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diff --git a/27436-8.txt b/27436-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb40f92 --- /dev/null +++ b/27436-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10342 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brand Blotters, by William MacLeod Raine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Brand Blotters + +Author: William MacLeod Raine + +Illustrator: Clarence Rowe + +Release Date: December 7, 2008 [EBook #27436] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAND BLOTTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "WHO ARE YOU?" "WATER!" HE GASPED. Page 20.] + + + + +BRAND BLOTTERS + +By + +WILLIAM MacLEOD RAINE + +Author Of + +Wyoming, Bucky O'Connor, Mavericks, +A Texas Ranger, Ridgway Of Montana, Etc. + +Illustrations By + +CLARENCE ROWE + +Grosset & Dunlap + +Publishers New York + +Made in the United States of America + + + + +Copyright, 1909, by J. B. Lippincott Co. + +Copyright, 1911, by Street & Smith + +Copyright, 1912, by G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY + +Brand Blotters + + + + +TO +FRANK N. SPINDLER + +In Memory of Certain Sunday Afternoon Tramps +Long Ago, During Which We Solved the +Problems of the Nation + + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I + +MELISSY OF THE BAR DOUBLE G + + CHAPTER PAGE + I A Crossed Trail 11 + II Brand Blotting 18 + III An Accusation 35 + IV The Man with the Chihuahua Hat 49 + V The Tenderfoot Takes up a Claim 61 + VI "Hands Up" 75 + VII Watering Sheep 98 + VIII The Boone-Bellamy Feud is Renewed 109 + IX The Danger Line 121 + X Jack Goes to the Head of the Class 141 + XI A Conversation 156 + XII The Tenderfoot Makes a Proposition 163 + XIII Old Acquaintances 182 + XIV Concerning the Boone-Bellamy-Yarnell Feud 191 + +PART II + +DEAD MAN'S CACHE + + CHAPTER PAGE + I Kidnapped 199 + II A Capture 209 + III The Tables Turned 217 + IV The Real Bucky and the False 231 + V A Photograph 243 + VI In Dead Man's Cache 255 + VII "Trapped!" 266 + VIII An Escape and a Capture 276 + IX A Bargain 286 + X The Price 301 + XI Squire Latimer Takes a Hand 306 + XII The Taking of the Cache 322 + XIII Melissy Entertains 334 + XIV Black MacQueen Cashes his Checks 340 + + + + +PART I + +MELISSY OF THE BAR DOUBLE G + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A CROSSED TRAIL + + +The tenderfoot rose from the ledge upon which he had been lying and +stretched himself stiffly. The chill of the long night had set him +shivering. His bones ached from the pressure of his body upon the rock +where he had slept and waked and dozed again with troubled dreams. The +sharpness of his hunger made him light-headed. Thirst tortured him. His +throat was a lime-kiln, his tongue swollen till it filled his mouth. + +If the night had been bad, he knew the day would be a hundred times worse. +Already a gray light was sifting into the hollow of the sky. The vague +misty outlines of the mountains were growing sharper. Soon from a crotch +of them would rise a red hot cannon ball to pour its heat into the parched +desert. + +He was headed for the Sonora line, for the hills where he had heard a man +might drop out of sight of the civilization that had once known him. There +were reasons why he had started in a hurry, without a horse or food or a +canteen, and these same reasons held good why he could not follow beaten +tracks. All yesterday he had traveled without sighting a ranch or meeting +a human being. But he knew he must get to water soon--if he were to reach +it at all. + +A light breeze was stirring, and on it there was borne to him a faint +rumble as of thunder. Instantly the man came to a rigid alertness. Thunder +might mean rain, and rain would be salvation. But the sound did not die +away. Instead, it deepened to a steady roar, growing every instant louder. +His startled glance swept the caņon that drove like a sword cleft into the +hills. Pouring down it, with the rush of a tidal wave, came a wall of +cattle, a thousand backs tossing up and down as the swell of a troubled +sea. Though he had never seen one before, the man on the lip of the gulch +knew that he was watching a cattle stampede. Under the impact of the +galloping hoofs the ground upon which he stood quaked. + +A cry diverted his attention. From the bed of the sandy wash a man had +started up and was running for his life toward the caņon walls. Before he +had taken half a dozen steps the avalanche was upon him, had cut him down, +swept over him. + +The thud of the hoofs died away. Into the open desert the stampede had +passed. A huddled mass lay motionless on the sand in the track of the +avalanche. + +A long ragged breath whistled through the closed lips of the tenderfoot. +He ran along the edge of the rock wall till he found a descent less sharp, +lowered himself by means of jutting quartz and mesquit cropping out from +the crevices, and so came through a little draw to the caņon. + +He dropped on a knee beside the sprawling, huddled figure. No second +glance was needed to see that the man was dead. Life had been trampled out +of him almost instantly and his features battered beyond any possible +recognition. Unused to scenes of violence, the stranger stooping over him +felt suddenly sick. It made him shudder to remember that if he could have +found a way down in the darkness he, too, would have slept in the warm +sand of the dry wash. If he had, the fate of this man would have been +his. + +Under the doubled body was a canteen. The trembling fingers of the +tenderfoot unscrewed the cork. Tipping the vessel, he drank avidly. One +swallow, a second, then a few trickling drops. The canteen had been almost +empty. + +Uncovering, he stood bareheaded before the inert body and spoke gently in +the low, soft voice one instinctively uses in the presence of the dead. + +"Friend, I couldn't save your life, but your water has saved mine, I +reckon. Anyhow, it gives me another chance to fight for it. I wish I could +do something for you ... carry a message to your folks and tell them how +it happened." + +He dropped down again beside the dead man and rifled the pockets. In them +he found two letters addressed in an illiterate hand to James Diller, +Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. An idea flashed into his brain and for a moment +held him motionless while he worked it out. Why not? This man was about +his size, dressed much like him, and so mutilated that identification was +impossible. + +From his own pocket he took a leather bill book and a monogrammed +cigarcase. With a sharp stone he scarred the former. The metal case he +crushed out of shape beneath the heel of his boot. Having first taken one +twenty dollar yellowback from the well-padded book, he slipped it and the +cigarcase into the inner coat pocket of the dead man. Irregularly in a +dozen places he gashed with his knife the derby hat he was wearing, ripped +the band half loose, dragged it in the dust, and jumped on it till the hat +was flat as a pancake. Finally he kicked it into the sand a dozen yards +away. + +"The cattle would get it tangled in their hoofs and drag it that far with +them," he surmised. + +The soft gray hat of the dead man he himself appropriated. Again he spoke +to the lifeless body, lowering his voice to a murmur. + +"I reckon you wouldn't grudge me this if you knew. I'm up against it. If I +get out of these hills alive I'll be lucky. But if I do--well, it won't do +you any harm to be mistaken for me, and it will accommodate me mightily. I +hate to leave you here alone, but it's what I've got to do to save +myself." + +He turned away and plodded up the dry creek bed. + + * * * * * + +The sun was at the meridian when three heavily armed riders drew up at the +mouth of the caņon. They fell into the restful, negligent postures of +horsemen accustomed to take their ease in the saddle. + +"Do you figure maybe he's working up to the headwaters of Dry Sandy?" one +suggested. + +A squat, bandy-legged man with a face of tanned leather presently +answered. "No, Tim, I expect not. The way I size him up Mr. Richard +Bellamy wouldn't know Dry Sandy from an irrigation ditch. Mr. R. B. hopes +he's hittin' the high spots for Sonora, but he ain't anyways sure. Right +about now he's ridin' the grub line, unless he's made a strike +somewhere." + +The third member of the party, a lean, wide-shouldered, sinewy youth, blue +silk kerchief knotted loosely around his neck, broke in with a gesture +that swept the sky. "Funny about all them buzzards. What are they doing +here, sheriff?" + +The squat man opened his mouth to answer, but Tim took the word out of his +mouth. + +"Look!" His arm had shot straight out toward the caņon. A coyote was +disappearing on the lope. "Something lying there in the wash at the bend, +Burke." + +Sheriff Burke slid his rifle from its scabbard. "We'll not take any +chances, boys. Spread out far as you can. Tim, ride close to the left +wall. You keep along the right one, Flatray. Me, I'll take the center. +That's right." + +They rode forward cautiously. Once Flatray spoke. + +"By the tracks there has been a lot of cattle down here on the jump +recently." + +"That's what," Tim agreed. + +Flatray swung from his saddle and stooped over the body lying at the bend +of the wash. + +"Crushed to death in a cattle stampede, looks like," he called to the +sheriff. + +"Search him, Jack," the sheriff ordered. + +The young man gave an exclamation of surprise. He was standing with a +cigarcase in one hand and a billbook in the other. "It's the man we're +after--it's Bellamy." + +Burke left his horse and came forward. "How do you know?" + +"Initials on the cigarcase, R. B. Same monogram on the billbook." + +The sheriff had stooped to pick up a battered hat as he moved toward the +deputy. Now he showed the initials stamped on the sweat band. "R. B. here, +too." + +"Suit of gray clothes, derby hat, size and weight about medium. We'll +never know about the scar on the eyebrow, but I guess Mr. Bellamy is +identified without that." + +"Must have camped here last night and while he was asleep the cattle +stampeded down the caņon," Tim hazarded. + +"That guess is as good as any. They ce'tainly stomped the life out of him +thorough. Anyhow, Bellamy has met up with his punishment. We'll have to +pack the body back to town, boys," the sheriff told them. + +Half an hour later the party filed out to the creosote flats and struck +across country toward Mesa. Flatray was riding pillion behind Tim. His own +horse was being used as a pack saddle. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BRAND BLOTTING + + +The tenderfoot, slithering down a hillside of shale, caught at a +greasewood bush and waited. The sound of a rifle shot had drifted across +the ridge to him. Friend or foe, it made no difference to him now. He had +reached the end of his tether, must get to water soon or give up the +fight. + +No second shot broke the stillness. A swift zigzagged across the cattle +trail he was following. Out of a blue sky the Arizona sun still beat down +upon a land parched by æons of drought, a land still making its brave show +of greenness against a dun background. + +Arrow straight the man made for the hill crest. Weak as a starved puppy, +his knees bent under him as he climbed. Down and up again a dozen times, +he pushed feverishly forward. All day he had been seeing things. Cool +lakes had danced on the horizon line before his tortured vision. Strange +fancies had passed in and out of his mind. He wondered if this, too, were +a delusion. How long that stiff ascent took him he never knew, but at +last he reached the summit and crept over its cactus-covered shoulder. + +He looked into a valley dressed in its young spring garb. Of all deserts +this is the loveliest when the early rains have given rebirth to the hope +that stirs within its bosom once a year. But the tenderfoot saw nothing of +its pathetic promise, of its fragile beauty so soon to be blasted. His +sunken eyes swept the scene and found at first only a desert waste in +which lay death. + +"I lose," he said to himself out loud. + +With the words he gave up the long struggle and sank to the ground. For +hours he had been exhausted to the limit of endurance, but the will to +live had kept him going. Now the driving force within had run down. He +would die where he lay. + +Another instant, and he was on his feet again eager, palpitant, tremulous. +For plainly there had come to him the bleating of a calf. + +Moving to the left, he saw rising above the hill brow a thin curl of +smoke. A dozen staggering steps brought him to the edge of a draw. There +in the hollow below, almost within a stone's throw, was a young woman +bending over a fire. He tried to call, but his swollen tongue and dry +throat refused the service. Instead, he began to run toward her. + +Beyond the wash was a dead cow. Not far from it lay a calf on its side, +all four feet tied together. From the fire the young woman took a red-hot +running iron and moved toward the little bleater. + +The crackling of a twig brought her around as a sudden tight rein does a +high-strung horse. The man had emerged from the prickly pears and was +close upon her. His steps dragged. The sag of his shoulders indicated +extreme fatigue. The dark hollows beneath the eyes told of days of +torment. + +The girl stood before him slender and straight. She was pale to the lips. +Her breath came fast and ragged as if she had been running. + +Abruptly she shot her challenge at him. "Who are you?" + +"Water," he gasped. + +One swift, searching look the girl gave him, then "Wait!" she ordered, and +was off into the mesquit on the run. Three minutes later the tenderfoot +heard her galloping through the brush. With a quick, tight rein she drew +up, swung from the saddle expertly as a _vaquero_, and began to untie a +canteen held by buckskin thongs to the side of the saddle. + +He drank long, draining the vessel to the last drop. + +From her saddle bags she brought two sandwiches wrapped in oiled paper. + +"You're hungry, too, I expect," she said, her eyes shining with tender +pity. + +She observed that he did not wolf his food, voracious though he was. While +he ate she returned to the fire with the running iron and heaped live +coals around the end of it. + +"You've had a pretty tough time of it," she called across to him gently. + +"It hasn't been exactly a picnic, but I'm all right now." + +The girl liked the way he said it. Whatever else he was--and already faint +doubts were beginning to stir in her--he was not a quitter. + +"You were about all in," she said, watching him. + +"Just about one little kick left in me," he smiled. + +"That's what I thought." + +She busied herself over the fire inspecting the iron. The man watched her +curiously. What could it mean? A cow killed wantonly, a calf bawling with +pain and fear, and this girl responsible for it. The tenderfoot could not +down the suspicion stirring in his mind. He knew little of the cattle +country. But he had read books and had spent a week in Mesa not entirely +in vain. The dead cow with the little stain of red down its nose pointed +surely to one thing. He was near enough to see a hole in the forehead just +above the eyes. Instinctively his gaze passed to the rifle lying in the +sand close to his hand. Her back was still turned to him. He leaned over, +drew the gun to him, and threw out an empty shell from the barrel. + +At the click of the lever the girl swung around upon him. + +"What are you doing?" she demanded. + +He put the rifle down hurriedly. "Just seeing what make it is." + +"And what make is it?" she flashed. + +He was trapped. "I hadn't found out yet," he stammered. + +"No, but you found out there was an empty shell in it," she retorted +quickly. + +Their eyes fastened. She was gray as ashes, but she did not flinch. By +chance he had stumbled upon the crime of crimes in Cattleland, had caught +a rustler redhanded at work. Looking into the fine face, nostrils +delicately fashioned, eyes clear and deep, the thing was scarce credible +of her. Why, she could not be a day more than twenty, and in every line of +her was the look of pride, of good blood. + +"Yes, I happened to throw it out," he apologized. + +But she would have no evasion, would not let his doubts sleep. There was +superb courage in the scornful ferocity with which she retorted. + +"Happened! And I suppose you _happened_ to notice that the brand on the +cow is a Bar Double G, while that on the calf is different." + +"No, I haven't noticed that." + +"Plenty of time to see it yet." Then, with a swift blaze of feeling, +"What's the use of pretending? I know what you think." + +"Then you know more than I do. My thoughts don't go any farther than this, +that you have saved my life and I'm grateful for it." + +"I know better. You think I'm a rustler. But don't say it. Don't you dare +say it." + +Brought up in an atmosphere of semi-barbaric traditions, silken-strong, +with instincts unwarped by social pressure, she was what the sun and wind +and freedom of Arizona had made her, a poetic creation far from +commonplace. So he judged her, and in spite of the dastardly thing she had +done he sensed an innate refinement strangely at variance with the +circumstances. + +"All right. I won't," he answered, with a faint smile. + +"Now you've got to pay for your sandwiches by making yourself useful. I'm +going to finish this job." She said it with an edge of self-scorn. He +guessed her furious with self-contempt. + +Under her directions he knelt on the calf so as to hold it steady while +she plied the hot iron. The odor of burnt hair and flesh was already acrid +in his nostrils. Upon the red flank F was written in raw, seared flesh. He +judged that the brand she wanted was not yet complete. Probably the iron +had got too cold to finish the work, and she had been forced to reheat +it. + +The little hand that held the running iron was trembling. Looking up, the +tenderfoot saw that she was white enough to faint. + +"I can't do it. You'll have to let me hold him while you blur the brand," +she told him. + +They changed places. She set her teeth to it and held the calf steady, +but the brander noticed that she had to look away when the red-hot iron +came near the flesh of the victim. + +"Blur the brand right out. Do it quick, please," she urged. + +A sizzle of burning skin, a piteous wail from the tortured animal, an +acrid pungent odor, and the thing was done. The girl got to her feet, +quivering like an aspen. + +"Have you a knife?" she asked faintly. + +"Yes." + +"Cut the rope." + +The calf staggered to all fours, shook itself together, and went bawling +to the dead mother. + +The girl drew a deep breath. "They say it does not hurt except while it is +being done." + +His bleak eyes met hers stonily. "And of course it will soon get used to +doing without its mother. That is a mere detail." + +A shudder went through her. + +The whole thing was incomprehensible to him. Why under heaven had she done +it? How could one so sensitive have done a wanton cruel thing like this? +Her reason he could not fathom. The facts that confronted him were that +she _had_ done it, and had meant to carry the crime through. Only +detection had changed her purpose. + +She turned upon him, plainly sick of the whole business. "Let's get away +from here. Where's your horse?" + +"I haven't any. I started on foot and got lost." + +"From where?" + +"From Mammoth." + +Sharply her keen eyes fixed him. How could a man have got lost near +Mammoth and wandered here? He would have had to cross the range, and even +a child would have known enough to turn back into the valley where the +town lay. + +"How long ago?" + +"Day before yesterday." He added after a moment: "I was looking for a +job." + +She took in the soft hands and the unweathered skin of the dark face. +"What sort of a job?" + +"Anything I can do." + +"But what can you do?" + +"I can ride." + +She must take him home with her, of course, and feed and rest him. That +went without saying. But what after that? He knew too much to be turned +adrift with the story of what he had seen. If she could get a hold on +him--whether of fear or of gratitude--so as to insure his silence, the +truth might yet be kept quiet. At least she could try. + +"Did you ever ride the range?" + +"No." + +"What sort of work have you done?" + +After a scarcely noticeable pause, "Clerical work," he answered. + +"You're from the East?" she suggested, her eyes narrowing. + +"Yes." + +"My name is Melissy Lee," she told him, watching him very steadily. + +Once more the least of pauses. "Mine is Diller--James Diller." + +"That's funny. I know another man of that name. At least, I know him by +sight." + +The man who had called himself Diller grew wary. "It's a common enough +name." + +"Yes. If I find you work at my father's ranch would you be too particular +about what it is?" + +"Try me." + +"And your memory--is it inconveniently good?" Her glance swept as by +chance over the scene of her recent operations. + +"I've got a right good forgettery, too," he assured her. + +"You're not in the habit of talking much about the things you see." She +put it in the form of a statement, but the rising inflection indicated the +interrogative. + +His black eyes met hers steadily. "I can padlock my mouth when it is +necessary," he answered, the suggestion of a Southern drawl in his +intonation. + +She wanted an assurance more direct. "When _you_ think it necessary, I +suppose." + +"That is what I meant to say." + +"Come. One good turn deserves another. What about this?" She nodded toward +the dead cow. + +"I have not seen a thing I ought not to have seen." + +"Didn't you see me blot a brand on that calf?" + +He shook his head. "Can't recall it at all, Miss Lee." + +Swiftly her keen glance raked him again. Judged by his clothes, he was one +of the world's ineffectives, flotsam tossed into the desert by the wash of +fate; but there was that in the steadiness of his eye, in the set of his +shoulders, in the carriage of his lean-loined, slim body that spoke of +breeding. He was no booze-fighting grubliner. Disguised though he was in +cheap slops, she judged him a man of parts. He would do to trust, +especially since she could not help herself. + +"We'll be going. You take my horse," she ordered. + +"And let you walk?" + +"How long since you have eaten?" she asked brusquely. + +"About seven minutes," he smiled. + +"But before that?" + +"Two days." + +"Well, then. Anybody can see you're as weak as a kitten. Do as I say." + +"Why can't we both ride?" + +"We can as soon as we get across the pass. Until then I'll walk." + +Erect as a willow sapling, she took the hills with an elastic ease that +showed her deep-bosomed in spite of her slenderness. The short corduroy +riding skirt and high-laced boots were made for use, not grace, but the +man in the saddle found even in her manner of walking the charm of her +direct, young courage. Free of limb, as yet unconscious of sex, she had +the look of a splendid boy. The descending sun was in her sparkling hair, +on the lank, undulating grace of her changing lines. + +Active as a cat though it was, the cowpony found the steep pass with its +loose rubble hard going. Melissy took the climb much easier. In the way +she sped through the mesquit, evading the clutch of the cholla by supple +dips to right and left, there was a kind of pantherine litheness. + +At the summit she waited for the horse to clamber up the shale after her. + +"Get down in your collar, you Buckskin," she urged, and when the pony was +again beside her petted the animal with little love pats on the nose. + +Carelessly she flung at Diller a question. "From what part of the East did +you say?" + +He was on the spot promptly this time. "From Keokuk." + +"Keokuk, Indiana?" + +"Iowa," he smiled. + +"Oh, is it Iowa?" He had sidestepped her little trap, but she did not give +up. "Just arrived?" + +"I've been herding sheep for a month." + +"Oh, sheep-herding!" Her disdain implied that if he were fit for nothing +better than sheep-herding, the West could find precious little use for +him. + +"It was all I could get to do." + +"Where did you say you wrangled Mary's little lamb?" + +"In the Catalinas." + +"Whose outfit?" + +Question and answer were tossed back and forth lightly, but both were +watching warily. + +"Outfit?" he repeated, puzzled. + +"Yes. Who were you working for?" + +"Don't remember his name. He was a Mexican." + +"Must have been one of the camps of Antonio Valdez." + +"Yes, that's it. That's the name." + +"Only he runs his sheep in the Galiuros," she demurred. + +"Is it the Galiuros? Those Spanish names! I can't keep them apart in my +mind." + +She laughed with hard, young cruelty. "It is hard to remember what you +never heard, isn't it?" + +The man was on the rack. Tiny beads of perspiration stood out on his +forehead. But he got a lip smile into working order. + +"Just what do you mean, Miss Lee?" + +"You had better get your story more pat. I've punched a dozen holes in it +already. First you tell me you are from the East, and even while you were +telling me I knew you were a Southerner from the drawl. No man ever got +lost from Mammoth. You gave a false name. You said you had been herding +sheep, but you didn't know what an outfit is. You wobbled between the +Galiuros and the Catalinas." + +"I'm not a native. I told you I couldn't remember Spanish names." + +"It wasn't necessary to tell me," she countered quickly. "A man that can't +recall even the name of his boss!" + +"I'm not in the witness box, Miss Lee," he told her stiffly. + +"Not yet, but you're liable to be soon, I reckon." + +"In a cattle rustling case, I suppose you mean." + +"No, I don't." She went on with her indictment of his story, though his +thrust had brought the color to her cheek. "When I offered you Antonio +Valdez for an employer you jumped at him. If you want to know, he happens +to be our herder. He doesn't own a sheep and never will." + +"You know all about it," he said with obvious sarcasm. + +"I know you're not who you say you are." + +"Perhaps you know who I am then." + +"I don't know or care. It's none of my business. But others may think it +is theirs. You can't be so reckless with the truth without folks having +notions. If I were you I'd get a story that will hang together." + +"You're such a good detective. Maybe I could get you to invent one for +me," he suggested maliciously. + +Her indignation flashed. "I'm no such thing. But I'm not quite a fool. A +babe in arms wouldn't swallow that fairy tale." + +Awkward as her knowledge might prove, he could not help admiring the +resource and shrewdness of the girl. She had virtually served notice that +if she had a secret that needed keeping so had he. + +They looked down over a desert green with bajadas, prickly pears, and +mesquit. To the right, close to a spur of the hills, were the dwarfed +houses of a ranch. The fans of a windmill caught the sun and flashed it +back to the travelers. + +"The Bar Double G. My father owns it," Miss Lee explained. + +"Oh! Your father owns it." He reflected a moment while he studied her. +"Let's understand each other, Miss Lee. I'm not what I claim to be, you +say. We'll put it that you have guessed right. What do you intend to do +about it? I'm willing to be made welcome at the Bar Double G, but I don't +want to be too welcome." + +"I'm not going to do anything." + +"So long as I remember not to remember what I've seen." + +The blood burned in her cheeks beneath their Arizona tan. She did not look +at him. "If you like to put it that way." + +He counted it to her credit that she was ashamed of the bargain in every +honest fiber of her. + +"No matter what they say I've done. You'll keep faith?" + +"I don't care what you've done," she flung back bitterly. "It's none of my +affair. I told you that before. Men come out here for all sorts of +reasons. We don't ask for a bill of particulars." + +"Then I'll be right glad to go down to the Bar Double G with you, and say +thanks for the chance." + +He had dismounted when they first reached the pass. Now she swung to the +saddle and he climbed behind her. They reached presently one of the +nomadic trails of the cattle country which wander leisurely around hills +and over gulches along the line of least resistance. This brought them to +a main traveled road leading to the ranch. + +They rode in silence until the pasture fence was passed. + +"What am I to tell them your name is?" she asked stiffly. + +He took his time to answer. "Tom Morse is a good name, don't you think? +How would T. L. Morse do?" + +She offered no comment, but sat in front of him, unresponsive as the +sphinx. The rigor of her flat back told him that, though she might have to +keep his shameful secret for the sake of her own, he could not presume +upon it the least in the world. + +Melissy turned the horse over to a little Mexican boy and they were just +mounting the steps of the porch when a young man cantered up to the house. +Lean and muscular and sunbaked, he looked out of cool, gray eyes upon a +man's world that had often put him through the acid test. The plain, +cactus-torn chaps, flannel shirt open at the sinewy throat, dusty, +wide-brimmed hat, revolver peeping from its leather pocket on the thigh: +every detail contributed to the impression of efficiency he created. Even +the one touch of swagger about him, the blue silk kerchief knotted loosely +around his neck, lent color to his virile competency. + +He dragged his horse to a standstill and leaped off at the same instant. +"Evenin', 'Lissie." + +She was busy lacing her shoe and did not look up. He guessed that he was +being snubbed and into his eyes came a gleam of fun. A day later than he +had promised, Jack Flatray was of opinion that he was being punished for +tardiness. + +Casually he explained. "Couldn't make it any sooner. Burke had a hurry-up +job that took us into the hills. Fellow by the name of Bellamy, wanted for +murder at Nemo, Arkansas, had been tracked to Mesa. A message came over +the wires to arrest him. When Burke sent me to his room he had lit out, +taken a swift hike into the hills. Must a-had some warning, for he didn't +even wait for a horse." + +The dilated eyes of the girl went past the deputy to the man she had +rescued. He was leaning against one of the porch posts, tense and rigid, +on his face the look of the hunted brought to bay. + +"And did you find him?" she asked mechanically of the deputy. + +"We found him. He had been trampled to death by a cattle stampede." + +Her mind groped blindly for an explanation. Her woman's instinct told her +that the man panting on the porch within six feet of the officer was the +criminal wanted. There must be a mistake somewhere. + +"Did you identify him?" + +"I guess there is no doubt about it. His papers and belongings all showed +he was our man." + +"Oh!" The excitement of his news had for a moment thawed her, but a +dignified aloofness showed again in her manner. "If you want to see father +you'll find him in the corral, Mr. Flatray." + +"Well, I don't know as I'm looking for him awful hard," the blue +kerchiefed youth smiled genially. "Anyway, I can wait a few minutes if I +have to." + +"Yes." She turned away indifferently. "I'll show you your room, Mr. +Morse." + +The deputy watched them disappear into the house with astonishment printed +on his face. He had ridden twenty-seven miles to see Melissy Lee and he +had not quite expected this sort of a greeting. + +"If that don't beat the Dutch. Looks like I'll do my callin' on the old +man after all, maybe," he murmured with a grin. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AN ACCUSATION + + +The rescued man ate, drank, and from sheer fatigue fell asleep within five +minutes of the time he was shown his bedroom. + +Since he was not of the easily discouraged kind, the deputy stayed to +supper on invitation of Lee. He sat opposite the daughter of his host, and +that young woman treated him with the most frigid politeness. The owner of +the Bar Double G was quite unaware of any change of temperature. Jack and +his little girl had always been the best of friends. So now he discoursed +on the price of cows, the good rains, the outrages of the rustlers, and +kindred topics without suspecting that the attention of the young man was +on more personal matters. + +Though born in Arizona, Melissy was of the South. Due westward rolls the +tide of settlement, and Beauchamp Lee had migrated from Tennessee after +the war, following the line of least resistance to the sunburned +territory. Later he had married a woman a good deal younger than himself. +She had borne him two children, the elder of whom was now a young man. +Melissy was the younger, and while she was still a babe in arms the mother +had died of typhoid and left her baby girl to grow up as best she might in +a land where women were few and far. This tiny pledge of her mother's love +Champ Lee had treasured as a gift from Heaven. He had tended her and +nursed her through the ailments of childhood with a devotion the most pure +of his reckless life. Given to heady gusts of passion, there had never +been a moment when his voice had been other than gentle and tender to +her. + +Inevitably Melissy had become the product of her inheritance and her +environment. If she was the heiress of Beauchamp Lee's courage and +generosity, his quick indignation against wrong and injustice, so, too, +she was of his passionate lawlessness. + +After supper Melissy disappeared. She wanted very much to be alone and +have a good cry. Wherefore she slipped out of the back door and ran up the +Lone Tree trail in the darkness. Jack thought he saw a white skirt fly a +traitorous signal, and at leisure he pursued. + +But Melissy was not aware of that. She reached Lone Tree rock and slipped +down from boulder to boulder until she came to the pine which gave the +place its name. For hours she had been forced to repress her emotions, to +make necessary small talk, to arrange for breakfast and other household +details. Now she was alone, and the floods of her bitterness were +unloosed. She broke down and wept passionately, for she was facing her +first great disillusionment. She had lost a friend, one in whom she had +put great faith. + +The first gust of the storm was past when Melissy heard a step on the +rocks above. She knew intuitively that Jack Flatray had come in search of +her, and he was the last man on earth she wanted to meet just now. + +"'Lissie!" she heard him call softly; and again, "'Lissie!" + +Noiselessly she got to her feet, waiting to see what he would do. She knew +he must be standing on the edge of the great rock, so directly above her +that if he had kicked a pebble it would have landed beside her. Presently +he began to clamber down. + +She tiptoed along the ledge and slipped into the trough at the farther end +that led to the top. It was a climb she had taken several times, but never +in the dark. The ascent was almost perpendicular, and it had to be made by +clinging to projecting rocks and vegetation. Moreover, if she were to +escape undetected it had to be done in silence. + +She was a daughter of the hills, as surefooted as a mountain goat. Handily +she went up, making the most of the footholds that offered. In spite of +the best she could do the rustling of bushes betrayed her. + +Jack came to the foot of the trough and looked up. + +"So you're there, are you?" he asked. + +Her foot loosened a stone and sent it rolling down. + +"If I were you I wouldn't try that at night, 'Liss," he advised. + +She made sure of the steadiness of her voice before she answered. "You +don't need to try it." + +"I said if I were you, girl." + +"But you are not. Don't let me detain you here, Mr. Flatray," she told him +in a manner of icy precision. + +The deputy began the climb too. "What's the use of being so hostile, +little girl?" he drawled. "Me, I came as soon as I could, burning the +wind, too." + +She set her teeth, determined to reach the top in time to get away before +he could join her. In her eagerness she took a chance that proved her +undoing. A rock gave beneath her foot and clattered down. Clinging by one +hand and foot, she felt her body swing around. From her throat a little +cry leaped. She knew herself slipping. + +"Jack!" + +In time, and just in time, he reached her, braced himself, and gave her +his knee for a foot rest. + +"All right?" he asked, and "All right!" she answered promptly. + +"We'll go back," he told her. + +She made no protest. Indeed, she displayed a caution in lowering herself +that surprised him. Every foothold she tested carefully with her weight. +Once she asked him to place her shoe in the crevice for her. He had never +seen her take so much time in making sure or be so fussy about her +personal safety. + +Safely on the ledge again, she attempted a second time to dismiss him. +"Thank you, Mr. Flatray. I won't take any more of your time." + +He looked at her steadily before he spoke. "You're mighty high-heeled, +'Lissie. You know my name ain't Mr. Flatray to you. What's it all about? +I've told you twice I couldn't get here any sooner." + +She flamed out at him in an upblaze of feminine ferocity. "And I tell +_you_, that I don't care if you had never come. I don't want to see you or +have anything to do with you." + +"Why not?" He asked it quietly, though he began to know that her charge +against him was a serious one. + +"Because I know what you are now, because you have made us believe in you +while all the time you were living a lie." + +"Meaning what?" + +"I was gathering poppies on the other side of Antelope Pass this +afternoon." + +"What has that got to do with me being a liar and a scoundrel," he wanted +to know. + +"Oh, you pretend," she scoffed. "But you know as well as I do." + +"I'm afraid I don't. Let's have the indictment." + +"If everybody in Papago County had told me I wouldn't have believed it," +she cried. "I had to see it with my own eyes before I could have been +convinced." + +"Yes, well what is it you saw with your eyes?" + +"You needn't keep it up. I tell you I saw it all from the time you fired +the shot." + +He laughed easily, but without mirth. "Kept tab on me, did you?" + +She wheeled from him, gave a catch of her breath, and caught at the rock +wall to save herself from falling. + +He spoke sharply. "You hurt yourself in the trough." + +"I sprained my ankle a little, but it doesn't matter." + +He understood now why she had made so slow a descent and he suspected that +the wrench was more than she admitted. The moon had come out from under a +cloud and showed him a pale, tear-stained face, with a row of even, little +teeth set firm against the lower lip. She was in pain and her pride was +keeping it from him. + +"Let me look at your ankle." + +"No." + +"I say yes. You've hurt it seriously." + +"That is my business, I think," she told him with cold finality. + +"I'm going to make it mine. Think I don't know you, proud as Lucifer when +you get set. You'll lame yourself for life if you're not careful." + +"I don't care to discuss it." + +"Fiddlesticks! If you've got anything against me we'll hear what it is +afterward. Right now we'll give first aid to the injured. Sit down here." + +She had not meant to give way, but she did. Perhaps it was because of the +faintness that stole over her, or because the pain was sharper than she +could well endure. She found herself seated on the rock shelf, letting him +cut the lace out of her shoe and slip it off. Ever so gently he worked, +but he could tell by the catches of her breath that it was not pleasant to +endure. From his neck he untied the silk kerchief and wrapped it tightly +around the ankle. + +"That will have to do till I get you home." + +"I'll not trouble you, sir. If you'll stop and tell my father that is all +I'll ask." + +"Different here," he retorted cheerfully. "Just so as to avoid any +argument, I'll announce right now that Jack Flatray is going to see you +home. It's his say-so." + +She rose. None knew better than she that he was a dominating man when he +chose to be. She herself carried in her slim body a spirit capable of +passion and of obstinacy, but to-night she had not the will to force the +fighting. + +Setting her teeth, she took a step or two forward, her hand against the +rock wall to help bear the weight. With narrowed eyes, he watched her +closely, noting the catches of pain that shot through her breathing. Half +way up the boulder bed he interposed brusquely. + +"This is plumb foolishness, girl. You've got no business putting your +weight on that foot, and you're not going to do it." + +He slipped his arm around her waist in such a way as to support her all he +could. With a quick turn of the body she tried to escape. + +"No use. I'm going through with this, 'Lissie. Someone has been lying to +you about me, and just now you hate the ground I walk on. Good enough. +That's got nothing to do with this. You're a woman that needs help, and +any old time J. F. meets up with such a one he's on the job. You don't owe +me 'Thank you,' but you've got to stand for me till you reach the house." + +"You're taking advantage of me because I can't help myself. Why don't you +go and bring father," she flung out. + +"I'm younger than your father and abler to help. That's why?" + +They reached the top of the bluff and he made her sit down to rest. A pale +moon suffused the country, and in that stage set to lowered lights her +pallor was accented. From the colorless face shadowy, troubled eyes spoke +the misery through which she was passing. The man divined that her pain +was more than physical, and the knowledge went to him poignantly by the +heart route. + +"What is it, 'Lissie? What have I done?" he asked gently. + +"You know. I don't want to talk about it." + +"But I don't know." + +"What's the use of keeping it up? I caught you this afternoon." + +"Caught me doing what?" + +"Caught you rustling, caught you branding a calf just after you had shot +the cow." + +For an instant her charge struck him dumb. He stared at her as if he +thought she had gone suddenly mad. + +"What's that? Say it again," he got out at last. + +"And the cow had the Bar Double G brand, belonged to my father, your best +friend," she added passionately. + +He spoke very gently, but there was an edge to his voice that was new to +her. "Suppose you tell me all about it." + +She threw out a hand in a gesture of despair. "What's the use? Nothing +could have made me believe it but my own eyes. You needn't keep up a +pretense. I saw you." + +"Yes, so you said before. Now begin at the start and tell your story." + +She had the odd feeling of being put on the defensive and it angered her. +How dared he look at her with those cool, gray eyes that still appeared to +bore a hole through treachery? Why did her heart convict her of having +deserted a friend, when she knew that the desertion was his? + +"While I was gathering poppies I heard a shot. It was so close I walked to +the edge of the draw and looked over. There I saw you." + +"What was I doing?" + +"You were hogtying a calf." + +"And then?" + +"I didn't understand at first. I thought to slip down and surprise you for +fun. But as I got lower I saw the dead cow. Just then you began to brand +the calf and I cried out to you." + +"What did I do?" + +"You know what you did," she answered wearily. "You broke for the brush +where your horse was and galloped away." + +"Got a right good look at me, did you?" + +"Not at your face. But I knew. You were wearing this blue silk +handkerchief." Her finger indicated the one bound around her ankle. + +"So on that evidence you decide I'm a rustler, and you've only known me +thirteen years. You're a good friend, 'Lissie." + +Her eyes blazed on him like live coals. "Have you forgotten the calf you +left with your brand on it?" + +She had startled him at last. "With my brand on it?" he repeated, his +voice dangerously low and soft. + +"You know as well as I do. You had got the F just about finished when I +called. You dropped the running iron and ran." + +"Dropped it and ran, did I? And what did you do?" + +"I reheated the iron and blurred the brand so that nobody could tell what +it had been." + +He laughed harshly without mirth. "I see. I'm a waddy and a thief, but +you're going to protect me for old times' sake. That's the play, is it? I +ought to be much obliged to you and promise to reform, I reckon." + +His bitterness stung. She felt a tightening of the throat. "All I ask is +that you go away and never come back to me," she cried with a sob. + +"Don't worry about that. I ain't likely to come back to a girl that thinks +I'm the lowest thing that walks. You're not through with me a bit more +than I am with you," he answered harshly. + +Her little hand beat upon the rock in her distress. "I never would have +believed it. Nobody could have made me believe it. I--I--why, I trusted +you like my own father," she lamented. "To think that you would take that +way to stock your ranch--and with the cattle of my father, too." + +His face was hard as chiseled granite. "Distrust all your friends. That's +the best way." + +"You haven't even denied it--not that it would do any good," she said +miserably. + +There was a sound of hard, grim laughter in his throat. "No, and I ain't +going to deny it. Are you ready to go yet?" + +His repulse of her little tentative advance was like a blow on the face to +her. + +She made a movement to rise. While she was still on her knees he stooped, +put his arms around her, and took her into them. Before she could utter +her protest he had started down the trail toward the house. + +"How dare you? Let me go," she ordered. + +"You're not able to walk, and you'll go the way I say," he told her +shortly in a flinty voice. + +Her anger was none the less because she realized her helplessness to get +what she wanted. Her teeth set fast to keep back useless words. Into his +stony eyes her angry ones burned. The quick, irregular rise and fall of +her bosom against his heart told him how she was struggling with her +passion. + +Once he spoke. "Tell me where it was you saw this rustler--the exact place +near as you can locate it." + +She answered only by a look. + +The deputy strode into the living room of the ranch with her in his arms. +Lee was reading a newspaper Jack had brought with him from Mesa. At sight +of them he started up hurriedly. + +"Goddlemighty, what's the matter, Jack?" + +"Only a ricked ankle, Champ. Slipped on a stone," Flatray explained as he +put Melissy down on the lounge. + +In two minutes the whole house was upset. Hop Ling was heating water to +bathe the sprain. A rider from the bunkhouse was saddling to go for the +doctor. Another was off in the opposite direction to buy some liniment at +Mammoth. + +In the confusion Flatray ran up his horse from the pasture, slapped on the +saddle, and melted into the night. + +An hour later Melissy asked her father what had become of him. + +"Doggone that boy, I don't know where he went. Reckon he thought he'd be +in the way. Mighty funny he didn't give us a chanct to tell him to stay." + +"Probably he had business in Mesa," Melissy answered, turning her face to +the wall. + +"Business nothing," retorted the exasperated rancher. "He figured we +couldn't eat and sleep him without extra trouble. Ain't that a fine +reputation for him to be giving the Bar Double G? I'll curl his hair for +him onct I meet up with him again." + +"If you would put out the light, I think I could sleep, dad," she told him +in the least of voices. + +"Sure, honey. Has the throbbing gone out of the ankle?" he asked +anxiously. + +"Not entirely, but it's a good deal better. Good-night, dad." + +"If Doc comes I'll bring him in," Lee said after he had kissed her. + +"Do, please." + +But after she was left alone Melissy did not prepare herself for sleep. +Her wide open eyes stared into the darkness, while her mind stormily +reviewed the day. The man who for years had been her best friend was a +scoundrel. She had proved him unworthy of her trust, and on top of that he +had insulted her. Hot tears stung her eyes--tears of shame, of wounded +self-love, of mortification, and of something more worthy than any of +these. + +She grieved passionately for that which had gone out of her life, for the +comradeship that had been so precious to her. If this man were a waddy, +who of all her friends could she trust? She could have forgiven him had he +done wrong in the heat of anger. But this premeditated evil was beyond +forgiveness. To make it worse, he had come direct from the doing of it to +meet her, with a brazen smile on his lips and a lie in his heart. She +would never speak to him again--never so long as she lived. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MAN WITH THE CHIHUAHUA HAT + + +A little dust cloud was traveling up the trail toward the Bar Double G, +the center of which presently defined itself as a rider moving at a road +gait. He wore a Chihuahua hat and with it the picturesque trappings the +Southwest borrows on occasion from across the border. Vanity disclosed +itself in the gold-laced hat, in the silver conchos of the fringed chaps, +in the fine workmanship of the saddle and bit. The man's finery was +overdone, carried with it the suggestion of being on exhibition. But one +look at the man himself, sleek and graceful, black-haired and +white-toothed, exuding an effect of cold wariness in spite of the masked +smiling face, would have been enough to give the lie to any charge of +weakness. His fopperies could not conceal the silken strength of him. One +meeting with the chill, deep-set eyes was certificate enough for most +people. + +Melissy, sitting on the porch with her foot resting on a second chair, +knew a slight quickening of the blood as she watched him approach. + +"Good evenin', Miss M'lissy," he cried, sweeping his sombrero as low as +the stirrup. + +"_Buenos tardes_, _Seņor_ Norris," she flung back gayly. + +Sitting at ease in the saddle, he leisurely looked her over with eyes that +smoldered behind half-shuttered lids. To most of her world she was in +spirit still more boy than woman, but before his bold, possessive gaze her +long lashes wavered to the cheeks into which the warm blood was beating. +Her long, free lines were still slender with the immaturity of youth, her +soul still hesitating reluctantly to cross the border to womanhood toward +which Nature was pushing her so relentlessly. From a fund of experience +Philip Norris read her shrewdly, knew how to evoke the latent impulses +which brought her eagerly to the sex duel. + +"Playing off for sick," he scoffed. + +"I'm not," she protested. "Never get sick. It's just a sprained ankle." + +"Sho! I guess you're Miss Make Believe; just harrowing the feelings of +your beaux." + +"The way you talk! I haven't got any beaux. The boys are just my +friends." + +"Oh, just friends! And no beaux. My, my! Not a single sweetheart in all +this wide open country. Shall I go rope you one and bring him in, +_compadre_?" + +"No!" she exploded. "I don't want any. I'm not old enough yet." Her +dancing eyes belied the words. + +"Now I wouldn't have guessed it. You look to me most ready to be picked." +He rested his weight on the farther stirrup and let his lazy smile mock +her. "My estimate would be sixteen. I'll bet you're every day of that." + +"I only lack three months of being eighteen," she came back indignantly. + +"You don't say! You'll ce'tainly have to be advertising for a husband +soon, Miss Three-Quarters-Past-Seventeen. Maybe an ad in the Mesa paper +would help. You ain't so awful bad looking." + +"I'll let you write it. What would you say?" she demanded, a patch of pink +standing out near the curve of the cheek bone. + +He swung from the saddle and flung the reins to the ground. With jingling +spurs he came up the steps and sat on the top one, his back against a +pillar. Boldly his admiring eyes swept her. + +"_Nina_, I couldn't do the subject justice. Honest, I haven't got the +vocabulary." + +"Oh, you!" Laughter was in the eyes that studied him with a side tilt of +the chin. "That's a fine way to get out of it when your bluff is called." + +He leaned back against the post comfortably and absorbed the beauty of the +western horizon. The sun had just set behind a saddle of the Galiuros in a +splash of splendor. All the colors of the rainbow fought for supremacy in +a brilliant-tinted sky that blazed above the fire-girt peaks. Soon dusk +would slip down over the land and tone the hues to a softer harmony. A +purple sea would flow over the hills, to be in turn displaced by a deep, +soft violet. Then night, that night of mystery and romance which +transforms the desert to a thing of incredible wonder! + +"Did your father buy this sunset with the ranch? And has he got a +guarantee that it will perform every night?" he asked. + +"Did you ever see anything like it?" she cried. "I have looked at them all +my life and I never get tired." + +He laughed softly, his indolent, sleepy look on her. "Some things I would +never get tired of looking at either." + +Without speaking she nodded, still absorbing the sunset. + +"But it wouldn't be that kind of scenery," he added. "How tall are you, +_muchacha_?" + +Her glance came around in surprise. "I don't know. About five foot five, I +think. Why?" + +"I'm working on that ad. How would this do? 'Miss +Three-Quarters-Past-Seventeen wants to meet up with gentleman between +eighteen and forty-eight. Object, matrimony. Description of lady: Slim, +medium height, brunette, mop of blue-black hair, the prettiest dimple you +ever saw----'" + +"Now I know you're making fun of me. I'm mad." And the dimple flashed into +being. + +"'--mostly says the opposite of what she means, has a----'" + +"I don't. I don't" + +"'--has a spice of the devil in her, which----'" + +"Now, I _am_ mad," she interrupted, laughing. + +"'--which is excusable, since she has the reddest lips for kissing in +Arizona.'" + +He had gone too far. Her innocence was in arms. Norris knew it by the +swiftness with which the smile vanished from her face, by the flash of +anger in the eyes. + +"I prefer to talk about something else, Mr. Norris," she said with all the +prim stiffness of a schoolgirl. + +Her father relieved the tension by striding across from the stable. With +him came a bowlegged young fellow in plain leathers. The youngster was +Charley Hymer, one of the riders for the Bar Double G. + +"You're here at the right time, Norris," Lee said grimly. "Charley has +just come down from Antelope Pass. He found one of my cows dead, with a +bullet hole through the forehead. The ashes of a fire were there, and in +the brush not far away a running iron." + +The eyes of Norris narrowed to slits. He was the cattle detective of the +association and for a year now the rustlers had outgeneraled him. "I'll +have you take me to the spot, Charley. Get a move on you and we'll get +there soon as the moon is up." + +Melissy gripped the arms of her chair tightly with both hands. She was +looking at Norris with a new expression, a kind of breathless fear. She +knew him for a man who could not be swerved from the thing he wanted. For +all his easy cynicism, he had the reputation of being a bloodhound on the +trail. Moreover, she knew that he was no friend to Jack Flatray. Why had +she left that running iron as evidence to convict its owner? What folly +not to have removed it from the immediate scene of the crime! + +The cattle detective and her father had moved a few steps away and were +talking in low tones. Melissy became aware of a footfall. The man who +called himself Morse came around the corner of the house and stopped at +the porch steps. + +"May I speak to you a moment, Miss Lee?" he said in a low voice. + +"Of course." + +The voice of Norris rose to an irritated snarl. "Tell you I've got +evidence, Lee. Mebbe it's not enough to convict, but it satisfies me +a-plenty that Jack Flatray's the man." + +Melissy was frozen to a tense attention. Her whole mind was on what passed +between the detective and her father. Otherwise she would have noticed the +swift change that transformed the tenderfoot. + +The rancher answered with impatient annoyance. "You're 'way off, Norris. I +don't care anything about your evidence. The idea is plumb ridiculous. +Twenty odd years I've known him. He's the best they make, a pure through +and through. Not a crooked hair in his head. I've eat out of the same +frying pan too often with that boy not to know what he is. You go bury +those suspicions of yours immediate. There's nothing to them." + +Norris grumbled objections as they moved toward the stable. Melissy drew a +long breath and brought herself back to the tenderfoot. + +He stood like a coiled spring, head thrust far forward from the shoulders. +The look in his black eyes was something new to her experience. For hate, +passion, caution were all mirrored there. + +"You know Mr. Norris," she said quickly. + +He started. "What did you say his name was?" he asked with an assumption +of carelessness. + +"Norris--Philip Norris. He is a cattle detective." + +"Never heard of Mr. Norris before in my life," he answered, but it was +observable that he still breathed deep. + +She did not believe him. Some tie in their buried past bound these two men +together. They must have known each other in the South years ago, and one +of them at least was an enemy of the other. There might come a day when +she could use this knowledge to save Jack Flatray from the punishment +dogging his heels. Melissy filed it away in her memory for future +reference. + +"You wanted to speak to me," she suggested. + +"I'm going away." + +"What for?" + +"Because I'm not a hound. I can't blackmail a woman." + +"How do you mean?" + +"I mean that you've found work here for me because I saw what you did over +by Antelope Pass. We made a bargain. Oh, not in words, but a bargain just +the same! You were to keep my secret because I knew yours. I release you +from your part of it. Give me up if you think it is your duty. I'll not +tell what I know." + +"That wasn't how you talked the other day." + +"No. It's how I talk now. I'm a hunted man, wanted for murder. I make you +a present of the information." + +"You make me a present of what I already know, Mr. Diller, alias Morse, +alias Bellamy." + +"You guessed it the first day?" + +"Yes." + +"And meant to keep quiet about it?" + +"Yes, I meant to shelter you from the punishment you deserve." She added +with a touch of bitter self-scorn: "I was doing what I had to do." + +"You don't have to do it any longer." He looked straight at her with his +head up. "And how do you know what I deserve? Who made you a judge about +these facts? Grant for the sake of argument I killed him. Do you know I +wasn't justified?" + +His fierce boldness put her on the defense. "A man sure of his cause does +not run away. The paper said this Shep Boone was shot from ambush. +Nothing could justify such a thing. When you did that----" + +"I didn't. Don't believe it, Miss Lee." + +"He was shot from behind, the paper said." + +"Do I look like a man who would kill from ambush?" + +She admitted to herself that this clear-eyed Southerner did not look like +an assassin. Life in the open had made her a judge of such men as she had +been accustomed to meet, but for days she had been telling herself she +could no longer trust her judgment. Her best friend was a rustler. By a +woman's logic it followed that since Jack Flatray was a thief this man +might have committed all the crimes in the calendar. + +"I don't know." Then, impulsively, "No, you don't, but you may be for all +that." + +"I'm not asking anything for myself. You may do as you please after I've +gone. Send for Mr. Flatray and tell him if you like." + +A horse cantered across the plaza toward the store. Bellamy turned quickly +to go. + +"I'm not going to tell anyone," the girl called after him in a low voice. + +Norris swung from the saddle. "Who's our hurried friend?" he asked +carelessly. + +"Oh, a new rider of ours. Name of Morse." She changed the subject. "Are +you--do you think you know who the rustler is?" + +His cold, black eyes rested in hers. She read in them something cruel and +sinister. It was as if he were walking over the grave of an enemy. + +"I'm gathering evidence, a little at a time." + +"Do I know him?" + +"Maybe you do." + +"Tell me." + +He shook his head. "Wait till I've got him cinched." + +"You told father," she accused. + +He laughed in a hard, mirthless fashion. "That cured me. The Lee family is +from Missouri. When I talk next time I'll have the goods to show." + +"I know who you mean. You're making a mistake." Her voice seemed to plead +with him. + +"Not on your life, I ain't. But we'll talk about that when the subject is +riper. There will be a showdown some day, and don't you forget it. Well, +Charley is calling me. So long, Miss Three-Quarters-Past-Seventeen." He +went jingling down the steps and swung to the saddle. "I'll not forget the +ad, and when I find the right man I'll ce'tainly rope and bring him to +you." + +"The rustler?" she asked innocently. + +"No, not the rustler, the gent between eighteen and forty-eight, object +matrimony." + +"I don't want to trouble you," she flung at him with her gay smile. + +"No trouble at all. Fact is, I've got him in mind already," he assured her +promptly. + +"Oh!" A pulse of excitement was beating in her throat. + +"You don't ask me who he is," suggested Norris boldly, crouched in the +saddle with his weight on the far stirrup. + +She had brought it upon herself, but now she dodged the issue. "'Most +anyone will do, and me going on eighteen." + +"You're wrong, girl. Only one out of a thousand will do for your master." + +"Master, indeed! If he comes to the Bar Double G he'll find he is at the +wrong address. None wanted, thank you." + +"Most folks don't want what's best for them, I allow. But if they have +luck it sometimes comes to them." + +"Luck!" she echoed, her chin in the air. + +"You heard me right. What you need is a man that ain't afraid of you, one +to ride close herd on you so as to head off them stampede notions of +yours. Now this lad is the very one. He is a black-haired guy, and when he +says a thing----" + +Involuntarily she glanced at his sleek black head. Melissy felt a sudden +clamor of the blood, a pounding of the pulses. + +"--he most generally means it. I've wrangled around a heap with him and +there's no manner of doubt he's up to specifications. In appearance he +looks like me. Point of fact, he's a dead ringer for me." + +She saw her chance and flashed out. "Now you're flattering him. There +can't be two as--as fascinating as Seņor Norris," she mocked. + +His smoldering eyes had the possessive insolence she resented and yet +found so stimulating. + +"Did I say there were two?" he drawled. + +It was his parting shot. With a touch of the spur he was off, leaving her +no time for an adequate answer. + +There were no elusions and inferences about Philip Norris when he wanted +to be direct. He had fairly taken her breath away. Melissy's instinct told +her there was something humiliating about such a wooing. But picturesque +and unconventional conduct excuse themselves in a picturesque personality. +And this man had that if nothing else. + +She told herself she was angry at him, that he took liberties far beyond +those of any of the other young men. Yet, somehow, she went into the house +smiling. A color born of excitement burned beneath her sparkling eyes. She +had entered into her heritage of womanhood and the call of sex was +summoning her to the adventure that is old as the garden where Eve met +Adam. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TENDERFOOT TAKES UP A CLAIM + + +Mr. Diller, alias Morse, alias Bellamy, did not long remain at the Bar +Double G as a rider. It developed that he had money, and, tenderfoot +though he was, the man showed a shrewd judgment in his investments. He +bought sheep and put them on the government forest reserve, much to the +annoyance of the cattlemen of the district. + +Morse, as he now called himself, was not the first man who had brought +sheep into the border country. Far up in the hills were several camps of +them. But hitherto these had been there on sufferance, and it had been +understood that they were to be kept far from the cattle range. The +extension of the government reserves changed the equation. A good slice of +the range was cut off and thrown open to sheep. When Morse leased this and +put five thousand bleaters upon the feeding ground the sentiment against +him grew very bitter. + +Lee had been spokesman of a committee appointed to remonstrate with him. +Morse had met them pleasantly but firmly. This part of the reserve had +been set aside for sheep. If it were not leased by him it would be by +somebody else. Therefore, he declined to withdraw his flocks. Champ lost +his temper and swore that he for one would never submit to yield the +range. Sharp bitter words were passed. Next week masked men drove a small +flock belonging to Morse over a precipice. + +The tenderfoot retaliated by jumping a mining claim staked out by Lee upon +which the assessment work had not been kept up. The cattleman contested +this in the courts, lost the decision, and promptly appealed. Meanwhile, +he countered by leasing from the forest supervisor part of the run +previously held by his opponent and putting sheep of his own upon it. + +"I reckon I'll play Mr. Morse's own game and see how he likes it," the +angry cattleman told his friends. + +But the luck was all with Morse. Before he had been working his new claim +a month the Monte Cristo (he had changed the name from its original one of +Melissy) proved a bonanza. His men ran into a rich streak of dirt that +started a stampede for the vicinity. + +Champ indulged in choice profanity. From his point of view he had been +robbed, and he announced the fact freely to such acquaintances as dropped +into the Bar Double G store. + +"Dad gum it, I was aimin' to do that assessment work and couldn't jest +lay my hands on the time. I'd been a millionaire three years and didn't +know it. Then this damned Morse butts in and euchres me out of the claim. +Some day him and me'll have a settlement. If the law don't right me, I +reckon I'm most man enough to 'tend to Mr. Morse." + +It was his daughter who had hitherto succeeded in keeping the peace. When +the news of the relocation had reached Lee he had at once started to +settle the matter with a Winchester, but Melissy, getting news of his +intention, had caught up a horse and ridden bareback after him in time to +avert by her entreaties a tragedy. For six months after this the men had +not chanced to meet. + +Why the tenderfoot had first come West--to hide what wounds in the great +baked desert--no man knew or asked. Melissy had guessed, but she did not +breathe to a soul her knowledge. It was a first article of Arizona's creed +that a man's past belonged to him alone, was a blotted book if he chose to +have it so. No doubt many had private reasons for their untrumpeted +migration to that kindly Southwest which buries identity, but no wise +citizen busied himself with questions about antecedents. The present +served to sift one, and by the way a man met it his neighbors judged him. + +And T. L. Morse met it competently. In every emergency with which he had +to cope the man "stood the acid." Arizona approved him a man, without +according him any popularity. He was too dogmatic to win liking, but he +had a genius for success. Everything he touched turned to gold. + +The Bar Double G lies half way between Mammoth and Mesa. Its position +makes it a central point for ranchers within a radius of fifteen miles. +Out of the logical need for it was born the store which Beauchamp Lee ran +to supply his neighbors with canned goods, coffee, tobacco, and other +indispensables; also the eating house for stage passengers passing to and +from the towns. Young as she was, Melissy was the competent manager of +both of these. + +It was one afternoon during the hour the stage stopped to let the +passengers dine that Melissy's wandering eye fell upon Morse seated at one +of the tables. Anger mounted within her at the cool impudence of the man. +She had half a mind to order him out, but saw he was nearly through dinner +and did not want to make a scene. Unfortunately Beauchamp Lee happened to +come into the store just as his enemy strolled out from the dining-room. + +The ranchman stiffened. "What you been doing in there, seh?" he demanded +sharply. + +"I've been eating a very good dinner in a public café. Any objections?" + +"Plenty of 'em, seh. I don't aim to keep open house for Mr. Morse." + +"I understand this is a business proposition. I expect to pay seventy-five +cents for my meal." + +The eyes of the older man gleamed wrathfully. "As for yo' six bits, if you +offer it to me I'll take it as an insult. At the Bar Double G we're not +doing friendly business with claim jumpers. Don't you evah set yo' legs +under my table again, seh." + +Morse shrugged, turned away to the public desk, and addressed an envelope, +the while Lee glared at him from under his heavy beetling brows. Melissy +saw that her father was still of half a mind to throw out the intruder and +she called him to her. + +"Dad, José wants you to look at the hoof of one of his wheelers. He asked +if you would come as soon as you could." + +Beauchamp still frowned at Morse, rasping his unshaven chin with his hand. +"Ce'tainly, honey. Glad to look at it." + +"Dad! Please." + +The ranchman went out, grumbling. Five minutes later Morse took his seat +on the stage beside the driver, having first left seventy-five cents on +the counter. + +The stage had scarce gone when the girl looked up from her bookkeeping to +see the man with the Chihuahua hat. + +"_Buenos tardes, seņorita_," he gave her with a flash of white teeth. + +"_Buenos_," she nodded coolly. + +But the dancing eyes of her could not deny their pleasure at sight of him. +They had rested upon men as handsome, but upon none who stirred her blood +so much. + +He was in the leather chaps of a cowpuncher, gray-shirted, and a polka dot +kerchief circled the brown throat. Life rippled gloriously from every +motion of him. Hermes himself might have envied the perfect grace of the +man. + +She supplied his wants while they chatted. + +"Jogged off your range quite a bit, haven't you?" she suggested. + +"Some. I'll take two bits' worth of that smokin', _nina_." + +She shook her head. "I'm no little girl. Don't you know I'm now half past +eighteen?" + +"My--my. That ad didn't do a mite of good, did it?" + +"Not a bit." + +"And you growing older every day." + +"Does my age show?" she wanted to know anxiously. + +The scarce veiled admiration of his smoldering eyes drew the blood to her +dusky cheeks. Something vigilant lay crouched panther-like behind the +laughter of his surface badinage. + +"You're standing it well, honey." + +The color beat into her face, less at the word than at the purring caress +in his voice. A year ago she had been a child. But in the Southland +flowers ripen fast. Adolescence steals hard upon the heels of infancy, +and, though the girl had never wakened to love, Nature was pushing her +relentlessly toward a womanhood for which her unschooled impulses but +scantily safeguarded her. + +She turned toward the shelves. "How many air-tights did you say?" + +"I didn't say." He leaned forward across the counter. "What's the hurry, +little girl?" + +"My name is Melissy Lee," she told him over her shoulder. + +"Mine is Phil Norris. Glad to give it to you, Melissy Lee," the man +retorted glibly. + +"Can't use it, thank you," came her swift saucy answer. + +"Or to lend it to you--say, for a week or two." + +She flashed a look at him and passed quickly from behind the counter. Her +father was just coming into the store. + +"Will you wait on Mr. Norris, dad? Hop wants to see me in the kitchen." + +Norris swore softly under his breath. The last thing he had wanted was to +drive her away. It had been nearly a year since he had seen her last, but +the picture of her had been in the coals of many a night camp fire. + +The cattle detective stayed to dinner and to supper. He and her father had +their heads together for hours, their voices pitched to a murmur. Melissy +wondered what business could have brought him, whether it could have +anything to do with the renewed rustling that had of late annoyed the +neighborhood. This brought her thoughts to Jack Flatray. He, too, had +almost dropped from her world, though she heard of him now and again. Not +once had he been to see her since the night she had sprained her ankle. + +Later, when Melissy was watering the roses beside the porch, she heard the +name of Morse mentioned by the stock detective. He seemed to be urging +upon her father some course of action at which the latter demurred. The +girl knew a vague unrest. Lee did not need his anger against Morse +incensed. For months she had been trying to allay rather than increase +this. If Philip Norris had come to stir up smoldering fires, she would +give him a piece of her mind. + +The men were still together when Melissy told her father good-night. If +she had known that a whisky bottle passed back and forth a good many times +in the course of the evening, the fears of the girl would not have been +lightened. She knew that in the somber moods following a drinking bout the +lawlessness of Beauchamp Lee was most likely to crop out. + +As for the girl, now night had fallen--that wondrous velvet night of +Arizona, which blots out garish day with a cloak of violet, purple-edged +where the hills rise vaguely in the distance, and softens magically all +harsh details beneath the starry vault--she slipped out to the summit of +the ridge in the big pasture, climbing lightly, with the springy ease +born of the vigor her nineteen outdoor years had stored in the strong +young body. She wanted to be alone, to puzzle out what the coming of this +man meant to her. Had he intended anything by that last drawling remark of +his in the store? Why was it that his careless, half insulting familiarity +set the blood leaping through her like wine? He lured her to the sex duel, +then trampled down her reserves roughshod. His bold assurance stung her to +anger, but there was a something deeper than anger that left her flushed +and tingling. + +Both men slept late, but Norris was down first. He found Melissy +superintending a drive of sheep which old Antonio, the herder, was about +to make to the trading-post at Three Pines. She was on her pony near the +entrance to the corral, her slender, lithe figure sitting in a boy's +saddle with a businesslike air he could not help but admire. The gate bars +had been lifted and the dog was winding its way among the bleating gray +mass, which began to stir uncertainly at its presence. The sheep dribbled +from the corral by ones and twos until the procession swelled to a swollen +stream that poured forth in a torrent. Behind them came Antonio in his +sombrero and blanket, who smiled at his mistress, shouted an "_Adios, +seņorita_," and disappeared into the yellow dust cloud which the herd left +in its wake. + +"How does Champ like being in the sheep business," Norris said to the +girl. + +Melissy did not remove her eyes from the vanishing herd, but a slight +frown puckered her forehead. She chose to take this as a criticism of her +father and to resent it. + +"Why shouldn't he be?" she said quietly, answering the spirit of his +remark. + +"I didn't mean it that way," he protested, with his frank laugh. + +"Then if you didn't mean it so, I shan't take it that way;" and her smile +met his. + +"Here's how I look at this sheep business. Some ranges are better adapted +for sheep than cattle, and you can't keep Mary's little lamb away from +those places. No use for a man to buck against the thing that's bound to +be. Better get into the band-wagon and ride." + +"That's what father thought," the girl confessed. "He never would have +been the man to bring sheep in, but after they got into the country he saw +it was a question of whether he was going to get the government reserve +range for his sheep, or another man, some new-comer like Mr. Morse, for +his. It was going to be sheep anyhow." + +"Well, I'm glad your father took the chance he saw." He added +reminiscently: "We got to be right good friends again last night before we +parted." + +She took the opening directly. "If you're so good a friend of his, you +must not excite him about Mr. Morse. You know he's a Southerner, and he +is likely to do something rash--something we shall all be sorry for +afterward." + +"I reckon that will be all right," he said evasively. + +Her eyes swept to his. "You won't get father into trouble will you?" + +The warm, affectionate smile came back to his face, so that as he looked +at her he seemed a sun-god. But again there was something in his gaze that +was not the frankness of a comrade, some smoldering fire that strangely +stirred her blood and yet left her uneasy. + +"I'm not liable to bring trouble to those you love, girl. I stand by my +friends." + +Her pony began to move toward the house, and he strode beside, as debonair +and gallant a figure as ever filled the eye and the heart of a woman. The +morning sun glow irradiated him, found its sparkling reflection in the +dark curls of his bare head, in the bloom of his tanned cheeks, made a fit +setting for the graceful picture of lingering youth his slim, muscular +figure and springy stride personified. Small wonder the untaught girl +beside him found the merely physical charm of him fascinating. If her +instinct sometimes warned her to beware, her generous heart was eager to +pay small heed to the monition except so far as concerned her father. + +After breakfast he came into the office to see her before he left. + +"Good-by for a day or two," he said, offering his hand. + +"You're coming back again, are you?" she asked quietly, but not without a +deeper dye in her cheeks. + +"Yes, I'm coming back. Will you be glad to see me?" + +"Why should I be glad? I hardly know you these days." + +"You'll know me better before we're through with each other." + +She would acknowledge no interest in him, the less because she knew it was +there. "I may do that without liking you better." + +And suddenly his swift, winning smile flashed upon her. "But you've got to +like me. I want you to." + +"Do you get everything you want?" she smiled back. + +"If I want it enough, I usually do." + +"Then since you get so much, you'll be better able to do without my +liking." + +"I'm going to have it too." + +"Don't be too sure." She had a feeling that things were moving too fast, +and she hailed the appearance of her father with relief. "Good morning, +dad. Did you sleep well? Mr. Norris is just leaving." + +"Wait till I git a bite o' breakfast and I'll go with you, Phil," promised +Lee. "I got to ride over to Mesa anyhow some time this week." + +The girl watched them ride away, taking the road gait so characteristic of +the Southwest. As long as they were in sight her gaze followed them, and +when she could see nothing but a wide cloud of dust travelling across the +mesa she went up to her room and sat down to think it out. Something new +had come into her life. What, she did not yet know, but she tried to face +the fact with the elemental frankness that still made her more like a boy +than a woman. Sitting there before the looking-glass, she played absently +with the thick braid of heavy, blue-black hair which hung across her +shoulder to the waist. It came to her for the first time to wonder if she +was pretty, whether she was going to be one of the women that men desire. +Without the least vanity she studied herself, appraised the soft brown +cheeks framed with ebon hair, the steady, dark eyes so quick to passion +and to gaiety, the bronzed throat full and rounded, the supple, flowing +grace of the unrestrained body. + +Gradually a wave of color crept into her cheeks as she sat there with her +chin on her little doubled hand. It was the charm of this Apollo of the +plains that had set free such strange thoughts in her head. Why should she +think of him? What did it matter whether she was good-looking? She shook +herself resolutely together and went down to the business of the day. + +It was not long after midnight the next day that Champ Lee reached the +ranch. His daughter came out from her room in her night-dress to meet +him. + +"What kept you, Daddy?" she asked. + +But before he could answer she knew. She read the signs too clearly to +doubt that he had been drinking. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"HANDS UP" + + +Melissy had been up the Caņ del Oro for wild poppies in her runabout and +had just reached the ranch. She was disposing of her flowers in ollas when +Jim Budd, waiter, chambermaid, and odd jobs man at the Bar Double G, +appeared in the hall with a frightened, mysterious face. + +"What's the matter, Jim? You and Hop Ling been quarrelling again?" she +asked carelessly. + +"No'm, that ain't it. It's wusser'n that. I got to tell you-all su'thin' I +hearn yore paw say." + +The girl looked up quickly at him. "What do you mean, Jim?" + +"That Mistah Norris he come back whilst you wus away, and him and yore paw +wus in that back room a-talkin' mighty confidential." + +"Yes, and you listened. Well?" + +Jim swelled with offended dignity. "No'm, I didn't listen neither. I des +natcherally hearn, 'count of that hole fer the stovepipe what comes +through the floor of my room." + +"But what was it you heard?" she interrupted impatiently. + +"I wus a-comin' to that. Plum proverdenshul, I draps into my room des as +yore paw wus sayin', 'Twenty thousand dollars goin' down to the Fort on +the stage to-day?' 'Cose I pricks up my ears then and tuk it all in. This +yere Norris had foun' out that Mistah Morse was shippin' gold from his +mine to-day on the Fort Allison stage, and he gits yore paw to go in with +him an' hold it up. Yore paw cussed and said as how 't wus his gold anyhow +by rights." + +The girl went white and gave a little broken cry. "Oh, Jim! Are you +sure?" + +"Yas'm, 'cose I'm suah. Them's his ve'y words. Hope to die if they ain't. +They wus drinkin', and when 't wus all fixed up that 't wus to be at the +mouth of the Box Caņon they done tore an old black shirt you got for a +dust-rag and made masks out of it and then rode away." + +"Which way did they go?" + +"Tow'ds the Box Caņon Miss M'lissy." + +A slender, pallid figure of despair, she leaned against the wall to +support the faintness that had so suddenly stolen the strength from her +limbs, trying desperately to think of some way to save her father from +this madness. She was sure he would bungle it and be caught eventually, +and she was equally sure he would never let himself be taken alive. Her +helplessness groped for some way out. There must be some road of escape +from this horrible situation, and as she sought blindly for it the path +opened before her. + +"Where is Hop?" she asked quickly. + +"A-sleepin' in his room, ma'am." + +"Go to the store and tend it till I come back, Jim. I may be an hour, or +mebbe two, but don't you move out of it for a moment. And don't ever speak +of any of this, not a word, Jim." + +"No'm, 'cose I won't." + +His loyalty she did not doubt an instant, though she knew his simple wits +might easily be led to indiscretion. But she did not stay to say more now, +but flew upstairs to the room that had been her brother's before he left +home. Scarce five minutes elapsed before she reappeared transformed. It +was a slim youth garbed as a cowpuncher that now slipped along the passage +to the rear, softly opened the door of the cook's room, noiselessly +abstracted the key, closed the door again as gently, and locked it from +the outside. She ran into her own room, strapped on her revolver belt, and +took her empty rifle from its case. As she ran through the room below the +one Jim occupied, she caught sight of a black rag thrown carelessly into +the fireplace and stuffed it into her pocket. + +"That's just like Dad to leave evidence lying around," she said to +herself, for even in the anxiety that was flooding her she kept her quiet +commonsense. + +After searching the horizon carefully to see that nobody was in sight, +she got into the rig and drove round the corral to the irrigating ditch. +This was a wide lateral of the main canal, used to supply the whole lower +valley with water, and just now it was empty. Melissy drove down into its +sandy bed and followed its course as rapidly as she could. If she were +only in time! If the stage had not yet passed! That was her only fear, the +dread of being too late. Not once did the risk of the thing she intended +occur to her. Physical fear had never been part of her. She had done the +things her brother Dick had done. She was a reckless rider, a good shot, +could tramp the hills or follow the round-up all day without knowing +fatigue. If her flesh still held its girlish curves and softness, the +muscles underneath were firm and compact. Often for her own amusement and +that of her father she had donned her brother's chaps, his spurs, +sombrero, and other paraphernalia, to masquerade about the house in them. +She had learned to imitate the long roll of the vaquero's stride, the +mannerisms common to his class, and even the heavy voice of a man. More +than once she had passed muster as a young man in the shapeless garments +she was now wearing. She felt confident that the very audacity of the +thing would carry it off. There would be a guard for the treasure box, of +course, but if all worked well he could be taken by surprise. Her rifle +was not loaded, but the chances were a hundred to one that she would not +need to use it. + +For the first time in his life the roan got the whip from his mistress. + +"Git up, Bob. We've got to hurry. It's for dad," she cried, as they raced +through the sand and sent it flying from the wheels. + +The Fort Allison stage passed within three miles of the Lee ranch on its +way to Mesa. Where the road met in intersection with the ditch she had +chosen as the point for stopping it, and no veteran at the business could +have selected more wisely, for a reason which will hereafter appear. Some +fifty yards below this point of intersection the ditch ran through a grove +of cottonwoods fringing the bank. Here the banks sloped down more +gradually, and Melissy was able to drive up one side, turn her rig so that +the horse faced the other way, and draw down into the ditch again in order +that the runabout could not be seen from the road. Swiftly and skilfully +she obliterated the track she had made in the sandy bank. + +She was just finishing this when the sound of wheels came to her. Rifle in +hand, she ran back along the ditch, stooping to pass under the bridge, and +waited at the farther side in a fringe of bushes for the coming of the +stage. + +Even now fear had no place in the excitement which burned high in her. The +girl's wits were fully alert, and just in time she remembered the need of +a mask. Her searching fingers found the torn black shirt in a pocket and a +knife in another. Hastily she ripped the linen in half, cut out eyeholes, +and tied the mask about her head. With perfectly steady hands she picked +up the rifle from the ground and pushed the muzzle of it through the +bushes. + +Leisurely the stage rolled up-grade toward the crossing. The Mexican +driver was half asleep and the "shotgun messenger" was indolently rolling +a cigarette, his sawed-off gun between his knees. Alan McKinstra was the +name of this last young gentleman. Only yesterday he had gone to work for +Morse, and this was the first job that had been given him. The stage never +had been held up since the "Monte Cristo" had struck its pay-streak, and +there was no reason to suppose it would be. Nevertheless, Morse proposed +to err on the side of caution. + +"I reckon the man that holds down this job don't earn his salt, José. It's +what they call a sinecure," Alan was saying at the very instant the +summons came. + +"Throw up your hands!" + +Sharp and crisp it fell on Alan's ears. He sat for a moment stunned, the +half-rolled cigarette still between his fingers. The driver drew up his +four horses with a jerk and brought them to a huddled halt. + +"Hands up!" came again the stinging imperative. + +Now, for the first time, it reached Alan's consciousness that the stage +was actually being held up. He saw the sun shining on the barrel of a +rifle and through the bushes the masked face of a hidden cowpuncher. His +first swift instinct was to give battle, and he reached for the shotgun +between his knees. Simultaneously the driver's foot gave it a push and +sent the weapon clattering to the ground. José at least knew better than +to let him draw the road agent's fire while he sat within a foot of the +driver. His hands went into the air, and after his Alan's and those of the +two passengers. + +"Throw down that box." + +Alan lowered his hands and did as directed. + +"Now reach for the stars again." + +McKinstra's arms went skyward. Without his weapon, he was helpless to do +otherwise. The young man had an odd sense of unreality about the affair, a +feeling that it was not in earnest. The timbre of the fresh young voice +that came from the bushes struck a chord in his memory, though for the +life of him he could not place its owner. + +"Drive on, José. Burn the wind and keep a-rollin' south." + +The Mexican's whip coiled over the head of the leaders and the broncos +sprang forward with a jump. It was the summit of a long hill, on the edge +of which wound the road. Until the stage reached the foot of it there +would be no opportunity to turn back. Round a bend of the road it swung at +a gallop, and the instant it disappeared Melissy leaped from the bushes, +lifted the heavy box, and carried it to the edge of the ditch. She flew +down the sandy bottom to the place where the rig stood, drove swiftly +back again, and, though it took the last ounce of strength in her, managed +to tumble the box into the trap. + +Back to the road she went, and from the place where the box had fallen +made long strides back to the bushes where she had been standing at the +moment of the hold-up. These tracks she purposely made deep and large, +returning in her first ones to the same point, but from the marks where +the falling treasure box had struck into the road she carefully +obliterated with her hand the foot-marks leading to the irrigation ditch, +sifting the sand in carefully so as to leave no impression. This took +scarcely a minute. She was soon back in her runabout, driving homeward +fast as whip and voice could urge the horse. + +She thought she could reason out what McKinstra and the stage-driver would +do. Mesa was twenty-five miles distant, the "Monte Cristo" mine seventeen. +Nearer than these points there was no telephone station except the one at +the Lee ranch. Their first thought would be to communicate with Morse, +with the officers at Mammoth, and with the sheriff of Mesa County. To do +this as soon as possible they would turn aside and drive to the ranch +after they reached the bottom of the hill and could make the turn. It was +a long, steep hill, and Melissy estimated that this would give her a start +of nearly twenty minutes. She would save about half a mile by following +the ditch instead of the road, but at best she knew she was drawing it +very fine. + +She never afterward liked to think of that drive home. It seemed to her +that Bob crawled and that the heavy sand was interminable. Feverishly she +plied the whip, and when at length she drew out of the ditch she sent her +horse furiously round the big corral. Though she had planned everything to +the last detail, she knew that any one of a hundred contingencies might +spoil her plan. A cowpuncher lounging about the place would have ruined +everything, or at best interfered greatly. But the windmill clicked over +sunlit silence, empty of life. No stir or movement showed the presence of +any human being. + +Melissy drove round to the side door, dumped out the treasure-box, ran +into the house, and quickly returned with a hammer and some tacks, then +fell swiftly to ripping the oilcloth that covered the box which stood +against the wall to serve as a handy wash-stand for use by dusty +travellers before dining. The two boxes were of the same size and shape, +and she draped the treasure chest with the cloth, tacked it in place, +restored to the top of it the tin basin, and tossed the former wash-stand +among a pile of old boxes from the store, that were to be used for +kindling. After this she ran upstairs, scudded softly along the corridor, +and silently unlocked the cook's door, dropping the key on the floor to +make it appear as if something had shaken it from the keyhole. Presently +she was in her brother's room, doffing his clothes and dressing herself in +her own. + +A glance out of the window sapped the color from her cheek, for she saw +the stage breasting the hill scarce two hundred yards from the house. She +hurried downstairs, pinning her belt as she ran, and flashed into the +store, where Jim sat munching peanuts. + +"The stage is coming, Jim. Remember, you're not to know anything about it +at all. If they ask for Dad, say he's out cutting trail of a bunch of hill +cows. Tell them I started after the wild flowers about fifteen minutes +ago. Don't talk much about it, though. I'll be back inside of an hour." + +With that she was gone, back to her trap, which she swung along a trail +back of the house till it met the road a quarter of a mile above. Her +actions must have surprised steady old Bob, for he certainly never before +had seen his mistress in such a desperate hurry as she had been this day +and still was. Nearly a mile above, a less well defined track deflected +from the main road. Into this she turned, following it until she came to +the head-gates of the lateral which ran through their place. The main +canal was full of water, and after some effort she succeeded in opening +the head-gates so as to let the water go pouring through. + +Returning to the runabout, the girl drove across a kind of natural meadow +to a hillside not far distant, gathered a double handful of wild flowers, +and turned homeward again. The stage was still there when she came in +sight of the group of buildings at the ranch. + +As she drew up and dismounted with her armful of flowers, Alan McKinstra +stepped from the store to the porch and came forward to assist her. + +"The Fort Allison stage has been robbed," he blurted out. + +"What nonsense! Who would want to rob it?" she retorted. + +"Morse had a gold shipment aboard," he explained in a low voice, and added +in bitter self-condemnation: "He sent me along to guard it, and I never +even fired a shot to save it." + +"But--do you mean that somebody held up the stage?" she gasped. + +"Yes. But whoever it was can't escape. I've 'phoned to Jack Flatray and to +Morse. They'll be right out here. The sheriff of Mesa County has already +started with a posse. They'll track him down. That's a cinch. He can't get +away with the box without a rig. If he busts the box, he's got to carry it +on a horse and a horse leaves tracks." + +"But who do you think it was?" + +"Don't know. One of the Roaring Fork bunch of bad men, likely. But I don't +know." + +The young man was plainly very much excited and disturbed. He walked +nervously up and down, jerking his sentences out piecemeal as he thought +of them. + +"Was there only one man? And did you see him?" Melissy asked +breathlessly. + +He scarcely noticed her excitement, or if he did, it seemed to him only +natural under the circumstances. + +"I expect there were more, but we saw only one. Didn't see much of him. He +was screened by the bushes and wore a black mask. So long as the stage was +in sight he never moved from that place; just stood there and kept us +covered." + +"But how could he rob you if he didn't come out?" she asked in wide-eyed +innocence. + +"He didn't rob _us_ any. He must 'a' heard of the shipment of gold, and +that's what he was after. After he'd got us to rights he made me throw the +box down in the road. That's where it was when he ordered us to move on +and keep agoing." + +"And you went?" + +"José handled the lines, but 't would 'a' been the same if I'd held them. +That gun of his was a right powerful persuader." He stopped to shake a +fist in impotent fury in the air. "I wish to God I could meet up with him +some day when he didn't have the drop on me." + +"Maybe you will some time," she told him soothingly. "I don't think you're +a bit to blame, Alan. Nobody could think so. Ever so many times I've heard +Dad say that when a man gets the drop on you there's nothing to do but +throw up your hands." + +"Do you honest think so, Melissy? Or are you just saying it to take the +sting away? Looks like I ought to 'a' done something mor'n sit there like +a bump on a log while he walked off with the gold." + +His cheerful self-satisfaction was under eclipse. The boyish pride of him +was wounded. He had not "made good." All over Cattleland the news would be +wafted on the wings of the wind that Alan McKinstra, while acting as +shotgun messenger to a gold shipment, had let a road agent hold him up for +the treasure he was guarding. + +"Very likely they'll catch him and get the gold back," she suggested. + +"That won't do me any good," he returned gloomily. "The only thing that +can help me now is for me to git the fellow myself, and I might just as +well look for a needle in a haystack." + +"You can't tell. The robber may be right round here now." Her eyes, +shining with excitement, passed the crowd moving in and out of the store, +for already the news of the hold-up had brought riders and ranchmen +jogging in to learn the truth of the wild tale that had reached them. + +"More likely he's twenty miles away. But whoever he is, he knows this +county. He made a slip and called José by his name." + +Melissy's gaze was turned to the dust whirl that advanced up the road that +ran round the corral. "That doesn't prove anything, Alan. Everybody knows +José. He's lived all over Arizona--at Tucson and Tombstone and Douglas." + +"That's right too," the lad admitted. + +The riders in advance of the dust cloud resolved themselves into the +persons of her father and Norris. Her incautious admission was already +troubling her. + +"But I'm sure you're right. No hold-up with any sense would stay around +here and wait to be caught. He's probably gone up into the Galiuros to +hide." + +"Unless he's cached the gold and is trying to throw off suspicion." + +The girl had moved forward to the end of the house with Alan to meet her +father. At that instant, by the ironic humor of chance, her glance fell +upon a certain improvised wash-stand covered with oilcloth. She shook her +head decisively. "No, he won't risk waiting to do that. He'll make sure of +his escape first." + +"I reckon." + +"Have you heard, Daddy?" Melissy called out eagerly. She knew she must +play the part expected of her, that of a young girl much interested in +this adventure which had occurred in the community. + +He nodded grimly, swinging from the saddle. She observed with surprise +that his eye did not meet hers. This was not like him. + +"What do you think?" + +His gaze met that of Norris before he answered, and there was in it some +hint of a great fear. "Beats me, 'Lissy." + +He had told the simple truth, but not the whole truth. The men had waited +at the entrance to the Box Caņon for nearly two hours without the arrival +of the stage. Deciding that something must have happened, they started +back, and presently met a Mexican who stopped to tell them the news. To +say that they were dazed is to put it mildly. To expect them to believe +that somebody else had heard of the secret shipment and had held up the +stage two miles from the place they had chosen, was to ask a credulity too +simple. Yet this was the fact that confronted them. + +Arrived at the scene of the robbery both men had dismounted and had +examined the ground thoroughly. What they saw tended still more to +bewilder them. Neither of them was a tenderfoot, and the little table at +the summit of the long hill told a very tangled tale to those who had eyes +to read. Obvious tracks took them at once to the spot where the bandit had +stood in the bushes, but there was something about them that struck both +men as suspicious. + +"Looks like these are worked out on purpose," commented Lee. "The guy's +leaving too easy a trail to follow, and it quits right abrupt in the +bushes. Must 'a' took an airship from here, I 'low." + +"Does look funny. Hello! What's this?" + +Norris had picked up a piece of black cloth and was holding it out. A +startled oath slipped from the lips of the Southerner. He caught the rag +from the hands of his companion and studied it with a face of growing +astonishment. + +"What's up?" + +Lee dived into his pocket and drew forth the mask he had been wearing. +Silently he fitted it to the other. The pieces matched exactly, both in +length and in the figure of the pattern. + +When the Southerner looked up his hands were shaking and his face ashen. + +"For God's sake, Phil, what does this mean?" he cried hoarsely. + +"Search me." + +"It must have been--looks like the hold-up was somebody--my God, man, we +left this rag at the ranch when we started!" the rancher whispered. + +"That's right." + +"We planned this thing right under the nigger's room. He must 'a' heard +and---- But it don't look like Jim Budd to do a thing like that." + +Norris had crossed the road again and was standing on the edge of the +lateral. + +"Hello! This ditch is full of water. When we passed down it was empty," he +said. + +Lee crossed over and stood by his side, a puzzled frown on his face. +"There hadn't ought to be water running hyer now," he said, as if to +himself. "I don't see how it could 'a' come hyer, for Bill Weston--he's +the ditch rider--went to Mesa this mo'ning, and couldn't 'a' got back to +turn it in." + +The younger man stooped and examined a foot-print at the edge of the +ditch. It was the one Melissy had made just as she stepped into the rig. + +"Here's something new, Lee. We haven't seen this gentleman's track before. +Looks like a boy's. It's right firm and deep in this soft ground. I'll bet +a cooky your nigger never made that track." + +The Southerner crouched down beside him, and they looked at it together, +head to head. + +"No, it ain't Jim's. I don't rightly _savez_ this thing at all," the old +man muttered, troubled at this mystery which seemed to point to his +household. + +"By Moses, I've got it! The guy who did the holding up had his horse down +here. He loaded the sack on its back and drove off up the ditch. All we +got to do is follow the ditch up or down till we come to the place where +he climbed out and struck across country." + +"That's right, Phil. He must have had a pardner up at the head-gates. They +had some kind of signal arranged, and when Mr. Hold-up was ready down come +the water and washed out his tracks. It's a blame' smooth piece of +business if you ask me." + +"The fellow made two bad breaks, though. That piece of shirt is one. This +foot-print is another. They may land him in the pen yet." + +"I don't think it," returned the old man with composure, and as he spoke +his foot erased the telltale print. "I 'low there won't anybody go to the +pen for he'pin himself to Mr. Morse's gold dust. I don't give a cuss who +it was." + +Norris laughed in his low, easy way. "I'm with you, Mr. Lee. We'll make a +thorough job while we're at it and mess up these other tracks. After that +we'll follow the ditch up and see if there's anything doing." + +They remounted their broncos and rode them across the tracks several +times, then followed the lateral up, one on either side of the ditch, +their eyes fastened to the ground to see any evidence of a horse having +clambered over the bank. They drew in sight of the ranch house without +discovering what they were looking for. Lee's heart was in his mouth, for +he knew that he would see presently what his eye sought. + +"I reckon the fellow went down instead of up," suggested Norris. + +"No, he came up." + +Lee had stopped and was studying wheel tracks that ran up from the ditch +to his ranch house. His face was very white and set. He pointed to them +with a shaking finger. + +"There's where he went in the ditch, and there's where he came out." + +Norris forded the stream, cast a casual eye on the double track, and +nodded. He was still in a fog of mystery, but the old man was already +fearing the worst. + +He gulped out his fears tremblingly. For himself, he was of a flawless +nerve, but this touched nearer home than his own danger. + +"Them wheel-tracks was made by my little gyurl's runabout, Phil." + +"Good heavens!" The younger man drew rein sharply and stared at him. "You +don't think----" + +He broke off, recalling the sharp, firm little foot-print on the edge of +the ditch some miles below. + +"I don't reckon I know what to think. If she was in this, she's got some +good reason." A wave of passion suddenly swept the father. "By God! I'd +like to see the man that dares mix her name up in this." + +Norris met this with his friendly smile. "You can't pick a row with me +about that, old man. I'm with you till the cows come home. But that ain't +quite the way to go at this business. First thing, we've got to wipe out +these tracks. How? Why, sheep! There's a bunch of three hundred in that +pasture. We'll drive the bunch down to the ditch and water them here. +_Savez?_" + +"And wipe out the wheel-marks in the sand. Bully for you, Phil." + +"That's the idea. After twelve hundred chisel feet have been over this +sand I reckon the wheel-tracks will be missing." + +They rode up to the house, and the first thing that met them was the +candid question of the girl: + +"Have you heard, Daddy?" + +And out of his troubled heart he had answered, "Beats me, 'Lissie." + +"They've sent for the officers. Jack Flatray is on the way himself. So is +Sheriff Burke," volunteered Alan gloomily. + +"Getting right busy, ain't they?" Norris sneered. + +Again Lee glanced quickly at Norris. "I reckon, Phil, we better drive that +bunch of sheep down to water right away. I clean forgot them this +mo'ning." + +"Sure." The younger man was not so easily shaken. He turned to McKinstra +naturally. "How many of the hold-ups were there?" + +"I saw only one, and didn't see him very good. He was a slim fellow in a +black mask." + +"You don't say. Were you the driver?" + +Alan felt the color suffuse his face. "No, I was the guard." + +"Oh, you were the guard." + +Alan felt the suave irony that covered this man's amusement, and he +resented it impotently. When Melissy came to his support he was the more +grateful. + +"And we all think he did just right in using his common sense, Mr. +Norris," the girl flashed. + +"Oh, certainly." + +And with that he was gone after her father to help him water the sheep. + +"I don't see why those sheep have to be watered right now," she frowned +to Alan. "Dad _did_ water them this morning. I helped him." + +Together they went into the store, where José was telling his story for +the sixth time to a listening circle of plainsmen. + +"And right then he come at you and ree-quested yore whole outfit to poke a +hole in the scenery with yore front feet?" old Dave Ellis asked just as +Melissy entered. + +"_Si, Seņor._" + +"One of MacQueen's Roaring Fork gang did it, I'll bet," Alan contributed +sourly. + +"What kind of a lookin' guy was he?" spoke up a dark young man known as +Bob Farnum. + +"A big man, _seņor_, and looked a ruffian." + +"They're always that way until you run 'em down," grinned Ellis. "Never +knew a hold-up wasn't eight foot high and then some--to the fellow at the +wrong end of the gun." + +"If you mean to say, Dave Ellis, that I lay down to a bluff----" Alan was +beginning hotly when the old frontiersman interrupted. + +"Keep your shirt on, McKinstra. I don't mean to say it. Nobody but a darn +fool makes a gun-play when the cards are stacked that-a-way. Yore bad play +was in reaching for the gun at all." + +"Well, Jack Flatray will git him. I'll bet a stack of blues on that," +contributed a fat ranchman wheezily. + +"Unless you mussed up the trail coming back," said Ellis to the +stage-driver. + +"We didn't. I thought of that, and I had José drive clear round the place. +Jack will find it all right unless there's too much travel before he gets +here," said Alan. + +Farnum laughed malevolently. "Mebbe he'll get him and mebbe he won't. +Jack's human, like the rest of us, if he is the best sheriff in Arizona. +Here's hoping he don't get him. Any man that waltzes out of the cactus and +appropriates twenty thousand dollars belonging to Mr. Morse is welcome to +it for all of me. I don't care if he is one of MacQueen's bad men. I wish +it had been forty thousand." + +Farnum did not need to explain the reasons for his sentiments. Everybody +present knew that he was the leader of that bunch of cattlemen who had +bunched themselves together to resist the encroachments of sheep upon the +range. Among these the feeling against Morse was explosively dangerous. It +had found expression in more than one raid upon his sheep. Many of them +had been destroyed by one means or another, but Morse, with the obstinacy +characteristic of him, had replaced them with others and continually +increased his herds. There had been threats against his life, and one of +his herders had been wounded. But the mine-owner went his way with quiet +fearlessness and paid no attention to the animosity he had stirred up. The +general feeling was that the trouble must soon come to a head. Nobody +expected the rough and ready vaqueros, reckless and impulsive as they +were, to submit to the loss of the range, which meant too the wiping out +of their means of livelihood, without a bitter struggle that would be both +lawless and bloody. + +Wherefore there was silence after Farnum had spoken, broken at length by +the amiable voice of the fat ranchman, Baker. + +"Well, we'll see what we'll see," he wheezed complacently. "And anyways I +got to have some horseshoe plug, Melissy." + +The girl laughed nervously as she reached for what he wanted. "You're a +safe prophet, Mr. Baker," she said. + +"He'd be a safe one if he'd prophesy that Jack Flatray would have Mr. +Hold-up in the calaboose inside of three days," put in a half-grown lad in +leathers. + +"I ain't so sure about that. You'll have to show me, and so will Mr. +Deputy Sheriff Flatray," retorted Farnum. + +A shadow darkened the doorway. + +"Good afternoon, gentlemen all--and Miss Lee," a pleasant voice drawled. + +The circle of eyes focused on the new-comer and saw a lean, muscular, +young fellow of medium height, cool and alert, with the dust of the desert +on every sunbaked inch of him. + +"I'm damned if it ain't Jack here already!" gasped Baker. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WATERING SHEEP + + +The deputy glanced quietly round, nodded here and there at sight of the +familiar face of an acquaintance, and spoke to the driver. + +"Let's hear you say your little piece again, José." + +The Mexican now had it by heart, and he pattered off the thing from +beginning to end without a pause. Melissy, behind the counter, leaned her +elbows on it and fastened her eyes on the boyish face of the officer. In +her heart she was troubled. How much did he know? What could he discover +from the evidence she had left? He had the reputation of being the best +trailer and the most fearless officer in Arizona. But surely she had +covered her tracks safely. + +From José the ranger turned to Alan. "We'll hear your account of it now, +seh," he said gently. + +While Alan talked, Jack's gaze drifted through the window to the flock of +sheep that were being driven up from the ditch by Lee and Norris. That +little pastoral scene had its significance for him. He had arrived at the +locality of the hold-up a few minutes after they had left, and his keen +intelligence had taken in some of the points they had observed. A rapid +circuit of the spot at the distance of thirty yards had shown him no +tracks leading from the place except those which ran up the lateral on +either side of it. It was possible that these belonged to the horses of +the robbers, but if so the fellows were singularly careless of detection. +Moreover, the booty must be accounted for. They had not carried it with +them, since no empty box remained to show that they had poured the gold +into sacks, and it would have been impossible to take the box as it was on +a horse. Nor had they buried it, unless at the bottom of the irrigating +ditch, for some signs of their work must have remained. + +Balancing probabilities, it had seemed to Flatray that these might be the +tracks of ranchmen who had arrived after the hold-up and were following +the escaping bandits up the lateral. For unless these were the robber's, +there was no way of escape except either up or down the bottom of the +ditch. His search had eliminated the possibility of any other but the +road, and this was travelled too frequently to admit of even a chance of +escape by it without detection. Jack filed away one or two questions in +his brain for future reference. The most important of these was to +discover whether there had been any water in the ditch at the time of the +hold-up. + +He had decided to follow the tracks leading up the ditch and found no +difficulty in doing so at a fast walk. Without any hesitation they +paralleled the edge of the lateral. Nor had the deputy travelled a quarter +of a mile before he made a discovery. The rider on the right hand side of +the stream had been chewing tobacco, and he had a habit of splashing his +mark on boulders he passed in the form of tobacco juice. Half a dozen +times before he reached the Lee ranch the ranger saw this signature of +identity writ large on smooth rocks shining in the sun. The last place he +saw it was at the point where the two riders deflected from the lateral +toward the ranch house, following tracks which led up from the bottom of +the ditch. + +An instant later Flatray had dodged back into the chaparral, for somebody +was driving a flock of sheep down to the ditch. He made out that there +were two riders behind them, and that they had no dog. For the present his +curiosity was satisfied. He thought he knew why they were watering sheep +in this odd fashion. Swiftly he had made a circuit, drawn rein in front of +the store, and dropped in just in time to hear his name. Now, as with one +ear he listened to Alan's account of the hold-up, with his subconscious +mind he was with the sheep-herders who were driving the flock back into +the pasture. + +"Looks like our friend the bad man was onto his job all right," was the +deputy's only comment when Alan had finished. + +"I'll bet he's making his getaway into the hills mighty immediate," +chuckled Baker. "He can't find a bank in the mountainside to deposit that +gold any too soon to suit him." + +"Sho! I'll bet he ain't worried a mite. He's got his arrangements all +made, and likely they'll dovetail to suit him. He's put his brand on that +gold to stay," answered Farnum confidently. + +Jack's mild blue eyes rested on him amiably. "Think so, Bob?" + +"I ain't knockin' you any, Jack. You're all right. But that's how I figure +it out, and, by Gad! I'm hopin' it too," Farnum made answer recklessly. + +Flatray laughed and strolled from the crowded room to the big piazza. A +man had just cantered up and flung himself from his saddle. The ranger, +looking at him, thought he had never seen another so strikingly handsome +an Apollo. Black eyes looked into his from a sun-tanned face perfectly +modelled. The pose of the head and figure would have delighted a +sculptor. + +There was a vigor, an unspoken hostility, in the gaze of both men. + +"Mo'nin", Mr. Deputy Sheriff, one said; and the other, "Same to you, Mr. +Norris." + +"You're on the job quick," sneered the cattle detective. + +"The quicker the sooner, I expect." + +"And by night you'll have Mr. Hold-up roped and hog-tied?" + +"Not so you could notice it. Are you a sheep-herder these days, Mr. +Norris?" + +The gentle irony of this was not lost on its object, for in the West a +herder of sheep is the next remove from a dumb animal. + +"No, I'm riding for the Quarter Circle K Bar outfit. This is the first +time I ever took the dust of a sheep in my life. I did it to oblige Mr. +Lee." + +"Oh! To oblige Mr. Lee?" + +"He wanted to water them, and his herder wasn't here." + +"Must 'a' been wanting water mighty bad, I reckon," commented Jack +amiably. + +"You bet! Lee feels better satisfied now he's watered them." + +"I don't doubt it." + +Norris changed the subject. "You must have burnt the wind getting here. I +didn't expect to see you for some hours." + +"I happened to be down at Yeager's ranch, and one of the boys got me on +the line from Mesa." + +"Picked up any clues yet?" asked the other carelessly, yet always with +that hint of a sneer; and innocently Flatray answered, "They seem to be +right seldom." + +"Didn't know but you'd happened on the fellow's trail." + +"I guess I'm as much at sea as you are," was the equivocal answer. + +Lee came over from the stable, still wearing spurs and gauntlets. + +"Howdy, Jack!" he nodded, not quite so much at his ease as usual. "Got +hyer on the jump, didn't you?" + +"I kept movin'." + +"This shorely beats hell, don't it?" Lee glanced around, selected a smooth +boulder, and fired his discharge of tobacco juice at it true to the inch. +"Reminds me of the old days. You boys ain't old enough to recall them, but +stage hold-ups were right numerous then." + +Blandly the deputy looked from one to the other. "I don't suppose either +of you gentlemen happen to have been down and looked over the ground where +the hold-up was? The tracks were right cut up before I got there." + +This center shot silenced Lee for an instant, but Norris was on the spot +with smiling ease. + +"No, Mr. Lee and I have been hunting strays on the mesa. We didn't hear +about it till a few minutes ago. We're at your service, though, Mr. +Sheriff, to join any posses you want to send out." + +"Much obliged. I'm going to send one out toward the Galiuros in a few +minutes now. I'll be right glad to have you take charge of it, Mr. +Norris." + +The derisive humor in the newly appointed deputy's eyes did not quite +reach the surface. + +"Sure. Whenever you want me." + +"I'm going to send Alan McKinstra along to guide you. He knows that +country like a book. You want to head for the lower pass, swing up Diable +Caņon, and work up in the headquarters of the Three Forks." + +Within a quarter of an hour the posse was in motion. Flatray watched it +disappear in the dust of the road without a smile. He had sent them out +merely to distract the attention of the public and to get rid of as many +as possible of the crowd. For he was quite as well aware as the leader of +the posse that this search in the Galiuros was a wild-goose chase. +Somewhere within three hundred yards of the place he stood both the robber +and his booty were in all probability to be found. + +Flatray was quite right in his surmise, since Melissy Lee, who had come +out to see the posse off, was standing at the end of the porch with her +dusky eyes fastened on him, the while he stood beside the house with one +foot resting negligently on the oilcloth cover of the wash-stand. + +She had cast him out of her friendship because of his unworthiness, but +there was a tumult in her heart at sight of him. No matter how her +judgment condemned him as a villain, some instinct in her denied the +possibility of it. She was torn in conflict between her liking for him and +her conviction that he deserved only contempt. Somehow it hurt her too +that he accepted without protest her verdict, appeared so willing to be a +stranger to her. + +Now that the actual physical danger of her adventure was past, Melissy was +aware too of a chill dread lurking at her heart. She was no longer buoyed +up by the swiftness of action which had called for her utmost nerve. There +was nothing she could do now but wait, and waiting was of all things the +one most foreign to her impulsive temperament. She acknowledged too some +fear of this quiet, soft-spoken frontiersman. All Arizona knew not only +the daredevil spirit that fired his gentleness, but the competence with +which he set about any task he assigned himself. She did not see how he +_could_ unravel this mystery. She had left no clues behind her, she felt +sure of that, and yet was troubled lest he guessed at her secret behind +that mask of innocence he wore. He did not even remotely guess it as yet, +but he was far closer to the truth than he pretended. The girl knew she +should leave him and go about her work. Her rôle was to appear as +inconspicuous as possible, but she could not resist the fascination of +trying to probe his thoughts. + +"I suppose your posse will come back with the hold-ups in a few hours. +Will it be worth while to wait for them?" she asked with amiable +derision. + +The ranger had been absorbed in thought, his chin in his hand, but he +brought his gaze back from the distance to meet hers. What emotion lay +behind those cold eyes she could not guess. + +"You're more hopeful than I am, Miss Lee." + +"What are you sending them out for, then?" + +"Oh, well, the boys need to work off some of their energy, and there's +always a show they might happen onto the robbers." + +"Do you think some of the Roaring Fork gang did it?" + +"Can't say." + +"I suppose you are staying here in the hope that they will drop in and +deliver themselves to you." + +He looked at her out of an expressionless face. "That's about it, I +reckon. But what I tell the public is that I'm staying so as to be within +telephone connection. You see, Sheriff Burke is moving up to cut them off +from the Catalinas, Jackson is riding out from Mammoth to haid them off +that way, these anxious lads that have just pulled out from here are +taking care of the Galiuros. I'm supposed to be sitting with my fingers on +the keys as a sort of posse dispatcher." + +"Well, I hope you won't catch them," she told him bluntly. + +"That seems to be a prevailing sentiment round here. You say it right +hearty too; couldn't be more certain of your feelings if it had been your +own father." + +He said it carelessly, yet with his keen blue eyes fixed on her. +Nevertheless, he was totally unprepared for the effect of his words. The +color washed from her bronzed cheeks, and she stood staring at him with +big, fear-filled eyes. + +"What--what do you mean?" she gasped. "How dare you say that?" + +"I ain't said anything so terrible. You don't need to take it to heart +like that." He gave her a faint smile for an instant. "I'm not really +expecting to arrest Mr. Lee for holding up that stage." + +The color beat back slowly into her face. She knew she had made a false +move in taking so seriously his remark. + +"I don't think you ought to joke about a thing like that," she said +stiffly. + +"All right. I'll not say it next time till I'm in earnest," he promised as +he walked away. + +"I wonder if he really meant anything," the girl was thinking in terror, +and he, "she knows something; now, I would like to know what." + +Melissy attended to her duties in the postoffice after the arrival of the +stage, and looked after the dining-room as usual, but she was all the time +uneasily aware that Jack Flatray had quietly disappeared. Where had he +gone? And why? She found no answer to that question, but the ranger +dropped in on his bronco in time for supper, imperturbable and +self-contained as ever. + +"Think I'll stay all night if you have a room for me," he told her after +he had eaten. + +"We have a room," she said. "What more have you heard about the stage +robbery?" + +"Nothing, Miss Lee." + +"Oh, I thought maybe you had," she murmured tremulously, for his blue +eyes were unwaveringly upon her and she could not know how much or how +little he might mean. + +Later she saw him sitting on the fence, holding genial converse with Jim +Budd. The waiter was flashing a double row of white teeth in deep laughter +at something the deputy had told him. Evidently they were already friends. +When she looked again, a few minutes later, she knew Jack had reached the +point where he was pumping Jim and the latter was disseminating +misinformation. That the negro was stanch enough, she knew, but she was on +the anxious seat lest his sharp-witted inquisitor get what he wanted in +spite of him. After he had finished with Budd the ranger drifted around to +the kitchen in time to intercept Hop Ling casually as he came out after +finishing his evening's work. The girl was satisfied Flatray could not +have any suspicion of the truth. Nevertheless, she wished he would let the +help alone. He might accidentally stumble on something that would set him +on the right track. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BOONE-BELLAMY FEUD IS RENEWED + + +"Here's six bits on the counter under a seed catalogue. Did you leave it +here, daddy?" + +Champ Lee, seated on the porch just outside the store door, took the pipe +from his mouth and answered: + +"Why no, honey, I don't reckon I did, not to my ricollection." + +"That's queer. I know I didn't----" + +Melissy broke her sentence sharply. There had come into her eyes a spark +of excitement, simultaneous with the brain-flash which told her who had +left the money. No doubt the quarter and the half dollar had been lying +there ever since the day last week when Morse had eaten at the Bar Double +G. She addressed an envelope, dropped the money in, sealed the flap, and +put the package beside a letter addressed to T. L. Morse. + +Lee, full of an unhappy restlessness which he could not control, presently +got up and moved away to the stables. He was blaming himself bitterly for +the events of the past few days. + +It was perhaps half an hour later that Melissy looked up to see the +sturdy figure of Morse in the doorway. During the past year he had filled +out, grown stronger and more rugged. His deep tan and heavy stride +pronounced him an outdoor man no less surely than the corduroy suit and +the high laced miners' boots. + +He came forward to the postoffice window without any sign of recognition. + +"Is Mr. Flatray still here?" + +"No!" Without further explanation Melissy took from the box the two +letters addressed to Morse and handed them to him. + +The girl observed the puzzled look that stole over his face at sight of +the silver in one envelope. A glance at the business address printed on +the upper left hand corner enlightened him. He laid the money down in the +stamp window. + +"This isn't mine." + +"You heard what my father said?" + +"That applies to next time, not to this." + +"I think it does apply to this time." + +"I can't see how you're going to make me take it back. I'm an obstinate +man." + +"Just as you like." + +A sudden flush of anger swept her. She caught up the silver and flung it +through the open window into the dusty road. + +His dark eyes met hers steadily and a dull color burned in his tanned +cheeks. Without a word he turned away, and instantly she regretted what +she had done. She had insulted him deliberately and put herself in the +wrong. At bottom she was a tender-hearted child, even though her father +and his friends had always spoiled her, and she could not but reproach +herself for the hurt look she had brought into his strong, sad face. He +was their enemy, of course, but even enemies have rights. + +Morse walked out of the office looking straight before him, his strong +back teeth gripped so that the muscles stood out on his salient jaw. +Impulsively the girl ran around the counter after him. + +He looked up from untying his horse to see her straight and supple figure +running toward him. Her eager face was full of contrition and the color of +pink rose petals came and went in it. + +"I'm sorry, Mr. Morse. I oughtn't to have done that. I hurt your +feelings," she cried. + +At best he was never a handsome man, but now his deep, dark eyes lit with +a glow that surprised her. + +"Thank you. Thank you very much," he said in a low voice. + +"I'm so tempery," she explained in apology, and added: "I suppose a nice +girl wouldn't have done it." + +"A nice girl did do it," was all he could think to say. + +"You needn't take the trouble to say that. I know I've just scrambled up +and am not ladylike and proper. Sometimes I don't care. I like to be able +to do things like boys. But I suppose it's dreadful." + +"I don't think it is at all. None of your friends could think so. Not that +I include myself among them," he hastened to disclaim. "I can't be both +your friend and your enemy, can I?" + +The trace of a sardonic smile was in his eyes. For the moment as she +looked at him she thought he might. But she answered: + +"I don't quite see how." + +"You hate me, I suppose," he blurted out bluntly. + +"I suppose so." And more briskly she added, with dimples playing near the +corners of her mouth: "Of course I do." + +"That's frank. It's worth something to have so decent an enemy. I don't +believe you would shoot me in the back." + +"Some of the others would. You should be more careful," she cried before +she could stop herself. + +He shrugged. "I take my fighting chance." + +"It isn't much of a one. You'll be shot at from ambush some day." + +"It wouldn't be a new experience. I went through it last week." + +"Where?" she breathed. + +"Down by Willow Wash." + +"Who did it?" + +He laughed, without amusement. "I didn't have my rifle with me, so I +didn't stay to inquire." + +"It must have been some of those wild vaqueros." + +"That was my guess." + +"But you have other enemies, too." + +"Miss Lee," he smiled. + +"I mean others that are dangerous." + +"Your father?" he asked. + +"Father would never do that except in a fair fight. I wasn't thinking of +him." + +"I don't know whom you mean, but a few extras don't make much difference +when one is so liberally supplied already," he said cynically. + +"I shouldn't make light of them if I were you," she cautioned. + +"Who do you mean?" + +"I've said all I'm going to, and more than I ought," she told him +decisively. "Except this, that it's your own fault. You shouldn't be so +stiff. Why don't you compromise? With the cattlemen, for instance. They +have a good deal of right on their side. They _did_ have the range +first." + +"You should tell that to your father, too." + +"Dad runs sheep on the range to protect himself. He doesn't drive out +other people's cattle and take away their living." + +"Well, I might compromise, but not at the end of a gun." + +"No, of course not. Here comes dad now," she added hurriedly, aware for +the first time that she had been holding an extended conversation with her +father's foe. + +"We started enemies and we quit enemies. Will you shake hands on that, +Miss Lee?" he asked. + +She held out her hand, then drew it swiftly back. "No, I can't. I forgot. +There's another reason." + +"Another reason! You mean the Arkansas charge against me?" he asked +quietly. + +"No. I can't tell you what it is." She felt herself suffused in a crimson +glow. How could she explain that she could not touch hands with him +because she had robbed him of twenty thousand dollars? + +Lee stopped at the steps, astonished to see his daughter and this man in +talk together. Yesterday he would have resented it bitterly, but now the +situation was changed. Something of so much greater magnitude had occurred +that he was too perturbed to cherish his feud for the present. All night +he had carried with him the dreadful secret he suspected. He could not +look Melissy in the face, nor could he discuss the robbery with anybody. +The one fact that overshadowed all others was that his little girl had +gone out and held up a stage, that if she were discovered she would be +liable to a term in the penitentiary. Laboriously his slow brain had +worked it all out. A talk with Jim Budd had confirmed his conclusions. He +knew that she had taken this risk in order to save him. He was bowed down +with his unworthiness, with shame that he had dragged her into this +horrible tangle. He was convinced that Jack Flatray would get at the +truth, and already he was resolved to come forward and claim the whole +affair as his work. + +"I've been apologizing to Mr. Morse for insulting him, dad," the girl said +immediately. + +Her father passed a bony hand slowly across his unshaven chin. "That's +right, honey. If you done him a meanness, you had ought to say so." + +"She has said so very handsomely, Mr. Lee," spoke up Morse. + +"I've been warning him, dad, that he ought to be more careful how he rides +around alone, with the cattlemen feeling the way they do." + +"It's a fact they feel right hot under the collar. You're ce'tainly a +temptation to them, Mr. Morse," the girl's father agreed. + +The mine owner shifted the subject of conversation. He was not a man of +many impulses, but he yielded to one now. + +"Can't we straighten out this trouble between us, Mr. Lee? You think I've +done you an injury. Perhaps I have. If we both mean what's right, we can +get together and fix it up in a few minutes." + +The old Southerner stiffened and met him with an eye of jade. "I ain't +asking any favors of you, Mr. Morse. We'll settle this matter some day, +and settle it right. But you can't buy me off. I'll not take a bean from +you." + +The miner's eyes hardened. "I'm not trying to buy you off. I made a fair +offer of peace. Since you have rejected it, there is nothing more to be +said." With that he bowed stiffly and walked away, leading his horse. + +Lee's gaze followed him and slowly the eyes under the beetled brows +softened. + +"Mebbe I done wrong, honey. Mebbe I'd ought to have given in. I'm too +proud to compromise when he's got me beat. That's what's ailin' with me. +But I reckon I'd better have knuckled under." + +The girl slipped her arm through his. "Sometimes I'm just like that too, +daddy. I've just _got_ to win before I make up. I don't blame you a mite, +but, all the same, we should have let him fix it up." + +It was characteristic of them both that neither thought of reversing the +decision he had made. It was done now, and they would abide by the +results. But already both of them half regretted, though for very +different reasons. Lee was thinking that for Melissy's sake he should have +made a friend of the man he hated, since it was on the cards that within a +few days she might be in his power. The girl's feeling, too, was +unselfish. She could not forget the deep hunger for friendship that had +shone in the man's eyes. He was alone in the world, a strong man +surrounded by enemies who would probably destroy him in the end. There was +stirring in her heart a sweet womanly pity and sympathy for the enemy +whose proffer of friendship had been so cavalierly rejected. + +The sight of a horseman riding down the trail from the Flagstaff mine +shook Melissy into alertness. + +"Look, dad. It's Mr. Norris," she cried. + +Morse, who had not yet recognized him, swung to the saddle, his heart full +of bitterness. Every man's hand was against his, and every woman's. What +was there in his nature that turned people against him so inevitably? +There seemed to be some taint in him that corroded all natural human +kindness. + +A startled oath brought him from his somber reflections. He looked up, to +see the face of a man with whom in the dead years of the past he had been +in bitter feud. + +Neither of them spoke. Morse looked at him with a face cold as chiselled +marble and as hard. The devil's own passion burned in the storm-tossed one +of the other. + +Norris was the first to break the silence. + +"So it was all a lie about your being killed, Dick Bellamy." + +The mine owner did not speak, but the rigor of his eyes did not relax. + +"Gave it out to throw me off your trail, did you? Knew mighty well I'd cut +the heart out of the man who shot poor Shep." The voice of the cattle +detective rang out in malignant triumph. "You guessed it c'rect, seh. +Right here's where the Boone-Bellamy feud claims another victim." + +The men were sitting face to face, so close that their knees almost +touched. As Norris jerked out his gun Bellamy caught his wrist. They +struggled for an instant, the one to free his arm, the other to retain his +grip. Bellamy spurred his horse closer. The more powerful of the two, he +slowly twisted around the imprisoned wrist. Inch by inch the revolver +swung in a jerky, spasmodic circle. There was a moment when it pointed +directly at the mine owner's heart. His enemy's finger crooked on the +trigger, eyes passionate with the stark lust to kill. But the pressure on +the wrist had numbed the hand. The weapon jumped out of line, went +clattering down into the dust from the palsied fingers. + +Lee ran forward and pushed between the men. + +"Here. Ain't you boys got ary bettah sense than to clinch like wildcats?" +he demanded, jerking one of the horses away by the bridle. "No, you don't, +Phil. I'll take keer of this gun for the present." It was noticeable that +Beauchamp Lee's speech grew more after the manner of the plantations when +he became excited. + +The cowpuncher, white with anger, glared at his enemy and poured curses at +him, the while he nursed his strained wrist. For the moment he was +impotent, but he promised himself vengeance in full when they should meet +again. + +"That'll be enough from you now, Phil," said the old ex-Confederate +good-naturedly, leading him toward the house and trying to soothe his +malevolent chagrin. + +Bellamy turned and rode away. At the corner of the corral he met Jack +Flatray riding up. + +"Been having a little difference of opinion with our friend, haven't you, +seh?" the deputy asked pleasantly. + +"Yes." Bellamy gave him only the crisp monosyllable and changed the +subject immediately. "What about this stage robbery? Have you been able to +make anything of it, Mr. Flatray?" + +"Why, yes. I reckon we'll be able to land the miscreant mebbe, if things +come our way," drawled the deputy. "Wouldn't it be a good idea to offer a +reward, though, to keep things warm?" + +"I thought of that. I made it a thousand dollars. The posters ought to be +out to-day on the stage." + +"Good enough!" + +"Whom do you suspect?" + +Jack looked at him with amiable imperturbability. "I reckon I better +certify my suspicions, seh, before I go to shouting them out." + +"All right, sir. Since I'm paying the shot, it ought to entitle me to some +confidence. But it's up to you. Get back the twenty thousand dollars, +that's all I ask, except that you put the fellow behind the bars of the +penitentiary for a few years." + +Flatray gave him an odd smile which he did not understand. + +"I hope to be able to accommodate you, seh, about this time to-morrow, so +far as getting the gold goes. You'll have to wait a week or two before +the rest of your expectations get gratified." + +"Any reasonable time. I want to see him there eventually. That's all." + +Jack laughed again, without giving any reason for his mirth. That ironic +smile continued to decorate his face for some time. He seemed to have some +inner source of mirth he did not care to disclose. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE DANGER LINE + + +Though Champ Lee had business in Mesa next day that would not be denied, +he was singularly loath to leave the ranch. He wanted to stay close to +Melissy until the dénouement of the hunt for the stage robber. On the +other hand, it was well known that his contest with Morse for the Monte +Cristo was up for a hearing. To stay at home would have been a confession +of his anxiety that he did not want to make. But it was only after +repeated charges to his daughter to call him up by telephone immediately +if anything happened that he could bring himself to ride away. + +He was scarcely out of sight when a Mexican vaquero rode in with the +information that old Antonio, on his way to the post at Three Pines with a +second drove of sheep, had twisted his ankle badly about fifteen miles +from the ranch. After trying in vain to pick up a herder at Mesa by +telephone, Melissy was driven to the only feasible course left her, to +make the drive herself in place of Antonio. There were fifteen hundred +sheep in the bunch, and they must be taken care of at once by somebody +competent for the task. She knew she could handle them, for it had amused +her to take charge of a herd often for an hour or two at a time. The long +stretch over the desert would be wearisome and monotonous, but she had the +slim, muscular tenacity of a half-grown boy. It did not matter what she +wanted to do. The thing to which she came back always was that the sheep +must be taken care of. + +She left directions with Jim for taking care of the place, changed to a +khaki skirt and jacket, slapped a saddle on her bronco, and disappeared +across country among the undulations of the sandhills. A tenderfoot would +have been hopelessly lost in the sameness of these hills and washes, but +Melissy knew them as a city dweller does his streets. Straight as an arrow +she went to her mark. The tinkle of distant sheep-bells greeted her after +some hours' travel, and soon the low, ceaseless bleating of the herd. + +The girl found Antonio propped against a piņon tree, solacing himself +philosophically with cigarettes. He was surprised to see her, but made +only a slight objection to her taking his place. His ankle was paining him +a good deal, and he was very glad to get the chance to pull himself to her +saddle and ride back to the ranch. + +A few quick words sent the dog Colin out among the sheep, by now +scattered far and wide over the hill. They presently came pouring toward +her, diverged westward, and massed at the base of a butte rising from a +dry arroyo. The journey had begun, and hour after hour it continued +through the hot day, always in a cloud of dust flung up by the sheep, +sometimes through the heavy sand of a wash, often over slopes of shale, +not seldom through thick cactus beds that shredded her skirt and tore like +fierce, sharp fingers at her legging-protected ankles. The great gray +desert still stretched before her to the horizon's edge, and still she +flung the miles behind her with the long, rhythmic stride that was her +birthright from the hills. A strong man, unused to it, would have been +staggering with stiff fatigue, but this slender girl held the trail with +light grace, her weight still carried springily on her small ankles. + +Once she rested for a few minutes, flinging herself down into the sand at +length, her head thrown back from the full brown throat so that she could +gaze into the unstained sky of blue. Presently the claims of this planet +made themselves heard, for she, too, was elemental and a creature of +instinct. The earth was awake and palpitating with life, the low, +indefatigable life of creeping things and vegetation persisting even in +this waste of rock and sand. + +But she could not rest long, for Diablo Caņon must be reached before dark. +The sheep would be very thirsty by the time they arrived, and she could +not risk letting them tear down the precipitous edge among the sharp rocks +in the dark. Already over the sand stretches a peculiar liquid glow was +flooding, so that the whole desert seemed afire. The burning sun had +slipped behind a saddle of the purple peaks, leaving a brilliant horizon +of many mingled shades. + +It was as she came forward to the caņon's edge in this luminous dusk that +Melissy became aware of a distant figure on horseback, silhouetted for a +moment against the skyline. One glance was all she got of it, for she was +very busy with the sheep, working them leisurely toward the black chasm +that seemed to yawn for them. High rock walls girt the caņon, gigantic and +bottomless in the gloom. A dizzy trail zigzagged back and forth to the +pool below, and along this she and the collie skilfully sent the eager, +thirsty animals. + +The mass of the sheep were still huddled on the edge of the ravine when +there came the thud of horses' hoofs and the crack of revolvers, +accompanied by hoarse, triumphant yells and cries. Melissy knew instantly +what it was--the attack of cattlemen upon her defenseless flock. They had +waited until the sheep were on the edge of the precipice, and now they +were going to drive the poor creatures down upon the rocks two hundred +feet below. Her heart leaped to her throat, but scarce more quickly than +she upon a huge boulder bordering the trail. + +"Back! Keep back!" she heard herself crying, and even as she spoke a +bullet whistled through the rim of her felt hat. + +Standing there boldly, unconscious of danger, the wind draped and defined +the long lines of her figure like those of the Winged Victory. + +The foremost rider galloped past, waving his sombrero and shooting into +the frightened mass in front of him. Within a dozen feet of her he turned +his revolver upon the girl, then, with an oath of recognition, dragged his +pony back upon its haunches. Another horse slithered into it, and a +third. + +"It's 'Lissie Lee!" a voice cried in astonishment; and another, with a +startled oath, "You're right, Bob!" + +The first rider gave his pony the spur, swung it from the trail in a +half-circle which brought it back at the very edge of the ravine, and +blocked the forward pour of terror-stricken sheep. Twice his revolver rang +out. The girl's heart stood still, for the man was Norris, and it seemed +for an instant as if he must be swept over the precipice by the stampede. +The leaders braced themselves to stop, but were slowly pushed forward +toward the edge. One of the other riders had by this time joined the +daring cowpuncher, and together they stemmed the tide. The pressure on the +trail relaxed and the sheep began to mill around and around. + +It was many minutes before they were sufficiently quieted to trust upon +the trail again, but at last the men got them safely to the bottom, with +the exception of two or three killed in the descent. + +Her responsibility for the safety of the sheep gone, the girl began to +crawl down the dark trail. She could not see a yard in front of her, and +at each step the path seemed to end in a gulf of darkness. She could not +be sure she was on the trail at all, and her nerve was shaken by the +experience through which she had just passed. Presently she stopped and +waited, for the first time in her life definitely and physically afraid. +She stood there trembling, a long, long time it seemed to her, surrounded +by the impenetrable blackness of night. + +Then a voice came to her. + +"Melissy!" + +She answered, and the voice came slowly nearer. + +"You're off the trail," it told her presently, just before a human figure +defined itself in the gloom. + +"I'm afraid," she sobbed. + +A strong hand came from nowhere and caught hers. An arm slipped around her +waist. + +"Don't be afraid, little girl. I'll see no harm comes to you," the man +said to her with a quick, fierce tenderness. + +The comfort of his support was unspeakable. It stole into her heart like +water to the roots of thirsty plants. To feel her head against his +shoulder, to know he held her tight, meant safety and life. He had told +her not to be afraid, and she was so no longer. + +"You shot at me," she murmured in reproach. + +"I didn't know. We thought it was Bellamy's herd. But it's true, God +forgive me! I did." + +There was in his voice the warm throb of emotion, and in his eyes +something she had never seen before in those of any human being. Like +stars they were, swimming in light, glowing with the exultation of the +triumph he was living. She was a splendid young animal, untaught of life, +generous, passionate, tempestuous, and as her pliant, supple body lay +against his some sex instinct old as creation stirred potently within her. +She had found her mate. It came to her as innocently as the same impulse +comes to the doe when the spring freshets are seeking the river, and as +innocently her lips met his in their first kiss of surrender. Something +irradiated her, softened her, warmed her. Was it love? She did not know, +but as yet she was still happy in the glow of it. + +Slowly, hand in hand, they worked back to the trail and down it to the +bottom of the caņon. The soft velvet night enwrapped them. It shut them +from the world and left them one to one. From the meeting palms strange +electric currents tingled through the girl and flushed her to an ecstasy +of emotion. + +A camp fire was already burning cheerfully when they reached the base of +the descent. A man came forward to meet them. He glanced curiously at the +girl after she came within the circle of light. Her eyes were shining as +from some inner glow, and she was warm with a soft color that vitalized +her beauty. Then his gaze passed to take in with narrowed lids her +companion. + +"I see you found her," he said dryly. + +"Yes, I found her, Bob." + +He answered the spirit of Farnum's words rather than the letter of them, +nor could he keep out of his bearing and his handsome face the exultation +that betrayed success. + +"H'mp!" Farnum turned from him and addressed the girl: "I suppose Norris +has explained our mistake and eaten crow for all of us, Miss Lee. I don't +see how come we to make such a blame' fool mistake. It was gitting dark, +and we took your skirt for a greaser's blanket. It's ce'tainly on us." + +"Yes, he has explained." + +"Well, there won't any amount of explaining square the thing. We might 'a' +done you a terrible injury, Miss Lee. It was gilt-edged luck for us that +you thought to jump on that rock and holler." + +"I was thinking of the sheep," she said. + +"Well, you saved them, and I'm right glad of it. We ain't got any use for +Mary's little trotter, but your father's square about his. He keeps them +herded up on his own range. We may not like it, but we ce'tainly aren't +going to the length of attackin' his herd." Farnum's gaze took in her +slender girlishness, and he voiced the question in his mind. "How in time +do you happen to be sheep-herding all by your lone a thousand miles from +nowhere, Miss Lee?" + +She explained the circumstances after she had moved forward to warm +herself by the fire. For already night was bringing a chill breeze with +it. The man cooking the coffee looked up and nodded pleasantly, continuing +his work. Norris dragged up a couple of saddle blankets and spread them on +the ground for her to sit upon. + +"You don't have to do a thing but boss this outfit," he told her with his +gay smile. "You're queen of the range to-night, and we're your herders or +your punchers, whichever you want to call us. To-morrow morning two of us +are going to drive these sheep on to the trading post for you, and the +other one is going to see you safe back home. It's all arranged." + +They were as good as his word. She could not move from her place to help +herself. It was their pleasure to wait upon her as if she had really been +a queen and they her subjects. Melissy was very tired, but she enjoyed +their deference greatly. She was still young enough to find delight in the +fact that three young and more or less good-looking men were vying with +each other to anticipate her needs. + +Like them, she ate and drank ravenously of the sandwiches and the strong +coffee, though before the meal was over she found herself nodding +drowsily. The tactful courtesy of these rough fellows was perfect. They +got the best they had for her of their blankets, dragged a piņon root to +feed the glowing coals, and with cheerful farewells of "_Buenos Noches_" +retired around a bend in the caņon and lit another fire for themselves. + +The girl snuggled down into the warmth of the blankets and stretched her +weary limbs in delicious rest. She did not mean to go to sleep for a long +time. She had much to think about. So she looked up the black sheer caņon +walls to the deep blue, starry sky above, and relived her day in memory. + +A strange excitement tingled through her, born of shame and shyness and +fear, and of something else she did not understand, something which had +lain banked in her nature like a fire since childhood and now threw forth +its first flame of heat. What did it mean, that passionate fierceness with +which her lips had clung to his? She liked him, of course, but surely +liking would not explain the pulse that her first kiss had sent leaping +through her blood like wine. Did she love him? + +Then why did she distrust him? Why was there fear in her sober second +thought of him? Had she done wrong? For the moment all her maiden defenses +had been wiped out and he had ridden roughshod over her reserves. But +somewhere in her a bell of warning was ringing. The poignant sting of sex +appeal had come home to her for the first time. Wherefore in this frank +child of the wilderness had been born a shy shame, a vague trembling for +herself that marked a change. At sunrise she had been still treading gayly +the primrose path of childhood; at sunset she had entered upon her +heritage of womanhood. + +The sun had climbed high and was peering down the walls of the gulch when +she awoke. She did not at once realize where she was, but came presently +to a blinking consciousness of her surroundings. The rock wall on one side +was still shadowed, while the painted side of the other was warm with the +light which poured upon it. The Gothic spires, the Moorish domes, the +weird and mysterious caves, which last night had given more than a touch +of awe to her majestic bedchamber, now looked a good deal less like the +ruins of mediæval castles and the homes of elfin sprites and gnomes. + +"_Buenos dios, muchacha,_" a voice called cheerfully to her. + +She did not need to turn to know to whom it belonged. Among a thousand she +would have recognized its tone of vibrant warmth. + +"_Buenos,_" she answered, and, rising hurriedly, she fled to rearrange her +hair and dress. + +It was nearly a quarter of an hour later that she reappeared, her thick +coils of ebon-hued tresses shining in the sun, her skirt smoothed to her +satisfaction, and the effects of feminine touches otherwise visible upon +her fresh, cool person. + +"Breakfast is served," Norris sang out. + +"Dinner would be nearer it," she laughed. "Why in the world didn't you +boys waken me? What time is it, anyhow?" + +"It's not very late--a little past noon maybe. You were all tired out with +your tramp yesterday. I didn't see why you shouldn't have your sleep +out." + +He was pouring a cup of black coffee for her from the smoky pot, and she +looked around expectantly for the others. Simultaneously she remembered +that she had not heard the bleating of the sheep. + +"Where are the others--Mr. Farnum and Sam? And have you the sheep all +gagged?" she laughed. + +He gave her that odd look of smoldering eyes behind half-shut lids. + +"The boys have gone on to finish the drive for you. They started before +sun-up this morning. I'm elected to see you back home safely." + +"But----" + +Her protest died unspoken. She could not very well frame it in words, and +before his bold, possessive eyes the girl's long, dark lashes wavered to +the cheeks into which the hot blood was beating. Nevertheless, the feeling +existed that she wished one of the others had stayed instead of him. It +was born, no doubt, partly of the wave of shyness running through her, +but partly too of instinctive maidenly resistance to something in his +look, in the assurance of his manner, that seemed to claim too much. Last +night he had taken her by storm and at advantage. Something of shame +stirred in her that he had found her so easy a conquest, something too of +a new vague fear of herself. She resented the fact that he could so move +her, even though she still felt the charm of his personal presence. She +meant to hold herself in abeyance, to make sure of herself and of him +before she went further. + +But the cowpuncher had no intention of letting her regain so fully control +of her emotions. Experience of more than one young woman had taught him +that scruples were likely to assert themselves after reflection, and he +purposed giving her no time for that to-day. + +He did not count in vain upon the intimacy of companionship forced upon +them by the circumstances, nor upon the skill with which he knew how to +make the most of his manifold attractions. His rôle was that of the +comrade, gay with good spirits and warm with friendliness, solicitous of +her needs, but not oppressively so. If her glimpse of him at breakfast had +given the girl a vague alarm, she laughed her fears away later before his +open good humor. + +There had been a time when he had been a part of that big world "back in +the States," peopled so generously by her unfettered imagination. He knew +how to talk, and entertainingly, of books and people, of events and +places he had known. She had not knowledge enough of life to doubt his +stories, nor did she resent it that he spoke of this her native section +with the slighting manner of one who patronized it with his presence. +Though she loved passionately her Arizona, she guessed its crudeness, and +her fancy magnified the wonders of that southern civilization from which +it was so far cut off. + +Farnum had left his horse for the girl, and after breakfast the cowpuncher +saddled the broncos and brought them up. Melissy had washed the dishes, +filled his canteen, and packed the saddle bags. Soon they were off, +climbing slowly the trail that led up the caņon wall. She saw the carcass +of a dead sheep lying on the rocks half way down the cliff, and had spoken +of it before she could stop herself. + +"What is that? Isn't it----?" + +"Looks to me like a boulder," lied her escort unblushingly. There was no +use, he judged, in recalling unpleasant memories. + +Nor did she long remember. The dry, exhilarating sunshine and the sting of +gentle, wide-swept breezes, the pleasure of swift motion and the ring of +that exultingly boyish voice beside her, combined to call the youth in her +to rejoice. Firm in the saddle she rode, as graceful a picture of piquant +girlhood as could be conceived, thrilling to the silent voices of the +desert. They traveled in a sunlit sea of space, under a sky of blue, in +which tenuous cloud lakes floated. Once they came on a small bunch of hill +cattle which went flying like deer into the covert of a draw. A +rattlesnake above a prairie dog's hole slid into the mesquit. A swift +watched them from the top of a smooth rock, motionless so long as they +could see. She loved it all, this immense, deserted world of space filled +with its multitudinous dwellers. + +They unsaddled at Dead Cow Creek, hobbled the ponies, and ate supper. +Norris seemed in no hurry to resaddle. He lay stretched carelessly at full +length, his eyes upon her with veiled admiration. She sat upright, her +gaze on the sunset with its splashes of topaz and crimson and saffron, +watching the tints soften and mellow as dusk fell. Every minute now +brought its swift quota of changing beauty. A violet haze enveloped the +purple mountains, and in the crotch of the hills swam a lake of indigo. +The raw, untempered glare of the sun was giving place to a limitless pour +of silvery moonlight. + +Her eyes were full of the soft loveliness of the hour when she turned them +upon her companion. He answered promptly her unspoken question. + +"You bet it is! A night for the gods--or for lovers." + +He said it in a murmur, his eyes full on hers, and his look wrenched her +from her mood. The mask of comradeship was gone. He looked at her +hungrily, as might a lover to whom all spiritual heights were denied. + +Her sooty lashes fell before this sinister spirit she had evoked, but were +raised instantly at the sound of him drawing his body toward her. +Inevitably there was a good deal of the young animal in her superbly +healthy body. She had been close to nature all day, the riotous passion of +spring flowing free in her as in the warm earth herself. But the magic of +the mystic hills had lifted her beyond the merely personal. Some sense of +grossness in him for the first time seared across her brain. She started +up, and her face told him she had taken alarm. + +"We must be going," she cried. + +He got to his feet. "No hurry, sweetheart." + +The look in his face startled her. It was new to her in her experience of +men. Never before had she met elemental lust. + +"You're near enough," she cautioned sharply. + +He cursed softly his maladroitness. + +"I was nearer last night, honey," he reminded her. + +"Last night isn't to-night." + +He hesitated. Should he rush her defenses, bury her protests in kisses? Or +should he talk her out of this harsh mood? Last night she had been his. +There were moments during the day when she had responded to him as a +musical instrument does to skilled fingers. But for the moment his power +over her was gone. And he was impatient of delay. + +"What's the matter with you?" he asked roughly. + +"We'll start at once." + +"No." + +"Yes." + +Frightened though she was, her gaze held steadily to his. It was the same +instinct in her that makes one look a dangerous wild beast straight in the +eye. + +"What's got into you?" he demanded sullenly. + +"I'm going home." + +"After a while." + +"Now." + +"I reckon not just yet. It's my say-so." + +"Don't you dare stop me." + +The passion in him warred with prudence. He temporized. "Why, honey! I'm +the man that loves you." + +She would not see his outstretched hands. + +"Then saddle my horse." + +"By God, no! You're going to listen to me." + +His anger ripped out unexpectedly, even to him. Whatever fear she felt, +the girl crushed down. He must not know her heart was drowned in terror. + +"I'll listen after we've started." + +He cursed her fickleness. "What's ailin' you, girl? I ain't a man to be +put off this way." + +"Don't forget you're in Arizona," she warned. + +He understood what she meant. In the ranch country no man could with +impunity insult a woman. + +Standing defiantly before him, her pliant form very straight, the +underlying blood beating softly under the golden brown of her cheeks, one +of the thick braids of her heavy, blue-black hair falling across the +breast that rose and fell a little fast, she was no less than a challenge +of Nature to him. He looked into a mobile face as daring and as passionate +as his own, warm with the life of innocent youth, and the dark blood +mantled his face. + +"Saddle the horses," she commanded. + +"When I get good and ready." + +"Now." + +"No, ma'am. We're going to have a talk first." + +She walked across to the place where her pony grazed, slipped on the +bridle, and brought the animal back to the saddle. Norris watched her +fitting the blankets and tightening the cinch without a word, his face +growing blacker every moment. Before she could start he strode forward and +caught the rein. + +"I've got something to say to you," he told her rudely. "You're not going +now. So that's all about it." + +Her lips tightened. "Let go of my horse." + +"We'll talk first." + +"Do you think you can force me to stay here?" + +"You're going to hear what I've got to say." + +"You bully!" + +"I'll tell what I know--Miss Hold-up." + +"Tell it!" she cried. + +He laughed harshly, his narrowed eyes watching her closely. "If you throw +me down now, I'll ce'tainly tell it. Be reasonable, girl." + +"Let go my rein!" + +"I've had enough of this. Tumble off that horse, or I'll pull you off." + +Her dark eyes flashed scorn of him. "You coward! Do you think I'm afraid +of you? Stand back!" + +The man looked long at her, his teeth set; then caught at her strong +little wrist. With a quick wrench she freed it, her eyes glowing like live +coals. + +"You dare!" she panted. + +Her quirt rose and fell, the lash burning his wrist like a band of fire. +With a furious oath he dropped his hand from the rein. Like a flash she +was off, had dug her heels home, and was galloping into the moonlight +recklessly as fast as she could send forward her pony. Stark terror had +her by the throat. The fear of him flooded her whole being. Not till the +drumming hoofs had carried her far did other emotions move her. + +She was furious with him, and with herself for having been imposed upon by +him. His beauty, his grace, his debonair manner--they were all hateful to +her now. She had thought him a god among men, and he was of common clay. +It was her vanity that was wounded, not her heart. She scourged herself +because she had been so easily deceived, because she had let herself +become a victim of his good looks and his impudence. For that she had let +him kiss her--yes, and had returned his kiss--she was heartily +contemptuous of herself. Always she had held herself with an instinctive +pride, but in her passion of abandonment the tears confessed now that this +pride had been humbled to the dust. + +This gusty weather of the spirit, now of chastened pride and now of bitter +anger, carried her even through the group of live-oaks which looked down +upon the silent houses of the ranch, lying in a sea of splendid moon-beat. +She was so much less confident of herself than usual that she made up her +mind to tell her father the whole story of the hold-up and of what this +man had threatened. + +This resolution comforted her, and it was with something approaching +calmness that she rode past the corral fence and swung from the saddle in +front of the house. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +JACK GOES TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS + + +She trailed the bridle reins, went up the porch steps, and drew off her +gauntlets. Her hand was outstretched to open the door when her gaze fell +upon a large bill tacked to the wall. Swiftly she read it through, and, +having read it, remained in suspended motion. For the first time she fully +realized the danger and the penalty that confronted her. + + ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS + Will Be Paid By Thomas L. Morse + For the arrest and conviction of each of the men who were implicated + in the robbery of the Fort Allison stage on April twenty-seventh + last. A further reward of $1000 will be paid for the recovery of the + bullion stolen. + +This was what she read, and her eye was running over it a second time when +she heard the jingle of a spur approaching. + +"We're red-hot after them, you see, Miss Lee," a mocking voice drawled. +"If you want to round up a thousand plunks, all you've got to do is to +tell me who Mr. Hold-up is." + +He laughed quietly, as if it were a joke, but the girl answered with a +flush. "Is that all?" + +"That's all." + +"If I knew, do you suppose I would tell for five thousand--or ten +thousand?" + +For some reason this seemed to give him sardonic amusement. "No, I don't +suppose you would." + +"You'll have to catch him yourself if you want him. I'm not in that +business, Mr. Flatray." + +"I am. Sorry you don't like the business, Miss Lee." He added dryly: "But +then you always were hard to please. You weren't satisfied when I was a +rustler." + +Her eyes swept him with a look, whether of reproach or contempt he was not +sure. But the hard derision of his gaze did not soften. Mentally as well +as physically he was a product of the sun and the wind, as tough and +unyielding as a greasewood sapling. For a friend he would go the limit, +and he could not forgive her that she had distrusted him. + +"But mebbe you'd prefer it if I was rustling stages," he went on, looking +straight at her. + +"What do you mean?" she asked breathlessly. + +"I want to have a talk with you." + +"What about?" + +"Suppose we step around to the side of the house. We'll be freer from +interruption there." + +He led the way, taking her consent for granted. With him he carried a +chair for her from the porch. + +"If you'll be as brief as possible, Mr. Flatray. I've been in the desert +two days and want to change my clothes." + +"I'll not detain you. It's about this gold robbery." + +"Yes." + +She could not take her eyes from him. Something told her that he knew her +secret, or part of it. Her heart was fluttering like a caged thrush. + +"Shall we begin at the beginning?" + +"If you like." + +"Or in the middle, say." + +"If only you'll begin anywhere," she said impatiently. + +"How will this do for a beginning, then? 'One thousand dollars will be +paid by Thomas L. Morse for the arrest and conviction of each of the men +who were implicated in the robbery of the Fort Allison stage on April +twenty-seventh last.'" + +She was shaken, there was no denying it. He could see the ebb of blood +from her cheeks, the sudden stiffening of the slender figure. + +She did not speak until she had control of her voice. "Dear me! What has +all that to do with me?" + +"A good deal, I'm afraid. You know how much, better than I do." + +"Perhaps I'm stupid. You'll have to be a great deal clearer before I can +understand you." + +"I've noticed that it's a lot easier to understand what you want to than +what you don't want to." + +Sharply a thought smote her. "Have you seen Phil Norris lately?" + +"No, I haven't. Do you think it likely that he would confess?" + +"Confess?" she faltered. + +"I see I'll have to start at the beginning, after all. It's pretty hard to +say just where that is. It might be when Morse got hold of your father's +claim, or another fellow might say it was when the Boone-Bellamy feud +began, and that is a mighty long time ago." + +"The Boone-Bellamy feud," echoed the girl. + +"Yes. The real name of our friend Norris is Dunc Boone." + +"He's no friend of mine." She flamed it out with such intensity that he +was surprised. + +"Glad to hear it. I can tell you, then, that he's a bad lot. He was driven +out of Arkansas after a suspected murder. It was a killing from ambush. +They couldn't quite hang it on him, but he lit a shuck to save his skin +from lynchers. At that time he was a boy. Couldn't have been more than +seventeen." + +"Who did he kill?" + +"One of the Bellamy faction. The real name of T. L. Morse is----" + +"--Richard Bellamy." + +"How do you know that?" he asked in surprise. + +"I've known it since the first day I met him." + +"Known that he was wanted for murder in Arkansas?" + +"Yes." + +"And you protected him?" + +"I had a reason." She did not explain that her reason was Jack Flatray, +between whom and the consequences of his rustling she had stood. + +He pondered that a moment. "Well, Morse, or Bellamy, told me all about it. +Now that Boone has recognized him, the game is up. He's ready to go back +and stand trial if he must. I've communicated with the authorities in +Arkansas and I'll hear from them in a day or two." + +"What has this to do with the hold-up?" + +"That's right, the hold-up. Well, this fellow Boone got your father to +drinking, and then sprung it on him to rob the stage when the bullion was +being shipped. Somehow Boone had got inside information about when this +was to be. He had been nosing around up at the mine, and may have +overheard something. O' course we know what your father would have done if +he hadn't been drinking. He's straight as a string, even if he does go off +like powder. But when a man's making a blue blotter of himself, things +don't look the same to him. Anyhow he went in." + +"He didn't. I can prove he didn't," burst from Melissy's lips. + +"Be glad to hear your proof later. He ce'tainly planned the hold-up. Jim +Budd overheard him." + +"Did Jim tell you that?" + +"Don't blame him for that. He didn't mean to tell, but I wound him up so +he couldn't get away from it. I'll show you later why he couldn't." + +"I'm sure you must have been very busy, spying and everything," she told +him bitterly. + +"I've kept moving. But to get back to the point. Your father and Boone +were on the ground where the stage was robbed _either at the time or right +after_. Their tracks were all over there. Then they got on their horses +and rode up the lateral." + +"But they couldn't. The ditch was full," broke from the girl. + +"You're right it was. You must be some observing to know when that ditch +is full and empty to an hour. I reckon you've got an almanac of tides," he +said ironically. + +She bit her lip with chagrin. "I just happened to notice." + +"Some folks _are_ more noticing than others. But you're surely right. They +came up the ditch one on each side. Now, why one on each side, do you +reckon?" + +Melissy hid the dread that was flooding her heart. "I'm sure I don't +know. You know everything else. I suppose you do that, too, if they really +did." + +"They had their reasons, but we won't go into that now. First off when +they reach the house they take a bunch of sheep down to the ditch to water +them. Now, why?" + +"Why, unless because they needed water?" + +"We'll let that go into the discard too just now. Let's suppose your +father and Boone dumped the gold box down into the creek somewhere after +they had robbed the stage. Suppose they had a partner up at the +head-gates. When the signal is given down comes the water, and the box is +covered by it. Mebbe that night they take it away and bury it somewhere +else." + +The girl began to breathe again. He knew a good deal, but he was still off +the track in the main points. + +"And who is this partner up at the canal? Have you got him located too?" + +"I might guess." + +"Well?"--impatiently. + +"A young lady hailing from this _hacienda_ was out gathering flowers all +mo'ning. She was in her runabout. The tracks led straight from here to the +head-gates. I followed them through the sands. There's a little break in +one of the rubber tires. You'll find that break mark every eight feet or +so in the sand wash." + +"I opened the head-gates, then, did I?" + +"It looks that way, doesn't it?" + +"At a signal from father?" + +"I reckon." + +"And that's all the evidence you've got against him and me?" she demanded, +still outwardly scornful, but very much afraid at heart. + +"Oh, no, that ain't all, Miss Lee. Somebody locked the Chink in during +this play. He's still wondering why." + +"He dreamed it. Very likely he had been rolling a pill." + +"Did I dream this too?" From his coat pocket he drew the piece of black +shirting she had used as a mask. "I found it in the room where your father +put me up that first night I stayed here. It was your brother Dick's room, +and this came from the pocket of a shirt hanging in the closet. Now, who +do you reckon put it there?" + +For the first time in her life she knew what it was to feel faint. She +tried to speak, but the words would not come from her parched throat. How +could he be so hard and cruel, this man who had once been her best friend? +How could he stand there so like a machine in his relentlessness? + +"We--we used to--to play at hold-up when he was a boy," she gasped. + +He shook his head. "No, I reckon that won't go. You see, I've found the +piece this was torn from, _and I found it in your father's coat_. I went +into his room on tiptoe that same hour. The coat was on the bed. He had +gone downstairs for a minute and left it there. Likely he hadn't found a +good chance to burn it yet." Taking the two pieces, he fitted them +together and held them up. "They match exactly, you see. Did your father +used to play with you too when he was a boy?" + +He asked this with what seemed to her tortured soul like silken cruelty. +She had no answer, none at least that would avail. Desperately she +snatched at a straw. + +"All this isn't proof. It's mere surmise. Some one's tracks were found by +you. How do you know they were father's?" + +"I've got that cinched too. I took his boots and measured them." + +"Then where's the gold, if he took it? It must be somewhere. Where is +it?" + +"Now I'm going up to the head of the class, ma'am. The gold--why, that's a +dead easy one. _Near as I can make out, I'm sitting on it right now._" + +She gave a startled little cry that died in her throat. + +"Yes, it's ce'tainly a valuable wash-stand. Chippendale furniture ain't in +it with this kind. I reckon the king of England's is ace high against a +straight flush when it bucks up against yours." + +Melissy threw up her cards. "How did you find out?" she asked hoarsely. + +The deputy forced her to commit herself more definitely. "Find out what?" + +"Where I put the box." + +"I'll go back and answer some of those other questions first. I might as +well own up that I knew all the time your father didn't hold up the +stage." + +"You did?" + +"He's no fool. He wouldn't leave his tracks all over the place where he +had just held up a stage. He might jest as well have left a signed note +saying he had done it. No, that didn't look like Champ Lee to me. It +seemed more likely he'd arrived after the show than before. It wouldn't be +like him, either, to go plowing up the side of the ditch, with his partner +on the other side, making a trail that a blind man could follow in the +night. Soon as I knew Lee and Boone made those tracks, I had it cinched +that they were following the lateral to see where the robber was going. +They had come to the same conclusion I had, that there wasn't any way of +escape _except by that empty lateral_, _assuming it had been empty_. The +only point was to find out where the hold-up left the lateral. That's why +they rode one on each side of it. They weren't missing any bets, you +see." + +"And that's why they drove the sheep down to water--to hide the +wheel-tracks. I couldn't understand that." + +"I must 'a' been right on their heels, for they were jest getting the +trotters out of the corral when I reached the place where your rig left +the water. 'Course I fell back into the brush and circled around so as to +hit the store in front." + +"But if dad knew all the time, I don't see--surely, he wouldn't have come +right after me and made plain the way I escaped." + +"That's the point. He didn't know. I reckon he was sort of guessing around +in the dark, plumb puzzled; couldn't find the switch at all at first. Then +it come to him, and he thought of the sheep to blind the trail. If I'd +been half a hour later he would have got away with it too. No, if he had +guessed that you were in the hold-up, him and Boone would have hiked right +out on a false trail and led us into the Galiuros. Having no notion of it +at first, he trails you down." + +"And the gold--how did you find that?" + +"I knew it was either right around the place or else you had taken it on +with you when you went to the head-gates and buried it up there somewhere. +Next day I followed your tracks and couldn't find any place where you +might have left it. I knew how clever you were by the way you planned your +getaway. Struck me as mighty likely that you had left it lying around in +plain view somewhere. If you had dumped it out of the box into a sack, the +box must be somewhere. You hadn't had time to burn it before the stage got +back. I drifted back to your kindling pile, where all the old boxes from +the store are lying. I happened to notice a brass tack in one near the +end; then the marks of the tack heads where they had pressed against the +wood. I figured you might have substituted one box for another, and inside +of ten minutes I stumbled against your wash-stand and didn't budge it. +Then I didn't have to look any further." + +"I've been trying to get a chance to move it and haven't ever found one. +You were always coming around the corner on me," she explained. + +"Sorry I incommoded you," he laughed. "But it's too heavy for a lady to +lift alone, anyhow. I don't see how you managed it this far." + +"I'm pretty strong," she said quietly. + +She had no hope of escape from the net of evidence in which he had +entangled her. It was characteristic of her that she would not stoop to +tricks to stir his pity. Deep in her heart she knew now that she had +wronged him when she had suspected him of being a rustler. He _could_ not +be. It was not in the man's character. But she would ask no mercy of him. +All her pride rose to meet his. She would show him how game she could be. +What she had sown she would reap. Nor would it have been any use to +beseech him to spare her. He was a hard man, she told herself. Not even a +fool could have read any weakness in the quiet gray eyes that looked so +steadily into hers. In his voice and movements there was a certain +deliberation, but this had nothing to do with indecision of character. He +would do his duty as he saw it, regardless of whom it might affect. + +Melissy stood before him in the unconscious attitude of distinction she +often fell into when she was moved, head thrown back so as to bare the +rounded throat column, brown little hands folded in front of her, erectly +graceful in all her slender lines. + +"What are you going to do with me?" she asked. + +His stone-cold eyes met hers steadily. "It ain't my say-so. I'm going to +put it up to Bellamy. I don't know what he'll do." + +But, cold as his manner was, the heart of the man leaped to her courage. +He saw her worn out, pathetically fearful, but she could face him with +that still little smile of hers. He longed to take her in his arms, to +tell her it would be all right--all right. + +"There's one thing that troubles me. I don't know how father will take +this. You know how quick-tempered he is. I'm afraid he'll shoot somebody +or do something rash when he finds out. You must let me be alone with him +when I tell him." + +He nodded. "I been thinking of that myself. It ain't going to do him any +good to make a gun-play. I have a notion mebbe this thing will unravel +itself if we give it time. It will only make things worse for him to go +off half-cocked." + +"How do you mean it may unravel itself?" she asked. + +"Bellamy is a whole lot better man than folks give him credit for being. +I expect he won't be hard on you when he knows why you did it." + +"And why did I do it?" she asked quietly. + +"Sho! I know why you did it. Jim Budd told you what he had heard, and you +figured you could save your father from doing it. You meant to give the +money back, didn't you?" + +"Yes, but I can't prove that either in court or to Mr. Bellamy." + +"You don't need to prove it to me. If you say so, that's enough," he said +in his unenthusiastic voice. + +"But you're not judge and jury, and you're certainly not Mr. Bellamy." + +"Scrape Arizona with a fine-tooth comb and you couldn't get a jury to +convict when it's up against the facts in this case." + +At this she brightened. "Thank you, Mr. Flatray." And naïvely she added +with a little laugh: "Are you ready to put the handcuffs on me yet?" + +He looked with a smile at her outstretched hands. "They wouldn't stay +on." + +"Don't you carry them in sizes to fit all criminals?" + +"I'll have to put you on parole." + +"I'll break it and climb out the window. Then I'll run off with this." + +She indicated the box of treasure. + +"I need that wash-stand in my room. I'm going to take it up there +to-night," he said. + +"This _isn't_ a very good safety deposit vault," she answered, and, +nodding a careless good-night, she walked away in her slow-limbed, +graceful Southern fashion. + +She had carried it off to the last without breaking down, but, once in her +own room, the girl's face showed haggard in the moonlight. It was one +thing to jest about it with him; it was another to face the facts as they +stood. She was in the power of her father's enemy, the man whose proffer +of friendship they had rejected with scorn. Her pride cried out that she +could not endure mercy from him even if he wished to extend it. Surely +there must be some other way out than the humiliation of begging him not +to prosecute. She could see none but one, and that was infinitely worse. +Yet she knew it would be her father's first impulsive instinct to seek to +fight her out of her trouble, the more because it was through him that it +had fallen upon her. At all hazards she must prevent this. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A CONVERSATION + + +Not five minutes after Melissy had left the deputy sheriff, another rider +galloped up the road. Jack, returning from his room, where he had left the +box of gold locked up, waited on the porch to see who this might be. + +The horseman proved to be the man Norris, or Boone, and in a thoroughly +bad temper, as Jack soon found out. + +"Have you see anything of 'Lissie Lee?" he demanded immediately. + +"Miss Lee has just left me. She has gone to her room," answered Flatray +quietly. + +"Well, I want to see her," said the other hoarsely. + +"I reckon you better postpone it to to-morrow. She's some played out and +needs sleep." + +"Well, I'm going to see her now." + +Jack turned, still all gentleness, and called to Jim Budd, who was in the +store. + +"Oh, Jim! Run upstairs and knock on Miss Melissy's door and tell her Mr. +Norris is down here. Ask if she will see him to-night." + +"You're making a heap of formality out of this, Mr. Buttinsky," sneered +the cowpuncher. + +Jack made no answer, unless it were one to whistle gently and look out +into the night as if he were alone. + +"No, seh. She doan' wan' tuh see him to-night," announced Jim upon his +return. + +"That seems to settle it, Mr. Norris," said Jack pleasantly. + +"Not by a hell of a sight. I've got something to say to her, and I'm going +to say it." + +"To-morrow," amended the officer. + +"I said to-night." + +"But your say doesn't go here against hers. I reckon you'll wait." + +"Not so's you could notice it." The cowpuncher took a step forward toward +the stairway, but Flatray was there before him. + +"Get out of the way, you. I don't stand for any butting-in," the cowboy +blustered. + +"Don't be a goat, Norris. She's tired, and she says she don't want to see +you. That's enough, ain't it?" + +Norris leaped back with an oath to draw his gun, but Jack had the quickest +draw in Arizona. The puncher found himself looking into the business end +of a revolver. + +"Better change your mind, seh," suggested the officer amiably. "I take it +you've been drinking and you're some excited. If you were in condition to +_savez_ the situation, you'd understand that the young lady doesn't care +to see you now. Do you need a church to fall on you before you can take a +hint?" + +"I reckon if you knew all about her, you wouldn't be so anxious to stand +up for her," Norris said darkly. + +"I expect we cayn't any of us stand the great white light on all our acts; +but if any one can, it's that little girl upstairs." + +"What would you say if I told you that she's liable to go to Yuma if I +lift my hand?" + +"I'd say I was from Missouri and needed showing." + +"Put up that gun, come outside with me, and if I take a notion I'll show +you all right." + +Jack laughed as his gun disappeared. "I'd be willing to bet high that +there are a good many citizens around here haided straighter for Yuma than +Miss Melissy." + +Without answering, Norris led the way out and stopped only when his arm +rested on the fence of the corral. + +"Nobody can hear us now," he said brusquely, and the ranger got a whiff of +his hot whisky breath. "You've put it up to me to make good. All right, +I'll do it. That little girl in there, as you call her, is the bad man who +held up the Fort Allison stage." + +The officer laughed tolerantly as he lit a cigarette. + +"I hear you say it, Norris." + +"I didn't expect you to believe it right away, but it's a fact just the +same." + +Flatray climbed to the fence and rested his feet on a rail. "Fire ahead. +I'm listenin'." + +"The first men on the ground after that hold-up were me and Lee. We +covered the situation thorough and got hold of some points right away." + +"That's right funny too. When I asked you if you'd been down there you +both denied it," commented the officer. + +"We were protecting the girl. Mind you, we didn't know who had done it +then, but we had reasons to think the person had just come from this +ranch." + +"What reasons?" briefly demanded Flatray. + +"We don't need to go into them. We had them, anyhow. Then I lit on a +foot-print right on the edge of the ditch that no man ever made. We didn't +know what to make of it, but we wiped it out and followed the ditch, one +on each side. We'd figured that was the way he had gone. You see, though +water was running in the ditch now, it hadn't been half an hour before." + +"You don't say!" + +"There wasn't a sign of anybody leaving the ditch till we got to the +ranch; then we saw tracks going straight to the house." + +"So you got a bunch of sheep and drove them down there to muss things up +some." + +Norris looked sharply at him. "You got there while we were driving them +back. Well, that's right. We had to help her out." + +"You're helping her out now, ain't you?" Jack asked dryly. + +"That's my business. I've got my own reasons, Mr. Deputy. All you got to +do is arrest her." + +"Just as soon as you give me the evidence, seh." + +"Haven't I given it to you? She was seen to drive away from the house in +her rig. She left footprints down there. She came back up the ditch and +then rode right up to the head-gates and turned on the water. Jim Little +saw her cutting across country from the head-gates hell-to-split." + +"Far as I can make out, all the evidence you've given me ain't against +her, but against you. She was out drivin' when it happened, you say, and +you expect me to arrest her for it. It ain't against the law to go +driving, seh. And as for that ditch fairy tale, on your own say-so you +wiped out all chance to prove the story." + +"Then you won't arrest her?" + +"If you'll furnish the evidence, seh." + +"I tell you we know she did it. Her father knows it." + +"Is it worryin' his conscience? Did he ask you to lay an information +against her?" asked the officer sarcastically. + +"That isn't the point." + +"You're right. Here's the point." Not by the faintest motion of the body +had the officer's indolence been lifted, but the quiet ring of his voice +showed it was gone. "You and Lee were overheard planning that robbery the +day after you were seen hanging around the 'Monte Cristo.' You started out +to hold up the stage. It was held up. By your own story you were the first +men on the ground after the robbery. I tracked you straight from there +here along the ditch. I found a black mask in Lee's coat. A dozen people +saw you on that fool sheep-drive of yours. And to sum up, I found the +stolen gold right here where you must have hidden it." + +"You found the gold? Where?" + +"That ain't the point either, seh. The point is that I've got you where I +want you, Mr. Norris, alias Mr. Boone. You're wound up in a net you cayn't +get away from. You're wanted back East, and you're wanted here. I'm onto +your little game, sir. Think I don't know you've been trying to +manufacture evidence against me as a rustler? Think I ain't wise to your +whole record? You're arrested for robbing the Fort Allison stage." + +Norris, standing close in front of him, shot his right hand out and +knocked the officer backward from the fence. Before the latter could get +on his feet again the cowpuncher was scudding through the night. He +reached his horse, flung himself on, and galloped away. Harmlessly a +bullet or two zipped after him as he disappeared. + +The deputy climbed over the fence again and laughed softly to himself. +"You did that right well, Jack. He'll always think he did that by his +lone, never will know you was a partner in that escape. It's a fact, +though, I could have railroaded him through on the evidence, but not +without including the old man. No, there wasn't any way for it but that +grandstand escape of Mr. Boone's." + +Still smiling, he dusted himself, put up his revolver, and returned to the +house. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TENDERFOOT MAKES A PROPOSITION + + +Melissy waited in dread expectancy to see what would happen. Of quick, +warm sympathies, always ready to bear with courage her own and others' +burdens, she had none of that passive endurance which age and experience +bring. She was keyed to the heroism of an occasion, but not yet to that +which life lays as a daily burden upon many without dramatic emphasis. + +All next day nothing took place. On the succeeding one her father returned +with the news that the "Monte Cristo" contest had been continued to +another term of court. Otherwise nothing unusual occurred. It was after +mail time that she stepped to the porch for a breath of fresh air and +noticed that the reward placard had been taken down. + +"Who did that?" she asked of Alan McKinstra, who was sitting on the steps, +reading a newspaper and munching an apple. + +"Jack Flatray took it down. He said the offer of a reward had been +withdrawn." + +"When did he do that?" + +"About an hour ago. Just before he rode off." + +"Rode off! Where did he go?" + +"Heard him say he was going to Mesa. He told your father that when he +settled the bill." + +"He's gone for good, then?" + +"That's the way I took it. Say, Melissy, Farnum says Jack told him the +gold had been found and turned back to Morse. Is that right?" + +"How should I know?" + +"Well, it looks blamed funny they could get the bullion back without +getting the hold-up." + +"Maybe they'll get him yet," she consoled him. + +"I wish I could get a crack at him," the boy murmured vengefully. + +"You had one chance at him, didn't you?" + +"José spoiled it. Honest, I wasn't going to lie down, 'Lissie." + +Again the days followed each other uneventfully. Bellamy himself never +came for his mail now, but sent one of the boys from the mine for it. +Melissy wondered whether he despised her so much he did not ever want to +see her again. Somehow she did not like to think this. Perhaps it might be +delicacy on his part. He was going to drop the whole thing magnanimously +and did not want to put upon her the obligation of thanking him by +presenting himself to her eyes. + +But though he never appeared in person, he had never been so much in her +mind. She could not rid herself of a growing sympathy and admiration for +this man who was holding his own against many. A story which was being +whispered about reached her ears and increased this. A bunch of his sheep +had been found poisoned on their feeding ground, and certain cattle +interests were suspected of having done the dastardly thing. + +When she could stand the silence no longer Melissy called up Jack Flatray +on the telephone at Mesa. + +"You caught me just in time. I'm leaving for Phoenix to-night," he told +her. "What can I do for you, Miss Lee?" + +"I want to know what's being done about that Fort Allison stage hold-up." + +"The money has been recovered." + +"I know that, but--what about the--the criminals?" + +"They made their getaway all right." + +"Aren't you looking for them?" + +"No." + +"Did Mr. Morse want you to drop it?" + +"Yes. He was very urgent about it." + +"Does he know who the criminals are?" + +"Yes." + +"And isn't going to prosecute?" + +"So he told me." + +"What did Mr. Morse say when you made your report?" + +"Said, 'Thank you.'" + +"Oh, yes, but--you know what I mean." + +"Not being a mind-reader----" + +"About the suspect. Did he say anything?" + +"Said he had private reasons for not pushing the case. I didn't ask him +what they were." + +This was all she could get out of him. It was less than she had hoped. +Still, it was something. She knew definitely what Bellamy had done. +Wherefore she sat down to write him a note of thanks. It took her an hour +and eight sheets of paper before she could complete it to her +satisfaction. Even then the result was not what she wanted. She wished she +knew how he felt about it, so that she could temper it to the right degree +of warmth or coolness. Since she did not know, she erred on the side of +stiffness and made her message formal. + + "Mr. Thomas L. Morse, + "Monte Cristo Mine. + "Dear Sir: + + "Father and I feel that we ought to thank you for your considerate + forbearance in a certain matter you know of. Believe me, sir, we are + grateful. + + "Very respectfully, + "Melissy Lee." +She could not, however, keep herself from one touch of sympathy, and as a +postscript she naïvely added: + +"I'm sorry about the sheep." + +Before mailing it she carried this letter to her father. Neither of them +had ever referred to the other about what each knew of the affair of the +robbery. More than once it had been on the tip of Champ Lee's tongue to +speak of it, but it was not in his nature to talk out what he felt, and +with a sigh he had given it up. Now Melissy came straight to the point. + +"I've been writing a letter to Mr. Morse, dad, thanking him for not having +me arrested." + +Lee shot at her a glance of quick alarm. + +"Does he know about it, honey?" + +"Yes. Jack Flatray found out the whole thing and told him. He was very +insistent on dropping it, Mr. Flatray says." + +"You say Jack found out all about it, honey?" repeated Lee in surprise. + +He was seated in a big chair on the porch, and she nestled on one arm of +it, rumpled his gray hair as she had always done since she had been a +little girl, kissed him, and plunged into her story. + +He heard her to the end without a word, but she noticed that he gripped +the chair hard. When she had finished he swept her into his arms and broke +down over her, calling her the pet names of her childhood. + +"Honey-bird ... Dad's little honey-bird ... I'm that ashamed of myse'f. +'Twas the whisky did it, lambie. Long as I live I'll nevah touch it again. +I'll sweah that befo' God. All week you been packin' the troubles I +heaped on you, precious, and afteh you-all saved me from being a +criminal...." + +So he went on, spending his tempestuous love in endearments and caresses, +and so together they afterward talked it out and agreed to send the letter +she had written. + +But Lee was not satisfied with her atonement. He could not rest to let it +go at that, without expressing his own part in it to Bellamy. Next day he +rode up to the mine, and found its owner in workman's slops just stepping +from the cage. If Bellamy were surprised to see him, no sign of it reached +his face. + +"If you'll wait a minute till I get these things off, I'll walk up to the +cabin with you, Mr. Lee," he said. + +"I reckon you got my daughter's letter," said Lee abruptly as he strode up +the mountainside with his host. + +"Yes, I got it an hour ago." + +"I be'n and studied it out, Mr. Morse. I couldn't let it go at that, and +so I reckoned I'd jog along up hyer and tell you the whole story." + +"That's as you please, Mr. Lee. I'm quite satisfied as it is." + +The rancher went on as if he had not heard. "'Course I be'n holding a +grudge at you evah since you took up this hyer claim. I expect that +rankles with me most of the time, and when I take to drinking seems to me +that mine still belongs to me. Well, I heerd tell of that shipment you was +making, and I sets out to git it, for it ce'tainly did seem to belong to +me. Understand, I wasn't drunk, but had be'n settin' pretty steady to the +bottle for several days. Melissy finds it out, no matter how, and +undertakes to keep me out of trouble. She's that full of sand, she nevah +once thought of the danger or the consequences. Anyhow, she meant to git +the bullion back to you afteh the thing had blown over." + +"I haven't doubted that a moment since I knew she did it," said Bellamy +quietly. + +"Glad to hear it. I be'n misjudgin' you, seh, but you're a white man afteh +all. Well, you know the rest of the story: how she held up the stage, how +Jack drapped in befo' our tracks were covered, how smart he worked the +whole thing out, and how my little gyurl confessed to him to save me." + +"Yes, I know all that." + +"What kind of a figure do I make in this? First off, I act like a durn +fool, and she has to step in to save me. Then I let her tote the worry of +it around while I ride off to Mesa. When Jack runs me down, she takes the +blame again. To finish up with, she writes you a letter of thanks, jes' as +if the whole fault was hers." + +The old soldier selected a smooth rock and splashed it with tobacco juice +before he continued with rising indignation against himself. + +"I'm a fine father for a gyurl like that, ain't I? Up to date I always +had an idee I was some sort of a man, but dad gum it! I cayn't see it +hyer. To think of me lettin' my little gyurl stand the consequences of my +meanness. No, Mr. Morse, that's one too much for Champ Lee. He's nevah +going to touch another drop of whisky long as he lives." + +"Glad to hear it. That's a square amend to make, one she will +appreciate." + +"So I took a _pasear_ up hyer to explain this, and to thank you for yore +kindness. Fac' is, Mr. Morse, it would have jest about killed me if +anything had happened to my little 'Lissie. I want to say that if you had +a-be'n her brother you couldn't 'a' be'n more decent." + +"There was nothing else to do. It happens that I am in her debt. She saved +my life once. Besides, I understood the motives for her action when she +broke the law, and I honored them with all my heart. Flatray felt just as +I did about it. So would any right-thinking man." + +"Well, you cayn't keep me from sayin' again that you're a white man, seh," +the other said with a laugh behind which the emotion of tears lay near. + +"That offer of a compromise is still open, Mr. Lee." + +The Southerner shook his grizzled head. "No, I reckon not, Mr. Morse. +Understand, I got nothin' against you. The feud is wiped out, and I'll +make you no mo' trouble. But it's yore mine, and I don't feel like taking +charity. I got enough anyhow." + +"It wouldn't be charity. I've always felt as if you had a moral claim on +an interest in the 'Monte Cristo.' If you won't take this yourself, why +not let me make out the papers to Miss Lee? You would feel then that she +was comfortably fixed, no matter what happened to you." + +"Well, I'll lay it befo' her. Anyhow, we're much obliged to you, Mr. +Morse. I'll tell you what, seh," he added as an after-thought. "You come +down and talk it over with 'Lissie. If you can make her see it that way, +good enough." + +When Champ Lee turned his bronco's head homeward he was more at peace with +the world than he had been for a long time. He felt that he would be able +to look his little girl in the face again. For the first time in a week he +felt at one with creation. He rode into the ranch plaza humming "Dixie." + +On the day following that of Lee's call, the mine-owner saddled his mare +and took the trail to the half-way house. It was not until after the stage +had come and gone that he found the chance for a word with Melissy alone. + +"Your father submitted my proposition, did he?" Bellamy said by way of +introducing the subject. + +"Let's take a walk on it. I haven't been out of the house to-day," she +answered with the boyish downrightness sometimes uppermost in her. + +Calling Jim, she left him in charge of the store, caught up a Mexican +sombrero, and led the way up the trail to a grove of live-oaks perched on +a bluff above. Below them stretched the plain, fold on fold to the blue +horizon edge. Close at hand clumps of cactus, thickets of mesquit, +together with the huddled adobe buildings of the ranch, made up the +details of a scene possible only in the sunburnt territory. The +palpitating heat quivered above the hot brown sand. No life stirred in the +valley except a circling buzzard high in the sky, and the tiny moving +speck with its wake of dust each knew to be the stage that had left the +station an hour before. + +Melissy, unconscious of the charming picture she made, stood upon a rock +and looked down on it all. + +"I suppose," she said at last slowly, "that most people would think this +pretty desolate. But it's a part of me. It's all I know." She broke off +and smiled at him. "I had a chance to be civilized. Dad wanted to send me +East to school, but I couldn't leave him." + +"Where were you thinking of going?" + +"To Denver." + +Her conception of the East amused him. It was about as accurate as a New +Yorker's of the West. + +"I'm glad you didn't. It would have spoiled you and sent you back just +like every other young lady the schools grind out." + +She turned curiously toward him. "Am I not like other girls?" + +It was on his tongue tip to tell her that she was gloriously different +from most girls he had known, but discretion sealed his lips. Instead, he +told her of life in the city and what it means to society women, its +emptiness and unsatisfaction. + +His condemnation was not proof positive to her. "I'd like to go there for +myself some time and see. And anyhow it must be nice to have all the money +you want with which to travel," she said. + +This gave him his opening. "It makes one independent. I think that's the +best thing wealth can give--a sort of spaciousness." He waited perceptibly +before he added: "I hope you have decided to be my partner in the mine." + +"I've decided not to." + +"I'm sorry. But why?" + +"It's your mine. It isn't ours." + +"That's nonsense. I always in my heart, recognized a moral claim you have. +Besides, the case isn't finished yet. Perhaps your father may win his +contest. I'm all for settling out of court." + +"You know we won't win." + +"I don't." + +She gave him applause from her dark eyes. "That's very fair of you, but +Dad and I can't do it." + +"Then you still have a grudge at me," he smiled. + +"Not the least little bit of a one." + +"I shan't take no for an answer, then. I'll order the papers made out +whether you want me to or not." Without giving her a chance to speak, he +passed to another topic: "I've decided to go out of the sheep business." + +"I'm so glad!" she cried. + +"Those aren't my feelings," he answered ruefully. "I hate to quit under +fire." + +"Of course you do, but your friends will know why you do it." + +"Why do I do it?" + +"Because you know it's right. The cattlemen had the range first. Their +living is tied up in cattle, and your sheep are ruining the feed for them. +Yesterday when I was out riding I counted the bones of eight dead cows." + +He nodded gravely. "Yes, in this country sheep are death to cows. I hate +to be a quitter, but I hate worse to take the bread out of the mouths of a +dozen families. Two days ago I had an offer for my whole bunch, and +to-morrow I'm going to take the first instalment over the pass and drive +them down to the railroad." + +"But you'll have to cross the dead line to get over the pass," she said +quickly; for all Cattleland knew that a guard had been watching his herds +to see they did not cross the pass. + +"Yes. I'm going to send Alan with a letter to Farnum. I don't think there +will be any opposition to my crossing it when my object is understood," he +smiled. + +Melissy watched him ride away, strong and rugged and ungraceful, from the +head to the heel of him a man. Life had gone hard with him. She wondered +whether that were the reason her heart went out to him so warmly. + +As she moved about her work that day and the next little snatches of song +broke from her, bubbling forth like laughter, born of the quiet happiness +within, for which she could give no reason. + +After the stage had gone she saddled her pony and rode toward the head of +the pass. In an hour or two now the sheep would be pouring across the +divide, and she wanted to get a photograph of them as they emerged from +the pass. She was following an old cattle trail which ran into the main +path just this side of the pass, and she was close to the junction when +the sound of voices stopped her. Some instinct made her wait and listen. + +The speakers were in a dip of the trail just ahead of her, and the voice +of the first she recognized as belonging to the man Boone. The tone of it +was jubilantly cruel. + +"No, sir. You don't move a step of the way, not a step, Mr. Alan +McKinstra. I've got him right where I want him, and I don't care if you +talk till the cows come home." + +Alan's voice rang out indignantly, "It's murder then--just plain, low-down +murder. If you hold me here and let Morse fall into a death trap without +warning him, you're as responsible as if you shot him yourself." + +"All right. Suits me down to the ground. We'll let it go at that. I'm +responsible. If you want the truth flat and plain, I don't mind telling +you that I wouldn't be satisfied if I wasn't responsible. I'm evening up +some little things with Mr. Morse to-day." + +Melissy needed to hear no more to understand the situation, but if she +had, the next words of Boone would have cleared it up. + +"When I met up with you and happened on the news that you was taking a +message to Farnum, and when I got onto the fact that Morse, as you call +him, was moving his sheep across the dead line, _relying on you having got +his letter to the cattlemen to make it safe_, it seemed luck too good to +be true. All I had to do was to persuade you to stay right here with me, +and Mr. Morse would walk into the pass and be wiped out. You get the +beauty of it, my friend, don't you? _I'm_ responsible, but it will be +Farnum and his friends that will bear the blame. There ain't but one flaw +in the whole thing: Morse will never know that it's me that killed him." + +"You devil!" cried the boy, with impotent passion. + +"I've waited ten years for this day, and it's come at last. Don't you +think for a moment I'm going to weaken. No, sir! You'll sit there with my +gun poked in your face just as you've sat for six hours. It's my say-so +to-day, sir," Boone retorted, malevolence riding triumph in his voice. + +Melissy's first impulse was to confront the man, her next to slip away +without being discovered and then give the alarm. + +"Yes, sir," continued the cowpuncher; "I scored on Mr. Morse two or three +nights ago, when I played hell with one of his sheep camps, and to-day I +finish up with him. His sheep have been watched for weeks, and at the +first move it's all up with him and them. Farnum's vaqueros will pay my +debt in full. Just as soon as I'm right sure of it I'll be jogging along +to Dead Man's Cache, and you can go order the coffin for your boss." + +The venom of the man was something to wonder at. It filled the listening +girl with sick apprehension. She had not known that such hatred could live +in the world. + +Quietly she led her pony back, mounted, and made a wide detour until she +struck the trail above. Already she could hear the distant bleat of sheep +which told her that the herd was entering the pass. Recklessly she urged +her pony forward, galloping into the saddle between the peaks without +regard to the roughness of the boulder-strewn path. A voice from above +hailed her with a startled shout as she flew past. Again, a shot rang out, +the bullet whistling close to her ear. But nothing could stop her till she +reached the man she meant to save. + +And so it happened that Richard Bellamy, walking at the head of his herd, +saw a horse gallop wildly round a bend almost into his bleating flock. The +rider dragged the bronco to a halt and slipped to the ground. She stood +there ashen-hued, clinging to the saddle-horn and swaying slightly. + +"I'm in time.... Thank God!... Thank God!" her parched lips murmured. + +"Miss Lee! You here?" he cried. + +They looked at each other, the man and the girl, while the wild fear in +her heart began to still. The dust of the drive was thick on his boots, +his clothes, his face, but the soil of travel could not obscure the power +of his carriage, the strong lines of his shoulders, the set of his broad, +flat back, any more than it could tarnish her rarity, the sweetness of +blood in her that under his gaze beat faintly into her dusky cheeks. The +still force of him somehow carried reassurance to her. Such virility of +manhood could not be marked for extinction. + +She panted out her story, and his eyes never left her. + +"You have risked your life to save mine and my herders," he said very +quietly. + +"You must go back," she replied irrelevantly. + +"I can't. The entrance is guarded." + +This startled her. "Then--what shall we do?" + +"You must ride forward at once. Tell the vaqueros that I am moving my +sheep only to take them to the railroad. Explain to them how Alan is +detained with the message I sent Farnum. In a few minutes we shall follow +with the sheep." + +"And if they don't believe that you are going out of the sheep +business--what then?" + +"I shall have to take my chance of that." + +She seemed about to speak, but changed her mind, nodded, swung to the +saddle, and rode forward. After a few minutes Bellamy followed slowly. He +was unarmed, not having doubted that his letter to the cattleman would +make his journey safe. That he should have waited for an answer was now +plain, but the contract called for an immediate delivery of the sheep, as +he had carefully explained in his note to Farnum. + +Presently he heard again the clatter of a horse's hoofs in the loose shale +and saw Melissy returning. + +"Well?" he asked as she drew up. + +"I've told them. I think they believe me, but I'm going through the gorge +with you." + +He looked up quickly to protest, but did not. He knew that her thought was +that her presence beside him would protect him from attack. The rough +chivalry of Arizona takes its hat off to a woman, and Melissy Lee was a +favorite of the whole countryside. + +So together they passed into the gulch, Bellamy walking by the side of her +horse. Neither of them spoke. At their heels was the soft rustle of many +thousands of padding feet. + +Once there came to them the sound of cheering, and they looked up to see +a group of vaqueros waving their hats and shouting down. Melissy shook her +handkerchief and laughed happily at them. It was a day to be remembered by +these riders. + +They emerged into a roll of hill-tops upon which the setting sun had cast +a weird afterglow of radiance in which the whole world burned. The cactus, +the stunted shrubbery, the painted rocks, seemed all afire with some magic +light that had touched their commonness to a new wonder. + +A sound came to them from below. A man, rifle in hand and leading a horse, +was stealthily crossing the trail to disappear among the large boulders +beyond. + +Melissy did not speak, scarce dared to draw breath, for the man beneath +them was Boone. There was something furtive and lupine about him that +suggested the wild beast stalking its kill. No doubt he had become +impatient to see the end of his foe and had ridden forward. He had almost +crossed the path before he looked up and caught sight of them standing +together in the fireglow of the sunset. + +Abruptly he came to a standstill. + +"By God! you slipped through, did you?" he said in a low voice of +concentrated bitterness. + +Bellamy did not answer, but he separated himself from the girl by a step +or two. He knew quite well what was coming, and he looked down quietly +with steady eyes upon his foe. + +From far below there came the faint sound of a horse breaking its way +through brush. Boone paused to listen, but his eye never wandered from the +bareheaded, motionless figure silhouetted against the skyline in the ruddy +evening glow. He had shifted his rifle so that it lay in both hands, ready +for immediate action. + +Melissy, horror-stricken, had sat silent, but now she found her voice. + +"He is unarmed!" she cried to the cowpuncher. + +He made no answer. Another sound in the brush, close at hand, was +distracting his attention, though not his gaze. + +Just as he whipped up his rifle Melissy sprang forward. She heard the +sound of the explosion fill the draw, saw Bellamy clutch at the air and +slowly sink to the ground. Before the echoes had died away she had flung +herself toward the inert body. + +The outlaw took a step or two forward, as if to make sure of his work, but +at the sound of running footsteps he changed his mind, swung to the saddle +and disappeared among the rocks. + +An instant later Bob Farnum burst into view. + +"What's up?" he demanded. + +Melissy looked up. Her face was perfectly ashen. "Phil Norris ... he shot +Mr. Morse." + +Farnum stepped forward. "Hurt badly, Mr. Morse?" + +The wounded man grinned faintly. "Scared worse, I reckon. He got me in the +fleshy part of the left arm." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +OLD ACQUAINTANCES + + +"You wanted to see me?" + +The voice had the soft, slow intonation of the South, and it held some +quality that haunted the memory. Or so Melissy thought afterward, but that +may have been because of its owner's appeal to sympathy. + +"If you are Miss Yarnell." + +"Ferne Yarnell is my name." + +"Mr. Bellamy asked me to call on you. He sent this letter of +introduction." + +A faint wave of color beat into the cheek of the stranger. "You know Mr. +Bellamy then?" + +"Yes. He would have been here to meet you, but he met with an accident +yesterday." + +"An accident!" There was a quick flash of alarm in the lifted face. + +"He told me to tell you that it was not serious. He was shot in the arm." + +"Shot. By whom?" She was ashen to the lips. + +"By a man called Duncan Boone." + +"I know him. He is a dangerous man." + +"Yes," Melissy nodded. "I don't think we know how very dangerous he is. We +have all been deceived in him till recently." + +"Does he live here?" + +"Yes. The strange thing is that he and Mr. Bellamy had never met in this +country until a few days ago. There used to be some kind of a feud between +the families. But you must know more about that than I do." + +"Yes. My family is involved in the feud. Mr. Bellamy is a distant cousin +of mine." + +"So he told me." + +"Have you known him long?" + +Melissy thought that there was a little more than curiosity in the quick +look the young woman flung at her. + +"I met him when he first came here. He was lost on the desert and I found +him. After that we became very unfriendly. He jumped a mining claim +belonging to my father. But we've made it up and agreed to be friends." + +"He wrote about the young lady who saved his life." + +Melissy smiled. "Did he say that I was a cattle and a stage rustler?" + +"He said nothing that was not good." + +"I'm much obliged to him," the Western girl answered breezily. "And now do +tell me, Miss Yarnell, that you and your people have made up your mind to +stay permanently." + +"Father is still looking the ground over. He has almost decided to buy a +store here. Yet he has been in the town only a day. So you see he must +like it." + +Outside the open second story window of the hotel Melissy heard a voice +that sounded familiar. She moved toward the window alcove, and at the same +time a quick step was heard in the hall. Someone opened the door of the +parlor and stood on the threshold. It was the man called Boone. + +Melissy, from the window, glanced round. Her first impulse was to speak; +her second to remain silent. For the Arkansan was not looking at her. His +mocking ribald gaze was upon Ferne Yarnell. + +That young woman looked up from the letter of introduction she was reading +and a startled expression swept into her face. + +"Dunc Boone," she cried. + +The man doffed his hat with elaborate politeness. "Right glad to meet up +with you again, Miss Ferne. You was in short dresses when I saw you last. +My, but you've grown pretty. Was it because you heard I was in Arizona +that you came here?" + +She rose, rejecting in every line of her erect figure his impudent +geniality, his insolent pretense of friendliness. + +"My brother is in the hotel. If he learns you are here there will be +trouble." + +A wicked malice lay in his smiling eyes. "Trouble for him or for me?" he +inquired silkily. + +His lash flicked her on the raw. Hal Yarnell was a boy of nineteen. This +man had a long record as a gunfighter to prove him a desperate man. +Moreover, he knew how hopelessly heart sick she was of the feud that for +many years had taken its toll of blood. + +"Haven't you done us enough harm, you and yours? Go away. Leave us alone. +That's all I ask of you." + +He came in and closed the door. "But you see it ain't all I ask of you, +Ferne Yarnell. I always did ask all I could get of a girl as pretty as +you." + +"Will you leave me, sir?" + +"When I'm through." + +"Now." + +"No, I reckon not," he drawled between half shuttered eyes. + +She moved toward the door, but he was there before her. With a turn of his +wrist he had locked it. + +"This interview quits at my say-so, honey. Think after so many years of +absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder you're going to trample over me like I +was a kid? Guess again." + +"Unlock that door," she ordered. + +"When I get good and ready. We'll have our talk out first." + +Her eyes blazed. She was white as paper though she faced him steadily. But +her heart wavered. She dared not call out for fear her brother might hear +and come to her assistance. This she must forestall at all costs. + +A heel clicked in the alcove. For the first time Norris, or Boone as the +Southern girl had called him, became aware of a third party in the room. +Melissy was leaning out of the window. She called down to a man standing +on the street. + +"Jack, come up here quick. I want you." + +Boone took a step forward. "You here, 'Lissie Lee?" + +She laughed scornfully. "Yes, I'm here. An unexpected pleasure, isn't +it?" + +"Do you know Ferne Yarnell?" he asked, for once taken aback. + +"It looks as if I do." + +His quick furtive eye fell upon an envelope on the floor. He picked it up. +Upon it was written, "Miss Ferne Yarnell," and in the corner, "Introducing +Miss Lee." + +A muscle twitched in his face. When he looked up there was an expression +of devilish malignity on it. + +"Mr. Bellamy's handwriting, looks like." He turned to the Arizona girl. +"Then I didn't put the fellow out of business." + +"No, you coward." + +The angry color crept to the roots of his hair. "Better luck next time." + +The door knob rattled. Someone outside was trying to get in. Those inside +the room paid no obvious attention to him. The venomous face of the +cattle detective held the women fascinated. + +"When Dick Bellamy ambushed Shep he made a hell of a bad play of it. My +old mammy used to say that the Boones were born wolves. I can see where +she was right. The man that killed my brother gets his one of these days +and don't you forget it. You just stick around. We're due to shoot this +thing out, him and me," the man continued, his deep-socketed eyes burning +from the grim handsome face. + +"Open the door," ordered a voice from the hall, shaking the knob +violently. + +"You don't know he killed your brother. Someone else may have done it. And +it may have been done in self defence," the Arkansas girl said to Boone in +a voice so low and reluctant that it appeared the words were wrung from +her by torture. + +"Think I'm a buzzard head? Why for did he run away? Why did he jump for +the sandhills soon as the word came to arrest him?" He snapped together +his straight, thin-lipped mouth, much as a trap closes on its prey. + +A heavy weight hurtled against the door and shook it to the hinges. +Melissy had been edging to the right. Now with a twist of her lissom body +she had slipped past the furious man and turned the key. + +Jack Flatray came into the room. His glance swept the young women and +fastened on the man. In the crossed eyes of the two was the thrust of +rapiers, the grinding of steel on steel, that deadly searching for +weakness in the other that duelists employ. + +The deputy spoke in a low soft drawl. "Mornin', Boone. Holding an +executive session, are you?" + +The lids of the detective narrowed to slits. From the first there had been +no pretense of friendship between these two. There are men who have only +to look once at each other to know they will be foes. It had been that way +with them. Causes of antagonism had arisen quickly enough. Both dominant +personalities, they had waged silent unspoken warfare for the leadership +of the range. Later over the favor of Melissy Lee this had grown more +intense, still without having ever been put into words. Now they were face +to face, masks off. + +"Why yes, until you butted in, Mr. Sheriff." + +"This isn't my busy day. I thought I'd just drop in to the meeting." + +"You've made a mistake. We're not holding a cattle rustlers' convention." + +"There are so many ladies present I can't hear you, but maybe if you said +it outside I could," the deputy suggested gently, a gleam of steely anger +in his eyes. + +"Say it anywhere to oblige a friend," sneered Boone. + +From the moment of meeting neither man had lowered his gaze by the +fraction of an inch. Red tragedy was in the air. Melissy knew it. The +girl from Arkansas guessed as much. Yet neither of them knew how to avert +the calamity that appeared impending. One factor alone saved the situation +for the moment. Flatray had not yet heard of the shooting of Bellamy. Had +he known he would have arrested Boone on the spot and the latter would +have drawn and fought it out. + +Into the room sauntered Lee. "Hello, 'Lissie. Been looking for you an +hour, honey. Mornin', Norris. Howdy, Jack! Dad burn yore ornery hide, I +ain't see you long enough for a good talk in a coon's age." + +Melissy seized on her father joyfully as an interposition of Providence. +"Father, this is Miss Yarnell, the young lady I told you about." + +The ranchman buried her little hand in his big paw. "Right glad to meet up +with you, Miss Yarnell. How do you like Arizona by this time? I reckon +Melissy has introduced you to her friends. No? Make you acquainted with +Mr. Flatray. Shake hands with Mr. Norris, Miss Yarnell. Where are you, +Norris?" + +The owner of the Bar Double G swung round, to discover for the first time +that harmony was not present. Boone stood back with a sullen vindictive +expression on his face. + +"Why, what's up, boys?" the rancher asked, his glance passing from one to +another. + +"You ain't in this, Lee," Boone informed him. Then, to Flatray: "See you +later." + +The deputy nodded carelessly. "Any time you like." + +The lank old Confederate took a step forward to call Boone back, but +Melissy caught him by the sleeve. + +"Let him go," she whispered emphatically. + +"I know my boss," returned Lee with a laugh. + +"If you're quite through with me, Miss Lee, I'll not intrude longer," +Flatray said. + +"But I'm not," spoke Melissy quickly. + +She did not intend to let him get away to settle his quarrel with Boone. + +"I'm rather busy," he suggested. + +"Your business will have to wait," she came back decisively. + +Lee laughed and clapped Jack on the shoulder. "Might as well know your +boss too, boy." + +Melissy flushed with a flash of temper. "I'm nothing of the kind, dad." + +"Sho! A joke's a joke, girl. That's twice hand-runnin' I get a call-down. +You're mighty high-heeled to-day, 'pears like." + +Jack smiled grimly. He understood some things that were hidden from Lee. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +CONCERNING THE BOONE-BELLAMY-YARNELL FEUD + + +The story that Ferne Yarnell told them in the parlor of the hotel had its +beginnings far back in the days before the great war. They had been +neighbors, these three families, had settled side by side in this new land +of Arkansas, had hunted and feasted together in amity. In an hour had +arisen the rift between them that was to widen to a chasm into which much +blood had since been spilt. It began with a quarrel between hotheaded +young men. Forty years later it was still running its blind wasteful +course. + +Even before the war the Boones had begun to go down hill rapidly. Cad +Boone, dissipated and unprincipled, had found even the lax discipline of +the Confederate army too rigid and had joined the guerrillas, that band of +hangers-on which respected neither flag and developed a cruelty that was +appalling. Falling into the hands of Captain Ransom Yarnell, he had been +tried by drumhead courtmartial and executed within twenty four hours of +his capture. + +The boast of the Boones was that they never forgot an injury. They might +wait many years for the chance, but in the end they paid their debts. +Twenty years after the war Sugden Boone shot down Colonel Yarnell as he +was hitching his horse in front of the courthouse at Nemo. Next Christmas +eve a brother of the murdered man--Captain Tom, as his old troopers still +called him--met old Sugden in the postoffice and a revolver duel followed. +From it Captain Tom emerged with a bullet in his arm. Sugden was carried +out of the store feet first to a house of mourning. + +The Boones took their time. Another decade passed. Old Richard Bellamy, +father of the young man, was shot through the uncurtained window of his +living rooms while reading the paper one night. Though related to the +Yarnells, he had never taken any part in the feud beyond that of +expressing his opinion freely. The general opinion was that he had been +killed by Dunc Boone, but there was no conclusive evidence to back it. +Three weeks later another one of the same faction met his fate. Captain +Tom was ambushed while riding from his plantation to town and left dead on +the road. Dunc Boone had been seen lurking near the spot, and immediately +after the killing he was met by two hunters as he was slipping through the +underbrush for the swamps. There was no direct evidence against the young +man, but Captain Tom had been the most popular man in the county. Reckless +though he was, Duncan Boone had been forced to leave the country by the +intensity of the popular feeling against him. + +Again the feud had slumbered. It was understood that the Yarnells and the +Bellamys were ready to drop it. Only one of the opposite faction remained +on the ground, a twin brother of Duncan. Shep Boone was a drunken +ne'er-do-well, but since he now stood alone nothing more than empty +threats was expected of him. He spent his time idly with a set of gambling +loafers, but he lacked the quality of active malice so pronounced in +Dunc. + +A small part of the old plantation, heavily mortgaged, still belonged to +Shep and was rented by him to a tenant, Jess Munro. He announced one day +that he was going to collect the rent due him. Having been drinking +heavily, he was in an abusive frame of mind. As it chanced he met young +Hal Yarnell, just going into the office of his kinsman Dick Bellamy, with +whom he was about to arrange the details of a hunting trip they were +starting upon. Shep emptied his spleen on the boy, harking back to the old +feud and threatening vengeance at their next meeting. The boy was white +with rage, but he shut his teeth and passed upstairs without saying a +word. + +The body of Shep Boone was found next day by Munro among the blackberry +bushes at the fence corner of his own place. No less than four witnesses +had seen young Yarnell pass that way with a rifle in his hand about the +same time that Shep was riding out from town. They had heard a shot, but +had thought little of it. Munro had been hoeing cotton in the field and +had seen the lad as he passed. Later he had heard excited voices, and +presently a shot. Other circumstantial evidence wound a net around the +boy. He was arrested. Before the coroner held an inquest a new development +startled the community. Dick Bellamy fled on a night train, leaving a note +to the coroner exonerating Hal. In it he practically admitted the crime, +pleading self defence. + +This was the story that Ferne Yarnell told in the parlor of the Palace +Hotel to Jack Flatray and the Lees. + +Melissy spoke first. "Did Mr. Bellamy kill the man to keep your brother +from being killed?" + +"I don't know. It must have been that. It's all so horrible." + +The deputy's eyes gleamed. "Think of it another way, Miss Yarnell. Bellamy +was up against it. Your brother is only a boy. He took his place. A friend +couldn't have done more for another." + +The color beat into the face of the Arkansas girl as she looked at him. +"No. He sacrificed his career for him. He did a thing he must have hated +to do." + +"He's sure some man," Flatray pronounced. + +A young man, slight, quick of step, and erect as a willow sapling, walked +into the room. He looked from one to another with clear level eyes. Miss +Ferne introduced him as her brother. + +A thought crossed the mind of the deputy. Perhaps this boy had killed his +enemy after all and Bellamy had shouldered the blame for him. If the mine +owner were in love with Ferne Yarnell this was a hypothesis more than +possible. In either case he acquitted the slayer of blame. In his pocket +was a letter from the sheriff at Nemo, Arkansas, stating that his county +was well rid of Shep Boone and that the universal opinion was that neither +Bellamy nor young Yarnell had been to blame for the outcome of the +difficulty. Unless there came to him an active demand for the return of +Bellamy he intended to let sleeping dogs lie. + +No such demand came. Within a month the mystery was cleared. The renter +Munro delivered himself to the sheriff at Nemo, admitting that he had +killed Shep Boone in self defence. The dead man had been drinking and was +exceedingly quarrelsome. He had abused his tenant and at last drawn on +him. Whereupon Munro had shot him down. At first afraid of what might +happen to him, he had stood aside and let the blame be shouldered upon +young Yarnell. But later his conscience had forced him to a confession. It +is enough here to say that he was later tried and acquitted, thus closing +the chapter of the wastrel's tragic death. + +The day after the news of Munro's confession reached Arizona Richard +Bellamy called upon Flatray to invite him to his wedding. As soon as his +name was clear he had asked Ferne Yarnell to marry him. + + + + +PART II + +DEAD MAN'S CACHE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +KIDNAPPED + + +As a lake ripples beneath a summer breeze, so Mesa was stirred from its +usual languor by the visit of Simon West. For the little Arizona town was +dreaming dreams. Its imagination had been aroused; and it saw itself no +longer a sleepy cow camp in the unfeatured desert, but a metropolis, in +touch with twentieth-century life. + +The great Simon West, pirate of finance, empire builder, molder of the +destinies of the mighty Southwestern Pacific system, was to touch the +adobe village with his transforming wand and make of it a hive of +industry. Rumors flew thick and fast. + +Mesa was to be the junction for the new spur that would run to the big +Lincoln dam. The town would be a division point; the machine shops of the +system would be located there. Its future, if still a trifle vague, was +potentially immense. Thus, with cheerful optimism, did local opinion +interpret the visit of the great man. + +Whatever Simon West may have thought of Mesa and its prospects, he kept +behind his thin, close-shut lips. He was a dry, gray little man of +fifty-five, with sharp, twinkling eyes that saw everything and told +nothing. Certainly he wore none of the visible signs of greatness, yet at +his nod Wall Street trembled. He had done more to change the map of +industrial America than any other man, alive or dead. Wherefore, big +Beauchamp Lee, mayor of Mesa, and the citizens on the reception committee +did their very best to impress him with the future of the country, as they +motored out to the dam. + +"Most promising spot on earth. Beats California a city block on oranges +and citrons. Ever see an Arizona peach, Mr. West? It skins the world," the +big cattleman ran on easily. + +The financier's eye took in the girl sitting beside the chauffeur in the +front seat, and he nodded assent. + +Melissy Lee bloomed. She was vivid as a wild poppy on the hillsides past +which they went flashing. But she had, too, a daintiness, a delicacy of +coloring and contour, that suggested the fruit named by her father. + +"You bet we raise the best here," that simple gentleman bragged +patriotically. "All we need is water, and the Lincoln dam assures us of +plenty. Yes, sir! It certainly promises to be an Eden." + +West unlocked his lips long enough to say: "Any country can promise. I'm +looking for one that will perform." + +"You're seeing it right now, seh," the mayor assured him, and launched +into fluent statistics. + +West heard, saw the thing stripped of its enthusiasm, and made no comment +either for or against. He had plenty of imagination, or he could never +have accomplished the things he had done. However, before any proposition +appealed to him he had to see money in the deal. Whether he saw it in this +particular instance, nobody knew; and only one person had the courage to +ask him point-blank what his intentions were. This was Melissy. + +Luncheon was served in the pleasant filtered sunlight, almost under the +shadow of the great dam. + +On the way out Melissy had sat as demure and dovelike as it was possible +for her to be. But now she showed herself to be another creature. + +Two or three young men hovered about her; notable among them was a young +fellow of not many words, good-humored, strong, with a look of power about +him which the railroad king appreciated. Jack Flatray they called him. He +was the newly-elected sheriff of the county. + +The great man watched the girl without appearing to do so. He was rather +at a loss to account for the exotic, flamelike beauty into which she had +suddenly sparkled; but he was inclined to attribute it to the arrival of +Flatray. + +Melissy sat on a flat rock beside West, swinging her foot occasionally +with the sheer active joy of life, the while she munched sandwiches and +pickles. The young men bantered her and each other, and she flashed back +retorts which gave them alternately deep delight at the discomfiture of +some other. Toward the close of luncheon, she turned her tilted chin from +Flatray, as punishment for some audacity of his, and beamed upon the +railroad magnate. + +"It's very good of you to notice me at last," he said, with his dry +smile. + +"I was afraid of you," she confided cheerfully. + +"Am I so awesome?" + +"It's your reputation, you know. You're quite a dragon. I'm told you +gobble a new railroad every morning for breakfast." + +"'Lissie," her father warned. + +"Let her alone," the great man laughed. "Miss Lee is going to give me the +privilege of hearing the truth about myself." + +"But I'm asking. I don't know what the truth is," she protested. + +"Well, what you think is the truth." + +"It doesn't matter what we think about you. The important thing to know is +what you think about us." + +"Am I to tell you what I think of you--with all these young men here?" he +countered. + +She was excited by her own impudence. The pink had spilled over her creamy +cheeks. She flashed a look of pretended disdain at her young men. +Nevertheless, she made laughing protest. + +"It's not me, but Mesa, that counts," she answered ungrammatically. "Tell +me that you're going to help us set orchards blossoming in these deserts, +and we'll all love you." + +"You offer an inducement, Miss Lee. Come--let us walk up to the Point and +see this wonderful country of yours." + +She clapped her hands. "Oh, let's! I'm tired of boys, anyhow. They know +nothing but nonsense." She made a laughing moue at Flatray, and turned to +join the railroad builder. + +The young sheriff arose and trailed to his pony. "My marching orders, I +reckon." + +They walked up the hill together, the great man and the untutored girl. He +still carried himself with the lightness of the spare, wiry man who has +never felt his age. As for her, she moved as one on springs, her slender, +willowy figure beautiful in motion. + +"You're loyal to Mesa. Born and brought up there?" West asked Melissy. + +"No. I was brought up on the Bar Double G ranch. Father sold it not long +since. We're interested in the Monte Cristo mine, and it has done so well +that we moved to town," she explained. + +At the first bend in the mountain road Jack had turned in his saddle to +look at her as she climbed the steep. A quarter of a mile farther up there +was another curve, which swept the trail within sight of the summit. Here +Flatray pulled up and got out his field glasses. Leisurely the man and the +maid came into sight from the timber on the shoulder of the hill, and +topped the last ascent. Jack could discern Melissy gesturing here and +there as she explained the lay of the land. + +Something else caught and held his glasses. Four riders had emerged from a +little gulch of dense aspens which ran up the Point toward the summit. One +of these had with him a led horse. + +"Now, I wonder what that means?" the sheriff mused aloud. + +He was not left long in doubt. The four men rode swiftly, straight toward +the man and the girl above. One of them swung from the saddle and stepped +forward. He spoke to West, who appeared to make urgent protest. The +dismounted rider answered. Melissy began to run. Very faintly there came +to Flatray her startled cry. Simultaneously he caught the flash of the sun +on bright steel. The leader of the four had drawn a revolver and was +covering West with it. Instantly the girl stopped running. Plainly the +life of the railroad president had been threatened unless she stopped. + +The man behind the weapon swept a gesture in the direction of the led +horse. Reluctantly West moved toward it, still protesting. He swung to the +saddle, and four of the horses broke into a canter. Only the man with the +drawn revolver remained on the ground with Melissy. He scabbarded his gun, +took a step or two toward her, and made explanations. The girl stamped her +foot, and half turned from him. + +He laughed, stepped still closer to her, and spoke again. Melissy, with +tilted chin, seemed to be unaware that he existed. Another step brought +him to her side. Once more he spoke. No stone wall could have given him +less recognition. Then Jack let out a sudden fierce imprecation, and gave +his pony the spur. For the man had bent forward swiftly, had kissed the +girl on the lips once--twice--three times, had swept his hat off in a low, +mocking bow, and had flung himself on his horse, and galloped off. + +Pebbles and shale went flying from the horse's hoofs as the sheriff tore +down the trail toward Melissy. He cut off at an angle and dashed through +cactus and over rain-washed gullies at breakneck speed, pounding up the +stiff slope to the summit. He dragged his pony to a halt, and leaped off +at the same instant. + +Melissy came to him with flashing eyes. "Why didn't you get here sooner?" +she panted, as if she had been running; for the blind rage was strong in +her. + +His anger burst out to meet hers. "I wish I had!" he cried, with a furious +oath. + +"He insulted me. He laughed at me, and taunted me--and kissed me!" + +Jack nodded. "I saw. If I had only had my rifle with me! Who was he?" + +"He wore a mask. But I knew him. It was Dunc Boone." + +"With the Roaring Fork gang?" + +"I don't know. Is he one of them?" + +"I've been thinking so for years." + +"They must have known about our picnic. But what do they want with Mr. +West?" + +"He's one of the world's richest men." + +"But he doesn't carry his money with him." + +"He carries his life." + +"They must mean to hold him for a ransom. Is that it?" + +"You've guessed it. That's the play." Jack considered, his eyes on the +far-away hills. When he spoke again it was with sharp decision. "Hit the +trail back to town with your motor. Don't lose a minute on the way. Send a +dispatch to Bucky O'Connor. You'd ought to get him at Douglas. If not, +some of his rangers will know where to reach him. Keep the wires hot till +you're in touch with him. Better sign my name. I've been writing him about +this outfit. This job is cut out for Bucky, and we've got to get him on +it." + +"And what are _you_ going to do?" + +"I can't do much--I'm not armed. First time I've been caught that way +since I've been sheriff. Came out to-day for a picnic and left my gun at +home. But if they're the Roaring Fork outfit, they'll pass through the +Elkhorn Caņon, heading for Dead Man's Cache. I'm going to cut around Old +Baldy and try to beat them to it. Maybe I can recognize some of them." + +"But if they see you?" + +"I ain't aiming to let them see me." + +"Still, they may." + +His quiet eyes met hers steadily. "Yes, they may." + +They were friends again, though he had never fully forgiven her doubt of +him. It might be on the cards that some day she would be more to him than +a friend. Understanding perfectly the danger of what he proposed, she yet +made no protest. The man who would storm her heart must be one who would +go the limit, for her standards were those of the outdoor West. She, too, +was "game" to the core; and she had never liked him better than she did at +this moment. A man must be a man, and take his fighting chance. + +"All right, Jack." + +Not for years before had she called him by his first name. His heart +leaped, but he did not let even his look tell what he was feeling. + +"I reckon I'll cut right down from here, Melissy. Better not lose any time +getting to town. So-long!" And with that he had swung to the saddle and +was off. + +Melissy ran swiftly down to the picnic party and cried out her news. It +fell upon them like a bolt out of a June sky. Some exclaimed and wondered +and deplored; but she was proud to see that her father took instant +command, without an unnecessary word. + +"They've caught us in swimming, boys! We've got to burn the wind back to +town for our guns. Dick, you ride around by the Powder Horn and gather up +the boys on the ranch. Get Swain to swing around to the south and comb the +lower gulches of the Roaring Fork. Tell him to get in touch with me soon +as he can. I'll come through by Elkhorn." + +Lee helped his daughter into the machine, and took his place beside her. + +"Hit the high spots, Jim. I've got an engagement in the hills that won't +wait, prior to which I've got to get back to town immediate," he told the +chauffeur cheerfully; for he was beginning to enjoy himself as in the old +days, when he had been the hard-riding sheriff of a border county which +took the premium for bad men. + +The motor car leaped forward, fell into its pace, and began to hum its +song of the road as it ate up swiftly the miles that lay between the dam +and Mesa. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A CAPTURE + + +Flatray swung around Old Baldy through the sparse timber that edged its +roots. He knew this country well; for he had run cattle here, and combed +the draws and ridges on the annual spring and fall round-ups. + +There was no trail to follow. Often the lay of the land forced him to a +detour; for it was rough with washes, with matted cactus, and with a thick +growth of netted mesquite and underbrush. But true as the needle of a +compass, he turned back always to the direction he was following. He had +the instinct for direction, sharpened almost to infallibility by the +experience his work had given him. + +So, hour after hour, he swung forward, pushing his horse over the ground +in a sort of running walk, common to the plains. Sunset found him climbing +from the foothills into the mountains beyond. Starlight came upon him in a +saddle between the peaks, still plodding up by winding paths to the higher +altitudes that make the ridge of the continent's backbone. + +The moon was up long before he struck a gulch spur that led to Elkhorn +Caņon. Whether he would be in time or not--assuming that he had guessed +aright as to the destination of the outlaws--he could not tell. It would +be, at best, a near thing. For, though he had come more directly, they had +followed a trail which made the going much faster. Fast as the cow pony +could pick its way along the rock-strewn gulch, he descended, eye and ear +alert to detect the presence of another human being in this waste of +boulders, of moonlit, flickering shadows, of dark awesome peaks. + +His quick ear caught the faintest of sounds. He slipped from the saddle +and stole swiftly forward to the point where the gulch joined the main +caņon. Voices drifted to him--the sound of careless laughter, wafted by +the light night wind. He had missed the outlaws by scarce a hundred yards. +There was nothing for it but to follow cautiously. As he was turning to go +back for his horse the moon emerged from behind a cloud and flooded the +caņon with a cold, silvery light. It showed Jack a man and a horse +standing scarce twenty yards from him. The man had his back to him. He had +dismounted, and was tightening the cinches of his saddle. + +Flatray experienced a pang of disappointment. He was unarmed. His second +thought sent him flying noiselessly back to his horse. Deftly he unloosed +the rope which always hung coiled below the saddle horn. On tiptoe he ran +back to the gulch mouth, bearing to the right, so as to come directly +opposite the man he wanted. As he ran he arranged the lariat to his +satisfaction, freeing the loop and making sure that the coil was not +bound. Very cautiously he crept forward, taking advantage for cover of a +boulder which rose from the bed of the gulch. + +The man had finished tightening the girth. His foot rose to the stirrup. +He swung up from the ground, and his right leg swept across the flank of +the pony. It did not reach the stirrup; for, even as he rose, Jack's +lariat snaked forward and dropped over his head to his breast. It +tightened sharply and dragged him back, pinioning his arms to his side. +Before he could shake one of them free to reach the revolver in his chaps, +he was lying on his back, with Flatray astride of him. The cattleman's +left hand closed tightly upon his windpipe, while the right searched for +and found the weapon in the holster of the prostrate man. + +Not until the steel rim of it pressed against the teeth of the man beneath +him did Jack's fingers loosen. "Make a sound, and you're a dead man." + +The other choked and gurgled. He was not yet able to cry out, even had he +any intention of so doing. But defiant eyes glared into those of the man +who had unhorsed and captured him. + +"Where are your pals bound for?" Flatray demanded. + +He got no answer in words, but sullen eyes flung out an obstinate refusal +to give away his associates. + +"I reckon you're one of the Roaring Fork outfit," Jack suggested. + +"You know so darn much I'll leave you to guess the rest," growled the +prisoner. + +"The first thing I'll guess is that, if anything happens to Simon West, +you'll hang for it, my friend." + +"You'll have to prove some things first." + +Flatray's hand slid into the man's coat pocket, and drew forth a piece of +black cloth that had been used as a mask. + +"Here's exhibit A, to begin with." + +The man on the ground suddenly gave an upward heave, grasped at the +weapon, and let out a yell for help that echoed back from the cliff, while +the cattleman let the butt of the revolver crash heavily down upon his +face. The heavy gun came down three times before the struggling outlaw +would subside, and then not before blood streamed from ugly gashes into +his eyes. + +"I've had enough, damn you!" the fellow muttered sullenly. "What do you +want with me?" + +"You'll go along with me. Let out another sound, and I'll bump you off. +Get a move on you." + +Jack got to his feet and dragged up his prisoner. The man was a heavy-set, +bowlegged fellow of about forty, hard-faced, and shifty-eyed--a frontier +miscreant, unless every line of the tough, leathery countenance told a +falsehood. But he had made his experiment and failed. He knew what manner +of man his captor was, and he had no mind for another lesson from him. He +slouched to his horse, under propulsion of the revolver, and led the +animal into the gulch. + +Both mounted, Jack keeping the captive covered every moment of the time; +and they began to retrace the way by which the young cattleman had just +come. + +After they had ridden about a quarter of a mile Flatray made a +readjustment of the rope. He let the loop lie loosely about the neck of +the outlaw, the other end of it being tied to the horn of his own saddle. +Also, he tied the hands of the man in such a way that, though they were +free to handle the bridle rein, he could not raise them from the saddle as +high as his neck. + +"If you make any sudden moves, you'll be committing suicide. If you yell +out, it will amount to about the same thing. It's up to you to be good, +looks like." + +The man cursed softly. He knew that the least attempt to escape or to +attract the attention of his confederates would mean his undoing. +Something about this young man's cold eye and iron jaw told him that he +would not hesitate to shoot, if necessary. + +Voices came to them from the caņon. Flatray guessed that a reconnaissance +of the gulch would be made, and prepared himself for it by deflecting his +course from the bed of the _arroyo_ at a point where the walls fell back +to form a little valley. A little grove of aspens covered densely the +shoulder of a hillock some fifty yards back, and here he took his stand. +He dismounted, and made his prisoner do the same. + +"Sit down," he ordered crisply. + +"What for?" + +"To keep me from blowing the top of your head off," answered Jack +quietly. + +Without further discussion, the man sat down. His captor stood behind him, +one hand on the shoulder of his prisoner, his eyes watching the point of +the gulch at which the enemy would appear. + +Two mounted men showed presently in silhouette. Almost opposite the grove +they drew up. + +"Mighty queer what has become of Hank," one of them said. "But I don't +reckon there's any use looking any farther. You don't figure he's aiming +to throw us down--do you, Buck?" + +"Nope. He'll stick, Hank will. But it sure looks darned strange. Here's +him a-ridin' along with us, and suddenly he's missin'. We hear a yell, and +go back to look for him. Nothin' doin'. You don't allow the devil could +have come for him sudden--do you, Jeff?" + +It was said with a laugh, defiantly, but none the less Jack read +uneasiness in the manner of the man. It seemed to him that both were eager +to turn back. Giant boulders, carved to grotesque and ghostly shapes by a +million years' wind and water, reared themselves aloft and threw shadows +in the moonlight. The wind, caught in the gulch, rose and fell in +unearthly, sibilant sounds. If ever fiends from below walk the earth, this +time and place was a fitting one for them. Jack curved a hand around his +mouth, and emitted a strange, mournful, low cry, which might have been the +scream of a lost soul. + +Jeff clutched at the arm of his companion. "Did you hear that, Buck?" + +"What--what do you reckon it was, Jeff?" + +Again Jack let his cry curdle the night. + +The outlaws took counsel of their terror. They were hardy, desperate men, +afraid of nothing mortal under the sun. But the dormant superstition in +them rose to their throats. Fearfully they wheeled and gave their horses +the spur. Flatray could hear them crashing through the brush. + +He listened while the rapid hoofbeats died away, until even the echoes +fell silent. "We'll be moving," he announced to his prisoner. + +For a couple of hours they followed substantially the same way that Jack +had taken, descending gradually toward the foothills and the plains. The +stars went out, and the moon slid behind banked clouds, so that the +darkness grew with the passing hours. At length Flatray had to call a +halt. + +"We'll camp here till morning," he announced when they reached a grassy +park. + +The horses were hobbled, and the men sat down opposite each other in the +darkness. Presently the prisoner relaxed and fell asleep. But there was no +sleep for his captor. The cattleman leaned against the trunk of a +cottonwood and smoked his pipe. The night grew chill, but he dared not +light a fire. At last the first streaks of gray dawn lightened the sky. A +quarter of an hour later he shook his captive from slumber. + +"Time to hit the trail." + +The outlaw murmured sleepily, "How's that, Dunc? Twenty-five thousand +apiece!" + +"Wake up! We've got to vamose out of here." + +Slowly the fellow shook the sleep from his brain. He looked at Flatray +sullenly, without answering. But he climbed into the saddle which Jack had +cinched for him. Dogged and wolfish as he was, the man knew his master, +and was cowed. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE TABLES TURNED + + +From the local eastbound a man swung to the station platform at Mesa. He +was a dark, slim, little man, wiry and supple, with restless black eyes +which pierced one like bullets. + +The depot loungers made him a focus of inquiring looks. But, in spite of +his careless ease, a shrewd observer would have read anxiety in his +bearing. It was as if behind the veil of his indifference there rested a +perpetual vigilance. The wariness of a beast of prey lay close to the +surface. + +"Mornin', gentlemen," he drawled, sweeping the group with his eyes. + +"Mornin'," responded one of the loafers. + +"I presume some of you gentlemen can direct me to the house of Mayor +Lee." + +"The mayor ain't to home," volunteered a lank, unshaven native in +butternut jeans and boots. + +"I think it was his house I inquired for," suggested the stranger. + +"Fust house off the square on the yon side of the postoffice--a big +two-story brick, with a gallery and po'ches all round it." + +Having thanked his informant, the stranger passed down the street. The +curious saw him pass in at the mayor's gate and knock at the door. It +opened presently, and disclosed a flash of white, which they knew to be +the skirt of a girl. + +"I reckon that's Miss 'Lissie," the others were informed by the unshaven +one. "She's let him in and shet the door." + +Inevitably there followed speculation as to who the arrival might be. That +his coming had something to do with the affair of the West kidnapping, all +were disposed to agree; but just what it might have to do with it, none of +them could do more than guess. If they could have heard what passed +between Melissy and the stranger, their curiosity would have been +gratified. + +"Good mornin', miss. Is Mayor Lee at home?" + +"No--he isn't. He hasn't got back yet. Is there anything I can do for +you?" + +Two rows of even white teeth flashed in a smile. "I thought maybe there +was something I could do for you. You are Miss Lee, I take it?" + +"Yes. But I don't quite understand--unless you have news." + +"I have no news--yet." + +"You mean----" Her eager glance swept over him. The brown eyes, which had +been full of questioning, flashed to understanding. "You are not +Lieutenant O'Connor?" + +"Am I not?" he smiled. + +"I mean--are you?" + +"At your service, Miss Lee." + +She had heard for years of this lieutenant of rangers, who was the terror +of all Arizona "bad men." Her father, Jack Flatray, the range riders whom +she knew--game men all--hailed Bucky O'Connor as a wonder. For coolness +under fire, for acumen, for sheer, unflawed nerve, and for his skill in +that deadly game he played of hunting down desperadoes, they called him +chief ungrudgingly. He was a daredevil, who had taken his life in his +hands a hundred times. Yet always he came through smiling, and brought +back with him the man he went after. The whisper ran that he bore a +charmed life, so many had been his hairbreadth escapes. + +"Come in," the girl invited. "Father said, if you came, I was to keep you +here until he got back or sent a messenger for you. He's hunting for the +criminals in the Roaring Fork country. Of course, he didn't know when you +would get here. At the time he left we hadn't been able to catch you on +the wire. I signed Mr. Flatray's name at his suggestion, because he was in +correspondence with you once about the Roaring Fork outlaws. He is out in +the hills, too. He started half an hour after the kidnappers. But he isn't +armed. I'm troubled about him." + +Again the young man's white-toothed smile flashed. "You'd better be. +Anybody that goes hunting Black MacQueen unarmed ought to be right well +insured." + +She nodded, a shadow in her eyes. "Yes--but he would go. He doesn't mean +them to see him, if he can help it." + +"Black sees a heap he isn't expected to see. He has got eyes all over the +hills, and they see by night as well as by day." + +"Yes--I know he has spies everywhere; and he has the hill people +terrorized, they say. You think this is his work?" + +"It's a big thing--the kind of job he likes to tackle. Who else would dare +do such a thing?" + +"That's what father thinks. If he had stolen the President of the United +States, it wouldn't have stirred up a bigger fuss. Newspaper men and +detectives are hurrying here from all directions. They are sure to catch +him." + +"Are they?" + +She noticed a curious, derisive contempt in the man's voice, and laid it +to his vanity. "I don't mean that _they_ are. I mean that _you_ are sure +to get him," she hastened to add. "Father thinks you are wonderful." + +"I'm much obliged to him," said the man, with almost a sneer. + +He seemed to have so good an opinion of himself that he was above praise +even. Melissy was coming to the decision that she did not like him--which +was disappointing, since she had expected to like him immensely. + +"I didn't look for you till night. You wired you would be on number +seven," she said. "I understood that was the earliest you could get +here." + +His explanation of the change was brief, and invited no further +discussion. "I found I could make an earlier train." + +"I'm glad you could. Father says it is always well to start on the trail +while it is fresh." + +"Have you ever seen this MacQueen, Miss Lee?" he asked. + +"Not unless he was there when Mr. West was kidnapped." + +"Did you know any of the men?" + +She hesitated. "I thought one was Duncan Boone." + +"What made you think so?" + +"He was the leader, I think, moved the way he does." Her anger flashed for +an instant. "And acted like him--detestably." + +"Was he violent to West? Injure him?" + +"No--he didn't do him any physical injury that I saw. I wasn't thinking +about Mr. West." + +"Surely he didn't lay hands on _you_!" + +She looked up, in time to see the flicker of amusement sponged from his +face. It stirred vague anger in her. "He was insolent and ungentlemanly." + +"As how?" + +"It doesn't matter how." Her manner specifically declined to +particularize. + +"Would you recognize him again if you met him? Describe him, if you can." + +"Yes. I used to know him well--before he became known as an outlaw," she +added after a perceptible hesitation. "There's something ravenous about +him." + +"You mean that he is fierce and bloodthirsty?" + +"No--I don't mean that; though, for that matter, I don't think he would +stick at anything. What I mean is that he is pantherine in his +movements--more lithe and supple than most men are." + +"Is he a big man?" + +"No--medium size, and dark." + +"There were four of them, you say?" + +"Yes. Jack saw them, too, but at a distance." + +"He reached you after they were out of sight?" + +"They had been gone about five minutes when I saw him--five or ten. I +couldn't be sure." + +"Boone offered no personal indignity to you?" + +"Why are you so sure?" she flashed. + +"The story is that he is quite the ladies' man." + +Melissy laughed scornfully. + +At his request, she went over again the story of the abduction, telling +everything save the matter of the ravished kisses. This she kept to +herself. She did not quite know why, except that there was something she +did not like about this Bucky O'Connor. He had a trick of narrowing his +eyes and gloating over her, as a cat gloats over its expected kill. + +However, his confidence impressed her. Cocksure he was, and before long +she knew him boastful; but competence sat on him, none the less. She +thought she could see why he was held to be the most deadly bloodhound on +a trail that even Arizona could produce. That he was fearless she did not +need to be told, any more than she needed a certificate that on occasion +he could be merciless. On the other hand, he fitted very badly with the +character of the young lieutenant of rangers, as Jack Flatray had sketched +it for her. Her friend's description of his hero had been enthusiastic. +She decided that the young cattleman was a bad judge of men--though, of +course, he had never actually met O'Connor. + +"I reckon I'll not wait for your father's report, Miss Lee. I work +independent of other men. That is how I get the wonderful results I do." + +His conceit nettled her; also, it stung her filial loyalty. "My father was +the best sheriff this county ever had," she said stiffly. + +He smiled satirically. "Still, I reckon I'll handle this my own +way--unless your father's daughter wants to go partners with me in it." + +She gave him a look intended to crush his impudence. "No, thank you." + +He ate a breakfast which she had the cook prepare hurriedly for him, and +departed on the horse for which she had telephoned to the nearest livery +stable. Melissy was a singularly fearless girl; yet she watched him go +with a decided relief, for which she could not account. He rode, she +observed, like a centaur--flat-backed, firm in the saddle with the easy +negligence of a plainsman. He turned as he started, and waved a hand +debonairly at her. + +"If I have any luck, I'll bring back one of the Roaring Fork bunch with +me--a present for a good girl, Miss Melissy." + +She turned on her heel and went inside. Anger pulsed fiercely through her. +He laughed at her, made fun of her, and yet called her by her first name. +How dared he treat her so! Worst of all, she read admiration bold and +unveiled in the eyes that mocked her. + +Half an hour later Flatray, riding toward town with his prisoner in front +of him, heard a sudden sharp summons to throw up his hands. A man had +risen from behind a boulder, and held him covered steadily. + +Jack looked at the fellow without complying. He needed no second glance to +tell him that this man was not one to be trifled with. "Who are you?" he +demanded quietly. + +"Never mind who I am. Reach for the sky." + +The captured outlaw had given a little whoop, and was now loosening the +rope from his neck. "You're the goods, Cap! I knew the boys would pull it +off for me, but I didn't reckon on it so durn soon." + +"Shut up!" ordered the man behind the gun, without moving his eyes from +Flatray. + +"I'm a clam," retorted the other. + +"I'm waiting for those hands to go up; but I'll not wait long, seh." + +Jack's hands went up reluctantly. "You've got the call," he admitted. + +They led him a couple of hundred yards from the trail and tied him hand +and foot. Before they left him the outlaw whom he had captured evened his +score. Three times he struck Flatray on the head with the butt of his +revolver. He was lying on the ground bleeding and senseless when they rode +away toward the hills. + +Jack came to himself with a blinding headache. It was some time before he +realized what had happened. As soon as he did he set about freeing +himself. This was a matter of a few minutes. With the handkerchief that +was around his neck he tied up his wounds. Fortunately his hair was very +thick and this had saved him from a fractured skull. Dizzily he got to his +feet, found his horse, and started toward Mesa. + +Not many people were on the streets when the sheriff passed through the +suburbs of the little town, for it was about the breakfast hour. One stout +old negro mammy stopped to stare in surprise at his bloody head. + +"Laws a mussy, Mistah Flatray, what they done be'n a-doin' to you-all?" +she asked. + +The sheriff hardly saw her. He was chewing the bitter cud of defeat and +was absorbed in his thoughts. He was still young enough to have counted on +the effect upon Melissy of his return to town with one of the abductors as +his prisoner. + +It happened that she was on the porch watering her flower boxes when he +passed the house. + +"Jack!" she cried, and on the heels of her exclamation: "What's the matter +with you? Been hurt?" + +A gray pallor had pushed through the tan of her cheeks. She knew her heart +was beating fast. + +"Bumped into a piece of bad luck," he grinned, and told her briefly what +had occurred. + +She took him into the house and washed his head for him. After she saw how +serious the cuts were she insisted on sending for a doctor. When his +wounds were dressed she fed him and made him lie down and sleep on her +father's bed. + +The sun was sliding down the heavens to a crotch in the hills before he +joined her again. She was in front of the house clipping her roses. + +"Is the invalid better?" she asked him. + +"He's a false alarm. But he did have a mighty thumping headache that has +gone now." + +"I've been wondering why you didn't meet Lieutenant O'Connor. He must have +taken the road you came in on." + +The young man's eyes lit. "Is Bucky here already?" + +"He was. He's gone. I was greatly disappointed in him. He's not half the +man you think he is." + +"Oh, but he is. Everybody says so." + +"I never saw a more conceited man, or a more hateful one. There's +something about him--oh, I don't know. But he isn't good. I'm sure of +that." + +"His reputation isn't of that kind. They say he's devoted to his wife and +kids." + +"His wife and children." Melissy recalled the smoldering admiration in his +bold eyes. She laughed shortly. "That finishes him with me. He's married, +is he? Well, I know the kind of husband he is." + +Jack flashed a quick look at her. He guessed what she meant. But this did +not square at all with what his friends had told him of O'Connor. + +"Did he ask for me?" + +"No. He said he preferred to play a lone hand. His manner was unpleasant +all the time. He knows it all. I could see that." + +"Anyhow, he's a crackerjack in his line. Have you heard from your father +since he set out?" + +"Not yet." + +"Well, I'm going to start to-night with a posse for the Cache. If O'Connor +comes back, tell him I'll follow the Roaring Fork." + +"You'll not go this time without a gun, Jack," she said with a ghost of a +smile. + +"No. I want to make good this trip." + +"You did splendidly before. Not one man in a hundred would have done so +well." + +"I'm a wonder," he admitted with a grin. + +"But you will take care of yourself--not be foolish." + +"I don't aim to take up residence in Boot Hill cemetery if I can help +it." + +"Boone and his men are dangerous characters. They are playing for high +stakes. They would snuff your life out as quick as they would wink. Don't +forget that." + +"You don't want me to lie down before Dunc Boone, do you?" + +"No-o. Only don't be reckless. I told father the same." + +Her dear concern for him went to Jack's head, but he steadied himself +before he answered. "I've got one real good reason for not being reckless. +I'll tell you what it is some day." + +Her shy, alarmed eyes fled his at once. She began an account of how her +father had gathered his posse and where she thought he must have gone. + +After dinner Jack went downtown. Melissy did some household tasks and +presently moved out to the cool porch. She was just thinking about going +back in when a barefoot boy ran past and whistled. From the next house a +second youngster emerged. + +"That you, Jimmie?" + +"Betcherlife. Say, 've you heard about the sheriff?" + +"Who? Jack Flatray! Course I have. The Roaring Fork outfit ambushed him, +beat him up, and made him hit the trail for town." + +"Aw! That ain't news. He's started back after them again. Left jes' a +little while ago. I saw him go--him 'n' Farnum 'n' Charley Hymer 'n' Hal +Yarnell 'n' Mr. Bellamy." + +"Bet they git 'em." + +"Bet they don't." + +"Aw, course they'll git 'em, Tom." + +The other youngster assumed an air of mystery. He swelled his chest and +strutted a step or two nearer. Urbane condescension oozed from him. + +"Say, Jimmie. C'n you keep a secret?" + +"Sure. Course I can." + +"Won't ever snitch?" + +"Cross my heart." + +"Well, then--I'm Black MacQueen, the captain of the Roaring Fork bad +men." + +"You!" Incredulity stared from Jimmie's bulging eyes. + +"You betcher. I'm him, here in disguise as a kid." + +The magnificent boldness of this claim stole Jimmie's breath for an +instant. He was two years younger than his friend, but he did not quite +know whether to applaud or to jeer. Before he could make up his mind a +light laugh rippled to them from behind the vines on the Lee porch. + +The disguised outlaw and his friend were startled. Both fled swiftly, with +all the pretense of desperate necessity young conspirators love to +assume. + +Melissy went into the house and the laughter died from her lips. She knew +that either her father's posse or that of Jack Flatray would come into +touch with the outlaws eventually. When the clash came there would be a +desperate battle. Men would be killed. She prayed it might not be one of +those for whom she cared most. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE REAL BUCKY AND THE FALSE + + +Number seven was churning its way furiously through brown Arizona. The day +had been hot, with a palpitating heat which shimmered over the desert +waste. Defiantly the sun had gone down beyond the horizon, a great ball of +fire, leaving behind a brilliant splash of bold colors. Now this, too, had +disappeared. Velvet night had transformed the land. Over the distant +mountains had settled a smoke-blue film, which left them vague and +indefinite. + +Only three passengers rode in the Pullman car. One was a commercial +traveler, busy making up his weekly statement to the firm. Another was a +Boston lady, in gold-rimmed glasses and a costume that helped the general +effect of frigidity. The third looked out of the open window at the +distant hills. He was a slender young fellow, tanned almost to a coffee +brown, with eyes of Irish blue which sometimes bubbled with fun and +sometimes were hard as chisel steel. Wide-shouldered and lean-flanked he +was, with well-packed muscles, which rippled like those of a tiger. + +At Chiquita the train stopped, but took up again almost instantly its +chant of the rail. Meanwhile, a man had swung himself to the platform of +the smoker. He passed through that car, the two day coaches, and on to the +sleeper; his keen, restless eyes inspected every passenger in the course +of his transit. Opposite the young man in the Pullman he stopped. + +"May I ask if you are Lieutenant O'Connor?" + +"My name, seh." + +The young man in the seat had slewed his head around sharply, and made +answer with a crisp, businesslike directness. + +The new-comer smiled. "I'll have to introduce myself, lieutenant. My name +is Flatray. I've come to meet you." + +"Glad to meet you, Mr. Flatray. I hope that together we can work this +thing out right. MacQueen has gathered a bunch that ought to be cleaned +out, and I reckon now's the time to do it. I've been reading about him for +a year. I've got a notion he's about the ablest thing in bad men this +Territory has seen for a good many years." + +Flatray sat down on the seat opposite O'Connor. A smile flicked across his +face, and vanished. "I'm of that opinion myself, lieutenant." + +"Tell me all about this affair of the West kidnapping," the ranger +suggested. + +The other man told the story while O'Connor listened, alert to catch every +point of the narrative. + +The face of the lieutenant of rangers was a boyish one--eager, genial, and +frank; yet, none the less, strength lay in the close-gripped jaw and in +the steady, watchful eye. His lithe, tense body was like a coiled spring; +and that, too, though he seemed to be very much at ease. + +With every sentence that the other spoke, O'Connor was judging Flatray, +appraising him for a fine specimen of a hard-bitten breed--a vigilant +frontiersman, competent to the finger tips. Yet he was conscious that, in +spite of the man's graceful ease and friendly smile, he did not like +Flatray. He would not ask for a better man beside him in a tight pinch; +but he could not deny that something sinister which breathed from his +sardonic, devil-may-care face. + +"So that's how the land lies," the sheriff concluded. "My deputies have +got the pass to the south blocked; Lee is closing in through Elkhorn; and +Fox, with a strong posse, is combing the hills beyond Dead Man's Cache. +There's only one way out for him, and that is over Powderhorn Pass. Word +has just reached us that MacQueen is moving in that direction. He is +evidently figuring to slip out over the hills during the night. I've +arranged for us to be met at Barker's Tank by a couple of the boys, with +horses. We'll drop off the train quietly when it slows up to water, so +that none of his spies can get word of our movements to him. By hard +riding we'd ought to reach Powderhorn in time to head him off." + +The ranger asked incisive questions, had the topography of the country +explained to him with much detail, and decided at last that Flatray was +right. If MacQueen were trying to slip out, they might trap him at the +pass; if not, by closing it they would put the cork in the bottle that +held him. + +"We'll try it, seh. Y'u know this country better than I do, and I'll give +y'u a free hand. Unless there's a slip up in your calculations, you'd +ought to be right." + +"Good enough, lieutenant. I'm betting on those plans myself," the other +answered promptly, and added, as he looked out into the night: "By that +notch in the hills, we'd ought to be close to the tank now. She's slowing +up. I reckon we can slip out to the vestibule, and get off at the far side +of the track without being noticed much." + +This they found easy enough. Five minutes later number seven was steaming +away into the distant desert. Flatray gave a sharp, shrill whistle; and +from behind some sand dunes emerged two men and four horses. + +"Anything new?" asked the sheriff as they came nearer. + +"Not a thing, cap," answered one of them. + +"Boys, shake hands with the famous Lieutenant O'Connor," said Flatray, +with a sneer hid by the darkness. "Lieutenant, let me make you acquainted +with Jeff Jackson and Buck Lane." + +"Much obliged to meet you," grinned Buck as he shook hands. + +They mounted and rode toward the notch in the hills that had been pointed +out to the ranger. The moon was up; and a cold, silvery light flooded the +plain. Seen in this setting, the great, painted desert held more of +mystery, of beauty, and less of the dead monotony that glared endlessly +from arid, barren reaches. The sky of stars stretched infinitely far, and +added to the effect of magnitude. + +The miles slipped behind them as they moved forward, hour after hour, +their horses holding to the running walk that is the peculiar gait of the +cow country. They rode in silence, with the loose seat and straight back +of the vaquero. Except the ranger, all were dressed for riding--Flatray in +corduroys and half-knee laced boots; his men in overalls, chaps, flannel +shirts, and the broad-brimmed sombrero of the Southwest. All four were +young men; but there was an odd difference in the expressions of their +faces. + +Jackson and Lane had the hard-lined faces, with something grim and stony +in them, of men who ride far and hard with their lives in their hands. The +others were of a higher type. Flatray's dark eyes were keen, bold, and +restless. One might have guessed him a man of temperament, capable of any +extremes of conduct--often the victim of his own ungovernable whims and +passions. Just as he looked a picture of all the passions of youth run to +seed, so the ranger seemed to show them in flower. There was something +fine and strong and gallant in his debonair manner. His warm smile went +out to a world that pleased him mightily. + +They rode steadily, untired and untiring. The light of dawn began to +flicker from one notched summit to another. Out of the sandy waste they +came to a water hole, paused for a drink, and passed on. For the delay of +half an hour might mean the escape of their prey. + +They came into the country of crumbling mesas and painted cliffs, of +hillsides where greasewood and giant cactus struggled from the parched +earth. This they traversed until they came to plateaus, terminating in +foothills, crevassed by gorges deep and narrow. The caņons grew steeper, +rock ridges more frequent. Gradually the going became more difficult. + +Trails they seldom followed. Washes, with sides like walls, confronted +them. The ponies dropped down and clambered up again like mountain goats. +Gradually they were ascending into the upper country, which led to the +wild stretches where the outlaws lurked. In these watersheds were heavy +pine forests, rising from the gulches along the shoulders of the peaks. + +A maze of caņons, hopelessly lost in the hill tangle into which they had +plunged, led deviously to a twisting pass, through which they defiled, to +drop into a vista of rolling waves of forest-clad hills. Among these wound +countless hidden gulches, known only to those who rode from out them on +nefarious night errands. + +The ranger noted every landmark, and catalogued in his mind's map every +gorge and peak; from what he saw, he guessed much of which he could not be +sure. It would be hard to say when his suspicions first became aroused. +But as they rode, without stopping, through what he knew must be +Powderhorn Pass, as the men about him quietly grouped themselves so as to +cut off any escape he might attempt, as they dropped farther and farther +into the meshes of that forest-crowned net which he knew to be the Roaring +Fork country, he did not need to be told he was in the power of MacQueen's +gang. + +Yet he gave no sign of what he knew. As daylight came, so that they could +see each other distinctly, his face showed no shadow of doubt. It was his +cue to be a simple victim of credulity, and he played it to the finish. + +Without warning, through a narrow gulch which might have been sought in +vain for ten years by a stranger, they passed into the rim of a +bowl-shaped valley. Timber covered it from edge to edge, but over to the +left a keen eye could see a thinning of the foliage. Toward this they +went, following the sidehill and gradually dipping down through heavy +underbrush. Before him the officer of rangers saw daylight, and presently +a corral, low roofs, and grazing horses. + +"Looks like some one lives here," he remarked amiably. + +They were already riding into the open. In front of one of the log cabins +the man who had called himself Flatray swung from his saddle. + +"Better 'light, lieutenant," he suggested carelessly. "We'll eat breakfast +here." + +"Don't care if we do. I could eat a leather mail sack, I'm that hungry," +the ranger answered, as he, too, descended. + +His guide was looking at him with an expression of open, malevolent +triumph. He could scarce keep it back long enough to get the effect he +wanted. + +"Yes, we'll eat breakfast here--and dinner, and supper, and breakfast +to-morrow, and then about two more breakfasts." + +"I reckon we'll be too busy to sit around here," laughed his prisoner. + +The other ignored his comment. "And after that, it ain't likely you'll do +much more eating." + +"I don't quite get the point of that joke." + +"You'll get it soon enough! You'd _savez_ it now, if you weren't a +muttonhead. As it is, I'll have to explain it. Do you remember capturing +Tony Chaves two years ago, lieutenant?" + +The ranger nodded, with surprise in his round, innocent eyes. + +"What happened to him?" demanded the other. A child could have seen that +he was ridden by a leering, savage triumph. + +"Killed trying to escape four days later." + +"Who killed him?" + +"I did. It was necessary. I regretted it." + +A sudden spasm of cruelty swept over the face of the man confronting him. +"Tony was my partner." + +"Your partner?" + +"That's right. I've been wanting to say 'How d'ye do?' ever since, +Lieutenant O'Connor. I'm right glad to meet you." + +"But--I don't understand." He did, however. + +"It'll soak through, by and by. Chew on this: You've got just ninety-six +hours to live--exactly as long as Tony lived after you caught him! You'll +be killed trying to escape. It will be necessary, just as you say it was +with him; but I reckon I'll not do any regretting to speak of." + +"You would murder me?" + +"Well, I ain't particular about the word I use." MacQueen leaned against +the side of his horse, his arm thrown across its neck, and laughed in slow +maliciousness. "Execute is the word I use, though--if you want to know." + +He had made no motion toward his weapon, nor had O'Connor; but the latter +knew without looking that he was covered vigilantly by both of the other +men. + +"And who are you?" the ranger asked, though he was quite sure of the +answer. + +"Men call me Black MacQueen," drawled the other. + +"MacQueen! But you said----" + +"That I was Flatray. Yep--I lied." + +O'Connor appeared to grope with this in amazement. + +"One has to stretch the truth sometimes in my profession," went on the +outlaw smoothly. "It may interest you to know that yesterday I passed as +Lieutenant O'Connor. When I was O'Connor I arrested Flatray; and now that +I am Flatray I have arrested O'Connor. Turn about is fair play, you +know." + +"Interesting, if true," O'Connor retorted easily. + +"You can bank on its truth, my friend." + +"And you're actually going to kill me in cold blood." + +The black eyes narrowed. "Just as I would a dog," said the outlaw, with +savage emphasis. + +"I don't believe it. I've done you no harm." + +MacQueen glanced at him contemptuously. The famous Bucky O'Connor looked +about as competent as a boy in the pimply age. + +"I thought you had better sense. Do you think I would have brought you to +Dead Man's Cache if I had intended you to go away alive? I'm afraid, +Lieutenant Bucky O'Connor, that you're a much overrated man. Your +reputation sure would have blown up, if you had lived. You ought to thank +me for preserving it." + +"Preserving it--how?" + +"By bumping you off before you've lost it." + +"Sho! You wouldn't do that," the ranger murmured ineffectively. + +"We'll see. Jeff, I put him in your charge. Search him, and take him to +Hank's cabin. I hold you responsible for him. Bring me any papers you find +on him. When I find time, I'll drop around and see that you're keeping him +safe." + +Bucky was searched, and his weapons and papers removed. After being +handcuffed, he was chained to a heavy staple, which had been driven into +one of the log walls. He was left alone, and the door was locked; but he +could hear Jeff moving about outside. + +With the closing of the door the vacuous look slipped from his face like a +mask. The loose-lipped, lost-dog expression was gone. He looked once more +alert, competent, fit for the emergency. It had been his cue to let his +adversary underestimate him. During the long night ride he had had chances +to escape, had he desired to do so. But this had been the last thing he +wanted. + +The outlaws had chosen to take him to their fastness in the hills. He +would back himself to use the knowledge they were thrusting upon him, to +bring about their undoing. Only one factor in the case had come upon him +as a surprise. He had not reckoned that they would have a personal grudge +against him. And this was a factor that might upset all his calculations. + +It meant that he was playing against time, with the chances of the game +all against him. He had forty-eight hours in which to escape--and he was +handcuffed, chained, locked up, and guarded. Truly, the outlook was not +radiant. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A PHOTOGRAPH + + +On the third morning Beauchamp Lee returned to Mesa--unshaven, dusty, and +fagged with hard riding. He brought with him a handbill which he had +picked up in the street. Melissy hung over him and ministered to his +needs. While he was eating breakfast he talked. + +"No luck yet, honey. He's hiding in some pocket of the hills, I reckon; +and likely there he'll stay till the hunt is past. They don't make them +any slicker than Dunc, dad gum his ugly hide!" + +"What is that paper?" his daughter asked. + +Lee curbed a disposition toward bad language, as he viewed it with +disgust. "This here is bulletin number one, girl. It's the cheekiest, most +impudent thing I ever saw. MacQueen serves notice to all the people of +this county to keep out of this fight. Also, he mentions me and Jack +Flatray by name--warning us that, if we sit in the game, hell will be +popping for us." + +"What will you do?" + +"Do? I'll get back to my boys fast as horseflesh will get me there, once +I've had a talk with that beef buyer from Kansas City I made an +appointment to see before this thing broke loose. You don't allow I'm +going to let any rustler dictate to me what I'll do and what I won't--do +you?" + +"Where do you reckon he had this printed?" she asked. + +"I don't reckon, I know. Late last night a masked man woke up Jim Snell. +You know, he sleeps in a room at the back of the printing office. Well, +this fellow made him dress, set up this bill, and run off five hundred +copies while he stood over him. I'll swan I never heard of such cheek!" + +Melissy told what she had to tell--after which her father shaved, took a +bath, and went out to meet the buyer from Kansas City. His business kept +him until noon. After dinner Melissy's saddle horse was brought around, +and she joined her father to ride back with him for a few miles. + +About three o'clock she kissed him good-bye, and turned homeward. After +she had passed the point where the Silver Creek trail ran into the road +she heard the sound of a galloping horse behind. A rider was coming along +the trail toward town. He gained on her rapidly, and presently a voice +hailed her gayly: + +"The top o' the mornin' to you, Miss 'Lissie." + +She drew up to wait for him. "My name is still Miss Lee," she told him +mildly, by way of correction. + +"I'm glad it is, but we can change it in three minutes at any time, my +dear," he laughed. + +She had been prepared to be more friendly toward him, but at this she +froze again. + +"Did you leave Mrs. O'Connor and the children well?" she asked pointedly, +looking directly at him. + +His smile vanished, and he stared at her in a very strange fashion. She +had taken the wind completely out of his sails. It had not occurred to him +that O'Connor might be a married man. Nor did he know but that it might be +a trick to catch him. He did the only thing he could do--made answer in an +ironic fashion, which might mean anything or nothing. + +"Very well, thank you." + +She saw at once that the topic did not allure him, and pushed home her +advantage. "You must miss Mrs. O'Connor when you are away on duty." + +"Must I?" + +"And the children, too. By the way, what are their names?" + +"You're getting up a right smart interest in my family, all of a sudden," +he countered. + +"One can't talk about the weather all the time." + +He boldly decided to slay the illusion of domesticity. "If you want to +know, I have neither wife nor children." + +"But I've heard about them all," she retorted. + +"You have heard of Mrs. O'Connor, no doubt; but she happens to be the +wife of a cousin of mine." + +The look which she flashed at him held more than doubt. + +"You don't believe me?" he continued. "I give you my word that I'm not +married." + +They had left the road, and were following a short cut which wound down +toward Tonti, in and out among the great boulders. The town, dwarfed to +microscopic size by distance, looked, in the glare of the sunlight, as if +it were made of white chalk. Along the narrow trail they went singly, +Melissy leading the way. + +She made no answer, but at the first opportunity he forced his horse to a +level with hers. + +"Well--you heard what I said," he challenged. + +"The subject is of no importance to me," she said. + +"It's important to me. I'm not going to have you doing me an injustice. I +tell you I'm not married. You've got to believe me." + +Her mind was again alive with suspicions. Jack had told her Bucky O'Connor +was married, and he must have known what he was talking about. + +"I don't know whether you are married or not. I am of the opinion that +Lieutenant O'Connor has a wife and three children. More than once I have +been told so," she answered. + +"You seem to know a heap about the gentleman." + +"I know what I know." + +"More than I do, perhaps," he suggested. + +Her eyes dilated. He could see suspicion take hold of her. + +"Perhaps," she answered quietly. + +"Does that mean you think I'm not Bucky O'Connor?" He had pushed his pony +forward so as to cut off her advance, and both had halted for the moment. + +She looked at him with level, fearless eyes. "I don't know who you are." + +"But you think I'm not Lieutenant O'Connor of the rangers?" + +"I don't know whether you are or not." + +"There is nothing like making sure. Just look over this letter, please." + +She did so. It was from the governor of the Territory to the ranger +officer. While he was very complimentary as to past services, the governor +made it plain that he thought O'Connor must at all hazards succeed in +securing the release of Simon West. This would be necessary for the good +name of the Territory. Otherwise, a widespread report would go out that +Arizona was a lawless place in which to live. + +Melissy folded the letter and handed it back. "I beg your pardon, +Lieutenant O'Connor. I see that I was wrong." + +"Forget it, my dear. We all make mistakes." He had that curious mocking +smile which so often hovered about his lips. She felt as though he were +deriding her--as though his words held some hidden irony which she could +not understand. + +"The governor seems very anxious to have you succeed. It will be a black +eye for Arizona if this band of outlaws is not apprehended. You don't +think, do you, that they will do Mr. West any harm, if their price is not +paid? They would never dare." + +He took this up almost as though he resented it. "They would dare +anything. I reckon you'll have to get up early in the mornin' to find a +gamer man than Black MacQueen." + +"I wouldn't call it game to hurt an old man whom he has in his power. But +you mustn't let it come to that. You must save him. Are you making any +progress? Have you run down any of the band? And while I think of it--have +you seen to-day's paper?" + +"No--why?" + +"The biggest story on the front page is about the West case. It seems that +this MacQueen wired to Chicago to Mr. Lucas, president of one of the lines +on the Southwestern system, that they would release Mr. West for three +hundred thousand dollars in gold. He told him a letter had been mailed to +the agent at Mesa, telling under just what conditions the money was to be +turned over; and he ended with a threat that, if steps were taken to +capture the gang, or if the money were not handed over at the specified +time, Mr. West would disappear forever." + +"Did the paper say whether the money would be turned over?" + +"It said that Mr. Lucas was going to get into touch with the outlaws at +once, to effect the release of his chief." + +A gleam of triumph flashed in the eyes of the man. "That's sure the best +way." + +"It won't help your reputation, will it?" she asked. "Won't people say +that you failed on this case?" + +He laughed softly, as if at some hidden source of mirth. "I shouldn't +wonder if they did say that Bucky O'Connor hadn't made good this time. +They'll figure he tried to ride herd on a job too big for him." + +Her surprised eye brooded over this, too. Here he was defending the outlaw +chief, and rejoicing at his own downfall. There seemed to be no end to the +contradictions in this man. She was to run across another tangled thread +of the puzzle a few minutes later. + +She had dismounted to let him tighten the saddle cinch. Owing to the heat, +he had been carrying his coat in front of him. He tossed it on a boulder +by the side of the trail, in such a way that the inside pocket hung down. +From it slid some papers and a photograph. Melissy looked down at the +picture, then instantly stooped and picked it up. For it was a photograph +of a very charming woman and three children, and across the bottom of it +was written a line. + + "To Bucky, from his loving wife and children." + +The girl handed it to the man without a word, and looked him full in the +face. + +"Bowled out, by ginger!" he said, with a light laugh. + +But as she continued to look at him--a man of promise, who had plainly +traveled far on the road to ruin--the conviction grew on her that the +sweet-faced woman in the photograph was no loving wife of his. He was a +man who might easily take a woman's fancy, but not one to hold her love +for years through the stress of life. Moreover, Bucky O'Connor held the +respect of all men. She had heard him spoken of, and always with a meed of +affection that is given to few men. Whoever this graceless scamp was, he +was not the lieutenant of rangers. + +The words slipped out before she could stop them: "You're not Lieutenant +O'Connor at all." + +"Playing on that string again, are you?" he jeered. + +"I'm sure of it this time." + +"Since you know who I'm not, perhaps you can tell me, too, who I am." + +In that instant before she spoke, while her steady eyes rested on him, she +put together many things which had puzzled her. All of them pointed to +one conclusion. Even now her courage did not fail her. She put it into +words quietly: + +"You are that villain Black MacQueen." + +He stared at her in surprise. "By God, girl--you're right. I'm MacQueen, +though I don't know how you guessed it." + +"I don't know how I kept from guessing it so long. I can see it, now, as +plain as day, in all that you have done." + +After that they measured strength silently with their eyes. If the +situation had clarified itself, with the added knowledge of the girl had +come new problems. Let her return to Mesa, and he could no longer pose as +O'Connor; and it was just the audacity of this double play that delighted +him. He was the most reckless man on earth; he loved to take chances. He +wanted to fool the officers to his heart's content, and then jeer at them +afterward. Hitherto everything had come his way. + +But if this girl should go home, he could not show his face at Mesa; and +the spice of the thing would be gone. He was greatly taken with her +beauty, her daring, and the charm of high spirits which radiated from her. +Again and again he had found himself drawn back to her. He was not in love +with her in any legitimate sense; but he knew now that, if he could see +her no more, life would be a savorless thing, at least until his fancy had +spent itself. Moreover, her presence at Dead Man's Cache would be a +safeguard. With her in his power, Lee and Flatray, the most persistent of +his hunters, would not dare to move against the outlaws. + +Inclination and interest worked together. He decided to take her back with +him to the country of hidden pockets and gulches. There, in time, he would +win her love--so his vanity insisted. After that they would slip away from +the scene of his crimes, and go back to the world from which he had years +since vanished. + +The dream grew on him. It got hold of his imagination. For a moment he saw +himself as the man he had been meant for--the man he might have been, if +he had been able to subdue his evil nature. He saw himself respected, a +power in the community, going down to a serene old age, with this woman +and their children by his side. Then he laughed derisively, and brushed +aside the vision. + +"Why didn't the real Lieutenant O'Connor arrive to expose you?" she +asked. + +"The real Bucky is handcuffed and guarded at Dead Man's Cache. I don't +think he's enjoying himself to-day." + +"You're getting quite a collection of prisoners. You'll be starting a +penitentiary on your own account soon," she told him sharply. + +"That's right. And I'm taking another one back with me to-night." + +"Who is he?" + +"It's a lady this time--Miss Melissy Lee." + +His words shook her. An icy hand seemed to clamp upon her heart. The blood +ebbed even from her lips, but her brave eyes never faltered from his. + +"So you war on women, too!" + +He gave her his most ironic bow. "I don't war on you, my dear. You shall +have half of my kingdom, if you ask it--and all my heart." + +"I can't use either," she told him quietly. "But I'm only a girl. If you +have a spark of manliness in you, surely you won't take me a prisoner +among those wild, bad men of yours." + +"Those wild, bad men of mine are lambs when I give the word. They wouldn't +lift a hand against you. And there is a woman there--the mother of one of +my boys, who was shot. We'll have you chaperoned for fair." + +"And if I say I won't go?" + +"You'll go if I strap you to your saddle." + +It was characteristic of Melissy that she made no further resistance. The +sudden, wolfish gleam in his eyes had told her that he meant what he said. +It was like her, too, that she made no outcry; that she did not shed tears +or plead with him. A gallant spirit inhabited that slim, girlish body; and +she yielded to the inevitable with quiet dignity. This surprised him +greatly, and stung his reluctant admiration. At the same time, it set her +apart from him and hedged her with spiritual barriers. Her body might +ride with him into captivity; she was still captain of her soul. + +"You're a game one," he told her, as he helped her to the saddle. + +She did not answer, but looked straightforward between her horse's ears, +without seeing him, waiting for him to give the word to start. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN DEAD MAN'S CACHE + + +Not since the start of their journey had Melissy broken silence, save to +answer, in few words as possible, the questions put to her by the outlaw. +Yet her silence had not been sullenness. It had been the barrier which she +had set up between them--one which he could not break down short of actual +roughness. + +Of this she could not accuse him. Indeed, he had been thoughtful of her +comfort. At sunset they had stopped by a spring, and he had shared with +her such food as he had. Moreover, he had insisted that she should rest +for a while before they took up the last stretch of the way. + +It was midnight now, and they had been traveling for many hours over rough +mountain trails. There was more strength than one would look for in so +slender a figure, yet Melissy was drooping with fatigue. + +"It's not far now. We'll be there in a few minutes," MacQueen promised +her. + +They were ascending a narrow trail which ran along the sidehill through +the timber. Presently they topped the summit, and the ground fell away +from their feet to a bowl-shaped valley, over which the silvery moonshine +played so that the basin seemed to swim in a magic sea of light. + +"Welcome to the Cache," he said to her. + +She was surprised out of her silence. "Dead Man's Cache?" + +"It has been called that." + +"Why?" + +She knew, but she wanted to see if he would tell a story which showed so +plainly his own ruthlessness. + +He hesitated, but only for a moment. + +"There was a man named Havens. He had a reputation as a bad man, and I +reckon he deserved it--if brand blotting, mail rustling, and shooting +citizens are the credentials to win that title. Hard pressed on account of +some deviltry, he drifted into this country, and was made welcome by those +living here. The best we had was his. He was fed, outfitted, and kept safe +from the law that was looking for him. + +"You would figure he was under big obligations to the men that did this +for him--wouldn't you? But he was born skunk. When his chance came he +offered to betray these men to the law, in exchange for a pardon for his +own sneaking hide. The letter was found, and it was proved he wrote it. +What ought those men to have done to him, Miss 'Lissie?" + +"I don't know." She shuddered. + +"There's got to be law, even in a place like this. We make our own laws, +and the men that stay here have got to abide by them. Our law said this +man must die. He died." + +She did not ask him how. The story went that the outlaws whom the wretched +man had tried to sell let him escape on purpose--that, just as he thought +he was free of them, their mocking laughter came to him from the rocks all +around. He was completely surrounded. They had merely let him run into a +trap. He escaped again, wandered without food for days, and again +discovered that they had been watching him all the time. Turn whichever +way he would, their rifles warned him back. He stumbled on, growing weaker +and weaker. They would neither capture him nor let him go. + +For nearly a week the cruel game went on. Frequently he heard their voices +in the hills about him. Sometimes he would call out to them pitifully to +put him out of his misery. Only their horrible laughter answered. When he +had reached the limit of endurance he lay down and died. + +And the man who had engineered that heartless revenge was riding beside +her. He had been ready to tell her the whole story, if she had asked for +it, and equally ready to justify it. Nothing could have shown her more +plainly the character of the villain into whose hands she had fallen. + +They descended into the valley, winding in and out until they came +suddenly upon ranch houses and a corral in a cleared space. + +A man came out of the shadows into the moonlight to meet them. Instantly +Melissy recognized his walk. It was Boone. + +"Oh, it's you," MacQueen said coldly. "Any of the rest of the boys up?" + +"No." + +Not a dozen words had passed between them, but the girl sensed hostility. +She was not surprised. Dunc Boone was not the man to take second place in +any company of riff-raff, nor was MacQueen one likely to yield the +supremacy he had fought to gain. + +The latter swung from the saddle and lifted Melissy from hers. As her feet +struck the ground her face for the first time came full into the +moonlight. + +Boone stifled a startled oath. + +"Melissy Lee!" Like a swiftly reined horse he swung around upon his chief. +"What devil's work is this?" + +"My business, Dunc!" the other retorted in suave insult. + +"By God, no! I make it mine. This young lady's a friend of mine--or used +to be. _Sabe_?" + +"I _sabe_ you'd better not try to sit in at this game, my friend." + +Boone swung abruptly upon Melissy. "How come you here, girl? Tell me!" + +And in three sentences she explained. + +"What's your play? Whyfor did you bring her?" the Arkansan demanded of +MacQueen. + +The latter stood balanced on his heels with his feet wide apart. There was +a scornful grin on his face, but his eyes were fixed warily on the other +man. + +"What was I to do with her, Mr. Buttinski? She found out who I was. Could +I send her home? If I did how was I to fix it so I could go to Mesa when +it's necessary till we get this ransom business arranged?" + +"All right. But you understand she's a friend of mine. I'll not have her +hurt." + +"Oh, go to the devil! I'm not in the habit of hurting young ladies." + +MacQueen swung on his heel insolently and knocked on the door of a cabin +near. + +"Don't forget that I'm here when you need me," Boone told Melissy in a low +voice. + +"I'll not forget," the girl made answer in a murmur. + +The wrinkled face of a Mexican woman appeared presently at a window. +MacQueen jabbered a sentence or two in her language. She looked at Melissy +and answered. + +The girl had not lived in Southern Arizona for twenty years without having +a working knowledge of Spanish. Wherefore, she knew that her captor had +ordered his own room prepared for her. + +While they waited for this to be made ready MacQueen hummed a snatch of a +popular song. It happened to be a love ditty. Boone ground his teeth and +glared at him, which appeared to amuse the other ruffian immensely. + +"Don't stay up on our account," MacQueen suggested presently with a +malicious laugh. "We're not needing a chaperone any to speak of." + +The Mexican woman announced that the bedroom was ready and MacQueen +escorted Melissy to the door of the room. He stood aside with mock +gallantry to let her pass. + +"Have to lock you in," he apologized airily. "Not that it would do you any +good to escape. We'd have you again inside of twenty-four hours. This bit +of the hills takes a heap of knowing. But we don't want you running away. +You're too tired. So I lock the door and lie down on the porch under your +window. _Adios, seņorita._" + +Melissy heard the key turn in the lock, and was grateful for the respite +given her by the night. She was glad, too, that Boone was here. She knew +him for a villain, but she hoped he would stand between her and MacQueen +if the latter proved unruly in his attentions. Her guess was that Boone +was jealous of the other--of his authority with the gang to which they +both belonged, and now of his relationship to her. Out of this division +might come hope for her. + +So tired was she that, in spite of her alarms, sleep took her almost as +soon as her head touched the pillow. When she awakened the sun was shining +in at her window above the curtain strung across its lower half. + +Some one was knocking at the door. When she asked who was there, in a +voice which could not conceal its tremors, the answer came in feminine +tones: + +"'Tis I--Rosario Chaves." + +The Mexican woman was not communicative, nor did she appear to be +sympathetic. The plight of this girl might have moved even an unresponsive +heart, but Rosario showed a stolid face to her distress. What had to be +said, she said. For the rest, she declined conversation absolutely. + +Breakfast was served Melissy in her room, after which Rosario led her +outdoors. The woman gave her to understand that she might walk about the +cleared space, but must not pass into the woods beyond. To point the need +of obedience, Rosario seated herself on the porch, and began doing some +drawn work upon which she was engaged. + +Melissy walked toward the corral, but did not reach it. An old hag was +seated in a chair beside one of the log cabins. From the color of her skin +the girl judged her to be an Indian squaw. She wore moccasins, a dirty and +shapeless one-piece dress, and a big sunbonnet, in which her head was +buried. + +Sitting on the floor of the porch, about fifteen feet from her, was a +hard-faced customer, with stony eyes like those of a snake. He was sewing +on a bridle that had given way. Melissy noticed that from the pocket of +his chaps the butt of a revolver peeped. She judged it to be the custom in +Dead Man's Cache to go garnished with weapons. + +Her curiosity led her to deflect toward the old woman. But she had not +taken three steps toward the cabin before the man with the jade eyes +stopped her. + +"That'll be near enough, ma'am," he said, civilly enough. "This old crone +has a crazy spell whenever a stranger comes nigh. She's nutty. It ain't +safe to come nearer--is it, old Sit-in-the-Sun?" + +The squaw grunted. Simultaneously, she looked up, and Miss Lee thought +that she had never seen more piercing eyes. + +"Is Sit-in-the-Sun her name?" asked the girl curiously. + +"That's the English of it. The Navajo word is a jawbreaker." + +"Doesn't she understand English?" + +"No more'n you do Choctaw, miss." + +A quick step crunched the gravel behind Melissy. She did not need to look +around to know that here was Black MacQueen. + +"What's this--what's this, Hank?" he demanded sharply. + +"The young lady started to come up and speak to old Sit-in-the-Sun. I was +just explaining to her how crazy the old squaw is," Jeff answered with a +grin. + +"Oh! Is that all?" MacQueen turned to Melissy. + +"She's plumb loony--dangerous, too. I don't want you to go near her." + +The girl's eyes flashed. "Very considerate of you. But if you want to +protect me from the really dangerous people here, you had better send me +home." + +"I tell you they do as I say, every man jack of them. I'd flay one alive +if he insulted you." + +"It's a privilege you don't sublet then," she retorted swiftly. + +Admiration gleamed through his amusement. "Gad, you've got a sharp tongue. +I'd pity the man you marry--unless he drove with a tight rein." + +"That's not what we're discussing, Mr. MacQueen. Are you going to send me +home?" + +"Not till you've made us a nice long visit, my dear. You're quite safe +here. My men are plumb gentle. They'll eat out of your hand. They don't +insult ladies. I've taught 'em----" + +"Pity you couldn't teach their leader, too." + +He acknowledged the hit. "Come again, dearie. But what's your complaint? +Haven't I treated you white so far?" + +"No. You insulted me grossly when you brought me here by force." + +"Did I lay a hand on you?" + +"If it had been necessary you would have." + +"You're right, I would," he nodded. "I've taken a fancy to you. You're a +good-looking and a plucky little devil. I've a notion to fall in love with +you." + +"Don't!" + +"Why not? Say I'm a villain and a bad lot. Wouldn't it be a good thing for +me to tie up with a fine, straight-up young lady like you? Me, I like the +way your eyes flash. You've got a devil of a temper, haven't you?" + +They had been walking toward a pile of rocks some little way from the +cluster of cabins. Now he sat down and smiled impudently across at her. + +"That's my business," she flung back stormily. + +Genially he nodded. "So it is. Mine, too, when we trot in double +harness." + +Her scornful eyes swept up and down him. "I wouldn't marry you if you were +the last man on earth." + +"No. Well, I'm not partial to that game myself. I didn't mention +matrimony, did I?" + +The meaning she read in his mocking, half-closed eyes startled the girl. +Seeing this, he added with a shrug: + +"Just as you say about that. We'll make you Mrs. MacQueen on the level if +you like." + +The passion in her surged up. "I'd rather lie dead at your feet--I'd +rather starve in these hills--I'd rather put a knife in my heart!" + +He clapped his hands. "Fine! Fine! That Bernhardt woman hasn't got a +thing on you when it comes to acting, my dear. You put that across bully. +Never saw it done better." + +"You--coward!" Her voice broke and she turned to leave him. + +"Stop!" The ring of the word brought her feet to a halt. MacQueen padded +across till he faced her. "Don't make any mistake, girl. You're mine. I +don't care how. If it suits you to have a priest mumble words over us, +good enough. But I'm the man you've got to get ready to love." + +"I hate you." + +"That's a good start, you little catamount." + +"I'd rather die--a thousand times rather." + +"Not you, my dear. You think you would right now, but inside of a week +you'll be hunting for pet names to give me." + +She ran blindly toward the house where her room was. On the way she passed +at a little distance Dunc Boone and did not see him. His hungry eyes +followed her--a slender creature of white and russet and gold, vivid as a +hillside poppy, compact of life and fire and grace. He, too, was a +miscreant and a villain, lost to honor and truth, but just now she held +his heart in the hollow of her tightly clenched little fist. Good men and +bad, at bottom we are all made of the same stuff, once we are down to the +primal emotions that go deeper than civilization's veneer. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"TRAPPED!" + + +Black MacQueen rolled a cigarette and sauntered toward the other outlaw. + +"I reckon you better saddle up and take a look over the Flattops, Dunc. +The way I figure it Lee's posse must be somewhere over there. Swing around +toward the Elkhorns and get back to report by to-morrow evening, say." + +Boone looked at him in an ugly manner. "Nothin' doing, MacQueen." + +"What's that?" + +"I'm no greaser, my friend. Orders don't go with me." + +"They don't, eh? Who's major domo of this outfit?" + +"I'm going to stay right here in this valley to-night. See?" + +"What's eatin' you, man?" + +"And every night so long as Melissy Lee stays." + +MacQueen watched him with steady, hostile eyes. "So it's the girl, is it? +Want to cut in, do you? Oh, no, my friend. Two's company; three's a +crowd. She's mine." + +"No." + +"Yes. And another thing, Mr. Boone. I don't stand for any interference in +my plans. Make a break at it and you'll take a hurry up journey to kingdom +come." + +"Or you will." + +"Don't bank on that off chance. The boys are with me. You're alone. If I +give the word they'll bump you off. _Don't make a mistake, Boone._" + +The Arkansan hesitated. What MacQueen said was true enough. His +overbearing disposition had made him unpopular. He knew the others would +side against him and that if it came to a showdown they would snuff out +his life as a man does the flame of a candle. The rage died out of his +eyes and gave place to a look of cunning. + +"It's your say-so, Black. But there will be a day when it ain't. Don't +forget that." + +"And in the meantime you'll ride the Flattops when I give the word?" + +Boone nodded sulkily. "I said you had the call, didn't I?" + +"Then ride 'em now, damn you. And don't show up in the Cache till +to-morrow night." + +MacQueen turned on his heel and strutted away. He was elated at his easy +victory. If he had seen the look that followed him he might not have been +so quiet in his mind. + +But on the surface he had cinched his leadership. Boone saddled and rode +out of the Cache without another word to anybody. Sullen and vindictive he +might be, but cowed he certainly seemed. MacQueen celebrated by frequent +trips to his sleeping quarters, where each time he resorted to a bottle +and a glass. No man had ever seen him intoxicated, but there were times +when he drank a good deal for a few days at a stretch. His dissipation +would be followed by months of total abstinence. + +All day the man persecuted Melissy with his attentions. His passion was +veiled under a manner of mock deference, of insolent assurance, but as the +hours passed the fears of the girl grew upon her. There were moments when +she turned sick with waves of dread. In the sunshine, under the open sky, +she could hold her own, but under cover of the night's blackness ghastly +horrors would creep toward her to destroy. + +Nor was there anybody to whom she might turn for help. Lane and Jackson +were tools of their leader. The Mexican woman could do nothing even if she +would. Boone alone might have helped her, and he had ridden away to save +his own skin. So MacQueen told her to emphasize his triumph and her +helplessness. + +To her fancy dusk fell over the valley like a pall. It brought with it the +terrible night, under cover of which unthinkable things might be done. +With no appetite, she sat down to supper opposite her captor. To see him +gloat over her made her heart sink. Her courage was of no avail against +the thing that threatened. + +Supper over, he made her sit with him on the porch for an hour to listen +to his boasts of former conquests. And when he let her take her way to her +room it was not "Good-night" but a mocking "Au revoir" he murmured as he +bent to kiss her hand. + +Melissy found Rosario waiting for her, crouched in the darkness of the +room that had been given the young woman. The Mexican spoke in her own +language, softly, with many glances of alarm to make sure they were +alone. + +"Hist, seņorita. Here is a note. Read it. Destroy it. Swear not to betray +Rosario." + +By the light of a match Melissy read: + + "Behind the big rocks. In half an hour. + + "A Friend." +What could it mean? Who could have sent it? Rosario would answer no +questions. She snatched the note, tore it into fragments, chewed them into +a pulp. Then, still shaking her head obstinately, hurriedly left the +room. + +But at least it meant hope. Her mind flew from her father to Jack Flatray, +Bellamy, young Yarnell. It might be any of them. Or it might be O'Connor, +who, perhaps, had by some miracle escaped. + +The minutes were hours to her. Interminably they dragged. The fear rose in +her that MacQueen might come in time to cut off her escape. At last, in +her stocking feet, carrying her shoes in her hand, she stole into the +hall, out to the porch, and from it to the shadows of the cottonwoods. + +It was a night of both moon and stars. She had to cross a space washed in +silvery light, taking the chance that nobody would see her. But first she +stooped in the shadows to slip the shoes upon her feet. Her heart beat +against her side as she had once seen that of a frightened mouse do. It +seemed impossible for her to cover all that moonlit open unseen. Every +moment she expected an alarm to ring out in the silent night. But none +came. + +Safely she reached the big rocks. A voice called to her softly. She +answered, and came face to face with Boone. A drawn revolver was in his +hand. + +"You made it," he panted, as a man might who had been running hard. + +"Yes," she whispered. "But they'll soon know. Let us get away." + +"If you hadn't come I was going in to kill him." + +She noticed the hard glitter in his eyes as he spoke, the crouched look of +the padding tiger ready for its kill. The man was torn with hatred and +jealousy. + +Already they were moving back through the rocks to a dry wash that ran +through the valley. The bed of this they followed for nearly a mile. +Deflecting from it they pushed across the valley toward what appeared to +be a sheer rock wall. With a twist to the left they swung back of a face +of rock, turned sharply to the right, and found themselves in a fissure +Melissy had not at all expected. Here ran a little caņon known only to +those few who rode up and down it on the nefarious business of their +unwholesome lives. + +Boone spoke harshly, breaking for the first time in half an hour his moody +silence. + +"Safe at last. By God, I've evened my score with Black MacQueen." + +And from the cliff above came the answer--a laugh full of mocking deviltry +and malice. + +The Arkansan turned upon Melissy a startled face of agony, in which +despair and hate stood out of a yellow pallor. + +"Trapped." + +It was his last word to her. He swept the girl back against the shelter of +the wall and ran crouching toward the entrance. + +A bullet zipped--a second--a third. He stumbled, but did not fall. +Turning, he came back, dodging like a hunted fox. As he passed her, +Melissy saw that his face was ghastly. He ran with a limp. + +A second time she heard the cackle of laughter. Guns cracked. Still the +doomed man pushed forward. He went down, struck in the body, but dragged +himself to his feet and staggered on. + +All this time he had seen nobody at whom he could fire. Not a shot had +come from his revolver. He sank behind a rock for shelter. The ping of a +bullet on the shale beside him brought the tortured man to his feet. He +looked wildly about him, the moon shining on his bare head, and plunged up +the caņon. + +And now it appeared his unseen tormentors were afraid he might escape +them. Half a dozen shots came close together. Boone sank to the ground, +writhed like a crushed worm, and twisted over so that his face was to the +moonlight. + +Melissy ran forward and knelt beside him. + +"They've got me ... in half a dozen places.... I'm going fast." + +"Oh, no ... no," the girl protested. + +"Yep.... Surest thing you know.... I did you dirt onct, girl. And I've +been a bad lot--a wolf, a killer." + +"Never mind that now. You died to save me. Always I'll remember that." + +"Onct you 'most loved me.... But it wouldn't have done. I'm a wolf and +you're a little white lamb. Is Flatray the man?" + +"Yes." + +"Thought so. Well, he's square. I rigged it up on him about the rustling. +I was the man you liked to 'a' caught that day years ago." + +"You!" + +"Yep." He broke off abruptly. "I'm going, girl.... It's gittin' black. +Hold my hand till--till----" + +He gave a shudder and seemed to fall together. He was dead. + +Melissy heard the sound of rubble slipping. Some one was lowering himself +cautiously down the side of the caņon. A man dropped to the wash and +strutted toward her. He kept his eyes fixed on the lifeless form, rifle +ready for action at an instant's notice. When he reached his victim he +pushed the body with his foot, made sure of no trap, and relaxed his +alertness. + +"Dead as a hammer." + +The man was MacQueen. He turned to Melissy and nodded jauntily. + +"Good evening, my dear. Just taking a little stroll?" he asked +ironically. + +The girl leaned against the cold wall and covered her face with her arm. +She was sobbing hysterically. + +The outlaw seized her by the shoulders and swung her round. "Cut that out, +girl," he ordered roughly. + +Melissy caught at her sobs and tried to check them. + +"He got what was coming to him, what he's been playing for a long time. I +warned him, but the fool wouldn't see it." + +"How did you know?" she asked, getting out her question a word at a time. + +"Knew it all the time. Rosario brought his note to me. I told her to take +it to you and keep her mouth shut." + +"You planned his death." + +"If you like to put it that way. Now we'll go home and forget this +foolishness. Jeff, bring the horses round to the mouth of the gulch." + +Melissy felt suddenly very, very tired and old. Her feet dragged like +those of an Indian squaw following her master. It was as though heavy +irons weighted her ankles. + +MacQueen helped her to one of the horses Jackson brought to the lip of the +gulch. Weariness rode on her shoulders all the way back. The soul of her +was crushed beneath the misfortunes that oppressed her. + +Long before they reached the ranch houses Rosario came running to meet +them. Plainly she was in great excitement. + +"The prisoners have escaped," she cried to MacQueen. + +"Escaped. How?" demanded Black. + +"Some one must have helped them. I heard a window smash and ran out. The +young ranger and another man were coming out of the last cabin with the +old man. I could do nothing. They ran." + +They had been talking in her own language. MacQueen jabbed another +question at her. + +"Which way?" + +"Toward the Pass." + +The outlaw ripped out an oath. "We've got 'em. They can't reach it without +horses as quick as we can with them." He whirled upon Melissy. "March into +the house, girl. Don't you dare make a move. I'm leaving Buck here to +watch you." Sharply he swung to the man Lane. "Buck, if she makes a break +to get away, riddle her full of holes. You hear me." + +A minute later, from the place where she lay face down on the bed, Melissy +heard him and his men gallop away. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AN ESCAPE AND A CAPTURE + + +Far up in the mountains, in that section where head the Roaring Fork, One +Horse Creek, and the Del Oro, is a vast tract of wild, untraveled country +known vaguely as the Bad Lands. Somewhere among the thousand and one +caņons which cleft the huddled hills lay hidden Dead Man's Cache. Here +Black MacQueen retreated on those rare occasions when the pursuit grew hot +on his tracks. So the current report ran. + +Whether the abductors of Simon West were to be found in the Cache or at +some other nest in the almost inaccessible ridges Jack Flatray had no +means of knowing. His plan was to follow the Roaring Fork almost to its +headquarters, and there establish a base for his hunt. It might take him a +week to flush his game. It might take a month. He clamped his bulldog jaw +to see the thing out to a finish. + +Jack did not make the mistake of underestimating his job. He had followed +the trail of bad men often enough to know that, in a frontier country, no +hunt is so desperate as the man-hunt. Such men are never easily taken, +even if they do not have all the advantage in the deadly game of hide and +seek that is played in the timber and the pockets of the hills. + +And here the odds all lay with the hunted. They knew every ravine and +gulch. Day by day their scout looked down from mountain ledges to watch +the progress of the posse. + +Moreover, Flatray could never tell at what moment his covey might be +startled from its run. The greatest vigilance was necessary to make sure +his own party would not be ambushed. Yet slowly he combed the arroyos and +the ridges, drawing always closer to that net of gulches in which he knew +Dead Man's Cache must be located. + +During the day the sheriff split his party into couples. Bellamy and Alan +McKinstra, Farnum and Charlie Hymer, young Yarnell and the sheriff. So +Jack had divided his posse, thus leaving at the head of each detail one +old and wise head. Each night the parties met at the rendezvous appointed +for the wranglers with the pack horses. From sunrise to sunset often no +face was seen other than those of their own outfit. Sometimes a solitary +sheep herder was discovered at his post. Always the work was hard, +discouraging, and apparently futile. But the young sheriff never thought +of quitting. + +The provisions gave out. Jack sent back Hal Yarnell and Hegler, the +wrangler, to bring in a fresh supply. Meanwhile the young sheriff took a +big chance and scouted alone. He parted from the young Arkansan at the +head of a gulch which twisted snakelike into the mountains; Yarnell and +the pack outfit to ride to Mammoth, Flatray to dive still deeper into the +mesh of hills. He had the instinct of the scout to stick to the high +places as much as he could. Whenever it was possible he followed ridges, +so that no spy could look down upon him as he traveled. Sometimes the +contour of the country drove him into the open or down into hollows. But +in such places he advanced with the swift stealth of an Indian. + +It was on one of these occasions, when he had been driven into a dark and +narrow caņon, that he came to a sudden halt. He was looking at an empty +tomato can. Swinging down from his saddle, he picked it up without +dismounting. A little juice dripped from the can to the ground. + +Flatray needed no explanation. In Arizona men on the range often carry a +can of tomatoes instead of a water canteen. Nothing alleviates thirst like +the juice of this acid fruit. Some one had opened this can within two +hours. Otherwise the sun would have dried the moisture. + +Jack took his rifle from its place beneath his legs and set it across the +saddle in front of him. Very carefully he continued on his way, watching +every rock and bush ahead of him. Here and there in the sand were printed +the signs of a horse going in the same direction as his. + +Up and down, in and out of a maze of crooked paths, working by ever so +devious a way higher into the chain of mountains, Jack followed his +leader. Now he would lose the hoofmarks; now he would pick them up again. +And, at the last, they brought him to the rim of a basin, a bowl of wooded +ravines, of twisted ridges, of bleak spurs jutting into late pastures +almost green. It was now past sunset. Dusk was filtering down from the +blue peaks. As he looked a star peeped out low on the horizon. + +But was it a star? He glimpsed it between trees. The conviction grew on +him that what he saw was the light of a lamp. A tangle of rough country +lay between him and that beacon, but there before him lay his destination. +At last he had found his way into Dead Man's Cache. + +The sheriff lost no time, for he knew that if he should get lost in the +darkness on one of these forest slopes he might wander all night. A rough +trail led him down into the basin. Now he would lose sight of the light. +Half an hour later, pushing to the summit of a hill, he might find it. +After a time there twinkled a second beside the first. He was getting +close to a settlement of some kind. + +Below him in the darkness lay a stretch of open meadow rising to the +wooded foothills. Behind these a wall of rugged mountains encircled the +valley like a gigantic crooked arm. Already he could make out faintly the +outlines of the huddled buildings. + +Slipping from his horse, Jack went forward cautiously on foot. He was +still a hundred yards from the nearest hut when dogs bayed warning of his +approach. He waited, rifle in hand. No sign of human life showed except +the two lights shining from as many windows. Flatray counted four other +cabins as dark as Egypt. + +Very slowly he crept forward, always with one eye to his retreat. Why did +nobody answer the barking of the dogs? Was he being watched all the time? +But how could he be, since he was completely cloaked in darkness? + +So at last he came to the nearest cabin, crept to the window, and looked +in. A man lay on a bed. His hands and feet were securely tied and a second +rope wound round so as to bind him to the bunk. + +Flatray tapped softly on a pane. Instantly the head of the bound man +slewed round. + +"Friend?" + +The prisoner asked it ever so gently, but the sheriff heard. + +"Yes." + +"The top part of the window is open. You can crawl over, I reckon." + +Jack climbed on the sill and from it through the window. Almost before he +reached the floor his knife was out and he was slashing at the ropes. + +"Better put the light out, pardner," suggested the man he was freeing, +and the officer noticed that there was no tremor in the cool, steady +voice. + +"That's right. We'd make a fine mark through the window." + +And the light went out. + +"I'm Bucky O'Connor. Who are you?" + +"Jack Flatray." + +They spoke together in whispers. Though both were keyed to the highest +pitch of excitement they were as steady as eight-day clocks. O'Connor +stretched his limbs, flexing them this way and that, so that he might have +perfect control of them. He worked especially over the forearm and fingers +of his right arm. + +Flatray handed him a revolver. + +"Whenever you're ready, Lieutenant." + +"All right. It's the cabin next to this." + +They climbed out of the window noiselessly and crept to the next hut. The +door was locked, the window closed. + +"We've got to smash the window. Nothing else for it," Flatray whispered. + +"Looks like it. That means we'll have to shoot our way out." + +With the butt of his rifle the sheriff shattered the woodwork of the +window, driving the whole frame into the room. + +"What is it?" a frightened voice demanded. + +"Friends, Mr. West. Just a minute." + +It took them scarce longer than that to free him and to get him into the +open. A Mexican woman came screaming out of an adjoining cabin. + +The young men caught each an arm of the capitalist and hurried him +forward. + +"Hell'll be popping in a minute," Flatray explained. + +But they reached the shelter of the underbrush without a shot having been +fired. Nor had a single man appeared to dispute their escape. + +"Looks like most of the family is away from home to-night," Bucky +hazarded. + +"Maybe so, but they're liable to drop in any minute. We'll keep covering +ground." + +They circled round toward the sheriff's horse. As soon as they reached it +West, still stiff from want of circulation in his cramped limbs, was +boosted into the saddle. + +"It's going to be a good deal of a guess to find our way out of the +Cache," Jack explained. "Even in the daytime it would take a 'Pache, but +at night--well, here's hoping the luck's good." + +They found it not so good as they had hoped. For hours they wandered in +mesquit, dragged themselves through cactus, crossed washes, and climbed +hills. + +"This will never do. We'd better give it up till daylight. We're not +getting anywhere," the sheriff suggested. + +They did as he advised. As soon as a faint gray sifted into the sky they +were on the move again. But whichever way they climbed it was always to +come up against steep cliffs too precipitous to be scaled. + +The ranger officer pointed to a notch beyond a cowbacked hill. "I wouldn't +be sure, but it looks like that was the way they brought me into the +Cache. I could tell if I were up there. What's the matter with my going +ahead and settling the thing? If I'm right I'll come back and let you +know." + +Jack looked at West. The railroad man was tired and drawn. He was not used +to galloping over the hills all night. + +"All right. We'll be here when you come back," Flatray said, and flung +himself on the ground. + +West followed his example. + +It must have been half an hour later that Flatray heard a twig snap under +an approaching foot. He had been scanning the valley with his glasses, +having given West instructions to keep a lookout in the rear. He swung his +head round sharply, and with it his rifle. + +"You're covered, you fool," cried the man who was strutting toward them. + +"Stop there. Not another step," Flatray called sharply. + +The man stopped, his rifle half raised. "We've got you on every side, +man." He lifted his voice. "Jeff--Hank--Steve! Let him know you're +alive." + +Three guns cracked and kicked up the dust close to the sheriff. + +"What do you want with us?" Flatray asked, sparring for time. + +"Drop your gun. If you don't we'll riddle you both." + +West spoke to Jack promptly. "Do as he says. It's MacQueen." + +Flatray hesitated. He could kill MacQueen probably, but almost certainly +he and West would pay the penalty. He reluctantly put his rifle down. "All +right. It's your call." + +"Where's O'Connor?" + +The sheriff looked straight at him. "Haven't you enough of us for one +gather?" + +The outlaws were closing in on them cautiously. + +"Not without that smart man hunter. Where is he?" + +"I don't know." + +"The devil you don't." + +"We separated early this morning--thought it would give us a better chance +for a getaway." Jack gave a sudden exclamation of surprise. "So it was +Black MacQueen himself who posed as O'Connor down at Mesa." + +"Guessed it right, my friend. And I'll tell you one thing: you've made the +mistake of your life butting into Dead Man's Cache. Your missing friend +O'Connor was due to hand in his checks to-day. Since you've taken his +place it will be you that crosses the divide, Mr. Sheriff. You'd better +tell where he is, for if we don't get Mr. Bucky it will be God help J. +Flatray." + +The dapper little villain exuded a smug, complacent cruelty. It was no use +for the sheriff to remind himself that such things weren't done nowadays, +that the times of Geronimo and the Apache Kid were past forever. Black +MacQueen would go the limit in deviltry if he set his mind to it. + +Yet Flatray answered easily, without any perceptible hesitation: "I reckon +I'll play my hand and let Bucky play his." + +"Suits me if it does you. Jeff, collect that hardware. Now, while you boys +beat up the hills for O'Connor, I'll trail back to camp with these two +all-night picnickers." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A BARGAIN + + +Melissy saw the two prisoners brought in, though she could not tell at +that distance who they were. Her watch told her that it was four-thirty. +She had slept scarcely at all during the night, but now she lay down on +the bed in her clothes. + +The next she knew, Rosario was calling her to get up for breakfast. The +girl dressed and followed Rosario to the adjoining cabin. MacQueen was not +there, and Melissy ate alone. She was given to understand that she might +walk up and down in front of the houses for a few minutes after breakfast. +Naturally she made the most of the little liberty allowed her. + +The old squaw Sit-in-the-Sun squatted in front of the last hut, her back +against the log wall. The man called Buck sat yawning on a rock a few +yards away. What struck Melissy as strange was that the squaw was figuring +on the back of an old envelope with the stub of a lead pencil. + +The young woman walked leisurely past the cabin for perhaps a dozen +yards. + +"That'll be about far enough. You don't want to tire yourself, Miss Lee," +Buck Lane called, with a grin. + +Melissy stopped, stood looking at the mountains for a few minutes, and +turned back. Sit-in-the-Sun looked quickly at her, and at the same moment +she tore the paper in two and her fingers opened to release one piece of +the envelope upon which she had been writing. A puff of wind carried it +almost directly in front of the girl. Lane was still yawning sleepily, his +gaze directed toward the spot where he presently expected Rosario to step +out and call him to breakfast. Melissy dropped her handkerchief, stooped +to pick it up, and gathered at the same time in a crumpled heap into her +hand the fragment of an envelope. Without another glance at the squaw, the +young woman kept on her way, sauntered to the porch, and lingered there as +if in doubt. + +"I'm tired," she announced to Rosario, and turned to her rooms. + +"_Si, seņorita,_" answered her attendant quietly. + +Once inside, Melissy lay down on her bed, with her back to the window, and +smoothed out the torn envelope. On one side were some disjointed memoranda +which she did not understand. + + K. C. & T. 93 + D. & R. B. 87 + Float $10,000,000 Cortes for extension. + +That was all, but certainly a strange puzzle for a Navajo squaw to set +her. + +She turned the paper over, to find the other side close-packed with +writing. + + Miss Lee: + + In the last cabin but one is a prisoner, your friend Sheriff Flatray. + He is to be shot in an hour. I have offered any sum for his life and + been refused. For God's sake save him somehow. + + Simon West. +Jack Flatray here, and about to be murdered! The thing was incredible. And +yet--and yet---- Was it so impossible, after all? Some one had broken into +the Cache and released the prisoners. Who more likely than Jack to have +done this? And later they had captured him and condemned him for what he +had done. + +Melissy reconstructed the scene in a flash. The Indian squaw was West. He +had been rigged up in that paraphernalia to deceive any chance mountaineer +who might drop into the valley by accident. + +No doubt, when he first saw Melissy, the railroad magnate had been passing +his time in making notes about his plans for the system he controlled. But +when he had caught sight of her, he had written the note, under the very +eyes of the guard, had torn the envelope as if it were of no importance, +and tossed the pieces away. He had taken the thousandth chance that his +note might fall into the hands of the person to whom it was directed. + +All this she understood without giving it conscious thought. For her whole +mind was filled with the horror of what she had learned. Jack Flatray, the +man she loved, was to be killed. He was to be shot down in an hour. + +With the thought, she was at her door--only to find that it had been +quietly locked while she lay on the bed. No doubt they had meant to keep +her a close prisoner until the thing they were about to do was finished. +She beat upon it, called to Rosario to let her out, wrung her hands in her +desperation. Then she remembered the window. It was a cheap and flimsy +case, and had been jammed so that her strength was not sufficient to raise +it. + +Her eye searched the room for a weapon, and found an Indian tom-tom club. +With this she smashed the panes and beat down the wooden cross bars of the +sash. Agile as a forest fawn, she slipped through the opening she had made +and ran toward the far cabin. + +A group of men surrounded the door; and, as she drew near, it opened to +show three central figures. MacQueen was one, Rosario Chaves a second; but +the most conspicuous was a bareheaded young man, with his hands tied +behind him. He was going to his death, but a glance was enough to show +that he went unconquered and unconquerable. His step did not drag. There +was a faint, grave smile on his lips; and in his eye was the dynamic spark +that proclaimed him still master of his fate. The woolen shirt had been +unbuttoned and pulled back to make way for the rope that lay loosely about +his neck, so that she could not miss the well-muscled slope of his fine +shoulders, or the gallant set of the small head upon the brown throat. + +The man who first caught sight of Melissy spoke in a low voice to his +chief. MacQueen turned his head sharply to see her, took a dozen steps +toward her, then upbraided the Mexican woman, who had run out after +Melissy. + +"I told you to lock her door--to make sure of it." + +"_Si, seņor_--I did." + +"Then how----" He stopped, and looked to Miss Lee for an explanation. + +"I broke the window." + +The outlaw noticed then that her hand was bleeding. "Broke the window! +Why?" + +"I had to get out! I had to stop you!" + +He attempted no denial of what he was about to do. "How did you know? Did +Rosario tell you?" he asked curtly. + +"No--no! I found out--just by chance." + +"What chance?" He was plainly disconcerted that she had come to interfere, +and as plainly eager to punish the person who had disclosed to her this +thing, which he would have liked to do quietly, without her knowledge. + +"Never mind that. Nobody is to blame. Say I overheard a sentence. Thank +God I did, and I am in time." + +There was no avoiding it now. He had to fight it out with her. "In time +for what?" he wanted to know, his eyes narrowing to vicious pin points. + +"To save him." + +"No--no! He must die," cried the Mexican woman. + +Melissy was amazed at her vehemence, at the passion of hate that trembled +in the voice of the old woman. + +MacQueen nodded. "It is out of my hands, you see. He has been condemned." + +"But why?" + +"Tell her, Rosario." + +The woman poured her story forth fluently in the native tongue. O'Connor +had killed her son--did not deny that he had done it. And just because +Tony had tried to escape. This man had freed the ranger. Very well. He +should take O'Connor's place. Let him die the death. A life for a life. +Was that not fair? + +Flatray turned his head and caught sight of Melissy. A startled cry died +on his lips. + +"Jack!" She held out both hands to him as she ran toward him. + +The sheriff took her in his arms to console her. For the girl's face was +working in a stress of emotion. + +"Oh, I'm in time--I'm in time. Thank God I'm in time." + +Jack waited a moment to steady his voice. "How came you here, Melissy?" + +"He brought me--Black MacQueen. I hated him for it, but now I'm glad--so +glad--because I can save you." + +Jack winced. He looked over her shoulder at MacQueen, taking it all in +with an air of pleasant politeness. And one look was enough to tell him +that there was no hope for him. The outlaw had the complacent manner of a +cat which has just got at the cream. That Melissy loved him would be an +additional reason for wiping him off the map. And in that instant a fierce +joy leaped up in Flatray and surged through him, an emotion stronger than +the fear of death. She loved him. MacQueen could not take that away from +him. + +"It's all a mistake," Melissy went on eagerly. "Of course they can't blame +you for what Lieutenant O'Connor did. It is absurd--ridiculous." + +"Certainly." MacQueen tugged at his little black mustache and kept his +black eyes on her constantly. "That's not what we're blaming him for. The +indictment against your friend is that he interfered when it wasn't his +business." + +"But it was his business. Don't you know he's sheriff? He had to do it." +Melissy turned to the outlaw impetuously. + +"So. And I have to play my hand out, too. It wipes out Mr. Flatray. Sorry, +but business is business." + +"But--but----" Melissy grew pale as the icy fear gripped her heart that +the man meant to go on with the crime. "Don't you see? He's the sheriff?" + +"And I never did love sheriffs," drawled MacQueen. + +The girl repeated herself helplessly. "It was his sworn duty. That was how +he looked at it." + +A ghost of an ironic smile flitted across the face of the outlaw chief. +"Rosario's sworn duty is to avenge her son's death. That is how she looks +at it. The rest of us swore the oath with her." + +"But Lieutenant O'Connor had the law back of him. This is murder!" + +"Not at all. It is the law of the valley--a life for a life." + +"But---- Oh, no--no--no!" + +"Yes." + +The finality of it appalled her. She felt as if she were butting her head +against a stone wall. She knew that argument and entreaty were of no +avail, yet she desperately besought first one and then another of them to +save the prisoner. Each in turn shook his head. She could see that none of +them, save Rosario, bore him a grudge; yet none would move to break the +valley oath. At the last, she was through with her promises and her +prayers. She had spent them all, and had come up against the wall of blank +despair. + +Then Jack's grave smile thanked her. "You've done what you could, +Melissy." + +She clung to him wildly. "Oh, no--no! I can't let you go, Jack. I can't. I +can't." + +"I reckon it's got to be, dear," he told her gently. + +But her breaking heart could not stand that. There must somehow be a way +to save him. She cast about desperately for one, and had not found it when +she begged the outlaw chief to see her alone. + +"No use." He shook his head. + +"But just for five minutes! That can't do any harm, can it?" + +"And no good, either." + +"Yet I ask it. You might do that much for me," she pleaded. + +Her despair had moved him; for he was human, after all. That he was +troubled about it annoyed him a good deal. Her arrival on the scene had +made things unpleasant for everybody. Ungraciously he assented, as the +easiest way out of the difficulty. + +The two moved off to the corral. It was perhaps thirty yards distant, and +they reached it before either of them spoke. She was the first to break +the silence. + +[Illustration: "OH, NO--NO! I CAN'T LET YOU GO, JACK. I CAN'T. I CAN'T." +_Page 294._] + +"You won't do this dreadful thing--surely, you won't do it." + +"No use saying another word about it. I told you that," he answered +doggedly. + +"But---- Oh, don't you see? It's one of those things no white man can do. +Once it's done, you have put the bars up against decency for the rest of +your life." + +"I reckon I'll have to risk that--and down in your heart you don't believe +it, because you think I've had the bars up for years." + +She had come to an impasse already. She tried another turn. "And you said +you cared for me! Yet you are willing to make me unhappy for the rest of +my life." + +"Why, no! I'm willing to make you happy. There's fish in the sea just as +good as any that ever were caught," he smirked. + +"But it would help you to free him. Don't you see? It's your chance. You +can begin again, now. You can make him your friend." + +His eyes were hard and grim. "I don't want him for a friend, and you're +dead wrong if you think I could make this a lever to square myself with +the law. I couldn't. He wouldn't let me, for one thing--he isn't that +kind." + +"And you said you cared for me!" she repeated helplessly, wringing her +hands in her despair. "But at the first chance you fail me." + +"Can't you see it isn't a personal matter? I've got nothing against +him--nothing to speak of. I'd give him to you, if I could. But it's not my +say-so. The thing is out of my hands." + +"You could save him, if you set yourself to." + +"Sure, I could--if I would pay the price. But I won't pay." + +"That's it. You would have to give Rosario something--make some +concession," she said eagerly. + +"And I'm not willing to pay the price," he told her. "His life's forfeit. +Hasn't he been hunting us for a week?" + +"Let me pay it," she cried. "I have money in my own right--seven thousand +dollars. I'll give it all to save him." + +He shook his head. "No use. We've turned down a big offer from West. Your +seven thousand isn't a drop in the bucket." + +She beat her hands together wildly. "There must be some way to save him." + +The outlaw was looking at her with narrowed eyes. He saw a way, and was +working it out in his mind. "You're willing to pay, are you?" he asked. + +"Yes--yes! All I have." + +He put his arms akimbo on the corral fence, and looked long at her. +"Suppose the price can't be paid in money, Miss Lee." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Money isn't the only thing in this world. There are lots of things it +won't buy that other things will," he said slowly. + +She groped for his meaning, her wide eyes fixed on his, and still did not +find it. "Be plainer, please. What can I do to save him?" + +"You might marry me." + +"Never!" + +"Just as you say. You were looking for a way, and I suggested one. Anyhow, +you're mine." + +"I won't do it!" + +"You wanted me to pay the price; but you don't want to pay yourself." + +"I couldn't do it. It would be horrible!" But she knew she could and +must. + +"Why couldn't you? I'm ready to cut loose from this way of living. When I +pull off this one big thing, I'll quit. We'll go somewhere and begin life +again. You said I could. Well, I will. You'll help me to keep straight. It +won't be only his life you are saving. It will be mine, too." + +"No--I don't love you! How could a girl marry a man she didn't care for +and didn't respect?" + +"I'll make you do both before long. I'm the kind of man women love." + +"You're the kind I hate," she flashed bitterly. + +"I'll risk your hate, my dear," he laughed easily. + +She did not look at him. Her eyes were on the horizon line, where sky and +pine tops met. He knew that she was fighting it out to a decision, and he +did not speak again. + +After all, she was only a girl. Right and wrong were inextricably mixed in +her mind. It was not right to marry this man. It was not right to let the +sheriff die while she could save him. She was generous to the core. But +there was something deeper than generosity. Her banked love for Flatray +flooded her in a great cry of protest against his death. She loved him. +She loved him. Much as she detested this man, revolting as she found the +thought of being linked to him, the impulse to sacrifice herself was the +stronger feeling of the two. Deep in her heart she knew that she could not +let Jack go to his death so long as it was possible to prevent it. + +Her grave eyes came back to MacQueen. "I'll have to tell you one +thing--I'll hate you worse than ever after this. Don't think I'll ever +change my mind about that. I won't." + +He twirled his little mustache complacently. + +"I'll have to risk that, as I said." + +"You'll take me to Mesa to-day. As soon as we get there a justice of the +peace will marry us. From his house we'll go directly to father's. You +won't lie to me." + +"No. I'll play out the game square, if you do." + +"And after we're married, what then?" + +"You may stay at home until I get this ransom business settled. Then we'll +go to Sonora." + +"How do you know I'll go?" + +"I'll trust you." + +"Then it's a bargain." + +Without another word, they turned back to rejoin the group by the cabin. +Before they had gone a dozen steps she stopped. + +"What about Mr. Flatray? You will free him, of course." + +"Yes. I'll take him right out due north of here, about four miles. He'll +be blindfolded. There we'll leave him, with instructions how to reach +Mesa." + +"I'll go with you," she announced promptly. + +"What for?" + +"To make sure that you do let him go--alive." + +He shrugged his shoulders. "All right. I told you I was going to play +fair. I haven't many good points, but that is one of them. I don't give my +word and then break it." + +"Still, I'll go." + +He laughed angrily. "That's your privilege." + +She turned on him passionately. "You've got no right to resent it, though +I don't care a jackstraw whether you do or not. I'm not going into this +because I want to, but to save this man from the den of wolves into which +he has fallen. If you knew how I despise and hate you, how my whole soul +loathes you, maybe you wouldn't be so eager to go on with it! You'll get +nothing out of this but the pleasure of torturing a girl who can't defend +herself." + +"We'll see about that," he answered doggedly. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PRICE + + +MacQueen lost no time in announcing his new program. + +"Boys, the hanging's off. I've decided to accept West's offer for +Flatray's life. It's too good to turn down." + +"That's what I told you all the time," growled Buck. + +"Well, I'm telling _you_ now. The money will be divided equally among you, +except that Rosario will get my share as well as hers." + +Rosario Chaves broke into fierce protests. Finding these unheeded, she +cursed the outlaws furiously and threatened vengeance upon them. She did +not want money; she wanted this man's life. The men accepted this as a +matter of course, and paid little attention to the ravings of the old +woman. + +At the first news of his reprieve, Jack saw things through a haze for a +moment. But he neither broke down nor showed undue exultation. + +His first thought was of relief, of profound comfort; his next of wonder +and suspicion. How under heaven had Melissy won his life for him? He +looked quickly at her, but the eyes of the girl did not meet his. + +"Melissy." Flatray spoke very gently, but something in the way he spoke +compelled the young woman to meet his eyes. + +Almost instantly the long lashes went down to her pale cheeks again. + +MacQueen cut in suavely: "I reckon this is the time for announcements. +Boys, Miss Lee has promised to marry me." + +Before the stir which this produced had died away, Flatray flashed a +question: "In exchange for my life?" + +The chief of the outlaws looked at him with insolence smoldering in his +black eyes. "Now, I wonder when you ever will learn to mind your own +business, sheriff! Nobody invited you to sit into this game." + +"This _is_ my business. I make it mine. Give me a straight answer, +Melissy. Am I right? Is it for my life?" + +"Yes." Her voice was so low he could hardly hear it. + +"Then I won't have it! The thing is infamous. I can't hide behind the +skirts of a girl, least of all you. I can die, but, by God, I'll keep my +self-respect." + +"It's all arranged," Melissy answered in a whisper. + +Flatray laughed harshly. "I guess not. You can't pay my debts by giving +yourself to life-long misery." + +"You're right pessimistic, sheriff," sneered MacQueen. + +"What do you take me for? I won't have it. I won't have it." The sheriff's +voice was rough and hoarse. "I'd rather die fifty times." + +"It's not up to you to choose, as it happens," the leader of the outlaws +suggested suavely. + +"You villain! You damned white-livered coward!" The look of the young +sheriff scorched. + +"Speaks right out in meeting, don't he?" grinned Lane. + +"I know what he is, Jack," Melissy cried. "And he knows I think he's the +lowest thing that crawls. But I've got to save you. Don't you see, I've +got to do it?" + +"No, I don't see it," Flatray answered hotly. "I can take what's coming to +me, can't I? But if you save my life that way you make me as low a thing +as he is. I say I'll not have it." + +Melissy could stand it no longer. She began to sob. "I--I--Oh, Jack, I've +got to do it. Don't you see? Don't you see? _It won't make any difference +with me if I don't._ No difference--except that you'll be--dead." + +She was in his embrace, her arms around his neck, whispering the horrible +truth in his ear brokenly. And as he felt her dear young fragrance of +hair in his nostrils, the warm, soft litheness of her body against his, +the rage and terror in him flooded his veins. Could such things be? Was it +possible a man like that could live? Not if he could help it. + +Gently he unfastened her arms from his neck. MacQueen was standing a dozen +feet away, his hands behind his back and his legs wide apart. As Flatray +swung around the outlaw read a warning in the blazing eyes. Just as Jack +tore loose from his guards MacQueen reached for his revolver. + +The gun flashed. A red hot blaze scorched through Jack's arm. Next instant +MacQueen lay flat on his back, the sheriff's fingers tight around his +throat. If he could have had five seconds more the man's neck would have +been broken. But they dragged him away, fighting like a wild cat. They +flung him down and tied his hands behind him. + +Melissy caught a glimpse of his bleeding arm, his torn and dusty face, the +appalling ferocity of the men who were hammering him into the ground. She +took a step forward blindly. The mountains in front of her tilted into the +sky. She moved forward another step, then stumbled and went down. She had +fainted. + +"Just as well," MacQueen nodded. "Here, Rosario, look after the young +lady. Lift Flatray to a horse, boys, after you've blindfolded him. Good +enough. Oh, and one thing more, Flatray. You're covered by a rifle. If you +lift a hand to slip that handkerchief from your eyes, you're giving the +signal for Jeff to turn loose at you. We're going to take you away, but we +don't aim to let you out of the Cache for a few days yet." + +"What do you mean?" + +MacQueen jeered at his prisoner openly. "I mean, Mr. Sheriff, that you'll +stay with us till the girl does as she has promised. Understand?" + +"I think so, you hellhound. You're going to hold me against her so that +she can't change her mind." + +"Exactly. So that she can't rue back. You've guessed it." + +They rode for hours, but in what direction it was impossible for Flatray +to guess. He could tell when they were ascending, when dropping down hill, +but in a country so rugged this meant nothing. + +When at last he dismounted and the kerchief was taken from his eyes he +found himself in a little pocket of the hills in front of an old log +cabin. Jeff stayed with him. The others rode away. But not till they had +him safely tied to a heavy table leg within the hut. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SQUIRE LATIMER TAKES A HAND + + +"You're to make ready for a trip to town, _seņorita_." + +"When?" + +"At once," Rosario answered. "By orders of _Seņor_ MacQueen." + +"Then he is back?" the girl flashed. + +"Just back." + +"Tell him I want to see him--immediately." + +"I am to take you to him as soon as you are ready to ride." + +"Oh, very well." + +In a very few minutes the young woman was ready. Rosario led her to the +cabin in front of which she had seen the old Indian squaw. In it were +seated Simon West and Black MacQueen. Both of them rose at her entrance. + +"Please take a chair, Miss Lee. We have some business to talk over," the +outlaw suggested. + +Melissy looked straight at him, her lips shut tight. "What have you done +with Jack Flatray?" she presently demanded. + +"Left him to find his way back to his friends." + +"You didn't hurt him ... any more?" + +"No." + +"And you left him alone, wounded as he was." + +"We fixed up his wound," lied MacQueen. + +"Was it very bad?" + +"A scratch. I had to do it." + +"You needn't apologize to me." + +"I'm not apologizing, you little wild-cat." + +"What do you want with me? Why did you send for me?" + +"We're going to Mesa to see a parson. But before we start there's some +business to fix up. Mr. West and I will need your help to fix up the +negotiations for his release." + +"My help!" She looked at him in surprise. "How can I help?" + +"I've laid my demands before his friends. They'll come through with the +money, sure. But I want them to understand the conditions right plainly, +so there won't be any mistake. What they have got to get soaked into their +heads is that, if they do make any mistakes, they will not see Simon West +again alive. You put that up to them strong." + +"I'm not going to be your agent in robbing people of their money!" she +told him swiftly. + +"You don't understand. Mr. West wants you to do it. He wants you to +explain the facts to his friends, so they won't act rash and get off wrong +foot first." + +"Oh! If Mr. West wishes it," she conceded. + +"I do wish it," the great man added. + +Though his face and hands were still stained with the dye that had been +used on them, the railroad builder was now dressed in his own clothes. The +girl thought that he looked haggard and anxious, and she was sure that her +presence brought him relief. In his own way he was an indomitable fighter, +but his experience had not included anything of this nature. + +Jack Flatray could look at death level-eyed, and with an even pulse, +because for him it was all in the day's work; but the prospect of it shook +West's high-strung nerves. Nevertheless, he took command of the +explanations, because it had been his custom for years to lead. + +MacQueen, his sardonic smile in play, sat back and let West do most of the +talking. Both men were working for the same end--to get the ransom paid as +soon as possible--and the multimillionaire released; and the outlaw +realized that Melissy would coöperate the more heartily if she felt she +were working for West and not for himself. + +"This is Tuesday, Miss Lee. You will reach Mesa some time to-night. My +friends ought to be on the ground already. I want you and your father to +get in touch with them right away, and arrange the details along the line +laid down by Mr. MacQueen. In case they agree to everything and understand +fully, have the Stars and Stripes flying from your house all day +to-morrow as a signal. Don't on any account omit this--because, if you do, +my captors will have to hold me longer, pending further negotiations. I +have written a letter to Mr. Lucas, exonerating you completely, Miss Lee; +and I have ordered him to comply with all these demands without parley." + +"Our proposition seems to Mr. West very reasonable and fair," grinned +MacQueen impishly, paring his finger nails. + +"At any rate, I think that my life is worth to this country a good deal +more than three hundred thousand dollars," West corrected. + +"Besides being worth something to Simon West," the outlaw added +carelessly. + +West plunged into the details of delivering the money. Once or twice the +other man corrected him or amplified some statement. In order that there +could be no mistake, a map of Sweetwater Caņon was handed to Melissy to be +used by the man who would bring the money to the rendezvous at the Devil's +Causeway. + +When it came to saying good-bye, the old man could scarce make up his mind +to release the girl's hand. It seemed to him that she was the visible sign +of his safety, and that with her departure went a safeguard from these +desperate men. He could not forget that she had saved the life of the +sheriff, even though he did not know what sacrifice she had made so to do. + +"I know you'll do your best for me," he said, with tears in his eyes. +"Make Lucas see this thing right. Don't let any fool detectives bunco him +into refusing to pay the ransom. Put it to him as strongly as you can, +that it will be either my life or the money. I have ordered him to pay it, +and I want it paid." + +Melissy nodded. "I'll tell him how it is, Mr. West. I know it will be all +right. By Thursday afternoon we shall have you with us to dinner again. +Trust us." + +"I do." He lowered his voice and glanced at MacQueen, who had been called +aside to speak to one of his men. "And I'm glad you're going away from +here. This is no place for you." + +"It isn't quite the place for you, either," she answered, with a faint, +joyless smile. + +They started an hour before midday. Rosario had packed a lunch for both of +them in MacQueen's saddlebags, for it was the intention of the latter to +avoid ranches and traveled trails on the way down. He believed that the +girl would go through with what she had pledged herself to do, but he did +not mean to take chances of a rescue. + +In the middle of the afternoon they stopped for lunch at Round-up +Spring--a water hole which had not dried up in a dozen years. It was a +somber meal. Melissy's spirits had been sinking lower and lower with every +mile that brought her nearer the destiny into which this man was forcing +her. Food choked her, and she ate but little. Occasionally, with staring +eyes, she would fall into a reverie, from which his least word would +startle her to a shiver of apprehension. This she always controlled after +the first instinctive shudder. + +"What's the matter with you, girl? I'm not going to hurt you any. I never +hit a woman in my life," the man said once roughly. + +"Perhaps you may, after you're married. It's usually one's wife one beats. +Don't be discouraged. You'll have the experience yet," she retorted, but +without much spirit. + +"To hear you tell it, I'm a devil through and through! It's that kind of +talk that drives a man to drink," he flung out angrily. + +"And to wife beating. Of course, I'm not your chattel yet, because the +ceremony hasn't been read; but if you would like to anticipate a few hours +and beat me, I don't suppose there is any reason you shouldn't." + +"Gad! How you hate me!" + +Her inveteracy discouraged him. His good looks, his debonair manner, the +magnetic charm he knew how to exert--these, which had availed him with +other women, did not seem to reach her at all. She really gave him no +chance to prove himself. He was ready to be grave or gay--to be a +light-hearted boy or a blasé man of the world--to adopt any rôle that +would suit her. But how could one play up effectively to a chill silence +which took no note of him, to a depression of the soul which would not +let itself be lifted? He felt that she was living up to the barest letter +of the law in fulfilling their contract, and because of it he steeled +himself against her sufferings. + +There was one moment of their ride when she stood on the tiptoe of +expectation and showed again the sparkle of eager life. MacQueen had +resaddled after their luncheon, and they were climbing a long sidehill +that looked over a dry valley. With a gesture, the outlaw checked her +horse. + +"Look!" + +Some quarter of a mile from them two men were riding up a wash that ran +through the valley. The mesquite and the cactus were thick, and it was for +only an occasional moment that they could be seen. Black and the girl were +screened from view by a live oak in front of them, so that there was no +danger of being observed. The outlaw got out his field glasses and watched +the men intently. + +Melissy could not contain the question that trembled on her lips: "Do you +know them?" + +"I reckon not." + +"Perhaps----" + +"Well!" + +"May I look--please?" + +He handed her the glasses. She had to wait for the riders to reappear, but +when they did she gave a little cry. + +"It's Mr. Bellamy!" + +"Oh, is it?" + +He looked at her steadily, ready to crush in her throat any call she might +utter for help. But he soon saw that she had no intention of making her +presence known. Her eyes were glued to the glasses. As long as the men +were in sight she focused her gaze on them ravenously. At last a bend in +the dry river bed hid them from view. She lowered the binoculars with a +sigh. + +"Lucky they didn't see us," he said, with his easy, sinister laugh. "Lucky +for them." + +She noticed for the first time that he had uncased his rifle and was +holding it across the saddle-tree. + +Night slipped silently down from the hills--the soft, cool, velvet night +of the Arizona uplands. The girl drooped in the saddle from sheer +exhaustion. The past few days had been hard ones, and last night she had +lost most of her sleep. She had ridden far on rough trails, had been +subjected to a stress of emotion to which her placid maiden life had been +unused. But she made no complaint. It was part of the creed she had +unconsciously learned from her father to game out whatever had to be +endured. + +The outlaw, though he saw her fatigue, would not heed it. She had chosen +to set herself apart from him. Let her ask him to stop and rest, if she +wanted to. It would do her pride good to be humbled. Yet in his heart he +admired her the more, because she asked no favors of him and forbore the +womanish appeal of tears. + +His watch showed eleven o'clock by the moon when the lights of Mesa +glimmered in the valley below. + +"We'll be in now in half an hour," he said. + +She had no comment to make, and silence fell between them again until they +reached the outskirts of the town. + +"We'll get off here and walk in," he ordered; and, after she had +dismounted, he picketed the horses close to the road. "You can send for +yours in the mornin'. Mine will be in the livery barn by that time." + +The streets were practically deserted in the residential part of the town. +Only one man they saw, and at his approach MacQueen drew Melissy behind a +large lilac bush. + +As the man drew near the outlaw's hand tightened on the shoulder of the +girl. For the man was her father--dusty, hollow-eyed, and haggard. The two +crouching behind the lilacs knew that this iron man was broken by his +fears for his only child, the girl who was the apple of his eye. + +Not until he was out of hearing did Melissy open her lips to the stifled +cry she had suppressed. Her arms went out to him, and the tears rolled +down her cheeks. For herself she had not let herself break down, but for +her father's grief her heart was like water. + +"All right. Don't break down now. You'll be with him inside of half an +hour," the outlaw told her gruffly. + +They stopped at a house not much farther down the street, and he rang the +bell. It took a second ring to bring a head out of the open window +upstairs. + +"Well?" a sleepy voice demanded. + +"Is this Squire Latimer?" + +"Yes." + +"Come down. We want to get married." + +"Then why can't you come at a reasonable hour?--consarn it!" + +"Never mind that. There's a good fee in it. Hurry up!" + +Presently the door opened. "Come in. You can wait in the hall till I get a +light." + +"No--I don't want a light. We'll step into this room, and be married at +once," MacQueen told him crisply. + +"I don't know about that. I'm not marrying folks that can't be looked +at." + +"You'll marry us, and at once. I'm Black MacQueen!" + +It was ludicrous to see how the justice of the peace fell back in terror +before the redoubtable bad man of the hills. + +"Well, I don't know as a light is a legal necessity; but we got to have +witnesses." + +"Have you any in the house?" + +"My daughter and a girl friend of hers are sleeping upstairs. I'll call +them, Mr. Black--er--I mean Mr. MacQueen." + +The outlaw went with the squire to the foot of the stairs, whence Latimer +wakened the girls and told them to dress at once, as quickly as possible. +A few minutes later they came down--towsled, eyes heavy with sleep, +giggling at each other in girlish fashion. But when they knew whose +marriage they were witnessing, giggles and sleep fled together. + +They were due for another surprise later. MacQueen and his bride were +standing in the heavy shadows, so that both bulked vaguely in mere +outline. Hitherto, Melissy had not spoken a word. The time came when it +was necessary for the justice to know the name of the girl whom he was +marrying. Her answer came at once, in a low, scarcely audible voice: + +"Melissy Lee." + +An electric shock could scarce have startled them more. Of all the girls +in Mesa none was so proud as Melissy Lee, none had been so far above +criticism, such a queen in the frontier town. She had spent a year in +school at Denver; she had always been a social leader. While she had +always been friendly to the other girls, they had looked upon her with a +touch of awe. She had all the things they craved, from beauty to money. +And now she was marrying at midnight, in the dark, the most notorious bad +man of Arizona! + +Here was a wonder of wonders to tell the other girls to-morrow. The only +pity was that they could not see her face--and his. They had heard that he +was handsome. No doubt that accounted for it. And what could be more +romantic than a love match with such a fascinating villain? Probably he +had stormed her heart irresistibly. + +The service proceeded. The responses of the man came clearly and +triumphantly, those of the girl low but distinctly. It was the custom of +the justice to join the hands of the parties he was marrying; but when he +moved to do so this girl put both of hers quickly behind her. It was his +custom also to kiss the bride after pronouncing them man and wife; but he +omitted this, too, on the present occasion. Nor did the groom kiss her. + +The voice of the justice died away. They stood before him man and wife. +The witnesses craned forward to see the outlaw embrace his bride. Instead, +he reached into his pocket and handed Latimer a bill. The denomination of +it was one hundred dollars, but the justice did not discover that until +later. + +"I reckon that squares us," the bad man said unsentimentally. "Now, all of +you back to bed." + +MacQueen and his bride passed out into the night. The girls noticed that +she did not take his arm; that she even drew back, as if to avoid touching +him as they crossed the threshold. + +Not until they reached the gate of her father's house did MacQueen speak. + +"I'm not all coyote, girl. I'll give you the three days I promised you. +After that you'll join me wherever I say." + +"Yes," she answered without spirit. + +"You'll stand pat to our agreement. When they try to talk you out of it +you won't give in?" + +"No." + +She was deadly weary, could scarce hold up her head. + +"If you lie to me I'll take it out on your folks. Don't forget that Jack +Flatray will have to pay if you double-cross me." + +"No." + +"He'll have to pay in full." + +"You mean you'll capture him again." + +"I mean we won't have to do that. We haven't turned him loose yet." + +"Then you lied to me?" She stared at him with wide open eyes of horror. + +"I had to keep him to make sure of you." + +Her groan touched his vanity, or was it perhaps his pity? + +"I'm not going to hurt him--if you play fair. I tell you I'm no cur. Help +me, girl, and I'll quit this hell raising and live decent." + +She laughed without joy, bitterly. + +"Oh, I know what you think," he continued. "I can't blame you. But what do +you know about my life? What do you know about what I've had to fight +against? All my life there has been some devil in me, strangling all the +good. There has been nobody to give me a helping hand--none to hold me +back. I was a dog with a bad name--good enough for hanging, and nothing +else." + +He was holding the gate, and perforce she had to hear him out. + +"What do I care about that?" she cried, in a fierce gust of passion. "I +see you are cur and coward! You lied to me. You didn't keep faith and free +Jack Flatray. That is enough." + +She was the one person in the world who had power to wound him. Nor did it +hurt the less that it was the truth. He drew back as if the lash of a whip +had swept across his face. + +"No man alive can say that to me and live!" he told her. "Cur I may be; +but you're my wife, 'Lissie MacQueen. Don't forget that." + +"Go! Go!" she choked. "I hope to God I'll never see your face again!" + +She flew along the grass-bordered walk, whipped open the front door, and +disappeared within. She turned the key in the lock, and stood trembling in +the darkness. She half expected him to follow, to attempt to regain +possession of her. + +But the creak of his quick step on the porch did not come. Only her +hammering heart stirred in the black silence. She drew a long breath of +relief, and sank down on the stairs. It was over at last, the horrible +nightmare through which she had been living. + +Gradually she fought down her fears and took hold of herself. She must +find her father and relieve his anxiety. Quietly she opened the door of +the hall into the living room. + +A man sat at the table, with his back to her, in an attitude of utter +dejection. He was leaning forward, with his head buried in his arms. It +was her father. She stepped forward, and put her hands on his bowed +shoulders. + +"Daddy," she said softly. + +At her touch the haggard, hopeless, unshaven face was lifted toward her. +For a moment Lee looked at her as if she had been a wraith. Then, with a +hoarse cry, he arose and caught her in his arms. + +Neither of them could speak for emotion. He tried it twice before he could +get out: + +"Baby! Honey!" + +He choked back the sobs in his throat. "Where did you come from? I thought +sure MacQueen had you." + +"He had. He took me to Dead Man's Cache with him." + +"And you escaped. Praise the Lord, honey!" + +"No--he brought me back." + +"MacQueen did! Goddlemighty--he knows what's best for him!" + +"He brought me back to--to----" She broke down, and buried her head in his +shoulder. + +Long, dry sobs racked her. The father divined with alarm that he did not +know the worst. + +"Tell me--tell me, 'Lissie! Brought you back to do what, honey?" He held +her back from him, his hands on her shoulders. + +"To marry me." + +"What!" + +"To marry me. And he did--fifteen minutes ago, I am Black MacQueen's +wife." + +"Black MacQueen's wife! My God, girl!" Big Beauchamp Lee stared at her in +a horror of incredulity. + +She told him the whole story, from beginning to end. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TAKING OF THE CACHE + + +It was understood that in the absence of the sheriff Richard Bellamy +should have charge of the posse, and after the disappearance of Flatray he +took command. + +With the passing years Bellamy had become a larger figure in the +community. The Monte Cristo mine had made him independently wealthy, even +though he had deeded one-third of it to Melissy Lee. Arizona had forgiven +him his experiment at importing sheep and he was being spoken of as a +territorial delegate to Congress, a place the mine owner by no means +wanted. For his interests were now bound up in the Southwest. His home was +there. Already a little toddler's soft fat fist was clinging to the skirt +of Ferne. + +At first Bellamy, as well as Farnum, McKinstra, young Yarnell and the rest +of the posse looked expectantly for the return of the sheriff. It was hard +to believe that one so virile, so competent, so much a dominant factor of +every situation he confronted, could have fallen a victim to the men he +hunted. But as the days passed with no news of him the conviction grew +that he had been waylaid and shot. The hunt went on, but the rule now was +that no move should be made singly. Not even for an hour did the couples +separate. + +One evening a woman drifted into camp just as they were getting ready to +roll into their blankets. McKinstra was on sentry duty, but she got by him +unobserved and startled Farnum into drawing his gun. + +Yet all she said was: "_Buenos tardes, seņor_." + +The woman was a wrinkled Mexican with a close-shut, bitter mouth and +bright, snappy eyes. + +Farnum stared at her in surprise. "Who in Arizona are you?" + +It was decidedly disturbing to think what might have happened if +MacQueen's outfit had dropped in on them, instead of one lone old woman. + +"Rosario Chaves." + +"Glad to meet you, ma'am. Won't you sit down?" + +The others had by this time gathered around. + +Rosario spoke in Spanish, and Bob Farnum answered in the same language. +"You want to find the way into Dead Man's Cache, seņor?" + +"Do we? I reckon yes!" + +"Let me be your guide." + +"You know the way in?" + +"I live there." + +"Connected with MacQueen's outfit, maybe?" + +"I cook for him. My son was one of his men." + +"Was?" + +"Yes. He was killed--shot by Lieutenant O'Connor, the same man who was a +prisoner at the Cache until yesterday morning." + +"Killed lately, ma'am?" + +"Two years ago. We swore revenge. MacQueen did not keep his oath, the oath +we all swore together." + +Bellamy began to understand the situation. She wanted to get back at +MacQueen, unless she were trying to lead them into a trap. + +"Let's get this straight. MacQueen turned O'Connor loose, did he?" Bellamy +questioned. + +"No. He escaped. This man--what you call him?--the sheriff, helped him and +Seņor West to break away." + +The mine owner's eye met Farnum's. They were being told much news. + +"So they all escaped, did they?" + +"_Si, seņor_, but MacQueen took West and the sheriff next morning. They +could not find their way out of the valley." + +"But O'Connor escaped. Is that it?" + +Her eyes flashed hatred. "He escaped because the sheriff helped him. His +life was forfeit to me. So then was the sheriff's. MacQueen he admit it. +But when the girl promise to marry him he speak different." + +"What girl?" + +"_Seņorita_ Lee." + +"Not Melissy Lee." + +"_Si, seņor_." + +"My God! Melissy Lee a prisoner of that infernal villain. How did she come +there?" + +The Mexican woman was surprised at the sudden change that had come over +the men. They had grown tense and alert. Interest had flamed into a +passionate eagerness. + +Rosario Chaves told the story from beginning to end, so far as she knew +it; and every sentence of it wrung the big heart of these men. The pathos +of it hit them hard. Their little comrade, the girl they had been fond of +for years--the bravest, truest lass in Arizona--had fallen a victim to +this intolerable fate! They could have wept with the agony of it if they +had known how. + +"Are you sure they were married? Maybe the thing slipped up," Alan +suggested, the hope father to the thought. + +But this hope was denied him; for the woman had brought with her a copy of +the Mesa _Sentinel_, with an account of the marriage and the reason for +it. This had been issued on the morning after the event, and MacQueen had +brought it back with him to the Cache. + +Bellamy arranged with the Mexican woman a plan of attack upon the valley. +Camp was struck at once, and she guided them through tortuous ravines and +gulches deeper into the Roaring Fork country. She left them in a grove of +aspens, just above the lip of the valley, on the side least frequented by +the outlaws. + +They were to lie low until they should receive from her a signal that most +of the gang had left to take West to the place appointed for the exchange. +They were then to wait through the day until dusk, slip quietly down, and +capture the ranch before the return of the party with the gold. In case +anything should occur to delay the attack on the ranch, another signal was +to be given by Rosario. + +The first signal was to be the hanging of washing upon the line. If this +should be removed before nightfall, Bellamy was to wait until he should +hear from her again. + +Bellamy believed that the Chaves woman was playing square with him, but he +preferred to take no chances. As soon as she had left to return to the +settlement of the outlaws he moved camp again to a point almost half a +mile from the place where she had last seen them. If the whole thing were +a "plant," and a night attack had been planned, he wanted to be where he +and his men could ambush the ambushers, if necessary. + +But the night passed without any alarm. As the morning wore away the +scheduled washing appeared on the line. Farnum crept down to the valley +lip and trained his glasses on the ranch house. Occasionally he could +discern somebody moving about, though there were not enough signs of +activity to show the presence of many people. All day the wash hung +drying on the line. Dusk came, the blankets still signaling that all was +well. + +Bellamy led his men forward under cover, following the wooded ridge above +the Cache so long as there was light enough by which they might be +observed from the valley. With the growing darkness he began the descent +into the bowl just behind the corral. A light shone in the larger cabin; +and Bellamy knew that, unless Rosario were playing him false, the men +would be at supper there. He left his men lying down behind the corral, +while he crept forward to the window from which the light was coming. + +In the room were two men and the Mexican woman. The men, with elbows far +apart, and knives and forks very busy, were giving strict attention to the +business in hand. Rosario waited upon them, but with ear and eye guiltily +alert to catch the least sound. The mine owner could even overhear +fragments of the talk. + +"Ought to get back by midnight, don't you reckon? Pass the cow and the +sugar, Buck. Keep a-coming with that coffee, Rosario. I ain't a mite +afraid but what MacQueen will pull it off all right, you bet." + +"Sure, he will. Give that molasses a shove, Tom----" + +Bellamy drew his revolver and slipped around to the front door. He came in +so quietly that neither of the men heard him. Both had their backs to the +door. + +"Figure it up, and it makes a right good week's work. I reckon I'll go +down to Chihuahua and break the bank at Miguel's," one of them was +saying. + +"Better go to Yuma and break stones for a spell, Buck," suggested a voice +from the doorway. + +Both men slewed their heads around as if they had been worked by the same +lever. Their mouths opened, and their eyes bulged. A shining revolver +covered them competently. + +"Now, don't you, Buck--nor you either, Tom!" This advice because of a +tentative movement each had made with his right hand. "I'm awful careless +about spilling lead, when I get excited. Better reach for the roof; then +you won't have any temptations to suicide." + +The hard eyes of the outlaws swept swiftly over the cattleman. Had he +shown any sign of indecision, they would have taken a chance and shot it +out. But he was so easily master of himself that the impulse to "draw" +died stillborn. + +Bellamy gave a sharp, shrill whistle. Footsteps came pounding across the +open, and three armed men showed at the door. + +"Darn my skin if the old son of a gun hasn't hogged all the glory!" Bob +Farnum complained joyfully. "Won't you introduce us to your friends, +Bellamy?" + +"This gentleman with the biscuit in his hand is Buck; the one so partial +to porterhouse steak is Tom," returned Bellamy gravely. + +"Glad to death to meet you, gents. Your hands seem so busy drilling for +the ceiling, we won't shake right now. If it would be any kindness to you, +I'll unload all this hardware, though. My! You tote enough with you to +start a store, boys." + +"How did you find your way in?" growled Buck. + +"Jest drifted in on our automobiles and airships," Bob told him airily, as +he unbuckled the revolver belt and handed it to one of his friends. + +The outlaws were bound, after which Rosario cooked the posse a dinner. +This was eaten voraciously by all, for camp life had sharpened the +appetite for a woman's cooking. + +One of the men kept watch to notify them when MacQueen and his gang should +enter the valley, while the others played "pitch" to pass the time. In +spite of this, the hours dragged. It was a good deal like waiting for a +battle to begin. Bellamy and Farnum had no nerves, but the others became +nervous and anxious. + +"I reckon something is keeping them," suggested Alan, after looking at his +watch for the fifth time in half an hour. "Don't you reckon we better go +up the trail a bit to meet them?" + +"I reckon we better wait here, Alan. Bid three," returned Farnum evenly. + +As he spoke, their scout came running in. + +"They're here, boys!" + +"Good enough! How many of them?" + +"Four of 'em, looked like. They were winding down the trail, and I +couldn't make out how many." + +"All right, boys. Steady, now, till they get down from their horses. Hal, +out with the light when I give the word." + +It was a minute to shake nerves of steel. They could hear the sound of +voices, an echo of jubilant laughter, the sound of iron shoes striking +stones in the trail. Then some one shouted: + +"Oh, you, Buck!" + +The program might have gone through as arranged, but for an unlooked-for +factor in the proceedings. Buck let out a shout of warning to his trapped +friends. Almost at the same instant the butt of Farnum's revolver smashed +down on his head; but the damage was already done. + +Bellamy and his friends swarmed out like bees. The outlaws were waiting +irresolutely--some mounted, others beside their horses. Among them were +two pack horses. + +"Hands up!" ordered the mine owner sharply. + +The answer was a streak of fire from a rifle. Instantly there followed a +fusillade. Flash after flash lit up the darkness. Staccato oaths, cries, a +moan of pain, the trampling of frightened horses, filled the night with +confusion. + +In spite of the shout of warning, the situation had come upon the bandits +as a complete surprise. How many were against them, whether or not they +were betrayed, the certainty that the law had at last taken them at a +disadvantage--these things worked with the darkness for the posse. A man +flung himself on his pony, lay low on its back, and galloped wildly into +the night. A second wheeled and followed at his heels. Hank Irwin was +down, with a bullet from a carbine through his jaw and the back of his +head. A wild shot had brought down another. Of the outlaws only MacQueen, +standing behind his horse as he fired, remained on the field uninjured. + +The cattlemen had scattered as the firing began, and had availed +themselves of such cover as was to be had. Now they concentrated their +fire on the leader of the outlaws. His horse staggered and went down, +badly torn by a rifle bullet. A moment later the special thirty-two +carbine he carried was knocked from his hands by another shot. + +He crouched and ran to Irwin's horse, flung himself to the saddle, +deliberately emptied his revolver at his foes, and put spurs to the +broncho. As he vanished into the hills Bob Farnum slowly sank to the +ground. + +"I've got mine, Bellamy. Blamed if he ain't plumb bust my laig!" + +The mine owner covered the two wounded outlaws, while his men disarmed +them. Then he walked across to his friend, laid down his rifle, and knelt +beside him. + +"Did he get you bad, old man?" + +"Bad enough so I reckon I'll have a doc look at it one of these days." Bob +grinned to keep down the pain. + +Once more there came the sound of hoofs beating the trail of decomposed +granite. Bellamy looked up and grasped his rifle. A single rider loomed +out of the darkness and dragged his horse to a halt, a dozen yards from +the mine owner, in such a position that he was directly behind one of the +pack horses. + +"Up with your hands!" ordered Bellamy on suspicion. + +Two hands went swiftly up from beside the saddle. The moonlight gleamed on +something bright in the right hand. A flash rent the night. A jagged, +red-hot pain tore through the shoulder of Hal Yarnell. He fired wildly, +the shock having spoiled his aim. + +The attacker laughed exultantly, mockingly, as he swung his horse about. + +"A present from Black MacQueen," he jeered. + +With that, he was gone again, taking the pack animal with him. He had had +the audacity to come back after his loot--and had got some of it, too. + +One of the unwounded cowpunchers gave pursuit, but half an hour later he +returned ruefully. + +"I lost him somehow--darned if I know how. I seen him before me one +minute; the next he was gone. Must 'a' known some trail that led off from +the road, I reckon." + +Bellamy said nothing. He intended to take up the trail in person; but +first the wounded had to be looked to, a man dispatched for a doctor, and +things made safe against another possible but improbable attack. It was to +be a busy night; for he had on hand three wounded men, as well as two +prisoners who were sound. An examination showed him that neither of the +two wounded outlaws nor Farnum nor Yarnell were fatally shot. All were +hardy outdoors men, who had lived in the balsamic air of the hills; if +complications did not ensue, they would recover beyond question. + +In this extremity Rosario was a first aid to the injured. She had betrayed +the bandits without the least compunction, because they had ignored the +oath of vengeance against the slayer of her son; but she nursed them all +impartially and skillfully until the doctor arrived, late next day. + +Meanwhile Bellamy and McKinstra, guided by one of the outlaws, surprised +Jeff and released Flatray, who returned with them to camp. + +With the doctor had come also four members of the Lee posse. To the deputy +in charge Jack turned over his four prisoners and the gold recovered. As +soon as the doctor had examined and dressed his wound he mounted and took +the trail after MacQueen. With him rode Bellamy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MELISSY ENTERTAINS + + +The notes of Schumann's "Traümerei" died away. Melissy glanced over her +music, and presently ran lightly into Chopin's "Valse Au Petit Chien." She +was, after all, only a girl; and there were moments when she forgot to +remember that she was wedded to the worst of unhanged villains. When she +drowned herself fathoms deep in her music, she had the best chance of +forgetting. + +Chaminade's "The Flatterer" followed. In the midst of this the door opened +quietly and closed again. Melissy finished, fingered her music, and became +somehow aware that she was not alone. She turned unhurriedly on the seat +and met the smiling eyes of her husband. + +From his high-heeled boots to his black, glossy hair, Black MacQueen was +dusty with travel. Beside him was a gunny sack, tied in the middle and +filled at both ends. Picturesque he was and always would be, but his +present costume scarce fitted the presence of a lady. Yet of this he gave +no sign. He was leaning back in a morris chair, rakish, debonair, and at +his ease. Evidently, he had been giving appreciative ear to the music, and +more appreciative eye to the musician. + +"So it's you," said Melissy, white to the lips. + +MacQueen arose, recovered his dusty hat from the floor, and bowed +theatrically. "Your long-lost husband, my dear." + +"What are you doing here?" + +"I'm visiting my wife. The explanation seems a trifle obvious." + +"What do you want?" + +"Have I said I wanted anything?" + +"Then you had better leave. I'll give you up if I get a chance." + +He looked at her with lazy derision. "I like you angry. Your eyes snap +electricity, sweet." + +"Oh!" She gave a gesture of impatience. "Do you know that, if I were to +step to that window and call out your name, the whole town would be in +arms against you?" + +"Why don't you?" + +"I shall, if you don't go." + +"Are you alone in the house?" + +"Why do you ask?" Her heart was beating fast. + +"Because you must hide me till night. Is your father here?" + +"Not now. He is hunting you--to kill you if he finds you." + +"Servants?" + +"The cook is out for the afternoon. She will be back in an hour or two." + +"Good! Get me food." + +She did not rise. "I must know more. What is it? Are they hunting you? +What have you done now?" A strong suppressed excitement beat in her +pulses. + +"It is not what I have done, but what your friends have done. Yesterday I +went to exchange West for the ransom money. Most of my men I had to take +with me, to guard against foul play. We held the caņon from the flat tops, +and everything went all right. The exchange was made. We took the ransom +money back to the Cache. I don't know how it was--whether somebody played +me false and sold us, or whether your friend Flatray got loose and his +posse stumbled in by accident. But there they were in the Cache when we +got back." + +"Yes?" The keenest agitation was in Melissy's voice. + +"They took us by surprise. We fought. Two of my men ran away. Two were +shot down. I was alone." + +"And then?" + +The devil of torment moved in him. "Then I shot up one of your friend's +outfit, rode away, changed my mind, and went back, shot your friend, and +hiked off into the hills with a pack horse loaded with gold." + +Out of all this one thing stood out terribly to her. "You shot Jack +Flatray--again!" + +He laughed. One lie more or less made no difference. "I sure did." + +She had to moisten her lips before she could ask the next question: +"You--killed him?" + +"No--worse luck!" + +"How do you know?" + +"He and another man were on the trail after me to-day. I saw them pass up +Moose Creek from a ledge on which I was lying. If I had had a rifle, I +would have finished the job; but my carbine was gone. It was too far for a +six-gun." + +"But, if you wounded him last night, how could he be trailing you +to-day?" + +"I reckon it was a flesh wound. His shoulder was tied up, I noticed." +Impatiently he waved Flatray out of the conversation. "I didn't come here +to tell you about him. I got to get out on tonight's train. This country +has grown too hot for me. You're going with me?" + +"No!" + +"Yes, by God!" + +"I'll never go with you--never--never!" she cried passionately. "I'm free +of the bargain. You broke faith. So shall I." + +She saw his jaw clamp. "So you're going to throw me down, are you?" + +Melissy stood before him, slim and straight, without yielding an inch. She +was quite colorless, for he was a man with whose impulses she could not +reckon. But one thing she knew. He could never take her away with him and +escape. And she knew that he must know it, too. + +"If you want to call it that. You tricked me into marrying you. You meant +to betray me all the time. Go, while there's still a chance. I don't want +your blood on my hands." + +It was characteristic of him that he always wanted more what he could not +get. + +"Don't answer so quick, girl. Listen to me. I've got enough in that sack +to start us in the cattle business in Argentina. There's more buried in +the hills, if we need it. Girl, I tell you I'm going to run straight from +to-day!" + +She laughed scornfully. "And in the same breath you tell me how much you +have stolen and are taking with you. If you were a Croesus, I wouldn't go +with you." She flamed into sudden, fierce passion. "Will you never +understand that I hate and detest you?" + +"You think you do, but you don't. You love me--only you won't let yourself +believe it." + +"There's no arguing with such colossal conceit," she retorted, with hard +laughter. "It's no use to tell you that I should like to see you dead at +my feet." + +Swiftly he slid a revolver from its holster, and presented it to her, butt +first. "You can have your wish right easy, if you mean it. Go to it. +There's no danger. All you've got to give out is that I frightened you. +You'll be a heroine, too." + +She looked at the weapon and at him, and the very thought of it made her +sick. She saw the thing almost as if it were already done--the smoking +revolver in her hand, and the man lying motionless before her. + +"Take it away," she said, with a shudder. + +"You see, you can't do it! You can't even go to the window there and shout +out that Black MacQueen is with you in the house. You don't hate me at +all, my dear." + +"Because I won't kill you with my own hand? You reason logically." + +"Then why don't you betray my presence? Why don't you call your friends in +to take me?" + +"I'm not sure that I won't; but if I don't, it will be for their sakes, +and not for yours. They could not take you without loss of life." + +"You're right there," he agreed, with a flash of his tigerish ferocity. +"They couldn't take me alive at all, and I reckon before I checked in a +few of them would." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BLACK MACQUEEN CASHES HIS CHECKS + + +It was part of his supreme audacity to trust her. While he was changing +his dusty, travel-stained clothes for some that belonged to her brother +she prepared a meal for him downstairs. A dozen times the impulse was on +her to fly into the street and call out that Black MacQueen was in the +house, but always she restrained herself. He was going to leave the +country within a few hours. Better let him go without bloodshed. + +He came down to his dinner fresh from a bath and a shave, wearing a new +tweed suit, which fitted him a trifle loosely, but was not unbecoming to +his trim, lithe figure. No commercial traveler at a familiar hotel could +have been more jauntily and blithely at home. + +"So you didn't run away!" He grinned. + +"Not yet. I'm going to later. I owe you a meal, and I wanted to pay it +first." + +It was his very contempt of fear that had held her. To fool away half an +hour in dressing, knowing that it was very likely she might be summoning +men to kill him--to come down confident and unperturbed, possibly to meet +his death--was such a piece of dare-deviltry as won reluctant admiration, +in spite of her detestation of him. Even if she did not give him up, his +situation was precarious in the extreme. All the trains were being +watched; and in spite of this he had to walk boldly to the station, buy a +ticket, and pass himself off for an ordinary traveler. + +Both knew that the chances were against him, but he gave no sign of +concern or anxiety. Never had Melissy seen him so full of spirits. The +situation would have depressed most men; him it merely stimulated. The +excitement of it ran like wine through his blood. Driven from his hills, +with every man's hand against him, with the avenues of escape apparently +closed, he was in his glory. He would play his cards out to the end, +without whining, no matter how the game might go. + +Melissy washed the dishes, in order that the cook might not know that she +had had a guest for luncheon. The two returned to the living room. It was +his whim to have her play for him; and she was glad to comply, because it +interfered with his wooing. She was no longer greatly afraid of him, for +she knew that he was on his good behavior to win her liking. + +Fortune favored her. For some time they had heard the cook moving about in +the kitchen. Once she had poked her head in to know whether her young +mistress would like the cherry pie for dinner. + +"I didn't know yez had company, Miss 'Lissie," she had apologized. + +"This gentleman will stay to dinner," Melissy had announced. + +At luncheon Melissy had not eaten with him; but at dinner it was +necessary, on account of the cook, that she sit down, too. The meal had +scarce begun when Kate came beaming in. + +"Shure, Miss 'Lissie, there's another young gentleman at the door. It's +Mr. Bellamy. I tould him to come right in. He's washing his face first." + +Melissy rose, white as a sheet. "All right, Kate." + +But as soon as the cook had left the room she turned to the outlaw. "What +shall I do? What shall I do?" + +Little whimsical imps of mischief shone in his eyes. "Have him in and +introduce him to your husband, my dear." + +"You must go--quick. If I don't get rid of him, you'll be able to slip out +the back way and get to the depot. He doesn't know you are here." + +MacQueen sat back and gave her his easy, reckless smile. "Guess again. +Bellamy can't drive me out." + +She caught her hands together. "Oh, go--go! There will be trouble. You +wouldn't kill him before my very eyes!" + +"Not unless he makes the first play. It's up to him." He laughed with the +very delight of it. "I'd as lief settle my account with him right now. +He's meddled too much in my affairs." + +She broke out in a cry of distress: "You wouldn't! I've treated you fair. +I could have betrayed you, and I didn't. Aren't you going to play square +with me?" + +He nodded. "All right. Show him in. He won't know me except as Lieutenant +O'Connor. It was too dark last night to see my face." + +Bellamy came into the room. + +"How's Jack?" Melissy asked quickly as she caught his hand. + +"Good as new. And you?" + +"All right." + +The outlaw stirred uneasily in his seat. His vanity objected to another +man holding the limelight while he was present. + +Melissy turned. "I think you have never met Lieutenant O'Connor, Mr. +Bellamy. Lieutenant--Mr. Bellamy." + +They shook hands. MacQueen smiled. He was enjoying himself. + +"Glad to meet you, Mr. Bellamy. You and Flatray have won the honors +surely. You beat us all to it, sir. As I rode in this mornin', everybody +was telling how you rounded up the outlaws. Have you caught MacQueen +himself?" + +"Not yet. We have reason to believe that he rode within ten miles of town +this morning before he cut across to the railroad. The chances are that +he will try to board a train at some water tank in the dark. We're having +them all watched. I came in to telephone all stations to look out for +him." + +"Where's Jack?" Melissy asked. + +"He'll be here presently. His arm was troubling him some, so he stopped to +see the doctor. Then he has to talk with his deputy." + +"You're sure he isn't badly hurt?" + +"No, only a scratch, he calls it." + +"Did you happen on Dead Man's Cache by accident?" asked MacQueen with +well-assumed carelessness. + +Bellamy had no intention of giving Rosario away to anybody. "You might +call it that," he said evenly. "You know, I had been near there once when +I was out hunting." + +"Do you expect to catch MacQueen?" the outlaw asked, a faint hint of irony +in his amused voice. + +"I can't tell. That's what I'm hoping, lieutenant." + +"We hope for a heap of things we never get," returned the outlaw, in a +gentle voice, his eyes half shuttered behind drooping lids. + +Melissy cut into the conversation hurriedly. "Lieutenant O'Connor is going +on the seven-five this evening, Mr. Bellamy. He has business that will +take him away for a while. It is time we were going. Won't you walk down +to the train with us?" + +MacQueen swore softly under his breath, but there was nothing he could say +in protest. He knew he could not take the girl with him. Now he had been +cheated out of his good-byes by her woman's wit in dragging Bellamy to the +depot with them. He could not but admire the adroitness with which she had +utilized her friend to serve her end. + +They walked to the station three abreast, the outlaw carrying as lightly +as he could the heavy suitcase that held his plunder. Melissy made small +talk while they waited for the train. She was very nervous, and she was +trying not to show it. + +"Next time you come, lieutenant, we'll have a fine stone depot to show +you. Mr. West has promised to make Mesa the junction point, and we're sure +to have a boom," she said. + +A young Mexican vaquero trailed softly behind them, the inevitable +cigarette between his lips. From under his broad, silver-laced sombrero he +looked keenly at each of the three as he passed. + +A whistle sounded clearly in the distance. + +The outlaw turned to the girl beside him. "I'm coming back some day soon. +Be sure of that, Mrs. MacQueen." + +The audacity of the name used, designed as it was to stab her friend and +to remind Melissy how things stood, made the girl gasp. She looked quickly +at Bellamy and saw him crush the anger from his face. + +The train drew into the station. Presently the conductor's "All aboard!" +served notice that it was starting. The outlaw shook hands with Melissy +and then with the mine owner. + +"Good-bye. Don't forget that I'm coming back," he said, in a perfectly +distinct, low tone. + +And with that he swung aboard the Pullman car with his heavy suitcase. An +instant later the Mexican vaquero pulled himself to the vestibule of the +smoking car ahead. + +MacQueen looked back from the end of the train at the two figures on the +platform. A third figure had joined them. It was Jack Flatray. The girl +and the sheriff were looking at each other. With a furious oath, he turned +on his heel. For the evidence of his eyes had told him that they were +lovers. + +MacQueen passed into the coach and flung himself down into his section +discontentedly. The savor of his adventure was gone. He had made his +escape with a large share of the plunder, in spite of spies and posses. +But in his heart he knew that he had lost forever the girl whom he had +forced to marry him. He was still thinking about it somberly when a figure +appeared in the aisle at the end of the car. + +Instantly the outlaw came to alert attention, and his hand slipped to the +butt of a revolver. The figure was that of the Mexican vaquero whom he had +carelessly noted on the platform of the station. Vigilantly his gaze +covered the approaching man. Surely in Arizona there were not two men with +that elastic tread or that lithe, supple figure. + +His revolver flashed in the air. "Stand back, Bucky O'Connor--or, by God, +I'll drill you!" + +The vaquero smiled. "Right guess, Black MacQueen. I arrest you in the name +of the law." + +Black's revolver spat flame twice before the ranger's gun got into action, +but the swaying of the train caused him to stagger as he rose to his +feet. + +The first shot of Bucky's revolver went through the heart of the outlaw; +but so relentless was the man that, even after that, his twitching fingers +emptied the revolver. O'Connor fired only once. He watched his opponent +crumple up, fling wild shots into the upholstery and through the roof, and +sink into the silence from which there is no awakening on this side of the +grave. Then he went forward and looked down at him. + +"I reckon that ends Black MacQueen," he said quietly. "And I reckon +Melissy Lee is a widow." + + * * * * * + +Jack Flatray had met O'Connor at his own office and the two had come down +to the station on the off chance that MacQueen might try to make his +getaway from Mesa in some disguise. But as soon as he saw Melissy the +sheriff had eyes for nobody else except the girl he loved. One sleeve of +his coat was empty, and his shoulder was bandaged. He looked very tired +and drawn; for he had ridden hard more than sixteen hours with a painful +wound. But the moment his gaze met hers she knew that his thoughts were +all for her and her trouble. + +His free hand went out to meet hers. She forgot MacQueen and all the +sorrow he had brought her. Her eyes were dewy with love and his answered +eagerly. She knew now that she would love Jack Flatray for better or worse +until death should part them. But she knew, too, that the shadow of +MacQueen, her husband by law, was between them. + +Together they walked back from the depot. In the shadow of the vines on +her father's porch they stopped. Jack caught her hands in his and looked +down into her tired, haggard face all lit with love. Tears were in the +eyes of both. + +"You're entitled to the truth, Jack," she told him. "I love you. I think I +always have. And I know I always shall. But I'm another man's wife. It +will have to be good-bye between us, Jack," she told him wistfully. + +He took her in his arms and kissed her. "You're my sweetheart. I'll not +give you up. Don't think it." + +He spoke with such strength, such assurance, that she knew he would not +yield without a struggle. + +"I'll never be anything to him--never. But he stands between us. Don't you +see he does?" + +"No. Your marriage to him is empty words. We'll have it annulled. It will +not stand in any court. I've won you and I'm going to keep you. There's no +two ways about that." + +She broke down and began to sob quietly in a heartbroken fashion, while he +tried to comfort her. It was not so easy as he thought. So long as +MacQueen lived Flatray would walk in danger if she did as he wanted her to +do. + +Neither of them knew that Bucky O'Connor's bullet had already annulled the +marriage, that happiness was already on the wing to them. + +This hour was to be for their grief, the next for their joy. + +The End + + + + +NOVELS OF FRONTIER LIFE BY + +WILLIAM MACLEOD RAINE + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. +MAVERICKS + +A tale of the western frontier, where the "rustler" abounds. One of the +sweetest love stories ever told. + +A TEXAS RANGER + +How a member of the border police saved the life of an innocent man, +followed a fugitive to Wyoming, and then passed through deadly peril to +ultimate happiness. + +WYOMING + +In this vivid story the author brings out the turbid life of the frontier +with all its engaging dash and vigor. + +RIDGWAY OF MONTANA + +The scene is laid in the mining centers of Montana, where politics and +mining industries are the religion of the country. + +BUCKY O'CONNOR + +Every chapter teems with wholesome, stirring adventures, replete with the +dashing spirit of the border. + +CROOKED TRAILS AND STRAIGHT + +A story of Arizona; of swift-riding men and daring outlaws; of a bitter +feud between cattlemen and sheep-herders. + +BRAND BLOTTERS + +A story of the turbid life of the frontier with a charming love interest +running through its pages. + +STEVE YEAGER + +A story brimful of excitement, with enough gun-play and adventure to suit +anyone. + +A DAUGHTER OF THE DONS + +A Western story of romance and adventure, comprising a vivacious and +stirring tale. + +THE HIGHGRADER + +A breezy, pleasant and amusing love story of Western mining life. + +THE PIRATE OF PANAMA + +A tale of old-time pirates and of modern love, hate and adventure. + +THE YUKON TRAIL + +A crisply entertaining love story in the land where might makes right. + +THE VISION SPLENDID + +In which two cousins are contestants for the same prizes: political honors +and the hand of a girl. + +THE SHERIFF'S SON + +The hero finally conquers both himself and his enemies and wins the love +of a wonderful girl. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + + + +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S + +STORIES OF ADVENTURE + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list. +THE RIVER'S END + +A story of the Royal Mounted Police. + +THE GOLDEN SNARE + +Thrilling adventures in the Far Northland. + +NOMADS OF THE NORTH + +The story of a bear-cub and a dog. + +KAZAN + +The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn between +the call of the human and his wild mate. + +BAREE, SON OF KAZAN + +The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part he played +in the lives of a man and a woman. + +THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM + +The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his battle +with Captain Plum. + +THE DANGER TRAIL + +A tale of love, Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the North. + +THE HUNTED WOMAN + +A tale of a great fight in the "valley of gold" for a woman. + +THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH + +The story of Fort o' God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is +blended with the courtly atmosphere of France. + +THE GRIZZLY KING + +The story of Thor, the big grizzly. + +ISOBEL + +A love story of the Far North. + +THE WOLF HUNTERS + +A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness. + +THE GOLD HUNTERS + +The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds. + +THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE + +Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women. + +BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY + +A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made from this +book. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brand Blotters, by William MacLeod Raine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAND BLOTTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 27436-8.txt or 27436-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/4/3/27436/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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