unmistakable. +“Well, there is no great reason why you +should. I have a habit of talking at random occasionally. +There are quite enough sensible people in this +country without me just now.”</p> +<p>“Then,” said Cheyne, “I went on to an especially +forlorn place called Boynton, and discovered with some +difficulty that Mr. Grant, who hired the locomotive, had +stopped it at a dangerous curve and picked several men +up. He took them on to Boynton, and there they seem +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span> +to have disappeared, though it was suggested that they +had departed for a place unknown, either on the top +of, or underneath a fast freight train.”</p> +<p>Chris Allonby chuckled. “Well,” he said, “we +haven’t the least use for Larry here, but I am almost +proud he was a friend of mine.”</p> +<p>Cheyne glancing round at the others fancied there +was a little glow in Hetty’s eyes and a trace of warmer +colour in Flora Schuyler’s face. It was only just perceptible +to him, but he had less doubt when he saw that +Miss Allonby was watching her companion covertly, for +he was quite aware that the perceptions of the average +young woman were likely to be much keener than his +own in such affairs.</p> +<p>“I can’t help fancying you have a clue to what really +happened, Miss Torrance,” he said.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty quietly. “It is quite plain to me +that Larry saved the train.”</p> +<p>Cheyne glanced at her sharply, and then turned to +Allonby. “It strikes you that way, too?”</p> +<p>“Of course,” said Allonby unguardedly. “It is too +bad of Larry. He has beaten us again, though Clavering +fixed the thing quite nicely.”</p> +<p>Cheyne’s face grew stern. “I am to understand that +you did not warn the engineer or any of the railroad +men?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Allonby, with evident embarrassment. +“We didn’t. It was necessary to make the thing as +ugly for Larry’s friends as we could, and we knew you +would be at the bridge. If you had caught them in the +act, with the train not far away, it would have looked +ever so much better for us—and you.”</p> +<p>He stopped, with an unpleasant feeling that he had +blundered. Cheyne’s face had become grimmer. Miss +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span> +Schuyler’s lips were curled in a little scornful smile, and +there was a curious sparkle in Hetty’s eyes.</p> +<p>“I wonder if you quite recognize the depth of Mr. +Grant’s iniquity yet?” Flora Schuyler asked.</p> +<p>Cheyne smiled. “I confess I should very much like +to meet the man. You see, my profession prevents my +being a partisan, and the cleverness and daring of what +he has evidently done appeals to me. He took the +chances of his own men turning on him to save them +from an affray with us, brought them off, and sent your +cattle-train through; and what, it seems to me, was +more than all, disregarded the probability of his enemies +associating him with the contriving of the outrage.”</p> +<p>“Wouldn’t you have done that?” asked Miss Allonby.</p> +<p>“No,” said the soldier quietly. “I don’t think I +should. A man who would do what this one has done +would be very likely to take a hand in that kind of +thing.”</p> +<p>Again there was an almost embarrassing silence +broken by Miss Allonby. “I wonder who could have +told him.”</p> +<p>Nobody spoke until Cheyne felt it advisable to break +the silence.</p> +<p>“You have no sympathy with Grant, Miss Allonby?”</p> +<p>“No,” said the girl plaintively. “I don’t go quite +as far as Mr. Clavering and my cousin do—though +Chris generally talks too much—but Larry is a nuisance, +and really ought to be crushed. You see, we +had everything we wanted before he and the others +made the trouble here.”</p> +<p>“That is quite convincing,” Cheyne said, with somewhat +suspicious gravity. He looked at the others, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span> +fancied that Hetty would have answered but that Flora +Schuyler flashed a warning glance at her.</p> +<p>“One could almost fancy that most of us have too +much now,” she said. “Are we better, braver, stronger, +or of choicer stuff than those others who have nothing, +and only want the little the law would give them? Oh, +yes, we are accomplished—very indifferently, some of +us—and have been better taught, though one sometimes +wonders at the use we make of it; but was that education +given us for our virtues, or thrust upon us by the +accident that our fathers happened to be rich?”</p> +<p>“You will scarcely approve, Miss Allonby?” said +Cheyne.</p> +<p>The girl’s lips curled scornfully. “I never argue with +people who talk like that. It would not be any use—and +they would never understand me; but everybody +knows we were born different from the rabble. It is +unfortunate you and Larry couldn’t go up and down +the country together, convincing people, Flo.”</p> +<p>Cheyne, seeing the gleam in Miss Schuyler’s eyes, +wondered whether there had been malice in the speech, +and was not sorry that Torrance and Clavering came +in just then.</p> +<p>“I have just come from Newcombe’s and heard that +you had failed,” said Torrance. “If you will come +along to my room, I should like to hear about it.”</p> +<p>Cheyne smiled as he rose. “I don’t know that failed +was quite the correct word. My object was to protect +the track, and so far as I could discover, no attempt +was made to damage it.”</p> +<p>Torrance glanced at him sharply as they moved away. +“Now, we were under the impression that it was the +capture of the man responsible for the affair.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span></p> +<p>“Then,” said the soldier drily, “I am afraid you were +under a misapprehension.”</p> +<p>He passed the next half-hour with Torrance amicably, +and it was not until he was returning to the hall +with Clavering that he found an opportunity of expressing +himself freely. Torrance, he realized, was an old +man, and quite incapable of regarding the question except +from his own point of view.</p> +<p>“I am just a little astonished you did not consider +it advisable to follow the thing up further, when you +must have seen what it pointed to,” said Clavering.</p> +<p>“That,” said Cheyne, smiling, “is foolish of you. I +would like to explain that I am not a detective or a +police officer.”</p> +<p>“You were, at least, sent here to restore tranquillity.”</p> +<p>“Precisely!” said Cheyne. “By the State. To +maintain peace, and not further the cattle-men’s schemes. +I am, for the present, your leader’s guest; but I have +no reason for thinking he believes that in any way +constitutes me his ally. In his case I could not use the +word accomplice.”</p> +<p>Clavering flashed an observant glance at him. “It +should be evident which party is doing the most to +bring about tranquillity.”</p> +<p>“It is not,” said Cheyne. “I don’t know that it is +my business to go into that question; but one or two +of the efforts you have made lately would scarcely impress +the fact on me.”</p> +<p>“You are frank, any way,” with a disagreeable laugh.</p> +<p>“No,” said Cheyne, with a twinkle in his eyes, “I’m +not sure that I am. We occasionally talk a good deal +more plainly in the United States cavalry.”</p> +<p>He passed on to the hall and Clavering went back to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span> +Torrance’s room. “We have got to get rid of that +man, sir,” he said. “If we don’t, Larry will have him. +Allonby had better go and worry the Bureau into sending +for another two or three squadrons under a superior +officer.”</p> +<p>Torrance sighed heavily. “I’m ’most afraid they +are not going to take kindly to any more worrying,” he +said. “In fact, now it’s evident how the feeling of +the State is going, I have an idea they’d sooner stand +in with the homestead boys. Still, we can try it, any +way.”</p> +<p>It was about the same time that Grant flung himself +wearily into a chair in the great bare room at Fremont +ranch. His face was haggard, his eyes heavy, for he +had spent the greater part of several anxious days and +nights endeavouring to curb the headstrong passions +of his followers, and riding through leagues of slushy +snow.</p> +<p>“Will you hurry Tom up with the supper, while I +look through my letters?” he said.</p> +<p>Breckenridge went out, and, when he came back a +little while later, found Grant with a strip of paper on +his knee.</p> +<p>“More bad news?” he asked.</p> +<p>Grant made no answer, but passed the strip of paper +across to him, and Breckenridge’s pulses throbbed fast +with anger as he read: “It is quite difficult to sit on +both sides of the fence, and the boys have no more use +for you. Still, there was a time when you did what +you could for us, and that is why I am giving you good +advice. Sit tight at Fremont, and don’t go out at +nights.”</p> +<p>“The consumed asses!” he said. “You see what +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span> +he means? They have gone after the herring Clavering +drew across the trail.”</p> +<p>The bronze grew darker in Larry’s face, and his voice +was hoarse. “Yes—they figure the cattle-men have +bought me over. Well, there were points that would +have drawn any man’s suspicions—the packet I would +not give up to Chilton—and, as you mention, Miss Torrance’s +wallet. Still, it hurts.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge saw the veins swell up on his comrade’s +forehead and the trembling of his hands. “Don’t +worry about them. They are beasts, old man,” he said.</p> +<p>Grant said nothing for at least a minute, and then +clenched one lean brown hand. “I felt it would come, +and yet it has shaken most of the grit out of me. I +did what I could for them—it was not easy—and they +have thrown me over. That is hard to bear, but there’s +more. No man can tell, now there is no one to hold +them in, how far they will go.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge’s answer was to fling a cloth upon the +table and lay out the plates. Grant sat very still; his +voice had been curiously even, but his set face betrayed +what he was feeling, and there was something in his +eyes that Breckenridge did not care to see. He also +felt that there were troubles too deep for any blundering +attempt at sympathy, but the silence grew oppressive, +and by and by he turned to his companion again.</p> +<p>“We’ll presume the fellow who wrote that means +well,” he said. “What does his warning point to?”</p> +<p>Grant smiled bitterly. “An attempt upon my homestead +or my life, and I have given them already rather +more than either is worth to me,” he said.</p> +<p>Breckenridge was perfectly sensible that he was not +shining in the rôle of comforter; but he felt it would +be something accomplished if he could keep his comrade +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span> +talking. He had discovered that verbal expression +is occasionally almost a necessity to the burdened mind, +though Larry was not greatly addicted to relief of that +description.</p> +<p>“Of course, this campaign has cost you a good deal,” +he said.</p> +<p>“Probably five thousand dollars—all that seemed +good in life—and every friend I had.”</p> +<p>“After all, Larry, the thing may be no more than a +joke or an attempt at bluff. Even admitting that it is +not, it probably only expresses the views of a few of the +boys.”</p> +<p>Grant shook his head. “No. I believe it is quite +genuine. I saw how affairs were going even before I +wouldn’t give Chilton the packet; most of the boys were +ready to break away then. Well, one could scarcely +blame them for not trusting me, and I felt I was laying +down my authority when I sent the stock train through.”</p> +<p>“Not blame them!” said Breckenridge, clenching his +fist, his eyes blazing. “Where in the wide world would +the crazy fools get another man like you? But if you +can take it quietly, I ought to, and the question is, what +are you going to do?”</p> +<p>“What I can,” said Grant. “Hold the boys clear +of trouble where it is possible. There are still one or +two who will stand behind me, and what we can’t do +may be done for us. When a man is badly wanted in +this country he usually comes to the front, and I will +be glad to drop out when I see him.”</p> +<p>“Larry,” Breckenridge said slowly, “I am younger +than you are, and I haven’t seen as much, but it would +be better for me if I had half your optimism. Still, +that was not quite what I was asking. If the beasts +actually mean to burn your place or attempt your life +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span> +you are surely not going to give them the opportunity. +Can’t we fix up a guard among the few sensible men +or send for the cavalry?”</p> +<p>Grant smiled wearily as he shook his head. “No,” +he said. “The one thing I can’t do is to lift my hand +against the men I brought here in a private quarrel.”</p> +<p>Just then the cook came in with the supper, and, +though the pair had eaten nothing since sunrise and +ridden through soft snow most of that day, it cost +Breckenridge an effort to clear the plate set before him. +Grant scarcely touched the food, and it was a relief to +both when the meal was over, and Grant’s plate, still +half-filled, was taken away. After he had several times +lighted a cigar and let it go out again, Breckenridge +glanced at him deprecatingly.</p> +<p>“I can’t keep it up any longer, and I know how it +is with you, because I feel the thing myself,” he said. +“Now, if you want me here, I’ll stay, but I have a +notion the poor attempts at talk I’m making are only +worrying you.”</p> +<p>Grant smiled, but Breckenridge saw the answer in +his face, and went out hastily, which was, under the +circumstances, the wisest thing he could do. Then, +Grant stretched his arms wearily above his head, and +a faint groan escaped him.</p> +<p>“It had to come—but it hurts,” he said.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXVI_LARRY_S_REWARD' id='XXVI_LARRY_S_REWARD'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span> +<h2>XXVI</h2> +<h3>LARRY’S REWARD</h3> +</div> + +<p>Late one night Larry came home to Fremont, wet +with rain and splashed with mire, for it was thawing +fast and he had ridden far. He sloughed off his outer +garments, and turned to Breckenridge, who had been +waiting him, with a little, weary smile.</p> +<p>“The dollars are safe, any way, and that is a big +load off my mind,” he said. “Gillot has them in his +safe, and nobody can touch them without a countersigned +order from the executive.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge heaved a sigh of relief, for he knew +that Gillot, who had a store in the railroad town, was +a determined man, and quite capable of taking care of +what had been entrusted him. The dollars in question, +which had been raised by levy and sent by sympathizers, +had been placed in Larry’s hands to further the homesteaders’ +objects in that district as he deemed advisable. +He had, however, for reasons Breckenridge was acquainted +with, just relinquished the responsibility.</p> +<p>“I think you were wise,” said the lad. “It roused +a good deal of feeling when you wouldn’t let Harper +and his friends have what they asked for, and the boys +were very bitter at the meeting while you were away!”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Grant drily, “I knew what they wanted +those dollars for, and if I’d had twice as many I would +not have given them one.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span></p> +<p>“They could not have done much harm with the few +they wanted, and it would have saved you a good deal +of unpleasantness. I didn’t like the way the boys were +talking, and it was quite plain the men who kept their +heads were anxious. In fact, two or three of them offered +to come over and sleep here until the dissatisfaction +had simmered down.”</p> +<p>“You did not accept their offer?”</p> +<p>“No, but I wish you would.”</p> +<p>Grant shook his head. “It wouldn’t suit me to own +up that I was afraid of my friends—and I don’t want +to believe there are any of them who would injure me. +If there were, I could not draw trigger on them in defence +of my own property.”</p> +<p>“Then we will hope for the best,” said Breckenridge, +somewhat doubtfully.</p> +<p>Grant, who had had supper somewhere else, presently +retired, and Breckenridge, who found the big +room dreary without him, followed a little later. It +was long before he slept, for he had seen the temper +of the more reckless spirits at the meeting he had attended, +and he could not shake off the memory of his +comrade’s face. Larry had made no protest, but Breckenridge +could understand what he was feeling. The +ranch was very quiet, but he did not think his comrade +slept; in this, however, he was wrong, for, worn out +by physical effort and mental strain, Larry had sunk into +heavy slumber.</p> +<p>Two or three hours later Breckenridge awakened +suddenly. He sat up listening, still a little dazed with +sleep, but nothing disturbed the silence of the wooden +building, and it was a moment or two before the moan +of the wind forced itself on his perceptions. Then, he +thought he heard the trampling of a horse and stealthy +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span> +footsteps in the mire below, and, springing from his +bed, ran to the window. The night was dark, but he +could dimly see a few shadowy figures moving towards +the house. In another minute he slipped into part of +his clothing and hastening into Grant’s room shook him +roughly.</p> +<p>“Get up! There are men outside.”</p> +<p>Larry was on his feet in a few seconds and struggling +into his garments. “Light the lamps downstairs,” he +ordered.</p> +<p>Breckenridge stood still, astonished. “That would +give them an advantage. They might be the Sheriff’s +boys.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Larry, with a laugh that sounded very +bitter, “I don’t think they are! Go down, and do what +I tell you.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge went, but his fingers shook so that he +broke several sulphur matches in his haste before he +had lighted one big lamp in the log-built hall. Then, +as he turned towards the living room, there was a +pounding on the door, and while he stood irresolute +Grant, partly dressed, came running down the stairway. +Two other men showed dimly behind him, but Breckenridge +scarcely saw them, for he sprang through the +doorway into the unlighted room, and the next moment +fell over a table. Picking himself up with an objurgation, +he groped along the wall for the rack where the +rifles stood, and was making his way back towards the +blink of light with two of them in his hands, when a +hoarse voice demanded admission and the door rattled +under the blows showered upon it. Then, as he came +out into the hall, Grant turned to him.</p> +<p>“Put those rifles down,” he said quietly.</p> +<p>Breckenridge stared at him. “But——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span></p> +<p>“Put them down!” said Grant, with a little impatient +gesture; Breckenridge let the weapons fall but he +was pleased to see the cook, who now stood at the foot +of the stairway, slip softly forward and pick up one +of them. Grant was looking at the door and did not +see the man move back half-way up the stairs as silently +as he came.</p> +<p>Once more a hoarse shout rose from outside: “Open +that door before we break it in!”</p> +<p>For a moment or two, as if to give point to the warning, +the door creaked and rattled as the axe-heads beat +upon it, and then the din ceased suddenly, for Grant, +who recognized the voice, raised his hand.</p> +<p>“Open it for them,” he said, so loudly that he could +be heard outside.</p> +<p>Breckenridge was almost glad to obey. It would +have pleased him better to have taken his place, rifle +in hand, with the cook on the stairway, but since Grant +had evidently determined not to oppose the assailants’ +entrance by violence, it was a relief to do anything that +would terminate the suspense. Still, his heart throbbed +painfully as he seized the bolt, and he glanced round +once more in what he felt was futile protest. Grant, +who evidently saw what he was thinking in his face, +only smiled a little and signed with his hand.</p> +<p>Breckenridge drew the bolt, and sprang backwards +as the door swung open. Men with axes and rifles +showed up in the light; but while here and there an +axe flashed back a twinkling gleam, or a face shone +white, the rest was blurred and shadowy, and he could +only see hazy figures moving against the blackness of +the night. His companion was standing alone in the +middle of the hall, motionless and impassive, with nothing +in his hands. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span></p> +<p>“Now,” he said, in a voice that jarred on Breckenridge’s +ears, “the door is open. What do you want?”</p> +<p>“We want you,” said one of the men outside.</p> +<p>“Then, I’ll come out and talk to you,” said Grant.</p> +<p>Breckenridge laid a restraining hand upon his arm, +but he shook it off, and moving forward stopped just +outside the threshold. The lad could not see his face, +but he noticed that he stood very straight, with his head +thrown back a trifle, and that one or two of those without +edged farther into the shadowy crowd. Glancing +behind him, he also saw the cook leaning forward on the +stairway with the rifle glinting in his hands.</p> +<p>“Well?” said Grant, and his voice rang commandingly.</p> +<p>“We have come for the dollars,” said a man. “We +want them, and they’re ours.”</p> +<p>“Then, you must ask your committee for them. +They are not in my house.”</p> +<p>“Bluff!” said somebody; and an angry clamour broke +out.</p> +<p>“Hand them out,” cried one voice, “before we burn +the place for you.”</p> +<p>Larry swung up one hand commandingly, and Breckenridge +felt a thrill of pride when, as if in tribute to +his comrade’s fearlessness, a sudden silence followed. +Larry stood alone, statuesque in poise, with arm stretched +out in the face of the hostile crowd, and once more the +respect the men had borne him asserted itself.</p> +<p>“You will listen to me, boys, and it may be the last +time I shall speak to you,” he said. “You know that +right back from the beginning I have done the best I +could for you, and now I feel it in me that if you will +wait just a little longer the State will do more than I +could ever do. Can’t you understand that if you go +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span> +round destroying railroad-trestles, shooting cattle, and +burning ranches, you are only playing into the hand +of your enemies, and the very men in the legislature +who would, if you kept your patience, make your rights +sure to you, will be forced to turn the cavalry loose on +you? Can’t you sit tight another month or two, instead +of throwing all we have fought for away?”</p> +<p>The silence that followed the speech lasted for a +space of seconds, and then, when Breckenridge hoped +Grant might still impose prudence upon the crowd, there +were murmurs of doubt and suspicion. They grew +rapidly louder, and a man stepped out from the rest.</p> +<p>“The trouble is that we don’t believe in you, Larry,” +he said. “You were with us solid one time, but that +was before the cattle-barons bought you.”</p> +<p>A derisive laugh followed, and when Grant turned +a little Breckenridge saw his face. The bronze in it +had faded, and left paler patches, that seemed almost +grey, while the lad, who knew his comrade’s pride and +uprightness, fancied he could guess how that taunt, +made openly, had wounded him.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, very slowly, “I can only hope you +will have more confidence in your next leader; but I +am on the list of the executive still, and if the house +was full of dollars I wouldn’t give you one of them with +which to make trouble that you’ll most surely be sorry +for. Any way, those I had are safe in a place where, +while your committee keep their heads, you will not lay +hands on them.”</p> +<p>A shout of disbelief was followed by uproar, through +which there broke detached cries: “Pull him down! +He has them all the time! Pound them out of him! +Burn the place down for a warning to the cattle-men!”</p> +<p>They died away when one of the men, with emphatic +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span> +gestures, demanded attention. Moving out from the +rest, he turned to Grant. “You have rifles and cartridges +here, and after all, those are what we want +the most. Now—and it’s your last chance—hand them +out.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Grant.</p> +<p>The man made a little gesture of resignation. +“Boys,” he said, “you will have to go in and take +them.”</p> +<p>Grant still stood motionless and unyielding on his +threshold, but he had only a moment’s grace, for the +men outside surged on again, and one swung a rifle-butt +over him. Breckenridge saw his comrade seize it, +and had sprung to his side when a rifle flashed on the +stairway behind him and a man cried out and fell. The +next instant another rifle-butt whirled, and Grant, reeling +sideways, went down and was trampled on.</p> +<p>Breckenridge ran towards the rifle still lying in the +hall, but before he could reach it there was a roar of +voices and a rush of feet, and the men who poured +in headlong were upon him. Something hard and heavy +smote him in the face, and as he reeled back gasping +there was another flash on the stairway. His head +struck something, and he was never sure of what happened +during the next half-hour.</p> +<p>When, feeling very dizzy, Breckenridge raised himself +in the corner where he had been lying, the hall +was empty save for two huddled figures in the doorway, +and while he blinked at them in a half-dazed +fashion, it seemed to him that a red glare, which rose +and fell, shone in. He could also smell burning wood, +and saw dim wreaths of smoke drive by outside. His +hearing was not especially acute just then, but he fancied +that men were trampling, and apparently dragging +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span> +furniture about, all over the building. Then, as his +scattered senses came back to him, he rose feebly to +his feet, and finding to his astonishment that he still +possessed the power of locomotion, walked unevenly +towards the motionless objects in the doorway. One +of them, as he expected, was Grant, who was lying very +white and still, just as he had fallen.</p> +<p>“Larry,” Breckenridge said, and shivered at the +sound of his own voice. “Larry!”</p> +<p>But there was no answer, and Breckenridge sat down +by Grant’s side with a little groan, for his head swam +once more and he felt a horrible coldness creeping over +him. How long he sat there, while the smoke that +rolled in from outside grew denser, he did not know; +but by and by he was dimly conscious that the men were +coming down the stairway. They clustered about him, +and one of them, stooping over the injured homesteader, +signed to his comrades.</p> +<p>“Put him into the wagon, and start off at once,” he +said.</p> +<p>Three or four men came out from the rest, and when +they shuffled away with their burden, the one who +seemed to be leader pointed to Grant as he turned to +Breckenridge.</p> +<p>“He would have it, and the thump on the head he +got would have put an end to most men,” he said. +“Still, I don’t figure you need worry about burying +him just yet, and I want a straight answer. Are those +dollars in the house?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge sat blinking at him a moment, and then +very shakily dragged himself to his feet, and stood before +the man, with one hand clenched. His face was +white and drawn and there was a red smear on his +forehead. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span></p> +<p>“If you would not believe the man who lies there, +will you take my word?” he said unevenly. “He told +you they were not.”</p> +<p>“I guess he spoke the truth,” said somebody. “Any +way, we can’t find them. Well, what is to be done with +him?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge, who was not quite himself, laughed +bitterly. “Leave him where he is, and go away. You +have done enough,” he said. “He gave you all he had—and +I know, as no other man ever will, what it cost +him—and this is how you have repaid him.”</p> +<p>Some of the men looked confused, and the leader +made a deprecatory gesture. “Any way, we’ll give you +a hand to put him where you want.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge waved him back fiercely. “I am alone; +but none of you shall lay a hand on him while I can +keep you off. If you have left any life in him, the +touch of your fingers would hurt him more than anything.”</p> +<p>The other man seemed to have a difficulty in finding +an answer, and while he stared at Breckenridge there +was a trample of hoofs in the mire outside, and a shout. +Breckenridge could not catch its meaning, but the men +about him streamed out of the hall and he could hear +them mounting in haste. As the rapid beat of hoofs +gradually died away, looking up at a sound, he saw the +cook bending over his comrade. The man, seeing in +his eyes the question he dared not ask, shook his head.</p> +<p>“No, I guess they haven’t killed him,” he said. +“Kind of knocked all the senses out of him; and now +I’ve let the rest out, we’ll get him to bed.”</p> +<p>“The rest?” Breckenridge asked bewildered.</p> +<p>The man nodded. “Yes,” he said, “I guess I got +one or two of the homestead-boys, and then Charley +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span> +and I lit out through a back window, and slipped round +to see why the stockboys weren’t coming. It was quite +simple. The blame firebugs had put a man with a rifle +at the door of their sleeping shed.”</p> +<p>Three or four other men trooped in somewhat sheepishly, +though, as the cook had explained, it was not +their fault they had arrived after the fight was over; +and while they carried their master upstairs Breckenridge +thought he heard another beat of hoofs. He paid +no great attention to it, but when Larry had been laid +on the bed glanced towards the window at the streaks +of flame breaking through the smoke that rolled about +a birch-log building.</p> +<p>“What can be done?” he said.</p> +<p>“I don’t know that we can do anything,” answered +the cook. “The fire has got too good a holt, but it’s +not likely to light anything else the way the wind is. +It was one of them blame Chicago rustlers put the +firestick in.”</p> +<p>“Pshaw!” said Breckenridge. “Let it burn. I +mean, what can be done for Larry?”</p> +<p>“We might give him some whiskey—only we haven’t +any. Still, I’ve seen this kind of thing happen in the +Michigan lumber-camps, and I guess he’s most as well +without it. You want to give a man’s brains time to +settle down after they’ve had a big shake-up.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge sat down limply on the foot of the bed, +faint and dizzy, and wondering if he really heard a +regular, rhythmic drumming through the snapping of +the flame. It grew louder while he listened, and a faint +musical jingling became audible with it.</p> +<p>“That sounds like cavalry,” the cook said. “They +have been riding round and seen the blaze.”</p> +<p>And a few minutes later a voice rose sharply outside, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span> +and some, at least, of the riders pulled up. The cook, +at a sign from Breckenridge, went down, and came +back by and by with a man in bespattered blue uniform.</p> +<p>“Captain Cheyne, United States cavalry—at your +service,” he said. “I am afraid I have come a trifle +late to be of much use; but a few of my men are trying +to pick up the rustlers’ trail. Now, how did that man +get hurt, and what is the trouble about?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge told him as concisely as he could, and +Cheynes bent over the silent figure on the bed.</p> +<p>“Quietness is often good in these cases; but there is +such a thing as collapse following the shock, and I guess +by your friend’s face it might be well to try to rouse +him,” he said. “Have you any brandy?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Breckenridge. “It has been quite a time +since we had that or any other luxuries in this house. +Its owner stripped himself for the benefit of the men +who did their best to kill him.”</p> +<p>Cheyne brought out a flask. “This should do as +well,” he said. “You can tell that man to boil some +water, and in the meanwhile help me to get the flask +top into your partner’s mouth.”</p> +<p>It was done with some difficulty, and Breckenridge +waited anxiously until a quiver ran through the motionless +body. Then Cheyne repeated the dose, and Larry +gasped and slowly opened his eyes. He said something +the others could not catch, and closed them again; but +Breckenridge fancied a little warmth crept into his +pallid skin.</p> +<p>“I guess that will do,” said Cheyne. “In one or +two of my stations we had to be our own field hospital; +but I don’t know enough of surgery to take the responsibility +of stirring up his circulation any further. Still, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span> +when you can get them ready, we will have hot bottles +at his feet.”</p> +<p>“My boys have got the fire under,” Cheyne said, +coming in an hour later. “Now, I have been in the +saddle most of the day, and while your cook has promised +to billet the boys, I’ll have to ask you for shelter. +If you told me a little about what led up to this trouble, +it might pass the time.”</p> +<p>“I don’t see why I should,” Breckenridge informed +him.</p> +<p>“It could not hurt you, any way,” suggested Cheyne, +“and it might do you good.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge looked at him steadily, and felt a curious +confidence in the discretion of the quiet, bronze-faced +man. As the result of it, he told him a good deal +more than he had meant to do when he commenced the +story.</p> +<p>“I think you have done right,” Cheyne said. “A +little rough on him! I had already figured he was that +kind of a man. Well, I hear the rest of the boys coming +back, and I’ll send up a sergeant who knows a good +deal about these accidents to look after him.”</p> +<p>The sergeant came up by and by and kept watch +with Breckenridge for a while; but, after an hour or so +Breckenridge’s head grew very heavy, and the sergeant, +taking his arm, silenced his protests by nipping it and +quietly put him out of the room. When he awoke next +morning he found that Grant was capable at least of +speech, for Cheyne was asking him questions, and receiving +very unsatisfactory answers.</p> +<p>“In fact,” said the cavalry officer, “you don’t feel +disposed to tell me who the men that tried to burn +your place were, or anything about them?”</p> +<p>“No,” Larry said feebly. “It would be pleasanter +if you concluded I was not quite fit to talk just now.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span></p> +<p>Cheyne glanced at Breckenridge, who was watching +him anxiously. “In that case I could not think of +worrying you, and have no doubt I can find out. In the +meanwhile I guess the best thing you can do is to go +to sleep again.”</p> +<p>He drew Breckenridge out of the room, and shook +hands with him. “If you are wanted I’ll send for you,” +he said. “Keep your comrade quiet, and I should be +astonished if he is not about again in a day or two.”</p> +<p>Then, he went down the stairway and swung himself +into the saddle, and with a rattle and jingle he and the +men behind him rode away.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXVII_CLAVERING_S_LAST_CARD' id='XXVII_CLAVERING_S_LAST_CARD'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_309' name='page_309'></a>309</span> +<h2>XXVII</h2> +<h3>CLAVERING’S LAST CARD</h3> +</div> + +<p>There was an impressive silence in Hetty’s little +drawing-room at Cedar Range when Cheyne, who had +ridden there the day after he left Fremont, told his +story. He had expected attention, but the effect his +narrative produced astonished him. Hetty had softly +pushed her chair back into the shadow where the light +of the shaded lamp did not fall upon her, but her stillness +was significant. He could, however, see Miss +Schuyler, and wondered what accounted for the impassiveness +of her face, now the colour that had flushed +her cheek had faded. The silence was becoming embarrassing +when Miss Schuyler broke it.</p> +<p>“Mr. Grant is recovering?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Cheyne. “He was coming round when +I left him. The blow might have been a dangerous one; +but I had a suspicion he had more than that to contend +with.”</p> +<p>“Yes?” said Hetty, a little breathlessly.</p> +<p>“Of course, his affairs were not my business,” Cheyne +went on, “but it seemed to me the man had been living +under a heavy strain; and though we were strangers, I +could not help feeling a sympathy that almost amounted +to a liking for him. He must have found it trying when +the men he had done his best for came round to burn +his place; but I understand he went out to speak to +them with empty hands when they struck him down.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_310' name='page_310'></a>310</span></p> +<p>“What made them attack him?” asked Miss +Schuyler.</p> +<p>“I’m not quite sure, but I have an idea they were +displeased because he did not countenance their attempt +to wreck the cattle-train. Then, I believe he held some +dollars in trust for them, and, as they presumably wanted +them for some fresh outrage, would not give them up. +Mr. Grant is evidently a man with a sense of responsibility.”</p> +<p>Hetty looked up suddenly. “Yes,” she said. “He +would have let them tear him to pieces before he gave +them one.”</p> +<p>Cheyne noticed the faint ring in her voice, and fancied +it would have been plainer had she not laid a +restraint upon herself. A vague suspicion he had +brushed away once more crept into his mind.</p> +<p>“Well,” he said, slowly, watching Hetty the while, +“I fancy the efforts he made to save your friends’ stock +will cost him a good deal. The point is that a man of +his abilities must have recognized it at the time.”</p> +<p>Hetty met his glance, and Cheyne saw the little glow +in her eyes. “Do you think that would have counted +for anything with such a man?”</p> +<p>Cheyne made a little gesture of negation that in a +curious fashion became him. “No. That is, I do not +believe he would have let it influence him.”</p> +<p>“That,” said Miss Schuyler, “is a very comprehensive +admission.”</p> +<p>Cheyne smiled. “I don’t know that I could desire a +higher tribute paid to me. Might one compliment you +both on your evident desire to be fair to your enemies?”</p> +<p>He saw the faint flush in Hetty’s face, and was waiting +with a curious expectancy for her answer, when +Torrance came in. He appeared grimly pleased at +something as he signed to Cheyne. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_311' name='page_311'></a>311</span></p> +<p>“His friends have burned the rascal out,” he said. +“Well, I don’t know that we could have hoped for anything +better; but I want to hear what you can tell me +about it. You will have to spare me Captain Cheyne +for a little, Hetty.”</p> +<p>Cheyne rose and went away with him, while, when +the door closed behind them, Hetty—who had seen the +vindictive satisfaction in her father’s face—turned to +her companion with a flash of imperious anger in her +eyes.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, “how can he? It’s wicked of him.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler checked her with a gesture. “Any +way, he is your father.”</p> +<p>Hetty flushed, but the colour faded and left her face +white again. “Well,” she said, “Clavering isn’t, and +it is he who has made him so bitter against Larry. Flo, +it’s horrible. They would have been glad if the boys +had killed him, and when he’s ill and wounded they +will not let me go to him.”</p> +<p>Her voice broke and trembled, and Flora Schuyler +laid a hand restrainingly upon her arm. “Of course. +But why should you, Hetty?”</p> +<p>Hetty, who shook off her grasp, rose and stood quivering +a little, but very straight, looking down on her with +pride, and a curious hardness in her eyes.</p> +<p>“You don’t know?” she said. “Then I’ll tell you. +Because there is nobody like Larry, and never will be. +Because I love him better than I ever fancied I could +love anybody, and—though it’s ’most wonderful—he has +loved me and waited ever so patiently. Now they are +all against him, I’m going to him. Flo, they have ’most +made me hate them, the people I belong to, and I think +if I was a man I could kill Clavering.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler sat very still a moment, but it was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_312' name='page_312'></a>312</span> +fortunate she retained her composure whatever she may +have felt, for Hetty was in a mood for any rashness. +Stretching out her hand, she drew the girl down beside +her with a forceful gentleness.</p> +<p>“Hetty,” she said, “I think I know how such a man as +Larry is would feel, and you want him to be proud of +you. Well, there are things that neither he nor you +could do, and you must listen to me quietly.”</p> +<p>She reasoned with the girl for a while until Hetty +shook the passion from her.</p> +<p>“Of course you are right, Flo,” she said, and her voice +was even. “If he could bear all that, I can be patient +too. Larry has had ever so many hard things to do, but +it is only because it would not be fair to him I’m not +going to him now. Flo, you will not leave me until the +trouble’s through?”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler turned and kissed her, and then, rising +quietly, went out of the room. She had shown Hetty +her duty to Larry, which she felt would be more convincing +just then than an exposition of what she owed +her father, and had reasons for desiring solitude to grapple +with affairs of her own. What she had done had +cost her an effort, but Flora Schuyler was fond of +Hetty and recognized the obligation of the bond she +was contracting when she made a friend.</p> +<p>Some minutes had passed when Hetty rose and took +down her writing-case from a shelf. She could at least +communicate with Larry, for the maid, who had more +than one admirer among the cow-boys, had found a +means by which letters could be conveyed; but the girl +could not command her thoughts, and written sympathy +seemed so poor and cold a thing. Two letters were +written and flung into the stove, for Flora Schuyler’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_313' name='page_313'></a>313</span> +counsel was bearing fruit; and she had commenced two +more when there was a tapping at the door. Hetty +looked up with a little flash in her eyes, and swept the +papers into the writing-case as Clavering came in. +Then she rose, and stood looking at him very coldly.</p> +<p>It was an especially unfortunate moment for the man +to approach her in, and, though he did not know why it +should be so, he recognized it; but there were reasons +that made any further procrastination distinctly unadvisable.</p> +<p>“There is something I have been wanting to tell you +for a long time, Hetty,” he said.</p> +<p>“It would be better for you to wait a little longer,” +the girl said chillingly. “I don’t feel inclined to listen +to anything to-night.”</p> +<p>“The trouble,” said Clavering, who spoke the truth, +“is that I can’t. It has hurt me to keep silent as long +as I have done already.”</p> +<p>He saw the hardening of Hetty’s lips, and knew that +he had blundered; but he was committed now, and could +only obey when she said, with a gesture of weariness +“Then go on.”</p> +<p>The abrupt command would probably have disconcerted +most men and effectually spoiled the appeal they +meant to make, and Clavering’s face flushed as he recognized +its ludicrous aspect. Still, he could not withdraw +then, and he made the best of a difficult position with a +certain gracefulness which might, under different circumstances, +have secured him a modicum of consideration. +As it was, however, Hetty’s anger left her almost +white, and there was a light he did not care to see in her +eyes when she turned towards him.</p> +<p>“I am glad you have told me this,” she said. “Since +nothing else would convince you, it will enable me to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_314' name='page_314'></a>314</span> +talk plainly; I don’t consider it an honour—not in the +least. Can’t you see that it is wholly and altogether +out of the question that I should ever think in that way +of you?”</p> +<p>Clavering gasped, and the darker colour that was in +his cheek showed in his forehead too. Hetty reminded +him very much of her father, then—and he had witnessed +one or two displays of the cattle-baron’s temper.</p> +<p>“I admit that I have a good many shortcomings, but, +since you ask, I must confess that I don’t quite understand +why my respectful offer should rouse your indignation.”</p> +<p>“No?” said Hetty coldly, with the vindictive sparkle +still in her eyes. “Then aren’t you very foolish?”</p> +<p>Clavering smiled, though it was not easy. “Well,” +he said, “I was evidently too audacious; but you have +not told me yet why the proposal I ventured to make +should appear quite preposterous.”</p> +<p>“I think,” said Hetty, “it would be considerably nicer +for you if I didn’t. I can, however, tell you this—I +would never, under any circumstances, marry you.”</p> +<p>Clavering bent his head, and took himself away with +the best grace he could, while Hetty, who, perhaps +because she had been under a heavy strain, became +suddenly sensible of a most illogical desire to laugh, +afterwards admitted that he really accomplished it becomingly. +But the laughter that would have been a +relief to her did not come, and after toying in a purposeless +fashion with her writing-case, she rose and +slipped out of the room, unfortunately leaving it open.</p> +<p>A few minutes later Clavering met the maid in the +corridor that led to Torrance’s room, and the girl, who +saw his face, and may have guessed what had brought +the anger into his eyes, stopped a moment. It is also +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_315' name='page_315'></a>315</span> +probable that, being a young woman with quick perceptions, +she had guessed with some correctness how far +his regard for Hetty went.</p> +<p>“You don’t seem pleased to-night,” she said.</p> +<p>“No?” said Clavering, with a little laugh which rang +hollow. “Well, I should be. It is quite a while since +I had a talk with you.”</p> +<p>“Pshaw!” said the girl, who failed to blush, though +she wished to, watching him covertly. “Now, I wonder +if what I’m going to tell you will make you more angry +still. Suppose you heard Miss Torrance had been sending +letters to Larry Grant?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know that I should believe it,” said Clavering, +as unconcernedly as he could.</p> +<p>“Well, she has,” the girl said. “What is more, she +has been going out to meet him in the Cedar Bluff.”</p> +<p>Clavering’s face betrayed him, and for a moment the +girl, who saw his lips set, was almost afraid. He contrived, +however, to make a light answer, and was about +to ask a question when a door creaked. The next moment +Torrance came out into the corridor, and Clavering’s +opportunity vanished with the maid. Torrance, +who had evidently not seen her, kept him talking for +a while.</p> +<p>In the meanwhile, the girl contrived an excuse for +entering the room where she was quite aware Hetty +and Clavering had met. She did not find her mistress, +but, as it happened, noticed the writing-case, and, having +a stake in affairs, opened it. Inside she found two +sheets of paper, and after considering the probabilities +of detection appropriated one of them on which was +written, “Larry dear.”</p> +<p>She had, however, no intention of showing it to Clavering +just then, but, deciding that such a paper might +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_316' name='page_316'></a>316</span> +be worth a good many dollars to the person who knew +how to make use of it, she slipped it into her pocket, +and went out into the hall, where she saw him talking +to Torrance. As she watched they shook hands, and +Clavering swung himself on to the back of a horse somebody +led up to the door. It was two or three weeks +before he came back again, and was led straight to the +room where Torrance and some of his neighbours were +sitting. Clavering took his place among the rest, and +watched the faces that showed amidst the blue cigar-smoke. +Some were intent and eager, a few very grim, +but the stamp of care was on all of them save that of +Torrance, who sat immobile and expressionless at the +head of the table. Allonby was speaking somewhat +dejectedly.</p> +<p>“It seems to me that we have only gone round,” he +said. “It has cost us more dollars than any of us care +to reckon, and I for one am tolerably near the end of +my tether.”</p> +<p>“So are the homestead-boys. We can last them out, +and we have got to,” said somebody.</p> +<p>Allonby raised his hand with a little hopeless gesture. +“I’m not quite sure; but what I want to show you is +that we have come back to the place we started from. +When we first met here we decided that it was advisable +to put down Larry Grant, and though we have not accomplished +it yet, it seems to me more necessary than +ever just now.”</p> +<p>“I don’t understand you,” said one of the younger +men. “Larry’s boys have broken loose from him, and +he can’t worry anybody much alone.”</p> +<p>Torrance glanced at Allonby with a sardonic twinkle +in his eyes. “That sounds very like sense,” he said.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Allonby drily, “it isn’t, and I think you +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_317' name='page_317'></a>317</span> +know it at least as well as I do. It is because the boys +have broken out we want to get our thumb on Larry.”</p> +<p>There was a little murmur of bewilderment, for men +were present that night who had not attended many +meetings of the district committee.</p> +<p>“You will have to make it plainer,” somebody said.</p> +<p>Allonby glanced at Torrance, who nodded, and then +went on. “Now, I know that what I am going to tell +you does not sound nice, and a year ago I would have +had unpleasant thoughts of the man who suggested any +course of that kind to me; but we have got to go under +or pull down the enemy. The legislature are beginning +to look at things with the homesteaders’ eyes, and what +we want is popular sympathy. We lost a good chance +of getting it over the stock-train. Larry was too clever +for us again, and that brings me to the point which +should be quite plain. The homestead-boys have lost +their heads and will cut their own throats if they are +let alone. They are ripe for ranch-burning and firing +on the cavalry, and once they start the State will have +to step in and whip them out for us.”</p> +<p>“But where does Larry come in?” asked somebody.</p> +<p>“That,” said Clavering, “is quite easy. So long as +Larry is loose he will have a following, and somehow +he will hear of and stop their wildest moves. As most +of you know, I don’t like him; but Larry is not a fool.”</p> +<p>“To be quite plain, we are to cut out the restraining +influence, and give the rabble a free hand to let loose +anarchy,” said one man. “Then, you can strike me +off the roll. That is a kind of meanness that wouldn’t +suit me!”</p> +<p>There were murmurs of approval from one or two of +the company, but Torrance checked them. “Gentlemen,” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_318' name='page_318'></a>318</span> +he said, “we must win or be beaten and get no +mercy. You can’t draw back, and the first step is to +put Larry down. If the State had backed us we would +have made an end of the trouble, and it is most square +and fitting they should have the whipping of the rabble +forced upon them now. Are we cavalry troopers or a +Sheriff’s <i>posse</i>, to do their work for them, and be kicked +by way of thanks? They would not nip the trouble +when they could, and we’ll sit tight and watch them try +to crush it when it’s ’most too big for them.”</p> +<p>Again there was a murmur, of grim approval this +time; but one of the objectors rose with an ironical +smile.</p> +<p>“You have made a very poor show at catching Larry +so far,” he said. “Are you quite sure the thing is within +your ability?”</p> +<p>“I guess it is,” said Torrance sharply. “He is living +at his homestead, and we need not be afraid of a hundred +men with rifles coming to take him from us now.”</p> +<p>“He has a few neighbours who believe in him,” one +of the men said. “They are not rabble, but level-headed +Americans, with the hardest kind of grit in them. It +wouldn’t suit us to be whipped again.”</p> +<p>Clavering stood up, with his eyes fixed on Torrance. +“I agree with our leader—it can be done. In fact, I +quite believe we can lay our hands on Larry alone,” he +said. “Can I have a word with you, Mr. Torrance?”</p> +<p>Torrance nodded, and, leaving Allonby speaking, led +Clavering into an adjoining room. “Sit down, and get +through as quick as you can,” he said.</p> +<p>For five minutes Clavering spoke rapidly, in a slightly +strained voice, and a dark flush spread across the old +man’s face and grew deeper on his forehead, from which +the veins swelled. It had faded before he finished, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_319' name='page_319'></a>319</span> +there were paler patches in the cattle-baron’s cheeks +when he struck the table with his fist.</p> +<p>“Clavering,” he said hoarsely, “if you are deceiving +me you are not going to find a hole in this country that +would hide you.”</p> +<p>Clavering contrived to meet his gaze, though it was +difficult. “I was very unwilling to mention it,” he said. +“Still, if you will call Miss Torrance’s maid, and the +man who grooms her horses, you can convince yourself. +It would be better if I was not present when you talk +to them.”</p> +<p>Torrance said nothing, but pointed to the door, and +when the maid and man he sent for had gone, sat for +five long minutes rigidly still with a set white face and +his hands clenched on the table.</p> +<p>“My daughter—playing the traitress—and worse! +It is too hard to bear,” he said.</p> +<p>Then he stood up, shaking the passion from him, when +Clavering came in, and, holding himself very stiff and +square, turned to him.</p> +<p>“I don’t know why you have told me—now—and do +not want to hear,” he said. “Still, by the Lord who +made us both, if you try to make use of this knowledge +for any purpose, or let a whisper get about, I’ll crush +you utterly.”</p> +<p>“Have I deserved these threats, sir?”</p> +<p>Torrance looked at him steadily. “Did you expect +thanks? The man who grooms her horses would tell +me nothing—he lied like a gentleman. But they are +not threats. You found buying up mortgages—with our +dollars—an easy game.”</p> +<p>“But—” said Clavering.</p> +<p>Torrance stopped him with a little scornful gesture. +“I knew when I took this thing up I would have to let +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_320' name='page_320'></a>320</span> +my scruples go, and now—while I wonder whether my +hands will ever feel clean again—I’m going through. +You are useful to the committee, and I’ll have to tolerate +you.”</p> +<p>Clavering turned away, with pulses throbbing furiously +and rage in his heart, though he had known what +the cost would be when he staked everything he hoped +for on Larry’s destruction; while his neighbours noticed +a change in Torrance when he once more sat down at +the head of the table. He seemed several years older, +and his face was very grim.</p> +<p>“I believe I can promise you that Larry will make us +no more trouble,” he said. “Mr. Clavering has a workable +scheme, and it will only need the Sheriff and a +few men whom I will choose when I am ready.”</p> +<p>Nobody seemed to consider it advisable to ask questions, +and the men dispersed; but as they went down +the stairway, Allonby turned to Torrance.</p> +<p>“This thing is getting too big for you and me,” he +said. “You have not complained, but to-night one could +fancy that it’s breaking you. Now, I’m not made like +you, and when I think of what it has cost me I have +got to talk.”</p> +<p>Torrance turned, and Allonby shivered as he met his +eyes.</p> +<p>“It has cost me what every dollar I ever made could +not buy me back,” he said, and the damp showed on his +forehead as he checked a groan.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXVIII_LARRY_RIDES_TO_CEDAR' id='XXVIII_LARRY_RIDES_TO_CEDAR'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_321' name='page_321'></a>321</span> +<h2>XXVIII</h2> +<h3>LARRY RIDES TO CEDAR</h3> +</div> + +<p>A soft wind swept the prairie, which was now bare +of snow. Larry rode down the trail that led through +the Cedar Bluff. He was freely sprinkled with mire, +for spring had come suddenly, and the frost-bleached +sod was soft with the thaw; and when he pulled up +on the wooden bridge to wait until Breckenridge, who +appeared among the trees, should join him, the river +swirled and frothed beneath. It had lately burst its icy +chains, and came roaring down, seamed by lines of foam +and strewn with great fragments of half-melted snow-cake +that burst against the quivering piles.</p> +<p>“Running strong!” said Breckenridge. “Still, the +water has not risen much yet, and as I crossed the big +rise I saw two of Torrance’s cow-boys apparently screwing +up their courage to try the ford.”</p> +<p>“It might be done,” said Larry. “We have one +horse at Fremont that would take me across. The snow +on the ranges is not melting yet, and the ice will be +tolerably firm on the deep reaches; but it’s scarcely likely +that we will want to swim the Cedar now.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Breckenridge, with a laugh, “the bridge +is good enough for me. By the way, I have a note +for you.”</p> +<p>“A note!” said Larry, with a slight hardening of his +face, for of late each communication that reached him +had brought him fresh anxieties. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_322' name='page_322'></a>322</span></p> +<p>“Well,” said Breckenridge drily, “I scarcely think +this one should worry you. From the fashion in which +it reached me I have a notion it’s from a lady.”</p> +<p>There was a little gleam in Larry’s eyes when he took +the note, and Breckenridge noticed that he was very +silent as they rode on. When they reached Fremont +he remained a while in the stable, and when at last he +entered the house Breckenridge glanced at him questioningly.</p> +<p>“You have something on your mind,” he said. +“What have you been doing, Larry?”</p> +<p>Grant smiled curiously. “Giving the big bay a rub +down. I’m riding to Cedar Range to-night.”</p> +<p>“Have you lost your head?” Breckenridge stared +at him. “Muller saw the Sheriff riding in this morning, +and it’s more than likely he is at the Range. You +are wanted rather more badly than ever just now, +Larry.”</p> +<p>Grant’s face was quietly resolute as he took out the +note and passed it to his companion. “I have tried to +do my duty by the boys; but I am going to Cedar to-night.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge opened the note, which had been written +the previous day, and read, “In haste. Come to +the bluff beneath the Range—alone—nine to-morrow +night.”</p> +<p>Then, he stared at the paper in silence until Grant, +who watched him almost jealously, took it from him. +“Yes,” he said, though his face was thoughtful, “of +course, you must go. You are quite sure of the +writing?”</p> +<p>Grant smiled, as it were, compassionately. “I would +recognize it anywhere!”</p> +<p>“Well,” said Breckenridge significantly, “that is perhaps +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_323' name='page_323'></a>323</span> +not very astonishing, though I fancy some folks +would find it difficult. The ‘In haste’ no doubt explains +the thing, but it seems to me the last of it does +not quite match the heading.”</p> +<p>“It is smeared—thrust into the envelope wet,” Larry +said.</p> +<p>Breckenridge rose, and walked, with no apparent purpose, +across the room. “Larry,” he said, “Tom and +I will come with you. No—you wait a minute. Of +course, I know there are occasions on which one’s +friends’ company is superfluous—distinctly so; but we +could pull up and wait behind the bluff—quite a long +way off, you know.”</p> +<p>“I was told to come alone.” Larry turned upon him +sharply.</p> +<p>Breckenridge made a gesture of resignation. “Then +I’m not going to stay here most of the night by myself. +It’s doleful. I’ll ride over to Muller’s now.”</p> +<p>“Will it be any livelier there?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge wondered whether Larry had noticed +anything unusual in his voice, and managed to laugh. +“A little,” he said. “The fräulein is pretty enough in +the lamplight to warrant one listening to a good deal +about Menotti and the <i>franc tireurs</i>. She makes really +excellent coffee, too,” and he slipped out before Grant +could ask any more questions.</p> +<p>Darkness was just closing down when the latter rode +away. There was very little of the prairie broncho in +the big horse beneath him, whose sire had brought the +best blood that could be imported into that country, and +he had examined every buckle of girth and headstall as +he fastened them. He also rode, for lightness, in a +thin deerskin jacket which fitted him closely, with a +rifle across his saddle, gazing with keen eyes across the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_324' name='page_324'></a>324</span> +shadowy waste when now and then a half-moon came +out. Once he also drew bridle and sat still a minute +listening, for he fancied he heard the distant beat of +hoofs, and then went on with a little laugh at his credulity. +The Cedar was roaring in its hollow and the +birches moaning in a bluff, but as the damp wind that +brought the blood to his cheeks sank, there was stillness +save for the sound of the river, and Grant decided that +his ears had deceived him.</p> +<p>It behooved him to be cautious, for he knew the bitterness +of the cattle-men against him, and the Sheriff’s +writ still held good; but Hetty had sent for him, and if +his enemies had lain in wait in every bluff and hollow +he would have gone.</p> +<p>While he rode, troubled by vague apprehensions, +which now and then gave place to exultation that set +his heart throbbing, Hetty sat with Miss Schuyler in her +room at Cedar Range. An occasional murmur of voices +reached them faintly from the big hall below where +Torrance and some of his neighbours sat with the Sheriff +over their cigars and wine, and the girls knew that a +few of the most daring horsemen among the cow-boys +had their horses saddled ready. Hetty lay in a low +chair with a book she was not reading on her knee, and +Miss Schuyler, glancing at her now and then over the +embroidery she paid almost as little attention to, noticed +the weariness in her face and the anxiety in her eyes. +She laid down her needle when Torrance’s voice came +up from below.</p> +<p>“What can they be plotting, Hetty?” she said. +“Horses ready, that most unpleasant Sheriff smiling +cunningly as he did when I passed him talking to Clavering, +and the sense of expectancy. It’s there. One +could hear it in their voices, even if one had not seen +their faces, and when I met your father at the head of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_325' name='page_325'></a>325</span> +the stairs he almost frightened me. Of course, he was +not theatrical—he never is—but I know that set of his +lips and look in his eyes, and have more than a fancy +it means trouble for somebody. I suppose he has not +told you anything—in fact, he seems to have kept curiously +aloof from both of us lately.”</p> +<p>Hetty turned towards her with a little spot of colour +in her cheek and apprehension in her eyes.</p> +<p>“So you have noticed it, too!” she said very slowly. +“Of course, he has been busy and often away, while +I know how anxious he must be; but when he is at home +he scarcely speaks to me—and then, there is something +in his voice that hurts me. I’m ’most afraid he has found +out that I have been talking to Larry.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler smiled. “Well,” she said, “that—alone—would +not be such a very serious offence.”</p> +<p>The crimson showed plainer in Hetty’s cheek and +there was a faint ring in her voice. “Flo,” she said, +“don’t make me angry—I can’t bear it to-night. Something +is going to happen—I can feel it is—and you don’t +know my father even yet. He is so horribly quiet, and +I’m afraid of as well as sorry for him. It is a long +while ago, but he looked just as he does now—only not +quite so grim—during my mother’s last illness. Oh, I +know there is something worrying him, and he will not +tell me—though he was always kind before, even when +he was angry. Flo, this horrible trouble can’t go on +for ever!”</p> +<p>Hetty had commenced bravely, but she faltered as she +proceeded, and Miss Schuyler, who saw her distress, +had risen and was standing with one hand on her shoulder +when the maid came in. She cast a hasty glance +at her mistress, and appeared, Flora Schuyler fancied, +embarrassed, and desirous of concealing it. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_326' name='page_326'></a>326</span></p> +<p>“Mr. Torrance will excuse you coming down again,” +she said. “He may have some of the Sheriff’s men and +one or two of the cow-boys in, and would sooner you +kept your room. Are you likely to want me in the next +half-hour?”</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty. “No doubt you are anxious to +find out what is going on.”</p> +<p>The maid went out, and Miss Schuyler fixed anxious +eyes on her companion. “What is the matter with the +girl, Hetty?” she asked.</p> +<p>“I don’t know. Did you notice anything?”</p> +<p>“Yes. I think she had something on her mind. Any +way, she was unexplainably anxious to get away from +you.”</p> +<p>Hetty smiled somewhat bitterly. “Then she is only +like the rest. Everybody at Cedar is anxious about +something now.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler rose, and, flinging the curtains behind +her, looked out at the night. The moon was just showing +through a rift in the driving cloud, and she could +see the bluff roll blackly down to the white frothing +of the river. She also saw a shadowy object slipping +through the gloom of the trees, and fancied it was a +woman; but when another figure appeared for a moment +in the moonlight the first one came flitting back +again.</p> +<p>“I believe the girl has gone out to meet somebody +in the bluff,” she said.</p> +<p>Hetty made a little impatient gesture. “It doesn’t +concern us, any way.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler sat down again and made no answer, +though she had misgivings, and five or ten minutes +passed silently, until there was a tapping at the door, +and the maid came in, very white in the face. She +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_327' name='page_327'></a>327</span> +clutched at the nearest chair-back, and stood still, apparently +incapable of speech, until, with a visible effort, +she said: “Somebody must go and send him away. He +is waiting in the bluff.”</p> +<p>Hetty rose with a little scream, but Flora Schuyler +was before her, and laid her hand upon the maid’s arm.</p> +<p>“Now, try to be sensible,” she said sternly. “Who +is in the bluff?”</p> +<p>The girl shivered. “It is not my fault—I didn’t +know what they wanted until the Sheriff came. I tried +to tell him, but Joe saw me. Go right now, and send +him away.”</p> +<p>Hetty was very white and trembling, but Flora Schuyler +nipped the maid’s arm.</p> +<p>“Keep quiet, and answer just what we ask you!” she +said. “Who is in the bluff?”</p> +<p>“Mr. Grant,” said the girl, with a gasp. “But don’t +ask me anything. Send him away. They’ll kill him. +Oh, you are hurting me!”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler shook her. “How did he come +there?”</p> +<p>“I took Miss Torrance’s letter, and wrote the rest +of it. I didn’t know they meant to do him any harm, +but they made me write. I had to—he said he would +marry me.”</p> +<p>The maid writhed in an agony of fear, but she stood +still shivering when Hetty turned towards her with a +blanched face that emphasized the ominous glow in her +dark eyes.</p> +<p>“You wicked woman!” she said. “How dare you +tell me that?”</p> +<p>“I mean Mr. Clavering. Oh——!”</p> +<p>The maid stopped abruptly, for Flora Schuyler drove +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_328' name='page_328'></a>328</span> +her towards the door. “Go and undo your work,” she +said. “Slip down at the back of the bluff.”</p> +<p>“I daren’t—I tried,” and the girl quivered in Miss +Schuyler’s grasp. “If I could have warned him I would +not have told you; but Joe saw me, and I was afraid. +I told him to come at nine.”</p> +<p>It was evident that she was capable of doing very +little just then, and Flora Schuyler drew her out into +the corridor.</p> +<p>“Go straight to your room and stay there,” she said, +and closing the door, glanced at Hetty. “It is quite +simple. This woman has taken your note-paper and +written Larry. He is in the bluff now, and I think she +is right. Your friends mean to make him prisoner or +shoot him.”</p> +<p>“Stop, and go away,” said Hetty hoarsely. “I am +going to him.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler placed her back to the door, and raised +her hand. “No,” she said, very quietly. “It would be +better if I went in place of you. Sit down, and don’t +lose your head, Hetty!”</p> +<p>Hetty seized her arm. “You can’t—how could I let +you? Larry belongs to me. Let me go. Every minute +is worth ever so much.”</p> +<p>“There are twenty of them yet. He has come too +early,” said Flora Schuyler, with a glance at the clock. +“Any way, you must understand what you are going to +do. It was Clavering arranged this, but your father knew +what he was doing and I think he knows everything. +If you leave this house to-night, Hetty, everybody will +know you warned Larry, and it will make a great difference +to you. It will gain you the dislike of all your +friends and place a barrier between you and your father +which, I think, will never be taken away again!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_329' name='page_329'></a>329</span></p> +<p>Hetty laughed a very bitter laugh, and then grew +suddenly quiet.</p> +<p>“Stand aside, Flo,” she said. “Nobody but Larry +wants me now.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler saw that she was determined, and drew +aside. “Then,” she said, with a little quiver in her +voice, “because I think he is in peril you must go, my +dear. But we must be very careful, and I am coming +with you as far as I dare.”</p> +<p>She closed the door, and then her composure seemed +to fail her as they went out into the corridor; and it was +Hetty who, treading very softly, took the lead. Flitting +like shadows, they reached the head of the stairway, +and stopped a moment there, Hetty’s heart beating furiously. +The passage beneath them was shadowy, but a +blaze of light and a jingle of glasses came out of the +half-opened door of the hall, where Torrance sat with +his guests; and while they waited, they heard his voice +and recognized the vindictive ring in it. Hetty trembled +as she grasped the bannister.</p> +<p>“Flo,” she said, “they may come out in a minute. +We have got to slip by somehow.”</p> +<p>They went down the stairway with skirts drawn close +about them, in swift silence, and Hetty held her breath +as she flitted past the door. There was a faint swish of +draperies as Flora Schuyler followed her, but the murmur +of voices drowned it; and in another minute Hetty +had opened a door at the back of the building. Then, +she gasped with relief as she felt the cold wind on her +face, and, with Miss Schuyler close behind her, crept +through the shadow of the house towards the bluff. +When the gloom of the trees closed about them, she +clutched her companion’s shoulder.</p> +<p>“No,” she said hoarsely, “not that way. Joe is +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_330' name='page_330'></a>330</span> +watching there. We must go right through the bluff +and down the opposite side of it.”</p> +<p>They floundered forward, sinking ankle-deep in withered +leaves and clammy mould, tripping over rotting +branches that ripped their dresses, and stumbling into +dripping undergrowth. There was no moon now, and +it was very dark, and more than once Flora Schuyler +valiantly suppressed the scream that would have been +a vast relief to her, and struggled on as silently as she +could behind her companion; but it seemed to her that +anybody a mile away could have heard them. Then, a +little trail led them out of the bluff on the opposite side +to the house, and the roar of the river grew louder as +they hastened on, still in the gloom of the trees, until +something a little blacker than the shadows behind it +grew into visibility; and when it moved a little, Flora +Schuyler touched Hetty’s arm.</p> +<p>“Yes,” she said. “It is Larry. If I didn’t know the +kind of man he is, I would not let you go. Kiss me, +Hetty.”</p> +<p>Hetty stood still a second, for she understood, and +then very quietly put both hands on Flora Schuyler’s +shoulders and kissed her.</p> +<p>“It can’t be very wrong; and you have been a good +friend, Flo,” she said.</p> +<p>She turned, and Flora Schuyler, standing still, saw +her slim figure flit across a strip of frost-bleached sod +as the moon shone through.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXIX_HETTY_DECIDES' id='XXIX_HETTY_DECIDES'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_331' name='page_331'></a>331</span> +<h2>XXIX</h2> +<h3>HETTY DECIDES</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was in a pale flash of silvery light that Larry saw +the girl against the gloom of the trees. The moaning +of the birches and roar of the river drowned the faint +sound her footsteps made, and she came upon him so +suddenly, statuesque and slender in her trailing evening +dress and etherealized by the moonlight, that as he +looked down on the blanched whiteness of her upturned +face, emphasized by the dusky hair, he almost fancied +she had materialized out of the harmonies of the night. +For a moment he sat motionless, with the rifle glinting +across his saddle, and a tightening grip of the bridle +as the big horse flung up its head, and then, with a +sudden stirring of his blood, moved his foot in the stirrup +and would have swung himself down if Hetty had +not checked him.</p> +<p>“No!” she said. “Back into the shadow of the +trees!”</p> +<p>Larry, seeing the fear in her face, touched the horse +with his heel, and wheeled it with its head towards the +house. He could see the warm gleam from the windows +between the birches. Then, he turned to the girl, +who stood gasping at his stirrup.</p> +<p>“You sent for me, dear, and I have come. Can’t +you give me just a minute now?” he said.</p> +<p>“No,” said Hetty breathlessly, “you must go. The +Sheriff is here waiting for you!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_332' name='page_332'></a>332</span></p> +<p>Larry laughed a little scornful laugh, and slackening +the bridle, sat still, looking down on her very quietly.</p> +<p>“I don’t understand,” he said. “You sent for me!”</p> +<p>“No,” the girl again gasped. “Oh, Larry, go away! +Clavering and the others who are most bitter against +you are in the house.”</p> +<p>Instinctively Larry moved his hand on the rifle and +glanced towards the building. He could see it dimly, +but no sound from it reached him, and Hetty, looking +up, saw his face grow stern.</p> +<p>“Still,” he persisted, with a curious quietness, “somebody +sent a note to me!”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Hetty, turning away from him, “it was +my wicked maid. Clavering laid the trap for you.”</p> +<p>The man sat very still a moment, and then bent with +a swift resoluteness towards his companion.</p> +<p>“And you came to warn me?” he said. “Hetty, +dear, look up.”</p> +<p>Hetty glanced at him and saw the glow in his eyes, +but she clenched her hand, and would have struck the +horse in an agony of fear if Larry had not touched him +with his heel and swung a pace away from her.</p> +<p>“Oh,” she gasped, “why will you waste time! Larry, +they will kill you if they find you.”</p> +<p>Once more the little scornful smile showed upon +Grant’s lips, but it vanished and Hetty saw only the +light in his eyes.</p> +<p>“Listen a moment, dear,” he said. “I have tried to +do the square thing, but I think to-night’s work relieves +me of the obligation. Hetty, can’t you see that your +father would never give you to me, and you must choose +between us sooner or later? I have waited a long while, +and would try to wait longer if it would relieve you of +the difficulty, but you will have to make the decision, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_333' name='page_333'></a>333</span> +and it can’t be harder now than it would be in the future. +Promise me you will go back to New York with Miss +Schuyler, and stay with her until I come for you.”</p> +<p>Hetty trembled visibly, and the moonlight showed the +crimson in her cheeks; but she looked up at him bravely. +“Larry,” she said, “you are sure—quite sure—you +want me, and will be kind to me?”</p> +<p>The man bent his head solemnly. “My dear, I have +longed for you for eight weary years—and I think you +could trust me.”</p> +<p>“Then,” and Hetty’s voice was very uneven, though +she still met his eyes. “Larry, you can take me now.”</p> +<p>Larry set his lips for a moment and his face showed +curiously white. “Think, my dear!” he said hoarsely. +“It would not be fair to you. Miss Schuyler will take +you away in a week or two, and I will come for you. +I dare not do anything you may be sorry for; and they +may find you are not in the house. You must go home +before my strength gives way.”</p> +<p>The emotion she had struggled with swept Hetty +away. “Go home!” she said passionately. “They +wanted to kill you—and I can never go back now. If +I did, they would know I had warned you—and +believe—Can’t you understand, Larry?”</p> +<p>Then, the situation flashed upon Grant, and he recognized, +as Hetty had done, that she had cast herself adrift +when she left the house to warn him. He knew the +cattle-baron’s vindictiveness, and that his daughter had +committed an offence he could not forgive. That left +but one escape from the difficulty, and it was the one +his own passions, which he had striven to crush down, +urged him to.</p> +<p>“Then,” he said in a strained voice, “you must come +with me. We can be married to-morrow.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_334' name='page_334'></a>334</span></p> +<p>Hetty held up her hands to him. “I am ready. Oh, +be quick. They may come any minute!”</p> +<p>Larry swept his glance towards the house, and saw +a shaft of radiance stream out as the great door opened. +Then, he heard Flora Schuyler’s voice, and, leaning +downwards from the saddle, grasped both the girl’s +hands.</p> +<p>“Yes,” he said, very quietly, “they are coming now. +Spring when I lift you. Your foot on my foot—I have +you!”</p> +<p>It was done. Hetty was active and slender, the man +muscular, and both had been taught, not only to ride, +but master the half-wild broncho by a superior daring +and an equal agility, in a land where the horse is not +infrequently roped and thrown before it is mounted. +But Larry breathed hard as, with his arm about her +waist, he held the girl in front of him, and felt her cheek +hot against his lips. The next moment he pressed his +heels home and the big horse swung forward under its +double burden.</p> +<p>A shout rang out behind them, and there was a crackling +in the bluff. Then, a rifle flashed, and just as a +cloud drove across the moon, another cry rose up:</p> +<p>“Quit firing. He has the girl with him!”</p> +<p>Larry fancied he could hear men floundering behind +him amidst the trees, and a trampling of hoofs about +the house, but as he listened another rifle flashed away +to the right of them on the prairie, and a beat of hoofs +followed it that for a moment puzzled him. He laughed +huskily.</p> +<p>“Breckenridge! He’ll draw them off,” he said. +“Hold fast! We have got to face the river.”</p> +<p>It was very evident that he had not a second to lose. +Mounted men were crashing recklessly through the bluff +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_335' name='page_335'></a>335</span> +and more of them riding at a gallop across the grassy +slope; but the darkness hid them as it hid the fugitives, +and the big horse held on, until there was a plunge and +a splashing, and they were in the river. Larry slipped +from the saddle, and Hetty saw him floundering by the +horse’s head as she thrust her foot into the stirrup.</p> +<p>“Slack your bridle,” he said sharply. “The beast +will bring us through.”</p> +<p>The command came when it was needed, for Hetty +was almost dismayed, and its curtness was bracing. +There was no moon now, but she could dimly see the +white swirling of the flood, and the gurgling roar of it +throbbed about her hoarse and threatening, suggesting +the perils the darkness hid. Her light skirt trailed in +the water, and a shock of icy cold ran through her as +one shoe dipped under. Larry was on his feet yet, but +there was a fierce white frothing about him, and when +in another pace or two he slipped down she broke into +a stifled scream. The next moment she saw his face +again faintly white beneath her amidst the sliding foam, +and fancied that he was swimming or being dragged +along. The horse, she felt, had lost its footing, and +had its head up stream. How long this lasted she did +not know, but it seemed an interminable time, and the +dull roar of the water grew louder and deafened her, +while the blackness that closed in became insupportable.</p> +<p>“Larry!” she gasped. “Larry, are you there!”</p> +<p>A faintly heard voice made answer, and Grant appeared +again, shoulder-deep in the flood, while the +dipping and floundering of the beast beneath her showed +that the hoofs had found uncertain hold; but that relief +only lasted a moment, and they were once more sliding +down-stream, until, when they swung round in an eddy, +the head that showed now and then dimly beside her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_336' name='page_336'></a>336</span> +stirrup was lost altogether, and in an agony of terror the +girl cried aloud.</p> +<p>There was no answer, but after a horrible moment +or two had passed a half-seen arm and shoulder rose +out of the flood, and the sudden drag on the bridle that +slipped from her fingers was very reassuring. The +horse plunged and floundered, and once more Hetty felt +her dragging skirt was clear of the water.</p> +<p>“Through the worst!” a voice that reached her +faintly said, and they were splashing on again, the +water growing shallower all the time until they scrambled +out upon the opposite bank. Then, the man checking +the horse, stood by her stirrup, pressing the water +from the hem of her skirt, rubbing the little open shoe +with his handkerchief, which was saturated. Even in +that hour of horror Hetty laughed.</p> +<p>“Larry,” she said, “don’t be ridiculous. You couldn’t +dry it that way in a week. Lift me down instead.”</p> +<p>Larry held up his hands to her, for on that side of +the river the slope to the level was steep, and when he +swung her down the girl kissed him lightly on either +cheek.</p> +<p>“That was because of what we have been through, +dear,” she said. “There was a horrible moment, when +I could not see you anywhere.”</p> +<p>She stopped and held up her hand as though listening, +and Larry laughed softly as a faint drumming of +hoofs came back to them through the roar of the flood.</p> +<p>“Breckenridge! He must have Muller or somebody +with him, and they are chasing him,” he said. “I didn’t +know he was following me, but he is gaining us valuable +time, and we will push on again. Your friends will +find out they are following the wrong man very soon, +but we should get another horse at Muller’s before they +can ride round by the bridge.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_337' name='page_337'></a>337</span></p> +<p>They scrambled up the slope, and after Hetty mounted +Larry ran with his hand on the stirrup for a while, until +once more he made the staunch beast carry a double load. +He was running again when they came clattering up +to Muller’s homestead and the fräulein, who was apparently +alone, stared at them in astonishment when she +opened the door. The water still dripped from Larry, +and Hetty’s light, bedraggled dress clung about her, +while the moisture trickled from her little open-fronted +shoes. She was hatless, and loosened wisps of dusky +hair hung low about her face, which turned faintly crimson +under the fräulein’s gaze.</p> +<p>“Miss Torrance!” exclaimed the girl.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Larry quietly, “she will be Mrs. Grant +to-morrow if you will lend me a horse and not mention +the fact that you have seen us when Torrance’s boys +come round. Where is your father?”</p> +<p>Miss Muller nodded with comprehending sympathy. +“He two hours since with Mr. Breckenridge go,” +she said. “There is new horse in the stable, and you +on the rack a saddle for lady find.”</p> +<p>Larry was outside in a moment, and a smile crept into +the fräulein’s blue eyes. “He is of the one thing at +the time alone enabled to think,” she said. “It is so +with the man, but a dress with the water soaked is not +convenient to ride at night in.”</p> +<p>She led Hetty into her own room, and when Larry, +who had spent some time changing one of the saddles, +came back, he stared in astonishment at Hetty, who sat +at the table. She now wore, among other garments +that were too big for her, a fur cap and coarse, serge +skirt. There was a steaming cup of coffee in front +of her.</p> +<p>“Now, that shows how foolish one can be,” he said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_338' name='page_338'></a>338</span> +“I was clean forgetting about the clothes; but we must +start again.”</p> +<p>Hetty rose up, and with a little blush held out the +cup. “You are wet to the neck, Larry, and it will do +you good,” she said. “If you don’t mind—we needn’t +wait until Miss Muller gets another cup.”</p> +<p>Larry’s eyes gleamed. “I have run over most of +Europe, but they grow no wine there that was half as +nice as the tea we made in the black can back there in +the bluff. Quite often in those days we hadn’t a cup +at all.”</p> +<p>He drank, and forthwith turned his head away, while +a quiver seemed to run through him; but when Hetty +moved towards him the fräulein laughed.</p> +<p>“It nothing is,” she said. “It is, perhaps, the effect +tobacco have, but the mouth is soft in a man.”</p> +<p>Then, as Larry turned towards them she laid her +hands on Hetty’s shoulders, and kissed her gravely. +“You have trust in him,” she said. “It is of no use +afraid to be. I quick take a man like Mr. Grant when +he ask me.”</p> +<p>The next moment they were outside, and when he +helped her to the saddle, Hetty glanced shyly at her +companion. “The fräulein is right,” she said. “But, +Larry, will you tell me—where we are going?”</p> +<p>“To Windsor. I have still good friends there. That +is the prosaic fact, but there is ever so much behind it. +We can’t see the trail just now, dear, but we are riding +out into the future that has all kinds of brightness in +store.”</p> +<p>A silvery gleam fell on the girl as a billow of cloud +rolled slowly from a rift of blue, and she laughed almost +exultantly.</p> +<p>“Larry,” she said, “it is coming true. Of course, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_339' name='page_339'></a>339</span> +it’s a portent. There’s the darkness going and the moon +shining through. Oh, I have done with misgiving +now!”</p> +<p>She shook the bridle, and swept from him at a gallop, +and the thaw-softened sod was whirling in clods behind +them when Larry drew level with her. He knew it +was not prudent, but the fever in his blood mastered his +reason, and he sent the stockrider’s cry ringing across +the levels as they sped on through the night. The damp +wind screamed by them, lashing their hot cheeks, the +beat of hoofs swelled into a roar as they swept through +a shadowy bluff, and driving cloud and rift of indigo +flitted past above. Beneath, the long, frost-bleached +levels, gleaming silvery grey now under the moon, +flitted back to the drumming hoofs, while willow clump +and straggling birches rose up, and rushed by, blurred +and shadowy.</p> +<p>They were young, and the cares that must be faced +again on the morrow had, for a brief space, fallen from +them. They had bent to the strain to the breaking +point, and now it had gone, everything was forgotten +but the love each bore the other. All senses were +merged in it, and while the exaltation lasted there was +no room for thought or fear. It was, however, the man +who remembered first, for a few dark patches caught +his eye when they went at a headlong gallop down the +slope.</p> +<p>“Pull him!” he cried hoarsely. “’Ware badger +holes! Swing to the right-wide!”</p> +<p>The girl swerved, but she still held on with loose +bridle, until Larry, swaying in his saddle, clutched at +it. Then, as he swung upright, half a length ahead, +with empty hands, she flung herself a trifle backwards +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_340' name='page_340'></a>340</span> +and there was a brief struggle; but it was at a trot they +climbed the opposite slope.</p> +<p>“Now,” she said, with a happy little laugh, “we are +sensible once more; but, while I knew it couldn’t last, +I wanted to gallop on for ever. Larry, I wonder if we +will ever feel just the same again? There are enjoyments +that can’t come to anyone more than once.”</p> +<p>“There are others one can have all the time, and +we’ll think of them to-night,” said the man. “There +are bright days before us, and we can wait until they +come.”</p> +<p>Hetty smiled, almost sadly. “Of course!” she said, +“but no bright day can be quite the same as this moonlight +to me. It shone down on us when I rode out into +the night and darkness without knowing where I was +going, and only that you were beside me. You will stay +there always now.”</p> +<p>They held on across the empty waste while the hours +of darkness slipped by, and the sun was rising red above +the great levels’ rim when the roofs of a wooden town +rose in front of them. As the frame houses slowly +grew into form, Hetty painfully straightened herself. +Her face was white and weary and it was by a strenuous +effort she held herself upright, the big horse limped +a little, and the mire was spattered thick upon her; but +she met the man’s eyes, and, though her lips trembled, +smiled bravely.</p> +<p>Larry saw and understood, and his face grew grave. +“I have a good deal to make up to you, Hetty, and I +will try to do it faithfully,” he said. “Still, we will look +forward with hope and courage now—it is our wedding +day.”</p> +<p>Hetty glanced away from him across the prairie, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_341' name='page_341'></a>341</span> +the man fancied he saw her fingers tremble on the +bridle.</p> +<p>“It is hard to ask you, Larry—though I know it +shouldn’t be—but have you a few dollars that you could +give me?”</p> +<p>The man smiled happily. “All that is mine is yours, +and, as it happens, I have two or three bills in my wallet. +Is there anything you wish to buy?”</p> +<p>Hetty glanced down, flushing, at the bedraggled dress. +“Larry,” she said softly. “I couldn’t marry you like +this. I haven’t one dollar in my pocket—and I am coming +to you with nothing, dear.”</p> +<p>The smile faded out of Larry’s eyes. “I scarcely +dare remember all that you have given up for me! And +if you had taken Clavering or one of the others you +would have ridden to your wedding with a hundred men +behind you, as rich as a princess.”</p> +<p>Hetty, sitting, jaded and bespattered, on the limping +horse, flashed a swift glance at him, and smiled out +of slightly misty eyes.</p> +<p>“It happened,” she said, “that I was particular, or fanciful, +and there was only one man—the one that would +take me without a dollar, in borrowed clothes—who +seemed good enough for me.”</p> +<p>They rode on past a stockyard, and into a rutted +street of bare frame houses, and Hetty was glad they +scarcely met anybody. Then, Larry helped her down, +and, thrusting a wallet into her hands, knocked at the +door of a house beside a store. The man who opened +it stared at them, and when Larry had drawn him aside +called his wife. She took Hetty’s chilled hand in both +her own, and the storekeeper smiled at Larry.</p> +<p>“You come right along and put some of my things +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_342' name='page_342'></a>342</span> +on,” he said. “Then, you are going with me to have +breakfast at the hotel, and talk to the judge. I guess +the women aren’t going to have any use for us.”</p> +<p>It was some time later when they came back to the +store, and for just a minute Grant saw Hetty alone. +She was dressed very plainly in new garments, and +blushed when he looked gravely down on her.</p> +<p>“That dress is not good enough for you,” he said. +“It is very different from what you have been accustomed +to.”</p> +<p>Hetty glanced at him shyly. “You will have very +few dollars to spare, Larry, until the trouble’s through,” +she said, “and you will be my husband in an hour or +two.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXX_LARRY_S_WEDDING_DAY' id='XXX_LARRY_S_WEDDING_DAY'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_343' name='page_343'></a>343</span> +<h2>XXX</h2> +<h3>LARRY’S WEDDING DAY</h3> +</div> + +<p>Hetty was married in haste, without benefit of clergy, +while several men, with resolute faces, kept watch outside +the judge’s door, and two who were mounted sat +gazing across the prairie on a rise outside the town. +After the declarations were made and signed, the judge +turned to Hetty, who stood smiling bravely, though +her eyes were a trifle misty, by Larry’s side.</p> +<p>“Now I have something to tell your husband, Mrs. +Grant,” he said. “You will have to spare him for about +five minutes.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s lips quivered, for she recognized the gravity +of his tone, and it was not astonishing that for a moment +or two she turned her face aside. She had endeavoured +to look forward hopefully and banish regrets; +but the prosaic sordidness of the little dusty office, and +the absence of anything that might have imparted significance +or dignity to the hurried ceremony, had not +been without their effect. She had seen other weddings +in New York as well as in the cattle country, and knew +what pomp and festivities would have attended hers +had she married with her father’s goodwill. After all, +it was the greatest day in most women’s lives, and she +felt the unseemliness of the rite that had made her and +Larry man and wife. Still, the fact remained, and, +brushing her misgivings away, she glanced up at her +husband. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_344' name='page_344'></a>344</span></p> +<p>“It must concern us both now,” she said. “May I +hear?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said the judge, who looked a trifle embarrassed, +“I guess you are right, and Larry would have +to tell you; but it’s not a pleasant task to me. It is just +this—we can’t keep you and your husband any longer +in this town.”</p> +<p>“Are you against us, too?” Hetty asked, with a flash +in her eyes. “I am not afraid.”</p> +<p>The judge made her a little respectful inclination. +“You are Torrance of Cedar’s daughter, and everyone +knows the kind of grit there is in that family. While +I knew the cattle-men would raise a good deal of unpleasantness +when I married you, I did it out of friendliness +for Larry; but it is my duty to uphold the law, +and I can’t have your husband’s friends and your father’s +cow-boys making trouble here.”</p> +<p>“Larry,” said the girl tremulously, “we must go on +again.”</p> +<p>Grant’s face grew stern. “No,” he said. “You shall +stay here in spite of them until you feel fit to ride for +the railroad.”</p> +<p>Just then a man came in. “Battersly saw Torrance +with the Sheriff and Clavering and quite a band of +cow-boys ride by the trail forks an hour ago,” he said. +“They were heading for Hamlin’s, but they’d make +this place in two hours when they didn’t find Larry +there.”</p> +<p>There was an impressive silence. Hetty shuddered, +and the fear in her eyes was unmistakable when she +laid her hand on her husband’s arm.</p> +<p>“We must go,” she said. “It would be too horrible +if you should meet him.”</p> +<p>“Mrs. Grant is right,” said the storekeeper. “We +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_345' name='page_345'></a>345</span> +know Torrance of Cedar, and if you stayed here, Larry, +you and she might be sorry all your lives. Now, you +could, by riding hard, make Canada to-morrow.”</p> +<p>Grant stifled a groan, and though his face was grim +his voice was compassionate as he turned to Hetty.</p> +<p>“Are you very tired?” he said gently. “It must +be the saddle again.”</p> +<p>Hetty said nothing, but she pressed his arm, and her +eyes shone mistily when they went out together. Half +an hour later they rode out of the town, and Grant +turned to her when the clustering houses dipped behind +a billowy rise, and they were once more alone in the +empty prairie, with their faces towards Canada.</p> +<p>“I am ’most ashamed to look at you, but you will +forgive me, little girl,” he said. “There are brighter +days before us than your wedding one, and by and by +I hope you will not be sorry you have borne so much +for me.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s lips quivered a little, but the pride of the +cattle-barons shone in her eyes. “I have nothing to +forgive and am only very tired,” she said. “I shall +never be sorry while you are kind to me, and I would +have ridden to Canada if I had known that it would +have killed me. The one thing I am afraid of is that +you and he should meet.”</p> +<p>They rode on, speaking but seldom as the leagues +went by, for Grant had much to think of and Hetty +was very weary. Indeed, she swayed unevenly in her +saddle, while the long, billowy levels shining in the +sunlight rolled back, as it were, interminably to them, +and now and then only saved herself from a fall by a +clutch at the bridle. There were times when a drowsiness +that would scarcely be shaken off crept upon her, +and she roused herself with a strenuous effort and a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_346' name='page_346'></a>346</span> +horrible fear at her heart, knowing that if her strength +failed her the blood of husband or father might be upon +her head.</p> +<p>The sky was blue above them, the white sod warm +below, and already chequered here and there with +green; and, advancing in long battalion, crane and goose +and mallard came up from the south to follow the sun +towards the Pole. The iron winter had fled before it, +and all nature smiled; but Hetty, who had often swept +the prairie at a wild gallop, with her blood responding +to the thrill of reawakening life that was in everything, +rode with a set white face and drooping head, and Larry +groaned as he glanced at her.</p> +<p>Late in the afternoon they dismounted, and Hetty +lay with her head upon his shoulder while they rested +amidst the grass. The provisions the storekeeper had +given them were scattered about, but Hetty had tasted +nothing, and Grant had only forced himself to swallow +a few mouthfuls with difficulty. He had thrown an +arm about her, and she lay with eyes closed, motionless.</p> +<p>Suddenly he raised his head and looked about him. +Save for the sighing of the warm wind, the prairie was +very still, and a low, white rise cut off from sight the +leagues they had left behind, but, though a man from +the cities would have heard nothing at all, Larry, straining +his ears to listen, heard a sound just audible creep +out of the silence. For a moment he sat rigid and intent, +wondering if it was made by a flight of cranes; +but he could see no dusky stain on the blue beyond the +rise, and his fingers closed upon the rifle as the sound +grew plainer. It rose and fell with a staccato rhythm +in it, and he recognized the beat of hoofs. Turning, he +gently touched the girl. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_347' name='page_347'></a>347</span></p> +<p>“Hetty, you must rouse yourself,” he said, with a +pitiful quiver in his voice.</p> +<p>The girl slowly lifted her head, and glanced about +her in a half-dazed fashion. Then, with an effort, she +drew one foot under her, and again the fear shadowed +her face.</p> +<p>“Oh,” she said, “they’re coming! Lift me, dear.”</p> +<p>Larry gently raised her to her feet, but it was a +minute or two before she could stand upright, and the +man’s face was haggard when he lifted her to the saddle.</p> +<p>“I think the end has come,” he said. “You can ride +no farther.”</p> +<p>Hetty swayed a little; but she clutched the bridle, +and a faint sparkle showed in her half-closed eyes.</p> +<p>“They want to take you from me. We will go on +until we drop,” she said.</p> +<p>Larry got into the saddle, though he did not know +how he accomplished it, and looked ahead anxiously +as he shook the bridle. Away on the rim of the prairie +there was a dusky smear, and he knew it was a birch-bluff, +which would, if they could reach it, afford them +shelter. In the open he would be at the cow-boys’ +mercy; but a desperate man might at least check some +of the pursuers among the trees, and he was not sure +that Torrance, whose years must tell, would be among +them. There was a very faint hope yet.</p> +<p>They went on at a gallop, though the horses obtained +at Windsor were already jaded, and very slowly the +bluff grew higher. Glancing over his shoulder, Grant +saw a few moving objects straggle across the crest of +the rise. They seemed to grow plainer while he watched +them, and more appeared behind.</p> +<p>“We will make the bluff before them,” he said +hoarsely. “Ride!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_348' name='page_348'></a>348</span></p> +<p>He drove his heels home; but the beast he rode was +flagging fast when, knowing how Torrance’s cow-boys +were mounted, he glanced behind again. He could see +them distinctly now, straggling, with wide hats bent by +the wind and jackets fluttering, across the prairie. Here +and there a rifle-barrel glinted, and the beat of their +horses’ hoofs reached him plainly. One, riding furiously +a few lengths ahead of the foremost, he guessed +was Clavering, and he fancied he recognized the Sheriff +in another; but he could not discern Torrance anywhere. +He turned his eyes ahead and watched the bluff rise +higher, though the white levels seemed to flit back to +him with an exasperating slowness. Beyond it a faint +grey smear rose towards the blue; but the jaded horse +demanded most of his attention, for the sod was slippery +here and there where the snow had lain in a +hollow, and the beast stumbled now and then.</p> +<p>Still, the birches were drawing nearer, and Hetty +holding ahead of him, though the roar of hoofs behind +him told that the pursuers were coming up fast. He +was not certain yet that he could reach the trees before +they came upon him, and was clawing with one hand +at his rifle when Hetty cried out faintly:</p> +<p>“There are more of them in front.”</p> +<p>Grant set his lips as a band of horsemen swung out +of the shadows of the bluff. His eyes caught and recognized +the glint of sunlight on metal; but in another +moment his heart leaped, for through the drumming of +their hoofs there came the musical jingle of steel, and +he saw the men were dressed in blue uniform. He +swung up his hat exultantly, and his voice reached the +girl, hoarse and strained with relief.</p> +<p>“We are through. They are United States cavalry!”</p> +<p>The horsemen came on at a trot, until Grant and the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_349' name='page_349'></a>349</span> +girl rode up to them. Then, they pulled up, and when +Grant had helped Hetty down their officer, who wheeled +his horse, sat gazing at them curiously. Grant did not +at once recognize him, but Hetty gasped.</p> +<p>“Larry,” she said faintly, “it’s Jack Cheyne.”</p> +<p>Grant drew her hand within his arm, and walked +slowly forward past the wondering troopers. Then he +raised his broad hat.</p> +<p>“I claim your protection for my wife, Captain +Cheyne,” he said.</p> +<p>Cheyne sat very still a moment, looking down on him +with a strained expression in his face; and Grant, who +saw it, glanced at Hetty. She was leaning heavily upon +him, her garments spattered with mire, but he could not +see her eyes. Then Cheyne nodded gravely.</p> +<p>“Mrs. Grant can count upon it,” he said. “Those +men were chasing you?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Grant. “One of them is the Sheriff. +I believe he intends to arrest me.”</p> +<p>“Sheriff Slocane?”</p> +<p>“Yes. I shall resist capture by him; but I heard +that the civil law would be suspended in this district, +and if that has been done, I will give myself up to you.”</p> +<p>Cheyne nodded again. “Give one of the boys your +rifle, and step back with Mrs. Grant in the meanwhile. +You are on parole.”</p> +<p>He said something sharply, and there was a trample +of hoofs and jingle of steel as the troopers swung into +changed formation. They sat still as the cattle-men +rode up, and when Clavering reined his horse in a few +lengths away from them Cheyne acknowledged his +salute.</p> +<p>“We have come after a notorious disturber of this +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_350' name='page_350'></a>350</span> +district who has, I notice, taken refuge with you,” he +said. “I must ask you to give him up.”</p> +<p>“I’m sorry,” said Cheyne firmly. “It can’t be done +just yet.”</p> +<p>Clavering glanced at the men behind him—and there +were a good many of them, all without fear, and irresponsible; +then he looked at the little handful of troopers, +and Cheyne’s face hardened as he saw the insolent significance +of his glance.</p> +<p>“Hadn’t you better think it over? The boys are a +little difficult to hold in hand, and we can’t go back without +our man,” he said.</p> +<p>Cheyne eyed him steadily. “Mr. Grant has given +himself up to me. If there is any charge against him +it shall be gone into. In the meanwhile, draw your +men off and dismount if you wish to talk to me.”</p> +<p>Clavering sat perfectly still, with an ironical smile +on his lips. “Be wise, and don’t thrust yourself into +this affair, which does not concern you, or you may +regret it,” he said. “Here is a gentleman who will +convince you.”</p> +<p>He backed his horse as another man rode forward +and with an assumption of importance addressed Cheyne. +“Now,” he said, “we don’t want any unpleasantness, +but I have come for the person of Larry Grant, and I +mean to take him.”</p> +<p>“Will you tell me who I have the honour of addressing?” +said Cheyne.</p> +<p>“Sheriff Slocane. I have a warrant for Larry Grant, +and you will put me to any inconvenience in carrying +it out at your peril.”</p> +<p>Cheyne smiled drily. “Then, as it is evidently some +days since you left home, I am afraid I have bad news +for you. You are superseded, Mr. Slocane.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_351' name='page_351'></a>351</span></p> +<p>The Sheriff’s face flushed darkly, Clavering’s grew +set, and there was an angry murmur from the men +behind them.</p> +<p>“Boys,” said Clavering, “are you going to be beaten +by Larry again?”</p> +<p>There was a trampling of hoofs as some of the cow-boys +edged their horses closer, and the murmurs grew +louder; but Cheyne flung up one hand.</p> +<p>“Another word, and I’ll arrest you, Mr. Clavering,” +he said. “Sling those rifles, all of you! I have another +troop with horses picketed behind the bluff.”</p> +<p>There was sudden silence until the Sheriff spoke. +“Boys,” he said, “don’t be blamed fools when it isn’t +any use. Larry has come out on top again. But I +don’t know that I am sorry I have done with him and +the cattle-men.”</p> +<p>The men made no further sign of hostility, and +Cheyne turned to the Sheriff. “Thank you,” he said. +“Now, I have to inform you that this district is under +martial law, and I have been entrusted, within limits, +with jurisdiction. If you and Mr. Clavering have any +offences to urge against Grant, I shall be pleased to +hear you. In that case you can tell your men to picket +their horses, and follow me to our bivouac.”</p> +<p>The two men dismounted, and while Hetty sat trembling +amidst the birches talked for half an hour in +Cheyne’s tent. Then, Clavering, who saw that they +were gaining little, lost his head, and stood up white +with anger.</p> +<p>“We are wasting time,” he said. “Still, I warn you +that the State will hold you responsible if you turn that +man loose again. Our wishes can still command a certain +attention in high places.”</p> +<p>Cheyne smiled coldly. “I shall be quite prepared to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_352' name='page_352'></a>352</span> +account for whatever I do. The State, I fancy, is not +to be dictated to by the cattle-men’s committees. It is, +of course, no affair of mine, but I can’t help thinking +that it will prove a trifle unfortunate for one or two +of you that, when you asked for more cavalry, you were +listened to.”</p> +<p>“Well,” said the Sheriff dejectedly, “I quite fancy +it will be; but I’m not going to worry. The cattle-men +made it blamed unpleasant for me. What was I superseded +for, any way?”</p> +<p>“Incapacity and corruption, I believe,” Cheyne said +drily.</p> +<p>Clavering stood still a moment, with an unpleasant +look in his eyes, but the Sheriff, who seemed the least +disconcerted, touched his arm.</p> +<p>“You come along before you do something you will +be sorry for,” he said. “I’m not anxious for any unnecessary +trouble, and it would have been considerably +more sensible if I had stood in with the homestead-boys.”</p> +<p>They went away, and Cheyne led Larry, who had +been confronted with them, back to where Hetty was +sitting.</p> +<p>“I understand the men left your father behind, some +distance back,” he said. “He was more fatigued than +the rest and his horse went lame. Your husband’s case +will have consideration, but I scarcely fancy he need +have any great apprehension, and I must try to make +you comfortable in the meanwhile.”</p> +<p>Hetty glanced up at him with her eyes shining and +quivering lips. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “Larry, +I am so tired.”</p> +<p>Cheyne called an orderly, and ten minutes later led +her to a tent. “Your husband placed you in my charge, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_353' name='page_353'></a>353</span> +and I must ask for obedience,” he said. “You will eat +and drink what you see there, and then go to sleep. I +will take good care of Mr. Grant.”</p> +<p>He drew Larry away and sat talking with him for +a while, then bade an orderly find him a waterproof +sheet and rug. Larry was asleep within ten minutes, +and the moon was shining above the bluff when he +awakened and moved to the tent where Hetty lay. +Drawing back the canvas, he crept in softly and dropped +almost reverently on one knee beside her. He could +hear her faint, restful breathing, and the little hand he +felt for was pleasantly cool. As he stooped and touched +her forehead with his lips, the fingers closed a trifle +on his own, and the girl moved in her sleep. “Larry,” +she said drowsily, “Larry, dear!”</p> +<p>Grant drew his hand away very softly, and went out +with his heart throbbing furiously, to find Cheyne waiting +in the vicinity. His face showed plain in the moonlight, +and it was quietly grave; but Grant once more +saw the expression in it that had astonished him. Now, +however, he understood it, and Cheyne knew that he +did so. They stood quite still a moment, looking into +each other’s eyes.</p> +<p>“Mrs. Grant is resting well?” Cheyne asked.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Larry. “I owe a good deal to you.”</p> +<p>It did not express what they felt, but they understood +each other, and Cheyne smiled a little. “You need not +thank me yet. Your case will require consideration, +and if the new Sheriff urges his predecessor’s charge, I +shall pass it on. In the meantime I have sent to Windsor +for a buggy, in which you can take Mrs. Grant away +to-morrow.”</p> +<p>It was early next morning when the buggy arrived, +and Cheyne, who ordered two troopers to lead the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_354' name='page_354'></a>354</span> +hired horses, had a hasty breakfast served. When the +plates had been removed he turned to Hetty with a +smile.</p> +<p>“I have decided to release your husband—on condition +that he drives straight back to his homestead and +stays there with you,” he said. “The State has undertaken +to keep order and give every man what he is +entitled to now; and if we find Mr. Grant has a finger +in any further trouble, I shall blame you.”</p> +<p>He handed Hetty into the buggy, passed the reins +to Larry, and stood alone looking after them as they +drove away. Hetty turned to her husband, with a blush +in her cheek.</p> +<p>“Larry,” she said softly, “I have something to tell +you.”</p> +<p>Grant checked her with a smile. “I have guessed it +already; and it means a new responsibility.”</p> +<p>“I don’t understand,” said Hetty.</p> +<p>Again the little twinkle showed in Larry’s eyes. +“Well,” he said quietly, “that you should have taken +me when you had men of his kind to choose from means +a good deal. I wouldn’t like you to find out that you +had been mistaken, Hetty.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXXI_TORRANCE_RIDES_AWAY' id='XXXI_TORRANCE_RIDES_AWAY'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_355' name='page_355'></a>355</span> +<h2>XXXI</h2> +<h3>TORRANCE RIDES AWAY</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was late at night, and Miss Schuyler, sitting alone +in Hetty’s room, found the time pass very heavily. She +had raised her voice in warning when the cow-boys +mounted the night Grant had ridden away with Hetty, +and had seen the fugitives vanish into the darkness, +but since then she had had no news of them, for while +Breckenridge had arrived at Cedar the next day, in +custody of two mounted men, nobody would tell him +what had really happened. Her first impulse had been +to ask for an escort to the depot and take the cars for +New York, but she was intensely anxious to discover +whether Hetty had evaded pursuit, and her pride forbade +her slipping away without announcing her intention +to Torrance, who had not yet come back to the +Range. She felt that something was due to him, especially +as she had not regained the house unnoticed +when the pursuit commenced.</p> +<p>Rising, she moved restlessly up and down the room; +but that in no way lessened the suspense, and sitting +down again she resolutely took up a book, but she listened +instead of reading it. There was, however, no +sound from the prairie, and the house seemed exasperatingly +still.</p> +<p>“You will have to shake this nervousness off or you +will make a fool of yourself before that man,” she muttered. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_356' name='page_356'></a>356</span></p> +<p>She felt that she had sat there a very long while, +though the clock showed that scarcely an hour had +passed, when at last there was a rattle of wheels and +a trampling of hoofs outside. The great door opened, +and after that there was an apparently interminable +silence, until Hetty’s maid came in.</p> +<p>“If it is convenient, Mr. Torrance would like to +speak to you,” she said.</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler rose and followed the girl down the +corridor; but her heart beat faster than usual when +the door of Torrance’s room closed behind her. The +stove was no longer lighted, and Torrance stood beside +the hearth, which was littered with half-consumed +papers, and Miss Schuyler, who knew his precision in +dress, noticed that he still wore the bespattered garments +he had ridden in. But it was the grimness of his +face, and the weariness in his pose, which seized her +attention and aroused a curious sympathy for him. He +glanced at her sharply, with stern, dark eyes.</p> +<p>“I have to thank you for coming, but I am going to +talk plainly,” he said. “You connived at the meetings +between my daughter and the rascally adventurer who +has married her?”</p> +<p>“They are married?” exclaimed Miss Schuyler in +her eagerness, and the next moment felt the blood +rise to her face as she realized that she had blundered +in admitting any doubt upon the subject. “I mean, of +course, that I wondered whether Mr. Grant could have +arranged it so soon.”</p> +<p>“You seem to attach a good deal of importance to +the ceremony,” Torrance said, with a bitter smile. +“Marriage is quite easy in this country.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler was not deficient in courage of one +kind, and she looked at him steadily. “I came down +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_357' name='page_357'></a>357</span> +to speak to you because it seemed your due,” she said, +“but I have no intention of listening to any jibes at my +friends.”</p> +<p>Torrance made her a little half-respectful and half-ironical +inclination. “Then will you be good enough +to answer my question?”</p> +<p>“Though most of the few meetings were accidental, +I went with Hetty intentionally on two occasions because +it seemed fitting.”</p> +<p>“It seemed fitting that a girl should betray her father +to the man who wanted to ruin him, supply him with the +dollars that helped him in his scheme, and, more than +all, warn him of each move we made! Well, my standard +is not very high, but the most cruel blow I have had +to bear was the discovery that my daughter had fallen +so far.”</p> +<p>The hoarseness of his voice, and the sight of the +damp upon his forehead, had a calming effect upon Miss +Schuyler. Her anger against the old man had given +place to pity, for she decided that what had passed would +have excited most men’s suspicions, and it was not in +Hetty’s defence alone she made an effort to undeceive +him.</p> +<p>“I am going to answer you plainly, and I think an +examination of Hetty’s cheque-book and the money she +left behind will bear me out,” she said. “Once only +did Hetty give Mr. Grant any dollars—fifty of them, I +think, to feed some hungry children. He would not +take them until she assured him that they were a part +of a small annuity left her by her mother, and that not +one of them came from you. I also know that Mr. +Grant allowed his friends to suspect him of being bribed +by you sooner than tell them where he obtained the +dollars in question. The adventurer dealt most honourably +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_358' name='page_358'></a>358</span> +with you. Your daughter twice disclosed your +plans, once when Clavering had plotted Grant’s arrest, +and again when had she not done so it would most assuredly +have led to the destruction of the cattle-train. +Mr. Clavering came near making a horrible blunder on +that occasion, and but for Hetty’s warning not a head +of your stock would have reached Omaha.”</p> +<p>Her tone carried conviction with it, as did the flash +in her eyes, but Torrance’s smile was sardonic. “You +would try to persuade me Larry saved the train out +of goodwill to us?”</p> +<p>“He did it, knowing what it was going to cost him, +to prevent the men he led starting on a course of outrage +and lawlessness.”</p> +<p>“And they have paid him for it!”</p> +<p>“I fancy that is outside the question,” said Miss +Schuyler. “Twice, when every good impulse that is in +our kind laid her under compulsion, Hetty warned the +man she loved, but at no other time did a word to +your prejudice pass her lips; and if she had spoken it +Grant would not have listened. Hetty was loyal, and +he treated you with a fairness that none of you merited. +You sent the Sheriff a bribe and an order for his arrest, +and by inadvertence it fell into his hands. He brought +it back here unopened at his peril.”</p> +<p>Torrance looked at her in astonishment. “He +brought back my letter to the Sheriff?”</p> +<p>“Yes. There was nothing else a man of that kind +could have done.”</p> +<p>Torrance stood silent for a space, and then, stooping, +picked up a half-burnt paper from the hearth, glanced +at it with a curious expression, and flung it into the +embers. When it had charred away he turned to Miss +Schuyler. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_359' name='page_359'></a>359</span></p> +<p>“You have shown yourself a good friend,” he said +gravely. “Still, you may understand the other side of +the question if you listen to me.”</p> +<p>He turned and pointed to an empty tin case, and the +charred papers in the hearth. “That is the end of the +plans of half a lifetime—and they were all for Hetty. +I had no one else after her mother was taken from me, +and I scraped the dollars together for her, that she +should have what her heart could wish for, and the +enjoyments her parents had never known; and while +I did so I and the others built up the prosperity of the +cattle country. We fed the railroads and built the +towns, and when we would have rested, Larry and his +friends took hold. You see what they have made of it—a +great industry ruined, the country under martial +law, its commerce crippled, and the proclamation that +can only mean disaster to us hung out everywhere. My +daughter turned against me—and nothing left me but +to go out, a wanderer! Larry has done his work thoroughly, +and you would have me make friends with +him?”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler made a little sympathetic gesture, for +he seemed very jaded and weary. “No,” she said. +“One could not expect too much, but Hetty is your +daughter, the only one you have, and for her mother’s +sake you will at least do nothing that would embitter +her life.”</p> +<p>Torrance looked at her with a curious smile. “There +is nothing I could do. Larry and the rabble are our +masters now; but I will see her once before I go away. +Is there any other thing—that would be a little easier—I +could do to please you?”</p> +<p>“Yes. You could release Mr. Breckenridge.”</p> +<p>Torrance turned and struck a bell. “I had almost +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_360' name='page_360'></a>360</span> +forgotten him. Will you wait and see me do what you +have asked me?”</p> +<p>In a few minutes more Breckenridge was ushered in. +He smiled at Miss Schuyler, and made Torrance a +slight, dignified salutation. Torrance acknowledged it +courteously.</p> +<p>“You have yourself to blame for any inconvenience +you have been put to, Mr. Breckenridge,” he said. +“You conspired to assist your partner in an undertaking +you could not expect me to forgive.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Breckenridge. “I offered to ride with +Larry, and he would not have me. I went without him +knowing it and made my plans myself?”</p> +<p>“This is the truth?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge straightened himself and looked at Torrance +with a little flash in his eye. “You must take +my word—I shall not substantiate it. If you had had +an army corps of cut-throats ready to do what you told +them that night, Larry would have gone alone.”</p> +<p>Torrance nodded gravely. “It is taken. At least, +you bluffed us into following you.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” and Breckenridge smiled, “I did. I also +prevented my companion shooting one of your friends, +as he seemed quite anxious to do. I don’t wish to hurt +your feelings, sir, but I have not the least regret for +anything I did that night.”</p> +<p>“Then, you are still very bitter against me?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge considered. “No, sir. The one man +I am bitter against is Clavering. Now, it may sound +presumptuous, and not come very well from me, but I +believe that Clavering, for his own purposes, forced +your hand, and I had a certain respect for you, if only +because of your thoroughness. You see, one can’t help +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_361' name='page_361'></a>361</span> +realizing that you can look at every question quite differently.”</p> +<p>Torrance smiled drily. “Then if you are not too +proud to be my guest to-night, I should be glad of your +company and will find you a horse to take you back to +Fremont when it suits you.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge, for some reason that was not very apparent, +seemed pleased to agree, but a faint smile just +showed in Torrance’s eyes when he went out again. +Then, he turned to Miss Schuyler.</p> +<p>“I wonder what Mr. Clavering has done to win +everybody’s dislike,” he said. “You do not seem anxious +to plead for him.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler’s face grew almost vindictive. “No,” +she said, “I don’t. I can, however, mention one thing +I find it difficult to forgive him. When you promised +him Hetty he had found favour with her maid, and made +the most of the fact. It was not flattering to your +daughter or my friend. He may not have told you that +he promised to marry her.”</p> +<p>Torrance stared at her a moment, a dark flush rising +to his forehead. “You are quite sure?”</p> +<p>“Ask the girl,” said Flora Schuyler.</p> +<p>Torrance struck the bell again, and waited until the +maid came in. “I understand Mr. Clavering promised +to marry you,” he said very quietly. “You would be +willing to take him?”</p> +<p>The girl’s face grew a trifle pale, and she glanced at +Miss Schuyler who nodded encouragingly.</p> +<p>“Yes,” she said.</p> +<p>Torrance smiled, but Miss Schuyler did not like the +glint in his eyes. “Then,” he said with incisive distinctness, +“if you are in the same mind in another week, +he shall.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_362' name='page_362'></a>362</span></p> +<p>The girl went out, and Torrance, who had watched +her face, turned to Miss Schuyler. “I guess that young +woman will be quite equal to him,” he said. “Well, I +am putting my house in order, and I will ride over once +and see Hetty before I leave Cedar. You will stay here +until she comes back to Fremont, any way.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler promised to do so, and stayed two days, +as did Breckenridge, who eventually rode to Fremont +with her. He was very quiet during the journey, and +somewhat astonished his companion by gravely swinging +off his broad hat when they pulled upon the crest of a +rise.</p> +<p>“I wonder if you would listen to something I wish +to tell you,” he said. “The trouble is that it requires an +explanation.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler glanced at him thoughtfully, for she +recognized the symptoms now. Breckenridge appeared +unusually grave, and there was a little flush on his forehead, +and a diffidence she had not hitherto seen there, in +his eyes.</p> +<p>“I can decide about the rest when I have heard the +explanation,” she answered.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Breckenridge slowly, “I came out West, +so to speak, because I was under a cloud. Now, I had +never done anything distinctly bad, but my one ability +seemed to consist in spending money, and when I had +got through a good deal of it my friends sent me here, +which was perhaps a little rough on your country. Well, +as it happened, I fell in with men and women of the +right kind—Larry, and somebody else who did more for +me. That made a difference; and while I was realizing +how very little I had got for the time and dollars I had +wasted, affairs began to happen in the old country, and I +should have the responsibility of handling a good many +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_363' name='page_363'></a>363</span> +of them if I went back there now. It sounds abominably +egotistical, but you see what it is leading to?” </p> +<p>Miss Schuyler, who had no difficulty on that point, +regarded him thoughtfully. Breckenridge was a handsome +young Englishman and she had liked him from +the first. Larry had fallen to another, and that perhaps +counted for more than a little to Breckenridge; but +she had seen more than one friend of hers contented +with the second best. Still, she sighed before she met +his gaze.</p> +<p>“I think you must make it a little plainer,” she said.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Breckenridge quietly, “it is just this. +You have done a good deal for me already, and I almost +dare to fancy I could be a credit to you if you would do +a little more, while it would carry conviction to my most +doubting relatives if you went back to the old country +with me. They would only have to see you.”</p> +<p>Flora Schuyler smiled. “This is serious, Mr. Breckenridge?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge made her a little inclination, and while +in a curious fashion it increased Flora Schuyler’s liking +for him she recognized that he was no longer the light-hearted +and irresponsible young Englishman she had +met a few months ago. He, too, had borne the burden, +and there was a gravity in his eyes and a slight hardening +of his lips that had its meaning.</p> +<p>“I never was more serious in my life, madam,” he +said. “I know that I might have spoken—not more +respectfully, but differently—but when I am too solemn +everybody laughs at me.”</p> +<p>“Does it not strike you that you have only regarded +the affair from one point of view so far?”</p> +<p>Breckenridge nodded. “I understand. But one +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_364' name='page_364'></a>364</span> +feels very diffident when he knows the slight value of +what he has to offer. I should always love you, whether +you say yes or no. For the rest, there is a little land in +the old country, and an income which I believe should be +enough for two. It seems more becoming to throw myself +on your charity.”</p> +<p>“And what would Larry do without you?” asked Miss +Schuyler.</p> +<p>The quick enthusiasm in Breckenridge’s face pleased +her. “Larry’s work is splendidly done already,” he +said. “He asked nothing for himself—and got no more; +but now the State is offering every man the rights he +fought for. The proclamations are out, and any citizen +who wants it can take up his homestead grant. It will +be something to remember that I carried his shield; but +Larry has no more need of an armour-bearer.”</p> +<p>“I am older than you are.”</p> +<p>“Ten years in wisdom, and fifty in goodness, but I +scarcely fancy that more than six months separate our +birthdays. Now, I know I am not expressing myself +very nicely, but, you see, we can’t all be eloquent, and +perhaps it should count for a little when I tell you that +I never made an attempt of the kind before. I am, however, +most painfully anxious to convince you.”</p> +<p>Miss Schuyler recognized it, and liked him the +more for the diffidence which he wrapped in hasty +speech. “Then,” she said softly, “if in six months +from now——”</p> +<p>Breckenridge swayed in his saddle; but the girl’s heel +was quicker, and as her horse plunged the hand he would +have laid on her bridle fell to his side.</p> +<p>“No!” she said. “If in six months you are still in +the same mind, you can come to Hastings-on-the-Hudson, +and speak to me again. Then, you may find me +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_365' name='page_365'></a>365</span> +disposed to listen; but we will go on to Fremont in the +meanwhile.”</p> +<p>Breckenridge’s response was unpremeditated, but the +half-broken horse, provoked by his sudden movement, +rose with fore hoofs in the air, and then whirled round in +a circle. Its rider laughed exultantly, swaying lithely, +with the big hat still in one hand that disdained the +bridle; but his face grew grave when there was quietness +again, and he turned towards the girl.</p> +<p>“I shall be in the same mind,” he said, “for ever and +ever.”</p> +<p>They rode on to Fremont, and the next day Breckenridge +drove Miss Schuyler, who was going back to New +York, the first stage of her journey to the depot. A +month had passed when one evening Torrance rode that +way. The prairie, lying still and silent with a flush of +saffron upon its western rim, was tinged with softest +green, but broad across the foreground stretched the +broken, chocolate-tinted clods of the ploughing, and the +man’s face grew grimmer as he glanced at them. He +turned and watched the long lines of crawling cattle that +stretched half-way across the vast sweep of green; and +Larry and his wife, who stood waiting him outside the +homestead, understood his feelings. Raw soil, rent by +the harrows and seamed by the seeder, and creeping +bands of stock, were tokens of the downfall of the old +régime. Then Torrance, drawing bridle, sat still in +his saddle while Hetty and her husband stood by his +stirrup.</p> +<p>“I promised your friend, Hetty, that I would see you +before I went away,” he said. “I left Cedar for the +last time a few hours ago, and I am riding in to the +railroad now. The stock you see there are mine and +Allonby’s, and the cars are waiting to take them to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_366' name='page_366'></a>366</span> +Omaha. I shall spend the years that may be left me on +the Pacific slope.”</p> +<p>Hetty’s lips quivered, and it was Larry who spoke.</p> +<p>“Was it necessary, sir?”</p> +<p>Torrance smiled grimly. “Yes. The State offered +me a few paltry concessions, and a little of what was +all mine by right. It didn’t seem a fit thing to accept +their charity. Well, you have beaten us, Larry.”</p> +<p>Grant’s face flushed a little. “Only that the rest will +gain more than the few will lose I could almost be sorry, +sir.”</p> +<p>Torrance swung himself down from the saddle and +laid his hand on Hetty’s shoulder.</p> +<p>“You have chosen your husband among the men who +pulled us down, and nothing can be quite the same between +you and me,” he said. “But I am getting an +old man, and may never see you again.”</p> +<p>Hetty looked up at him with a faint trace of pride in +her misty eyes. “There was nobody among our friends +fit to stand beside him,” she said. “If you kiss me you +will shake hands with Larry.”</p> +<p>“I can do both,” and Torrance held out his hand when +he turned to Grant. “Larry, I believe now you tried to +do the square thing, and there might have been less +trouble between us but for Clavering. I hope you will +bear me no ill will, and while we can’t quite wipe out +the bitterness yet, by and by we may be friends again.”</p> +<p>“I hope so, sir,” said Larry.</p> +<p>Torrance said nothing further, but, moving stiffly, +swung himself into the saddle and slowly rode away. +Hetty watched him with a curious wistfulness in her +eyes until he wheeled his horse on the crest of the rise, +and sat still a moment looking back on them, a lonely, +dusky object silhouetted against the paling sky. Then +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_367' name='page_367'></a>367</span> +he turned again, and sank into the shadowy prairie. +Hetty clung a little more tightly to her husband’s arm, +and for a time they stood watching the crawling cattle +and dim shapes of the stockriders slowly fade, until the +last pale flicker of saffron died out and man and beast +sank into the night. A little cold wind came sighing out +of the emptiness and emphasized its silence.</p> +<p>Hetty shivered. “Larry,” she said, “they will never +come back.”</p> +<p>Grant drew her closer to him. “It had to be, my +dear,” he said. “They blocked the way, and nothing +can stop the people you and I—and they—belong to, +moving on. Well, we will look forward and do what +we can, for we must be ready to step out when our turn +comes and watch the rest go by.”</p> +<div class='ce'> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CATTLE-BARON'S DAUGHTER***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 27115-h.txt or 27115-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/1/1/27115">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/1/1/27115</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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